The Koetter's: Baby...It's Cold Outside!

I was not good at taking pictures of myself when I was pregnant with Lyla. I have some, just not weekly and I really wish I had done it, if only for me to go back and look at. This time around, I did a little better. And who knows, if I have another opportunity, maybe I will even do better than this time.

Here I am at 18weeks & 4days. I definitely feel like I am carrying MUCH differently compared to Lyla. She was always so low it felt like and this one is much higher. I literally had nothing to take a picture of belly wise, until this week. It was like I went to bed one night with a flat stomach and woke up the next morning pregnant! I am also pregnant during completely opposite seasons this time. So finding clothes that work has been interesting! You will see A LOT of repeats in my pictures.

At 19 weeks we went in for the BIG ultrasound! We were SO excited to see if we would be adding a little brother or a little sister to the family. Lyla was convinced that it was a little sister for her and would not accept if it turned out to be a little brother. She tells anyone who asks that she is having a baby sister. And when they ask her "what if it's a boy", she answers with "NO! I am having a baby SISTER". Of course for Adam and I we both just wanted to hear the words 'healthy baby'.

We took Lyla with us to the ultrasound. We wanted to make a big deal either way and we are SO excited for her to be a big sister. We know she will love this little one with all her heart, so we wanted to include her in all steps! We pretty much got taken right back to the ultrasound room, which I love about my practice. I hardly, if ever, have to wait. It turned out to be the same ultrasound tech that did Lyla's big scan. She got started and everything looked good. She got to the big reveal moment and stopped over the area. She did not say anything. I could tell immediately what we were having! There was NO denying what it was. Haha. No one said anything and it was like time stood still. So I was not sure if Adam could tell what it was or not. So I said "I think someone is going to be a little disappointed and it's not daddy!". I knew Adam would be happy either way, but I knew he really wanted a boy. They looked at me and he had the biggest smile on his face. Lyla on the other hand, once I told her she was having a little brother said "no dats my yittle sister". I said, "no baby, it's a boy! You are going to have a little brother." Well the tears just started flowing!!

She literally cried right there in the office. We really started talking up having a baby brother and by the time we left the office she was excited. I know when she meets him, it won't matter. She will be SO in love. I could tell Adam held his excitement back a little since she was so upset. But once she got over it, he was pumped!

I felt like I would grieve a little either way, whether it was a boy or a girl. All I really want is a healthy baby. But I knew I had a pro/con list for either way it went. I really wanted Lyla to have a little sister. I know how close my sisters and I are and there is nothing in the world like that relationship. And her sweet little heart was SO set on it. I thought two girls would be SO fun. I know what to do with girls. I mean girl stuff is just so cute. I know nothing about boys. Nothing. But on the other hand, I thought about how much FUN it would be to have a boy. One of each is perfect! No girly competitions between sisters or the drama. I get to experience both worlds. And Adam and I each have a little buddy. She can go on daddy/daughter dates and I can go on mommy/son dates. I don't know anything about boys, but they are just so sweet. We can focus on girl things and also get to experience and focus on boy things!

Lyla really has come around SO quickly. She is super excited about her baby brother. She calls him 'Saucy' for some reason??! I guess we need to find him a name ;) She has already asked for a baby sister after her baby brother....she better start sweet talking her daddy....!!

Our gender reveal announcement.

20 weeks!

And I had to get in the spirit of having a boy as well! Girl things are just so cute and I don't have much experience buying anything boy. So I dropped Lyla off at school one day and went shopping for little brother. Definitely got me excited!

We had a fun play date with our sweet friends, Tripp, Molly and Ollie at the aquarium!

Hard to get a picture of them all sitting still these days!

21 weeks.

We had some surprise weather this winter. Like crazy surprise, shut the city DOWN surprise weather. Allison and I met for an early lunch on January 28th 2014. I knew "snow" was predicted in the forecast for the day. But you know Atlanta. "Snow" means a few flakes and a lot of excitement for nothing.

While we were eating, it did actually start snowing pretty hard. I dropped her off after we finished eating and ran to pick Lyla up at school. I am so glad it was pick up time because the roads actually got bad really quickly! It was already slushy and icy as I drove to pick her up. I grabbed her and we went straight home.

Well I guess everyone realized that the weather was getting bad fast. Everyone LITERALLY left work, school, pick up kids where ever they were to get home. I mean Atlanta has a lot of people. Rush hour is bad enough when the weather is good. It was total chaos. Bad weather, slippery roads, snow, ice and traffic.

People sat for H.O.U.R.S on the road to get home. Buses were stuck with kids on them. People had to abandon their cars on the highway. The HIGHWAY!! Kids were stuck at school and had to spend the night with teachers. I called Adam as I started seeing it get really bad on the news and told him to head home. He left at the perfect time and it only took him 20 minutes to get home. But it still made me nervous having him out on the road.

I texted Allison that her and Dan could come to our house if the roads were too bad for them to get home. They were North of us at Dan's office (thankfully together) and they live down in the city about 30-40 minutes away on a good day. They thought they would be fine going home.

They got on the road and quickly realized how bad things were. They made it to our exit off 400 and then sat. They were going no where fast. It took them THREE hours to go only a few miles. Finally they realized that they would be sitting there all night. They were able to make it to a neighborhood about three miles away from our house and leave their car. They had Marley, their dog with them, but no leash. So they knocked on the door of the house where they parked and asked if they could use their bathroom and if they had a dog leash before they started walking to our house. Luckily they did have a leash and were so sweet to them. They even offered for them to stay there if they wanted! Allison said it actually looked like they already had someone stranded there as well.

They started walking and it took them another 1-1.5 hours to get to our house. Poor things were BEAT when they got to our house around 10pm.

We were thankful to have them safe and they were thankful to finally be warm and eat!

Lyla LOVED the snow! As soon as we got home from school she just had to play outside. Which I don't blame her! How fun!

Watching the beautiful snow fall!

She was supposed to take a nap, but I guess the excitement of the snow was too much because she never slept and when I walked in she was busy playing.

She was making a secret hide out with her "muddy buddy" (blankie).

So we bundled up and headed back outside!!

She loved making footprints and looking at them behind her.

She told me Ms Cathy, her teacher, told them to catch the snowflakes on their tongue!

Such joy! She had fun throwing the snow up in the air.

Catching the flakes on her tongue.

The snow accumulated really quickly. Of course Atlanta's problem was that the roads were slushy and wet and once it hit freezing, the roads iced over causing all the problems. But for us I was thankful we were home, could enjoy the beautiful snow, have a hot meal, have electricity, and have a warm bed to sleep in.

Loving the snow!

Does it taste good?

Well I have said it before. I am not a cold weather girl. She wanted to stay out, so I watched her play for awhile from the safety of the warm indoors. Haha.

And of course we HAVE to have hot chocolate after playing out in the cold. We had a LOT of hot chocolate and it was good!! Lyla loved putting marshmallows in hers.

Counting them before putting them in.

YUM!

This girl was obsessed with some hot chocolate.
She was still asking me to fix her some well into the warm months. Haha.

Happy, warm girl!

We also ate a lot of this! Yummy soup. There is nothing better than curling up on the couch in front of the fire with a big bowl of soup. Allison and Dan were so thankful to get their hands on this after their long night!

Even though it was crazy getting Allison and Dan to us, I know it could have been a lot worse. There were reports of people in their cars for 18 hours or more. Kids stuck on buses. Parents with their babies in cars running out of formula and diapers. BUT I love the South for this reason. Even though it got bad, people came out and really pulled together. Strangers opened their homes to get people off the road and out of their cars. People packed up food and drinks and took them out to people out in their cars so they had something to eat and drink. Strangers helped strangers get cars unstuck.

The next day we had fun playing outside on our "snow day" with daddy, Allison, Dan and Marley. Lyla had so much fun making snow angels. She could have done this all day.

It was a SPECIAL treat to get to have Marley at our house. She is the sweetest dog in the world, but Adam is allergic and therefore we can't have dogs at our house. Under the circumstances though, he was so sweet to let her be part of the party too! We loved having her and Lyla was in heaven having her at our house!!

Allison and Marley. You can see the street behind them. Literally a sheet of ice. And it was THICK! Lyla slid down the hill. I have some videos, but I need to figure out how to put them on here!

Mommy and Lyla. It.was.cold!!

Lyla and Aunt Allison. We loved having them and it will be something we remember for the rest of our lives.

Daddy even came out to play for a bit before heading inside to do some work.

My snow angel.

Everything just looked so peaceful and beautiful. It was SO quiet.

Literally. All day.

More footprints.

We got out and played with our neighbors across the street. Their oldest son got stuck at a friend's house and their dad got stuck at work. Their mom was out of town on business, so it was just the little girls and their nanny. We had so much fun playing with them!