19 weeks... ahhh!

Sooo... I'm almost there. I'm almost to the halfway point! I remember thinking how things went soooooo slowly with Meredith, but this time I'm praying they slow down!! I don't know what it is about the 2nd baby, but I just want to savor the time. I feel like I rushed everything last time and I'm determined to enjoy things a little more this time around. Including ice cream and Cheetos and 2nd helpings of baked ziti. :)

We find out on Monday, Feb. 4 if we'll be having a son or daughter. What's your vote???

 

How far along? 19 weeks, 2 days
Total weight gain/loss: 4 lbs.
Maternity clothes? No... I don't need then anyway, but I've found several cute tops that I couldn't pass up! :)
Stretch marks? No (please)
Sleep: Sleep is fine, but the dreams nightmares are awful & crazy.
Best moment this week: Feeling baby move A LOT... it's so comforting!!
Miss Anything? Sleeping on my belly comfortably. I'm sure I'll be missing this a lot in the upcoming weeks.
Movement: I'm starting to feel a lot of movement - kicks and twists, not just flutters. Billy even felt a small one last night!!!
Food cravings: Chinese food... mainly rice with salt. Sound familiar?
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope!
Have you started to show yet: See above picture. I'm definitely pregnant and not just fat now. lol
Gender: Don't know yet... we find out in less than a week!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: I'm one happy camper!
Looking forward to: the weekend... so I won't feel guilty about asking to go out for Chinese food (chicken with mixed vegetables and white rice please!)... oh! and finding out if Baby D is a girl or a boy! :)

17 weeks...

Ok so I'm not doing this to bore anyone who reads this; rather, it's my way of making sure I don't miss out on and forget stuff about baby #2's pregnancy. I remember being so obsessed with being pregnant when I was carrying Meredith, but this time... well I'm obsessed with the 3 year old running around, dressed like a princess, repeating every line to a Doc McStuffins episode or Barbie movie... so the journaling and preggo blog reading hasn't happened much. When I realized I was 17 weeks and had taken 2 pictures and couldn't tell you what fruit my baby was the size of (I practically memorized the list when I was pregnant with MKD), well it was then I decided to at least document a few things each week... at least this way I'll remember! :) [insert story about my sister katie who swears her life was unimportant because there is practically no documentation of anything besides her birth date, time, and weight, lol].

So, without further adieu... :) 

How far along? 17 Weeks, 5 days
Total weight gain/loss: 3 pounds... 
Maternity clothes? No, but leggings are wonderful!
Stretch marks? No (please)
Sleep: Sleeping great
Best moment this week: Being asked by a 1st grader if they could feel the baby move... at least they knew I was pregnant and not fat! :)
Miss Anything? being able to sneeze without fear of peeing! haha!!
Movement: I feel big small kicks at times, but mostly just fluttering or flipping...I love it!
Food cravings: Gummy cinnamon or cherry hearts and Nerds! (sooo thankful for Valentines candy!!)
Anything making you queasy or sick: No sickness this pregnancy either.. but black coffee breath tends to bother me. :(
Have you started to show yet: I'm gonna go with yes... more than with Meredith. PLUS! A 1st grader at school knew I was pregnant so I'm happy! :)
Gender: Don't know yet... we'll find out Feb 4!!! :) :)
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! I get grouchy at night, but the mood swings are much better now. :)
Looking forward to: Feeling the baby move on the outside so daddy can finally feel it... and more Valentine's day candy! :)

Here comes baby! :)

I've been meaning to write about our exciting news, I just haven't had the time to sit and type... but ready or not...

HERE COMES BABY #2!!! :)

We are super excited and feel very blessed. Meredith seems excited about it and knows there's a baby growing in mama's belly. She swears it's a girl, but who knows. :) We found out in Mid-October... I found out while Billy was in New York for training for his promotion and could barely contain the news while waiting for him to get home the next day. I baked pink & blue cupcakes and  wrote him a letter thanking him for working so hard and for allowing me to be home with Meredith and now another little one, coming in June. He was shocked, and super excited to say the least. :) I got his reaction on video, too. [This time was a lot more fun than last time... when I found out I was pregnant with Meredith I was SHOCKED and SCARED since we weren't trying and I wasn't supposed to be able to have children... and I was crying so much when I called Billy to tell him that he thought I'd received bad news at the doctors that day and raced home because he couldn't understand me... only to have me tell him, still in tears, that we were pregnant, lol.] Yea... much more fun this time.

We are 13 weeks pregnant now and baby seems healthy with a strong heartbeat. The ultrasound we had at 10 weeks was amazing and tear jerking. I had been so nervous prior to that... I wanted to hear the heart beat so badly... and before I could count to 10, there it was... loud and fast and fluttering on the screen. Amazing. God is so amazing.

I've had a wonderful first trimester. No major food cravings although greasy foods sound gross. I haven't had an aversion to Mexican food this go around... :) I love salty foods (not chip salty... rather Chinese food salty) and salads (Panera's chicken Caesar salad is a new fav!) and haven't had any sickness [minus the day I took my prenatal vitamin in the morning... won't make that mistake again]....just exhaustion... which is starting to fade. I'm feeling great and am super, super thankful to be home this time around. I nearly die at the end of the day when I sub at LRES... I don't know how I did it last time [I guess not having a 3 year old to chase after probably helped, lol]. Regardless, I'm thankful and blessed and loving life.

I'm not wishing this pregnancy away. I did that with Meredith and since this may be my last pregnancy [not sure if we want more than 2 kiddos...] I'm going to attempt to enjoy it... all of it. 

Can I vent for a second?

I transitioned from full time teaching to subbing this year and am super thankful for this new venture. I'm only able to sub 1-2 days a week (that's all I really want to as well) and I'm super lucky that our sitter is pretty flexible with just a days notice. 

While I love subbing and I love being at home I'm struggling with a few things. My main issue is that I'm subbing in the school where I taught full time. The teachers there are my friends and I love them... which means saying no is a really hard thing for me to do. I feel like I need to explain myself and have a good excuse if I have to say no and... it's awkward. 

After evaluating myself I think I struggle because:

a. I don't want to feel like a flake when I'm really being a mom... which really is what I want to do!
b. I appreciate the fact that I have the blessing of being able to stay home, but don't want to lose who I was before?!?!?
c. I worry that these friendships/relationships I am made while teaching full time are going to wither because I'm not a constant face in the crowd anymore.
d. I feel obligated to bring in some sort of monetary contribution and worry when I don't have something lined up.

In the long run, I'm trying to focus on the fact that Meredith is my full time job now (as is my house and husband) and since I pissed and moaned about wanting to stay at home [once Meredith was born up until this year!] I need to be thankful and grateful and STOP worrying about everything else.  Billy reminds me that substitute teaching isn't my career and that if I want to go back to teaching I can at any point... but until I decide to (and I don't think that'll be any time soon) I need to embrace my new "career" and stop stressing about the one I left.

and that's hard. for me anyway. 

thanks for listening.

34 days til Christmas!

Merry Christmas... a little early :)

So I posted on facebook that I wanted family pictures taken (I haven't had them done in almost 2 years) and asked for suggestions. I got soooo many suggestions (thank you again!) and decided I'd check dates with some of the photographers in our Brentwood Church family and go from there. But... then Joe & Ash texted and said that if I didn't want to pay someone a bunch of money, they could take some for us. Well, Ashley is amaze-balls at picture taking [I know from our trip to New York. Joe almost divorced her on the Brooklyn Bridge due to her picture taking anal-ness] and I was more than willing to let her add to her portfolio, lol. :) We met after Meredith's nap and went down town.... and, though I'm sure I'm biased, I'm pretty sure we couldn't have gotten better pictures if we tried [especially with a 3 year old drama queen involved, lol].

Anyway, here's a few of my favorites. 

Thank you so much Ashley... You've made our Christmas cards, walls, and family super happy. :) xoxoxo

oh... in case you're wondering... 35 days til Christmas!!! :)

Elf on the Shelf :)

I am so excited about having an Elf on the Shelf this year! Meredith is at a great age for all the shenanigans the Elf will be getting into. I wanted to have a list of all the things I want to do so that I'm not struggling to come up with ideas every night... so I started brainstorming and compiling (thanks Pinterest!!) and came up with my "schedule." I'm starting the Sunday after Thanksgiving (we'll be gone until Saturday and I'll read her the book that night... and the Elf will appear on Sunday!) and ending on Christmas Eve. :) :)

Only a few of the ideas are actually mine... I found a ton online & on Pinterest and tweaked them to work for us... and then I came up with a list of all the things I'll need for the different days. After spending $30 on the Elf & book kit I knew I didn't want to spend much more on supplies!! :) The only pricey things are the Christmas PJ's he'll leave Meredith on day one (which I would've bought anyway!) and then the Christmas cone tree activity that I found here! (which will be super fun to make with her!)

Have I mentioned I'm super excited about this?!?!? I'm attaching my "schedule" and list of supplies if anyone is interested. Feel free to use whatever you like and adjust however works for you! Only 40 days til Christmas (as of today anyway!)

Merry Christmas & Happy Elfing!,
Kristin

Elf Stuff :)

Making Memories!

It's been ages since I've written, but we've been off making memories. October flew by. It's one of my favorite months because it holds a special birthday and a fun holiday. It's also full of hay rides, pumpkin patches, fall scents, and yummy coffee.

We went to Layman Family Farms again and tho the price intimidated us at first, it was welllll worth it and we'll do it again next year! Meredith had so much fun. She rode all the rides, picked her own pumpkin, and begged for kettle corn. :)

 


Meredith ran the Run For Their Lives 1K. Err.. she didn't run it as much as she was carried or walked it. BUT we supported an amazing cause (www.r4tl.com or www.freedom424.com) and made another memory.

 

Meredith celebrated her birthday in Richmond, with a few friends here in Lynchburg and then with a big party on the shore! It was a whirl wind of a weekend on the good ole ESVA but it was soooo worth it!!!

And yet another memory made was our first trick-or-treating experience. We've always gone to TRBC's trunk or treat, but this year we decided to try the real thing. We went to Wyndhurst with some friends and Meredith LOVED it. She was such a big girl... going up to every house all by herself... proudly saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you!". She was SUPER pumped about her candy stash at the end of the night. :)

Earlier in the day we went to Barnes & Noble's story time and trick or treated there. She dressed up as Doc McStuffins for that outing. That's what she wanted to be allllll month long. Then, the day before, she sweetly asked if she could please please be Snow White... and I didn't say no. :) So... Halloween night she was Snow White. :)

And now it's November... and Election Day. Please... exercise your right to vote. It DOES make a difference. I remember going to vote with my mom & dad when I was little and today we are starting the tradition with Meredith. :)