22 weeks with No. 2

Well, I'm actually 23 weeks now but the pic is from last week so I figured I'd do an update. I love looking back on my pregnancy with Ivy so I know I'd regret it if I didn't record some stuff for this one..

Sick? I was hardly sick at all this pregnancy and I feel verrrry lucky. I think I only threw up once in my first trimester, and I attribute it to changing Ivy's dirty diaper one day and the smell just got to me. I did have terrible indigestion stomach aches in the early weeks but once I found out I could take specific acid reducers, that got taken care of pretty quick. In the beginning, I was more tired than anything. And now, I just have some days here and there that I feel completely wiped out. Other than that, feeling good!

Total weight gain? about 10 lbs so far... Hoping to keep things on the low end this time around (especially considering I was a little bigger to begin with than before Ivy).

Cravings? This has been a weird one from the beginning. Mainly because it was so different than with Ivy (and a little tip off that it was going to be a boy, I think). In the first few months I was craving anything salty and fat-packed (which is very outside of our little family's diet changes that we've made).. ANYTHING fried-- chicken, mozzarella sticks, etc, and cheeseburgers.. Then for some reason for a few weeks in there, I craved nothing but tuna sandwiches (pretty out of the ordinary for me) and pickles. Now it's more just salty foods rather than sweets. 

Gender? BOY! We've known for a little while now and are so very excited. I'm a little nervous because so far, all I know is girl.. Sam is beyond thrilled though.

Maternity clothes? Not very much yet.. one pair of shorts are maternity but most of my shirts were nice and loose already (thanks to the fashions these past couple years)..

Crazy weird things? My taste buds are completely out of whack and keep changing every few weeks. There was a time about a month ago where everything tasted extra sour to me. I couldn't eat watermelon or many fruits because they tasted so sour. It's subsided a little but now things tend to have a bitter aftertaste when I know they shouldn't. It's strange. I often have to have Sam taste test much of my cooking lately because of this.. 

First kicks? I was feeling the baby move around 16 wks! I couldn't believe how early I could start to feel him kicking around.. he is SO darn low. The kid just literally sits down there on my bladder. It's glorious. The bowling ball between the legs thing has been going on already for a while now. Sometimes when I stand up, I feel like he's just gonna fall out already but I hear this is pretty common with the second baby.. 

Names? We both like a particular name right now but I hate saying anything is permanent until the babe actually gets here. And ever since we've talked about this name, I've been hearing it everywhere. It wasn't very common out west because it's a more classic name but for some reason, I feel like every other kid around here has the name. haha, darnit. SO we'll see if it sticks. I might get sick of it before the kid comes. lol. Plus, the names we like now aren't even the close to the names we liked weeks ago so we'll see what we like in the coming months...

Lake Powell 2013 (long post!)

Just one more long post from this summer (I know it's lengthy but it's so hard to narrow down pics with our new camera). Our second vacation this summer was our annual trip out to Lake Powell with Sam's family. We actually made the 28hr+ drive all the way out to AZ because we are crazy. And well, lets face it, Lake Powell is pretty much worth it. :) It actually wasn't that bad. Ivy was a champion traveler and thanks to our trusty Ipad for when she got bored, she stayed pretty happy for most of the drive. Because Sam's family is so big, his dad usually splits us up and we can either choose to go the first week or the second week. This time around, we were on the second week so we took the ski boat from the marina out to the already camped houseboat. Ivy had a pretty rough day at the marina with all the hustle and bustle of getting out to our camp but once we were there, she was happy to be with cousins and warmed up pretty quick to being out on the lake.. This week was with Amy/Matt and kids, Dan/Richelle and kids, Dad/Trish (of course), and some family friends Robyn/Dave and kids. It was such a fun group! It had been a while since we've seen everyone so it was nice to catch up.... Now for pictures...

Our view from the houseboat, we stayed in the cove next to Cookie Jar Rock this time around, loved the views:

 

On Wednesday, we went with Dan's family up to Hole in the Rock. Once we were up there, Ivy, Richelle, and I stayed back to hang out on the sand and boat while the boys hiked to the top. It really was the perfect day to go- smooth water, nice breeze while we were waiting, great company... very fun day:

(the boys are actually only a about a quarter of the way up in these pics, especially with the water so low this year.. to see a better pic of how crazy this hike is, click here)

I know it's probably picture overload on this post of my sweet girl but she's just so cute.

Pictured on the left is Sam's nephew Paul, Sam is on the right:

 Wakesurfing:

Love this pic of Ivy... Oh and just one pic of mabling this year:

 

Trip up to Rainbow Bridge:

Ivy did awesome for most of the time (just got pretty hot towards the end). She loved hanging with her cousin Paul..

 

Sam decided to run the trail a couple times.. 

 

Sam and I love Lake Powell and look forward to this trip every year. We could never get sick of it. Thanks Dad and Trish for an amazing week every time!! 

July 4th in Harrogate

We had a great 4th of July here in Harrogate. Sam, of course had the day off from work so we went to a wonderful brunch at some friends' house then later on took miss Ivy to the park. It was a little rainy but that didn't stop her from having fun. Later on we had a yummy bbq dinner at home along with our annual fruit pizza.. I guess the town of Harrogate doesn't do a fireworks display (although they do have a big carnival and show for Labor Day) so we hit up the local fireworks tent just next to our neighborhood for a few fun items for our evening. We got a couple roman candles to see what Ivy would think of fireworks and just as we thought, she was not fond of them AT ALL. It's a good thing we put her to bed before doing the big ones, lol. A couple of Sam's friends came over and along with our neighbor Pat, and we celebrated the Independence Day evening in the drizzling rain with our own fun little fireworks display. It was perfect. :)

Sam's good friend Jason.. couldn't miss out on dessert and fireworks: