Sleeping

I bet you're starting to wonder if you're ever going to sleep again. You won't. Hahah I'm just kidding. As your little one starts to get older you will slowly increase the amount of sleep you and the baby get. 

0-3 months :

* they are the hardest! The baby is awake every few hours. I mean 1-2 hours. And unless your spouse is feeding them there is honestly nothing they can do to help you. 

* your beautiful little baby will wake from a sound sleep and will scream until you feed them. 

* it will be 1-2 hours. Eventually it will be 2-3 hours so just hang on. 

* it's okay if you decide to use a bottle and have your spouse get up during one feeding. Really...it's okay. Let your spouse have that connection that you and your baby have.

* honestly, try to sleep during one of the babies naps. It sounds so childish but it will save your sanity.

3-4 months:

The golden month! Oh my goodness. One day your little baby will skip a feeding at night [because you were getting up every 3 hours] and you're going to freak out but they just extended your sleep from 2.5 hours to 5.5 hour. Yes, you can get excited! When I learned that baby W lost a feeding, I had mixed emotions. At first I was like YES!!! Three more hours of sleep for me and then k was sad because that was one less feeding he needed from me. After a few nights my boobs stopped hurting and i was able to stop waking up when he normally woke up. 

One of my obstacles that I had to work on was a thought that didn't leave my head. If he wasn't feeding during that time a lot... Should I pump to keep my supply up OR sleep? Want to guess what won? If you guessed sleep...you are correct! So here was my thought process... If he's not waking up during that time and he is going to be sleeping through that particular feeding then why am I pumping if he won't need that feeding again? I pumped enough for him during the feeding before and after the feeding after that I didn't really feel like I needed to pump for the feeding that he missed. Now if he was still eating during that time I would not have skipped feeding him or pumping him. I try to stick to his schedule the best that I possibly can. Of course that won't always work but for the most part I make it work. 

Stay tuned for his five month schedule!

Solids already?

So I can't believe it but it's now time for baby W to actually start eating solids. We started off with rice cereal strictly because the doctor told us we have to. It was just to teach him how to eat and how to swallow food. I probably would not have started him on the rice cereal but I am one of those people who follows the doctors orders. The first 3 days were to teach him how to use a spoon because let's face it - he didn't swallow anything. The four after that were to see if he was allergic to the cereal. After seven days we started giving him different foods. We first started off with peas. He loved it… But after the fourth day he was like all right I'm done. I have heard that you can give them food over 3 days buy per our pediatrician we went four days. You could totally tell that he enjoyed eating the food, however, he wanted to see what else is out there. So on the fifth day of him with his new food we switches foods again… And it was great! We actually ended up giving him peaches as his third solid. After that he ate  mangoes. 

How did we decide what food to give him? Well, first off... I did not make his original tasting food. Why? Because I didn't want to go and make a ton of food for him especially if he wasn't going to like it. I wanted to buy separately because you only give the him 2 tablespoons with their first trying food. So I wanted him to use the squeeze packets. I poured it into a bowl and fed him off a spoon and not right out of the  packet. I ended up buying two packets of each mix. So it would be two mangoes. It would be two plums. It would be two peaches. In the beginning I measured it by tablespoons, but now I can estimate that half a packet W will eat. So I can have a packet and I would feed him and then I would watch him and I try to give it to him about two hours before his bedtime. That way if he did have an allergic reaction it was while he was awake and not while he was sleeping. the rice cereal became his breakfast. His typical day looks like this now 

4 month old schedule:

2:00/2:30- nurse

5 AM nurse

*Back to sleep

8:30 AM – nurse +2 tablespoons of rice cereal ( I wait 30 minutes before I give him the cereal. That way his milk will digest)

*nap at 9:30/10 - really just power naps -

11:30/noon - 4 to 5 ounces of breast milk or formula 

*nap at 12:30/1 - power nap again

2:30/3:00- 4 to 5 ounces of breast milk or formula 

Sometimes he took a quick nap from 5

530 tablespoons of food

645 P.m. rest milk and then he went to sleep.

His five month schedule is looking a tad bit different so when it gets solidified I will post about it! Hopefully this helped some of you and any questions you had about how to start solids and a 4 month olds schedule.

Breastfeeding during take off...

Have you ever tried breastfeeding on a plane? Let me tell you that honestly...it kind of sucks. I love breastfeeding baby W don't get me wrong! My husbands family lives in Georgia [we are in Florida] and we decided to fly instead of the 10 hour drive. We spoke to baby W's Doctor and asked what we needed to do for baby W on the plane. Her response was feed him when you're going up and feed him when you're going down. For her...no problem. For us- uhhhh you want me to feed him both times? Well we brought milk on the plane but I decided I was going to breast feed him because I was either going to sit in the bathroom on the plane for 30 minutes pumping or I was going to bring my cover and just feed him. Reality set in and I decided to feed him instead. On the way up (into the air) I was able to feed him because we timed it perfectly for when he eats and when he would need to be fed. For example, our flight was at 6:30 and I knew that I was feeding him every 3 hours. So I got home and fed him around 3:30. 3 hours later we are getting ready to fly in the air and I was able to feed him! Yippee!!! It was great timing and couldn't have been better. The way down? That was a different story. Baby W had just finished eating like an hour before so he really didn't want to eat again. (The flight was 1.50 hours) so unfortunately he was a little bit of a booger because mommy was trying to make him eat and frankly he didn't want to. I learned early on though that if you blow in a babies face they [usually] swallow. That allows them to pop their ears! I know - great idea!!! I ended up playing games with him and distracted him long enough before I even cried. He was so good that the ladies behind us said they didn't even know there was a baby in front of them. (Proud mommy moment much?)

Coming back? A little crazier. Baby W pooped himself right before security. Seriously. And he was tired. So we had to get through security AND the train before we could change is diaper. It honestly was a total of 8 minutes but it felt like an hour because of his screaming. Once I changed him and held him he fell right back to sleep. The plane ride home was just like the way up. I fed him at 10 and we took off at one. The 3 hour feeding window worked out great. He fell asleep as soon as he was done nursing.

He slept like this until we almost landed. I didn't end up waking him during the descent because it would just make him way more angry. What did you do to make your plane experience easier for your infant?

Diaper Bag

I love bags. I love having twenty purses and carrying around as much as I can. However, now that baby W is here...I really hate carrying things. I love that I can throw it in the bottom of his stroller. That spoiled me so now I never want to carry anything! The main question is "What is in my diaper bag?"

I should tell you first that I bought a Vera Bradley diaper bag because I knew that their straps were super strong, and I got it half off during Christmas time. 

Inside the bag:

1- a changing pad. This actually came with the bag. It has a plush side and a  slick side. It's buttoned in and you can just in button it when you like. I don't leave the diaper bag on the changing table when we are out and about, so being able to detach it has been a super help! I also love that I can throw it into the wash quickly.

2-Inside the bag is 6 pockets. Inside those pockets are lots of what I call goodies [my husband doesn't say that]. I have lots inside the bag. 

-baby wipes

-diapers

-boogie wipes

-neat cheeks [ I LOVE these!]

-Tommee Tippee pacifier wipes

-baby powder

-diaper rash cream

-rattle

-extra pacifier

-bibs

burp cloths

-bottles when needed

-nipple shield when needed

I know it sounds like a lot but honestly, it really isn't. This is the easiest way for me to carry the least amount of things. I love what I carry in my bag and when I really need it... I sure am glad I have it in my diaper bag. Hopefully this helps you and all the things you may need in your diaper bag! 

3 months and counting

Recently I have had a ton of friends that are having babies! I was one of the first in my "group" to have a baby so I decided to impart my wisdom on my friends...even if they didn't ask! Ha! One of my coworkers is having a baby so I created a "cheat sheet" of what you should expect the first 3 months. I hope you will be able to use this cheat sheet and help you the first 3 months. I will be getting the rest of the months done but at least you have this to start!

1-3 Months after you have the baby!

Driving across the state

Are you worried about taking a trip across the state? Well I can tell you it is super scary but everything will work out! What did we do? Well... first off we fed baby W right before we got in the car. At the time he was only 7 weeks old and was eating every 2 hours...maybe 2 and a half hours. Step one was that we fed him right before we left and changed his diaper before he left. He fell right asleep for a good hour or maybe even hour and a half. Once he woke up, I was able to feed him again. Unfortunately, I sat in the back seat to keep baby W happy and it made the hubby unhappy. Since I was still breast feeding, I used my hand pump to pump in the backseat while Wesley was driving and baby W was sleeping. This worked out well because I was able to pump 20-30 minutes prior to baby W getting hungry and then I would just feed him from the bottle. 
After 2 hours, we pulled into a mall and changed him and grabbed a bite to eat. We only had 20-30 minutes left to go after that but it was great to get out and stretch. On the way home, we did the same thing. Now baby W really doesn't like his car seat often. He in fact would rather be held but obviously that isn't safe. We tried really hard to drive when we knew it was nap time. Hopefully, this helps you when you need to take your little one to visit family members that won't be able to come to you.  

Sick baby?

KIIt's the first time baby W is sick. As a first time mom I was kind of nervous because I have no idea what to do. I did what any normal parent would do. I searched the Internet. Of course when you search the Internet you're going to find thousands of different things I could be wrong. I even found that he could have the whooping cough. If you check baby Center.com you be able to hear the sounds of what a whipping cough sounds like. Once I narrowed it down I kept thinking what else could it be. So I did the smartest thing possible. I called his doctor. She then said that if there's no fever I don't have to bring him in. And she gave me some wonderful tips. Now I get to share these wonderful tips with you.

1. Is there a fever? If not, proceed forward. If yes call your doctor.

2. Is the baby uncomfortable? If not, proceed forward. If yes call your doctor.

3. Is there coughing? If yes, then get a humidifier put it next to their   drops to put inside the humidifier.

4. Is there any snot? Does he sound like he's congested? If so you need to aspirate his nose. You can use one of two ways one you can use the blue bulb from the hospital or two you can get the nose Frida. I used to use the blue bold but I have many friends that recommended getting the nose Frida instead. After that I was able to aspirate his nose with no problem and he does fine with the nose Frida.

The doctor give me no other advice… But I did get some from friends. I heard to get baby Vicks vapor rub. I heard to clean his nose out every hour. I heard to give him a bath with steam. Which is what I kind of think is what the humidifiers for. Do you have any advice for when your little baby is sick?

*Update : 11-17-15* Thanks to an amazing friend, I bought a electronic aspirator from Babies R Us. We discovered that since I have asthma, I can't use the NoseFrida. It is too hard for me. We bought this little machine for $30 and it sucks the snot out and plays music!

Work

How do you go back to work and say goodbye to this face everyday?

I don't want to. I love my little boy and it breaks my heart that I have to say goodbye to him. Monday's are my hardest because I just spent 48 amazing hours with him and now I have to leave him. It doesn't help that I'm not enjoying my job right now. I feel that it plays a roll in this as well. 

How do I cope with sending him to daycare?

1. I need to remind myself that my husband and I need to put a roof over all of our heads. No job. No money. No money. No roof. 

2. He's in a safe place. We searched for so long for a daycare. I'm talking months. I was able to call the daycare and weed out the ones that I said no way to. Then I found the perfect one and I know he's safe.

3. My job ends at 3 everyday. You better believe that I leave at 3 now. Since I pump in the classroom I can get so much work done during that time that I don't need to stay late. 

4. Lastly, I don't work when he is awake. I play with him and enjoy him that way I can enjoy my time and feel guilty about taking him to daycare.

I would love to hear how you cope with sending your kid to daycare! 

Visitors

Let me start off by saying that I am so lucky my in laws are not over bearing! In fact... I'm so lucky to have my mother in law. Today's post is all about having visitors in your home after having the baby. Specifically the in laws. My husband and I had a conversation a few weeks prior to delivery of when we want people to visit. His family lives out of state and my family lives ten minutes down the road. We knew my parents would visit in the hospital but we didn't know when his parents would fly down. My husband was  very adamant that he wanted them to fly down the day after baby W was born. My thoughts? I just pushed a watermelon out of my hoo-ha. Can I enjoy some family time just the 3 of us??? However, I would never ever tell my husband that his parents couldn't come down immediately. My parents were there...isn't it only fair that his be there too? 

Well- I finally got the nerves to tell my husband I want a few days of just us. That also meant my parents weren't allowed to come over either. Guess what... He completely understood. He said that I was the one who was in pain so I got to make that choice. So how did we tell his mom not jump on the first flight? Simple...we asked. We said to her that we wanted some time just the 3 of us. We also wanted to make sure I was out of the hospital so she's not sitting in the hospital all day OR waiting in the house for us to come home. Good thing we did this too because I was in the hospital for four days! I had a traumatic birth and my body needed major repairs. My best friend Ana said "I'm under construction." It was a nice way to put it... I think.

 My mother in law ended up coming in 6 days after he was born. I was so lucky to have her. In the hospital, I slept for a total of ten hours over four days. The first night Baby W was home, I think Wes and I slept for 2 hours in total. We would trade off and on of who would get an extra hour of sleep. When his mom came down, she took baby W and said Ronnie- go to sleep. I got a solid four hours of sleep. She not only let me sleep but she cooked me dinner, did the laundry, and she helped me in and out of the bathroom when needed. (Did I tell you that I had a really traumatic birth???) was I worried about her being over bearing? Nah- not really because she's so easy going anyways. However, I am very big on that I never ever ever ever want people to see me at my worse. Even if I feel terrible- I will try to put on a brave face. I didn't want her seeing my weak side.[not that she would even care] I didn't want her seeing me in pain. Did she end up seeing me in pain? Duh- I popped a kid out 6 days prior. Did I let my pain and my vain stop her from seeing her grandchild? Would I change anything? Probably not. I enjoyed the time that baby W, Wesley and I had together for the first few days. He needed to get to know us and we needed to get to know him. What would I do next time? Probably the exact same thing... 

What would you do if your mother in law asked you? Would you let her come the next day? The next week? The next month? By no means am I anywhere close to knowing what is right and what is wrong. I just knew what was right when it came time for my family.

Dogs and babies...

So today's post is really going to be about introducing a dog to a baby. I purposely bought a dog that was good with kids. I have a Yorkie… and she is 7 

pounds. She is the baby of the family until baby W came along. 

Everyone kept asking how is Penelope going to be with baby W? Our answer was she'll be just fine. Then as we get closer I started to get a little worried. So we decided to do any normal parent would do we decided to torture bug the dog. And I mean it in a loving way. We took all of Baby W's things and assembled them in the house. For example we put his crib up but we let her be involved. Now how can a dog be involved in putting a group together? It's easy we would play with her toys in the babies room. We are playing in there and get her used to that room. We would allow her to smell the pieces of the crib. When we put the sheets on the bed and she smells them when we put in the new glider she played on it. Now I know it sounds a little weird that you let a dog and the babies things but they're going to be exposed to each other their entire life. 

So why not start now? So after that we would go in take those things out that baby W would have and let her smell it. The big one came on we were downstairs and we made his little swingset and we use MamaRoo. We let her sit in the MamaRoo we let her smell the MamaRoo, we let her balance and sit. We pretty much let her get involved with everything that we are doing when it was related to the baby. When I went in to labor, I had my parents go and pick up Penelope. They had her for three days while I was in the hospital. When we finally brought baby W home -we had met my dad outside of my house. The reason why we did this was because it was a neutral ground, and I wanted Penelope to be able to smell baby W. She smelled him while he was in his car seat and then together they walked in. Of course my husband carried the car seat in, and my dad had Penelope and I just pretty much watched the whole thing. We walked in the house and we put baby W right and his MamaRoo  Once we got him in his MamaRoo- Penelope of course jumped right up to look at him. This instantly became of our favorite pictures of Penelope. [See picture above]. After that Penelope wanted nothing to do with baby W. In fact she would go and be with the person who did not have baby W. This lasted a whole four days. She was especially annoyed when she realized he was sleeping in our bedroom.

She was checking on me at 3 am. <3 Look
at those sleepy eyes.

After four-five days passed, Penelope finally got the courage up to smell him. Wes and I stayed away and watched from a distance. She licked his hand and he opened his eyes. He looked at her and then she went to town licking his feet. It took Penelope about a month to start sleeping on my side of the bed again. It also took her only two times to get run over by his stroller for her to realize she can't walk in front of it. 2 months later - Penelope loves baby W. When we aren't looking- she will try to lay on top of him (probably to kiss him to death). 

Did we have some hiccups? Of course...Penelope was the only baby for 3 years. However, I really think she is enjoying baby W. Well...maybe not when he cries at 2 am. Ha! What did we do that would be helpful to you?

1. Introduce the dog to the things that will be in your house.

2. If your dog is afraid of wheels (ours is) then roll the stroller around the house. Don't go around the neighborhood...that's weird. Then people will walk up to you to see the baby and the stroller will be empty.

3. Have them meet outside your house. It's a neutral territory for your dog.

4. Let your dog get the courage to smell and play with the baby. Don't shove the dog onto the baby. The dog could have resentment, or worse anger...

Hopefully this helped you! Did you do anything special with your dog? Leave comments below!

Breastfeeding...the good, the bad, the ugly

Are you thinking about breastfeeding? Let me tell you that in no way am I telling you what to do or am I medically trained. I'm just giving you tips of what I've learned jn hopes that one day it will help you.

The Good...

It's amazing. One of my favorite parts is our bonding time. My husband doesn't get to experience this. I love just being able to look at baby W and know I'm providing for him. Providing for your baby is one of the most satisfying things. I am extremely grateful that I can because I know how hard it is. It's also stressful but it's all worth it. 
I also love that Baby W will hold my hand. At 2 in the morning when I'm exhausted and he's hungry and you just want to sleep---having him hold my hand makes up for the fact that I am going to pass out while breast feeding...
I also love the fact that the first time I saw baby W smile was when he was breastfeeding. Okay...I know, he was probably farting or pooping but it was still a gumless cute smile! <3 (Btw...my munchkin poops 6-10 times a day. When he's eating- he poops during. I know this is weird but it makes me happy that he is pooping because I know he is healthy and his digestive system is working)
I lost so much weight. So my entire pregnancy I only gained 23 lbs. Baby W came out 5 lbs 13 oz. Once I started to breast feed, I lost all but 5 pounds! I truly despise exercising so it worked out really well that the breast feeding helped lose the weight!
  

The Bad...

He will bite you. He's not being vindictive and biting because you are not producing enough milk. Honestly, he only bit me when he was extremely hungry and wanted food immediately. 

Have you heard about the growth spurts? I will blog about that completely a different day. However, let me tell you this- when you are breast feeding and your munchkin goes through a growth spurt and they are feeding every HOUR [but feels like every minute] you will need to persevere and say I will get through this! It's only 24 hours!! I CAN HANDLE THIS! The growth spurts suck but there is great reasoning behind it. They eat every hour so they can get your body to produce the amount of milk needed for them.

Boredom. I know this is selfish of me but I have the slowest eater. He goes so slow that he falls asleep. He also could fall asleep as he's waiting for milk to come in. What do I do while he's breast feeding and my husband is sleeping? I play solitaire. I try not to play with baby W because then it will wake him up and out of his dream feed which is exactly what I don't want.

Are you doing it correctly? I had some complications after the birth and I was in the hospital for one extra day. Because of that I had 14 nurses between me and baby W. Not one nurse said I was nursing baby W correctly. One lady finally told me that I was producing colostrum. [YIPPEE] But one hour lady the next nurse told I would NEVER be able to breast feed. [I cried for an hour]. She said my nipples were "weird" and his palette was far back that he would not be able to latch. She told me I would be exclusively pumping, and I did for almost a week. I give credit to those moms who exclusively pump.  I would pump, and turn around and he would eat. Finally his pediatrician told me about the nipple shields from Medela. Guess what...they worked!I am happy to say that I am up to 5 oz each pump!!! 




Thirsty. I don't know if I'm crazy but I am so thirsty all of the time. I get even thirstier when I am feeding him. I have no idea if it's normal but I drink a ton of water and a ton of gatorade. I also know that in order to make milk you need to drink water or gatorade. Try to cut caffeine out or limit it to a small can. By all means...remember to eat! You will get super dizzy and sick because you're not eating.

When your baby cries...your boobs will feel it before you possibly even hear it. All of the sudden they will feel very tense and you may feel them leaking. If you don't get that baby on or pumping the pain will intensify. 




The ugly...

Your nipples will bleed or crack. I have not had this because I used several things to not allow this. I go to European Wax Center to buy their Slow It Body Wash. It's a hydrating product and it is amazing. Even if you don't get waxed (you can't in your 3rd trimester) you can still use the body wash. This helped me avoid bleeding and cracking along with Earth Mama's Nipple Butter.Click here to buy from Amazon. You can get it form Target, Buy Buy Baby, and Babies R Us.

The judging. I am going to add in there the "mom-shaming." I've been out in public several times and I am a mom that breast feeds and I also supplement. When we were in the hospital, they told me I was not producing colostrum so I had to supplement. Because of that when we are out in public, I am able to give baby W formula or a bottle of breast milk. Do you know that women [yes, plural] have walked past me and made RUDE comments about what I'm doing to my child. Mommy shaming will be brought up in a different post but watch this amazing video by Similac.

Mommy Shaming by Similac






There will be times you will want to cry, scream, stomp your foot and give up! 

Don't! You can do it! Don't be embarrassed, don't think you can't do it. Trust me! You can do it! If you put your mind to it, you will be able to do anything. Will it be stressful? Duh-having a baby is not easy! However, you can do it.




I hope this helps you realize you are not alone when it comes to breast feeding. Do you have any thing you would add to the Good, Bad, and the Ugly list? Leave it below in your comments box!

Labor

I cannot believe it but I delivered a baby! ME! I did that! There were so many things that no one tells you when you deliver a baby. Here are the top ten things I wish I had known prior to labor.

1. The pain. They say it is going to be painful. But honestly... you will not know the pain until you are having contractions. AND those contractions are 3 minutes apart. 

2. Contractions. First off... your contractions will NOT be the same as the woman across the hall. It won't. I kept reading that my contractions should harden my belly and I will feel pain all across my stomach. EH WRONG! I felt pain where you would have cramps. My pain was  like knives stabbing me every 3 minutes. My awesome husband downloaded an app for me that tracked my contractions. Luckily it was then that we realized that they were only a few minutes apart and that started the thoughts of- I NEED TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL.

3. Modesty. Everyone kept saying that your modesty just goes right out the window. Honestly... I was like are you nuts?!?! There is no way that I am going to have my legs open for everyone to see what's going on down there. But sure enough... I didn't care who was walking in and out of the room. All I cared about was getting this child out of me. By the time I left the hospital... I think I had every nurse look at my private parts and they ALL heard about my delivery.  So yeah... Nothing is private anymore when you are in the hospital.

4. Poop. One of my biggest fears was that I was going to poop in front of my doctor or worse...my husband!!! Guess what...to this day- I have no idea if I did. My husband and I had a pact...if I poop...don't tell me! I didn't want him to see and I didn't want to know. However, during labor I didn't give a s*** [no pun intended].

5. Epidural. The epidural may work a little too well. For me, they pumped so much of it into me that I ended up not being able to push AT ALL. There is a chance that if they give you too much pain killers that you will have to get it completely flushed out of your system because you can't push. Then you will feel things again and you will be screaming again.

6. Shaking. Oh my gosh. You are going to shake. I don't mean like get the wiggles... I mean you will shake so much that you won't be able to talk. This actually was one of the scariest things that happened to me. I was shaking so much that I couldn't communicate- apparently it's because your body is going through a traumatic experience.

7. Gray baby. I knew that baby W would look weird but I didn't know he was going to be gray! I knew when baby W came out and within ten seconds he was on my chest. He was completely gray. I didn't freak out because I was knew I had to push the placenta still and I was told I was torn up really bad. However, babies come out gray. Tell your husband, boyfriend, fiancee, or whoever is in the room with you. That way they don't panic when they see a gray baby. [The reason why they're gray is because they don't have oxygen yet.]

8. Slow down. Everything in the hospital is slow. I mean everything. I walked into the hospital and said "I'm here to be admitted. When will I get my epidural?" I was admitted at 5 and didn't get my epidural until close to 7:30. I was screaming so loud that my parents could hear me in the waiting room. Just be prepared that everything will be slow.

9. Cervix exam. The cervix exam hurts. I don't want to scare you...but it hurts so bad that I was practically crawling to get away from the doctor.

10. It's all worth it. My little baby W is perfect in every way. He came out healthy, 10 fingers, 10 toes and I wouldn't have it any other way. I thought people were crazy when they said it's all worth it. They weren't crazy. They were absolutely correct. He is worth every pound I gained, every ache I had, every tear I cried, every dollar I spent, every stranger rubbing my belly, and every bit of my heart.

My labor story is painful. But as I sit here and cuddle with Baby W...I know that it was worth it. I can't imagine a day without him. Hopefully this eased some thoughts that you had about labor. Do you have any things you would tell new moms? Leave in the comments below!!

Week 13

Yay! It's the second trimester. I cannot believe that since 7 weeks ago, the baby has TRIPLED in size. That's insane. We have been going through a huge amount of list and questions!

baby food  vs. make our own food
day care vs. stay at home mom
uppababy vs. Graco
which highchair do we choose? 
should I eat that? 
Where is the baby going to sleep?
Is my car safe enough?
Can my dog adjust to the new baby?
Which crib do we get?
Do we need 3 diaper pails?
Do we have to have 25 outfits?
We really go through 4,700 diapers over 2 years?

I have so many questions and it feels like so little time. It's like once this baby was planted - a thousand and one questions popped into my head and until answered they are constantly swimming around.

How far along?: 13 weeks 4 days

Baby is the size of a: Peach

Total weight gain/loss: 0

The Bump:  It's able to be seen- MY PANTS DON'T ZIP

Symptoms: None!

Food Cravings: Salt. I wanted a ton of french fries

Anything Making Me Queasy or Sick: Nope. 

Sleep: Starting to sleep through the night- my husband said that I woke up in the middle of a night screaming for my granola bar and gatorade.

What I miss: Wearing my jeans without baby belt

Weddings Rings On or Off: On 

Any Names Picked Out Yet: Goodness NO!

Gender Prediction: I think it is a boy!!! However, all the pimples on my face says its a girl

Movement: I felt it make a jerky motion when the dog jumped on my stomach.

Maternity Clothes: We now own a skirt, and two tops

Labor Signs: None.

Best Moment of the Week: We saw our little baby on an ultrasound. I drank apple juice prior to appt and the baby was bouncing around like a jumping bean. It was so incredible and it FINALLY felt real.

What I’m excited about/looking forward to: Finding out the sex!

I am still going through so many thoughts and I have NONE answered. As soon as I have some answered- I promise you I will let you know what's going on!

12 Weeks

Hello again!

It's been a few months because life got crazy! Since my last post in July, I have changed grade levels, I now teach 1st. I went and saw my sister in North Carolina. I saw my husband's family in Georgia. My TeachersPayTeachers account has done AMAZING!!  

OH- and I found out I am pregnant!

It's been a crazy amount of changes. We also now are looking for a house in addition to creating a baby. I am due in July of 2015!

 Just a little peanut! I wanted to immediately tell the world that I was pregnant but I decided against it. We wanted to wait until we were out of the stage where the chances of having a miscarriage is higher. Hence why we are here in week 12! 

How far along?: 12 weeks 2 days

Baby is the size of a: Ripe Apricot

Total weight gain/loss: +3 

The Bump:  It's able to be seen

Symptoms: Not too many this week!

Food Cravings: Salt. I wanted a ton of french fries

Anything Making Me Queasy or Sick: Nope. 

Sleep: I pass out really early and then overnight I wake up to go to the bathroom...I am not enjoying that! I also eat a granola bar so I am not starving at 6 when I wake up.

What I miss: Eating in a restaurant and not being able to eat my spicy food.

Weddings Rings On or Off: On 

Any Names Picked Out Yet: Goodness NO!

Gender Prediction: I think it is a boy!!!

Movement: I can feel vibrations.

Maternity Clothes: None. Although I did peek at some in Target...maternity clothes are ugly to me. I'll leave it at that! And expensive.

Labor Signs: None.

Best Moment of the Week: None that stuck out!

What I’m excited about/looking forward to: Having a bump!

Here is the 12 week chalkboard! 

Erin Condren

Uh...I am a Type A Personality. When I meet with my Principal, I give her an agenda. I am always making agendas because it keeps me focused. With that... I had to find the perfect planner for me. I am obsessed in love with Erin Condren Planners. {Check her website}. I was ecstatic to buy the Life Planner in June because it helped me focus my life.
Here is the cover. It is laminate and customized to whatever you want. I love teal so I chose teal however theres like 50 different covers! Choose your favorite and go with it.

EC motto this year has been Work Hard. Play Hard." I love it. I am able to keep reminding myself that you work so hard during the week and when the weekend comes- you get to have some fun! 

 This is what the week looks like. I love this section. It has three parts. Morning, Day, and Night. This allows you to really plan for things you need to do throughout the day. When I go back to teaching {in like 4 weeks}, I will be able to add things in the afternoon.

Here's the week and how it looks.

 Make it better? SURE CAN! With your purchase of the planer, you also get stickers. This is to help you plan for the week using these awesome stickers. I am pretty sure you can buy Avery labels and print things on them.

I also want to show you some awesome Etsy Stores {help the people not the corporations} and show you some ideas you could do.

Hydrate Labels. This is by the super cute SellingSweetStuff on etsy.

I love things for my planner! 

I hope this inspires you to buy the planner so that you will be able to do awesome planning things with us! xoxo

& remember-have Melissa Joan Hart call me!