Let me just say this - one year olds are so.much.fun.
My baby girl comes to her Daddy and I with her face upturned, lips puckered, wanting kisses. She hugs us unabashedly all the time. She cheeses her cheesy little grin, and makes animal noises, and puts her mouth into a tiny little "o" with eyebrows almost up to her hair when something surprises her or she makes a new discovery. She laughs with her whole body and finds joy in small things.
That endless creativity though of a one year old. Folks, it is no joke.
Girl is into everything. If you follow me on Instagram you have seen some of her recent adventures. I swear I can't make this stuff up or stage it...
Climbing through the dog door. Getting stuck halfway.
I went to the bathroom and came back to her nonchalantly laying down reading a book...wearing my underwear as an infinity scarf.
The new cool trend of using snack traps as purses...collecting everything from Momma's cash to dog treats to torture the puppy with.
Climbing on top of said puppy to get to heights she can't reach on her own.
Our new favorite game - flushing the toilet. Incessantly.
The new and logical tactic of heading in a straight line for whatever she wants, be that line over furniture or under tables.
Recreating the grape stomp lady video with a basket of clean laundry. (Oh, you don't know what that is? Um, please. Watch.)
Unwrapping, unrolling or tearing apart anything that she can get her hands on, just to see what will happen. You can see it on her face, it's like she's going through the scientific method and discovering how things work.
And, it goes on and on. Every day she comes up with new crazy antics that make me laugh, shake my head and marvel at just how amazing her little brain is at coming up with different ways at looking at things and a kid's imagination.
But damn if it isn't as exhausting as it is joyous.
And that, that is parenthood right now, friends.
Evelyn Rae is fifteen months old, I am 23 weeks along with Baby Ferris
...and is this what it's like until they can vote? legally drink? get their PhD? have their own babies? I need a vacay.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Preggo Pals.
It seems that in every pregnancy I have been uber blessed by having some lovely preggo pals to share my journey!
With Evelyn, my co-worker, and officemate, Cheryl was pregnant and like 4 weeks behind me or so. It was so fun to be able to sit in our office and chat about all of our experiences as our pregnancies went on. Plus, it was nice to have someone to hold me accountable for drinking enough water and eating healthy enough! ;)
She and her daughter Sophia are just the most adorable things - I wish they still lived here so we could play all the time, but alas, life happens and they now enjoy life in rural Pennsylvania.
I was also blessed to have Andria from Illinois a few weeks ahead of me when I was pregnant with Evelyn. We met way back when we were just wee things at our friend Megan's wedding, and had much fun squealing secretly together over our pregnancies before we made the big ol' Facebook announcement.
With Evelyn, my co-worker, and officemate, Cheryl was pregnant and like 4 weeks behind me or so. It was so fun to be able to sit in our office and chat about all of our experiences as our pregnancies went on. Plus, it was nice to have someone to hold me accountable for drinking enough water and eating healthy enough! ;)
She and her daughter Sophia are just the most adorable things - I wish they still lived here so we could play all the time, but alas, life happens and they now enjoy life in rural Pennsylvania.
I was also blessed to have Andria from Illinois a few weeks ahead of me when I was pregnant with Evelyn. We met way back when we were just wee things at our friend Megan's wedding, and had much fun squealing secretly together over our pregnancies before we made the big ol' Facebook announcement.
Us as babies, pre-babies.
Don't mind my face, I had been boo-boo-ing at all the Rehearsal Dinner speeches.
Andria and her son Malcolm do super fun things all the time in Illinois.
Honorable mention preggo pal also goes to my friend Sherbs, who called me to tell me she was pregnant while I was mere weeks away from delivering Ev and I laughed like a crazy person.
Though we were only pregnant together for a short while, she is my all time favorite person to share mommy stories and advice with.
Our girls hanging out in Tennessee.
Now, this pregnancy, I am blessed to have another preggo pal! My dear friend Jessica, who took these awesome sauce pictures of us when Ev was six months old.
Full disclosure, I may have just gotten teary eyed about how much of a BABY my baby was in these photos! Argh, damn you preggo hormones.
Jessica and I have been friends since high school. Taking it way back. And now she is pregnant with Baby BOY Herndon (we all just found out at our annual cabin weekend this past weekend!) and due 10 days before me! So far, she is the closest due date preggo pal, and the fact that we could potentially end up having babies only a few days apart from one another is SO MUCH FUN.
Here we are this past weekend, hours before we found out her peanut is a baby boy!
P.S. you may see this outfit on me approximately every possible day
it is clean from now until February. Amen.
Jessica and her husband Adam moved from Chesapeake, aka right down the road, to BOSTON this summer right after we both found out we were expecting. While it is lame she lives so far away now, us old school girls are super duper excited to go visit her and new baby when we can this Spring! Hooray for new destinations.
I also get to hang with this lady this afternoon as we act like ladies who lunch together. Jessica blogs over at the Herndon Herald, and you can follow her preggo journey there, as well as see pictures of her SUPER cute nursery in progress.
Hopefully before this pregnancy is over, I will have acquired a few more preggo pals - friends, you know who you are ;) - but until then, I count myself so freaking lucky to have had women to share these journeys with.
Or with whom to share these journeys.
Or whatever. Pregnancy makes my grammar suck.
Evelyn Rae is fifteen months old, I am 23 weeks along with Baby Bump.
...and I must be a horrible person. "If this post makes you laugh, then you're a terrible person"
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Prison Break
If you are my Facebook friend, you may already know about this - but a few weeks ago...
Evelyn crawled/jumped/somersaulted/fell out of her crib.
True Story.
It was about midnight. She had been down since 7:30 or so, just like normal, and then out of the blue woke up and began fussing. I grabbed the monitor as I roused myself from 45 minutes of sleep to check out what was going on. I saw her making an effort to CLIMB OUT OF HER CRIB!
What?! This is new. And better yet, she was actually making progress!
So I jumped up, ran to her bedroom door, and as I put my hand on the knob, I heard it. A thud.
I opened the door, and there she was on her back, taking a gasp of air and then...then the moment that makes your heart thud as you wait and wait, that seems to stretch out forever and you think, "Just cry. Please just cry."
In reality it was probably a half a second, but then it happened. She cried. And I ran in and scooped her up into my arms, woke up my still sleeping husband and held that baby. She calmed down in about 2 minutes or so, btw. (I think she was more scared than anything else.)
---
In any case. It was scary. And spurned the discussion regarding what exactly we were going to do with Evelyn and sleeping in the future.
We thought we had her crib on the lowest possible setting. After investigating, however, we realized that we did not. That was quickly remedied.
In the meantime, she hasn't managed to climb out of her crib again just yet, but its not for lack of trying. Girlfriend throws her arms over the rail like she is about to hoist herself out of a pool, and then wedges her feet in between the crib slats and shimmies up as high as she can get.
So far, it's not high enough to get out...but she is getting pretty damn close. Watching her on the monitor is as much suspense as I can handle these days. We are constantly negotiating whether to let her calm herself down, or run in there and lay her back down. It is stressful. Thankfully, most nights she still goes down like an angel and rolls right over and goes to sleep. But on those random nights that we are dealing with teeth or some sort of cognitive dissonance - it is hard.
---
So, we begin having the real discussion about toddler beds, big girl beds, new baby coming and new sleeping arrangements and new rooms.
All the books and websites and forums of course say different things, but as the parents who actually know our baby girl, this is the plan we are shooting for in the next few months.
Right now - leave her in the crib, try to stretch out the crib sleeping as long as possible.
Decemberish - put the toddler bed rail on her crib, and gate on her bedroom door, hope to teach her to sleep on her own, in a bed she can escape from - albeit safely. If we can wait on this, we will.
Januaryish - have the "big girl" room all set up, with her big girl bed we have conveniently picked up in Wisconsin over Christmas, begin playing in the big girl room during the day. We really want the room to exist before the new baby gets here.
February - new baby arrives, Evelyn still sleeping in the nursery, as baby will begin sleeping in our room anyway.
March - transition Evelyn to big girl room and bed. Once she is settled, which we are hoping won't take too long...move Baby into nursery.
The biggest things are that we are trying to help ease transitions over a few different periods of time so that we won't be dealing with hugely fussy toddler and hugely fussy baby at the same time. Also, that Evelyn never feels "kicked out" of her room or bed by the new baby.
SIGH. Cross your fingers for us. Maybe this will all be way too much planning and all the transitions will go simply and smoothly. Right? That's possible?
Evelyn Rae is 15 months old, I'm 23 weeks along with Baby Ferris
...and...who knew parenting would involve so much strategy?
Evelyn crawled/jumped/somersaulted/fell out of her crib.
True Story.
It was about midnight. She had been down since 7:30 or so, just like normal, and then out of the blue woke up and began fussing. I grabbed the monitor as I roused myself from 45 minutes of sleep to check out what was going on. I saw her making an effort to CLIMB OUT OF HER CRIB!
What?! This is new. And better yet, she was actually making progress!
So I jumped up, ran to her bedroom door, and as I put my hand on the knob, I heard it. A thud.
I opened the door, and there she was on her back, taking a gasp of air and then...then the moment that makes your heart thud as you wait and wait, that seems to stretch out forever and you think, "Just cry. Please just cry."
In reality it was probably a half a second, but then it happened. She cried. And I ran in and scooped her up into my arms, woke up my still sleeping husband and held that baby. She calmed down in about 2 minutes or so, btw. (I think she was more scared than anything else.)
---
In any case. It was scary. And spurned the discussion regarding what exactly we were going to do with Evelyn and sleeping in the future.
We thought we had her crib on the lowest possible setting. After investigating, however, we realized that we did not. That was quickly remedied.
In the meantime, she hasn't managed to climb out of her crib again just yet, but its not for lack of trying. Girlfriend throws her arms over the rail like she is about to hoist herself out of a pool, and then wedges her feet in between the crib slats and shimmies up as high as she can get.
So far, it's not high enough to get out...but she is getting pretty damn close. Watching her on the monitor is as much suspense as I can handle these days. We are constantly negotiating whether to let her calm herself down, or run in there and lay her back down. It is stressful. Thankfully, most nights she still goes down like an angel and rolls right over and goes to sleep. But on those random nights that we are dealing with teeth or some sort of cognitive dissonance - it is hard.
---
So, we begin having the real discussion about toddler beds, big girl beds, new baby coming and new sleeping arrangements and new rooms.
All the books and websites and forums of course say different things, but as the parents who actually know our baby girl, this is the plan we are shooting for in the next few months.
Right now - leave her in the crib, try to stretch out the crib sleeping as long as possible.
Decemberish - put the toddler bed rail on her crib, and gate on her bedroom door, hope to teach her to sleep on her own, in a bed she can escape from - albeit safely. If we can wait on this, we will.
Januaryish - have the "big girl" room all set up, with her big girl bed we have conveniently picked up in Wisconsin over Christmas, begin playing in the big girl room during the day. We really want the room to exist before the new baby gets here.
February - new baby arrives, Evelyn still sleeping in the nursery, as baby will begin sleeping in our room anyway.
March - transition Evelyn to big girl room and bed. Once she is settled, which we are hoping won't take too long...move Baby into nursery.
The biggest things are that we are trying to help ease transitions over a few different periods of time so that we won't be dealing with hugely fussy toddler and hugely fussy baby at the same time. Also, that Evelyn never feels "kicked out" of her room or bed by the new baby.
SIGH. Cross your fingers for us. Maybe this will all be way too much planning and all the transitions will go simply and smoothly. Right? That's possible?
Evelyn Rae is 15 months old, I'm 23 weeks along with Baby Ferris
...and...who knew parenting would involve so much strategy?
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
23 Weeks
Skin
The break outs have officially stopped. HALLELUJAH!
Weight/Clothes
I got to do my first real foray into fall clothes this weekend as I headed to the mountains for our annual friend/family trip. Besides the fact that it was SO FUN, I really liked my fall preggo clothes. I think I am going to wear the HELL out of my boots and am currently searching for a back up pair for my camel colored ones.
P.S. Clothes this week are again, non maternity ones, and though I LOVE these red jeans when I put them on in the morning...they sort of stretch out weirdly by the end of the day in the hips and um, crotch, area. (IS THERE A BETTER WORD FOR THAT?! SOMEONE TELL ME.)
Cravings/Aversions
I snack. I eat. I am overly NOT hungry most times. However, I still get cranky if I haven't eaten in a while. Weird.
Cramps/Pain
Lots of car riding this week so RLS and Sciatic pain were fun friends that came along. WHOMPS.
Lots of car riding this week so RLS and Sciatic pain were fun friends that came along. WHOMPS.
Sleeping
Just trying to get cozy, night after night. Sleeping so lightly is an especially hard curse when you have a baby monitor next to you all night. All those little noises Ev makes in the middle of the night as she is turning over or just getting cozy or whatever sit me STRAIGHT up in the middle of the night. For no reason. Oy.
Heartburn
Taking Zantac on the regular now. Only thing that helps.
Fetal Movement
Crazy baby kicking. Except when other people who are not my one year old are around. And she doesn't care. Which is pretty hilarious.
The Girls
Samesies. Interested to see when I might start producing colostrum again. It's not like it's been that long since I stopped lactating, my body better remember how to do it!
New this time around
Um, I am like the worst keeping up with pregnancy preggo ever. Like, I have no idea how big baby is supposed to be this week, etc. Occasionally, when I remember I check the Alphamom Pregnancy Calendar. That's about it.
Oh yeah, this again.
BOO HEARTBURN AND GENERAL FEELINGS OF DISCOMFORT. Maybe I just remember pregnancy with rose colored glasses, but the discomfort I feel like didn't come until later last time, though the midwives say it's totally normal, etc. etc. for second babies...still. It makes me cranky. And I don't like being cranky.
Mental State
See above. Cranky and unintentional about pregnancy. What the heck. Worst preggo ever, amirite? On the upside, I got to hang out with Shelby and Jessica this week and dish about pregnancy which made me feel SO NORMAL AGAIN. Oh yeah, others feel this too. And not just "other" but some of my best gal pals.
Evelyn Rae is fifteen months old, I am 23 weeks with Baby Bump
...and here is one for fun!
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Our Weekend
Yes, I realize it is WEDNESDAY and typically these posts come on a Monday. But, we were busy having family time Monday, and yesterday was rainy and gross and altogether unproductive. So, here it is.
This weekend was our 10 year Class Reunion! WHAT?! How are we that old?
This was pretty much the theme of every conversation this weekend, btw, that NONE of us felt old enough to be considered "real" grown ups with houses, kids, careers, etc. and yet, there we were.
A and I had an altogether great time, though mine would shave been better with a glass or two of wine, ha. I kid.
But, not really.
It was awesome getting to catch up with some people in person, rather than just on the book of faces.
Personally the most surprising/flattering thing about this weekend was just how many of my classmates follow this here little blog.
Women that I graduated with kept saying, "This is probably weird, but..." and then telling me how they actually read this thing!
I mean, whaaaa?!
That is so not weird. That is so, so flattering and I was v. v. thrown as to what to say in return, but am so touched. In case I never got it out properly when we were chatting and you are still reading beyond any awkwardness of my self this weekend...
I love that people read this blog, and I love hearing about it. I love reading blogs myself, so knowing that this little thing could even be a moment of entertainment or laughter for someone else is amazing and humbling. I am not gonna lie, like any other person out here on the inter webs, comments make my day on some days. So thanks for all your feedback and support.
Life is pretty hectic at the moment, hence the light blogging as of late, but I promise that I am not planning on "retiring" anytime soon.
Evelyn Rae is 14 months old, I am 22 weeks along with Baby Ferris
...and husband promised that he will be the designated driver at our 20 year reunion, so watch out! 38 year old Courtney is gonna be C-RAZY. ;)
This weekend was our 10 year Class Reunion! WHAT?! How are we that old?
This was pretty much the theme of every conversation this weekend, btw, that NONE of us felt old enough to be considered "real" grown ups with houses, kids, careers, etc. and yet, there we were.
A and I had an altogether great time, though mine would shave been better with a glass or two of wine, ha. I kid.
But, not really.
This is me being uber cool in the bathroom, taking a photo of my name tag (with senior photo!). The caption on Instagram read "Apparently my hair hasn't changed since my senior photo." which isn't strictly true, as I had a few years of short hair in college, etc. but here we are back to loose curls.
It was awesome getting to catch up with some people in person, rather than just on the book of faces.
Personally the most surprising/flattering thing about this weekend was just how many of my classmates follow this here little blog.
Women that I graduated with kept saying, "This is probably weird, but..." and then telling me how they actually read this thing!
I mean, whaaaa?!
That is so not weird. That is so, so flattering and I was v. v. thrown as to what to say in return, but am so touched. In case I never got it out properly when we were chatting and you are still reading beyond any awkwardness of my self this weekend...
Thanks.
I love that people read this blog, and I love hearing about it. I love reading blogs myself, so knowing that this little thing could even be a moment of entertainment or laughter for someone else is amazing and humbling. I am not gonna lie, like any other person out here on the inter webs, comments make my day on some days. So thanks for all your feedback and support.
Life is pretty hectic at the moment, hence the light blogging as of late, but I promise that I am not planning on "retiring" anytime soon.
Evelyn Rae is 14 months old, I am 22 weeks along with Baby Ferris
...and husband promised that he will be the designated driver at our 20 year reunion, so watch out! 38 year old Courtney is gonna be C-RAZY. ;)
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
22 Weeks
Nausea
None, well some foods seemed to disagree with me this weekend, but not too badly. I think it just may have been a tummy thing rather than pregnancy?
Skin
Good-ish. We had our class reunion this weekend (10 years!! WHAAA?!) and I felt pretty ok about the skin I had for my appearance. Makeup is doing well again (read: not melting off my face after an hour) and we seem to have normalized.
Weight/Clothes
Feeling good! Still not really wearing too many maternity clothes. Some of the jeans, but rocking my non-preggo ones too. They seem to fit my legs better right now. Today was a "Stay at Home and Recover" day, hence the SUPER CASUAL (read: schlub) outfit. But, hey, it's real.
Cravings/Aversions
I am so.not.hungry. by the end of the day. My stomach only has so much room in there, and I am not at all interested in cooking dinner (blech.) or being inspired by food by the end of the day. Poor husband.
Cramps/Pain
Some streching and moving pain this week. Round ligament. ALSO the return of my pregnancy RLS. Dammit. Lame. It is a real thing and it is MISERABLE.
Some streching and moving pain this week. Round ligament. ALSO the return of my pregnancy RLS. Dammit. Lame. It is a real thing and it is MISERABLE.
Sleeping
Did ok this week, can't sleep through hubby's alarm any more though. Super lame.
Heartburn
Doing...meh...ok. Still lingering there. Hasn't gotten better or worse.
Fetal Movement
I AM SEEING MY BELLY MOVE. Poor husband has not seen or felt. I continually ask him to watch and he continually JUST misses it. Whomps.
The Girls
Not sore, steadily getting bigger, but really only to the size they were when I was pregnant with Ev. So, big bras are back out. "Big" being a relative term. Wink. Husband has noticed though, OF COURSE.
New this time around
I am wearing a LOT more non maternity clothes than I was last time. Is that weird? I think it's because I am so much more casual being at home instead of working. Work pants don't really have any flexibility to them.
Oh yeah, this again.
The sleep thing. Is it worse because I don't have a Snoogle this time around? I keep meaning to grab one and then forget about it until I lay down again the next night. PREGGO BRAIN.
Mental State
Doing well. It was super weird seeing all these people that I haven't seen in years this weekend and being all "I'm a Stay at Home Mom." Not that I am ashamed or sad about that decision, but it is so relatively new to me as part of my identity, and they have no idea that I went and did all these other things, college, travelled the country, grad school, work, etc. Ok, well maybe they do, because of Facebook and social media and yadda yadda yadda. Still, just weird.
Evelyn Rae is fourteen months old, I am 22 weeks along with Baby Ferris
...and the bump is working out great as a shelf for holding my other baby!
Monday, October 8, 2012
Family Day
Dear Columbus,
Thanks for, you know, existing and exploring and sailing on the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria and all. Because today we get to spend the day snuggling as a family thanks to the US Government's arbitrary assignment of today as a day to celebrate all your accomplishments.
Husband, snuggly baby, dog who can't ever get enough love and I all appreciate it as we welcome Fall in the best way ever - hanging in pajamas and loving on each other. With soup. And cinnamon rolls. And cocoa.
Love,
Me.
Evelyn Rae is fourteen months old, I am 22 weeks along with Baby Ferris
...and I know posting was light last week, but I am still here, just living in the moment today. Xoxo
Thanks for, you know, existing and exploring and sailing on the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria and all. Because today we get to spend the day snuggling as a family thanks to the US Government's arbitrary assignment of today as a day to celebrate all your accomplishments.
Husband, snuggly baby, dog who can't ever get enough love and I all appreciate it as we welcome Fall in the best way ever - hanging in pajamas and loving on each other. With soup. And cinnamon rolls. And cocoa.
Love,
Me.
Evelyn Rae is fourteen months old, I am 22 weeks along with Baby Ferris
...and I know posting was light last week, but I am still here, just living in the moment today. Xoxo
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