Just a cute story for the baby book...

Tonight while we were eating dinner, Hannah pointed to Mark's knife and said "Mommy, is that shark? Is that dangerous?" I couldn't help but laugh that she said "shark" instead of "sharp." I just love that little girl!

Do I really have to go back to work tomorrow?

I struggle with going back to work every time I take a vacation. I took last week off for Christmas and it was just wonderful to be with my family for a whole week. The hardest part about going back to work is feeling guilty about sending Hannah back to daycare. She loves daycare and has the best teachers. I just can't help but feel guilty. She has been such a sweetheart lately and I can see how much she loves her time with me. I always wonder if I am making the right choice to continue working. I know being a stay-at-home-mom would be harder than any other job I could take on, but I'm sure it would be the most rewarding job. I hope that I don't regret the decision to keep working and I hope Hannah won't feel that I deprived her in any way. She deserves the very best and I'm just not sure I'm giving that to her.

O Christmas Tree!

This is how Hannah wanted to decorate Nana & Granddaddy's Christmas tree! Don't worry...they are clean :)

Santa did well :)

Here is what Santa Mark brought me for Christmas! Lucky me! I just adore this jewelry by John Medieros (www.johnmedeiros.com/). More Christmas posts to come...

25 weeks, 3 days

Here are my most recent belly pics.

I had a checkup at the doctor last week and everything is still going well. I've gained a total of 10 pounds now. My blood pressure is still under control and I passed my glucose test! The baby's heartbeat is strong, as well as his/her constant kicks and movement. I'm still measuring 3 weeks ahead so either this is a big baby or I have some extra amniotic fluid. I continue to have a lot of contractions, which we will keep monitoring over the next few weeks. Next month I will get to schedule my c-section and set the date for Baby Malueg's arrival!!!

Arrrgh!

Oh my...

When asked by her teachers "What does Christmas mean to you?" Hannah answered "Toys!" I guess I haven't done a very good job teaching her what Christmas is really about. We have something to work on over the next couple days!

My little star

Today was one of the proud mommy moments that I'll always remember! Hannah's preschool had their Christmas program for the parents. Hannah can be so incredibly shy around crowds and strangers so I was expecting her to run to us as soon as she spotted us in the crowd...

Uh-oh...she found us!

As a side note, can you believe the kid next to her is practically the same age! As I was looking at the two year olds, I realized that she was the shortest one. She's less than 4 months away from her third birthday and she is tiny in comparison to the 3 year olds. At some point she'll hit a growth spurt, right?

But, as Hannah seems to always do, she surprised me by standing up there with the kids and (attempted) to sing the songs along with the hand motions! She stayed so focused the whole time and followed the teachers directions. She seemed so grown up today! I don't know whether it was the pregnancy hormones, but as soon as the kids got up to sing I immediately started crying. I'm a mess! Maybe I was also crying because my little girl surprised me so much.

Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you Hannah...our little star!

Santa is a no-go...again!

I thought maybe this year Hannah would be okay with Santa, but no such luck. Here is a picture of her and Grammy on the Christmas Train when Santa visited. She clapped and cheered when Santa moved to the next car. MAYBE next year :)

She's a traveling girl!

Hannah leaves tomorrow for her first big trip away from Mommy & Daddy. Her Grammy and Pappy are taking her camping in their fifth wheel in South GA and they are riding the Christmas Train in Plains, GA. She LOVES trains and is beyond excited to go camping. Although, I don't think she really has any idea what camping is! I know she will have a blast and I can't wait to see pictures!

Mark and I aren't really sure what to do with ourselves for the next 4 days. I think the strangest part will be sleeping in on Saturday morning and not waking up to "Mommy, I'm awake now!" at 6am.

Then and Now

What a difference a year makes!

In looking back at these pictures again, I just had to add that Hannah's eyes are clearly still BLUE!!! I never would have thought that Mark and I would make a child with blue eyes :)

Tree Hunting

We cut our Christmas tree this past weekend at a local tree farm. Hannah had a great time hunting for the perfect tree. Although, she thought all the trees were perfect!

"Ta-Da!! I like this one Mommy!"

Mark's parents also joined us for the annual tree cutting!

22 weeks, 3 days

Here's a new belly shot! I didn't realize how high my "bump" was until I looked at this picture. I guess that would explain why I'm measuring 3 weeks ahead!

"Look what I made, mom!"

Hannah's all-time favorite toy is her doodle pro. She plays with it EVERY DAY! She loves to draw and color. The other day she was drawing and said to me "Look Mommy! I made an elephant!" Before looking at it I thought to myself, "Sure sweetie, I bet it's a beautiful elephant." Much to my surprise, I didn't have to use my imagination that much to see the elephant!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope all of our family and friends had a happy and blessed Thanksgiving!

Play time with Daddy

We took Hannah to a park yesterday to help her get the ants out of her pants. It was COLD! But she still had a ball playing with Daddy.

Ride the pony?

Hannah rode a carousel for the first time a few weeks ago. She LOVED it!!! She's always asking to "ride a pony" now. She took the little elephant in her room and sat on it and pretended to ride the pony. I thought these pictures were too funny not to share since they show Hannah's funny personality!

New jammies and a new bow!

We are quickly preparing for the Christmas season! Hannah loves her new Santa jammies and loved her new festive hairbow. She actually wanted to wear a bow for the first time in months!

Baby Update

I had my ultrasound and 20 week appointment this week. I was a little shocked to learn that I gained FIVE pounds since last month and am measuring 24 weeks. I know that my belly changed A LOT from 17 to 20 weeks, but I didn't realize just how much the baby and I grew. I never measured big with Hannah, so I'm not really sure what this means for the rest of my pregnancy.

I talked to my doctor about all the braxton-hicks contractions that I'm having. I'm definitely having way too many. She told me I need to take it easy and relax and keep from doing any activity which causes them (such as exercising). If they continue at the same frequency over the next few weeks, she may do another ultrasound to make sure I'm not in pre-labor. I really hope bed rest is not in my future. Hopefully things will calm down over the next few weeks!

On a positive note, the baby is VERY active and that is always reassuring :)

20 weeks, 3 days

I can't believe I'm posting this...

These belly pics are becoming less and less fun to take. Where is the cute bump I thought I would have now? Instead I just look like I swallowed a barrel. Not so cute.

On a happy note, we have our 20 week ultrasound on Wednesday. I can't wait to see the baby and see how he/she is measuring! I'm hoping everything looks normal. I'm not so excited to see how much weight I've gained now. I've been eating like a horse lately...probably making up for the first 17 weeks that I didn't want to eat at all. I'm just hoping I don't gain 50 pounds again this time. I've tried working out on several occasions over the past couple weeks and each time the Braxton-Hicks contractions start and they don't stop for hours. They are very rhythmic (every 5 minutes), like regular contractions would be, except that they don't increase in intensity. Regardless, it is not normal and could be a sign of pre-labor. I'll be talking to my OB this week to see what I can do about it.

Here is a belly progression from the last 7 weeks. YIKES...I just look really bloated now, not pregnant :(

Sleepyhead

Mark found Hannah sleeping like this about an hour ago. I just thought it was hilarious how she had her thumb in her mouth and her hand in her pants!

Hannah is OBSESSED with her daddy's deer pillow. She insists on sleeping with it every night. She still refuses to keep the covers on top of her. I would freeze if I were her!

Happy Face!

Hannah is REALLY into drawing these days. She has started drawing stick figures (well, the arms come out of the head, but it's a good start!) and happy faces all the time! Here is one she drew the other day. She even put ears on the face. You have to look closely to see the eyes...she drew the nose in the middle.

Cute as a CUPCAKE!

Hannah had a ball this Halloween! She's been excited about her costume for weeks now and she loved trick-or-treating, especially with her friends. When she woke up this morning she asked if we could go trick-or-treating again before church. I don't think she understood when I told her we would go again "next year."

Last night we got together with some of my friends and their kids for dinner and trick-or-treating. The kids all played so nicely together and were not shy at all about going up to houses and shouting "Happy Halloween!" or "Trick-or-treat!" All in all, it was a very successful night!

Hannah and her sweet friend from school, Ella.

Pumpkin Carving

We (well, Mark) carved the family pumpkin the other night. Hannah was more interested in it this year and the coolest part was that she actually touched the "guts" a couple times. Of course she said "Ewwww, Mommy! This is yucky!"

After a while, she lost interest and decided to push her baby pumpkin around in the stroller.

The first time we carved a pumpkin, Hannah was 6 months old. It was the first time I had ever seen her truly scared of something.

What a difference two years makes!!

The Baby's Room

The baby's room is pretty much finished! Obviously, we don't have anything personalized for the baby. That will have to wait until after his/her arrival. I just need to get a few pictures frames and we'll be all done. We are reusing Hannah's nursery furniture and glider. The bedding came second hand from a sweet friend whose little girl had it in her nursery.

In looking at the pictures, I just realized how girly that lampshade is. I may have to get something a little more masculine, just in case! Now that this is all done, I've no idea what I'll do once the nesting phase kicks in!

17 weeks, 3 days

Here are my belly pics from today. It's been 3 weeks since the last pictures were taken. I feel SO MUCH bigger, but it's not as evident in the pictures as I thought it would be. Hannah wanted to share her belly, too. Hers is definitely cuter!