Our Two Babies Together

Eric snapped this great photo last weekend at the wedding of some friends of ours. It was an absolutely gorgeous fall day and the wedding took place right next to this beautiful pond. Molly had a great time walking all over the place and she probably would've jumped right into the water if we let her. It's hard to believe that just 18 months ago, Molly was just a bump on my belly just about the size of the one I'm carrying right now. Since I haven't been very good about taking any official "belly shots" (chasing around a 1-year-old tends to keep me busy), I guess I'll snatch up this rare belly photo as an opportunity to update you on our little "newbie" (which I haven't done a whole lot of either).

At 22 weeks, our baby is about 11 inches long and almost 1 whole pound! His/her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct and he/she is beginning to develop tiny tooth buds inside the gums. I've been feeling lots of movement for the last few weeks. At first, he/she was very gentle, gracing my belly with a few nice flutters and strokes, but now that the baby is getting more active, I'm feeling more pokes, jabs and somersaults, especially in the late evening. I've also been feeling LOTS of Braxton-Hicks contractions, which the midwife said is totally normal, especially for a second pregnancy. It's just the uterus practicing it's stuff for the big show it will put on in another 4 months or so. I had an appointment at the birth center this week and everything is looking perfect. I'm measuring at exactly 22 weeks and the baby has a strong heartbeat of 160 beats per minute. Since it's still above 150, lots of people have speculated that we're in for another girl. However, I've also heard that the heartrate's connection to the baby's gender is a myth. Honestly, I haven't been getting a feeling either way. I really do want to be truly surprised when he/she is born so I'm not trying to guess one way or the other. I'm so excited to be surprised this time around! In other news, we've narrowed our name choices down to 4 boy names and 2 girl names. We can't seem to make any further decisions, but we're both ok with going into the birth center with six names and getting to know our new little one for a while before settling on a name.

Only 4 more months until the Frueh's become a foursome!

September: Come and Gone!

I know, I know. It's been a LOOOOOOOONG time since I've updated the blog. This school year has been seriously crazy so far. Every minute of my day from 5:30am to 7pm is filled with activity and once Molly goes to bed at 7, it's time for cooking, grading, planning, washing diapers, etc. I'm really looking forward to the 9 weeks of maternity leave I'll have from February to April! I know it will be filled with sleeplessness and all the ups and downs of life with a newborn, but at least I'll be home and un-scheduled.

As promised in my last post, I have LOTS of great pictures from the month of September. All the pictures taken over Labor Day weekend were taken by Eric's mom and dad with their fabulous camera. We were going to get professional 1-year-old pictures taken, but these all turned out so great that we never did. I have over 350 pictures from the last month, but these are just a few of my favorites:

SUCH a typical "Molly face"...a mix of pensive and worried.

LOVE those eyes!

Hanging out with GG after a bike ride.

We all went to see a Durham Bulls game.

I love this moment that Jeri captured between Molly and her Pop.

It looks like she trying really hard to figure out this crazy game of baseball.

Molly loves her Camelbak water bottle. We've tried every kind of sippy cup and straw-cup imaginable, but the only thing she'll drink out of is my Camelbak. So we got her a few of her own.

We also spent a day at Duke Gardens. It was a beautiful late summer day. Breezy, not too hot, and the gardens are just gorgeous!

Two lovely ladies: Molly and her GG.

We also tried out the newest and greatest addition to Alamance County, a little place called The Sneauxball Effect. They make authentic New Orleans snowballs. If you've never had one, you're missing out on a great treat! If you're ever in New Orleans (or Graham, NC), try one. You won't be disappointed.
Molly enjoyed a "Georgia Peach and Cream" with her GG.

Molly has been such a silly girl lately. She laughs hysterically at the funniest things. Here we were just trying to get a picture of her in front of these pretty purple flowers. I was playing peek-a-boo behind Eric to try and coax a smile out of her and here's the result. I'm in love with her laugh, especially the deep belly laugh she has when she's completely lost in silliness. It's one of the greatest sounds in the world!!!

With September comes FOOTBALL SEASON!!!!!!!! Can you tell that Molly and I are excited? The funny thing is that she wore this same exact outfit for the opening of Steeler's season LAST year! Granted it was quite huge on her then, but it fits her perfectly now since she's still in mostly 9-month clothes. Thanks for the outfit, GG and Pop!

And of course, we had to get a picture of the "newbie" in his/her Steeler's gear :) So here's our little 19-week old bean sporting a Bettis jersey. Since we aren't finding out the gender and we still haven't picked any names, Baby Frueh #2 has been officially dubbed as "Newbie". It's funny how different this pregnancy is. This is the first official belly shot we've taken! When you're chasing around a 1-year-old, you forget about the one in the oven :)

Another new development this month were Molly's first steps. She's still very tentative and has only taken a few steps at a time. The most she's taken has been 4 in a row. She finds crawling much safer and easier. If the distance is anything more than an arm's reach, she'll just resort to crawling. We didn't capture anything on video, but these pictures were as close as we could get.

And, now that's it's offically October and there's a fall chill in the air, I thought we'd end with a season-appropriate picture. We've already broken out the Halloween gear and tonight was Molly's first night in her new PJs. (Excuse the weird look on her face. It was bedtime and she wasn't in the mood to pose for pictures. She was ready for bed!)