The Big 30!

A very special person turned a very special age last Monday - my main squeeze turned 30!  Can you believe it?  I've known him a little under half of that time and dated/been married to him a third of it, and what a fabulous time it's been!

First tour of duty in Iraq

 I am oh so grateful that I met this hunk and even happier that he decided to marry me.  I could not have designed a better husband.  He's almost my polar opposite - calm, relaxed, even-keeled, and lots of fun.  But our humor, opinions, and personalities mesh in the most wonderful way so that we end up being perfect for each other.

First wedding anniversary - what a year!

Above and beyond being a good partner to me, he's been just about the most perfect father to Alli.  He's funny, he's energetic, and he's up for anything.  He'll play Barbies and he'll stay up all night building Legos.  She absolutely adores him, and I know Riley will be no different.  Being pregnant with him around (he was in Iraq when I was pregnant with Alli) has been so awesome.  He's attentive, he cares, and he lets me go to bed at 6PM if I need to.  Seriously, he's the best.

To celebrate his big birthday we had several friends over Sunday night to watch the Super Bowl.  We had his favorite cookie cake, wings and tenders from Slim Chickens, and lots of dips.  He had the great time he deserved with some of our most favorite people.  Saturday night, on the premise that Alli would enjoy it, we went to a new place in town called Arkadia Retrocade.  They have vintage video games, and you get unlimited plays for just $5.  Alli and I beat Ninja Turtles but the real winner was Mr. Lowe, who was in gamer heaven.

On his birthday itself I put his new Ugg slippers outside of the shower while he was in, so when he opened the door they were sitting there waiting to hug his feet.  He was an instant fan, and even tried to find a way to wear them to work that day (I think about that all the time myself).  That night Alli had a cheer performance at an FHS basketball game, and then we went for a burger at Grubs.  Once we got home Lindsey gave him his last present of the night - a baby carrier!  He begged for one with Alli and never got it, so she wanted to make sure he got one for Riley.  We even tested it out on poor Lola.  Cannot.  Stop.  Laughing.

Happy birthday to my sweet fella.  He has handled 30 with a grace that will surely escape me in a few years when it's my turn.

Pregnancy Update - 23 Weeks

How far along: 23 weeks

Size of baby: According to The Bump, baby Lowe is the size of a grapefruit, weighing 12.7 to 20.8 ounces and measuring 10.5 to 11.8 inches long.

Maternity clothes: All I wear in the pants department.  I bought my first maternity top at Target on Thursday (shown above).  I can still get into about half the shirts in my closet though.

Gender: A precious little girl named Riley Rachelle.

Movement:  Again, up and down.  She moves like a madwoman for several days, and then other days I barely feel her at all.  I can actually see my stomach move though - pretty amazing and weird all at the same time.

Sleep: Sleep is up and down.  I'm used to waking up at least once in the middle of the night.  I just have to stay off my phone or ten minutes turns into 2 hours.

Symptoms: Back pain and heartburn!!  I am also not wearing my rings because my hands swell in the evenings some and one time (pre-pregnancy) I got a ring stuck on my finger.  Never again.

What I miss: Wine and coffee.  Not second guessing every bite of food I put in my mouth.  Eating tomato sauce without regretting it for two days.

Cravings: A meatball sub.  Which I regretted for two days while I paid for it with heartburn.  Also, chocolate cake.

Food aversions: Not much - I've hit the hungry phase.  Some textures can make me gag though.

Best moment this week: Feeling her move, as always.  And popping out.  Alli says she can finally tell I'm pregnant.

What I am looking forward to: Having her - in due time!  My shower in March.  I'm slowly gaining things for her nursery, but I really look forward to her furniture coming in and getting everything painted.

Welcome to the world...

...to sweet baby Emma Grace!  My cousin Lisa had her baby girl this week, and I could just eat her up!!  Isn't she precious??

She had a little bit of a rough delivery and had to spend a few days in NICU, but she's headed home today and is doing well.  She's already so loved by so many people - what a lucky little girl!

This lady was made for rocking babies.

Proud Noni with sweet little Emma Grace

Check out those cheeks!!!

Lisa and I are about five months apart, and Emma Grace and Riley should be about four months apart, how cool is that?  I can't wait to meet this adorable girl in person!  Congratulations to Lisa, Chris, and the whole Carroll family!!

What's in a Name?

...how about some scrapbook paper, a little Mod Podge, some discounted wooden letters, and a little help from Hobby Lobby?

After we got confirmation that we were in fact having another sweet little girl, I've wasted no time getting the nursery together.  It's coming along, a piece at a time, all getting piled up on the existing antique furniture in that room...more on that one day when we redo the guest bedroom.  While I'm sporting this second trimester energy, we're doing a lot of work on the house (hence the Paint Party posts seen here and here, to be continued once I get the living room pulled together).

But I did have time for a quick, easy, and fun project this week just for baby Riley.  Several years ago, I made these letters for Alli's room using cute patterned scrapbook paper, Mod Podge, and wooden letters from Hob Lob.

I knew I wanted to do something similar for Riley, but I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted it to look.  Did I just want to do a giant letter "R"?  Did I want to order something from my new favorite website Etsy?  But after some debate, I decided I wanted to style my own to a tee, and I wanted them to be pretty similar to Alli's.  So out I set for Hobby Lobby.

I used to go to this store three times a week when I was decorating our old house, but I got tired of the same ol' same ol', and they just weren't as modern and chic as I wanted when my style evolved.  Man, have things changed!  I was snapping inspiration left and right.

Clearly I need to spend more time and money in here!  So anyway, I found what I was looking for with the letters, but I could not decide on the paper to use.  I had five different patterns picked out, really similar to Alli's, but I just didn't like what I had.  I picked Alli's out after the rest of her room was done at the time, so it was easy to see which colors worked and which didn't.  Determined not to be deterred, I finally settled on a baby pink polka dot paper, and I decided to use the same paper on every letter.

The process is really easy - you trace the letter on the back of the paper and cut it out.  Then you apply a little Mod Podge to the letter itself using a small paintbrush and stick the paper on, smoothing as you go.  I used a pan scraper we have to help it get really smooth.  I let everything completely dry overnight, then applied several coats of Mod Podge on top the next day.

Here's a sneak peak at the results - you'll see the full thing in Riley's nursery reveal in a few weeks.

#HusbandProblems

So with all of my baby growing, I tend to get a little worn out and achy right after (and sometimes before) we put Alli to bed.  Ryan and I used to play games or watch TV on the couch until 10 or 11PM.  But with the backaches and sleepiness that accompany the wonder of pregnancy, I have to go lie down in our bed as soon as my schedule allows.

More often that not, especially in the first trimester and the beginning of the second, I was asleep between 8PM and 9PM.  That left Ryan a lot of time to himself, most of which he spent incessantly flipping channels on the TV.

I know I am not the only woman whose husband has terrible taste in movies, right?  I mean, how many times have you seen Back to the Future III and My Cousin Vinny?  More than I care to count.  And this man can turn to a movie, watch 10 minutes of it right in the middle, and then flip the channel to start it all over again.  Drives.  Me.  Crazy.  Hand me the remote and give me HGTV and Bravo.

I really love my man, I do.  But one more Karate Kid, and I might just scream!!

Name Game

When we had our little Allison Bryanne eight years ago, we were so in love with our sweet baby girl that we talked and talked about having another one.  Due to college, deployments to Iraq, and careers, our second baby dreams were put on hold for a long time, but I had this little sweet girl's name picked out then.

We love to use family-type names.  Alli's name came from my grandfathers' names - Alfred and Alan.  As a "Lauren," I grew up without a nickname, so I loved the idea of her having a nickname.  I didn't want a name that was too out there, but I wanted one that gave her her own identity.  In a generation of Addisons, Ellas, and Olivias, I hoped Allison would be common enough to not be strange 30 years from now, but not so common that there were five others in her class.  So far, so good.  Her middle name, Bryanne, has Ryan's name in it, which was extremely special at the time because he was in Iraq for his first tour.  She's actually lucky enough to have two nicknames - Bryanne has been shortened to "Bree" and "Breezy" over the years, which she loves.

My goal with Alli was for the world to call her Allison with her close family members being the only ones who called her Alli.  But our little sweetie took on the full personality of being an Alli, and it's all she'll answer to from anyone.  The only issue we run into sometimes is spelling, but she's so quick to correct people now that it's really not a problem.

Anyway, I've had little girl #2's name picked out for about seven years now, and I'm so thrilled that I have the opportunity to use it!  So, without further ado, our second daughter's name is going to be...

Riley Rachelle Lowe

I grew up riding horses with a girl named Riley, and I've always been a huge fan of the name.  It's seen a popularity surge in recent years, but was #29 on the Baby Center names list for 2012 (Allison was #37 in 2004).  So I'm hopeful there won't be 10 Rileys in her kindergarten class, but it's not a name that makes people say....what?  Rachelle is my amazing mother's middle name, and it's taken from my grandmother's maiden name Rachel (which happens to be my middle name!), so we're able to introduce a new name into the fold, but keep it in the family too.

We've been calling her Riley since the day we found out she was coming, so we're completely used to it and comfortable with it.  I can't wait to hold her in about 18 weeks and get to call her Riley in person!!  And if you're wondering if Alli approves of her little sister's name, check out her work at a local baby store while we were crib shopping a few weeks ago...

Mid-Pregnancy Ultrasound

On Thursday of this week when I was 21 weeks and 5 days, we had our mid-pregnancy ultrasound.  Ryan and I debated whether or not to take Alli, and decided last week that it would be best if we left her at school in case anything was wrong.  But fate intervened, and Alli was home from school that day making sure she was 24 hours fever free after a low-grade fever with no other symptoms.  I was determined not to miss this very important appointment, and I was absolutely sure Ryan needed to be there.  So we took Alli (who had been fever free for a while, but we were extra careful and the waiting room was empty).

I was extremely nervous for this ultrasound, because I knew it was very important as far as measuring our baby's growth and development.  People focus on the gender-reveal portion, but that's really the least important thing the tech is going to check.  By the time we got called back, my heart was pounding.  I went back alone first, and they said they'd called Ryan and Alli back later.  The tech asked if she could bring a student in with her to observe, which was fine with me.  I laid down, they put the warm goo on my stomach, and off we went.

The ultrasound tech examined the baby's heart and she started exclaiming over how clear the picture was.  She commented that everyone should wait until they were almost 22 weeks, because you could tell such a difference between 18 weeks and 22.  She showed the student all of the chambers of the heart, checked out all of the organs and spine. Over and over, they both said "Oh my gosh, this scan is so clear.  This baby is as close to perfect as you can get!" That really made me relax and enjoy the process.

Finally, they called Alli and Ryan in.  The tech turned the screen so we all could see, and she started pointing out body parts - feet, legs, arms, lips.  Then she got a great profile shot, which made Alli declare "I can see her nose!"  So she finally understood what she was looking at.  It was a really neat moment.

Then it was the moment of truth.  The tech asked Alli what she preferred - a brother or a sister.  Alli answered "Sister!!" immediately.  In her mind, there's never been any other option.  So the tech took a look (I'm pretty sure she already knew before she acted like she was looking...) and confirmed, "You're getting a sister!!"  We were all thrilled, even Ryan who had halfway been hoping for a boy.  Ultimately, all any of us wanted was the glowing ultrasound report.

The tech then said that I was scanning so well that she just had to flip on the 3D to give us a look at what we'd see in 6 weeks for our full-blown 3D ultrasound.  She said sometimes she won't do this at our stage because the babies look so skinny, but she felt like ours would scan so well.  We were in awe!  How can you not be??  Look at that little face!!

I even got to do a fun gender reveal at work - we had Ricks cupcakes delivered, and my friends opened the box for the surprise.

We are so happy and blessed to be welcoming another little lady into our life, and I'm so relieved that she got such a wonderful report.  I can finally feel good about painting that nursery!!!