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Saturday, August 31, 2013

16 Weeks Update & Doctor's Appointment

I was looking back at the blog earlier today and realized that I started these updates at 11 weeks with Lilly, so I am already a few weeks behind.  Bad Mama, sorry baby!  I’ll just have to try to be diligent about doing them every week from now on!  Gosh, how are we already into the second trimester?  Time is flying.  Let’s get to it.

Size of Baby B 2.0:  We really need to come up with a new pet name for this one, because “Baby Baum 2.0” is kind of long.  Anyway, this week baby is the size of an avocado.


Apparently, he/she weighs about 3.5 ounces and is about 4.5 inches in length from head to bottom. 

That image is way more graphic than I originally thought, ha.  Anyway, baby is apparently about to go through a growth spurt – he/she will double his/her weight and add inches to his/her length over the next few weeks.  He/she already seems pretty big to me based on bump-size, oy!

Weight Gain So Far:  Somewhere between 3-4 lbs, so let's say 3.5.  Yet again, I was feeling good about that until I realized that with Lilly I had only gained 1 lb at 16 weeks.  I am trying not to dwell on it as I eat some candy.

Cravings:  I really haven’t had any.  In fact, I don’t feel like I am nearly as hungry as I was the first time around.  I have eaten my share of Lucky Charms, though, which Lilly now calls “Mommy’s cereal” and requests every morning for breakfast.  When I asked her what she wanted for breakfast yesterday she walked straight over to the open pantry, pointed to the box and said, “Mommy’s cereal, please!”  I think I preferred it when she wanted Oatmeal Squares, ha! 

Aversions:  I really haven’t had any at all that I can think of.  I didn’t really with Lilly, either.  Maybe that means another girl?

Symptoms:  Acne comes and goes.  Peeing a lot.  Constipation (again UGH).  Serious exhaustion (I’ve said it before, but I can’t believe I thought I was tired the first time around, this time it’s no joke!).  Ginormous belly (already).  Oh and also my toothbrush makes me gag.  Seriously.  Every night. 

Movement:  I couldn’t remember when Lilly started moving, and since it had been 4 weeks between doctor’s visits, I got a little nervous last week that I haven’t felt much of anything yet.  Here and there I have felt some flutters, but nothing crazy.  The doctor, of course, said it’s totally normal and not to worry one bit.  Hooray!

What I Miss:  I can’t think of anything for this one either!  Maybe Diet Coke, although admittedly I have had a few days this time around where I had to drink it.  I try not to, though, unless I am just really struggling that day, because it gives me a headache.  I haven’t missed beer yet but I’m sure that will change when the seasonal/pumpkin beers start coming out!

Signs of a Bump:  Ah yes.

Ugh messy bathroom.
And as a refresher, here's what Lilly looked like at 16 weeks:

Much smaller!
Doctor’s Appointment Update:  Baby and I saw Dr. R yesterday, and everything is peachy.  My BP was normal, and so far we’re still on track with it being lower this pregnancy than last.  Fingers crossed that trend continues.  She told me that the bloodwork from the first part of my First Trimester Screening came back perfectly normal, so that was exciting – and I had more blood drawn for part two of that test (neural tube defects).  I got to hear the heartbeat, which was normal and healthy, although she didn’t give me a number so I can’t google and obsess about what gender it points towards.  I also can’t remember whether I’ve mentioned before that I have not been taking a pre-natal vitamin – Dr. T told me at my first appointment not to take one until my constipation situation worked itself out.  Suffice it to say, nothing has been worked out, so I’ve continued not to take it.  I asked Dr. R whether it was okay to still be doing this, and she said it was fine.  She recommended that I try a kids vitamin instead of a pre-natal – she told me they don’t have as many nutrients, but they’re better than nothing.  So we’ll see!

Next Doctor Appointment:  September 9 we get to go in for just an ultrasound to determine gender!  I'm SO excited that they're letting us do that at 18 weeks instead of making us wait until 20.  I still haven’t decided whether Dan and I will just find out at the doctor or wait and somehow include Lilly, but I’m so excited.  The appointment is first thing in the morning so I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it all day without peeking.  Then I have another appointment scheduled for September 23 – just a normal, boring old check in with the doctor.

So far, so good!  Let the countdown to the gender reveal begin.  Wahoo!


Sarah

Friday, August 30, 2013

12 Weeks

I was looking back at the “secret” blogs that I’ve been keeping, and it looks like after the 9 week post I fell off the wagon.  Whoops.  Luckily for all of us, I sent my Mom and my Mother-in-law  an “update e-mail” after my 12-week appointment, which refreshed my memory on the events that occurred.

I guess the only thing to report from then until now is that I had a doctor’s appointment at 12 weeks and had part one of my “first trimester screening” done.  See explanation of what they test for from my first pregnancy, but basically I weighed in and gave a urine sample as usual, saw the doctor, had some blood drawn and got an ultrasound.  I saw Dr. G this time around, whom I love, and she was in and out very quickly.  My blood pressure was still fine, and was still lower than last pregnancy, which I was pleased about (although I can't remember/didn't note the exact number).  Dr. G was pleased as well, although she did disclaim that preeclampsia does not typically present this early in the pregnancy.  My urine was protein-free, and at 12 weeks I had gained 2 pounds.  I was pretty proud of this fact until I looked back at the blog and noted that I hadn't even gained a full pound at this point last time around.  Sigh.  

The ultrasound portion of the appointment was obviously the most fun, and we got some great photos.  It appeared per the ultrasound that our chances of Downs or Trisomy 13 are very low and that Baby Baum 2.0 is perfectly healthy, but the blood work would confirm.  Baby’s heart rate was 154 beats per minute, which they said was normal.  I looked back and found my post about Lilly’s first trimester screening and her heartbeat was 148 bpm at that appointment, so who really knows what that means.  This baby also appears to be very mellow compared to Lilly.  I remember that even before I could feel her moving, at every ultrasound L was a wiggle worm and moved all over the place.  This baby just chilled the entire time.  The ultrasound tech even said, “Well, it appears that this one is going to be your mellow baby.”  I guess we’ll see!

The ultrasound tech was able to see a lot and the baby was cooperative, so we got a lot of 12-week photos.  Looks like Baby Baum 2.0 may already be a thumb sucker in utero just like his/her big sister!  We brought home around 10 photos, but I'll just post the photos below where you can tell what you're looking at, ha.  Disclaimer: sorry for the poor quality iPhone photos!






Dan thinks it looks like a boy.  He keeps saying things like, "don't you think this one's ultrasound pictures look more like a boy?"  I hate to break it to him, but at this point I still think sweet Baby Baum 2.0 still looks like an alien.  We'll let him hope/dream.  

I also just realized that I have been terrible about weekly updates (as in there aren't any yet), so I need to get on the ball with those at some point.  I did find two “bump pictures” on my phone that I sent to my Mom and sisters.  I can’t figure out how to tell exact dates when they were taken on my iPhone because I am technologically challenged, but the first two are from somewhere in the 11-week time frame and the last one was taken sometime between 13-14 weeks:






For comparison purposes, here is what sweet Lilly looked like at 12 weeks:  



I have learned quickly that you show a LOT sooner the second time around.  I could still button my normal pants at 12 weeks this time around, but I needed to make sure to wear looser-fitting shirts to avoid the muffin top, and maternity pants were already more comfortable than buttoning my regular pants.  All of my doctors, nurses and girlfriends have told me that this is totally normal, but it’s the one thing so far that has been different from last time – pretty sure my bump wasn’t that size until the end of October with L.  As a result, I have NO weather-appropriate maternity clothes.  Luckily my sister let me borrow a few of hers.  I just hope I am not carrying around a tiny whale/elephant in there, oy!

At the end of this appointment, I scheduled an appointment for 16 weeks.  I asked if I got an ultrasound, to which they replied no, so that either means they'll make me wait until 20 weeks for the gender OR they will let me come in for just an ultrasound at 18 weeks (fingers crossed).  

That’s all for now, and I think I’m almost caught up wahoo!!  

Sarah



Thursday, August 29, 2013

9 Weeks

Written on 7.9.13*

Today, I am 9 weeks pregnant.  This morning when I woke up, I said, “Happy 9 weeks, Baby!”  And Dan was like, "What, already?!"  Time is flying.

I went to the doctor yesterday and it was the first appointment where I actually saw a doctor (up until this point I’ve met with the NP or the ultrasound tech).  I saw Dr. T, who delivered L, and we talked about the pregnancy, went over all of my records from my last pregnancy, and I had an exam (blech).  Overall, he said that I am in good shape and that there’s not a scratch on my charts.  I’m a perfectly healthy 29-year-old with one perfect baby under my belt, so there’s no reason to believe that the next one will be any different.  Hooray!  I asked about the possibility of high blood pressure/preeclampsia/more bed rest this time around.  I think I actually said, “So what do I have to do to avoid 6 weeks of bed rest?  I don’t have time to bed rest, I have a toddler to chase.”  He looked at all of my records from last time and it turns out that my blood pressure is already much lower this time around than it started out last time, which is a good sign.  He said that the majority of the time, the issues that I had with Lilly's pregnancy only happen on first-time pregnancies.  I have some high blood pressure in my family, though, so he said not to rule it out.  He just said to “have my house in order” by the time we get to the third trimester in the case that we have to rest some more.  Fingers crossed for no resting!!!

Since second-time babies are normally bigger and Lilly was a good size, I asked about standard procedure for determining “how big is too big” and how to avoid it.  He said the only thing I have control over is weight gain, and noted that he doesn’t want to see me gain more than 20 lbs (25 max) this time around.  I am 10 lbs heavier than I was at the start of the last pregnancy (which according to Dr. T is 10 lbs overweight [ugh], even though my general practitioner told me recently that my weight is perfect for my height [sigh]), so I suppose I really need to watch it.  This is extremely unfortunate considering that I will be pregnant at Thanksgiving and Christmas (and for Chick Fil A Peppermint Milkshakes).  I’m on day two of “don’t give into cravings” and so far it’s going well.  2 down, a lot more to go.

Other than that, all is well.  I definitely feel like I’m already starting to show.  We told our families our news over the weekend (with the exception of my sister and Dan’s, who are both currently pregnant…I wanted Katy to have Mason before I told her and I’d like Mere to have her baby shower [this weekend] before I tell her).  They are all so observant that I knew they’d figure it out anyway, and Katy confirmed that I decidedly have a pooch that is getting hard to hide.  Pictures to come at some point.

Hope everyone had a great return from the 4th of July celebrations!


Sarah

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

7 Weeks

Written on June 25, 2013*

Yesterday, we had our second ultrasound appointment.  As I mentioned before, we are still very early in the pregnancy, so they asked that we come back this week for another ultrasound to get a better look at things and have a listen at Baby B’s heartbeat.  I had forgotten how quickly the little nuggets grow.  The baby still looks like a little tadpole-shaped blob, but the blob was decidedly bigger and different-shaped this week as opposed to last:






I think the ultrasound tech told me that the heartbeat was 116, which she said was normal given that it had just started beating within the last week at some point.  Other than that, she said that everything looks normal and baby appears to be perfectly healthy (and there’s only one, hallelujah!).  I am 7 weeks today, so we are still on track with a due date of February 11, and my next appointment is July 8 when I’ll meet with a doctor for the first time.  The u/s tech confirmed that my right ovary was for sure the guilty party this time.  Partay!

One thing that the nurse practitioner said to me when I met with her last week, which I forgot to note in my last post, was that I shouldn’t feel guilty that all of my focus can’t be on the pregnancy time around, because it’s completely normal.  I have been thinking about that a lot over the past week, and it’s so true.  I even went back and read some of my first blog posts from my pregnancy with Lilly (when I started this blog), and it’s been very interesting to compare.  I’m not saying that I don’t think about this pregnancy and baby, because I definitely do, but where as last time around it was all I ever thought/talked/obsessed about, this time around there is not as much time for that.  Between working full time and spending all of my spare time with my family (not only Dan and Lilly but Layla, and the house, and the laundry, and the dishes, and whatever else), by the time the end of the day rolls around I’m so exhausted that it’s all I can do to make it to the bed to collapse.  It is probably partly due to the fact that I have a lot more going on this time around (keeping up with a busy toddler is a job in itself!), and probably also partly due to the fact that the experience is not “new” this time around – different, yes, but I just mean that have a better idea of what to expect since I’ve done it once before.

I’m feeling fine.  There is slightly more nausea than I had last pregnancy, but again not a ton of throwing up so far, so I suppose I should be grateful.  I tried the all-natural anti-nausea medication that the NP gave me they seem to help.  The exhaustion hit me last week like a ton of bricks – most days it is all I can do to keep my eyes open after lunch time – but I can’t complain about one thing.  

I have been brainstorming ways that we can include Lilly in a “gender reveal” of sorts.  I don’t want a party or anything like that, but I keep thinking that it might be fun to find out the gender together, as a family.  So far all of my ideas are food-related (i.e. cake pops or cupcakes), so if you have any that are better feel free to holler.

Until next time!

Sarah

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

And the "Mother of the Year" award goes to...

...yours truly.  Ugh.  

In an effort to try to keep blogging about Lilly's happenings in addition to  Baby Baum 2.0's  pregnancy, I have a mildly humiliating but pretty funny story to share with you all.  

My child is a parrot.  She repeats EVERYTHING, to the point where I can't figure out when/where she heard things, and sometimes she won't repeat things until several days after she heard heard them, which makes determining when/where she heard them that much more difficult.  It truly is incredible, if you think about it, but it also means we have to be very careful with how we choose our words.  You have probably already figured out where this is going.  

I have been SO CAREFUL with my words.  Language clean-up was probably something that needed to happen in our house anyway, but I want the record to show that I have been very diligent about thinking before I speak and not saying anything I wouldn't want my daughter to repeat at church school.  Drop something?  "Oh, goodness."  Forget something?  "Rats!"  Dan, on the other hand, has had a slightly harder time adjusting.  I just KNEW that Lilly was going to say her first curse word to her teacher at her (church) school on the first day.  I was wrong on several counts.

Last Tuesday, Carney arrived as usual and I was in the kitchen packing my lunch.  Lilly was playing in her little kitchen in the den, and I heard her drop one of her little pots and say, "D@mnit!"  Carney and I looked at each other and I said, "Did she say what I think she just said?"  And Carney said, "It sure sounded like it."  Then I said, "I'm not even sure where she would have heard that, Dan is out of town, maybe she is saying donut.  Lilly, did you just say donut?"  At which point, Lilly picked her pot up off of the floor, threw it towards the stairs, and again, said "D@mnit!"  Great.  Not only is she saying a curse word, but she is, of course, using it in the correct context (it's probably wrong that I was impressed by that fact).  

The first phase I went through was denial.  Dan was out of town, which meant that L had to have heard it from me, but I've been so careful!!!  Bo and Meagan were nice enough to invite us to dinner the night before since Dan wasn't here, and Meagan had to warn Bo to watch his mouth around Lilly, so I assumed it was something he said.  In fact, when he dropped Kinsley off that morning, I asked if he'd said it.  He said he hadn't, but I still just knew it had to be him.

I called Dan on my way to work to tell him about the incident, and sure enough, as I was telling him, I remembered that it was me.  I was devastated.  Dan was gloating.  I was trying a new recipe that morning and was looking for something in the kitchen when I dropped whatever was in my hand, and I said it, but it was under my breath and I still to this day cannot figure out how Lilly even heard it.  Apparently her hearing is excellent unless I'm telling her "no" or something else that she elects not to hear.

The thing that makes this the most funny is that we were going to meet Lilly's teacher the following day (she's starting a 3-half-day-a-week program at a local church in a few weeks).  I really did NOT want her saying that word (correct context or not) in front of her teacher/other parents/new classmates.  Oy.

Lilly repeated the word (while throwing/"dropping" things) quite a few more times before I even left the house.  I just kept ignoring it, because I knew that if I acknowledged it and told her not to say it, she would definitely keep repeating it.  I sent Carney a text around 11:30 that day asking if Lilly had forgotten about it yet (to Carney's credit, she was doing a GREAT job of trying to distract Lilly.  When L would say the word, Carney would come up with other words that started with "d" or sounded like that to distract her.  "Did you just say donut/throw it/etc.?").  
Side note:  Lilly LOVES to sing "Elmo's song," but change the words.  Mommy's song, Layla's song, elbow song, toothbrush song, etc.  
Carney's response to my question was, "Well, she did, but she just now asked me to sing "d@mnit song"."  Awesome.  I guess they sang donut song instead.  

Luckily for all of us, Lilly seems to have forgotten the word...for now.  Let's hope I don't get a report from her teacher on the first day that she was cursing.  This has to be some kind of record for the youngest curse word.  Be warned parents: they hear everything they aren't supposed to!

Hope everyone is having a great week!  I am trying to play catch-up with current pregnancy updates - we're going on vacation this week so I've scheduled a post for every day.  Shocking, I know.  

I'll leave you with a photo of Lilly testing out her new bookbag for school in the store.  I am DYING over it, and she thinks she's such a big girl!  I'm having it monogrammed as we speak (which I'm sure surprises no one), and then she will be ready to go.  Who is this big girl and where did my baby go?


Happy Monday!

Sarah

Monday, August 26, 2013

The First Glimpse

written on June 17*

I have been so excited for today ever since we saw those two pink lines, because this morning we had my pregnancy confirmation appointment at with the doctor.  Up until this morning, we had absolutely no concept of how far along I was, so I was really excited for them to determine a due date.  Plus, we got an ultrasound.  Things are finally starting to feel real.

The nurse practitioner at my practice got married and moved, which I was a little sad about because I liked her…until I discovered that the nurse who is taking over her role is my favorite nurse in the whole office.  I consider that a sign that this is going to be a fabulous pregnancy and there will be no high blood pressure (My BP is fine at every other doctor I go to except the OB.  I have serious white coat syndrome from the last pregnancy.  But today, luckily, it was A-OK.  We’re off to a good start, folks.).

I think I mentioned before that I wasn’t sure Dan would care about going with me to the doctor this time around, but he has informed me that he at least wants to be there for ultrasounds (which doesn't surprise me in the least, as those are the fun appointments), so off we went.  There was a lot of paperwork and just going over general pregnancy-related things.  They went ahead and gave me a sample of a pre-natal vitamin with all kinds of fiber (and stool softeners) to try since I had so much trouble with constipation last time (ugh), so we’ll see how that goes.  I also mentioned that I have been nauseated already, so the NP gave me a sample of an all natural anti-nausea pill that she said all of the women have been raving about.  Fingers crossed I won’t have to use it too much!

A quick ultrasound determined that I am REALLY early in the pregnancy.  As of today, I am 5 weeks, 6 days.  I have NO idea when my last period was because it’s never normal / "on time," but it turns out that my “best guess” as to when I had it last was way off, ha!  I did warn them of that, because when I started to try to think back to events that were happening when I last had my cycle, everything ran together.  Anyway, that puts my current due date at February 11, which I find to be hilarious since Lilly’s was February 13th.  I verified with the NP that they will monitor baby’s weight closely since Lilly was 3+ weeks early and pretty hefty to have been that early.  She told me that second babies tend to be bigger (great) and that they’ll for sure keep an eye on it.  I’m holding them to it.  Anyway, there wasn’t much to see on the ultrasound, and since I’m not quite 6 weeks they didn’t even attempt to hear a heartbeat.  Baby just looks like a little sack attached to the uterine wall at this point, and it appears that the right ovary did all of the heavy lifting (can’t remember which one was the culprit last time).  Dan asked if she could tell whether there was only one, and she said, and I quote, “it’s too early to tell, this sack could still split into two identical parts.”  Let’s not even put that one in the atmosphere, ok lady?  

Anyway, because there was nothing to really see today, we didn’t get any pictures, BUT we get to go back next week just for another ultrasound.  Score!  Fingers crossed for a strong, healthy heartbeat.  And some photos for show and tell!


Sarah

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Pregnancy Musings

written on June 10, 2013*

I was writing these posts in blogger and saving them for later instead of publishing, but I am scared to death that I am going to accidentally hit "publish" before we're ready to spill the beans, so I moved them to a Word document for safe keeping until our secret is out.  Sneaky sneaky.

Life has been keeping us so busy.  Just in the past two weeks alone I helped to throw a baby shower for my middle sister, Katy, and then our youngest sister, Sydney, graduated from high school.  How’s that for making me feel OLD?  On top of it all, work has been insanely busy, so there hasn’t been a lot of time to really think about anything other than getting through the day.

This pregnancy somehow still doesn’t quite seem “real” to me yet.   I keep wondering if it’s because the timing was surprising, or maybe it could be because I have no idea how far along I am (hence the lack of “update” posts) combined with the fact that I don’t go to the doctor until next week (hurry up June 17th!).  I am so excited to meet our little babe, see him/her for the first time, hear his/her heartbeat, and get a due date.  Let’s do this thing.

I can’t wait to tell our family and friends the news.  I keep wondering if anyone will be surprised, or if they’ve all been expecting it (or in my family’s case, suspecting it, since we’ve seen them a good amount recently).   In keeping with the theme of my last pregnancy, we have already told Chris and Andrea (last time, Andrea helped me decipher the pregnancy test).  This time, there was no mistaking the outcome of the test, but we dropped by for a visit a few weekends ago when we were in the area and I couldn’t eat anything for fear of barfing.  Hilariously, the resulting conversation ensued:

Chris (jokingly): We have other stuff if you don’t like what I made, but tell me, how old will Lilly be when her sibling arrives?

Dan (or Sarah, I can’t remember):  I am not exactly sure of the timing, but I am betting they will be right at 24 months apart.

Chris:  Seriously?  Wellllllll that joke went horribly wrong.

Ha!  My plan at this moment in time, unless I come up with something better, is to have a shirt made for Lilly that says “I’m going to be a big sister!” and let her wear it around family (or while FaceTiming) and see how long it takes them to notice.  My goal is to wait until after July 13th to tell, if possible.  My sister is due 7/5 and I am helping to host a baby shower for Meredith (Dan's sister) on 7/13, so if I can celebrate those two special events before spilling the beans, I’ll be happy.  Birthing babies and baby showers should be all about celebrating the mommy-to-be!  Although, if I’m being honest, considering we’ve been with my family for the past three weekends, two of which I’ve known I was pregnant, I am shocked that no one has asked why I haven't been drinking wine. 

So far, I haven’t really felt very differently, other than constant nausea.  Luckily, I have only actually thrown up a handful of times, but the feeling is not pleasant all the same.  I’m also generally tired, but honestly not as exhausted as I thought I’d be (or as I remember being the last time around).  Maybe that part is yet to come.  I just remember when I was pregnant with Lilly falling asleep on the couch every night at approximately 7:30 pm and sleeping through the night with no problems.  So far, this time around, I have actually had trouble sleeping as opposed to falling asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.  I’m not sure whether I’m subconsciously worrying about what the heck I’m going to do with two kids (house space and daycare to name a few worries!), or whether it just hasn’t hit me yet.  Anyway, aforementioned weird sleep issues are making me miss Diet Coke that much more.  I may have to take up drinking coffee or tea for a caffeine boost!  I have also noticed a few headaches so far, but I am praying that they are a result of normal pregnancy in conjunction with quitting Diet Coke cold turkey.  Lord knows we do not need bed rest this time around.

Anyway, so far so good.  More updates to come!

Sarah


Monday, August 19, 2013

Soooooooo this happened.

originally written on May 30*



Yup.  I am starting all over with the super secret blog posts...at least for a few weeks until I can publish them.  

I'm sure we will get this question a lot, so I'll just go ahead and address the elephant in the "room": no, it was not "planned," per se.  I say "per se" because it wasn't really not planned either, if that makes sense.  Obviously, we knew it was a possibility, I just mean that this timing was not what we thought it would be.  Let me back up.

It seems like once your oldest child turns one, the only way people can think to start a conversation is, "So, are you ready for number 2?"  It's crazy because we always said we thought we wanted our kids to be pretty close together, and we thought we'd start "trying" again when Lilly turned one.  But then Lilly turned one, and we changed our minds.  She was such a good, easy (for the most part) baby, and she was becoming so. much. fun.  Don't get me wrong, she's normally fun and I've enjoyed every stage with her, but right around the time she turned one (maybe a little before), it's like she grew up overnight and was able to start interacting with us and we have just been having a blast.  In addition to that, since I didn't stop nursing until L was almost 13 months old, I wanted my body to myself for at least a few months.  I was just telling some girlfriends last week that due to all of the above, for the first time in my life I didn't really have a "plan" (those of you who know me will understand that this is extremely abnormal) in place related to timing for Baby Baum number two.  In recent weeks, Dan and I had just started having the conversation of "when” (literally, we’d maybe discussed it twice), and decided that maybe we'd start trying somewhere in the fall/early winter and shoot for a late summer/early fall 2014 baby (at the earliest).  I am here to tell y'all that the Lord had different plans for the Baum Squad, and we are so excited!

I didn't really have much of a reason to take a test this morning other than the fact that I have just been feeling weird - that's the best way I can describe it.  TMI alert here - I am late for my period, but by only a few days, and honestly that is totally normal for me - my cycle is so crazy that sometimes I'm “late” by 2-3 (and sometimes many more) weeks.  For whatever reason, though, something told me to take a test this morning.  I assumed I was overreacting as usual, until those two lines showed up mid-stream.  Seriously, hadn't even finished peeing on the stick before it was positive.  I think I was in a state of shock for the rest of the day.  Things were crazy at work, so I was distracted, but I still can't believe I kept it to myself all day.  I was so desperate to tell SOMEONE and was tempted all day to text Dan the photo of the test, but I stayed strong (secrets are SO HARD!!!).  

Speaking of announcing the news to my Baby Daddy (he was already at work when I took the test), I wanted so badly to do something cute to let him know that I'm once again, as he says, “knocked up.”  My original plan was to try to keep it a secret until Father's Day, which I thought was only two weeks away.  Then reality hit...he would for sure notice me not drinking wine (oh, how I will miss wine again).  Additionally, I thought he may want to go to my first doctor appointment since I'll have an ultrasound, and that is currently scheduled for June 12 (before Father's Day).  Plan B was to have Lilly in a "big sister" shirt when he got home from work tonight and see how long it took him to notice (I know for a fact that it wouldn’t have taken long because my husband is extremely observant.).  I left work an hour early (didn't take a lunch) and went to four baby stores, and no one had any shirts like that (Why do stores not keep these in stock?!  All of the sales associates told me that on the rare occasion that they do have shirts like that, the shirts fly off the shelves, so you would think they’d keep them in stock.  Nope.).  Soooooo I had to improvise and be boring.  We came to Charlotte tonight for the weekend because Katy has two baby showers, so I just put the positive test stick in Dan's suitcase and he found it when was packing.  His reaction was priceless.  I heard a lot of exclamations coming from upstairs...he was very surprised, of course, and came flying down the stairs for a hug and a kiss and to tell me how excited he is.  So sweet, that man.

I am already wrestling with a tad bit of anxiety/Mommy guilt.  Don't get me wrong, I am ecstatic about this pregnancy.  I know that we are so blessed, and I cannot wait to get my hands on Baby Baum 2.0, but I found myself worrying today about whether we've had enough time with just Lilly.  Poor Baby Baum 2.0 (Knowing my husband like I do, I'm sure there will be a better nickname before too long!) won't get any alone time, and plenty of people have children much closer together than 24 months, but still.  Not to mention, what are we going to do with two kids?  And where are we going to put them?!  What can I say?  Worrying is my thing.

Anyway, that's all for now.  I wanted to write everything while it was fresh, for "baby book" purposes.  I will try my hardest to be diligent about pregnancy updates like I was with L (Finding the time will be another issue all together, oy!).  I can't wait to see what is in store for our little family!


Sarah

Monday, August 12, 2013

Rut

I have been in a serious rut for the past few months.  I was going to title this post "blog rut" because my rut has mainly been blog-related, but then I realized that my rut extended to a few other random areas as well, so this post will probably turn out to be quite miscellaneous.  

Re: the blog, I am not sure how I let it become so neglected.  Actually that's a lie, I know the exact reason: life.  For a long time I did such a good job of posting at least two times a week, and doing that helped me keep it in my routine.  The "monthly" posts were actually a big part of holding myself accountable when it came to blogging, because one of the reasons I started this whole thing was to keep track of Lilly since I am clearly terrible at baby-booking.  But as things (work, life, hello 18-month-old) started getting crazier, it became easier to put it off and continue to do so until now, when it is more rare for me to blog than not blog.  I'm going to attempt to fix that!

Other ruts that come to mind relate to FOOD.  This rut is actually two-fold: Lilly food and food in general.  

My "Lilly food" rut is that I feel like she eats the same things all. the. time.  I tried really hard to diversify what I was feeding her starting at a very young age to avoid this very problem, and when she was younger she was so good about eating whatever I put in front of her.  Now, much to my disdain, she has developed opinions about what she likes and what she doesn't.  I've read and been told (by other Moms, books, blogs, our pediatrician, etc.) that this is totally normal for most toddlers and she will not eat well again until she is at least 3.  Joy.  Lilly at least does not seem to be phased by the fact that she always eats the same things, but I get so bored preparing food for her that I can't imagine that she isn't bored with eating it.  I do make her try new things, and it normally results in her spitting whatever I made her try out, but I feel pretty good that at least I'm trying.  She does have a decent variety of foods that she likes, but still. Especially since she's starting preschool in a few weeks (three half-days a week, and I don't know why but I am feeling so weepy about it!), I want to see if I can diversify her taste buds a little.  Does anyone have any good resources?  I recently discovered Weelicious and am planning to delve deeper into that site as I have time.  And of course there is always Pinterest, but I find that it can be so overwhelming.  So, what are your favorite meals and/or meal resources for picky toddlers?  Any help here is greatly appreciated!

My "food in general" rut is not really too much different than the "Lily food" rut.  Since January, Dan's work schedule has been crazy, which means he has not been home a lot - maybe two week nights each week.  This has made me beyond lazy in the kitchen, because I am not cooking for just myself, especially since Lilly is limited in what she'll eat.  Even on the rare occasions that Dan has been at home, though, I feel like we eat the same things all of the time.  Since we both work full-time, it is hard to find the time to get everything done, and our days are so busy that meals mostly fall to the back burner in terms of planning.  I am lucky if I even think about what I'm going to feed Lilly for dinner in the car on my way home from work every day.  I think the most important thing I need to add to my routine is meal planning.  I know myself, and if I do not plan meals and grocery shop for aforementioned meals at the beginning of each week, said meals are not happening - at least not from the Baum kitchen.  So that is change #1 that needs to be made.  The second part of this is that I am just totally lacking in inspiration.  I know that there are a TON of resources between Pinterest and the world wide web in general, but I often find that I just get so overwhelmed even looking through those things that I lose interest and new meals don't get planned.  Unless I have a very specific idea of what I'm looking for (which I typically don't), those sites (to me anyway) can be pretty overwhelming and semi hard to navigate.  Additionally, it's not like I have hours to spend on meal planning each week, so I need some quick go-to resources with good recipe ideas.  A few sites that I have perused recently in addition to Weelicious are Skinnytaste and Peace Love & Good Food (written by my friend Nina, you'll love her!), and I like all of those.  I recently read a post by Megan at Hello Newlywed Life where she  mentioned her weekly meal planning and that her goal is to try 1-2 new recipes a week.  I think that is a fantastic idea, and one that I'd love to implement in my own home.  So, my second question of the day is this: what are your favorite recipes/resources for recipes to try?  

The only other rut I can think of is a clothing rut.  I literally cannot remember the last time I bought myself something new.  My, how times have changed!  This is partially due to the fact that I have a closet that is way too full of clothes that I never wear (don't tell Dan I admitted that), and partially due to the fact that I keep saying I want to lose weight before buying anything new, and partly due to the fact that I would rather spend way too much money on Lilly's sweet wardrobe.  Sometimes, though, I want to feel like I am still semi-trendy and not have only mom clothes, ha!  I am hoping to at least partially rectify the clothing situation this weekend by embarking on a massive closet cleanout.  My sister is coming to visit, and I promised her first dibs on giveaways in exchange for helping me.  Woohoo!  Speaking of my sister, I can't believe I have yet to post about the birth of my sweet nephew, Mason, back in July.  I'll add it to my "to do" list!

I think that's all of my random musings for the day.  I'll leave you with a few photos of my girl from the past week.  


First time trying corn on the cob.  Won't touch it off the cob, but on the cob was a BIG hit.


Daddy was traveling for work, so we had a Bojangles picnic in the den and watched Elmo.  Mama had a long day!

"Swimming" in the backyard baby pool with cousin Mason.

Enjoying the Durham Bulls game, thanks Raymond!


"Helping" Daddy power wash the house.


Drink thief!




Hope your weekend was great, too!

Sarah

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