Monday Random's and a Picture Dump

Happy Monday!

We had a super low key weekend due to me being on bed rest....:/ 

Last Thursday morning I had two contractions within 30 minutes. I called my OB right away and they put me on "limited bed rest" through the weekend and until my appointment this Tuesday. Basically it meant that I could walk around my house and play with Hannah...but I had to spend most of my day laying down and resting. The worst part...I couldn't lift anything, including my sweet girl who loves being held and carried by her Mama. I'll find out more information at my regular check-up on Tuesday...but its serious stuff as we aren't quite at our week of viability yet. :/ Keep on cooking, G-man! 

Anyways, so we really had a low key weekend. Noah went to the annual Coug game in Seattle with the fam on Saturday, while Nan's and I stayed at home and rested. It was pouring rain and we lost...badly...so I don't feel too bad that I missed out. 

On Sunday we spent all day watching football...and I have to say that the Seahawks game definitely got my blood pressure going. Did anybody watch?! Definitely a nail biter. 

In other news...Hannah has learned to unlock my phone by sliding the bar over (apparently I need to put up a lock code ;) and has been making Facebook statuses, Tweeting, and sharing pictures that the lovely Jillian posted. Suspiciously my phone has now started making strange buzzing noises and I'm not sure how long its going to last. So I dumped all my pictures from my phone to my computer just in case it totally dies....I found some great ones of the last couple months that I wanted to share with you all. 

Relaxing with Dada in her "spot"

Coloring with Baby

Love this

Thank Goodness for the Costco double seat carts

Hugs for Baby

Working

My little seamstress

Love that pouty face

Sick baby gets to stay up late and read books

2am picture when a sick little monkey wanted to come in with Mama and Dada

Bundled up for Stroller Strides

We pulled out her hats and gloves to see what fit her and she wouldn't take them off

Last week of swim lessons

Working on our kicks

Not happy with Mama after her "dunk"

Love her facial expressions

Visiting Mama's school

Bell Square Play Space

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Happy Monday, friends! 

Bump Update Weeks 16-21

Weeks 16-21

How far along? 21 Weeks. 132 more days to go! 
Size and growth of Baby? Baby G is about 10.5 inches long (length of a banana) and about 12.7 oz.  
Maternity Clothes? Yes, yes, yes. I can still wear pre-pregnancy yoga pants and stretchy tops, but jeans and leggings is all maternity. 
Weight Gain? I am up 12 pounds so far. I definitely had a weight gain surge in the beginning and am now starting to slow down and gain the recommended 1lb per week. If I keep going at this pace I should gain the exact recommended weight gain...and be pretty close to what I weighed at the end with Hannah. 
Stretch Marks?  Nope. 
Gender? Still boy! We had our anatomy scan a few weeks ago and I was half expecting them to tell me it was really a girl. I was so convinced it was going to be a girl and had this picture of our little family with two baby girls...so its taken me awhile to change that image, but honestly, now I can't picture our family without little G man.
Movement? Tons. Seriously, this little guy is strong. I know they say you feel them earlier and stronger with a second pregnancy, but he kicks HARD. I swear he's trying to kick his way out already. ;) Noah felt him kick for the first time the other night and we can watch him move around now. It's too much fun! 
Sleep? Ehhh. I forgot how often I have to get up to use the bathroom in the night. It's pretty exhausting. I've been falling asleep around 9pm every night....I'm just so tired and fall asleep the second my head hits the pillow. Hannah has been super sick for the past week and has been waking up every hour, so that's not helping with the pregnancy tiredness. Oh well! Getting use to having a newborn again, I guess. :) 
Food Cravings/Aversions?  Nothing crazy. I am loving my nightly chocolate milk like I did with Hannah. I don't have as much of a sweet tooth as I did with H, though. I haven't had too many aversions...I'm still weary on chicken...but nothing compared to how I was first trimester. 
What I Miss? Still nothing! I love being pregnant and am really trying to soak up this pregnancy because I really wanted time to fly when I was pregnant with Hannah and then I realized how much I missed feeling her move and having her all to myself. Haha...obviously I'd rather her be "here" but, I missed being pregnant...so I'm trying to soak it up and NOT rush myself through this one. 
Symptoms? Exhaustion. Over emotional. Sciatic nerve pain. Some round ligament pains. Heartburn, oh the heartburn. Bad skin :(. 
Best Moment of the Week?  Feeling the baby kick stronger and having Noah feel him for the first time. Hannah rubbing my belly and giving kisses to baby brother. Making progress with school work. 
Worst Moment of the Week? Just dealing with being overly emotional. I cry over everything....and I mean everything. I also get mad super fast....luckily I don't have a crazy temper in general, but if I remember something that made me upset from the past, I get mad enough like it just happened. Its a lot of fun....for everyone. ;) 
What Noah is saying... "I can't wait to play Lego's with G!" "You look great, babe!" <----sweet husband 
Other Thoughts? Trying not to turn this into a vent....but I am already getting the rude comments from inconsiderate people. We've had negative comments over the name, about my weight gain, parenting choices we are considering, etc. 

I keep trying to remind myself that other people's comments and opinions mean nothing...but its hurtful. We've only announced the name to close friends and family (I mean...I have announced it on the blog, but let's be real about who's reading this blog ;) and most of the comments have come from family or close to family......and BEHIND our backs. It literally makes my blood boil. My pregnancy hormones and rage make me want to say something to these particular people....but I'm trying to hold my tongue....for the moment anyways. ;)  

I've had the typical "wow, you are only __ weeks?!" and "are you sure there aren't twins in there?" which to be honest...don't bug me. Seriously. Everyone gains pregnancy weight differently and I'm having a healthy baby boy....he obviously needs me to gain the weight! 

I had another funny comment the other day. We booked our trip to Hawaii. We leave on Halloween and are staying at the Disney resort, Aulani for 10 days. I'm pretty excited...and even more excited for Hannah to see a real life Mickey and Minnie! Anyways....I was talking to someone and they said "oh bummer you will be pregnant! You can't drink or go in hot tubs or do anything really. It would be a waste of money!" Ummmm...............what. It just made me laugh (good thing they caught me in a good mood)....I mean honestly? 

Anyways....typical comments from people who have no filters when it comes to pregnant women. ;) 

What is being a "mom" like?

The other day I had a good friend ask me "what is being a "mom" like?" I thought about it for a mili-second and then just said "busy!" and gave her the schpeel about quick showers and no makeup days.

But early this morning (3am to be exact) as I was rocking my sick baby girl back to sleep for the seventeenth time, I really thought about it.

Everything changes. Like, really, everything. The changes start happening almost from the minute you discover you are pregnant. When it comes down to it, I can pin point 5 areas that really changed when I am became a mom. Beware...its a long one!

Myself
I'll admit...I was as selfish as they come before I had a baby. I mean...everyone is selfish...and most the time you don't even realize it until you have a baby!

I'm lucky if I get in a 10 minute shower now-a-days. I wasn't a huge makeup person pre-baby...but now I'm literally a NO makeup person. Any extra spending money I have at the end of the month goes to clothes, toys, etc for Hannah and G....not random makeup and clothes for myself like it use to.

I don't mind giving things up for Hannah. Perfect example...Hannah is sick with a cold and has a stuffy nose...this doesn't bode well for my binky loving baby who keeps waking up crying that she can't find her binky because she spit it out in her sleep so she could breathe. This morning I went in and sat in her chair from 12:30am-3:30am letting her sleep on my chest in an upright position so she could sleep with her binky in....I had to wake up at 5:30 this morning. I'm not saying this to get some sort of medal....its just part of being a mom. I honestly didn't mind doing it and I don't regret it. I am tired, for sure. But I'm happy that my little girl was able to get some rest when she isn't feeling well.

I'm also much more patient than I use to be. I mean, I'm not perfect and I still have my moments when I am so overwhelmed with a cranky, screaming toddler pulling at my leg, and a dog prancing around wanting to be let out while I am trying not to burn dinner. But I'm more patient in general. Hannah wants to read the same book twelve times? Twelve times it is!

Social Life
Noah and I had a pretty healthy social life before we had Hannah. We had plans almost every weekend and rarely had a weekend that we just lounged around the house. When I was pregnant I expected our social life to change in that we would have a lot more evenings in and we would have to go through the hassle of locking down good babysitters when we wanted to go out.

I was mostly right. We do have A LOT more evenings in....in fact, pretty much every weekend we stay "in". But the funny thing is, we don't feel like we are missing out on anything. I don't miss the days of bar hopping, stumbling home at 2am, and hangovers. I'm so content lounging in my yoga pants at 5pm on a Saturday night, making dinner for my little family while listening to Noah and Hannah play.

Noah and I barely go on "dates" anymore. We check in with each other a lot and make sure that neither of us is feeling like we need a date night...but we both would rather order food in and stay at home with Hannah. I HATE being away from Hannah. Like, I will cry....hands down...no matter how short of a time it is. I'm sure there will come a time when we want to start doing a regular date night, but right now we are perfectly happy staying in with our little lady.

Hannah and I do have a very active social life during the day. We are part of several mommy groups, Hannah has school on Monday's, and we meet new mommy's and baby's at public play dates all the time. Not too mention, I have a couple long time friends with babies close to Hannah's age. So our social life has changed in that it totally revolves around Hannah and we are definitely okay with that.

Marriage
Ugh...I almost didn't want to include this one because its so personal...but when it comes down to it, marriage might be one of the biggest things that change when you have a baby. Not all for the best.

It's hard...suddenly you have this tiny person that you love more than anything, or anyone, in the whole world. You struggle with that feeling in the beginning, eventually understanding that it is possible to love more than one person this much AND that you can love in different ways. Noah and I both love each other very much and couldn't imagine life without one another...but our love for Hannah is absolute and unconditional. Its a mutual feeling, and the sooner we figured that out, the easier it was to understand each other and our actions.

There are also new roles that take a lot of adjustment. In our situation, I was going to be a stay-at-home mom. That meant that during the day, Noah was at work bringing home an actual physical income, while I stayed at home, caring for and raising our daughter...but besides having a healthy and happy baby, I didn't have a physical income to show for it. I LOVE staying at home and wouldn't have it any other way...but it was an adjustment to get use to for both of us. Who would get up in the middle of the night? We technically both worked during the day...just because I stay at home doesn't mean I get to sleep in later or take naps to make up for lack of sleep. Noah would come home stressed and exhausted from work, wanting to just kick his feet up and relax, while I was looking at his homecoming as my first opportunity to take a shower for the day.

This little person becomes your whole world, and I will be totally honest here...in the beginning, I didn't care about anything else. If she was happy and napping, and I didn't have laundry or cooking to do...I wanted to sit and close my eyes...I definitely did not want to have a conversation with my husband about the thingamabob he thingamadid at work.

Fortunately, after several conversations and trial and error, we both found your ways and things fell back into place. I am happy to report that we are totally back to normal...and happier than ever. And marriage doesn't just change in a bad way...I can honestly say that despite those super stressful and tense first few months...I love Noah more than I ever did before we had Hannah. He loves Hannah so much and every time I catch him reading her a book, playing with her, kissing her, or rocking her to sleep, my heart falls a little more in love with him and I realize how lucky I am to have chosen the most perfect husband to have babies with.

Friends
This area changes a lot too. I mostly struggled with this when I was pregnant with Hannah. I noticed that I stopped getting invited to outings or I was only getting invited to "parts" of outings...as in the dinner before the bar hopping part. When you are hormonal and overly emotional, it's a hard thing to get use to, but I learned that it's not personal.

I was really concerned that I would lose touch with my friends who weren't having babies yet, but that doesn't have to be true if you don't let it. I am still super close with all my close girlfriends from college. We are all in different stages of our lives and I could argue that anything could make someone feel disconnected from their friends for a period of time...not just having babies.

I will say though, that the personal connection I have with my long time friends that are now mom's too, is amazing...and stronger in a way that is hard to pin point. Even if we were close before, I feel closer now. We are part of this special "club" and have bonded over something so special and secret. I love that I can bounce concerns and questions off of them without worry of judgment, because I know they've been through it and they know how hard being a parent is, even without the judgment of the world around us.

I also have several new mom friends, that I would never have guessed I would have been friends with. It sounds superficial, but some of my new friends are 10+ years older than me. I'm not sure our paths would have ever crossed, had we not both had a baby at the same time. I am so grateful for these new friends and have felt loved and supported throughout the whole process of being a new mom. I have loved having these ladies as friends and the opportunity to be able to socialize both as families, and just as mom's nights out, because we can do so in kid-friendly venues where some non-mom's might not be so willing to go.

Life
I mean ya, life just changes. You know when you are being dramatic and saying "omg, I love this ______ so much it hurts!" or some other version of that line?....That is totally and completely true when you have a baby.

The love you feel for a baby, YOUR baby, is amazing. It's a feeling you will never know until you have a baby. I can honestly and truly admit that I have never known this kind of love before. It's just amazing....and terrifying. I constantly worry about Hannah (and G...already!). Everything is terrifying when it comes to their safety. I once cried to Noah for 30 minutes after we watched a Dateline special on global warming and what the world would look like in 50 years time. I just couldn't handle the fact that there was a possibility that my babies might not be safe...and I wouldn't even be around to protect them. Honestly...just thinking about that is making me tear up as I type this. (For the record, I wasn't even pregnant the first time I cried about this).

I constantly worry. I worry about driving at night and in the rain and what would happen if I got into a car accident and left my kids without a mom. I worry about Hannah getting her first real injury. I worry when Hannah has a fever. I worry about creeps in public places and I worry about the day that Hannah doesn't want to sit in a stroller anymore because that opens up a whole new ball game of worries! I even hate flying now...because the risk of crashing scares me! I never use to be afraid to fly.

Your whole world just changes. Life revolves around this little person and nothing really seems as important as it once was. You truly realize how precious life is and how important every minute is. I realize that I am so lucky to be a stay-at-home-mom, because I would have real struggles every day of losing out on precious time with my baby. You never know when a day could be your last, and that becomes so much more obvious when you have a baby.

If you made it to the end of this post....thank you! And sorry for talking your ear off...I am running on very little sleep after all. ;)

Five on Friday!

Hi friends! First off....ignore my post from yesterday (unless you haven't followed me on Bloglovin yet, of course!) I know I already posted that, but I was trying to update some things and accidentally deleted my account.....

Anyways.....I'm linking up with my absolute FAVORITE blog reads, Darci and Natasha for Five on Friday!

1. Stroller Strides. 

I have officially signed up for Stroller Strides again! Some of you may remember when I did a trial course right after I had Hannah. I loved it back then, but it was a little overwhelming between wedding planning, postpartum issues, a new baby and regular life! But I decided to give it another go and we are in love! It's a great workout for me, and Hannah loves our fun trips to the park and playing with other babies. They are also so accommodating for pregnancy and I feel like I have more energy then ever....despite waking up several times a night to use the restroom!

2. Scentsy.

I think I've been living under a rock, but I just recently heard about the company Scentsy. I'm sure this is old news for a lot of you, but its a company that sells warmers and wax scents that leave a delicious scent throughout your whole house. I love having candles burning, but always worry that Hannah will knock into something that will knock it down, etc....too many things to worry about when you mix candles and toddlers. But Scentsy warmers are heated by a low watt bulb, so its perfectly safe! I've been talked into having a Scentsy party and I'm so excited to see some of their products in person!

3. Cloth Diapers. 

I've recently been seriously thinking about cloth diapering Baby G. If you know me, you might be surprised because up until this point I have been very against cloth diapers due to not so great experiences with them while babysitting other kids. However, I've been doing a lot of research and I'm leaning more and more towards trying them out. I think they are adorable and I like that they are safer for the baby AND the environment. Hannah had such sensitive skin and I kind of wish I had made the jump to cloth diapers with her...but better late than never! Oh.....If we do make the leap to cloth, I'm even entertaining the thought of using cloth wipes. Who am I?!?!

4. Tantrum Land.

We've officially entered the dreaded Tantrum Land. Seriously....it's like some tantrum monster came and took over my sweet baby girl. She hits, screams, throws things,.....and BITES! Seriously. I kind of feel like our pediatrician jinxed us. At her 15 month check up she asked if we've reached the "terrible two's tantrum stage" yet? To which I replied "what?! no! She's an angel!" I was even surprised she brought it up because I thought we had a solid 6 months before we would even think about getting into that stage. Apparently this lovely stage can rear its ugly head anywhere between now and 2....fun fact. Luckily we left the appointment with some tips to handle these tantrums "just in case" they started before her next check up. Oh geeeze. I am in uncharted territory friends....and it's not fun! I guess the silver lining is that it started up while we still have a few months to get a handle on it before Baby G gets here. I can't imagine being new to tantrums AND having a newborn. Ay ya ay!


5. Grass! 

Before we even signed our names on the mortgage agreeing to purchase this house, we knew we were going to have to redo the entire backyard (among several other things!). It's been a huge project and definitely still a work in progress, but our main priorities were to rip out the rotting deck, take out several (which turned into ALL) overgrown trees, rip up all the "grass" which was mostly weeds and moss, level the whole yard and then replace the deck and grow new grass. I am happy to report that we finally have progress and officially have a patio and tiny little grasses growing! I can already picture grilling out next summer while Hannah and G run (and crawl) in the yard. Next up for the Spring...landscaping, patio furniture, and a new fence! Oh the joys of homeownership.

So that's everything I have for you this week! Next week I'm planning a Week 16-20 pregnancy update, as well as Hannah's 15 month update (apparently we skipped her 12 month update, whoops!) and possibly some more Pinterest Yay or Nay's!......I have to come up with a new name for that...haha.

Have a great weekend loves!

Blog Lovin

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Pinterest....Yay or Nay!

Hi friends! As of this morning I officially only have my research paper to write and then....I.AM.DONE.WITH.SCHOOL!!!

I've been working hard the past few weeks and have knocked away at all the other projects and papers and finally have completed them all. I am SO close....I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Woo hoo!

Anyways, to celebrate, I thought I'd check in here and fill you in on some Pinterest dishes we have been trying.

I've been trying to stick to meal plans to minimize how much food gets wasted when it doesn't get eaten. I've been searching out all my recipes on Pinterest and wanted to give you my thoughts....yay or nay!

Wendy's Frosty

Nay-It didn't taste anything like a Wendy's frosty to me. Noah didn't mind it (and ate my leftovers) but I was really looking for an exact, or pretty close, to a frosty.

Roasted Veggies

Yay!- We love these and make them all the time. Even Hannah loves them. I'm dying to try out this recipe on summer squash and see how they turn out. Definitely recommend. 

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

Yay-Very moist and the cinnamon swirl was an awesome twist.

Classic Meatloaf

Eh-I made this poorly. I was slightly shy on the amount of ground beef I had and didn't account for that when adding the milk, so it turned out a little runny and mushy....and as a result had to cook extra long. Noah still liked it...but it was hard for me to get over the mushy texture. I'm sure if I made it right, it would have been delicious. 

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread

Nay-I don't know what it was about this, but I didn't like it at all. I was SO excited for our first "pumpkiny" recipe of the season, but was so disappointed. 

Tuna Noodle Casserole

Yay-It's your typical tuna noodle casserole, but I just love the crunchy texture of the hardened noodles on top and cheese combined with the softer texture of the noodles and tuna. Yum! 

Green beans, Chicken and Potato

Yay-This was SUPER easy. Throw three sides into the dish, top with seasoning and butter and leave it in the oven! The only thing is that it took us almost 30 minutes longer to cook the potatoes than the hour the originally recommended. It was still good though.

Fall style!

Hi friends! I hope everyone had a great long weekend! Ours was busy prepping the lawn for hydroseeding and cement....more on that later. Not quite the chelanigans labor day weekend we had pre-Hannah. ;) 

Anyways, I'm sure most of you have heard by now that H&M has FINALLY opened their online shopping to the U.S. I really love the kids section, but barely have the patience to dig through everything in the store....especially when I have a toddler trying to rip everything off the racks as we roll by. 

You can bet that I am prepared to spend a pretty penny updating Hannah's Fall wardrobe (and stocking up for G) in the next few weeks. 

Here are some of my favorites! 

1. Polka dot sweater-I love polka dots. I can just see H wearing this with some black leggings on a rainy day.

2. Cinch jeans-I'm obsessed with this style of jeans. Pair this with ballet flats and a cardigan and she's good to go.

3. Beret-We might have already snatched this up last time we were in the store. She looks pretty adorable in it, if I do say so myself.

4. Heart onesie-Too cute. I'd put leggings on underneath this one. 

5. Ballet flats-Always looking for new footwear for my walking girl and these are too cute! Love the color blocking.

6. Cardigan-Something about plum purple and deer just screams FALL to me, anyone else?!

And of course, even though G won't be here until we are well into the middle of Winter....it could never hurt to start stocking up on items for next Fall, or to pack away for those cold winter months. 

1.Body suit-How comfy and cute does this look? I kind of want one for myself.

2. Racoon onesie and leggings-I'm not sure why....but I am obsessed with this set up. It's already in my cart and waiting to be purchased.

3. Striped onesie-Long sleeve onesies will be our staple for those first few months with G and I'm in love with this striped one! 

4. Cardigan-Elbow pads....love.

5. Jeans with suspenders-I die. I love little boys in suspenders. 

6. Striped leggings-I'm really into stripes for boys, I guess. Too cute! 

There are plenty of adorable non-baby items as well...but these days I just frequent the kids department and occasionally the maternity department....which H&M does have, for my preggo friends. ;)