It's been a really long time.

Well hello old blog!  It's been over 2 years since I last wrote here.  I've missed it!  Let's see, my last post I was expecting our second child who was born December 11th, 2014.  We named him Amos Phillip.  He's two now.  Aaaaaaand we welcomed a sweet, sweet baby girl in October.  Her name is Dahlia Brynn.  She will be 5 months old this month!  You could say we've been busy.

I've been thinking about blogging again and was encouraged by a couple of friends.  I've also got my evenings back to myself as all the babies are in bed early.  I'll be sharing some recipes, fitness stuff, random thoughts, encouragement, and self-depreciating humor.  You know, the usual.

I've also been thinking about sharing my birth stories?  I love reading birth stories, and I have written out Silas' story.  I have been wanting to type out the others before I forget (how can you forget?).  I was also thinking if anyone wants to submit their birth story, I would post it here too.  I remember pouring over so many stories before Silas was born and even now if I see one I can't resist.  That stuff is so fascinating!

OK!  If you've read this, have any ideas or anything to say, I want to hear it!         

Random Robin Williams because I can't figure out how to do my own pictures yet! 

39 Weeks plus a few days.

I hit 39 weeks on Saturday.  I don't think he's coming soon.  Last night I got my hopes up and I almost started making my phone calls, because I was feeling a little crampy, but I decided to wait and see.  Naturally, nothing more happened and I fell asleep.  I feel a little better though, I've decided not to get excited until the 20th.  That way I won't drive myself crazy.  Crazier.

I went to Target last night to get Silas his "big brother gift."  I had a little bit of trouble with this, because I want something he'll like but nothing elaborate or expensive.  I almost got sucked into a big drum filled with musical instruments.  Yes, exactly what I need is a tambourine he can play for his newborn brother.  He's been throwing things too so I don't want to give him any more wooden blocks.  So he got a small teddy bear, which I will give him in the hospital.  My friend who is also having a baby talked about getting her son a doll, kinda like a practice baby, and that sounded like a good idea to me so I bought Silas a small doll too.

At this point of the shopping trip I didn't know if I was going to break down and cry or throw up.  So I bought a pint of Ben & Jerry's Half Baked Frozen Yogurt (I'm cleaning up my diet) and went home.  It's all starting to feel so real and I got a little overwhelmed.  I'm having all those feelings I'm sure lots of moms do, how will I ever love another person as much as I love my son, how will having a sibling affect him, etc? 

Anyway, Saturday my friend took some pregnancy pictures of me and she printed a couple off for me to see today and I'm really excited to see the rest of them!  I'll post those when I get them.  It was really fun and I'm so glad I got to do them.  I didn't do them with Silas.  This one is an awkward one from today.  I can't selfie properly.

Another friend had a Christmas party today and it was so much fun.  It was one of the first times I've seen Silas "play" with another child, not just try and take toys away from his friends or play next to them.  He and another boy were chasing each other and laughing and pushing cars all over the place.  It was hilarious.  He fell asleep almost instantly on the car ride home. 

OK, let's do the update and get on with our lives. 

 How far along?  39 weeks and 3 days.

Size of Baby:  The baby is the size of a baby.  (Thank you Pregnant Chicken, no more stupid vegetables.)  About 20 inches and 7 pounds. 

Weight Gain:  Who's counting anymore?  I don't want to know.  See also: Ben & Jerry's.

Nursery:  Still not done.  I went up there and moved some things around.  I did unpack and sort through the baby clothes.  That was fun.  We have some new things, some new hand me downs, and some things that Silas wore.  It was a trip down memory lane and it made me really happy. 

Movement:  Yes, of course.

Symptoms:  Nothing new.  Heart burn and back pain.  Crabby as hell. 

Cravings:  Nothing really?  Cheeseburgers?  Is this part of the pregnancy getting boring?  Hahaha.  

Looking forward to:  Giving birth.  Of course.  If I make it this far, I'm going to continue my "tradition" of buying a little crystal on my due date.  With Silas I had wandered into a crystal shop and was chatting with the ladies and when they found out it was my due date they said I should hold onto rock crystal quartz for "energy."  So I did.  I'll try anything.  I ended up buying a pointy one and I took it into the delivery room with me.  It was sharp and I mostly poked myself in my numb fingers with it, but it's kinda nice to have something else to focus on while laboring.  I abandoned it after a short while though.  I had crying and whining to do. 

I'm sure I'll be back with a 40 week update.  God help me. 

Waiting...

I was starting to get really excited that baby would be joining us any second now.  I had dilated a couple centimeters, baby was head down and low, I felt awful.  Now I've realized that he's not coming for another couple of weeks.  At least one week.  I'm going to need more Tums.  And that's ok.  I had such a short labor with Silas, I feel if I let this baby come on his own time too, my labor will be short again.  And I won't have to have any unnecessary interventions.  That's the hope anyway.   

The past couple days have been very busy.  My mom spent the night last night, that was fun.  We had a late night grocery shopping session and then ate cheese and cookies.  Then this morning, my friend came over to help me prepare 9 freezer meals for after baby comes.  My mom was here to watch all the kids while we cooked.  This is all new to me and I'm very excited by the process.  The recipes come from Don't Panic - Dinner's in the Freezer.  Basically you prep everything and then freeze it.  You can do a week's worth of meals in a few hours.  I'm going to get the book from the library and hopefully do a few more soon.  I'll be sure to report back.  I know some of my friends do this and love it.  We did a Parmesan Chicken, which you simply bake; a Hawaiian Pork dish that you throw in the crock pot; and a Black Bean Soup you reheat.  I was amazed because I thought we would be cooking everything and then freezing it.  This method, of course, makes much more sense.  So all you have to do is plan ahead a little bit and make sure you thaw your freezer meal out.  Add a rice or potato, a salad, or whatever and you're done!  Here's a link to the book on amazon, if you're interested.  

http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Panic-Dinners-Freezer-Great-Tasting/dp/0800730550#

Saturday I will be 39 weeks.  I have plans to meet up with another lovely friend and take some maternity photos.  I'm excited.  I didn't have any done last time, so I'm looking forward to it.  I'd like to have a few pictures that look decent to remember this time.  

I think that's all I have today.  This weekend I hope to do a 39 week update since I skipped 38 and maybe I will have some photos from my maternity session to share.

Hey, do you do freezer meals?  Or make ahead kind of stuff?  I would love to hear all about it!  

 

37+ Week Update

I'm late doing my 37 Week Update.  I didn't feel like blogging this weekend.  Silas got a flu shot and he seemed a little under the weather all weekend.  I was sure I was getting the stomach flu on Saturday, but thankfully nothing ever came from that!  Silas is almost all back to normal today so I think it was just his shot. 

Today the weather was crazy!  It was raining when we woke up and by about 10 am it was snowing like crazy and cold enough to stick.  I decided that after our naps I was going to bundle us up and go outside.  Silas has never played in the snow.  He loved it!  I need to get him some boots and I'm thinking a snow suit would be good.  As it was I put 3 pairs of pants on him and his sneakers, a few long sleeved tops and his puffy coat.  My mom bought him these little mitten-like things (they had no finger or thumb dividers, but I don't think a 17 month old needs them anyway) and he seemed to keep pretty warm.  He didn't want to come inside. 

I'm hoping to keep getting him outside this winter.  He needs to get out and play.  It took a long time for us to get ready to go, and I know it will only get worse once there's 2 of them to dress for the cold.  I'm thinking that by the time our second son arrives and I feel like venturing out again, I will be able to put him in a carrier under my coat and I will know he is safe and warm and Silas will be able to run around.  Plus, I'm sure we will be able to streamline our "getting ready routine" if we do it more often.  Today I bundled us up and by the time we were ready I was hungry and Silas needed a diaper change.  So we had to take a break.  Haha.  But we made it and it was great.

OK!  The Update!

 How far along?  37 weeks.

Size of Baby:  One website says the size of a swiss chard, the other says a honeydew melon.  I swear we already did a honeydew melon.  In any case, just over 19 inches and 6 1/3 pounds.  When Silas was born he was 19 inches and 7 pounds even, so this baby is almost there! 

Weight Gain:  I'm still packing it on.  Hooray. 

Nursery:  No news here, I'm hoping to get up there this week and work on it.  My friend texted me today that she was working on her new baby's room while her son slept and I was... sleeping.  Of course. 

Movement:  He's still moving!  When I was pregnant with Silas I didn't know the difference between the Braxton Hicks contractions and the baby moving.  Maybe that sounds silly, but I just thought he was really stretching in there and that's what I was feeling.  Now, I'm still a little confused, but I know a bit better.  I remember getting a stress test and I was strapped up to a machine and I had a contraction and the doctor said "You can't feel that?" and I said "I feel that, I thought that was the baby!"  I hope I'm not the only one.   

Symptoms:  The never ending heart burn.  Tonight I'm going to finish one of my 2 bottles of Tums that I bought the last time I was at Walgreens.  I decided I eat a lot of acidic foods and that's not helping, but there's nothing to do about it now.  If I ever get pregnant again I'm going to buy stock in antacids. 

Cravings:  I want a grilled cheese to dip in some tomato soup.     

Looking forward to:  Thanksgiving.  We switch families every year because it's just too far to drive to both.  This year is Aaron's family and I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone.  And eating.  I'm planning to make a big pan of my macaroni and cheese.  It's so good.   

So how do you feel about getting out in the cold?  Any tricks for toddlers and little babies in the cold?  What about Thanksgiving food?  What's your favorite and what are you bringing?       

36 Week Update

I feel like I was just saying "I can't do this for another 10 weeks!"  Now there's only 4.  The last time I saw my midwife I was already 1 centimeter dilated.  I understand you can walk around a centimeter dilated for weeks, but I was still excited.  Baby is head down, and bald!  But I could have told you that.  We make bald babies. 

Things have been so sweet here.  This might be the calm before the storm.  I've decorated the house, my husband thinks it's too early, but I absolutely love it.  It's so beautiful and soothing.  Plus, I don't think I'll be wanting to do it in a couple weeks after Thanksgiving.  I want it now!

I bought a 3 foot tree.  I wasn't going to do a tree this year, I was afraid Silas wouldn't leave it alone, but I peeked in a bin of Christmas ornaments and spotted some of the cute "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments and got really sad that they might be packed away indefinitely if I couldn't come up with a solution.  So I bought a small tree, picked a few special, plastic ornaments, and decorated.  It's an awful picture, but it's a great tree and it makes me happy.

We also decided to try and push Silas's bedtime back to 7 pm.  He had been waking up before 6 am and that's too early.  Despite all the experts saying that we should put him to bed even earlier to see if that would help him sleep in, we decided to keep him up a bit longer since their way wasn't working.  Normally we would start bedtime at 6:30-6:45, but now we are starting at 7 and I'm typically out of the room by 7:20.  He's usually asleep before 7:45.  And now he's sleeping until 6:30-7 am.  It's great.  We're still transitioning in the nap department, I thought we had that down, but 2 good days does not mean you have it all figured out, unfortunately.  The best part of this has been that Silas is in a good mood by the time Aaron gets home and we have been enjoying this time as a family.  We're all sitting on the floor, rolling a ball or playing with blocks or reading books and it's been my favorite part of the day.  I feel so blessed.

One more picture before I get on to the update.  This is my dear friend Meghan.  We celebrated her with a baby sprinkle this weekend.  She is expecting her first baby girl early next year.  Her son is a month younger than mine and her daughter will be a month younger than my new baby.  So funny how that worked out.  I love this picture of us!

Have I mentioned how HOT I've been this pregnancy?  It's 30 degrees outside and snowing and here I am in a sleeveless dress.  OK!  To the update! 

 How far along?  36 weeks.

Size of Baby:  A papaya!  18.5 inches and 6 pounds. 

Weight Gain:  Last time I calculated it was about 20 pounds.  Math is fun. 

Nursery:  Aaron and my dad moved the crib and the dresser into his room.  They disassembled one table and I will need to move that downstairs this week.  After that I want to organize the drawers with all the clothes and such.  Then it's pretty much done! 

Movement:  I think he's running out of womb.  Har har har. 

Symptoms:  I bought 2 bottles of Tums the last time I was at Walgreens.  I'm hoping they will be my last, but I'm not sure.

Cravings:  My appetite isn't there anymore.  It's like the first trimester all over again.  I want a really good grapefruit but I keep buying duds.  I gotta find a good grapefruit.   

Looking forward to:  Finishing up the last minute things?  I froze my "Kid's Klub" account at the gym, I don't think I'll be going for a while, or taking Silas if I do go and they don't watch babies under 3 months of age so #2 won't be able to go for a while anyway.  Finishing the nursery.  Lastly, I want to organize our basement a little because I think we will be spending some time down there this winter.  Lots of room for an 18 month old boy to run around!     

Pregnancy Pillows and the 35 Week Update

35 weeks today!  Before I do the update, I want to talk really quickly about the two pregnancy pillows I've tried this pregnancy.  My friend got me this awesome pregnancy pillow.  It's called a Belly Rest Pillow.  I love it because it's so small and it can be positioned to support your belly and your back.  I think this one is great if you have a smaller bed, or haven't sent your partner to sleep on the couch yet.  It's awesome.  My other friend had given me her Leacho Inc Preggle Pillow and that pillow has been great too.  It's bigger, and shaped like a candy cane.  Once you throw your partner out of bed, you have this nice big pillow to snuggle.  Every time I go lay down I think "This thing is amazing."  I didn't feel the need for a special pillow when I was pregnant with Silas, but this time having the extra support in bed has been nice.  I've been using both these pillows together.  Double the back support, and having a cushion to support my big belly has been really nice.  Here's links to both pillows on amazon, if you need one or just want the bed to yourself.

The Leacho Pillow 

The Belly Rest Pillow

Grendel prefers the Belly Rest

On to the whiny update!  I've been walking around all week thinking I was already 36 weeks, so when I opened my pregnancy tracking app and saw I was only 35 weeks, I groaned, really loudly, at Target.  By myself.  Good thing I was there for Ben & Jerry's.  On the one hand, I'm scared of having a newborn again and how much that's going to change our lives.  On the other hand, I'm so uncomfortable, I want to be done.  I think I need to work on my attitude.  Christmas decorations may help.  I don't care how early it is. There may be a LOT of whining in this post, so feel free to skip the reading and come back in a couple weeks or 8 months or so. 

35 Week Update

How far along?  35 weeks.

Size of Baby:  Honeydew melon, over 18 inches long and over 5 pounds! 

Gender:  Boy!

Weight Gain:  I ain't even.  I feel like my skeleton doesn't want to support my body anymore, my tailbone doesn't want me to sit on it.

Nursery:  I'm happy to say I have gotten a lot done up there.  I put all my jewelry tools and odds and ends into bins and moved them downstairs to storage.  It was a little sad.  I don't know when I'm going to get them out again.  I moved most of the furniture that isn't staying in there to the basement and all the bins of baby boy clothes up to the closet in his room.  I have emptied the dresser that is going in his room and as soon as we get a couple more things out of there, I'm moving that up and I'll start organizing the drawers.  Then I think all that's left after that is moving the crib in.  It's already upstairs and I tried to push it down the hallway, but it got stuck.  My mom has been a huge help in this process.  I can't do this kind of thing with Silas running around and I nap when he does, so she's been coming over to hang with him so I can get some work done.  I know a more motivated person might skip the napping, but I am not that woman.

Movement:  Still kicking like crazy. 

Symptoms:  Heartburn as always, I'm waking up a few times at night to eat some Tums.  I knew I should have bought more than one bottle last time I was at Walgreens.  As I grabbed just one I thought to myself "This is the last bottle I'm going to need for this pregnancy!"  Yeah, right.  My back is also hurting by the end of the day.  I'm leaning on a heating pad in the evenings. 

Cravings:  Grapefruit.  Salad.  Ice.  Ice cream.  Pulled pork sammiches. 

Looking forward to:  I guess the last few little things before winter sets in. My dear friend is having a little girl in January and we are throwing her a sprinkle next weekend.  My dad's birthday is coming up and we're doing a joint "party" with my husband since he just had a birthday.  Thanksgiving is around the corner.  I love turkey. 

Did you use a pregnancy pillow?  More importantly, is it too early for Christmas decorations?  Let's talk about it in the comments. 

Halloween and a Soup Recipe!

I know I'm a few days late now, but I want to recap our Halloween.  We had so much fun!  On the 24th we went to a party at our very dear friend's house.  All the kids were dressed up, but I was the only mom in costume!  I don't know why this keeps surprising me.  I get really into Halloween and dressing up is my favorite part.  I decided early on that I wasn't spending any money on our costumes.  Silas is still little and we have so much fabric and costume accessories I wanted to work with what we've got.  I went as a witch and Silas went as an "imp."  I didn't get any good pictures though!  The actual day of Halloween we woke up to a little snow!  It was snowing big, fluffy flakes and was cold!  It didn't stick though and quickly warmed up, but not much!  When trick or treating started it was so windy and cold I kept waffling about whether or not to take Silas out and what kind of "costume" to put on him.  His imp costume was just a cut up old tee shirt, but it was too cold for that.  I ended up taking him in his regular clothes and coat with his bear hat on his head.  We went to 5 houses.  He's 17 months old, so he doesn't really care, you know?  I just knew the neighbors would miss him if they didn't see him so I have to do right thing and give people their dose of adorable.  My husband hates when I say things like that.  Says I sound conceited. 

Pretty and festive!  

I whipped up this soup on Halloween morning on a whim.  We grew butternut squash in our garden this year and I'm trying to use it up.  Sometimes I just slice it, bake it and feed it to the gentlemen, but I thought a nice warm soup would be good for us to eat on a chilly Friday.  I had already baked off a squash so this came together fast!  If you want to make this you will have to cut your squash in half, lay cut side down on a baking sheet, and bake until soft.  Depending on the size of your squash it may take a half hour to an hour.  I made a really small batch because I wasn't sure if we would like it.  Well, I have made it 3 times since, so needless to say, we like it a lot! 

Butternut Squash Soup

• 1 precooked butternut squash, skin peeled off.

• 2 tablespoons butter or olive or coconut oil, you can use less if you want, but I wanted our soup to be rich so I used butter.

• 1-2 tablespoons minced garlic, we're scared of vampires so we use lots of garlic.

• Spice, I used about 3 teaspoons of Trader Joe's Everyday Seasoning.  This comes in a grinder bottle and contains salt, mustard seeds, black pepper, coriander, onion, garlic, paprika and chili pepper.  If you don't have this blend you could simply use salt, pepper, onion, maybe a little nutmeg or cinnamon?  Nutmeg would be tasty. 

• Water or milk to thin the soup.

Melt the butter in a large pot.  Add the garlic and saute on medium until fragrant and lightly browned.  Add in your spices and stir.  Add the squash, and milk or water.  You may want to turn the heat up a little if you're in a rush.  I used my immersion blender to blend everything together into a really smooth soup.  The first time I used only water, but today when I made it I used whole milk and my goodness, it was so rich.  Perhaps a little too rich.  Butternut squash bisque, if you will. 

How was your Halloween?  Do you like butternut squash soup?  Do you have other ideas for using it up?