Mother's Day... Best One Ever!!

Me and My Sisters' Girls... Cousins!

Mother's Day this year was absolutely amazing.  First off I got to sleep in until 11:00am! That NEVER happens. I think I really needed it too. I don't sleep that well anyway, considering I am 32 weeks preggo and sleeping through the night just isn't something I can enjoy these days. Getting to sleep in those extra hours in the morning to make up for said sleep... wonderful! Ofcourse staying in bed that long has it's downfalls as well, like making me super sore!


When I did finally roll out of bed, I was greeted by a very excited little girl, shouting "Happy Mother's Day! Happy Mother's Day!" She was so excited to show me the flowers that she picked out all by herself at the store with daddy. It pretty much melted my heart. Last year she was way too young to really get anything like Mother's Day, so this was really my very first year that she could be excited about it and wanted to give me extra lovins. It was pretty awesome.

I had a card from the munchkin and the hubs and the flowers she picked out for me. We are on a super strict budget getting ready for the new baby, so I actually wasn't really expecting anything at all... but what I got was perfect.



The first half of the day was actually pretty lazy (especially since I slept in so late). I was bringing a Key Lime Pie and a fruit tray with dip to my mother's house that evening. I had already made the pie the day before, so all I had to do was run to the store for some fresh fruit and cut it all up for the tray and make the dip. I took care of all that during the munchkin's nap. Once she woke up and we all got ready, we headed over to my parents house around 4:30pm.

We decided to have a really easy menu this year so we wouldn't have to do much work in the kitchen. We grilled filet mignon, choice of sweet potato or white and some grilled veggies. I also made some steak butter for the filets. It was delicious!

The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out in the back yard and visiting. The weather was absolutely perfect.

My mom's parents were there. Below is a pic of them with the munchkin. I am pretty lucky to have such awesome grandparents. My grandma's birthday is always right around mother's day, so we celebrate that too.

My mom is one of the munchkin's most very favorite people. She absolutely adores her.  I think it's because she knows she can count on her to always act really silly and have lots of fun with her.  She's always been a pretty amazing mother, now she gets to be a pretty amazing grandma.

Getting all the cousins to line up and take a good picture is not an easy task.

Adding their mother's to the mix, made it pretty much impossible.

Throw in a grandma, and we are lucky to just get everyone's faces in the same direction.

It's kinda crazy now that me and my sisters are all moms.  Mother's Day this year definitely had a little bit more of a special meaning, with our girls being a little older and me being pregnant with another little baby girl.

I felt especially lucky to have such awesome sisters. I really love these bitches.

But ofcourse my most very favorite person in the whole wide world really is the one that made things extra special for me. I can't believe how lucky I am sometimes, to get to be the little munchkin's mommy. She really is such a blessing.

She really makes me feel like she feels the same way too!

I hope everyone else enjoyed their Mother's Day, whether with their mommies, with their kiddos or both.  And to all the mommies out there in bloggy world... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

32 Weeks!! Other Updates and Finally, Some Belly Pics

I am officially 32 weeks along in my pregnancy as of today. Wow! I can't believe how close it is getting. I only have about 8 weeks left. I know it's going to go by so fast and be here before I know it... that's how this whole pregnancy has already been so far. 

All things considered, I am still feeling pretty good. I definitely have been having a few issues though. This pelvic pain thing (symphysis pubis disfunction) is a total bitch. I have been to a chiropractor twice, I just started going this past weekend, it seems it might be helping a little bit, but it's really too early to tell. He confirmed that I was definitely suffering from SPD and that he was sure it would clear up right after the baby was born. It was worse with this pregnancy because I already have had a baby and there wasn't as much support down below because of that. He also told me that although we could relieve some of my symptoms, they probably couldn't be alleviated completely until after I deliver.  I do some stretches that he showed me right when I wake up in the morning and that definitely helps me to get out of bed and move around with less discomfort. I have still been trying to walk at least a mile or two on the evenings I don't have a photo shoot and that really seems to help a lot. I am so grateful that the weather has been so nice.

I have been getting the worst leg cramps in the middle of the night, mostly in my right calf but a little in my left too. They actually get really bad early in the morning around 5 or 6 am. I woke up yesterday morning and it was the worst one yet. I was actually yelling out and crying really hard. It was awful! I knew it was a deficiency of some kind, as your body can leach things from places and use up a lot of your reserves to help with growing a baby, but I just wasn't sure what the problem was. I had the same issue while pregnant before, but this seemed much worse. I talked to a chiropractor friend who is sure that it is a magnesium deficiency. He recommended a supplement for it.  I started doing some research on that particular one and I am actually really excited to start using it. I have been reading a lot about magnesium lately anyway and how so many people are deficient in it and how many problems it can cause. I ordered it on Amazon and it should be arriving today. I can't wait to start using it and get some relief from these cramps! I really hope it helps.

Between the leg cramps, having to get up to pee every one to two hours and the little peanut moving around like crazy and waking me up all the time as well, I haven't really been getting very good sleep. I keep telling myself it is all to help me to prepare for her arrival. Since most likely, sleep will be even less then. Ahhh the joys of pregnancy....

So other then those things, I have actually been feeling really pretty amazing. I still have roughly 8 weeks or so left, so I know it's mostly likely down hill from here, but each day brings me closer to meeting this new baby girl and I am so excited about that! The munchkin has been talking about her a lot more too. She now refers to the nursery as the baby's room (calling her by her name) and she is constantly hugging and kissing my belly and talking to her. She will even tickle her... it's so funny! I tell her what a good big sister she is going to be and what an important job she will have. I am sure there will be some initial jealousy and I can't help but be a bit worried about that, but I am hopeful she will do okay.

Oh how I love this little girl. It's hard to imagine I am going to have to share all this love with another baby girl. I guess you just have more love to spread around. Cuz I definitely couldn't ever love her any less!

She really is growing into such a sweet and wonderful little person.  She has more and more personality every day and continually amazes me with all of her antics and views of the world. I think what I love most about her is how sweet and loving she is. I am excited to see what a loving big sis she will be!

My weight gain has completely stopped in the last few weeks. I think I have actually been losing some regular weight and gaining baby, so it has been averaging out. My pants have actually been fitting looser, while my shirts around my belly area have been getting tighter. I haven't been trying to, but once I realized this was happening, I have noticed a few things I have been doing differently. I haven't been eating as much honey or syrup in my baked goods (I have been using more stevia as my sweetener) and I have been snacking less in the evening before I go to bed. Nothing I was doing on purpose, but now that I can tell that is what was making me gain more weight then I had hoped, I will probably try to stick with it some. I am definitely still eating plenty of food and this baby is getting lots of nourishment! I just know how hard it was gaining so much weight the first time around and how much easier it would have been to deliver if I hadn't gained so much. I'll do anything to make labor easier!


This belly sure is getting big though huh?

So it feels like I am in the final stretch! I have picked up a few more things for the nursery, but we are waiting for Joe to start his school break before we really get in there and start hanging stuff on the wall and putting everything together. His finals are next week and then we can start getting some things done. I am so excited to finish things up in there and have everything all ready!

My friend Anna and my sis Amy are having a "Sprinkle" for me in a few weeks. We are going out to dinner with some of my girlfriends and really just have a night out. I am really looking forward to it!! It will be nice to have a girls night out before I become a temporary hermit for a while.


It's hard to believe I am going to have a newborn in the house again really really soon. I am excited for sure, but I am not gonna lie, I am also freaking out just a little!!

The Little Peanut Moving Around in My Belly!

So I haven't gotten around to taking some good belly pics recently like I had hoped. I know... shame on me! I have just been so damn busy. Last night I was laying in bed though and the little Peanut was going nuts in my belly like she usually does right when I am trying to fall asleep. So I grabbed my phone and decided to take a little video.

The munchkin moved in my belly too, but nothing like this one. I would see a bump push out and move across and I even caught that on video a few times and posted it on my blog. But this is a little different. My entire belly will move around and jiggle. It will cave in and push out and start jostling around like crazy! It will almost knock me off my feet sometimes with how much more I can feel the pressure and movement from this little gal. Not sure what that means... but I am sure I'm in trouble somehow!

Anyway, I caught a little of it on video last night. Ofcourse she slows down as soon as I try to capture it, but you will still get the idea.....



I WILL take some good belly pics this week. I PROMISE!!

30 Weeks! Eek! Things are Moving Right Along...

Today I am officially 30 Weeks!!!! Only 10 more weeks to go! 3/4 of the way there! Holy Crap!

I am definitely starting to feel very very pregnant. The pelvic pain I had when pregnant with the munchkin is back in full force. I think the official name for it is SPD (symphysis pubis dysfuntion), or as I like to call it, lots of pain in my effing crotch area! Here are the symptoms listed on Baby Center:

• Back pain, pelvic girdle pain or hip pain.
• A grinding or clicking sensation in your pubic area.
• Pain down the inside of your thighs or between your legs. It can be made worse by parting your legs, walking, going up or down stairs or moving around in bed.
• Worse pain at night. It can stop you sleeping well and getting up to go to the toilet in the middle of the night can be especially painful.

Yep I can pretty much check all of those off. It sucks big time. It went away before, pretty much right after the munchkin was born, so hopefully the same will happen this time around. I notice that it feels better after doing a lot of walking so I am trying to get in as much as I can of that. There are special therapists you can see to help with the discomfort as well, but that just isn't in the cards with my schedule.

I have pretty much stopped booking photo shoots. It was a hard decision and I originally planned on continuing closer to my due date, but physically it's just gotten to be too much for me and I didn't want it to start to show in my work. I didn't think it would really be a big deal, but I just didn't realize how much I move around, jumping up and down, laying on the ground and all the crazy angles I sometimes get into to get the shot I want. And as I got further along and my belly grew bigger and bigger, I could definitely tell it was affecting me during a photo shoot. I still have several sessions booked in the coming weeks to complete and I will probably do a few more here and there under certain circumstances, but for the most part, I am going to slow things down until probably the fall.

I sold off the last stuff this morning from all the cloth diapering items I had bought when preggo with the munchkin. I just can't believe the resale value on cloth diapers! It's crazy. I am going with completely different diapers for my new little peanut and we just got our first two in the mail a couple of days ago. My grandma bought us these:

How cute is that? She got us a black one and a light blue one. Getting them in the mail and seeing them in person and imagining them on my little girl's bottom got me so excited!  After checking them out and seeing how they were going to work, Joe even seemed to be getting excited about them. I showed him how they were really going to work just like disposable diapers (for the most part, but with some extra laundry). He said they seemed like they were going to be really easy to use, especially compared to the ones we had bought for the munchkin, which he thought were way too complicated. He was also really excited about all of the money we were going to save. That is one of my favorite parts too! We still plan on using disposables for the first month or so.

I found this cute little owl set online....

I had to have them for the nursery. BUT they were way too expensive for something that was just going to sit on a shelf and collect dust.  The cheapest I could find them was about $45 with the shipping costs.  No one would even notice them or love them as much as me, I'm sure, so I gave up on them.  BUT then my dear, sweet friend Brooke, called me one evening and told me she had found them at a local trading co. store for super cheap (I had shown her a pic when chatting on IM one day). They didn't have one there they could sell (they just had a display left), but I tracked one down at another location and went out and picked them up the next evening! They are now perched up on the shelf in the nursery looking so stinking adorable, and I didn't have to pay a ridiculous price for them. It's funny how the littlest things can be so much fun sometimes. Thank you Brooke!!

I have a few more things I need to get still for the nursery, like a crib skirt, curtains and this huge wall applique I want to go above her crib, but then I should be about done with the decorating. I am pretty proud of myself for getting things done on such a tight budget. With some creativity and bit of shopping around, I think I did a pretty good job. Now I just need to go through all of the munchkins clothes and get them ready to wear again!

The munchkin seems like such a big girl lately. She is so funny and cracks me up every day. I have so much fun with her and am trying really hard to savor as much of it as I can before the new baby arrives and everything is disrupted for a while. She has become quite the helpful assistant in the kitchen and loves to cook and bake with me. She loves to dump each ingredient into the bowl after I measure stuff out for her and of course she feels very important when she gets to stir everything together. I think being a part of the preparation and talking about food with her has really made eating dinner more fun for her too.

I can't help but worry about how the arrival of the new baby is going to effect her. It really could go either way. She is such a sensitive and sweet little girl and I am just not sure how she is going to react. I know it will probably be difficult for her at first, especially not getting as much one-on-one time with me, but hopefully things will come around and we will all adjust well. I know this is a common concern with families with a second child on the way, and things always work themselves out eventually, but I still can't help worrying about it probably more then I should. She is my first born and will always hold that special place in my heart. I almost feel guilty, but I know that is silly.

Tonight I am going to take a pic of my 30 week belly. I seriously intend to anyway... so we will see how that goes.  Hopefully I will post that pic tomorrow! I am getting large fo sho!

The Beginnings of a Nursery and a Little Update

Nesting mode has started full force. I have been going through all of the munchkin's baby clothes and items to move to the little peanut's room. It has still been so white and stark in the nursery. I have been having such a hard time finding stuff I wanted to use to decorate with.  I knew I wanted to do a vintage floral type theme, and kinda had an idea in my head, but I wasn't finding anything online that I wanted and knew I just needed to get out to some stores and start poking around. So last night, Joe was at a work dinner thingy and I decided to pack up the munchkin and start our treasure hunt. I was so happy with what I found!

First of all I found the perfect rug. It was exactly the style I had been looking for and had so many wonderful colors in it. It's kinda hard to tell from my cell phone pic how great these colors are, but the rug had the main colors I was hoping to find... green, mustard yellow, light blue and burnt orange. I couldn't believe how perfect it was. Starting with the rug and all it's colors, I could now build the rest of the room around it. Yay!!

Then I came across this great lamp. The orange matched some of the colors in the rug and it lets off a soft warm glow when lit that is perfect for cuddling up and nursing or reading a book.

I found these two round wooden pieces of art with vintage flower patterns on it.  They are about a foot wide. These babies are going up on the back wall on either side of the inset where the window is.

I just love the next piece. It looks like it was painted on an old piece of wood and framed with darker wood. It picks up more of the colors from the rug and I just love the little blue butterfly. The frame is deep and it sits far out from the wall. Love it!

Some random picture frames I grabbed....

Here's a pic of the rug in the room. I am also on the hunt for new curtains, so the ones you see here will not be sticking around.

I will take some better pics later with my camera. The cell phone pics are crappy, but you get the idea...

It's so great to finally get some color in here and to see where things are going. Now that I have some of the big ticket items down, I can focus on some of the little accents and the bedding. Learning my lesson from the first go around, I have no intention of purchasing a bedding set. I just felt like it was such a waste of money last time. We spent alot on it considering all we really used was the sheet (in rotation with other ones I had bought) and the crib skirt. The quilt and bumper pads that came with it were never even touched and the valance was just kinda cheesy so I never really used that either. I did use the diaper stacker but having it so matchy matchy with everything else wasn't really necessary. I am just going to try to find a simple sheet and skirt that matches the rest of the theme and leave it at that. I will use the mesh breathable bumper (brown) that I still have from the munchkin's baby room.

I am started to get crazy excited. And restless. And nervous. And bigger. Much bigger. Today is my 29 week appt. Eek! Only about 11 more weeks to go! This baby is constantly moving around in my belly. Sometimes she will kick my so hard, I almost double over. She really starts moving alot when I turn on some music. Her biggest active times are in the morning on my way to work, in the car leaving work heading out to pick up the munchkin and when I am laying in bed at the end of the night and reading a book or watching tv.

The munchkin felt her moving for the first time. She was especially active one evening last week when we were sitting in the living room. I took the munchkin's hand and put it on my belly. The little peanut moved so hard that you could see a rise in my belly and it moved all the way across it right under the munchkin's little hand. Her eyes grew so wide and she looked up at my in amazement and said, "The baby is moving around!" It was one of the neatest moments. Ever.

Things have been kinda crazy around here lately. I've been really busy at work, editing pics from photo shoots and getting things ready at home for this little girl's arrival. I have also been making tons of extra meals to freeze for after she arrives. My goal is 60 meals... I've got about 25 so far and just really started making them, so I don't see meeting that goal being a problem. It's a bit of extra work now, but I just know that it will help me out alot after she gets here, especially with Joe working and going to school and being gone so much.

I have also been going through the munchkin's things to sell stuff we won't be using and earning some money for some new stuff we need. We are selling her bedding set. Since I didn't use much of it and purchased lots of the matching accessories, it's gonna be a great deal for someone. I still have all of the original packaging too. I was actually planning on cloth diapering the munchkin. I bought everything I needed but never actually did it. The diapering system I chose just didn't work well for us and with how hard things were on us all when she first arrived with her extreme acid reflux and digestive issues, I just didn't want to mess with it. We have decided to cloth diaper this time for sure (hopefully) with the peanut and I am very excited about it. We are selling all of our old diapers (I just posted an ad on Craig's List yesterday and someone is coming out to see them tomorrow already!) and will be purchasing all new ones.

I have done much more research and am going into it with a much better idea of what I am doing. I am also very excited about the new diapers I have chosen to use and am going to be testing some out on the munchkin before the peanut arrives. The money we will be saving is my biggest motivation, to be honest, although the impact to the environment and the my little girls bum is a wonderful bonus.

I am hoping to get a new belly pic and post it soon. I am getting so big!!

As far as the nursery.... any thoughts? Opinions? Anyone have any good tips or tricks or suggestions on where you go online to get great deals on stuff like this??

26 Weeks!

Yesterday, I officially 26 weeks along!  I had my sister take some 25 week belly pics for me on Saturday and I am just getting around to posting them.  It was only 6 days ago, so you get the drift, my belly looks pretty much the same.

I am so absolutely in love with the picture below. It is the only picture I have ever been able to get of me and the munchkin both looking at the camera and smiling at the same time.

Overall, I have been feeling pretty good. I have definitely been feeling the weight of my growing belly and am not getting around quite so easily, but I am hanging in there and doing well considering. I can't believe I am almost in my 3rd trimester (2 more weeks) and coming to the last third of my pregnancy. Things have really been going by so much faster this time around and I can't complain too much about that. As I get closer to the end I am getting more excited about meeting this little girl! I am also getting more nervous about not sleeping much for a while and how everything else is gonna go.

I am at that stage in my pregnancy when it is time for the dreaded glucose test, which tests for gestational diabetes. I failed the first round when I was pregnant with the munchkin and had to go back again for the three hour one, which I did pass. It's also very common for woman that eat the way I do to get false positives on the first test because when you don't have that much sugar in your diet, drinking so much of it all at once can be hard for your body to handle. Not to mention how sick it can make someone feel that isn't used to that much sugar. I have heard so many stories of people throwing it up and I felt close to it when pregnant before. The test has been looming over my head and I have really been dreading it. I just really didn't want to take it, most likely fail, then have to take the three hour test again. 

I talked to the nurses at the office about it and they said that I could just come in one morning and test my blood sugar levels an hour after a meal. Apparently, there was some miscommunication and I was under the impression I was supposed to eat a large meal and even include some extra sugar, which I did with some pancakes I had made with honey as the sweetener. I headed in after breakfast yesterday, they pricked my finger, tested my blood sugar levels and I got a number of 148! That is high! The cut off for passing is 130. After discussing my confusion over what I was supposed to eat, the nurse concluded that might have had something to do with it and we decided I would come back again after eating a regular (more normal for me) meal.

I called up there after I got to work and asked if I could just come back in after I ate lunch. The nurse told me that after talking to the nurse practitioner, they felt that regardless of what I had eaten for breakfast that number seemed really high and they wanted me to come in the this morning, having eaten nothing, and take my blood sugar level, then send me off with a monitoring kit and have me test my blood in the morning upon waking and then after each meal (4x a day) for a week. 

Ugh. 

So, starting this morning, I will be pricking my finger and testing my blood 4x a day. My first reading before I ate any breakfast was 81. They would like it below 90 after fasting overnight before I eat anything, so far so good there. I just finished eating breakfast and will be taking my first after meal reading in about an hour.

Not gonna lie, I am concerned the original number of 148 was so high. It really surprised me. I remember that my youngest sister had gestational diabetes when she was pregnant and we were all surprised. The funny thing is, if I did have it, they would put me on a diet that consisted of me eating pretty much the way I currently eat anyway to keep my levels low. I am just hoping that I get better readings in the next week and I am not diagnosed with it. We shall see.

We have officially decided on a name for the baby! It wasn't easy for us either. We couldn't agree on anything. We both really love this name and it felt right to both of us, so it has stuck and now we refer to her by her name more often then "the baby". We have been calling her by her name to the munchkin too, and she is starting to as well. It's all so exciting!

Soccer Practice, Lots of Outdoor Fun and Tons of Pictures!

I don’t typically do weekend recaps. Hell, who I am I kidding, that would be too organized and dependable as far as my blogging goes lately. This weekend though, the weather was perfect and we had so much fun doing things outdoors and hanging out with my sister and her family. I had my camera with me all weekend and I wanted to share some of the pictures. I have been so busy taking pictures for other families lately, I have been really slacking on taking pics of my own.

Saturday morning was the munchkin’s first day of Soccer! We enrolled her in a little Kickeroo class for ages 2-3. To be honest, we probably wouldn’t have enrolled her in any type of sport so soon, but we had three other couples (including my sister) that were going to put their child in the class as well, so we figured it would be a great play and socialization time for all of us. Plus it was at 10:20am on Saturday morning, which with our schedule, couldn’t be a more perfect time. It is indoors at a big sports facility only two miles from our house.

We told the munchkin we were going to a soccer field to play soccer. She was so excited! Then when we pulled into the parking lot, she took one look at the building and started crying. “I wanna play soccer”, she sobbed. We had to assure her that the soccer field was indoors and that she really was going to be playing soccer, we just had to go inside. Once she realized she was infact still going to be playing soccer, she cheered up again. Only my child.

Soccer “practice”, was about 45 minutes long. Pretty much the husbands ran around the field with the kids, while the moms hung back, took pictures and talked (atleast in our group). There were some great photo ops and I took way too many pictures. Here’s some of my favorites...