Ramblings of a Pregnant Lady

I'm feeling so hugely pregnant lately! I went to the grocery store yesterday and started walking around and I had NO idea why I went there. I knew I needed a couple groceries but I could not for the life of me remember what they were. Pregnancy brain at its finest. I walked around aimlessly and grabbed some random things. When I was checking out the apples rang up $1.50 a pound when a sign had said they were on sale for $1 a pound. As I told the lady I started crying! Not like balling, but tears welling up in my eyes over the thought of paying 50 cents more for apples. She fixed it and gave me the weirdest look. My hormones are making me so emotional! Later I was sitting at my daughter's gymnastics class and my pregnant nose keeps smelling the stinky little kid next to me. He smelled like dog poop and stale chicken nuggets. I don't think anyone else noticed, and there was nowhere else to sit.

I've been getting a lot of comments from strangers about the size of my belly which is so annoying to me! Back in July when I had a perfectly round little five month pregnant belly a guy at an oil change place asked how far along I was. When I told him five months he said, "Wow! You're gonna have a huge baby!" How could you possibly know that Mr. Oil change man? I just smiled politely and continued reading my People magazine. A couple weeks ago I went to Silverwood Theme Park with the kids, which was fun but I couldn't ride anything so I spent a lot of the day relaxing on a bench while my mom took the kids on rides. For a couple rides, I waited in line with my mom and the kids while receiving death glares from strangers who I'm sure assumed I was about to ride the crazy roller coasters with my 7 month pregnant belly. At one point when I was sitting on a bench a lady asked when I was due and when I told her November her eyes got big, she looked surprised and said "Wow you have a long way to go!" I wanted to say to her "Lady, A. November is not that far away and B. I look awesome!" But I just smiled politely. Another lady grabbed my hand when I was walking around and said "You are a brave lady for being here!" I was a little confused. Brave for coming to Silverwood and walking around all day? Can pregnant people not walk? She probably assumed I was due at any moment and my water could break in the middle of Thunder Canyon. Overall it was a really fun day, and I need to learn how to let the comments from strangers roll off my back. I don't understand why everyone thinks they know exactly how big or small a woman's pregnant body should be. Every woman carries her baby differently and some are bigger than others. I've been a lot healthier this pregnancy than I was with my last so I'm not even as big as I was with William, but I also have 6-8 weeks more to go so if people think I'm big now, oh just you wait! I feel like I have an 8 1/2 or 9 pounder baking in here. Medically, everything is going so great with this pregnancy. I passed my gestational diabetes test with flying colors, my weight gain is right on track, blood pressure, and everything is looking great! I'm looking forward to these last few weeks of my pregnancy and enjoying fall! :-)

Living in the moment

Today was the first day of school for Maddie and William! Miss Madelyn started 3rd grade and William is a big 1st grader. Everything went smoothly this morning and they are sitting in their classrooms right now. But for some reason all day yesterday as I was sharpening boxes of pencils and laying out new outfits I couldn't shake the feeling that I was forgetting to do something, that I was not ready for them to start school. I went over everything in my head a million times. We bought all their school supplies in July and I went over their lists again and sure enough everything was there. I looked at their new clothes. They got new outfits not only from me but from both of their Grandmas as well as new shoes. (William thinks it's so cool that he's a big boy size 1 in shoes now) They have enough new clothes to last them until the end of time. I made sure I had enough groceries to make them healthy lunches, and even though I did I went to the store and bought frivolous food items that I don't usually buy like lunchables and prepackaged fruit so that they can have a "fun" lunch. I even got some waffles so that they can have a "fun" breakfast. (Why do I like to make eating so fun for my kids?) Still the "forgetting something" feeling lingered until I came to the realization that maybe I have all the material things in place and ready to go, but mentally I am just not ready for my babies to grow up.

I know every parent says their kids grow up too fast, but they really do! The time just flies by. It seems like just a few days ago my baby girl was starting kindergarten and my sweet little boy was in Pre-School (Or Pee-tool as he called it with his 'peech impedident). Lately, especially since I've been pregnant, I am trying really hard to live in the moment and enjoy every precious stage with my kids. So often we find ourselves saying "I can't wait until she's a little older so she can be more independent." Or something along those lines, but then as soon as they get a little older and more independent you miss the previous stage and all the little things you used to dread. Even the gross things like wiping their butts. Am I the weirdest mom in the world that I sometimes miss wiping my kid's butts?? With this pregnancy sometimes I'll think "I can't wait until it's over and I have my baby." But I try to stop myself. While obviously it'll be a great day when he's born and I am so excited for it, I really just want to enjoy my pregnancy and revel in every precious moment. As soon as he's out of me I know I will miss the kicks I get constantly throughout the day and my round baby bump that I forget about and knock things over with. I'll even miss some of the unpleasant things like waking up a million times in the night to pee and feeling like I need a crane to get out of bed in the morning. I know when he's an infant and I'm waking up with him in the middle of the night with sore, leaky nipples and a flabby stomach I'll yearn for the day that he sleeps through the night, but as soon as that day comes I'll miss getting up with him and nursing him and smelling his sweet baby smells. It makes me sad when I hear parents complaining about whatever stage their child is in, even though I know I do it too. But I am making it my goal from here on out to live in the moment and enjoy every stage of life my kids are in.

So here are some things I love about my children right now. Madelyn is so sweet and loving. She loves talking to my belly and feeling her baby brother's kicks. She is very independent and can do things like shower all by herself, but I like that sometimes she'll ask "Mama can you start the shower for me and hang out with me while I'm in there? I know I can do it by myself, but I like you keeping me company." So I will gladly start the shower for her and talk to her through the curtain. William is really funny and usually pretty laid back. When shopping for school clothes, every item we showed him and asked if he liked it he said, "Yeah, sure, whatever, great!" He always makes me laugh. He also has a really loving side. He loves to snuggle up with me on the couch and watch movies. He still climbs into our bed in the middle of the night most nights, and I don't mind it, I just snuggle right up to him. Baby number three is doing great. I am 27 weeks and 3 days today. I've been blessed with an easy pregnancy so far. He's measuring big so we'll see if he makes it to his Nov. 30th due date. Maddie and Will were both 11 days early so I'm expecting him to be early as well but, I don't want to get too attached to that idea or I will be going crazy if December comes and he's still not here!

In conclusion, I promise to live in the moment with my children as best as I can! Right now the moment is both my big kids are in school and baby is still on the inside so this Mama's gonna go take a relaxing bath!

Judgmental Much?

I was at the mall today without my kids and a lady cleaning my wedding ring noticed my pregnant belly and said "Oh you look so young to be a mom." My thoughts were, "Lady, you have NO idea..." I didn't bother to mention I had an almost 8-year-old and 6-year-old at home, because why do I need this Zales ring lady to judge me? I wonder if she thought I was older or younger than my 26 years? And if I had told her my actual age would she think that it was an "acceptable" age to become a mother? Everyone has opinions about what age is best to start a family. I've heard people say that you should live your 20s without the responsibility of children so you can "find yourself" and blaa blaa blaa. But then once you hit 30 everyone is like, "When are you gonna start popping out kids? You know your clock is ticking, those eggs won't stay fresh forever." And God forbid you hit 35 without children, you might as well resign to life as an old maid.

I admit that I was younger than is most favorable for becoming a mother when I became pregnant at the tender age of 18. But honestly, not to toot my own horn or anything, I was and continue to be an amazing mother to my children. I breastfed exclusively for a year, and prided myself in the fact that she never had one drop of formula. All of her needs and most of her wants have always been met from day 1. When we decided to have another child when I was only 20 people thought we were so crazy, and yeah maybe we were, but the best thing we could do for our daughter was to give her a sibling to grow up with. Since then my two children have been the most important thing to me in my life. I expected to be judged for my decision to be a young mother, I accepted it and took it all in stride. Some of my greatest driving forces in finishing college and becoming a successful young adult were to prove to people that I could do it despite the fact that I was a young mother. Now after many many bumps in the road I am exactly where I want to be in my life, and Luke and I made the decision to bring another precious person into the world. My experience so far with this pregnancy has been overwhelmingly positive. It feels a lot different being pregnant as a legit young adult than it did as a teen, but all it takes is one comment from a random lady at the mall and I feel like I'm a judged 18 year old all over again.

Moral of the story, people will judge you and make assumptions about your life NO MATTER WHAT, and I shouldn't let it bother me. Maybe the lady meant it as a compliment, and I just look really good? I know I judge people all the time. When I hear about 18 year olds getting pregnant I am the biggest hypocrite in the world. I instantly judge them as making irresponsible life choices. I can't help it, but I should try to heed my own advice and try not to be so judgmental. Everyone is on different life paths, and there is no right or wrong way to live your own life. I'm on the right path for me and I've never been happier :-)

The baby is a...!!!

Four weeks ago at my 17 week doctors appointment the doctor did a surprise in office ultrasound. I was there with my mom and we were so excited to find out the baby's gender! I had thought that I would have to wait a few more weeks until my anatomy scan to find out. The baby was all curled up in my uterus and it was hard to get a good shot of the goods but after a minute or so baby moved its little legs and doctor said "it's a GIRL!" (he was about 85% confident). 85% was good enough for me. I believe when I was pregnant with Maddie they had had about the same confidence level and with William I could for sure see his boy parts half way down his little legs. My mom and I went to the store and bought a little girl outfit and wrapped it up. Luke came home on his lunch break and he and the kids opened up the sweet little "Daddy's ballerina" outfit.

Later that night Luke's family came over and I decided to make a gender reveal cake. I have been looking at so many blogs of cute gender reveal ideas that I just wanted to do them all! My cake didn't look very pretty but the family was excited to find out it was a little girl. (And it tasted delicious)

About two weeks later when my whole extended family was in Minnesota we decided to do a little gender reveal party to tell my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We decorated cookies, made a beautiful sign (mostly done by my talented sister Kathryn), and bought pink balloons and put them in a tote to open up in front of everyone.

Luke and I (ok mostly me) began shopping and bought a pink play yard, some pink outfits, bibs, and sweet little girl baby book. Fast forward to yesterday and it was time for my official anatomy scan to see our baby again and "Confirm the gender". Even though in my mind the 85% had turned into 100%. I lied down and they ultrasound tech started looking at our cute little babe. The brain looked good, the heart looked good, ten fingers, ten toes. Then she moved on to between the baby's little legs. We told her that the doctor told us it was a girl at our last appointment and she said, "It's not the first time I've proved the doctors wrong." WHAT?!?!?!?! Up on the screen between the little legs was unmistakable boy parts.

I was shocked, to say the least. Even though I saw the parts with my own eyes I could hardly believe it. She went back to the little parts a few times to convince me and she said she was 100% sure it was a boy and she has been doing this for 6 years and hasn't been wrong. I couldn't focus for the rest of the appointment and was just shocked. Don't get me wrong, I am SO excited to have another sweet baby boy but I was already becoming attached to the baby being a girl, now it feels like it's a completely different baby inside me. I know it's the same sweet babe and has been a boy the entire time. I love him so much I'm just glad he's healthy! Now I get to return the things I've bought and start stocking up on little boy stuff. I'm glad Maddie and Will are so easy going. They were excited for a girl but are excited for a boy too. Will just said, "Cool, now we know it'll play video games with me" I'm so excited to meet my little BOY and enjoy the rest of my pregnancy. :-)

14 weeks pregnant. Officially in the 2nd trimester!!!

As of yesterday I am 14 weeks pregnant! So happy to be in the 2nd trimester! I'm feeling great and a lot less sleepy all the time. I had the best workout I've had my whole pregnancy yesterday. I did 3 miles on the elliptical and 3 different arm weight machines. My arms are feeling it today. I didn't workout much during my first two pregnancies but this time I've been doing pretty good so far. I want to try to keep my weight gain around 20 pounds but we shall see how that goes.

How far along: 14 weeks and 1 day
Total weight gain/loss: Up about 4 pounds. Which was a relief this morning when I weighed myself. I ate so much fast food this weekend, but I guess my workouts are keeping my weight gain on track. I've gained just the right amount so far according to my doctors.
Maternity clothes: I went shopping last weekend with Maddie and got a couple more things in bigger sizes but they aren't technically maternity clothes. Real maternity clothes are expensive! I got a beautiful floral dress and a maxi skirt. They should fit me through the summer since I won't start getting huge until around September. My bump is poking out more and more everyday and my regular clothes are getting pretty tight.
Sleep: Greeeaaat. I sleep fine throughout the night and am no longer sleepy all day.
Best moment this week: I had a doctors appointment on Wednesday and those are always fun. Maddie went with me which was nice. She got to hear her sibling's heartbeat for the first time. Everything is going great with my pregnancy so it was a pretty short appointment.
Food cravings: Cereal (rice crispies, life, kix or cheerios) with vanilla yogurt and milk. I wake up in the morning and think "Yay! It's time to eat cereal!!!" Also giant salads and burritos from chipotle or qdoba. YUM!
Food aversions: Nothing in particular, but Luke went to McDonalds yesterday and asked me if I wanted anything and it made me want to barf just thinking about their disgusting food.
Gender: Won't know until the beginning of July hopefully. I can't wait to find out!!! At my last appointment I asked if we could schedule my anatomy scan and he said they like to wait until I'm around 20 weeks which will be the day I get back from my Minnesota trip. I really want to know before my trip so we can throw a little gender reveal party there. At my next appointment I'll be 17 weeks so I'm going to beg to schedule it for the next week when I'm 18 1/2 weeks. We found out with William at 17 weeks and the ultrasound tech didn't even have to tell me. She was measuring his legs and it looked like he had a third one and I said, "Oh my goodness, it's a boy!"
Labor signs: none, and hopefully none until November
Pregnancy symptoms: hardly anything. Just a little belly that's starting to poke out.
What I miss: My body. I haven't gained too much weight yet, and my belly is still pretty small, but this time last year I started rocking summer clothes and swimsuits that I can't really pull off anymore. I lost about 25 pounds last year and now I'll probably put most of that back on. It's all for a great reason of course and my prego bod is beautiful in its own way.
What I am looking forward to: Finding out the gender and my belly to continues rounding out so I for sure look pregnant and not chubby.
Milestones: In the second trimester!!!
Also me and the family had a fun weekend. We went to art fest on friday and they got their faces painted, made some art, and played in the park.

Then on Saturday they went to movie night at their friend's house and me and Lukie got to have a quick date night.

We're so excited for summer!!!

Amanda's 12 week pregnancy update

For those of you who don't know, Luke and I are expecting baby number 3! We couldn't be more excited! We had been on the fence for a long time about whether or not we wanted to expand our family. We've already been blessed with an amazing little girl and little boy so we felt like we could have been done, but something in the back of my head made me kept thinking about more babies! In around January we decided for sure to go for it. Since we are super traditional ;-) we decided to wait until after our wedding on February 28th to start trying. About 3 weeks after our wedding I started taking pregnancy tests every day and low and behold I was pregnant! Even though Maddie and Will were conceived without much trying I felt like this babe might take at least a couple months to make, but no, fertile Myrtle over here. So far the pregnancy is going great, but if feels a lot different from the last two times I was pregnant. It's nice to be older and more secure this time around, but also my body feels a lot older than it did when I was growing babies in my late teens. Now that I'm an old lady of 26 my back and muscles hurt already from being pregnant. I am so excited for this baby!      

How far along: 12 weeks and 1 day

Total weight gain/loss: Up about 3 pounds. I'm trying not to let my weight get too crazy this time around and to make healthy food choices and continue to workout. With M & W I was like "Yay I'm pregnant! Bring me cheetos!"

Maternity clothes: My mom got me a pair of maternity jeans and while I don't really need them yet, they sure are cozy. They should make all pants with an elastic waistband ;-) I've also been wearing my regular workout clothes most days and those are stretchy anyway. 

Sleep: I could sleep alllll dayyy. That's been my biggest pregnancy symptom so far. My back hurts a lot if I don't find the perfect position so I'm thinking about buying one of those pregnancy pillows. 

Best moment this week: We announced our pregnancy on Facebook a little over a week ago and it feels great that this pregnancy is finally out in the open for the world to know. We also had fun doing the photo shoot with our family and an ultrasound pic of our little bean. 

Food cravings: Salads, Olive Garden (Luke took me there on Saturday soooo good!), cereal, eggs

Food aversions: Nothing really, but I really hate the smell of raw chicken so I haven't been cooking it for me or my family. 

Gender: Don't know yet, but I had a couple dreams this week that it was a girl 

Labor signs: none, and hopefully none until November 

Pregnancy symptoms: tiredness, lower back pain

What I miss: I nice cold beer. I don't miss getting drunk, but the though of a cold blue moon going down my throat sounds so refreshing. We were at a party on Saturday and Luke was having a couple beers and I kept smelling them. Smelled so yummy. 

What I am looking forward to: Getting out of the "is she pregnant or chubby?" stage. Maddie says, "Mama you don't look pregnant, you just look chubbier, but it's ok because I know you're not chubby, well not that chubby at least." thanks Madso. 

Milestones: 12 weeks! Excited to be this far along! We found out so early I feel like I've already been pregnant for a long time. I'm glad we can share our news with the world! 

Here comes the bride....

Almost a month ago I married my best friend! We had a short and sweet ceremony at the courthouse with both of our immediate families there followed by dinner and dancing at the house my Dad is (almost) done remodeling. The ceremony was awesome. It reminded me of when my sisters, cousins, and I would play wedding when we were little. We weren't sure how everything was gonna go down at the courthouse, and if we'd be able to walk down the isle and have music and stuff, so we didn't really have anything planned out when we got there. The judge was super nice and told us we could do it however we wanted. So I quickly looked up wedding music on my phone and I told my wedding party to line up in the back of the courtroom and walk down the isle. Maddie and Will went first as my flower girl and flower boy. (That's what William wanted to be! lol) 

Followed by my sister Megan and Luke's brother Justin. No, Megan is not texting, she was looking up the Bible verse I wanted her to read during the ceremony. 

 Then me and my Dad. 

 Luke and I read each other our vows that we both wrote,  exchanged rings and then the best part...

The kiss!!!

 

It was such a beautiful day! I am so incredibly happy that my family is back together! 

A day in the life...

The term "stay at home mom" needs to change. I like household manager, household coordinator, chief executive officer of the home-front, or something along those lines. Let me just explain what a typical day for me as a "stay at home" mom is:

7:00am- Wake up, groggy and crusty because I'm wearing yesterday's makeup since I didn't have the energy to wash it off the night before.  

7:02-Drag myself to the shower. The husband (I just refer to him now as the H word since it's easier to say and write than "My-ex-husband-current-boyfriend-kinda-fiance-future-2nd-husband") is already in the shower so I hop in with him. Not for anything sexy, more of I need to get clean and we only have one shower so let's take turns getting our hair wet and washing ourselves like me and my sisters used to do when we were 8. 

7:15- Hurry up and get dressed and brush my hair because no matter what time I wake up in the morning, William is guaranteed to wake up five minutes after and say "Mama I'm huuuuungry!!" Proceed to make the kids breakfast and get them ready for school. I try to be a good wife and make the hubby breakfast before he heads to work, but sometimes there is just no time and I think he likes his sugary marshmallow cereal better than anything I could make him.

7:30- Luke goes to work and I kiss him goodbye and continue to get the kids ready. William can take a shower by himself now but most days he insists "Mama will you give me a bath and wash me, I just like the way you do it better." While William likes to get up really early, Maddie has the opposite problem. I think she's secretly a teenager. That girl loves to sleep in, and on some days I have to fake an earthquake to get her out of bed. Once they are fed, bathed, and dressed I proceed to try to make myself appear somewhat presentable.  

8:30- We leave the house after making sure we all have our backpacks, lunches, homework, etc, and head to school. I volunteer 3 days a week in William's classroom so I head in and start organizing the kindergartner's reading homework and giving them new books to read. Then I get to read one-on-one with the 5-year-olds. It's about the cutest thing ever. 

11:30- Leave the school and head to the gym. Get my fitness on in the middle of the day with all the senior citizens and fellow stay at home moms. Watch Family Feud on the little screens on the elliptical and shout out the answers. 

1:00- Get home from the gym. Usually I'm starving. Eat a ravenous lunch and if the hubby came home from work for lunch that day make him a gourmet meal. 

1:45- Look up what orders I need to ship on my Amazon account (to make a little extra money I sell random stuff on Amazon). Package an order or two and head to the post office and mail items. 

2:45- This is admittedly, my lazy mom time. Sometimes I do the dishes or laundry or clean the kids' room, but more often than not I'll pop in a Friends DVD and watch Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey and Phoebe and laugh at whatever antics they're up to that day. 

3:30- Head to the bus stop to meet the kids. Bring them home, make them a snack, and start helping them with their homework. Their homework usually takes them longer than it should, because they are easily distracted. Some days I just want to fill in all the answers on their math homework with my left hand and pretend they did it to get it over with, but I refrain. When they get done I just snuggle with them or we play Mario or Lalaloopsy.

5:00- Start making dinner. Something gourmet and nutritious obviously. 

5:30- Luke gets home and we eat a family dinner.

6:00- Relax... sometimes. On some weeknights the kids have gymnastics or there is some meeting to go to. Sometimes I clean in the evenings, sometimes I watch more Friends.

8:00-Start putting the kids to bed.

9:00-Kids actually go to bed.

9:01- Luke and I have some quality time with each other.

9:02- We're asleep....

Hahaha, so this isn't exactly accurate for everyday. Some days are crazier than others, and some are really chill. I love my job. It is, without a doubt, the best one I have ever had.  Maddie and Will were asking about Daddy's coworkers for some reason and then William said "You don't have any coworkers Mama. You did a looooooooong time ago when you worked at that school." (yeah buddy six months ago qualifies as a looooooooong time ago) Maddie said "Yeah she does! We are her coworkers!" And I have to say, I do

have the cutest little coworkers ever :-)