Side View

We had our “big” ultrasound today. Nana and Papa are in town, so they stayed with Maisy while we had our appointment.

Papa, Maisy and Nana

It was very exciting and emotional. It’s strange how much more emotional I am about this pregnancy than the first. I think it’s because I KNOW how amazing it all is now. I was fighting back tears while just checking in for the ultrasound.

The baby’s face

The baby was very cooperative and quite mellow during the ultrasound. I think maybe this baby will take after Todd in personality.

Different view of baby’s face

They checked for the sex last. They said it was to keep our interest :-) They did guess at 12w 6d that the baby was a girl- and they were right! Maisy is going to have a baby sister!

It’s a girl!!

We are all thrilled!

Maisy is so excited for the baby to come. She loves playing with her babies and reading books about babies. She especially loves it when I hold her finger like newborn babies do. She just giggles and can’t wait to meet her sister.

Maisy practicing being a wonderful big sister

Here is a picture of me today- 20 weeks pregnant. Only 20 more weeks to go!

20 Weeks pregnant

Maisy is also doing very well at potty training. She’s been in training for 8 days now. The first days brought lots of puddles, but by the third day she got it. She now will tell us when she has to go and she goes regularly. We have puddle free days and still the occasional accident, but those are rare. She wears pull ups when we are out, but usually comes home dry. I take the potty with us on certain outings and she will use her potty out. Maisy still wears a diaper for nap time and bed time, but she is well on her way to being potty trained. We are very proud of her to be doing so well so young! (She won’t be two until June 5.)

More later-

Much love, Todd, Becky, Maisy and baby girl

Side view of new baby at 12 days 6 weeks

We had our nuchal translucency (NT) ultrasound on Friday, Feb. 25. The appointment was bright and early. Todd and Maisy were both able to come. Maisy was a perfect big sister and just hung out with Todd on the couch while we all watched the baby TV. It was a long appointment because the baby was being quite active, so it took a while to get the right measurements. It was fine with us, it meant we got a longer peek at the baby. The tests all came back fine and the baby is doing perfectly well. The baby’s heart rate was 140 beats per minute (BPM). I have another regular appointment on Monday and we find out the gender on April 15th!

Face shot of the new baby- I’m told the baby will get cuter

In other news, we ventured up to the mountains to visit Todd’s parents who had a vacation spot there. We made a long weekend of it. Unfortunately, it took us 8 and a half hours to get there (it should only take 3 and a half). There was a huge storm and we had to put chains on (ok TODD had to put chains on) and I could only drive about 15 MPH up the mountain. Slow going! Boy were we glad to finally get there, especially after a few slippery slidey times trying to get up some steep snowy passes. Todd was happy to get some ski days in with the boys and Maisy was happy to get to visit with her Mimi and Papa J. She got to play in the snow and go swimming at the pool.

Maisy all giggles with Mimi on the swing

Papa J and Maisy swinging

Maisy’s language skills are really blossoming. She understands pretty much everything and can speak in sentences. Her vocabulary is growing each day. She is becoming much more assertive and she will let you know exactly what she wants and how she wants it! We are working on “please”, “thank you” and “no, thank you”. She has suddenly become EXTRA picky about food. (No idea where that would have come from)! She pretty much just wants to eat waffles, fruit, PB&Js, applesauce and yogurt. I suppose she could want worse things. We still encourage her to eat other things, but if you aren’t careful or quick enough- she’ll send the plate sailing to the floor. We are not pleased with this trick at all. We are working on breaking this horrible habit.

Way messy yogurt face

Just today I also noticed two more teeth coming in (the canines). After she gets these two, she’ll have only two more canines to come in and then the big molars.

Maisy has now gone potty on her potty training toilet 3 times. Each time has been right before bath time, but she’s really good at letting us know when she needs a new diaper, so we are hoping it may be possible to get her good and potty trained by the time the baby arrives.

Today we turned Maisy’s car seat from rear facing to front facing. Although technically we could have turned her at a year old. There is mounting evidence that keeping a child rear facing for as long as you can is most safe for a baby. We decided that Maisy would like to see the world- her legs were also getting pretty cramped!

Family driving home from Tahoe with a big girl!

More next time!

Much love, Todd, Becky and Maisy

Big sister in training

We are lucky enough to be adding another member to our family. The new little bean should arrive around September 5th.

New Baby’s first photo shoot

Our first ultrasound was Monday and it was very exciting to get to see the baby on the “baby tv”. Everything looked good and the baby is growing on schedule. Maisy and Todd were there for the visit. We kept trying to explain to Maisy that it was a picture of the baby in Mommy’s tummy. She looked at us like we had obviously lost it. She did take an interest in the baby on the tv screen and wanted to kiss and hug it. Then she pointed to my belly and wanted said, “Oten”- which in Maisy language means open. We explained that the baby had to stay inside for a long long time to get bigger then it would be ready to come out.

Maisy giving the baby kisses

We asked her if she liked the baby and if she could point to the baby and she did, then she quickly named it, Nemo. I doubt that name will be on the birth certificate.

Maisy and Todd find Nemo

We have our next ultrasound, the NT scan, on February 25. Other than that, I’m just tired and feel kind of nauseated a good portion of the time- but that should all resolve in a couple of weeks.

More next time!

Much love, Todd, Becky and Maisy

Yesterday was our diagnostic screening day.

To our happy surprise they did another ultrasound. The baby looks very content in its little cocoon. The baby would be lying on its back and then get up all of a sudden and do a few fancy moves and lay back down. We could have sworn at one point the baby just turned and waved to us.

I was actually able to see the heartbeat this time and the heart rate looks excellent. The baby was up on the monitor for quite a while since they were taking measurements. By the way, the baby is also measuring right on target. Already a straight A student, passing all the tests!

We should be able to find out the sex of the baby by mid January- yay!

O ur first doctor’s appointment was on Thursday, Nov. 8th, and it seemed like forever for that day to come. As you can imagine, we were both very excited. Once the ultrasound machine was fired up, it was pretty amazing to see someone in there! The doctor said the baby looked perfect and that there was a good strong heart beat. The baby even started to do a little dance for us, showing Todd and I just how she or he can tear up a dance floor! I couldn’t believe the baby was moving, since I can’t feel a thing!

At the time of this photo, the baby was about 3 cm long and she or he will continue to grow rapidly. The doctor confirmed the baby should be arriving around June 3rd.

The rest of our schedule seems pretty packed. I have an appointment for diagnostic first trimester screening this Friday, Nov. 16th, and I hope they do another ultrasound so I can see our little baby again. Our next offical appointment is Monday, Nov. 26th, and the doctor was saying it is a continuation of the first appointment. It’s then that we get to listen for the heart beat with the doppler – if they can’t hear it that way they will do another ultrasound. We also discuss the results of the blood tests and screenings I have had. Hope all goes well!