Week 23 & 24

 Week 23 was the week of the POP!!! I noticed it and so did everyone else! Baby girl is making strides but I am asking for your prayers. We will start growth ultrasounds at 28 weeks and on to make sure she is growing at the pace she should. Because I had to be induced with Noelle at 38 weeks for concern of IUGR (growth restriction) they are going to watch me very closely this time around. My prayer is definitely that this sweet girl gets to grow and stay as long as she can but also not to be induced again. It was not the way I wanted to go about my labor but things worked out they way should have and thank the Lord it didn't involve a C-section. I have only gained 5 pounds thus far which my doc is a little concerned about. I only gained 14 with Noelle and I think it's just the way my body carries babies. But I've started chugging Ensure to see if I can pack on some pounds. Hopefully all the weight doesn't go to my nose, it's coming ya'll (insert cry face emoji).
By the way I have had several very interesting conversations with my coworkers about how black women tend to get larger noses during pregnancy and their minds were blown. Mostly wondering why, so of course being nurses we did a little research and we read that black women have more fibrofatty tissue in their noses which expands during pregnancy. Weird right? Whatever the reason, I am not excited to get "the nose".

Cravings have been LEMONADE and DONUTS, but not together!

Names have been a bit of a challenge. Noelle was a complete compromise for us and there was NOTHING else on the list that we agreed upon. So….baby girl #2 may have to wait a little while longer before she is named. 

At our 24 week appointment, Noelle got to help our doc find the baby's heart beat. 

Bump stickers from Lucy Darling.

Talk NELLY To Me

Two years old has to be on of the best ages EVER! Yes it comes with temper tantrums (thank God we have very few of those) and declarations of independence which result in complete defiance but she is so funny!!!! I cannot get over the leaps and bounds that she makes in language and perception daily. There is NEVER a dull moment with this one and she keeps Tj and I on our toes. We just look at each other in amazement at times at what she's able to grasp. I could probably write a book on the new things she's saying but I'll break down some of our favorites below. 

One of her favorite things to do is sing and dance and if you follow my snapchat (mrshazleybaby) then you see it on my stories regularly. When she's really in a groove, she refuses to do it alone and simply reaches out her hand and says "dance with me mama" or "dance with me daddy".

It's so funny when they learn the concept of sorry. And dad's way of saying it is the way she's decided to go about it. If she does something we told her not to do and it ends up bad it's hard to get upset with her because she hits you with the "sorry bout that".

All my friends know that I have always vowed never to call my children princess or prince, just a pet peeve of mine. Well Noelle has become a self proclaimed princess dubbing herself, "I'm princess Nelly". Well there goes that!

She has been curious about names recently asked her dad and I what ours were. After she learned them, she says, "Tj, We-ah, Nelly, we are family". I just about died. 

Sometimes we have no idea where this stuff comes from. For at least two weeks, she found any reason to ask "what's going on here?" and now we have moved on to "what you doing?". Tj told me recently that they were riding the mall bus and he asked her what she was doing, she replied "oh, just looking at people".

Her imagination is growing like a weed and she loves telling me stories about going to Mars and Earth on a rocket ship. How she goes to work and comes right back. She's the furthest thing from shy and loves meeting new people. She is already giving her "sesster" hugs, kisses, pounds and high fives in the womb. Love this girl!!!

Weeks 21 & 22

So I'm about a month late but I promised I'd keep you guys posted about this pregnancy so here's weeks 21 and 22. I don't feel much bigger this time around. There was no doubt that in the beginning I showed super early but things have slowed down some and I seem to be on track with how big I was last time.

These two weeks presented a couple issues for me, SLEEP and PANTS! It's safe to say I will be in dresses most the summer. We got my Snoogle pillow out of storage and brought it back to Denver which has made a huge difference. As you all probably know by now, we are having a baby girl! And although we didn't know the results before our gender reveal, I was 100% sure it was a girl. I had a crazy dream days before the party that was so real, there was no question in my mind. 

Thank God I haven't had much discomfort with this pregnancy. It is proving to be just as easy as the first time around. I am completely aware that I still have a way to go and things could change but for now so far so good. I've had one day of sciatica and no back pain. No vomiting and only a couple episodes of nausea, mostly after brushing my tongue. I had some horrible stomach issues in the first trimester, the same as last time but all has resolved. 

Stickers from Lucy Darling.

A Weekend and Wedding in Orlando

What a weekend it was!! I started off our trip home meeting this new handsome fella. My friend Erica gave birth to her second son and the timing was perfect. The siblings are coming, the siblings are coming!!! Hey Cooper!