What We're Up To....

SO....I read recently that if you want to have a cool blog that people actually read, you have to post several times a week. That is probably incredibly obvious, but sometimes I need to hear/read the obvious.
I know all of my friends are just dying to read a birth story for Julia (aka Miss J, Little Miss, Peanut) and I really have no reason not to have written one, especially considering my super awesome doula wrote me out a timeline of my whole labor & delivery, but yet here I am not having written it.  Instead I'm doing a what are we doing/reading/wearing etc post. Enjoy!

Miss J on the day she left the hospital. The hand mitts didn't last long, as she hates them as much as her brother did.

What are we doing? Well we're just living the normal life. Running errands, going to the park, eating & pumping and doing the household stuff. Since Peanut has arrived I have revised our weekly schedule- formally called the USS [Our Last Name] Plan of the Day.  I am even more religious about following said schedule now that I have 2 little ones. It just makes the week a little easier on me. I highly recommend it.

How we shop Target...Little Dude holds the stuff, while Julia is in the back.

What are we reading? Kids books for Matthew. His favorites right now include: Brown Bear Brown Bear and several animal sound books. We read them over & over! He says "ook" (he can't always get the B out with the ook part.) It is so much fun! I am glad he loves books as much as his Daddy & me do. As for me....I've been reading books I put on reserve from the library. Recently I finished Two Kisses for Maddy. Total tear jerker and definitely not the next great American novel, but worth it to read.

What I'm Wearing:  Okay so this isn't new, but for the past 9 months I've been wearing tinted moisturizer. I've never been a big fan of foundation so when I found this I was instantly in love. When I don't wear that though, the wonderful staff at Sephora got me into this BB cream from Urban Decay. I can't decide which one I like more. As a nursing Mom not getting as much sleep, it has helped me feel a little better about how I present myself every day. I also have added a lip pencil from NARS into my beauty routine.

What I'm drinking: Besides water, a lot of Mom friends all seem to swear by Spark by Advocare. Now I don't drink it everyday, but when I really need a boost...this stuff does the trick.

That's us in a nutshell.  My dryer just sang it's little song, better go, it's laundry day in our house. This Mommy of two thing keeps me busy!

She's here and a month old!

So the last time I posted I was bemoaning the fact that my children do not like to come out of the womb in a timely fashion (or timely for their Mother.) Well I wish I could say my daughter promptly made her exit after that post, but she's stubborn like her brother and didn't. She too was forced out. Only this time it was for an actual medical reason; her fluid level was too low. On May 21st, we headed to the hospital to be induced. I was not looking forward to it as my induction with Little Dude was horrible. Thankfully it wasn't even close to being as awful as that one. The induction started around 11am and she was out shortly after 5pm on the same day.  I did it all without an epidural, which scared the crap out of me and had me crying. And then I hemorrhaged. But not to worry....I was fine and a detailed birth story will come another day when I don't have 500 things to do during my son's nap time.

Here are the quick details on my second born child. Julia was born at 5:01pm PST on May 21st. She was 8 pounds and 20.5 inches long. She's adorable and depending on who you ask, looks like me.  :-) In her first 5 weeks of life, she's already flown on a couple airplanes and met all the relatives on my Dad's side of the family (we attended a wedding in St. Louis.)  I absolutely love having a daughter, as I suspected I would, and am getting into the groove of being a Mom of 2. It's not as bad as I feared (I have Matthew's amazing schedule to thank for this I think.)

I'm making our new weekly schedule so hopefully blogging will get accomplished more often.

Toodles my friends!

40+ Weeks Pregnant!

Sooo...I wasn't really planning to be able to do this update, but since my daughter is clearly as comfortable in utero as her brother...here I am. It'd be nice if I could get myself to actually blog life updates more often, but ah well. Maybe one day I'll be better at this Mommy blogger thing.

How far along? 40 weeks and 1 day.

How big is baby? Small according to the ob/gyn, which probably means she's huge. Baby center app says 7-8 pounds.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 32+ pounds. I've stopped gaining weight now though.

Next Appointment: Monday morning if Little Miss hasn't come this weekend.

Maternity Clothes: Yes

Sleep: Horrible. Any noise wakes me up and annoys me thus my husband's snoring is driving me up the wall.

Best Moment This Week: My Mom arrived.

Annoyance of the Week: She's still not born yet.

Movement: Yep

Planning/Preparation: I finally figured out how to fold down the double stroller. It's easy...I love it.

Belly Button In/Out:  Still flat.

Gender: 100% girl.

What I Miss: Having an appetite and normal clothes.

What I'm Looking Forward To:  Having the baby.

Contractions: Some, but nothing that is doing anything.

Milestones?: Passed my due date and early signs of labor that I'll not share online.

Pregnancy Update: Week 37

How far along? 37+ Weeks

How big is baby? Baby Center App says a little over 6 pounds!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I'm up 28.5 pounds this week. 

Next Appointment: Tuesday morning

Maternity Clothes: Yes of course.

Sleep: So so

Best Moment This Week: Having her room pretty much finished.

Annoyance of the Week: Intense rib pain

Movement: Yes, she's still pretty busy though it's definitely slowed a bit.

Planning/Preparation: Just little things like hanging stuff up. I should be doing a lot more, but I've been tired.

Belly Button In/Out: Flat

Gender: 100% girl

What I Miss: All the usual stuff.  I'm really ready for normal clothes again though!

What I'm Looking Forward To:  Seeing my baby girl's face and kissing her! 

Contractions: A few sporadic ones.

Milestones?: I'm full term and am slightly dilated.

Join the Movement: National Infertility Awareness Week!

This week marks National Infertility Awareness Week.  I know in previous years I've mentioned it in quick passing. I don't consider myself very good at blogging themes. They always like an assignment and suddenly I always feel woefully under researched on the topic. I'm going to try my best this year though...so hang with me.

For 2013 the theme for National Infertility Awareness Week is "Join the Movement."  For days I've been mulling it over in my head what this could mean for my life. I mean let's be honest here....in 2011 I did IVF, got pregnant and in early 2012 had my miracle baby. Then 6 1/2 months later I was pregnant without medical help and I'm a few weeks to delivery.  We have no plans to have anymore kids, at least not in the next 5 years.  Our frozen embryos are being donated (topic for another day) to help another couple.  Where on Earth do I fit in with the infertility community?  I can certainly relate to people going through the journey and give some advice, but I'm not really on the inside anymore.  What movement am I part of? Finally after sitting here awhile I think I got it. It's not about being an "insider," but instead continuing to advocate for those still facing the journey to parenthood or whatever end result gives them peace.  Infertility will affect 1 in 8 people. That's a lot of people! And yet it's still something kept so quiet.  My "Join the Movement" pledge is my commitment to keep the topic out there, because though my infertility journey has changed course I can still keep working for others.  No one should be ashamed or have to suffer in silence while dealing with infertility.

-Liz

Exhaustion and all that jazz....

I'm at the end of my second pregnancy and I'm hitting the wall. I am T.I.R.E.D! (Okay, okay I've pretty much been exhausted the whole go around this time with the exception of a few blissful weeks around 16-20 weeks.) I am ready to have this baby and start the terrifying adventure which is being the Mom of two children under 2. 
Yesterday I finally sort of forced myself to actually work in Julia's nursery. The closet looks AMAZING now, if I can brag for a moment. I had this grand plan to hang up every last piece of clothing she owns, but after going through the first 30 hangers I decided I'd just hang through size 3 months (and 1 odd outfit that is size 0-6months.) That only used up close to 60 hangers (don't judge...I didn't buy it all myself.) The rest I put in neatly labeled plastic bins.  Now my husband has no excuse not to put the crib together. He's pretty handy with that stuff so I am honestly certain it'll get done this week; he just really wanted the clothes out of his way. He rocks like that.  I also finally ordered her crib bedding set and got her a crib mattress...because she might need somewhere to sleep. ;-) Today I painted wooden letters that spell out her name in a very appropriate paint colored called Parisian Pink. They aren't as big as I envisioned so me thinks they'll go on her door. The rest of the decor for her room is all in my head still. I'm really stuck on what to do in there...I blame it on exhaustion. I just can't make any decisions.
When we moved here last year we became the proud owners of a lovely LG Washer & Dryer set. Seriously these things rock my socks....if you're in the market I recommend them, not that I have much to compare them with. Today I finally figured out how to use the steam feature on my dryer...who knew it could be so simple? The owners manual...that's who! I used it to sterilize/cleanse/whatever some stuffed animals. Genius!
Have I talked about the new house on here much? Yeah I don't think I have. It's pretty much 100% awesome...minus one very irritating fact: our cell phone service for making calls is horrendous!! Calls drop randomly and without warning. Verizon finally sent us out a Network Extender. Yeah guess what? Calls still drop even when we are supposedly under the network extender's coverage area. About the only place you can generally guarantee you'll be able to complete a phone call is sitting right next to the thing. We are seriously contemplating getting a land line now just to have a reliable phone at the house. Otherwise...again we love the house and one of these days I will finish decorating it and maybe share the pictures on FB.

Whelp, gotta go....Little Dude is awake from nap. Toodles friends!

Pregnancy Update: 35 weeks

How far along? 35 weeks

How big is baby? The Baby Center App says over 5 pounds and approx. 18 inches long.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I was 144.5 on Tuesday, so that's about a 27.5 pound gain total. I'm right on track compared to where I was at this point with Matthew.

Next Appointment: April 23 (Little Dude's 15 month birthday)

Maternity Clothes: Yes of course.

Sleep: Horrible

Best Moment This Week: My Stork Express hospital tour & preadmission.

Annoyance of the Week: The continued viral cough thing I have that doesn't abate no matter what.

Movement: Tons, but I can definitely tell she's running out of room.

Planning/Preparation:  Due to this horrendous cough....not much of any lately.

Belly Button In/Out: Flat.

Gender: 100% girl

What I Miss: Things not hurting and having energy.

What I'm Looking Forward To:  My baby shower and then holding my little girl in my arms.

Contractions: A few, not as bad as other weeks.

Milestones?: 2 weeks until I'm considered full term!