15 weeks!

(Oops...meant to post this last week! )

Another week down! We had our second doctor's appointment and got to hear the baby's heartbeat! There is a myth (though many facebook commentors seem to believe there is some truth to it) that the slower heartbeat indicates a boy, and a faster heartbeat indicates a girl. Our baby had a slower heartbeat (well within the normal, healthy range), and the midwife joked that it may be a boy. Of course Jose is holding on to hope that this myth is true! As a side note, when my mom was pregnant with me before the use of ultrasound was routine, my heartbeat was slower indicating a boy.

We will be able to put the wondering to rest in less than 5 weeks! We have our big ultrasound scheduled for October 31st! I've mentioned before that I'm not a huge fan of Halloween (though last year was a blast with our little Snow White), but this year I'm sure it will be amazing! We've already figured out how we will announce what we are having, and I'm already planning what I'm calling our "Little Pumpkin Reveal Party!"

These last four weeks have flown by (must be all the fall fun we are having). I'm really looking forward to October because I should begin to feel baby movement soon (I know it is early, but I think I may have felt a little something a couple of days ago). Aubri, church, Bradley classes, and party planning (FCV family mark your calendar for our Fall, Family Fellowship Dinner October 30th!) are keeping me busy. I have felt GREAT and am enjoying the belly swell. It is so fun not having to suck in, and just let the stomach all out!

Apple Picking

I can't believe fall has become my favorite season (shh...don't tell Winter). Fall has so many things to do, great weather, amazing flavors, wonderful colors....I could go on and on. Jose is such a good sport going along with my love of fall. I know he doesn't love pumpkins or apples as much as he pretends to for my sake, and I know he didn't understand why I once took him to get a pumpkin spice latte to celebrate the first day of fall. Last weekend I know he wasn't particularly in the mood for apple picking, but he knew how much I wanted to go. Next thing I know we were headed to Avila Barn!

Aubri was happy to see her animal friends again, and was even brave enough to feed the goats once.

We picked the perfect Saturday afternoon because it wasn't crowded and she was able to lead the way and explore. Even though we got there 2 hours before closing, apparently we missed the apple picking times. Fortunately after I pouted enough, our teenage cowboy hayride driver decided to let us pick apples after all!

Please excuse Aubri's pirate eye. Apparently there is more Tapia in her than we thought--she seems to take after her uncles' in the goofy picture posing skills. She has decided that anytime you ask her to smile, she needs to lift her chin, fake a smile, and close one eye. Oh dear!

We've been gobbling up apples left and right! I filled a large trifle bowl of apples and placed it on our dining room table. Seeing them out like that makes them a tempting snack anytime of day!

Apple picking is now checked off my Fall Bucket list....next up pumpkin patch!

2nd Trimester

Woohoo! We are moving now! On to the 2nd trimester, often thought of as "the best trimester of pregnancy". And if that is really the case, I'm in for 13 great weeks!


In a dramatic turn of events (really the only thing dramatic about it is me calling it that), I've gained 2 pounds, and 2 pairs of jeans came out of the dryer too tight! The belly gut (no cute hard bump yet) is definitely protruding (isn't that an ugly word? kinda accurately describes it though). What a change in one week!

I've realized that more and more when I think about about the baby, I'm picturing a boy. Interesting.


You would not believe how Aubri's language skills are growing. She is really trying to speak sentences. A few examples, this week she told me " Don't tickle me!" and "Get pumpkin pie [at] papa's house!" When I told her I didn't think Nana and Papa had pumpkin pie, she said "Papa take you Costco, get pumpkin pie." Grammar issues aside, I'm pretty proud of my little girl. She does very well at getting her point across like "Don't like_____" or "Mama get_____", and since she frequently climbs into and on everything she often says "Mama help! Stuck!" And of course the favorite "No _____ !"(fill in the blank with the word nap, food...). She counts to 10 (needing slight help to get through 4 and 5), and can recognize the 7 words I wrote on flashcards (milk, dog, dada, mama, Aubri, baby, hi). She still talks in the 3rd person a lot, but is catching herself and starting to answer "I do!" instead of "Aubri does!".

I hoping to find some time to upload a few pictures for you!

13 Weeks

I have a feeling this pregnancy is going to go by fast! With so much going on in our lives, days just seem to fly by!

If you could tell, last week I started to worry a bit. It is really silly I'll admit. I've been so proud of myself for not gaining weight and easily fitting into my clothes. But then I read through past post from when I pregnant with Aubriella. By 10 1/2 weeks my clothes were snug, and at 13 weeks I wore maternity pants because I couldn't stand how uncomfortably tight my pants were. After reading that my pride in staying fit quickly turned to panic that maybe the baby wasn't growing, or maybe there was something wrong. Silly huh? For a full day I kept wondering if I've felt any pregnancy symptoms lately and letting my mind think all kinds of crazy things. Got to remember to trust in the Lord!

The really funny thing is literally a day later I caught a reflection of myself and thought, whoa, where did that stomach blubber come from?? I think I forgot that a baby bump isn't instantly hard and round, but instead the uterus kind of pushes everything else out(that I usually can suck in!). The past 3 days I keep bending over, or see myself in the mirror and laugh that I thought I wasn't showing! Even though I can easily button my pants, there is now officially some growth going on.

This past week was another fun week. A great wedding (more on that later!), start of the footbal season, and more. Three days included not one, but 2 trips a day to the 5cities area. Not fun when gas prices are so high! It is worth it though to be working in a dream job at the church, having fun at youth group, and being encouraged at an area Children's pastors meeting, and the following day at the area Vineyard leadership meeting.

And let me take this moment to pat myself on the back,flip my tassel and throw my cap in the air....drum roll please......I now have a graduate degree diploma, officializing my commencement, and honoring me the masters of arts degree in clinical psychology! Are you confused? Did you think I did all that almost 3 years ago? Well I did, but I skipped out on the commencement ceremonies and never got a chance to pick up my diploma. After the 100th and final letter from the university letting me know my diploma was still in the office, I sucked it up and sent $15 to have it shipped to me. So I guess it is official. I guess I never saw the need to go out of my way for the diploma...to this day my high school and undergrad diplomas are still in offices somewhere! Shame on me.

By the way, if smells weren't so overwhelming to me right now, I'd have all our Glade air freshners spewing the wonderful fall fragrances of spiced apple and cinnamon pumpkin by now!

Every pregnancy different?

I've been so excited to not be gaining weight, and still able to button my pants without a problem. I was looking through past posts from when I was pregnant with Aubri, and by this time my pants didn't fit and I had been unbuttoning them for a couple of weeks. I'm counting myself lucky this time around, but I'm also scratching my head a bit. Aren't you supposed to show faster in 2nd pregnancies?

Cravings

Believe it or not I crave pickles this pregnancy! I don't even really love pickles, and definitely didn't want them my last pregnancy. But this pregnancy is different. Payne's Perfect Pickles have been invented and they rock my world. They are sweet and spicy, add flavor to sandwiches, salads, anything really, and I've even used the jalapenos in salsas. I sound like an infomercial, but really I just love them. We ran out and I just really need to get my hands on some more!

Other cravings aren't too weird. I love fruit and orange juice, and like milk more (not really a fan). The biggest craving is pizza! To at least attempt to make pizza healthy, we've made it at home a couple of times. Start with yummy Trader Joe's dough (garlic and herb or whole wheat), top with a fat free, nutrient packed sauce, and top with your favorite toppings. My favorite combination is chicken, mushrooms, onion, garlic, spinach, and pineapple. Even Aubri is starting to love Pizza.

Looks good doesn't it?

And I'm not just talking about the pizza! ;-)

12 weeks

This past week has been great. Still no weight gain (in fact for 2 days I had somehow lost 1 1/2 pounds!) which is so exciting for me-- especially since the babycenter update let me know I'm entitled to 5 pounds by this point, and should be noticing a thickening waistline.

The pregnancy symptoms seemed to have all faded and it is hard to believe I'm really expecting! I did switch prenatal vitamins to some horse-pill sized variety (what did I expect? everything is bigger from Costco) and taking them on an empty stomach was not a good idea. My body seems to have adjusted, and I've learned to take them with food. My energy and sleep also seem normal (good thing because I have had the busiest week I've had in a looong time!).

It was a fun week because even though this pregnancy hasn't been a secret, it just became Facebook official. It is fun being congratulated and hearing the advice about becoming a mom to two.

I'm often asked if I want this baby to be a boy or girl. With Aubri I knew I really wanted a girl. This time around I really would be happy either way! I would love for Aubri to have a close sister (something I never had), so a girl would be great. Plus we have so much pink stuff already it would be much cheaper. But...then it would be nice to have one of each (not to worried about this because we know we will have more), and it would be fun to do a new nursery and buy blue
things (though expensive!). Jose would love to have a boy, so for his sake I think I'm torn 51% boy and 49% girl.

To give you an Aubri update....she has progressed from opening the front door, to leaving out the garage door. The other night she told us she wanted to "see Gugi-anna" (her cousin Gulianna). She told us she was going bye-bye and very seriously made it known that she was leaving. She proceeded to get the car keys from the drawer, walk out the garage, attempt to open the car door (hindsight is 20/20:should have stopped her there, but we wanted to see how far she would go), asked for help opening the door (driver side!), waved to us, said bye, shut the door and tried to stick the keys in the ignition! When we stopped her at that point, she cried and said she wanted to "drive, see Gugi-ana!" I'm keeping my eyes on this one, or else she is going to be the toddler who drives down the street.

Suggestions?

I'm taking name suggestions if you got them! Of course we don't know if we are having a baby boy or girl yet, but it is never too early to start thinking.
Here is what we got so far
Boy:Ezra, Luke, possible middle name Joseph
Girl: Alia, Alina, Alaina, Elise (the A names and similarities aren't intentional)