I realize I should have posted this forever ago, but here is Baby #2’s first photo.

This is about 7 weeks, and I am now over 4 months.

Yea, I have felt good for two days in a row now. I’m not sure what that means for this blog, but so much has gone on this summer with lots of cutie pics. I really hope to start posting soon. I’m not even sure anyone is still checking back, since I have been so lax for so long. I saw my OB on Monday and told her all of my issues. She recommended a change in one med, but after we listened to my sweet baby’s heartbeat, she smiled at me and said, “Sorry honey, you are just having a lousy second pregnancy.” A lot of people tell me that means it is a girl. We will find out next month. My OB is awesome, she also turned therapist on me for a second after I told her how guilty I was feeling for not loving every moment of this pregnancy like I did with my first, and she gently stated, “It is okay to say you hate this pregnancy; it means nothing to how you feel toward the little one growing inside you. ” That was so nice to hear..cuz up to this point I have just felt fat and tired not pregnant. This may be a little bit more soul bearing then I intended but to all of those who read this I know I can be real. I’d love your prayers for a continued path of feeling better.

I have so much to write here. I have so much to share. I have so many pictures to upload. BUT I have so little energy. First trimester should end in about 2 weeks. Maybe then my energy will return and I will overwhelm you with all I have. June was a VERY busy month. Thanks to all of you for your well wishes…things are going well, saw the heartbeat back at the beginning of June and now I’m just dealing with a lot of all day yuck and nausea. Soon, I will have some good stuff soon.

My hubbie has had this truck since he was 16. Well not always in his possession. Sometime after highschool, he got a red chevy blazer. His dad held onto the truck and used it for hauling wood. His Dad was an amazing wood worker, always creating something. We have a patio set, adirondack chairs, and a bird house, built for us by him. Six months into marriage, we got into an accident and the blazer was totaled. OH I loved that vehicle. Anyway his dad handed lance the keys to the truck once more while we went car hunting. Before we found one, his dad passed away, and we inherited the truck. It had no power steering and was very scary to drive in any winter conditions. It was also a manual, so I never had the pleasure of driving it. Since that point, 4 and a half years ago, we have had 3 vehicles. The truck never really got driven, and at its latest inspection we were told it needed some major brake work. This week we decided it was time to open up the space in the garage, so we donated the truck to charity. Sad to say goodbye for Lance, it was his first car. Exciting for Lance, for the first time in 4 1/2 years he gets to park in the garage.

…..to all of you who are and to all of you who will be. I love being a mommy. Every moment of every day he makes me smile. He has recently started running and hugging me so hard around the neck it is like a choke hold. Then there are the moments he walks up and plants a slobbery wet kiss right on my lips. I love to hear him run though the house yelling ma-ma-ma or his arms raised high in the air “up(u) up(u)”. (Not sure why he adds the short u sound.)

There is just something amazing as I see him grow to think that 18+ months ago he was this tiny little bundle wrapped in a blanket, wrinkly, and red. 9 months before that he was a little bitty dot on an ultrasound machine. Pretty sure the first time I saw him he was a speck of dust on the screen, but when the doctor printed out the picture it was still there.

Please walk down memory lane with me.

Only time I was okay with a big belly

My mom and I looking down at my little man

First Cardinal’s game

Trip to Disney World

1st trip to the beach/1st trip w/o Daddy

Halloween 1 yr and 5 days old

Easter…Mommy’s little man

We live pretty close to the Meramec River; this is the first flood that has directly effected me. On Easter Sunday the river had swelled over a major piece of road nearby. We had to reroute our path to church…nothing compared to all the people whose houses were covered, and they were rerouting their lives. Just thought I would share a few pictures. If you click on any of these you will get the bigger versions.

Look closely that is Hwy 44 going over….see the traffic lights. This was our road to church.

This is the entrance ramp to the highway as well as an outer road to a few fast food places off to the right.

These are a ton of old businesses, and the water covered quite a few blocks beyond where I am standing before every getting to the river banks. The building behind Asher was lucky to be up on that hill, almost like its own little island. Notice the sandbags all around.

Another road we drive on all the time. Thankfully, though it got really close it never went over, just lapped the edges.

Had to sneak in a cutey one of the little man.

Had to sneak in a cutey one of the little man.

Our basement took a hit with all the rains in the last month. The Tuesday before Easter, Lance texts me at BSF to let me know we have a little water in the basement. Not but a few minutes later in comes another text…..”A lot of water.” I was helpless needing to stay and teach. He was at home putting our furniture up on blocks and peeling up carpet to start the floor pump going. (This happened once before, same situation where we just had a ton of moisture, unheard of for the normal monthly totals.) Lance monitored it all day and when our neighbor got home and saw the extended piping from the sump pump he called Lance and offered him another floor pump. It stayed an inch to 2 inches deep all afternoon and evening with the sump pump running and two floor pumps. We worked side by side into the night and went to bed hoping the pumps wouldn’t run dry. Lance got up every few hours to go the basement and check them. By morning the water had stopped coming through the floor, and we had a mess.

I can’t complain, people all over our city had water in their basements. By Easter weekend, a lot of people had water filling their homes and businesses. We opted to just rip out all the carpeting and start from scratch on the “finished side”. Thanks to family and friends who joined me Wednesday night and ripped up all the carpet and helped me haul it upstairs. We will eventually tile down there…then we have the empty canvas to finally do our basement with the Cardinal theme. When the old stadium was torn down I bought my husband seats….so they will get mounted as well. We are excited for the possibilities that the flooded basement has given us. My only complaint is that it will be a work of patience, and it had been Lance and I’s movie/Wii space. BUT none of our things were ruined, so the complaining stops here.