15 weeks

Baby B is the size of an apple! Here's a picture of my belly:

I'll go to the doctor next Monday, so I'll let you know details afterwards.

In Mom's Shoes

Ellie loves to play with my shoes. Today she pulled out her favorite heels, so we decided to put her in them.

2 years and Chicago!

Zach and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary by taking a trip to Chicago over Father's Day weekend. It's amazing that it has been two years and we never thought we would be expecting our second on our two year anniversary. There have been hard times, but also some very precious sweet times. We are glad we have made it through all the changes the past two years have brought us, and the first years of marriage. We have been so blessed to been given the gift of Ellie and then a second baby on the way. Definitely not what we would have planned, but we are so glad we aren't in control, God has a much better plan!

The Lord has blessed me so much by not just giving me a beautiful daughter, but an amazing husband who is also an amazing father. My love for Zach grows deeper and deeper as I watch him as a father to Ellie. It is very evident that he cares about us above any other earthly thing. He is very supportive and VERY involved. I don't think there is a day when he's not gone on a business trip that he doesn't change Ellie's diaper and help me around the house. He loves to serve both of us and I am extremely thankful for that! I am so proud to claim him as my husband and daddy to my children :) I look forward to many more years where our love will continue to grow and to watch him father our two (maybe more later) children!

So, about our trip... Chicago was a blast! We visited museums and the amazing Shed Aquarium, went kayaking down the Chicago River, took a dinner cruise on Lake Michigan, and went to a Cubs game! Zach and I went alone and were very surprised how much we missed our little girl! Four days was too long for us, we were ready to get home to see her smiling face.

Welcome to Chicago! It was stormy the first two days:
Go Cubbies:

I bought tickets online, it warned the we could have a limited view due to posts in the way. Never thought it would be this view:
(luckily we were able to scoot down one seat and were able to see much better!)

The trip definitely seemed to be destined for trouble. We choose Chicago because not only does Zach absolutely LOVE Chicago, he also had received two free night stays at the Palmer House in Chicago. Wednesday morning, the day before we left, we were looking for the gift certificate. We had placed it in our office, but we moved the office to the garage and ended up losing the certificate which they say they have to have. After stressing out about it all morning Zach decided to use his Hilton points to get us a free stay even though he wanted to save them. We got most everything packed on Wednesday and woke up early Thursday morning thinking our flight was at 9:45a. I had allowed plenty of time to make sure we didn't have to rush out the door, but at 7:15a Zach receives a text saying our flight was leaving at 8:20a! The airport is about 20 minutes away and I had just woken Ellie up! We ran out the door, barely making it to the airport on time to check-in and make our flight, but luckily we made it! That was just the beginning of the trip... we have a few more stories while we were in Chicago, but I'll leave those for you to ask me later. The end of our trip ended in the same manner. Zach and I made it to O'Hare airport and were checking in to our flight. Well the computer told us our flight had already departed, we had mixed up the departure time with the arrival time again! This time we missed it completely though and had to take the next flight. We still had a great time and made it home safely and we were able to brush it off farely quickly :)

Shed Aquarium:



(this was the best aquarium I've ever been too! HUGE and a lot of fish and other animals)

Summer Time

She has so much fun! Lovin' summer time...

Boom Boom Pow

Ellie absolutely loves the "Boom Boom Pow" song by the Black Eyed Peas. She can really get down, but it seems like every time I pull out the video camera she becomes shy. I was able to get her to dance a little bit one night before bed:

12 weeks

Recently I have been terrible at updating the blog, mostly due to the first trimester pregnancy blues (that is morning sickness, fatigue, and a lot of wanting to do nothing). Now, however, I am official done with the first trimester and feel so much better! I am still not getting much sleep, which leads to more fatigue, but have been able and willing to do much more.

I had my second doctor's visit this Monday and everything went perfect. The doctor informed me this pregnancy should be just as boring as the first and we have no problem with that! I got to see baby two again and he/she was squirming all around. I have another picture, but it's not even worth posting because it's basically a blurb. The doctor I saw is not very good at taking ultrasound pictures, next time I'll choose another one to take better pics. My next visit will be in four weeks just to check on the baby. It's so nice to have nothing to worry about and to be able to still take care of Ellie, Zach, Kayla, and the house.

So update on Ellie: She turned 14 months old today and is learning more and more things everyday. She still isn't saying many words but babbles a ton. We have been going to the pool a lot the past two weeks and she is loving the water and watching the other kids play. I'll be posting some videos and pictures soon. Remember to cast your guess below!

Make Your Picks

We thought it might be fun to let everyone take a stab at guessing our second baby's actual birthday and sex. Feel free to use what ever backwoods unscientific method you want for your prediction. Below I have tried to anticipate all the totally unrelated information many people think is an indicator of sex or gestational length.

• The official due date is 12/22/09
• So far the baby is VERY average in size as measured through the ultrasound
• Laura has gained less than 1 pound so far
• Laura has had irregular frequent bursts of fatigue and sickness the first trimester
  
• Laura had NO sickness and very little fatigue her first pregnancy
• Laura has had NO cravings for any particular form of ice cream
• Nobody was upside down when the baby was conceived
  
• The baby was NOT conceived on a full, new, waxing or waning moon.
  

Fill out the form below with your predictions. The winner gets a HUGE prize.