Bubbles!!

M is currently infatuated with bubbles (what toddler isn't?!), so I wanted to find a homemade recipe that worked so I wouldn't have to spend a fortune on bubble stuff. I found and tested this recipe using corn starch and it worked. It does get better with age like the recipe says. The detergent also makes a difference. I originally made it with Palmolive, but blue Joy worked better.

Homemade bubble solution (from suite101.com):

Ingredients:

1/2 gallon of water
1/2 cup dishwashing liquid (Joy or Dawn works best.)
1/4 cup glycerine, corn syrup, or one package (about 1/4 ounce) of unflavored gelatin.

Directions:

Mix ingredients together in a wide container.
If using immediately, try not to agitate the solution. Foamy solution does not make the best bubbles. If the solution become too foamy, wait for it to settle.
Find straws, tea strainers, funnels, sieves, etc. for making bubbles. Dip these in the bubble solution.
Blow or wave bubbles into the air.
Store any leftover solution in a a closable container. The bubble solution will get better with age.

Operation Garden 2012

If you've followed my blog awhile you're probably wondering why there hasn't been a garden post yet this year (or not??). We've done a huge vegetable garden in our yard since we moved here back in 2008. This year we had every intention of planting again only half the square footage we normally do. It just never happened because I was too hugely pregnant to get down and dirty and since we don't have our own tiller yet we couldn't justify the cost (and hassle) of renting one for a smaller spot this year.

A.R. does most of the early hard labor tilling the land, so I wouldn't have had to do a ton early on except start seedlings and show him how to plant them. With a new baby due in June I knew my time would be limited to weed and maintain the garden, though, and A.R. doesn't have the patience for weeding. Plus, after our horrible squash bug infestation last year I did some reading and the best way to kill them naturally is to not plant for a season so the eggs die. Since we feed veggies from our garden to our kids not using chemicals is key to us.

We both still really wanted something home grown this year and on a recent trip to Home Depot we decided we didn't have to give it all up. A Topsy Turvy or two hung on our porch would work perfectly! This spring, operation garden 2012 started on our porch. M and A.R. set up our Topsy Turvies together with some serious father-daughter bonding and we also bought a strawberry planter as well. We hope to transplant the strawberries to our yard at the end of the season.

We planted two tomato plants in the Topsy Turvies and they are growing awesome so far. At last count we had just over a half dozen tomatoes growing, but they have yet to ripen. I hope they do soon as we haven't had a home grown tomato since our first summer here. Last year they just didn't grow well and the year before our state had horrible tomato blight and they rotted before ripening. I can't wait to have my first tomato and mayo sandwich this summer!! :)

Next year, I hope our "real" garden will return full swing. We have great plans for it including edging part of it using raspberry and blueberry bushes as a natural fence.

It's a BOY!!

On June 5th at 1:24am we welcomed our son, Evan, and our family of three became four. He weighed 8lb 4oz and was 20" long (at least that's the length the hospital used- just ten days later at the pedi he was 21 1/4" and she checked twice to be sure! There's no way he grew an inch and a quarter in 10 days.). His Apgars were 8 and 9 and he is just perfect with his tiny nose, long fingers, fuzzy baby hair, and cute little lips.

The adjustment to two kids has been pretty smooth to the point where we keep waiting for the crap to hit the fan and all hell to break loose. We heard lots of horror stories about how tough the transition would be so we were leery at first, but so far so good. To be honest the adjustment from no kids to one was harder for us. This time around we knew what to expect, my milk came in before I left the hospital (which made a huge difference on night #1 at home- i.e. crying hungry baby vs. sleeping happy baby) and maybe we're just used to the sleep deprivation at this point. Yes, E is up in the night and yes, we're tired, but it's nothing like when M came home. Plus, we now have the added bonus of seeing our sweet girl become an awesome big sister. I can't begin to describe how incredibly happy and fulfilled I feel being a mom of two.  I feel so incredibly blessed to have our little family.

Now, the part you've been waiting for...the birth story. I'll do a summary by time first and then type all the nitty gritty details for those who aren't afraid of a little TMI. :) My induction due to gestational diabetes, polyhydramnios, and aging placenta began on June 4th.


Summary by time:
~1pm Pitocin started. Admitted at 2cm 50% effaced, -3 station. Was already having sporadic contractions on my own. Labored for 7 hours this way using Hypnobirthing techniques.
~8pm My OB broke my water at which point I was 2-3cm and 80% effaced.
~9pm AWFUL Pitocin contractions with little break between and some double peaks. At a solid 3cm. Internal monitor placed on baby because he wouldn't stay on the strip and I needed to move around to work through contractions.
~9:40pm Oh sweet relief from epidural. Pitocin was at a 15 (max dose is 21- I wouldn't get above an 18 dosage).
~Just before 11pm had break through pains all over my belly. Rolled to other side and it helped maybe for 30-45 minutes. 4cm dilated


June 5th:
~12am Felt EXTREME pain every contraction in pelvis and pubic area.  Epi boosted. Still 4cm. 
~12:30am Pain worse, epi  boost did nothing. Anesthesia called to my room to check epidural. Now 8cm. Resident and OB called to room as I was progressing quickly. 
~12:40am Felt pressure to push in addition to contractions.  Checked and fully dilated. At the same time Anesthesia arrived to my room to check failed epidural, but it would be too late. 
~1:00am Started pushing.
~1:24am Evan was born!


Bottom line: My epidural failed as I progressed too quickly in the end.  I went from 4cm to complete in 40 minutes.  I felt the entire birth, but it was sure worth it!  The hospital, my OB, and staff were great in working with me so that I could attempt as much of a hypnobirth as I could with the circumstances of the induction.

Long version for those who want the nitty gritty details and aren't scared of a little TMI:
We arrived at the hospital on Monday, June 4th, at 11:30am to begin the induction process and it took a little while to get the orders from my OB and get me hooked up to the IVs.  I discussed my options on how I was to be induced.  I asked for my water to be broken before doing Pitocin in the hopes my body would take over on its own and I could avoid drugs.  This wasn't an option for me as I had polyhydramnios and the baby was still high and the risk of cord prolapse was too great.  Cervadil also wasn't an option since my cervix was already dilated, soft, effaced, and favorable.  Pitocin it was, but at least I asked.  The resident came in and did a quick ultrasound to make sure baby was still head down and then we waited for the IVs to get things rolling.  The first IV didn't take in my left hand, so a different nurse tried again in my right arm.  Pitocin and antibiotics were started.  I was Strep B positive and had to get antibiotics every few hours throughout my labor.

The next seven hours were fairly uneventful as I labored along.  I could feel contractions right away and was contracting every few minutes the entire time using my hypnobirthing techniques to work through the more difficult contractions.  I was able to smile, nap, laugh, talk, watch TV, move around the room, go to the bathroom, and play on my phone (I even read some of Fifty Shades of Grey on iBook on my phone!) throughout this time.  I labored for awhile in the rocking chair, on the birthing ball, and various positions in bed.  Our sweet boy was stubborn and wouldn't stay on the monitor, so our nurse kept having me rotate in and out of bed so she could make sure he was handling the Pitocin okay.  My nurse during this time (until 11pm) was fabulous.  I can't remember her name other than it was unique and not one I'd heard before.  She respected my birth plan or what was left of it and didn't say certain key words ("pain", "hurt", asking me to rate it on a scale, etc.), she kept our room lights dimmed, and when things got more intense she spoke with A.R. instead of interrupting my concentration.  The most annoying thing during this time period was the blood pressure checks- that cuff HURT!- and what felt like constant glucose checks.  At 7:30 my OB came by wanting to break my water so that I got a bit more uncomfortable as my Pitocin dosage was already at a 15 and increasing, but I was still comfortable and not really dilating, just effacing.  I knew that once my water was broken things would get intense, so I procrastinated for about a half hour to prepare myself mentally, got my hypnobirth music and headphones ready, and then gave the okay.

At 8pm my OB broke my water and it felt like she was digging for my brains from my nether region. At this point I was 2-3cm and 80% effaced.  A.R. held my hand through it thank goodness.  Then the flood gates opened and fluid kept coming and coming and coming.  They had me cough a few times (easy to do with my cold) and it would just keep pouring out.  Then, I'd move or have another contraction and I'd flood the bed again.  I knew I had a lot of fluid thanks to the polyhydramnios, but holy cow it felt like it was never going to stop.  My OB checked to make sure no cord prolapsed and we were left to keep laboring on.  Both my nurse and the resident kept saying they had never seen so much fluid even from a polyhydramnios patient.  Just when my nurse thought she could leave, I'd have another huge gush and have a puddle on the towel and she'd have to clean me up again.  I had so much fluid that even the towels they used couldn't keep up and I'd be in a puddle.  SO GROSS!!  Almost immediately the contractions became much more intense and I went into the zone with my hypnobirthing tracks.  E moved once again off the monitors being the Houdini that he was and after a little while the nurse came back to ask if they could do an internal monitor so I could still move around like I wanted.  I quickly gave the okay and an internal monitor was placed and I was already at a solid 3cm at 9pm.  At this point I was laboring sitting up during each contraction, but was on my back in bed between them.  I asked to get back on the birthing ball after the monitor was placed.

The birthing ball wasn't helping at all, so I resorted to standing and leaning over the bed and swaying back and forth while A.R. put counter pressure on both of my hips and squeezed them during contractions.  I knew pretty quickly with no break between contractions and double peaks and only being 3cm, that I wouldn't be able to labor like this for long and I asked for the epidural.  I was very disappointed, but remember telling A.R. I was no hero and that the Pit contractions were just too strong.  At 9:40 anesthesia arrived and started their whole legal mumbo jumbo about getting an epidural and she kept pausing during contractions.  I finally just told her to keep talking and that I was listening and she laughed.  I got set up for the procedure and was told I have great spaces in my spine.  Definitely not a compliment I've heard before, that's for sure!  I got slow relief once the epidural was in and immediately laid back down and fell fast asleep.  I was exhausted from the 8 hours and 40 minutes of labor I had already gone through.  I woke up around 11pm feeling some break through pain all over my belly with contractions and the nurse had me switch sides to see if the epidural would redistribute and help.  It did for awhile and I was able to snooze a little more, but was soon woken up once again with break through pain.  This time the pain was below the belt all along my pelvis and mostly in my pubic bone.

I asked the nurse about it and she checked me to see if I had dilated anymore and I was now at 4cm and since I still had a ways to go she tried boosting my epidural.  Twenty minutes later the pain was worse.  Much worse.  A resident came in and said if by 12:30 it wasn't better to call my nurse again.  It wasn't better, it was unbearable.  I was in tears with every contraction and nearly breaking two of A.R.'s fingers as he let me squeeze them during each contraction.  The nurse checked to see if she could boost my epidural again (she couldn't) and called anesthesia.  I started saying something was wrong.  I felt like my pubic bone was being sawed in two with each contraction and was convinced the baby's head was too big and stuck.  I was literally thinking to myself that I'd be okay with them just cutting the baby out at this point it hurt so bad. The nurse thought I might be progressing quickly all of a sudden, so she asked to check me and sure enough I was now 8cm and +1 station.  I was feeling the baby descend through the pelvis super quickly and had dilated 4cm in a half hour.  The nurse called once again for anesthesia, but warned me I might be progressing too quickly and that it may not be in time, but encouraged me that I could do this.  I was holding my breathe during contractions and hyperventilating a bit, so my nurse and Alexi helped me to remember my breathing techniques and during contractions I would squeeze Alexi's hand, cry, and sometimes even pound his thigh with my other fist as I laid on my left side.  I kept asking how could I be fine and sleeping one minute and writhing in pain the next and Chris just explained that sometimes if you progress really quickly the epidural can't keep up and fails, but she was encouraging and said I could do it and she'd help me through it.

In the meantime, the nurse had called for a table to be set up to prep for delivery and asked that my OB be called to the floor.  The nurse's station paged my room and asked why she wanted the OB.  Nobody believed I was progressing that quickly except my nurse, Chris!  When the resident arrived to set up the table she asked again why they wanted the OB already and my nurse said I just went from 4cm to 8 and +1 station in 30 minutes and it wouldn't be long now.   As the nurse and resident left my room for a second to check on anesthesia again, I began to feel the pressure in my tailbone area and bum.  I knew this sensation from my other births and told the nurse when she walked back in.  The resident asked if she could check me again and sure enough she said there was no cervix at 1am.  A.R. and I looked at each other thinking "oh shit!" that it meant I was going backwards and I was about to just ask them to knock me out and cut the baby out (vulgar, I know!).  Chris (our nurse) laughed and said nope, you're complete and ready to push.  The baby's head is already right there.  I asked to lie on my other side thinking maybe it would help spread the epidural better to my below the belt region (it didn't) and as I laid there I started pushing on my own.  Our awesome nurse helped hold my leg as I pushed on my side and called one last time for anesthesia.  Right then anesthesia walked in along with my fabulous OB.  He did boost my epidural dose as my OB and nurse helped me lie back on my back and prep the bed for delivery as they could already see the baby's head.

A.R. asked the nurse if the boost was going to work since we could already see the baby and my nurse (trying to hide it from me) shook her head no.  It was too late.  I just progressed 6cm (from 4-10) and the baby completely descended in 40 minutes.  She kept saying how crazy fast that it was!  When I saw her shake her head no, I just said "oh crap".  I guess I was getting my "natural" birth on Pitocin contractions.  She had turned off my Pitocin drip when she saw I was 8cm to let my body handle things.  I asked for a mirror so I could watch the birth this time and it really helped to see what the pushing did.  Pushing did help relieve the pain in my pelvis and pubic bone, but holy hell it hurt every where else.  I started to feel a burning sensation as things stretched out when I pushed and started cheating only doing it halfway.  My OB noticed and said to push harder, but to rest for a minute.  I told her it burned like a mother (that ring of fire you hear moms who birth naturally talk about) and it felt like I was going to split into two.  I was scared of tearing even though she was rubbing oil and massaging the area to help.  Everyone laughed and said that burning was good, the baby would crown soon and I had to push through it.  My nurse reminded me that as soon as I pushed through it, I'd get instant relief when the baby was born.  That ring of fire is no joke!

The next contraction I gave it all I had.  I pushed twice (my nurses and doctors were great in letting me follow my body's cues like the hypnobirth method follows- there was no counting or coaching, I did it on my own as I felt the contractions) and after the second push I was about to give up and wait for the next contraction when I decided in my head to give it one last go.  I pushed a third time with the same contraction and from what appeared to be a sliver of baby's head maybe an index finger in width and length soon popped out a baby head and I watched as my son was born.  It was breath taking and amazing.  As soon as his body was born my OB moved him and I saw it was a boy and told A.R. with tears in my eyes.  We had a son!  He cried right away and was immediately placed on my chest where we gazed into each other's eyes, I checked his hands and stroked his face/head/cheek, and bonded.  We did delayed cord cutting and A.R. got to cut the cord.  He was surprised at how tough it was, but was thrilled he got to do it this time (he couldn't with M as the doctor did it before she was even fully born because it was strangling her).  Oh the joy that was in the room...it was toxic.  M had a brother.  We had a son.  A little while after A.R. cut the cord they took our sweet E and weighed him and I kept saying how little he was and that he looked nothing like M as a newborn.  The doctors laughed at me when I said he was little.  For them, he was a big newborn but compared to my 2 year old he was tiny!  E actually weighed 2 oz less than M at birth, but he was also a week early.

While they were weighing and cleaning up E, I glimpsed in the mirror one last time only to see the damage post birth.  I won't do that again!  I had a small one degree tear requiring one stitch (YAY for no episiotomy this time) and a small lateral tear adjacent to my urethra requiring 4-5 stitches.  My OB moved the mirror before I got the stitches thank goodness.  I actually felt the stitches being threaded through me and asked if that was normal.  After that I got a local to numb me up and I was handed back my sweet burrito baby. :)  A.R. hadn't even gotten to hold him yet, so I asked him if he wanted a turn and I fell in love with my husband all over again as I watched him hold our tiny new baby.  There is just something about watching the man you love hold such a tiny bundle as he kisses and whispers things in the baby's ear only they can hear.  Once we were left alone, I nursed E for the first time as A.R. called his mom to tell her that her newest grandchild was here.  We were totally mean and didn't say the baby's sex until she came to the hospital later that afternoon with M.  She was so excited to welcome her 6th grandson.  M is still the princess of the family...the only girl in a sea of boys, but she wears her crown well!  I called my parents to tell them the happy news and then we just stared at our boy in awe and waited to be moved to our postpartum room.  It started to sink in that we have a son AND a daughter.  Holy cow!

I definitely recommend hypnobirthing to all moms to be looking for a natural birth option and I will do another post about it.  I will be using it again for our next little one (yup, we are crazy and already talking about a third baby to complete our family) and praying that I won't need an induction or Pitocin.   Also, I will for sure use a mirror again.  Watching my son be born was something I will never forget and I wish, I wish I could have had it on video (our hospital doesn't allow it)- no it wouldn't show my goods just the moment itself in meeting our child.  It is a miracle and beautiful to see your child born and I only wish I had asked for a mirror for M's birth.  Since E's birth my gestational diabetes appears to be completely gone.  I won't know for sure until I do another glucose test 6-12 weeks postpartum.  I have to go to the lab and do a 2-hour glucose test and drink that gross orange cola again.  BLECH!  E has been okay since birth as well.  His first blood sugar was normal, but his second was too low.  He did have to have an ounce of formula in the nursery to raise it back up, but has been fine since.  I'm annoyed he had to have the formula and they didn't let him try to nurse again first.  I just tell myself it's better safe than sorry and the important thing is he is fine and they did feed it to him via dropper versus an artificial nipple.

Happy birthday sweet Evan!  We are so incredibly blessed to be able to welcome you to our family.  And now what you've been waiting for....PICTURES!

10 Things I Forgot About Having a Newborn

A somewhat graphic and TMI list that I know my fellow moms can appreciate and for all my friends who may one day become a mom and need a reference:

1. How absolutely delicious new babies smell.
2. How bad it hurts when your milk first comes in.
3. How magical and precious late night nursing sessions can be.
4. Projectile poop. Nothing more to say there. It isn't just vomit ladies!
5. How you fall in love with your husband all over again watching him hold his newborn baby.
6. Sleep deprivation. Okay, I really didn't forget about it, but you do get used to it and it doesn't seem as bad the second time around.
7. Little baby dream noises.
8. The first postpartum poo. Colace. Colace. Colace. It can be scarring.
9. After pains can be as bad as labor. Especially for a nursing mom. Oh, and the more babies you have, the worse they are.
10. How quickly you fall completely in love with such a tiny little person.

Okay, I thought of two more so I'm adding them in. :)

11. Night sweats. Holy hormones going crazy.
12. The crick in your neck you get from watching baby nurse.

Just a quick post to let you all know I still exist. Coming soon: birth story, pictures, and reveal of baby R 2.0 :)

Complicated Not Complications

I feel very fortunate to be on my third pregnancy when so many women out there struggle with infertility and having just one baby, so I hope this post doesn't come across as one giant (literally and figuratively- I.Am. HUGE) pregnant lady whine or make it seem like I'm ungreatful.  I just want to write about some of my experiences this pregnancy while they are fresh in my mind as who knows if it will be my last time feeling those sweet baby kicks from the inside.

All things considered, I've had fairly easy pregnancies and this one hasn't been that different.  I haven't had morning sickness in my last two pregnancies and after suffering through it once, I'm VERY thankful for that!  My record of "easy" pregnancies came crashing down this time when in the beginning of my third trimester I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes.  It's by no means an "end of the world" type diagnosis, but it does complicate things a bit the further along I get with the constant monitoring and a ton more appointments to attend.  The positive thing is that the baby is perfectly fine all cozy in my womb, albeit BIG, but healthy and fine.  I'm going to be honest and say that I was in complete denial about this diagnosis when I left my hospital's Diabetes Lifecare unit after my first appointment.  I had very similar test results from the one and three hour glucose tolerance tests this pregnancy and last pregnancy and yet last pregnancy I was given the "you're borderline watch your carb intake" speech by my OB and sent on my way.  This time I was given the diagnosis and sent off to another set of doctors and nurses for monitoring.  Then, I started to take my blood sugars which involves a teeny tiny needle and four sticks a day in any finger I choose at the time.  One stick is right when I get up in the morning (a fasting number) and the other three are two hours after my main meals of the day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner).  My denial ended when all my readings were coming back high except my after breakfast number.  Then I began to wonder if I should have gotten the diagnosis last pregnancy...who knows.  That ship has certainly sailed.

Most concerning to my new Diabetes nurse were my high fasting numbers.  They signified that my body wasn't able to keep up with the placenta's demand for extra insulin for baby.  Leaving this untreated could result in a variety of complications such as too much amniotic fluid (baby gets too much sugar and pees out the extra causing extra fluid), preterm labor, larger baby (extra sugars become extra fat making baby super chubby), early maturing placenta, high blood pressure, etc.  I was shocked when she told me I'd need to go on insulin and I needed to come in right away for an appointment to learn how to administer it.  I was even more shocked that once I got there and she had further reviewed all my sugar readings she decided to put me on insulin TWICE a day as all of my lunch numbers were quite high as well.  The insulin shots actually turned out not to be as bad I had envisioned.  I use the smallest needle on the market, a nano, and there are no viles and syringes.  The insulin dose is in what they call a pen and it is very easy to set up to make sure I get the correct dose.  I get a large dose at bedtime before I go to sleep which lasts overnight and then I get a second dose in the morning before I eat breakfast that will help my lunch numbers.  The insulin is slow acting and takes 4-5 hours to peak in my system, hence I take the dose at breakfast to help my lunch number at noon.

In addition to the insulin and daily glucose readings, I also had to attend a 3-hour training session on what gestational diabetes was all about and get my meal plan designed by a staff nutritionist at the Diabetes Lifecare center.  I was surprised to hear some of the facts and statistics behind gestational diabetes and I was also relieved that while my family history of Type 1 and 2 diabetes and pre-pregnancy weight were/are risk factors, it doesn't mean I did anything wrong or caused the diagnosis.  Gestational diabetes is a hormonal issue in that your body just can't keep up with the placenta's demand for insulin.  Even maternal age can be a factor- older pancreas = may not be as efficient.  Plus, I could have gotten the diagnosis even with NO risk factors.  Also, to hear that I now have a 50% chance of getting an actual Type 2 diabetes diagnosis in the next 10 years is humbling.  Chances are, though, that within 24 hours after delivery my crazy pregnant hormones will settle themselves and my glucose readings will be back to normal again.  I can quit taking my insulin cold turkey as soon as I have this baby and I only have to take my blood sugars twice a day for a week postpartum to make sure they are back in normal ranges again.  I will have to do one more glucose tolerance test (drink the yucky sugary liquid and have blood drawn) 6 weeks postpartum.  Luckily, this test is only a 2-hour one!  I also need to make sure my primary care physician is aware of my gestational diabetes diagnosis and I should have my glucose levels and A1C level tested at least annually in the next ten years to make sure I'm not one of those in the 50% that does get Type 2 after a gestational diabetes diagnosis.

So now for the even more complicated part:  1) getting my insulin doses regulated and 2) appointments, appointments, and yet MORE appointments.  The nurse did a fancy calculation based off my height and weight to determine my initial insulin dosage and after three days I had to report back my numbers to make sure it was working.  Let's just say I started off at 24 units of insulin at bedtime and 12 units at breakfast and now, two months later, I'm on 42 units of insulin at bedtime and 18 units at breakfast.  Regulating my lunch numbers has been the trickiest.  My fasting numbers stayed steady for quite awhile and then at the 33/34 week marks suddenly skyrocketed again.  Come to find out that gestational time frame is when the placenta peaks on its demand for insulin.  Here's hoping my dose doesn't have to go up any higher at bedtime...pushing those 42 units in burns something awful.  I can't put the insulin in a stretch mark (HA!) because there's no fat behind them to help transport the insulin where it needs to go, so I'm running out of non-poked real estate on where to put the injections. I did learn quickly that injecting the top of my baby bump = OUCH + bruises, so I typically alternate sides each day.  I find it incredible that I'll be able to quit the insulin cold turkey once I have the baby.  There's a slight chance I might need a little while I'm in labor, but once the placenta is delivered I should be fine.  Here's hoping!

Now as for the appointments.  I love my doctors.  All of them.  And I definitely appreciate their due diligence, but holy cow do I have to go to a lot of appointments now.  Starting at 33 weeks I started twice weekly appointments with my OB.  I have an NST (non-stress test) early in the week to make sure baby is reacting well to the uterine environment after kicks and sleep cycles and then every Friday I get another NST, then an ultrasound (alternating between just a simple fluid check and a full biophysical profile), and then meet with my OB.  Fridays trio of tests usually takes a total of at least 2 hours!!  In addition to those appointments I also have to fax my blood sugar readings to the Diabetes center once a week and I meet with a nurse every other week. I kind of like the extra ultra sounds and getting to see this little one, but having to rearrange my day off to accommodate my appointments and making sure my in-laws can watch my daughter has been challenging. A.R. can't take the time away from work to come help me as then he'd lose out on his paternity leave postpartum.  He did come to one ultrasound to see our sweet baby at 32 weeks, though.  This baby is BIG.  He/she was estimated to be 5lb 4oz at 32w3d and was estimated to be 7lbs at 34w5d.  I'm actually not that surprised as that puts baby around 9- 9 1/2 lbs at birth and let's face it, I make big babies:  #1 was 9lb 4oz and M was 8lb 6oz. I also have too much amniotic fluid right now. A condition called polyhydramnios which can be due to the gestational diabetes or a bigger baby so I get fluid checks via ultrasound once a week. I like getting to see Baby R 2.0 a little more often.

I also won't be allowed to go past 39 weeks pregnant, so an induction has been scheduled. I'll be trying acupuncture first to avoid the induction. I hope it works and can't wait to try it. It is a relief to know there's an end date in sight now that I'm getting really uncomfortable. I can't wait to meet this baby!

Dreaming of Dinner

I have made a new discovery thanks to a good friend of mine.  I don't know if any of you remember my insane nesting endeavor to do Once-A-Month Cooking when I was 9 months pregnant with M.  I was a nesting freak of nature in all my swollen pregnant glory as I dragged A.R. to do a month's worth of grocery shopping in one day and then cook all of said purchased food the next day.  Needless to say the cooking didn't all get done in one day because my swollen belly and feet doth protested, but I cooked every night for a few nights after working all day to get it all done.  A.R. was intimidated and scared of entering the kitchen.  He helped when he could, but mostly he tried to stay out of my way.  I vowed NOT to do that again this pregnancy as we were both scarred despite saving money in the process.  I was getting the urge to prepare meals in advance again when my good friend reminded me of her new discovery: Dream Dinners.  Que the little ray of sunshine from heaven shining on my nice clean kitchen.

Dream Dinners does the dirty work for you.  They buy all the groceries, set up all the ingredients in stations, and do all the pre-cooking and prep work for you so all you have to do is go and package the meals in freezer bags or containers (that they provide) by following their simple directions at each station.  You even get index sized cards to put in the packages that tell you what's inside and how to prepare and cook the dish.  It is even extremely husband friendly (A.R. has volunteered to go to our next meal packing appointment in May should I not feel up to it physically).  I did a trial run first back in March that let you pick 6 meals from a section of their monthly menu.  We've made all but one meal so far and they have all been delicious and both husband and toddler approved.  Each month the Dream Dinners menu changes, so you never get bored with the selections and you are always welcome to order more than one of each meal if you think it will be a family hit.  There are also favorite meals that are rotated into the monthly menu regularly, so if you have a favorite, there's a good chance you'll see it again.

Last Saturday, I went back again for my first session doing a larger order of 15 meals.  It only took an hour and 15 minutes to assemble everything and I only had to wait for one food assembly station at the very end at which point I took a break, ate some samples, and looked at next month's menu to pick out our meals.  The employees at the location I go to are very helpful and nice and offered to even help me as I waddled around the assembly area.  During each session they offer samples of dishes from the next month's menu.  I joined the Dream Dinners rewards program (completely free), so I get 10% off my order each month and it allows me to just put down a down payment and then pay the balance a week before my next session.  The more months I make orders, the more perks I will get over time.  That 10% will go up I think after a certain number of visits.  A huge bonus to me is that if I ever can't make a session, I can either send A.R. in my place or I can pay a little extra and the Dream Dinners staff will assemble my meals for me.  I can pretty much guarantee we'll end up taking advantage of that perk come June when we have a newborn!

A huge thank you to my friend from saving me from some extreme nesting exhaustion this time around.  And an even bigger thank you to Dream Dinners!

Hippity Hoppity- Easter 2012

This year we decided to do some additional non-religious traditions for Easter now that M is a little older.  I got an egg decorating kit from a friend that we put to use and she even got to give the Easter Bunny a high five at the mall since she was a bit too tentative to sit on his lap. :)  Let's not forget that the Easter Bunny paid a visit to our house this year and brought her a small basket (without candy) with goodies for her to play with.  Her favorite new treat is by far the bubble stuff the Easter Bunny put in her basket.  Every night when we get home from work she asks for her bubbles and does an insanely cute happy dance when we blow bubbles for her.

Thanks to the whisk trick a fellow toddler mom taught me about, dying eggs was mess free and fun.  M loved dipping the eggs in the various colors and seeing what came out.  The kit we had also came with stickers and she loved putting them on the eggs.  We'll definitely do it again next year!

I don't think she quite understood the whole Easter Bunny concept and frankly I don't blame her.  Come on...a bunny that delivers eggs?!  It does seem a little far fetched.  The Easter Bunny wasn't huge in our house growing up and we won't go all out at Easter time with our kids, either. Teaching her the religious reasons behind the holiday are more important to us.  Even still we got her a little something this year (all from Target's dollar section) and let her discover her Easter basket on Easter morning in the kitchen.  Of course she was excited about it seeing all the goodies inside -coloring books, crayons, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, travel coloring kits, and a Tangled puzzle.

This year we took her to both the Good Friday service and Easter Vigil mass.  She slept through most of the Good Friday mass (YAY!) and did pretty good with the Easter Vigil mass despite the extended length and the fact it started pretty much right before her bedtime (8pm).  We attended my friend's church for the Vigil mass as she had her 1st Communion and we wanted to support her and all the hard work she's been doing studying to become a Catholic.  She'll be confirmed Catholic next month!  The Vigil mass always starts in darkness with candle light only and M was enthralled.  She thought it was a huge birthday celebration and kept saying, "burfday, Mami! Burfday!"  Candles to her equal cake + happy birthday song + blowing out said candles, so she kept trying to blow out our candle and the candles held by the procession walking past us.  Adorable!  She LOVES the choir in church and any singing and there was quite a bit of it during the whole service and we just happened to sit right in front of the choir, so she loved watching them sing.

Easter morning we took our time waking up and just relaxed.  Since we went to mass the night before, we didn't have to rush off to Easter morning mass and it was kind of nice.  M opened her Easter basket while A.R. cooked breakfast and then we all snuggled on the couch for a "MOOO-bie!!" (movie).  Of course the day's selection was yet again another Disney delight, Tinkerbell.  After snuggle time we got ready to go over to the in-laws' house and spent some time over there.  It's hard to believe it was her third Easter already and it was a great one spent with family.

Fine. You can take my picture, but make it quick.

Turkey Meatballs

I wanted to go a bit healthier at M's birthday party considering the cookies and cake we'd be having.  The main fare was simple Italian (ziti, salad, garlic bread, Spanish rice- because apparently we can't have a family party without it), so I wanted to try out a new crock pot meatball recipe.  Skinnytaste did not let me down.  I made their Turkey Meatballs and they were delicious.  Nobody realized it wasn't red meat and we had hardly any leftovers which is always a good sign they were yummy!

Here is the recipe: Crock Pot Italian Turkey Meatballs

I didn't change a thing, but could have probably gotten away with adding extra garlic into the meatballs.  Maybe even in the form of garlic salt.

TWO!

My itty bitty baby is T-W-O.  How is that possible?!  She is such a happy girl packaged complete with a sense of humor, some sass, and my determination (a nicer word for stubborn?).  Her antics and shenanigans amaze me everyday.  It seems like she is always doing something new to make me laugh, cringe, or tear up with pride.  Her latest tear jerker moment was last week when she told me for the first time, "I wub u!" (I love you!) and also she started saying "I sowee, Mami. I sowee." (I'm sorry) if she does something wrong or bumps into me or something.  It literally makes you melt to hear your child show compassion like that.  I just want to hug her and smother her in kisses every time she says those words.  Of course she also has her toddler melt down moments and has gotten really good at telling us "NO, no, no!" when something doesn't suite her.  



Sweet

Sassy

She now can open our pantry and pull/push chairs up to the counter/pantry to reach what she wants to.  Helping me cook by pulling a chair up is her new favorite thing along with helping hold Tomas's leash when we walk him in the evenings, moving laundry from washer to dryer, and helping feed the dogs.  She is a chatter box these days and is a perfect little Spanglish gal speaking and understanding both, but mixing them up when it's easier to say a word in one language or the other.  She likes to try to dress herself and put her own shoes on (usually just dress shoes or sandals) and she loves having her hair done. M twirls and dances whenever we put a dress on her as she loves the flowy fabrics.  She is starting to count and recite letters and my mother-in-law taught her the Spanish vowel sounds.  Riding in the shopping cart is becoming a thing of the past so shopping with her can be completely exhausting, but we make little games out of it.  She LOVES being outside and cries when it's time to go inside.  A gal after my own heart!  M is in love with the movie Tangled and will watch it over and over.  She got a couple Rapunzel doll for her birthday and she loves playing with their hair and mothering them.  Puzzles and coloring are her other favorite past times.  And goodness me she hates it when she realizes her hands are dirty and asks to wash them immediately.

We celebrated M's 2nd birthday on her actual big day (March 25th) and invited just immediate family and one close friend and her daughter.  Her party was Barney themed and included a visit from the grand dino himself.  I also once again made her cake completely from scratch this year including the fondant Barney cake topper. :)  It was a vanilla cake with strawberry cream filling, and swiss merinque buttercream frosting.  While we waited for Barney's arrival, the kids (my 5 nephews and my friend's daughter) decorated sugar cookies like in the real show when they sing "the Cookie Song".  It was a huge hit for them and the cookies doubled as part of the favors the kids got to take home since I was a mean Auntie and didn't give out any candy in their goodie bags.

After cookie decorating we assembled the kids in the living room and Barney made his appearance.  M didn't see him at first as she was trying to escape the room and her back was turned to him.  When she finally turned around and saw him she just backed up and sat on her Titi's lap inbetween two of her cousins in awe.  No tears or crying, just utter and complete shock and awe that Barney was in HER house!  It was priceless and yes, it's on video. We also caught on video one of my nephew's, J, scurrying the heck out of the room as fast as possible in the opposite direction.  He was terrified of Barney at first, but warmed up to him and gave him a few high fives.  The kids held back for the most part just in awe and gave plenty of high fives.  My youngest nephew, C, was the ONLY one brave enough to let Barney hold him and of course my friend's 8 month old let Barney hold her for some pictures.  M wouldn't dance with Barney by herself, but she did in her Papi's arms for a bit with a huge smile on her face.

Barney stayed while we sang Happy Birthday to M and she absolutely reveled in the attention.  Her favorite thing at birthdays right now is when people sing and blow out the candles.  She sees a candle and/or cake and a "burfday" immediately comes to mind for her and she starts to sing, "Happy Birthday".  It's really adorable.  I think it confuses her when there's a cake and no candles around.  After her birthday song, we sang the parting song on the Barney show "I Love You, You Love Me" and tried to get a group shot of the kids with Barney before he left.  What happened after Barney left was priceless.  M was so sad.  She started pouting and walking around with her Barney doll and trying to trade it in to get the live Barney back.  She kept walking around saying, "Bye Barney.  Bye. Barney? Where are you?" with such a sad look on her face.  My eldest nephew tried to explain to her that Barney was now her doll (just like on the TV show where the doll comes to life in the beginning and then becomes a doll again in the end) and she wasn't buying it.  M would walk up to any adult and try to hand them her Barney to see if we could switch it out for the live one.  It lasted for about an hour before she gave up and even today- two weeks later- she'll still talk about Barney coming to her party.  Yes, we are the cool parents right now!!  A.R. was editing her birthday video this weekend and she heard it and immediately ran up to watch "her" Barney again.

In addition to Barney's visit, we were very fortunate that my brother was able to fly up from Florida to attend her party and he was able to pick up our Grandmother- M's Great Grandmother- in Massachusetts and drive her down for the party.  I'm not sure who enjoyed the party more- M or her Great Grammie!!  It was such a wonderful day and M LOVED everything about her party.  We are so very blessed to have such an awesome little girl as our daughter.

All tuckered out after her party

M and her Godparents



Great Grammie getting some Barney love

Big Girls Don't Cry

To appease my nesting instinct to prepare for Baby 2.0 I had to do some decorating in our home.  Since we are recycling our nursery that we decorated gender neutral with the intention of rotating all of our future babes through it, I got to decorate a big girl room for Miss M.  We wanted to make the switch early enough so that M didn't feel outcast by the new baby from the only room she remembers sleeping in since birth (she was in our room in a bassinet until she was 3 months old).  It made sense with timing and the start of my third trimester to make the switch around her 2nd birthday as sort of a gift to her.  She got to come with us furniture shopping and jump on the beds a bit as we picked out her furniture in early February and I dragged her on quite a few trips to Target until we stumbled across some bedding we (ok, mostly I) fell in love with.

M has always been infatuated with horses on carousels and with the live versions in general since her first pony ride last fall.  If she sees a horse (she says it in Spanish: caballo) she always yells, "NEEEIGGGH!" before she actually calls it a horse.  When I saw this horse bedding at Target I knew she had to have it.  She was napping the first time we "shopped" for it, but I totally took her back to the store awake to see if she liked it and she did.  A.R. thinks I'm pushing my love of horses on her.  I say it's in her blood and I swear horse lovers have an extra gene to be just crazy enough to want to ride the magnificant creatures that they are.  M has that gene.  It was quite evident when we visited my friend in NC and she got to ride her first real horse. :)  Definitely a proud Mami moment for me!

Ok, back to the subject.  M came with us to Home Depot to pick up paint swatches.  We decided on an awful Pepto Bismal pink (I'm more of a purple kind of gal) called Pretty in Pink from the Disney line of Behr paints.  It matches her bedding perfectly and M LOVES her pink room, so that's all that matters.  I'll get to paint a room purple in that house some day!  The night A.R. painted it we let her do a few rolls on the wall with the paint roller and she was so proud of herself.  After it was painted she ran around the room doing her own happy dance as her signature of approval.  Her furniture was delivered the first weekend in March and she got so excited once I put her horse bedding on her bed and A.R. hung up the horse painting.  We had purchased wall decals to match, but made a fatal error in putting them where she could reach them.  "ick-her, Mami! ick-her!" ensued as she though they were giant stickers and pulled them all off the walls.  We bought another box of the decals and need to hang them up higher out of her reach this time :).

We had planned to let her just play in her new room for a couple weeks and let her sleep in it the first time for her birthday, but she was much too excited about it.  Every time we opened the door to her room to give her some play time in there she'd yell, "NEIGH!" and one night we just figured, why delay it?  She obviously loved the room and had figured out how to use the step stool to get up and down from the bottom bunk with no issues, so we took a leap of faith and on Daylight Savings Time eve let her sleep in her new room the first time.  She woke up twice, but was more disoriented than upset and quickly fell back asleep each time.  She never once cried for her old comfy crib converted to a toddler bed or her old room (the nursery).  On night #2 I told her to go to her room after brushing her teeth and she went straight to her new room without even a glance at the nursery across the hall ::tear::.  My big girl doesn't cry.  She moves on.  Once again Mami had a harder time with the transition than she did.  I think the hardest part for me was having her sleep in a room without a video monitor hooked up for the first time.  I admit I peaked in at her before I went to bed anyway, but man I miss that spy cam!

We opted to go more neutral with her furniture and got bunk beds as her new room is our biggest bedroom besides our master bedroom suite and should we have three children one day (we'll see how it goes with two little ones first!), two of them will share this room.  NO, we don't know what sex Baby 2.0 is.  My in-laws saw her new big girl room and automatically assumed we already know we're having a girl, but honestly we don't know.  We just figured we're investing in furniture that is going to last through high school and we know we'll eventually have two little ones in this room, so why spend the money on interim furniture.  If we end up having two boys and M is our only girl, we'll move her out of this room into her own room and repaint the room a boy color.  If we have a boy and then a girl, we would still expect M to share her room with her youngest sister and if we have another girl come June, SCORE- no extra painting for A.R.! And if we end up with just two little ones?  We have an extra guest bed and a spot for friends when M is of sleep over age.  Of course, the top bunk is off limits for quite awhile.  M doesn't even realize what it is at this point and we don't plan on showing her anytime soon.  I fear for our health insurance premiums once she's old enough to climb up top!  I do remember always wishing I had bunk beds when I was little, though, and I'm glad we can give that to our kids.