Giving In

I'm usually pretty stubborn when it comes to going to the doctor for illnesses. You won't see me there for the flu or the average cold. I just always end up going too late into the cold when it is already going away and that's just a waste of money. For real. So I usually just tough it out.

This cold, though, keeps taking a turn for the ugly. It's continually getting worse when everyone around me is getting better. So today I sucked it up and got an appointment as soon as possible I mean I have a baby to deliver soon. I need my health!

Turns out I have a sinus infection. I've never had one before but that is why it's hanging on and evolving so much. My eyes are so puffy and in pain from the backed up sinuses and my throat. Oh my throat! It's so raw and sore I wish I could just soak it all day in hot tea. The doc said it should just take a couple of days before I start improving. Hallelujah! I plan to have a baby next week (ha - I'm not actually due until November 8th but a girl can dream right?) so I need to feel better pronto.

Then there is that little to do list that is conveniently longer than ever and not done. It's not that it's hard stuff that I need help with, or even that important of stuff to do, it's just that I want it done and don't have it in me to do anything but the basics at this point. So maybe Saturday. Maybe that will be the day when I get things done. Let's think on that positive note.

AND DID I TELL YOU? Hubby got me a massage as a late pregnancy gift! That is also Saturday. I CANNOT wait. It's going to be magical.



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Quick Tuesday Night Thoughts

I knew I needed to kick it into gear today because the list I created took up a whole notepad sheet. I needed to actually complete this list and not just throw it away after ignoring it for a couple of days.

So I set to work this morning anxious to get something done (or at least started). Jo ran around playing and making a huge mess (no big deal;  it happens 3 times a day) while I worked up a sweat prepping for this coming babe. Proud of my accomplishments, I went over to the list eager to cross off a few things and discovered that I could only cross off one thing. 

How will I ever get this list done?? At this rate it will take me months.

Don't worry, I started another project and completed at least two more before the day was done, but whoa that was an overwhelming moment. 

So far we have the bassinet all ready, swing out (needs new batteries though), car seat ready, clothes ready, bottles and freezer bags ready for storing milk, and hospital bag lists written out. I won't pack my stuff until right before because let's face it, I use it all every day, but I can at least get the baby's stuff ready and a few other things packed in the mean time. Mostly just having it written down has eased my troubled and anxious mind.

37 1/2 weeks. Almost 38, really. She's measuring a week behind so I am wondering if she'll be smaller than Jo (although she will be earlier since they aren't wanting me to go too far overdue like I did with Josie). 

In other news, my daughter (you know, the one on the outside of my body that consumes this blog) is pretty funny these days. She's learning how to clean up, putting words together to form complete thoughts, and keeping me laughing all day long with her smiley silly ways. My heart just about overflows with joy when I see her around other babies or young kids. She just loves them so much and I can't wait to see her with her very own baby sister. 

I need to sleep (if this cold that is still going strong will let me). Goodnight little blog!



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The house is clean! For at least this weekend. I'm not even getting my hopes up that it will last more than that, but it's done!

Today, my family is coming to prep prep PREP for this baby. It's going to be fun because reality is sinking in - - this will help even more. 

I rearranged Josie's toys so that I don't have to bend over as much to pick them up. Smart? YES. Selfish? Absolutely. All of her books that usually end up everywhere in the house are now contained in her bedroom. I can bring out one basket at a time so she has a variety but not all of them to choose from. Her bigger toys are on a bookshelf. She can see them, take them down, play with them, and then I can put them away without too much trouble. I put her stuffed animals in one basket and the smaller toys in another. One basket at a time! I love this.

So here's the best part. This little organizational makeover that I did? Josie loves it. She gets it. Last night we took 10 minutes to just pick everything up one piece at a time. When I say "we" I mean Josie actually did almost all of it. She understood the system so she was able to help. I was so proud. I also started saying "you can play with that after we put this away" and I knew she understood what I meant. I know she'll take a while to truly understand what cleaning up is, but this was a major (albeit small) victory. 

Who wants some pictures? I don't have one of the organization because really that's not that exciting, but I do have some of Josie last weekend before we were taken over by the plague neverending cold. The weekend weather was perfect so we did enjoy it a teeny tiny bit before hunkering down to heal up.

Loves her Grammy despite the face

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I'm finally starting to feel better. Jo is obviously feeling better. Hubby is even feeling a little better. Can I get an AMEN??

Don't get me wrong, I'm still coughing and blowing my nose constantly, but that's just the after effects of this little (not so little, probably worst I've had in a long time!) cold. 

The agenda today:

• Clean kitchen (like really clean not just wipe the counters) and our bathroom upstairs. We've had fruit flies from some spoiled tomatoes and I feel like they are living off of the grime on our counters. I mean why are they still here? I threw that food away earlier this week. Go away.
• Vacuum upstairs
• Sweep upstairs
• diaper washing
• Sam's Club run (ha, like it's ever quick on a Saturday)
• Make chili
• Make pumpkin bread

What do you think? Doable? I have like 2 hours to do all of it except the Sam's club run. Here we go!

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Baby #2 Update - 37 weeks

How far along: 37 weeks

How big is baby: Average size: 18.9-20.9 inches, 6.2-9.2 lb.

Weight gain/loss: As of my last appointment, I didn't gain this week (but I'm sure I have by now).

Maternity clothes: Real clothes are maternity but I still sneak into my regular sweats and t shirts (oversized of course)

Stretch marks: No new ones!

Sleep: I've been sick all week so sleep has been a joke for the most part. I'm up so often either getting water, going to the bathroom, or taking meds that I doubt I'm really getting quality sleep.

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: I wasn't hungry earlier this week, so just water and cough drops... but now that my appetite is back, I'm still loving chocolate (chocolate milk especially - something I never have) and oranges.

Exercise: Nothing extraordinary. Being sick really got in the way of this.

Gender: Girl!

Movement: She's getting to the point where she feels too big to be in there much longer. Some of her movements hurt and I have to nudge her back to her "spot". It's so fun to feel constant movement and to have that reassurance that she's doing great.

The belly: So big, especially because she hasn't dropped down yet. Once she does I know I'll be a teeny bit more comfortable and I won't look so gigantic.

What I'm loving: No back pain and not too bad ligament pain, mostly because I've spent so much time resting this week.

What I miss: Coffee, diet coke, bending over, sleeping (deep real sleep!) 

Symptoms: braxton hicks contractions are getting more intense. I"ll take em! That means my body is starting to prepare for labor and that makes me oh so happy.

The nursery: Pretty much ready. We'll be setting up the bassinet in our room this weekend (!!) and doing a few other things in preparation.

What's different/the same this time: I'm still not swollen and I'm busy enough to not be thinking about it obsessively. Don't get me wrong, I'm doing the preparations and thinking about it a lot, just not as much. 

Best moment of the week: Finally, finally Hubby got to really feel her moving and kicking. She gets so shy around him but this time he just waited her out and got to feel her for a good 10 minutes. It was awesome.

Last appointment details: My midwife wasn't impressed that I didn't gain weight and she was measuring a week behind. She said I could take some cold medication (that she approved) to help heal up and my assignment was to get healthy and eat a little more. I'm working on it but this cold is hard to kick! She also checked me and said that I am thinning but that the baby still needs to drop. Since I need to recover from this cold first, that's fine with both of us that she's not in position quite yet! Hopefully there will be some improvement by this coming Monday, when my next appointment is.

Next appointment: Monday morning

37 Weeks

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Just day by day

It's been rough over here. We were hit with the mega of all colds and it's.not.going.away. It's actually worse than before, so there's that. 

On Saturday, Josie's eye started pussing up so we immediately brought her to the walk-in clinic. As in, within two hours of it starting, we had a prescription in hand to get rid of it. Thank God we did that, because she was no longer showing any symptoms of pink eye the next day. I can't imagine fighting this cold that we both have and having to deal with that.

We cough. and cough and cough and cough. We blow our noses, we cry, we scream, we attempt naps. It's not so fun around here. 

I had another midwife appt yesterday. She said that I didn't gain any weight and the baby is measuring a week behind. Her guess (mostly likely dead on) is that with my cold I lost my appetite so I've dropped my caloric intake a whole bunch. Assignment? Eat more, sleep more, get better before labor starts! 

Baby hasn't dropped down yet, so she's not coming today (tee hee, like I expected that). But that's good news right now. I do not want to be in labor with this cold. I am fearful that it will take weeks to go away, because of how strong it is. I'm being pessimistic but seriously. I feel soooo gross right now.

I have to go grocery shopping today. Let's hope we survive it, yes?



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Phase one of Nesting

I'm guessing it will come in phases, this nesting thing, but phase one has definitely hit. I've found myself putting together my birth plan and a playlist in case we have time and think of wanting music on while in labor. I've been dreaming of unpacking all of the baby stuff still tucked away (probably next week... I'm trying to pace myself). I've put together a little "light reading" for hubby that will give him some ideas on how to be my coach and big supporter while in labor. He must be feeling that nesting bug too because when I told him I had done this he didn't even blink. He just said "ok" and is ready to read it once I print it.

 I find myself thinking about this baby girl that I have yet to meet, that I can't wait to meet. I'm excited about delivery, mostly because I just can't imagine labor being worse than it was with Josie. I'm excited and hopeful (so so hopeful) to go into labor on my own and not have to be induced.

I'm dreaming about my girlS now, not just Josie's future. I think about have two girls to dress up, two girls to be my daily companions, two girls to win over daddy's heart.

I've been rearranging furniture to get the very best set up for when there is a newborn in the house. I've been working hard to keep the house at a certain standard of cleanliness so that it doesn't get overwhelming. My body even seems to be prepping more and more. I can tell she's moving her way down, since she isn't up in my ribs as much as she was this last weekend and my back pain/discomfort has shifted to hip discomfort. All of this is great! It means progress. It means she's coming. Soon.

Today, I am 36 weeks. Four weeks from now, we will have a baby girl in our arms and Josie will get to meet her sister for the first time. 



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Go team go

In our busy eventful weekend, we managed to fit in going to the NDSU Bison homecoming game. Something you should know, though - we aren't really "go to the local teams' sporting events" kind of people. Hubby happened to get tickets from someone he works with, so we thought, "Sure why not?" I do feel a little guilty because the game was sold out and I kept seeing people mention how they really wanted to go to the game but couldn't get tickets.

So glad we didn't give them ours. It turned out to be so much fun! They really put on a show now that they are big deals in the football world. (The football program has grown leaps and bounds in the last 10 years and is great for the school in general). So please enjoy this photo collage along with a few explanations found underneath.

1. I wanted one picture of us that was decent. I didn't look too closely at it after we took it and loved that hubby couldn't take his eyes off the game for even that photo.

2. See all of that yellow and green? We fit right in. Also, our seats were amazing. I mean seriously great. We sat right behind the handicap section so there was a railing in front of us and nobody to block our view since that section was down like 10 feet. We also got cushioned seats and could see all of the action as it entered the arena.

3-5. The huge helmet head is set up just for the purpose of the team running through. They also make a huge production of it (which I don't remember them doing to this extent before) and blast the music with the lights off and all of these theatrical effects. It was pretty sweet.

The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying food with friends, catching up with TWO old friends, sleeping a little, and going to church. It seemed busy but wasn't overwhelming.

I did a lot more walking than usual and felt that on Sunday morning! Then I was helping in the nursery on and that really pushed me to the point of Nap=Necessary. It's crazy to think that in just a few weeks I will be back to being just me but will also have a NEW BABY to take care of. I cannot even wait.

Off to walk some more and make some supper. Happy Monday!

"Mom, take a picture of me in this sweet hat I found" - the hat is for an infant but we went with it.

"Ok maybe its better now that my hair is out of my face"

"You have to tell me when you are taking the picture so I can smile! Ok CHEESE!"

Always a ham.



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Baby #2 Update - 35 Weeks

How far along: 35 weeks

How big is baby: Coconut

Average size: 17.2-18.7 inches, 4.2-5.8 lb.

Weight gain/loss: Only up a 1/2 lb this week but I think part of that is because I was up so much a couple of weeks ago and in reality that was mostly fluid. It all averages out anyways.

Maternity clothes: Mix and match with a few nonmaternity shirts and sweatpants

Stretch marks: No new ones!

Sleep: So.much.better. I'm sleeping almost through the night only getting up once to go to the bathroom. I find that I can nap on command without having to worry about getting comfy for 15 minutes which saves a lot of time. Usually I only need a 20 minute nap once a day to keep me going with a good amount of energy.

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: Ice water, chocolate, fruit

Exercise: I've gone on a few walks and done my stretches but have not been doing anything that resembles a true workout.

Gender: Girl!

Movement: All the time. She's moving and stretching and kicking and its fun to watch my stomach move along with her. Hubby hasn't got to feel the movement too much since she seems to always do it when he's not around or busy doing something else.

The belly: Big! But not too big to be uncomfortable yet. I've been told numerous times this week that I do NOT look like I'm having a baby in a month, but I feel like I definitely do! It's all about perspective I guess.

What I'm loving: I haven't had any more swelling and my back has felt pretty good. It was a good week for comfort.

What I miss: Caffeine, oh so much! 

Symptoms: The usual 3rd trimester stuff

The nursery: All set and ready just waiting. I still need to bring in the bassinet, wash the sheets, get the car seat cover down, and set up a few of the bigger things like the swing and bassinet basket we'll keep either upstairs in the living room or downstairs in the family room.

What's different/the same this time: I'm so much more comfortable and not as anxious at this point in the pregnancy

Best moment of the week: Josie has been mimicking mamas and spends a lot of her playtime mothering her baby. It is so sweet! I think she's going to be really excited to have a baby around (most of the time) and that thrills me. At one playdate, there was a baby just a couple of months old playing on a play mat. Jo stuck her face over the baby's and start making sounds and silly faces. She was only a couple of inches away but she was so gentle and didn't even touch the baby. It was too sweet!

Last appointment details: I just had an appointment to with my midwife, who I have never met. The first impression was not quite as warm and welcoming as my nurse/obgyn combo at the clinic, but generally I liked both the nurse and midwife enough that I won't be disappointed later on. My blood pressure was 138/52 (or something close to that) so the top number is still high, but she said since I can check it myself she trusts that I will call them if it gets extra high. Note to self: CHECK BLOOD PRESSURE DAILY...

Also, she said that because Josie was such a big baby, they don't necessarily want me to going over my due date at all to avoid this girl being huge. I told her I really really didn't want to be induced and would like to do it without any drugs, and she said we'll see how it goes and that she understands that. She advised me to sit on an exercise ball in the evenings to help open things up down there and to make sure I'm walking a lot and staying relatively active. I so wish that I had a jogging stroller here so I could go on longer walks during the day. Right now I only have the umbrella stroller and the double stroller and I feel ridiculous taking that, so I've been using the umbrella stroller. It's just not as comfy for Jo and easy to push for me.

The midwife told me that the main difference between her and the OBGYNs is that she does not do any cutting (ie C-sections) and they try not to intervene unless necessary (ie pitocen, epidurals). She also clarified for me (since I had heard different views on this) that there is a midwife there 24 hours a day and that the midwife on call will be with me for most of my time in labor. She said that she likes to be there the entire time I am pushing instead of waiting until the last 10 minutes. I was very relieved to hear that. 

Next appointment: I now start the weekly appointments although I did push them back a couple of days to avoid having 5 appointments instead of 4. She'll be checking me each week to see if there is progression and she said we'd see about stretching the cervix and doing other things like that to help things along without using drugs. I'm pretty happy with that!


If you want to see how much I've grown from last week, check out the Baby Girl page. I was planning on adding the picture of me pregnant with Jo at 35 weeks but apparently I skipped over a bunch of weeks and don't have another one until 38 weeks... silly me...

35 Weeks

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This man

This man has been getting the short end of the stick lately.

You see, I tend to get a little self-involved, especially when I'm nine months pregnant and starting to really feel sorry for myself. I start to think "who's caring this heavy load, not him!" too often. It's especially silly because I'm feeling great and have really enjoyed this pregnancy thus far. 

So I decided to change it. Life After I "Dew" is doing a 31 day challenge to show her husband that she appreciates and loves him more than she has before. Every single day I am inspired to do the same thing over here for my hubby and today was a great way to do it. 

Hubby slept in accidentally, so when I told him it was 7:15 (while still half asleep myself), his response was "Oh man I'm late. Can you make me a sandwich for lunch?" This request did not come out of the blue however. I've been telling him that I'd like to make his lunches and at least have food on hand for him to eat for lunch, but he gets up so early that this lazy mama kind of threw in the towel to that whole make-your-lunch idea.

When it's 7:15 and I know he's running late, I can't say no, right? So I rolled out of bed and found my way to the kitchen still half sleeping. I got the coffee brewing, made him some peanut butter bread, a sandwich, packed the Munchies chips he requested (made me feel like wife of the year when I forked over almost $5 for one bag) and an orange and had it all ready for him as he left the house. He was smiling from ear to ear because he wasn't expecting all of that, and we both started out this Friday on great note.

Easy? Yes. It's just one of the smaller things that I can do to show him how much we appreciate his super hard work that allows me to stay home with our kid(s). It's easy to be grumpy when he works late or isn't home for supper. It's easy to hold it against him when he has to work on the weekends and spend time in his office catching up instead of devoting all of his time to me. 

I find that I have to make a conscious effort to react positively, but it's always always always worth it. I'm always looking for little ways to make things easier and less stressful and so hope I can continue this for the rest of our (hopefully super ridiculously long) marriage.

I'm blessed. He's great.

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Picture recap + SNOW IN OCTOBER

This is what we woke up to this morning:

Amazing, right? It's October 4th, and it's snowing enough to stay on top of the grass instead of just melting as it hits the ground. I'm confident that it will melt away and we'll still have the Autumn weather, but man it makes it hard to not jump to Christmas mode when you see snow outside! This is the "nice" snow weather - it's actually above freezing at 39 degrees so it's not miserable out like it gets to be in January-March. Josie gets to wear her boots and winter coat today... first time! I need to remember to take a picture.

In my attempt to become a true baker, I volunteered to make cupcakes for my friend's surprise birthday party in honor of her hubby. It was a mustache party, so she gave me a few cookie stamps that were appropriate. I would have done a lot of things differently, like make the lips have a line down the middle, have the red be brighter (don't add black - no way to undo that!), and let the fondant dry out a little more. Generally though? They turned out good enough and tasted great. I still have a long ways to go before I'm ready to open a cupcake shop though.

A couple of weeks ago, Josie was playing with her butterfly wings that Auntie Lara found for her. She hadn't like wearing them, so I put them on Buckley (logical decision right?) She loved them after that and wouldn't take them off!

When Josie hangs out with Grandma, cousin Dean is usually there too (his daycare while his mama works). Jo has really started "playing" with him and it's so fun to watch! Grandma sent me this picture of them playing. Can you see the resemblance? There definitely is some Deyle in those kids!

And finally, my hubby is a duck hunter for the first time ever. He was so proud and we've been feasting on the delicacies ever since.

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Ode to Sleep

There has been little sleep at nights over here. I cannot blame the toddler. I cannot blame the husband or the dog or the weather. I can only blame the fact that I am 5 1/2 weeks away from having another baby. It's been rough the last couple of days nights.

Sleep, how I miss you.

Numerous nights this week I have tossed and turned laying on top of the covers with the fan on but not cool enough to drift into a blissful sleep. I check the clock numerously and am using the bathroom at least four times a night. I try different positions and rearrange the pillows a million times but it makes no difference.

It's that time again. Now I remember. Now I remember why you really start counting down the days at the end. I will do anything!for!comfort! I dream of waking up to feed a baby but then going back to sleep immediately because I will be able to.

Maybe I'm making the picture too rosy, but I'm holding on for dear life. 5 1/2 more weeks. I can do it, right?


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Josie Grace - 15 months

Yesterday was Josie's 15 month birthday. The last three months have gone so fast and she has changed and grown up more than I can even keep up with. 

We had her doctor's appointment on Tuesday where she did the usual measurements and had her flu shot along with her 18 month shot. I was surprised that they wanted to give her that shot now, but they said it was ok to do it early and then we don't have to go back in until her 2 year appointment. Since I'll have a newborn around her 18 month birthday, I figured this would work great for our family.

At the appointment, Josie measured:
Weight - 21 lbs 10 1/2 oz ( less than 50%)
Height - 30 3/4 inches (50%)
Head Circumference - 18 1/2 inches (75%)

Last month, she was at 50% for weight and 75% for height. When I pointed out that she didn't grow very much in three months, the nurse said that is common for toddlers. I'm guessing that her insane amount of energy means she's burning a lot more calories so I'm not that surprised that she hasn't gained any weight. I was surprised that her height had leveled off though! She only grew 3/4 of an inch, and here I was thinking she must have grown at least 2 inches. She just seems so much bigger to me now.

The doc did say that she could be drinking more milk, but no matter how much I offer her she just drinks what she wants and hasn't really had anymore than before.  He also said that she's hitting all the milestones that she needs to be and was surprised to hear how many words she can say.

Currently, she's saying: hi, bye bye, night night (ni ni), mama, daddy, boppa (grandpa), owl, puppy (all.the.time.), more, up, down, Buckley  (sounds like Buh ee), baby (all.the.time.also), moon, chair, house, horsey (sounds like housey), boots, shoes, and a bunch more that I'm not remembering. She has just started stringing more than one word together at at time (like bye-bye baby, bye-bye mama). I don't count night night as two since she has always said them together.

She also has gotten pretty good at pointing out parts of her body. She can show you her ears, nose, belly, feet, toes, hands, and hair. I hadn't really been showing her these too often, so she surprised me with how many she knows!

Foods she likes: Just about everything. Thank you God that she has passed that picky eater stage. I was not loving that at all, but now she'll pretty much eat whatever we put in front of her. She also drinks whole milk and water (no juice unless it's a special occasion and obviously no carbonated drinks)

She loves to"help" me with chores like folding clothes, emptying the dishwasher, picking up dog poop outside (don't worry, she just watches closely... no hand to poop touching here!), cooking in the kitchen, putting away books. Of course, all of this help usually means I do the job twice, but hey - eventually she'll get what she's supposed to do and I'll love the help!

For clothes, she's wearing 12-18 month in everything and her shoe size is between a 4 and a 5. We have enough shoes for winter, but it was no easy thing to find! I'll be happy when she's a solid 5 or 6 so we can find shoes that fit without spending a ton of money or having to shop in obscure places. It's so ... funny? annoying? how some 18 month clothes are huge on her while others barely cover her belly or go to her shoes. You'd think the clothing designers could be consistent for toddler clothes but I guess not.

She still loves to dance, has learned to run (great for this pregnant mama), thinks its the best when I dance with her, loves her books more than ever, and now even will read to me or anybody else around her. That's way more fun for me than hearing my boring voice! All the babble talk is so cute and I love that every once in a while you'll hear a real word thrown in. She has no doubt that I understand everything she is saying.

We still haven't cut her hair since her last (and first) haircut way back last spring. It's grown a lot but it still falls in her face all of the time so we wear it up or pulled back almost everyday. I usually get one shot to get it done and if I don't like it and want to redo it she lets me know how she feels about that by squirming and screaming. Thankfully, I'm pretty good at getting it right the first time around! I almost always do her hair while she's eating breakfast. The tv is usually on and she has the food in front of her so there are enough distractions to keep her from twisting and turning away from me. Her hair is almost to her shoulders in the back and the front is right past her chin. Eventually I'll have to even that out but for now I don't think it looks too bad. I just don't want it short all over again which is what would happen if we cut the back.. I just love her pretty golden hair with the slight curl at the bottom!

Josephine doesn't really get that there is a baby coming, but she does love everything baby. When she sees a real baby she has to touch and is very gentle, mostly because she has been spending so much time with her cousin who is 3 months old. She does get jealous if I'm holding him but that is mostly just when she is tired or hungry. If she's not either of those then she is content to play nearby or play with someone else. We'll definitely have to figure that out in the next couple of months with her sister!

When music is on, she doesn't break out in dance automatically anymore, but I can tell she's listening closely (for the first 10 seconds). She does, however, love when I sing to her while getting her diaper changed or going to sleep. It surprised me a lot because she never has shown interest in this, but I love having her attention and having those precious moments with her.

My crazy busy girl does give me hugs and lets me kiss her all the time which I am so thankful for! When she started moving around, she wanted independence so it's awesome when she is so affectionate to us. She loves her daddy more than anything and their bedtime routine is a huge part of her day. Whenever he comes home, she gets a huge grin on her face and waits for him by the gate.

We tried her toddler bed and decided it's too early. We also tried potty training and also figured out that it's not something I want to do right now. I realized that I don't want to have to drop everything to get her on the potty when I have a newborn attached to me, so we'll try again once the baby is old enough to hang out alone for a couple of minutes. Jo does tell me when she is ready to go "poo poo" so she's almost understanding! Unfortunately she kind of gets stage fright. I'm content with just doing a little here and there until she's older.

Let's see... she's still taking two naps a day (usually 1 1/2 to 2  hours each), going to bed around 8 or 8:30, and eating three meals and one snack in the afternoon.

She's just such a happy toddler and shows us new things everyday. We can't wait to see her be a big sister in no time at all.




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Where's Alice?

I got a bit of a cleaning bug yesterday. After spending the morning at a nice clean house, coming home to mine made me feel less than great. I looked around at the dirty floors, clutter counter tops, and fingerprinted windows and just knew what needed to be done. So, I put the little girly girl down for her nap and went to work.

I vacuumed the rug, swept and mopped, cleaned all of the surfaces, cleaned the windows, and put away all of the junk sitting around. Afterwards, I sat on the couch and felt my muscles tense up from all of that activity. Now before you think I'm a huge wimp, please remember that our whole upper floor, stairs and part of the lower level is hard surface flooring. That means I cleaned all of it...twice. That's no small thing, hence the reason it hardly ever gets done.

The saddest part? When I looked around from my spot on the couch, it didn't look all that different. 

Oh cleaning, how you are not satisfying at all.

Hubby threw together this ensemble for bed. Isn't she cute in her Christmas top and too small pants?

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SAHM thoughts

I've read a couple of posts by other bloggers about not feeling satisfied with the ins and outs of being a stay at home mom. Every time I read it, I think to myself, "Do I feel this way? Is that me, too?" But honestly? So far I can say no. I'm only five months in but I'm not sick of it. I don't wake up thinking of my tedious tasks ahead or dread the "boring routine" that we have. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of most of the chores that need to be done, but I know it's my job to do them and I'm not going to complain about that right this very moment.

Life will change soon, so very soon, and we'll reevaluate then, but for now, I'm good. I know without a doubt that this is where God wants me, and for that I am thankful. I haven't always known where I am supposed to be and it's honestly a relief to just know that this is right for now. It could change, but for now, this is right.

On another note, we had Jo's 15 month appointment and I'll have an update on that soon. My blood pressure has been consistently low (back to normal) so I'm not as worried about that, and I'm trying to reduce my sugar intake to a more "normal" amount while drinking my weight in water. 

I do miss my pumpkin creamer with coffee in the morning though... thankfully this baby girl is worth giving up caffeine for. Plus it's only 6 more weeks!!



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