Reading Adventures

The day I finished my first book since Cara has been born was a good day, the day I started AND finished a book since Cara has been born was an even better day!

I'll admit, having a baby has made me think of things I used to do that I don't get to anymore. Some are good things (I don't just sit around the TV wasting a whole night/week/month watching shows, I actually want to be outside or doing something productive, I don't just throw meals together - I actually want to include veggies to show Cara they are good, etc.), but there are the things I miss (sleeping in, going to the movie theater, staying out or up later than 10 - haha - and reading for as long as I choose to).

So I started the Mr. Mercedes series by Stephen King, a few months before we had Cara. It was an interesting couple of books and it took me FOREVER to finally finish them, but now that I have I am trying to find more time to read. I was reading these ones to Cara (if you've read them and know the bad language, just know that she was way too young to know what I was reading her), but now that she's older, understanding more, and getting closer to the age where she repeats words I'm finding I should probably get more age appropriate books to read her.

I didn't want to go just buying a bunch of books that I didn't know if they'd be good or not, so we decided to dust off our old library cards and go check out the kids section to see what we could find. I found a butt load! Also, am I the only one who was surprised to see you can rent like 50 books at once with the library?! That seems like so much! And you get them for 3 weeks! Why did I think you could only have like 3 for one week? I am SO old haha.

First of  many library hauls

Now that I have great books to read to Cara (usually ones aimed at the new things I'm trying to teach her like body parts, colors, shapes, numbers, etc.) during the day and some time after she goes to bed to read my own books I'm getting so excited to actually read and enjoy books like I used to. I know one day she'll be old enough that I can read like I used to...or heck, I probably could now while she plays, but I hate the idea of tuning her out for my own selfish reasons. I might as well enjoy my few hours with her and read for the couple of hours I have of me time at night...doesn't seem like too much to ask.

Post Partum Goals

I figured out during my maternity leave with Cara that being bored with a baby is one of the hardest things for me to get past. I seem to have developed ADD when it comes to having things to do with babies: if I don't keep myself busy then I'll try and switch activities almost too soon for them to get used to them. So this time around I've decided that I need to make a good postpartum plan.

With that in mind, here are my goals I have thought of to keep myself feeling good after this little minion is born:

• Get my abs muscles back to almost-new by the end of maternity leave. Diastasis Recti is awful to bounce back from and I can guarantee I already have the start of it this time. I don't expect to have a 6-pack right away, but if I can get my muscles back so that I can get back into working out sooner that would be the greatest feeling! Plus I'm not sure I got them to a good enough point before getting pregnant this time so I'd really like to get them back sooner so that next pregnancy doesn't feel so...flabby.
• Get back into working out like I was once I do go back to work (unless I can start sooner). I'm making it a personal goal to get in best shape ever by the next baby. I know this seems like an "easier said than done" goal, but I always get so motivated when I'm pregnant (I get huge during pregnancy so this shouldn't come as a big surprise).
• Semi similar to the above goals, I'd like to get back into drinking 100 oz of water a day. I did it before both pregnancies, but when I get pregnant water tastes awful so I tend to stop drinking as much and I still haven't gotten back up to that (I'm lucky to get to my 64 oz usually). So that's my water goal to get to as quickly as possible after she's out of me.
• We want to get our backyard plans done while it's nice and warm outside, but I have TONS of ideas for the inside of our home. I'd love to focus on those once I can actually help out with them...why not take my 12 weeks off of work to do that? Stay tuned for those updates!
• Get our little minion on to a schedule/routine right off the bat. Again, easier said than done, but I remember when Cara was first born and I had no idea how to really get her on a schedule. I mean I knew to feed and change her every 3 hours, but I had no idea how to get her used to a bedtime, when the bedtime should be, how to get her to sleep at the same time each night, and how important a bedtime routine was! I was SO clueless haha. This time around it's my goal to get this baby used to a bedtime and a wake up time right at the start and since we have a good bedtime routine with Cara, I'll just do the same with this little girl. Shouldn't be too bad. The rest of the day we'll let her figure her own napping schedule.
• I'd love to get a new Fitbit by August/September (my old one doesn't communicate with my phone app) so I can compare my sleep and fitness before and after having this baby. I know before will be awful, but sometimes it makes me feel better to compare before the baby came and threw our world upside down haha.
• I would love to get ALL baby items (sheets, car seat, Cara's newborn clothes, etc.) cleaned off...this baby deserves things that feel almost like new :) I seem to be nesting hardcore lately. I've been planning our next few years with vacations, kids, and a good cleaning schedule for before she makes her arrival! I also have been shopping for bedding, a new crib, new room décor, and all that we will need for her. I'm excited to get that started.
• I also need to order the most helpful post partum things for me (witch hazel pads, depends, a new pump, etc.) now that I know what works the best.

So far that's all I have and having it written out should help me stay motivated! Luckily having this baby in the winter and around Christmas I should be able to keep plenty busy and that is my favorite time of year so I think I'll have a little bit of an easier time than I did with Cara...it may be the most wishful thinking anyone has ever had, but it's got me feeling better about it at least haha.

4 Months (weeks 14 - 17)

Compare/Contrast: So this time around the sickness has been MUCH different. I haven't thrown up in a long time, but I can't stay up too late still. The closer to 10 PM it gets the worse I feel (at least towards the end of the month that got to be a bit better as well), but other than that as long as I eat all day I feel okay. I did switch from more candy to more fruits and veggies to make the constant eating better for me and for this lil minion. Having the Doppler this time around has really eased my mind since I don't get the constant ultrasounds like last time.

I didn't start to feel the tiny movements until around 16 ish weeks, instead of around 13 weeks like I did with Cara so either I'm busier and have a harder time feeling it, I made it up last time, or this baby might be smaller or moving a different way than Cara did.

My dreams this time around are much different too. More random type dreams and less vivid...but they are very weird. I've also been WAY more hormonal/annoyed this time around (but I still cry just as easily as I did last time) and the acne is still out in full force. The good part though is I've been able to be more active this time around. When I'm feeling good I actually play with Cara, I can walk around stores more/easier than last time (haven't gotten the sore back like I did with Cara), and I don't sleep nearly as much as I did last time. I am getting winded when walking around lately so that's been fun, I forgot about that feeling, but I still do what I can to keep up. It's amazing how much more lax I feel this pregnancy, I remember being worried about doing anything and everything the last time, but this time I'm like "you're fine, the baby is fine, everything is fine!"

Oh and pregnancy brain...that is in FULL force this time around. It's amazing how bad I am at remembering things or doing things the normal way and how my mind slips. I can forget things in a record amount of time...it's almost pathetic! Of course, at least I'm not making up words (like "inducement" last time haha).

Best Moments This Month: I do the Doppler every Saturday (although I will do it during the week if I feel weird) and the heart rate has been constantly between 140-160 and it's been so fun to find it and hear it for reassurance. I also like that I've been feeling better and not as sick.

I did have my 16 week appointment on the 11th and everything was looking good. But this Dr office doesn't do anatomy (*ahem* gender) until closer to 21 weeks instead of 20...so now we have to wait even longer for that, but we did get it scheduled for July 16th so not TOO much longer at least.

We celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary on the 15th and that weekend was really awesome: a nice dinner night out with all of us, then ice cream on Saturday, then our movie night (Ant Man) - I had my left over ice cream and root beer - just a good weekend overall.

We're starting to plan our vacations for next year. We've got our one for when this baby is 7 months old (since that's going to be our tradition) and then another road trip one. I'm actually looking SO forward to both of these!. Plus we're going to plan a couple more for this year still.

Also, we got a little pool (it's probably only like 2.5 feet deep, but like 6-7 feet across) for our backyard and so that with the tramp (which Larry built) and the water activity table... well let's just say we have some fun outdoor things going on so we've been outside a lot this summer and it's been feeling so great!

What I'm Looking Forward To: Now that I'm getting closer to when I felt movement last time I'm excited to start feeling that more. Also, my next appointment on the 16th!! We'll finally find out Boy or Girl (it's really weird that I'm feeling very strongly in both directions). I really can't wait to start planning on telling more people about this little person!! It's almost slipped so many times so it'll be nice when I'm not in hiding anymore (this is the last time I wait till we know gender to announce!).

Summer Time...With A Child

So Summer may have just started, but it definitely has taken on a whole new meaning and set of adventures now that we have a 1 year old on our hands! 

A 1 year old does not just like to sit around the house, watch TV, or do absolutely nothing. She needs to be entertained.

A 1 year old does want to be outside ALL the time...even more, if possible, no matter how hot it is. She does want to splash water all over herself, no matter what she's wearing or how close it is to nap time.

She definitely doesn't want you to tease her with only 10 minutes of outside time/sunshine just to drag her back in.

A 1 year old is a great excuse to get Snow Cones or Otter Pops...she LOVES them and I love having sweets in the house :)

A 1 year old will play at ANY playground, she doesn't even care if she just walks on the cement by herself.

 

A 1 year old (or at least ours) will love going to new places to explore

But the best part? When you have a trampoline, water activity table, and mini pool, the 1 year old will be able to entertain herself, with only minimal supervision (except with the pool which she doesn't go in unless one of us is in there with her). Which means I can just take her outside and sit on the porch and she'll play alone. Granted, while she can go UP the porch stairs, she can't go down them so we do have to help her down if she wants to be on the ground. Also, the porch gets HOT from being in the sun during the day so we do have to make sure she wears shoes AND keeps them on. 

A 1 year old is the best excuse to get outside and enjoy the warm weather. I can't believe how many wasted hours I had of summers past that I didn't take advantage of.


A 1 year old is going to make this the quickest, but best, summer of my life!

5 Years!

We celebrated 5 years married today and while we don't usually celebrate our wedding anniversary (we acknowledge it, but we would rather celebrate our dating anniversary in October and we really just do a trip for that) I'm very happy to have this guy in my life!

I love our life together, when people say marriage is hard I feel like I couldn't disagree more, it's been one of the easiest things for me! Larry and I have such a good balance between being parents, having alone time, and having couple time together. We don't feel like we take the other one for granted and we don't feel like we're being stretched too thin. The only words of wisdom I can offer after all this time is that I've heard the celebrity couples that have been together for a while tend to say "it's us against the world" and I feel like maybe that's how we are. We are in our own little bubble, we are each other's best friends, we LOVE spending time as a family and don't feel like we NEED outsiders to complete us.

So with all that mushiness behind, I have end this by asking...who did it better:

I mean too close of a posed wedding picture to not compare, right?

Mom Hack: Toy Boxes!

Problem: Cara has TONS of toys.

• Does she play with ALL of them every day? No. 
• Does she tend to pick her favorites and just stick with those? Yes. 
• Does she have a bunch in a box that we forget to open and show her how fun they are? Yes.
• Do I find myself constantly buying new toys for her because I keep thinking she doesn't have enough toys? Oh that's a big yes!

This was becoming such a problem, I realized spending money every week on new toys was getting to be ridiculous. This isn't something I could (or wanted to) keep up with. That's what Christmas and Birthdays are for and ONLY those occasions (unless she has her own money or it's a different special circumstance).

Anyways, I realized she had tons of different toys: puzzles, learning toys, books, stuffed animals, etc. So why not just get several clear totes (one for each day of the week) and put a toy from each category into the totes? Then we can just grab one of the totes in the morning and those will be her toys for the day. She'll think that she's getting new toys each day, but I won't be constantly spending new money! I can't think of a more win-win! Plus I can go through them every 6 months/holiday or birthday to clear out what she doesn't play with and get new ones put in that are more fitting to her development.

I'm not sure how we're going to do this with a second baby - combine them or have separate boxes for each kid? I'll figure it out as I go, but either way, this solution has been working wonders so far and I'm so excited that we've figured out a nice fix for our problem!

Cara's First Baseball Game

So one thing I've been so excited about having kids is to take them to baseball games! I absolutely LOVE going....Larry could take it or leave it (he's not a "sit in the sun around large groups of people" sort of person), but I absolutely love them! I figured Cara might be old enough to go to her first one and sit through it well enough and when I saw a game for the middle of the day on a Sunday (so we wouldn't be out too late with Cara) I figured it was a good enough time to try it out!

First off, I'll say that even though I couldn't watch most of the game because we had such a wiggle-worm with us it was still such a good time! Cara made it throughout the whole game...or at least as long as we were there. The game went into OT, but we only stayed for the 9 innings because she was SO ready for a nap AND we needed to get our groceries that I had scheduled for pick up.

We did end up getting seats right in the sun, but we noticed the row at the very top was completely empty and in the shade so we went up there (bonus: it had a nice fan on so there was even a cool breeze blowing around that area). We were able to sit about 6 chairs away from each other (Larry and I) and we just let Cara walk along between us - she seemed to be occupied enough with that. She also did good when we gave her her pouch of food or would randomly sit on Larry's lap to relax (didn't last long, but she did it pretty frequently). I wanted to get lots of snacks for her to try, but stuck with fries and a water to share with her...baseball stadium food is just too expensive to go all out on!

Crazy hair from the sunscreen
But letting her walk around was a
Life saver!

It was disappointing to see we didn't score one point during OT (we "watched" the game on my phone as we drove away), but it was still fun to say we got to take our little girl. I'll definitely wait till she's older (maybe 3?) to take her back, but I hope she'll love going with me and it can be a fun summer tradition (especially if we go when there are fireworks!).

The cutest part of the whole thing? There was a family with a little boy (probably about 2 ish) a couple rows in front of us and Cara became obsessed with watching him walk back and forth and he seemed just as interested in entertaining her as she was watching him. It was so cute to see them kind of flirt, but that family didn't seem to like him being near us or something so I couldn't get any pictures or video of her watching him...too bad!