Ella Turns One!

My niece, Gabriella, turned 1 last week! I can't believe how fast time has past. It seems like I just held her for the first time yesterday. I remember when she was born within minutes feeling like she was mine. I had this instinct automatically that made me want to protect her. Here it's been a year and she has totally changed our family. It's hard to imagine life without baby Ella. It's even more hard to imagine life with two babies in the Schwiesow family by her 2nd birthday. I look forward to seeing Ella, who will be 20 months old when our baby comes, with her new baby cousin. She is so much like my sister. She's a nurturer, independent, stubborn, loving, and she never meets a stranger. She also wants what she wants and she'll make it happen. This is really a Schwiesow attribute :) I've added pictures from her birthday party. She had a ton of fun and even threw up 3 times. I guess all the sugar and excitement got to her.

As far as pregnancy goes, there's nothing much going on. The books and websites say that the baby is going to be the size of a blueberry by the end of the week. The baby's heart is beating. His or her arms and legs are little buds at this point. I'm looking forward to week 9 when the baby stops looking so much like a seahorse and more like an actual human being. In the next few weeks, the baby's facial features are going to be visable and the baby should grow to the size of cherry. We are really moving up...!

I am feeling great! I've had a little bit of lightheadness, but that is mostly when I need to eat. Other than that, I haven't had any morning sickness. I've also been experiencing headaches. Tylenol may work, but I think it'll take more than I'm supposed to take to make it work. For now, I just have to get in bed and collapse to make it go away. I'm mostly just tired, busy peeing every 30 minutes, and really looking forward to hearing the baby's heartbeat in 3 weeks. They said they will take a picture too, so I'll try to find a friend's house to scan in the picture once we have our sonogram.

Enjoying her 1st cake

Ella enjoying her "Five Little Monkeys" book from Ken's parents.

Ella loved the Little People Farm House we got her so much that she pushed it around the house!