Apology to all my Faithful Readers....

Well if you haven't figured it out yet.... I had Charlotte!  Yes, she arrived and everything else got put on hold.. It's been tricky figuring out how to handle life with 2 little ones, I just can't seem to find the time to blog not with all the sleep I need to catch up on ;) She is a super sweet little baby and she has fit into the family pretty well.  I guess we will keep her!  To catch up real quick, she is now 2 months old and is growing fast.  She is a good eater and somewhat of a good sleeper.  She'll fall asleep anywhere and she sleeps pretty well.  She hasn't quite mastered the art of letting mommy sleep at night yet but I think any day we will be there.  She has her own look about her but you can tell she is Cora's little sister.  They have some big differences, like Charlotte really isn't attached to the pacifier (Cora couldn't sleep without it), and she doesn't have to take her naps in the swing like Cora did.  I think she actually prefers the quiet of her crib and room.  She has already celebrated her 1st Halloween, Thanksgiving and now Christmas.  Hopefully I can update the blog with pictures from all these events just so we don't forget and also so we don't succumb to the stereo-typical "No pictures of the 2nd child" syndrome.  Because believe me, we have plenty of pictures.  Just lack of time to get them off the camera to the computer! First things first though... Her Birth Story!  Coming soon!


Couldn't resist adding a updated picture of our little one!

41 week update

Pregnancy Highlights:




How far along: 41 weeks. Actually I'm 8 days passed my due date. I really have nothing more to say on that matter.


Best moment: Had an appointment yesterday and they checked Charlotte out to make sure she was healthy and also her environment was safe. First was the non-stress test where they place 2 different monitors on my belly - to measure contractions and her heartbeat. I had 2 contractions during the 20 minutes and Charlotte's heartbeat did great! She handled them very well. The tester commented how Charlotte was the best baby she tested that day so I'm a little proud, ha ha. Next we had an ultrasound done. The woman who performed that informed us she was looking for 4 different things: Sufficient amniotic fluid, movements, muscle tone, and breathing (I think those are right). The fluid was great! Charlotte was quite the active baby and was moving ALL around during this part. She actually kept putting her hands up to her face so we couldn't get a good picture of her, as you will see below. During this time, she measured her femur bone and also her belly to get an estimated weight. She estimated 8 lbs. Not surprising as her sister, being 9 days late, was 8 lbs 5 oz so I'm thinking Charlotte will be pretty similar. As for muscle tone, she also commented seeing several fat rolls, ha ha. Same thing, right? And then all of a sudden she went still and our tester commented how she had fallen fast asleep. So that is when she looked for breathing. It took her a little while, but they finally saw her taking some breaths. Which sounds kind of scary but we were told that it is very normal for babies not to breath since their oxygen supply comes from the mom so it wouldn't have been a big deal if she hadn't breathed but regardless, I was thankful she passed all the tests and they didn't see a need to rush to induce.




How I'm feeling: I'm not feeling too good right now. Today has been a rough day. Cora has been sick and I'm starting to feel a little sick myself - just cold like symptoms. Since Cora is not feeling well, she has been very hard to handle. My patience has definitely been tested today! Thank goodness God's mercies are new every morning because I'm in need of it today!! Also, I'm just tired of being asked "When are you going to have that baby?" I so appreciate the prayers that have been given on our behalf and I have felt them. I've really been fine with her not being here yet and I know it's not because I've been gifted with this super spiritual patience.. It's because people are praying for us and God is giving me assurance that Charlotte's birthday is in His perfect timing! I guess when I get asked that question, it just tempts me to want to think of this as in my control or my fault, etc. And it's not. I rest in God's timing.




So when am I going to have that baby (ha ha): Okay my "official" due date as of this morning is Monday, October 17th. If I do not go into labor before then, I will go to the hospital Sunday evening for them to get things going for an induction Monday. Sure my hope is that I do not have to wait that long but if I do, I do.


Alright, how about some pictures of Charlotte! Cool points for those who can tell what they are looking at, because I have no clue. Even with the woman telling me what it was - I was lost.



Maybe a face?  with hands in front it of?


An ear? hmmm.... 


Okay this is a dead giveaway - her ribs, where they measured her heartbeat!

Happy Birthday Papa Phillips!

I really did not think we would have another weekend without Charlotte but alas we did! It really is a good thing as Cora decided to come down with a case of strep throat during the weekend so it's probably a good thing we didn't have that and a newborn to worry about!! So thankful for God's sovereignty in allowing things to occur at the right time!


My dad's 65th birthday was coming up so we decided we better celebrate while we can, before I get a case of "newborn forgetfulness". You know, where you forget everything else so you can take care of your newborn and sleep. We had a great dinner out at "Longhorns" and probably the best part of the night was dessert - Chocolate Stampede! We got 1 and this thing was big enough that all 8 of us shared it. Yummy!!


I'm very thankful to have my dad! He is probably one of the most generous, kind, going out of his way to help you, hard of hearing man I've ever known. He has been wonderful in helping me with Cora whenever I needed to go to an appointment, going as far as rescheduling his life just to help me out. Love you dad!!




My dad and the dessert - isn't it huge?!


The kids!  Don't we look alike?


Cora testing to see how the ice cream affected her throat.


Ice Cream = Good thing for a sore throat!  Let me cover myself with it!

Belly Shot - 40 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:




How far along: 40 weeks. That's right! I'm full term and Charlotte is already taking after her big sister by being late!






Best moment: Seeing some CRAZY movements. I mean, I'm seeing feet and legs kicking out.






Weight: 154.4, from my last doctor appointment, which was 9/29/11.






How I'm feeling: I'm feeling pretty nervous about what life is going to look like with having a newborn again. I've gotten really comfortable with how life looks now and it's about be completely different! I feel as if I haven't really accepted reality and that I'm still making plans like we won't have a newborn any day now, it's kind of funny! I have heard that you bounce back a lot quicker with #2 so I hope this is the case. I'm actually okay with not having her yet - It feels like a few more days of freedom so I'm enjoying what I can. Of course, I'm pretty uncomfortable. The worst is getting up to use the restroom at night. I'm really sore and achy and I have trouble walking a little. Plus, I've been having shooting pains down my legs. Oh, I'm ready for that to be over with! But I guess I can't have it both ways.




Things I miss: Being in control, ha ha. Not that I'm ever in control - God is. But it was nice knowing what each day was going to look like. Now, I'm just playing the waiting game! So thankful to know that God already has her birthday all planned out.




When will Charlotte be born: Well my last prediction was correct - I did not think she would be born before her due date. So I am curious to how late she will be. I honestly have this gut feeling like she is going to come this weekend. Either eviction by induction or hopefully I'll go into labor on my own. I guess I'll find out more info when I go back to the doctor on Thursday!

Happy Birthday Aunt Heather!

Tonight we were able to go out to eat to celebrate my sweet sister's 30 something Birthday! I honestly can not remember how old she is. Heather, if you are reading this, I'm sorry. Anyway, it's always nice getting together with family. I'm pretty lucky to have all my family close by but I still do not get to see them as often as I would like.


Heather - Hope you had a great birthday! We love you and look forward to celebrating many more with you!!

Super Fun Saturday, continued....

Not only did we have a birthday party to attend, we also had a cookout!  We met the rest of my "Pampered Chef" team for a get together at a local park.  Sure, Cora already missed her nap.  Let's wear her out even more by taking her to a park to spend the rest of the afternoon! 

Eating dinner - It got pretty cold outside!!


Wow! I was so honored - they surprised me with a few baby gifts for Charlotte - a diaper bag and lots of diapers!


Cora did not skip a beat - she loved swinging on the swings!

Whew.. It was a busy Saturday.  I'm not sure who was more grumpy by the end of it all, me or Cora!  All that fun is pretty tiring.  Luckily we were able to put her to bed pretty early and I put myself to bed not long after.  Who knows.. Maybe this won't be our "last weekend" before Charlotte comes!  If so, we will not be this active next weekend!

Super Fun Saturday

What do you do when it could be your LAST weekend before you have another baby? You relax and stay home and get the last few things finished up and just rest, right? This would be my answer but this is NOT how we spent our last weekend! We got down and partied. First up was a birthday party for Cora to attend! One of Williams coworkers invited us to celebrate her kids turning 3 and 1! We had a great time - it was great weather, wonderful food, great company, and lots to do. 



Scene of the backyard.  What would you play on first?


Cora went crazy over the bouncy house!  She did a great job climbing up to the slide, once she took her socks off.


After the bouncy house, she loved the trampoline.


Oh, and did I mention a candy bar?? Yes!  Sweet take out boxes for the kids to take home (okay maybe mom and dad ate most of the candy, sorry Cora.)


Cora with her take out box!  Looking at the bouncy castle.


The party was "Minnie and Micky" theme.  Very cute!





Waiting patiently for cake!


Happy Birthday Karly and Kolten!

Dresser Makeover

We are getting really close to having Cora's big girl room all put together. Good thing since I'm 39 weeks today! William has been working on painting a dresser that we had to have it match Cora's room. He worked very hard one weekend, sanding and stripping it down. He was not thrilled to be doing it but he did a great job and I think it turned out so cute!

The before shot!


and Drum Roll!!!!


AFTER!!


He painted it white and we glued the same fabric we are using for the wall decoration on the drawer knobs to match. I thought it turned out pretty adorable. Can't wait to finish putting the room together!

Sunday Best

We actually had some time to kill before church today so we decided to do an impromptu photo shoot! It was meant to be since we were all wearing pink, even William! It's hard to believe that this may be our last family photo of just the 3 of us! Next time, we may have little Charlotte in the picture. So exciting!



I love Cora's face in this one!

I think we clean up pretty good!

Potty Present

Big event tonight in "The Bell" household! I mean big. I'm talking bigger than Charlotte being born! Cora earned herself a potty present by putting her "poo poo" in the potty! Sorry if this is too graphic for those readers who may have stumbled unawares on this site but I had to document this for years to come. We are just so excited that she did this. It was kind of coincidental how it all worked out but regardless she did it so hopefully she will give us a repeat pretty soon. Basically she had just finished taking her bath and was already naked in the bathroom. She got "the look" on her face and started asking me to leave the room (which I knew was code for "I gotta go!") so I asked her, which she told me "NO!" and then I told her she could not, by any means, poop in the tub. I promptly removed said child from the tub and told her to sit on the potty. Meanwhile, she is trying with all of her might to get me OUT of the bathroom for privacy (which I think is pretty funny). I leave the room once she sits on her potty, and I pull the door almost closed to give her "privacy". Well, she gets up and shuts the door all the way! So I wait a few seconds and knock and hear her making some excited noises. I go in, unsure of what to find, and lo and behold, there it is! Poop in the potty! Wow. She CAN do it. Will she do it again, is entirely another question but it was an encouraging night!




We gave her one of the presents I had bought when we tried official potty training 6 months ago!  She has enjoyed playing with it.  I hope the next time we try to train her, she will remember how proud she was to do it and it will come much easier than before!

Belly Shot - 38 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:




How far along: 38 weeks. Where is the time going? It is going super fast now!!




Best moment: By far - getting to take Cora to the hospital to take a tour!




Weight: 154.6, from my last doctor appointment, which was today, 9/21/11.




How I'm feeling: A little unprepared. The hospital tour that we did was really great! I remember when we took a tour when we were pregnant with Cora, I left feeling so excited about having a baby and I was ready to experience it all. Well, I left this time feeling pretty overwhelmed! I guess I've been focusing so much on cleaning, and fixing up Cora's room and getting things ready for Charlotte that I feel like I haven't been really preparing Cora for what it'll be like. I know I can't really be too hard on my myself as she is only 2 and there is only so much I can do but I really want to spend some time with her, talking with her and showing her pictures of babies and talking about Charlotte.


Things I miss: Being able to make plans! There is so much fun events happening and I'm having a hard time remembering that we will have a newborn so I won't be as flexible and free coming up soon!


Do I think Charlotte will be born before her due date: I'm going to say No. Mostly because we still need to get some things done so it would be nice to complete it all this weekend and then have time to just rest and relax. So I'm hoping for that. I'm NOT, repeat NOT, wanting her to be late! Punctual will be nice! Just not too early. We still need to put her car seat in the car so once we do that, I'll feel better prepared!

2011 CPC Banquet

Wahoo! Adult night out! William and I got to attend the Pregnancy Center Banquet tonight. It was a great night away, just the two of us with about a thousand other people, listening to great testimonials of how precious life is. Of course, I'm pretty sensitive to it being pregnant. It's just amazing how these little babies grow and develop. Truly a miracle from the Lord. We really enjoyed ourselves.


Just the two of us. Thankfully Aunt Heather came to babysit!


Our speaker for the evening, Bruce Wilkinson (author of the "Prayer of Jabez books)

I believe close to $230,000 was raised to support the Pregnancy Center, which is a Praise! So glad we can be apart of it!

Big Sister Tour

To help Cora get ready to be a "big sister", we took a tour of the hospital! It was also pretty helpful for William and I too - it's amazing how much can change in 2 years. Parking is different, the entrance was different, some of the rooms were different. So it was a good refresher for us as well.


There were 3 "big sisters" in the class, with Cora being the youngest. She may have been too young to get the most out of the tour but I still wanted her to see where baby Charlotte was going to be born and also where she would come to visit mommy. Cora really enjoyed seeing the rooms and playing with the baby dolls. One of my favorite moments was seeing a newborn!  They had one baby in the nursery so we were able to show the girls a real baby.  The baby was so cute!  We think it was a boy and he opened his eyes and just looked at everyone.  The girls really liked that.  Cora was interested at the beginning but soon was distracted with running down the hall. 


Putting her name tag on!


Seeing the rooms!  She really enjoyed the big light!





She also enjoyed working the pedals for the sink!


She LOVED running around the bathrooms.


After the tour, we went to a classroom where baby dolls were set up and the girls could practice holding, swaddling, and changing the baby.  The other two girls did great!  Cora on the other hand was a little rough with the baby doll!  She kept banging it on the table and poking it's eyes and mouth.  The instructor said we may need to watch Cora with her baby sister. 



Not quite how you hold a newborn...



Looking better.. Just need to support the head.



Getting some help from mommy.



She did pretty well changing the diaper and wiping the baby.


At the end of that, the girls got "Big Sister" stickers to wear when they come to visit the hospital and also a little story book about becoming a big sister. 



Cora with her book.  She has really enjoyed reading it.


The tour ended with that - but we were pretty lucky and ran into a sweet friend, Michelle, who is a nurse and was working that afternoon.  Michelle is actually one of the nurses that helped me when I had Cora so that made it even more special!  She took us on a little behind the scenes tour - we got to play in the rooms some more.  The most interesting part to me was showing Cora the room she was born in.  Luckily the room was free as they did not have many patients that day.



Here we are!  This is the room Cora was born in!



Cora trying out the stethoscope.

The long walk back to the car.  Cora (and mommy) was ready to go home at this point!

Pampered Chef Vendor Fair

I got to spend time in my hometown today doing Pampered Chef!  My dad is pretty involved with the Ruritan Club and they were hosting a "Sale-abration" to raise money for their local group.  When he told me about it, I was pretty excited.  I haven't had a chance to work my little business/hobby there yet so it was a great opportunity for me to see a lot of families I grew up with and update them on what is going on with us! 



Here I am with my little booth!  I made "Chewy Chocolate Coconut Bars"!  They turned out to be a big hit!


My friend Amy (who sells Usbourne Children Books) came along too!  Here we are, looking like pros.



William and Cora stopped for a visit and Cora found a good deal on some toys.  They have really kept her entertained. 


Amy and I, smiling for the camera.

We had a very successful day, I was so excited!  Granted, I'm sure most of the women who stopped by my booth did so because I grew up with them and they wanted to know all about Cora and little Charlotte, but still the support was so encouraging.  What was even better was hearing lots of stories about my mom, seeing her old friends, even one of her old teachers.  Sweet memories!!

Community Bible Study 2011

Finally! After a long summer, our Community Bible Study started back up again. This is our third year being involved, we started when Cora was 4 months old and it has been a wonderful weekly activity for both of us. I met so many women that first year and have made fast friends for life. This year will be very similar to the first year as I'm in the "Lamb's Group" again, meaning, I'm with all the moms with babies who are under the age of one. This group is pretty loud and noisy, mostly because we keep our babies with us! I have it easy for the next few weeks since I don't have my baby with me yet, she is still cooking. This year, our study will be on Amos and Isaiah. I've never done a study on these books of the Bible so it should be really great!



Cora is in her own class -the 2 year old class. I'm lucky because she has a great group of kids and also wonderful teachers who are sweet friends. I'm so excited about all she is going to do and learn this year. I think she is excited as well! She remembered the church as soon as we pulled up, she immediately began saying "Bible" and "cross" and she tried walking to her old room for class. I let her say hello to her teachers but then I dropped her off at her new room and she did great with drop off. Hopefully, it'll continue to go this smooth once Charlotte comes!

September Birthday Cookout

We were off to Clayton yesterday to have a cookout at The Wilder house!  Katherine and Kevin are the newlyweds in the family and hosted all of us to celebrate mine and Kevin's birthday!  It was great getting to see everyone and the food was very yummy! Kevin borrowed a neighbors pig cooker and it was pretty impressive.  The only bad part was Cora came down with pink-eye on the way there so she looked pretty pitiful.  She still had a great time getting to see her Pa Pa and Parker.  (She talks about them the most!)




Custom made pig cooker.  It was really nice!



Katherine and Kevin!




My sweetie and I


Cora with her main cousin Parker


Katherine made 2 cakes for us and they were so tasty!  Wish I had some right now!



Singing "Happy Birthday"!


I think we may make this an annual thing!  As long as Kevin doesn't mind cooking the pig for his own party!!