Girl or Boy?

Left: 15 weeks                Right: 14 Weeks with William

 You can tell I was showing much faster with this baby!!!

But interestingly, I think my belly growth has slowed down and I think I was sticking out more with William at this time in the pregnancy. 

Left: 18 Weeks                Right: 19 Weeks with William

 So what do you think? Boy or girl this time??? We have been sure it was a boy, but now Isaac is doubting it. Last time we only had a girl name picked out, and we had a boy .... now we only have a boy name picked out. Does that also mean it will be a girl? We find out in two weeks. But for now I wanted to show you the neutral blanket I made for this baby. I love the navy blue and yellow look. I have the perfect girl outfit to match it, but it doesn't photo well so I went with the white dress. I'm just so excited to find out what the baby is! I don't really care which gender we have next. I think this time we will name it ahead of time. Naming a baby at their birth is soooo stressful. 

Have you noticed that the majority of folks having their second child actually have the same gender twice? I am quite convinced that the odds are for us having a boy. Everyone I know, except my sister, are having the same gender as the first. And I know a TON of people having second babies this year. It is astonishing to me! So I'll be surprised if we turn out to be pregnant with a girl. :)

Wholesale Order

Drying in my craft room for two weeks

 I just sent off my very first large order for coasters. I am very pleased with how they turned out. The pictures were sharp and they printed well. I also love my new packaging. I usually tie up a set of coasters with pretty ribbon. That works well at a craft show when folks only buy one or two sets. But with a wholesale order, I had to expect that they would be stacking the coasters on a shelf to sell and I needed different packaging to do that. Isaac was a tremendous help with the formatting and the kraft paper we printed on matches well with my new business cards.








I am going to be making calls in the next month or so to try to drum up more wholesale orders. I would love to get 2-3 large orders a month so that I don't need to sign up for craft shows anymore. Craft shows are expensive and this year childcare has become an issue. That will only get worse with two kiddos, so I'm hoping to do a lot of legwork while I'm pregnant and then just fill out orders that come in next year while we adjust to life with two children.

If you like what you see, message me and 

I'll be happy to make you a set of photo coasters!

Here are the new labels. I would have preferred to have a watermark on the photos themselves and then have my logo on the front of the packaging, but the customer didn't see or understand my vision and so I gave up the rights to having my logo first and foremost. The good thing about the coasters is that they are individually stamped with my logo and website address, so when they throw the packaging away, they will still have a way to find more amazing coasters on my Etsy shop 

11 Months Old

 My Dear William,

You are growing so much that I needed to write a list of your new accomplishments ... and here it is:

You sign!!!! You can say all done and ask for food ...this one isn't a sign, but you also wave bye bye.
You stick out your tongue when asked and can find nose, hair and mouth on other people
You stick out your foot when we say "Feet Go First" as you climb down chairs, stairs, beds and more (although you still try to go head first after you stick that one foot out) silly boy!
You can stand alone (hands free) for quite some time
You take one step on your own before dropping
You walk with our help

You push toys, boxes, tables and everything you can around the whole room (walking and running)
You climb all the way up the stairs and we can't let you near them without keeping an eye on you. You have scared me many times this last week climbing halfway up before I noticed. You are fast!
You like climbing everything actually. You are always trying to climb up on the couch and whatever else you can find.
You finally hold your cup up by yourself to drink
You give kisses very frequently ... although you always forget that daddy has a beard that you don't like to kiss. :)
You hand us things that you have ... and this includes when we ask for what you have in your mouth!
You put things inside of other things
You can make elephant and lion sounds
Oh, and you have a new tooth!

You do sit down when we tell you to and you have really been improving on obedience lately. I'm really proud of you. We have also begun telling you to leave your paci in bed and we wave bye bye to it as we leave the room. If I were to sum up the last month of changes, I would say you are finally communicating to us and it shows us that you are ready for bigger concepts ... like paci is only for night night time. You have never cried when we put paci back in bed and I think you go to sleep easier/faster now that you have something to look forward to. I find that I speak to you more like an adult than I was previously. You understand more now I think and you prove it by responding in all the ways I mentioned above. I discover something new about you every day and all your changes encourage me so much. It is greatly encouraging to know that you listen to what I tell you and that you won't always stay at the same stage.

 

 My biggest struggle right now is that you think it is so fun to run away when I call you and come looking for you. I struggle because it is so darn cute and you are so easy to chase! But I know how this turns out. You start walking, then running ... and before I know it, what was cute is now direct disobedience and it will be hard to run after you ... especially in public... and with another baby in tow. So what can I do with you? I try to use positive reinforcement when you DO come to me. But it is very rare and I want you to have fun playing with Mommy and Daddy when it is the time to play. As smart as you are right now, I just don't think you would understand being disciplined for not coming. I don't know son. I just don't know. I don't have all the answers, but I desperately want you to learn important lessons like "Don't touch" and "Come when I call you"

I can't think of any wisdom to give you this month. I hope when you look back on these letters that you will learn something about me ... your mom. I stressed out so much before you were born. I wanted to have all the answers before you came. But most of parenting is figuring it out as you go. You are our first born, so we will be figuring everything out on you. We already aren't thinking/worrying about the next baby because we know we have already done those previous stages and they don't scare us anymore. So please William, forgive me for my failures with you. Forgive me for my impatience and my anger. I love you very much and I always will. Don't stop growing. :)

Your Mom

Good Bye 1st Trimester, Hello Energy?

This is a boring update, but a lot of people like to know.... I'm doing great with this pregnancy. I am tired, of course, but I'm surprised at how easily I've been able to juggle being pregnant and being a full time mom. It is encouraging to find out that both can work. I will say that I am super glad William takes 2 naps a day though. I hit a wall about 2 hours after we wake up ... and thankfully, so does William! We both take a long morning nap and then I'm good for the rest of the day. Whenever I feel like complaining about this pregnancy, I just keep reminding myself that it gets WAY harder later on, so I should save my energy and complaints for then. I'm not looking forward to the back aches and feet aches. So until those come, I'm doing just fine!

I can't wait to feel this baby move. Most of my memories of pregnancy with William are later on in the pregnancy ... the result is that I really don't feel pregnant because I can't feel this baby move. The other week I started to feel a bit more energy and when I told Isaac about it, his immediate thought was, "Do you think you are miscarrying?" I was surprised and unnerved. That hadn't even crossed my mind. And even though I assured Isaac that it was probably just the second trimester energy coming back, I couldn't get it out of my head what he said. Thankfully I had a OB appointment later that week and the midwife found the baby's heartbeat right away. The baby even kicked the Doppler. My worries quickly disappeared, but it all makes me very anxious to start feeling this little person live and move inside of me. 

13 1/2 Week Bump

I'm already showing more than I did with William this far along, but surprisingly, I'm gaining weight ALOT slower than with William. That fact, along with the fact that they pushed my due date further than I thought they should, makes me think that this baby is going to be a small one. I can't wait to find out what the gender is ... 6 1/2 weeks to go. EEK! :) 

Video of William pushing his toy around

Tongues

This post is dedicated to tongues. LOL. Just this last week, William will stick out his tongue when we ask him where it is. It is ADORABLY cute! I also catch a lot of pictures with him sticking out his tongue when he is playing by himself.

 But also while my friends were here, several of the children asked me to take pics of their colored tongues and they all look pretty cute too! :)

Maggie

Abby

Myles

Owen

Friends!

Some of my absolute most best friends came to visit us for a few days ... AND all of their 7 kids, making it 8 with William. It was a blast! I would say the hardest part was the not getting very much sleep, but we have no one to blame but ourselves. The best time for the adults to talk was after 9pm when everyone was finally asleep. Isaac was gone most of the time, working 12 hours days again. And William did surprisingly well! I knew the loud noises would get to him, so whenever possible I pulled him away from the big kids and let him play next to tiny little Nora (she is so much smaller than William even though she is 2 weeks older!) We have so many pictures of them playing and eating together. It was like they knew that each other was their own age and they played so well!

Here are some pics of the kids in the spray-ground that we went to and to the children's museum. 

All the kids eating dinner

Ashley making yummy pizza

Group photo at the Children's Museum!

 Playing doctors and dentists

Cute little maggie! I loved how she wanted me to hold her whenever possible!

 Charlotte and Owen changing diapers

Henry and Abby in their elements! Love Abby's foot!