Adventures in maternity fashion

I am so excited for Saturday because a good friend of mine that I have known for several years is marrying another friend of mine. I could not be more excited for them because they are both just wonderful people that deserve one another.

Anyway, they are having a 1940's luau themed wedding. They have been planning for about a year. I have had a great vintage dress picked out for the occasion since hearing their plans. Well, I did not really factor in being pregnant for the occasion, so I was really freaking out on Sunday when it occurred to me to try the dress on to be sure I hadn't already outgrown it.

So, I pull it out of my closet, and I swear, light was shining down on this thing with heavenly voices singing all around. I wiggle myself into it praying I could zip it up. I get halfway up my back when it stops. I could still close the top, though, so I was hoping I could force it the rest of the way up. No such luck, and I was scared to death of busting the seam. Grrrr....non-forgiving vintage fabric.

Of course, this sent me into a panic of what to wear to the wedding. I pulled out all of my dresses that could come anywhere close to appropriate for the occasion. No luck at all. UGH! I was being forced into the realm of searching for a *gulp* maternity dress. I H-A-T-E maternity dresses. There is just something about them that make me feel like a beached whale no matter how small I still am. I have only found one maternity dress in the past that looked good, but it is more of an evening attire kind of dress. Not appropriate for and afternoon luau themed wedding.

The whole idea of having to shop for something the week of the wedding really upset me, but it was something that had to be done. So, I decided to just check things out online before actually hitting any stores. The first place I looked was Old Navy. I clicked on the maternity section, and staring me in the face was THE PERFECT dress and priced just right. I could not believe how lucky I was.

So, I look to order it and realized that their $5 shipping takes 4-7 business days. I could do 4 maybe 5 days at the most. I couldn't chance it, so I looked at their 2-day shipping costs--$15!!! No, no, no. There was no way I was going to spend that much on shipping. So, I decided to just try my local store that carries the maternity line to see if they had it and in my size.

I run over there on Monday in the middle of a good Houston rain to find it. I walked in and made a bee line to the maternity section, spot the dress, grab the first one on the rack the read 'S', and raced to the register before it could disappear from my hands.

Mission completed!!!

I am so excited for the wedding now. I even have the perfect shoes for the dress already. It is just all working out so well. Here is a picture of the dress.

Leila Turns 2yo

Leila turned two years old on April 10. I still can't believe it has been two years since I was hugely pregnant with her. I can say that she has been nothing but a joy to have. She is the one that keeps me on my toes.

She brings so much laughter, mischievousness, and fun to our family. She knows just how to push all of our buttons and does not hesitate to do so. It is just so hard not to laugh at her even when she is making us crazy. It is part of her charm and hard for most everyone else to pull off.

We celebrated her birthday with a small party with us, my parents and a friend of mine, her husband, and her son. We had everyone over to the house for pizza, cake, and presents. Leila was so thrilled to open her gifts. I had set them out the night before knowing they would taunt her all morning until it was time to open them during the party. She just kept eyeballing them the whole time. Once we gave her the go ahead, though, she went right at them. She knew exactly what do and that cool new toys for hiding beneath the paper. She got some great toys including an inch worm, her very own backpack, and a water table.

Then, it was cake time. She did a great job singing "Happy Birthday" to herself along with the rest of us and even managed to help blow out her candles. Now, Leila really has not had a lot of sweets in her short life because she has, well, a mean mommy. My mom likes to hassle me over the fact that "it won't kill her". Anyway, Leila was more than thrilled to bite into her puppy dog cake. She finished almost the entire piece. She left it for a bit only to return back to it with as much joy as the first bite she took out of it. I think that was the highlight of her day. I am still hearing about the cake from her.

Overall, it was a great day with her. It was not as hard as her first birthday, though, when I thought that would the very last first birthday we would be celebrating with any of our kids. It helped knowing there would be another baby coming along that we would be celebrating a 2nd birthday with in less time than imaginable.

Here are few more pics from her party.

Second OB appointment

We have a heartbeat! I am so thrilled things are going smoothly with this little baby. I had my second appointment with the OB today to check for the heartbeat. We found it right away on the ultrasound. The girls were both so thrilled to see the baby again, and they were even more thrilled that it is actually beginning to look like a baby.

My dr is so wonderful. She printed out a copy of the picture for both Ava and Leila to bring home. I can not tell you how excited they are to have their own picture of the baby. Leila actually demanded to nap with it after I had taken it away from her when I was putting her down. It was too sweet.

The dr also asked us if we wanted to do the blood test for down's syndrome and spina bifida. We declined it. We know that we would never terminate the pregnancy despite the test results, so there was really no reason to take it. Plus, the chances of it happening are so low considering my age. Why put ourselves through any of that?

Anyway, everything is looking fantastic. I took a moment to reflect today given that it is the last day that Leila will be a year old. This time two years ago, I was so pregnant and bloated waiting to have our c-section and meet our precious little girl. Now, I am at the beginning of another journey in parenthood. It is amazing to see how quickly they grow.

The first look

I had my first prenatal appointment with my OB last Wednesday. We packed up the whole family to go take our first peek at the newest family member. It is still early, but you can see the space on the left with the yolk sac still visible. I was only 5wks 4days, so you can see the cyst on my ovary, on the right, where I ovulated from. That is what produces the progesterone in early pregnancy. Everyone that has seen this picture immediately asks if I am having twins! Oh, that would have me on the floor. No, just one little peanut growing in there for now. I suppose it could be twins in one sac, but the chances of that are very small. Anyway, I go back to the doctor at 7wks 4days to see the heartbeat.

~*~*~SURPRISE~*~*~

We are adding to our gaggle of girls here! I just found out yesterday that we are expecting another baby. I know, I know, we told EVERYONE that we were completely done with the babies. We honestly thought we were. About three months ago, I had Leila in the sling, and I realized that she was suddenly getting very big for it. I started getting baby fever in a bad way. I didn't say anything to Daniel, though. I thought her would think I had absolutely lost my mind.

One Sunday two months ago, Daniel came home from work and told me that he had something to tell me. He slowly threw out there that he wanted another baby. I could not scream YES! fast enough. I was so thrilled that he wanted another, and I didn't have to talk him into it. We also decided that we were not going to tell anyone about it. Well, we at least weren't going to tell our family and most everyone else. We did let it slip to a few lucky ones.

The next day, I woke up and immediately called my OB to set up an annual exam and have my IUD removed. Apparently, it was the thing to do in January. According to my OB, I was the 14th patient she had that week getting it removed.

We tried last month, but I had only had the IUD out for a week. Most cases it takes a month for your body to regulate, and boy did mine ever regulate. UGH! Luckily, this month was successful. We are expecting a Turkey Baby. My estimated due date is November 22, but I will most likely deliver on November 17.

Soooo, will I have to change things up with my blog? Time will tell.

Ava's Dance Recital

Ava had her second mini-dance recital on Saturday. These past two recitals are preparation for their big end of the year recital that is put on at a local high school. They try to prepare the younger girls to preform on a big stage by putting them on the smaller stage in the studio.

This time, Ava would be doing her jazz dance piece. They did a dance to Chubby Checker's "Let's Twist Again". The costume was, of course, a pink poodle skirt over her regular black leotard. They also added pink scarves for their neck and hair. They were all so precious.

The dance went very well. The girls preformed wonderfully. And this is not a "proud mama" statement, but her class was the best group that morning. I think it may have a lot to do with the fact that they were doing a jazz dance and not a tap dance. Let's just say that a bunch of 3yo's tapping is not the most perfected thing. It was hard to tell anything they were doing.

At any rate, we are so proud of Ava. She did wonderfully. More importantly, Ava really, really enjoys dancing. She loves being on stage preforming, as well. For me, it is just great to see your child loving the same things you are passionate about, too.

Here is her recital video to watch. Ava is the second from the right.

Lions and Tigers and Bears...Oh my!

Lately, Leila has been hitting a bit of a developmental spurt. She comprehends so much already, and it really just amazes me to no end. I think this probably has a lot to do with being a younger sibling and having to learn the intricacies of family dynamics right away as far as having older siblings.

So, anyway.... I noticed that Leila is beginning to develop fears. It started a few days ago when she wanted her baby doll to sleep with at night. I told her to go get it from the doll crib in the game room. She goes running over there full speed, but suddenly stopped on a dime when she realized the game room did not have a light on. Oh, the fear of the dark phase has just begun. I am still going through this with Ava, so now I have another child to deal with constantly.

I encouraged her to go ahead in and get her baby. I told her everything was fine, but she wasn't budging an inch. So, I went over and nudged her back to walk. She was digging her heals in, though. So, I pushed a bit harder until she started at a slow pace. All the while, I was telling her there was nothing to be afraid of in there. She found her baby doll and took off to the safety of the lighted hallway.

Well, today I discovered she has yet another fear. We have had a major cold front heading into this area. With it brought a pretty significant thunderstorm. Every few minutes, there would be a large crash of thunder. It first started without incidence. However, I suddenly had Leila running up to me screaming her head off like she had just seen her Grrr's head ripped off and eaten by our ferocious Persian cat, Bella.

She crawled onto my blanket clad lap practically shaking. I was in the middle of reassuring that she was perfectly safe when the thunder crashed again. This time, she pulled the blanket up over her head hiding herself from the threatening sound. I could not help myself but laugh at her innocent display of fear. She just could not be anymore precious. This behavior was repeated over the next hour as the storm moved past us.

I just love the innocence of little children. I know the day will come, probably sooner rather than later, when something as silly as a thunderstorm will seem like just that...a silly thunderstorm....instead of a threatening force.