20 week bump

I've been really bad about taking bump progress pictures with this baby. I'm really glad that I was so good about it with Chloe. It's been kind of fun to go back and compare each week.

I finally remembered to take a photo last night.

 

I think it's a little bigger this time. Maybe? Oh well. At least I don't get stretch marks since my belly takes it's time 'popping.' ha

 

Let me also say, "Hooray for being half way finished." I really am trying to enjoy this in case it's the last time for us, but I really am not enjoying this pregnancy much. The only thing I've enjoyed is feeling her kick. She is strong.

 

 

Look, the bump is even smaller when the shirt isn't covering it up...

At 20 weeks, I'm finally back to my pre-pregnancy weight!

 

 

 

For good measure, here are some highlights of Chloe's week.

She is starting to drop her nap. Sometimes even though she doesn't want one, her body does a force shutdown. Here, she crashed out on her little couch. How cute is this? I tried to wake her up for dinner, but she wouldn't budge.

 

We took her to feed the ducks and geese. If you don't know, geese are pretty aggressive. I got bit by one while we were feeding them. But, we kept a really good eye on Chloe and she was untouched. Don't think I won't punt a goose if it attacked my precious daughter. ha.

 

Chloe and her buddy Rocco coloring.

 

Rocco and Chloe rested for about 5 seconds before they resumed chasing each other in their game of tag.

The Big Reveal

Do I have any readers left?

I spent the last few weeks preparing for our gender reveal party. I didn't have to do much. My mom came in town to help and my friends Stephanie and Katie made all the food. Even with all the help, one of the only things on our minds lately has been the 20 week anatomy scan where the doctor reveals the gender.

Of course this gender reveal party was not my idea, I ripped it off of Pinterest. But since I've requested no baby shower for this second pregnancy, the gender reveal party was a way to appease the masses.

I'm not sure Chloe understands what is happening, but she seems excited.

I made this sign from a Goodwill find. It was easy and fun. Maybe I'll do a tutorial.

Cohen is a ham.

We asked all our friends to wear wax lips or mustaches based on their prediction.

This is the guessing table. All of our guests made a guess and we drew a name from the winning guesses. Our friend, Mike, won a gift certificate to the movie theater.

The box you see in the picture was filled with either pink or blue balloons. We didn't know what color was inside until we opened it (see: picture below). We accomplished this by having the doctor seal an envelope with the gender written inside. The doctor did not share the gender with us. We took the envelope to Party City where I asked an employee to open the envelope and put the corresponding color in the box. The employee was only too eager to help out! We wrapped the box at home and we were none the wiser to the color inside.

Chloe helped Mark and I open the box once our friends were at our house.

It's a GIRL!

Mark and I were both pretty certain it was a girl. We were right about Chloe and this one. I'll let you in on our secret for guessing. We use roulette philosophy. If it's hitting black, it's bound to hit red sooner or later. haha. See, everybody we know either has boy/girl combos or boy/boy combos. Nobody has girl/girl. Even both sets of neighbors have boy/boy. So we knew somebody had to have a house full of girls. We were right!

I'll try and post a "Half-Way-There" bump picture later tonight.

Asian Lettuce Wraps

This isn't the type of update you all look for, I know. But, I have to share when I find something so good. My morning sickness has been so bad this time that I haven't been up to cooking. Mark has done most of the cooking for the past 12 weeks or so. Now that I'm feeling better, I'm getting back to my adventurous self in the kitchen. Tonight's meal was no disappointment!

Here is the recipe for the Asian Lettuce Wraps. Don't be intimidated. They are super easy to make. The hardest part was chopping the onion and garlic.

I made a few changes. I cut the onion in half because Mark doesn't really like onion. I substituted cucumber for the bean sprouts because I'm pregnant and bean sprouts are often the culprit of food born illness. I also added double the teriyaki sauce. Next time I am going to add some chopped peanuts, too! Fabulous!! Excuse the white rice. I know it's not the healthiest, but I can barely handle brown rice when I'm feeling top notch. Add the last remaining nausea from morning sickness and I'm not even gonna attempt to eat brown rice. haha.

excuse my crappy iPhone pic.

Post Christmas Madness

Longcor Family Christmas photo...don't mind Mark

Things are wild around here as usual. We had a great Christmas and were able to split it between both sides of our family. We are lucky to be able to have that opportunity. My parents are only three hours away and Mark's parents live in the same city as us. It's rough to have to feel like you are cutting it short with each side, but it's better than having to alternate every other year.

Chloe says, "Let it Be." Great message for a new year.

I'm still working on our thank you notes. Chloe is busy playing with all her new toys (play kitchen, art easel, race car track and dress up clothes, and more). Mark has been painting our bedroom. And we are all anxiously awaiting the gender reveal of our little G2. This is just a small part of what is going on in Granthamania.

I want to get back to blogging on a more consistent basis if only to have the documentation for our second baby. This blog has given me a great baby-book-backup for Chloe. Since my morning sickness is finally fading, I just may have the will power to get back to documenting our lives.

I haven't posted bump pictures because there still isn't much of a bump. I thought you were supposed to 'pop' sooner with the second baby. I'm not seeing it...maybe it's because I'm still down ~5 pounds from my pre-pregnacy weight. Maybe next week I'll post pictures to compare Chloe's bump with G2's.

Chloe's first french braid...it's hard to get a toddler to sit still.

french braid...from the front...mom needs more practice.

 My talented mom made Chloe some dress up clothes for Christmas. Unfortunately, we are missing the photo of her pink Sleeping Beauty dress. It's her favorite and we have worn it several times...outside the house. She insisted on wearing to Mark's parents' house for Christmas. She wanted to be fancy for the occasion.

cowgirl, inspired by Jesse from Toy Story

Snow White

Cinderella

I know the pictures are random. They could have been a whole lot more random since I haven't posted pictures in ages...I have a lot of photos to post if I want to catch up. Truth is...that probably won't happen. haha.