Swelling...

Ugh... it has begun.   Both hands and feet are slightly swollen...  I didn't miss this.   More water and elevated feet begin.  I hope I can wear my wedding ring until the end this time... lol

18 Weeks today

18 Weeks today.  Baby Ackerman #2 is about the size of a sweet potato now.  I can definitely feel the little one kicking and flipping around in there.  :) I'm also showing now, big time. I feel like I should be telling people I'm about 24 weeks along but oh well.  They say you show more with  your second, well,  "they" were right!

I have some energy back now.  Not as much as I had when I wasn't pregnant but it's better than it was in the 1st trimester.  However, it seems the pelvic/groin/pubic bone pain is here to stay.  I'm going to bring it up again to the doctor at my next appointment; but it seems to be normal.  Goodness it's horrible... and combining that with my crunchy knee... I feel somewhat handicapped and waddly already.  Sigh.

Our anatomy ultrasound is on June 4th and my next dr. appointment is on June 6th.  Looking forward to seeing the little one some more :)

This Friday we're leaving for Boyne Falls (Up north) for a week.  We are so excited! Dave and I definitely need a break from work and everything else.  It will be so nice to just relax and spend time as a family.  Missy and Deron will be heading up on Sunday afternoon to join us for the rest of the week in our adjoining 1 bedroom unit.  The weather will be in the high 60s for the majority of the week.  Not quite as warm as I was hoping (we wanted to get some pool time in) but maybe it will feel warmer than it's projected to be. 

16.5 Weeks Pregnant

Here's a picture of the belly :) sorry for the poor quality.

14 Weeks

Had my doctor's appointment this morning.  All is going well. Little one's heartbeat was right around 140-150 so it has come down a little bit since my first appointment on March 29th (it was at 160 then). 

For the most part most of my symptoms are gone... I'm still somewhat tired but not nearly has bad as it was earlier. During Oliver rehearsals I was dealing with some pubic bone pain which has since subsided for the most party... probably just overdoing it, etc.

I also woke up a few mornings ago with HORRIBLE pain in my ankle that then turned into swelling (which still hasn't gone away yet though the pain has subsided for the most part).  So I talked to my doctors and they informed me that it could be a blood clot and that I should go to the emergency room.  Very annoying... especially considering i'm 80% sure it's a tendon issue from my previous ankle surgery.  So I went... spent 6 hours of my life in the ER to find out that I didn't have a blood clot... which I'm happy about.. except I could have spent that time at home.  So ankle is still swollen...doesn't really hurt anymore... who knows what's going on.

While at the ER however I did see a couple little babies and that made me excited about this little one on the way :)  Yay!

Second little Ackerman is on that way...

(this portion was written on March 11th, 2013)
I'm back...and 8 weeks pregnant again! We're thrilled and very much looking forward to October.  I think it'll be a great month to have a baby.  It's my favorite time of year :)

Well, this time around is MUCH different than my pregnancy with Ethan.  I pretty much have every symptom I can think of: All the time sickness (morning my foot!), bloat (it seems like I'm already showing...so wrong), heartburn, headaches, EPIC fatigue, etc. etc. etc. The symtoms have been a constant reminder that I'm pregnant, and maybe that's what I need with how busy I am? However, being constantly ill and tired makes it hard to be excited about being pregnant.  I'm praying that once this 1st trimester is over that I will be back to normal.

Rant time...It's impossible for me to be showing at 8 weeks considering the baby is the size of a raspberry right now.  However, because of how bloated I am, I am no longer able to button any of my work pants or jeans. It's a real self-esteem boost...not.  We're not really telling too many people until we have our first doctor's appointment on the 29th of March (just so that we can make sure everything is okay)... but the wardrobe has changed significantly and I'm pretty sure some people are going to catch on if they haven't already... oh well.  I'm going to miss my wardrobe... my maternity wardrobe is not exciting... sigh. 

I don't want it to seem like I'm constantly complaining... I am so happy and thankful... I'm just irritable and uncomfortable... it will pass.  If anything I suppose I was due...my pregnancy with Ethan was a breeze (minus the whole getting majorly fat part haha).

On March 29th I had my first prenatal appointment.  All is well. :)  I saw the little him/her on ultrasound and the heartrate was right at 160 (same as Ethan's first ultrasound).  Our next appointment is April 25th.

Today (April 15th) I am 13 weeks along. The baby is about the size of a peach :)  The morning sickness has subsided for the most part and heartburn has taken over.  I'm still feeling pretty tired but I think that has to do with our rehearsal schedule for Oliver.  We open this weekend so once we close I think it'll get much better. 

I'm still undecided if I want to find out the sex.  We loved the anticipation and surpise with Ethan...but at the same time I'm a little more impatient and want to know... especially if it's a girl :)  We'll see.  I have a month to decide. 

I pulled out my pregnancy journal from Ethan's baby box and read this morning that I'm officially 10 lbs lighter right now than I was at 13 weeks with Ethan... I'm pretty pumped about that! :) 

Time is flying by

Oh goodness ... I'm very behind.

Ethan turned 1 (I still can't believe it) on August 20th. It was also Dave's 31st birthday so we had a nice little party at our house. Our closest friends and family were there and it went very well (minus the downpour of rain about half way through). Ethan is such a blessed little boy and Dave and I are truly so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family in our lives :) Thank you to everyone who came and shared our special day with us. Ethan LOVED his cake as you can tell from the picture and ate almost the entire thing... I changed blue diapers for two days... TMI...but pretty funny haha.

Ethan and I flew down to visit family (Nana, Grandpa, Aunt Laurie, Aunt Gerry, Kelsey, & Derek) in Texas over Labor Day weekend and had a blast! It was wonderful seeing family I don't get to spend time with very often. we miss them.

Ethan is 14 months old now. He loves to explore everything and he's VERY close to walking. He of course walks along things and behind his truck at home with perfect and cute precision. He'll also stand for a few seconds without holding onto anything as he's distracted by a toy in his hand...until he realizes what he's doing and either grabs back on to what he was standing next to or falls on is bum (never ceasing to examine the toy). So we're close lol... yikes! As Nana says... "Time to get out the roller skates."

We're also starting to deal with mini tantrums. Oh what fun. He gets VERY frustrated if something isn't going according to his plan (hmmm wonder where he gets that from...) Though I will say... he's even cute when he's angry :) I say that now... haha (I know parents out there are laughing "just you wait" haha).

Ethan has quite a few teeth and has many more on their way in right now...poor guy. I'm so glad that we don't remember the teething stage... it must be awful. :(

It is back to that favorite time of year again... FALL!! We've already been to the apple orchard and we're going again this weekend with the Ackermans as a first annual tradition :) In a couple weeks we will be celebrating Ethan's second Halloween. He's going to be the cutest Lion ever :) I put him in his costume periodically just because it's just so darn cute! We're not sure if we're taking him out, passing out candy (though we never have had many trick-or-treaters in the past), hanging with family or friends... but we'll see how the weather is and go from there. I'll be sure to post pictures!! His costume parade at school is on Tuesday (the 25th)!!

And in exactly 2 weeks and 3 days we will be flying to DISNEY WORLD!!! We are so pumped!!! We're praying for continued health during this cold and flu season and for travel mercies :) And I'm sure we'll have way too many pictures to share :)

Stats: 23.4lbs and 31 inches long.

11 Months

One month away from a year...that's just craziness! Ethan is getting so big and his development is whizzing by...I feel like every day he does something else to make me say... "Dave! Look ... did you see him __________". So much fun! (let me tell you... keeping him in his chair for his month pictures is nearly impossible...only one more picture to go! lol)

We're in the process of planning his low-key 1st birthday bash with immediate family and close friends :) We didn't want to do anything too over the top. Just something small and fun :) (Daddy will be 31!)

Ethan is now starting to try and stand on his own... and making huge strides in balance... he climbs the stairs no problem and when he sees something he wants (whether he's supposed to or not) he's off in a flash. Yesterday I had my first moment of "Ummm why is it so quiet... where's Ethan...? Hey...what are you doing?" haha. Many more to come I'm sure.

I think my favorite milestone from the last couple weeks is...dancing?... oh my goodness it's so darn cute. His little toys he stands up at play music and he'll stand there ... listen for a sec ...and then start to bounce up and down... and then with some embarrassing encouragement (it's amazing what you do to get your kids to laugh or dance around) from us will continue to do so and smile. SO CUTE! Love it! I look forward to our family dance parties in the living room :)

Ethan is officially off formula and bottles now. He transitioned beautifully! We're so blessed! About 3 weeks ago he stopped wanting to drink his bottles ... so I talked to his pediatrician and he said to go ahead and start whole milk. I contemplated how I was going to wean him from bottles and then decided (after doing some reading) that we were just going to take a Saturday and try cold turkey and see how he does... He did great! He loves his milk in his sippy cup. The challenge now is trasitioning myself! Bottles were a pain in the butt but that's all you had to worry about. I'm now retraining my routine to keep him hydrated with enough water and milk and make sure I'm feeding him the appropriate amount of each food group each day to make sure he's nurished properly...that's a lot to think about! It shouldn't be very hard considering the child will basically eat whatever I put in front of him... we're doing well so far :)

We love our little man so much and can't wait to celebrate our whirlwind of a year next month! :) Pictures to come!!