… and baby makes four!

Our little family of three will become a family of four in August:)  I have been bad about keeping up with this pregnancy like I did last time so here is my attempt to document better:)  the last 14 weeks:  we found out we were pregnant on December 17. I took a test that morning, Philip hadn't gotten home from work yet. So when we heard the door open that morning, Ainsley ran up to him in a shirt that said 'Big Sister Ainsley' holding a positive pregnancy test:) 

please excuse her boo-boo on her lip 

I was excited that I would be able to make it through Christmas without being sick. I mean i figured I didn't start getting sick until around 6 weeks last time, so I had a few weeks, right? wrong. a few days after that first test, I was sick. and in tears because feeling this bad and having a toddler to take care of is totally different than feeling this bad and sleeping on the bathroom floor for weeks.  BUT- we survived first trimester ! thanks to my amazing husband and parents who rescued me several days that I could not stop being sick enough to take care of A. She tries to help though. She always opens the bathroom door and says 'mommy's sick' and just wants to be there with me (which of course is definitely NOT helping, but she tries).  So now we are 14 weeks along and things are going pretty good:) The nausea and vomiting are getting better but I am still praying it goes away completely. And it is definitely not as severe as it was last pregnancy. Lots of things are different this time around!  cravings:  lots of things salty fruit chews (yes I sneak my daughters fruit chews)  quaker oat cheddar snack mix  big macs (duh, even when i'm not pregnant) but I have only had 2 this pregnancy!  diet coke- i've really limited myself on caffeine especially soda but I do give in sometimes aversions: it seems the clock strikes 5 or 6pm and I am down the for the count. so i can usually get dinner made, just not always eat it. as much food that has come back up after consumption-it doesn't turn me off to it (not sure if that's a good or bad thing)  We are so excited and can't wait for Ainsley to have a sibling to play with. She says she wants a 'brother' but then sometimes says she wants a 'girl baby'. We will be happy either way:)   We will find out in 2 weeks! 

Snow and Soup

My fingers have finally warmed up enough to function on this keyboard and type! we are seriously in the arctic tundra over here these days. we have gotten over a foot of snow and it is still coming down. and yes, it's beautiful. and i LOVE the snow. But being stuck in the house with a 2 year old for going on 3 days is enough to break the strongest woman:) 
Lets back up to Valentine's Day. Philip had to work that whole weekend so I told him I would make him whatever he wanted to eat before he went into work that night. With the cold weather, he decides he wants vegetable beef soup (like the easiest thing to make). not the most romantic, but also not hard so I gladly agreed:) I made him dinner and while I wasn't feeling up to eating it- he enjoyed it immensely:) He also got to open a special card made for him from Ainsley and a card from me of course:) That morning he came home bearing pink roses for me and a single pink rose for Ainsley :) 

some pics from Ainsley that day: 

Monday afternoon until today it has seriously been snowing non stop. Fayette County schools are closed for the rest of the week. it is supposed to be NEGATIVE ELEVEN degrees tonight. I mean, we live in Kentucky y'all. what is going on?!  Philip has been diligently shoveling our (and even our neighbors) driveway. Him and A got to play in the snow for maybe 5 minutes Monday morning. After that her little eyelashes were frozen and she said "cheeks so cold mommy". but she had a blast and keeps wanting to go out in it and play. To pacify her Philip makes her snowballs and she gets to eat them inside. 

Here are some pics from outside:

I have never seen so much snow in kentucky. or maybe I just don't remember it. It did inspire me to make my first batch of snow cream. Ainsley and Philip had never had it! 

"Wanna summa dat mommy!" 

Trying to stay warm and not get cabin fever over here:) 

Ainsley's Zoo - 2 year party!

Ainsley LOVES animals. she loves going to the zoo, aquarium, pet store, etc.  she likes to name the animal and say what sound they make. she loves to carry around her cheetah, lion, elephant, bear, the list goes on. it's really very cute actually.  It only seemed fitting to have her theme be 'Ainsley's Zoo' for her second birthday party. It was that, Minnie Mouse, or Elmo, and I just couldn't bring myself to do one of them. 

We decided to do a much lower scale party this year. We decided on just immediate family (because I have a big family and extending to all family wouldn't really be scaling down unfortunately). Well, then I realized she wouldn't really have any friends her age here, which isn't super fun for her party. So we added a few close friends with kids Ainsley loves playing with:) And as a bonus, my best friend whitney was in from FL and got to come!!! (with her very charming boyfriend I might add).  We have learned kids parties work best in the morning. Kids take naps in the afternoons and ainsley does not skip her nap time:)  Overall the party went well and she had an absolute blast. The look on her face as she looked around at each person while we all sang "happy birthday" was precious. we wish we had videotaped it. She is so loved by so many and we appreciate each person who makes up our village of raising her.  Here are some pics from the party! 

Sunday, her actual birthday, we went to get her up with balloons and singing happy birthday:) she came downstairs and opened her gifts from us. her big gift was a new playset for outside, but they are still in boxes on the deck waiting for warm weather to be assembled:) 

We went to church and then after church we took her to birthday lunch at Fazolis:) girl LOVES her pasta!!! After that we went to Build-a-bear which she really enjoyed! we weren't sure if she would or not but she really liked it and had fun with it. You pick out your stuffed animal, get to push a pedal to 'stuff it', you put a heart inside it (she got to do two since she was two that day), and then can pick out clothes for it. At the end you make a birth certificate and name your bear. We asked her what her bears name was and she said "white bear". duh. 

I think she had a great birthday. I enjoyed spending her actual birthday with just her and not worrying about a party and hosting. She is such a sweet child and brings so much joy to so many people. We loved getting to celebrate her and her two whole years in this world!