It's a boy!

My ultrasound on Tuesday went well. The baby appears to be very healthy, and we found out that we are having another boy. Although I was hoping for a girl, I'm sure a little brother will be lots of fun for Nathanael. :-) From the profile shot, we think he will look a lot like Nathanael, too. The baby seems to be due a week earlier than the first due date I was given, which I expected. I knew the first date was off by about a week. So I am probably 20 weeks along today, rather than 19. :-)

Our new little boy will share Nathanael's "Peter Rabbit" bedroom, so I bought an adorable Beatrix Potter quilt kit to make for him. I'm also going to make a Peter Rabbit diaper bag, and baby sling. I'm working on a maternity dress now, so I have my work cut out for me. Haha But I'm sure I'll have lots of fun sewing such cute stuff. :-)

Pregnancy update- 18 weeks along

Here is my 18 week pregnancy picture. I am wearing the same top as last time, so you can see exactly how much bigger I am now. Haha
I am feeling a lot better, but still feel sick before dinner, etc.
My 18-19 week ultrasound is this Tuesday. We are so excited! I told Nathanael he will get to see pictures of the baby on a computer screen, so he is pleased about that. :-)
I can't wait to find out if the baby is a girl or a boy! Then I can start getting more baby things ready. :-) Fun!

Newly decorated guest room, etc.

Over the Easter long weekend, my dear husband, Ben, painted the guest bedroom a pretty pale pink. Then we put up the rose border together. I am very happy with the results. Actually, I like to spend a lot of time in there now. Haha If the baby is a girl, she will have this room. If not, it will remain a lovely guest room. :-) Almost everything in this room was either second hand ( free or inexpensive) or handmade by me.
I thought I'd share a picture of the new netting and bumper pads I bought for the baby's cradle. It looks so cute! The cradle is actually Ben's (and his sisters') from when they were babies. Very special. :-)

I'll have to get Ben to take a picture of me again soon so I can post another pregnancy update. :-)

Pregnancy update- over 12 weeks along. :-)

My little sister has requested a picture every month so she can see how the baby and I are growing.:-) So I decided to do a pregnancy update post every now and then. As you can see, at 12 1/2 weeks along, I am not "showing" very much. But this was about how big my tummy was at 3 1/2-4 months with Nathanael, so it's true that you start showing sooner with the second baby.

I still feel somewhat sick much of the time, but it is starting to get better now. Hopefully the sick feeling will be completely gone in a couple of weeks.

When I was expecting Nathanael, I wanted to give birth at our local birth center. But as there is limited space on their midwifery program, I didn't make it past the waiting list. So we are really excited that this time the Lord worked it out so that we got in much quicker and easier than we expected. :-) My first visit with my midwife will be next Monday. I haven't met her yet, so I am looking forward to that. I would have liked to have a home birth, but the cost for that was over AUD$5000! The birth center and hospital are free (socialized medicine has it's good points. haha), so it is such a blessing that we actually got in with the birth center this time.
My hospital experience wasn't terrible, but there were several things I wasn't happy with. Although they try to encourage "natural birth", I still felt that there was too much intervention. The midwives at the birth center seem much more relaxed, and I am hoping for a better birth experience this time around. :-)

Exciting news! :-)

We have some exciting news to share- our second baby should be arriving in late September! :-)
I am only about 6 weeks along (as the doctors date pregnancies) or 3 1/2 weeks ( the age of the baby). I had an ultrasound today to get a due date and it was very special to see our tiny baby's heartbeat for the first time. :-) The baby resembles a kidney bean more than anything at this point. Haha But they develop so quickly from this time on! We have a book with very good photos of babies at every stage of the pregnancy, so it's fun to keep track of what's going on that way.

I have been feeling sick for about 1 1/2 weeks now, so that hasn't been too pleasant. Let's just hope it doesn't get too much worse! I've had to be very careful not to let my blood sugar drop between meals, so I've been trying to eat little healthyish snacks between. :-) I am thankful that so far I haven't been nearly as sick as my mom and her sister were during their pregnancies. I just try to bear that in mind to encourage myself. Haha

Anyway, we are very excited to have another precious little baby in our family. I am hoping for a girl this time, but will be happy with either, of course. :-)
Nathanael doesn't really understand what's going on yet, but I'm sure he will get excited closer to the time. He turns 3 in late August, so I think that should be a nice age gap.

Please forgive me if I don't blog as often, as I am very tired, etc. and am having a hard time getting the basics done around the house. Things should return to normal by the 3 month mark I am hoping. :-)

Beautifying My Bathrooms :-)

Since I returned from our trip to the USA, I have added some touches to our bathrooms that I thought I'd share with you. :-)

I bought the "Simply Shabby Chic" brand shower curtain at Target while I was in Idaho. The pattern is called Apple Blossoms, I think. Also, I bought the crystal/diamond look shower hooks by the same brand. You can't see the hooks very well in the pictures, though. For some reason they look dark.
We have a seperate shower, so putting the curtain over the bath is purely for decorative reasons, though it does offer some privacy.

In the master bathroom, or ensuite as they call it here in Australia, my friend Melissa and I put up a cute bathroom border that I found at Walmart. Good old Walmart! Haha

We put the wallpaper border over the existing border tiles, which I didn't care for at all. I think this is a big improvement. :-)

There were also a couple of accent tiles, hence the squares of wallpaper here and there. Haha

I had a cute porcelain teapot shade on the nightlight, but it was broken during the wallpaper border project. Extreme sadness! :-( At least I had this little beaded shade to replace it with for now, although it doesn't really fit the light very well.

Back In Australia....photos of our trip to Idaho :-)

The Christmas tree at my family's house.

Christmas morning.

Nathanael loves his Levi's from Grandma. :-)

My niece and cousin.

Jason Korda, my dad and my sisters.

Adorable cousins. :-)

Great Grandma's birthday on New Years Day.

The happy couple, Delana and Aaron.

My sister and brother playing in the wedding.

Delana is an old friend of mine. :-) I was so happy to see her get married at last.

Cousin's 3rd birthday. :-)

Nathanael wasn't too sure about the snow. :-)

My family and I doing a Christmas music special at church.

Brunch at a tea room. :-)

We just arrived back home on Friday. We all really enjoyed our visit to the USA. I really miss my family now, though. :-( It seems like no matter how long I'm there it isn't a long enough visit. Nathanael keeps asking to see his cousins. He had such a good time playing with them. I'll have to try to find some little play mates here for him. That might not be easy, however. I'm pretty particular. Haha We shall see. It would be wonderful if some more families with small children join our church sometime soon. I guess we'll make that a matter of prayer. :-)

Hope you enjoyed all the photos of our time in Idaho. :-)