Wednesday, January 25, 2012

2nd Trimester Recap

Whew, we've made it through the loooong trimester and are officially on the homestretch - YAY! I am amazed at how excited I am to meet my little baby #3, even though I know I am going to be SO busy!

So way back a few months ago, I posted my first trimester recap. I am making a mini-scrapbook diary of every week of my pregnancy. I won't bore everyone with the details but will give a very brief recap of what the weeks were like:

14 Weeks: The week I NEEDED a Taco Bell bean burrito every night!


Week 15: The week I NEEDED root beer (yeah, cravings were in full force at the start of the second trimester!)


Week 16: 4 Month Belly Picture (posted further down)

Week 17: Baby is the size of a turnip!
Week 18: The week the cleaning bug hit (and amazingly this one stuck around for several weeks!)
Week 19: Holly Heartburn Batman! Tums are my friend!
Week 20: Got to see our precious little one on ultrasound! So much fun!


Week 21: 5 Month Belly Pic (posted further down)

Week 22: Baby is the size of Papaya (and a little over a whole pound!)
Week 23: The week the scale took off (sigh)

Week 24: 6 Month belly pic (posted further down)

Week 25: The week I didn't want to get out of bed! Welcome back exhaustion!

Week 26: The return of Cereal - Yum Yum Yum!



And here's the belly pic progression by month:





I am just one week shy of my next belly pic and this kid is GROWING!

So here we are at the trimester we've been anticipating and waiting for. The trimester my doctor promises to watch me like a hawk and the one that I have been nervous about approaching. We don't know what caused Eli to come early, so we have to be prepared for anything. It could have been a total fluke and I will make it full term this time (praying for that!) or I could be at risk of going even earlier this time. We are preparing for the worst as I have been having lots of problems with contractions, but I am hopeful with close monitoring and resting as much as possible that we will make it at least as far as we did with Eli - but I am REALLY hoping for the 38-41 week range this time!

So onward we grow :)

Thursday, January 19, 2012

A Day in the Life - Third Installment

About every 6 months I like to record a typical day in the life of our family. My family is changing so quickly and it is kind of fun to get to go back and look at what was a "normal" day in my life as a stay-at-home mom.

You can back track a year ago with me to when Malachi was about 8 months old and I was very pregnant to read installment 1: Here (haha, life a year ago was sooo much simpler!)

Or backtrack six months to when Malachi was about 15 months and Eli was about 5 months old by checking out installment 2: Here

This reminds me so much of how quickly things change and I cannot even imagine what my life is going to look like for installment #4 :)

For this installment: Malachi is 21 months, Elias is 11 months, and I am currently 26 weeks pregnant!

7:30 AM - Eli is awake. I slowly wake up and get out of bed and brush my teeth and go get the little booger! Time for the first diaper change of the day, which required a wardrobe change, but since Eli's clothes are now in Mal's room I didn't have anything to put him into. I guess I need to rethink this a little and stash some spare clothes in Eli's room. Eli is not impressed with his lack of clothing.

8:00 - I was able to scrounge up a onesie for the boy and after a little bit of playtime it is now time for breakfast #1 for Eli (I'll explain more on that later). Today he got cream of wheat, some raspberry yogurt, and milk. Again, he is not so impressed with this morning picture taking business.



8:30 - Eli is done with breakfast and ready to play! This gives me a chance to grab a quick breakfast and take a look at our budget. I like to check this out every morning because it really helps me keep on track with our spending. In the meantime I check out a few other things online (blogs, facebook, couponing sites - yada yada yada).

After I eat, it is time to get the daily chores out of the way. For me that is putting in a load of laundry, emptying the dishwasher, making our bed, and today it also included mopping some floors that were really irritating me!

Then a bit of playtime with the little man!

9:30 - Malachi finally wakes up. He is sleeping a lot right now, so must be growing again. The first thing he wanted to do was look out the window for snow. He's a little bit confused because here he is pointing at the "snow" outside. No son, that would be buckets of rain falling from the sky!


After a quick hello to the dogs, the snow, and Eli he is ready for a diaper change and some clothes! I am also now able to get some pants put on Eli!


But not so fast, Eli stinks - diaper change #3 for mommy!

9:45 AM - Breakfast for Malachi and breakfast #2 for Eli. Eli usually wakes up an hour or two before Malachi, which means he needs breakfast early. Well, Eli is also hungry hungry hippo, so he always wants to eat again when Malachi gets breakfast. To simplify this - I just feed them both breakfast on the run - go ahead and judge me :)


10:00 - Playtime! This entails some Sesame Street watching, some running around like crazy, Malachi asking for snacks and constant refills of his sippy cup. Today Malachi was having a lot of fun playing with some cars and trying to pull me into his tent - sorry bub, that's not going to happen these days. Mommy's too fat!

I also spend a little bit of time working with Eli on his walking skills. He is still not very confident that he can do it. Yes, I am bribing my son to take steps with Peanut Butter Chips - again, judge me :)

And lots more playtime. Eli can usually be found in Malachi's shadow.



11:15 - Awesome - another stinky diaper. Does this make change #4 for mommy already?

11:45 - Lunch for the boys. For Eli - pbj and applesauce. Malachi - PBJ, applesauce and popcorn. Eli looks a little freaked out here, he didn't really like the airpopper.


12:15 - the boys are back to playing and mommy is already wearing down! Time to throw in another load of laundy, clean up the kitchen, and grab something quick to eat - baby is letting me know s/he is hungry!

12:30 - Malachi is a little bit.... fragrant. For some reason he is really fighting diaper changes right now. He runs away from me, hides in the corner, and is dead weight when I try to pick him up. So his disobedience earned him a quick little visit to the timeout spot before diaper change #5. Mommy isn't a huge fan of diaper change time either Malachi.


And back to the races Malachi goes. This cracked me up, because he put all of his favorite things in the tent with him - even his lotion. Not every lotion is created equal in Malachi's eyes - he loves the apple lotion.

1:00 - Finally nap time. Nappy nap Eli!


1:30 - Malachi joins Eli in nightnight land! (after diaper change #6 for the day)


Once the boys were down, I took about an hour to relax (remember, I'm supposed to be taking it easy) before starting on a few things around the house. Put in a 3rd load of laundry for the day, did some more house cleaning - the never ending task! And made some brownies for our at home date night tonight!

3:30 - Eli is awake. Diaper change #7 is made and then time for a few snacks!

and of course more playtime and chasing mommy!

4:30 - Malachi is awake. What follows is diaper change #8 - same old, same old. The first thing Malachi did after nap was do a quick check for snow - sorry buddy.

More playtime for the little men.


5:00 - dinner for the boys. Since this is our typical Thursday night date night, we would usually go out, but with the torrential down pouring, we decided to make it a night inside. Daddy would be bringing dinner home for the adults, so it was leftovers for the boys - chicken, peas, mashed potatoes, and mandarin oranges.



5:20 - Daddy walks in the door and the crowd goes wild. Mommy and baby #3 are very happy to see some yummy Baja Fresh (and of course Daddy too)!

5:30 - After Daddy gets out of his work clothes, the boys are ready for lots of playtime with Daddy! Peter does a great job of wearing the boys out when he gets home from work. First stop, Mal insists that daddy must go in his tent.


This is when I usually escape to get a few more household tasks done, tonight it was changing the boys bedding and folding laundry and getting my shower finally!

Then it was more playtime with my boys! Peter and I worked with Eli on walking and actually got 4 or 5 steps out of him tonight - he was so proud of himself! The race between first tooth and walking is still on!

7:00 - Bathtime! This is a task that Peter has taken on and I am so grateful he does it now because I am getting too big to maneuver well around the tub. It's a rambunctious and LOUD bunch in the bathtub!

7:15 - I take Eli, Peter takes Malachi. All lotioned up and ready for jammies!

In the meantime Malachi gets his jammies too!


Someone's getting sleepy

7:30 - Daddy does Malachi's hair.

7:45 - Time for a bedtime snack with Daddy and a little more Sesame Street. They LOVE their nights with Daddy!

And a last few minutes of playtime! (Wow, look at all those tiny handprints in my window. Something to add to my list for tomorrow)


8:00 - Eli gets his nighttime bottle (the only one he still takes) Night night little Peaches and Cream.

And someone else is getting a little sleepy. Now I wondering just how many of these pictures have Elmo in them :)

By the time Malachi gets down for the night (a couple minutes behind Eli) I am usually dinking around on the computer. So Malachi loves to wave bye bye to mommy on his way up the stairs. Night night precious one!


Whew, by this point we are both usually worn out and my back is killing me! I am just so thankful I have such an amazingly supportive and helpful husband! We usually take a little bit of time to ourselves to vegetate and then come back together around 9 to either watch a tv show or read together. Tonight, since it is a stay at home date night we rented MoneyBall and will be enjoying our time together.

I know this all probably seems so lame and boring, but this is my life right now and I truly do enjoy the mundane things. Playing with my boys is a lot of fun and getting out of the house with them right now is not an easy task - so we spend a lot of time just hanging out which I honestly think has been great for Malachi as he continues to bond and attach to us. At the same time, it is hard and busy and I am exhausted by the end of the day. Okay, this is long enough - time to go enjoy my date time with my hubby!