16 weeks, 22 months, 29 years

The second trimester has been much like the first so far... smooth sailing. My 16 week appointment went well and the baby's heartbeat was nice and strong in the 150's. Less than a month until the anatomy scan and gender reveal. I can't wait! Hubby and I are leaning towards baby #2 being another girl, but our feelings aren't as strong as they were with Chelsea. We plan to have more than two kids, so we really have no preference to whether this baby is a girl or boy. Either would be perfect. Even so, I'm dying to know. I feel like I haven't made a connection with this baby yet, so hopefully after I can start calling it a he or she it will become more real.

I have starting feeling some movement, but it's subtle and only happens occasionally. The cravings and aversions haven't really kicked in, but I'm terrified of eating fish after a bad experience a few weeks ago, and baby does not seem to like Sierra Mist. The exhaustion has carried over to the second trimester though. After a few days of work I am in desperate need of the weekend and some extra hours of sleep.

Here's a pic of me and my almost noticeable bump yesterday at 16 weeks 3 days.

I haven't gained any weight yet, but I definitely look bigger. I haven't pulled out the box of maternity clothes either, but I'll have to in the next few weeks. I've already had to banish my work skirts and some dresses, so I'll be needing more bottoms to add in the mix. I'm actually excited about being pregnant in the fall and winter as opposed to the summer last time. I love the fall and am ready for sweaters and boots. Too bad it's supposed to be in the 100's this week... Hopefully it cools down soon.

Honeybee is almost 22 months now and we are starting the birthday party planning. It was a tough choice for themes, but we're going with Minnie Mouse. Chelsea LOVES Toy Story, but I couldn't really think of a birthday theme I liked with that. Besides, she loves Mickey and Minnie too (And Monster's Inc and Cars and Princesses).

She's doing amazing, as always. Her vocabulary is growing and she's starting to put more words together to ask for help or let us know what she wants. She's become quite the parrot lately and will repeat the last word or phrase she hears. It's funny because she'll try to repeat anything (And yes, we've gotten caught saying bad words in front of her that she's repeated.. Oops). She's eating more, even vegetables, which is a relief. We just started buying the noodles with hidden veggies in them because she'll eat a plate of pasta in a heartbeat. It probably won't hurt any of us to keep buying them, but I'm glad she's starting eating corn and trying some other vegetables. By far her favorite though is mac and cheese, or like she calls it, roni. :)

With #2 on the way we're planning to turn the office into Chelsea's big girl room so the baby can have the nursery. I'm so excited for her to become a big girl that I spend hours on Pinterest or other websites looking for ideas to decorate her room. We've ordered her a bed and started cleaning out the office, but it'll still be a few months before it looks like her room. I'm leaning towards a pink and grey color scheme right now...

I was reading a message board for pregnant women the other day and came across a post where each woman was asked if they got pregnant at the age they expected they would. Many women posted about how they thought they'd have kids young, in their early 20's, but ending up waiting to get married and were now pregnant in their early 30's. It made me think about what I had expected and I realized I'm pretty close to where I'd always wanted to be. I got married at 25, had Chelsea at 27, and will have #2 at 29. So, married with two kids by 30. That sounds pretty good to me. I have friends and family who started their parenting journey at younger ages and older ages depending on their situation, but it seems like things happen when they are supposed to. I'm so thankful for everything I have and wouldn't change a thing.

We celebrated my 29th birthday at the state fair and I couldn't have asked for anything more. I'm not one to do big get togethers for myself, so it was nice to spend the day with Hubby and Chelsea and meet up with a few of our friends. I had my grilled corn and funnel cake, honeybee won an elephant and saw lots of animals, and hubby got his beer and turkey leg so I think we all left happy.