December 23rd is going to be a big day!!

Two wonderful things are going to happen on December 23rd...the first being that my little baby boy is going to be a 1 year old! Ahh can you believe it?! The next thing is Daniel, Hunter, and I will be finding out if we will be completing our family with a baby boy or girl! I'm so happy to finally know a date to look forward to seeing my baby bean!

My appointment went great today. I've lost another 3 pounds, but I swear I'm eating enough and taking my vitamins so I think I'm going to follow the same pattern with Hunter's pregnancy and just not gain the bulk of the weight until the end. My belly is getting bigger every day it seems like so I'm not sure where I'm losing this weight from...maybe my hips and thighs! :) Also, I talked to my OB about tying my tubes during my c-section since Daniel and I both agree that we do not want anymore kids after baby #2. She agreed to do it thank goodness! I was kind of worried that she would say no since I'm 23, but she said if that's what I wanted, I would have to sign a waiver and everything would be good to go! Although I love Hunter and future baby bean to the moon and back, 2 kids is plenty for us!

Hunter is growing like a weed! He eats everything we give to him...well everything except peas. He is eating more and more people food and enjoys every minute of it! He has been on the same nap routine for about 5 months now and recently it seems like he is trying to eliminate one of the naps. I'm not sure if it's his teeth bothering him or if he really is ready to just go down to 1 nap a day. :( I miss my little baby that would lay in my arms and fall asleep for a good portion of the day. I guess it's a good thing another little one will be coming home in just a few short months. I won't know what to do with myself once baby #2 is Hunter's age! What an exciting and fun time that will be. I can't wait to see how Hunter reacts to being a big brother!

24 days until Hunter's safari themed 1st birthday party!

Night Shift with my lil Scarecrow!

I know I'm a little late with Halloween, but it's been so busy around here since Daniel switched to night shift. My favorite lil guy dressed up as a scarecrow for the big event and helped me pass out candy to our neighborhood trick or treater's. He had alot of fun even though he got scared by an Optimus Prime costume, but only because the boy was wearing a mask that disguised his voice to sound like a robot. He looked at the robot, looked at me, looked at the robot, then back at me with the saddest looking face I'd ever seen and then the tears came. He loved all the other neighborhood kids though. We will most likely take him out next year (with 2nd baby in tow!) but thought this year with him just mastering how to walk that it would wear mom and dad out. :)

We are down to 3 bottles a day with 3 meals/snacks and I'm so proud of my big boy. He did great with the transistion and I'm hoping within the next 2 weeks, we'll take out another bottle so he'll be down to 2 a day. I'm really hoping between 12-13 months that he will transistion from the bottle to the sippy cup and we'll also switch from formula to cow's milk.

In baby bean news, I'm feeling fantastic!! Whew, I didn't think I would ever make it out of the nausea-exhaustion phase. After 8 long weeks, I've gotten some of my energy back and my appetite is slowly returning! With Hunter, I craved SO many spicy chicken sandwiches (it was ridiculous, just ask Daniel lol) and with this baby all I want is sour Skittles or any fruity candy. I also crave ice cold water, but I craved that with Hunter too. It's neat to compare the 2 pregnancies and to be going through this again. We can now hear the baby's heartbeat almost every night on our home doppler and I feel kicks/movement atleast 3-4 times a week. We should be finding out the sex in 5-6 weeks! I can't believe I'm making a baby from scratch, it's such an amazing part of life!

We made it through the first long weekend on night shift and now we only have 3 more to go! Actually, Daniel has training to become a field training officer Nov 16th-20th so he will be working days that week and will have off that Fri and Sat night so we technically only have 2 more long weekends to go! Woot woot! Hopefully in January when he goes back on day shift, we will be able to getaway for a night and just relax. I'm so excited because he said he would take off a few weeks when baby #2 comes in May. He was able to take off 3 weeks when Hunter was born to help me after my c-section and he pretty much took care of Hunter while I recooperated. Every now and then, I have little panic attacks of how in the world am I going to take care of 2 under 2 after a c-section. He always calms my fears and reassures me. :) So it looks like if all goes as planned, he'll be here for a few weeks to help me out with Hunter and baby #2. I'm a lucky girl! I LOVED the 3 weeks we got to spend as a family right after Hunter was born, we all got to bond and not worry about anything else. Hopefully, the same will be true with baby #2!

32 days til Hunter's safari themed 1st birthday party!!