Details

So...we're pregnant!  It feels great!

When we were pregnant with Hollie...wow...is there any bigger shock than a surprise first pregnancy two seconds after you get home from the honeymoon?  Looking back, I think we were pretty much in that state of shock until the moment she was born, and then we said well okay, here we go, and slid easily into parent life.  Maybe we got a little excited about it toward the end of the pregnancy, but in the back of your mind is still this horrifying sense of your life being turned upside-down and saying goodbye, at twenty-one, to all the fun and freedom of young adulthood.

Sorry, I shouldn't talk about it like that (we obviously fell head-over-heels for Hollie and haven't looked back).  It's just that the contrast between that pregnancy and this one could not be greater.  We're excited to be excited about this!  We're a family now and it's working for us, and we can't wait to add to the mix.

So...it feels great.  Except for a few things...

Morning sickness.  I got up to about week 7 or so without feeling sick at all, until BOOM, I'm suddenly losing my dinner.  Prescription zofran in helping, and my appetite is coming back.  I still have this slight queasiness that's pretty much constant, but at least I can function.

I am tired.  Wiped out.  All the time.  Poor Hollie is has been so patient but I know sometimes she gets bored to tears, and then this happens...

Occasionally I get these little bursts of energy, and I run to the store for some groceries and get Hollie out for a walk and put away some laundry and some dishes and clean the house up a little, and then collapse.
 
I know everyone always wants to know what pregnancy women are craving, so here you go:
Buffalo wings (just took a break to go get some...I'm back now, and typing with my pinkies)
Cheetos
Ice cream
Onion rings

That's pretty much it.  Can't wait to get some energy (and appetite for healthy foods) back in the second trimester... 

I don't know if Hollie senses what's happening or what, but she has become very interested in my belly.  She always wants to lift my shirt to see it, and touch it, and even kiss it.  Daniel tried to tell her that there's a baby in there, so sometimes she points to it and says "baby!" but I don't know if she really understands.  She will, soon enough.

Daniel has been incredibly helpful.  When Hollie wakes up early, he makes breakfast for her before he leaves for work, to give me time to shower, because I cannot do anything in the morning until I shower.  So far he's been obliging my cravings for really unhealthy dinners.  He's the best.  :)

We went to see our new OB, Dr. J., at 8 weeks.  He didn't want to try and get a heartbeat yet (it might still be too early), but after a quick feel of my belly he said, "Well, something's growing in there!"  He is an older guy, pretty laid-back, and he flat-out told me that he won't induce my unless he sees a real need to, and I'll be in control of my labor.  He said (more or less), "Heck, you can run laps, get in the bath, squat in a corner and meditate, or you can get an epidural and watch TV, whatever you want."  He's a little strange, but I like him.

That's all for now!  We go back to the OB at 12 weeks, so we'll update then, if not sooner.  

Also, see this edit to my last post...

Vocabulary and other updates...

I haven't been in the mood for creative titles lately.  We have been going a mile-a-minute around here lately and my creativity is way past running on fumes.  I do want to update you on a few more words that Hollie is saying...

Water - Woggy (rhymes with froggy)

Fish - 'ish.  She only recognizes the fish that are still alive.  I get the blank stare when I try to tell her that it's also fish we're eating.

Go - Gogogogogo!

Up 

Aaaaaa-men! - This one needs explaining.  We have this little book with a short kid's prayer, and a button that will play a kid's voice reciting it, and at the end Hollie chimes in with the long, drawn-out aaaaaa-men!    

She's also fine-tuning (i.e. expanding) her use of no.  Hello, toddlerhood, we've arrived.

I love getting to record all these tiny details of what Hollie's doing and learning, and I have a great fear that I won't do the same for our future children because we'll have seen it all before.  I guess this has been weighing on my mind a little, and I've been convincing myself that I will record just as many of the the tiny details of our next child's life because I got one of these the other day...

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Tomorrow I will be 9 weeks, and due June 30th, 2011!

I promise my next post will have all the details.  :)

Post-publication edit (11/30/10): I have another equally great fear, which is that when the next baby is born I will stop updating you on Hollie.  Being a mother of two will certainly be the balancing act of all time!  

Ladybug

Lately, my camera has actually been in a good mood (knock on wood) and I've gotten some great photos of Hollie doing various silly things.

Okay Mom, get it off now please!

Blurry

 As promised, here are some of those photos that capture the blur of toddlerhood.

Disclaimer: These might give you a headache.

Trying on Momma's underwear.  As in, finding out how many pairs can be worn at once...

Hope you enjoyed them!

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 You know, while I'm at it, here are some other - less blurry - pictures I've been meaning to post...

I hope you guys aren't getting tired of food pics.  'Cuz I'm not. :)

 

 

 Revamping her Halloween costume (with one glove, plus hat from last year's costume, minus ballerina shoes)...

Can I use the same excuse as last time?

We've been busy?

Daniel has been having a crazy time at work (he had to work this past weekend, and one day earlier this week he worked like eleven hours).

So, if I were to fill you in on life, it would be the little things like...

...Hollie's new fascination with armpits.

...Hollie's unwavering conviction that if her teeth have to get brushed at bedtime, so do Mommy's.

...Hollie chasing the ducks at the park yelling, "Quack-quack-quack!" and doing the sign for "duck" with both hands.

...Hollie moving all of her dinner from her plate to the table, smiling, and signing "all done".

...Hollie bringing me her cup to hold while she drinks out of it.

...Our new hole in the basement ceiling.  The ceiling (which we put up ourselves just a few months ago) was sagging a little, so rather than wait a few years until it's sagging a lot and there's furniture and stuff in there, Daniel decided to just fix it now...by removing a big ol' chunk, installing reinforcements, and putting it back up.

A work in progress

...The new Panda Express, the first in Wichita, will be opening right near our house.  That's one of those places we miss from Arizona.  Bye-bye, healthy eating.  :(

...Hollie's growing vocabulary.  She says doggie really well, and she sometimes calls me Mommy (which came out of the blue...I didn't teach her that!), and also
    shoes - shoosh
    juice - 'oosh
    snack - 'nack
    cheese - random consonant followed by -eesh
No sentences yet.  And she still just babbles a lot.   Even with all the new words she's learning I still only understand about 2% of what she says. 

...Hollie tempting fate and raising Mommy's heart rate by learning to jump on her bed. 

...Mommy-daughter dance parties.

...Hollie laying a diaper out on the floor, sitting on it, and trying to put it on herself.

...Hollie pulling her arm into the sleeve of her long-sleeved shirt and saying "Uh-oh!"

...Hollie locking the bathroom door from the inside.  She wasn't inside herself (thank goodness), which makes it all the more baffling because that door swings inward, so she had to pull it closed from the outside.  Never would have thought she could do that.  Then the next day she does it again with her bedroom door.

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I think there may have been one or two things in there that didn't have to do with her.  That's good, right?

Not to mention, we just got back from a trip to see my family in Phoenix for our ASU homecoming game, and also Halloween!

Daniel and I were in the ASU marching band (that's how we met! Cue: awww), so along with 100 or so other band alums we participated in the pregame show alongside the current band.  Always a good time.  Getting free tickets to the game doesn't hurt either, even if they are nose-bleeds and we're technically "on the clock" and have to play occasionally throughout the game.

Hollie-bear tagged along to the rehearsal...

She's checking out my mellophone (Daniel played trombone).

Also, as I mentioned, Halloween!  Hollie was a ballerina.  It was the only thing we could do without buying anything (even though I ended up buying some ballet shoes) and also because she loves wearing this tutu that she got from Daniel's parents for her birthday (eight-ish months ago?  Can't believe it still fits), so we didn't have to worry about her taking it off.

Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures except these, of her eating dinner and faithful old Duke waiting patiently for the inevitable fistfuls of broccoli to come down at his feet.   

I do have some other great photos that I've taken since we've been back, but this post has gotten too long already, so I'll get those up later.  Hopefully this week.

Happy Friday-eve!