this week

Stella's down for a nap, and I can finally catch my breath and sit down. Two big events are happening next week: we have our 19-week ultrasound next Thursday and we close on our house either next Thursday or Friday. I still can't get over how big of a year this is going to end up being for us with moving and having a baby. We seriously thought we'd be living in this house for another couple years, and I surely didn't expect to be pregnant yet. Yikes. Life is crazy.

The process of acquiring the new house has been a little of a roller coaster. Last week there was a snag that potentially could have derailed the whole thing (a title company and Fannie Mae-related issue), and yesterday something else came up that I am still not sure is resolved yet. I know these ups and downs are part of the process, especially when it comes to buying a foreclosure. We cannot wait to sign those papers and to own this place. Once the papers are signed, we can get going on the construction and cosmetic updates to the house - the fun part of this whole shebang. Oh, and also this week, our twin-home neighbors had their roof replaced with black shingles (our shingles are a brownish color, so it looks mismatched and dumb). Brett inspected the work done on their roof, and it was not done well, and it was not tied in well with our roof, which could cause problems with our roof. We are going to have to get ours done, anyway, but we were hoping we could put it off for awhile more. Now that they went ahead and did theirs, we are kind of forced to have to do it. She apologized and said that the crew started without her say-so (she was at her cabin when they did it) and that she had wanted to wait until we had talked with her. She also didn't get any other bids from other companies. We were pretty upset. This incident reminded me of just how little in life we have control over.

Last week, Brett was in DC for three days and two nights (almost three nights considering he didn't get home from the airport until 10:15 p.m. the last day) for work with his boss. They had a really good, productive trip which is exciting. I really missed him and I had a hard time with it. Hat tip to the military moms and single parents out there. It is exhausting being the sole caretaker, even when you have help here and there.

The pregnancy has been going well, but I am so unbelievably tired most of the time. We took Stella to the park last night, and I could barely walk myself back home when it was time to go. I am still waiting on that second trimester boost of energy that I enjoyed when I was pregnant with Stella. Today I took her to try on a swimsuit because she'll need one for the 4th of July trip we're taking, as well as for the summer in general. In the dressing room, I suddenly felt a sudden drop in energy and felt so light-headed and hot all of a sudden. Somehow we got through trying on two swimsuits, buying one of them, and walking to the car. I decided I just needed to eat something, so after eating an egg white and turkey bacon sandwich from Caribou (my go-to snack for a protein kick), I felt a little better. After our snack, I let Stella play in the kids' section at Barnes and Noble in Maple Grove. They have a little stage/platform where I believe someone sits on and has story time with kids. Stella had a ball climbing up and down on it. Then she went into the corner and commenced with a #2. I just about died. So when she was done, we walked out to the car to grab the diaper bag, went back inside, and I changed her. Just doing that sequence of actions made me so tired, I felt like collapsing again. I sat down and let her play on the stage thing again, and then we left. This tiredness is really annoying to deal with!

I got this adorable suit at Gap on sale

adorable winnie the pooh backdrop

Thankfully she has been taking stellar naps, so I can enjoy some down time. Also, she has been playing great on her own, which will come in so handy when the baby is born.

She had her two-year checkup with the pediatrician yesterday, and I am thankful to report that we have a healthy little girl. She weighs 24 lbs 1 oz; measures 2' 9.75" tall. She is in the 16th percentile for weight (up from the 5th percentile at 18 months) and around 50th percentile for height. I had requested a different pediatrician this time from the one Stella has been seeing since birth, and I like this doctor so much more. She allayed some concerns I had about Stella's eating habits (turns out I'm not failing like I thought I was-haha!) and this weird cough Stella has had for months. We are going to do a little experiment with pinpointing the frequency and possible treatment of this cough, which could even be the result of her hospitalization for RSV, pneumonia, and bronchiolitis back in February 2012.

For those of you who have had your 19 or 20-week ultrasound, this is old hat to you, but for the others who are not familiar with it, the ultrasound I have coming up is done to take a look at the baby's heart, head, spine, other organs, etc., and will help the doctor see if there are any red flags for defects and development. We will most likely be able to see what the baby's gender is, too. The ultrasound check had a hard time seeing Stella's parts, and was only able to ensure a 70 per cent probability of her being a girl, so we are really hoping this time the baby will cooperate and show us the gender crystal clear! We love finding out. It's fun for us to prepare and buy things for the baby, and get the room ready. I have no inkling either way whether we are having a boy or girl.

Well, I think I am going to be smart this time and take a nap while Stella naps. She slept three hours yesterday, and who knows, maybe she'll give me a repeat performance today! :)

Tomorrow my parents are watching Stella so we can get things done around the house. Honestly I just want to go see a movie and sleep all day. Ha!