16 weeks

How Far Along:

!

I am 16 weeks today!

 Baby Size:

The baby is 4.6 inches long and 3.5 ounces in weight--about the size of an avocado.

Maternity Clothes:

A friend borrowed some of my maternity clothes, and I got them back in the mail late last week.  It was like Christmas!  All of these fun shirts that I had forgotten about!  So now I am wearing some maternity tops, too.

Sleep:

Good!  And I now I need to enjoy this before the last trimester!

Movement:

Still feeling a little bit of movement.

Best Moment This Week:

 

Hm...I'm not sure.  I am about to take my first glucose test (they are super active about gestational diabetes here in PA, so you take two test, the first at 16 weeks), so perhaps it will be when that is over!

Food Cravings:

 Bagels and cream cheese

Food Aversions:

Meat and roasted veggies

What I Miss:

Margaritas. 

Yup, again.

What I Am Looking Forward To:

For the baby's kicks to be able to be felt on the outside.

And to know the gender.

Milestones:

Getting this test over with!

Pregnancy Symptoms:

My face is breaking out like a 12 year old boy going through puberty.  Ugh!  It did this with Jack, so it's kind of making me think this baby is a boy.

Gender:

We won't know for 4 more weeks!

5 on Friday

Edit...I didn't finish this post yesterday.  But I am not going to let my hard work on the first three items go to waste.  So here it is.  Just pretend like I finished it on Friday, okay?

Ah, 5 on Friday, my favorite kind of post, in which I just get to post a random list.  I'm not sure that's the objective of this link up, but it works for me!

O     N     E

I don't know why, but all I could think about yesterday was deviled eggs and how much I wanted to eat them.  I mean, deviled eggs are great and everything, but I don't normally just crave them.  But yesterday, I did.  

I found this recipe on pinterest and actually it to a newsletter I was writing at work.  I realized that I had all of the ingredients at home, and I couldn't very well share a recipe I had never actually tried, now could I?  So last night I whipped up a half recipe.

Oh, y'all, SO GOOD!  The cream cheese makes for the perfect texture.  I used sour cream instead of mayo (because I am not a huge mayo fan).  I ate almost half of these last night (it was a half batch, remember!) and brought the rest to work today to share.  I have a couple of spring events coming up that I plan on making these for.

T     W     O

I have an event tonight at work, so I was able to come in 2 hours later.  And Bech, who has been getting up early all week and coming home late, stayed in with Jack and I, too.  It was so needed!

We heated up leftover waffles from a previous dinner, cooked eggs and bacon, and curled up on the couch with coffee and milk.  We put "Come O Spirit" on while we were cooking.  It was medicine for our souls, a little bit of sanity after a tough week.

Also, you should get this cd.  Especially if you, like us, need a little sanity this week.

T     H     R     E     E

 It's warm here!

Okay, so not warm like the South.  But in the the 40's and 50's.  As I told my mom yesterday, I was wearing flats, with no socks!  For someone who has been in boots (and mostly snow boots!) for the past 3 months, that was big news!


F     O     U     R

Did anyone hit up the huge sale at the Kelly's Kids' fall outlet the other day?  They had EVERYthing on sale for $9.99!  I got on quickly and picked up these three longalls:

I mean, seriously, how cute?  And for $30!  I got all three in 4T, because my child is a giant.  But, after looking at his closet, we are officially set for church and dressy casual next winter.  Which is good, because new babies don't allow for much shopping time!

F     I     V     E

My sweet husband took Jack in to the school this (Saturday now) morning to play while he unloaded a kiln.  Jack adores going to Bech's studio and is actually (usually) pretty good there.  So did some laundry and curled up in bed with some Netflix before taking a short cat nap.  

Ah...perfection.  It's all about what gives us a little sanity.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

 

15 Weeks

I'm not crazy about this picture.  Let's just be honest...I am not going to be crazy about pretty much any picture I put on these posts!  But looking back on my pregnancy with Jack, I was a little bummed that I didn't keep this updated with pictures so that I could compare the next time around.  So I am going to try put up pictures, because I know I will want them later!

How Far Along:

I am 15 weeks today!

 Baby Size:

The baby is 4 inches long and 2.5 ounces in weight--about the size of an orange.

Maternity Clothes:

I have been rocking the loose sweaters and maternity pants.  I don't feel like my bump is really defined enough to wear the tighter maternity shirts, but I know that day is coming soon.

Sleep:

Not bad.  I do wake up several times a night to go to the bathroom, which isn't fun.

Movement:

I've felt the baby a couple of times this week!

Best Moment This Week:

Honestly, this has been a tough week!  Bech was gone for most of it to a national ceramics conference, so I was solo parenting.  Single parents, I have the utmost respect for you all...you are amazing!

So maybe the best moment was Bech getting home!

Food Cravings:

 Cinnamon sticks!  A sweet friend brought over pizza and cinnamon sticks and they were perfect.

Food Aversions:

Still meat (although I ate part of a hamburger today).

What I Miss:

Margaritas.  I don't think this answer will change.  Although, I could also really go for a medium rare steak!

What I Am Looking Forward To:

Finding out the gender!  We got to find out Jack's gender at 15 weeks (thank you, Dad's friends who are all OBGYN's), so I feel like we are having to wait extra long on this one!

Also, I can't wait for Bech and Jack to be able to feel the baby move.

Milestones:

Not really any this week.

Pregnancy Symptoms:

I still have crazy hormones.  RUF songs reduce me to tears.

Gender:

We won't know for 5 more weeks!

5 on Friday

 I'm back to doing 5 on Friday.  It is amazing how much more energy I have lately.  Not that posting a 5 on Friday post really requires that much energy, but still...! 

O     N     E

Last June, I made my first batch of homemade laundry detergent.  My friend, Bess, and I made it and split the batch.  Actually, I think I ended up with a little bit more than half.   My half lasted me from last June (or perhaps the end of May?) until 1 week ago.  So, over 9 months?  Not bad!

I just made a whole batch by myself last weekend.  I used the same recipe (I was really happy with it last time).  I did two things differently this time.

First, I microwaved the Fels Naptha this time.  You have to let it cool for long enough before you crumble it, but I have been really happy with the result.  

Second, last time I used the Purex laundry enhancer.  As far as effectiveness, it worked great.  My clothes smelled fine.  But this time, I switched to Gain Fireworks, and I LOVE the smell!  I used two bottles of it, and it's the perfect amount.

All in all, my detergent cost $27.  I am hoping that it will last me close to a year and a half (I know it will last at least over a year).  It took me, maybe, 30 minutes to mix everything together.  

T     W     O

Bech is at NCECA this week/weekend, a national ceramics conference.  This is his 4th year to go.  

I love that he gets to go.  It's a great way to network and meet other ceramic artists.  He has several friends he will get to meet up with as well.  

But I do not love that I am sole parenting while he is gone.  Plus, he took my keys with him!  Yup, he left me with NO keys.  He left Tuesday night and called me at 5:50 Wednesday morning when he realized he had grabbed my keys too.

Jack and I had bus adventure Wednesday morning, and then a sweet church friend picked us up and drove us to and from work and daycare again on Thursday.  Thankfully, the overnighted keys arrived at my office Thursday afternoon, and Jack and I drove to work today!  Although, honestly, Jack would now prefer to take the bus to daycare everyday!

T     H     R     E     E

Y'all, this salad!

After pigging out last week in DC, I knew I needed some greens in my life.  I found this yummy salad recipe on pinterest.   SO good.  I have already eaten it twice this week (and will probably make it again tomorrow for lunch).  I left out the corn and added in hard boiled eggs (yay for some extra protein!).  The best part is the dressing--it's super light, but has a little extra tang to it.

F     O     U     R

I have been thinking about getting a pair of Toms for this summer.  Toms are the perfect summer shoe and are so comfortable.

Check out the new Jonathan Adler line.  How cute are the patterns?

I think this one's my favorite.

Wouldn't they be the perfect Mother's Day gift (hint, hint!)?

F     I     V     E

I mentioned in my 14 week post that I am loving Gap's maternity pants.

These are the jeans I bought a couple of weeks ago.

I absolutely LOVE these jeans.  They aren't baggy in the booty (which happens in a lot of maternity pants).  They are a demi panel, which works great.  The full panel are nice later on, but right now I don't have enough of a belly to fill this out.

They are a little on the pricey side.  But if you watch the sales (and use ebates!), you can get these jeans for half off (seriously, NEVER buy anything from Gap for full price--it will always be on sale at some point!).


Anyway, that's what is going on lately.  Check out the above blogs for more 5 on Friday!

14 Weeks

When I was pregnant with Jack, I was a little spotty on the pregnancy updates.  I am going to try to be a little more consistent this time, although they may not always contain a picture.

How Far Along:

I am 14 weeks today!  Monday is my changeover day, which makes it easy to remember. (Although, I am going to post this on Tuesday, because I have already posted once today.)

 Baby Size:

The baby is 3 inches long and 1.5 ounces in weight--about the size of a lemon.

Maternity Clothes:

I have been wearing maternity pants for several weeks now.  I could have gone a little longer using the elastic trick (or my bella band), but I am not crazy about either of those options.  I had some Gap reward money, so I have two pair of black maternity pants and a pair of Gap jeans.  

Can I just say, I am loving Gap maternity pants.  The only maternity pants I had last time were from Old Navy, and they were okay.  But Gap has awesome maternity pants.  And if you watch the sales and combine them with ebates offers, the prices aren't too bad.

As far as tops and dresses, I have just been wearing normal in those.  Dresses can last a while non maternity, and my piko tops are perfect for both, too!

Sleep:

Not too bad.  Two weeks ago was really bad, but the past week has gotten better.  2nd trimester, perhaps?

Movement:

Actually, yeah.  Is that crazy?  I felt Jack pretty early (15 weeks?).  I felt this baby at 12 weeks.  It's pretty rare for me to feel him...maybe once or twice a week, but it's definitely a baby movement!

Best Moment This Week:

We shared our news!  

We made it to almost 14 weeks before making it public.  I think it helped that our families knew, plus I told my church friends a while back.  I wasn't bursting to tell the news this time.  My mom was, but I think that was because she told a bunch of her friends and was worried someone would accidentally post to facebook!

Food Cravings:

 Carbs!  I am loving toast, bagels, cereal (that's a carb, right?).  Also, I love cold things...diet coke (I am limiting myself), ice water, vanilla malts.  I also really love Caesar salads right now. 

Food Aversions:

Some meat (we ate at two really yummy burger places in DC, and I didn't eat a burger at either!)  and strong smelling food.

What I Miss:

Margaritas.

Seriously, pregnancy makes me seem like an alcoholic.  This past week, my family got sangrias at one of my favorite DC restaurants.   And, of course, I couldn't partake.  Ughhh...

What I Am Looking Forward To:

Finding out the gender.  We got to find out early last time, but that's not the case here.  We have to wait until 20 weeks.  So a month and half until we know!

Also, and this is not pregnancy related, but it looks like we are (for the most part) done with the snow here!  The 10 day forecast is showing weather in the 40's and high 30's.  I know that doesn't sound amazing to y'all Southerners, but to me, that sounds spectacular.  I am looking forward to putting up my snow boots for the season!

Milestones:

2nd trimester!

Just like with Jack, I was EXHAUSTED during the first trimester.  Working full time and it being freezing outside did not help matters!  But I am definitely feeling more energetic...let's hope that stays!

Pregnancy Symptoms:

Um...hormones out of control.  I cried last week at a pizza restaurant in DC.  Seriously, what is going on?

Gender:

We won't know for 6 more weeks!

Baby #2

On Saturday, I posted this picture to facebook and instagram...

Here is Jack, proudly telling his news...He's going to be a big brother!

I am due September 15th (which is our 7 year anniversary!).  So a fall baby!  I am envisioning birthday parties centered around fun fall activities: hayrides, corn mazes, pumpkin patches.  

Jack seems to be excited and he really does seem to (at least as much as he can at this point) understand what it means.  We have had several friends this past year who have been pregnant then had the babies.  We will see what he thinks come September!

 

Big Boy Jack: A Potty Training Saga

One thing I didn't mention yesterday is that Jack is now potty trained!

I am going to blog about it.  You may find this interesting if you are starting to look into potty training.  I am mostly blogging because I want to look back on this information for future kids.

First of all, I got a potty for Jack last summer.  I tried to get him to use it some this summer, but he had no interest.

I read several articles about the different methods of potty training.  Lots of people advocated the whole two day method--just dive into 100% for a couple of days.

We attempted that this fall.  The first day was good.  But by the second day, Jack screamed if I tried to get him to sit on the potty.  And I felt like he really didn't know when he needed to go.  Again, we put the potty away and decided to wait a little bit.

The daycare we use is really into potty training, so I knew that they would be a big help in whatever we did.  Every time they changed Jack's diaper, they tried to get him to just try using the potty.  The first week, he refused every.single.time.  But by the second and third week, he would usually try (unsuccessfully) for them).

I decided that the weekend after his third week would be a great time to try again.  We were supposed to be home all of Saturday, so I knew I had the time.

Saturday morning, I turned up the heat and put Jack in just a t shirt.  We played and watched movies downstairs all day.  I had several little treats (I had been stockpiling for a while) ready for successes.  Actually, the first treat was a pair of spiderman undies that my dad bought him when we were home over Christmas.  So after the first success, he wore underwear for the rest of the day.

I gave him lots of liquids and made him stay right in the living room near his little potty.  He did great.   He only had two accidents and he seemed to really be getting it.

The next day was good, too.  He wore a diaper to church and to a friends party that night.  But we did underwear in between.

The next day, I brought tons of underwear and spare pants to the daycare.  And he had accidents all day.  Seriously, not one success.  I was so discouraged!  But I washed everything, brought it the next day, and asked if they were willing to try it all again.  They said they were happy to. 

I am so glad that neither I or his daycare teachers gave up after that first disastrous day.  He had one accident the second day at daycare!  The rest of the week was really good too.

By the second week, he had going #1 down pat, but was still struggling with #2 (which I think is pretty common).  We started in on the hard core bribing...chocolate ice cream!  He finally accomplished that for us at home Tuesday night.  

Then Wednesday, he walked into the bathroom at school by himself and just started doing his business!  When we picked him up, we oohed and aahed over him and took him to Barnes & Noble to get a treat, a new Where's Waldo book and Spencer the train.

Since then, he has been amazing.  I think he has had 4 total accidents in the past 10 or 11 days?  We have stopped giving him treats.  Sometimes he will still ask for ice cream for #2, and if he's eaten dinner already (and its night time), we will usually give him a little.

One of the best things for him was the praise.  Every time he was successful, we praised him so much.  In fact, he know tells me "Good job, Mommy!" when I leave the bathroom.  Um, thanks?

He liked getting treats, but he really didn't get many after the first two days because he was at daycare during the day.  I think those helped us getting started.

The best thing for us, though, was just diving him.  He wore a pull up to church that second Sunday, but the past two Sundays we have worn underwear.  We wear underwear to the store, in the car, etc.  I am always quick to ask him if he needs to potty as soon as we arrive at church, but we have yet to have a public accident.

We haven't even started nap or night training, and I know that will be a whole new ballgame! 

If you have any questions or suggestions, please share! 

Back to the ole blog!

Remember when I used to actually post on my blog?

Yeah, me neither.

Seriously, the past two months have been tough.  I started work, Jack started daycare, Bech started his second semester of grad school (complete with 2 night classes!).  There have been several nights where we have waddled in the door (due to our puffy jackets) at almost 6 and eaten cereal for dinner.  

So what have I not blogged about the past two months?

Well...for starters it has been CRAZY cold and snowy.

We are getting pretty good at driving in the midst of snow storms.  This winter has been rough.  I know it's been tough on the south too, which is really saying something. 

I am hoping that the winter is almost over.  This weekend we are getting up to the 40's, which seems downright toasty to me right now.  Even poor Jack is done with this weather.  The past two mornings while I put on his coat, he has cried and said, "I not like the cold."  

Me too, buddy, me too.

The long weekdays have made the weekends more special.  We have tried to enjoy our time together.

One weekend, we made the almost 10 hour trek to Nashville and back for my goddaughter's dedication.  It was a lot of time in the car, but totally worth it.  We love our sweet friends there and are always happy to spend time with them!

We went to get some BBQ for Valentine's Day.  Here's my little lovebug in his VDay shirt from Bella.

Finally, my child likes fries!  I was getting a little worried about him.

We've gotten to spend some time with State College friends, too.  This is Jack and his buddy Preston.  They are 9 months apart, but Jack LOVES Preston.

He used to show his affection by pushing him down, but lately they've just been playing Thomas together.  Much better!

We've had several other meals with friends, which is wonderful.  We have some sweet, sweet friends up here.  

We also have a sweet church, which we joined this past month!

 Finally, here is a picture of Jack from yesterday.  His Nina (Bech's mom) sent him a Mardi Gras shirt.  How old does my little boy look here?  I can't even handle it.  No more Baby Jack.  Heck, I'm not even sure I can get away with Toddler Jack for much longer!

So that's a brief summary of the past two months.  Honestly, there have just been a lot nights in, cuddling and watching Tarzan for the umpteenth time.  We are ready for some warmth and some sunshine!