More Christmas Pictures

I was impatient and not only downloaded my sister's pictures (seen in the other Christmas post), but my mom's too. :) Enjoy them!

26 Weeks

This pic was taken by my sister on Christmas Eve, so I wasn't exactly 26 weeks here. Close enough! Oh, and excuse my weird pose - I have no clue what I was doing. :) But look at that baby belly!!!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 26 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby #2 is the size of an eggplant!

Maternity Clothes: I'm about 90% all in maternity clothes.

Gender: Not finding out!

Movement: Lots and lots of movement!

Sleep: Not too good. It's so hard to get comfortable.

What I miss: Sleeping on my tummy, not waddling when I walk, being able to walk without a shooting pain in my butt. Oh, and it would have been nice to have some wine at Christmas.

Cravings: I'm back to being just plain ol' hungry. No specific cravings.

Symptoms: Some BH contractions, sciatic nerve pain, back pain...comes with the territory.

Christmas 2010

Another Christmas. Where does the time go?

This was the best Christmas I've had in quite some time. Let me count the ways:

1) Amelia was actually INTO Christmas. She was so cute, opening presents and gushing over the new toys!

2) It's the first time I've been pregnant on Christmas.

3) My sister is in from NYC and we're spending some quality time together.

4) My WHOLE family on the Berron side is together for the first time since my wedding 4 years ago. We've had so much fun hanging out.

5) My husband MAJORLY surprised me and ordered one of our wedding pictures enlarged on a canvas. I've been wanting to do it for a long time, but he did it for me. It was the best present I've ever received.

There are many more reasons why this Christmas was so memorable, but those are the highlights.

Merry Christmas from the Pontus Family!!!

St. Nick's Visit

We did St. Nick's the night before since Alex would be at work and would miss Amelia seeing her St. Nick's gifts. Alex & I always give her Christmas PJs (not this year - I had already given them without thinking), and ornament, and Christmas books. My parents also gave her some books and a Santa puzzle doll.

Seeing the stuff under the tree

It's sinking in - PRESENTS!

My Little Pony ornament

M&M guys

25 Weeks!

No pic ~ I figure there will be PLENTY of pictures of me in all my pregnant glory this week with Christmas Eve and Christmas. I wouldn't want to over do it. :)

Nothing too exciting, so let's get to it!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 25 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby #2 is the size of an eggplant!

Maternity Clothes: I'm about 90% all in maternity clothes.

Gender: Not finding out!

Movement: Lots and lots of movement!

Sleep: Pretty crummy, actually. And I've started having horribly vivid dreams...and not the fun kind!

What I miss: Sleeping on my tummy, not waddling when I walk, being able to walk without a shooting pain in my butt.

Cravings: I'm back to being just plain ol' hungry. No specific cravings.

Symptoms: Some BH contractions, sciatic nerve pain, back pain...comes with the territory.

Some pictures

Putting Princess ornaments on the tree

Model pose

Wearing her princess tiara while reading

Santa Amelia

Playing with the Little People nativity set

She told me they were all watching tv. I told her there was no tv when baby Jesus was born. She thought for a few seconds and then said, "Birthday present." :) I guess baby Jesus got tv for his birthday.

She looks pretty guilty here

Wearing Daddy's shoes

My cutie pies!

Girl's Day Out

Last Friday, Amelia & I went shopping with my mom. We hit up Mid Rivers Mall, and had lunch at Max & Erma's. Amelia was a hoot! Her favorite part - ice cream after lunch with SPRINKLES!

"Talking" on Grandma's phone. She says, "Hello. What's up?"

Cheese with Mommy

Serious coloring face

Santa Photos - behind the scenes

My mom captured some behind the scenes action of Amelia's 1st trip to see Santa. I think it makes the final picture even better to see what we went through to get it. :)

No, no, no!!! No Santa!

Um, you don't expect me to sit with that old guy, do you?

Help, please?!?

Or last attempt to get her to sit on Santa's lap...admitting defeat. :)

Amelia & Santa

We didn't take Amelia to see Santa her 1st Christmas because she was 3 months old and, since she was born pre-term, we weren't really supposed to take her out around a lot of people because of risk of disease.

We didn't take Amelia to see Santa last year because she didn't want to get anywhere near him when we were at the mall. Sure, we could have forced her and had one of those awesome "child-screaming-on-Santa's-lap" pictures, but we figured we had PLENTY of time to torture our baby.

We really weren't sure it was going to happen this year. Amelia definitely knows what Christmas is [presents, fa-la-la-la-la, baby Jesus...], she'll tell you what she wants for Christmas, but she wants NOTHING to do with that old guy named Santa. Alex & I agreed that we wouldn't push it. Honestly, if she's not into seeing Santa, what's the big deal? Every time we went to the mall we'd swing by Santa-land and talk to him, check him out. Santa was always nice. Amelia never cried, she just didn't want to get too close. Then she started talking about getting her picture with Santa...without being provoked. We'd just say, "Ok. We can do that some day."

Last Friday, we were going shopping at the mall with my mom. I didn't bring up Santa, but purposely chose a holiday-ish outfit, just in case. Once again, Amelia told my dad that she was going to have her picture with Santa. Ok.

We did some shopping and then made our way down to where Santa was. We stood back, checking it out, and then the lady asked if we wanted our picture with Santa. There was no on in line so I thought it was now or never! Boy, Amelia did NOT want to get out of her stroller! She would not get close to Santa at all! She didn't cry, but she just wanted to get far away from him. Sitting on Santa's lap was NOT going to happen. The really awesome Santa suggested that I crouch down next to him and put Amelia on my knee so that we could get a picture. So that's what we did. And the picture isn't really all that bad. She managed to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas, and that she loved him. All in all, not a bad time.

24 Weeks

I'm 24 weeks pregnant today! That's 6 months. CRAZY! I know that I forgot to post last week, but trust me when I say nothing interesting went on. Also, there won't be any belly shots (or other pictures) until we make room on our cameras. That's right - both of our cameras have so many pictures still on them that we can't take any new ones. Project for this weekend: back up pics on laptop so I feel comfortable erasing the pics on our cameras. :)

Today I had an appointment with Dr. K. Everything is going great. Baby's heartbeat sounded healthy and strong, and was in the 150's as it's been the whole time. I have one more 4-week appointment and then I start going every 2 weeks! YIKES! This is all going so fast. I also have to do my Gestational Diabetes test sometime in the next few weeks. I'm not particularly looking forward to it - the sugar drink is NAS-TY! Look for an exciting post about that coming soon. ;)

All in all, we're just going with the flow while time is quickly ticking away. Before we know it, it will be 2011 and then we'll be welcoming another bundle of joy into the world!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 24 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby #2 is the size of a papaya!

Maternity Clothes: I'm pretty much moving exclusively into maternity clothes. Some of my tops from before I lost weight still "fit" but they are getting short because of my belly.

Gender: Not finding out!

Movement: This baby is a mover! I don't think the movement is as frequent as Amelia was (she was moving pretty much non-stop), so maybe this baby will be more mellow. :)

Sleep: Meh, who needs sleep?

What I miss: Sleeping on my tummy, not waddling when I walk, being able to walk without a shooting pain in my butt.

Cravings: They come and go. Lately I've been craving salsa.

Symptoms: Normal pregnancy stuff.

22 Weeks!

I forgot my 22 week post. And this pic is actually from Thanksgiving [21w3d]. Oh well. Can you believe how BIG my belly is??? HUGE! Honestly, I think this dress makes me look bigger than I am. At least I don't look chubby - this is ALL BABY! :)




Pregnancy Highlights:


How Far Along: 22 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby #2 is the size of a papaya!

Maternity Clothes: Pants are maternity, but I can still wear some non-maternity shirts and sweaters...for now. Non-maternity tops are starting to get a little short on the belly, so I might be retiring those soon.

Gender: Not finding out!

Movement: All the time! I love feeling the baby move.

Sleep: Pretty good...for now.

What I miss: Sleeping on my tummy, not waddling when I walk, being able to walk without a shooting pain in my butt.

Cravings: Food. Lots of it.

Symptoms: Normal pregnancy stuff.

Alex's Birthday & Randoms

Shame on me, I forgot to post about Alex's birthday!



Alex turned the big 3-5 on November 16th. We had a pretty low key day. We had steaks on the grill, asparagus, and I made him a cake [Amelia was supposed to help, but wasn't interested]. It was pretty yummy. Amelia helped Daddy blow out the candles on his cake.



Enjoy some pictures from the day, and some other random pics!

She dressed herself in the Tinkerbell costume

Putting on crayon "lipstick"


Wearing her heels & an apron

Snuggling up in her Snow White costume

Alex's birthday cake

Blowing out the candles

Our fashion model - sweater dress & Michael Kors boots :)

Watching "Santa Buddies" with Daddy

Thanksgiving 2010

Boy, do we have a lot to be thankful for this year!

We are thankful for our friends and family, for our health and jobs, and we are thankful for the little baby that is on its way.

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Michigan with Alex's family. It wasn't a long visit, but we were extremely happy that we were able to make the trip. Amelia LOVED getting spoiled by Babcia & Dzia Dzia! She was a little shy around Wujek Mikolaj, but I think it's because she thinks he's so cute! :) Alex's family had a few friends and family over to celebrate Thanksgiving, and the meal was DELICIOUS (as is EVERY meal Alex's mom cooks)!!! We had a good time.

As usual - PICTURES!

21 Weeks!

How did this happen? [Not the pregnancy, I quite know how that happened, thank you very much!] How did I get to be 21 weeks along already? *Sigh* It seems like when I was pregnant with Amelia, time dragged on. Maybe I don't mean to say "dragged". I enjoyed my pregnancy with Amelia. I loved nearly every moment of carrying her, and bonding with her in only a way that I could. What I mean is that I felt like I was pregnant for an (enjoyable) eternity! This time, I feel like I barely have time to really stew in the fact that we will be going from a family of 3 to a family of 4 in 18-ish weeks! Do 2nd (or 3rd, etc.) pregnancies normally go by this fast?!?

I have no complaints. Once again, I am enjoying this pregnancy. I love when Amelia "interacts" with the baby. I love feeling this child wiggle and give me love taps. I even enjoy eating like a frat boy (boy, it's going to be hard to go back to Weight Watchers...but it will be necessary!). I even enjoy the way I look this time around. Instead of looking chubby and bloated, I look kind of cute (in my humble opinion).

There are just SO MANY THINGS TO DO!!! We haven't bought a single thing for this child. Nothing. Not a stitch of clothing, not even a book. I did start a wish list on Babies R Us of things that I need to buy before this Easter Egg arrives, so I guess that's something. We still have to find a house, BUY a house, MOVE into said house, unpack and get the kids' (plural - YIKES!) rooms set up, and get the baby stuff situated. I am determined not to be taken by surprise by this baby like I was with Amelia. IF this child comes 4 weeks early, I plan to already be settled in our new place. [PLEASE LET THIS CHILD STAY IN UNTIL ABOUT 38 WEEKS!!!]

As you can see, I have a few things on my mind. :)

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 21 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby #2 is the size of a banana!

Maternity Clothes: Pants are maternity, but I can still wear some non-maternity shirts and sweaters...for now. Non-maternity tops are starting to get a little short on the belly, so I might be retiring those soon.

Gender: Not finding out!

Movement: This baby is moving all around. Super active time seems to be around 8:30 pm, after Amelia goes to bed.

Sleep: Eh, this is hit or miss. The problem I'm having lately is the inability to fall back asleep for 2-3 hours when I get up to pee in the middle of the night.

What I miss: Sleeping on my tummy, not waddling when I walk, being able to walk without a shooting pain in my butt.

Cravings: Food. Lots of it.

Symptoms: Normal pregnancy stuff.

Christmas Card time!

It's no secret that I *LOVE* sending out Christmas cards! Ever since I was a little girl, it just seemed like such a grown up thing to do. I send them to every person in my address book. It doesn't matter if I get a card back from everyone, I do it because I enjoy sending them.

In particular, I adore photo cards. I first sent them the year Alex & I got married. What a great way to share pictures of our special day with everyone! Now that we have a child, it's even more important to send photo cards to our friends and family.

I've used Shutterfly for years - we had a share site set up for guests to post pictures from our wedding, we posted Amelia's 6 month pictures to a similar share site, and I've ordered several pictures to be picked up at Target. The quality is very professional, and I love all the designs.

Here are a few of my favorite designs (I have NO CLUE how I'm going to choose which to use this year!):

So cute! I guess you'll all have to wait until you get our card in the mail to see which one we pick.

If you'd like to check out Shutterfly's Christmas Card collection, go to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards . You won't be disappointed.

Oh, and I'm thinking about making one of these (with Amelia's picture, of course!) for myself, just because I seem to have a weakness for coffee mugs:

Coffee mugs available at http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/photo-mugs

I love Shutterfly & I love the holiday season!!!

20 Weeks

I'm 20 weeks pregnant - halfway there! [No picture this week, sorry.]

I had my appointment this morning and everything is great. The results from our anatomy scan last week showed a beautiful (in my opinion), HEALTHY baby. Dr. K said that everything came back perfectly normal. That's quite a relief!

Nothing else really going on. Working, chasing after Amelia, same old story! Amelia is doing really well. She holds conversations with us. She likes to sing, dance, and play with her dolls. She even makes her dolls talk!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 20 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby #2 is the size of a cantelope!

Maternity Clothes: Pants are maternity, but I can still wear non-maternity shirts and sweaters...for now.

Gender: Not finding out!

Movement: We have regular movement! This baby doesn't seem as active as Amelia was (yet), but that could be a good thing. :)

Sleep: I've been sleeping pretty OK lately, for a pregnant lady.

What I miss: Sleeping on my tummy.

Cravings: Food. Lots of it.

Symptoms: Normal pregnancy stuff.

Happy 4 Year Anniversary!

Hard to believe that Alex & I have been married for 4 years today!

I still remember our wedding as if it happened yesterday. It was (besides the day Amelia was born) the best day of my life. So many of our friends and family were there to celebrate with us. The ceremony was beautiful, and our reception was the best party I've ever attended. Four years later, I wouldn't change a thing.

Of course, we have law school to thank for bringing us together. We had all the same classes, but we didn't actually meet until November of 2000. We had a mutual friend, and walked from the parking lot to class together one day. Three things I remember about first meeting Alex: 1) He dressed really well, 2) He liked candy (he stopped at the candy shop to get Jolly Ranchers), and 3) He was so quiet, I didn't think he spoke English very well. Obviously #3 was totally incorrect!

We started out friends, but fell for each other. Our relationship certainly had its ups and downs. Half the time I didn't know if we were dating or if we were broken up. In the end, we knew that we couldn't imagine spending our lives with anyone else.

I'll walk halfway around the world

Just to sit down by your side

And I would do most anything, girl

To be the apple of your eye

Well troubles, they may come and go

But good times, they're the gold

And if the road gets rocky, girl

Just steady as we go

Any place you wanna go

Know I'll be next to youIf it's treasure, baby, you're looking for

I'll search the whole world through

I know troubles, they may come and go

But good times, they're the gold

So if the road gets rocky, girl

Just steady as we go

When the storm comes down you shelter me

When I don't say a word and you know exactly what I mean

In the darkest times, oh, you shine on me

You set me free and keep me steady as we go

So if your heart wrings dry, my loveI will fill your cupAnd if your load gets heavy, girl

I will lift you up

Well troubles, they may come and go

But good times be the gold

So if the road gets rocky, girl

Just steady as we go

"Steady As We Go" ~ Dave Matthews Band

I love you with all my heart and soul, Alex. Thank you for 4 wonderful years! Here's to many, many, many more! (Plus eternity - hahaha!)

Sorry these pictures are out of order - I tried for 3 hours to get them in the right order, but slide.com kept locking up so I gave up.

19 Weeks & Big u/s

I'm 19 weeks, 2 days pregnant today! Check out my belly. :)

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 19 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby #2 is the size of a mango!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I'm only going to fill this part in on the weeks I have a doctor appointment. I'm not weighing myself at home.

Maternity Clothes: Pants are maternity, but I can still wear non-maternity shirts and sweaters...for now.

Gender: Not finding out!

Movement: This baby is moving all over the place! Alex was finally able to feel him/her move last night. :)

Sleep: I don't sleep too well, but what else is new?

What I miss: Sleeping on my tummy.

Cravings: Food. Lots of it.

Symptoms: Normal pregnancy stuff.

This morning was my big ultrasound. Even though we're not finding out if we've got a boy or girl in there, it was awesome to see our baby again. S/he was just moving all over! The heart rate was 153. We got some really cute shots:

Profile with hand by mouth

Spooky face shot

Baby's foot

Another cute profile shot

Baby's spine

Baby giving the "thumbs up" :) What a cutie! Alex says the baby has his sense of humor.