That Darn Cat Pillow

Let me let you in on a dark secret of mine.  When I was born, my Grandma Kaiser made me a blankie.  You know the kind that you buy in a pre-quilted panel and you just have to put the binding on?  That's what it was.  The front had a scene with a sheep jumping over a fence and a second sheep running away from the fence, and the back was covered in little sheep.  I loved that blanket, and at some point in life it was referred to as my "Sheepie Blankie," and it remained named that ever after.  I used it so much that my mom put several new bindings on it when the previous ones wore out.  When I moved to Illinois for school (at 18 years old), that blankie came with me.  When I went on vacations, the sheepie blankie always came along with me, tucked safely in my pillowcase.  I slept with that thing every darn night until I was married.  I'm not even kidding.  It's **possible** that I've even slept with it a couple times after my marriage.  It's just SO COZY.  I should mention, there is no longer any sheep on the blanket, or a binding, or stuffing inside... it's completely white and see-through.  That thing has been loved to death.

Fast-forward a little.  While I was pregnant with Lex, my Grandma Kaiser bought her a fluffy cat pillow.  We all laughed about it at the time, cause it was just a funny little pillow.  After she was born, we would lay Lex on it and she'd burrow her cheek into it.  It was clear she loved it.  She now sleeps with it every night, and I'm not even kidding, this is her version of the sheepie blankie.  She sleeps so well when it's in bed with her, and on nights where she's thrown up on it or something and it's in the wash, it's always a harder for her to sleep.  When I put her to bed, I have the pillow at the top of the crib and lay her little head on it.  However, this girl is a WILD sleeper, and moves so much in the night.  I really don't even think I'll be able to move her out of a crib for a long stinkin time, cause half the time she's pressed up against the rungs--- I'm sure she'll end up on the floor frequently when I do move her to a toddler bed.  The funniest part is, when she moves in her sleep, she drags her cat pillow around with her.  I took some pictures over the course of about a week of her sleeping at night with her kitty:

I'm going to be in serious trouble if/when that thing wears out.  I've created a little mini-me!!!

13 Weeks

I seriously can't believe I'm already done with my first trimester.  I still forget I'm pregnant half the time... I've hardly been sick at all, and I'm so busy with work and a 1-year-old that time is flying!  For the past week or so, I've been feeling this little baby move!  That's seriously THE BEST part of being pregnant, and I'm excited I'm feeling movement earlier than last time.

Today I went to the doctor for my routine checkup.  He tried to pick up the baby's heartbeat on the normal little monitor in the exam room but wasn't able to get it, so I had another ultrasound.  I wasn't worried at all, because like I said, I've been feeling this baby move.  Sure enough, that tiny little kid is a wiggler!!!  The ultrasound was fun, because I could see the baby flinging it's arms and legs around and turning over... seriously, it's an active one!  My doctor gave me a couple pictures from the ultrasound:

The top one shows the back of the baby's head and it's teeny-tiny spine.  The bottom one is a profile with a little arm up by it's face.  So cute!

My next appointment is in 5 weeks, and we'll find out if we're having a boy or a girl!!!  We're excited to have Grammie there with us, and hopefully Mammie too :)