My Pregnancy Must Haves

I feel like I have been pregnant my entire life these days! Although its a short blip in time some days it feels never ending. Here is a list of things I must have to survive...

1. Boppy Pregnancy Pillow or any body pillow would do. This thing is heavenly, especially at the end when you are a beached whale and it takes 10 minutes to roll from side to side. Mark likes to steal this when I get out of bed.

 

2. A good water bottle, I still use the one I got in the hospital. It is big and clunky and spills all the time, but it holds so much water and I drag it around everywhere.

 

3. Long tank tops. I am tall and not all pregnancy shirts fit me well. Long tank tops under everything.

 

4. A stash of my go to cravings:

 

 

5. A good bra...keeping those growing babies supported, underwire not tight and covers my growing back fat.

 

 

And a husband who is willing to deal with your mood swings, your fatigue, your complaints,and the millions of baby items you bring into the house. 



It's the Little Things...

Its been a crazy few weeks around here....I am officially done with work as I am seriously slowing down because of my contractions, a nasty bout with the flu, getting things ready for baby and Thanksgiving. We are working on getting Christmas decorations up and just patiently waiting for #2. The holidays are not stressing me out, all of our shopping is done and I am just trying to make our house as homey and Christmasey as possible as I am hibernating before baby. I am also trying to enjoy every second with Leah, she is becoming so silly and animated and have I mentioned cute? AHH snuggling every chance I get.  It is the little things around here that have been making me happy...here is a short list

- sticky finger prints on my appliances, windows and mirrors. I know I will miss those one day
- I opened up 3 different drawers yesterday to find a stash of pacifiers and blocks that Leah must have placed. It made me smile.
- The pink lint from the dryer- such girly-ness going on this house.
- a stack of freshly washed newborn boy clothes waiting to go to hospital. They look so tiny and so "boyish" All that time I wanted a boy while pregnant with Leah and now I can't imagine actually having one.
- We got electric candles for all the windows for night time...just makes me think of "silent night, holy night" Except we rarely have a silent night around here and won't be having one anytime soon.
- I washed my sling to get ready for #2, made me think of all the hours Leah spent in there snuggled up to my chest....ahh newborns!
- A freshly filled water bottle that Mark leaves laying around even though I know he hates filling it up.

Just a few ordinary day things I am noticing and appreciating.  What little things do you appreciate?

Prepping for birth- round 2

I hit 35 weeks, in no means am I am in the clear as we would probably still have a small hospital stay if BBF were to come, but I am starting to relax on the scares of a premature baby. Nothing is ever 100%- I see undiagnosed birth defects weekly and a "routine" delivery gone wrong all the time, but the commodities associated with premature birth are slightly fading from my daily thoughts.  So in thinking about giving birth again I'm getting nervous and excited. I feel way more "prepared" this time around if there is such a thing. I am praying I go on my own again, like I did with Leah. My water breaking in the middle of the night as not so terrible at all. It made the hospital less busy, it was quiet and the only people to make it to the hospital before she was born were my parents. PERFECT. I did not have to "entertain" and afterwards was quiet and intimate an a special moment for our family. To go again in the middle of the night presents a little more of a challenge because we do have Leah now. SOOOO we have Dave and Heather as our on call babysitters for the middle of the night until my parents and or sister can get here. Praying this all goes smoothly.

With every experience you learn what you like and what you don't like so....

Things I will do differently:
- I will not text everyone and their mother about my water breaking at 1:30 in the am :)
- I will be prepared for the constant vomiting I was not ready for with Leah
- I will try my best not to freak out if there is meconium again
- I will speak up a little bit more about the NICU team attending my delivery (if needed)
- I will not diagnose my baby with down syndrome 3minutes after birth...whoops :)
- I will try to limit the number of visitors - not that I minded too much last time, but Mark had a hard time with the constant non family visitors. It is such an exciting time that I think I forgot we both needed to rest as delivery was stressful for him too (pulling emergency cords, meconium, seeing the panic in my eyes)
- We sent Leah to the nursery both nights, I have already tod Mark this baby is not leaving my side and a baby needs to be with it's mother (in my most Caroline(grandma) voice) --let the craziness begin.
- I will not beat myself up as this list goes out the window depending on the circumstances! :)

Things I will do the same:
 -  Get to the hospital fairly quickly- eases my mind
-  Have no residents or students present
-  Nurse that baby until my heart is content
-  Nurse in front of people (with a cover) and if it makes them uncomfortable they can leave.
- Probably get an epidural, I had a great experience with it.

I think that's it for now...wish us luck!!!

My little cutie!

Mark and I finished our 1,000 piece puzzle finally... I think we are going to start another one. Can you say old folks!

Im actually starting to feel somewhat organized around my house. I made a master organization list and have been checking things off slowly but surely.  Mark is good at helping me figure out "systems" that work for me and my ability to destroy things when Im in  rush or stressed. I got some cute chalkboard labels, cute file folders, pens, etc which helps me because it does make it look better in my eyes. I think this is called "nesting" and in between contractions Im getting some done.

About 90% of my Christmas is shopping is done. Mark and I made our list and budget and pretty much knocked it out in a week. I did it mostly online and got some great deals. I have one "secret santa" left to shop for and it will not be easy! Im excited for Christmas already which is not like me so trying not to overlook Thanksgiving because I love stuffing!!

Leah's new room is coming along nicely. Im waiting on  few other projects to get done, but I finished her crib skirt, got some few new accessories, organizing her closet and some decorations. It looks pretty dag on cute. She is also starting to walk around here all the time...adorable! I will post some pictures soon.

Happy Halloween

We enjoyed our second Halloween with Leah. We pretty much get the heck out of dodge in our neighborhood, too many older kids not dressed circling the block for candy...not our cup of tea. So we headed off to Dave and Heather's for a fun filled night! All the kids looked adorable and had a great time. Leah did great until she face planted as she was trying to walk and got a huge rug burn on her face...it was all down hill from there. Needless to say there was not much sleep to be had in our house last night so we are going to be recovering today!



attempt to get a pic of the Franklin Grandkids

Second Attempt



The dads doing some trick or treating!

Hayden and Leah

Mid afternoon walk!