Wall-E

Jonathon and I were feeling brave and adventurous Sunday afternoon and took Olivia to the movie theater for the first time. We took her to see Wall-E and she loved it. She behaved better than I expected, but we left with about 10 minutes to go because she had enough. Actually, if there weren't two people sitting in front of us, we would have stayed and let her stomp on the floor and walk, but it didn't work out. I think her favorite part was eating the popcorn, which was also a first, and drinking Mommy and Daddy's "juice", which is Coke (don't worry, she only had a couple of sips and only after she drank all of her milk). Jonathon and I love how she says Wall-E...it is the cutest thing I think I have ever heard (well, except for when she says Momma and Daddy, nothing beats those two words).

We are all doing well. Jonathon is no longer working 24/7, literally he has worked every day (including Saturdays and Sundays) for the past month. This is the first weekend since the 4th of July that he will be home the whole weekend. I am so excited because that means my yard will get mowed. Now, don't get me wrong, it is flippin' hot here in Texas and my grass is pretty much dead, but somehow the weeds are green and growing like crazy, despite the lack of rain.

This weekend is Olivia's Pool Party. I have everything except for the cake, a slight oversight on my part. No, actually, as long as I give my local bakery 48 hours notice, they can have it ready in time, which means I have to place the order by Thursday.

The pregnancy is going great still. Emma is a kicker. She especially loves to start when I am starting to wind down for the evening and trying to relax. The kicks have been getting harder and harder and sometimes she will kick me hard and it takes me by surprise and makes me jump. I have been experiencing Round Ligament Pains in my belly. Here is what I found from emedicinehealth.com:

Round ligament pain refers to a type of pelvic pain caused by stretching of the round ligaments. This occurs more commonly on the right side of the pelvis.

* Your uterus is normally the size of a pear. Thick ligaments, one of which is called the round ligament, hold your uterus in suspension within your abdomen. As the uterus grows in size and weight, these ligaments become very long and thin, stressing and tensing like rubber bands.

* The ligaments pull and tug on nearby nerve fibers and sensitive structures, causing pain. The severity of pain can worry you. Although round ligament pain is uncomfortable, it is also very normal.

o A ligament spasm, an involuntary contraction or cramp, usually triggers a sharp pain. These spasms are found more frequently on the right side than the left because of the normal tendency of the uterus to turn to the right.

o You might awaken at night with pain after having suddenly rolled over in your sleep.

o The pain may also be brought on by exercise.

Fortunately, this doesn't happen frequently, but at least 2-3 times a week. Sometimes, especially when it catches me off guard, it takes my breath away. I had one at work yesterday and the guys in my office started freaking out and thought I was going into labor. I work with some great guys, but trust me, if I go into labor at work, they are the last 3 guys in Dallas I would want to help me out. Like I said, they are great, but if it were to happen, they would be like the 3 Stooges and I don't want to take that chance (don't worry, I have already told them this so it isn't like I am saying stuff behind their backs, and they agree).

Check for a post this weekend with pictures from Olivia's pool party; it will be a blast and wish all of you out-of-towners could be here :(

Happy 2nd Birthday, Olivia!

Can you believe it? Our baby is 2 years old today! Where has the time gone? It is just flying by way too quickly.
As for the actual day, which is today, we aren't planning on doing too much. We just got back from gymnastics, she can do a forward roll all by herself, and the pool, she loves to go down the water slide. Now, she is taking a much needed nap. Tonight, we will probably just keep it low key and take her out for ice cream. Next Saturday, August 2nd, we are having her birthday party with friends and family. We rented a Partybrella at the local pool and will have finger foods, cake, present opening and of course, lots of swimming.

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!

Photos galore from this weekend

We hope you all had a good 4th of July weekend; we did. For my birthday present, Jonathon painted my master bedroom and bathroom all weekend, and as soon as we have everything back in order, I will take pictures. We went to a parade on Friday and Jonathon was in charge of pictures since I sat on the curb with Olivia. He managed to get a picture of everything else but Olivia. She did wonderfully. The kids threw out all kinds of candy and she loved picking them up. She was very friendly and gave a sucker to a little boy who was sitting in his stroller sucking on his sucker. He was so pleased with Olivia's gesture, he gave her his half-eaten sucker as a token of his gratitude, and she accepted it graciously; too cute! Of course, we immediately took it out of her hands and gave it back to the little boy, but we all got a little chuckle. We went and watched fireworks and I was a little worried about how she would react to them, but she loved them. After every one would explode, she would wave her arm and say bye to each one.
I had plans to take Olivia swimming over the weekend to get her out of the house while Jonathon was painting and to do something fun outside, because everyone knows, it is too hot to play outside in Texas if you are not playing in water, but she got Swimmer's Ear Tuesday night so we couldn't go. I was bummed, but relieved at the same time.
We pretty much just hung around the house the rest of the weekend and it was nice.
I found out today that my doctor had to reschedule my 20 week checkup and Sonogram since he will be out of town the day I scheduled mine. So, instead of finding out the sex of the baby on the 24th, it is now the 21st...no complaints here.
The pictures are from Thursday night's gym class. She has such a blast and enjoys every second she is there. She is really starting to break out of her shell and growing up, sniff...sniff. Beforehand, she had a shake from Sonic. Boy, does that girl love her Sonic milkshakes; she loves anything sweet, chocolate or ice cream related. I also threw in a picture of her playing with her American flag scarf before the fireworks.