Musings

6 weeks

2012-01-26T19:38:00.000-08:00

Miller had his 6 week Well Visit yesterday. He's up to 11lbs and 3 oz. I don't really know what to say about the last 6 weeks. They've gone very smoothly. I was a little nervous because I knew Jerad was going to be working out of town/state for at least 4 days a week for the first 2 months after Miller was born. He's actually been in Georgia for the last *7* days! Taking care of two babies alone seemed a little daunting but its actually been incredibly easy, well I'm not sure you can ever call raising children easy... but I'm not sure what other word to use. So far he's just fit right into our lives like he was always here.

A friend made the comment on facebook that "you know how after you have your 2nd baby, taking that new baby with you places feels like having no kids at all compared to your older child?" And man is that soooo true! If I have just Miller with me its a piece of cake. All he does is eat and sleep. There's no snacks and water bottle to pack. I don't have to schedule outings around his naptime. He never looses a shoe or gets bored shopping. He doesn't have opinions yet! If he's upset, he'll just nurse then pass out. Seriously love this newborn stage.

Right now Miller has about 3 "awake" periods a day. Most of the time they are during Marshall's 2 naps and the first two hours after he falls asleep. Which is good and bad. Its good because I get to spend alone time with both kids, but not so good because I don't really ever have a chance to rest or nap myself. Miller wakes up to nurse 2-3 times most nights but falls asleep immediately after.

To be fair he does have about a 2 hour fussy period every night from about 7:30-9:30 which is a crappy way to end the day. I've tried EVERYTHING. Walking, rocking, nursing, pacifier, gripe water, bath, singing, babywearing, bouncing on a yoga ball, lights on, lights off... he's just pissy. I know its only temporary so I don't mind too much. Marshall was never like this so I know its Miller's issue and not something that I'm doing wrong. Most nights I just put a movie on netflix on my laptop, put on headphones so I don't have to hear him as much, and nurse and rock him in the rocker in my room. Maybe not the ideal solution, but its the best I can do on my own and probably preferable to shaking him or locking him in a closet right? Kidding.

Marshall loves his new baby brother. He asks to hold and give him kisses a hundred times a day, likes to pat and poke and pry open his eyes and share his toys. Its pretty cute.

Prepare for photo overload:

Jamba Juice outing, 1 week.

First real bath, 10 days old.

First Bath.

Christmas Eve, 11 days.

2 weeks

3 weeks (hanging out in the wrap while I clean)

3 weeks and looking dapper

3 weeks

4 weeks

5 weeks

6 weeks and pissed about a sink bath

6 weeks

Newborn Photos

2012-01-11T14:14:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of my favorite pics from the newborn photo shoot we did at 5 days old:

Week One

2012-01-10T19:58:00.000-08:00

The first few days after Miller was born were pretty chill. We did a lot of staring and snuggling.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

On day 3 our midwife came for a home visit. Miller was only down to 7lbs and 13 ounces (3 ounces down from his birth weight) because he eats all.the.time.

On day 4 we started cloth diapers. I forgot how cute little newborn fluff-butts were!

On day 5 we had his newborn pictures taken in the afternoon, and then 25 people over to celebrate Christmas that evening. We had thought about canceling, but decided it would be more relaxing to do it at our house so we wouldn't have to load up both kiddos or have to leave early to put Marshall to bed. Everyone brought food and it worked out really well!

On day 6 we dropped Marshall off at my mom's and took Miller with us to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. In case you didn't know this, going to the theater with a newborn is AWESOME. There is a short period of time (a month or 2) where they will just sleep through the movie, or if they do wake up they'll just eat and pass back out.

I forgot how much I *love* the newborn stage. They're just so cuddly and make those cute little sounds. Even if they cry, its not like they can flail or demand things or throw an actual fit. They're not as "fun" as older babies that smile and coo and can play, or toddlers who can communicate and run and jump and do funny toddler things, but it is a really sweet time. We tried to soak up every second because now we understand how fast the time flies.

Jerad was able to take the first week after the birth off and again just amazed me by how awesome he is. Every day he woke up with Marshall, would make him breakfast and play with him, then bring me breakfast in bed. For the whole week he did all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, dog walks, errands, and took care of Marshall. I recovered, nursed Miller ever 30 minutes (or so it seemed), and tried to sleep as much as possible because on day 7 Jerad left town for a job in Pasedena and was gone for 5 days.

Whoops

2012-01-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

I kind of had a baby then just dropped off the face of the earth huh? Its actually because things have been going so well. I feel like I have this mom of two thing down pretty well. Miller is pretty chill and so far has just fit right into our lives without creating any havoc. Jerad has been working out of town a lot and I usually manage to get me and both babies out of the house to do something every day. We take lots of trips to lots of parks, Children's Museum, Gymnastics, hikes/walks, run errands... I was even brave enough to take them both clothes shopping.

Right now Miller is usually awake for three different 2 hour periods a day... and they are during Marshall's 2 naps and the first 2 hours after he goes to bed at night. Anyways, that doesn't leave me with much time to blog. By some miracle they are both napping at the same time so I'll try to catch up a little.

Miller's Birth Story

2011-12-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

Monday Dec 12th I was having uncomfortable contractions all day, however that had been going on for weeks so I didn't think much of it. I spent the day trying to finish a few things on my "to-do" list, like buy a Christmas table cloth. Because I'm insane like that. Last year we had a different sized table, and the table cloth we used wouldn't fit on the table we have now and the lack of holiday cheer on the table had been driving me crazy. So, after a midwife appointment I braved the holiday crowds and found something that would work, stopping a few times to wait for an uncomfortable contraction to pass. That night, I decided to go to bed early "just in case" all the contractions I had been having were the real thing because I didn't want another labor and delivery on no sleep like I had with Marshall. I had a few contractions during the night that woke me up, but I was always able to go back to sleep.

Tuesday Dec 13th I woke up to a pretty uncomfortable contraction at 6am. I told Jerad that I thought he might be right and today might be the day. He had been saying for weeks that I was going to have the baby on Tuesday the 13th, and was so convincing that people he talked to assumed I was getting induced that day and/or having a scheduled c-section. We had a quick pow-wow and he asked me what was the most important thing to me, that he finish building our bedroom furniture so that the mattress could be moved up off of the floor, that we start baking a "birthday cake" like we had during Marshall's labor, or that he clean the house (because he knows I can't relax if things are out of place). I decided that if this really WAS labor, I wanted to spend the morning doing something special with just us and Marshall.

One last hurrah as a family of three.

So, we decided to take Marshall to a parent and me gymnastics class in Atascadero. The class started at 9:30 and by that time I was having uncomfortable (but manageable) contractions every 5-7 minutes. I basically sat on the side lines the whole class and watched Jerad and Marshall.

We left the class at about 10:30, and the contractions continued. I kept telling Jerad I wasn't sure if this was "it" and to not say anything to anyone yet because I'd be really embarrassed if it was a false alarm. With Marshall my water broke the night before he was born so I was sort of expecting the same thing to happen this time.

We got home around 11 and started to do a few things around the house. FYI, housework is a GREAT way to distract yourself from the pain and discomfort of contractions! At 11:30 my sister sent me a text message asking if we'd be meeting Miller today and I told her

"Maybe. I have to get our bedroom clean, fill the birth tub, and Jerad has to finish the furniture so its not looking too hopeful. Actually I've been having real contractions all day but I'm refusing to acknowledge."

I also told her that I did this for like 2 days with Marshall so I wasn't too hopeful yet.

Jerad had a small job that he thought would only take an hour to finish, so I told him he should go take care of it and bring back some Thai food for us to have for lunch. He left around 12:30. By this time contractions were happening consistently every 5 minutes, lasting 30 seconds, and were uncomfortable enough that I needed to concentrate through them.

He got back about 1:45, just when I had started feeling a little panicky about being home all alone. I called our midwife to give her a heads up that "this might be the day." I told her my contractions were 5 minutes apart, but only lasting about 30 seconds and were uncomfortable but still manageable. She said things would probably pick up after it got dark and to let her know if there were any changes. We had a delicious, enormous, Thai lunch. I also sent a text message to Amy who was our doula with Marshall and was going to come take photos of the birth letting her know that "tonight might be the night."

Jerad's brother had gone with him on the job and stuck around afterwards and helped do things around the house and entertained Marshall. We had set up the birth pool already, but hadn't started to fill it. Our new house has weird faucets and we hadn't been able to find an adapter that would let us hook a hose up to our bathroom sink to fill the tub. Also at our last house we had a tankless water heater so we didn't have to worry about running out of hot water, and at the new house we have a standard water heater which would need to refill at least once. They ended up hooking the hose to the utility sink in the garage and running it through our upstairs bedroom window. While the water heater refilled Joey boiled pots of water on the stove downstairs and brought them upstairs to dump them in the tub.

Boiling water for a birth... cliche much?

Meanwhile I tended to the important things... like changing the sheets on the guest bed. When I write that now, all I can think is "wtf is wrong with me?!?" but at the time I thought "well, if this is a long labor maybe the midwife will want to take a nap" and I have this thing about guests always getting clean sheets.

Jerad called his mom around 2:30 to ask her if she'd come by after work to play with Marshall and she asked if she should come right away or if 3:30 when she got off work would be fine. I told him to tell her 3:30 or 4 was fine and she didn't need to hurry.

At this point things were getting a lot more intense, but I was still worried that maybe it was a false alarm and I was getting stressed out that more and more people were getting told I was "in labor." I was having the same irrational fears that I had last time. I worried that if this WASN'T active labor, I wouldn't be able to make it through the real thing. By this time I didn't want to see anyone so I basically shut myself in our room and tried to deal with the pain. Contractions were every 3-4 minutes apart, much more intense (I needed to whine/groan through them), but still only lasting 30-45 seconds.

Jerad was alternating between trying to be with me and be supportive, and trying to finish all the things I'd asked him to do around the house. At some point he called his mom and told her she should probably come now.

A little before 4 I told him to call our Midwife and ask her to come up as well. It had only been 2 hours and 15 minutes since I had told her that "today might be the day!" Luckily she took his word for it and didn't ask to talk to me because I didn't want to talk to anyone:) She also called her assistant Jackie who lives in Paso and asked her to come over. It was the same assistant that was there for Marshall's birth, and I had really been hoping she'd make it to Miller's too. She was technically on maternity leave but said that depending on when I went into labor, she'd try to make it. Yay for my evening labors!

I'm a little fuzzy on the time line at this point, but Jackie got to our house a little after 4. The contractions had changed to the intense 'feels like my body is tearing-itself-apart type,' and were coming every 2:45 minutes and lasting about 45 seconds. As soon as she got there it was like my brain switched out of labor mode, and into hostess mode. I hate that about myself, yet I can't not do it! I asked her how she was doing (she's due about a month after I was), and basically told her that the contractions hurt but were only 45 seconds. She asked me a bunch of questions like was I feeling any pressure (I wasn't) and I forget what else. After watching me for a few minutes, she said she was going to slip out and give the midwife a call to let her know that she didn't have to rush because it was probably going to be a little while.

Jerad asked me where Amy was and I realized besides telling her that I'd probably have the baby tonight, I'd never sent her any updates so he texted her and told her she could come over too. She said she'd head over as soon as her husband got home to babysit, which would probably be about 30 minutes.

Nothing I did helped the pain, and no position was comfortable so I asked if I could get in the tub. Jackie asked me to wait and let the Midwife check me first since she was going to be there any minute. She got there (I think) around 4:40 and asked me to lay down on the bed so that she could check my cervix.

Holy hell, I don't know how some of you women labor on your backs in bed. Up until this point I had been alternating standing, leaning over the counter, and sitting. I don't know if it was how this baby was positioned, but the 10 seconds or so I had to lay there while getting checked were excruciating. We compromised and she let me lay on my side (still awful), and announced that she couldn't feel any cervix at all and (just like with Marshall) the baby was already descending into the birth canal.

I was so relieved, I guess it wasn't a false labor after all!

About 4:50, 10 minutes after the Midwife arrived, I got in the tub on my knees with my arms over the side and almost immediately started feeling the urge to push. When I say urge to push I mean that my body was starting to push with every contraction, and not in that serene 'gently breathe the baby out' way that some women talk about, but in more of a ripping itself apart while I gripped the tub for dear life and yelled. I kept asking the Midwife if the baby was moving down at all because it was so excruciating I was hoping that I was making progress. At no point did I ever want pain meds or to be at the hospital, I just kept thinking that if it went on like it was for another 8 hours (or heck, even 3 hours) there was no way I could handle it. She told me that I needed to change positions and lean back against Jerad otherwise the baby was going to be born 1/2 in and 1/2 out of the water. Once I laid back she told me that his hand was up by his face and I needed to go ahead and push without waiting for a contraction to get him out. He came out all at once with that last push.

He was born at 5:01pm, after about 10 minutes of pushing.

Immediately after he was born I said "that wasn't so bad!" Because honestly, even though it felt like my body was ripping itself apart... it was only 10 minutes. I can do anything for 10 minutes right? Jackie grabbed my camera and took a few pictures (he came so fast Amy still hadn't arrived).

We hung out in the tub for awhile waiting for his cord to stop pulsing so that Jerad could cut it.

We got out of the tub and laid on the bed so that the Midwife could check blood pressures and heart tones and whatnot. Miller was breathing fine but a a little grey so she had Jackie hold the oxygen mask up to his face for a bit. It wasn't scary at all because he was acting and breathing fine, it was just nice that he could get that extra little bit of help. Amy arrived a few minutes later and took pictures:


Miller Cash, moments after birth.

Then it was time for the newborn exam.

8 pounds

19.25 inches, 14 inch head.

Almost the exact same size as Marshall was!

I think it was at this point that I told Jerad "hey, you should let our families/friends know we just had a baby!" Everything had happened so fast that besides Jerad's mom and brother who were down stairs with Marshall, we hadn't even told anyone I was in labor! I thought we'd have plenty of time... whoops. One of my sisters thought it was a joke, and my mom was out to dinner with friends and also was pretty surprised. My other sister and brother in law stopped at Trader Joe's on the way and brought us a bunch of premade lunches and dinners which was AWESOME over the next few days, and once again my friend Beth was able to stop by and meet the baby right after he was born.

Thanks to the fast and furious delivery, and Miller's hand being up against his face, I had a third degree tear that needed stitches. Awesome.

After that, Jerad got him dressed and brought him downstairs to meet the people that were gathering to see him.

Marshall meeting Miller for the first time

And once again, we were all able to shower and go to sleep in our own bed at a normal hour.

So there you have it, The Birth Story:)

Comparing my two labors I don't know what was better. Marshall's (read it here) was more drawn out and I pushed for 45 minutes which seemed like a while at the time, but in retrospect wasn't bad. I remember wanting the pushing contractions to come faster so that I could just get him out already, but it was nice that he came out slowly and gently. Miller's labor was much more intense, definitely more painful, BUT it was over fast and I only pushed for 10 minutes. I also skipped all the normal Transition stuff this time like shaking and throwing up and feeling panicky. If I could choose, I probably would have liked a little longer, and a less intense labor but like I said, I can do anything for 10 minutes so in the grand scheme of things it wasn't bad.

Welcome Home baby Miller, we love you already!

Well...

2011-12-29T21:12:00.000-08:00

... I've been putting off blogging until I wrote the birth story. I have so many cute pictures to share, and things to update. I really should get on that! I can't believe Miller has been here for almost 3 weeks now. In some ways it seems like he was just born yesterday, and in others like he has always been here.

This weekend my goals are 1) post the birth story, 2) catch up on blogging and 3) put away the ridiculous amount of clean laundry that I've been hiding on our closet floor.

I birthed the same child twice

2011-12-21T10:00:00.000-08:00

When Miller was born Jerad and I agreed he looked nothing like Marshall. Apparently we just had amnesia.

Marshall at birth. 8lbs, 3 ounces. 19.5 inches, 14.5 inch head.

Miller at birth. 8lbs even. 19.25 inches, 14 inch head.

Marshall at 1 week


Miller at 1 week

Pretty similar right? Its crazy that they were both almost exactly the same size! I know every parent says this, but I'm convinced we make the cutest kids in the world... or at least they'd both make it to the top ten list:)

He's Here!

2011-12-15T11:45:00.000-08:00

Miller Cash Hutchinson
Born at Home
5:01pm, 12/13/11
8lbs, 19.25 inches.

All the pics are from the morning after he was born. We think he's pretty cute:)

Things Marshall has been up to lately

2011-12-12T06:13:00.000-08:00

Apparently my body didn't get the memo that I'm now on Maternity Leave and don't have to get up at 5:30 am.... SO here is a list of things Marshall has been doing the past month or so that I keep forgetting to jot down:

- Blowing bubbles in the bath. He is obsessed with putting his mouth in the bath water and blowing bubbles. He knows not to breathe in the water and never chokes.

- Laying on his stomach and "swimming" in the bath. He thinks this is pretty hilarious. He'll lay on his stomach, hold himself up with his hands, and pull himself all around the tub.

- Putting his face under the water in the bath. This one is a little nerve wracking for me, but he loves holding his breath and submerging his face for a few seconds at a time. I'll bet he's swimming this next summer!

- Counting to three un-prompted. He's been counting to two for awhile, and finally added a "tree." Usually counting precedes jumping off of furniture.

- Jumping off of furniture. He is quite the little spider monkey. He love love loves to jump and climb and has really good balance. He likes to climb up on the couches, stand up on the arms or the couches, count to three, then jump onto the couch.

- Making towers. He can stack blocks, or anything stack-able really high before it falls over. If it does fall over he'll quickly knock down anything remaining and yell "oh-oh."

- Throwing things in the trash if we ask him to (also throws non trash items in the trash without being asked).

- Taking off most pants, socks, shoes, and some jackets.

- Calling our pets by their names instead of just "kitty" or "doggie."

- Putting together puzzles and shape sorters. He's finally interested in putting the puzzle pieces in the right places instead of just scattering them around:)

- Making lots of 2 and 3 word sentences.

- Currently obsessed with fans or anything that spins. To the point that its getting annoying:) He would happily be held up to the ceiling fan for hours at a time spinning the blades with his hands or turning it on and off. He starts talking about the fans as soon as he wakes up... and doesn't really stop all day. He loves spinning anything on the ground or table too.

- Using my iPhone. He can unlock it, scroll through the screens to find the apps he likes (one where you draw with your finger, Peekaboo barn, Angry Birds, Piano) open the app, and play it. He knows how to close the app and find another one. He knows how to fling the birds on Angry Birds... just doesn't understand how to aim them yet:) He also LOVES opening the camera app and scrolling through the pictures and videos (which are mostly of him) and talking about what is going on in the picture.

- Saying goodbye to everything. Whenever anyone leaves as soon as they walk out the door he'll say "bye-bye daddy," or "bye-bye" whatever their name is if its one he knows. When we get out of the bath its "bye-bye water." When we're done reading its "bye-bye book." When we (I) get sick of playing with the fan "bye bye fan." Sometimes if he's doing something that he's really into and I have to move him for whatever reason (time to go, bedtime, etc) he'll say it in a SUPER sad voice and like he is holding back tears which is both adorable and kind of heartbreaking.

I'm sure there's a bunch more... but I think my body is more awake than my brain so that's all I have for now.

38 weeks

2011-12-09T13:28:00.001-08:00

Well, we've made it to 38 weeks! As of Wednesday night Jerad is now back in town and shouldn't have an out of town job until after the new year (knock on wood). Yesterday (Thursday) was my last day at work and I am now officially on maternity leave! We picked up the birth tub at my midwife appointment yesterday, and we have the birth kit and supplies all together. Our freezer is stocked full with food and all the newborn clothes and diapers are washed and waiting.

I was actually pretty sure I was going into labor last night. I started losing my mucus plug in the evening, and Jerad and I got into bed around 10pm and were watching a movie when I started feeling super nauseated, kept having to go to the bathroom, was super emotional, and started having contractions that were much more crampy and painful than the braxton hicks I've been having for the last few months. I threw a little pity party, cried, and said there was NO WAY I was having the baby right then. I want just a little time to relax, enjoy being a mom of 1 and a family of three... or at the very least I wanted ONE full night of sleep where I didn't have to wake up early for work and for us to not have to be running around in the middle of the night trying to set up and fill the birth tub and clean the house.

I had a glass of wine, took a warm bath, and listened to one of my Hypnobabies tracks (Fear Release) hoping to slow things down. Obviously I haven't had a baby yet so everything worked out!

With Marshall I started having contractions Sunday morning during brunch, labored all day, my water broke that night, I never went to sleep, labored all night and the next day, and had him at 8:30ish Monday night. I can't do that again starting off exhausted... with him I survived cause I'd been on maternity leave for 2.5 weeks sleeping and resting as needed. I definitely don't want to wait weeks and weeks... but just a few days would be nice:) I did get a good night's rest last night, the laundry and house caught up today, and we'll set up the birth tub tonight.

I feel like I'm in a good place mentally now, but one or two more days would be amazing so we have time to do a few fun Christmas things with Marshall (Winter Wonderland and Vine Street), decorate the 9 foot tree we picked up yesterday, and build the bed frame for the new King Size mattress that was just delivered.

All that said, Miller will probably end up hanging in there for a few weeks.

Baby Shower

2011-12-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Jerad's family threw me an amazing baby shower.It was a blue and yellow and bird theme... just like Miller's room!

Some of the food and decorations:

Included in the (ADORABLE) invitations were paper babies that the guests were asked to decorate and bring with them for a game. Here's how they came out:

People were so creative! I had to choose a favorite. No surprise, I chose this little cutie:

A few of the presents:

Our families and friends are so generous, Miller is going to be one loved little boy! All the presents have been unpacked, clothes washed and put away, toiletries in the bathroom... now all he has to do is get here already!

36 and 37 weeks

2011-12-02T20:24:00.001-08:00

36 weeks

37 weeks

Whelp, I'm full term now and officially cleared for another home birth! Not that I think I'll be birthing any time soon. However, I do think the baby dropped a little because I have more room in my rib cage now and have had a lot bigger of an appetite like there is actually room for my stomach to expand. However I now have a LOT more pressure in my already broken feeling pelvis so I don't know if I should be happy or not:)

I'm still dragging my hugely-preggo self to yoga once a week. Its from 6-7:30pm and I never want to go and almost skip it every week BUT, after I'm finished I do feel better and I always sleep better. My 2 sisters and brother in law have been taking turns babysitting if Jerad is out of town so that I can go. I'm also at the point where I have weekly midwife and chiropractor appointments so between all those things the weeks are just FLYING by.

At my last midwife appointment (Thursday) she wrote me a work release note to only work 30 hours next week and then go on leave. I feel a little guilty leaving early but I'm also excited to not have to deal with dropping off Marshall at 6:30am and being at work at 7. I love being home with Marshall, but its also a lot of work. Luckily he's freakin adorable so its worth it.

When I was pregnant with Marshall I had a huge list of things I wanted done before he was born and made sure we had enough supplies and groceries that we wouldnt have to go to the store for awhile after he was born. Bwahahahaha. After like 4 days we were sick of being at home 24/7 and were excited if we had to do something like run to the store. So this time besides stocking the freezer, unpacking the newborn diapers, and washing the baby clothes, we haven't done much. Like... the nursery is still missing a door knob and we haven't gotten the birth kit out of the attic.

Jerad is STILL in Georgia but hopefully coming back tomorrow and at the least we'll get all the birth stuff together so that we aren't trying to do that at the last minute.

Oh Hi!

2011-12-01T11:14:00.001-08:00

I've been pretty busy lately and blogging has definitely taken a back seat. We had a great Thanksgiving with Jerad's family. I of course didn't take a single picture. For the second year in a row. Basically there is no proof that we ever celebrate it.

Friday after Jerad worked for a few hours we went "black friday shopping" at about 6 different places and bought... a new garden hose (to fill the birth tub), and some kettle corn. Neither of which were on sale. Because we're wildly exciting like that. I did however order a new KING sized mattress which I am wildly excited about. Plus between a sale Sears was having, a coupon I had, and selling our sleeper sofa we got over $1200 dollars off and free delivery. Not too shabby! It's being delivered next Friday so we have a little over a week to build a bed frame so we're not sleeping with it on the floor a la college student style.

This is the bed frame that I want, but am too cheap to buy:

Just a simple farmhouse bed. But I'd like it in distressed white, with a little more detail. So Jerad is going to build it and some matching nightstands. Because he's handy and amazing like that.

Right before Marshall was born we bought a new, really nice, organic queen mattress. We wanted a king but it wouldn't fit in our bedroom at the time. Since our spare room in the new house just has an air mattress in it (we got rid of our spare room furniture when we turned the guest room into an office at the last house), we're going to put the queen in there and finally have a big bed! Which is good... its amazing how much room an 8 lb. infant can somehow take up. Plus we'll have a respectable guest room again.

Jerad left at 3am Saturday morning to finish up the project in Georgia. He is supposed to be getting back tomorrow, which is perfect timing because I'll be full term then! He has pretty much been paranoid that I'm going to go into labor while he's gone and keeps telling me to rest and not do anything. It's like he's never met me:) I have tried to take it easier... but lets be honest, with a toddler, 3 dogs, 3 cats, and a huge house to take care of its not like I can just lay around. Also I think if I just let all the housework slide I'll be more stressed out and likely to go into labor than if I make the effort to keep things tidy and clean.

While he's gone we have been playing with lots of trucks and tractors:

And I finished washing and sorting all of Miller's clothes and diapers. Marshall is still obsessed with the crib and all Miller's toys. Its pretty cute:)

Its also pretty convenient because he'll happily play in there for an hour while I work on the nursery. He still calls the crib a "night night box." Little weirdo.

I finally ordered the rest of the birth supplies, some post partum stuff, then some fun stuff like a few more things from our baby registry. Everything should be arriving today and tomorrow (gotta love Amazon's free 2 day shipping!). I also just about finished our Christmas shopping, so there's nothing really left to do before the baby comes.

Hint hint, come soon Miller.

We had dinner one night at my mom's house and she gave Marshall his Christmas present early:

Yeah, he's in little boy heaven. I'm worried we're going to have to buy one too or he will want to go move in with my parents.

Well, its time to wake up the toddler and head to SLO for my 37 week midwife apt and perhaps a little shopping. If Jerad does make it back tomorrow we are going to have an amazing weekend filled with Holiday Cheer. There's our 4th annual Gingerbread House Making Extravaganza, a cookie exchange party, the Morro Bay lighted Boat Parade, and we're planning on picking out a Christmas Tree and getting our decorations up. Plus painting the guest room (hopefully), and building the new bedroom furniture. I'm also hoping to squeeze at least one nap in there cause after being a single mom all week I'm sort of running on empty. I either need a nap, of an actual caffeine IV which I'm thinking Miller might not appreciate. If he doesn't make it back in time... I'll probably just call him and fake labor just so that he does come back.

Kidding.

Maybe.

Weekend Recap

2011-11-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

Well I've finally recovered enough from the weekend to write about it:)

Thursday I had a 1pm Midwife apt and Marshall had his 18 month Well Baby Visit right after so Jerad decided to take the day off of work and babysit, then pick me up and go with us to our appointments. Everything was normal with me, and Marshall is 24lbs and 31inches. I don't remember the percentiles but they were both between 10th and 25th. So he's smallish, but not freakishly small.

In the afternoon we played in the backyard:

Friday Jerad worked and I had a chiropractor appointment that I took Marshall with me to. He kept climbing up on the table to sit on my back and really wanted to "help" with the adjustments. All in all it wasn't the most relaxing/enjoyable appointment I've had, but he sure is funny. Also, my pelvis and tail bone are pretty messed up which explains a lot of the aches and pain I've been having.

That night we decided to rent a carpet cleaner and clean the downstairs carpets. I think carpet is just about the grossest thing in the world, and it had been awhile since the previous owners had cleaned theirs so its been on our to-do list for awhile.

We had been going back and forth about doing it ourselves, or hiring someone and decided it was just way more cost effective to do it ourselves. Jerad saw a Rug Dr. infomercial and got all inspired by how awesome they are so he volunteered. I'll take it!

I never feel like our house is that big until its time to clean the windows, or baseboards... or carpets. Man! We started around 8pm, I gave up around 10pm, and Jerad finished sometime around 1am. We pretreated every spot, completely moved all of the furniture, and went really slowly doing the heavy traffic areas twice. Considering the carpets are almost 10 years old they came out really well!

We got up at 6am Saturday morning to do the upstairs so that it'd be dry by naptime. It went much faster since there wasn't as much furniture to move and the carpet was in better shape. Marshall helped:

He was so focused. Hilarious.

My mom picked me up at 9am and we went out to breakfast, then picked up my sister Melinda and got manicures and pedicures. So pampered:) Also I now understand why most women regularly get them. Sign me up please.

Saturday evening Jerad's parents came over and we all made Christmas ornaments, had dinner, and watched a movie. Well.... they watched the movie and I fell asleep on the couch. Its going to be our new "tradition." These are the ones Jerad and I made:

I think we made about 8 all together. Adorable right? We're going to make some more and this is what we're giving as Christmas gifts this year to family (so act surprised if you read this) along with pictures of Marshall.

Sunday Jerad's family threw me a baby shower! Oh my gosh, everything was so cute and we got so many adorable things. I'll do a seperate post just about that.

Monday morning Jerad had to leave for a job in Pasedena. When we woke up at 5:30 I was soooo close to calling out to work, packing up the baby and going with him. He was planning on being back on Tuesday, so I would still have Wednesday at work to catch up before the holiday, we wouldn't have to pay the nanny for Tuesday, he wouldn't have to deal with renting a car (we're basically a one car family), he was the only one going so we'd have a hotel room all to ourselves, and he gets a per diem pay so our meals would all be "free." I had visions of me and Marshall spending the day by the hotel pool then us all going out to dinner at night. So, basically a little mini-vaycay. Jerad burst my bubble when he told me the hotel was pretty crappy and didn't have a pool... plus we'd have to get ready, and pack for me and Marshall in about 30 minutes for him to be able to make it to the Planning Department in time for his meeting. Rushing out the door, driving 5 hours then being cooped up in a hotel room with a toddler and no car didn't sound all that appealing to me so I sucked it up and went to work. Plus we'd have had to find someone to come take care of the dogs/cats and I didn't think anyone would appreciate 5:30am calls:)

Its Wednesday now and he still isn't back so I guess its good Marshall and I stayed home, we would definitely be going stir crazy being stuck in a hotel for so long and since my office is closed tomorrow and Friday I would have missed the whole week at work.

Yesterday I left in the middle of the day for a Chiro apt, plus I leave at 3 on Tuesdays now, then today they should be sending us home early, we're closed tomorrow, then always closed on Fridays so this has been a pretty cushy work week for me. I can't believe its already Thanksgiving tomorrow! This is the first year we aren't making at least 6 pies. I don't know what to do with myself.

35 Weeks

2011-11-21T16:50:00.001-08:00

Oh dear. Seriously how can my body expand any more?

I honestly don't remember being this sore or achy with Marshall. I've started back up with prenatal yoga and regular chiropractor appointments so I'm hoping that helps! My Chiro. said that my pelvis and tail bone are a little rotated so once that gets straightened out I'm hoping to feel better and that the baby will just fly out of my well aligned body.

I can't believe that I'm almost full term. I'm cleared for a home birth in a little less than 2 weeks. Oh my! I'm not worried about the labor or delivery per se, I mean, I'm not super excited to be going through it soon, but certainly not dreading it at all. I guess I'm neutral. I know what to expect, know I'll get through it, and know its all worth it in the end! Even if its 100 times more painful than last time, I can do anything for 24-36 hours. I'll make it and in the end we'll have an adorable little bundle that will make me forget all the pain.

I finally made a list of the few supplies we need and will start picking those up.We have a list of "things to do before baby comes" but we are kind of ignoring it. Last time I felt this extreme need to have every little thing finished, and this time I'm like "eh, we're both going to be home, there will be time." So... we'll see how that goes.

Jerad's family threw me a baby shower (pics soon!) yesterday and I'm looking forward to washing and putting away all the little baby clothes and putting the few finishing touches on the nursery. I've been looking at pictures of Marshall when he was a newborn and re-reading those blogs. Oh man, I seriously can't wait to be doing this again so soon! It seems like every month since he was born he has gotten cuter and more fun, and I am LOVING the toddler stage... but there is just something so special and exciting about a newborn.

Feel free to remind me I said that when he's waking up to nurse every hour or two All Night Long, won't let me set him down, and I'm a postpartum emotional mess:)

34 Weeks

2011-11-14T10:13:00.001-08:00

Whoops, I'm a little late on this one!

Taken last Thursday night as I was running out the door to Yoga.

I feel.... big. And sore. I honestly don't remember being this achey when I was pregnant with Marshall. With him I felt pretty good literally up until I went into labor and never really had serous thought about "how am I going to make it another X amt of weeks?"

I think its just a combo of close together pregnancies, and having a toddler to keep up with this time around. All in all I really can't complain, and I fully realize that dealing with hip and tail bone pain is still far easier than dealing with an actual infant who has NEEDS that I'll need to attend to. So I'll just continue to gestate and try to not complain. That said... 6-8 more weeks to go? Aye yai yai.

Finally Homeward Bound

2011-11-11T15:51:00.001-08:00

Jerad is FINALLY coming home today. He wasn't able to get everyone a flight yesterday. Well he could have but it was $600 cheaper to come home today. They should have been pulling in the driveway right about now but they got delayed in Phoenix because the weather in San Fran was too rainy to land. Or something.

11 days. That's how long he's been gone. Sheesh! He's only ever been gone that long once before. I was king of dreading this trip, Marshall has been going through a huge "daddy phase," the daylight hours are getting shorter and shorter, it was supposed to rain, I'm huge and pregnant and TIRED...but actually overall it went really smoothly!

I'm not gonna lie, the first 3 days were haaaard. Marshall was teething (never fails that he'll start cutting 900 teeth as soon as Jerad leaves) and would wake up every night at about 2am crying and the only thing that would make him calm down was us sitting in the living room watching a movie. And it had to be the living room. Snuggled up in my bed with the lap top was a huge no-go. I think being downstairs with the bigger TV was just enough to distract him maybe? It was seriously the ONLY thing that would get him to calm down. We'd go back to bed about 3:30 then have to get up and get ready 2 hours later.

3 days of that is just enough time to loose your sanity and begin to question all of your parenting decisions. I was seriously second guessing our decision to never let Marshall "cry it out." Putting a pillow over my head and letting him scream in his room seemed a lot more appealing than having to get up and actually parent him. Maybe if I gave him a bottle of vodka before bed he'd just sleep through the pain (kidding)? Every time I complained to my coworkers about being exhausted they tell me I should stop letting him "manipulate" me into doing what he wanted to do and that I needed to "win these small battles."

In the middle of the night when I was beyond exhausted, and beyond sick of watching Blue's Clues, I'd look at the baby boy cuddled up next to me and remind myself that someday he won't be a baby anymore. And won't want to cuddle. And even if it seems like an eternity now, this whole thing was just a phase and I needed to enjoy it because SOMEDAY and somehow I would miss these nights.

Then magically on day 4 he must have started feeling better because he never woke up even once during the night after that. After that things were amazing. Marshall was EXTRA cute and funny and adorable all week. He started doing a ton of new things and saying a ton of new words. And was honestly just 100% a joy to be with. Like dumping his bowl out and putting it on his head and saying in a silly little voice "oh, hat!" He's just a funny little guy. We played outside with the dogs every day and took a million little videos to send to Jerad so he still felt like a part of the fam. On the nights Jerad was back to his hotel in time we'd all video chat on the computer and Marshall would talk and talk and make animal noises. Or poke Jerad's mouth on the computer screen while Jerad pretended to bite his fingers.

When it was bed time I'd just say "let's go to bed" and he'd go get in his bed and not make a peep until morning. He slept in on the weekends, and took 2 great naps every day.

I went to bed between 8 and 9 every night so I even got a ton of extra sleep.

I made the effort to go to prenatal yoga last week and this week which really helps my mood. Getting out and doing something for myself once a week seriously just improves my outlook on the world. Today I went and had my hair done which is a HUGE extravagance for me. If I get it cut its usually at Supercuts (with a coupon), and if I get it colored I do it myself with a box color (that's on sale). Hair is just not something that I spend money on. Hence why I'm usually rocking a ponytail! Originally when I made the apt Jerad was going to be home to watch Marshall so when I found out he wouldn't be I *almost* canceled it just because paying a babysitter on top of knowing I'd be paying so much for the cut/color just seemed redic.

I'm super glad I went though, it was worth it.

Usually when Jerad is gone for more than 2 or 3 days I wind up feeling like I'm being stretched too thin and not able to give 100% to anything I'm doing. This time I feel like there was a great balance of Marshall getting enough attention and stimulating activities, the dogs getting enough exercise, the house staying clean, errands getting done, keeping on top of things at work, AND somehow getting "me time." All without sacrificing sleep. That said I'm super excited that Jerad will be home in (supposedly) an 2 hours and hopefully he won't have to be gone this long again! At least not until after Miller comes... I'm 34 weeks today so we're kind of entering the homestretch on this whole pregnancy business.

Oh Dear. Bad Wifey.

2011-11-10T08:00:00.001-08:00

Last night I went to bed so excited for today. It was going to be wonderful! I went to bed before 9 so I knew I'd be well rested. Thursday is my "Friday" and I leave work between 2 and 3 so I have time to do something fun with Marshall. Thursday nights I'm taking a prenatal yoga class. Jerad called me and had me book his and the guy's return flights from Georgia! They've been gone 10 days and were finally finished and coming home! They were going to fly into LAX at 1:30ish so he'd be in time for me to get to see him, have dinner together, and watch Marshall while I went to yoga.Plus I found an awesome deal on airline tickets; only $168 ea. to fly from Atlanta to LAX!

Instead today has sucked. Ass. Majorly.

Jerad called me this morning right after I got to work to let me know that they were at the airport. And couldn't fly out because the tickets I bought were for November 24th. As in, 2 weeks from now.

Whoops.

And there is a $180/ticket change fee (as in more than the price of the original tickets). And all today's flights were at least $200 more expensive.

I feel like Such An Idiot! How freakin' hard is it to click on the right calendar day????

Luckily I'm not married to the kind of guy who will blame me (at least out loud). He was able to sweet talk the Orbitz guy into refunding the tickets so that's good at least. Right now they are all stranded in the Atlanta airport trying to figure out a way to get back home. Instead of it being $500ish for the three of them, its going to be over $1200. Apparently its really cheap to fly in Thanksgiving when I booked the tickets for, just so you know.

Hopefully he gets it worked out and they still manage to make it home tonight. Especially since they don't have a hotel room or rental car anymore.

Anyone need some help planning a trip, I'm apparently AWESOME at it. Just saying.

Weekend Recap

2011-11-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

Thursday after I got off work I decided to just stop whining and be proactive and sign up for prenatal yoga already. I called my littlest sister who offered to babysit on the condition that I bought pizza and breadsticks and just went for it.I picked up Marshall from the Nanny, then my sister from school and we went to the Children's Museum until they closed. When we got home she played with Marshall while I made his dinner and got ready for yoga. At the last minute I started second guessing myself and thinking that what I really wanted more than anything was some SLEEP so I should take advantage of having a babysitter and just get in a nap:) Somehow I drug myself to Yoga and it was soo worth it.

I need to make time to do stuff like this for myself.

I ended up signing up for 5 classes and will just work out the babysittage as needed. Since they break for Thanksgiving, 5 classes will take me right through 38 weeks.

Friday it was raining so we spent the morning shuffling the dogs inside and outside, and trying not to go too stir crazy. Once it cleared up I took Marshall to the park to get his crazies out and have lunch:

Friday night even though Jerad is out of town I decided I'd make us a respectable dinner. Normally when Jerad is gone I tend to slack on dinners because it can be hard to cook when its just me and Marsh. Sometimes everything goes perfectly and he'll play quietly (or not so quietly) with pots and pans or even "help me." And sometimes he melts down and needs to be held RIGHT THIS SECOND and I'm trying to juggle him and whatever I'm trying to make and dinner ends up a flop and we're all overtired and ready for bed at the end.

So... usually I make him something easy and fast for dinner (baked chicken/fish, steamed veggies w/ coconut oil, yogurt with some berries on top), then I'll eat leaftovers or make a salad after he goes to sleep.

Anyways, I made brown rice pasta and pureed a bunch of vegetables (onions, carrots, bell peppers, zucchini) to mix into the homemade tomato sauce. I also marinated and grilled asparagus and yellow squash (this is one of Marshall's favorite meals).

Clouds parted, birds sang, and Marshall played with his trucks happily while I made dinner, coming into the kitchen only once to ask for some "wa-wa."

When dinner was ready I set the table for both of us (as opposed to eating on the living room floor like we usually do when its just the 2 of us)... and... he wanted nothing to do with it. At all. He ended up eating 3 raisins and half a banana and calling it a night.

Then I looked around the kitchen at all the dirty dishes and remembered why cooking for just me and a toddler is a waste of time.

Saturday I decided it was time for another haircut. Man his hair grows fast, we just had it cut 2 months ago!

before

during

after. so handsome!

I kind of am in love with the kids salon. He likes sitting in the car chair and doesn't mind having his hair cut, so I get to relax. Win-win. I bring a magazine and starbucks and tell the stylist to take her time:)

After the salon we went to the Children's Museum. We pretty much live there these days.

After his afternoon nap the sun was again peeking out so we ventured out to the sports fields near our house. There's a ton of space for Marshall to run and run and he loves it. I bring a blanket and a book and plop down in the middle of the fields and he just goes crazy running and rolling and being a boy.

Sunday we got to "sleep in" a little thanks to Daylight Savings Time. Way back on Thursday I'd started moving naps and bedtime back in 15 min increments so Marshall didn't even notice. Just seeing the clock say 7 when I knew it really felt like 8 was heavenly to me though.

Marshall watched TV (shame, I know) while I made scrambled eggs and cornmeal pancakes. I even ground the cornmeal myself thankyouverymuch! Or "thank you Vitamix" I should say. I topped them with blueberries and honey for me, and blueberries and coconut oil for him.

After breakfast I let Marshall play in the shower in our bathroom while I folded laundry on the floor. Have I mentioned how amazing it is having a large bathroom? He played in the water for about 30 minutes, singing, talking, rolling round shampoo bottles, then he discovered that he could blow raspberries on the doors. Hilarious.

That afternoon we went to my sister and her hubby's house (Auntie M/Uncle Lars) for lunch and then they watched Marshall for an hour or so which enabled me to run a bunch of errands and not have to load/unload baby at each stop.

After Marshall went to sleep I finished watching season 5 of Army Wives. Jerad is gone until Thursdayish so I really need another show suggestion! My sister is trying to get me to watch American Horror Stories but I don't know if I'm brave enough to watch it all on my own... so maybe something a little more "chick-flicky?"

A Lazy Day would be lovely

2011-11-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

I think my cat Tobee has the right idea today. It seriously feels like a wear pj's, stay in bed and do nothing sort of day. Unfortunately, even if I could magically talk Marshall into that plan (har har), it means we'd have an up all night sort of night so... I'm finishing getting ready and packing our bags for an afternoon at the Children's Museum, park, and maybe even a hair cut for him.

He slept for 12 hours straight through the night (please Lord let this be the new habit for awhile!), and we had a semi lazy morning so I guess I owe him some fun this afternoon right? Jerad should be back by next weekend, and besides having our family photos done we have minimal plans so I'm planning on catching up on rest and sleep. Just 7 days to count down!

Until then I'll just envy the cat.

18 months

2011-11-04T16:34:00.000-07:00

Well Marshall just turned 18 months old. Just seeing that typed out is weird. I mean, what happened to my little bay-beeee? At this rate he'll be driving soon.

I'm loving the toddler stage so far. Its so nice that he's able to communicate with us! He'll hold our hands and lead us over to things he wants us to see or do (adorable). Every day he's saying new words, I can't even keep track. Sometimes he'll be saying something over and over for a few days and all of a sudden he'll use it in context and we'll be like "oh, that's what he was saying!"

A few days ago he knocked off a pair of earings I had on the table and said "uh-oh, ear-igg." Yesterday he was reading a book and pointed at and said "tuttle" (turtle) and "snay" (snake) which I had no idea he knew. This morning when I was getting him dressed he gave me a hug and started kind of swaying me back and forth saying "snuggles. awe, snuggles." He also held up a book and said just as clear as can be "read a book?"

I think he's up to about 50-60 words now but I've kind of lost track.

When I ask him things like if he's ready for a bath, drink, to eat, to go outside, snuggles etc. he shakes his head "no" if he's not. Sometimes he'll shake his head "yes" but usually he'll just start walking in the right direction.

If we're home and he wants a drink he'll go open the dishwasher, climb onto the door, grab a glass from the top rack, and hold it up saying "wawa?"

His new favorite game to play with me is holding my hand, walking me to the living room, then saying "fass! fass! fass!" (meaning fast! fast! fast!) while we run back and forth. I've been trying to talk him into letting me sit down and watch him run by himself but so far he's not going for it.

He can take off his shoes, socks, and (most) pants by himself as well as his shirt once we help him get his arms out. He can hold and drink out of a regular glass without spilling, but once he's not thirsty anymore he likes to dump the water on the floor to play with so we still have to keep an eye on him. He's pretty good with a fork, but usually prefers to use his fingers.

Right now he is working on 4 eye teeth (I think, it's hard to check) to go with the 4 molars that came in last month.

For the most part he is so calm and independent. He will sit for 20, 30, 40 minutes looking through books or playing with puzzles and blocks by himself. When its nap time and bedtime he'll easily go into his room, play for a few minutes, then lay down and go to bed without a fuss. However, sometimes he just wants to go! go! go! He is also fearless:

It's so fun seeing him grow, and learn, and his personality develop more and more. I can't wait to see what the next 18 months brings!

33 Weeks

2011-11-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

33 weeks. 33 weeks! As in I'll be "full term" in 4 short weeks. Oh dear. I know no matter what it will work out, but I am hoping this baby stays put until his due date of Dec 22nd. If its much earlier than that its going to seriously tweak our holiday plans... and Jerad could even miss the birth. Also I absolutely refuse to give birth on Christmas Eve or Day so I'll be holding him in until at least the 26th.

Did you hear that baby Miller? You may arrive between Dec 19th and the 23rd, or the 26th-31st. If you must you can come in January I suppose.

(Who want's to bet karma bites me in the ass later?)

For a comparison here I was at 33 weeks with Marshall:

Its hard to tell since the outfits and camera angles are so different, but it looks like I'm carrying lower and a little more forward?

This time last pregnancy I was STRESSING about my weight gain and body changes. I mentioned that I was already up 25 pounds... that was 25 heavily adjusted pounds. As in... I just couldn't face the real number. I had worked so hard to loose weight the few years previous to getting knocked up, and had kept it off, that once the scale started creeping it really hit me hard. I was very careful with what I was eating, still tracking calories, and exercising... yet the weight still crept up and up. Some of my friends that were pregnant at the same time would post blogs about the 4 donuts and quart of OJ they had for breakfast, constant fast food, midnight snacks and oh yeah, they were now up 15 pounds.

Wa wa waaaaaa.

This pregnancy I started off 15 pounds heavier and am up 30 (non adjusted:) pounds and don't really care. I've only weighed myself twice because I don't want to obsess about it, and am comfortable with the fact that I'm probably just one of those people who gain a lot during pregnancy.Then again, I'm sure it does help that I've gained so much less this time. I think its also different this pregnancy because I realize just how much bigger I am going to get in the next 7ish weeks so its pointless to stress about it now.

I feel like I'm much more sore and achy than I was at this point with Marshall. Then again last time by 33 weeks I was getting prenatal massages, going to the chiropractor, in a pre-natal yoga class, able to rest and take naps on my days off and not having to keep up with an active 18 month old toddler. All of which I'm sure helped. Maybe once Jerad gets back from Georgia I'll schedule a "me" day of pampering.

Overall I feel really good though and don't have any major complaints. This pregnancy has just flown by! I am excited because these last 2 months of being pregnant are going to be so fun filled.

Our calendar is packed packed packed but its all awesome stuff like a baby shower, parades, gingerbread house and ornament making, and lots and lots of holiday parties. Its our first year in the new house! Basically we have something amazing to look forward to every weekend in November and December and then get to welcome a new baby. Yes Please!

Oh The Difference a Year Makes!

2011-11-02T06:00:00.000-07:00


2010

2011

2010


2011

Annnnd just as ambivalent about pumpkins this year as he was last year.

On the Road Again

2011-11-01T17:12:00.000-07:00


Random pic of Marshall pretending to be a big kid at a restaurant. Also, didn't I just get his hair cut like 5 minutes ago? STOP GROWING!

Jerad left at 3:45am this morning to drive to LAX and fly to Georgia for a 1-2 week project. Yes, GEORGIA, that state way over on the opposite coast.

As much as I'm not looking forward to being a solo parent while pregnant and working full time, I am happy that this is finally happening. This job has been in the works for over a year now and keeps getting pushed back and back until it was looking like he might not be able to go... since I'll be having a baby in 7ish weeks and all. Supposedly he'll be gone for 1 or 2 weeks tops, then home for a week or 2, then go back for 1 or 2 weeks. Obviously he won't be traveling out of the state when it gets too close to my due date (maybe 37-38 weeks?) so this is cutting it really close.

The timing for this first part of the trip ended up working out perfectly. The next 2 weekends are literally the only that we have free from now until Christmas, so he's not missing anything. And making extra money right before Christmas and birthing another baby is always nice.

We'll see how this goes. For awhile Jerad was traveling so much that when he came home it felt like a wrench was being thrown into our well-oiled machine of a routine. For the last few weeks (months maybe?) he's been working almost exclusively local jobs or in the office and I've gotten spoiled. It feels like we have this whole juggling of working full time while parenting a toddler down to a science.

M-Wed the alarm goes off at 5:30am, Jerad lets out and feeds all the pets while I hop in the shower. When I get out of the shower I turn off Marshall's music and crack his door open so that he'll wake up gently instead of just going in and turning on the light. We both get ready for the day then one of us makes Marshall's morning green smoothie, breakfast for us, and packs lunches while the other one makes the bed and gets Marshall changed and ready. We load up, drop Marshall off at 6:45 at my mom's house, I get dropped off at work right before 7 (we're pretty much a one car family), and he goes to the office or jobsite right after 7. Since his office is one mile from our house, sometimes he'll go home on his lunch break and throw dinner in the crock pot or do some dinner prep depending on what we're having. He gets off at 5, picks Marshall up at 5:15, then me at 5:30. When we get home at 5:45ish one of us goes and feeds the dogs and cats who act like they havent been fed in years while the other one unloads the baby and car.

If Marshall is content to play alone or in the kitchen then he does that while we make dinner together, otherwise one of us will occupy him while the other cooks. After dinner we take Marsh and the dogs on a walk, then one of us does bath time while the other starts a load of laundry or diapers, repacks the diaper bag for the next day, and picks up toys and books. After Marshall goes to sleep we finally sit down and watch a show or work on any projects we have. If Jerad has more work to do he'll go back to the office after Marshall is asleep for a few hours. Before bed the kitchen gets cleaned, lunches are made for the next day, and the laundry/diapers are put in the dryer.

Thursdays we have a Nanny that comes to our house so we get to sleep in slightly later (15 minutes makes a BIG difference at 5:30 am!) I get off at 2:30 or 3 and take Marshall to the Children's Museum, a friend's house, or park until Jerad gets off at 5.

Then Friday-Sunday we are both off (although Jerad usually ends up working from home for a few hours on Friday morning) and work around the house, get groceries, and try to do at least one fun family thing a day like the beach, park, Avila Valley Barn, playdate, Children's Museum, or picnic.

So, clearly taking Jerad out of the equation makes things a little trickier for me... Especially on days when I work and we can't really deviate from the "routine." Not to mention he has pretty much taken over all night time parenting. Hmm. It'll work out, it always does. However this is the first time we'll be in completely different time zones. Marshall has also been going through a HUGE 'Daddy Phase' so I'm hoping that doesn't work against me. I'm off in 15 minutes so I guess we'll see :)

Weekend Recap

2011-10-31T15:02:00.000-07:00

Prepare for a photo overload. Okay, you've been warned! Also I'm glad my new iPhone takes decent pictures because I apparently forget my memory card for the camera everywhere we go.

Thursday after work we loaded up Marshall and his wagon and headed to SLO for the Munchkin March Parade.

We were running late, couldn't find parking, and there were so many people there we had to go waaaaaay down the street to get in the back of the line. Except we got the line backwards and actually ended up in the front of the line and next to someone we knew. Score:)

Notice the tail, adorbs:

After the march from the Children's Museum to the park we had some pizza and played on the playground:

For some reason Marshall thought hanging from this bar was super fun and wanted to do it over and over again:

Friday we spent the day working on the cars. Not fun, but productive I suppose. The Sorento was ready (ahem, 3,000 miles past 'ready') for an oil change and tire rotation and wash. It ends up being cheaper to have the oil changed at the dealer than for Jerad to do it so I took it there, then because I'm cheap instead of having the tires rotated and it washed at the same place I drove to the place where we bought the tires from since they do free rotations, and a car wash on the other end of town that I had a free coupon for.

Jerad spent the day working on his old '63 truck so that he can sell it. It has some fuel pump issue where it randomly dies plus a lot of other boring stuff that I started tuning out when he was trying to explain it. Its a nice truck with a lot of charm, but not really practical for us. He hates driving it (no heat or AC) and once Miller is born we won't all be able to fit in it.

Friday night Jerad's mom and sister came over to babysit and we finally got out to celebrate our anniversary! We went out to Thai Food and a movie.

Saturday we went to a party at the Paso Children's Musuem (we are seriously getting our money's worth out of that membership!)

We did a few Halloween crafts:

Then realized that Marshall hadn't seen himself in his costume yet so we found a mirror:

He made a lot of funny faces and sounds. I wish I had a video. After that it was time for an impromptu concert:

Then ditched the hot costume and played around for awhile:

On Sunday I realized that we still hadn't gotten the obligatory "pumpkin patch" picture so we headed over to a local pumpkin farm

Marsh had a ball running through the fields:

Then he found this pumpkin and fell.in.love.

I have no idea what was so special about THIS ONE, but he just kept saying "ooooh pumpkin" and hugging and kissing it. We were going to buy it (we still haven't got a carving pumpkin for Halloween) but realized that we left the house with no money. Whoops, parenting fail.

Since we didn't have any pumpkin money, and I really wanted a pic of him in a pile of pumpkins which this patch didn't have, we loaded up and headed to ANOTHER pumpkin farm:

Where we were able to get the obligatory pumpkin patch pic:

Tonight is Halloween and we had all sorts of plans involving dropping by grandparent's houses, friends, and a carnival... but I think we're scrapping them and going to roast a chicken at home, hand out candy to any trick or treaters we get, put Marshall to bed early and snuggle on the couch and watch a movie (or "moobie" as Marshall would say). He still doesn't "get" Halloween so we might as well take advantage of being able to relax:)

Tomorrow AM Jerad leaves bright and early for a 1-2 week job in Georgia. Yes, as in the state on the opposite coast.

32 Weeks

2011-10-30T13:39:00.000-07:00

Marsh wanted to get in on the action.

Sad sidenote: the grey "shirt" I'm wearing was a nighty pre-pregnancy.

Weekend Recap

2011-10-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

We spent most of Friday and Saturday getting ready for our housewarming party!

I finished putting out our fall decorations:

We decided to have an open-house style party instead of asking everyone to show up at a certain time. We said between 12:00 and 5:00. Not ONE person showed up until 1:00, which was completely fine but I was getting nervous that it was going to be totally lame and no one was going to come at all. Luckily after that we had a steady stream of people:) I think about 40 altogether? It worked out perfectly and I feel like I got to at least say hi to everyone that came.

I did however forget to take any pictures.

Sunday we loaded up to go the "Giddy Up Round Up" for a little family fun!

There was so much to do and Marshall had a blast. There was a hay maze to navigate, musical instruments to play, gymnastic obstacle course to tumble, horses to pet, plus a lot more.

Marshall got to climb all around a highway patrol car and push buttons to his heart's content:

Climb in a helicopter:

Then the best part, a few trips on the steam train:

Can't wait to go back next year!

We had a fabulous, fun filled weekend but boy did it wear me out! I'm still recovering. Saturday night I went to bed early because I was just pooped and having BH contractions every 7 minutes. They aren't painful, and its not a big deal... but they are annoying and get uncomfortable. I think it was just a combo of running around for the party, being on my feet most of the day, and not drinking enough water. Then Sunday was just go-go-go too. Needless to say, getting paid to sit at a desk all day sounded like a good deal come Monday morning. Well, except for the part where I had to wake up at 5:30...

Next weekend we hope to remodel the upstairs bathroom (well, start the remodel), make it to the Munchkin March Halloween parade in SLO, have a "big stupid car day" (seriously that's what's on the calendar) of cleaning, maintenance and repairs, go to a Halloween Party at the Children's Museum, and I'm going to a bridal shower. Just a few days to get through then the fun can begin!

Nursery Progress (take 2)

2011-10-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

A little progress since last week. We got the rest of the drawer pulls on, and put a few things up on the wall. We need to get a changing pad to go on top of the dresser, mobile above the crib, and eventually I'll put baskets with things like breastfeeding supplies and extra pacifiers in the little white shelf above the glider.

31 weeks

2011-10-23T17:30:00.000-07:00

And at 31 weeks with Marshall.

I am too exhausted from our long and busy weekend to write anything else at the moment.

Weekend Recap

2011-10-18T15:50:00.000-07:00

I almost didn't post this because we didn't really do anything interesting that anyone would care to read about. So just be warned!

Friday afternoon I took Marshall to the beach. Friday night I let him stay up a little late to see Jerad when he got home. This out of town trip was perfect, Jerad left at 6:30am on Thursday so we got to see him in the morning, then was back (sort of) before bedtime on Friday.

Saturday Marshall woke up with some serious bed head.

These pictures don't even do it justice because they were taken about 2 hours after he woke up.

This was the only weekend we had free before our last minute housewarming party scheduled for next Saturday, so we spent most of our time working on our to-do list.

Saturday:

* Finish Dog Area (check)
* Mow, weedwhack, blow (check)
* Fix kitchen light fixture(check)
(Jerad lifted Marshall up to touch our kitchen light fixture a few weeks ago and the plastic thing crashed down and broke)
* Fix broken sprinklers, water brown spots in lawn (check)
* Plant new plants in front and stake Boganvilla's
* Rearrange living room furniture (check)
* Put up fall decorations in living room (check)
* Finish nursery ( just need a few more drawer pulls)
* Fix broken white chair and touch up paint

We got everything done except planting a few new plants and staking the big boganvilla plants we have in the front of our house. This actually kind of pisses me off because I have been begging Jerad to do this for MONTHS and have even bought plants which have died because they were never planted. I guess technically we didn't fix the broken chair either but I'm not really worried about it...

Marshall is OBSESSED with Miller's crib and happily played in there for an hour while I worked in the nursery. He calls it a "night night box" and rolls around, holds onto the bars and jumps around, plays with the play pen mobile I stuck on there. Its pretty amusing.

While rearranging the living room furniture I decided that we really needed another chair, preferably a dark wicker with an ottoman. I looked on craigslist, and found one exactly like I was picturing, in perfect condition for only $50. So we took a little family trip to SLO to pick it up.

Sunday we had a few more to-do list items:

Sunday:
Wash curtains (check)
Vacuum Blinds (halfway check)
Finish Marshall's play area (check)
Pick up dog poo, rake rocks, pull weeds, make back yard look semi decent
Decorate front porch for Fall
Organize upstairs hallway
Clean fridge, pantry, declutter kitchen (check)

We ended up having an impromptu lunch with Jerad's parents to celebrate his birthday, so we didn't get a lot of things on the list done. BUT... eating out is clearly more fun that chores so it was worth it:)

I waited until Marshall's naptime to work on the kitchen and pantry because I knew I'd be emptying out cupboards and he'd want to "help." His bedroom is right over the kitchen and I could hear huge thumps, drawers slamming, and just mayhem in general. Since he wasn't crying and I was getting a ton don, I decided to just deal with the aftermath later. Once it got quiet I decided to go take a peek and see what he had been up to:

He'd pulled everything out of the bottom drawer of his dresser (blankets and slings), flipped his table over, did a little reading, then pulled a pillow into the middle of his room, put a blanket over his head, and passed out. What a weirdo.

Did you notice the baby gym in the last picture? He re-discovered that when we were unpacking baby things for Miller's room and is mesmerized by it. I keep sneaking it out of his room and he keeps sneaking it back in.

Sunday evening I went to a jewelry/dessert party at Jerad's aunt's house. I got a few really cute things AND a plate of dessert leftovers to bring home. Win/win!

Marshall gets a "bath" every night. I say "bath" because we only use soap or shampoo about once a week. Its pretty much a nightly "play in the water sesh." We fill up the tub, then leave the faucet trickling cold water. He likes playing in the running water and it cools off the rest of the tub after about 30 minutes otherwise he'd never get out. His new favorite is turning on the shower. Because the water is barely on it takes awhile to start coming out of the shower head, but he waits very patiently. I dunno why, but it cracks me up:

Well there you have it, our boring weekend:)

Nursery Progress

2011-10-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

Here is where we're at with Miller's nursery:

We still have a few things that need to be hung on the wall, need to finish making the mobile, a mirror along the floor bed, set up a changing station on top of the dresser, put the rest of the drawer pulls on the dresser in the closet, take out the ceiling light fixture and add a fan, touch up a little paint, build a few shelves in the closet, and we might paint a mural on the wall where the floor bed is similar to this one:

(only with blue birds)

The mobile is going to be like this:

In blue, grey, and yellow fabrics. My mother in law is making it so it will actually end up looking nice as opposed to the fabric blobs hot glued together and stuck on sticks that would happen if I tried to do it.

We went back and forth and back and forth about doing a nursery. First we were going to just put the baby in our room since we'll be cosleeping. If he ends up being like Marshall and needing his own space after a few months, our new house has room for us to put a bassinet or crib in our bedroom, or even in our closet. We planned on eventually putting the boys together in what is now Marshall's room. Then we decided we had so much fun making Marshall's first room that Miller deserved the same, even if it wouldn't get much use. We'd just try to do it on the cheap.

Just like with Marshall, we didn't want anything too "baby" or "theme-ish." I was going to buy fabric and make the curtains that are in the closet and window but decided to save some $ and just use some white linen ones we already had. Same with the bedding. We used a curtain rod we already had for the window, then an old shower curtain rod to hang the curtains in the closet. The crib is from Craigslist. We sanded and painted it. The bedding is from Marshall's nursery, as are all of the toys. We already had the rug, floor bedding, mirror, bird decals that are in the closet, and curtains. The only other things we bought for the room is the paint, crib mattress (Ikea), dresser (Craigslist), glider (consignment shop), the low white shelf (Ikea), floor bed (Ikea), floor bed base (Ikea).

Crib: $40
Crib Mattress: $70
Shelf: $60
Floor Mattress: $99
Mattress Slats: $20
Dresser: $25
Dresser Pulls: $10.50
Glider: $80
Paint: $40

Total: $444.50

Which really isn't that much considering he'll use the mattresses, shelf and dresser for a long time. We'll do like we did with Marshall and re-sell the crib and glider as soon as we stop using them. Because the floor bed is a twin sized mattress, we can also use the space for an over night guest if we need to.

Like I said, there's still more to do but so far I'm very happy with the way it came out! Its cute and peaceful. In case you've forgotten, here is what it looked like when we bought the house:

Ugh, that color still drives me crazy! I'm just not a red bedroom person. Then here is what it looked like before we nurseryfied it:

As you can see we never really did anything with it, just put some spare furniture in there and talked about maybe making an office. I feel kind of bad that Jerad's dad spent a whole day painting over the red and we just painted over it....Then again there is no way I could have lived with that red for the 5 months we've been in the house.

Besides a few finishing touches, all we need is a sweet little baby to complete the room!

Beach Day

2011-10-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

Today Marshall and I went to the beach. Apparently the nice Fall weather we had a few weeks ago was a fluke because its been Hades Hot lately. An escape to the coast was definitely in order.

Despite the beautiful weather at the beach, the water was coooooold and I wasn't sure how much he was going to love it. He got his toes in and stood watching for a few minutes.

Then sat down.

This is the face me makes if I ask him to smile apparently.

There were a few other other kids about the same age there who would cling to their mom's like there was no tomorrow as soon as a wave would come, or would run away.

Um, not my baby. I had to stop taking pictures at this point because he decided to run out past his waist and stay there betting pummeled by waves. Every few waves he'd get knocked down and tumbled around and thought it was hilarious. I wore a dress and ended up getting soaked trying to a) keep up with him and b) keep him from drowning.

We played in the water until his lips were purple and he was shaking so hard he could barely stand up, yet he still cried when I decided it was time to leave. Picture me, in all my 30 week pregnant glory, carrying all our stuff with a purple shaking toddler reaching over my shoulder towards the water crying "bye bye wa-wa" over and over.

Quite the site.

After that we had a picnic lunch in the park. I asked Marshall if he wanted some chicken and while he was eating it he kept making chicken sounds then saying "mmmm" which was both adorable and traumatizing all at the same time.

He also got a kick out of "driving" the pirate ship:

Tonight when I was giving him a bath he kept saying "ball" and "water" then "bird" and "weee" which is what he calls slides and I realized he was talking about the beach! So cute.

30 Weeks

2011-10-14T15:46:00.000-07:00

So sorry... I get really awkward taking pictures of myself. I feel about the same way I did with Marshall at this stage. Like there is no way I can possibly get bigger in the next 10 weeks. That was before I learned I could grow and stretch to the size of Texas.

Besides being Large, I feel great. Lots of energy, sleeping well, blah blah blah. The only thing really different this time around is I am having braxton hicks contractions like crazy. I did last time too, just not until the last few weeks. Now if I do anything they start up. Like walking up the stairs, vacuuming, picking up Marshall. Pretty much anything even slightly physical and my stomach gets hard like a rock. I don't mind though, they aren't painful... just annoying. And it kind of makes me feel buff... like its all muscle or something. Hopefully all these practice contractions now will get my uterus nice and toned for labor.

Steer Clear

2011-10-13T14:16:00.000-07:00

Good Lord I'm in an awful mood today. Seriously, I've just been quietly fuming at my desk all day. I'm in such a bad mood that I almost think its funny. No reason for the grump, its just one of those days I guess. I also feel huge and uncomfortable and just BLAH which isn't helping.

The light at the end of the tunnel is that I'm off in 3 minutes and today is my Friday. I am picking up Marshall and I have a midwife apt this evening and hot plans of In 'n Out for dinner (aka no cooking for this grump).

Jerad left at 6:30 am for a job in Santa Barbara and will be back tomorrow night. Tomorrow I think I'll take Marshall to the beach or at the least the Children's Museum to blow off some steam. This weekend we are going to finish up a few projects around the house because the next weekend we are finally having our Housewarming Party!

Marshall's new Montessori Bedroom

2011-10-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

We finally decided to spiff up Marshall's room a bit. When we bought the house we threw his room together quickly and never went back and really put it together.

This is what it looked like 4 months ago when we bought the house:

And this is what it looked like after we moved in:

The only new thing we bought was the toddler bed, everything else we already had from his room at our old house. Since he had been sleeping on the twin sized floor bed since 7 months old, we thought he would do fine moving into a toddler bed at 1 year, which he did. So far he hasn't fallen out.
We decided since the room was big enough (it seems so huge after his last room!) we'd keep the floor bed as well. It makes a nice place for us to snuggle as a family to read books, or for Jerad or I to hang out on when we're playing with Marshall in his room. For some reason Marshall usually elects to sleep on the floor bed for his first nap, but the toddler bed for his second nap and overnight.

While the room was functional... it wasn't very aesthetically pleasing. You know me, I usually like to have a theme or some sort of cohesive design and this room was just something that we schlepped together in 30 minutes.

After going back and forth about a theme or design, and being determined to follow our "only if we have the cash" rule for home improvements, we decided to get creative with stuff we already had. This meant reusing Jerad's John Deere stuff from our old office/music room circa 2008/2009. We also added a bookcase that we already had (that really needs to be refinished some day when I'm not feeling so lazy slash pregnant). The only things I purchased for the room re-do was a set of sheets from Target that were on sale for $14.78, a body pillow for $9.99, and a pillow cover on sale for $4.98. So the whole room cost about $30.

The entire room is baby/child proofed, and everything is at his level so he can easily see everything and chose what to play with.

MichaelOlaf.net puts it perfectly:

"Every child follows a unique timetable of learning to crawl to those things he has been looking at, so that he may finally handle them. This visual, followed by tactile, exploration is very important for many aspects of human development. If we provide a floor bed or mattress on the floor in a completely safe room—rather than a crib or playpen with bars—the child has a clear view of the surroundings and freedom to explore.

A bed should be one which the baby can get in and out of on his own as soon as he is ready to crawl. The first choice is an adult twin bed mattress on the floor. Besides being an aid to development, this arrangement does a lot to prevent the common problem of crying because of boredom or exhaustion.

It helps to think of this as a whole-room playpen with a baby gate at the doorway and to examine every nook and cranny for interest and safety. If the newborn is going to share a room with parents or siblings we can still provide a large, safe, and interesting environment.

Eventually he will explore the whole room with a gate at the door and then gradually move out into the baby-proofed and baby-interesting remainder of the house.

These are the beginning stages of independence, concentration, movement, self-esteem, decision-making, and balanced, healthful development of body, mind, and spirit."

Opting for a child centered environment instead of the typical nursery has definitely done all of those things. Marshall is SO independent. He will easily play by himself for over an hour. Its really neat watching his decision making as well. Sometimes he will work on a puzzle every day for a week, then all of a sudden he masters that one and decides to focus on a stacking toy. Sometimes he wants to play and wind off some steam before putting himself to sleep and sometimes he happily crawls to his room, grabs his blanket, picks a bed and goes right to sleep. Sometimes when he wakes in the morning he calls out for "daddy" or "mommy" until one of us comes and cuddles in bed with him, and sometimes he wakes up and quietly plays for 45 minutes until he decides its breakfast time. I think one of the reasons he is so calm and independent is because he has control over a lot of his environment and we're removed a lot of frustrations. Having only a few toys out at a time also keeps him from being overwhelmed or over stimulated. As he grows tired of the things in his room, I rotate them out with other toys.

Although we LOVE the Montessori Philosophy and concept, we are going to do a crib for Miller at least until he starts crawling. That way we have somewhere "safe" to put him that Marshall can't get to. I'll post pictures of Miller's nursery soon!

Weekend recap

2011-10-10T13:26:00.000-07:00

We had an AWESOME weekend. It was one of those weekends where everything just clicked, we were super productive, and managed to squeeze in some family fun each day as well. My favorite kind of weekend!

Thursday after work (I work a shorter 7-8 hour shift on Thursdays) I picked up Marshall and took him to the Children's museum until it closed. We ended up getting a 3 month membership and have been going 1-3 times a week. He loves it and knows where everything is now.

Jerad has been trying to work 4 ten hour shifts (like I do) so that we can have Friday's off as a family. For the last few weeks he's ended up having to go in the office for a few hours but has pretty much been home the whole day. It's great! Friday morning I left the boys home and went and hung out with Beth for some girl time. Later Jerad, Marshall and I spent some time at the park, then managed to put a bunch of finishing touches on the nursery (pictures to follow eventually). Besides a few odds and ends all it really needs is a little baby Miller to fill it up! Marshall is obsessed with the crib. He hasn't been in a crib since he was 8 months old and we moved him to a floor bed so he thinks its some sort of toy. I put him inside it and he holds onto the rails and jumps up and down. Hilarious.

Saturday we went to the Pioneer Day Parade. Last year Marshall was little and wasn't totally into it. This year he was fascinated with all of the tractors, horses, bands, and heavy equipment.

I just went to find the blog of last year's parade and it looks like last year we spent the weekend doing basically the exact same thing we did this weekend. Park, Pioneer Parade, house projects, and pumpkin patch. How funny.

Sunday we went to the San Marcos Pumpkin Farm. It was so much fun! There was a bounce house:

Animals:

And the whole place just looked like a park. This is exactly the kind of place Jerad and I wanted to get married in and couldn't find, however I still don't think it beats Yosemite:)

Besides basically finishing the nursery, we also finished the covered dog area in the back yard, came up with a plan of how to renovate and revamp the upstairs kid's bathroom, organized our closet, planned a housewarming party, walked the dogs every day, cleaned almost all the blinds and went to bed Sunday night on clean sheets with all the bathrooms shining, kitchen cleaned, and floors vacuumed and mopped. The Perfect Way to start a new week!

Oh, and the best part; I put away all the laundry and have kept the fireplace laundry free for the last 4 days:)

Baby bear goes on a walk

2011-10-08T23:02:00.000-07:00

(Or, our new nighttime routine)

Lately Jerad has been taking Marshall and the dogs on all on a walk before bedtime.

We have the neatest walking trails right by our house.

With lots of room for the dogs to run:

Its a nice way to tire everyone out.

Marshall gets in on the frisbee throwing action too:)

Its amazing that all this space is right outside our door! It almost feels like being in the country. This is actually one of the biggest reasons we bought the house.

After a few tickles, its time to go home.

Successful walk.

And everyone slept happily ever after (*knock on wood*)

29 weeks

2011-10-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

I think?!? I keep getting it mixed up then go to my midwife appointments only to informed that I'm not as far along as I thought I was... but my weekly babycenter email is saying 29 weeks so I'll go with that. Also apparently the baby is about 2.5 lbs, 15 inches long, and the size of a butternut squash. I believe it! I tried to google a butternut squash pic and found one that looked like a skeleton but decided not to post it because its kind of creepy to compare the baby to it.

Oh who am I kidding, you need to be traumatized too:

You're welcome!

Basically I feel exactly the same as I did when I wrote this post at 29 weeks with Marshall, except I have a lot more stretch marks now. Besides the *overwhelming exhaustion* the first 17 weeks or so, this pregnancy has mostly been identical to Marshall's. So far Miller is just as active in utero as Marshall was. He does.not.hold.still. Marshall ended up being a super chill baby once he was out of the womb, so I'm hoping for the same this time around. A few days ago I was sitting on the couch reading a book and Marshall came up and tried to sit with me. The baby kept kicking him so hard that it would move him a little bit and he'd say "hey!" and look at me like I was the one poking him.

I'm at the point in the pregnancy where I have midwife apt every 2 weeks which really makes the time fly. I don't write about the appointments because every apt is the same and there's nothing to share really. I pee on a stick which checks for protein and some other stuff, there never is any, my blood pressure is always like 120/70, baby's heart beat is always in the 140's, my uterus always measures right on track, the midwife palpitates my abdomen to determine the baby's position (which is all over the place) and then we visit for about an hour.

I really, really love our midwife. We have known her since I was 30 weeks pregnant with Marshall and we switched to her care from the nurse midwife practice we were unhappy with. Between the prenatal and postnatal visits with Marshall, all of his well visits, and now Miller's visits we've seen each other regularly over the last 2 years and become friends. Every appointment is at least an hour and we talk about all sorts of things so we've really gotten to know her and her family and vice versa.

At the last appointment Marshall was sitting up on the bed by me and decided to do a little palpitating of his own. He just started kneading my stomach with both hands and this look of complete focus, it was soo funny, we all cracked up. Then when the baby's heart beat came over the monitor Marshall started dancing. His favorite part is getting to play with the measuring tape.

Here's a belly shot from this morning:

Its a loose dress, so kind of hard to see. And for some reason I focused on the stuff on the counter instead of on me. It was 6am, cut me some slack.

Nothing Interesting

2011-10-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

The last week has been pretty Blah. So either skip reading this or prepare for a lot of whining.

On Wednesday my birthday present from Jerad arrived:

So that was something exciting! I've never had a smart phone and didn't really think it would be worth the extra $$ a month. Jerad talked me into it because 1) they're awesome, 2) the phone I had didn't actually work at my desk which was a little inconvenient 3) my point and shoot camera is broken and I don't have an ipod.

My birthday was actually August 30th. This was the weirdest b-day I've ever had. I am a BIG birthday person. Jerad and I usually take a trip, then have a party with family, then one with friends. Its usually a birthday month type of thing. This year Jerad was out of town (its lame having a b-day on a week day), my parents never said happy birthday and decided not to give me a card or present, all of our friends were busy, and so I didn't end up with anything birthday related; a cake, a card, not one single present. Not like I need those things, it was just weird doing literally nothing for the first time ever. I did get a lot of facebook love and text messages which was nice. A week later we had dinner at our friends Beth and Tyson's house and she baked these yummy brownie treats and we called that my celebration:)

ANYWAYS... Jerad got me an iPhone last week and that kind of made up for the whole thing:)

Marshall woke up sick (runny eyes and nose, little cough, fever) on Thursday so I stayed home from work to administer our normal protocol:

Elderberry Extract every hour
Tea Tree, peppermint, and lavender essential oils in a steamy bath a few times a day
1000iu vitamin D
Lots of immunity tea, water, whole foods, and rest.

We don't treat fevers or runny noses (just the occasional saline spray to soothe) and think of them as the body doing its job to heal itself.

Thursday evening I had a midwife apt and everyone in the office was amazed at how sweet and goofy Marshall was even though he was clearly sick. They literally think he never cries and is always even-tempered (har har).

By he next morning he was fine but I was sick and the last thing I felt like doing was remembering to do all the stuff I'd just done for Marshall so instead we hauled me and my germs to the Children's Museum then when we got home I over did it setting up the nursery and now 4 days later I'm just starting to recover. So yeah... take care of yourself when you're sick:) I don't know if my immune system is just down from being pregnant and getting no sleep lately or if I got a different bug than he did but I got pretty sick.

We had hot plans to go to the Grand Opening of a pumpkin farm over the weekend where there was supposed to be all sorts of fun shenanigans for kids. Since I was sick and Marshall was recovering we didn't make it. Jerad had a small side job on Saturday that he thought would take about 3 hours and somehow turned into 10. Sunday I barely got out of bed. Monday I stayed home from work and went ahead and sent Marshall to my mom's house so I could actually rest. My plan was to sleep in then in the afternoon run a few errands and get some chores done before picking up Marshall. Jerad convinced me I deserved a pedicure. I ended up feeling so crappy all day I only got out of bed to go make food/tea. Awesome. I didn't even have the energy to lay on the couch and put on a movie. I NEVER manage to stay down when I'm sick because it makes me feel lazy so clearly I was miserable. Missing out on a pedicure to lay around and do nothing just made me more miserable.

Today I felt good enough to drag myself into the office and stop using up my precious paid time off, and I'm hoping tonight I don't have to sleep sitting up in order to breathe.

The last 4 days Marshall has been back to sleeping normally so we're all feeling happier and more well rested. He really only was a bad sleeper for one week but its amazing when you get sleep deprived how LONG a week can feel. Luckily, it was a short phase.

A week ago I made a vow to stay on top of our never ending Mt. Laundry. I am very good about keeping everything clean, but had gotten in the bad habit of just throwing all the clean stuff into the guestroom or piling it on top of the washer and dryer. So I've been making sure to wash every day, put the clothes in the dryer as soon as the washer is done, and folding each load the second it comes out of the dryer. I sit in the living room and fold while Marshall is playing. Then I stack all the folded laundry on the fireplace. And leave it there. Every morning we go downstairs and pick out our clothes for the day. So... baby steps I guess. I mean... at least everyone has their own stack of folded clean clothes right?

Also, having a huge house with the laundry room downstairs and all the bedrooms upstairs is dumb.

Next week my goal is going to be actually putting away each load of laundry.

Language explosion

2011-09-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

Marshall started saying a few words before he was 10 months old. By 11 months he'd added a few more. Then he kind of just... stopped talking. For almost the next 6 months he'd just point at things and ask "dat?" (that?). We could tell he understood a ton.... he just didn't want to say anything. Every now and then a word would slip out, but for the most part he just wanted us to tell him over and over what everything was called.

That all changed in the last month. Now he won't STOP saying things:) I'm sure I'll forget a few, but here's a list of what he's saying now:

Addy (my sister)
Baby
Ball
Banana (sounds like 'nanana')

Bath (sounds like 'bat')
Beep beep (while pushing a car)
Bird
Bite (sounds like 'bye')
Bottle (went from 'baba' to 'boddle' to 'body')
Boat
Book
Buddy (one of our dogs)
Bye Bye
Car (anything with a wheel is a car. Like the stroller)
Cow
Daddy
Doggy (sounds like 'dah-dee')
Done
Eye
Fan (for some reason he just stopped saying fan and now calls it 'beeeeeeee!')
Gamma
Gampa
Guncka (his word for my Uncle Jeff)
Hat
Hi
Head
Hey
Kitty ('kiddy')
Kiss
Mama/Mommy
Movie (says it perfectly)
Night-night ('nye-nye')
No
Nose
Pretty (what he calls jewelry, fancy buttons etc)
Read ('reeeee!')
Sheep ('shEEEEE!')
Shoe/Shoes (says perfectly)

Tractor ('car-car')
Truck
Uh-oh (he really draws out the 'ohhhhhhh')
Up
Water ('wa-wa')
Weeeee!
Wow ('wooooooowa')

He also can make a few animal sounds. He ruff-ruff-ruffs at the dogs, and has this demonic sounding "maow-maow-maow" at the cats which is weird cause all our cats have really high pitched meows. He says baa (sheep), maaa (goat), makes this high pitched sarcastic laugh sounding 'neigh neigh' for a horse, moos like a cow, snorts like a pig, cheeps like a chick, makes a car "brrrrrr" driving sound with a few beeps thrown in.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few but that should be pretty close. Smarty pants!

Usually he just says one word at a time, but sometimes he'll put them together like "night night Daddy," "bye bye Daddy," "hi kitty," "no shoes." I can't wait until he starts having those cute little toddler conversations:)

The box is always the best part

2011-09-27T19:41:00.000-07:00

Sleepless in Paso

2011-09-27T11:31:00.000-07:00

Our sleep saga continues.

Jerad was gone last weekend on a little boys retreat and I worked hard on to keep Marshall entertained, aka worn out, and well rested. Saturday we went to the Zoo in the morning, story time, the park, and ran a bunch of errands. Naps all went off without a hitch. I decided to try the earlier bedtime idea and had him fed, bathed, and in his room by 6:15. He played quietly and was passed out by 7. Perfect!

Until he woke up at 1:45am and was ready to PAR-TAY! Until 3:45. Not cool baby, not cool. But it was the weekend and he was in a fabulous mood so I went with it. I tried laying with him in his room but he kept trying to bring me books to read in the complete dark so I gave up and we watched a movie until he randomly announced "nye nye" (night night) and walked to his room.

Sunday we went to the Children's Museum, visited a friend, did chores around the house, and played outside. I again put him to bed at 6, he played quietly for a bit, and when I peeked in at 7 he was passed out. He slept straight through till 5:45am which is pretty much his normal waking time. Success!

Monday I was a little worried because there was no way we were going to be able to have him in bed by 6. Its just not possible with our schedules. We all got home a little after 6 and I kept reminding Jerad we needed to have Marshall ready and in bed early otherwise it would return to WWIII. Sadly that didn't happen. It was almost 7 by the time he was in bed, he played until it got dark at 7:30, then was up until 10pm.

10:00 pm.

Jerad was officially on nighttime duty since he had the weekend off. He tried everything. Warm bottle, teething meds, playing quietly with just the nightlight, a snack, a movie, snuggling. No dice.

Finally at 10 Marshall passed out. Then he woke up at 2:45 and was up (and NOT happy) until almost 4. Then we started our day at 5:45. Marshall has this ability to wake up happy and smiley and ready to seize the day no matter no how rough the night was. Jerad and I? Not so much...

It's hard to pin down what the issue is. Kids have phases of good sleep and bad sleep and we're just stuck in a rut right now. I know part of the problem is it getting darker early. We can try to get him in bed by 6, but really that's just a temporary fix since soon it will be getting dark at 5pm and its not like he is ever going to have a 4pm bedtime. "Sleep begets sleep" only goes so far. He's just the kind of kid who needs time to wind down quietly ALONE before going to sleep. So I'm thinking a nightlight that is dim but bright enough to light up his whole room will help. maybe one of those fancy ones that has a timer and gets dimmer and dimmer till it turns off?

He's also teething 4 molars at the same time which I'm sure is killing him. He is definitely going through a growth spurt evidenced by him eating us out of house and home, not fitting into shoes and clothes that fit the day before, and not being able to walk under some of the furniture that he could easily clear last week. He is just getting over a yeast diaper rash which I'm sure was pretty painful. His language is exploding over the past few weeks, and as with any new development it can screw with sleep patterns.

He's got a lot of cards stacked against him so its really hard to pinpoint what the actual issue is. In the meantime we're just trying to struggle though and realize that this too shall pass. I guess if nothing else its good preparation for having a newborn soon that will certainly be waking us every few hours all night long for the next few months/years.

Avila Valley Barn

2011-09-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

Friday we kidnapped Jerad from the office and all went to the Avila Valley Barn.

Marshall got a kick out of all the animals, but wasn't quite brave enough to actually feed them.

We tried to take a few pictures, but he wasn't that into that either. He had spotted a tractor and all he wanted to do was go play on it.

He tried the pouty lip routine so we gave in and decided to go on a hayride to the U-pick apple and berry orchards.

(seriously, where does he get this from?)

(eyes only for the tractor)

We thought he'd LOVE the hayride, but in reality he was completely pissed. You see, his grandpa has a John Deere tractor that he gets to ride, and help drive... so he could not figure out why he didn't get to be the one to drive the tractor. When we got on the trailer, he kept pointing to the tractor saying "tra-car? pees?" (tractor? please?) over and over and trying to climb over to it. We ended up moving to the back of the trailer where he spent the entire ride looking like this:

Finally he decided to take his mind off of the horrible injustices of life and just chuck all the hay off instead.

So... all in all it probably wasn't the MOST fun-filled family trip we've gone on, but it was pretty freakin hilarious.

Ramblings

2011-09-23T20:59:00.000-07:00

So... we're considering re-financing our house. Rates are at insane record breaking lows right now... 3.75% for a 30 year re-fi! The bank we used is offering a credit towards some of the closing costs. When we bought we got a 4.75% rate which we thought was great at the time. Is it insane to be thinking about doing this when we haven't even made our 4th mortgage payment yet? I dunno. I really don't want to go through all the hassle again, but our broker swears that a re-fi is a lot more painless than buying PLUS we qualify for a streamline refinance which is supposedly less paperwork and no appraisal. I guess we'll look at the numbers and see if its worth it and how far away the break even point would be. I'm really happy with our rate but if we end up being in this house for a long time we could save a serious amount of money. Or be able to pay it off much sooner. But gah, the paperwork! My hand just recovered from signing all our closing documents 4 months ago.

Instead of thinking about that, I'm shopping for shoes for Marshall on ebay. All of a sudden he's outgrown almost all his size 5's which is a huge bummer because he had some really stylin shoes. I went out and bought him a bunch of super thin cheap socks hoping to be able to squeeze his feet in my favorite pairs of shoes for awhile longer but its not working. I used to think boys clothes were lame, but it turns out they're freakin adorable! Even more so when paired with cute shoes. And hats. All boys should wear hats.

Buying kids shoes however is super lame. They are a million dollars and fit for like 2 minutes. All the cute ones are sort of a pain to put on. I should just buy him a pair of kids crocs and call it good. Yeah right.... have you seen baby converse? Toddler cowboy boots? Oh dear I just discovered toddler John Deere Wellington's:

What, you don't think every 16 month old needs $95 leather steal shank boots with Goodyear welt construction? Hello, what if he stepped on a nail? Totally necessary. Seriously though... they are pretty cute. And Jerad does love John Deere... Even though I could never justify that much (or half that much) on a pair of toddler shoes, whenever I am shopping for Marshall now I do cut the price in half in my head. Like "well, Miller will get to wear/use this too so really its like I'm saving 50%." I have a feeling that isn't the best logic. But it is kind of true. I'm planning on having at least 4 more boys so REALLY the clothes will pay for themselves so many times over its like they're free. When you figure in inflation, its like me shopping now is actually making us money in the future!

Yeah, Jerad doesn't buy it either.

I hate ebay. I prefer to buy things used when I can, and I'm all over the good prices, but bidding drives me insane. I'm fairly competitive so I start taking it all personally when I get outbid which makes me bid higher, and in the end I don't think I'm actually saving anything. I wish everything had a buy it now price.

So naked Marshall just walked up to me and handed me his diaper. Little weirdo. He's taken off the velcro cloth diapers before if I put him down for a nap with no pants over them, but never just randomly while playing. I guess I need to make a note to self: only diapers with snaps unless he's wearing something over them. How much you wanna bet that I'll disregard that and next time he brings me a diaper there's a mess to go along with it?

As much as I love dressing him in cute clothes, he loves just being naked. Little killjoy.

Speaking of being a killjoy, bedtime was drama again tonight (we've done the dinner and bath routine since he brought the diaper). Last night after the movie he fell right to sleep then slept straight through until 7:30 this morning (cue angels singing). Both naps were great and uneventful, and we worked really hard at tiring him out so that bedtime would be smooth too. We went to the Avilla Valley Barn, petted the animals, did a hayride, played in the sand at home, went on a walk... still drama.

I think the problem is that its now dark at his 7:30 bedtime. He's used to playing before he goes to sleep and its so dark that he can't really. He has a nightlight but its pretty dim. Tomorrow I think I'll try putting him down at 6:30 and see how that goes.

Whatever happens I get to deal with it solo. Jerad is taking a guys trip to Anaheim this weekend. They're leaving at 5:45 tomorrow morning, and getting on the train which I guess has a station in the Angels parking lot. They're seeing a night game tomorrow, spending the night, seeing an afternoon game the next day, then taking the train back home Sunday night. He is going to have a BLAST! Knowing Jerad he'll have even more fun riding the train than he will watching the games:) He's going with 3 coworkers and his brother (who also works with him sometimes).

In the meantime, Marshall and I are having a little "stay-cation." We have a hot date at the zoo, a birthday party, and plans to nap as much as possible. I think we'll make an apple pie with the apples we picked at the Barn today too. I have one of those apple peelers where you crank the handle and I have a feeling he's going to LOVE it. I'll do the crust in the food processor and let him press the buttons and I'm sure he'll think he's in heaven.

Alright, I've officially rambled long enough for it to be too late to worry about re-fi paperwork tonight. Whoops :)

9:32

2011-09-22T22:03:00.000-07:00

That's what time Marshall finally went to sleep. Holy hell!

Around 8:30 Jerad left his room to try making him a bottle. In the short amount of time he was gone (under 2 minutes) Marshall worked himself into a terrified frenzy. It wasn't a mad cry, or a hurt cry, or a throwing a fit cry... he just sounded terrified. So maybe this whole new bedtime thing is a separation anxiety issue and just happens to be coinciding with the teething. Who knows.

Jerad brought him downstairs and we turned out all the lights and put on a movie (UP) and I held him in my lap. By some miracle he stayed there snuggling for about 45 minutes. He probably would have stayed longer, but the baby kept kicking him and he got tired of telling me "hey!" without it having any effect. Miller isn't even out of the womb and they are fighting...

He ended up eating a banana, and a tortilla with hummus plus probably 8 ounces of keifer. This is after eating dinner 3 hours earlier! Today he ate:

Breakfast:

Smoothie made w/:

3/4 C yogurt

1/2 apple including core

1/2 banana

1/2 carrot

tablespoon almond butter

teaspoon flax seeds

handful of spinach

piece of cauliflower

1/2 c oatmeal w/ few tablespoons blueberries

Snack:
freeze dried mango
handful of raisins and cranberries
6 oz raw milk

Lunch:

Leftover garlic mashed potatoes (1/4 c maybe?) w/ coconut oil mixed in

1/4 c chicken breast w/ sauteed fajita veggies

few table spoons steamed peas

3/4 c. keifer

Snack:

1/2 hard boiled egg

1/2 apple

4 oz raw/almond milk mixture

Dinner:

grilled cheese sandwich with onion and avocado

1/2 c. tomato soup

slice of pear

I don't have another kid to compare him to, but that's a lot of food right? I think thats more than I ate today... he's eaten like that since he was less than a year old. Another reason why some more teeth would be nice:)

Teefers

2011-09-22T20:35:00.000-07:00

Marshall is teething. I've had my suspicions for awhile but today I got a quick look in his mouth and he has 4 new molars, there could be other new teeth that I didn't see as well. Poor kid! In all honesty though, I''m excited. He doesn't have very many teeth. On the bottom he just had the 2 front, then the 4 front on the top. That's all! He eats a lot of food that some eye teeth and molars would really help with so we've been hoping he'd get them soon.

The first thing that tipped us off was when Jerad went into his room one night and Marshall was gnawing on his bed. The past few nights he's been eating our furniture too, which would be pretty funny if it weren't for the teeth marks. He's been a little extra clingy, and wanting only really soft foods, but for the most part a little chamomilla calms him down. Bedtime the past few nights has been hard... remember, we're pretty spoiled. Usually we eat dinner, he plays in the bath for awhile, we put on his pj's, hand him a pacifier, turn on his music, then he plays in his room quietly for a few minutes before climbing in bed and falling asleep.

The last week or so he has not wanted to go to sleep alone. He doesn't want us to cuddle, or rock him, or lay in bed with him, but if someone isn't sitting quietly in his room he loses it. First of all, sitting in a dark room at night is BORING... and sometimes something like that isn't practical because we have other things we need to get done. The whole time I'm sitting there I'm going crazy running my never ending to-do list through my mind. I know its just a phase and someday I'll think it's kind of sweet, but right now its driving me crazy.

Jerad has been working late the last few nights so I've been doing bedtimes solo. Tonight he's home and has been hanging out in Marshall's room for the last hour or so (sucka!). I think it wouldn't be so bad if he wanted to snuggle or something, but we have to literally just sit there and not move or talk otherwise he will work himself into hysterics. We aren't interested in letting him CIO (cry it out), but even if we were, I don't think he's the kind of kid that approach would work on. He is Very Stubborn when he has his mind made up about something.

Oh well, since the day he was born we have always had an easy time getting him to sleep so if we have to truck through a phase of actually having to work at it, we'll live. Or so I say now... we'll see how I feel if this is still going on in a few weeks:)

Besides the going to bed drama, he's been a sweet, FUNNY guy. Oh my, every day he learns a new word. All of a sudden his language has exploded. He's also telling "jokes." Like "doggy. meow! meow! meow! hahahahaha." Or telling me "bye-bye daddy. bwahahahahahah" I don't always get them, but maybe I just don't have a sophisticated enough sense of humor? He also has been sleeping great, aside from the aforementioned issue. He wakes up between 5:30 and 6 (due to our work schedules), happily takes a nap from 9-11, then again from 2-4, then is asleep at 7:30 and the past few nights hasn't even woken once. So at least there's that... if he was having a hard time getting to sleep, then wouldn't STAY asleep... we'd be having words. Or using duct-tape.

Inspired by Kittens

2011-09-20T22:18:00.000-07:00

Well, we have kittens. I mentioned it briefly then didn't really elaborate because it was kind of touch and go for awhile. Our bad night of me being peed on turned out to not just be a one time thing after all. Let me back up....

We used to have three cats. I had Mao before Jerad and I got together (sheesh, that means he's almost 8?), then about a year after we started dating we decided to get a kitten (Tobee). Whie we were at the vet getting that kitten neutered, there was a sad little kitten there that had been abandoned and was begging us to take him home (Winston). So then we had Mao, Tobee and Winston. After a few years Winston moved a few blocks over and fell in love with another family and their cat. We thought he was missing then randomly saw him while we were on a walk a few months later. He had doubled in size, was wearing a collar, and snuggling with another cat on someone's porch. Since he was clearly loving and thriving in his new home we didn't try to take him back figuring that if we did we'd have to keep him locked up all the time or he'd just be escaping back there. Awhile after that, our cat snatching neighbor stole Tobee. She lured him away with canned food then locked him in her house. Again, he was happy, and although she was a psycho she was taking good care of him so we decided it wasn't worth the drama.

We decided once we moved to a non cat napping neighborhood we'd try getting another cat. Meaning I talked about it all the time and Jerad didn't shoot me down. So about 2 months after we bought the new house I adopted this guy:

(he has 2 eyes... its just a bad pic)

He was pretty chill, and playful but not batshit crazy which is just what we'd wanted. Kittens are cute when they're running around, but no one wants them climbing up the curtains. Or your legs. So, Jerad named him Monster and he hung out mostly under our bed for 2 days.

Until I found him a friend (also through the Humane Society):

Jerad first named him "Beast" short for Wildebeest (seriously I don't know why I let him name anything), but since he looked almost EXACTLY like our old cat Tobee we ended up changing his name to Tobee since that's what we kept calling him by mistake.

Once Tobee came, Monster warmed up to the world and the two kittens because inseparable. They are total lovers.

Oh Monster's second day at our house I was in Marshall's room changing his diaper when Monster peed on his bed. Like it was no big deal. Hmm. I threw everything in the wash and chalked it up to him being in a new place and being confused. Then a few days later one of them peed on me in my sleep. It was harder to make an excuse for that one since there was a litter box in the same room. Right after that Jerad went out of town and one or both of them just stopped using the litterbox. They're both neutered and not old enough to spray so I had no idea what was up.

Dogs I can deal with. What the heck do you do about a CAT that refuses to be potty trained? Its not like you can kennel train them. I've always just put a litterbox out and the cat uses it. No training required. Over the next few days whenever I came home I'd have to search around and find the pee. Cat pee is horrrrrrrible. It smells bad, you have to use special enzyme cleaners to get it out. You really have to wash anything that gets cat pee on it the second it happens otherwise its super hard to get it out. A clean freak like me was going crazy.

To make matters worse, they seemed to like peeing on the beds, especially if they were unmade.So I'd get up in the morning, make breakfast, then find that I had to change the bedspread, blanket, sheets, and mattress pad. DAILY. I decided if I couldn't fix the problem, they were going to have to go, starting with the black one who I think was the culprit. I'm all about committing to caring for an animal for life but this was ridiculous. I eased my guilt by telling myself we'd be able to find them a home asap since they were still kittens, already neutered and had their shots.

So I started googling. I started out by confining them to our bedroom so that I didnt have to worry about the whole house. I read that cats like things CLEAN, so I started cleaning the litter boxes twice a day instead of the once a day I'd been doing. I made the bed the second I got out of it in the morning. I made sure there was no laundry left on the floor (since for some reason one or both of them liked peeing on my discarded pj's or bath towel). I vacuumed in the morning and at night.

After a few days and just when I thought we were making progress, one of them (I'm pretty sure Monster was always the culprit) peed on a hand towel that had fallen into the sink. Oi. I read that apparently some cats don't like certain types of cat litter. Who knew? So out with the Tidy Cats and in with the expensive all natural wheat litter. Side note; I could totally understand why a cat would prefer it, it has a texture like beach sand and doesn't smell like chemicals. Accidents got fewer and fewer however during this time Monster got diarrhea that would not go away. Before we adopted him his foster family had been feeding him Science Diet, and we switched him to Purina which is what Tobee had been eating with plans to eventually switch them to Felidae, like Mao eats, once their kitten appetites slowed down.

Apparently Purina kitten chow does not agree with our little kitty chow connoisseur. Since cleaning up liquid cat poo does not agree with ME, we switched back to the Science Diet Naturals. Which is $27.99 for a 7lb bag. Kill me now. Luckily Petco was having a killer sale of about a dollar a pound and I stocked up. I should have stocked up more... we're on the last bag :/

Luckily the accidents stopped altogether and the kittens can now roam the house without me having to worry. Which is great, because I was all out of tricks. The only other thing I was going to try was buying the special Cat Attract cat litter, which we didn't end up needing to do. We still keep them shut out of Marshall's room and the guestroom unless we're in there with them but its been almost 3 weeks without a problem so I think we're in the clear.

Now we're just dealing with all the annoying kitten stuff. Like, they DO climb the curtains. And they run laps across our bed at 1am. And 3am. And 5am. They knock water glasses off the night stand. They play too rough and scratch us. They attack our legs if we move them at night. They taunt the dogs through the sliding glass door. They gang up and bully Mao. They both meow too much. They steal the farm animals from Marshall's cloth farm. They attack my feet when I'm making midnight bathroom trips. They unroll the bathroom toilet paper. They steal Jerad's contact pods.

BUT... I can live with all those things and know that eventually they'll grow out of them. They also sure do like to cuddle and they're both very patient with Marshall. I guess they're here to stay.

PS: y'all have seen this right?

Dinner

2011-09-19T20:32:00.000-07:00

We had the grossest dinner tonight. I feel really bad, because I picked out the recipe and Jerad made it even though I'm sure there was a million things he'd rather be doing after working 10 hours... but seriously, it was gross. I think the problem is that the shrimp we had were too tiny, so they ended up over seasoned and not meaty enough. Heck, I don't even like shrimp that much so that probably didn't help.

It took longer than we thought it would because when I planned dinner I missed the part about the 20 minute roasting which actually took closer to 30 so Marshall was starving before we ate and I had to make him a separate dinner and put him to bed before ours was finished. Then again, I guess he was lucky.

Jerad and I sat down to eat and neither one of us liked it but I didn't want to hurt his feelings since he was the one that made it, and he didn't want to hurt my feelings since I picked the recipe. So instead we didn't really talk and both just shoveled it down trying not to taste it. Blech.

I'm just blogging about it now so that I can put off cleaning the huge kitchen mess it caused (seriously, could he have used any more food processor parts if he tried?) and not think about the fact that we get to eat the left overs for lunch tomorrow. Hmm. Luckily we also had homemade rice and beans so maybe we will both eat that and "forget" to eat the shrimp.

If you've brave and have tomatillos you're trying to get rid of, I do think the seasonings would be good on chicken and the sauce in a cold Mexican chicken salad type thing.

Goals completed

2011-09-19T09:20:00.000-07:00

-Build outdoor play area for Marshall in the backyard.
Mostly done!
Bazillion little rocks (like 2 yards worth) moved and cement-like dirt dug out.
Wooden frame built to keep the sand in.
3 yards of sand delivered and wheelbarrow-ed over.
Fence built (but not painted) to keep Marshall in/dogs out.
Little swing built (soooo cute), and primed but not painted.
Sand table built.
Slide ordered and arriving Thursday
Tee-pee making stuff purchased.

-Build shade structure for the dogs in the sideyard.
Nope, but one day:) They do have lots of places that get shaded so it isn't a huge priority.

-Mow and weed-eat front yard, blow driveway and side walks, pull any weeds that have grown in the areas we've been working on.
Yup.

-Clear everything out of room that will be the nursery and set up the new furniture.
Cleared out, but when we started setting up we realized that the crib needed one more coat of paint so we didn't finish. We finished painting the crib and should be able to set up furniture tonight? I haven't been able to find any curtains or sheets that I like so I guess we'll (meaning Jerad) be sweing them.

-Find Marshall's infant diapers and clothes and get all googly over getting to use them soon then bawl my eyes out about how fast babies grow up (plus you know, see what we need for the new baby).
Check. Are newborn babies really that small? I mean, Marshall was over 8 lbs so not even a "small" baby and I look at his newborn things and can't remember him ever being that tiny. Wild.

-Go through Marshall's clothes and pack away anything getting small and get out the next size shoes/clothes.
Check.

-Organize pantry so that we can tell what's actually in there and stop buying things we already have.
Lets just pretend this happened.

-Put away the 10 loads of laundry I've been stuffing into the guestroom and pretending they don't exist <- sadly I'm not exaggerating this one.
Done! Plus the 4 loads I washed over the weekend. The only laundry thats left are the sheets I took off of our bed when I changed them last night.

-Pretend to have some weird pregnancy aversion to vinegar and baking soda so that Jerad will clean the bathrooms.
I cleaned 2 and decided to skip Marshall's. I clean the toilet bowls twice a week, then the whole bathroom once a week so they really are never dirty... I just have this mental thing about needing to start the new week with all bathrooms cleaned, sheets changed, floors vacuumed and mopped, and refrigerator cleaned. Someone told me that would change after I had a baby. They LIED.

Goals Update

2011-09-17T21:59:00.000-07:00

Well, we didn't get as much done today as we'd hoped. Mostly because of this little monster:

Seriously, how ridiculously cute is that? Its a hand-me-down from his cousin and I love having him wear it to sleep because the combo of the dino with crazy bed head in the morning cracks me up. Anyways, he's teething and I think going through a growth spurt and just being a little extra needy which slowed us down.

Oh well, at least he's cute!

Here's where we're at as of 9:30pm Saturday:

-Build outdoor play area for Marshall in the backyard.
We made really good progress on this one! Jerad built a beautiful wooden water table, we moved all the rocks from the backyard where the play area is going to be, had sand delivered, bought lumber to make a swing, and ordered a slide. Right now Jerad is setting the posts so we can build the fence tomorrow. We were going to build a sandbox but decided to just make the whole area sand so that we don't have to worry about shoes! Its not very big, about 12ftx11ft, but there should be enough room for the water table, swing, slide, his pool, a tee pee, and a comfy chair for me to lounge in.

I think the sand being delivered was the highlight of Marshall's day:

Okay, maybe Jerad's too:

Jerad talked me onto not being cheap and springing for the "good stuff" instead of the rough sand. I think it'll be worth it. And now I can pretend like we're at the beach!

-Build shade structure for the dogs in the sideyard.
No progress here and I doubt we'll get to it this weekend:(

-Mow and weed-eat front yard, blow driveway and side walks, pull any weeds that have grown in the areas we've been working on.
Nope.

-Clear everything out of room that will be the nursery and set up the new furniture.
Nursery is almost cleaned out and I am chomping at the bit to arrange the furniture and start decorating!

-Find Marshall's infant diapers and clothes and get all googly over getting to use them soon then bawl my eyes out about how fast babies grow up (plus you know, see what we need for the new baby).
Check.

-Go through Marshall's clothes and pack away anything getting small and get out the next size shoes/clothes.
Done. This is how I know he's going through a growth spurt. All of a sudden most of his size 5 shoes are too small and I had to bust out a bunch of size 18 month clothes. As I pack my favorite things away I console myself by reminding myself that Miller will be able to use them soon.

-Organize pantry so that we can tell what's actually in there and stop buying things we already have.
Not only did we not do this, I went to the store and BOUGHT SOMETHING WE ALREADY HAD. Seriously, this needs to happen tomorrow.

-Put away the 10 loads of laundry I've been stuffing into the guestroom and pretending they don't exist <- sadly I'm not exaggerating this one.
I folded everything, put away about 8 loads, but I've washed 3 more and have probably 2 more to go. We make a ridiculous amount of laundry. Depending on what Jerad's doing at work he usually gets dirty so needs 2 outfits a day. So does Marshall. I wash 2-3 loads of diapers a week, 1-2 loads of sheets and towels, a few of clothes, then the random load of rugs/curtains/bedspreads/animal bedding. Its seriously out of control.

-Pretend to have some weird pregnancy aversion to vinegar and baking soda so that Jerad will clean the bathrooms.
Since Jerad is working into the night in the backyard I went ahead and cleaned a bathroom. One down, 2 to go. Remind me why I thought 3 bathrooms was such a great idea again?

We also all slept in till 8:30 (amazing), cooked a big family breakfast, and had an impromptu bbq at our friend's Dom and Taylor's house. So I'd call today a success.

At the minimum I'm hoping that Marshall's play area gets finished tomorrow (minus the slide that wont be here till Thursday and maybe the teepee), and we get the nursery set up. Then the boring stuff like the pantry and bathrooms.

Children's Museum

2011-09-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

We had the funnest time at our town's cute little children's museum yesterday.

When you first walk in there is a little school bus toddler toy that he was obsessed with.

We finally had to pick him up and drag him away to go see the 'funner' exhibits.

Like the Fire Truck!

He easily could have played on here for an hour. Sometimes he's so much his father's son that its funny...

Ball pit:

Grocery Shopping:

This was his favorite by far, they call it Newton's Playhouse. "Newton’s Playhouse is a very popular exhibit. Children and adults alike love the fun it offers. There are balls to shoot from the cannon and put into baskets that then suck them up tubes and roll down ramps to get to a big basket near the ceiling. Once enough balls are up there a light flashes and they come raining down again, usually accompanied by cheers and squeals of excitement."

After that Marshall put on a little impromptu concert:

Seriously, So Much Fun. I think we'll get a family pass for Christmas!

Goals for This Weekend:

2011-09-16T22:38:00.000-07:00

-Build outdoor play area for Marshall in the backyard.
-Build shade structure for the dogs in the sideyard.
-Mow and weed-eat front yard, blow driveway and side walks, pull any weeds that have grown in the areas we've been working on.
-Clear everything out of room that will be the nursery and set up the new furniture.
-Find Marshall's infant diapers and clothes and get all googly over getting to use them soon then bawl my eyes out about how fast babies grow up (plus you know, see what we need for the new baby).
-Go through Marshall's clothes and pack away anything getting small and get out the next size shoes/clothes.
-Organize pantry so that we can tell what's actually in there and stop buying things we already have.
-Put away the 10 loads of laundry I've been stuffing into the guestroom and pretending they don't exist <- sadly I'm not exaggerating this one.
-Pretend to have some weird pregnancy aversion to vinegar and baking soda so that Jerad will clean the bathrooms.

I thought maybe if I wrote this list down and put it out there I'd try harder to make sure it happens. So, there you have it. This weekend's goals.

Plan B is:
Sleep in
Take a nap every day
Indulge in dessert every night
Go to bed early

Luckily/sadly there is a way better chance of the first list happening!

26 weeks

2011-09-16T15:13:00.000-07:00

True to form, I am working on growing a baby bump the size of Texas:

Its hard to believe I still have 14 weeks of growing to do! Oh the woes of being short torso'd.

I'm feeling good for the most part. My joints feel loose and uncomfortable but Jerad just bought me one of those ridiculous pregnancy body pillows I'd been wanting which has made a HUGE difference when I sleep. If I had to choose between Jerad and the pillow... I would probably take the pillow at this point. Seriously, its a God send.

For a comparison, here I am at about the same stage with Marshall.

An end to breastfeeding

2011-09-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest reasons I blog is so I have a diary to look back on in order to remember things. So... I might as well write about this. Since becoming a parent, I have 2 regrets and this is one of them.

I always knew I would breastfeed. Not that I would give it a try, but that it would happen. When I set my mind on something, its pretty hard to dissuade me. Besides all the health and bonding benefits, spending hundreds of dollars on formula and having to remember to buy it didn't seem too appealing. Me and my sisters were all breastfed, as were Jerad and his siblings so it was just the "norm" for both of us.

After Marshall was born breastfeeding turned out to be drama, drama, and more drama. I dealt with extremely cracked nipples, that led to mastitis, that led to emergency surgery to drain 2 breast abscesses, mastitis 2 more times, thrush from the mastitis antibiotics, and I developed Raynaud's Phenomenon which made every nursing session extremely painful. And that was all within the first 8 weeks! Marshall never had a good latch, I never felt any of that euphoric bonding crap that nursing mothers rave on and on about, and honestly breastfeeding was usually a pain because besides it being uncomfortable Marshall had this tick for like 10 months where he would just punch me repeatedly while nursing. If I tried to hold his hand or make him stop he'd loose his shit and refuse to eat. Awesome. All that "natural and convenient" stuff never really applied to us.

However, SOMEHOW, I stuck with it. Probably only because I'm so flipping stubborn once I've made up my mind. He was always so healthy (in 16 months he's only been sick once and it wasn't even a big deal), so happy, and as an infant he grew like a weed. Him thriving so well was the motivation I needed to stick it out. Although I worked full time, I managed to pump enough for him to not need any supplementing even though it meant for almost a year I had to pump while driving to work, during every break, and during my lunch. We delayed starting him on solids until he was 8 months and during that time he thrived on an exclusively breastmilk diet.

I didn't have an exact plan for when we'd stop nursing and planned on seeing what Marshall wanted and how I felt as he got older, hoping we'd be done by the time he was 2 (which is the minimum recommended by the World Health Organization) but wanting to make it to at least 15 or 16 months.

A few weeks before Marshall's first b-day my milk supply started decreasing due to being pregnant (although I didn't know that was why at the time). I just blamed it on the stress of planning his party, Jerad being gone all the time, us buying a house and getting ready to move. It wasn't a huge deal because besides pumping enough to feed Marshall while I was at work, I was pumping enough to freeze an additional 20-25 ounces a DAY. So... basically I had been making enough milk for 2 babies. Soon I went from pumping 9 ounces in a 10 minute session to pumping 0.75 in 20 minutes. Marshall would get frustrated and cry when he nursed.

I started taking an herbal tincture, which helped some, but we were still having to supplement with frozen milk. By this time Marshall was 13 months old, I was 3 months pregnant and exhausted beyond belief, and it was just too much. Because of the Raynaud's nursing had always been painful/uncomfortable. Mix that with no milk production, a toddler with teeth who could bite when he was frustrated, sore pregnancy boobs... it just wasn't worth it. So we just stopped. Basically cold turkey. It was honestly pretty painless all around. The first few nights Marshall would wake up crying and instead of comfort nursing he'd just want to sleep on top of me and snuggle which was nice because he hadn't wanted to snuggle with me at night for a long time. I stopped trying to pump at work which mean I had *gasp* free time during my breaks. And the best part... Jerad could handle night feedings solo:)

Because I had been freezing so much extra breastmilk, we had enough for him to take in a bottle until 15 months. At that time we transitioned him to a blend of unsweeteded almond milk and raw, unpasteurized, organic grass fed cow's milk from Organic Pastures which has been working out really well.

Long story short, our breastfeeding days are over. Although in a way I'm glad because the freedom IS nice, I do regret weaning just because it wasn't really my choice or his and it just happened so fast. Then again I do know its good that it wasn't a long drawn out dramatic process. I guess I just have mixed feelings:) I have lots of friends who have managed to continue breastfeeding through pregnancy, and I feel like if I didn't work full time I'd have been able and willing to stick it out too. Not having to be out of the house by 6:30am, not having to pump, being able to take the occasional nap, and having the time to actually work on it would have made all the difference. Which makes me feel guilty... until he wakes up hungry at 2 am and I roll over and sleep while Jerad does the whole bottle dance.

I'm really hoping that breastfeeding the next baby goes much much smoother. I mean, I don't think it could ever be any worse right? My plan this time is to go see our IBCLC (lactation consultant) within the first week so that we can troubleshoot any problems BEFORE they become huge issues.

Waterpark weekend

2011-09-13T06:42:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, the company that Jerad's mom works for rented out the local water park for employees and their families so we got to spend the day playing! Jerad worked at the same company for about 2 years so we knew a lot of the people there and had fun catching up.

We timed it so that Marshall would get his morning nap first and be a well rested and happy kid... which of course meant that he decided sleep was for the weak and trucked through the whole day with no naps. Luckily he was having so much fun he didn't have time to be tired.

Playing in the kiddie pool:

Marshall had So Much Fun. He kept getting knocked under the water by waves and for the most part could have cared less. He went on some of the bigger little kid slides and would get flipped around about half way through, then at the bottom even though I was catching him there would be a minute where he'd go under water but he'd come up and run to the top to go again and again. He's already good about holding his breath under water, by next summer I'm sure he'll be swimming like a little fish!

Afternoon Snack:

You can tell in the pictures that his lips are a little purple. It was pretty cold. The sun was out for awhile, but most of the day was overcast and the water was chilly. After warming up a little we played in "The Lazy River" which is a big loop that goes around the park. I'm pretty sure that if Marshall had had a blanket and pacifier he would have gone to sleep :)

Wave Pool:

We left a little after 3 because it had started raining (totally random since it was 103 a few days before). I can't wait to go back next summer when Marshall is a little bigger, and I am a little less pregnant!

That night we got a babysitter and went to the down town pajama movie night at the theater. They were showing Jerad's all time favorite movie:

Jerad's parents came and it was so fun seeing the film in a theater with other people around to laugh at all the ridiculous parts.

Besides Sunday-Funday, we also spent the weekend painting the nursery and finishing some yard work projects. Yeay for good weekends!

Test

2011-09-12T13:58:00.001-07:00

Hey, if you're reading this in Reader, is the whole post finally showing up? I've been trying to fix it for MONTHS and I think I got it. So... let me know if you can see this or just a summary:)

On Second pregnancies.

2011-09-12T11:09:00.000-07:00

This second pregnancy (well third if you count the baby we lost at 11 weeks), has been so different than when I was pregnant with Marshall. Sadly, I already feel like Miller is getting the short end of the stick.

Last time I knew exactly how many weeks and days pregnant I was, knew if he was the size of an heirloom tomato or a banana, when his different organs and reflexes were developing, plus remembered to take belly pictures, and counted how many grams of protein I ate per day. I had a laid back, easy pregnancy, but I was really in tune with my body and did so much reading and focusing on the pregnancy itself.

This time.... I have to do some quick math in my head whenever anyone asks me how far along I am (and I'm usually wrong), have only taken ONE belly shot, and havent written down any of the statistics from any of our midwife apts. If I have some time to myself (ha ha ha), there is no way I'm spending it reading birthing statistics and midwifery texts. You'll probably find me curled up in bed with my laptop watching Arms Wives. My days are spent chasing after a toddler, I do a lot of solo parenting, and lets face it, I just don't feel like I have a lot of spare time to invest in somebody who isn't right in front of my face asking for attention, snacks or stories!

I had a long labor with a posterior baby after not sleeping for pretty much 36 hours and still managed to have the natural homebirth that we wanted. We faced just about every breastfeeding challenge there was and still persevered. So I guess I just don't feel the need to study and prepare this time around.

As bad and uncaring as that all sounds, I honestly feel like I am way MORE excited about this baby than I was about Marshall. With Marshall, I was of course excited to meet him but I really didn't understand what it would be like to be a mother or a family and how much he would enrich our lives. So I micromanaged and focused on the pregnancy, the birth, the nursery, picking out all the right baby things, newborn procedures, but the idea of the actual baby coming was kind of abstract.

This time, I know we already have everything we need and I know I can survive labor and birth. But the baby itself is something I'm really really looking forward to. When you have a baby everyone (EVERYONE) tells you to enjoy it because the time goes by so fast, and it is so true. I can't wait to experience all those adorable "firsts" again. First smile, first laugh, first time rolling over, how excited they get when they master new milestones. To hold a snuggly little newborn, see the faces they make when sleeping, and listen to the grunting little sounds they make.

Having Marshall has made me and Jerad's lives so much better, and so much fuller. I can't wait to be doing it all again! Newborns and toddlers are both so fun and so amazing in their own ways, I'm really excited that we get to be experiencing them both at the same time.

What we've been up to.

2011-09-08T09:53:00.000-07:00

How cute is Marshall in his little working man outfit? He's been doing a lot of 'helping' this last week and needed to be properly attired. Carhartt coveralls and work boots it is!

Jerad has been home for 5 days in a row now. That's the longest in over a month! It looks like he's going to be here for another week or two. Crazy. The last week has been so productive, can we please have holiday weekends more often? Its amazing how much we can get done as a team. The garage is almost completely organized -- which is saying a lot. Its a 3 car garage and we have a TON of stuff. Jerad could probably open a hardware store and I a craft store. We have enough camping gear to take 6 families camping easily.

We did a bunch of front yard cleanup which has needed to be done since we bought the house almost 4 months ago. Seriously... it was getting scary. I think there were a few weeds taller than me! The previous owners had this ~~lame~~ er, totally awesome area of tiny rocks in front of the house that we decided to revamp. Jerad removed the rocks, jack-hammered out the concrete and clay that was under them, built a form, and replaced the rock area with a more appealing planter situation. We repaired pipes, sprinklers and valves so that our lawn will hopefully stay green without having to be hand watered, put some of our patio furniture on the porch, planted new flowers, and I pulled 2 giant trash cans of weeds from between the rocks in the front of the yard. In 103 degree weather. While pregnant. Which was less than awesome. Plus Jerad did the normal mowing, weed whacking, and blowing. Everything looks much better but for the amount of work and time we put in I'm not 100% sure it was worth it... but it will hold us over until next year when we do the big landscaping projects.

We finished buying furniture for the nursery, painted the crib and dresser, and I'm thinking we should be finished by this weekend. Jerad replaced the shower head in our bathroom, and the shower head and bath faucets in Marshall's bathroom. We prepared a bunch of freezer meals so I'll have an easier time making dinner when he's gone.

On top of that still managed to squeeze in park trips, dog training, tickle time, evening walks, a babyshower, bbq with family, and dinner with friends.

Productive weeks rock! Hopefully we can keep up the momentum over the next few weeks and we might finally be able to have that house warming party.

Another Haircut

2011-09-07T17:25:00.000-07:00

This kid's hair grows like a weed! I had it cut again. This time wasn't nearly as traumatizing. We went to the kids salon again and he loved sitting in the chair that is like a car. He just "drove" the whole time and could have cared less about the actual hair cut.

Before:

After:

Ahh, much better! Not too short, and much less homeless looking. Since it was a kids salon and there is a ton of toys and stuff for him to play with, he even stayed busy while I had mine trimmed (yes, I had my hair cut at a kid's salon). I've been meaning to have it cleaned up for... 6 months maybe? It just never seems to happen.

Just because

2011-08-31T20:04:00.000-07:00

Last week at work a flower shop brought in a delivery ... for me! I thought maybe it was an early b-day present, nope, just "I miss you" flowers from my sweet husband. Cause sometimes you just need flowers on a Wednesday. I love that he can spoil me ever from hundreds of miles away. I think I'll keep him:)

Little helping hands

2011-08-29T14:24:00.000-07:00

Bread baking with Marshall = huge success. He loves appliances, pouring, helping, and anything in the kitchen so it was the prefect combo. He was so excited to help pour in the ingredients:

And of course "working on" the mixer was fun too.

Just when he thought it couldn't get any better, Jerad let him help make smoothies with the Vitamix. I'm pretty sure Marshall thought he was in heaven.

9 months later

2011-08-23T15:11:00.000-07:00

6 Months:

15 Months:

When did my baybeeee turn into such a little man?

And by "little man" I of course mean "little ham:"

Park Day

2011-08-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

Picnicking, swinging, sliding, digging, and blowing bubbles. The perfect way to spend a Sunday.

This is what happens when mommy gets desperate

2011-08-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

So, Jerad has been out of town again this week. The hour or so before Mars's bedtime is really draining for me. I'm tired from working all day, he's tired from being a kid all day... I'm pregnant and its 8 million degrees outside so evening walks have lost their glamor. I got brave and checked out a Redbox movie for us. We don't have satellite anymore and the only time Jerad or I ever watch anything on Netflix or Hulu is after Marshall is in bed. For some reason I always thought Redbox was scary or hard to do or something so I've never used it before.

I made breakfast for dinner, and we ate in the living room (another big no-no). I think he was kind of in love...

He was only interested in the movie for about 20 minutes, but it was still a good time:)

Kicked AND peed on all in one day.

2011-08-16T08:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the baby really kicked for the first time. I've been able to feel him moving since 14 weeks or so, and the pokes and jabs have been getting stronger but still something I can totally tune out. Yesterday was the first time that he kicked so hard it surprised me in the middle of a conversation. Also now I remember how much I didn't like feeling Marshall move and kick (seriously, its a weird sensation). And I'm only 21 weeks. Its going to get a lot worse as the baby grows, yikes. By the end of being pregnant with Marshall I had started to think he was just going to bust out of my stomach all Alien style.

Last night I woke up because my leg felt wet. Apparently one of the kittens PEED ON ME in my sleep. Well, peed on the bed which soaked onto me. Seriously, wtf?!? It better by a one time thing. I adore animals, but have no tolerance for accidents in the house. I know how to potty train dogs, but what do you do about cats? They haven't had any other accidents so I'm hopping it was just a bad night. I couldn't sleep the rest of the night because every time a kitten would jump on the bed I had to make sure they weren't peeing. Oi.

Also, washing and changing sheets and bedding in the middle of the night is not my favorite.

Coffee making

2011-08-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

Jerad always talks about how he can't wait until our kids are old enough to mow the yard. *I* can't wait until they can bring me coffee in the morning:) We let Marshall grind the coffee this weekend and he was in love... maybe my dream isn't so far off after all!

Just look at that focus:)

A break

2011-08-10T18:47:00.001-07:00

Well, Jerad didn't fall off the roof or anything. In fact he made it back yesterday night, so even ON TIME! He was a few hours later than he had been planning on... but it seems like usually its a few days so I'll take it. This last trip was almost perfect (for me). He left at 6:30am Monday morning, so he was here late enough to help me feed all the dogs and cats, pack Marshall's bags up, and load him in the car. Usually he leaves at 3 or 4 am which is brutal because he always wakes me up and then as soon as I fall asleep the alarm goes off. Then he came back Tuesday night about 11:45.

I know I always talk about how him working on out of town projects is hard on ME when in reality its also hard on him because he is doing a ton of driving, and working really long hours. But lets be honest here, he is also swimming in hotel pools, getting to eat out for every meal, sleeping through the night, and in the morning the maid comes and makes the bed. Sometimes him and the guys go to a comedy show or karaoke. He's working his ass off... but also is kind of on a vacation.

Him being gone one night is perfect. As long as Marshall and the pets don't decide to be high maintenance, its enough time for me to catch up on some extra sleep. Two nights is fine and I usually manage to get a few extra things done around the house. 4 starts pushing it and anything over 5 I am just in survival mode.

Its much easier if he's gone during my days off than when I am working. Hanging out with Marshall at home, on our own schedule is cake. The house stays clean, we go to the park or the pool, I bake, the pets get lots of attention. Its the packing all the bags and being out the door at 6:30am, working all day, having to pick him up, having to make dinner and deal with all the animals the second we walk in the door, while still making sure there are groceries in the fridge, I've paid the bills, and the laundry is clean that kills me.

So, this 2 day 2 night trip was perfect. He's been working a lot and I've been going stir crazy so the day before he left he offered to watch Marshall while I went and saw a movie (Cowboys and Aliens). I LOVE going to movies alone, love SciFi, and love Harrison Ford so it was a winning combo.

Tonight Jerad made dinner while I played with Marshall, then he took over for the bath and bed routine. The house is smashed but we're pretending we don't notice and are going to get a RedBox movie and make root-beer floats. I decided to be gracious (aka was too lazy to go myself) and let Jerad pick the movie. Last time he brought back Yogi Bear, so I have no idea what to expect. No matter what it is I feel like I'm on a little Wednesday mini-vaycay. I could get used to this.

And since this is what you all come here to see:

Brain Dump

2011-08-08T11:51:00.000-07:00

Man, is it just me or is this summer FLYING by? I can't believe we're in August already, sheesh! This is going to be a bit rambling, its just what's been going on lately.

Jerad has been working almost every week out of town. Things have been going so much smoother for me being a 'single mom' since we finally finished the majority of our unpacking and decorating 2 weekends ago. I finally feel like this is OUR HOUSE and its a nice place to live instead of like I'm just treading water trying to stay afloat between his trips.

I am a ~~complete~~ somewhat control freak who needs things to be a certain way otherwise I obsess them so... having 2 rooms full of unpacked boxes and not knowing where half of our stuff was had been literally making me lose sleep at night. Now maybe we'll actually have a housewarming party before the kids graduate.

Jerad's sister and her family were visiting from Nebraska last week and he volunteered to have a big family dinner one night and then breakfast another day at our house. 8 adults and 8 kids! At first I was kind of stressed out about it, cause our house was still full of unpacked boxes and stuff, and not really "kid friendly" or something I wanted to show off, but it ended up being such a blessing. It was just the push we needed to finally get in gear and get the house up to snuff. It is soo nice walking around and seeing pictures hanging on the walls! We are down to one closet that is 1/2 full of boxes plus a few things in the garage... seems manageable.

Last week Jerad had to come home early from Santa Barbara because his eye was bothering him so badly he didn't feel safe working on a 3 story building. He went to the eye dr. and they diagnosed him with pink eye. Man, that guy is the king of childhood diseases! First Mono, then ear infections, now pink eye. At least he manages to space them out every few years. Luckily he is feeling much better now and I *think* Marshall and I skated by without getting it.

This huge Santa Barbara project seems to be bringing bad luck. First Jerad messed up his arm and somehow tore his bicep muscle. The chiropractor was able to adjust it to bring down the pain a little but it was still bothering him for over a week. The next week the company that subcontracted his team sent them all the wrong materials AND forgot to let the building manager know that they would be working so he had to drive all the way there then basically turn around and come home. Then last week he came down with a terrible case of pink eye that made it too hard to work in the sunlight so an employee had to drive down and pick him up. Hopefully this week he doesn't fall off the roof or something.

We got 2 new kittens, Monster and Beest (short for Wildebeest). Just another reminder why my husband is banned from naming our children. In case you've forgotten, he was dead set on naming Marshall "Rooster." They're cute and full of personality and we really are enjoying them except for at 4am when they start running laps around and over our bed. Hopefully they turn into boring old CALM cats soon?

Last night Marshall had a terrible night. We've been spoiled because he's been consistently sleeping through the night for awhile now. Last night he woke up SCREAMING at 1am. Then 2am, then 2:30am... yeah. Usually he saves that stuff up for when Jerad goes out of town but this time Jerad was around and volunteered (aka I kicked him out of bed) to do all the comforting. I have no idea what was wrong. He was hysterical. Nightmares maybe? Upset stomach? Finally he passed out on Jerad's chest on the floor bed around 4:30am and was in a good mood by the time I had to wake him up at 6am.

I'm sort of dragging at work today, it was super nice having Jerad there to take care of the baby drama, but I still woke up every time he would cry so I don't really feel like I got any extra rest. Hopefully Marshall got it all out of his system and will sleep peacefully the rest of the week while Jerad is gone and I'm the only one "on call." Being pregnant and sleep deprived at the same time doesn't really go over well with me.

My great aunt is visiting this week and I'm really excited to see her and for her to meet Marshall. I haven't seen her in years and I have so many great memories of her from childhood. She's a crack-up.

If Jerad and I have any time this weekend I think we are going to try to make our itty bitty laundry room somewhat functional. To say that I'm excited might be the understatement of the year. We were going to focus on the guestroom next, but the laundry room will be cheaper, quicker, and it gets used every day so it makes more sense to do that room first.

Tonight I have high hopes for a comfort food dinner (grilled cheese on sourdough with a red pepper/tomato/eggplant bisque), and early bedtime. Crossing my fingers!

The good life

2011-08-06T16:04:00.000-07:00

Making a house a HOME

2011-08-04T06:24:00.000-07:00

Well, we've finally unpacked (for the most part). Here is what we started with 2.5 months ago, and here is where we are now:

Living Room:

We didn't do anything except move in furniture and decorations we already had. There are still a few things that need to be hung up (like the big blue window leaning against the wall). I bought the cabinet and TV from a friend, and the small round table on Craigslist. Eventually we'll paint this room, and change out the curtains. Someday we plan on replacing the carpet.

Kitchen:

Our only change in here so far is the built in microwave. Looks so much better than the whole that was there before right? When we bought the house, a microwave was the only thing we "needed." It turns out that the kind that look built in are really freakin expensive! Eventually we'll upgrade the appliances, so I didn't want to buy a stainless microwave yet because it might not match the other upgrades. I sure didn't want to pay a few hundred dollars for a white one that we'd have to replace later either. So I soured and scoured Craigslist and finally found this one and the trim kit for $100.
Short term kitchen plans are to refinish the cabinets. Long term plans are to upgrade the appliances, lighting, counters/backsplash, and flooring.

Family room:

We didn't do or buy anything new for this room. We plan on painting soon, and building a different surround for the fireplace.

Downstairs Bathroom:

We painted the walls with paint that the previous owners had leftover from the living room. I don't love the color, but at least this bathroom fits in with the rest of the house now. And it was free! Jerad also spray painted the light fixture black with paint that we already had. We'll be refinishing the cabinets, retexturing the walls, adding beadboard and painting soon.

Laundry room:

Oh the laundry room. I can't believe in such a big house they made the laundry room so freakin small! The ceiling is only 7ft, and the washer and dryer barely leave enough room for the doors to open. The hookups were backwards so the washer and dryer doors open into eachother making it hard to switch the laundry over. I do a LOT of laundry, and this drives me insane. Jerad is going to buy some kind of something (I dont pay attention) that will make it so we can switch the washer and dryer and slide them closer to the wall. Then we'll paint, refinish the cabinets, and hopefully wash laundry happily ever after.

Guest Room:

This is our next big project. I'm pretty excited! Painting, paneling the wall, flooring, new furniture. For now we threw an air mattress on the floor, bought a headboard and nightstands that some of Jerad's parent's friends were getting rid of and called it good.

Upstairs Hallway:

Again, just re-purposed things we already had.

Office:

Jerad's dad painted over the crazy red that was in here before. We haven't done much yet because we are still deciding if this is going to stay an office or become Miller's room. Jerad said if he hauls all of our books up the stairs he refuses to ever remove them so... haven't done much in here:)

Upstairs Bathroom:

Since this is "Marshall's bathroom" I wanted it to be kid-ish but not crazy. We bought a few things at Target, and plan on refinishing the cabinets, painting and replacing the yucky linoleum with tile soon.

Marshall's room:

Jerad's dad painted this room. The electric blue wasn't the most peaceful bedroom color... We moved Marshall to a toddler bed right after we moved (13 months I think?) We decided to keep the floor bed too because its nice for us to be able to lay on it if we're playing with him in there:) He plays then gets into the toddler bed for most naps/bedtime, but occasionally he'll decide to sleep in the floor bed.

Master Bedroom:

Dresser was from Craigslist, pictures above the bed from Ikea, floor length mirror from Ross. Everything else we had. We're hoping to get a king size bed soon (the queen will move to the guest room), and I need to get something for the wall at the end of the bed. I'm trying to decide between an armoir, and an electric fireplace. Leaning towards the fireplace...

Master Bathroom:

This is the room we're working on now. Jerad refinished the cabinets in a nice espresso color. He also built a frame to go around the mirror but it still needs to be painted. New hardware, faucets and light fixtures are next, then hopefully new flooring. I'm just not a fan of carpet in bathrooms.

So, that's where we are! I've been feeling like we haven't gotten anything done in the last 2 and a half months but looking at all these pictures we have accomplished a lot.

Spider Monkey

2011-08-03T07:48:00.000-07:00

"ooh, I love lights. Best toy EVER."

"What? I'm kinda busy over here."

"You know, climbing up on all the furniture."

"Oh no, I've been discovered!"

"Quick -- cute face to distract!"

20 weeks

2011-08-03T07:30:00.000-07:00

Finally, a belly shot.

Taken at 20 weeks

It's a....

2011-08-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

.... boy!

So, we're having another boy. If I was more on top of things I'd have told you last Thursday when we found out, but what can you do? I also have some ultrasound pics that maybe I'll remember to upload later. Poor second child, already taking the backseat.

Because Marshall and this baby will be so close in age (19 months), I was hoping for another boy. Well, really I was just hoping for a Marshall clone because he's been so cute and fun and easy going and it would be a blast to do it all over again. As he's been growing and I've packed away his things, the only way I've kept myself from freaking out about it is by telling myself "that's okay, the next baby can use this." And lets face it, a little girl would look a bit wonky in all those boy clothes:)

Even though I've been *saying* that I was hoping for another boy, I was worried that if we found out that's what we were having, I'd be sad. What if this is our last baby, would I be alright with never having a girl? Or what if we're one of those couples that end up with 5 boys? Luckily when the ultrasound tech told us it was a boy I didn't even feel a twinge of remorse.

Which is sort of ironic. Before getting pregnant with Marshall, I always hoped and knew that I'd be a mother of girls. I had NO desire to have a boy. What would we do together? What would we have in common? Would I have to learn the rules of Football? I can't throw and I'm terrified of creepy crawly things! I used to babysit boys that *threw darts at me* so I had to lock myself in the bathroom and call their parents to come home. No thank you! Honestly, when we found out Marshall was a boy. I cried. Even though I'd had a feeling all along, I was pretty devestated about it and it took me awhile to come to grips that I was going to be a "boy mom." Jerad pointed out that I had a lot of sweet boy cousins that I'd loved watching grow up. And that he happened to be a boy and its not like he chased me around with snakes, and growing up he loved cooking and doing crafts and stuff like that with his mom. So many of my friends have sweet, sensitive, adorable little boys.

So I started to think I'd survive.

Then little Marshall was born and he was so amazing and I was like "yes, more of these please!" So, all that to say we are both so excited to be welcoming another little man into our family in 5 short months.

And this time we have a name in advance.

Miller Cash.

And if we have more children, they won't have "M" names... we aren't going for a Duggar vibe:) So there you go.

Our midwife called the day after the ultrasound to say that she just got the report and was laughing because it was the first time she had ever seen a baby's position listed as "mobile." So I guess so far Miller is already taking after Marshall. He moved around so much in utero that sometimes I thought he might just break out. Luckily he was a calm and content infant, so hopefully Miller follows suit.

This made his day

2011-07-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

As soon as I pull out the camera...

2011-07-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

... this happens lately:

Just endless funny faces.

This is his new 'signature' face:

He does it in "oh oh" or "omg, did you see that?" situations.

Totally hilarious.

Playing hookey

2011-07-25T09:01:00.000-07:00

Today I'm doing something I've only done once before... sending Marshall off to my mom's house, but instead of going to work, I'm STAYING HOME. And doing hopefully nothing. I'm not going to lie, I am pretty excited about the situation. Normally if I call in sick to work, I keep Marshall home too. I'd feel guilty just shipping him off otherwise, plus I like spending the extra time with him.

The thing is, its pretty impossible to actually rest while caring for an infant or toddler.

My mom left me a voicemail a few days ago saying she hoped she wasn't waking me up from my nap. Bwahahahaha I would be STOKED to get a daily/weekly nap! Notsomuch. When I'm home and Marshall is sleeping, that's the time I have to get stuff done or have a little "me time" to check emails and pay bills.

I've been sooo tired with this pregnancy. Just wiped out. Last week Jerad worked out of town from 3:30am on Monday morning until late on Thursday, then was in the office on Friday so really he wasn't around to help between Sunday night and Friday night. This week he is leaving either tonight or early tomorrow morning for probably another 4 days. I need to catch up on a little rest and recharge so I can make it through the week.

My goals for today include; RESTING; baking a few loaves of bread, and folding laundry while watching Netflix.