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 :-) 

Can we please stop lying to our children?

Bah humbug!

Maybe I'm mean or unimaginative or something, but I hate the idea of Santa Claus. I did not want to raise my children to believe the fable of Santa only to have their dreams crushed in a few short years. When Maddie was 2 or 3 and had heard of Santa from a movie she asked me "Is Santa real?" I had no hesitation when I told her "No Santa is not real, it's just kind of a silly game that we play around Christmas. Mommy and Daddy get you all your presents because we love you." She shrugged and went on to play with her blocks.

For a couple years after that we didn't really talk about whether Santa was real or not. Maddie would acknowledge his existence in movies and culture, but I was pretty sure she didn't actually believe in him and was just going along with the game. However, by the time she started  kindergarten the conversation I had had with her as a toddler was long forgotten. Thanks to the influence of her classmates and Tim Allen movies, she full on believed in Santa Claus. When she came home from school in December all excited about Santa, I didn't have the heart to tell her, "nope your friends are wrong, Santa is a sham." So hesitantly, I began to go along with it.

Part of this is selfishness on my part and just wanting a little recognition. There's nothing worse then spending hours shopping and picking out the perfect gifts for your children only to have them open them on Christmas morning and say, "Thank you Santa!" Um no, thank you Mama!

Then there's the issue of using the idea of Santa as an incentive for kids to behave. "You better be good or Santa won't bring you presents!" Why do we have to put the pressure of disciplining our children on some fat guy? Can't we just say "Be good or I won't get you presents." I guess that sounds a lot more harsh.

If you want your kids to believe in Santa go ahead, play the game. But please, once they start asking, don't make up elaborate stories to keep the lie going. Kids are smart and eventually they'll know they've been lied to, and they'll be pissed. I just finished an old episode of Grey's Anatomy where a kid needed a heart transplant. They found a donor heart for him and his mom said "Honey Santa is bringing you a heart for Christmas!" The kid was like like, "No he's not. A kid had to die for me to get that heart. Santa's not real, and if he was he wouldn't go around killing kids so other kids can get their hearts." Smart kid.

In conclusion, this year my family and I will hang up our stockings and we'll continue to go along with the game.  But Santa will not be the main focus. We will focus on the true meaning of Christmas and on how lucky we are to have each other.

Happy Holidays Y'all!

 

"Hi, I'm Amanda, and I'm a stay at home mom."

"Hi, I'm Amanda, and I'm a stay at home mom." There I said it.

Since July 16th of this year, right after I finished my second term of Americorps, my new full time position has been a full time mom. I have had a lot of trouble coming to terms with this new job title. Being identified as "just a mom" has been a struggle for me. Not the work itself, no the "job" is the most rewarding thing I have ever done, but just with the negative connotations associated with it. It seems that ever since woman have had the option to go out into the workplace and have a career outside of the home any woman who chooses to stay at home to raise her children has been labeled as lazy or that they don't have a "real" career. In my honest opinion I sometimes thought that as well.

It's not exactly like I thought all stay at home moms were lazy, in truth I was actually jealous of them. In the last two years when I was literally working my ass off, I would meet a mom of a student at the school I worked out or a fellow parent in my daughter's class who had the luxury of staying home and was instantly jealous of them. I wished I had that as an option, but since I was a single mother at the time I obviously did not. Even though I envied their position I felt incredibly proud of myself that I could handle the role of being a mom and a full time employee at the same time. I was working from the time I got up in the morning to when I went to bed at night. It was exhausting, but it also gave me so much confidence that I could do it all.

When me and Luke got back together and we decided together that once my job was over in the middle of summer I wouldn't seek further employment, I was so excited to not have to work anymore. At the same time I felt guilty that I wasn't contributing financially to our household, and like I was being lazy. We had a few people over a few weeks after I stopped working and one of Luke's friends asked me what I did for a living. I nervously responded, "Well I just got done working full time at a middle school with at risk youth!" and explained a little more about what I did. I was honestly embarrassed to admit that my job title at the moment was "just a mom".

The job itself has never been much of an issue for me. I love being a mother. I'm sure there are lots of different kinds of stay at home moms out there. There's the kind who make homemade pot potpourri and iron their kids' clothes everyday and then there's the kind who turn on the TV and go play candy crush. I like to think that I fall somewhere in the middle. My children are very healthy and happy so I must being doing something right, right?

I'm still coming to terms with the title, but I'm feeling more content with it everyday. Some of the important things I've learned are:

1. I am not a "stay at home" mom. I run around everywhere. I prefer the term household coordinator.
2. I do not work as hard as working mothers. I admit it, and I'm happier this way.
3. We have a lower income with me not working, but I believe we have a higher quality of life.
4. My job is a respectable profession. The majority of people don't see me as "just a mom".

A lady who was doing my nails the other day (yep I get my nails done in the middle of the day while everyone else is working) made me feel good when she asked "Do you work outside the home?" rather than asking "Where I work" I told her that I don't and she replied, "You have the best job ever!"

I'm starting to agree with her.

Happy Ending

So happy that I finally got my happy ending, and even happier that it's not the end at all, but a beautiful beginning of all the things to come. When I eventually write my book, a variation of that cheesy sentence will be on the last page. After over three years apart me and the father of my children are officially back together. I am writing this blog from the cozy living room of the house that we bought together in April. It is so amazingly wonderful to be together as a family again. I feel like we are better than ever and the years apart were just what I needed to grow up. I've realized this term "grown up" can be whatever I want it to be. As long as I am being an amazing mother to my children and a loving girlfriend (wife, ex/future wife, lover, life partner, fiance, significant other.. I don't know what to call us anymore!) to Lucas I can still be the fun, carefree, travel loving woman that I am. I'm lucky to have such a supportive and trusting partner. The past few months have been some of the happiest of my life. I don't wanna be too cheesy but dang. It is so amazing to have all four members of my family under one roof (that we own and don't rent for that matter) and to be so incredibly in love with all three of my housemates. My beautiful daughter wants to go play in the pool in our backyard so I am off to go watch her play as the sun sets. Cue the happy music :-)