Well, in case you don't know...we are taking a month break from potty training. I think I'm happier about this than she is. She's been showing more and more signs that she wants to do it, so I think it will be much easier when we try again (fingers crossed).

David has been in Guatemala this past week. It has actually gone by super fast because I've kept myself busy painting and setting up her new room. I'll post pictures as soon as it's fully finished. I've also made sure to plan lots of play dates for her, so we haven't been in the house much. It's been a fun week overall, but I'm usually exhausted by the time she's tucked in bed. We're excited for daddy to get home.

Baby #2 is doing great! I had an appointment yesterday and everything seemed to be going great. I'm beyond excited we've hit the 28 week mark. My appointments are now every two weeks instead of monthly, so expect more and more updates. I have a feeling the third trimester is going to go by quickly with everything we still have planned for the summer. Now that we are doing room switches, and making lists of things we need to get for the baby, I'm getting more and more excited. I'm even enjoying being pregnant...imagine that! We are still far from having a name, but I'm starting to feel the pressure of picking one. With how different this pregnancy seemed at the beginning, I was sure we were having a boy. Now I'm not so sure. Most people have "guessed" that I'm having a boy, but there have been a few to say girl too. I don't really have a preference. It would be great to have two girls close in age, especially since I already have season appropriate clothes, but I would LOVE to have a boy too. I don't think I'll be disappointed either way.

Potty training

I think the two hardest things I've had to deal with as a mother thus far are, 1. the beginning stages of nursing, and 2. potty training. We're on round two of trying to potty train, and I have to say, it's exhausting. I've heard that trying before two years old is too soon, but I wanted to give it a good go at it before the baby gets here. Plus, my niece Ariya is proof that it can be done. I'm pretty sure Gemma is perfectly capable of learning, I just don't know if I know what I'm doing well enough to teach her. Last Saturday was our first day, and it was pretty miserable. We both broke down in tears after Gemma peed on the floor and preceded to slip in it. We were a little more successful after her nap, which is what convinced me to even try it a second day. Day 2 and 3 seemed to go better, and then we hit day 4, which was basically a repeat of day 1. So frustrating! I decided to hold out and complete a whole week, and if I didn't see an improvement, I would just wait a few more months. Well, she got sick on day 5. Woke up running a fever and didn't want to do anything but be held or watch Dora. I still tried taking her to the potty when she woke up, and she went, but then refused her M&Ms for going. I decided to just give the poor girl a break and not worry about potty training for that day. Amazingly enough, she did fantastic. Even with her diaper on, she still told me when she had to go. Granted, she would tell me and then sit there watching Dora for 20 minutes, but she didn't have a single accident all day. The following day was just as great. Today (Friday) has been a little more challenging since she's feeling better and has lots of other things to distract her. All in all I think she's getting it. I'm not sure where she should be by now since I've never done this before, but I'm happy with the improvement. I'm so proud of her! We still haven't mastered going at home, so taking her to the bathroom when we are in public places is still not much of an option. Honestly I have no idea how to even begin doing that, but we'll continue to take it one day at a time. As long as she continues to improve, we're sticking with it. Keep us in your prayers :)

Doesn't she look like such a big girl?

Answers

From the last post, here is what she's actually trying to say:
beeza= zebra
diya= nana
biya= Dora
banna= banana
beja= Gemma
chewchews= fruit snacks
wing= swing
agua= water
bedgie= blankie
taytue= thank you...which has recently turned into sankyou

Of course she did it perfectly three times in a row and then decided she was distracted when the camera came out. I know for a fact she can count to ten in English and Spanish.

I think it's still too early to tell, but she's showing signs of being a lefty like her grandpa and auntie.

Showing off all her "tricks"

What is she saying?

So Gemma talks non stop all the time. Thankfully I usually understand 90% of it, unless of course she's just playing and talking to herself, then it's just babbling. But I got to thinking...If I wasn't actually with her to see what she was pointing at or what she was holding, would I actually know what she was saying. I've come to the conclusion that I would have no idea. So here is a test for you guys. A couple of these will be super easy for some of you ;)
Can you guess what she's actually saying?
beeza:
diya:
biya:
banna:
beja:
chewchews:
wing:
agua:
bedgie:
taytue:
She actually does better with sentences than she does with sigle words, which I find pretty funny. Her first 5 letter sentences has been "I know where it is". She's so grown up :(

Hahaha...first attempt at pigtails!

Zoo Day

I have never had so much fun going to the Zoo! Nana, Papa, David, and I took Gemma for a day trip to the St. Louis Zoo. She absolutely loved it. Initially she was a little perplexed, but quickly decided it was a fun place. The weather was beautiful, and although it was a little crowded, overall we couldn't have asked for a better day.

I had never actually been in the kid's zoo because you have to pay to get in, but Nana and Papa insisted...and I'm glad they did, it was definitely the highlight of the trip. One thing we know about Gemma, is that she's pretty fearless. There was no hesitation to get as close to the animals as she could. I think her favorite part was getting to pet the goats. It was priceless! There was one little goat that was especially tuckered out, so he just laid on the bench while several kids surrounded him. Gemma got to sit down while the goat put his head on her lap. Oh my goodness, did she ever feel cool!

The penguin house was pretty cool as well. It smelled terrible and it was freezing inside, but she seemed to like every second. A couple of the penguins were swimming around (it's amazing how fast they are) and then jumping out onto the rocks. She found that to be pretty entertaining. She especially liked it when one of them decided to flap its wing and get a bunch of us wet. I did NOT like that part. Not only was the water freezing, but it smelled like fish. Gemma didn't mind.
For lunch, we were able to get a perfect table that looked right over the lake with all the ducks, swans, flamingos, etc... She LOVED feeding bread to the ducks. She probably would have thrown a tantrum when we said it was time to go, had we not been going to ride the train next.

She was beyond cute on the train. She would say "woah it's dark" every time we went into a tunnel, and the rest of the time she passed around hugs. It was pretty sweet.
She didn't last much longer than the train ride. We got to the back of the zoo where some of the cooler (in my opinion) animals are, but I could tell she was getting pretty restless. So I picked her up, gave her her blanket and she immediately put her head on my shoulder and passed out. I'm not kidding when I say it was instantaneous. She must have been especially tired because she slept right though us putting her back in the stroller, making a stop at the gift shot, walking back to the car, me changing her diaper and taking her sweater off, and loading her into the car seat. She didn't wake up until we were about 20 miles away from Columbia.

It was such a fun day for all of us! I can't wait to do it again.

Not sure what to think yet.

Getting a closer look at the fish.

Making sure we're still close.

She liked the chickens that were just out and about

Showing Papa

Getting this picture was harder than you would think. Her face in this one cracks me up every time.

Looking at the hippos with daddy.

Ummmm not so sure about this.

The best part...the goats!

She is just precious!

Feeding the ducks with Nana.

The train ride.

Starting to get tired from all the walking.

And she's out.

18 Months

I have a crazy couple of days ahead of me so it was imperative that I wrote today, or who knows when I would be able to get to it.
Gemma and I spent this past weekend just us girls while Dad was away at a wedding. We had a pretty good time. I took her on a run with me one morning, and let me tell you...it's unbelievably hard to push a stroller on the trail when you're 22 weeks pregnant. At least it was a good workout. We even got to see two horses on the trail, which prompted Gemma to yell out "neigh!!" over and over again for the last mile (that's what a horse says by the way).
We unfortunately had pretty bad weather, but Gemma being the outdoorsy girl that she is wouldn't let that stop her, so I put her in her ridiculously cute rain coat and let her go outside. She immediately found the deepest puddle she could and stomped around in it for 20 minutes until I got cold and decided we better go in. She willingly went in without fussing only because I told her she was going to take a bath. She could live in water I think.
She had her 18 month check up today. I cannot believe she's a year and a half already. She weighs 25lbs and is 32 inches tall. Her pediatrician told me she was right on track to be 5'3" and weigh 175....He then started laughing when he saw my face expression. He reassured me it's perfectly normal for kids her age to be in a higher weight percentage than height. She's perfectly healthy and much to my relief was scheduled for NO SHOTS!!!

Baby update and Mother's Day

I meant to give a baby update last week but the week was over before I knew it. Everything looks great. Baby seems to be growing well and the heart rate was at 134 (slower than last time). My "big" ultrasound is scheduled for the 25th of this month, so hopefully I'll have some pictures of him/her to put up then. I've been reading a few stories about women who don't want to find out the gender of their baby ahead of time, but when they go in for the mid pregnancy ultrasound, they either accidentally see something, or the nurse/doctor accidentally says it out loud. For some reason I feel like that's going to happen to us. I'll just have to remind my doctor several times that we don't want to know. I'm excited to see the baby though.

We had a great Mother's Day yesterday. My parents came over and we had some yummy food, and watched Gemma play in the pool for two hours. It was her first time in the pool this year and she had a blast. I hung her swimsuit to dry on her bedroom door and it was the first thing she grabbed this morning...and then of course was very disappointed when I said she couldn't go swimming right then. I have a feeling that will be our main pass time this summer.

Pictures taken over the last few weeks