Nursery rhymes

Ellie loves to sing and recite nursery rhymes. Sometimes she surprises us with a new song or rhyme, like the time we were leaving the house and she started skipping down the sidewalk singing "Skip to My Lou". In this video, you can hear her singing part of her two favorites, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (which she has always called "Up Above") and "Ring Around the Rosies". After a long week of Ellie being sick, we were just thrilled today to hear her sweet little singing voice again!

16 1/2 weeks

At 16 1/2 weeks, I am much bigger than I was with Ellie at this point! I tell everyone that my abdominal muscles remember this battle and aren't going to bother fighting it this time. I'm not wearing maternity clothes yet, but it will only be a couple more weeks before I have to make that transition I think. Thankfully, I still have the maternity clothes from my pregnancy with Ellie and my wonderful friend, Heather, sent me a big box full of hers.

A big belly is not the only unexpected thing going on at 16 weeks. I have had very bad morning sickness (called hyperemesis) since week 6 and although I am continually told that it should end by 16 weeks, it's still here. At about 8 weeks (the day before Thanksgiving), I spent 4-5 hours in the ER getting hydration and medications because I just couldn't stop throwing up. I started taking an anti-nausea medication (Zofran) then, much to my chagrin, because daily functioning was becoming a problem. I have been able to significantly decrease how much I am taking now but am still getting sick. Luckily, I feel the worst in the middle of the night and in the very early hours of the morning so work has been manageable. Lori has been fantastic in picking up the majority of the work around the house and the care of Ellie. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that I will feel better soon!

Besides how I'm feeling, the most common question we get is about the sex of the baby. It was my choice last time not to find out. This time it's Lori's turn to decide. I would still prefer not to know, but obviously if Lori wants to find out, then we'll find out! The ultrasound is scheduled for February 11th so we'll have until then to try to coerce Lori one way or the other (ahem, Mimi, Boppa, and Aunt Joan). Guesses are of course welcome!

Ellie's big news

"I've been keeping a secret!"

"I'm going to be a big sister!"

Ellie's little brother or sister is due on July 1st. She and her mommies couldn't be happier!

Home again

(By JPC)

We are home from our week long trip to visit Lori's family in California. We had a lot of expectations for this trip since it was our first trip there in 3 years and also Ellie's first chance to meet most of Lori's family. Unfortunately, we were sick for the entire week. The family reunion/spaghetti cook-off was canceled. We only got to spend one hour with Lori's brother, David, and his family from Minnesota. We only had one day with Lori's mom. We spent just a few hours with Lori's sister, Judi, and some of her family. And Lori and I felt just awful the entire week.

On the bright side, we were able to spend a lot of time with Lori's sister, Barb, and her family with whom we were staying and sharing our germs (sorry, Lee!). We also got to see Lori's dad and her younger brother, Mike, and his family a few times since they live close to Barb. Ellie met her uncles, one of her aunts, and lots of cousins for the first time. She loved her older cousins!! For a week she followed Kyleigh around and did whatever Kyleigh did. Her vocabulary also increased dramatically just trying to keep up with the big girls. She had a fantastic time (and didn't get nearly as sick as we did) and cried the night before we left when we told her we were leaving.

We took very few pictures, but here are some of Ellie and her cousins.....

Ellie and Kyleigh playing on the floor

You can see the adoration on Ellie's face as they enjoy their Rice Krispies!

Ellie playing with two of her older cousins

Opening presents at Grandma's house

Lori walked into the living room one day to find Ellie snuggled up in Kyleigh's lap while Kyleigh read her a story.

Snuggled on the couch, watching TV.