A Boy

I was not expecting to find out the sex of our baby when we went in for the NT ultrasound (it's an ultrasound that's part of the screening process). So I was very surprised when the doctor asked me if we wanted to know. I said yes and he said it looks like a boy. Talk about shock! All of the babies I was around growing up were girls, and after having a girl, it's hard to imagine having a boy. It feels a little like unknown territory for me, but we're very excited. We're narrowed down to a few names at this point (we started the list when we first found out I was pregnant), but I have to say that girls are way easier to name than boys. It just seems like there is a lot more selection, and they're less common. So our list for girls' names is a lot longer, but I guess we'll just have to set those aside for now.

Here's an ultrasound picture of our little guy. He's always wiggling and moving around a lot during the ultrasounds.

Our Day

 After I put in my notice at work, a few people made comments suggesting that I would get "bored" when I stayed home. This hasn't happened, and I knew it wouldn't, because I just don't think it's possible when you have a toddler.

Here's what our day looked like on Monday:

Elena and I got up at 7 am. We had some oatmeal, got ready for the day, and were out the door at 8:40. I drove to Sherman Oaks to meet a couple of friends for breakfast. Normally I wouldn't even think about making this long of a drive without Jorge or someone else to keep Elena company in the back, since she still hates car rides. But since Nicole now lives out of state and I haven't seen her in forever, I figured I would just have to suck it up. It wasn't easy, Elena fussed the whole way. We got there a little early, around 9:15. We had breakfast with Nicole and Melissa, and Melissa's daughter. It was definitely worth it; we had a good time. We left around 11 am, and luckily Elena fell asleep quickly and slept the whole way home. I was able to lay her down on her nap mat without waking her up (She put the blanket over her face).

I cleaned up the bathroom a little, then I sewed a hole in the elastic part of some maternity pants (I'm in maternity pants now). I read a little bit, then laid down on the couch and fell asleep. Elena took a long nap and woke up at 1 pm.

She had a little tantrum because she wanted her pacifier, and had some trouble calming down (she only gets it at naptime and bedtime now). I put away the clean dishes, then put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. I picked up the kitchen.

I fixed Elena lunch, then she played with the dogs. I changed a poopy diaper. Then I figured I should probably eat, too. She had another little tantrum, I don't remember what it was about.

I made a couple of phone calls. I called Jorge so Elena could talk to him.

I did a load of laundry. I checked the porch and saw that this potty training video had arrived, so I put that in for Elena to watch (it's a little train). It was cute, and Jorge got home while it was on. So we had some play time. Jorge played with the remote control car, and Ginger was barking like crazy at it.

I left Elena with Jorge and went to the grocery store and drug store. I came home and we had dinner. Then more play time (remote control car, hide and seek, tickles, playing catch with the dogs, etc.).

In-between all of this I changed several diapers, put the dogs out to potty then brought them in again, searched the rooms several times to find out what the dogs were up to, checked my email, etc.

I don't expect to get bored at all, ever, especially with another baby on the way. I've actually gotten so used to taking care of Elena Rose that when I do have time to myself, I'm not sure what I want to do with it.

Anyway, that was our day . . . I was tired.

Good Weather

I've been feeling better over the last week. Now I only get nauseous when I haven't eaten in awhile. And what I'm the happiest about is that my food aversions have been dissipating. I actually knew I was pregnant very early on because when I got some chicken out to heat up for Elena, it stunk to me, and I immediately began to suspect it. So I took a pregnancy test, but it was so early that I couldn't really tell for sure if there was a line. I asked Jorge to get me a digital one that would be easy to read, and he brought home one that flashed an hourglass until it was ready, and then it would say "pregnant" or "not pregnant." It said "pregnant." Pretty quickly almost all food smelled bad to me, and it was hard to find something that I could tolerate eating. Now I can eat almost anything, so it's gotten a lot easier.

Anyway, Elena Rose is saying new words all the time. When we take off her shoes we always say "Fuchi!" and wave our hands in front of our face (it's the same as pee-eww). We took off Elena's sock the other day and she waved her hand and said "Fufu!"
 
 When she's done eating she says "bye" to her food.

We've been enjoying our weather lately. On Saturday it was in the mid-90s here. Early in the day we went to a pond to see some ducks, which Elena loved, but it got pretty hot at the end. We went home and Elena went in her little pool and played while Jorge bathed the dogs. Then on Sunday it was about 20 degrees cooler. We spent a lot of time outside. Elena helped water our tree.

We went on a bike ride and picked up some ice creams.

Elena's been on several walks.

And last week Jorge and Elena watched rats run through the neighbor's trees.

Cookin' up Baby #2

Baby #2 is on the way! Jorge and I are so excited to be having another baby, but these last couple of months have been rough. Did you know that during the first trimester your hormones double every 48 hours? That explains why you feel so awful. The day after I stopped working the exhaustion and nausea kicked in, and they've been in full-swing, all day long. The nausea actually gets worse as the day goes on, so the morning is my best time, once I've eaten. I've been taking a lot of naps with Elena, thank goodness! And Jorge has been super helpful, since some days I'm useless for taking care of the house. I'm so happy that people finally know, so that I can share my excitement with everyone.

It's different this time around, though, because we stay so busy with Elena Rose. But we enjoy it so much; she's a little person with so much personality, and she's so loveable!

We read (usually the same books over and over)We cuddleWe playWe talkWe paintWe swimWe make playdoughThen we play with itWe dancePhew! I try to do a lot with Elena, even when I'm not feeling that good. I can't wait to move into the second trimester and feel a little better.

Easter

For Easter we went up to Santa Maria on Saturday to visit my family. We had a good time. First we visited my grandma at her house. She has a lot of things around that interest Elena. Here she is playing with her Russian dolls. She's so gentle, we weren't worried about her breaking or ruining things (for the most part).
My grandma has this old man doll sitting in a little rocking chair, and Elena was enamored with it. She carried it around.Then we went to my dad's and visited with all the kids and my parents. The kids had a good time coloring eggs; Elena really enjoyed this.On Sunday we went to church in the morning, and sat outside to watch the service. It was a beautiful day. I was so tired though, I took a 2 hour nap with Elena in the afternoon.It was a nice Easter. We don't give Elena candy, so she got some bubbles and a few toys in her little Easter basket. She was only interested in the bubbles though.

It's Springtime Again!

I love spring! It just started, but there are new things that came along with it this year, including

Easter egg coloring and other craftsHome improvement . . . well, more tearing down than improvement so far.
And also swim classes, which I haven't been able to get a picture of yet. Elena Rose is loving it so far. She didn't even mind too much when I submerged her in the water. She's pretty good at kicking (she does a frog kick right now). Her favorite part is doing the hokey pokey during the class. And whenever we finish a song, she signs for more.
Clearly we can't leave anything on the edge of the counters anymore. She's getting so tall. And her hair's getting so long and beautiful!Staying home with her has been so wonderful. I hope for many more beautiful days!