Little Sister Update

Remember all those great weekly posts I used to create when I was pregnant with Ally to document every little detail about her (and my) development?  They were so fun to write and I love going back and reading them now but it also makes me sad because I have documented nothing with this pregnancy at all.  Life has taken over and between work, Ally and the general craziness of this time of year I have fallen behind on a lot of things, especially blogging.  We haven't really even had time to think of a fun way to announce that baby #2 is a little sister for Ally.

Tomorrow will mark 26 weeks along and almost the end of the 2nd trimester.  We had our anatomy ultrasound right before Thanksgiving where we saw all of the properly functioning parts and learned that baby was indeed a she just like Ally insisted.  All measurements looked good and right along with the due date of March 27.  We spent some time talking over options for the delivery and getting various opinions on scheduling c-sections and other major decisions we will need to make. I've overall not been feeling great with this pregnancy which has been a combination of extreme business at work, severe heartburn, and stress of parenting a 3 year old but no tests have revealed any major issues.  Baby and I are both doing well with no reason for concern.  If my records are correct, this is about the time I started to enjoy pregnancy a little with Ally and have been throw-up-free now for just over 1 week.  Keeping my fingers crossed!

Baby is very busy and enjoys moving around a lot.  Ally got to feel it for the first time last weekend and her reaction was priceless.  She loves talking to her baby sister and its just the cutest thing. Now that she knows its a girl she has decided her name is Gloria (the girl hippo from Madagascar, rather than the boy zebra Marty).  We think she is going to be very sad when we pick her real name, which we haven't even spent much time on yet.  She talks about all of the things she is going to teach her sister and seems very excited about it all.

I feel sad that I have not documented this journey as well the 2nd time around but at the same time I am so thankful for this technology that allows me to go back and ready everything fun about the first time.  Things have been fairly similar- just more tired and feel bigger this time around.  This girl has had a pretty consistent heart rate at 150 and measures about the same size as Ally did at her visits.  Soon the appointments will go from monthly to bi-monthly then weekly.  I am looking forward to setting up a big girl room for Ally and setting up the baby room with all of the great stuff Ally has been using.  Time to bring those storage containers up from the basement and get washing!

Fan of the Game

Back in August, Ally was selected and asked by the John Purdue Club if she could be the JPC Fan of the Game at one of the Purdue football games this season.  Because she gets to go to so many events and she is the cutest cheerleader there, she gets noticed a lot.  Of course we said yes and it was set up for the last game of the season against Indiana.  Of course I had to work and could not go but Ally got to be featured on the video board during the game and was given 2 seats in the Shivley Club which meant she could sit inside and keep warm.  Ally bundled up to record the video board spot during pregame with the whole family and then split time between the outdoor and indoor club seats to watch the game.  She had a great day! We had a few friends recognize the group on the video board and hopefully they will be able to send us the video so I can actually see it too. 

Ally's Purdue obsession has become totally crazy.  She knows all the words to Hail Purdue, will only wear jerseys on game days and loves to go to any event in any sport. She has a particular affinity for Purdue Pete, MerrieBeth the Golden Girl and the cheerleaders.  On her last trip she picked up one of the cheerleading squads posters and now calls it her "cheerleader calendar" and puts it in various places around the house.  She insists that Purdue Pete is a member of her family and keeps her eyes on him at all times, not afraid of him at all which I find shocking.  They couldn't have picked a better Fan of the Game in our opinion because she truly is the #1 fan!

JPC Fans of the Game saying HI on the video board. It was freezing!

Enjoying her favorite popcorn snack during the game

3 Year Pictures

Back in early October we made it back to Lafayette for a photo shoot with my favorite family photographer, Kim Davis.  We went to Kim's new downtown studio location to do some outside photos around the buildings but it was really cold so we did a little outside then a little inside.  It took Ally some time to get warmed up to the camera but she had fun and we got some great shots.  We wanted to get a few of the whole family since this will be our last chance as a family of 3.  Enjoy the  the many faces of the 3-year old Allyson!

 

Halloween

Halloween was freezing cold but Ally layered up and went out for a bit in her Abby Cadabby costume again this year.  She got to wear it all day at school for her party and was far more exicted about the idea of trick-or-treating than actually going outside and doing it.  We hit about 10 houses in the neighborhood before she decided handing out candy at home was better.  She loved people watching and wearing her costume.... thats about it. 



Checking her haul

Neighbor dog fairy, Willow

Neighbor fairy, Ava Rae

Visit to the Orchard

 On Sunday we took a trip to Tanners Orchard to find some pumpkins and check out a new place.  I had heard about it from some people at work and we picked a perfect day to go.  It was actually fairly warm and sunny, not too muddy after all the rain we had last week.  The place was huge! We spent time walking around and looking at things before we made it to the front where we saw the pumpkins, market, train and more.  They have a petting and feeding area with tons of goats but Ally wasn't too interested in them.  They actually have ramps and bridges complete with a tree house so the goats can walk from building to building. They even have a pulley system so you can send up food to the goats on the roof.  They had all kids of characters made out of pumpkins and Ally's favorite was Minnie of course.  We went through the market and tasted all kids of things like apples, cider, dips, sauces and came home with apple cider donuts, pumpkin bread, 2 different kinds of apples and a few other things to share.  Ally picked out some small pumpkins before we ate lunch and explored a little more.  They have a 2 mile corn maize and an entire play area called the Back 40 but we decided to save that for another time as it was getting really crowded and close to nap time.  Its about 40 minutes from our house but well worth the trip.

Pumpkin head Minnie and Mickey

Driving the Apple Express

Wheels on the Bus