Abbey Hope is TWO!!

Well, our sweet baby girl has turned two, and what a fun two years it's been leading up to this point! We had a small back yard party for the birthday girl (complete with Rock Band for the dads...), and she had so much fun playing with friends and family!

In case you've forgotten, here's what she looked like on her actual birth day:

9.20.07

And on her first birthday:

9.20.08

And now on her second birthday:

9.20.09

Some pictures from the party:

Cake table

Abbey's giant cupcake

Sneaking a bite before the party starts

Daddy helps Abbey open her tricycle from Granna and G-pa (Nana and Beebop)

Mommy and birthday girl (and 33 week belly!)

More pictures to come...

Two years ago...

Now that I'm expecting our second baby, I find myself reading my old blog posts from when I was expecting Abbey. The closest I could find to exactly two years ago today was this one. If you don't want to go back and read, it's basically about how I was eight days away from my due date, and how I physically had made no progress as far as going into labor. HA!!

Little did I know that she was not coming out on her due date, which was September 14, 2007. I happened to be induced on the 19th, but she was born on the 20th. Yikes! I'm glad I didn't know that on September 6, 2007 when I was feeling so sorry for myself that my baby wasn't coming until TWO weeks later!

This is about what I looked like two years ago today.

I think this warrants another "yikes"... I was swollen from head to toe, miserable, covered in PUPPP, and weighing in at nearly 200 lbs. I still think I had every reason to feel sorry for myself :)

Oh, and to top it off, this was the bed I was sleeping in: a LOW to the ground Ikea bed that I had to heave myself out of several times a night to either go to the bathroom or reapply cortisone to my swollen, itching skin.

And this was the TV I was watching:

I think you can barely make out an old Friends DVD on the teeny tiny screen. Needless to say, I was very happy when we got our new arrival:

And, with the addition of Abbey, this room has been changing ever since! I can't wait to see how our house and our lives evolve after Max's arrival, and here's praying for a safe one at that.

So, here I am, two years later, planning Abbey's SECOND birthday party (wow!!!), preparing for the birth of my SECOND child, and all in the SECOND year in our house. We are very blessed.

Do you think they look alike?

It's a little difficult to see, but the top picture is Abbey. She has all hands and feet in her face, and was sleeping pretty peacefully during this sonogram. Her typical position was one hand on her cheek, and one foot in or on her mouth!

Abbey

This one is of Max! Like Abbey, he has an arm/hand on his face, but luckily, his feet were not blocking our view of him. His typical position is head down, bottom up, and feet all over the place! He moves "bigger" than Abbey did, but he's much more mellow. She kicked and pushed and poked and prodded; he rolls and turns and shifts. Makes for a much more comfortable pregnancy this time around!

Max

Third Trimester!

29 weeks!!

26 weeks and still growing!

Last week, Chris and I went to Chicago for a couple of days on the way to our friends' wedding in South Bend, Indiana (home of Notre Dame). We had so much fun! The wedding was at Notre Dame's Basilica on campus, and the reception was at... the College Football Hall of Fame!! Very fun! We missed Abbey while we were gone, but she had a great time with her Granna and Grandpa, or as she calls them, Nana and Bebop.

Flying first class to Chicago was nice! I pretended to be talking on my phone during the flight... just for effect :)

Wednesday night at The Dead Weather concert at The Vic Theatre

Thursday night on the way to Tsuki

On campus at Notre Dame

Wedding reception at the College Football Hall of Fame

Gretchen and I at the reception... we really are dressed

Trey and Chris playing the fast feet game at the HOF

Cheating the game with two people didn't end up getting them a higher score somehow...

Look at those blue eyes!

Sending Uncle Matt-Matt a "high five" to Ghana, Africa

Baby Boy's quilt!

The bassinet that Chris, Abbey, and now our second baby will sleep in

His shelf above the changing table

Changing table that was Chris' as a baby

Baby's crib! It happened to be the same model as Abbey's, but a different finish... I guess I'm just drawn to this look :)

22-23 Weeks

All of the guys in our Bible study decided to get together and surprise the wives... they took us to Fearing's!! In a limo!! There was a last minute cancellation in the wine room, so that's where we were seated. The entire night was amazing- GREAT job, guys!!

Here is a picture of me from that evening, at about 22 weeks pregnant

And we finally have the baby's room set up! Here's a picture of me at almost 23 weeks next to his crib in his new, blue room!


And here's a picture I found from Joe T. Garcia's when Abbey was only 6 months old. It's one of my favorite pictures of Abbey and her Pops!

My big girl...

Abbey is getting so big! I've been taking so many pictures of myself that I've hardly posted any of Abbey... here are some to catch everyone up!

Her little ponytails

Reading George with Aunt Amy

She shouldn't be standing, but she just looked so cute :)

Look at that little trouble-maker!

All those teeth...