28 Weeks & all the Christmas Feels

Monthly updates seem to be as good as it's going to get over here. There is just so. much. going. on. I mean how does one's life become so busy? I've already decided that my goal and focus for 2017 is going to be simplification. (Let's see how that works out with a newborn and almost three year old next year!) 

And just like that we have hit the 7th month of pregnancy! I still can't believe how quickly it has gone. Even though this pregnancy has been entirely different in a much harder way I have really enjoyed this season. The cool weather, the holiday food, and all while being covered in lots of fleece layers. What more could a pregnant girl ask for! 

I'll be posting a pregnancy update shortly, but for now here is what we have been up to this month. We waited until the second week of December to go cut our tree down. Work and our social scheduling got the best of us and it was all "run, run rudolph" to get that holiday decor up in time for the 25th. Needless to say our lack of planning wasn't the tree farm's emergency since there was like 2 Charlie Brown trees left. We snagged the lesser of two evergreens and off we went.

This week was Brady's last day of preschool and they put on the cutest Christmas program. It was our first time in the audience watching him and we were totally "those parents" floating around the auditorium trying to get the best picture of our kid. Lamby HAD to be apart of the show or the show wasn't going to go on. (Let's see if you can spot him!) Thank goodness for awesome preschool teachers that "get" Brady and Lamby. 

We headed out for lunch and then it was home for naps all around. This kid was beat and so was Mama. BUT we rallied this afternoon and made about 5392 sugar cookies that we plan on decorating tomorrow even though we already ate about 600 of them! 

Now that Brady is talking we have had some of the cutest conversations. The first being that Brady argued with me for about 10 minutes that the gingerbread man cookie cutter was, in fact, baby Jesus. After fussing over it I finally caved and now, I to, am a believer in the baby Jesus gingerbread man. Shortly after I told Brady that Blakely LOVES the cookies he made and rubbed my belly. About 20 minutes later I gave him a snack while I cleaned the kitchen. He brought one of his apple slices up to me, pulled by shirt up and stuck the apple in my belly button. Yes... my belly button. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I feeding baby sister, Blake." O.M.G. This kid. 

I really can't wait for Christmas this year. Watching the magic through a babe's eyes is seriously the best! 

Merry Christmas in FIVE MORE DAYS!  

24 Weeks

All of you mamas that said your second pregnancy flies by weren't kidding. With Brady I knew down to the day how far along I was. This time I feel like a total deer in the headlights when someone asks me how far along I am.  It's as if I said 4 months for a really long time only to wake up one day and realize I was SIX MONTHS! 

Brady is really starting to realize that my belly is changing. One of the sweetest moments this week was when I was laying with him before bed and he kissed my belly with no prompting and said "Hi, baby sister!" Seriously pregnancy hormones were out of control after that. 

How Far Along? 24 weeks

Size of Baby: Right over 1 lb. However with the way she moves I feel like she is SO much bigger! 

Gender: Sweet baby girl! 

Weight Gain: Not sure, but at my 22 week appointment I weighed in right at 126. Total gain of 6-7 pounds. 

Maternity Clothes: Yes! I tried to squeeze into my gap jeans I have had since high school. The button went through the loop but let's just say I looked like a sausage busting out of the skin. 

Nursery: 90% of the way done and I have literally done none of it! Thank you Jesus for amazing moms and sisters! Can't wait to take a few photos and share soon! 

Movement: NON-stop. This is such a change from Brady. It has been weird to feel movement while teaching piano, driving, or just sitting on the couch. It is literally all over the place throughout the day! 

Symptoms: This is a big change from Brady as well. I had hardly any symptoms with him. With this baby I have nose bleeds almost every day and the Charlie Horse leg spasms have started at night. It has brought my night time routine to a whole new level to make sure I don't wake up with either of these symptoms. SO, so crazy. 

Sleep: Eh, it's on and off. Some night I sleep all night long and hard. Other days I wake up to go to the bathroom various times at night. Only to have a sporadic nose bleed while trying to get back to the bed, all while screaming about a leg cramp. It's a total crap shoot on what kinda night it's going to be. 

Cravings: Nothing in particular. 

What I Miss:  Being able to walk up (or down for that matter) a flight of steps without feeling like I need an inhaler. 

Best Moment This Week:  FRIENDSGIVING dinner and Thanksgiving dinner all in one week! YES to all that good food. 

Looking forward to:  The holidays. I know it's pretty cliche but once the new year hits we will only be 2 short months from meeting Blakely baby! 

Gender Reveal

Baby number two was most definitely a surprise. In fact having another baby was probably one of the last things on our mind as we prepared to make a huge move and renovate our forever home. Brian was getting ready to start an outage with crazy hours at work and Melodies in Motion was (and still is) taking off in ways I couldn't imagine. In our minds we had to get our junk together before we could even think about adding another member to the fam. But God knew what our family needed. It didn't matter if we were preventing He knew it was time. As I have hit the halfway point of this pregnancy I couldn't imagine not carrying this life in my womb. The anxiety and fear that hit when I found out was well worth it because I have been reminded that my life is not my own. It is God's.

This weekend we were able to share our new home and the gender of our precious bundle with all of our friends! We have known the gender for a few months and it was seriously that HARDEST SECRET I have EVER kept. It was such a relief finally telling everyone.

Baby GIRL Anderson coming in hot March 2017!

Blakely Elise Anderson we can NOT wait to bring you home in just a few months! We are so excited that you are making us parents again and we can't even begin to imagine what exciting memories you are going to help our family create! 

Halfway Baby!

                           

How Far Along? HALF WAY! I have finally gotten my act together and am trying to get on top of my pregnancy updates for this baby.
Size of Baby: Size of a tomato (except not round?) Baby is 6 inches long and weighs around 8.5 oz. 
Gender: GIRL! 
Weight Gain: I gained back all of the weight I loss in the first trimester. I am weighing in at 122 lb. That is a couple of pounds more than my pre pregnancy weight. 
Maternity Clothes: YES. Not needed but I just LOVE them all! 
Nursery: My whole family evacuated during Hurricane Matthew a few weekends ago. My mom and sister went into decor mode and got baby girl's nursery about 75% of the way done. I absolutely love what they started and can't wait to get it finished. 
Movement: YES! This has definitely made up for all the sickness. I never really felt Brady move which was always nerve wracking. Yet, with this pregnancy I feel movement randomly throughout the day and a TON at night. 
Symptoms: Just the occasional round ligament pain. All in all I have been feeling great. 
Sleep: Yep.
Cravings: Nothing in particular. I do love an ice cold soda or warm, toasty coffee. Really into beverages lately. 
What I Miss:  I have missed the hard cider at the orchard and the seasonal beers that come out this time of year. 
Best Moment This Week:  Our gender reveal and housewarming party this past weekend.

Looking forward to: Buying everything girly the next few months! 

                                            

First Trimester Update

I am finally taking a day to catch up on on all my pregnancy posts. It has just been so much harder this time around with the new house and all of the renovations that have come along with that.  Sorry baby girl. You may not have as many pregnancy updates as Brady, but I promise to make it up to you in headbands and tutus! 

8 Weeks

This pregnancy was quite the surprise. It was extremely overwhelming finding out we were expecting in the middle of selling one house and then buying and renovating another. Throw a 2 year old and running a business into the mix and I was beyond 'first trimester' exhausted. Now that we are settled in our family couldn't be more excited to welcome a sweet new bundle into our home! Plus I can NOT wait to wear leggings and fluffy socks all pregnancy/winter long! 

15 Weeks

During my pregnancy with Brady I remember thinking that pregnancy was a breeze, especially in the first trimester. I was never nauseous or really tired and weak feeling. When other girls would discuss how rough the first 12-14 weeks were I would think how it honestly couldn't be that bad. Well friends, the pregnancy fairy has come back to bite me in the butt and hard. The first trimester of this pregnancy was nothing short of a living hell. I lost ten pounds in six weeks from throwing up multiple times a day. That along with the pregnancy made me lethargic all day long. But don't worry! I have rallied and gained it ALL back and then some! Thank you new double oven and all the baked goods you are putting out. 

Now for a little first trimester updated! 

How Far Along? Weeks 6-14 for this post. Gotta love playing the catch up game.
Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a plum. Weighing in right at .49 oz and 2.1 in long.
Gender:  We were originally told boy at our first ultrasound. (Like who knew that they could even tell gender that early on...) Later our DNA results came in and we found out we are having a GIRL! 
Weight Gain/Loss: I started this pregnancy right around 120 and by 12 weeks I was down to 110 lbs. (Haven't seen that number since middle school!) All-day sickness is the absolute WORST.
Maternity Clothes: None unless you count the maternity leggings I have been wearing for 3 years since being pregnant with Brady. 
Nursery: Nowhere close

Movement: YES! I felt the first little flutters right around 12-13 weeks. My placenta is anterior this time and baby loves to snuggle right up against the uterine wall.  

Symptoms: Every. Single. One.
Sleep: Best ever! 
Cravings: The same cravings I had with Brady... Egg Mcmuffin and coke from McDonalds. You health nuts can all roll your eyes at me now. 

What I Miss: My energy levels. It's hard being down and out most of the time.
Best Moment This Week: Finding out baby girl's gender was the best moment in the whole trimester! 
Looking Forward To: A growing baby bump! 

     

Kitchen Reveal

So today I had planned to post my first trimester update, along with a little bump shot, BUT the last big piece of our kitchen reno arrived yesterday. (Double oven on an electric range for the win!)  I couldn't contain my excitement and just had to get this post up!

Guys. This kitchen was seriously almost the death of me. We decided before even moving in we were going to have all of the popcorn ceilings scraped and painted. Sounds so, so easy. And apparently it is, but clean is not even an option when doing ceilings. We worked with a great crew but there just was no way to contain 1500 square feet of downstairs dust without traces being left behind. Such a mess. Take the smell of the paint and dust and couple that with my first trimester. I was nothing but nauseous 24/7. 

We also didn't do things in the best order. After the first offer on our condo fell through our loan had to be re-written. The meant our closing date was pushed back. But that also meant ALL of our contractors had to rescheduled their jobs. Unfortunately our counter company was in a super busy season and it was either the original scheduled date or we would be waiting months for them to be installed. So we took the plunge and put the quartz counters in first. Word of advice to anyone re-doing a kitchen: NEVER put your counters in first.  But I digress. 

One of the biggest changes we made was knocking out two huge cabinets that were on either side of the window. It opened the kitchen up and made it look so bright! Best decision we made in this room. A few open shelves and some of my favorite items make this room pop every time I walk into it. 

The cabinets are in okay condition. We originally wanted to replace them, but it just wasn't in the budget. I am hoping to recover from all of the "projects" and then in a few years save up and replace them all. In the meantime we opted to have them painted a soft gray. That with new knobs dressed them right up. We upgraded all of the appliance except the refrigerator. The previous owners were kind enough to leave it for us even though we hadn't asked for it. This saved us a bit of money that we were able to use on upgrading our backsplash. We went with a white and gray herringbone stone. 

And of course our coffee bar goes everywhere we do. I basically staged it the exact same. It was in our sunroom/playroom at the condo. However, I love having it so close to the kitchen in this home. Definitely makes grabbing a cup while baking super convenient.

Just a few small details stand between us and a completely finished kitchen. We couldn't be happier with how it came out and can't wait enjoy many meals and festivities in this sweet, sweet space! 

It's true.... Baby Anderson #2

It is true! We are adding a precious new bundle to our already amazing family. Brady will be hitting the "training camp" hard for the next few months. Especially since he tried to feed the baby doll goldfish and tossed it out of the cradle when it wouldn't chew.

I am hoping to do pregnancy updates again, though it probably won't be weekly like before. (Seriously, I had WAY TOO much free time before Brady.) Stay tuned for our first bump update coming soon.

LITTLE BABY ANDERSON coming March 2017

                                                                                         ....and here is how he really feels about it.

Two years of Brady

It has been one of the most rewarding, whirlwind experiences as a mom. But Brady Walker was sure worth every bit of the 42 week wait!

His birthday has come and gone just as quickly as the last two years, but I couldn't help but share some of our favorite pictures of him.

And here we are at TWO...

And since it was his birthday... He can totally cry if he wants to.

Happy Birthday sweet, sweet Brady. We love you so very much! 

Birthday Celebrations

It is still so strange saying that Brady is TWO. What is even weirder is hearing him tell people he is two. Like when did this kid start having conversations with people?! 

It was so tempting to throw a big bash with all of the awesome things to do in Charlotte. However, we just couldn't make the dates work with a previously planned trip to Charleston and then 4th of July hit so fast. Plus, our house looks like a complete disaster zone with boxes from the floor to the ceiling so having a party here was out of the question. 

Life has been chaotic lately to say the least. So we decided on a simple family day instead. No frills, no banners, no work. We took Brady to the zoo for a laid back day with the animals. Water is his favorite right now so we took the last hour to let him play in the splash pad with daddy. 

       

The kid took one hard birthday nap on the way home. After he woke up we took him shopping for one big gift. I'm pretty sure Brian and I had more fun looking through the toy aisle than he did, but nonetheless he decided on an awesome mack truck that hauls six different monster mobiles. It's pretty awesome!

Happy Birthday to our big TWO year old!