25 weeks & a visit with Joe

I've got a few posts that I am needing to do from my brother visiting us in Chicago, but I'll post this one now because it's easy and not time-consuming and I want to give those posts some justice :)

I haven't done many belly shots this time around. Not sure why. Probably because I feel large and this time around has been a little more uncomfortable than the first. I think it's the result of being pregnant while taking care of a toddler. My siatic (sp?) nerve started to act up and when I am really busy with cleaning and things like that my whole back just aches. But really, overall, this pregnancy has been relatively easy and I know people have gone through much worse... plus the reward is a sweet one :) So I try to keep my complaining to a minimum.

Anyway, we're getting more and more excited. I think the fact that we're going to have another child started to really hit me a couple weeks ago and I am SO excited. Not that I wasn't excited before... it has just set in an little more than before. We have a few names in mind, but like we did with Lyla, we'll probably go in there with a couple and then decide which one fits best. So you'll just have to wait and see. :)

Anyway, here is my first official belly shot for this pregnancy. 25 weeks.

And lastly, Joe came into town for business and had a free afternoon. So Nate got off as early as he could and we headed to the city to have some dinner with him. WE LOVE JOE! It was so fun seeing him, even though it was only for a little over an hour. Every time I am around he and Nate I am reminded about how much those two are alike! They have VERY similar personalities, it's crazy. Anyway, Joe immediately jumped into uncle mode and by the end of our visit, Lyla had really warmed up to him. It was great seeing him and I can't wait for he and his family to move out to the mid-west. It's something I have been anxiously awaiting. Thanks for the brief visit Joe... we love you!!

Lyla LEW - 18 months

Well I haven't posted about Lyla in a little while. I still need to do her official 18 month pics but these will have to do for now.

She found a little ledge in our closet. Sometimes she'll grab a book and go there to sit and read it. This is her with her "cheese" face... so korny I love it!

I had to capture the first time we actually fed Lyla spaghetti. She did a pretty good job making a mess of herself. Again, with the "cheese" face.

Love that cute smile!

Okay, as I have mentioned before, I have really struggled to do something with Lyla's hair. The top of it is really short and thin and the back is really long and thin. Anyway, today I attempted pigtails. They were cute enough but lasted less than 5 minutes. Oh well :)

I think it looks cute from the back but a little funny in the front since her hair is just sitting there. Plus, in this pic the bows are already starting to fall out.

18 month stats:

Head: 19in (??%)

Weight: 22lbs 4oz (Less than 25%)

Height: 34in (Just barely off the charts!)

I'm pretty sure she is going to be tall and skinny like my mom. When my mom was just married she was like 5'8, 120 lbs... yeah, a stick!! And she had these extremely long legs too! The doctor was a little nervous because she hasn't gained any weight, but he said that can be normal for this age since they are so active. I swear we feed the girl... she's just a stick and always has been!

Anyway, here are some things Lyla has been up to lately:

• Says a lot of words now (mama, dada, please, thank you, more, up, duckie, flower, baby, etc.) Her annunciation still needs a little work but come one, she's only 18 months!
• LOVES to read. I think it's weird. Good but weird. I was so never like that. Part of me thinks that maybe it's because her toys are lame, but she'll read or have us read her AT LEAST 15 books a day. Thank goodness you can get a variety at the library!
• She loves to play hide and seek (or her version of it).
• She loves to play outside and at the park. The slide is her favorite.
• She loves to play with my hair. When I carry her, she twirls it mindlessly (probably because she has none of her own). And she loves it when Nate and I put our head in her lap (sometimes she'll even pull our heads until they are just right) and then play with our hair.
• She give the BEST kisses!
• Her favorite food is fruit... any kind.
• She loves to sing. She knows most of the tune of the ABC's and will say random letters while she sings it. She also loves to do the movements to "Popcorn Popping" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider".
• She loves to help with chores.
• She can throw the most dramatic tantrum I have ever seen!
• She's has started to be more disobedient, just to test us.
• She hates time-out!
• She has the most amazing ability to glare at people. Not because she's mad, just because she wants to. I usually pull her eyebrows back up and tell her to stop and she laughs :)
• She loves drinking from a straw but still struggles using a cup without a straw.
• She loves to dance! Her dancing pretty much consists of her stepping really fast in the same spot while swinging her arms and laughing all the while.
• She LOVES to be around other kids.
• Everytime she looks in the toilet she says "Ew" (even when there is nothing in there)
• She is FINALLY in nursery and has done pretty well so far. She just needs to learn to sit still during the lessons and drink from a cup!
• She loves to play soccer like her daddy.
• Still a great sleeper!
• Has the most fun when her mommy and daddy are BOTH home!
• She is going to make a GREAT big sister!

Reading!

So, I know this will all sound pretty lame to other's, but for me, I feel pretty dang proud of myself! Why? Because I FINALLY love to read!!

Background: I always wished I were a "reader". Growing up I NEVER read. In fact, reading was torture for me. During high school, I would always buy cliff notes on books because I hated to read. I just thought it was boring, a waste of time, and I just had better things to do like hang out with my friends. But, secretly, I always envied the person who LOVED to read and had read TONS of books and who just had a passion for it! The first books I really read and got into was the Twilight Series and the Harry Potter books. Now that is 11 books but you can only claim them as a series.

Anyway, I felt the need to extend my list of books to read. I had a New Year's Resolution to read one book a month during the year. So far, I have done great with this goal and have even read more books than I had set out to. And the best part of it is, it hasn't been torture for me at all! I have loved it! So far in the year, I have read:

• The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen D. Randle (it was a short read and pretty good)
• The Mortal Instrument Series (City of Bones, City of Angels, and City of Glass) by Cassandra Clare (I really liked this series)
• My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (good but a little depressing)

And then over the past 3 week's I've read 4 books! Usually I am not this ambitious, but a majority of the books I have read are library books and have to be back at a certain time. Anyway, here they are and I enjoyed each of them.

• Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater: It was pretty good. It's a werewolf love story. The story is pretty interesting and nothing like Twilight like one would expect (which is sort of refreshing). In the beginning I thought the main female character was weird and I had a hard time relating to her. But the more I read, the more I understood her. Anyway, overall, it was a good and fun read but nothing I'd go around telling people they MUST read it. And I think there are sequels to this book, but I haven't read them yet.

• Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale: I actually really liked this book... way more than I thought I would! It was a little slow in the beginning for me but after that it really picked up and I couldn't put it down! The book is basically a journal of a girl serving as a maid to a girl who gets locked in a tower for 7 years because she refused to marry who her father wanted her to. And the maid has sworn to serve her and be locked up with her. So it's about their adventure and relationship. I LOVED the writing. The narrator is the main maid girl and she was hilarious and just very likable. Technically it's a children's book but adults would like it too.

• Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins: Okay, so I know I have already mentioned Hunger Games in an earlier post and how awesome it is but I also read the sequel and it was even better! Seriously, I could not put it down! And, as many love stories go, there is a love triangle. With the Twilight Saga, the love triangle is pretty basic and it really depends on what your personality is to decide who you would choose. But with this one, oh man! This one is legit! It's totally believable and every time I try to think about who would be the better choice, I just can't do it! I am at a total loss and my heart breaks for each character! Ahh!!! And the love story/triangle is just a side problem for what the whole book is mainly about. You really just feel like you are a part of the story. This book made me so mad, made me cry, made me laugh, and every emotion you could hope a book would bring up in you. Anyway, I don't want to give anything away but the whole story is SO FREAKIN' GOOD!!! The third book, Mocking Jay, comes out I think in August and I can't wait to read it! Oh, and the only problem I see with this book is if they made it into a movie, it would most definitely be rated R and the book is geared toward teens/young adults. I don't see how it couldn't be. Who knows though... it may be better if they don't make it into a movie. We'll see.

So yeah, I just feel pretty good that I really am beginning to LOVE reading! I have always wanted to love it and now I finally do! So, yay for me!

Adorable Giveaway... Seriously, ADORABLE!!

One of my good friends, Erin, is having a giveaway on her photography blog. She is pretty amazing. Check her page out here! And enter into the giveaway.

The giveaway is by Up Above Baby Creations and that site is AMAZING! I wish I had known about it earlier! Since I am getting into photography, I want to buy everything on that site!!! Check them out here! Seriously, DO IT!

Singer Island Vacation

Well Nate and I recently got back from our couples trip to Palm Beach, Florida. Can I just say, what an AMAZING place that is! Seriously, if you can't afford to go to the Caribbean but want something similar to it (beach and water), go there. We stayed on Singer Island at the Palm Beach Shores Resort and had an awesome time. Nate's mom was SO kind to come and watch Lyla for us for the whole week. Lyla LOVED spending time with her grandma, especially since she would read her countless books!

Anyway, the hotel we stayed at was BEAUTIFUL. Here are some pictures of it...

This picture the view from the beach facing the back of the hotel.

I got this picture off their website, but this is the boardwalk that went from the hotel to the beach.

This is our room from when you walk into the door. There's the living area and dining area and the kitchen is to the left. The doors to the bedroom and the bathroom are to the right.

The kitchen. Luckily we had one because we were able to eat cereal and fruit for breakfast and store our left-overs from dinner for lunch!

The bedroom. The bed was really comfortable... but almost too comfortable. We both woke up with our backs and necks feeling sore a couple of the mornings. I guess we just aren't used to such luxury!

Our bathroom was BEAUTIFUL! And yes there is a shower to the right, but I figured you wouldn't care to see it. It's nothing special to look at.

The view from our balcony. I loved it! We sat on it several times to play games or just read. I LOVED reading with the sound of the ocean in the background. My personal heaven. Oh, and down by the pool there is a tiki hut to get your towels and also, live singers came every day and sang. They were really good! Not over-bearing and they chose good relaxing songs.

We went on a snorkel trip one of the mornings.

Us on the boat.

Our boat captain, Gary.

When we got in the water, we saw one of these!

For those who don't know, it's a manatee. It was so cool! We were in pretty shallow water (maybe 6 or 7 feet) and we ended up getting like 5 or 6 feet from it! It just stared at us for 2-3 minutes and then swam off.

Sunbathing/relaxing afterward. Please excuse our whiteness and my prego belly :)

The next day we decided to rent bikes for the day. Our plan was to ride to some beach, have lunch, relax, and then ride back. And things did not go according to plan! First off, I think that day was probably our hottest day there and it was SO HUMID (not the best idea when you're 20 weeks pregnant)! My feet were starting to swell worse than I have ever seen them and I felt like I was going to pass out. Secondly, the bike seats were SO uncomfortable, even to the point that our rear ends were bruised for a couple of days afterward. I had it worse because I have no butt. Anyway, we ended up returning the bikes after about an hour... pathetic, I know.

But here is a picture of me on the bike, trying not to focus on my bum. If you look closely, you can see that I am sitting on a towel :)

There was a lake (well it was ocean water between Singer Island and the "main land" that they call a lake) to the left of us with a small little beach shore and we found this baby sting ray (at least I think that's what it was) that must have washed up during the high tide and dried up. Poor guy.

On the beach at the hotel they had little sections blocked off so we wouldn't disturb the turtle nests buried there.

Nate was so kind to get up with me one of the mornings to watch my first sunrise! Love that guy!

Sunrise

Another fun activity we did was Parasailing. It was awesome! I had been once before and this was Nate's first time. I forgot how high you get up! We were around 800ft in the air! When we looked down we saw around 5 sea turtles just swimming along the top of the ocean, which was pretty cool. It was funny because there was a mother and daughter on the boat with us. And when it was their turn the daughter lost her water shoe that she refused to take off. So somehow, miraculously, a jet-skier found it and gave it to her when they were about to dip her in the water. It was crazy! Anyway, we had a blast!

Taking off...

Right after take off

So high in the air!

Toward the end when they start to bring you in, they will dip you in the water. This is usually just your feet but they decided to DUNK us 2-3 times. It was hilarious and I almost lost my sunglasses.

With the pirate of the activities place that we went snorkeling and parasailing with. He was hott! ;-)

Trying out the night settings on my camera. Turned out pretty decent.

Okay, if anyone really knows me, they know that I LOVE Tropical Smoothie Cafe (even though they started making their wraps way smaller). I ate there ALL THE TIME at the one by Fullerton College when I was attending there. There are three in California that I have been to. Then, amazingly enough they have one about 20 minutes from where I live in IL (there is only 1 location in the entire state), and they have them everywhere in Florida! So we had to go one time and it was delicious.

We also had a nice evening out and Nate took me to Ruth's Chris. I know, I am totally spoiled.

Us with our food. I am a HUGE meat-eater. I love meat. I could not go vegetarian, even if I tried. Anyway, the filet they had there was hands down the BEST filet I had ever had in my entire life. It. Was. Delicious. Especially with their mushrooms. Oh my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Anyway, I'm lucky my husband was willing to take me there. Thanks Natey!

Anyway, I'll just end the pictures with this one. I know it's not super flattering but I LOVE IT! Why? I love the color of it, the beach, me with some actual color (a rarity), and it was right after we took a nice swim in the ocean. I LOVE THE BEACH, can you tell?! ;-)

Anyway, we did a lot of other stuff too. We saw lots of movies since there isn't much to do for the night life and since we didn't have Lyla with us. We relaxed and swam at the beach and the pool, got massages, ate lots of good food, shopped, and got a lot of good reading in. We really missed Lyla, especially since there were a lot of families that brought their kids her age with them. But we realize that we wouldn't have been able to do the stuff we did with her there, so it was for the best. And the only thing that really was disturbed with me being pregnant was the food. A lot of the restaurants nearby had mainly fish that I'm not supposed to eat... which really wasn't the end of the world.

I'm so glad we got to do this trip before we have baby #2. Especially since next summer we will be getting ready (hopefully) to go to grad school and therefore vacations like this last will not be possible during that time or for the next few years. I LOVED being able to spend uninterrupted time with Nate. Seriously, he is the BEST and he spoiled me silly. I am a lucky, lucky girl!

And on a final note and a completely different subject... If you haven't read this...

...then you should. It was (in my opinion) SO GOOD! Nate and I both read it and we did not want to put it down!

That's all for now. See ya!