Holidays & baby bump

I am so excited for the holidays this year, because let's face it, the holidays are ten times more exciting when you have a little one! And now that Bendelle is technically a toddler--taking steps and learning new words left and right--we are even more stoked to start holiday festivities.

We will be spending Thanksgiving with my grandparents and aunt and uncle in Claremont, and I must admit, I am relieved to not be hosting! Don't get me wrong, we looove hosting parties and get-togethers, but since Christmas will be at our house, I am grateful for a little break. My aunt and uncle are great hosts and I love learning things from my mom and her generation about hosting. We are old fashioned when it comes to parties and hanging out-we love creating a fun and cozy atmosphere, and love being in the moment and enjoying great conversation with the special people in our lives.

I hosted a baby shower with a couple of friends for my dear friend who is due next month with a sweet baby boy, and I couldn't help but notice how involved Bendelle was when the gift opening took place. It made me fast forward to Christmas mode and imagine how excited (I hope) she'll be on Christmas morning. I've been collecting things throughout the year for her--books, shoes, little things here and to give her on Christmas, but I am MOST excited to put this in front of the tree for her on Christmas morning :) I snagged such a good deal on it a few months back and have been saving it ever since.

 
We are giving mostly handmade goods to loved ones this year, which I am actually really excited about! I have so many great ideas and goodies I  have already started to make. I feel like handmade gifts are the best because you really pour your heart and creativity into them. I have even gotten ambitious and wrapped a few! 

On top of it all, we are so excited for our little blip to join the family in May! People have been asking if we are hoping for a boy or a girl. To be honest, I really don't have a preference! I loooove having a girl and think it would be great to have another one and for Bendelle to have a sister. On the other hand, a boy would be a whole new adventure! The more I think about it, the more I realize I don't have a preference. I always wanted a girl, so the first time around I was secretly hoping for one. But more than anything we just want a healthy baby :)

 

Baby #2!!!

We are so very excited about the arrival of baby #2 coming May 2016! We kept it (kind of) a secret until Halloween when we made this announcement:

This Halloween was a lot of fun because we all got dressed up together as a family of skeletons and Bendelle was able to participate in tirck-or-treating! Well, she held the bucket and we ate the candy ;)

Baby number two came as a little bit of a surprise to us! It was honestly the best little surprise-after feeling a little bit off for a while I decided to get a pregnancy test and took it as soon as I got home. Aaron was playing with Bendelle when I found out. Within second there was a strong little plus sign on the stick-it was official, we would have two babies under two! We had decided to start trying for baby number two once Bendelle turned one. But unlike the first time around, we got pregnant very quickly! We made a doctor's appointment and found out we were already 8 weeks pregnant! (I found out at 4 weeks with Bendelle.) And what made it even more amazing was that we were even able to hear AND see baby's heartbeat on the ultrasound! It was such a good feeling to see our little blip and his/her little heart pumping away! We ended up telling some family members and a few close friends right away, but I wanted to wait until about the second trimester before we made it public knowledge . . . which just so happened to be around Halloween! So we did a fun little announcement with our skeleton shirts I bought when I was pregnant with Bendelle, and let her wear her pink skeleton pjs for a family photo :) I also took this picture, because we had the perfect amount of pumpkins, so how could I resist??

Even though life is busier than ever, I still want to do little weekly pregnancy updates like I did with Bendelle. I bought plain wooden blocks off of Etsy and painted them black and white to use as a prop for my pregnancy updates. I did chalkboard updates with Bendelle, but I wanted to change it up so I wouldn't have the same type of photos for both pregnancies.

It is so sweet because Bendelle has made it very clear that she loves other babies and kids, so we are so excited for her to have a sibling of her own. I think it will be great that they'll be close in age, although I'm already preparing myself for years of arguments down the road!

So the countdown is on! We have about 24.5 weeks until baby number two makes his/her debut! And YES, we will definitely be finding out the sex! We will be waiting a little longer this time around to find out, but will know by December :)