25 weeks and the latest on Marcus

Oh my...it has been several weeks since I posted a picture of the big belly. Well here I am at 25 weeks.
Life is moving even faster these days...between keeping up with our "always on the move" wonderful 2 yr old Marcus, dealing with the remodel, working part time, taking care of family business and normal house duties; I feel like I don't have much time left or energy to do much more than SLEEP! Oh and I think I forgot to mention that I am busy making baby Jade too!

The pregnancy is moving along nicely. I have my monthly check up tomorrow so I will know more then. At my last appt, Jade was measuring a little on the smaller side. I am not surprised since Marcus was a little newborn. I am sure she is just following suit. She is kicking like crazy and moving around. I notice she wakes up about 9:30pm just at the time that I want to sleep...figures! Curtis got to feel her for the first time this past week. It is so WONDERFUL! I missed that feeling of a baby inside me...appreciating it all over again.



Marcus is growing up sooo fast! He is doing things, saying full sentences and new words, and understanding new concepts everyday that we are utterly amazed with. He has memorized many songs...he loves to sing, to cook, play monster (basically hide and seek while roaring), tell stories, watch tv, and have our undivided attention (of course). Here is a picture of him at Avila Barn from yesterday. I wanted to go to the park but he wanted to go "feed the ducks, the roosters, the goats, and ummm the peacocks" (his words exactly).

San Francisco Trip and Easter Sunday

We went up to San Francisco on a Smith Family vacation...something we have not done since I don't even remember how long! It was super fun! We stayed downtown at the Palomar hotel courtesy of Albert and Heather. We did all the tourist stuff...went to Fisherman's wharf and Ghiradelli's square and Marcus got to ride his first REAL trolley. It was quite an amazing trip with NO drama! :)
Alexa and Marcus in the electric street bus...pretty cute how much they bonded on this trip.

Here are the pictures from Easter Sunday. We went to Brunch at the Ritz Carlton. They had an indoor Easter egg hunt which was quite nice considering it was raining. Alexa and Marcus got to enjoy that together.

Marcus trying to steal one of the BIG eggs. :)

Looking for more candy... Enjoying his thousandth piece of chocolate...I seriously stopped counting...it just wasn't worth it!
Checking out the petting zoo they had there...super cute baby animals.

It's a girl!!

An overwhelming flood of emotions hit me at the drs while waiting to find out the sex of our baby. I was so excited to see all the baby's parts and to hear that everything was functioning and growing properly. I felt like we were at such a crossroads waiting to find out our fate of either being the parents of another boy or a girl. When the dr informed us it was a girl, I think we all screamed with joy (it was load enough for all the waiting patients to hear...the dr probably thought we were nuts)!! My parents, my mother-n-law, Curtis, Marcus and I all went to the appt together. My father-n-law could not make it at the last minute but he was with us in spirit. Well needless to say, Curtis and I feel so blessed that we get to experience both a boy and a girl!!! :)

More pregnancy pics...Sixteen & Twelve Weeks

Sixteen weeks above and twelve weeks below...

I forgot to post my 12 week picture so I decided to include them both! Well we are doing great! I have been super exhausted which is to be expected...I'm back to work part time plus I am chasing a VERY active 2 yr old around...oh and I am pregnant of course! My poor husband, I have been falling asleep at 9/9:30 every night. I am feeling better though then I was the 1st trimester. A little nausea and a few trips to the bathroom but a far cry from how cruddy I was feeling constantly. We get to find out the sex of the baby on March 18th...only 3 more weeks. We are very excited! Curtis is convinced it is a girl...I am back and forth...scared to commit to one I guess. :) We will let you know once we have info...hopefully the baby is not feeling shy.

Making orange juice

Marcus is making orange juice with Daddy. I can't get over how much Marcus reminds me of my brother, Howie, when he is juicing. My brothers & I used to go to my grandmother, Mimi's, house when we were little and Howie used to love to make carrot juice.

At the end of the experience, he didn't want Daddy's help. He was even doing it with one hand. :)

Eight weeks

There is my little belly growing OH so fast! I cannot believe how much faster I am showing this time around. I know people told me that all the time but you don't get it until it happens to you. I think I was 16 weeks before my belly was this size when I was pregnant with Marcus....ha...I'm only 8 weeks in this picture with baby #2.

Every day it is sinking in more and more. I am having pretty bad morning sickness, something I did not experience at all with Marcus. I definitely can't handle uncooked meats and random things set me off. The nausea comes in waves. I can be fine one second and then yucky the next and then fine again. It is a roller coaster and I can't wait for it to be over!! As far as cravings go, my #1 craving is orange juice! Other than that, I have random little ones like cheeseburgers and french fries. Until next time...

Christmas came early for us!

It was a cold morning on Saturday, December 5th. I had gotten up early to help host a garage sale with my neighbor, Michelle. I was supposed to go for a long run with my girlfriend, Teresa, later that afternoon. Since we always run far and hard, and the fact that my period was several days late, I decided to take a pregnancy test. For those that don't know, Curtis & I had been trying to conceive again for about 3 months. Needless to say, I took MANY pregnancy tests in the last months and I was just going through the motions again to be safe. To my surprise, this time the test result was POSITIVE. Since the second line was very faint (two lines means pregnant, one line means not), I embarked on test #2 and then #3. Sure enough they ALL came out positive. Since Marcus was sleeping in our bed with Curtis, I opted not to wake Curtis up to share this exciting news. I went about my morning with Michelle, selling items and kept this enormous secret to myself. When Curtis and Marcus joined us later that morning, I told Michelle I had to sneak across the street. I packaged up one of the positive tests with a post-it note saying, "We are pregnant." (see picture below)

I asked Marcus to give Daddy the present. I wish I had taken a picture of his face after he opened it...he said, "No way!" (same thing he said when we found out we were pregnant with Marcus)...and then he continued on with "Is this for real!?" "Seriously?" He was beside himself with happiness!!

We Skyped my parents with the fabulous news. They were totally surprised and excited...so thrilled that they decided to drive up from Pasadena to celebrate with us in the evening.

Curtis went golfing that afternoon with our friend, Mike. He arrived later with a beautiful bouquet and card!

We called his parents when he got home and told them to come over. My parents were here at that point. Curtis' parents had it pretty much figured out by then. We got to share the news with them in person and had a celebratory dinner with both our parents...it was really special!

Here is a picture of my belly at 6 weeks! Already a lil pooch ;)

Stay tuned for more....