It's a Boy!

Yesterday, we went for our 20 week ultrasound although we were technically only 19 weeks. I had been talking to Ella about the doctor visit for quite a while in order to help her understand what would happen and what it meant. In fact, we were on our way to mom's house yesterday morning before school when she asked me to tell her the story about "the belly and the jelly". I thought this was cute and proceeded to tell her what would happen and how she would see the baby on the tv. She replied by telling me she wanted to "hug or kiss the tv". She really does seem to be very excited about the thought of a baby and being a big sister. She tells me all the time about all the things she is going to do to help mommy and daddy with the new baby. The only time she has gotten a little "iffy" about the new baby is when we talked to her for the first time about sharing her room.

Being pregnant for the second time is so bitter-sweet (if that's the best way to put it). I am tremendously excited about having another baby, loving another child, and completing our family, but at the same time my world has been centered around Ella for 2 and a half years now. Of course I'm hormonal, but I continue to have weekly breakdowns about feeling guilty. This guilt mainly stems from the idea that Ella is the baby and she is our world and in just a few months she will have to share all of this with someone she does not know. Crazy... yes... normal... I hear so. Mom tells me that it took me a while to get used to the idea of my baby brother, but I am so very thankful to have him! We were so close and had so much in common, so I just pray that this will be the same for Ella and her baby brother.

So, back to the ultrasound! I thought that through these conversations with Ella about the visit and the baby that she was beginning to understand a little more about how we would find out if it was going to be a brother or sister, how it had to grow in my belly, and that we would only get to see the baby through a tv. However, after leaving the ultrasound room she began to cry (partly from being exhausted) and for the fact that we did not get to keep the baby. Sad, but sweet that she already loves him so much! Her favorite part of the visit was getting to hear the hearbeat. I plan to take her to the next visit and hopefully I can record the heartbeat for her to play when she wants.

The results... if you haven't already guessed.... it's a boy! We are tickled to death and still deciding on a name. I will post the verdict once it's final and post pictures of the nursery as we embark on the task of taking down "princess world" and making it suitable for a princess and a prince!

"The Belly and the Jelly"

Ella and Daddy waiting :)

Willy Wonka

A few weeks ago, Ella found our Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory dvd and insisted on watching it. I thought it might be too strange and even scary for her, but oh no... it's her new favorite movie. She asks to watch it on a daily basis and loves when Violet swells into a blueberry!!! What a crazy child I have :) Last night while I was picking up the house, I walked into Ella's room to find this:



Ella and her daddy laying on the blow up mattress in her room watching, yet again... WILLY WONKA! The lights were off, pjs were on, and I thought it was the cutest thing! In case you're wondering why there is a blow up mattress in her room...Lynise and Robert are coming over for the weekend. They always camp out in her room on the blow up mattress when they stay and Emmie sleeps in the crib. I'm sure Ella will introduce Emmie to Willy Wonka at some point this weekend! Kermie and I have decided that our next family movie will be Alice in Wonderland... I'm sure she'll love that one too!

Baby Names... What's your opinion?

So, finding a name for this second baby is proving to be a very difficult task! With Ella, we knew almost immediately Ella would be her name and Chase came easy as well. On the other hand, had she been a boy... that would have been another story! Kermie and I agree on some days and disagree on others. We seem to agree more on girl names than boys, so it seems like we're in the same boat as before! I ask Ella all the time what she wants the baby's name to be and her reply depending on the day is "brother" or "sister" which isn't much help at all! So, be honest and tell me what you think of some of our ideas and give other options if you have them!!

Possible Girl First Names:
Olivia, Addison, Adilyn

Possible Girl Middle Names:
Faith, Grace, Kate, Brooke (is that weird since it's my middle name?)

Possible Boy First Names:
Aden, Ethan, Cooper, Gavin

Possible Boy Middle Names:
Jack, Michael, Thomas

Happy Valentine's Day

Ella and I woke up from our nap today to beautiful roses from Kermie! Hers are on the left and mine are on the right. She was so amazed and wanted to carry each individual rose around the house. I had to remind her that the flowers would die without their water. Thank you Kermie for the beautiful roses! We love you!

February at Our House

It's been another month.....

I'm trying to keep up with this blog, but Ella and this baby have me exhausted and any spare time I have is spent trying to relax or sleep (or plan, do laundry, do gradschool work, etc)! So, sorry to those that read... I'm waiting for my second wind! I actually took off work on Friday because I just couldn't bare to walk into school and teach for 7 seven hours without crying or falling over! Luckily, my wonderful husband surprised me with the most thoughtful gift ever that morning when I woke up... a cleaning lady for the day! I guess he knew that our house was a wreck (seriously) and the odds of me getting it all picked up were slim to none. I'm sure all you mommys out there understand. So, with that being said... here's my attempt to get you all caught up on what's been going on around here!

Ella and her daddy have been into the tatoos a lot lately. Of course Ella's have to match her daddy's :)


After many months with no hair cut, Ella finally got it all chopped off! Here's her new bob :)

The sex of baby #2 will be revealed in about 4 weeks at our 19 week check up! I know Ella is excited to know whether or not it's a sister or brother. As far as she's concerned right now, it's both :) I'm itching to decorate, but am holding off until then. We recently got Ella a new bed, but haven't put it up because I didn't want to have to buy bedding to match the existing room and possibly new bedding for a new room. So, we are patiently waiting until March 8th for the revealing!

Everything else is pretty much the same around here; enjoying the snow days when we get them and wanting spring to hurry at the same time! I am so excited to have this summer with Ella... I'm planning to make it extra special somehow! Taking suggestions from anyone that's got any!

January News: Some good.. some not so good!

For those of you who do not know, my Nanny babysits Ella every Thursday while I am at work. When I was a child I loved my Nanny so much and even preferred being there than at home on most days! So, when I found out that she would be watching Ella I was super excited and felt very blessed that Ella would have the same experience I did as a child.

This past Thursday I got a phone call at school from my mom telling me that Nanny had fallen down the stairs. All mom knew was that Nanny couldn't move, Ella was upset, and my Grandbubby needed to call the ambulance as soon as someone could come get Ella. Luckily, my sister was able to go pick Ella up and I immediately went to my principal to see what my options were. Thankfully, I have one of those principals who is all about family and he told me to let Ella spend the rest of the afternoon with me at school since getting a sub that late in the day is near impossible! Bekah brought Ella to me around 12:15 asleep so I told my kiddos they had to be silent so she could nap. However, as I went to lay her down on my blanket she immediately popped up ready to go! She went to lunch with us and recess out at the playground. Not long after, Kermie came to the rescue to pick her up so I could teach the last hour. Although bringing your two year old daughter to work isn't ideal, I was very surprised at how well behaved she was! I honestly think she could go to kindergarten (with me there with her!) and be just fine at two!

After several hours at the hospital, Nanny found out that she broke her tibia right where it inserts into the knee. The doctor gave her several options one being a total knee replacement since she already had a great deal of arthritis in the knee. She chose this route, but has to wait 6 weeks for the swelling to go down and then will undergo surgery and rehabilition. Please be praying for her and my grandbubby as they deal with all the struggles that will follow!

Since Nanny is out of commission for the remainder of the school year, we are now trying to figure out where Ms. Ella will be going on Thursdays. When she was small she would go pretty much any where, but now that's not the case. So, we will see what happens with that!

On a more positive note, we are finally going to invest in a new heating system for our house! We have lived here almost 4 years in frigid winters and did not put Ella in her bedroom for that very reason! The front of our house feels about as cold as it does outside! We've put off the investment, but after deciding to stay here for a few more years until Kermie's term on the Sadieville Renassiance Board ends we thought it was necessary! Not to mention that there just might be another baby sharing that room as well (if we don't remodel)! I'm definitely not excited to be spending so much money, but so excited for Ella and baby number two to be able to play in the front bedroom! The heating should be complete by Thursday of this week !!!!

Dress Up

My Tinkerbell on Snow Day # 2. Ella sure loves to dress up these days and makes mommy pretend too! Mommy always gets to be the prince.... lucky me!