18 weeks down, 22 to go

How Far Along: 18 weeks

Size of baby: Bennett is about the size of a sweet potato (or 5.6 inches long and approximately 6.7oz) according to The Bump.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I'll be honest, I haven't stood on the scale for the past couple days- I know a couple days ago I was still at the same 7lbs weight gain as last week.

Maternity Clothes: I prefer maternity pants and have found the BEST maternity tank tops from Target. SO soft, and long, and thick (so they don't get so thin that they become see through as your body grows).

Gender: Another sweet baby boy!

Movement: He's been much busier this week than last. Last night he even stretched out and pressed his little back/booty against my belly so hard that Kris could feel it from the outside. Such a little stinker. Love getting to know him from the inside out! :)

Sleep: No naps, but I'm sleeping great at night still other than having to wake up a few times to go potty. My body is much more sore, so it's a little harder to fall asleep.

What I miss: My body is so sore, and I would love to not have sore joints! :)

Cravings: Strawberries, Greek salad with beets, iced tea, and Greek yogurt.

Symptoms: I got my first ocular migraine in this pregnancy this week- it was rough! I only get them when pregnant, and I had just a few with Keegan that only lasted a few hours, but this one lasted almost 24 hours. Ugh! That's got to be my absolute least favorite pregnancy symptom. No matter how many you get them it's just scary when your vision goes and half your body gets tingly! Yikes. No thank you!

Best Moment this week: We are having a great time planning Keegy's big boy room. It is so fun! We figured one way or another we'd have to buy some new bedroom stuff, and we figure our boys will share a room in a couple years, so bring on the matching twin beds! We'll just have Keegan's in his room for the next couple years to give him room to play, but we want to get comforters and head boards now so they match, which we'll store in the meantime. So fun!

17 weeks and counting

Poor Benny-Bear... With Keegan I already had 5 pregnancy posts at this point in my pregnancy. It's just crazy how much less time I have when I'm chasing my crazy little Keegala Peegala around all the time.

I definitely took for granted all of the rest and down time I had when I was pregnant with Keegan.

I'm showing much earlier with Bennett than I did with Keegan. But I suppose that's to be expected!

So here are some current pregnancy highlights:

I'm 17 weeks!

How Far Along: 17 weeks

Size of baby: Bennett is about the size of an onion (or 5.1 inches long and approximately 5.9oz) according to The Bump.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: This morning I stood on the scale and I've gained 7lbs so far. With Keegan I gained 45lbs overall, and I really don't want to gain that with Bennett. I would LOVE to stay under 25lbs weight gain.

Maternity Clothes: I prefer maternity pants at this point, but I love that I get to be pregnant during warmer weather this time. I'm enjoying Maxi skirts and looser dresses already!

Gender: Baby Boy- Baby Bennett (middle name still undecided!)

Movement: I don't feel Bennett the way I felt Keegan. I have an anterior placenta in this pregnancy, so any kicks have to make their way through the placenta up to the top of my belly. Kris has only felt Bennett move once so far, and I don't feel many kicks- I feel MOVEMENT though, and that's what's so confusing to describe to people!

Sleep: I don't get as much rest during the day as I did with Keegy Peegy, so I find that I fall asleep easily (mostly) with this pregnancy. I just wake up frequently to go potty. :)

What I miss: Not too much. Other than having an adult beverage if we go out to dinner, but that doesn't happen a ton anyway! Maybe being able to go up and down the stairs without being winded?!

Cravings: Strawberries, Greek salad(Preferably from Zeus' Coney Island), hummus with balsamic vinegar and feta, and Greek yogurt. Yikes, I just realized how Greek all of those cravings are! Maybe Bennett is more in touch with his Greek heritage than Keegan was?!?! Oh- and iced tea. I LOVE iced tea!!!! Mmmm!

Symptoms: Tired, my sciatic nerve is acting up, I am still going potty every half hour (which maybe is because he's sitting so far back?!), my nails and hair are growing like crazy (whoop!), extreme heartburn/acid reflux.

Best Moment this week: I've been so overwhelmed trying to figure out which double stroller to get... We love our City Mini Single stroller, but the double was much more expensive, and I heard it was just much more wide. We finally decided on the Combi Twin Sport Side by Side. It had GREAT reviews, and could fit my Graco infant car seat without any additional attachments to install... And we got it on sale from $260 down to $180 and free shipping! Whoop!!! Albeebaby.com- I'd never used it before, but what a deal! I'll update as we use it, but I'm pretty pumped!

What I like about you...

Keegan has become SO funny and here's a list of my favorite Keeganism's as of late so I never forget:

Fake laughing: He's awesome at it! We say, "Keegan, laugh!" And he gives out the heartiest belly laugh on demand. Bahahaha! It will brighten even the worst day.

"Assage?": Keegan loves our massage chair thing. We keep it behind our arm chair and almost daily he stands asking for an "assage?! Meeee (please)?!"

The silent/fake cry: My sweet son. He will dramatically silently cry and throw his head in his hands. It's fabulous.

Fake sneezing: Keegan's Papi taught him to fake sneeze. Now he does it all the time and sometimes changes it up. Most of the time it's your standard, "Ahh, ahh, ahh, CHOO!"... Yesterday it was "Ahh, Ahh, ahh, SCHOOL BUS!" What a comedian.

"Titty Tat's": Yes, you read that right he loves Titty Tats. But not how you're reading it (although its probably the funniest thing he's ever said)... He loves kitty cats, so much. He says that this ones a BABY Titty Tat:

What's in a name?

As many of you now know, Kris and I are excitedly welcoming a new baby into our family, expected around mid to late September. We are thrilled. Becoming a mom was that pinnacle defining moment in my life when I realized why I was put on earth. God is so good.

We wanted another, but I'll be honest, after finding out I was pregnant I had all sorts of trepidations arise. Would I really be able to love two children as much and as hard as I love Keegan Michael? What if it was boy? Could I handle TWO little boys (this fear was made much more real now that Keegan is in the full blown terrible twos and literally runs laps around our house screaming)? Could I handle a little girl and all of the drama that comes with her as she gets older?

So many what if's were going through my head.

And of course, as soon as you tell friends and family you're expecting, all of the name suggestions start coming. Ha! Some of my favorite suggestions were "Farty" and/or "Fruity." Unfortunately we decided to pass on those... Ha!

Our impatience was through the roof and we decided to head over to Baby Envision in Brighton for a 3-D/4-D ultrasound this past weekend. I figured the sooner I knew who was in my belly, the sooner I could start planning (Type A personality anyone?) and get to know this little Baby Bop... and we could narrow down names, as our list was pretty lengthy.

So ladies and gentlemen, without further adieu, I'd like to introduce you to baby Bennett:

Definition of the name Bennett: (English origin) BLESSED

He is 100% boy, and looks JUST like his big brother Keegan at this age.

We are still trying to decide on a middle name, but I'm so thrilled to have two little boys. As soon as the ultrasound tech put on the monitor, I could tell, even from the profile view that he was a boy. A flood of relief came over me. My confidence increased, and I have such peace knowing that I can "do" boy. I've done it before, and I'll happily do it again.

I remember crying as I was putting away all of Keegan's newborn and 0-3 month clothes and praying for another little boy to wear those clothes again. I feel so overwhelmed by joy to have these little boys and know that it's only by God's grace. 

Thank you for all of your prayers and well wishes. Please continue to pray us through this pregnancy! 

Hopefully I will have a little more time coming up where I can update this blog a little more and give Bennett some more In-Utero attention like I was able to with his brother. However, let's be real. It's so much harder to get a minute to do ANYTHING with a crazy (almost) two year old running around!

Chugga-chugga CHOO CHOO!

Our local mall has this awesome trackless train that rides around the mall for ten minutes at a time. This guy that owns it has to make a KILLING during the weekends. It was the best $3/person spent for our family... Keegan absolutely adored it... so much so that he got this hysterical attitude for the rest of the evening, almost as if he thought he was pretty hot stuff now that he rode on a choo-choo... Ha!

Here are some pictures of our time riding the choo-choo as a family:

Keegan picked the BLUE car. Here he is saying, "SEE?!"

Peeking over the side... :)

Date night sure has changed!!! Ha!

You can literally see the the shape of his mouth saying, "CHOO CHOO!"

 We have such a little train lover on our hands. He is a monster for trains. He's definitely wearing his Thomas shirt under his fleece in these pictures, and brought the Thomas that his Auntie M and Unkie and cousin, Cohen, gave him for Christmas. It's so funny how most little boys just have an absolute love of trains, construction equipment and trucks built in them!

Okay... As Keegan would say, "BYE SEE YOU!!!!"

A Bittersweet Birthday

I've been decently quiet lately... Sorry! I've got some really fun posts coming up... 

We have been up to lots of fun things, but there has been a lot of things going on in my brain lately... especially after the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut.

I'm feeling so bittersweet and broken this Christmas. And that says a lot, because I'm typically a Christmas Nut... However, this year it's different.

I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting older, or because I'm a mom, or if it's the recent heartbreaks in the news, but I'm so uber-emotional this Christmas. I can hardly listen to the Christmas radio stations because if the right song comes on while I'm in the right mood I'll be a bawling mess.

I've finally accepted though, that it's not anti-Christmas to feel melancholy during this season. I'm no Grinch... I wish more people would examine the reality of what Christmas is, and I think more people may adjust from being so incredibly selfish, shallow and greedy to stand in reverence to how this Holiday started, whether or not they believe it in their heart.

The day Keegan was born was the greatest, most incredible day of my life. I've never felt such overwhelming joy or love in a single moment then when I first met him. However, if someone would have told me in that moment that my son was being born to die a completely unjust death in place of someone else- I'm sure that day would have taken on a whole new meaning. It'd be joyful, but most likely, just as equally painful. Every day of his life would change from being a new, exciting day of firsts to have a dark cloud of anxiety for the future.

I'm praying that as we prepare for this Christmas that I can come reverently before the Throne, rejoicing in the fact that He gave His only Son for someone as weak and broken as me. I'm praying that in light of that I can love others endlessly and serve them without expecting in return... I pray that I can feel a deep JOY- not just during Christmas, but year round. Because that sacrifice was made for eternity- not just for the month of December :)

Praying that my friends, family and readers will have an incredible blessed and joyful celebration with loved ones near.

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

 ***NOTE: that IS the infamous Christmas card photo as previously posted about... Hahaha, so ENJOY!

Public Meltdown 1.0

We're on a budget, and I am obviously in love with a good deal. So when I saw that JC Penney's was doing FREE family photos for the month of November, I knew we had to schedule an appointment before the end of the month.

I've always hired photographers to come to our house for pictures, but I knew it was such a great deal, and Keegan is ALWAYS a gem in public... normally...

He did great when we first got there... but they were behind, so we had to wait in the lobby. Keegan loved the toys... but pretty soon sweet Peegy turned into a raging terrible two year old.

He wrapped his arms around/across whatever the other little boy was playing with and yelled, "Noooo! Noooo! Mine!"

MORTIFIED.

Keegan has not been the fastest physically, but I've prided myself in his incredible social skills.... and THAT, ladies and gentleman, is what pride gets you.

Everyone says that Keegan's a photographer's dream as he looks right at EVERY camera and says, "Cheeeeeeese!"

Not Thursday night... 

He shouted and screamed,and flailed his arms about.

We got a whole ONE decent picture.

All that to say, when you get your Christmas card from us, please know the work and disaster that the photo session was... and maybe save it for a little longer than you normally would! Haha! Don't worry, you don't REALLY need to do that :)