What we've been up to lately

As most of you know, THIS is what we have been up to :) Today I am a few days shy of 24 weeks pregnant and we are beyond excited to welcome a baby girl in September! 

The last few months were a little tough - keeping up with a busy 3 year old and coping with the exhaustion and nauseousness that comes with the first trimester of pregnancy, but also wondering/worrying if our little one was going to be healthy (hence my blog break). I carry a genetic condition called a balanced chromosome translocation, which makes getting pregnant and having healthy babies a challenge for us, and until now, all of our natural pregnancies have ended in miscarriage. I have been told that anywhere from 50-70% of my eggs are "bad" - they have too much or too little genetic material and are incompatible with life. I have read that based on my affected chromosomes, we have a 1 in 8 chance at a healthy baby - I don't really know what the odds are for sure, but my guess is somewhere around 20-30% chance that a natural pregnancy will end up with a healthy baby.

So, we had to anxiously wait out the first 16+ weeks to get an amniocentesis done to check the baby's chromosomes and wait an even more anxious 10 days to get the results back. Of course, the news came back that the baby is healthy and we celebrated by FINALLY telling our family and friends the good news that we are expecting :) We didn't tell anyone the baby's gender until we received the amnio results in the mail and I saw in writing that I heard the Doctor right when she said it was a girl...a bit of shock I guess ;)

Last week we went back in for our anatomy ultrasound and got nothing but good news - yay! She cooperated and we were able to see everything we needed to see (including plenty of amniotic fluid this time!), everything was accounted for and functioning. The doctor told us that the baby looked great and that she "had nothing to say, which is unusual" and we got a good laugh when the ultrasound tech asked if we knew the gender of the baby from the amnio and then told us "so, nothing has changed!" Still a girl...lol ;) We were officially released from the world of high risk OB doctors!

Which brings us to now, me and the almost 24 week baby bump and a promise that I will make a real effort to blog more often - since it really is the best way to keep a "scrapbook" of our little family, even if no one reads it anymore :)

Is it Spring yet?

Aiden and I spent a wonderful 75 degree afternoon playing out in the backyard last week. And then the next day we went up and played in the snow at my parents house. Yep, it's that time of year where one day it's in the 70's and the next day it is cold, windy and raining. Unfortunately, we really need the rain, so it would be fine with me if winter stayed around a little longer - even if that means Aiden standing at the sliding glass door getting upset at the rain and saying "wanna go outside" "wanna slide" and "wanna swing". He loves playing outside and has finally decided that backyard is more fun than the front yard! Summertime is right around the corner, and I can't wait to fill up the little pool, turn on the misters, and watch Aiden splash at this little splash table! Until then, this was a good start...

Aiden was thrilled to find this real life lady bug and spent a good 5 minutes staring at it until he tried to touch it (ahem, smash it) and it flew away.

My peach tree in bloom - already - too early :(  Aiden found a spare jalapeno pepper in my garden from last year, picked it up and proudly told me that he "got some carrots".

My new favorite drink - so good on a warm day! I think Aiden went down the slide 50 times that afternoon!

 Mowing the patio - he likes to throw gravel on it and then go over and over it with the toy lawn mower - daddy's not a fan of cleaning the gravel up afterwards. And finally, the swing is back up - I thought Aiden was going to close his eyes and fall asleep in it!

A couple of Aiden's favorites

Pismo Beach

Our second annual trip to Pismo Beach trip was this past weekend, and boy did we have a blast. Aiden LOVES the beach and LOVES the water. He had so much fun running along the beach - he must have run miles along the water. We made sure to get a little beach time in everyday. I was sad to come home, when you stay in such a beautiful place for a week, it's hard to come back to grey skies and a view of the empty dirt lots across the street! I'm so happy to say though, that Aiden loves the ocean just like his momma, so daddy is outnumbered :)

There were sunset trips to the beach...

An afternoon at the farmers market...

Starting with a walk over the swinging bridge

 And buying some yummy fruits and veggies - love that they have all this in January!

Dancing and singing along to the one man band - who pointed out "the little dude who has the groove" in between songs. Aiden loved it and so did the singer :)

A little stroll through town

Afternoon trips to the beach...

Playing in the waves with daddy

Playing "run toward the water while momma tries to stop me"

Playing in the sand with Nana, building a sandcastle, digging in the sand, throwing the sand like a crazy kid and of course - just getting really, really dirty

A walk to see the butterfly grove...

A stop on the way to check out the ducks

 In the sun the butterflies were warm enough to leave their "clumps" and fly around

And find partners

But in the shade they stayed in their clumps - it looks like leaves or flowers on the tree, but that is a big cluster of butterflies.

 We got to see a couple more clusters of butterflies

 And then walked down through the woods to the beach and tried to snap a family photo...

  

At least they are better than last year's try at a family picture!

A day in Morro Bay...

A walk through town, checking out the boats and the sea lions playing in the water

Aiden got to fly his first kite (well, help daddy anyway)

 The kite was a butterfly shape, of course!

The beach at Morro Bay was windy and much colder the Pismo Beach. So, we didn't stay long. I asked Aiden to smile for the camera and this squinty cheese face was what I got. Ha ;)

And of course a few trips into town and a nice dinner out for me and Jeremy. It was a great break! I can't wait to go back next year!