It's not ALWAYS about Ella!

Ella is keeping so busy that we feel we've been neglecting our little number two. Maybe it's due to the fact that we also don't feel the need to read up on the baby and pregnancy books but by not doing so, it's sometimes easy to forget that we're expecting again....well, sometimes! Erika's definitely "nesting" early but probably due to the fact that we all know time is going to be pretty limited once the baby comes along and we're juggling two babies and school. Besides the nursery, which we'll wait to paint and decorate until we know the sex, we feel "ready" for this one. We just purchased a double stroller this past weekend and let's elaborate on this. There's a huge difference between a single and a double stroller. And it's not just the price. For example, when people see a single stroller, they might think "Oh! How wonderful! One baby, so nice and simple!" or "There's a nice looking couple pushing along one little baby!" Now, when you see people pushing a double stroller, it's all quite the opposite. We can already read people's minds: "Poor parents. A baby and a toddler!" or "Thank goodness I don't have to push around a double stroller!" or "It sure is nice to sit here with my paper and latte watching the tired-looking parents push two kids around!" Yes, we know people out there exist. So, what it all comes down to is this: come September, we're full fledged parents. No way of getting around it. But don't worry, you'll never see Erika toting a fanny pack at Disney World or Tim wearing sneakers and jean shorts waving frantically to Micky Mouse. Our friend Andrea jokes around that the minivan is next. We're holding off on that one as long as possible!

With that, we've got some baby shots of the ever growing tummy. One thing is for sure: second babies pop much faster than the first one. If Erika had a quarter for every time someone asked if she was due in July, we would have that double stroller paid off in a jiffy with some spare change left over!

One day shy of 22 weeks:

And, one day shy of 24 weeks:

People ask if this pregnancy is any different than it was with Ella. And the answer is yes and no. First, Erika's not working out nearly as much (can there please be more than 24 hours in a day?) so she's not feeling as in shape. As for the baby, we've got a kicker, mover, and probably a screamer. Maybe it's pregnancy brain, but Erika really does not remember that Ella moved around nearly as much as this one does. In fact, during the last two doctor appointments, the main comment from the doctor was (while listening for the heartbeat) was: "Wow! hear that? that's the baby moving! All the movement is making it hard for us to hear the heartbeat!" Hmm, is that really a good thing? Does anyone have any research data on the correlation between active fetuses and active babies?

Mothers Day & More

Happy Mother's Day!

A very happy mother's day to all the mom's out there! And this year, there have been even more moms to celebrate as our friends have welcomed their little ones into the world! This year was Erika's second mother's day and we lucked out with amazing weather - a huge relief from all the rain we've been getting. We had a great day and the highlight was a visit to Franklin Farm Park to visit the farm animals. Ella had a blast walking around and observing all the animals! Afterwards, we had dinner at our place with Erika's parents - a great evening to wrap up the special day!

Below are some more pics over the past week or so....

House of Bounce! Aya and Ella enjoy the moon bounce maze!

Getting ready for the long slide although right off the bat, Ella gets turned around! Oops!

Getting ready for a another trip down the slide.

All that bouncing around is a lot of work! Cat nap in the car ride home.

Playing outside with her chalk

Mother's Day morning - Ella likes to pick the flowers!

Enjoying her first orange push-up pop - delicious!

Two mothers and a baby

Squatting to get a closer look at the lambs


Moo! Here Mr. Cow. Eat this grass.


Daddy and Ella peeking into the hen cage

Walking around the farm


Yes, the thumb is a new thing. Not sure where it came from but all of a sudden it's her new favorite thing!

Wrapping up April

"Summer" has officially began for Erika since she finally wrapped her THIRD year of school after turning in her final papers yesterday....ah. What a relief! Despite the fact that summer school will ensue all too soon, at least there's only ONE class and NO internship! Could be worse, right? Since it seems that so much has gone on this past month, we'll let the pictures tell the story for this post:

Who new a visit to Petsmart could be so much fun? Ella has a MAJOR fascination with birds and thoroughly enjoyed the bird aisle. Here she is "signing" the word bird...

...and squatting for a better view.

Here's Erika at 19 1/2 weeks - we'll have to post some updated pics since the belly has grown in the past 2 weeks! It looks so tiny here! And, speaking of Baby, we had our ultrasound last week and everything looked great; baby was healthy and ACTIVE. Uh oh.

Easter weekend and dinner at the Carlson's - here's Ella with her "Martini Grandmothers!"

Ella showing off her usual happy demeanor - and enjoying a banana!

Looking through her Easter basket with daddy

The Easter bunny brought Ella some goodies, including some stickers which held her attention for quite some time!

Easter basket grass sure is shinier than the real stuff!

How's this toothy grin, mom?

Showing off her Easter dress from grandma

Ella's second Easter.

Ella and her mommy after Easter mass

The Easter bunny left a little gift for Ella on the doorstep while we were at church (thanks to our neighbor!) and Ella notices that this egg rattles....hmm, what's inside?

Say cheese!

Posing with Grandma

Celebrating Baby Murphy at Ami's shower in Richmond - Ami is about 34 weeks here and Erika is 20 weeks.

Johnson's, Murphy's, and Carlson's hanging out post baby shower

And, while we enjoyed a day in Richmond, Grandma and Pappy had Ella (and Cooper) duty in Williamsburg!

Stopping to smell the flowers...

Is anything sweeter than a sleeping baby? Ella created a nest with all her blankets...

Yellow polkadots!

Ok. Ella LOVES the playground, particularly the slide. What we've learned to do when it's time to leave and have Ella wave "bye bye" to the slide and playground - somehow this helps subside her frustration that it's time to leave! So now, when we leave, she always says "bye! bye!" Hey, we'll take any little trick that'll work!

Posing for a post-bath picture

Getting ready to head out to dinner for Uncle Grant's 26th birthday!

She was a little busy bee before dinner; we were lucky to get even this shot!

Posing with daddy

Ella with the men: Daddy, Uncle Grant, and Opa (with his eyes closed, oops!)

We'll start catching up with this....

Just when we thought we were all caught up on our blog posts! Just goes to show that time goes by way too fast and that we've been a little busy around here. We've had some fun times recently but will use this blog update to share our running adventures during the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile run. On April 5th, we joined Sandra, Shaun, and Meredith along with 15,000 people or so for a beautiful spring morning run! Since last year's run was miserably rainy and cold, we were thrilled that the sun was shining this time around. After filling up on a pasta dinner, we stayed over at the Johnson's home so we could get up bright and early the following morning of race day. Since this was Baby Carlson's first face, we held back on our pace and Erika made sure to drink plenty of water along the way (per doctor's orders, of course!). Shaun and Sandra kept us company although our fast-paced friend Meredith went for the gold! At the end, we treated ourselves to a delicious, and much deserved, brunch at Whitlows. The team sipped Mimosas, Bloody Mary's, and coffee (for the pregnant lady) and just enjoyed the post run morning!

Baby's first race - one day shy of 18 weeks

We did it!

Brunch at Whitlows - ah, so tasty!