16 weeks pregnant

I had my 16-week appointment this week, and am very happy to report that all is perfectly wonderful with the baby in my belly. Taylor tagged along with me, and she was able to help Dr Simmons hold the microphone when we heard Baby’s heartbeat. She is already taking on the role of the helpful big sister, and I’m crossing my fingers that she’s this enthusiastic about Baby when it arrives.

I also opted to get a quad-screen done, which is a test that I had done when I was pregnant with Taylor. And for those of you unfamiliar with this test, it’s an elective procedure that’s performed early on to detect any sort of chromosomal disorders in the fetus. And I’m overly happy and relieved to report that all the blood work came back negative, which means Baby’s perfect. And in two weeks we’ll be able to see the little peanut swimming in my belly during our 18-week ultrasound. And even though we are waiting for the big push to find out whether it’s a boy or girl, I am so excited to see it’s little arms and legs grooving inside of me.

And even though I know the Baby is moving around inside of me now, I have yet to feel any kicks or punches. Well, I may have. But I’m pretty sure those movements were a result of the armadillo eggs I ate at Rubles a few weeks ago. And because I haven’t been feeling any movement, and because I have been feeling SO MUCH BETTER, it’s hard to even remember that I am pregnant sometimes. Other than the fact that I have to keep my jeans fastened with a rubber band.

And as far as my weight goes, I really haven’t gained that much so far. Which I know has a lot to do with the fact the only things I could consume for the first two months were applesauce and grape-flavored Gatorade. And while I was a bit worried about my weigh-in this appointment, being that I ate my way through eight states and housed an entire pan of Special K bars, the scales must have been jacked at my doctor’s office because it had me LOSING a pound this past month. Which I wasn’t going to argue with. Especially with Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner.

No unusual cravings so far. At this point with Taylor, I was devouring egg salad sandwiches and Fritos at an alarming pace. But I’ve been trying to stick to a relatively healthy, normal diet so far. The one thing that always sounds good to me are pickles. Call me Snooki. And I know it’s so cliche, but the pregnant mama can house a whole jar of pickles in record time. It got so ridiculous that I just conceded and bought the restaurant-size tub of Clausen Spears for our fridge. And tonight when I was ordering my sub sandwich for dinner and informed the teenage boy behind the counter to not be stingy with the pickles, he shot me a weird look and I responded by pointing to my stomach and saying, My Baby wants pickles.

And now that my appetite and energy have returned, I have been getting back into my daily workout routine. And even though I’m not pushing myself through half-marathon training anymore, I’ve been trying to keep my body in shape with spinning classes, cardio and swimming laps. For the first two months, working out sounded pretty close to torture, but I drug myself to the gym just to get out of the house at least twice a week. And the ONLY thing that my body would tell me it liked was swimming laps. So I’m pretty sure I’m growing the next Michael Phelps in my belly. Or a mermaid. Either way, I’ll love it unconditionally.

And even though I still get tired pretty easily, I am no where near as exhausted as I was during the first trimester. Still, I am habitually taking advantage of Taylor’s daily two-hour snoozefests to lay down and either read or nap myself. I’ll have the rest of my life to catch up on housework and laundry, and I know I only have a few more months left of scheduled quiet time before our world is turned upside down.

Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to get my hands on Baby and try to put it’s newborn cheeks in my mouth, but I am all too familiar with an infant’s unpredictable routine and know that I need to savor these next months as much as I can. Wow. Two sets of cheeks to devour. I can’t wait.

The shortest longest roadtrip ever

With Chris switching careers in 2009, it was almost impossible for us to find any big openings of vacation time in the following year to make our annual trip back up north to visit our families. So when we landed a ten-day window of opportunity late last month, we jumped on it and planned an impromptu vacation up to my parent’s farm in Iowa and his parent’s house in Northern Wisconsin. We didn’t have a ton of time to contact the locals and set up big meetings, but we were happy to get to see some familiar faces that we hadn’t been able to look at for the past few years. So here it is, Bloggers, my official post on our ten-day, 2,630-mile roadtrip back to our homes. Get comfortable. This is going to be a long one.

So let’s just start with the drive from Asheville to the farm. Three-and-a-half humans, one chocolate lab and our Envoy packed to the brim, we left town at five in the afternoon to start our journey to Northwest Iowa. Our directions had us in the car for 18-hours, but the last time we drove home through the night, it only took 16, so for some reason I was thinking we could make it in 15. Ah, shame on me. Just those quick thoughts swirling in my head must have tempted the Universe, as we were stopped in standstill traffic three times within the first two hours of our adventure. Torture.

But, THANK GOODNESS, for the portable DVD player. For real. I don’t know how people traveled with toddlers before them. In the 18-hours, on the nose!, it took us to get to the farm, Miss Taylor only got out of her carseat twice. Once for dinner north of Knoxville, and once for breakfast in Waterloo. I couldn’t have asked for a better child in the car. To which we rewarded her with an endless supply of gummies and kids-meal toys, not to mention she got to watch Cinderella on a constant loop the entire time the car was running. She was in heaven. And I’m pretty sure if we would have turned around in Indianapolis and driven straight back home, she still would have thought it was the best trip ever.

So we drove up the lane of my childhood home midmorning on Saturday, and were overly relieved to squeeze my parents and brother, stretch our legs and brush our teeth. Back-to-back fried food meals and sleeping in the car is not the best way to lead up to a good first impression, but there we were getting to meet my brother’s girlfriend, Devon, for the first time. And, happily, she didn’t turn around and run. Even after her dog and Ruby got into a fight within the first ten minutes of our arrival. Nothing like breaking up two manic pooches to shake off an overnight, cross-country haul. If I wasn’t pregnant I would have asked for a Bloody Mary with my lunch. But instead I took a two hour nap and awoke completely recharged and ready to tackle my vacation.

And after watching a frustrating Hawkeye loss, we all headed into Holstein for dinner at Rubles. Chris was introduced to Armadillo Eggs during our trip back to Iowa in 2008, and has been detailing them to everyone he knows ever since. For those of you who haven’t been to Rubles, an Armadillo Egg is a hollowed-out jalapeno that’s stuffed with pulled-pork and cream cheese, then wrapped in bacon and smoked for a day. It’s life changing. And follow a few rounds of those with a barbeque sundae, ribs and other tasty treats, and we were set for the rest of the night. And by set, I mean in total food comas. Dunzo. Off to bed.

On Sunday morning I finally got my camera out of my suitcase, and set out to explore the farm with Chris and Taylor. Last August when I visited, my parents had just put in a new pond, which they dubbed Taylor Lake, and it was still filling in. So to see a new body of water with a dock and beach was amazing. I only wish we could have visited during warmer weather and been able to swim. Well, the dogs still swam. But we just opted to fish and enjoy the views.

The boys shooting their guns. I’m pretty sure Chris views the farm the way Taylor would view Disneyland. Endless entertainment.

Ruby the farm dog.

Oh, and Sunday was not only our first full day of vacation, but it was also our SEVENTH anniversary. Yea for us! It’s hard to believe that Chris and I have been a couple for 11 years now, but it’s also hard to imagine what my life was like before him. And it was such a treat to be able to spend our special day with family, and also be able to see one of my bridesmaid’s from the wedding, Emily, and her husband, Mike. Now that they are living in Lake View, which is just a short-drive from the farm, we were lucky to have them stop by for a few hours and a lot of laughs.

On Monday, Will and Devon headed back to Fort Collins. It was wonderful to be able to spend some time with my brother and be able to meet Devon. I am so very proud of him for so many reasons, and I hold him very close to my heart.

The rest of our last day in Iowa was spent visiting my Grandma Young, buying a crazy amount of beef sticks and skinless brats and making a brief stop to see James and Emily, and meet their precious girl, Stella. And what an absolute sweetheart! I could have just put her in my mouth, she was so cute. And Taylor loved her too... A little too much.

Tuesday morning we sadly packed up and said Goodbye to my parents and the farm. It’s never easy driving away... Especially when I have no idea when I’ll be back. And just think – The next time we get back to Iowa, we could possibly be a family of four. BAM. So all of you lovely Midwesterners that I didn’t get to see this trip, next time you see me I’ll have an infant AND be able to share a bottle of wine with you. Double the fun.

So we left Iowa and headed north through the absolute nastiest, windiest weather we had ever driven through. Correction, that Chris had ever driver through. Because with torrential rain, crosswinds of 40mph and a topper on our SUV, no way was I driving. So while Chris was battling tsunami-force winds, Taylor, Ruby and I were watching Cinderella for the billionth time in the backseat. And after white-knuckling it for eight hours, we drove into Greg and Sue’s driveway just in time to stuff ourselves full of Thanksgiving dinner.

And let’s just talk a little bit more about all the food we ate this trip. We’ve already mentioned the barbeque and fast food, now top that with turkey dinner, Halloween candy and a whole pan of Special K bars. Good stuff, people. A total calorie-fest. And even though I was on a major junk food bender, I’m still going to blame my tight pants on being 16-weeks pregnant. Let the holiday season begin!

Oh, and on Wednesday morning we woke up to SNOW. And because we left super mild temperatures in Asheville, and because everyone kept raving about how nice the weather was up north, I packed exactly one pair of jeans, one sweater and a bunch of short-sleeved shirts, tunics and leggings. So Wednesday we got to go shopping. Yay!

And before hitting the stores, we stopped at Chris’s Grandma Bernadette’s house to visit with her and all of the other relatives that were there. Bernadette’s house is the hub for all Amys activity in the area. And being that she birthed nine children, who in turn all had big families and everyone pretty much lives within 30-miles of Superior, it’s pretty much an all-out Amys party all day long at Grandma’s house.

Four generations of the Amys family.

We were also lucky enough to have our visit coincide with Chris’s Aunt Adele’s trip, who was also braving the northern temperatures while she was away from her home in Key Largo. And even though we have been fortunate to spend time with Adele’s daughter, DeAnn, and her grandkids while they visited their summer cabin in North Carolina, we hadn’t been able to see Adele since she came up for our wedding. But because Adele is a regular follower of this blog, she felt like she hadn’t skipped a beat in spending time with Miss Taylor. And our sweet T was equally as enamored with her Great Aunt.

And because we were going to be driving all day and night on Sunday and not able to take our princess trick-or-treating, and also because we still had tons and tons of family members to see while on our short trip, Greg and Sue hosted a Halloween extravaganza at their house on Friday night. Giving Taylor one more opportunity to wear her Cinderella costume and eat lots of sugar.

We had a few other princesses at the Amys costume gala, namely cousin Angel’s daughter, Brynn, who was dressed at Sleeping Beauty. And let’s just say the Princesses Aurora and Cinderella got along splendidly at the party. They were inseparable. And unbelievably adorable.

And not just the kiddos got dressed up, as most of the adults put on some disguises as well. And not just of fictional characters, they impersonated other Amys family members. Cousins Rod and Steven came as Chris’s dad and brother. Good stuff.

We even managed to get a group photo of everyone.

And the kiddos even got some trick-or-treating practice too.

Princess Taylor, enjoying the fruits of her labor.

So the party was a blast, and Saturday was spent recovering and eating left over candy. Because, honestly, by that point it was Go Big or Go Home as far as calorie consumption was concerned. Seriously. I was eating the final Special K bars for breakfast as we pulled out of the driveway on Sunday morning. And the drive back down south went as smoothly as it could, 18-hours on the nose, with us finally parking our car in our driveway at 4.30 in the morning on Monday.

And the roadtrip recap reads: 42-hours in the car through eight states during ten days. Many, many family members and friends seen. Lots of food eaten. Enormous amounts of fun had. And now, after that much time basking in the uninterrupted glow of grandparent-attention, one very spoiled little Taylor.

We are very grateful for the time we were able to spend with everyone, and hope that we won’t have to wait so long to see everyone again. But if any of you ever need a break from the winter-cold, we can surely show you a good time down here in Asheville. But I would recommend flying. Or investing in a portable DVD player.

Beeba visit

Taylor’s one-and-only aunt came into town this weekend to visit, take pictures and squeeze her goddaughter’s thighs. And to say that my daughter adores Libba is a huge understatement. In fact, Taylor refers to her aunt as, My FRIEND Beeba. Yes, they have a pretty special relationship.

And even though Lib and I have seen each other at least a half-dozen times this year, this was the first time she had been up to Asheville since last year. So we had to make a few pit-stops at her favorite eateries and soak up some of the sunshine and leaf-peeping while she was here. And, of course, she honed in her amazing camera-skills to take some pictures of Taylor and her bestie, Elliot, in their matching-Cinderella Halloween costumes.

It was a fabulous, short-but-sweet trip, and it wasn’t hard for us to say goodbye because hopefully we will be seeing her again this Thanksgiving when she and Dirk come back up to the mountains. Oh my, Beeba and Uncle Dirky at Taylor’s house for a holiday. That’s gonna be some serious fun.

29, 30 months old

Yes, yes, yes. This is a combo post. Because the end of August and entire month of September was a blur of morning sickness and exhaustion. But I’m back, Bloggers. That fabulous second-trimester energy surge has taken over my body and I am now fully able to record the monthly milestones of my adorable two-and-a-half year old girl. Yep, she’s officially six months away from being a three year old. And six months and ten days away from being a big sister. Let’s just say April is going to be birthday party central at the Famous Amys house from now on. We might as well just invest in the giant bouncy castle now, huh?

And here are some of my favorite pictures of my very cute two-and-a-half year old Taylor from our recent photoshoot with her super talented Aunt Libba:

And to say that Taylor is pretty pumped to be a big sister is a gross understatement. In fact, when people now ask her her name, she responds, My name Taylor. I be big sister. And the other day when I was snuggling her on the couch, I was giving her smooches and said that she was my precious baby. And she pulled away and said, No, Mom. I’m not baby. I’m BIG SISTER!

And her vocabulary has just grown in leaps and bounds, and more often than not Chris and I find ourselves having actual conversations with our daughter. And that’s enough to make dinnertime about a million times more entertaining. Every night Chris will ask her, So, T. What was your favorite part of the day today? And she’ll stop, cup her cheek in her hand while pointing her finger to her mouth and go, Ummmm. Ummmm. Ummmm. Like she’s thinking really hard about our day, and then she’ll chirp something like, The park, Daddy. I go down slide and climb up wall at the park. And Chris will remark, That’s great! You’re such a big girl! And she’ll correct him, No, Daddy. I’m BIG SISTER!

But one not-so-cute conversation that we have on a constant basis is the, Mom-can-I-have-that? conversation. As in every time she spies a toy commercial, toy aisle or toy ad in the paper, she points at it, whines and repeats, MOM! Can I have that? MOM! Can I have that? MOM. CAN. I. HAVE. THAT. And you can’t just ignore her, or she’ll keep asking all day. And you can’t say, NO! out of frustration, because she’ll get too worked up. So my answer every time we see a princess-something, which is about twenty times a day, is, Gee, Honey. Maybe you can get that for Christmas or your birthday if you’re a good girl. And instead of freaking out, she’ll sigh really loud and go, Oh THANK YOU Mom!

And something else I’ve been doing that is most likely not featured in the Mother of the Year handbook, is that every time Taylor has a temper tantrum, one surefire thing that will bring her around is putting a band aid on her. Like when she gets peeved about me throwing away the dried-out, rock-hard play doh we found under the couch, and I’m just over the toddler-tantrum, I’ll concede and say, Hey, would a band aid make you feel better? And she’ll immediately stop crying and say, Yes. I wanna princess band aid. And then I’ll stick about four band aids on her and everything is healed for the time being. And I’m sure there are a lot of deeper-meaning issues revolving around me doing this, but COME ON, I was suffering through a first trimester. Anything I could do to stop the screaming I was on board with. And that’s why Taylor had enough bandages on her arms and legs these past months that she looked like she had been through some sort of vicious toddler battle to the death.

But now that I’m feeling SO MUCH BETTER, I’m going to be able to crack the whip on a few things that I’ve been letting her get away with for the past months. Because soon she’s going to be my BIG girl. And I know that she’s going to be an awesome big sister. Not just because she’s so excited about the title, but because she’s already such a great little helper for me. And she’s just a really, really good little girl. And I know I’m prejudice with the whole situation, but she’s she about as perfect as any two year old can be.

And so for the next six months, I’m going to be soaking up every second of just being me and my Taylor. And while I get a pit in my stomach thinking about not being able to focus ALL of my attention on just her, I am so, so excited to bring another wonderful being into our family. Because our life with Taylor has been such a fabulous, blessed journey, and I can’t wait for her to share in this next adventure with us. She is the reason we want to do this process all over again. Because if it can be this fun with one, just imagine what two will bring.

From heartburn to a heartbeat – My first trimester

So if you’re just tuning in, let me recap my previous post – I’M PREGNANT. Knocked up. With child. Baby on board. Yes, we are super thrilled to be adding to our family. And, DUDES, it has been so hard for me not to spill the beans these past months. But hearing all the horror stories and cautionary tales out there, we just felt it was right to make our big, blogging announcement after we heard Baby’s heartbeat. And last week at our 12-week appointment we finally heard it... That fast, strong, wonderful heartbeat that starts to make everything really real. We are having another baby.

And while it was never a question that Chris and I have always wanted to add to our brood and have a bigger family, but after nearly a year of trying to conceive Miss Taylor, you can say we were a bit shocked when we saw that blazing pink line after our second month of not not-trying.

And I’m not even kidding you, two days after finding out the bean was in my body, I became sick as a dog. SICK. AS. A. DOG. And I don’t ever remember being this sick with Taylor. I mean, I had bouts of morning sickness and exhaustion here and there, but nothing as severe as I had these first months. So if you were at all curious as to why I only posted four blog posts in September, it was most likely because I was alternating my time between having my head in the toilet and feeling like I was stapled to the couch. And I can remark upon it with humor now that that fabulous second-trimester energy is taking over, but at the time it was pretty awful. But THANK GOODNESS for Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and Sprout, and giant coloring books, Play-doh, and building blocks. Because keeping my two-year old occupied while feeling like doo-doo would have been impossible without all of that artillery.

And on top of the around-the-clock nausea and fatigue, I had heartburn absolutely radiating through my body at levels comparable to the surface of the sun. Which made it pretty much impossible for me to consume anything other than applesauce, baked potatoes, string cheese and purple-flavored Gatorade. And that’s why I actually LOST weight in the first few weeks of being pregnant. I mean, not even ice cream sounded good. And that’s pretty much the same as Taylor refusing gummie snacks. Not natural.

And I know what you might be saying now, that because this pregnancy is so different than when I had Taylor in my belly that I might be having a boy. Well, we’ll just have to wait and see. And when I say WAIT, that’s what I mean, because we’re totally waiting until the big push to find out the gender. And we’re not just doing this to torture the grandparents, Chris and I talked about it and feel like you don’t get many big surprises in life, and this is going to be one of them.

So the first four weeks came and went, I had my initial doctor’s appointment and saw the sea monkey swimming in my belly. And even though this is our second time around, it was still truly amazing to watch the flutter of it’s itty-bitty heart, the outline of the spine and the beginnings of the arms and legs. It really makes you sit back and realize how truly miraculous this whole process of life is. Because at that moment, actually SEEING this baby inside my body and then going home and being able to squeeze my precious two year old, I am reminded how truly blessed Chris and I are with these two, amazing miracles.

And it may sound corny, but seeing that heartbeat during the eighth-week really made the morning sickness and exhaustion and indigestion seem worth it. And for the past month the nausea, fatigue and heartburn has become much more manageable, almost routine in a way. If that’s how I have to start my day – Oh well! If my body forces me to take an hour nap every afternoon – I can think of worse ways to spend my time. And if this Baby doesn’t want me to eat fried chicken or spicy bean dip – Well, let’s just say I have another six months to indulge in calories. See, I’m done complaining. Because if the end result of this first trimester is another prize like Taylor, then I can’t complain about this process of motherhood at all. Yep. No more whining, no more pouting and no more feeling sorry for myself. Well, at least until they are both teenagers.

Taylor's BIG announcement

Little brother/sister to arrive mid-April.

Birmingham Blackwell birthday bonanza

Last Wednesday Taylor and I headed south to help my Grandaddy and my sister celebrate their big birthdays. And when I say BIG, I mean my grandfather turned 90 and Libba was welcoming in her 30s. And with such momentous milestones in the family happening, of course my mother flew down from Iowa to help party. Because ain’t no party like a Blackwell birthday party, ‘cause a Blackwell birthday party don’t stop. Seriously. We’re gangsta like that.

And because the before mentioned birthdays took place on Wednesday and Thursday, my sweet hubba had to stay behind to put bread on the table. And because I was less than thrilled to drive the nearly six-hour trek by myself with a sassy toddler in the back, we managed to borrow a friend’s portable-DVD player and Disney Princess movie library for the trip. And, OH MY GOODNESS!, it was a lifesaver. I kept having to remind myself that Taylor was even in the car... But the Little Mermaid soundtrack in the backseat was a good reminder. And wouldn’t you know that I still can recite EVERY word to that entire movie and sang along with all the songs. Look at this stuff, isn’t it neat, wouldn’t you think my collection’s complete... You can probably pick it up from there, Steph.

So we made it down to Birmingham just after lunchtime, beating Mom and Grandaddy back to his house and found this in the front yard:

That night, all of the local and visiting Blackwell family members gathered at a fancy restaurant to toast Grandaddy and his 90 tremendous years. Well, everyone but Taylor. Let’s just say it wasn’t a toddler-friendly environment. So Libba lined-up a friend to stay with T at her house for the two hours we were gone. And, I’m not gonna lie, it was pretty nice to be out with my family and actually be able to listen to and partake in conversations without interruption, savor my delicious dinner without someone grabbing the avocados off my plate and carry a purse that didn’t have an entire toybox full of attention-occupying stuff in it. Yes, it was nice. But at the end of the night, I was super anxious to get back to my little peanut. Ah, such is motherhood.

So, YES, Grandaddy’s party was a truly special event. And emotional. All 16 guests took turns standing up and toasting and thanking the matriarch of our family, and with the amount of vino flowing, you can imagine some got a bit choked up. And then the birthday boy gave his rebuttal, thank you toast, and didn’t leave a dry eye in the house. My grandfather is very special to myself and a lot of other people, and I felt very blessed to be able to spend such a joyous occasion with him that night. And I can’t wait to toast him again on his 91st birthday next September.

And to keep the birthday train rolling, Libba turned the big three-oh the very next day. And in trying to plan something totally wonderful and amazing for her big day, her husband, my mother and myself decided to throw a bit of a surprise party for her at one of her fave restaurants, Cantina. And other than a few balloon malfunctions and mid-day cookie meltdowns, the actual party was a total success. And we had one super happy 30 year old on our hands.

Another wonderful birthday party, this time accompanied by Taylor, a DQ ice cream cake, birthday girl tequila shots and lots of queso dip and guacamole. And Miss T was a social butterfly at the party, constantly keeping DIRKY and HER BEEBA at an arm’s length. That girl loves her aunt and uncle, and they seem to be pretty fond of her too.

Friday we shook off our post-party cobwebs and the Young women spent the morning shopping and lunching. Which, of course, was followed by naps. You know us Blackwell females, we require at least one nap and one bag of cheese curls each day of vacation. And after naps, Libba had an organized photo shoot of my precious daughter that I cannot wait for you to see the results of. Between the wedding and previous bridal parties, it had been some time since Taylor had some focused attention in front of Lib’s camera. And you all know how amazingly talented my sister is, so you only imagine the cuteness that you will all see once the edits are done.

And Saturday was the day T and I headed back home to the mountains, which resulted in another successful princess movie-filled roadtrip. A wonderful trip all-around, that didn’t even end with sad Goodbyes being that Lib will be visiting Asheville in the coming weeks and we will be seeing my parents again before the end of the year. Of course you’ll have to check my sister’s blog for more pictures of the adventure – It’s always pretty useless to have my camera around when she’s shooting. But without a bunch of photographic evidence, just trust me when I say it was an amazing trip, and a wonderful reminder of how truly blessed I am to be surrounded by so much love within my family. And I miss them already.