The results are in!!!!!

today was the BIG day! bailey, billy and i all got to be in the sonogram room. like i figured, this is an active baby! lots of moving, turning and jabbing. we didn't get to record this sonogram session like we did with bailey, but we did get to have a couple of surprise 3-d pictures. everything looks great and once again, looks like i'm making another big baby. according to this sonogram, i am 20 weeks 3 days along which is 6 days further than what my doctor is going by. so, i'm sticking to my own original prediction of how far along i am (according to a due date chart).
i bet you didn't even read that first section until after you scrolled down to see the results. totally what i would have done.
so, it's a................................

BOY!!!!!!!!!! i was wrong yet again. billy commented last night that it is probably a boy since bailey has been all pumped up, thinking that for sure we are having another little girl.

they seem to check everything else out first before getting to the part i'm always the most excited about. so, i saw one little bottom/feet shot and there wasn't anything there. immediately, i thought we were having a girl but i didn't say anything. a few minutes later, she asked me "do you want to....." and before she could finish i replied "yes, we want to know if we are having a boy or a girl!". she went right to the above shot and announced that we are having a boy! i was in shock! i never have the kind of reactions i think i'm going to have and both billy and i were super happy but quiet, letting the reality of it sink in (we still are). i asked her if she was positive it was a boy and that we weren't just seeing a hand or some fingers or something. she assured me that we are having a boy and pointed out the various parts.

afterwards, billy and bailey played a bit with some toys in the hospital common area while i saw dr. campbell. while waiting, i was able to share the news with my mom, dad and charlie.
billy had to go on into work, so bailey and i went to babies r us so she could pick out a few things her new little brother. she was pretty excited about this, but kept picking out dresses or clothes that were pink, purple or had flowers on them. it'll take some time, but she isn't as upset as we were worried she might be.
so, that's it! i may revise some of this later since i just wanted to get some of it out there.
i can't believe it!!!!!!!!! woo-hoo, it's a boy!!!

Pink or blue?

well, the big sono, finding out day is this coming monday and i'd like to know your predictions :)

for the record, i think it's a girl. no, not because it was written on the back of the fortune cookie i ate during our last community group time. let's just say i think so due to timing.

reasons i might be wrong:

1) i'm craving salty instead of sweet this time around

2) i'm really feeling this baby move and kick big, strong kicks a lot. perhaps, i'm further along than even i think (my doctor has my due date about 5 days later then what i think and have been going by). i didn't notice bailey's first moves until much later and they were more fluttery that all out punches, kicks and bangs.

3) this pregnancy has just been so different

so, you be the judge and i'll let you know on monday as soon as i notify my family and i make it to a computer.

sorry, i don't have any cool prizes if you guess right like some people do when it comes to baby guessing. the odds are just too high and we are quickly depleting our funds with this house remodel.

Finally, time to just ZOO it!

we finally made our way to the dallas zoo yesterday and it was a lot of fun! reece, kyle, penelope, henrietta and katarina joined us. it did rain a little bit on us, but it was actually kinda awesome because afterwards it was overcast with a light cool breeze. very nice to have in the midst of 100+ degree days.

bailey and kyle laughing as the otters swim by.

future cheerleader practicing her moves with the days most prized possession, storm provided branches with leaves.

we just so happen to be by the tiger exhibit when one of the zoo workers was putting out the meat. the tiger came right up to the glass, but the kids didn't seem as impressed as i was.

bailey and reece acting like brother and sister again.

Funday

monday sure was a fun day this week! bailey had a blast splashing with friends at grayson's house in the morning. both bailey and i always have fun with our awesome group of friends!

after a nap (woo-hoo, she actually took one!), it was time to go to bailey's first ballet class! she was very excited and i was pretty sure she would love it.

we arrived just as the teacher was walking the girls into the classroom and i noticed that the other moms stayed behind. it didn't even dawn on me that i wouldn't in the room with bailey. definitely a first. so, i went in with her and stayed a few minutes until she felt comfortable enough for me to leave before joining the other moms behind the window. like the teacher said, it took the girls 20 minutes to warm up, which isn't great for a 30 minute class. hopefully, bailey will be ready for class to start next week. all in all, i'm glad that we signed up and i think bailey will enjoy these little ballet lessons.

#1 DAD!

despite recovering from being sick, we all had a very nice father's day this year! billy was gone all day on saturday, so his girls worked hard to make father's day special for him by cleaning up the apartment, writing in cards and making him a big oatmeal raisin cookie with homemade icing from scratch! bailey loves to help me make cookies because she usually spends most of her time eating the dough!

billy was pleased with his tasty cookie and was nice enough to share it with his girls. i also stepped way out of my comfort zone and prepared a new meatloaf recipe just for billy. for the record, i have always despised meatloaf and i don't like to try out new recipes, especially if no one i know has ever even tried it. although i don't have a picture of it, because it was quite unattractive, i do have to say that my meatloaf turned out pretty great. even i liked it. so, much thanks to glamour magazine for it's awesome man-loaf meatloaf recipe. who knew i could get something productive from glamour?

and, because he's just that kind of guy, billy had a little present for bailey on his special day. a lovely purple carebear he won for her from a recent trip to dave and busters. bailey excitedly galloped around the apartment on her tiptoes hugging her bear while squealing and saying over and over again "thank you for my bear, daddy!!!"

i don't know if i say it enough, but billy is a phenomenal father. he helps me out so much and can be loving, silly, fun and patient while also appropriately handling the discipline issues that come along with being 2. we are blessed beyond what we deserve with billy leading our family!

we love you!!

Getting my hair did

not quite the glamorous new chop shots i was hoping to post, but i doubt i'll really ever get around to it.

bailey couldn't find her lovely barbie head the other day, so i offered up my own hair for her to decorate. i had no idea she would be so entertained with the act of carefully placing clip after clip into my hair!



over 30 minutes and 35 clips later, this was the end result. doesn't my hair look beautiful?

More of the same

things remain busy busy busy around here. i feel like bailey and i have spent a majority of our time on house and moving preparations. fortunately, we have had a little friend time sprinkled in (although never quite enough).
grayson, caleb and reece joined us at watermark's playgroup last week. it was so nice just to get to catch up with friends!! for the most part, the kids shared and played nicely together (see sundee's post). bailey and caleb got into a power struggle over a jump rope and with the encouragement of kirsten and sundee, lindsey and i nervously tried to see what would happen if we didn't intervene. they screamed and pulled and whined furiously at each other for over 5 minutes without much hitting and with no one willing to give in. aside that (and an accident, arrrrg), it was some great time with great friends. who knew almost 3 hours at an outdoor playground in 90 degree plus weather in texas could be so refreshing!

this last picture is more representative of what we have been doing. a lot of errands and a lot of time spent playing alone at our apartment. bailey is getting more and more interested in building things with her blocks. she did this castle all by herself and was pretty proud of it. i'm incredibly grateful that she can actually entertain herself for a while.

so, that's it. expect long delays in posting as 1) i'm not taking many pictures and 2) blogging takes time!

we move in 2 weeks

8 Locks of Love

i finally did it. i cut my hair and made an 8 ponytail donation to locks of love.

it's something i've thought about doing for a long time but was always too scared to actually do. i sorta felt like a little bit of my identity was in my hair. being pregnant in the texas heat and chasing around an almost 3 year old tipped me over the edge. my hair had become too difficult to keep up with. i never felt like it looked good unless i spent a lot of time on it (which i never, ever, ever did) and it's just a pain to have long hair. i thought, why do i have this high-maintenance hair if it doesn't even look good? that's when i started to seriously consider and research locks of love.

so, i when i went in to get my hair cut and highlighted today, i didn't think that my hair qualified quite yet (it has to be 10 inches of non-bleached hair and the lady who highlighted my hair before denise used bleach), so i was surprised when denise said she could do it (since she highlights my hair with color, not bleach). i would have put some make-up on and taken more before, during and after pictures if i knew for sure i was going to cut it all off. my mom and grandma are going to be so excited.

it hasn't really sunk in yet and i don't love or hate my new hair. it's just new and different. it hasn't been this short in almost 20 years.

i'll take more pictures when i feel like putting on make-up.

(p.s. i promise i am not trying to become mini-sundee. i guess great minds just think alike!)

Since we've been back

wow, we have been busy around here! poor bailey has spent most of her time lately in the car or in boring furniture, paint, lighting or hardware stores. we haven't really had a chance to catch up with friends, especially now that it is summer and we aren't enrolled in a single thing. billy and i have been spending all of our time trying to pick out things for the house, organize moving and updating plans and relaying that info to david, who is doing a great job with it all. i had no idea how exhausting it would be to get all of this done but i know i will really be pleased when we can finally settle down in our new home :)

my saving grace these past two days has been the pool at our apartment and it's ability to completely wipe my beautiful child out. settling down for naps hasn't been a issue on the days that we swim, which is phenomenal.

my sweet girl has had nobody but my boring lame self to play with in the pool. we are really ready for school to be out just to liven up the place, not to mention having michelle and kayleigh just begging us to play with them :)

i continue to be impressed with bailey's love for the water. billy showed her how to blow bubbles and she has no problems getting all around the pool, though she still prefers my help. she even asks me to help dunk her under a few times during each visit! if i can ever get my act together, swim lessons are definitely in order.

that's it. she just woke up and i have no idea how we are going to occupy our time until our last beloved pizza night at the apartment office.

friends who are in town, we'd love to play!!!! i just haven't been organized enough to schedule anything enough in advance.

See, I was there too

here are the only 2 pictures of me on vacation that i have. neither are great, but they aren't horrible either. guess that's what happens when you are the mom.

my mom took some family shots on our last day and i'll post them whenever i get them.