I had a doctor appointment this morning and all is looking good! We got to hear the baby’s heartbeat and it is around 160 bpm. We are excited because at the next appointment we get to find out if Sweet Pea will have a little brother or sister! I can’t wait!!!

The time has come in my pregnancy where I am getting really uncomfortable. Sleeping has become hard. I know that this is nature’s way of getting the mom used to not sleeping the whole night through, but it seems to have come earlier than my pregnancy with Sweet Pea.

But with the unenjoyable part of pregnancy comes the joyful part! Two nights ago I was lying in bed reading while the rest of the house was quiet. It was the first time that day I was able to concentrate on fully relaxing my whole body and try to get comfortable. I rested my hand on my stomach and felt a flutter! It was so exciting. It makes the life growing inside me seem real.

Since I am still early in the pregnancy, I can’t normally feel the flutter during the day when I am moving around chasing after Sweet Pea. And the baby isn’t big enough to be felt from the outside.  So for now I will cherish the moments when everyone else is sleeping and I get to feel the life inside me.

Who needs a sippy cup when you can drink from the faucet?

While Nana was here she missed her normal morning workout. To make up for it Sweet Pea made her push him up and down the hallway in the laundry basket. And what a workout it was!! You don’t need a gym membership to get a good workout…just have a couple of kids!

Nana is in town and look what she got for Sweet Pea…a yummy blueberry muffin!! He finally decided that his hands were getting in the way so he just bent down and took a bite. Yum!

Sweet Pea has become quite the helper. Anything that I am doing, whether it be unloading the dishwasher or drying my hair, he wants to do too!! So of course I let him help. Even though everything takes sooo much longer to do I want to encourage this helpful behavior, not hinder it. Here are the attempts at drying my hair the other day:

I love that everything I do is so wonderful and interesting to him. The picture of him drying my hair just reminds me that this little person looks up to me and wants to copy everything that I do. This is where I pray the Lord will give me strength to be patient and be a good example to him. I hope as he grows older he stays the loving, helping little boy he it right now.

Pregnancy news: Thanks for all the comments and emails I got about my pregnancy! It is so uplifting to know so many people care and are praying for my family. I am now fifteen weeks along. The baby is due in early August. I am very thankful that in both this pregnancy and Sweet Pea’s I did not encounter morning sickness. Just a lot of nausea and cramps. And of course mood swings. I think my hubby is looking forward to the end of this pregnancy for that reason alone. I will give more updates and the pregnancy moves along!

So when kids play they mimic what they know and what they have seen. I think some of my driving habits need to change…

One of the things we are most proud of is Sweet Pea’s diet. With so many unhealthy choices out there it can be so easy to fall into going a full day eating sweets and only stuff from cans and packages. And if you knew us before we had Sweet Pea, you would know that all we ate was frozen dinners and McDonald’s. Ok…that is an exaggeration. But you get the picture. Going from that to actually preparing fresh, healthy food is a challenge.

And along with eating healthy food comes eating no sweets. Well…yesterday I had the urge to bake cookies and I indulged myself for the first time since before Sweet Pea was born. And they were good. So good that both hubby and I have been eating them nonstop. They are just sitting on a plate on the counter and as we walk by we grab one and eat it.

This afternoon the three of us were playing in the living room. All of a sudden Sweet Pea jumps up and runs off into the kitchen. He comes back in with this huge grin on his face and a cookie in his hand! If you need a sign that your children are growing up, here is one: they can reach the kitchen counter while standing on their tip toes. So we let him eat and he loved it! Needless to say, I will not be baking more cookies any time soon. They are much too loved in this household.