Halloween 2019

Halloween this year was the start of great Halloween's to come for us...I just know it! Unfortunately, my morning sickness wasn't my best friend and made it harder, but it wasn't the first year that's happened.

This year I got to take Cara out to look at costumes last month and she had a blast with that. Although I was trying my hardest to keep her away from the really scary stuff to avoid scarring her too bad, but she kept wandering around and having fun looking at all the different things they had. I also found a couple cute things for Gwen (because she doesn't fit into Cara's bumble bee costume...which is sad, but also made me happy to have an excuse to get another really cute costume).

This year we got take Cara out to go trick-or-treating for the first time and boy were all parties excited about that. It was too bad that it was a really cold day, so while I only planned to hit up our street of homes for candy, we ended up only hitting up about 5. I was with Cara for about 3 of them, but then Gwen was getting pretty cold and I was getting pretty tired and sick so I let Larry lead on with Cara while Gwen and I headed back to hand out our candy. It was so cute how confused Cara was when it came to picking out her own candy. At the first two houses she picked the same candy and so we had to show her at the third house how she could pick something new.

As usual, we had so much fun watching all the kids come by to get candy, we ended up actually running out of candy by 8. Cara caught on to what trick-or-treating was and kept saying it all night. She was so excited to have her candy too. I was worried a little about her having a sugar rush before bed, but luckily she went down just fine.

We got a few more decorations up this year and actually got pumpkins carved, so I feel like we did more, but still not fully what I'd like to have done. The only hard part is how Fall is making me feel more nauseous from all the times I've had morning sickness and all the smells that come with this time of year. I'm hoping by next fall (when I shouldn't be pregnant) I will be able to make it the best Halloween so that I can have a do over with this time. I feel like I say that every year, but I'll keep doing my best to achieve it.

Gwen is ELEVEN Months Old

I am ELEVEN months old!

I did NOT do great on monthly pics at this point

I like: laughing, playing, watching daddy play with Cara, and pretty much anything else besides those in my dislike area.

I dislike: Being hungry, being tired, and having a dirty diaper

I am now: I didn't have a doctor appointment set so all we have is she's in 12 month clothes now, size 4 diapers, and getting bigger and bigger by the day it seems like!

A Typical Day looks like: Just like before, she eats at 7:45 in the morning (baby food w/a 6 oz. bottle), play from 8-11:30. Lunch at 11:30 which is a pouch and 6-8 oz. bottle, play from 11:30-12:30, nap from 12:30-2:30. She'll get diaper changes between those times and before her nap. From 2:30 to 3:30 daddy puts on a movie for both girls, at 3 she gets another 8 oz. bottle. 3:30 he takes them downstairs to play while he works out. After he's done with that he'll put them back in the living room to finish the movie while he showers. They will do whatever till I get home around 5:30 and then we'll do dinner (she'll eat whatever we are eating or some more baby food). We'll play around and talk about anything, maybe do some learning with Cara or walking practice with Gwen, then around 7 we put on a show, 7:15 she gets another 6 oz. bottle. and bed time starts at 7:45 (7:35 if it's bath night) with brushing teeth and then changing diapers and into PJs and bed time. It's been a perfect system for us.

This Month I: Learned I'm going to be a big sister at the beginning of the month. Started walking from daddy to a close place that's only a few steps away. I got to try more foods that I'm loving - anything that doesn't come in a pouch or baby food container. I get jealous watching everyone around me eat all the good stuff.

I'm excited because my parents keep talking about Halloween coming up and what costumes we're going to be...sounds like it's going to be a fun time!

I also went on a fun road trip with my family at the end of September and had so much fun. Sleeping was a bit of an adjustment, but other than that I did pretty good for being stuck in a car for so long.

Parent's Notes: Gwen had a couple moments where she was talking in her sleep haha. We were driving home and she was sleeping and we heard her go "woah!" from the backseat, but when I checked on her she was passed out. Then a night or so later at 3 AM I woke up to her shouting out "DA!", but when I checked her on the monitor she was still asleep. Such a silly girl.

She's getting more and more close to walking. She loves saying all sorts of words and sounds and so far isn't so picky with foods she's tried. I'm so excited to take both girl's out trick or treating this year, but the newest pregnancy has made me feel so sick that we may not be out for too long (or I may not be going out all together). But I am excited for the holidays to be coming up! I still can't believe in a month she's going to be a whole year old! It's gone so quickly.

Update on last month's goals:

• Work on walking more - she's getting closer and closer, but just a few steps. I'm hoping she'll be walking by her birthday.
• Enjoy another road trip with her - we can cross this off the list. she did so well going to Washington and Montana. She's been such a good baby for us!
• Introduce her to football season - we watched a couple games, but then I got too sick and watching TV was too hard. Luckily we have more games to watch until February, hopefully we still have time for this one.
• Introduce her to Halloween movies/shows - we put on a few ones for her so far, but I haven't been as diligent.
• Get ready for her FIRST birthday!! - still getting ready for this one next month!

Goals for next month:

• Celebrate Halloween
• Get through being pregnant with a baby who likes to snuggle and be held all the time.
• Work on walking still
• Maybe introduce her to having a blanket at night
• Figure out some good foods for her to try to replace her bottles
• Wean her from the bottles by a year

Bradsby - Party of Five, coming at ya!

Well if the last two pregnancies were a little bit of a surprise, this one knocked us on our butts! We weren't planning on starting to try for #3 until Gwen was 1, that was the plan! Funny story though at the beginning of September I told a friend of mine I was feeling nauseous, but was 98% sure it wasn't pregnancy related (which I'm sure wasn't at that point, but funny enough I would be by the end of the month). After a couple weeks, that same friend told me she had a dream I was pregnant. I assumed it was just because of the comment I made about my upset stomach earlier in the month so I laughed it off. Then I told Larry about how she had that dream and he said it was funny because he also had a dream I was pregnant. I'm not one that reads into those things, I just thought it was all silly and would be funnier if it turned out I was pregnant, but life went on as usual.

Right before we left for our road trip up to Washington and Montana I was working out and I noticed my belly wasn't as flat as it normally is. Now, with my split abs and my hernia issues I still have, this may not seem like it could be noticeable, but I still did see it. I let Larry know how weird it was and I think I even made a silly joke about how it would be silly if it turned out I was pregnant (maybe that was just in my head though).

Queue our road trip, I knew my period was supposed to start at some point on the trip, but wasn't 100% sure when exactly. I was so nervous the entire time because our AirBnBs all had white sheets and pillow cases and I was so nervous it was going to start at night and I would stain the sheets (super embarrassing, but #TrueStory). When we got to the end of the trip and no period in sight I was wondering if I really could be pregnant (it was feeling a bit more real and kind of scary at that point) or if I was just so stressed that it got delayed this time. Well we got home on the 30th and I was making the grocery list and realized I had some lunch meat left over that I could use for my lunch this week, but I thought maybe I should get a test to make sure I can actually have that for lunch. To be clear I had almost no symptoms at this point, except for a missed period and I was a little easily annoyed towards the end of our trip (i.e. I got upset at Larry when he said we could build our own zoo or when he "blamed" me for putting the wipes in a position in the car that broke the lid off, little things like that), but I knew I just had to be sure. So as we went shopping yesterday I picked up what I thought was a two-pack of the digital tests (the ones that just clearly say pregnant or not pregnant, because I don't like the guessing game of the double line ones).

Side story: there was a checker that kind of recognizes us that was bagging our groceries and when she saw the tests she freaked out and got so loud and so excited for us. She kept asking if it was going to be a boy this time and I just kept thinking we need to know if "it" even exists yet haha.

So we get home, Larry makes a joke about how I was trying to sneak the tests (I wasn't, but I didn't want to be loud about it either). Then I noticed I accidentally got a two pack of tests, but one was the line test and one was the digital. Larry told me I should take the line one now and take the digital one the next morning. I rolled my eyes, but figured it was worth a shot. I did my thing and Larry came in as I was dipping the test and I told him we have to wait for at least 1 minute and started the stop watch on my fitbit. After less than 30 seconds we both looked just to see and saw it was a BIG fat positive. Like no guessing at all, big fat positive. I was so freaked out but also a little happy, but also wondering what the heck we were going to do (this was just so much sooner than I was expecting). I sent a picture of the test to my mom and let my friend know in a Marco Polo message and planned to make a doctor appointment soon.

This morning I got up to take the digital test, just to have that picture, and sure enough, it was still positive. Other than starting to feel a little tired, I still don't feel a whole lot of anything else. So that's the story of how we found out baby #3 is coming into our lives and apparently is really supposed to be here. If I had to guess, my due date should be around May 25th. Although I bet my actual due date will be a couple weeks later, but I have yet to make it to a real due date so it might be end of May/early June. We'll find out at my first appointment. Hopefully we have another strong and healthy baby in there!

Washington & Montanta Trip: Driving Home Portion

We left Missoula and stopped at a small town (Lima) for lunch on the way back. There weren't a lot of options for places to go to let the girls wiggle and it was really cold so we had to settle with this small restaurant. It was cute, had delicious food (Larry even enjoyed an apple pie slice WITH cinnamon), and everyone was so nice to us. The drive home felt a little long, but the girls still did really well with it.

All the trees...I'm telling you! It was my favorite part

Getting home feels great, it was a little later than I hoped, but still before dinner time. Plus, we got here with a huge feeling of accomplishment. We found tons of places we liked in most of the areas we visited and the girls did great with their first road trip. The only bad part about it is learning those custom home builders were a waste of time was a bit of a disappointment and I felt I didn't sleep the best (white sheets are the worst and they were in ALL the homes we stayed in). I definitely could see us staying in Airbnb's more with trips, but I definitely have to research them more first and I think Larry came around to them as well :)

We got to a desperate point needing gas on this drove haha

All in all this was a great trip, I'm very happy with what we saw, did, and where we ate (haha). We saw more than I thought we would, we got a good sense of each area even in the short time we were there. I definitely feel more motivated to go down this path and start looking for home we may like, it might end up being more expensive than we had wanted, but I think it'll be a nice change for us, wish us luck!

This is the first thing hse did when we got home haha