our second child & how we found out

christopher and i were anxiously awaiting when my period would return so that we could start trying for another baby.  because of breastfeeding regularly, it didn't come back for real until around november 2011, a couple of months after elijah's first birthday. as many of you know, it took us over a year of trying to conceive elijah, and through the process of doing hormonal testing, we learned that i was low in progesterone, which is an important hormone in getting and staying pregnant.  the last go round i had started a natural progesterone cream therapy that took about 2-3 months to balance things out, and voila, we were pregnant with elijah, our long awaited blessing!  that whole 14+ months were difficult though, hoping every month that 'this time would be it', having everyone around us get pregnant so easily or without plans to, and asking God 'why not us??'  through that experience, we grew in humility, patience, trust and gratitude, and for that i am really thankful. this time, we knew in our hearts and minds that it could take awhile, and that God's timing was perfect. He is a good Creator who gives and takes away for his own glory and by his own omnipotent wisdom. I started the cream again, we charted my cycles, prayed and hoped for the best but with peace in our hearts. I have to say it also helped that we already have a beautiful son who takes up a lot of our mental and physical energy, so i wasn't sitting around empty handed begging God for a child. however, it was becoming very apparent that elijah needed a brother or sister, for our sanity (he needs a playmate!) and for his own good (to grow in patience, sharing, and gentleness.) 

january 27th was my lmp and we conceived a few days before valentine's day, although at the time i was not sure if it had 'worked.'  i had taken a pregnancy test a little earlier than my expected period because we were going out of town for a long awaited family reunion of sorts and i thought it would be great to have known and share the great news with the family, but it was negative. after a couple of weeks went by and i was definitely very late, i took another test. negative. i was feeling a little more tired and hungry, but i can't say that i had an overwhelming feeling that i was pregnant. i just figured it was pms or something. i mean, the tests aren't ever wrong, right?! ;)

my awesome milly (mother in love) dinie came to visit me & elijah for a week while chris was out of town. it wasn't until this time that i really started to feel like something was up. in addition to feeling exhausted and hungry, i was feeling kinda bloated, nauseous, and my skin was broken out. she has since told me that she noticed my belly poking out a little and got the vibe that i was, but didn't want to say anything, just in case i wasn't. dinie and i had talked about how weird it was that i was so late, and that i felt kinda strange, but we both figured my body was still balancing out and getting used to the progesterone. when chris got home, i had him buy some more tests from the dollar store, because at this point i was 21 days late and starting to feel suspicious and just had to know what was going on. that night we prayed for the test in the morning. that it would be accurate and that we would have a sense of peace even if the answer was negative. saturday morning march 17th, when elijah woke up crying out, 'mama...dada...' i went for the test and chris got the boy. the 2 pink lines showed up quickly....POSITIVE! oh my goodness! i couldn't believe it was true! we had gotten pregnant so quickly this time! God had spared me the waiting and blessed me abundantly! i immediately hugged chris and told him the news and we both teared up with huge sleepy grins! :)

of course, the first person we told was elijah, but he just said and signed 'baby' and of course didn't really comprehend what we were really talking about. the very next person we told was my best friend chelsea, who was in town from denver for a wedding and was crashed on our couch.  it was a happy morning of celebrating and calling up family and friends! 

One of the best reactions, which was also true with elijah's announcement, was from my dad and mom, who were just hootin' and hollerin', praising God and tearing up! they are the best at being excited with big news and love being grandparents! 

 i was excited to tell my sister and best friend kristy, who was already around 12 or 13 weeks pregnant (about 6 weeks ahead of me) with their first child, that we were going to share a pregnancy together! how cool, and how appropriate considering we grew up sharing just about everything! ;) this is a picture of us just last week at a party i threw to reveal the gender of their baby. IT'S A GIRL! they are planning on naming her abigail, which means 'the joy of the father.' love it! i am excited to start sewing some cute dresses for their little one and look forward to babysitting for them while they go on much needed date nights!

this is me today, on a lazy saturday morning at 15 weeks pregnant. with my first pregnancy, i was showing 'faster' or 'bigger' than most people and got tons of inconsiderate comments about how huge i was, etc.  this time, it is not different, and if anything, i am getting bigger faster than before! haha! but i honestly feel great about my body and know that just like before, the weight will fall off with all that nursing and toddler chasing! :) my grandpa (who is himself a twin) swears im having twins, but i doubt it. we won't know how many or what gender until 20 weeks, which is sometime late june.  speaking of 'june', we are planning on giving birth at our new home (more on that later!) with our lovely midwife june lamphier who helped deliver elijah at centre vida birth center. here is her website if you want to check it out:  june lamphier . our second little baby is expected to make their arrival the first week of november, but you just never know! elijah will be just a couple months over 2 years old, we should be settled in our new place, and hunkering down for the holidays. we'll keep you updated! <3