Rachel is 5 months

She is so big! a little over 15 pounds and she has the littlest bud of a tooth coming in on the bottom.

She is eating well but does not want me to talk while shes having her meal.
She learned how to give raspberries.
She loves watching Kaleb jump around and He loves giving her kisses.
Rachel can roll over front to back, but not back to front yet.
She tries to sit up ALL the time, even when shes in her car seat.
She recently discovered her feet and TRIES to munch on them, but can't quite get them in her mouth.
She is such a happy baby and freely gives smiles and giggles to everyone.

Yay for our little big girl.

Baby #2 : Second Trimester - Announcing our pregnancy and The Gender & Name Reveal

This post covers April 26th to July 21st

At the beginning of gestational week 15, we went to the fabulous Magical 4D Images. We did the same thing with Kaleb because I am the worst at waiting. I honestly don't know how people did it before, I feel like knowing my baby's gender and knowing their name helps me to bond with them before they're even here. We love 4D Images. Their equipment is always the best and I get to lay on the little bed and they have a TV on the wall in front of me so I don't have to crane my neck at the monitor. And Blake and Kaleb sit on a comfy couch next to me and watch a big screen TV. Its Awesome. AND its weeks earlier than when the doctor does the gender test.

So my grandmother had already predicted a girl (she also predicted when I was going to get pregnant) so we were thinking she was right. Well, Blake believed her, I was still unsure... I thought "maybe its a boy." I dont know, I think I wanted a girl, so I set myself up for the "plan B" scenario. I did the same thing with Kaleb. I always wanted a boy first so I kept saying "Its probably a girl."

But when I hopped on the table, and they gelled me up, there was no little boy business to be found.
They told Kaleb "You're having a baby sister!" he seemed unimpressed, but Blake and I were so happy! Granted, she kept crossing her legs and twisting and turing but they say 99% sure its a girl.



Well we went home and started telling all our family. Blake's sister was pregnant with a little girl too, so that was exciting. But in my family, our little one would be the first great-grandaughter and the first girl in something like 10 years. So everyone was very happy. (and thats not to say anyone would have been upset with a boy, we love boys, boys are awesome, but since we're having a girl this is how the story is going.) We also thought that, since we knew the gender and I was starting to show, it was time to tell the world (read: Facebook) as well. I had a whole mini movie and great project planned out as an announcement, but was still on the lazy/tired end of things so just ended up recording a quick announcement by Kaleb... which is posted earlier in the blog.

Anyway, after the gender was discovered our talk quickly turned to names. There was one name I loved since childhood, but when I married a Green I quickly dismissed it. We went back and forth and my forerunner was Penelope. When it seemed like Blake had finally conceded and that would be her name... It didn't feel right. I kept going back to that name I loved.
It was Rachel.
But my fear was that in naming our daughter Rachel with a last name of Green people would automatically think of ...

and even though we love the show and shes awesome in it, I was NOT naming my daughter after her.

But it kept bugging me. So I talked to Blake about it and he basically said "Lets name our daughter a name you love, and the few people that put together the character and the name will probably not think you named her AFTER the character, just that they happen to have the same name."

It made sense and was all I needed to be convinced. :D

So our daughter's name will be:

And we can't wait to hold her in our arms and welcome her in our lives!


... If she still is in fact a girl because then THIS happens...


Week 21 comes along and we go to our medical ultrasound. We figured an ultrasound is an ultrasound so we just choose the cheapest place... WRONG MOVE. This place we went to in Santa Ana was dirty (there was no actual dirt or anything it was just in a crummy building and gave off that dilapidated vibe) our technician seemed to barely speak english, and while my husband and son watched she told me
"ok, you see baby? You see that there? Thats the c*ck."
and I'm like... uh excuse me?
"It hard to see, but that look like a c*ck. Its a boy, ok?"
again I asked for clarification again and she kept spouting the c word about my little baby.
So Blake took a few pictures of what she insisted was a penis (in her own colorful way). I just said "ok", and after she threw a washrag on my belly and told me to clean myself up, we got out of there.

I immediately called Magical 4D Images and told them our medical ultrasound gave us a different gender result. They said I could come right in for another session (on the house, obviously) and they could double check for us.

Well when we got there and I recounted the other technician's bedside manner, and then showed them the picture of what the other place's crappy ultrasound machine picked up they said they didn't see male bits at all.

They lubed me up and took a gander on their brand spankin' new (I was the first client they used it on!) 4D machine and we looked for the gender....

No penis.

They said she was squirmy, but clearly a girl.

Thats good enough for me!

I am still a little nervous that she will come out a he (only because we have girl name and girl clothes, but we will OF COURSE love and be so happy with a boy too) but I'm pretty sure we're having a little lady. . . 90%.

Kaleb's Nursery Details

As we're packing away things, I thought I should share some details of the room we brought our baby son home to.

Our week with Stinky - Lincy

Quinn and Becky (Blake's brother and sister in law) had the awesome opportunity to take a cruse with Quinn's company just before Christmas and Blake, Kaleb and I were lucky enough to have little Lincoln stay with us! 

I wrote Becky emails the whole week letting her know how her little guy was doing... the went something like this:

Sunday and Monday Morning

Lincoln is perfect. 

Hes supper happy and spent most of last night and this morning watching Kaleb and laughing.

Blake took the boys to mom and dads for dinner and everyone was good.

We gave the boys a bath together (Kaleb in the tub and Lincoln in the baby bath in the tub) Again, Lincoln was mostly curious and watching Kaleb.

Bedtime was smooth. We decided to put Lincoln in Kaleb's room, and I was nervous they would wake each other up, but they were perfect. After bath time  we diapered, lotioned and dresses them. Then it was story time, some cuddles and Lincoln went in the pack and play.

They both fussed for about 10 minutes then it was silent.

This morning Blake gave Lincoln a bottle and he played quietly with his toys in his highchair while I fed Kaleb. 

I love his cheeks, his toothless laughs and he seems to like it when I sneeze or kiss his cheeks or when kaleb gets excited and starts jumping.

Hes wonderful and happy.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Morning

Monday after first nap was eventful.

He DEVOURED his cereal. He kept grabbing the spoon and trying to get more in his mouth.

(Kaleb kept trying to get a taste too, and I kept telling him it was not big boy food... he didn't seem to care.)

After that, I decided to take the boys grocery shopping, so I got there at around noon and when I went to take them out of their car seats, both were sleeping. 

I thought it was better to let them sleep and figured I would go in after they woke up...

Two hours later, we finally went in. (so needless to say every ones schedule was off)

I don't normally do my grocery shopping at the Wal-Mart, but they had these awesome carts for multiple babies, so I had to take advantage.

After the store, we went home and played for while, took another nap and when Uncle Blake came Linc went nuts. (I think he sees Quinn in him or something, because he really loves to see him)

That night was awful. Kaleb was up ALL night, which was made worse by your perfect son's perfect example of a slumbering baby. :D

Tuesday morning was good, but everyone woke up at 8:00am, so the schedule was (again) thrown off a bit.

I called your mother, and she wanted to see Linc that day at around two, so I was going to drop him off and she said she would bring him home for bedtime.

So during Kaleb's nap, I was sure to get in my Lincoln cuddles during a feeding and we took a short (15 min or so) nap together on the couch. 

He seemed to really enjoy the one on one time.

Your mom and dad brought him back around 7:30pm after they had fed him dinner and given him a bath.

Last night was much better because we moved Linc's pack and play into our room. :)

This morning has been good so far. Linc slept in his car seat, because he was already sleeping when your mom brought him over and I didn't want to disturb him.

We woke up to his cooing ... and ten minutes later to Kaleb's yells.

It was cold, so after bottles, Blake took both boys a blanket and a heater and tried to warm everyone up.

Kaleb liked being so close to Lincoln and was giving him hugs and kisses. 

He also tried to teach him all about ears

Wednesday and Thursday Morning

Wednesday post nap was the usual.

We all had breakfast and Kaleb and Lincoln looked adorable.

Kaleb enjoyed "tickling" Lincoln's toes (which basically means kaleb scrunched up and said "gitchagitchagitcha" as Lincoln kicked furiously)

Then it was Kaleb's naptime, or as I like to say "Lincoln's favorite part of the day"

Lincoln and I cuddled as he ate and then I put him in Kaleb's jumper and walked around him, pretending to jump in surprise every so often. 

Your son thinks I'm hilarious. 

After Kaleb work up, Lincoln sat in the hight chair playing with his monkey as I fed Kaleb.

We all relaxed a bit more until your mom picked him up at 2:00pm.

He came home around 8:00pm all fed and bathed and ready for bed.

This morning he woke up happy, had his bottle and spit up all over Blake. 

It was ok though because Linc was smiling about it.

Today is Blake's day off, so we're all hanging out today. 

We also broke out Kaleb's old swing, which Lincoln seemed to dig. He ended up taking his nap in the swing. Kaleb tried to push him a couple times too. We're still learning "nice".

So basically, everyone had a great time! I love this little guy and was sad to see him go. We'll miss our Stinky Lincy!

Becky's Detailed Dr. Seuss Themed Baby Shower: One fish, two fish, red fish, new fish.

As Becky and I were walking one morning, we realized that she would be leaving soon. Moving quite a ways away so Quinn could work and be ridiculously successful.

So, we decided to have a baby shower the very next weekend.

And I decided to plan it. :D

I honestly don't know if I stepped on Quinn's or Becky's mom's toes, but they didn't object so I went a little baby shower crazy. 

I had one week and a million ideas. 

Cathy (Becky's mom) and Mamma Green were both fabulous. Cathy going shopping with me and ironing out the details of location (as the shower would be held in her home) and Mamma Green staying up crazy late with me finishing the final craft touches and boiling eggs. 

But I must say, everything went off with out a hitch and all the details were well worth it!

A welcome sign for the guests on the Tucker's front door.

Becky and Quinn's baby pictures along with a little Dr. Seuss-ish (I hope) poem. 

Advice cards for Becky.

Sign the wish/guest book for the baby!

I made it from stickers, cut outs and a scrap book (I'll post details later)

We had Dr. Seuss books all over. They had a Jamba Juice gift card in them and doubled as our  prizes.

More Seuss goodness.

Decorations like this were all over the walls. 

The Menu itself was also inspired by the good doctor.

Aren't they lovely? Simple deviled eggs and lots of green food coloring. We blended the yolks with mustard, mayo and some spices. Then put the mixture in a freezer bag with the food coloring until it was even and lovely. When it came time to put the yolks back in the eggs, we cut the corner off the bag and Becky's sister piped them beautifully in place.

Becky's mother got up extra early to make our delicious ham.

I created these candy wrappers and Mom and I cut and glued them on the candy bars.

I also made these water bottle labels.  Super simple.

Glue stick wouldn't work here, so Blake hot glued these bad boys. 

Do you remember in Cat in the Hat how the bossy gold fish ends up in a tea pot? Yeah, that's what this is. Gold fish crackers in one of Becky's Mom's tea pots.

Mama Green made DELICIOUS funeral potatoes. I renamed them "Lorax Whiskers" to stay in theme. :D

Cat-in-the-hat-punch. AKA: Crystal Light.

Didn't Becky's mom do a lovely job setting up this table? I love that pitcher... jug... spigot thing. What do you call that thing?

And then there was the cake.

Holy cow this cake.

The entire time I was planning, I knew I wanted the cake to be the center of the table. It had to be awesome. There was a couple different bakers I thought of, but as soon as I connected with Pam Lemon, I knew she would nail it.

She is super talented and owns an in home bakery called Sweet Lemonade Cake Pops.

Pam also provided that super cute cake stand

How perfect is this cake? SO PERFECT!

I absolutely loved it! Wanna know the best part? It was Funfetti cake and frosting inside the HOMEMADE fondant. 

The whole table!

Becky's dad went early in the morning to pick up about 20 balloons that morning. It really was a team effort.

Then we started playing the shower games!
Or first was the TP game.
It went like this: Try and guess how many squares of TP fit around Becky's big baby belly.

It was 10! (Isn't she lovely?)

The second game was the "Baby name game"
Everybody wrote down as many names that started with B or Q in two minutes.

it was a two way tie so Becky listened to the names and chose her favorite.
Here is our amazing baker, Pam Lemon reading off her 18 names.

Becky chose Pam's name "Babette".
But I seriously doubt she'll name her son that.
well... maybe.

Then it was present time!

Dr. Seuss

little pants

baby basics

books

wipes

secrets

onsies

BECKY!

Julianna eating some cake.

Green sisters (and Kaleb)

Becky and her mommy.

Planning the shower was seriously one of most fun things I've done in a while
(time consuming and all encompassing, but totally fun)

We love you, new little baby Green. 
We cannot wait to meet you. 
You are so lucky to have such an awesome mom, dad, grandmas and family.

(If you LOVE the printables you can get the updated version at http://www.printablepartydesigns.co/product/dr-seuss-1-fish-2-fish-new-fish-baby-shower-printable-package-turquoise-red. There were are few things I created - the poems and the baby look a like- but feel free to copy the text if you'd like, just let me know how your shower goes!)