6 & 8

Even though I'm a little late with this post, I feel like I should write it just to keep up with my blog's tradition! :)
So, last week my girls turned 6 and 8 years old; even though time flies and I feel like they just grow up too fast, I no longer get sad about it because I know they are happy, healthy and thriving and just by seeing their personalities develop, I know I must be doing *something* right!
Let's start with the little princess, who turned 6 on the 16th...I cannot begin to tell you how fun she is! Gaby is such a sweet and sassy little girl with the most stubborn personality. Even though she's definitely someone you don't want to cross, she is such a joy to be around.  She loves the Ninja Turtles as much as she loves Barbies and that is what I love about her, the fact that she is such a versatile and open minded little person. Gaby enjoys going to the movies, dancing, traveling and playing with small toys (like Shopkins). She is the ultimate cat lover and really enjoys playing independently.  She will be starting 1st grade next month and she is so ready to go back to school and see all her friends again!
Happy Birthday, Gaby! We hope you had an amazing day!!

Then comes Olivia, who turned 8 on the 17th (have I mentioned how cool it is to have their birthdays so close!?!?).
Olivia is such a special little person, she is so in tune with everything that happens around her and she is definitely my best friend and my little accomplice.
She is funny, smart and has such a good sense of humor, always finds the joy in every little thing even when things aren't going as expected.  She particularly enjoys traveling and has such a long list of places she'd like to visit, including China and Australia.
Olivia will be starting 3rd grade in a month and even though she isn't as excited to go back to school as her sister, she sure is ready for the challenge.
Olivia is a little more social than Gaby, she enjoys playing with friends and is into group activities where tons of people get to participate.
Happy Birthday, Olivia! We hope you enjoyed your day!


For their birthday celebration, we took them to dinner at Benihana and they really enjoyed their Hibachi and all of the love from family members.
We are so blessed to have these two little girls in our lives and I am sure they will be the best big sisters our baby can ask for!  Happy Birthday girls!

As an added bonus to this blog post, here are two videos of the girls talking about their favorite stuff, only because videos are always more fun than pictures!

Pregnancy Update: 29 weeks!

I haven't blogged in almost 3 weeks and last time I posted a pregnancy update, I was 20 weeks along, so it's fair to say that this one is long overdue!

Up until a few weeks ago, my pregnancy had been rather uneventful (thank God for that!) but in the past few weeks being pregnant hasn't been THAT much fun!

Here's the low down.... at around 23 weeks I started having terrible sciatica pain; it was so awful I couldn't walk and I was in tears every time I had to turn in bed or when I had to do whatever (minor) effort.  Following the insistence of my husband and a few friends, I started seeing a chiropractor 3x per week and he definitely helped a lot!  Then at around 25 weeks, when I though the pain was taken care of, my body decides to come up with a NEW kind of pain... this time it was "round ligament pain"; I swear I thought I was going to die. It was so bad that I ended up in the ER fearing appendicitis or who knows what issue from hell; it turns out (according to the ER nurse) I was "lucky" on my previous pregnancies for not getting this *very common* symptom, which apparently (and just like everything else in pregnancy) is NORMAL! Ugh!

Ok, so there I was, just trying to get by and dealing with sciatica pain and round ligament issues when nausea and vomiting decide to come back full force...to make things a little more fun! So I basically puked every other night for about a week, which apparently is also NORMAL! But hey, at least I could be sure that baby was growing strong and healthy, right?!? :)

Fast forward to week 26 and it was time for the Glucose Tolerance Test, which I FAILED! ugh! Now I have to do another test, which lasts 3 hours just to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes. I really hope I pass this one because I don't want to finish my pregnancy with insulin and special diets (fingers crossed!)

So just when I was getting over the disappointment of having failed my sugar screening and enjoying the last day of vacation, I fell down the stairs at my brother in law's house in Ohio and almost broke my foot! Thankfully, I fell in such a way that I protected my belly and the baby was safe the whole time.  Too bad my foot wasn't as lucky! I ended up in the ER (again!), got a boot and every possible medical equipment to help me move around. I was completely confined to my bed for 5 days and even though I'm still in pain and it will take time for my foot to heal, at least I am mobile now and getting my independence back!

Here's a couple of belly pictures from the last two weeks!

With all of that said, I still feel very blessed that my baby is growing fast and healthy and my pregnancy has progressed without any major/real issues.  I have gained a total of 6 lbs and the baby is measuring right on track for his 09/30 due date.  Emotionally I still feel a little insecure at times and even fearful that this is all happening so fast, but I know God has a plan and He chose me to be the mother of this baby and that means the world to me!

Happy Blogging!