12 Weeks

We made it! Well, I guess the first trimester isn't really over until 13 weeks but I feel like celebrating :) Unfortunately, it won't be with ice cream. It seems my pregnancy induced lactose intolerance has returned with a vengeance with this baby. I had it a little bit with Lucy but with this baby I can not have any milk AT ALL. Oh well, pizza seems to be ok!

We had a doctor visit last week and got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time... my favorite noise in the world. They warned us sometimes it's hard to find or hear this early on but I guess we have a little performer because it didn't take long at all before the beautiful noise filled the room. The doctor said everything sounds great and sent us on our way but not before moving our due date up one day to 8/8/2012.

There seems to be a lot of confusion over where this baby will be delivered. Lucy was born at Chestertown Hospital which we absolutely love. Evidently, according to our doctor the hospital will more than likely be closing the maternity department before this It looks like baby Hunter #2 will either be delivered at Anne Arundel Medical Center or one of the two birthing centers in Annapolis we are considering. More to come as we learn more.

Also this past weekend, we picked our girl name! We have had the boy's name picked out since we were expecting Lucy but were really having trouble with a girl name this time. Something came to mind so when I said it aloud to Jameson. He loved it and Lucy, who had been busy playing, said "Ya! Ya!" The middle name is yet to be determined but at least we have a starting point. Still planning on not finding out the gender but somedays I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to. Hopefully I can hold out for the surprise :)

I am now officially in maternity jeans full time. Those adorable full panel pants are still too big so I get to break myself in slowly and just have the skinny band around the top. I am feeling much better and don't have any nausea to deal with anymore. I still grab a nap whenever Lucy lets me though, both for snuggle time with her and to recharge.

Looking forward to a healthy and comfortable 2nd trimester!

Rock On

 Staying home with Lucy all day I have a lot of fun moments with her. But over the past week, one moment in particular has become my most favorite of all. The five minutes I rock her before I put her in her crib for the night fill my heart. I rock her to sleep for naps during the day but this particular rock is more peaceful than the others. She is fresh off a nurse and some books with daddy and watching her start to drift off while she lays on my chest make me feel like I am doing something right.

 I am sure people will say I shouldn't rock her to sleep or she will get used to it and need it to fall asleep. Maybe she will. But I feel like that's my job. I am home during the day to rock her to sleep. I love taking a few minutes out of my day to completely focus on her and just snuggle. At night I don't rock her completely to sleep so she does get used to comforting herself. But one day she won't want me to rock her to sleep at all, and I'm afraid that time will come before I am ready. So for now, we rock.

10 Weeks

This is a few days late but better late than never! Last week we got the unexpected surprise of seeing the baby again. I had some worrisome symptoms so we went in to get an ultrasound and what a difference three weeks makes! The baby looked more baby-like than the peanut we saw at six weeks. The symptoms turned out to be nothing to worry about but better to know than worry when it comes to babies. Here is a nine week picture of baby Hunter...

The cravings continue and this week was hot wings which Jameson was happy to appease. We also went to Joss for some pregnant friendly food, not the same but yummy nonetheless.

My belly seems to come and go by the day, or really the meal I guess. My jeans are getting to be too tight even with the belly band so now I am in the fun in between stage where maternity jeans are too big and my jeans are too tight.

 Not much else to report this week. Jameson and I had originally planned on being surprised by the baby's sex but curiosity is starting to get the best of us and hopefully we can stay with the plan. We have a baby boy's name picked out but were struggling with the girl name this time. Maybe its a sign???

Lucy's 10 Months!

We have had quite an eventful last month! Lucy celebrated her first Christmas and New Year and Jameson and I could not have been more happy to share this time with her.

One of the major changes over the past month is Lucy has moved to three meals a day and only 3  nursing sessions. She was really showing an interest in food, especially whatever Jameson and I were eating, so we started introducing a lot more foods and she seems to love it. I can't believe how much she eats! She still loves yogurt but she also eats an entire pack of oatmeal in one sitting, sweet potato fries, eggs, black beans, lentils, whole wheat bread, chunks of cheese, and even turkey meatloaf. I have started giving her little sandwiches with homemade jelly and she seems to like them. Whatever she loses interest in Otis is happy to take care of for her :)

We also cut out nighttime nursing which she doesn't seem to miss. I am sure all the solid foods are holding her through the night. We had a really rough time for a few weeks with Lucy sleeping. She was getting up 5-6 times a night and only taking 20 minute naps during the day. We adopted a new nighttime routine, though, and over the last week she has started getting up only once or sometimes twice.

Lucy is more and more mobile all the time. She gets anywhere in the house now using her little leg shuffle and still loves to practice pulling up and walking around the coffee table. She can quickly get from the living room to the kitchen and loves being able to explore on her own. Just today she was pushing her exersaucer around the kitchen. Still no interest in crawling though I have seen her crawl a few steps in the kitchen.

There are a few new words Lucy is practicing, her favorite being "Whats that?" She will hold her hand up and point to anything and ask. She also loves peek a boo and now says "Boo!" when she pops out. She got a set of rubber duckies for Christmas so has started saying "Duck" when she finds one of them and will look for them when we ask her where they are.
Lucy also started swim class this month. The first lesson she was in the pool for 35 minutes just her and the teacher and she loved every minute. She got dunked under the water twice but didn't cry either time. She worked on blowing bubbles in the water and floating on her back. The second lesson, though, she screamed for 15 minutes before we decided to give up and try again next week. Hopefully she will go back to loving it because we really want her to be comfortable in the water.

Lucy seems to have gotten a ton more hair and is really thinning out from the chunky baby she was a few months ago. She definitely still has some rolls but she looks less and less like a baby everyday and more and more like a little girl. She now has two top teeth and two bottom teeth and I don't feel any other buds in her gums yet.

I really find it hard to believe that she is already ten months old and that in two short months we will be celebrating her 1st birthday. She continues to be my little buddy and I absolutely love that I am able to spend all of our time together. We love to sit and watch her play as she digs through her toybox or comes to join us in the kitchen. She is one of the most loving babies I have ever seen and can not get enough of giving her cousins lots of hugs and kisses anytime she is around them.  I feel so lucky to be her mom and and will cherish these last couple of months of baby Lucy before she becomes toddler Lucy.