Blessed.

We had such a fun Easter this year! Haddie got two Easter egg hunts and lots of cousin time. Dave's parents always do an Easter egg hunt and BBQ at their house. We went to that first and then came back to our house for an egg hunt in our backyard. Michelle and her family came up and stayed with us. We love having them! And the weather was beautiful!! What more can you ask for?

At Grandma and Grandpa's house...

Our backyard egg hunt...

"Cheeeese!" She is into saying "cheese!" but not actually smiling or looking at the camera lately.

Enjoying the spoils...

Easter Sunday outfit. Cutest ever.

And some cousin time...

Looney Tunes... still entertaining 3 out of 4 kids... (yes, we did scoot them back from 12 inches from the tv after this picture)

And some quality time with my girl...

I am 35 weeks pregnant now.

 And I feel maybe better than I have in weeks actually. Still tired and achy and whatnot but I feel like a weight has been lifted. At our 20 week ultrasound, we found out that there was a large blood vessel over my cervix and they thought that the umbilical cord was not inserted into the placenta like it should be. The fancy name for these two conditions is vasa previa and velamentous cord insertion. The ultrasound tech actually specifically told me that I should not go home and Google those things. So I went home and Googled. And then freaked out for a few days. Basically vasa previa means that if I were to go into labor on my own, there would be a good chance that I would end up with a very sick or dead baby. And most the recommendations that I was reading online were saying the I should be hospitalized from 28-30 weeks until 35 weeks and then have a c-section. This was a drastic change in my plan. With Haddie, I was low risk. I had all my prenatal care with midwives. A midwife delivered Haddie in the hospital. I had no pain medication or induction. I went into labor on my own. That was the same kind of vision I had for this pregnancy. We were told that this issue can resolve itself and we were going to have serial ultrasounds to monitor our baby's growth and to see if anything was changing. We had an ultrasound at 28 weeks. No change. We had an ultrasound at 32 weeks. No change. We were still seeing the midwives up to this point. When nothing had changed at 32 weeks, we switched to a doctor. I started having non-stress tests twice a week. I got two shots of steroids to develop baby's lungs. And we were sent to the University of Utah to see a perinatologist and get another ultrasound. I would be just about 34 weeks when we went to Utah. We were going to Utah to get verification and recommendations on how to proceed but the plan was a c-section at 35 weeks. Every time we went to an ultrasound we had high hopes of everything being resolved. And since our 20 week ultrasound, I basically felt like a ticking time bomb. After we saw the doctor, it felt like everything kicked into hyperdrive. We prepared ourselves to have a baby this week. Then we went to the University of Utah hospital. The woman that did my ultrasound was very knowledgable. She has been doing ultrasounds at the U for 26 years and they see a lot of high risk pregnancies. We felt very comfortable with her. We did not even think about things changing or resolving. We had come to terms with no change. At the end of the ultrasound, on a whim, I asked if she saw blood supply over my cervix. She said she would go look at it with the perinatologist over the diagnostic area that day but that she did not see any blood vessels. We didn't even think twice about believing that it had resolved. Then we went to the clinic to talk with a perinatologist. She came in and basically said, I'm not sure what they saw in Pocatello but I'm not seeing it now. She had looked at my ultrasound with the ultrasound tech and the perinatologist in the diagnostic area and none of them found any reason for concern. We asked her about umbilical cord and she said that it was connected to the placenta like it should be and even brought in a ultrasound machine right then to look at everything again with us. She told us to "go forth and be normal" because they saw nothing to be concerned about. It took us a few minutes to actually believe what we were hearing. We were so excited!! 

I think there were lots of reasons that this situation was so stressful for me. We were concerned about the health of our baby. I was concerned about her being so early and possibly having to stay in the NICU. I was concerned about having a c-section and about choosing the right doctor to take care of us.  I was sad and scared to think that I was not going to have the type of great experience that I had with Haddie's birth. But even though there was so much stress surrounding the situation, I still felt like no matter what happened, everything was going to be okay. We had so many people praying for us and thinking of us. I feel like to most people having a cesarean section is not a big deal so that should not have been anything to stress about. But to me, it is a big deal. Don't get me wrong, if that is what was needed to keep our baby as safe as possible, I was totally in support but I feel like going through labor and delivery is a blessing. It is a bonding experience. I was sad that it was being taken away from me. Plus, the whole having surgery part of it was scary to me. Sometimes I feel like maybe I was making too big of a deal of the whole thing. I look at what other people have to go through to even get pregnant or throughout pregnancy and I feel silly for being so stressed about our situation. But the thought of your baby being in any kind of danger has a tendency to create a little stress. :) Pregnancy is such a miracle. 

We are so blessed.

My baby is growing up!

My baby is 2 years old! I can't believe it! And I won't even begin to explain how much I love her because that would be a long post! She is talking so much these days and it is so fun! Even when she is being feisty. :) She loves books and she seems to favor Dr. Suess. She will sit and "read" her books sometimes and it is the cutest thing ever! We did a swim class together that she LOVED! She would rather watch "Cars" or  "Chuck and Friends" or anything with dogs than any princess show. She is generally a pretty happy and laid back girl and is still a total Momma's girl. But she loves to play with Daddy too and thinks he is pretty funny! She is now officially sleeping in a big girl bed and is doing great! I was kind of dreading the switch but it has not been too bad. She has been waking up earlier than usual and her first nap in the bed was kind of a fight but I would say it has been a successful transition so far! Every time you ask her how old she is she says "Three!" I'm not sure how that started but she will say two if keep asking. :)

 She had a fun birthday week... or two!

A couple throwbacks of my big two year old...

My sweet little one in the hospital after she was born. 

And on her 1st birthday...

And at her 2nd birthday party! 

She was being such a ham and showing off every present like she was Vanna White. So cute!

Her birthday breakfast of cinnamon french toast and strawberries...

(If you are wondering about the shirt over the pjs... we have had a couple poop incidents. I'll just leave it at that.)

We filled her room with some helium balloons and balloons we blew up and put on the floor while she was sleeping for when she woke up on her birthday and her reaction was priceless! I wish I would have gotten it on video!

 Some Hope and Nana time on her birthday! She wouldn't have had it any other way!

She got her first haircut just before she turned 2. She sat so still and looks SO CUTE with her new hairdo! The mullet is officially gone! Thank goodness! :)

AND we got to go to Spring Training in Scottsdale again this year! We love it!! It has pretty much been a yearly tradition for us since we got married.

Waiting for the shuttle at the airport...

I'm glad to report she was fairly well behaved (even if she was painfully trampling my belly/her little sister the ENTIRE time) and we had no slapping incidents. :) (Please tell me you heard about the drunk old man slapping the two year old... that did not belong to him... on a flight.)

Enjoying the Arizona warmth...
(Has anyone else ever rented a carseat with their rental car and been totally creeped out by it? I was convinced that she was going to get lice or something... and Dave thought I was being ridiculous. So I just opted to not think about it and let him put her in the carseat every time while we were down there. Maybe I'm a freak... whatever.)

Being a goofball at Olive Garden where we were for like 4 hours one night because our waiter was apparently holding us hostage. BUT we got a $20 gift card out of it so I guess it was worth it!

Game time!

 (This is them telling me "No, no Mommy! No pictures!")

She HAD to have some lemonade as soon as the guy walked by selling them. And it did taste pretty darn delicious!

  
 Pool time! LOVED IT!

Sprinkles Cupcakes is a must.

At another game. (this girl was definitely a fan of garlic fries)

 At the Phoenix Zoo...

 Crashed immediately after the Phoenix Zoo...

Enjoying a little bedtime milk and oranges with her crew ("Baby"- Pig, "Guys"-giraffe, and "Turtle"-he is new and doesn't have a name yet )

And a little photoshoot with the new babe.

I think we can officially add cereal of every kind to my list of cravings for this pregnancy. I am feeling pretty good but I do have to say that I seem to be more achy and tired with this one than with Haddie, probably due to the whole having a two year old thing. I think that Haddie is going to be a great big sister! I am probably more nervous about handling the 1 to 2 kids transition and Haddie's reaction than anything else though. But I am so excited too. I can't WAIT! Being a mom is the best thing ever.