24 Weeks, which means we're closer to the end of this this pregnancy than the beginning of it! Woohoo! I'm still loving being pregnant and am so thankful I have had two easy pregnancies to experience, thus far! At my most recent appointment, we actually switched my due date... putting us a few days behind schedule, which is actually what I expected. Little lady has consistently been measuring 4-5 days behind my LMP date for every ultrasound that we've had since the very beginning, starting from the earliest ultrasound at 5 weeks, through the subchorionic hemorrhage scare at 7 weeks, to our anatomy scan and now our most recent ultrasound at 22 weeks. Dr. Garg explained that everything was completely fine, and to be on the safe side, we're going to push the due date back exactly as far behind as she has been measuring- so the new tentative due date is May 18th, 2016. Of course, this date will change and be a little bit earlier, due to having a C-Section planned, but I can rest comfortably knowing this little chick won't be born earlier than needed (hopefully!). Through all of the recent ultrasounds and appointments we've had, she looks great and healthy, and I can feel her consistently multiple times a day as she's a little mover! She definitely moves much more than Nolan did! Everything else has been easy peasy as I've started to regain some energy, especially after being sick for over a month- being sick and pregnant at the same time is the worst.thing.ever. Seriously. We're getting more and more excited to meet this little one, and we're getting closer to deciding on a name, although we're still not 100% settled on one! Read more for the regular update....
How far along? 24 Weeks
Total weight gain: Probably close to 15 pounds or so, unofficially. Maternity clothes? I definitely don't wear normal clothes anymore. Leggings are way too convenient and comfy... so if you're wondering if I'm lazy or just don't care... it's kind of a mix of both! Haha. Stretch marks? Nothing yet! Sleep: Finally sleeping through the night again after having a cold for over a month! I busted out the pregnancy pillow and will sleep with it some nights, but not always. Best moment this week: Receiving baby girl's crib blanket that I ordered, which I've been wanting for a while! Starting to get planning on the nursery more and more, and hoping to see it come together soon! Miss Anything? Definitely deli sandwiches this week. Want Port of Subs SO.BAD! Movement: Yes, all the time! Even at my last appointment, Dr. Garg was impressed to see all the action from outside my belly and even the ultrasound tech commented on how active she was inside. She's a mover, this one! Food cravings: Cereal, cereal, cereal. I've been going through boxes of cereal like it's nobody's business. I eat one every night before bed. Strawberries last weekend were also on my list of go-to constantly! And string cheese. Definitely have a weird craving for string cheese that I fulfill pretty much every day! Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope! Gender prediction: Girl! Symptoms: Ligament pain here and there, and a few leg cramps started up the past week. I'm at the stage in pregnancy that I'm feeling good and really feeling pregnant, and loving it! Belly Button in or out? Out, has been for a while. Looking forward to: Continuing the nursery planning... I'm on a mission to get this going and finished soon!
Nolan's party was held a few days after his birthday, and I had been super excited planning, crafting and buying for it since I knew he would be SO excited for his theme, his absolute favorite thing: Sesame Street! Come nap time on Saturday afternoon, I got to decorating and finishing last minute details as well as prepping all of our food. It came out so much better than I expected and all the time and effort put in was definitely worth it!
When Nolan came downstairs, he was super excited to see everything decked out in Sesame Street! He definitely had to snap some pics by the GIANT Elmo balloon, which was totally exciting to see!
Guests were welcomed at our front door by Monster feet! Big bird, Elmo and Cookie Monster left their tracks and Nolan loved this when he saw it! I also crafted a personalized "Nolan Street" sign for our front door.
Throughout the house, we had Sesame Street covered from ceiling to floor! I decorated with both new party supplies as well as Nolan's current toys, which made it easy for little "extras" here and there since he has so much Sesame gear! One of my absolute must-haves for his party was the the HUMONGOUS mylar gliding Elmo balloon, which was a hit with the kiddos! This thing is still inflated in our house a week later.... and although he's missing a leg now, I'm wondering if he'll ever loose air! The tables were decorated with Nolan's 2-year pictures I had taken a few weeks prior at the Smith Center, to keep with tradition. I also displayed his "Nolan Street" sign that we used from our photoshoot, which was probably one of my favorite decorations to his party- I'm bummed I have no use for it or anywhere to put it to keep!
After lots of Pinterest searching I decided to make my own Pin the Nose on Elmo game for the kids to play, and with a little felt and some hot glue, it came out perfect! Each kiddo had their own orange nose with their name on it to place onto Elmo's face after some spins and eyes closed (for the bigger kids). They played it quickly during the party and liked it for about 10 seconds, but either way I was happy with it!
I was super inspired by the Sesame Street Tissue Poms that I found all over Pinterest, so of course wanted to make my own for decorations. Unfortunately, these came out less than impressive and I've decided that you must have to have a special "tissue pom" touch to make them look even half way decent! Nolan loved them when he saw them, so that's all that matters, but next time, we're passing on any form of tissue pom!
In the kitchen, I used Nolan's Sesame Street garland from his photoshoot to decorate the dessert counter, where we had some yummy Sesame faces cupcakes and some amazingly designed sugar cookies! The cookies were definitely one of my favorite things, they turned out amazing and tasted good too! Nolan had received Dorothy as his birthday gift a few days before, and she made a great centerpiece that fit swimmingly with the party theme.
For the food, I tried to incorporate easy finger foods to go with our pizza (Nolan's favorite and personal request) into some Pinterest food cards I had come across, as well as creating my own food labels using a blank Sesame Street sign template. (PS: the original creator of the PDF files for the food cards spelled Guacamole wrong... not me, as Jason so nicely pointed out as I was setting things up!) The napkin rolls and food picks were made with free printables I found on Pinterest, also. The character faces were crafted out of leftover Amazon Prime shipping boxes, construction paper and a simple Google search of each character's face! Super easy and they came out pretty cute! Nolan snacked away all night on his favorite: chips and cucumbers! At least some of it was healthy! :)
The kids' table had some snacks and drinks, as well as each guests' favor bags. Inside, we customized different Sesame Street themed toys based on each kiddos age. The older kids received an activity book, a character-specific Play Doh, a sheet of stickers, and crayons and a bag of Goldfish... because.... "Elmo loves his goldfish, his crayon too!" For the toddlers, everything was the same except a coloring book instead of the activity book, and for the two babes of the party, they received special baby toys and smaller books, all Sesame themed, also! The favor bags turned out much cuter than I anticipated and we were definitely happy with them!
After all the eating and playing, Nolan wanted to open his presents, so we gathered around and watched him dig in. This year was definitely much different compared to last year, as he recently had practice with Christmas and knew exactly what to do- and dug right in! We definitely had to slow him down a few times. He had lots of help from his friends, but didn't mind at all! He has the best friends and family and was so spoiled, yet again, by all of them with the best gifts, and was so excited opening each one of them! Thank you all so much!
After presents, we jumped right into dessert, and Nolan absolutely loved when everyone sang him Happy Birthday. He had been singing it himself for the past couple of days prior when we celebrated his real birthday, so when he heard everyone join in to sing to him, he was mind blown! He blew out his candle (with some help from Mama), and then poked around at his Cookie Monster cupcake, but was more interested in the sugar cookie, so double fisting was a must at one point. All the kiddos chowed down and then got back to playing! The boys were total goofballs together... and soon enough, Nolan and Hudson had to hurry back for round two of dessert! Party on!
The next day, we had to take some more pictures since we didn't get much of Nolan solo during the party, so we did some quick photoshooting, making sure to snap some shots with our annual Petite Lemon birthday sign that we plan to use as a tradition for every birthday! Nolan's shirt was also another similar thing from his first birthday- we used the same small shop, Lil' Threadz, to customize a Sesame Street shirt just like his weenie dog one the previous year. They are so soft and he will wear it throughout the year, so it's a perfect splurge!
Nolan really did enjoy his second birthday, and it was adorable seeing how excited he was to have all of his friends celebrate with him and be surrounded by one of his favorite things on this planet- Sesame Street! This age is so fun and I loved seeing the excitement of his birthday through his eyes this year. I know it will only grow, which makes me happy to see him grow up, but at the same time, I can't believe how fast it actually goes! Thanks to everyone that came out or sent wishes for the big man's birthday- he loves you all!
