Round 2: 13 Weeks

Baby #2 is growing fast and furious and time is flying by this time! Tim and I keep mentioning how surreal this pregnancy is since, with a two-year-old and moving across the country, we haven't had time to think about it much. That is obviously no indication of how much he/she is loved already! The 12-week ultrasound below showed that baby is very healthy and growing right along. Tim has already said that he thinks it is a boy, so we'll see in another couple of weeks if he is correct! We will be ecstatic either way.

Here I am at 13 weeks (8-25-11). I feel huge already, but I hear that it's pretty normal to grow earlier the second time around. I'm planning to wear the same shirt for each of my weekly belly pictures, so it will be easier to see the change in size. Well, that is if I still fit into this shirt for the entire pregnancy! Wish me luck :-)

Maria Turns 2!

Since I missed posting about Maria's first birthday (oops), I wanted to make sure to record the events of her second one. For the birthday weekend, Maria and I flew to Washington State to spend the occasion with family. One big drawback to this plan was that Tim was unable to join us, which was a bummer. With his encouragement, though, we went and had a great time!

The weekend began at my Mom's house where we spent an afternoon at Forest Park petting animals and playing on the playground. Lots of fun was had with Grandma Teri and Uncle Kyle and Auntie Allie. Maria also got to see her cousins, Tyler and Tara and Uncle BJ, Aunt Cheryl, and Gigi and Gpa (Great-Grandparents). Sunday morning (her actual birthday), Uncle Kyle and Auntie Allie came over and made a delicious waffle breakfast and Maria opened presents from Grandma Teri.

Afterwards, we headed south to Graham and Grandma and Grandpa's house for the birthday bash. Lots of family and friends (who are pretty much family!) came over and we celebrated with a barbecue and a  Mickey Mouse cake (made by Marcia) and fishy cupcakes (made by Krista). With all of the fun presents, we had to put them in a big box and ship them to VA since we didn't have enough room in our suitcase. No surprise there :)

We loved spending time with family for such a special day! We also celebrated again in VA with Daddy, which was intimate and sweet. I'm guessing that each birthday will be sweeter yet!

The party group (minus Gleny taking the picture).

Welcome to Virginia

Besides being pregnant, another reason for reviving the blog was to keep in touch with family and friends from our new home across the country. Although it is old news now, the three of us moved to Northern Virginia on July 13th. Why would we do such a crazy thing? Well, Tim was offered a great job as a Research Economist the Economic Research Service within the USDA in Washington, DC. We found a great home, in a nice neighborhood and are settling in just fine over the last 2 months. It's still hard to believe that we're here and not in Washington State, but it's home for now and we're happy and thankful for a good job in the otherwise struggling economy.

A huge blessing about this job is that it allows me to stay at home full-time with Maria (and the new baby in 6 months). We've come to realize that this is a definite luxury and we are so thankful. It has been an adjustment for all of us to have Tim gone all day (his commute is 40 minutes each way), but our family time is maximized in the evenings and on weekends now that he doesn't have homework looming over his head. We can say with confidence that we've entered the 'real world' and are pretty happy about it! (I guess I should let Tim speak for himself since he's the one that has to go to work!)

Daddy home from his first day of work (7-18-11).

I'm Pregnant!

So, how did we find out we were having another baby, you ask? Well, we had only been 'trying' for about 3 months (which is how long it took last time) when my birthday rolled around. It was a Saturday and I was planning to take a test that Monday. Before going out to a nice dinner that night, Tim casually suggested that I take a pregnancy test so we could be certain before having a glass of wine with our meal. I obliged and was shocked to find out that I was indeed pregnant already! I don't think either of us were ready for it, to be honest, but once it sunk in a little, we celebrated both occasions that night (minus the glass of wine)!

Baby #2 is due March 1, 2012

It says "Pregnant!"