It's here!

It's September 1st. I'm giving in to the autumn feeling and letting out my fall-like energy. A few things I'm looking forward to (in no particular order):


1. This pumpkin creamer recipe that I am going to make as soon as possible. I'm planning to make or tweak it for the next two months so you can rest assured that it will be perfect by the time I'm done with it.


2. Decorating my home with oranges and browns.


3. Getting Josie's Halloween costume (have it ready but waiting for Paypal to get it's act together so I can pay for it...)


4. Wearing sweaters, boots (if they fit with these slowly swelling feet), scarves, and hats. LOOOVE ME SOME FALL CLOTHES. 

5. Picking up my crochet needle again now that I've had a solid 8 months to recuperate from my crocheting burn out that happened last year. For some reason it just seems like an autumn/winter activity. Picture being stuck inside when it's cold and dark out with a warm blanket and cup of hot chocolate (and my crochet project in hand of course).

6. Picking pumpkins and decorating them with Josie for the first time. BTW, did you know that I've never actually picked pumpkins from a pumpkin patch? Only from Walmart's selections... this year is gonna be real.

7. Having a baby girl and then being able to enjoy her guilt free inside all cozy like because it's too cold to be outside a lot. I guess we'll just have to hang out together all snuggled up.... 

I'm sure there are more but I'm blanking now. What are you looking forward to?


Want to leave a comment? Click on the title of this post and scroll to the bottom. You'll see the comment section there. Can't wait to read what you have to say!

Happy Anniversary to Us

On August 22nd, last Wednesday, my hubby and I celebrated three years of being married! It may not seem like a lot, but that time has flied by. It's crazy. We've bought a house, gotten a dog, had a baby, am about to have another baby, and have kept his business afloat and thriving all the while. I know for sure that things have only gotten better and that we love each other more now than we did then. How could we not? We thought we knew each other years ago, but it's nothing compared to now. I can only imagine how that will change and grow in the years to come.

Since it was the middle of the week, we just wanted to make it special but keep it relatively low key. We don't really do date nights all that often, so just the fact that Josie was hanging out with her grandparents and not with us was "date like" enough. We drove around for a while before deciding that we just weren't in the mood for fancy food and creative ideas. We ended up at Red Lobster for their "all you can eat shrimp" special. It was delicious and we were happy.

After, instead of hitting up the town, we just got our baby girl (hey, we missed her!) and headed home to watch a movie after putting her to bed. I fell asleep while we were watching it, and that was the end of our official anniversary. 

Oh so blurry. Oops.

And just to keep it real, did you notice our photo bomber? He's classy.

We got a bunch of not so good shots so I'll just post them all... 

On Sunday afternoon, we left Josie with her other grandparents and hit the town water for a boat ride for a couple of hours of absolute sunny heaven. Seriously, it was so relaxing. We drove around and looked at all of the gorgeous lake homes (say what? that'll never be us but it is fun to window shop) and then spent some time fishing aka sleeping while the hubby had a line in the water. 

We brought Buckley with on our little date. He didn't spoil it too much.

One last shot to show you my hubby's skills. The man knows how to drive a trailer. Is that the right way to say that? He'd know. Anyways, he's pretty much great. I'm glad he's all mine.

Happy Anniversary week, hubby. Love you.

Want to leave a comment? Click on the title of this post and scroll to the bottom. You'll see the comment section there. Can't wait to read what you have to say!

Weekend Update

This weekend was full of good, bad, and ugly.

First, the good. We went to the lake on Friday night and the weather was perfect, way better than the city. There were no bugs (like it has been all summer, which is amazing in itself) and the breeze felt so good. Josie got some exploring in before bed, and even though she stayed up late that night, she slept great and woke up late in the morning too. 

We visited my grandparents, had apple crisp, corn on the cob, and sloppy joe's. Is there a better meal than that? Probably not. We played outside a bit more, napped (wonderful), and then made pizza for supper. I really think I've perfected the pizza crust. It's gotten better and better and dare I say it? tastes better than some pizza places' crusts. Ahh, that was a great day.

The bad: Jo ate a lot of acidic foods and the combination of that with her existing cold created some serious diaper issues ah hem runny #2. The poor girl instantly gets rashes when this happens and she hadn't recovered from the last time this happened oh...three... days ago. So she was not the happiest of campers on Sunday afternoon.

Also, for the second time out there in a row, she had the worst night of sleep ever on the second night. We're talking up at 4:00 AM screaming and not going back to sleep. My lovely hubby basically took care of her and let me go back to sleep after the first hour, but their Sunday was long. That is a long time to be awake... I'm surprised we weren't crabbier. We're maybe going to be going to my hubby's aunt's farm this weekend for four nights and I'm a little terrified of night times away at this point. What if that happens every night? We'll be miserable. No thank you.

The ugly: Before we even go to the lake, we were told by my parents that something had happened with a rusted out pipe causing the lower level where the main bathroom and three bedrooms are to flood. It was not good at all. My handy hubby picked up some supplies before we left and the men were able to get it mostly cleaned up and fixed up before we went to bed. The damage, though, was horrid. There was carpet in all of the rooms and hard surface floors in the hallway. Almost all of it had to get taken out to dry which means that now there is just the concrete for our little toes-ies to walk on. It wasn't the best, but we were glad to have the water running again in time for bathroom breaks and last minute baths (a sandy baby is not appropriate for bedtime). 

There is a silver lining to this though. Because of the damage, insurance will cover some of it and my parents will get to pick out new flooring to replace what had been there which was actually not that great anyways. My hubby will end up doing the work and it can wait until his outside work slows down which is always great. We love winter jobs 'round here. My parents' lovely lake home will have new flooring in the entire house except the staircase and entryway (remember how they redid the upstairs last winter?). Amazing that in just a year it will look so different in the house. Did I say different? I mean fabulous. It's going to look pretty great in there. I wish I had taken some pictures of the place all torn up just for a good before picture. I'm sure my dad did, eh?

We went for an evening walk to the park and Grammy got stuck with the uphill climb and stroller combo.

Girl was happy.

Hubby and I swung (him more than me) and he was in a ... goofy mood. :)

Playing in the sand, apple and all. And yes, the apple was back in her mouth numerous times after being rolled in the sand. 

Mmm...sand...

Want to leave a comment? Click on the title of this post and scroll to the bottom. You'll see the comment section there. Can't wait to read what you have to say!

A Little Follow Up

Sometimes I forget to update after discussing something I'm thinking about doing or trying. Sorry!

---------------------------------------------

Yoga: I never did the videos more than once, but did like them and thought they were useful when I did them. The reason I didn't continue it was because my pilates DVD came in the mail and I've been doing that.

Pilates: I bought the 10 Minute Solution: Prenatal Pilates DVD thanks to a recommendation and am very happy with it! It has different options for core, upper body, lower body, and flexibility so I can choose what I feel I need at the moment. It also has a postnatal bonus workout to help get your tummy back in shape (as if it ever was...) and I'm excited to try that when I get to that point. 

Seriously though, It's amazing to me what a difference doing just 10-20 minutes of pilates a day is doing. My underbelly muscles were so tight and sore when I was pregnant with Josie, I remember I could hardly put my pants on without struggling or almost falling over. My movement was so limited and I was uncomfortable for months. These workouts have stretches that immediately help with that muscle and other muscles that are getting worked way more than usual. I have so much  more flexibility and am way more comfortable. Except that pesty lower back pain...

After trying Tylenol, walking, stretching, pilates, resting more, etc I have had no relief. I can tell that exercising helps keep it from getting worse, but definitely does not make it feel better. My doctor was so understanding (I had an appointment yesterday) and immediately said I had two options now. I could either go to therapy or go to a chiropractor.

Therapy would be deep rubs, stretches, and ultrasounds, all of which I have done before for my arms when I had hurt my tendons. The chiropractor would do all of that plus a little more so I opted to try that. It surprised me that my doctor recommended a chiropractor. Love this lady. I have an appointment next Wednesday and I am so excited for it. I really hope it helps out and I feel better. If I didn't have the back pain, this pregnancy would be pretty much perfect. I can't complain too much, because it has gone so well, but if I can eliminate this I will do what I can!

-------------------------------------------------------

The other thing that we talked about at my appointment was what our plan was for delivery. I feel like it is so early to talk about this, but then again it is only 11 weeks away or less. She told me that I could do one of three options since she won't be the one delivering our baby (which we knew about from the beginning): family practice doctor, OBGYN, or midwife. 

Family Practice Doctor: It would be one of her colleagues and would be with us most of the day but would leave at the end of their shift. At that point, the OBGYN on call would take over (if it is evening/night).

OBGYN: Obviously is whoever is on call, would only be in the room if there is a problem or right before delivery, maybe busy with another patient when we need him/her (this happened with Josie and was very frustrating. Don't tell a pregnant lady to not push when her body is telling her to push push push just because we need to wait for the doctor)

Midwife: a more natural approach, the midwife would be with us most of the time and would focus on different positions, stretches, labor techniques. The midwife wouldn't be there for evenings/nights either, but would be there all day long in the room with me. They don't encourage medical help like epidurals or c-sections, but since I would still be in the hospital, those would still be options if needed.

As long as insurance is good and covers all three, I'm leaning more towards midwife. I know it sounds crazy, but it also seems like a relief to me. I was so frustrated with the limitations we had when I was delivering Josie. Part of that was not the hospital's fault. I had to be induced because of how late I was, so the entire thing was forced and unnatural causing my body to fight it the whole time. If this time around I go into labor on my own, I love the idea of trying different positions, more natural methods, having a "coach" there with me instead of a nurse that is in and out the whole time. 

I guess it really depends on how labor starts. Does anyone know if using a midwife causes issues with insurance? I'll call them either way to be sure, but I've never heard of anyone using one around here. Since it is still in the hospital and there is still an OBGYN on call that can step in at any time, I'm guessing that it doesn't make any difference. I've heard also that the hospitals like when their patients use midwives since they can attend to the patients when everything is normal and the OBGYN can focus on the emergencies and complications. Thoughts?

I have hit the third trimester state of mind and am now spending a lot more time thinking about what is to come. Get ready for more posts on this and more questions and discussions. I'd love your views and opinions... being a second time mom helps but there is still a lot of unknown out there.


Want to leave a comment? Click on the title of this post and scroll to the bottom. You'll see the comment section there. Can't wait to read what you have to say!