Baby Bump - Month 5

How far along?  20 weeks

Gender:  GIRL

We can't wait to meet our little princess in August! 

It's a GIRL!

Our sweet baby girl waving hi to us :)

Feeling:   My growing bump and very active 14 month old have been tough on my back.  I had a little soreness toward the end of my pregnancy with Addie, but nothing like this!  Apparently crawling around on the floor with Addie and carrying her around 24/7 aren't good activities for my back, but also are far from avoidable.  Some days I feel like an 80 year old woman when I get out of bed! My only other complaint right now is I've started getting some heartburn here and there, if we are lucky that only means our baby girl will be blessed with a full head of hair when she's born just like her big sis :)

Maternity Clothes: Yes and as the weather continues to get warmer my long sleeve shirts and sweaters just aren't cutting it anymore.  It looks like I will be going on a shopping spree very soon for some warm weather clothes!

Sleep: I'm still sleeping really well, but with all of my back pain I have gotten out my pregnancy pillow which seems to help a little.  Plus, our sweet Addie girl has started sleeping in more on the weekends - I'm talking between 9-10am sleeping in, so that makes for one happy mommy.  Even if I can't sleep in that late anymore it's nice to wake up and relax a little before Addie gets up.  I know sleep with a newborn is pretty non-existent at least in the very beginning, so I am really treasuring my sleep these days.

Favorite Moments:

-Finding out that Baby #2 is a GIRL!  Girls are the best and we are thrilled for Addie to have a little sister so close in age!  They will be best friends at times and worst enemies at times, but we can't wait to watch them interact with one another!

-Now that we know she's a GIRL, we've started shopping (I had to splurge a little!) and preparing for her arrival which makes me very, very excited!  It always seems more real to me when we can stop referring to the baby as "IT" and start calling her by her name.  I cannot believe that we are already half way there and I cannot wait to hold our sweet girl in my arms in August.

-I felt you for the first time this month and a week or so later your dad felt you for the first time.  Feeling baby kicks is one of my favorite things about being pregnant!

Bunny Fun & Egg Dying

I love the holidays and all of the fun activities that come along with them!  Some are usually a hit and some are a miss with our fun loving 14 month old Addie girl.  This year, we were one for two I would say.  You were NOT a fan of the Easter bunny, I really don't blame you, but you still looked adorable regardless is your blue lace dress - tears and all!  Luckily, we decided to see the Easter bunny on a weekday right after dinner time, so it was just a quick wait followed by a quick picture and a quick cry!  Dying eggs was  a completely different story!  You LOVED it!  Apparently, your love for slam dunking the ball in your toy basketball hoop carried over into this activity as you would take the egg and slam dunk it into the cup and then clap for yourself.  It was hilarious.  We did end up with a cracked egg or two and a very colorful child in the end, but it was all worth watching you love every minute of it.

Easter Sunday

Our Easter was full of fun, family, and lots of food.  My family was in town for the weekend - Grandma, Pap, and Aunt Kristen came in Thursday night and Uncle Brian and Carla came Friday night.  It was a beautiful Sunday morning and we were all up early for a Castello favorite, eggs benedict, for breakfast before we headed to 11:00 mass.  Anyone who knows my family, knows that we are never on time, ever.  I am proud to say that all 9 of us were sitting in church not only on time, but early!  It's a Castello miracle!  Normally, I would say it's a good thing to arrive at a crowded mass with time to spare, but that just meant we had an extra 15 minutes to entertain our very active, noisy toddler.  Overall, Addie was pretty good.  But, she is only 14 months old and on the move.  We read books, ate goldfish, passed her around, walked in and out several times, smiled and waved at everyone around us (that all took about 10 minutes, so we repeated all of that about 8 times)...it was a workout!  We made it though and without any major meltdowns, so I would say that it was a success.  When we got home we took some family pictures and then little Miss Addie did an amazing job finding her Easter basket.  This year she got a toy xylophone, bunny book, new pajamas, crayons, some chalk and bubbles, fruit and veggie pouches, and plastic eggs filled with goldfish.  I think out of all of her goodies, the pouches were her favorite as she said yumm every time she looked at them!  She also loved banging on her new xylophone and making some music!  After all of our Easter Sunday fun, it was time for some lunch and a quick nap.  I say quick because Uncle Brian thought it was a good idea to wake up our exhausted toddler after only an hour so he and Carla could spend some more time with her before they left.  So that we did, we woke her up, and then met everyone down on the boardwalk at the oceanfront for a little (that is after a 25 minute car ride with a screaming toddler!)  Once we arrived she cheered up, we spent some quality time hanging out at the fire pit table because the breeze made it a little chilly, and then said our goodbyes to Uncle Brian and Carla.  We ended the day with a cookout, some Notre Dame women's basketball, and finally getting around to dying Easter eggs.  

Life's a ZOO

Lions and tigers and bears...OH MY!  That was the theme of the day when we took Addie to the Zoo for the very first time.  Kristen would say "Lion and tigers and bears" and you would yell "OH MY" with a huge grin on your face.  It was absolutely adorable.  Unfortunately, we only saw 1 of the 3 on our trip.  The tigers were MIA and there's no bears at the Norfolk Zoo, which was kind of upsetting because the polar bears exhibit is one of my favorites at the Pittsburgh Zoo.  The lions made up for it though by putting on quite the performance for us, a sort of Lion King reenactment I guess you could say.  You were in awe as we walked around and looked at the animals.  You pointed and made noises and waved at some of your favorites.  Others were jaw dropping and you just gave them a blank stare because they looked so different from the only animal you are familiar with, your big brother Cooper!  It was a beautiful day and we had a blast!

Pretty scenery, with a zebra and rhino hidden in there somewhere

One of our favorites were the giraffes.  They got up close and personal with the crowd.

We were so happy Aunt Krissy was able to join us on our trip to the zoo!

Hi Mr. Elephant!

Simba is that you?

You waved at the lions too, probably thinking they were Cooper.

Be careful Daddy!

All smiles with your best bud.

Family pic

Zoo - 1 Addie - 0, until next time....

We have a walker!

Addie took her first steps when she was right around 13 months old.  I have always been worried about missing milestones while I was at work and it's funny how things work out sometimes.  Addie's daycare was closed for several days in the beginning of March and Eric and I were starting to get frustrated with finding someone to watch Addie.  I was out of sick days, so on days that I stayed home with her they were unpaid sick days.  Little to say I was a little bit upset when I got the email that it would be yet another day until daycare would re-open.  Of course I was happy that I got to spend the day at home with our little girl, but disappointed that it would be another unpaid day.  Well everything happens for a reason and Addie took her very first steps on that very same day.  We practiced a little and then with a little bribing using the cell phone and pacifier, Addie was ready to show off for Daddy when he got home and she hasn't looked back since!

Eric's Birthday

We had a fun time celebrating Eric's birthday this month.  Addie and I planned a whole day of events!  It started with a fun Daddy-Daughter date to Kangaroo Jack's followed by a family lunch at one of Eric's favorite spots, Joe's Crab Shack.  Eric even went all out with a shark bite drink!  We went home to relax, then ended our evening with a Mexican themed dinner and peanut butter pie birthday cake.  Of course a birthday is not complete without presents.  I got Eric some golf lessons and Addie painted Eric his very own golf bag pencil holder for his desk at work.  All in all it was a blast!

Baby Bump - Month 4

My growing bump!

Just like Mommy!

How far along?  17 weeks

Gender:  Unknown and honestly I can't decide what I think.  My symptoms are so different than when I was pregnant with Addie, it makes me automatically think it's a BOY.  But, there are still several things that are the same and I know every pregnancy is different, so a GIRL is still a possibility.

Here's the breakdown according to Old Wive's Tales:

Heartbeat - above 140 at 167 - GIRL
Cravings - SWEETS - GIRL
Chinese Calendar - GIRL
Morning Sickness - No - BOY
Headaches - Undecided - a lot in the 1st trimester - BOY- not too many lately - GIRL
My gender dreams - BOY (This was my deciding factor for Addie, I was convinced she was a girl and I was right!)
Carrying - low - BOY
Skin - GIRL
Sleep - both sides BOY or GIRL

Eric's prediction: Girl
My prediction: Boy
Addie's prediction (based on choosing pink or blue chalk): Boy

We can't wait until April 3rd to finally find out....stay tuned!

Feeling:  I love being in the 2nd trimester!  I've gotten my energy back, my headaches have subsided, and I just feel much more like myself.  I love watching my little bump grow and cannot wait to see if Baby H is a boy or a girl.  Ohh the perks of the 2nd trimester :)

Maternity Clothes: Yes!  I'm still living in leggings, avoiding jeans, and loving that the weather has been warming up and I can wear my flip flops again!

Sleep: No complaints here.  I am usually exhausted after a long day of work, household duties, and chasing after Addie that I have no problem sleeping at night...although I am sure that this will change the farther along I get.  My pregnancy pillow is on stand-by and ready when needed!

Favorite Moments:

-Our 2nd ultrasound that we had around 13 weeks - it's amazing how much has changed in a few short weeks (Our last ultrasound was at 8 weeks!)  I love seeing all of your little parts and hearing that you are a healthy, growing baby.  Addie and Eric came too and Addie loved waving at the screen.  She is going to be such a great big sister :)

-It's been a lot of fun to share our news with the world!  I have never been a fan of keeping secrets and this one was especially difficult to keep, so I have really enjoyed having it out in the open.

-Although this isn't related to Baby #2, one of the best moments of the last month was that Addie started WALKING!  Like I said, not related to pregnancy, but definitely a huge milestone and worth sharing!