Resolutions

I am not one to really make new year's resolutions, but there are a few goals I have set for 2014.

1) Purge!  I know we are getting a bigger house and with a bigger house comes more space and with more space, you can store more crap.  Well, I don't want to store crap.  I already have a list of things in my mind that are currently in our storage unit that will be given away/donated/sold soon after we move in.  I want our house to have a fresh start and I really want to live a more minimalist type lifestyle.  I don't want to hold on to things that I/we don't use.  We will be going through household items, toys, clothes, knickknacks and memorabilia as we unpack.  And come April I will have either a lot of boy clothes or girl clothes to purge!

2) Patience! I want to have more patience this year.  I don't know if it is just my pregnancy hormones, stress from building a house or a combination of life in general, but I have felt very short fused lately.  I want to focus on not stressing about things that I cannot control and focusing more on what I can control.  This will be hard for me because I'm a total control freak.

3) Be a better mother.  I don't think I am a bad mother by any means, but patience with the kids is something I think most parents can improve on.  I am reading a parenting book and I hope to take a different approach with some of my parenting tactics.  Marissa is at a very independent, defiant age.  I want to be able to effectively communicate with her; rather than getting frustrated when she doesn't do what I ask the first (or fifth) time.  I want to stop making idle threats of taking away tablet time, TV, etc. and find a way for us to both get what we want.  I also want to be more firm when I say no to something.  The book discusses standing by your decisions and not letting anyone sway you.

4) Healthy Habits. I think overall we eat fairly healthy, but I want to get back on track with cooking homemade meals.  It has been hard with everything going on with the house, but chicken nuggets and PB&J for the kids, and fast food/quick meals for us is not cutting it.  I can really tell when I've been eating horribly because my hands begin to swell from too much sodium.  It is also my goal to ensure the kids are getting well rounded meals and to really cut back on some of their junk food intake.  They are probably considered deprived compared to some kids, but their eating habits today may impact them for the rest of their lives.  You don't need dessert every night and more often than not, healthy snacks are better and more filling than sweet, sugary, carb loaded ones.  I don't want to deny them all sweets or do anything drastic, but I want to set them up for healthy eating habits that I hope last a lifetime.

5) Nurture.  This kind of goes along with my patience goal, but I want to nurture my marriage more.  I know it is hard with two kids, another on the way, building a house, work and life in general; but I want to make sure that we get date nights, one on one time together and that we communicate effectively.  Danny is the whole reason I have two children, with another on the way, a new house that we will soon call home and he is the reason for my life.  Corny, I know...but he really is my soul mate and without him this wouldn't be my life.  I don't know where I would be, what I would be doing or who I would be with, but I know I wouldn't have these little people in my life that I call family.  Not that the kids will ever take a back seat to our marriage, but I think it's important for couples to put their marriage first.  I would be lost without them and Danny has forever changed my life.

So that's what I have in store for 2014.  Here's to hoping it is a happy, healthy new year!

Bringing in the New Year with Third Tri Exhaustion!

If anyone is wondering where I've been, it is obvious to say I have not been in the blogger world.  Life is absolutely crazy and hectic for us right now.  And we're adding in another baby in approximately 3 months...what were we thinking?! ;)

Christmas has come and gone.  To say we were busy is an understatement.  We traveled 6 hours south to visit my brother in law.  Then traveled to my parent's house on Christmas Eve-Eve and stayed until Christmas day.  Then we headed back home to have lots of family (5 nephews!) come to visit for Dylan's birthday and our family Christmas celebrations.  Last night when everyone had gone home and the kids were in bed I felt like I had been hit by a ton of bricks.  I think all of the travel, excitement, cooking, cleaning, wrapping presents, lack of sleep, opening presents, more cleaning, colds for the kids, birthday parties and Christmas celebrations caught up to me.  I am coming into the third trimester next week and I can definitely tell that the baby is growing and I am getting tired more easily.  I know I am going to need energy for when we move into the new house, but right now it just feels so far away.

Other than exhaustion, I have been feeling pretty good.  My sciatic nerve pain has flared back up again, though.  I think from sleeping on different beds, being in the car too long, on my feet for too long and just not taking my normal precautions has caused it to start hurting again.  Hopefully things can settle down for a few weeks and I can get it under control before moving.  The baby feels like he/she is sitting so low already; I am hoping the little one decides to move up soon.  I am still getting lots of movement, though Danny hasn't really felt the baby much.  I am still leaning towards it being a boy.  We haven't even really discussed names yet, we should probably get on that soon!  I'm officially down to the double digits; 96 days until my EDD! Eeeek!

In other news, the house is slowly coming along.  Things were really rolling there for awhile but due to the holidays it seems like things have really slowed down.  It is kind of disappointing, as it feels like they've forgotten about us, but hopefully by the end of January we will be new home owner's.  It has been such a headache and just one thing after another from getting the home loan, to staying on top of the builder, to finalizing everything from cabinets, floors, paint colors, etc.  I will be happy to put this behind us and start 2014 in a new home with our new family.  The 120 days from "start to finish" has almost come and gone and it is a little disappointing to not be in our house yet.  I know it will all come in due time.

Danny and I are going to go check things out today, but last we saw the dry wall was up and primed, the trim was done and the interior doors were in.  Floors will start on the 2nd and they said they should be done by the 9th.  Then they will install all of the electrical outlets, lights and fixtures.  Cabinets will go in once the floors are complete, plumbing has to be finished and then we will be almost ready to call it home!  The siding still needs to be finished on the front of the house and the garage doors need to be installed.  I know there is still a lot left to do, but it should be coming together soon.

I have tons of pictures to share from the last few weeks!

The birthday boy! Dylan turns 2.

Christmas morning at MiMi and PupPups

Making Christmas cookies for Santa. 

 Fun at Bristol Raceway

Visiting Santa

Christmas parade with friends 

No updated house pictures...hopefully once the siding is done. :)

Thanksgiving and December Already?!

Here we are, Thanksgiving has come and gone and we're 25 days from Christmas.  It just doesn't feel like the holidays this year since we don't have our own home.  We will be traveling near and far to visit with family over the holidays; so hopefully that gets us in the spirit!  I know it will all be worth it in the end, but we are ever so ready to turn our new house into a home.  I want to fill it with love, laughter, hearty meals with my family, snuggles and the crazy train that is our life.  We are getting so close I can almost taste it.  Seeing progress on the house each day gets us one step closer to being home.  We're very thankful for having a place to live the last 7(ish) months, but it is time to get back to our family of four and settle into our new home before our world is rocked once again with a new baby.

We had our 20 week ultrasound almost two weeks ago.  I don't know how I managed to go almost 3 weeks without posting.  I guess we have been so busy that it really hasn't been on my mind lately.   Anyway, we remained team green during our ultrasound.  When the tech could have told us what the sex of the baby is, he or she (I'm thinking he, you'll see why...) had his/her hand between his/her legs.  Just like a boy!  So the tech said it must have been a sign that we weren't supposed to find out what we're having.

I'm 22 weeks along today.  I've been feeling relatively well.  I have had some insomnia the past week or so.  I seem to be waking around 4 AM and I'm wide awake until about 6 AM.  Then the kids are up around 7 or 8; so I've been feeling a bit tired.  I haven't been having any cravings or many symptoms.  I've had a little indigestion here and there.  The baby moves quite a bit throughout the day.  I felt his or her hiccups for the first time this week.  Pretty uneventful; which I'll gladly take.

I'm trying to soak it all in as this will be my last pregnancy but honestly, I've been so busy that the days are just flying by.  I was looking at my pregnancy app and at the end of the month I will be in the double digits until my due date.  It's hard to focus on how my body is changing, all of the movements and typical pregnancy ups and downs when you already have two children to care for.

This pregnancy will be over before I know it and we will have a new squishy baby to care for.  I'm a little nervous about being outnumbered and I'm not looking forward to the postpartum stage.  While I know that people want to see the baby and visit, I tend to want some alone time after bringing the baby home (unless of course they are dropping off dinner). ;)  Or to have visitors in small spurts.    I want time to "get to know" the baby, read their cues and to frankly just be able to veg out on the couch, nurse when/where I want, nap, or even cry when I feel like I need to and not feel like I have to entertain.  My personality doesn't really allow me to just relax when people are over.  It takes a little while for my hormones and emotions to level out and I just have a hard time when I feel like I have to bottle up my feelings for other people.  I know Danny and I will need help with Marissa and Dylan, though.  It's such a double edged sword.  As Danny says, I over think everything and anticipation seems to be my worst enemy, but he doesn't quite get postpartum hormones, either.  Such a conundrum.

Well, the kiddo's are up; there's laundry to do and juice cups to fill. Happy Sunday!

Moving Right Along

It's November!  I'm not quite sure how that happened.  It has been almost 7 months since we sold our first house and each day that passes gets us closer to our new home.  The back and left elevation is completely finished with siding.  All of the windows are in (except one transom in the Jack & Jill bath) and our front porch was poured last Friday.  The roof to the porch should also go up sometime this week or next.  The electrician is coming in this week and plumbing is wrapping up.  Our builder told us yesterday that we are on track for the 120 days from start to finish; so if everything goes smoothly we should be closing early to mid January.  It has been a lot of fun picking out everything for the house.  We finalized our cabinets and we should be picking out floors soon.

I am in love with the bay window!  I think it is going to let in a lot of natural light, which was definitely lacking in our last house.  Maybe I can do a little newborn photo shoot once we're all settled in and the new baby comes!

Speaking of the new baby...in one week we will have our 20 week ultrasound.  This is normally the big ultrasound that every pregnant woman waits for because they get to find out what sex they are having.  However, Danny and I are still holding to our guns that we want this one to be a surprise on D(elivery)-Day!  It's fun telling people that we're team green because we usually get one of two reactions.  1) Good for you, there are very few surprises in life! or 2) Are you crazy?  

I really want that special moment in the delivery room where Danny tells me "It's a ...!"  I feel like it will make the whole birthing experience that much more exciting and really give me that extra incentive to meet our baby and get through labor.  This will be a moment that only Danny and I will get to share together and in the past we've bonded during labor and delivery in such intimate ways that he's the only person I want to share this with (well, except for the doctor and nurses, of course). Plus, it will be exciting for Danny to come out and tell our families that we've been blessed with another boy or another girl.  They say patience is a virtue, so I suggest every one puts on their waiting hats for the next 20 weeks!

Not much else is going on with the baby front.  So far I've gained about 3 pounds.  Not craving much at all; though I have almost gone through an entire bag of deer jerky since Sunday!  My sciatic nerve pain is mostly under control as long as I avoid sitting or lying down in certain positions and I am not on my feet or sitting for too long at one time.  My head aches have subsided and overall I am feeling really good.  A little more tired than normal but I can't complain too much.

Marissa and Dylan both know that there's a baby in my belly and it's pretty cute to ask Dylan where the baby is.  He is talking so much more now and his little personality is really showing.  It is hard to believe next month he will be 2!

Slowly Getting There

We are almost completely under roof!  Things should be getting exciting soon.  We were told siding goes on next week!  Eek!

We Have a Roof!

The roof was put on the house this past week and they plan to have all interior framing done this week. There are two gables on the roof that need to be done and the bathroom needs to be framed in over the garage.  They might have to order the tub first, though.  It's really coming along and it is really exciting to see the progress.  We haven't been given a firm date on when we will be closing, which is kind of disappointing.  I want to have a date already!  I guess as long as we get in the house in enough time for me to nest, I will be happy.  Hopefully no later than January.

 

17 Week Update

I haven't been the best at tracking this pregnancy.  I had my 16 week appointment last Tuesday and everything is looking great.  The baby's heartbeat was in the 140's.  I had a period of about two weeks where I was getting really bad headaches but things seem to be settling down again.  My midwife confirmed that I likely have sciatic nerve pain on my left side.  She gave me some tips to help relieve the pain and if all else fails she suggested a chiropractor who specializes in pregnancy and sciatic nerve relief.  I swear I think sciatic nerve pain is more painful than labor!

So far I have gained 2 pounds.  I am hoping to keep my weight gain to a minimum this time, we'll see how that goes.  No real cravings.  Sometimes I crave chocolate, sometimes I crave salty foods and sometimes I crave cheeseburgers or air heads or milk.  I'm all over the place.  I am still thinking this one is a boy, though a few people have guessed girl.  My next appointment is November 19th and that is when we could find out the sex of the baby.  If we can both keep strong, we will keep that surprise for delivery day, though. :)

I've had a few Braxton hicks contractions.  I seem to have about one a day.  Nothing serious; but I guess my body remembers what to do.

Marissa has changed from "We're having a baby girl and her name will be Gracie" to "we're having another DD (Dylan)" to "we're having a boy AND a girl."  Silly girl!

I want to keep track of a few old wives tales; just so I can look back and see if any are accurate.

-Chinese Gender Chart says - boy

-Cravings - I've craved sweet, salty and meat so it could go boy or girl

-Morning sickness with Dylan, morning sickness this time - boy

-Face breaking out - girl

-Carrying high - girl

-Heartbeat in the 150's at the 12 week appointment - boy (Dylan's was also in the 150's)

-Moody - girl

It will be so exciting to hear Danny announce "it's a..." 

I can't believe I am almost half way through.  Pure craziness!

16w3d