24 weeks going strong!

Hi all!!

So I just had a doctor's appointment and everything is great! My doctor refers to the baby's heart beat as a good "gallop" :) and things are progressing well! I've officially reached the comfortable (if you can call it that) part now so I'm relatively not that uncomfortable! I'm enjoying it while I can. I've also began feeling some pretty good kicking now! It started as small little kicks at about 18 weeks and now it's progressed to some good jabs :) And while with Charlie his kicks were mostly at night and fairly low, her kicks are all over the place and any time of day! The heartburn has subsided and I haven't had any headaches for a while now. Things are good :)

We just got back from a fun vacation down to San Diego for Comic Con! We all had a fantastic time! Charlie had a great time running around the floor and getting his very own badge! He also loved exploring a new place and having some good Grandma times :) The day we arrived he got to see both Grandma's and he got SO excited he could hardly contain himself!! It was adorable :) I also enjoyed the sunny warm weather which was GREAT! Except I found out that the heat also triggered my ankles to swell (boo!) but since we've returned to cold and foggy San Francisco my ankles have returned to normal. So I'm trying to see the bright side of a sun-free summer :P

Sadly though we brought back a cold from San Diego too :P But it's just a standard cold and we're all sniffly around here but otherwise doing good :) Hopefully soon the snotty noses will clear up and we can get back to having more adventures.
Charlie is really growing up fast and some of his favorite things to do are draw (he's even starting to hold crayons the right way like a big boy!) playing with his toys (he loves to figure out how things work!) and spinning around on his bouncy pony toy until he gets dizzy (it's so cute to see him get off the pony and try to keep his balance! I guess he thinks it's fun because he keeps doing it!) and he also loves to sing now too! Although he doesn't sing the words right he loves to try to do the motions to "Itsy bitsy spider" and other songs we sing at story time :) Sometimes he even enjoys "Charlie time" where he sits and plays in his room and doesn't want to be bugged. And when I call to him and ask "Are you ok?" He calls back with an "OK!" to let me know things are good :) I love it!!

So other than the collection of snot rags we have hanging out around here things are great!! Here's some pictures from our recent Comic Con trip!

Charlie being a big boy with his own Comic Con badge!


It's us :)

Charlie has discovered the amazing fun that comes with an empty box!

Charlie being a panda :)

Until next time!

~Karen, Bill and Charlie

Some more updates!

So after talking with some people I realize I haven't really updated everything :) So here we go, a little Q&A about how things are going on with Baby #2

Q. How do you feel about having a girl?
A. Excited! This will be a fun experience :) Both Bill and I are super excited to try things out with a girl this time. And we're sure that Charlie will be a GREAT big brother to a little sister :) And we have a ton of girl clothes from my sister when she had Maggie so either way we were set!

Q. How are you feeling?
A. MUCH better than I was! I'm so glad the morning sickness has passed! But now I'm hungry like crazy and SO tired, and my back hurts too!! It's either one extreme or another it seems. I have had some bouts with heartburn though, which isn't fun at all. But what is fun is that my ankles aren't swelling like they did with Charlie! Woohoo! But I know the swelling may come later. But I'm enjoying it for now :)

Q. Are you showing?
A. Not much really. Bill says I'm showing more than when I had Charlie. But I'm still at that stage where unless I'm wearing a maternity shirt then someone just looking at me wouldn't really know if I was pregnant or just ate a lot at lunch ;)

Q. How's Charlie doing?
A. GREAT! He's such a great little guy :) He loves to draw and to run around and kick or throw the ball around. But his biggest love is with books, either looking at them himself or having us reading to him he loves books of all kinds. He's also doing great with pointing to different things when we ask. We finally got all of his space stuff put up in his room and he loves to point out the planets and the rocket ship :) It's so much fun :)

So there you go! An update to an update :D

Until next time!

~Karen

IT'S A GIRL!!

That's right! We found out that Charlie is going to have a little sister!! We're so excited! And our appointment today makes for a pretty good story :)

So we get to the place where they do the ultrasounds and I'm an anxious wreck. Not nervous but the kind of anxious where you know something exciting is coming and you don't like to wait. Like on Christmas Eve or the night before going to Disneyland. Well they take us back and the technician starts doing his thing looking at the baby, measuring the head and taking different pictures and all that standard stuff. The whole time I'm trying to get a look and see if there's any "goods" or not :) And no dice. She's being shy. Apparently she was all curled up in a corner with her legs crossed and her arms over her face. The technician tried different angles and gives it a few goes and he says he has no idea because she's just too curled up. So he says he'll show the Doctor his pictures and then maybe the Dr. will give it a go and see if he can find out. So we wait....what felt like an eternity....and the Doctor came in and said everything health and size wise on the baby looks great and he says he'll try to see the gender. I've already given up on finding out this visit and in my mind I'm planning one of those 4D ultrasounds because I'm finding out dang it!! Well low and behold he turns on the machine and he says "Oop! You ready to find out?" And I do everything I can not to explode "YES!!! TELL ME ALREADY!" And he says we're having a girl! And then I did explode because I finally knew! And for the rest of the day we've been soaking the news in. And the more we think about it the more excited we get because we think Charlie is going to be a great big brother to a little sister :) Good times are ahead for sure!!! As for names we're throwing around some possibilities but our favorite so far is Chloe Elizabeth. Here's some ultrasound pictures to check out;


Thumbs up!

Crazy view of her skull and hand

Her leg!

Until next time!!

~Karen, Bill & Charlie

Almost 16 weeks. Chugging right along!

Hey all,

So things are still moving right along. I had a doctor appointment about a week ago. Everything looks great! The heart rate sounds perfect although when the doctor was trying to listen the baby rolled over which made it like a scavenger hunt to find the heart beat again. Such a shy baby :) As for me I've been feeling better than I was before, but still not great :P During the day I feel pretty good but at night I get all tired and gross feeling and usually camp out on the couch. But I can eat more now and don't feel as nauseous as before. Hooray! And for more exciting news we have the ultrasound scheduled to find out if we're having a boy or a girl! We couldn't wait, we want to find out :) So stay tuned because on June 29th we'll find out!

As for Charlie he's such a great little buddy :) He's really getting good at pointing things out when we ask, I was especially surprised when we asked "where's the ceiling?" And he pointed right up! Such a smart boy! :)


Until next time!

~Karen, Bill and Charlie

Ultrasound take 2!

So since we were off with the due date at the first time around, they wanted to take a look again 2 weeks later when the baby was bigger. So this morning we got even more ultrasound pictures! Yay! And it's crazy how much bigger the baby has gotten in only a couple of weeks! From 1.5 inches to 4 inches! And the baby was bouncing around and moving and it even swallowed! Bill thinks the baby already looks like me and he thinks he or she might have the signature big bottom lip :) As for the baby everything looks wonderful! Things are formed like they should and nothing looks out of the ordinary at all! We'll get another ultrasound around 20 weeks or so (and I think that's when we find out if it's a boy or a girl!)

Hello baby Drastal! Look at those tiny arms and legs!


A tiny little foot!

They even took a 3D picture! The head is on the top there at a 3/4 view. And you can see the torso and arms!

The due date is still at November 19th for now! And I'm still feeling pretty sick a lot. It seems like every evening I feel awful and I even still have whole days when I feel gross :P I won't miss this stage at all!!

Well I have a doctor's appointment in a couple of weeks so I'll be sure to update you then!!

~Karen

It's true! We're doing it again!!

So here we go again, baby #2 is on its way! Charlie's going to get a new brother or sister sometime around November 19th! Our little peanut is 10 weeks and 3 days old and got its first pictures!

You can see the little arms and legs and head. And this little baby is just as much of a mover and a shaker as Charlie was! Rolling around and getting it's little arm in the way when they were trying to take head measurements :) Little wiggle worm!

As for us we're super excited! We were hoping we could have them close together so we can get all this baby stuff out of the way in one shot and so they can be buddies together :) But aside from being excited I've been feeling sick like crazy! It's been worse than the first time around and I've also been getting migraines (not fun!) which is nothing more than hormone stuff so nothing to worry about.

So in 2 weeks I get to go back for another ultrasound because we were a bit off with the dates and this baby is a tad too small to see everything they're looking at. So we're going to try again when this baby is a bit bigger.

As for Charlie he's getting SO big! He loves to run around like crazy and go on adventures, especially to the Zoo. He does say some words but only when he's in the mood. His favorites are "tickle tickle" and "uh-oh" so far :)

So I'll probably update again in two weeks with more info!

~Karen :)

So little Charlie has now hit 11 months! I guess it's time to start planning that first birthday (which is going to be on Halloween, how cool is THAT?!) And our little buddy is growing by leaps and bounds too! He can now stand all by himself (not for very long but he does it!) and he crawls like a pro all over the place. He even chases the bunny around whenever we let the bunny out.

September also brought a lot of adventures too. First we headed down to Oceanside on a whim because we were just so dang sick of all the smoke from the fires! So we went to a fun little Labor Day celebration at Great Grandma Holly's where Charlie had fun in the sun dancing, playing in the grass, and hanging out with Grammy;


We then went down to the Oceanside pier so Charlie could see the beach for the very first time!


Here comes the water!!


He was not amused...maybe next time!


Then we had Charlie dedicated at our Church over at the First Christian Church of North Hollywood! A dedication isn't a baptism really. At our Church it's more like a chance to introduce Charlie to the rest of the Church. And he did so good! Charlie was adorable with his little zebra buddy (the zebra is his new travel buddy, he loves to take him everywhere!) He charmed everybody in his handsome little sweater. How dapper :)


Then Charlie became Bat Man...just had to add that one in here :)


And last but certainly not least! We headed down to Knott's Berry Farm to meet up with Aunt Tami, Uncle Chris, Cousin Maggie, and Grammy and Grampy for Knott's Chicken Dinner! Yum!! Charlie always loves hanging out with his cousin but he was also getting impatient for his chicken dinner! Well for the part of a biscuit and a little bit of chicken soup that he had ;)


Here we all are;


Except Maggie was too busy waiting for the roller coasters to go by so I had to ambush her for a picture :)


Then it was time for some Maggie and Unkie Bill fun time!!


So that's all the excitement and adventures that came with September, who knows what milestones October will bring! Time to get that first birthday planned though, where did the time go?!?!

Lots of love,

Karen, Bill, & Charlie