20 weeks into this marvelousness : )

Pregnancy #2 is absolutely FLYING by thanks to my busy toddler that keeps me on the move all day every day! I realized the other day that I have not blogged very much specifically about this pregnancy so here we go : )

Some common questions I have heard throughout:

1. Were you trying to get pregnant?

After our 2 1/2 year journey to getting pregnant with Charlotte, we felt great peace about seeing what the Lord had in mind for a timeline in conceiving another child. We joked on the way home from the hospital with brand new baby Charlotte that we were ready to have another baby right away. We definitely began to strongly desire a second child as we neared Charlotte's first birthday. It actually happened the week after I stopped nursing....this is good to know as we move forward in growing our family : )

2. Do you want another girl or a boy?

Of course I head this more frequently prior to finding out it is a girl but still, I love this question. It makes me laugh because after being around many families, it seems like parents LOVE whatever they have. I would venture to say that most would agree that God perfectly places a son or a daughter & any combination of, under the care of a mother and father. I can't wait to see if we will have more girls or a boy one of these days : ) For a long time I pictured myself as a boy mom....not sure why but it could have something to do with having brothers. I was convinced Charlotte was a boy and actually called her "Owen" until my sonogram at 18 weeks. When the sonographer said she was a girl, I was shocked! It took about 2 seconds to change my thinking & be thrilled about a girl : ) This time around, I found myself equally as excited and emotional about having either. When I found out it was another girl, I cried like it was all I ever wanted : )

3. Have you been sick this pregnancy?

Haha! Charlotte got me used to what my "norm" is in the first half of pregnancy. It actually made it much easier to tolerate this time around. I threw up everyday, sometimes more than once & felt pretty awful until 16 weeks. Zofran got me through the day that I worked but on the days I was home, I toughed it out most of the time. The weird thing was that even with the nausea, I was starving all the time.

4. How are you feeling about having two kids?

GREAT! From what I hear, my little organized life is about to be rocked but I really can't wait. Lord willing there will be more after this one so I might as well get used to it.

5. Does Charlotte have any clue what's going on?

I think she does...more so in the recent weeks. She is very interested in my belly & if anyone asks where the baby is, she can't help but lift up my shirt & show me off to whomever asked the question : ) She sometimes shows her belly too. She received a book about being a big sister from my parents & we read it at her request multiple times each day. She loves pointing at the baby and nodding her head "yes" when you ask if she is going to be a big sister. She kisses my belly each night after we pray for Charlotte & her sister. She is obsessed with other babies so I have no doubt she will enjoy having her own at home.

Here is the 20 week picture from each pregnancy, left- this time, right- last time

I really don't see any difference, do you?

One thing that I am excited about is that I have kept up my weekly belly book entries with this pregnancy. I was determined to not jip this little one out of something special I did for her big sister & I am actually really enjoying journaling. It forces me to take time out to focus just on baby #2 & recognize how amazing pregnancy really is.

This sweet girl does have a name which we will share soon. Many of you may know that we are still debating on a middle name & will hopefully have that figured out by the day she arrives : )

She is big enough now to kick hard enough to see it on the outside. Robby got to feel her kick last week and Charlotte cannot stay still long enough to wait...imagine that!

I had a dream about her the other night. It was the end of labor with delivery. I didn't feel a thing (unlike my previous delivery), she came out with one push (unlike my previous delivery) & she weighed under 8 lbs.... 7lbs 14 ounces to be exact (unlike my previous delivery). She looked very different from Charlotte but was gorgeous & we were in love at first sight (JUST like my previous delivery).

Pregnancy is marvelous, the nausea & vomiting for me is out weighed entirely by feeling those sweet little tootsies kicking in my belly & knowing the love that I have for her is only growing stronger.

We are back to the OB for a regular check up tomorrow & look forward to hearing that strong heart beating! We continue trusting the Lord as he is sovereign over her growth & development along with sustaining her each day of her life. We love you baby girl.....20 more weeks and you will be in our arms!

Going on a squirrel hunt

Last Saturday Robby was heading out the door for a quick hunting trip. Charlotte & I did not have any plans for the day & surprisingly accepted the invite to accompany our hunter & gatherer. We drove about 45 minutes southeast of our house to Bull Creek Wildlife Management Area. It is public land therefore it is free : )

We packed a lunch & ended up scarfing it down as soon as we got over to the lake. We spent the next couple hours just wandering around. We only saw a few other people the entire time so it was really nice. It was definitely chilly outside but we were dressed for the occasion and enjoyed the great outdoors.

Unfortunately or maybe fortunately for Charlotte's sake, we did not see any squirrels. We think the windy weather accompanied by a toddlers squeals every few minutes pretty much ruined our chances for squirrel stew. Just being together was a blast.

Charlotte got to ride in my lap in the front seat while on the dirt roads with no one around. Rob would speed up and go through a puddle causing a tidal wave of muddy water to come over the front of the truck. This made Charlotte SO excited and she would say "mo mo mo" and do the sign for "more." He got a little too crazy with the puddles after that and she quit enjoying them. We had some good laughs though!

Here are these two. I was thankful that Rob could carry this little chunk of a girl ; )

Balancing act on a log

This picture was taken after Rob carried Charlotte & then me through a large puddle in our path. He made a noise like I was a bit heavier than usual when he heaved me up into his arms.....just wait till June sweetheart ; )

We could have left Charlotte here. She LOVED running down the paths & touching all of the bushes & long grass.

I love this man. Back in 2003, the day I first found him attractive, he had on a camo shirt : )

So very manly!

The trusty old beast. Much more trusty than the Firebird at this point : ) Rob was glad to get it dirty. Poor truck has been a "mom car" for the past 18 months & needed some lovin' from the mud.

I have a feeling my two sweet girls might learn to shoot a gun long before I did & spend some time hunting with their daddy. We might need to get him a son one of these days ; )

Charlotte at 18 months- Stats

We made it to the doctor yesterday for Charlotte's 18 month check up & really enjoyed ourselves minus the shot at the end of the visit : ) The waiting room was full of all kinds of trains & doll house furniture which Charlotte carried from the basket to me then back again about 50 times before our name was called.

This little girl is slightly unpredictable when it comes to interacting with strangers. Sometimes she is very friendly & other times (like with the nurse) she gets this awful look on her face & shakes her head back & forth. She does LOVE Dr. Nielsen, our pediatrician & that is what counts! She is very entertained by the heartbeat sounds or the "gurgle gurgle" sounds Dr. Nielsen makes while listening with the stethoscope. She also enjoys placing her finger on the tip of the otoscope & seeing the light shine through. We love Dr. Nielsen for many reasons but one in particular is this....when we first visited with her prior to Charlotte's birth, she described herself as a "coach with a medical background." She said that she was there to answer any questions we had & encourage us along the way as parented our child versus being the person that tells us exactly what we should do about everything. She has been helpful in so many ways & we never mind when it comes time for another visit : )

Onto what you want to hear.....

Stats on the not so little lady:

26 pounds- 75th percentile

33 1/4 inches- 75th percentile

Head Circumference- 75th percentile

align="left">So any of you who said she seemed so much taller lately, you were right! She grew 3 inches in 3 months! 75th percentile is fabulous & it makes me feel good knowing she is eating & sleeping enough to keep on growing : ) I am just so thankful that her body is healthy & strong.

Developmentally, Charlotte has always been right on track. This includes becoming mobile, saying words, stacking blocks etc. Even though I was thinking she was doing everything she should be doing at 18 months, it is always nice to have that confirmed.

All that to say, onward & upward....our bellies shall grow together ; ) We have gotten quite a few comments on how we look similiar from the side right now.

When they asked if I wanted to schedule her next appointment, I couldn't believe that we would not return until little baby sister would be 1-2 months old! Wow...that puts things into perspective!

Charlotte at 18 months

We take one look at Charlotte these days and think wow....when did you start looking less like a baby & so much like a little girl? She has changed so much since 15 months when I did her last "Growing Girl" post. One very big change has been going from 0 teeth to 9 teeth in about 2.5 months. OUCH! It was quite disruptive at times but we enjoy seeing her little chompers when she smiles at us & they work quite well in assisting her as she scarfs down her meals. She does like to click them together which drives me nuts : ) Along with the teeth has come lots of hair on her little head! As you remember, she was close to bald on her first birthday and we are close to pig tails now & able to clip bows directly into her hair instead of on a headband. It curls so sweetly at the base of her neck & provides for some ridiculously crazy bed head!

She has retired most all of her 12-18 month clothes to a bin to wait for baby sister to use. We go to her appointment with the pediatrician next week so I will post stats then. Many people have commented that she looks so much taller and we agree. You can tell in her little thighs which are losing the sweet rolls we have always enjoyed as she stretches out. She also has some monster feet that require wide width shoes. We are headed to find us a new pair this week after watching her wince when putting on her old ones.

Here she is posing for a picture the day she found out she was going to have a little sister

This girl is noisy and still does plenty of talking that we don't quite understand but here is the list of words that we do:

• dada
• mama
• dog
• cat - gat
• duck- duh
• cow- co
• ruff ruff- wuf wuf
• moo- oooo
• quack- cack cack
• lion sound- whoahhhh
• zebra sound- uh oh (nee haw in our book)
• hello- heooo
• God
• thank you- tha oo
• amen - amy
• more- mah
• cookie - cacacacacacaca
• cracker- cacker
• milk- mil
• Kyle- kywu
• Scott- cot
• Karis- kawu
• Matilda- tilah
• Charlotte- Chawu
• Bella- bell
• Bennett- ba nee
• banana- nanana
• bye bye- baba
• whoa- woawoawoawoa
• wow
• that- dat
• hush- husssss
• what's that?- wha da

One thing that is cracking me up is how she imitates me. I am realizing that I use a very sing songy voice with her because she frequently repeats some vowel sounds strung together with no consonants after I say hello or good morning. Also when I say goodbye, instead of saying bye bye, she sometimes says oooiiiiiiiii while waving like she is singing a song.

What she loves these days:

• running all over all the time
• reading books- anyone reading to her or sitting looking at them on her own. She will sit for at least 10 books in a row & then bangs on the outside of the cabinet for you to get more out
• playing with Scout, her puppy dog that sings & talks to her. She puts her boa around his neck & covers him up with a blankie for his nap
• wearing as many bracelets as possible at one time
• building with her blocks
• being pulled around the house in the laundry basket
• holding the remote up towards the TV and looks at you wondering why nothing happens
• opening the bedroom doors
• being funny...when you say "let's put your shoes on" she sits down even if she is 15 feet away from you & holds her feet up like "I'm ready"
• washing her feet when she is in the tub
• taking anything out of containers & putting them back in, over and over and over
• pushing her grocery cart around the kitchen and handing you food to eat
• running in the grass & toward the street no matter what I say
• helping me measure & dump into bowls when I am cooking
• pretending to count our fingers, she doesn't say anything but she moves from finger to finger in random order (at least to us)
• hiding in the closet or under a table while I search for her. She can stay completely quiet for a long time!
• feeding herself with a spoon, mostly with her left hand
• combing her hair & brushing her teeth
• swinging at the park
• sliding down slides on her belly but thankfully feet first
• winking, she looks like popeye. She had our OB, Dr. Peppy laughing so hard during our last appointment with her continuous winks
• holding baby dolls- she rocks back and forth with them in her arms- very sweet
• love is an understatement for her feelings towards cousin Karis. She loves to get right up in her face and sweet talk her or give her kisses. When Karis cries, Charlotte is very concerned, sometimes concerned enough to lay right on top of her : )
• trying to ride her tricycle, still waiting to grow a tiny bit but she loves to sit on it & be pushed around
• saying "wha dat?" as she points at everything imaginable & waits for you to answer before moving to the next thing to be identified
• talking to grandparents or uncles on Skype. She thinks every time the computer is on that someones face should be on there. She likes to play peek a boo with whoever she is talking to or share her toys through the screen
• chasing our poor dogs around the house
• making goofy faces when you hold a camera up
• showing people my belly or hers when you ask where the baby is
• nodding her head yes when you ask if she is going to be a big sister
• nodding her head yes when you ask if she will have a sister, brother or baby puppy : )
• throwing her cup on the ground when she is done, this is driving me crazy!
• climbing into the dog cages then shaking her head "no" when you tell her to get out
• making car sounds when she pushes her school bus around. She must have picked this up from the boys in the nursery!
• sucking her thumb at nite nite time
• she just loves to be with me no matter what I am doing....what a great shadow to have!
• #1 favorite thing is "cacacacaca" aka cookies aka graham crackers. She ate these for the first time in Colorado over the break & is now completely addicted. She learned how to open the pantry & pull the box off the shelf. Robby woke up one morning getting hit on the head by the box with Cookie Monster saying "cacacacaccooocacacoooca!" It's pretty hilarious & hard to say no to!

The only things that she really dislikes right now are:

• getting water poured on her head during her bath
• getting her diaper changed on occasion
• chicken

She has consolidated (with a little help from mommy) to one nap a day. She sleeps from about 6:30pm-7:30am & naps from about 12:45-3:30. She still loves her bed & is so happy when it is time to get in it. I think she inherited this from the Ellis side of the family....we have alot of good sleepers ; ) Rob has always said she would make a great college student with her sleep habits!

Overall, she is still a fairly good eater. She is picky about meat so we make sure she gets plenty of protein from other sources. This kid LOVES green beans...weird I know. The other night, she refused to eat anything but green beans so she had about 25 then said she was done. We got her down, I left & Rob was cleaning the kitchen while she played. I received a photo & text message from him about 30 minutes later. It was from above her head with her sitting on the kitchen floor with a bowl of green beans in her lap. It read "bowl number 5, seriously." hahahaha! So, she had her green veggie fill for the week that night...no complaints & no GI issues following the mass consumption. She basically eats what she wants at each meal. Some days she isn't too hungry, other days you might think we have never fed her!

She loves to pray. I mentioned last time that we prayed multiple times during our meal because she would put her hands together nod yes when asked if she wanted to pray....this is a pretty common occurrence now & is very sweet. The other night, she woke up screaming in the middle of the night & when Rob went in to get her she was putting her hands together & wanted him to pray with her. They prayed a few different times then she snuggled up & went back to sleep. She also puts her hands together when you say God or Jesus. When you ask her "can you say God?" she stretches her hands out because we also say "How big is God" with the answer, "So big!" We just continue thanking the Lord for entrusting her to us praying for her little heart to be captured by the God who is so big & so strong. We can't ever say, "nope, no praying now!" her hands going together as frequently as they do is a reminder to me to pray continually as the bible tells me to do.

The pretending is really taking off which is super fun! For along time she would eat pretend snacks from her hand or a cup or from under our pillows or from Robby's ear. She still does this on occasion. The best so far....the other night, we got Menchie's frozen yogurt (the new pregnancy craving). It was dark in the car & Robby handed Char an empty spoon to hold on the way home while he enjoyed his yogurt in the front seat. Charlotte proceeded to make the most hilarious noises....mmmmmm......mm-mm-mm-mm while she enjoyed her make believe yogurt in her car seat. Seriously, it sounded like she had a half gallon of Blue Bell back there!

Here are some pictures from the park. You can see her adorable top teeth in the one in the swing!

I say it every post but it never gets old to reflect on her being a delight to spend time with & care for. It is exciting to see her grow and change & we look forward to each months new desires & challenges. We love you Charlotte Grace!

Baby Valentine #2 is a......

I will go ahead and spill the beans by this picture....

We were overjoyed once again today to see a healthy little baby bouncing around in my belly & equally as excited to find out that Charlotte is going to have a baby sister!


We decided to change things up a bit and find out in a different way what we were having. We took the envelope & card into the sonographer and made our special request of having her peek between the legs & circle boy or girl for us. I was nervous that I would want to look all day long after our 10am appointment but Robby made it easy and put it in the safe! We took Charlotte to Uncle Steve's & Aunt Jenny's to spend the evening and we headed over to enjoy some delicious seafood at Bonefish Grill.


Robby was in charge of opening up the envelope and sharing the news with me. We waited until we had ordered our main dish & were enjoying our appetizer. Robby opened it & read it to himself. He had the biggest grin on his face as he read it & looked up at me. I already had tears streaming down my cheeks. He turned it around to where I could see it & I just lost it! I was crying and laughing all at the same time. I am sure the wait staff there was thinking "what on earth is going on at this table?!" but, it was a sweet moment for us!


After dinner, we continued the tradition of picking out the going home from the hospital outfit as our first purchase for the new baby. This was especially important for a second girl since she will most definitely be wearing MANY hand me downs from her big sis! She can have something that only she wore : )


Here we are this morning before the appointment. Charlotte is looking so big & feels quite heavy when smushing my belly!

and onto this beautiful baby girl.....

This pregnancy has been flying by but still I see God providing ample amount of time for my little mind to imagine what life with two little ones in my home will be like. I can honestly say that I am really excited to be in this busy season of life. I have always desired to be a mother and now that I am here, I often say, "this is even more amazing than I imagined!" On difficult days which we definitely have, I am thankful to have the Lord sustaining me & reminding me that He orchestrates my life to refine me for my good & His glory.

We are planning on getting serious about some names here in the near future! Lots of exciting things headed our way as we prepare for baby girl #2 & we will keep you posted on it all : )

Food for little ones

Juanita & I spent a few hours yesterday morning cooking for our little sweethearts. We had a great time in all the mess of multiple recipes going at the same time. We both made quite a bit of pureed baby food in the earlier months but feel like we have been slackers as the girls are growing. We have these fabulous recipe books that we should use all the time so it is our goal to cook every 2 or 3 weeks together to stock up our freezers with healthy food for the girlies.

We each chose 2 recipes & provided all the ingredients with the recipes tripled or quadrupled. I am sure it would have been entertaining to watch us cook & manage two busy toddlers running all over! There was only 1 crash when I think Matilda was receiving an unwanted hug from Charlotte and they ended up on top of each other on the tile. After a few tears, they were best buddies again! They watched Elmo & ate snacks, read books, pushed around a shopping cart & tried repeatedly to climb on top of anything they could. Busy is the best way to describe them right now : )

Onto the chefs.....

The recipes I chose were from Anabel Karmel's Top 100 Finger Foods









Here are some of the most delicious muffins. They are carrot & cheese with Parmesan sprinkled on top.

My other recipe was for mini meatloaves that we cooked in a muffin pan to give you an idea of the size. They were pretty tasty as well!

Here is one of Juanita's. Chicken & Apple Balls which I thought were really yummy! This recipe is from another Anabel Karmel book. Juanita also made a 3 Cheese sauce to go on pasta but I failed to get a picture of it. Maybe I will snap one when Charlotte has it smeared all over her face ; )

I didn't get a good picture of the girls but here is Charlotte anxiously awaiting the muffins to be finished baking. Too bad she spit them out of her mouth immediately!

Great day of cooking & much more fun to do it with a friend. I already have some recipes picked out for next time. Also, I think I might hire someone to tend to the girls...maybe Hugo & Robby will volunteer. That way we can move faster & save some money!

Pierogi Day 2010

On New Years Eve, we along with Steve & Jenny hosted the 2nd Annual Valentine Pierogi Day. & it was a success if I do say so myself!

Robby's Grandma Virginia, his mom's mom was 100% polish & in honor of the family heritage, Bob & Jeannine, Robby's parents decided to set aside a day each year to make pierogies. This tradition has been going for at least 5 years in Dallas, maybe more. Last year, the Valentine's were at our house and hosted Pierogi Day with us as the helpers. This year was our first attempt at running the show. All said & done, it was a little more work than anticipated but so much fun!

We had nearly 40 people & made about 240 pierogies which were enjoyed with a delicious spread of sides including a few Polish dishes: red cabbage, chocolate babka & kielbasa shipped by Grandma Virginia from The Polish Place Butcher Shop in Detroit, Michigan. All of our cooking & eating was accompanied with Polka music that we have stuck in our head for weeks following ; )

One side note, according to Big Bob, you can only wear a Polish shirt purchased by him if you are Polish. He bought all the Pollocks the "You bet your Pierogi I'm Polish" shirts back in 2006. The next year they got the shirts that say "Polska" down the sleeve. Jenny & I were extremely jealous & tried to convince Bob to buy us some but he held his ground & forced us to make our own. We settled upon "The Polish love me" & surprised everyone at Pierogi Day 2007. This year, we had to make shirts for the girls who are 1/8th Polish....you will see what we decided on in a picture below.

Here are some snapshots of the day.....

Our welcome sign on the front door. When we were prepping for the day on the night before, we started adding "ski" to everything we said & basically could not stop laughing.

The 3 of us (4 if you count growing baby in belly)

Bella Blue in her "You bet your Pierogi I'm Polish" shirt. She wore it all day!

Here are the slaves to the kitchen to keep things moving along.....

Jenny was the pierogi boiler, Steve boiled the smoked Kielbasa for us

Robby manned the dough making & cutting while I fried the boiled ones out on the back porch.

What is not pictured is the rotating groups of 6 at the kitchen table rolling out the cut circles, stuffing them with potato & cheese filling then sealing them with a little water and a fork to press the edges together. This team of folks were quick learners & great Pierogi makers. We will invite them back next year ; )

Here are Charlotte & Karis in their adorable shirts their creative mothers made them ; ) Aunt Jenny surprised us with the matching bows!

Our neighbors Hugo, Juanita & Matilda joined us for the festivities. Their family moved here from Colombia & Juanita surprised us by revealing that she is part Polish as well!

And just for one last laugh, when one child arrived, she placed a sticker randomly on Charlotte's shirt. Our little Polish Chick became a Polish Hick in a split second.

We celebrated Jenny's 27th Birthday in the midst of Pierogi Day. She looked stunning in Charlotte's feather boa as we sang Happy Birthday : )

An amazing crew stayed after and tagged team whipping the kitchen & living area back in to working order. It was a DISASTER! Once it was all done, we spent the afternoon relaxing and definitely went to be long before 2011 began. I miss living in Texas where I could just stay up until 11pm & watch the ball drop in New York. I probably wouldn't even make it until then these days but it is a nice thought to think I would enjoy it ; )

The year would be incomplete without Pierogi Day & we cannot WAIT until next year when the Valentine's will be here to celebrate with us! We are wondering if we can reuse a "Polish Chick" shirt on Baby Valentine #2 or if we will, as Uncle Steve said, have to turn it into "Polish Chick Magnet." Both would be cute right?