It's a...

Girl!

Hard to believe! She broke all of the old wives tales!

Now to just agree on a name...

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone

Merry Christmas!

This Christmas was very low key for us. Nathan and I were feeling a little Scrooge-ish I think with the upcoming move and basically all we did was put up the Christmas tree! We also spent an evening making our own Christmas ornaments, which is a separate post. We rationalized that Shane isn't old enough to really know what's going on.

I had a tough time this Christmas, struggling with the materialism of a holiday I used to love. Nathan's family goes all out at Christmas time and even though I know, I KNOW that Christmas is not about the gifts I still always feel guilty that was don't spend/give as much. We can't. I don't believe in it even if we could. And this Christmas? This Christmas we didn't have anything to spend. So I did home made gifts, because I already had the supplies and what I didn't have I got for under $10. I was really nervous about how the homemade gifts would be received but they actually seemed to be well-liked! And I was pretty happy with them too.

Anyway we had a nice Christmas and I hope that all of you did as well.  On Christmas Eve we let Shane open his gift from us, which was actually his birthday present that I didn't give him because he got SO many toys.

Christmas morning I made chocolate chip pancakes as a special treat. I even got out some real Maple Syrup that I found at Walmart of all places! This northern girl can't stand that fake grodiness.

Then we got dressed up and went to church. Shane rocked the tux he wore to his uncle's wedding. I should've let the arms and legs back down, I didn't realize he's grown so much in just a few months! Everyone thought he was adorable in his tux. He was having a really rough morning and cried for ten minutes after I left him in the nursery, so I spent the service playing with him. I was sad to miss communion but happy to spend some sweet time with my boy.

From church we went to my in-laws house where I helped with lunch. Once more of Nathan's family got there we ate lunch, then opened up gifts.

 This was the first thing Shane opened.  He was so excited, he just wanted to play with his toys as he opened them but he has such a large stack that we had to move him along a little.

 Once Shane finished opening his presents, he helped me open mine.  He certainly got into the unwrapping part of Christmas this year!

 As a kid growing up my parents took a picture of us with our presents each year so I thought I would do that with Shane. I like to look back even to this day and remember my favorite gifts! I couldn't get Shane to stand with his presents without playing with them, but here are the gifts he got from Nathan's family. See the tall tower car ramp thingy? We are leaving that in the box until we move, so that he has something to keep him occupied while we unpack.

 These are the gifts from us. The car ramp was his birthday present. The book is really sweet, it's called "I Love it When You Smile" and I found it at the dollar store along with the coloring book. The truck were Daddy's pick.

 This is one of my favorite of the gifts Shane got. It's a little outfit with Navy emblems on the shirt, T-shirt, and jeans.

Boy or Girl?

Since we only have a little over a week until we have our ultrasound and (hopefully) get to find out the gender of baby #2, I thought I'd post a poll so you all can vote on what you think the baby will be. The poll is up on the right side of the blog.

At first I was hoping we'd have another boy so that Shane would have a little brother to pal around with, but now I'd love to have either. Obviously all we want is a healthy baby, and even if it isn't we'll love it just as much, but I would be equally happy with a boy or a girl.

Here are your clues to help you guess the baby's gender:

My Intuition: I think it's a boy, but not strongly. This pregnancy has been basically identically to my first pregnancy which obviously was a boy.That's why I think this one is a boy. The only thing is that with Shane I knew it was a boy, and with this baby my gender intuition is broken. I have also has baby girls on the brain a lot with this pregnancy (thanks a lot, Pinterest). So I would say Boy/Inconclusive.

Intelligender: Yes, I did it for fun. Hey, it's got a 50% chance of being right! It said boy.

Shettles: Boy

Old Wives Tales:
Heartrate: Boy
Wrinkles on the back of the legs: Boy. (If the wrinkles on the back of your first babies legs align, the next child will be the same gender. If they do not align, it will be the opposite gender)
Chinese Gender Chart: Boy
Strange Math Equation: Boy. (You add the age you were at conception-25-with the number of the month of conception-8-and if the number is odd it is a boy. If it's even it's a girl. So for me it is 33, ie boy)
Carrying High or Low: Inconclusive.
Acne/Look Stealing: None. Boy.
Cravings: None. Inconclusive.

Um, not one thing points to us having a girl. We'll see if we beat the odds! Of course we all know 10 reasons why every superstition is incorrect but like I said before, there's a 50% chance of being right! And isn't it fun to guess?

18 Weeks {5 Days}

18 Weeks. I hate how my face looks in this picture, so just look at the belly. Looking pregnant, right?!

This week I had an appointment with my midwife, Emily, and we spent some nice time chatting together. I am so sad to be leaving her as we have a lot in common! We are going to try to do some things together before I leave though. We are going to the children's science museum on Monday--she has a membership so she can get me in free!

This week I have notice that my SPD is back with a vengeance. It started later in this pregnancy and I think that is because I had gotten everything into alignment with a few chiropractic visits over the summer. My hips are also completely out of place. It's very painful!  I am going to try to make an appointment with the chiropractor next week. It's at the point that I can barely move, and laying in bed or sitting on the floor to play with Shane are just excruciating. I figure that a lot of pelvic pain is my trade off for not being sick the entire pregnancy. I don't really mind it though, because the trade off is so wonderful! The sweet little kicks make up for having to hobble.

The other strange thing I have noticed lately, and I forgot to talk to Emily about it, is that I am faint any time I have to stand much. If you will remember I fainted at Walmart when I was pregnant with Shane and I experienced more light headedness after that incident but it was most often just in church when we stand for about an hour. But this time it is much more extreme--I can hardly stand long enough to change Shane's diaper and I usually have to sit down for a minute when I'm doing the dishes. I don't lock my knees or anything, and I'm totally fine if I'm walking or moving around the house. It's very odd. I've even taken my sugar a few times when this happened and it was fine.

One of the coolest things that I did this week was schedule my 20 week ultrasound! Squee! I'm so excited to see the baby and find out what we're having. It is at 9am on Dec 29th and we will be taking Shane as well. He always sits on the table and "helps" measure my bump and listen to the baby's heart--I want him to be as included as possible. Only ten days away!

This morning I had a severe pregnancy brain moment. I put Shane in the car to go to church, and left his door open. Then I was putting the stroller in the trunk and I needed both hands so I put the keys in the rain gutter on the side of the trunk. Then, oops, I closed the trunk and bye-bye keys.  I pounded on the bedroom window until Nathan woke up and let me in the house and then I looked for the spare car keys so I could open the trunk. Couldn't find them. Then I spent about 45 minutes trying to find a locksmith or someone who knew how to jimmy a trunk lock. About an hour after I locked the keys in the trunk, I remembered: There is a trunk latch release in the car. HELLO! Sigh. Thanks, PB.

Tonight Nathan and I went on a date. I think this is the second one since Shane was born? We needed it! We went to see a movie and went to dinner.  While we were sitting in the movie Nathan got to feel the baby move!

I think that's all the good stuff for this week!

School's OUT!

I have written a post about going back to school several times in my head, but I've never actually written it out and posted it! It was a lot longer and more detailed in my head, but here's a shorter version.

I wrote about going back to school here when I signed up for spring semester.  I only took two classes last spring but I took four this fall (Yeah, what was I thinking.). I took Psychology, Concepts of Physical Activity, Anatomy and Physiology, and Bowling. The A&P class actually had a lab so technically I attended five classes, but the grade all rolled into one. And bowling, I know, I just needed one credit hour and I thought it would be fun. I actually had to take quizzes and tests though! Overall it was nine semester hours.

I'm not going to lie, it was a tough semester between my very active and attention loving Shaney and first trimester morning sickness and fatigue. I can't say that I did much studying, especially not compared to what I should have. Thankfully, all the classes were relatively easy except for A&P and I'll say that was a tough class! Interesting, fascinating, but very difficult! Plus I got a prof. reputed to be one of the most difficult teachers of the class. I enjoyed it, but I am SO glad that it's over.

Wednesday afternoon was my last final and I got my final grades today. I am very happy to say that I got all A's!  That means that as an adult returning student with first a job and infant, and this semester with a toddler and a pregnancy, I have gotten straight A's. I'm proud of myself! But I can't really take the credit. It is totally a God-thing that I got good grades, especially in A&P!

I won't be taking classes next semester because we'll be moving and I'll be having the baby, and to be honest I don't know when or if I'll go back for a lot of reasons. But I do feel like I've proven to myself that even though I'm "old" I'm still smart enough to go to school, and I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to add a few classes to my transcript.

Sabotaging Breastfeeding

*I wrote this post late last night but since I was falling asleep while typing I though I'd refrain from posting it until I had a chance to read over is this morning ;)

I'm sitting on the couch, Pinteresting (I totally just made that word up and it's awesome), and I have the TV on in the background. The Office is about all that is on, and although I've always disliked the show this one caught my eye because it has a birth and a newborn in it.

The scene: Pam and Jim have just had a baby and are in the hospital.  Pam is trying to nurse her newborn.  She is having trouble with helping her daughter latch, and worrying about her supply.  You know, normal new nursing mom fears. They buzz the nurse to ask for help.

The nurse is where I get angry. Very angry. She refuses to help them. She demands offers to take the baby back to the nursery so that Pam can sleep. She tells Pam she will offers to give the baby a bottle and tells Pam she can try again later. This continues throughout Pam's hospital stay. I can't remember everything that was said but at the end the nurse tells Pam, who is still having trouble with latch and has again asked for help, that it's okay  if the baby won't latch because there's nothing wrong with bottles.

Not until Pam is sitting on a bench alone outside the hospital waiting for Jim to pull up the car is she able to successfully nurse her baby. And she is excited, she is proud, she is finally sure that she can feed her baby.

This episode really ticked me off. It ticked me off because this is very very frequently how new moms who want to breastfeed are treated by nurses. It ticks me off because Pam didn't want her baby given a bottle, she wanted to breastfeed and she was simply asking for help. It would have been so easy, not to mention confidence inspiring, for the nurse to have just helped her! She wasn't asking for help to give the baby a bottle feeding, she didn't want to give her baby a bottle, she just wanted help learning to breastfeed, and the nurse clearly had a different agenda. Um, did you know that most American hospitals get PAID to push formula? They do. It's not widely known. Except, that is, for Baby Friendly Hospitals (and maybe a few knowledgeable others).

You see, there is something called the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative. It was put in place by the World Health Organization and UNICEF.  There are not very many hospitals that are Baby Friendly certified, and if you are going to give birth in a hospital I urge you to find one that has this certification.  Even birth centers can be certified, although by nature a birth center is generally friendly toward all things natural. This is a link to Baby Friendly USA which explains more about the BFHI, or Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative.  According  this website, the BFHI is a  "global program sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to encourage and recognize hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for infant feeding. The BFHI assists hospitals in giving mothers the information, confidence, and skills needed to successfully initiate and continue breastfeeding their babies or feeding formula safely, and gives special recognition to hospitals that have done so."   There are ten steps outlined on the website that include things like rooming in, 24 hour breastfeeding support, staff trained to assist in breastfeeding, early establishing of breastfeeding, not offering pacifiers or artificial nipples, and not offering free gifts of formula.  If you are an expecting Mama who plans to breastfeed, I'd check this link out. Even if you can't give birth in a BHFI certified hospital, you can know what you ought to be offered.


Obviously for a normal pregnancy I would recommend the care of a skilled midwife and a homebirth or birth center birth. This already will set you up for breastfeeding success.  But if for whatever reason you are going to give birth in a hospital I urge you to have a support system in place. Join your local La Leche League. Have the number of a Certified Lactation Consultant. Hire a doula to take to the hospital with you. Do your research, read everything you can, know your rights, know what you want, and don't be afraid to ask for a different nurse. 


Because our society is unfortunately not a society where breastfeeding is normalised girls are not brought up watching their mothers/aunts/other adult women breastfeed and so the knowledge is not passed down, it is an unknown and many new moms are unsure about the how of it all. Breastfeeding is instinctive in that baby's want it and many women feel the urge to do it, but it is not necessarily instinctive in the execution. Women need help, encouragement, support, and advice. Women need to be able to talk to someone who can tell them that it's okay their milk hasn't come in yet, that colostrum is sufficient for the minuscule stomach of a newborn and they need someone who can tell them whether or not the latch looks good and that hey, maybe your baby has some stage of a tongue tie and that's why he's not latching properly and many, many more things that "there's nothing wrong with a bottle" doesn't encompass.

I was blessed. My son took right to nursing, I had a visit from the lactation consultant in the hospital, and for two weeks I had my mom (who breastfed three children) there to help me. Other than numerous painful clogged ducts and now pregnancy making things painful I've had an easy, rosy breastfeeding experience with Shane. I still had things to learn though, and I did a lot of reading before hand. I didn't realize until my dad came to visit at two months old that the little squeaks and grunts and gulps and slurps were a good sign, a sign of plentiful milk supply and a happy baby. I didn't know until I visited my mom at three months that Shane's lower arm could go around my torso instead of being crammed under my chest. There's a learning curve to breastfeeding and I've had the last 18 months to practice. There is not guarantee that the next baby will be like Shane. You have a different nursing relationship and different challenges with each baby and there is no guarantee that this baby will take to it as easily as Shane did. Or it could be vice versa for some of you moms who had a difficult time initially with your firstborn.


There is never, ever a good reason for someone to sabotage your breastfeeding relationship. If someone does, I encourage you to find a different person to ask for help. You are the Mama. You are your child's advocate. You are strong, you are beautiful, you are important, you can do it.

17 Weeks {6 Days}

I think I've now gone from "she ate too many Doritos" (which, let's be real, I have), to "I'm pretty sure she's pregnant but you never ask that question so what do I do?" I think this because at our church ladies Christmas party on Friday several ladies came up and cautiously asked if I was pregnant. I am! Bet you didn't know that:!

The other new thing this week is that I felt Baby kick from the outside today, as I was putting Shane down for a nap. It was very faint, but I could feel it on the palm of my hand! And of course I'm feeling Baby move a lot more, several times a day usually.

This afternoon I took my first nap in several months. Usually while Shane naps I do schoolwork or chores, but today I just fell asleep for about 45 minutes. It felt so good! Once school is done I will probably spend Shane's naptimes packing or organizing or even crafting but once we move and I don't have to pack up a house anymore I will most definitely be working in some more frequent naps!

At 17 weeks Baby is about the size of a baked potato--it weighs about 5oz and is about 5 1/2 inches long. Over the next six weeks its weight will increase approximately six times. Finger and toe nails are also beginning to grow, which is why they already need cut by the time they are born! When Shane was born we cut his nails when we brought him home, even though the hospital will tell to file them instead. Actually, my mom cut his nails and showed me a neat way to kind of slide the clippers and clip as you go, and I've never cut Shane's finger. I used to only cut his nails while he slept but now he sits in my lap and we sing the ABC's while we clip. Sometimes it takes two sittings, but he's pretty good about having it done.

Navy Update

When Nathan originally went to MEPS, he was scheduled to leave for basic training on August 6th, 2012.  We were a little bit disappointed because we were hoping it would be a little sooner than that, but we got used to the idea and I was glad I'd be able to stick with my midwife and birth center and have the baby before we moved. When Nathan asked, he was told that there was no way he could leave earlier.

Last Thursday, after Nathan's DEP meeting, he called me and said the recruiter wanted to meet with both of us on Tuesday morning. He wanted Nathan to leave earlier, because if he didn't go to basic before I had the baby he could only join the Reserves. Nathan said the recruiter was talking after Christmas. My mind flew into a whirl, list after list after list forming in my head. I only got a couple hours sleep that night. And the next night.  Finally I tried writing things down as I thought of them, but that didn't really help. Still no sleep. I wondered why the recruiter had to make the meeting so far off! I was totally fine with him leaving earlier, I just wanted a more definitive timeline and more information. I despise feeling like I don't have all of the information. It leaves me feeling helpless and unable to plan.

Finally Tuesday morning rolled around and so did the meeting with the recruiter.  I went to the meeting armed with a notebook page full of questions! Nathan said, "what a surprise". See, I just like to KNOW things. Makes life incredibly easier. Anyways, the long and short of the conversation was that since Nathan already has two dependents (Shane and I) they want him to go to basic now because if I have the baby that gives him three dependents, in which case he has to get a waiver which the Navy has to approve and, well, they may choose not to approve it. Confused? It's ok. So the recruiter is putting in the paperwork to get Nathan sent early and he will for certain be home until January 3rd. The recruiter thinks he will probably go in January or February. Now I know that doesn't give me a whole lot more definitive timeline but since I do know that he will at least be here until 3 Jan, I can take a little breath. I got all of my questions answered, which makes it easier to plan some other things as well. Knowledge is Power, people.

Our plan is to pack up as much as possible, all of the things we don't use on a daily basis. As soon as we find out what we're having I'll be able to decide what I can pack of Shane's things as well. When Nathan goes to basic we will be getting a storage unit for all of our things (the Navy will pay to move them when Nathan gets stationed) and I will be moving to Ohio while Nathan is in basic and A-School. (About 5 months). We are letting our house go since we are on a month to month lease and I'll get a little apartment as close as possible to my parents house. Toddlers can be overwhelmingly energetic and because my parents and my grandparents live together, we thought it might be best if Shane and I had our own space and we can spend evenings and weekends together. But this way I'll be close enough that they can help if I need it especially in the later stages of pregnancy and when the baby is born.

I am actually really glad that the leave date is being moved up. I am totally ready to get started with this new stage in our life. To be honest, the only thing I'm really grieving is the loss of the birth I had planned to have. I love my midwife, the birth center, the birth tub, the personalized care. I have actually been excited to labor and deliver because of Midwife Emily and the relationship we've been developing, as well as the waterbirth I'd planned to have. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little sad to be missing that. But mom and I did some looking around online last weekend and found a few birth centers in their area that look like they do waterbirths, so we are going to check them out when I get up there. That alleviates the sting a little bit. And of course I'm excited to be close to my family.

There are SO many things that we have to do before Nathan leaves and unfortunately most of them plus the packing will fall to me, since Nathan is working nights.  So if you can pray that I'll have some extra energy and strength. I always seem to be packing and moving while I'm pregnant! And that makes it a little more challenging. Also, if anyone wants to come play with Shane for a few hours so I can pack, let me know. I have my finals next week so I am going to focus on that, and then after that it's preparing to leave. I'd rather be ready too early than to have Nathan leave and have to try to do everything alone. I'd also like to try to see each of our friends at least once before we leave. I'm a lot more mentally calm about things since our meeting, after all it's not like I've never done this before!  Or, you know, like twenty times. Ish.

16 Weeks {6 Days}

The baby doubled in size this week, and I think I can see the difference in my belly. I meant to take a picture today but I forgot.

How Far Along: 16 Weeks, 6 Days
Total Weight Gain: 4 lbs, as of two days ago
Maternity Clothes: Yup. I need a new pair of jeans. My ones from last pregnancy have holes in the thighs. Big holes. The cold air whistles through.
Stretch Marks: A bazillion. But no new ones.
Sleep: Terrible, but I can't really blame it on the baby. It has more to do with my mind racing and turning and thinking about some things going on. I just can't seem to turn it off to sleep.
Best Moment of the Week: Feeling the baby move multiple times a day. Watching Shane be a ham.
Worst Moment of the Week: Some news that we are dealing with--I'll post about it after we know more tomorrow. It's not bad news, just stressful news.
Movement: At 13 weeks I thought I felt movement. At 14 I was pretty sure. At 15 I knew it. And at 16 weeks I'm feeling movement not only daily but multiple times a day. It's not very strong yet, but I know it's there and I love it!
Food Cravings: None
Gender: We don't know yet. I can't wait to find out!
Labor Signs: I started having Braxton Hicks around 14 weeks. They are getting a lot more frequent now.
Belly Button: No change really.
Wedding Rings on or Off: On.
What I miss: A good night's sleep. But I've been missing that for a long time now, and I expect to continue to miss it for as long as I have little kids or am pregnant! It's a privilege of motherhood, right? If you'd like to wake up early to feed my eternally starving son so I can sleep in, let me know. I'll take you up on it.
What am I looking forward to: More/stronger movement, gender ultrasound, getting answers tomorrow, finishing out the semester, getting my house organized.
Weekly Wisdom: The night your husband asks you to stay up with him, your baby will wake up early as well, ensuring you will get five or less hours of sleep.
Milestones: Baby doubled in size this week! I can tell too, my belly got bigger!
Weekly Verse: Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future."

I Spoke Too Soon...

The icky, horrible, painful, bleeding, nasty rash is back suddenly. Ugh. Here we go again. I thought we had this stupid thing beaten!

Cloth Diapers and a Yeast Infection

Somewhere near the end of October, Shane came home with a terrible diaper rash and no matter what I tried, it would not go away. In fact, it went from a simple little red rash to an angry, raw, painful bottom with open sores. I took him to the Doctor where they confirmed what I suspected: yeast rash. Ick. The Dr. prescribed a VERY expensive cream to apply once a day. Thankfully Shane’s insurance took it from being a $290 tube of cream to a $5 tube of cream. Seriously!

Now, with cloth diapers you aren’t supposed to use diaper creams since they ruin your diapers.  So I switched for a while to my go-to disposable, Pampers Cruisers. They made the rash worse, even with the cream (which I had to apply multiple times a day to see any improvement, by the way). So then I went out and bought a pack of the Huggies Naturals, that are supposedly for sensitive bottoms. They seemed to help a little, and after a week or two the yeast infection cleared up. So I went back to my cloth diapers.

And the stupid rash came back. Like, instantly. Sores.  My poor baby! Disposables again. In case you ever wondered, going from soft chemical free cloth diapers to chemical filled disposable diapers is NOT good on little bottoms. I was frustrated that we couldn’t get rid of it and I felt so bad for little Shane, you could tell his bum hurt! And then something popped up in my news feed on Facebook about how yeast bacteria can continue to live in cloth diapers. Ding ding ding! A light bulb went on in my head.  And I decided to make some changes to my cloth diapering routine.

First, I stripped my diapers according to the manufacturer’s instructions. This involved bleach and blue Dawn original dish soap with multiple hot rinses.  I also added tea tree oil as a few websites recommended, as that is a natural antiseptic.

I also ditched the disposable wipes (except for in the diaper bag, currently) and mixed up a solution of water and tea tree oil in a squirt bottle. 

I found all of Shane’s old receiving blankets and cut them up into wipes—they get rough after one baby so I was going to replace them for the next one anyway. And if you’re making your own wipes and don’t have old flannel receiving blankets lying around anywhere, you can get them cheaply at thrift stores or secondhand kid’s stuff stores. I also cut a few into rectangles to fit inside the diaper to line it so that I can use cream and not ruin my diapers.

I also found out a week or two about a cloth diaper store that opened up recently about half an hour from my house. Shane and I took a little jaunt up there to check it out and find some cloth diaper friendly diaper cream as well as wash detergent that’s actually meant for cloth diapers. It was such a cute store and I’m excited to go back! She’s got some great stuff.  The diaper cream she recommended is AMAZING and I love it even though I’ve only used it for a week. It actually smells really good, as well as goes on easily and does a job as good as or better than the popular Desitin or Butt Paste. I am still using the receiving blanket pieces to line the diaper when I use the cream just in case, but it IS supposed to be cloth diaper safe so I am safe either way.

I am still using a disposable at night with the yeast cream, at least for a week or so until I know for SURE that the rash is gone for good. But it’s been gone for a little over a week now and the rest of the redness and irritation went away as soon as I got Shane back in cloth diapers so hopefully we are clear!

And THAT is our (hopefully one and only) adventure with a yeast infection.

Shane's Words {17 Months}

I stopped doing monthly posts for Shane a while back, mostly because it was just a guilt trip since I never did them on time. But I thought I'd want to remember a few years from now what words he was saying. I listened to him all last week and I think I got most of them.  These are only the words he says voluntarily, he imitates many more.

Keys, car, hi, bye, bye-bye, dog, no, meow, uh-oh, pretty, mamma, daddy, diaper, excuse me (me me), hot, cold (and he knows the difference), nee nee (nursies), love you, paw paw, bop bop (grandpa), meh ma (grandma), more, all done, down, bite, shoes, potty, baby, boo-boo, ball, spoon, block, airplane (la-lane), book, please, water, bite, banana, truck.

Reading with Daddy.

He's also pretty good and knowing what you are telling him to do ie "Put it in the garbage", "bring mommy her phone", etc.

The toddler in him is definitely coming out as I see him throwing himself on the floor crying about once a day these days. Sometimes it's because he was naughty and isn't getting his way (which is generally only if he's hungry/tired), and I just walk away and ignore those. Other times it's because he just can't communicate to me what he wants or is trying to do (can't finish the puzzle or get all the shapes in the sorter) and is frustrated about that, in which case I pick him up and give him a cuddle and tell him I'm sorry he doesn't have the words, and we go from there.  We are working hard on signing/asking for help instead of screeching. Overall he's incredibly well behaved for his age and I consider that a blessing straight from God. I really can't take any credit for his behavior--I think it's just his nature to be easygoing and want to please.

Lest you think he's perfect (he pretty much is ;) he does have a vice. Hair pulling, and only on his cousin Alie. You see, Alie loves Shane and gets very excited whenever she sees him. She loves to give him kisses and hugs, even though he's not into all that. They enjoy playing together. There are also times when she is very mean to him. She pushes, kicks, scratches, snatches, and bites.  And then he pulls her hair until she screams. Which my Mama heart says she deserves, but that's now how Jesus wants us to treat people. Sigh. Usually the fights are over a toy. And I'm not going to lie, sometimes it's him taking the toy from her. Mostly she takes the toys from him, yelling "mine"! I heard Shane say that to his Daddy a couple of days ago and I was NOT pleased. I can't wait until school is out!

Shane is OBSESSED with babies. I'm glad, I'm thinking he's going to be a great big brother! He just loves to be around them, give them kisses and hugs and pats.

I don't remember if I already wrote this, but he folds his hands when we pray but gets to "amen" about the same time we get past "Dear Jesus". He has to be involved with everything I do; cleaning, cooking, laundry, and is a pretty good little helper. I think I'm going to buy him a little squirt bottle and just fill it with water so that he can clean to. He also has started putting things where they belong recently, although he isn't good at picking up his toys.

At our checkup recently Shane was 26 lbs and 31 inches. He is in 18/24 months clothes and size 5 shoes. His diapers are still on the middle snap adjustment, or size 4 in disposables.  He's getting tall and slim, and his hair is getting long!

I'm continually amazed by how quickly he's picking things up and what a little explorer he is. He's just so...happy! I love it! And who knew a toddler baby could have a sense of humor? I must look at him 5 times a day and tell him he's just so cute/smart/awesome.  He's even started putting things away (not his toys, unfortunately) but other things. And he likes to help clean. He screams "Daddy!" every time he hears a pickup truck go by.  And when he gets in his truck he tells us bye and love you and hangs his little arm out the window like a grownup.

It occurred to me yesterday when I was driving home that I ought already to be praying for my future daughter in law, and not just my Shane.

It occurred to me that, while I've always thought raising a girl would be more challenging, that it might actually be more challenging to raise a Godly, faithful man. I want him to love God. I want him to be the leader of his household; strong, steady, faithful, hardworking, honest, loving, gentle. These aren't prevalent things in my generation, and probably will be even less in Shane's generation. What a challenge!

Happy {Belated} Thanksgiving

I did not take one single picture of Thanksgiving activities. FAIL.  In my defense, I was busy cooking, refereeing, and visiting! This was my first Thanksgiving to host and cook dinner and, most importantly, cook the turkey!  I was so nervous to cook it all myself and I didn't believe my mom when she said it was an easy meal to cook. It was though! It was cleanup that was a bear! And even though I'm a wash as I go kind of cook (out of necessity since I don't have a dishwasher) there were still plenty of dishes to wash. Thankfully Daphne (MIL) stayed and helped with dishes. She actually came early to help cook but I was nearly done already so she peeled potatoes and then played with Shane. 

I brined a turkey overnight, and then cooked it in an oven bag. It was the best turkey I've ever tasted, so moist! I also did mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn casserole, buns, deviled eggs, gravy, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, cranberry sauce (out of a can, ick), banana cream pie, and a pumpkin roll which I made on Tuesday.  It was yummy! I always feel guilty on Thanksgiving--why do we need so much food, you know? Tradition I guess. Still it was WAY overkill for what ended up being only 3 adults. If I'd know there would be so few people I would NOT have cooked so much. It was just Andrea (SIL), Daphne (MIL), and me. Nathan doesn't eat thanksgiving food--his thanksgiving is a bacon sandwich and the banana cream pie.  Justyn (BIL) ended up not coming because he had to work. And Brian (FIL) was here for an hour or so but left as I was carving the turkey, so he didn't eat with us. And speaking of carving the turkey...that was a sight to have seen! I've never carved a turkey, or even seen one carved! I was trying to look it up on my phone while I carved it with an incredibly dull knife. Thankfully it was fall-apart tender so I didn't actually need to cut much! And I was carving it with the pan over the sink because the bag and the pan were so full of juices, and then it fell into the sink (good thing I'd just washed it out!) It was funny.

This is one of the activities I had for Shane while I cooked Thursday morning.

Then on Friday we went the the annual day-after-Thanksgiving Christmas parade. We've gone before, and were given free seats, and then we tried to go again last year but it was a bust. We actually went the first year we were married as well but I didn't have a blog back then.  We were give three seats this year as well, by a woman who had some extras. Neat how God makes that happen each year I'm pregnant! lol. This year our little family went with Grammy and the cousins. 

Cousin Alie

Grammy (Daphne)

Cousin Elvis--I wore him in my Moby Wrap to keep him warm. 

And of course, my favorite of them all, sweet Shane. He was SO enthralled by the lights and the music and the horses. I'm really glad we took him!

Best. Soup. EVER.

Sunday night I tried out a new soup recipe and it turned out to be the best soup I've ever tasted in my life, including at restaurants.  I don't know where the recipe is from, I think I got it from a friend who posted it on Facebook. I wish I'd taken a picture to post but seriously, even if you don't like broccoli you need to try this. Oh, and it's not really low-fat. Maybe next time I'll tweak a little more. Hopefully it's as good every time I make it and this wasn't a fluke.

Cream of Broccoli Soup


2 10 oz pkgs frozen broccoli (I used fresh, about four large heads and it was perfect. I chopped the florets off the stems and then did a rough chop on the florets so they were just little bits. That way Shane would eat them, and besides who likes eating a huge mushy floret anyway?)

3/4 cup finely chopped onion


Boil 4-5 cups water, add broccoli and onion and boil for about 10 min.

Then add:
2 t salt
1 t pepper
1 t garlic pdr
1 t celery salt (This wasn't in the recipe but I thought it sounded good. I'm not sure how fresh finely chopped celery would be, but celery is naturally salty so it would cut down on the amount of salt in the recipe)
1 lb cubed Velveeta (I used the 2% kind and it was fine)

Add to pot, cook and stir often until cheese is melted.

Then add:
1 c milk
1 c whipping cream (The smallest box, I think it's a pint? That's a cup exactly)
1/4 c butter 


Allow butter to melt. While ingredients heat put 1/3 c flour in a bowl. Add a half cup soup, whisk until smooth. Slowly add about two cups of soup, whisking to keep smooth. Then add flour mixture to soup. This helps it to thicken.  Brink soup to a boil, then simmer 10 minutes. Portion into bowls 5 minutes before you serve or else you won't be able to eat it!

Serve with crusty warm french bread, or crackers.

INCREDIBLE! Shane ate a huge bowl full, and asked for more.

My other favorite thing to eat lately is a sandwich I usually have for lunch.  Take two slices of Sara Lee 45 calories or less whole grain bread. Spread brown mustard on each side. On one side  put slices of tomato, and cover with a slice of cheese. On the other side layer your lunch meat of choice--my favorite lately is black forest ham. Slide both halves faceup into your toaster oven and toast. Yummy yummy!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Wow, I'm 26 today. I sound so old and decrepit.

I celebrated my birthday by attending class. It was awesome. I almost fell asleep. Oops! It's an important class, too. We're covering four chapters of the nervous system in a very short amount of time and it's the hardest material yet.

After my evening class Mom Vines made me quesadillas for supper, and peach cobbler for dessert. After we had our quesadillas she ran to the store to get some ice cream to top the cobbler and while she was gone the transformer in the in-laws backyard blew up. It was SO LOUD!!! Dad V and I found an oil lamp and a candle and called mom to buy some candles while she was out. About 5 minutes later the lamp started smoking and burning down and when we looked at it we realized the wick wasn't even long enough to be in the oil. Wow, FAIL!! As we were sitting around in the mostly dark house by the light of a flickering candle it brought back so many memories of my childhood, good ones that made me nostalgic and realize again how little time humans spend actually interacting with each other in today's over-entertained world. It's very sad, and I hope I can figure out how to have some slower personal times with my kids.

I went to the bathroom in the dark and it made me think of a time when I was a kid when I must have been complaining about having to take a shower with one candle and that it was too dark. My mom told me to pretend I was blind and feel for things. Such compassion, ha! but I really did used to pretend I was blind sometimes so that I would know how it felt. I was pretty fanciful when I was a kid. I had a huge imagination. I don't really like the grownup me very much. I'm too practical and I've lost touch with my kid side. My brother and sister and I also used to say we couldn't sleep because it was too hot, and mom would tell us to lie very still and we'd feel a breeze. Some nights we would lay there and fan ourselves with these little woven hand fans, foofooki's, and they always smelled like that market where we bought them no matter how long we'd had them. We'd just fan ourselves to sleep. Sometimes I could even con my sister into fanning me to sleep, just like when we got older I could con her into rubbing my back. Usually it went something like, you fan/massage me and then I'll fan/massage you. I'd get her to go first, and then I'd fall asleep. Not very nice, huh? Well, I'm not proud of it and I regret it because really it was terrible of me. Usually I would justify it by telling myself that she hogged the whole bed, kicked me, and took all the covers when it was cold. But really I was just being a self centred little snot. Sorry Erika!

"Helping" Mommy put away the clean dishes. Really I just gave him the organizer and a few pieces of silverware to keep him entertained while I did the dishes!

I think I had a really great, special childhood and I love that it was unique. I hope my kids look back, when they get old like me, and remember lots of good times!

Thanks Lord for another year here, and please help next year to be another good one!

14 Weeks

I'm pretty sure this is about what I looked like at 20 weeks pregnant with Shane.

Sorry about the shirt Mom, I know you wanted me to wear the same one for every picture I take throughout this pregnancy but I'd already taken this picture before you asked me to do that, and this shirt will not be fitting me for many more weeks. Next time I'll find one that I think will fit the whole time.

I got to hear the baby's heartbeat again this week, which was great! If you're friends with me on Facebook, I posted a video of it there.

I am pretty much 100% on my energy levels, which is great. I have been tackling some put off projects that have been needing done. Like reorganizing--why is it that I need to do that constantly?! I'm always thinking of a better or a different way of using my limited space. And as I'm reorganizing I'm also making a sale/donate pile. As usual. But this time my excuse is that we are moving soon *cough, not until next August, cough* so we need to consolidate and not pack a bunch of stuff we don't use.

School is almost over, thank God!

I'm cooking Thanksgiving dinner and hosting it at my house this year! Woohoo! First time ever to cook T-day dinner myself. I hope it's good! I've been having dreams in which my turkey comes out of the oven frozen--ick!

I've gone from thinking I was feeling movement to being sure. I don't feel it every day, but when I do I know it.  For me personally, it feels like a little goldfish brushing its fins against the inside of my belly.

We don't find out baby's gender until January--I thought it was December but I was wrong. You see, the Dr. that does ultrasounds only comes to my birth center once a month, and the time he comes in December I'll only be 18 weeks. That is certainly late enough to find out the gender, but for all of the medical evaluations (which is the real reason to get the ultrasound) it is better to do the ultrasound between 20 and 24 weeks. Emily (my midwife) left it up to me if I wanted to get the scan in December or January, and since the real reason for getting an ultrasound is the medical evaluation I made the big girl decision to wait. I am personally not entirely comfortable with ultrasounds because I don't believe that we fully understand what their medical impact is but I will be getting this ultrasound, the anatomy scan, because it can catch many birth defects before that baby is born. For example, my friend's SIL had a baby whose intestines did not grow into the body before birth, and since they knew ahead of time they were able to have a surgical team standing by at the time of birth and it saved her life. This is just one example. It's a relatively short ultrasound, and good for peace of mind. And let's be real here--I want to know the baby's gender.

I think that's enough random thought for the week.

Breastfeeding While Pregnant: The First Trimester

Gentlemen, please skip this post. Thanks!

The first pregnancy symptom I had with Shane, my firstborn, was sore breasts which at that point I chalked up to my oncoming menses. But then they got more and more sore. I took a HPT two days after my missed period and found that I was pregnant, and the soreness continued to escalate until I was wearing a bra 24/7 and could hardly stand the touch of bedding or clothing. At some point, although I don't remember when exactly, the soreness dissipated and things were fine up until Shane's birth when we began breastfeeding.

Since I am still nursing Shane, I wasn't sure what things would be like with this pregnancy. I began as always by researching the safety of tandem nursing (nursing while pregnant or nursing multiple children at once). At my first appointment with my midwife Emily I also talked with her about continuing to nurse while pregnant and she was completely supportive. And although I am not using my previous OB/GYN (I'm sorry Dr. H!) I asked him at one of my visits during Shane's pregnancy about nursing while pregnant and he was even fine with it. So I am fully satisfied that continuing to nurse is safe and beneficial. Of course, the caveat to this is that it is safe as long as the fetus is developing normally.  Check the bottom of the post for links to a few articles on nursing while pregnant/tandem nursing.

Week 3, 10 days past ovulation, positive HPT on 8/31:  No noticeable changes.
Week 4: Starting to feel a little twinge when Shane latches on.
Week 5: Starting to feel pretty sore at latch. It's necessary to breathe deeply for the first few moments. Considering night weaning because Shane is still waking up so often at night.
Week 6: Definitely sore nipples. Deep breathing is my friend. But still, it's only for the first few moments (till letdown I'm guessing) and it's no worse than those first few weeks of breastfeeding. Also, I am not experiencing any breast tenderness--I can only attribute it to the breastfeeding! I also know I've still got milk as I still can hear Shane gulping and swallowing.
Week 7-8: About the same
Week 9: Not sore much at all anymore, but I'm starting to wonder about my supply. Often Shane asks for water if he wakes up at night. I don't ever hear him gulping and swallowing anymore. Over that past month Shane has started sleeping most of the night and only waking up once, maybe twice. I'm glad because I was seriously considering night weaning and I'm glad he did it on his own when he was ready. I'm liking all of this sleep!
Week 10: Went swimmingly along until Saturday. On Saturday Shane decided he no longer needs to sleep, and woke up about every 10 minutes to half hour on Saturday and Sunday nights.  He just wanted to nurse all night. And normally I would just deal with that and it would be fine but unfortunately this concurred with two nights of very strong nursing aversions, as well as exhaustion. I am praying that this will not continue, and he will go back to sleeping through the night.
Week 11: Back to sleeping all night. He goes to sleep at eight and wakes up for a nurse around 6 then back to sleep till eight. OR, wakes up to nurse around seven and DOESN'T go back to sleep. Gradually he has weaned himself to just nursing at bedtime, in the morning, and before naptime. I'm not sure if it's because I'm gone so much during the day or if it's because of the pregnancy but either way he has done it on his own. Of course I have mixed feelings but overall I'm glad of the break.
Week 12: I'm not sure when it happened but my milk is very bitter now. I'm not sure why Shane's still nursing!  Yes, I've tasted my own milk. It was always sweet up until some point during this pregnancy. I'm not especially sore or tender right now but I'm definitely having some nursing aversions that I get through by playing on my phone.  I understand that this is very common during pregnancy and since it's only two or three times I day I deal with it. I know that he'll drop those feeds when he's ready.
Week 13: Whew! First trimester down! To recap: Sore and nursing many many times a day at the beginning. Not sore but getting the creepy crawlies and only nursing three times a day at the end, as well as decreased supply.

Some articles on tandem nursing:
Kellymom--The Official FAQ
Kellymom--Nutrition
Kellymom--Useful Links

Going Glass and Cleaning Cupboards

One of the things I've been trying to do in the past few months is to be more conscious of our consumption, and how it effects our health. I was raised to be conservative out of necessity--things like paper, water,  electricity (or solar power) and more were in short supply where we lived.  I have continued to be relatively conservative in my adult life. Since having a child I have become more concerned about what we're eating, what is going into our bodies, and what we are wasting. As most of you know we switched to cloth diapers. This was for economic, health, and eco reasons. When Shane started to eat solids we started to eat a lot healthier, and although we are not yet where I'd like to be I have made large improvements!  The other thing I've been trying to tackle slowly is the use of plastics. Plastics, even when BPA free, still contain chemicals that can leach into your food especially when heated. And since I haven't yet become hippie enough to give up my microwave, I do a lot of heating food in containers! But glass is expensive, and so I've been trying to replace things slowly. The first to go was my plastic water bottle. Ever noticed how water tastes funny after it sits in a plastic bottle for a while? Yeah. I switched to stainless steel, and have my eye on a neat glass one too.    Then this week I found some pretty glass containers to start to replace all my little plastic ones. I use these all. the. time. for leftovers, lunches, freezing portions to eat later, etc. I believe the lids are silicone, but they don't touch the food or go in the microwave so I'm not too worried about them.  And look what pretty colors they are! The bright colors make me happy every time I look in my lid drawer.

The other thing I've noticed as I've come into the second trimester is a marked return of energy, praise God!  This weekend I was able to tackle the much needed project of cleaning and re-organising my kitchen cupboards. This is my "pantry", right next to the fridge. All of our food goes in this cupboard and it was kind of a jumbled mess, especially the spice area on the bottom left.

For the grand total of $1.34 I bought two perfectly sized little while baskets to organize my mess of spices/baking supplies.  I always think of my SIL Andrea when I look at my spices because we shared a house for a while, and when we moved in she took one look at my spice collection and asked if I was Betty Crocker or what? It still makes me laugh years later. 

Second Trimester--13 weeks 3 days

Woohoo! We're in the second trimester now baby--we're cookin' with gas! I feel energy coming back too--yesterday I cleaned out and rearranged my kitchen cupboard "pantry" and cleaned the house. Today I had school and made a cake for Daphne's birthday tomorrow. I've been cooking our meals again (Please don't ask me to admit how many boxes of Kraft Mac we ate in the first tri, especially when I was so nauseous!)  and getting down on the floor a lot to play with Shane.  I still am going to bed early whenever I can and of course some days are better than others but overall I am having more days where I do chores/homework/playing with Shane and less days where I sit on the couch in a fog.


I cry at the drop of a hat, mostly anything related to babies, birth, or sentimental things. Nothing in real life though.  I remember this from last time!


Also, while I was taking a test in Psych today I pretty sure I felt the baby move. Made my day!

We're in the Navy...

Nathan joined the Navy.

Yes, you read that correctly. Monday, October 31st he took the oath of enlistment. Why the Navy? Well, because he wanted the Air Force or the Navy, and the Navy is more welcoming to people who aren't perfect.  He first discussed joining with my dad and brother while we were in San Antonio for my brother's graduation from USAF boot camp.  He said he's been thinking about joining the military for quite some time and they encouraged him. A few of Nathan's reasons for wanting to join are: steady job, regular raises, paid job training (obtaining a skill for a career as opposed to being an unskilled laborer), health and dental benefits, security for our family, and the opportunity to see the country/world on someone else's dime.

Reactions to his news have been mostly predictable with the exception of Brian, Nathan's dad. Predictably, my family was excited. We are travelin' folk with military background, so of course my family was excited.  We expected that Brian would be upset; he and Nathan are close and Nathan's family, much like my dad's side of the family, are not travelers. But what Brian told Nathan was, "You're a man and if that's the decision you need to make for you family then that's what you need to do." We were (gladly) amazed! Then in another conversation he told Nathan he was proud of him, which made his heart grow two sizes. Also predictably Daphne (Nathan's mom) and Andrea (Nathan's sister) were not happy. Daphne hasn't said too much about it other than she's sad that we'll be moving away--one of the things I appreciate about Daphne is that she is able to distance herself from her kids' adult decisions. If that makes any sense. I guess what I'm trying to say is that she doesn't interfere and that's really sweet. I can't figure out exactly how to explain what I'm thinking! So as far as I know she is probably grieving, but doing it quietly and not giving Nathan any guilt trips. Andrea has been, mmm, less than pleased and hasn't hesitated to let Nathan know it.  She was very shocked and upset to find out we'd be moving away, and that we actually wanted to. I know it's been really hard on him because he dearly loves his sister, but he has been able to be firm but loving and I am proud of him.

This whole thing has really made it obvious to me how different people can be when it comes to being settled! This is not criticism but observation--personally I can't imaging not wanting to travel and see the world and move around. Living in one place forever just kind of sounds like a death sentence to me. (Unless it was, say, Colorado. Or somewhere else in my beloved Rockies.) But, that's very much the culture of my family. If we had been around in the olden days we would have been the families traveling West in the covered wagons!

Other people think that it's a horrid idea to ever leave the town/area and that living overseas would be the most horrible thing ever. (We want to live in Europe) I was actually accused of not being family oriented because of my desire to travel. Yeah, not true at all. So while my gypsy spirit makes it a little hard for me to understand this viewpoint I do realize that I am in the minority and most people do remain in one geographic location throughout their lifetimes. I am not just talking about Nathan's family here; my dad's side of the family is all the same way.

Personally, I am happy about Nathan's decision.  We'll have healthcare. Nathan will have a career, and hopefully one that he likes better than his current job! We'll get to live in a lot of different places, and hopefully the military will be as good for Nathan's self esteem and self discipline as it has been for my brothers. This is not to say that I don't have concerns. Nathan will be leaving for basic next August and I will have a two year old and a two month old.  His job description said he is aboard ship 65% of the time so I will be single parenting a lot. He plans to strike for a new job after his first 18 months but until then that's how it will be. But in reality that's not a lot different than how things are now. Summers Nathan is gone, out of town, for weeks at a time. Currently he is working nights and sleeping days and we only see each other for a few minutes a couple of days a week and Sundays if he's not over at his dad's.  So really things won't be changing that much for me, unless he gets a shore job in which case he might be home to help out more.

So now you all know our big news, and the big life changes headed our way! Exciting stuff!

12 weeks

I think I'll do a survey this week.

How far along? 12 weeks 5 days

Total weight gain/loss: Zero. And I am happy about that.

Maternity clothes? Some shirts. But that's mainly because I like them and they are my cool-weather shirts. ;) I am starting to show a little though. My old jeans still fit but I can't wait until they are too tight in the belly because I can't stand them. They are baggy and unflattering.

Stretch marks? Just the bazillion and one from Shane! ;P

Sleep: I love to sleep and I don't get enough. What a surprise! Thankfully Shane sleeps through the night, although this time change stinks! I had to get up at 6:15 today. 

Best moment this week: Getting a 105% on my Anatomy and Physiology quiz. My first 100 of the class! (And probably my last--it's a stinking hard class!)

Movement: There have been a few times I've thought I felt flutters, but I keep telling myself I'm crazy and it's too early. I mean some people do but it was only a couple of times, and hasn't happened for a few days not.

Food cravings: None that I can think of.

Gender: We'll find out around Christmastime. My intuition is broken on this baby--I keep wavering back and forth. At the moment I'm thinking girl. Ask me again next week and I'll tell you boy.

Labor Signs: NO. And I'd like to keep it that way for, oh, 28 more weeks!

Belly Button in or out? In. It never popped out with Shane, just got flat.

Wedding rings on or off? On. I wore my wedding band the entire pregnancy last time but took my engagement ring off the last month or so. Since then I had it sized up to be the same as my wedding band so I expect to be able to wear it the whole time.

What I miss:  Um...

What I am looking forward to: Movement! To me that's as big of a deal as finding out the gender! I've missed it ever since Shane was born.

Weekly Wisdom: Move somewhere without Daylight Savings Time.

Milestones: 2 Weeks ago I heard Baby's heartbeat for the first time!

TIWTRT

Today and yesterday, Shane voluntarily told me/signed "I loved you." I melt!

Yesterday morning I was doing chores and when I sat down to take a break, Shane went out to the dirty clothes in the garage and got a washrag. He brought it in and washed himself, then his truck. Then he took it back out to the correct pile, brought back a pair of his pants, "dried" the truck, and took the pants back out to their pile. Then his found his key, got in the truck, and drove with his little arm hanging out the window like his daddy. It was SO cute.

A few days ago I was letting him run around naked while I did dishes so his diaper rash could air out. He came in the kitchen, pulled on my pants, and said "Mama, I pee pee." We might be getting close to time to potty train. And no, we don't call it pee pee we call it potty, but I suspect they sound the same when he says them.

So I brought out the potty someone gave us (that I thankfully recently scrubbed down with bleach and Dawn) and what did he do with it? He dumped his bowl of snacks in it, then picked it up and dumped them out and ran around in them shrieking with laughter. Yeah, guess he doesn't like that idea! Haha.

Shane has always called me Mama, never Mommy, but the other morning while I made breakfast he plopped down on the rug and wailed, "Mommmmmyyyyyy, owie boobie!" (Translated this means Mommy I got a pricker stuck in my foot and it hurts. Owie=pricker, Boobie=boo boo.) It was so sweet to hear him say Mommy! And going along with the whole boobie thing (I can't believe that is how he says boo boo), I taught him that when he gets hurt I'll kiss it and it'll be all better. So not anytime he gets any kind of bump or injury, no matter how small, he says boobie and comes over for it to be kissed all better.

Kids are incredible with the things they pick up and how fast they learn, especially at this age. It's so much fun to watch and see what he'll do next!

10 weeks

You can see Shane's ten week post here.

It's already started. The whole firstborn gets more thing. More pictures. More attention. And in this case, more blogs. You may or may not have noticed, but I haven't written a post for the new baby since, um, seven weeks. Oops. Actually, I haven't been blogging much at all. I don't have a lot of time right now!

Anyways, I had an appointment with my midwife last Thursday and I got to hear Baby's heartbeat! It was awesome, thumping away at between 140 and 160.  According to old wives tales that would predict girl, but medically I know that early on in pregnancy the heart beats extremely fast like that, and fetal heartrate also varies depending on what they are doing. (Sleeping vs. playing and moving up a storm.) At this point my blood pressure, which I've never had a problem with, is still low, I haven't gained any weight which is fine, and all my blood work was fine. At ten weeks I am starting to have a little more energy--Shane and I even went for a walk a couple of nights last week! Of course, the cooler weather might have something to do with that. I am not feeling particularly nauseous anymore either. Usually if I am it is in the evenings when I am trying to cook supper (um, difficult!) or just from random things I smell or think of. And while the nausea hit earlier this pregnancy (around 5 weeks), neither pregnancy has had terrible morning sickness. I do have to schedule a chiropractor appointment soon, as I can feel things moving far out of whack and I remember how bad it got with my first pregnancy. It was only during this past summer (over a year after Shane's birth) that I finally got enough adjustments to be pain free for a few months and it was heavenly!

I believe that Baby is pretty much fully formed this week and is about the size of a shrimp.  The thing I'm most looking forward to would be feeling movement! I can't wait! And then around Christmas time we should be able to find out the gender. Both of our dads think girl, and while we were in San Antonio with my family last weekend my dad would hold up a boy and girl outfit for Shane and he would always pick the girl outfit. Personally, I don't know yet. I do know that this pregnancy so far has been VERY similar to Shane's.

We love you, little one. Just because Mama doesn't write to you as much doesn't mean that I don't think about you and pray for you every day.  I tell your big brother about you and he asks about you--he calls you baby and he seems to know that you're in there growing strong. I love you, little one!