Pictures of Olivia's 2nd Birthday Party!

Here are the pictures I promised. Sorry I am late in posting them, but I finally got all of the photos from both of our photographers and of course, one of them has a really awesome camera and the files are too large for Blogger to post, so I had to "settle".
The party was awesome! It lasted for a little over an hour and a half and everyone had a blast. We had it at the local pool and it is an awesome pool because it is geared toward the toddler crowd, which was awesome because that was our whole guest list, practically :) As each guest arrived, I handed them a party favor, which was a bucket with their name on it, filled with toys that they could play with at the pool. Each child got the same toys in their bucket so there would be no fighting.
After about an hour of playing, we sang, "Happy Birthday" to Olivia and everyone got a cupcake. The weather on this particular day was scorching, 107 degrees to be exact, and the cake started melting immediately after I pulled it out of the pool's refrigerator. Needless to say, each kid was covered in colored frosting, but they loved it.
We decided to open the gifts at home and record on our video camera. Once Jonathon has a minute to look at our video camera software, I will try to post the video, but no promises. I can tell you that all the gifts that had tissue paper were her favorite. She took every single sheet of tissue paper and spread it out across our living room floor like they were blankets. It was really cute to watch her do this, but frustrating too, since it took longer to open presents and clean up.
I would have posted pictures with her friends, but I did not have their parents permission at the time I posted this and I didn't want anyone to feel I violated their privacy.
So enjoy!
(Apparently, Blogger didn't place the pictures where I thought they would go, so for the slide pictures, start at the bottom and work your way up...sorry about that)

It's a ...

Today, as most of you know, I had my 20-week Ultrasound and Checkup. The Ultrasound took a little longer than expected, due to baby being very active and not cooperating for pictures. However, everything looks great and I do not have Placenta Previa! Whoo-hoo! This was my major concern; this is what I had with Olivia and caused me to deliver early. Everything looked and sounded great, although at my next appointment I have to go in for another Ultrasound and try to look at baby's face. The Technician was able to look at baby's lips, but nothing else. They want to be able to say they looked at everything and time was slipping away so we opted to look at the face next time. I am telling you, this baby was like a Mexican Jumping Bean...it was everywhere!

I have finally started to feel baby move and kick, and Jonathon has too. Olivia was a mover and shaker during the day where as this baby is a night owl. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. I need a good sleeper!

Well, I wish I could post pictures from our Ultrasound, but we do not have a scanner. So, if you would like to find out the sex of the baby just scroll down and look at our homemade pictures.





Emma Claire Simmons should make her debut on December 4, 2008. Currently she weighs 12 ounces and her heart beat is 160 Beats Per Minute. Like I said earlier, the Technician said everything looks awesome, and that is what is most important to us. My doctor said that since everything looks great, I should have a pretty smooth pregnancy.

I have finally started gaining weight, but I will not mention numbers. My blood pressure is really good, actually, a little low in my opinion. I am experiencing a lot of heart burn lately and the Tums are sitting on my night table next to the bed, since it seems to hit me right before going to sleep. Other than the heart burn, I am doing really well and enjoying this pregnancy. I have to say my favorite thing so far about being pregnant is watching Olivia rub my belly, say, "baby", and then kiss my belly. I also get tickled when she goes up to Jonathon's belly, rubs it and says, "baby"...too cute. She even rubs her own belly and says, "baby". We tell her that only Mommy has a baby in her belly, but I don't think she quite grasps that concept yet.

So, we just ask that you all pray for this pregnancy to be smooth sailing and complication-free. We also ask that you pray for Emma to be strong and healthy on delivery day and pray for Olivia to handle the transition from Only Child to Big Sister smoothly.

We are very excited to add Emma Claire to our family and can't wait to meet her!