Usually by this time in December, I've already put myself into such a holiday fun-frenzy that I've reached a point of Christmas excitement and preparation that's almost overwhelming, causing me to have to take a step back and remind myself to not get too pulled into all of the "hustle and bustle" of the season and focus in on what's really important. Also by this time in December, we're into Kyle's finals week at school, followed by a flight home to Utah to spend the holidays with our families and trying to fit as many traditions, dinner parties, and memories as we can into our holiday visit. This December though, things feel a little different. We're still into Kyle's finals at school, but this year there will be no rushing to the airport once he's finished to fly home to Utah. With how far along I am with baby brother, Kyle and I made the decision to stay at our home in Kentucky this Christmas and have our first holiday as a family of three. 

Knowing that we'll only be seeing our families via FaceTime this year has me feeling ALL the emotions, and that combined with dang pregnancy hormones has me breaking down over all sorts of Christmas things that normally wouldn't phase me (ex: I was writing Christmas cards to send some of these pictures of Em to my mom & grandma and literally had to stop half way through because I started crying over not being able to just give them the pictures in person like I normally do.... I'm seriously a hormonal mess 😆). As sad as it makes me to be so far away from our families at Christmas time, Em's enthusiasm about everything Christmas this year has been the one consistent thing to help lift my own Christmas spirit when it's been a little dim. She is OBSESSED with our Christmas tree and plugs in the lights every single time she sees them not on, turns on Christmas music on my phone every morning by breakfast, loves candy canes and Christmas books/movies, and will randomly spread her arms wide and shout "MERRY CHRISTMAS MOM! MERRY CHRISTMAS DAD! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!" without any prompting on a fairly regular basis. She's basically turned into a little elf of constant Christmas cheer these past few weeks, and I know that if there was ever a year where staying home for Christmas would be ok because it means getting to start our own little traditions and really fully soak in all of Em's excitement for the holiday, this would be it. Since it'll also be her last Christmas as an only child, Kyle and I figured we'd indulge in her enthusiasm and work to make this one of the best Christmases she's had yet. 

Usually my yearly version of this post includes some sort of reminder to keep focus on the things that matter most during the holiday season (2017 & 2016 posts here) because it's been a reminder that I've usually desperately needed. This has been the first year in a while that I haven't felt that crazy holiday pressure, and I can only attribute that to the fact that family has literally been the only thing I've been able to think about since the holidays started. In the past I've been so focused on all of the details and planning of the holiday, usually because I've always had to try to get all of our little KY Christmas things taken care of before leaving for Utah, and then once we are with family find us in a constant whirlwind of events between both immediate and extended family events on both sides. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that there's a part of me that loves the busyness (especially the family parties) just because that's how our Christmases have always been, but it has been extra special this year to be able to put more of a focus on showing those we love most that we care through whatever long-distance ways we can, and then the rest of the fun little "details" of Christmas have been spread throughout the month. Some days I still miss the busyness that comes from visiting family so bad that it hurts, but I am extremely grateful for the extra time to really be able to focus in on what matters most. This December has already put so much special holiday cheer into my heart, and I'm excited to see what the rest of the month brings. To our long distance friends and family reading, know that you're missed and loved like crazy (all the time really) but especially this Christmas. 🎄❤️ 

How far along? 24 Weeks 4 Days (in the picture) Maternity Clothes? The answer to this question should be just a straight yes, but I hit an unexpected roadblock when the season changed to autumn and I realized that aside from jeans, the majority of my maternity clothes were meant for warmer weather since I was my biggest with Em in the spring and summer. The idea of fitting into any pants that are non-maternity is a joke at this point, but I'm still trying to be as creative as possible with a few of my looser sweaters and long sleeve non-maternity shirts to stretch out my wardrobe for a little bit longer until I'm confined to wearing the three maternity sweaters I do have that actually fit on repeat. Sleep? For some reason sleep has been a ridiculous challenge for me during this pregnancy, to the point where I had to start taking a nightly sleep aide (suggested by my OB) for the sake of getting any sleep at all because I was struggling with nightly insomnia. I've honestly had a bit of a hard time not getting discouraged with the sleep issues because I hate feeling so tired during the day with Emery and I feel like the constant bags/dark circles under my eyes have robbed me of feeling any sort of pregnancy "glow" this time around, but I'm continuing to try and do everything that I can to get as much and as quality of sleep as possible (think yoga, meditation, chamomile tea + the sleep aide, early bedtime, etc) so that my body can continue to support this growing babe. Food Cravings? ALL the sweet things. I'd also had a specific craving for cinnamon sugar pita chips for AGES and was getting super discouraged because I couldn't find any in our local grocery stores until a few weeks ago when Kyle basically won husband of the year and found some for me, and has continued to shine by basically cleaning out the store of them whenever he happens to see them on the shelves.  Queasy's? Not anymore which I am EXTREMELY grateful for. I still have an incredibly sensitive sense of smell that can pick out specific scents from a mile away, but any crazy, unexplained nausea has long since passed. Current Pregnancy Project? I'm including this in because while looking back at Em's bump updates I basically kept myself busy with prepping for Emery in every possible way from about week 17 on and it cracks me up because now if I wanted to do any fun little projects like that I honestly don't know when I'd fit them in unless I did them late at night but that would involve sacrificing sleep so.... yeah. No baby specific projects currently. I did find a baby book for him that I LOVE and want to start filling out, so maybe if I can figure out how to keep my head on straight while chasing around a crazy toddler I can make some time to actually get that started. Best pregnancy moment so far? Thus far, our best pregnancy moment has actually resulted from what was originally one of the toughest trials I've faced while pregnant. While pregnant with Em, my favorite prenatal appointment was hands down her 20 week ultrasound,  and as my 20 week appointment with baby boy approached I could not wait to share in the excitement of seeing him move around on the screen with Kyle & Emery. Our ultrasound went as planned, and aside from not being able to get a great face shot, everything seemed normal. However, when we met with my OB after the ultrasound she explained to Kyle and I that although baby boy was anatomically perfect and growing well, that I appeared to have something called Placenta Previa (for those like me that had no idea what this is, basically my placenta was covering my cervix - aka the baby's way out). My doctor said that she had hopes of the placenta moving up to a normal position, but that if it didn't that it would mean planning for a c-section about a month earlier than my original due date to prevent me from going into any sort of labor on my own. We scheduled another follow up ultrasound for 24 weeks, and I left the appointment with a fistful of tissues and a heart heavy with worry and anxiety over the thought of possibly having a premie baby in the dead of winter. Kyle and I decided to keep the news really close to home until we knew more, only telling my immediate family and one or two close girlfriends to help me mentally make it through the four-week waiting period. As much as I'd like to say that I was able to stay optimistic and keep my head clear of the stress of the situation, getting through the month of October was really hard for me. I worked to keep myself as distracted and busy as possible with Emery and Halloween preparations, but the worry was still constant in the back of my mind and took it's toll on my ability to sleep or fully relax and let myself just "be" in any sort of present moment. Our follow-up appointment happened to be on the 30th of October, and to our pleasant surprise we were told that the placenta had made some incredible movements in the past four weeks, and had put itself in such a good, normal-looking position that my doctor felt safe completely putting the Previa risks and scare to rest. For how discouraged I'd felt for the month leading up to the appointment, I can't even fully put into words how good it felt to hear that things had gone back to normal. It was like a hundred pound weight had been lifted off of my shoulders, and it was so nice to be able to see my little baby boy kicking in the ultrasound and know that at least for now everything with him and me together is a-ok. We even got a few really good face shots of him to make up for his shyness at the 20 week appointment, and it was literally the perfect way to start our Halloween fun without the anxiety. Looking back at the situation I realize that I probably stressed way more than I should have, but it was also a really valuable lesson for me to be in a situation where I literally had no control over what was happening, and really could do nothing but wait and try to find peace within myself and those close to me until we had more information and could plan accordingly. Getting the news that the Previa had resolved was definitely the highlight of the pregnancy thus far (along with seeing cute baby's face), but I'm also really grateful for the gentle reminder that I was given to let things be, and for knowing that I have such an amazing support of family and friends to help me get there. ❤️

Whew, this post ended up being a LOT longer than I originally intended it to be, but in all fairness I feel like I was literally trying to fit what could've been two separate posts into one, so maybe that's where all the wordiness came from. 😉 To anyone that actually read all the way through, thanks so much for following along! Your love and support for baby boy and our family seriously mean the world to me, and we love and appreciate each and every one of you!

Happy Halloween to all of our friends and family from your local beekeeper, beehive, and of course the cutest little bumblebee!! We hope that everyone has a fun holiday with plenty of fun tricks and especially treats!! We've been celebrating all month long and trying to soak in as many of our favorite Halloween Kentucky traditions including but not limited to visiting our favorite apple orchards and pumpkin patches, reading fun Halloween books, painting pumpkins (this was our first year bringing back this tradition since Em's been born and it was a BLAST!), going to Boo-at-the-Zoo,  trick-or-treating in on of our favorite neighborhoods (a day early due to rain on the actual day), eating way more candy than we normally would, and tonight we're beating the crummy weather at an annual Halloween party with a few of our closer KY friends! Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays and it's been so much fun watching Emery grown and join in all of the excitement and celebrations with us! Her enthusiasm for the holiday just makes everything that we do to celebrate it that much more fun!! 

This year was the first year that I haven't fully DIY-ed our family costumes, but it certainly wasn't by lack of trying. My mom dressed me up as a bumblebee one year for Halloween and I thought it'd be so fun and cute to have Em recreate the costume, but what I didn't account for was the fact that my mother has incredible sewing skills that I did NOT inherit.... after buying all of the fabric and supplies to make a suitable bumblebee, borrowing a sewing machine from a girlfriend (the fact that I had to borrow a machine should've been a giveaway to me that I was biting off more than I could chew but whatever) and spending a good few hours longer than I should have trying to sew some black stripes onto yellow fabric, I had created something that looked fairly cute BUT was only big enough to fit on your standard American Girl sized doll. I desperately/stubbornly tried squeezing Em into it to see if I could make it work and ended up with an upset toddler and a ruined attempt at a costume. Luckily I was able to find this adorable Pottery Barn Kids costume within a day of my original failure (gently used on Poshmark for an AMAZING deal), and it made up for my ridiculous attempt at self-taught sewing. Emery has LOVED wearing her bumblebee costume to our Halloween festivities, and since this costume is both warmer and cuter than what I'd originally hoped to create, I'm looking back at this as an "all's well that ends well" memory, and kept the details for mine and Kyle's costumes strictly no-sew and simple as possible  for the sake of my own sanity. 😜

(a few more pictures of our little bumblebee because she's definitely the cutest in our party)

and.... That sums up our annual Halloween greeting! Normally I'd love to get into all the details about the rest of the DIY aspects of our costumes with you all, but pregnancy brain has already made this holiday month fly by way faster than I'd prefer, and I want to spend what's left of our Halloween fun feeling present in the moment with my favorite little bee-lovin' family.
We hope that everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!
​Love - Kyle, Chelsea, Emery & Baby Boy Pett

By the time this bump update goes public for everyone to read I'll already be into my second trimester of pregnancy, but one of my favorite things about blogging is the opportunity that it gives me to document and journal life as we know it, regardless of who actually reads it or how specific timelines match up. With Emery, I started updates at about 15 weeks and then did them monthly throughout my entire pregnancy, and if I'm being honest with myself I just really don't see monthly pictures/updates happening with this pregnancy while chasing around a crazy two year old, so I thought that I'd try for a more realistic goal of three trimester updates instead so that I can still have some sort of documentation to remember the experience with. 

How far along? 12 Weeks 3 Days (in the picture) Maternity Clothes? Yes & No. At this point in time we'd only told family and a couple of close friends that we were expecting so hiding my bump was still a priority BUT I also started showing a lot sooner with this baby than I did with Emery and have had a distinct bump to hide since about week six. I've found that elastic waisted pants with a few maternity shorts, loose fitting tee shirts, and loose dresses have been my main go-to's. I had worn the outfit pictured to my 12 week prenatal appointment and it felt SO good to actually dress my bump instead of hiding it, and I'm looking forward to the news being out in the open so that I can let this baby bump shine! Sleep? Getting a good night's sleep has probably been my biggest challenge with this pregnancy so far. Fairly early on insomnia became a regular occurrence, and I'd find myself awake in the middle of the night tossing, turning, and snacking for several hours at a time. I've made it a habit of trying to be in bed by 9:30 or 10 each night to try and offset it, and would nap with Emery if I'd had a particularly bad night. I also finally caved and bought one of those fancy pregnancy pillows on Prime Day, and that combined with moving out of the first trimester seems to be improving my sleep quality.  Food Cravings? Veggie sandwiches (usually from Great Harvest or Jimmy John's) and fresh fruit. While pregnant with Emery I basically lived off of Olive Garden's minestrone soup, and I feel like having my first trimester in the dead heat of the summer instead of the fall/winter has switched my veggie cravings to a less hot dish. 😂 Aside from the sandwiches and fruit, I've also found that I can consume a ridiculous amount of Hot Tamales candy, which is weird because those have never been a candy that I'd of chosen off the shelf pre-pregnancy. Queasy's? I haven't been completely clear of the first-trimester nausea, but also feel EXTREMELY blessed/lucky because I feel like the nausea this time around has been much more manageable than it was with Emery. Typically as long as I can get enough sleep (cue 10 o'clock bedtime), avoid an empty stomach, and stay away from certain triggers (specific smells, extreme heat, etc) I've been a-OK.   Gender Prediction? This pregnancy has been SO funny with the whole gender prediction thing because literally every. single. person that we've told about the pregnancy has predicted that we're having a girl, and I feel like usually people's guesses are more split. From the beginning Kyle said he also felt like we'd be adding another little girl to the family, and even though for weeks I wasn't getting any hunches or intuition the further along the pregnancy goes the more I feel like it's a girl as well. I'm too impatient to wait longer than necessary to find out the gender, so it'll be a lot of fun to go back and read this once we know and see if we all guessed right! (actual gender result here!) Best pregnancy moment so far? Easily the most fun part of this pregnancy so far has been the process of trying to introduce Emery to the fact that she'll soon have a new baby to love as a part of her family. She got a baby doll for her birthday and has been obsessed with taking care of it, and we bought her a big sister book that has since become a daily read for us. I literally can't even handle the cuteness of Emery taking care of her baby, or pointing at the little girl in her book and saying "Emery" and then pointing to the baby and getting excited about "her baby" too. She's also taken to trying to lift up my shirt to see the baby growing inside, and whenever she says "hi baby" in her sweet little voice to my stomach it literally makes my mama heart burst. 😍😭 I feel so incredibly excited and blessed to be able to grow our family from three to four, and can't wait to see how the journey progresses. 

So... the secret is officially out! Kyle and I are over-the-moon excited to announce that a sweet baby BOY will be joining our family come February 2019! Keeping our surprise quiet has been no easy task (mostly thanks to my belly popping out really early on) and we are so happy to finally have the news out in the open! We feel so blessed to be able to give Emery a younger sibling, and even though it might seem a bit crazy to some that this will put us having not just one but TWO babies while in dental school, we feel really fortunate to be able to have another baby with the same incredible doctor & hospital that delivered Em, as well as while still living in our amazing community of close friends out here in Kentucky! The timing of everything just feels so right, and we're so grateful that things have worked out the way that they have.

Because everyone always asks, here are a few quick FAQ's and their answers for anyone curious as to how things have played out so far with our sweet little baby #2:
How did you tell Kyle, family, friends, etc? I found out that I was pregnant right before Father's Day weekend and was totally planning on waiting until the actual holiday to surprise Kyle, then soon realized that I was incapable of keeping a secret this big from my husband for more than 24 hours. I ended up making him open up his Father's Day present early and included the news in the gift! We told both of our families together while celebrating Em's birthday out in Utah with a "sister" t-shirt, and have been breaking the news to friends basically by me just awkwardly blurting out the news in the middle of random conversation. 
When is the official due date?! I think that the official date is February 20th, but for the sake of my sanity I'm working hard to get that date out of my mind and expect to be due simply at the end of February. While pregnant with Em it helped a ton forgetting the actual due date to not get overly antsy/anxious when I went over the expected timeframe, and I'm planning on doing the same thing with this little guy to keep things easy!
How are you feeling? Physically I have felt really well which is something I'm SO grateful for. I dealt with the expected nausea/morning sickness at the beginning but ended up going through the worst of it while visiting family which was great because my parents are amazing and helped a TON to take care of me, Em and Kyle while I wasn't feeling well. I'm much more tired with this pregnancy than I was with Em, but that could be due to the fact that I spend all day everyday chasing around a crazy, high-energy toddler. 😉 Overall I feel just really lucky to be doing so well so that I can keep up with Emery and carry a healthy, growing baby. 
Are you planning on a natural birth again? Yes absolutely. My birthing experience with Em to this day is one of the most beautiful and special experiences I've ever had in my life. I'm a strong believer in the ability of a woman's body to naturally birth her baby, as well as in all of the benefits that it provides to the baby (and mama) to birth naturally if possible. As long as baby boy is healthy and my doctor gives us the go ahead, we'll plan on a similar birth plan to Em's. 
How has Emery reacted to the idea of a new baby? Em's reaction to her new baby brother has honestly been my favorite part of this pregnancy so far. I don't know if she's really caught on yet to the fact that she's getting a brother specifically, but she's always lifting up my shirt to check on her baby and will talk to him and give my belly kisses and hugs. 😍😭 I get a little emotional every time I think about our little world being more than just Emery, but with how excited and protective she's been over her baby already it makes me so excited to see how she'll be with her baby brother once he's on the outside!

A big thank you to our family and close friends that have already shown us SO much love and support with this new baby while we've been keeping quiet with the news. It makes my heart burst knowing that this baby boy is already loved by so many and we can't wait to meet him!