The fun continues

The second weekend of my sister in law's visit with her boyfriend was the busiest.
 
On Friday night, we got dressed up and went out for a grown up night. Since we were all dressed up, we decided to have a little photo op before we left. T-man really wanted to be in the pictures so we indulged. He was all smiles for all of them.

 The hubby pointing to my growing belly, definitely popped by the way, I officially look pregnant.

 The night was fun and involved lots of drinking with silly pics of course

 

 The next day we went to NYC but that deserves it's own post because there's so much to talk about.

We had a fun day at Dave and Buster's the following Sunday.

 This was such a great visit. I was so tired by the end of it but wouldn't have it any other way. I love to be busy and I can't wait to see her again soon.

Weekend is for fun

My sister in law and her boyfriend were in town from England for the last 2 weeks. We had a blast with them so much so that I needed a day off to recuperate :).

T-man really enjoyed having his aunt this visit, he was so much more interactive. He played with her and the boyfriend non stop.

 Such a happy boy my T-man

They are doing the same face here it's so funny

 Drinking away with his favorite (and only) aunt :)

We went to lunch at a local diner,

On the first Saturday we also went to a basket ball game, the wizards lost but we definitely enjoyed the show.

 On Sunday we went shopping all day. The weekend after was even busier, we had a night out in the town, then went to NYC for the day, followed by a day at Dave and Busters. T-man stayed with my mom that weekend because these were all grown up events that I will tell you all about next time.

Better than Christmas

The day we found out that we were having another BOY was definitely better than Christmas. Yep, I am growing another sweet little boy and I am so thrilled about it.  I was hoping and praying that we would get the same sex since they'll be so close in age in hopes that they would become best friends.

Anyway, we made a family affair of the event. We took T-man with us to the appointment. The minute she put the machine on my belly, my little boy just went ahead and spread his legs so that we could see the goods. My heart was so full, another sweet little boy. God is so good. We go to see him do fun things for another 5 minutes, heard his beautiful heartbeat. I was one happy momma.

By the way, my anxiety has subsided a bit since I started feeling this little one kick. He is such a chill baby yet he makes his presence know. I am so in love with this boy and he is so good to his mama.

You know what they say about boys, they are a mother's private army. I am so glad to be adding another one to my army :)

Babymoon Greece style

While I am on a roll on the baby topic and I am working on figuring out where we are going to go this time around, I figured I would take you back to our babymoon in Greece.

I was 7 months along (I don't recommend that long of a flight that far along). We loved Greece for sure. After living in cold Germany for years, Greece was a warm place to visit (both weather and people).

One thing I didn't like was having to walk forever to get anywhere. Most of the monuments required hikes and long walks. We had to spend a day doing nothing and just hanging by the pool so that I could recuperate.

We flew into Athens, checked out the sights for a couple of days, then took a day trip to the nearby Greek Isles of Poros, Hydra, and Aegina. We then had a day of rest then another day in the city before we left. It was a great trip.

Here we are starting the hike up to the Parthenon and Acropolis

Half way through the hike, beautiful view of the city from above

We finally made it to the top (it was a long hike)

Showing off the belly with the Parthenon in the background

View of the Temple of Zeus from above. We got to check it out a few days later

Syntagma square with the parliament in the background

Me showing off my bump at the plaka national park

On one of the islands, it was a little chilly near the water

Gotta love the beautiful houses on the Greek Isles

Having lunch near the water

Self portrait of course

Getting ready for the pool with a 7-month belly. I wore my bikini until the end (I was lucky, I had no stretch marks or anything.)

Temple of Zeus, one of my favorite picture of the trip

Gotta love self timer. We are pros at that

This was a great trip with some awesome memories. I only wish that we got a chance to go to Santorini. I guess we have to go to Greece again because I would love to check out Santorini some day. If you haven't been to Greece, you should totally put it on your list.

Baby number two, all the details

Our rainbow is here, growing in my belly, and we couldn't be happier. God has blessed us once again. Thank you so much for all your sweet comments on my last post.

So after losing our angel baby on November 2nd, I bled for over 2 weeks. I went in for an U/S afterward and they concluded that everything had passed and I was good to go in that department. Ah the tears and the heartbreak. My Dr wanted to see me a month later on December 19 just to check and make sure everything was ok and talk to us about trying again and all that jazz.

So on December 10, the day we took a day trip to NYC, I decided to take a test. For some bizarre reason, I just thought I was pregnant and I wanted to make sure because I figured I would have a drink and didn't want to do that if i was pregnant. The test was negative. Then 2 days later my boobs were sore like really sore and at that point I just knew I was pregnant so on December 13, I took another test. After a couple of minutes the faintest of faint line definitely showed. My husband swore that there was no line but I just knew. So when December 14th rolled around, exactly 6 weeks to the day that we lost our angel, I took another test. Low and behold the test came back positive. It was still faint but definitely there. I took out the digital (bring on the big guns) and yep yep yep "PREGNANT" it said. We were overjoyed.

Here are the pics of my tests

 

And of course us holding the test (we are goofballs, I know).

We decided not to tell anyone until we knew for sure (no need to spread the heartbreak if things went wrong again). Man, can you imagine how difficult this was. Our Dr appointment rolled around a week later on the 19th and after waiting an hour (so annoying) we still didn't have an answer. My Dr ordered a blood test and stated that I could be pregnant or I could be getting a positive test from the last pregnancy. I knew it wasn't, I felt pregnant and it was definitely negative on that Saturday. The result of the blood test came the next day, yep yep yep "PREGNANT" with a beta level of 800 (25 is considered pregnant without a doubt). The Dr ordered another blood test just to make sure that the numbers were increasing as they should. Ah the roller coaster ride of early pregnancy after a loss. Those results came back, still pregnant with a beta level of 1710, that was a great signs, the numbers doubled. She went ahead and scheduled an ultrasound for December 27th.

The day of the ultrasound finally came, you have no idea how scared I was. When the screen came and I saw our little gummy bear, I just started to cry. God is good. God is so good. Hubby and I just held hands and cried tears of joy as we saw that little one on the screen. We are going to have another baby AHHHHHHHH.

The Dr wanted to repeat the ultrasound a few weeks later to make sure that the baby was growing. Never ending roller coaster I tell you. So on Friday the 13th we had another ultrasound. Gummy was looking bigger, less like a dot but more like a baby. Tears of joy. We got to hear the beautiful heartbeat, 178 beats per minutes (that's really good). Our baby is growing AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Praise the Lord.

Here is the picture of our little gummy bear at 8 weeks

It was the longest first trimester ever. I was hysterical, happy, scared, excited, just a mixed bag of emotions all the time. But above all, I was grateful that the Lord sparred me months and months of agony and blessed me with another pregnancy so soon after our angel had gone.

Our very first pic of the belly at 14 weeks. We were so scared this time around that we didn't take any pictures in the beginning at all, we were too scared to jinx things. I didn't write anything about this pregnancy until now. I am feeling hopeful now and feel I can finally start enjoying this pregnancy.

And the next belly pic at 15 weeks, I love that my little man always wants to get in the picture

and the next week at 16 weeks.

Today we are 17 weeks and loving life. The pregnancy has been going really well (except for the fear and anxiety) and every day we thank God for his grace. The irony here is that November 2011 was the month we lost our angel but it was also the month that we conceived our rainbow baby. God is good. Please keep us in your prayers that we have a safe pregnancy and a healthy baby. We pray and hope that this is the baby we get to take home.

Baby number two - Take two

I am pregnant again and over the moon.

We are due in August and couldn't be more excited. We are so blessed and so thankful to be expecting again. God is good. We look forward to embarking on this new journey.

More details to come.

I leave you with loads of pictures of T-man, a very excited big brother :). He had so much fun with taking these pics, it was hard to pick just one :).

Yes, we are all very excited, particularly our little T-man.