a vacation in iphone photos.

we obviously have about eleventy billion "real" photos from our recent vacation, but they are locked tight on 7 of jb's memory cards.  so, it may be a couple of days/weeks/lifetimes before we get those onto a computer and into the blog.  but when i do that, i will chronicle our trip for real.  for now, here are a gazillion pictures of emme's tour through the northeast.  lots of nap pictures because she's SO cute when she's sleeping, but i promise she was awake most of the trip.

the single paragraph overview is that we flew in to boston, drove up to vermont (stowe), spent a few lovely days there, drove back down to boston and spent the rest of our trip frolicking around the big city.  we hiked, ran through a corn maze, rode a gondola up a mountain, visited the ben + jerry's factory, walked through boston's public gardens and common, saw cemeteries and the old north church, went to a red sox game, went to the aquarium, rode a tall ship, and much, much more.  emme was a champion traveler - i could not have been more proud/impressed/shocked at how easy and fun she was.  we can't wait for our next vacation....someday!

this is her new ham n cheese face when i tell her to smile for the camera.  this was around 5 a.m. before our flight out.  

snacks/dinner at a great place in concord, new hampshire.

 c'mon mama!

 ek wanted us to buy a seat on the plane home for this monkey.  

 on top of a mountain in stowe.  

 the groundhog we discovered right outside our place in vermont.

 a little chipmunk hanging on our neighbor's wood pile.

first taste of ben & jerry's. 

she had to take a seat to fully embrace the ice cream experience.

 ben & jerry factory was a dream land for kids.

 shoes off in the stream on a hike - she ended up completely soaked on this adventure.  

 brought her into a toy store where she promptly grabbed a basket and started filling it with gear.  hilarious.  

 first day in boston with daddy.

 make way for ducklings!

 breakfast in the promenade before our aquarium visit.

 crashed on the floor on a mat (she refused to stay in the pack n play).

 in front of our boston hotel.

 people on the street paused to laugh at this position.  

 a stop in franklin square park after breakfast at flour.

 go red sox!

 time to head home...if only she would wake up.  

 antics with daddy at logan airport.  notice the matching red sox caps.

ultrasound pictures.

the ultrasound machine at my practice was different than the one we had for emme, so i think the pics of this bebe look a bit different (grainier, maybe?), but we got some pretty decent shots of the little one yesterday.  s/he had his/her arms up in front of face for a lot of it, but the profile shots were really good, i thought.  i really think this muskrat looks much different than emme did, lending further credence to my boy speculation.  but then, i swore ek was a boy the whole way through too, so how's that for mothers' intuition?  heartbeat was 153 compared to emme's 146 at this point. 

anyway...here are the 15 shots we have of baby b numero dos.  there is one face shot in here that is super creepy and looks like skeletor.  i'm optimistic the bebe will be much cuter than that in real life...

 this is the baby's knuckles - kind of random, but you can see 5 fingers.  yay!

this is a face picture, but it's kind of hard to tell.  you can see baby's lips and chin...

 creepy skeletor face.  but hey, love to see those eyes!

19 and 20 weeks.

so, we spent a week and a half (almost) in the northeast on a ridiculous and awesome family vacation.  this is the first vacation we've taken as a family of three where we picked the destination, itinerary, etc.  it was phenomenal.  i will post all about it - pics and stories - but i can say we're seriously contemplating a move to the mountains of vermont, where we will sell woven goods and also probably farm goats.  

for today, though, i just need to post a prego update, since we all know how 

week: 19 (and 20!)

baby stats: baby dos is the size of a banana in week 20.  we start measuring head to toe now, which is fun.  we also had an ultrasound today, so i can tell you definitively that bebe weighs 11 oz and is measuring right on track (19w6d). 

symptoms: i have an anterior placenta again (i knew it!), so that explains the lack of huge movement i feel.  i was much less tired while vacationing...i'm thinking it had something to do with not working and taking naps when emme did and being in a place that wasn't 100 degrees....

aversions: nothing at all these days.  food is delicious again.  i'm going to try to keep that in perspective this time....

bump: growing right along.  i'm starting to get the comments about how big i am - haha.  my new response is "just you wait".  i don't mind it nearly as much this time for some reason.  maybe because i know what to expect now?  in any case, i also still feel like i'm a little smaller than i was with ek, so it just makes me chuckle that people already think i'm big this time. 

worries: feeling good after seeing that sweet bebe today.  organs and palate and feet and digits all look good and normal, so we are super thankful.  the baby does have slightly higher than normal dilation in the kidneys, so we will have to do another ultrasound in about 6-8 weeks.  the u/s tech and our midwife assured us this is very common and will very likely be nothing as time goes one.  i'm choosing to be excited that we'll get another chance to see the little human instead of being all weird and anxious about the dilation. 

looking forward to: kicks that everyone else can feel.  emme is starting to give my belly kisses and i can't wait to see her face when she feels someone moving in there....

boy or girl?: the picture of this little one looks completely different than emme did, so i think that's what's making me stick with my prediction of boy.  i feel like it has a squarer jaw, maybe?  anyway...i am still undecided, really, but i think i'm just going to set my opinion as boy and stick with it.  i am pretty shocked/amazed that we didn't break down and find out this morning.  when we looked away and then got to turn back around, i looked at the tech and said "so you know right now?" and i almost made her tell me but we held on.....

missing the most: sushi. it's always sushi.

pregnancy milestone: halfway there.  crazy!!

what's different this time: it was really much harder to not find out the gender this time.  but beyond that, i am really feeling very excited and comfortable with this pregnancy this week.  emme is in such a cute, loving phase right now, which makes me wicked excited to see her as a big sister.  yay for babies!  

18 weeks.

week:18

baby stats: baby dos is the size of a bell pepper, crown to rump.  s/he weighs about 7-9 ounces and is busy flexing arms and legs.  

symptoms: this was a pretty uneventful week as far as the pregnancy was concerned.  i had a massively stressful week at work - tons of fires and ridiculousness to deal with.  have i mentioned sometimes i really hate the business world?  anyway...it kept me distracted and exhausted all week, so nothing big on the prego front.  

aversions: not much right now.  i'm starting to get a little bit more of an appetite, which i think is a good sign right about now.  

bump: still getting bigger.  i'm convinced i'm not as big as i was at this point with emme, but justin thinks i look the same.  my pregnant belly is all out in this mound shape - i don't get the cute little low or high bump like some women.  oh well.  

worries: still a little anxious, mostly because i want to feel more movement more consistently.  i have to keep reminding myself that i hadn't even felt ek move yet at this point last time.  because i felt him/her so early this time, i was thinking i might have a posterior placenta instead of anterior like i did with ek, but now i'm not so sure.  in any case...2 weeks till the big viewing, so we shall see then!  

looking forward to: big kicks and rolls.  the u/s.  finishing ekes toddler room.  

boy or girl?: i had a dream the other night that it was a girl and that justin refused to hold her.  this is clearly a ridiculous dream.  but, i always always dreamt that ek was a boy, so i think dreaming that this one is a girl means it's a boy.  right?  haha.  

missing the most: sushi. it's always sushi.

pregnancy milestone: i'm starting to get the belly glances that indicate that people think i'm carrying a human child and am not just letting myself go.  always a happy time.  

what's different this time: i think i'm more nervous about a lot of things this time, which i wasn't expecting.  i kind of thought it would be old hat this go-round.  not really, but i thought i would be less concerned about all the crazy stuff i flip out about since i'd done this before.  so far, not the case.  and, i've got the added stressors of trying to think about how we're going to integrate this little person into our busy lives and the dynamic with ek, which will be fun and joyous (of course) but also a LOT to think about.  it doesn't help that every single person asks me what we're going to do about child care (i still don't know and may not know until december or january) and that i am constantly reminded by the universe at large about how much harder/crazier/etc. it is to have two than one.  i appreciate the heads up, universe, but i also feel like it's the kind of thing you can't even process until you're living it.  which we will be doing...

17 weeks.

week:17


baby stats: #2 is the size of an onion, growing right along.  s/he weighs about 5 ounces and has fingerprints now.  the skeleton is also turning more bone-like and less cartilage-like. 

symptoms: this week, though awesome in many ways, was pretty tiring.  i got a stomach bug on tuesday and my tummy has just not been 100% since then.  clearly i or this baby (or both) have different opinions on what is/is not acceptable to eat these days.  very different than miss ek.  i'm wondering if i might be anemic this go-round, since i cannot seem to shake the intense tired-ness.  i thought surely by now i would be in the fun second-trimester swing, but it's all i can do to lie on the couch and doze off in front of the olympics every night.  this is not helping my to-do list at all. 
cravings: really i'm just craving stuff that doesn't make my stomach angry.  so, i guess i have more aversions than cravings.  lame.  i want ice cream and french fries, but both of those make me feel like i might hurl in short order very soon after eating, so i'm trying to (mostly) stick with salads and bland fare. 
aversions: everything and nothing.  i'm averse to food after i ingest it.  ha. 

bump: getting there for sure.  we had a babysitter friday night so we could go to a party and i told her we wouldn't be too late, while patting my belly.  she asked how far along i am and i said 17 weeks.  she said "WOW.  i'm 22 weeks", and which point i asked her "where is your baby?".  seriously - not a hint of a baby in that girl's insanely long torso.  sigh.  i don't mind being an early show-er, though, no matter how much i pretend to complain. 

worries: higher than typical levels of anxiety this week, what with all the bad stomach stuff.  but, 20 week ultrasound is scheduled for august 28, and i am super excited to see this little bug. 

looking forward to: more movement.  the big u/s.  nesting. 

boy or girl?: still feeling boy, although i walked in to baby gap the other day and saw all the ridiculous baby girl clothes and thought well....a girl would be a blast.  haha. 
missing the most: sushi. it's always sushi.

pregnancy milestone: this was the week, with emme, we went to st. thomas for vacation.  i don't think that's really a milestone, but it's fun to remember that trip. 
what's different this time: i haven't gained any weight yet!  woo hoo.  actually, i've lost a pound, but that doesn't mean much.  by this time with emme, i think i had gained almost 15 pounds.  yikes!  so, i'm just being a little more careful this time and trying not to be a total glut.  i must admit it feels MUCH better to see all the growth in my body happening in the belly region instead of in my neck/arms/face. 

31.

yesterday was my birthday, which means, despite all logic and sense of the time/space continuum, it is also now august.  i am 31, and it was a really great birthday.  i got sick on tuesday (barfing, always a ton of fun.  thought it was food poisoning, but i think it was more likely a little stomach bug that lots of co-workers' kids have had), and it latched on to my wednesday a bit as well.  but, we went to bed super early wednesday night, and i woke up feeling much better on my birthday. 
justin made breakfast for the three of us.  i had a busy day at work but had lots of great distractions with calls and texts and facebook posts.  i left work and picked up emme and we headed to meet jb for an early dinner at contigo, a rad restaurant we've been wanting to try.  there was a brief setback at school when ek decided she wanted to pick up all the crumbs and gross leftover food on the floor and eat them before coming with me to get in the car.  no, thank you.  anyway...she made up for that by being the sweetest little bug at dinner and singing happy birthday to me many, many times.  her version of happy birthday sounds like this: happy....day!...yooooouuuuu.  in the right tune, but she leaves out a few syllables here and there.  she also prefers to say happy birthday to emme, but we did get a couple of mamas out of her.  hilarious.  the food was delicious - lots of taster plates - and dinner was topped off by dark chocolate peanut homemade ice cream.  it was heaven.  justin spoiled me as usual (how am i such a terrible gift-giver, married to such a fabulous one?), and we spent the remainder of the evening being ultra-lazy laying on the couch and watching the olympics.  a very different kind of day than my 21st a whole decade ago (whoa), but exactly what i was looking for. 
anyway...i snapped a couple of pics of emme yesterday and today that i love.  she is such a sweetheart these days, and i can't get enough of her little voice and her hugs and her insistence that we read "green ham sam" 54 more times.