26 weeks

Oh Geez. The closer I get to 30 weeks, the more freaked out I get! I'm super excited to have Levi, but there is still lots to do. This weekend we will finish getting his nursery together. Or at least almost finish! I'm still searching for a chaise lounge to put in there. I am going to try to take it easy this weekend though. Last weekend I TOTALLY over did things and hurt so bad Sunday night. My whole body was achey and it hurt to move. I didn't think we really did that much, but I am pregnant. I just forget sometimes and over book our days and especially weekends! Plus, Eric is taking Algebra right now and needs my help. So we will have to get used to making more time for that. At least for the next 6 weeks until that class is over.

I had my diabetes test this week and it came back normal. Big relief. I really wasn't that worried I would have a problem, but I really fear that long 3.5 hour test! Lots of people have to take it that don't have gestational diabetes. One hour was long enough to walk around, keeping Brady entertained, on no caffeine! Momma needs her morning coffee! Even Brady knows when we pull in a Starbucks parking lot. He yells, “Coffee!!” Which is exactly where we went after my appointment ;) I feel like I should leave a disclaimer: I only drink two small cups each morning and then about 100-120 oz of water the rest of the day. This keeps my bladder happy and keeps me from swelling! I'm very pleased :) I had already reached the point of not being able to wear my wedding rings by probably 24 weeks pregnant with Brady.. Not so good! They still fit perfectly right now.

I've gained 22 lbs now. All I can do is compare my pregnancy to my other pregnancy. Nothing else! And I'm doing WAY better. I walk 4-6 miles on the treadmill each week. I mark it on the calender so I'm accountable. I drink tons of water. I watch my sodium and fat intake. No fast food! Those things are working for me. I compare pics each week to my pregnancy with Brady. BIG difference. Don't try to look for them on facebook.. they're private now ;) For good reason!

Brady and I are getting ready for his Preschool at our church to start on Tuesday. I'm so excited for him! I can't stop thinking about it and reading, ahem, rereading through all the paperwork. We met his teachers yesterday (they're great!) and saw his classroom (adorable!). It's the same room he is in for Sunday school. That helped A LOT! As soon as we walked in, he was down and playing with all the toys and totally comfortable. Ms. Lisa is also his Sunday school teacher! The routine of that will surely help us get used to things. Eric gets to come with us to drop Brady off on Tuesday morning! I'm so glad!

Brady and I are best buds and always together. It will be a huge adjustement for the both of us. They have a schedule they stick to every day and a new curriculum each month. So he will learn a lot, make new friends, and get used to listening to other adults and getting along with other kids when I'm not there. I get anxiety thinking about it, but I know he will be better for it! That's what matters. I don't wanna be a clingy mom! I trust our church and the teachers completely. That's a must!

There's also the bonus that I can now run errands, make doctor appointments, grocery shop, clean, and sleep on Tuesdays and Thursdays by.my.self! I don't remember what that's like!? I plan on making the most of the time before Levi gets here and then of course, I'll have 2 days a week with just Levi. That should help me transition to Mommy of 2 and keep Brady from being resentful that he's all cooped up because of the baby.

I'm planning out Levi's newborn pictures, which is so much fun! I didn't really plan much with Brady, I just let Melissa do her thing. This time, I know we've got to use Eric's cammies and blues. Do a few cute things since it's Christmas time and use Sugar :) It'll be fun for sure!

                                                       25 weeks

                                                      26 weeks

                                          Headed to Preschool Orientation!

                                                   His adorable shirt

23 weeks

Brady and I went to my appointment this morning. Levi is doing very well. He's perfectly healthy, measuring correctly, and has a strong heartbeat. He moves a TON! I'm always feeling jabs and pokes. Sometimes I jump because he loves shocking my bladder! Lol. I don't mind the constant peeing so much, but sometimes my bladder just aches :( But I've been drinking so much water that my bladder is hanging in there!

Other than always worrying about my bladder retention, I also have sciatic nerve pain. I did not experience this at all with Brady. It really surprised me to feel that sharp, pinching pain! I almost fell down it was so shocking and painful. Thankfully, it's been brief and only in the evening and night (so far anyway!) I think I'm carrying Levi A LOT lower than I carried Brady. That's just my theory!

Dr. Doan gave me the go ahead on attending the Marine Corps Ball this year!! :) Wouldn't normally need permission ;) But I will be 36 weeks and 1 day pregnant and the ball is in Galveston. Everything is going very well with this pregnancy and Galveston is only about 1 ½ or 2 hours away. Thank God I found a website with pretty maternity dresses at good prices. I was scared!! Being 6 feet tall and almost 9 months pregnant.. I thought a dress might just be impossible!

I go back on the 27 for my gestational diabetes test. By my next regular appointment, Brady will be in school =) I'm so excited for him! And me :) At today's appointment, Brady thought it was hilarious to take my flip flops off and put them in the magazine rack.. haha. I know it will be tough at first, since we have spent 2 years together all day, every day. But I know he will have a lot of fun, learn a lot, and make some good friends. Everyone that works at our church is so nice and wonderful to the kids. We picked up Brady from the nursery on Wednesday night after church and communion and Brady gave a big ol kissie to the lady who had been holding him. It was late and he was tired. She was so good to him. It's normally very difficult for me to leave Brady. And that's with family! Lol They make me feel great about it at church.

Levi's room is really coming along. We've got the furniture and bedding set up. The glider is in there. So is our deep freeze :/ Oops! Gotta find a new home for that!! Haha. This weekend, my goal is to get some clothes put away, find a new changing pad cover, get a little basket, spray paint the curtain rod, and get a new valance that matches :) Hobby Lobby & Target, here I come :)

                                                    Brady and his Bears :)

                                              Why didn't I move those boxes??

Brady's 2 Year Check Up

Well, we waited for 2 hours to see the doctor. I was NOT happy with that and the fact that no one told me they were running that far behind. I've been going to this office for 2 years though and normally have a much better time and love Brady's doctor. I usually make early morning appointments, but all they had was a 3 pm :/ So, I tried my best to be patient and understanding. Brady did VERY well and behaved himself even without getting a nap yesterday.

Once we finally saw the doctor, I was glad I waited around. Brady didn't need any shots this time and she said he's doing so well with everything. He talks a lot, and speaks very clearly for his age. She said he looks and speaks more like a 3 year old. Which is fantastic, but may be challenging. She said people may think he's older than he is and expect more from him. But she added that because he has such a cool and calm demeanor, it probably won't be much of an issue at all. In school, sometimes the bigger kids don't know how to play with the smaller kids, as in not knowing their own strength and such. I'll keep an eye on him, but he really doesn't have a rough bone in his body... yet ;)

Dr. Haney is no longer concerned about his weight gain issues. He's long and lean, but super healthy. I told her that Brady isn't quite as picky now and eats good amounts of food at each meal. Not as much as I've seem some boys eat, but he's doing great for Brady :) He's 37 inches tall and weighed 26 lbs. That's 96% for height and 14% for weight. Always opposite like that! Not to mention that weight was with his cloth diaper and clothes on..

The doctor also gave me great advice on potty training. I've started with showing Brady that his poo goes in the potty. He goes in his diaper, but we go to the bathroom together to dump it in his potty, then in the big potty. He cried the first time I did it, because I was getting his potty dirty and he doesn't like that. I think he sees the potty as a toy. Lol. We're working on it! He hates getting his diaper changed now, so I also tell him that if he goes poopoo in his potty, I won't have to change him anymore. That's all for this week. Next week, I'm going to try to get him to go on the potty. He'll get a marshmallow for trying. And we'll never make it a punishment or get frustrated with it. I wish he cared when he was dirty, but he seriously couldn't care less. He would run around with poo in his pants all day if I let him. Oh well!

Lately, Brady is obsessed with hand sanitizer. He says, “clean hands”. Pretty awesome! He loves to play outside, eat ice cream, play cars, his "girl" (Sugar), his new Curious George stuffed monkey, books and “stories” as daddy taught him to say, and stickers! He's very outgoing and I love that. I went through a very shy stage as a kid, so I've been fearful Brady may have the same. We ran to the dentist's office yesterday to get some papers filled out for Eric, and Brady was showing this nice man all his cars. Telling him what colors they were. And just going on and on. Today, the Direct TV guy came to set up our new tv and Brady said “HI!” like 10 times and followed him everywhere. Fortunately, Victor didn't mind and let Brady “help” him.

He's a big, healthy, smart boy and we couldn't be any prouder :)

Levi Mark Weisinger

Yep. It's a BOY! :) Eric and I are so very happy to have 2 boys! We decide and agree on everything boy so easily. It just feels meant to be. Obviously, we adore Brady, so why not add another car loving, messy little boy to the family?! :)

We bounced around a few boy names, but really settled on Levi a few weeks ago. We've always said the middle name would be Mark (my father's middle name) for our next boy. Dean (Brady's middle name) is Eric's father's middle name. I told Eric last night, “If we have another boy, his middle name will be your middle name, Wayne. Do you like that?” He said, “Yeah, but I'm not sure how I feel about you talking about baby #3?!” LOL. I think Eric is leaning more and more towards being done after 2. But, I say there's no reason to decide on that right now. We have plenty of time ;)

Our appointment went really well. We got to see the baby move A LOT! He was all over the place! The technician called him an Olympic swimmer and a contortionist. She said he was so wiggly and she had to keep chasing him :) We watched him curl up and play with his toes. He wiggled his toes and then reached out and tickled them with his fingers. It was so funny and just cool. After she did all the measuring, she moved to his bottom and we instantly saw BOY. I saw his little legs out and boy parts clearly inbetween! :) Exactly what I saw with Brady. Eric and I both knew before she said anything. We were both stunned. But I know we would've been either way. It was just surreal to finally know.

When Eric got home, he brought in blue balloons and we filled Brady's room with them. We let him in to play with them. That was our way of telling him he's getting a little brother. For now, I don't think he really understands it all. He will say “boy” and he points to my belly and says “baby”. But, I wouldn't say he fully grasps what's coming :)

We have a lot on our to do list now. I'm trying to pace myself, but I can't seem to fight the urge to get it all done now. We've got a crib, and the bedding is ordered. I guess that's pretty good for 20 weeks. Haha. We've got to go through the spare room and get rid of things and turn it into the nursery. I also want to go through each room of this house and get things cleaned out and organized. We will move 5 months after having Levi, so we may as well just do it now! No need to hang on to things we don't need or use. 

Perfect example of how I know Brady is going to be an excellent big brother...

He dropped his "kruck" the other day while playing. He said, "Uh oh! Are you ok?" He picked up the truck, hugged it, patted it on the back, and said "You're ok." Sweetest. Boy. Ever.

 

19 Weeks

19 weeks. Whew! It's going by so fast. One week from today, we have the anatomy scan. Most importantly, to make sure our baby is healthy and of course to find out the gender :) Woohoo! With Brady, every day waiting to find out was torture! This time, not so much. I don't know what the difference is, but I'm enjoying it. Those that know me, must think I've gone crazy!

I just knew Brady was a boy. I had several dreams, knew when I saw him on the ultrasounds, and just had that feeling. With this pregnancy, it's been very different. I've had one dream that it's a girl. That's it. I think and plan mostly for girl names and a girl nursery. But I think that's because I'm so indecisive on girl stuff. The boy stuff is so easy for me. Anyways, we'll see! I guess I predict girl, but I wouldn't put money on it ;) I said I wanted a boy this pregnancy, Eric wants a girl. Obviously, we're excited either way. We love our boy and have tons of boy stuff so that would just be easy :)

I can feel the baby moving. It started around 16 or 17 weeks and is strong now. It snuck up on me! I love every little squirm and wiggle :) We're looking at furniture this weekend. I know that I want white furniture no matter what. Once we know the gender, it's really time to get busy. We've got names, bedding, etc all picked for both. I've been a Pinterest addict lately!

I've gained 10 lbs so far and I'm pretty happy with it. Mostly because of my road trip and time in St. Louis. And Brady's 2 birthday parties! But everything I've read says 10-11 lbs is normal at 20 weeks. I have no idea what I gained with Brady at this point, but I know it was more! Haha Just paying attention is helping a lot this time. I walk on my treadmill 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes. Once we get a TV in there I'm sure I will do more. Even with Pandora, it's a little boring!

Brady knows there's a baby in my belly. He points to my belly and says with excitement, “baby!” But he's a little confused.. he pointed to Eric's belly and said the same thing. Haha!! 

17 weeks and a Birthday Boy

The last few weeks have flown by! Probably because we spent over 2 weeks away from home. Brady and I drove up to St. Louis on June 9/10 with my Mom. Eric flew up to meet us there a week later. My sister had Matthew Paul Bierman on May 31st. I had to get my hands on that baby :) It was wonderful to spend time with them and I even watched Matthew all night one night by myself so they could sleep. He has acid reflux so they were extra tired and stressed. He's doing great now though. Eric came up and was able to go to his first Cardinals game for a guys night. We had Brady's birthday party. And just lots of family time. It was wonderful.

Is Brady seriously 2!?? Eric and I look at him every day and can hardly believe how big and smart he has gotten. When I remember that he just started walking last November, I am stunned by how much he's changed since then. He certainly doesn't look like a baby anymore. He says about 3 new words every single day. He just picks them up so fast, it's incredible. He says lots of sentences and phrases now instead of just single words. "Here comes Daddy" "Daddy's home" "Where's our girl(sugar)?" "It's all better" And his favorite... "Go outside and play" Love it! He's also picking up a lot of things from books and shows. When we left St. Louis to drive home it was 5 am. He pointed out the window and said, "Look, it's the moon" I've never said that. But I know it's on Bubble Guppies. I'm getting a lot stricter about what's on TV while he's in the room, even if it annoys Aunt Allison ;)

We did a race car birthday for Brady our last day in St. Louis. Brady took a short nap, so he was a little cranky. But he loved his cake, cars, and power wheels :) Eric and I have been dying to give it to him for months now! I can't wait until he gets the hang of it and cruises all around our cul-de-sac and yard.

I really wasn't planning well when I picked our dates to go to St. Louis. I was gone for 16 days and that made me a week late for a baby doctor appointment. I also ended up in the ER with a bladder infection :/ And bladder retention. I assumed I had a uti, but when the antibiotic my doctor called in for me didn't work, they sent me to the ER. I peed to give a urine sample, and then they did a bladder scan. I still had half a liter of urine in my bladder. Not good! Especially since I thought and felt like I had emptied it. I got 2 prescriptions - another antibiotic and one to stop bladder spasms - had to go buy a maternity support band to hopefully help hold my belly off of my bladder, and was told to see a urologist when I got home.

Ever since my gallbladder surgery, I have been very vulnerable to uti and bladder infections. 3 in 6 months! Which makes no sense to me, because I am drinking SO MUCH WATER! No soda, no tea, no nothing else. And I pee constantly, never holding it. I drink cranberry juice so much the taste has actually grown on me! I had a doctor appointment scheduled for today, but had to reschedule for Monday since Dr. Doan had 2 women delivering at the same time and 4 more in labor! Yikes! On Monday, I hope to make sure my infection is gone, figure out what's up with my bladder, and *possibly* find out the sex of the baby. I'm not holding my breath on that last one. She might make me wait 3 more weeks. Which is fine by me. Of course I want to know, but I'm not rushing. Everyone around me sure wants to know though ;)

There are several things we can start doing before we know the sex. One, sell the bed in our spare room and get a smaller bed for that room aka the new nursery. And two, organize and rearrange our room to make space for the treadmill my wonderful Aunt gave us :) I am so happy!! I was doing so great with my walking up until June, and then you know it's Houston so it's hot as hell. Now, I can walk whenever I want! Not dependent on the weather and I can walk during Brady's naps. Woohoo! We're getting a TV for our room for my birthday. Which, don't remind me, I'm going to be 27. That just doesn't sound right?!

 

 

Let the Pregnancy Posts Begin :)

We are so happy to share that baby Weisinger #2 is on the way :) Due December 5, 2013! I am so excited to have a newborn at Christmas time. 2 of my favorite things :) I'm 14 weeks pregnant. We found out on Easter morning. We had been trying for 3 months. Unlike when we found out with Brady, I was sure the pregnancy test would be negative. We had decided to only try for 3 months and then take a break (I'll explain later), and since it was the third and final month, I didn't want to get my hopes up too high and end up very disappointed. Well, luckily that didn't happen! I was shocked instead! Eric checked the stick, that's just sort of our tradition. I could tell instantly by the look on his face, huge smile, that it was positive. I was nervous and totally stunned!

When I had my gallbladder surgeries in November, I was in and out of the hospital for quite a while. That made taking my birth control pretty difficult, so I just stopped. Once I got home and healthy, I asked Eric if he wanted to go back on or just stay off, since we were discussing trying for another baby soon. We decided I would not go back on, but we wouldn't start trying until I felt healthy and totally normal again. Fortunately that wasn't too long.

When we tried with Brady, we really just went off birth control and said “it'll happen when it happens”. So I never tracked my cycle, ovulation, or any of that. I knew I was irregular ish, but certainly didn't know details, until we started trying this time. From December to March, I had 29, 32, and 27 day cycles. Thank GOD (and my friend Lauren for suggesting) I used ovulation tests, because that was all over the place too. We were fortunate to get pregnant with Brady in only 5 months, not having a clue about any of that.

We leave Houston and recruiting duty in the dust in May of 2014. I didn't want to PLAN to be pregnant or have a tiny newborn during that move. If it happened, we would deal, but I didn't want to do that intentionally. I originally wanted to have another baby when Brady was 3 ish. But that would put us due right around moving. I realized, I just wasn't up for that again. Having a due date in the fall of this year, would work very well though. Brady would be almost 2 ½ and we would have several months here to get into the swing of things before moving. For me it was this, or waiting to get pregnant until well after we moved. Waiting until then seemed like waiting too long. But I knew it was truly in God's hands. All we could do was try, and see what happens. I prayed for God to let us be pregnant again if and when it was right by His plan. And I meant it. If we didn't get pregnant, we would make the most of our last year in Texas with fun trips

I am super thankful to be in the 2^nd trimester now. From about 7-13 weeks I was incredibly tired. Zoned out, can't focus my eyes, or think straight tired. I felt so bad for Brady, although he hardly notice. He's such a trooper. We still went on our regular outings for play dates and such, but around the house I was just useless. This last week, I've found myself trying to play some major catch up on house work. My husband is so thankful to have clean socks again ;) My nausea was so minimal this pregnancy which was NICE! It wasn't all that bad with Brady either, considering there are women who lose serious weight from all the sickness. But I had more nausea and food aversions with the first. This time around, there were a few times I knew I was hungry and needed to eat, but nothing sounded good. That's the worst of it. Thank God! My headaches were bad last week but have lightened up now.

I've had two appointments and both went very well. Everything looks perfect so far. I hope to find out what we're having around 17 or 18 weeks so I can get busy on my new baby to do list. But I'm really being patient and not rushing things. I enjoy this stage of wondering. It won't last forever :)

                                  

                                           Our surprise Easter morning :)                                      

                                               Ultrasound at 8 weeks

                                                          13 weeks                                

                                                           14 weeks