4 Months; 20 weeks old; when can I stop counting weeks?

We were about a week late on Declan's official 4 month picture which seems to be about par for the course for me.  I'm not sure how other moms manage to remember to take a picture each month on the same day, I can barely remember to put underwear on.  I have a reminder set on my phone for the 12th of every month but even still I manage to get distracted with something and another week flies by.  I've been trying to document weekly pictures as well, an idea I stole from a woman I follow on instagram.  What a great way to see all the subtle changes over this first year.  That is of course, if you can remember to take the pictures.  I'm currently at like 10 pictures for the first 18 weeks and I'm considering it a win.  You will not see my name on the ballot for mother of the year/pinterest guru and I'm okay with that.

Another thing I'm learning to be okay with?  A messy house.  Some weeks it probably even qualifies as dirty.   Clutter drives my anxiety sky high and I had a really rough week a little while back which left me feeling completely overwhelmed.  But I'm trying to make peace with it.  Every time I see a pile of stuff sitting around or dust bunnies hanging out (they aren't hiding, that's for sure), I remind myself that I'd rather be playing with Declan or Garrett than cleaning.  So we're getting by doing the bare minimum and catching up on weekends when naps and schedules allow.  There's a saying I see all over the place that says something along the lines of my house is a mess but my kids are happy and that's the sentiment I'm running with for now.

4 months is bringing lots of fun stuff: grasping for toys, more babbling, lots of smiles and an overall alertness that has been fun to watch.  It's also brought a string of colds and our first trip to the emergency room.  Last week Declan woke up around 10:30 having some really nasty coughs which eventually lead to being so congested his breathing was pretty labored.  So we rushed to the emergency room to get him checked out.  Now of course, his breathing had returned to normal and he was laughing and smiling for the nurses but I think Mike and I were both just glad to have the scary breathing issues behind us.  He spent a few nights sleeping in his car seat to help with the drainage and we're hoping to be on the way over this particular cold.  He has really been a trooper about it all with lots of smiles between the coughing and plenty of cuddles.

Back to Work

This is a big week in our house as I headed back to work.  Declan's childcare schedule is a little wacky; Monday with my dad and stepmom, Tuesday-Thursday at a home daycare and Friday with Mike's parents.  I really think the set up is a good fit for our family and will eventually work really well for everyone but the thought of getting 3 different routines figured out is a little daunting.  It's another one of those situations where I feel like a first time parent all over again.  I also never had pumping and cloth diapers to worry about when I went back to work after Garrett was born.

We did a trial run at my parents last week and I went into work for a few hours.  Getting out of the house took a bit longer than I expected even after I packed my bag, Declan's bag and lunches for the big boys the night before.  I'm a little anxious about being able to pump enough milk for Declan during the day in a reasonable amount of time but everything I'm reading says the key to that is to relax so now I just need to figure out a way not to worry about it....

Tuesday morning was tough dropping him off with someone who wasn't family.  I cried the short drive over to our daycare provider, cried walking to her door and then pulled it together to walk inside.  She quickly asked how I was doing which of course caused me to lose all sense of composure.  But amazing daycare lady is well, amazing.  She is so loving and nurturing that I instantly felt better about dropping him off.  We have known each other for a few years because her girls go to school with Garrett and we volunteered together for the Spring Fair a few years ago. I drop off relatively early so she is still getting her girls breakfast and getting them out to the bus and it really just felt like Declan was part of their lovely little morning which for some reason made me feel really good.  When I pick up in the afternoon she is outside with all of the kids which I just love, love, love.  And I steal him back and love on him for the rest of the evening.  We are surviving and I know it will get easier with time.

Cheering on the O's

Declan is finally (we think) over his case of thrush which moved south for a yeast rash.  Yeast is a real PITA when it comes to cloth diapers but more on the cloth diaper situation (read: addiction) at another time.  Garrett got a great interim report yesterday will mostly all A's and a few B's.  He is starting running club this afternoon which I'm excited that he wanted to try.  We're also having a lot of fun watching baseball in October!

Two Months (11 days late)

I'm pretty sure that it's an unwritten rule that mothers of small children are always late.  I use to really pride myself on my punctuality but that has gone right out the window these last few months since it takes me approximately 8,342 hours to get myself and Declan ready to go.  Add Garrett and Mike to the mix and I mind as well just stay home!  So this is my "two month" post a bit late.  I've thrown in the towel on the one month post.

It's hard to believe Declan is two months already (10 weeks to be exact).  He is really started to show his personality.  He is still a bit stingy with his smiles but you can always count on some big gummy grins right after he eats.  We had a baby shower for his soon to be cousin on Sunday and Declan was flashing smiles at the whole family. He has also started babbling a lot in the evenings and I managed to get a little video of him talking back to use one day last week. 

He LOVES pat-a-cake and when I pretend to eat his toes. He was a trooper for his shots, only letting out one big scream befire deciding he was okay.  He is eating about 7 times in a 24 hour period, giving us one good stretch at night between feedings, usually somewhere between 4 and 6 hours. Last week he went 6 hours 45 minutes and I seriously felt like a new person. He naps pretty well during the day but I have to watch for signs he is tired because he can be fussy if he gets overly tired. We are following the eat, wake, sleep pattern which gives us both some consistency without having a rigid schedule. In general, he's a pretty happy baby and we love him to pieces.

It's hard to believe that I am headed back to work in a little under two weeks.  The idea is still a bit terrifying but I'm sure after a few weeks it will just be the new norm.  I will be leaving earlier in the mornings and leaving Mike to get Garrett off to the school bus which I am a little nervous about since the two of them do not seem to see eye to eye in the morning.  Part of me things this will be a good exercise for them, learning to sort out their differences without me around to jump in.  I'm also concerned with what our evenings will look like with me back to work.  I've always spent a decent amount of time when I get home from work preparing and cooking dinner while Garrett works on his homework.  So I'm working on some ideas for shortening the amount of time I spend prepping and cooking in the evenings.  First on the list is to pick simpler recipes and save the fun stuff for weekends.  I'm also going to dedicate some time on Sundays to cutting and prepping as much as I can for dinner and lunches during the week.

Summer Swap

When Amanda decided to host another craft swap in July, I knew I should hold off for the next one.  I was 9 months pregnant and starting to get really tired of the whole being pregnant situation.  But I rationalized that I would be on maternity leave and have plenty of time for crafting.  Did I mention it had been 9 years since I had a newborn?  Clearly my memory had gone a little foggy on me and I wasn't factoring in how much busier my life is now than when I had Garrett.  So I signed up.

By the time the end of July was rolling around, I hadn't lifted a finger towards a project other than to pick up some yarn for a project I hadn't even decided on yet.  Mike was home so we were spending time together with the baby and I was napping whenever possible.  Then we went to the beach the first week in August and I came home to realize the deadline was Monday!  

I had been wanting to make a holder for all of the grocery store plastic bags we accumulate.  Even though we use reusable bags we still manage to end up with quite a collection and I think most people run into that problem.  So I whipped one up for my swap recipient Amanda.  I felt like a slacker by sending her the yarn I picked out rather than an actual craft but I figured since she is a knitter, she could put it to good use.  My package including a bag organizer, the yarn and some edible treats.

My package came from Marianna and included lots of goodies.  She sent some granola, vanilla sugar and some awesome energy bars.  She also sent along some note cards, a pair of booties for Declan and a neat little soccer notebook that Garrett promptly took upstairs to his desk which he's decided he will use for homework this year.  The energy bars were really a great treat.  Sometimes energy/granola bars can be too sweet but these had a really nice balance.  I even caught Mike sneaking a few on his way out the door for work in the morning because at that point I was still sleeping in whenever possible.

I really enjoyed participating again this time and hopefully I can devote a little more time if Amanda decides to host again!

Growing

I keep trying to make time to post since there is a lot going on these days that I'd like to document but the fact is that there is a lot pulling me away from the computer right now.

The time is flying by, like I knew it would.  Mike has been back to work since we got back from the beach (more about that next week) and Garrett is back in school.  The fact that my maternity leave will be up in 4 short weeks is lingering over my head like a black cloud.  I keep trying not to think about it but the idea of dropping Declan off to go back to work gives me a giant knot in my stomach. I enjoy my job.  I'm good at it and I get a lot of satisfaction from being good at what I do.  It also provides a healthy dose of stress that keeps my Type A personality at bay.  But I know the first few weeks away from my little guy are going to be incredibly hard and stressful and I'm not looking forward to it in the least.  So for now I will try not to think about it and concentrate on making the most of the one month and one day that I have left.

I still can't really wrap by head around the fact that he is 8 weeks tomorrow.  The benefit of Garrett and Declan being so far apart is that I've seen first hand how quickly time flies by. It feels like yesterday and a lifetime ago that Garrett was a tiny baby and I'm trying to really savor each stage with Declan rather than gearing up for what comes next.

He is starting to smile back at us.  He's stingy with his smiles at this point but I think that makes them that much more special when he decides to bestow one on you.  Just this past week he started sleeping for longer stretches at night.  He usually eats sometime between 7 and 9 and has slept through to 1:30.  I really can't complain about the amount of sleep I'm getting at this point.  When he lays back down after the feeding he is doing a lot of grunting and sometimes even spitting up.  We think he has a mild case of reflux but since it doesn't seem to be really causing him pain, we'd prefer to ride it out and not give him medication at this point.  It's not an issue during the day because he is upright after his daytime feedings.  He's been a busy baby the past 8 weeks and we have a trip to Hershey Park planned for tomorrow, weather permitting.

Crazy First Week

We are rapidly approaching the 3 week mark tomorrow which is hard to believe.  I thought I'd do a quick post on Declan's eventful first week home.  I had in my birth plan that I wanted to do as short of a hospital stay as I could.  He was born at 7:03am on Saturday and by Sunday morning we were ready to go!  Unfortunately there were some things that prevented us from getting discharged until about 4:30.  First the pediatrician on call heard a small heart murmur when doing his initial exam.  The originally wanted to do an echocardiogram before we left the hospital.  Garrett had a small murmur when he was born so I really wasn't concerned and didn't think the echo was necessary but was willing to go along with it.  By midday Sunday they were still unable to get it scheduled so they told us to just follow up with his pediatrician. Ironically by the time we got to the doctors on Tuesday it had already closed.  After some commotion in one of the other rooms, we discharged and headed home.

We arrived home where Mike's mom meet us and my dad dropped Garrett off.  We settled in for our first night home when a massive thunderstorm came through.  I was worried about losing power since we lose it pretty frequently.  Around 10:30 I left Declan in the bedroom with Mike to grab something out of the nursery when there was an incredibly loud boom and I felt the house shake.  We also heard a bunch of Mike's bourbon go crashing in the basement.  Mike yelled that we had just been hit by lightening and I immediately grabbed the baby, woke Garrett up and ran out in the rain (in my pajama's).  Mike told us to head to a neighbors and call the fire department because the house smelled like something was burning and water was spraying all over the place in the utility room.

So there I am in a pink sheer night shirt with a 1 day old newborn and a shoeless 9 year old, knocking on my neighbors door.  I can only imagine what she thought when we opened the door!  Thankfully the fire department came quickly and confirmed there was no fire and the burning had come from some wires that were no longer a threat.  The also confirmed that one of the 60ft pine trees beside our driveway was hit and the current came through the ground into the basement.  Mike had cut the water off because two pipes had burst and we had no power in the basement but it was safe to come back in.  A few hours later the neighborhood lost power so we packed up and headed to Mike's parents first thing Monday morning.  We stayed Monday and good bit of Tuesday before we were able to get a plumber to come out and fix the water issue.  Thankfully the damage wasn't as bad as we originally thought and we've been able to mostly put the house back together and Declan even managed to get his first bath when we got settled back home.

Declan's Birth Story

I've been meaning to sit down and write this story for two weeks now, I've had a hard time finding the right words. But days are passing by at lightening speed and I know the details will start to get fuzzy. 

 The last week of my pregnancy passed by with a lot of anxiety. The constant not knowing when it was going to happen was brutal for my type A personality. Then I hit the 12 days out from due date; the same time Garrett was born. I was pretty moody that day but tried to make peace with it. I had my appointment with my midwife on Friday July 11th at 38 weeks and 6 days. I told myself I could make it to my appointment the following week and then we could discuss trying to jump start things.

Friday night Mike and I were watching the Orioles game and I headed to be bed around 10:30. I got up to use the bathroom around 11:30 and was having a pretty strong Braxton Hicks contraction but it definitely wasn't uncomfortable. I got up again around 12:30 when Mike came up to bed and the same thing. I woke up around 1:30 to another contraction with another bathroom break. This time there was some spotting so I was pretty sure things were getting moving. I tried to lay back down to rest but was too excited. I went downstairs around 2:15 and started to time the contractions as they were getting more uncomfortable. I decided to call my midwife around 2:45 because I didn't remember bleeding with Garrett and wanted to be sure it was normal. 

 

I called the after hours line and Paula, the midwife on call, assured me it was normal. I told her the contractions were coming about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes apart but that they weren't very intense. My plan was always to labor at home as long as possible so she said I could hold off on heading in until the contractions were intense enough that I couldn't talk through them. I called my dad so he could be on standby when I needed him to come pick Garrett up. When I went upstairs Mike was up with the light on, realizing there was no point in trying to get a little more sleep. I packed the hospital bag while Mike took a shower. I had intentionally not packed the bag ahead of time and just created a good list. Since I knew I'd be at home for a while, I was hoping to have something to distract me and it worked exactly how I planned.  Garrett woke up at some point and after explaining that I was in labor I told him to go back to sleep. 

Around 5am I decided (with some persuasion by Mike) that it was probably time to head to the hospital. At that point I had to stop during contractions and really work my way through them. They were still coming 2 1/2 minutes apart so I felt like there wasn't a lot of down time in between once they got really uncomfortable. At this point Garrett was up again. He was super cute following me around, asking a million questions and trying to help when a contraction would come. He helped me pack his bag, take some scraps into the chicken coop and clean up the kitchen. Finally around 5:30 my dad showed up and we headed out to the hospital. I was feeling a little nauseous before we left and the contractions in the car were definitely worse because I couldn't move around. Thankfully we made it to the hospital in a little under 20 minutes with no incidents. 

When we got the hospital it was pretty deserted. We headed up to labor and delivery and they checked us into triage. They needed me to lay in the bed while they monitored my contractions and the babies heart rate. The contractions in the bed were more intense but thankfully Paula came in to check me pretty quickly and they let me get back up after seeing I was 5cm dilated and clearly in active labor.

I was planning on having a water birth but there was a small issue which I had been told about at one of my prior appointments. The permanent tub was cracked and a new one wasn't available until August. There was a temporary tub in the meantime but I would only be able to labor in the tub, not deliver. Thankfully the tub room was available when they moved me to the labor room. Paula worked with one of the nurses to start getting the tub ready while another nurse attempted to get an IV into my arm. I was GBS positive so they wanted to get me hooked up to antibiotics as quickly as possible. Unfortunately I have difficult veins and it took what felt like forever to get an IV in. It's funny because I had the same issue when I was in labor with Garrett.  It's on of my most vivid memories from his labor because I wanted an epidural and I couldn't get one until they were able to get the IV in and a full bag of fluids in.  I may have yelled at a nurse....  Back to Declan's labor.....I'm sure it felt longer because I was confined to the bed which made the contractions almost unbearable. At one point I looked over at Mike and told him I wasn't sure I could do it without an epidural. He just shook his head no and the nurse got my IV in so I was able to jump out of the bed. 

I had a few contractions while standing next to the bed and swaying my hips seemed to help. I also asked Mike to rub my hips but that idea was better in theory. I yelled at him to push harder but that didn't seen to help either. Suddenly I had an insane amount of pressure and I told Mike something was happening. No sooner than Mike took a step back away from me, my water broke all over the floor. It really was just like the movies, I heard a pop, a crazy loud splash and the last thing I remember really clearly was the sound of Mike gagging and jumping over to the other side of the bed.

Things got really crazy after that. I told a nurse behind me that I thought I was pushing. She told me to stop pushing until the midwife could get back into the room and I told her that I couldn't, my body was doing it on its own. She told me I at least needed to get into bed because I couldn't deliver the baby on the floor. Everything flashed like blur. I got into the bed but I was so scared from the pain on the contractions when I laid down that I went on my knees and leaned over the back of the bed.  To complicate things, they were in the middle of a shift change so I had four nurses instead of two and no midwife in the room. Thankfully Lauren was coming on duty and checked me to find me ten centimeters and gave me the okay to start pushing.

Pushing was super intense but it was such a relief to be able to bear down after trying not to push while they got ready. Mike was at the head of the bed holding my hand and he was pretty overwhelmed by the way things were progressing, not to mention he was completely new to the whole process!! After a few pushes they asked me to flip over onto my back because the position wasn't working and they couldn't get a monitor to read the babies heart rate. I rolled over, but only onto my side, when Lauren said one more push. Sure enough, his head came out on the next push and after another small push he was here! 

 

I reached down and grabbed him from Lauren and held him for about a minute before one of the nurses said "wait, we don't know the gender" and spread his little legs apart to find boy parts. I looked over at Mike who had come around to the side of the bed and he looked very proud and a bit overwhelmed. I can't say I blame him, from the time my water broke until he was born at 7:03 was only 8 minutes. It definitely took me almost an hour to really process the whole delivery. It was probably only 45 minutes between the time I was checked in triage at 5cm and the time I was fully dilated. 

I held him while they waited for the cord to stop pulsing which was a little awkward. I kept trying to pull him closer to my face and had to be reminded that he was still attached and I needed to wait to bring him closer. Mike cut the cord after saying the entire pregnancy he didn't think he would want to. I think at that point his gross factor had was maxed out and he could have handled anything.

We immediately started talking about names so that we could call Garrett and announce to the rest of the family. I didn't really keep it a secret during my pregnancy that I was really pulling for another boy so it's no surprise that our list of boy names was in better shape than the girl list. Thankfully we had a listening 3 that needed to be narrowed down: Austin, Declan and Everett. Everett was my first choice but Mike wasn't sold on that one so we agreed on Declan.  

 

Declan Augustus Gonano weighed in at 8 lbs 12 oz and 21 3/4 inches long. He was  almost exactly the same size as Garrett, just one ounce heavier.

Needless to say, it was an incredibly fast labor and I didn't get my water birth which was totally fine with me.  There was only about 3 inches of water in the tub when Declan was born and they barely got one round of antibiotics in. Thankfully he had no issues related to the GBS and only had to he treated with a little formula for low blood sugar, likely due to his large size and quick labor. I really still have a hard time believing how quickly things moved but it was a blessing because I'm not sure how much more labor I could have handled. Mike joked about it after the fact but I do wonder if the 2 pints of Red Rasberry Leaf tea I was drinking in the 3rd trimester contributed to my quick labor.  My natural delivery was definitely the most intense, empowering experience of my life. It doesn't take away from my experience when Garrett was born, both resulted in amazing, healthy baby boys. But from a personal perspective and what it meant for me and my body, this was truly an amazing, amazing experience and I now completely understand why women who have done it advocate so hard for it.  We are so excited to have Declan as part of our family and can't remember what life was like before he got here.

37 Weeks + 4 Days

Down to the final stretch!   Garrett spent the weekend with some friends at Hershey Park so Mike and I managed to get a lot done around the house.  Sunday morning we went to Ihop for breakfast where I polished off 2 pancakes, two eggs, 2 slices of bacon, hash browns and toast.  The worst part was that I probably would have kept eating if I hadn't run out of food!  It's funny because with Garrett I remember that my appetite tapered off at the end and I was eating small meals more frequently.  I still feel like my appetite is pretty big this time around.

By Sunday night I was feeling like I might actually be ready for the baby to come.  I even managed to get one of the two baby hats knitted this weekend and by Monday night they were both done!  I've actually been feeling a little anxious about the whole "when is baby coming" situation.  I was feeling really unready a few weeks ago but now we are as ready as we are going to be.  When I was pregnant with Garrett I fully expected as a first time mom to go a week or so after my due date.  Even when I was checked at my 36 week appointment and was 1 cm dilated, I was still planning on going to at least by due date so when he came a full 12 days early it was a welcomed surprise.

This time around I've just assumed from the beginning that I would go early again this time.  I didn't realize until a few days ago that I was potentially setting myself up for a lot of frustration.  As of my 37 weeks appointment I was 1 cm dilated again but I was expecting to be a little further progressed since I've been having pretty consistent Braxton Hicks all throughout the 3rd trimester.  I keep telling myself that baby will come when he or she is good and ready but walking around knowing that it could be any day now or 3 weeks from now is honestly just not a lot of fun.  I've had some slight cramping and an occasion shooting pain in the last few days but definitely nothing to make me think I'm anywhere near labor.  I really think I just need to get out of my own head, relax a bit and enjoy these last few days or weeks of being a family of 3 and sleeping (mostly) through the night.

36 Weeks + 6 Days

I've really been meaning to carve out some time for a blog post.  There's so much about this pregnancy that I've already forgotten when I promised I was going to document more this time around.  When I was pregnant with Garrett I picked up a pregnancy journal that was awesome.  There was a little blurb to read each day about how the baby was growing and every few days there were a few lines to update how I was feeling, how much I weighed, etc.  It's been fun to go back and compare to where I was with Garrett compared to this pregnancy and I'm bummed out that I haven't kept similar records this time around.

Part of my problems is that I've wanted pictures for the post and I just can't seem to remember to take pictures of this ever growing belly.  I think the majority of the problem has been that life is just much more full than when I was pregnant with Garrett.  When I was pregnant with Garrett I didn't have a lot going on in my life.  I went to work, went to school and planned for baby, that was it.  I felt like my whole life revolved around getting ready for the baby.  This time around my life is just busy with.... well, life.  

I have to say that I've really gotten off relatively easy this time around.  My first trimester was a breeze with the exception of some extreme moodiness and heading to bed around 8:30 most nights.  The second trimester was equally as easy and I still managed to make it to the gym at 6am a lot of mornings.  By the time the 3rd trimester rolled around I was mostly just praying that the calendar would slow down because holy cow, we were not ready!!!!  Thankfully we have managed to get the nursery completely together in the last few weeks, clothes have been washed and cloth diapers have been prepped.  Things started getting uncomfortable around 35 weeks.  I had terrible swelling in my feet with Garrett and thought I might skate by without it this time but no such luck!  My feet look like they might pop by about 5 o'clock most evenings.  Mike tries to get me to sit on the couch and keep my feet up but all the laying around on the couch just makes my back hurt.  It's funny, I feel better on the days when we are up and around all day then I do after 8 hours of sitting at my desk.  So far I'm up about 36lbs which I think has helped keep the back pain under control.  All in all, I am still feeling pretty good but would like a bit longer to get some deep cleaning done at home and get to a place at work where I don't feel like I'm dumping a ton of work on my co-workers.

Girls Camping Trip 2014

Last September we spent a weekend at the beach for my bachelorette party and promised to make an annual girls trip each year.  Funds were tight for a lot of us this year so we decided to try camping in order to keep the cost down and keep me close enough to a hospital in case something happened.  

A few of the girls needed a little convincing and I won't lie, after hearing my friend Tori scream the 15th time in the first hour because she is not a fan of bugs, I started to worry about what I had gotten us into.  Thankfully Tori's bug sensitivity seemed to get better (paired with A LOT of bug spray) and we had a really awesome weekend.  Abby and I managed to pitch both tents in under 15 minutes.  I was pretty proud of our accomplishment.

Friday we spent the evening making dinner and sitting around the campfire.  It was great to just sit around a laugh in the dark.  It felt a little like being back in high school for a sleep over.  For being 34 weeks pregnant, I slept surprisingly well on my air ma tress.  Everyone who heard I was camping while pregnant seemed to think I was a super hero but all in all it really wasn't too bad.  It probably helped that I had a group of girls ready to jump up and grab me something anytime I needed it.

Saturday morning we took a stroll before breakfast and then took what turned out to be at least a mile long walk to the lake to do some canoeing.  We found a shortcut on the way back and managed to get back in probably 1/3 of a mile.  Saturday afternoon was spent playing cards around the picnic table until we all got a little too competitive with the 4 hour card game.

Sunday we all packed up relatively early and I was able to get home in time to catch the second half of Garrett's lacrosse tournament in Westminster which his team managed to win!

Nifty Nine

I'm still having a hard time saying it out loud... I have a nine year old.  Garrett celebrated his ninth birthday with an eventful weekend.  Somewhere along the lines I came up with the bright idea to take five (yes 5!!!) kids to the Orioles game for Garrett's birthday.  Mike and I thought it would be easier to catch the light rail down to the stadium rather than driving two cars down but I'm not quite sure that was the best laid plan.  All in all it really wasn't a bad experience and I think the boys had a lot of fun.  We all survived but the Orioles stunk it up and it really was exhausting, especially at 32 weeks pregnant.  The light rail ride back was incredibly crowded, we were stuck standing and trying to keep track of everyone for a solid 40 minute ride. On the ride back Mike looked at me and said he was never doing this again.  I asked him to clarify "never taking the light rain to a game or never taking 5 kids to a baseball game?"  "Any part of it, I am never doing any part of this again."  Ha, can't say I can argue with that.

The boys were planning to all spend the night so when we got home we ate some pizza and then sent them outside to run around and burn off some steam until it was time to start the movie.  About an hour later I came outside to get everyone together and come inside when I heard Garrett let out a blood curling scream. Definitely not the sound you ever want to hear coming from your child, especially at his birthday party.  Turns out he had been running through an area in our yard that has yet to get cleaned out from the previous owners and there was a piece of wood with a nail sticking right out of it.  I scooped him up and got him to an urgent care center where they were able to get him cleaned up and x-rayed in about an hour.  After filling a prescription we got home around 10pm and did birthday cake and a second round of pizza before settling down for the movie.  It will definitely go down as a birthday he will never forget but hopefully 10 years down the road he remembers more than just the fact that he stepped on a nail at his birthday party.   I unfortunately was so busy running around that I don't have any pictures to show for the day except the one I snapped at the ball park.

It's hard to believe that Garrett is really nine but at the same time, I can hardly remember what my life was like without him in it.  There is something about getting ready to start all over in the parenting department that has made me realize just how quickly he is growing up.  As excited as I am to welcome this new baby into our family, it is so different this time around because I know I will blink my eyes and be celebrating another 9th birthday.  We are half way to 18........ half way to graduating high school and embarking on a huge new chapter and that idea takes my breath away.

So Happy Birthday Garrett, we are so excited to see what the next 9 years holds but you will always be my happy.  Our family started out as just the two of us and I wouldn't trade those years for anything in the world.  Our family grew by one when Mike came into the picture almost 5 years ago and this July we will see it grow by one more.  You are going to be an amazing big brother and I'm so excited to get to watch you grow into that role in the next few years.

1st Trimester

My first trimester when I was pregnant with Garrett was brutal.  I remember sleeping on the floor in the bathroom in my tiny apartment some nights because I was so sick.  The nausea was how I found out I was pregnant with him.  One minutes I was eating crabs with my mom for her birthday and the next I could hardly keep ginger ale and crackers down.  It went on for what seemed liked months but it had definitely cleared up by the time the first trimester was wrapping up.  I had a relatively uneventful second trimester and then spent most of my third trimester tired, sore and swollen.  I'll never forget in the hospital after Garrett was born and looking down at my ankles and thinking they looked like twigs.

It's amazing how different this pregnancy has been.  When I would hear women talk about how much they loved being pregnant I thought they were insane.  I was certain it had just been long enough that they had forgotten the misery and suffering.  This time around, I am not so cynical.  I won't go as far as to say that I love being pregnant but I can honestly say it has only been slightly inconvenient this time around.  I'm sure that it is mostly just because every pregnancy is different but I can't help but hope that the healthy eating and exercising has contributed to my easy second round of pregnancy.  I had no morning sickness in the first trimester although I was extremely tired in the beginning and EXTREMELY moody.  For a few weeks there I thought for sure Mike would end up divorcing me before we made it 3 months into the marriage.  I tried to curb the hormones and the mood swings but I'm fairly certain I didn't do a very good job and I spent a lot of time apologizing to Mike and Garrett.  But in the end we all survived the first trimester relatively unscathed.

November 12th

I really had great intentions of documenting this pregnancy here on the blog to help me remember all the little and big moments.  I don't remember a ton from my pregnancy with Garrett but I did have a pregnancy book where I could write a little about how I was feeling, what I was wearing, etc every few days.  But those intentions clearly never came to fruition because here I am with only 10 weeks to go and not a single blog post.  So I'm going to do what I can to go back and document some of the important moments between now and when Baby G makes his or her arrival.

I had joked during our entire engagement that I wanted a honeymoon baby but that Mike was not quite on board with the idea.  With Garrett during 9 this year, we knew we didn't want to wait long but I think Mike was hoping for a few months of rest after the wedding craziness was over.  We talked on the plane ride down to St Lucia for our honeymoon and decided we would wait until the Spring to start trying.  But the universe had other plans.

We got back from our honeymoon at the end of October and spent the first few weeks just catching back up on life after all the wedding hoopla.  One morning I was coming out of the laundry room with a basket of clothes and I didn't quite clear the door frame which jammed the basket into my abdomen.  My mind instantly went to "Oh, well that could be bad if I was pregnant".  I told Mike about this incident a few days later and told him how weird I thought it was that it was the first thought that flashed through my mind.  We joked for a few days about me being pregnant but I just kept thinking there might be something to it.  I woke up on a Sunday morning and decided to check my calendar to see when my last menstrual cycle had been.  Luckily I had been writing them down the last few months because I knew we would be trying within the next year.  I slowly counted on my calendar about 3 times before I turned to Mike and said "Umm, my period was supposed to start yesterday."  I've never been incredibly regular so Mike and I decided to wait a little while before we took a test.  Mike suggested a week and for some reason I thought I could wait that long.  I honestly think that I knew at that point but was still in  complete denial.

Tuesday night, November 12th, we had Garrett's end of soccer party with his team where another mom offered me a glass of the bottle of wine she bought.  I took a glass, reasoning that there was no way we had gotten pregnant that easily without even trying.  When I got home that night I told Mike I felt really guilty about the wine and that I just had to know NOW.  So I ran out and picked up a few tests and some dinner for Mike.  He ate his dinner while I went up to the bathroom to take the test.  My intention really was to not look at the test until Mike and I could look at it together but when I picked it up off of the counter to take it down to Mike, there were already two very distinct lines on the test.  I walked downstairs trying to conceal my big smile and sat the test down on the table in front of Mike.  He took one look at the test, picked up the instructions, looked back at me and said "well, I guess we're doing this huh?"  The look on his face is definitely one I will never forget.

Thankful Thursday

 Being present is something I've always struggled with. This is an exercise for me in taking the time to notice the things throughout the week that I am thankful for. Not the big things like my family but the little things it's easy to miss in the hustle and bustle that is life. 

This helps me breath a little easier and sleep a little better. And I can't wait to hear how happy his dogs are to see him. We still miss them but I know they are so happy to have him home.

Thankful Thursday

Being present is something I've always struggled with. This is an exercise for me in taking the time to notice the things throughout the week that I am thankful for. Not the big things like my family but the little things it's easy to miss in the hustle and bustle that is life. 

We've had what feels like a lot of power outages since moving into this house three years ago.  We think it's a combination of above ground power lines and rural living with lots of tress along said power lines.  Maybe a lot isn't really right, it's more that when we lose power it usually stays off for at least a day or two.  I'll never forget the first one that happened about two months after we bought our house.  We huddled up in living room and camped out in front of our wood burning fireplace which I think we all know, is not a great source of heat.  Welcome to home ownership!  Thankfully that one only lasted about 24 hours.  Since then I can think of at least 3 other times we have lost it for a day or more. Luckily we now can use our propane fireplace in another room of our house which puts off some serious heat.

Last night a nasty storm rolled through bringing our balmy weather back into the 30's.  It also brought crazy wind which knocked out our power around 8 o'clock.  Garrett and I headed up to my room to do some reading before bed and Mike headed off to the gym figuring he should take a shower after his workout since there was no telling when power would be restore.  We were a little nervous about this outage because the temperatures are supposed to stay around freezing for a day or two and we are out of propane.

Thankfully, around 4:45 this morning we heard the utility truck pull up out front and saw two men with flashlights looking around at the back of our property line where the power lines are.   By about 5:00 we had power restored which was quite a nice surprise.  

Birthday Scarf

I finally finished the birthday scarf I knit for my wonderful neighbor Shelly's 60th birthday.  Of course I finished it up Sunday afternoon when the weather was feeling much to warm for scarf wearing.  We've had a nice few days of weather which has been much appreciated. However, the weather man tells us the temperature is supposed to drop from the mid 60's on Wednesday to the low 30's on Thursday.  Brrrr. Looks like there is still some scarf wearing weather left for us in March.

The pattern was very simple to memorize and easy to knit up.  I will definitely make this one again in the future.  It was my first cable pattern that I felt like I knew what I was doing.  I did miss one cable over (can you spot it?) but overall I was really happy with the way it turned out.  I loved knitting with this yarn but I can't seem to find the label to determine what it was!  I might have to swing by my local yarn shop and see if I can spot it and pick up some more. Garrett helped me pick it out for Shelly a few weeks back at their Superbowl sale.

Thankful Thursday

Being present is something I've always struggled with. This is an exercise for me in taking the time to notice the things throughout the week that I am thankful for. Not the big things like my family but the little things it's easy to miss in the hustle and bustle that is life. 

I ordered a new external hard drive over the summer because I couldn't find my old one. My computer was randomly acting up and I didn't want to be in a situation where I could lose all my pictures.   

Fast forwards 6 months later, my computer was still acting up and the hard drive was still in the box. On Friday last week I took some time in the morning and backed up all my pictures.  

I turned on the computer today and it was frozen so I rebooted. 

So today I'm super thankful I took the time to save my pictures on Friday because otherwise I would be freaking out.

Slacker Swapper

So when I signed up for this craft swap I had big intentions.  But suddenly before I knew it February was winding down, I had a birthday scarf still on my needles that needed to be given at book club THAT NIGHT, a cake that needed decorating and I came home to my swap box from Stephanie, reminding me how very behind I was on my box. Needless to say I was feeling a little overwhelmed!  So I did what every good procrastinator does and found something not on my list to do.  I kid (partly).  I tried on the new maternity clothes that had also been delivered that day.  Realizing I had been missing out on comfortable clothes with an expandable belly panel, I got to work on the most important task at hand: icing the cake.  I put the half knit scarf in a gift bag, still attached to a ball of yarn and delivered it to my neighbor Shelly with the promise I would finish it and deliver it soon.

Then I set to work on the boot cuffs I was knitting for my swap partner. Thanks to a two hour lacrosse try-out on Tuesday evening I was able to finish up the second one and get my package in the mail Wednesday morning and it should have been delivered on Friday.  I am such a slacker that the only pictures I have of the goodies are from my iPhone at my cube at work.  (Ignore the dead plant in the background)

I included a pair of boot cuffs, a jar of peach bbq sauce, curried tomato jam and a blank journal (she is a writer after all) with some random quotes I love sprinkled throughout.

It really was so fun to participate in this craft swap and I definitely jump at the opportunity to do it again.  It's funny, I was actually pretty intimidated when I found out my swap recipient was Mollie, the editor of Grounded.  I wrote about it in my letter to Mollie.  I stepped back and realized we are all just crafty ladies wanting to pass along our handmades and create connections.  I hope she enjoys the package!

Swapped Goodies

When I saw a link on Facebook that amanda was hosting a craft swap I decided to jump on the band wagon.  It's funny, I hemmed and hawed over whether I should join since I hardly consider myself a crafter, much less a blogger.  But I jumped in anyway and I'm so very glad I did.

My package arrived last Thursday evening and I debated punishing myself because I was so very behind on my project for my swap partner.  But I don't pretend to have a ton of restraint and I tore into the package promising myself I would make some serious knitting progress that night.  I was greeted by the sweetest letter from Stephanie and a box filled to the brim with goodies.  I received so many wonderful things but I have to say my very favorite was the knitted sweater for Baby G.  I haven't had a ton of motivation to start shopping yet and this is the very first item that belongs to this baby of ours.  So that item alone would have been enough to make this swap a huge success for me.

However, I also received a box full of other fun stuff. The stitch markers she sent were so beautiful and much fancier than the plastic one's I've been using.  

Garrett is already requesting something sweet in the soccer cupcake wrappers she sent.  How incredibly sweet to include something for the boy!  I also received a knitted dish cloth and heart and a soccer coffee mug which will be put to use this weekend as March rolls in with freezing temperatures.  She also sent one of her favorite book-club books which I'm looking forward to suggesting for my next neighborhood book club.  Last but certainly not least was the jam and challah recipe that I'm going to try out this weekend.

So glad I decided to participate!  More on the package I sent next week.  I was pitifully late, getting my package in the mail Wednesday and it looks like it is going to be delivered today, just in time for the February deadline!

Internet Official

We made the official announcement to family on Christmas.  We've spent the last month and a half since Christmas catching up with close friends to share the exciting news in person and it's been such a great experience.  Last night we shared on Instagram and Facebook to make it internet official: We're Expecting!

Lights Out

Winter is such a fickle thing here in Maryland.  When November rolls around we are always left wondering what the next few months hold in store for us.  Last year we lucked out with very little snow and I don't recall Garrett having a single snow day.  This year has been a whole other story and it's only the beginning of February!  We were hit with about 5 inches of snow on Monday followed up my a pretty significant ice storm late Tuesday night which has left us without power since early Wednesday morning. 

Our property is lined with 50ft white pine's and we always lose a ton of branches in storms.  While Mike was clearing the driveway for me to get into work he realized one of the massive trees had uprooted and fallen into our street.  Thankfully it fell away from the house and not onto it but it is still quite a headache to deal with.   The county came out within a few hours and cleared the part of the tree that was in the road.  Unfortunately the rest of the tree will need to be dealt with.  Mike's not convinced his chainsaw can handle the massive trunk and the plus side of having a tree removal company deal with it would be a head start on mulch for the spring.  We're hoping for a reasonable estimate which will make the decision a little easier.

We have been camping out in the living room the last few nights and trying to make the best of our situations.  We are optimistic that we will have power restored when we all get home from work and school.  Otherwise we may be packing it up and heading to the in-laws for the weekend because camping in the living room with 4 dogs is only fun for a few nights.

Headed Home

My brother Ryan left for his third deployment in early October.  Mike and I offered to help out by taking his two dogs for his 9 month deployment.  In the beginning things were a little crazy, the dogs came to stay about 2 weeks before the wedding and we already have two dogs of our own.  My brother has a huge German Shepherd and a tiny Yorkie.  I always thought we had a pretty big size difference with our dogs, a Cairn Terrier and a Boxer, but the size difference between his dogs is laughable.   It was an interesting first two weeks with the dogs try to sort out the order of the pack and watching the interesting dynamics develop between the four of them.

I think Mike has described the situation perfectly:  90% of the time having 4 dogs is not that much different than having 2 dogs, the other 10% of the time it really sucks. 

Sleeping falls into the later category.  We have a queen size bed and our two dogs have always slept with us.  Adding one tiny terrier was not an issue and my brother assured me that Mishka always slept on the floor.  Which was a relief because she is a big dog.  However, after about 3 nights Mishka decided she wanted in on the action and has been sleeping at the foot of our bed ever since.  It's been an adjustment to say the least.  

Not sure where I'm supposed to sleep here?

The evenings when we get home from work have been great.   Laila and Mishka play tug or war and chase each other around the house which relieves some of the guilt we have from not being able to do evening walks because it is dark and cold by the time we get home from work.  Pecan sometimes joins in on the action which has been hilarious to watch.  He apparently has no idea that he is only about 4lbs and the big dogs seem to humor him when they play 3 way tug of war.

As much as an adjustment it has all been, we have really enjoyed the last few months with the dogs.  It has been chaotic at times and has definitely kept us on our feet but we really are going to miss them when they leave in a little less than two weeks.  My brother's deployment is ending early and my mom is picking the dogs up for their drive home to North Carolina in the middle of the month.  It will be bittersweet to say goodbye and we're already trying to plan a weekend trip down to visit my brother and the dogs once he is home and reacquainted.  For now we are just trying to enjoy the last two weeks with the dogs and ignore the little frustrations that come along with 4 dogs in one house.  I'm also making a mental note to try to get some decent, not iPhone pictures before they head back home.

Mishka decided to help Garrett with his rainbow loom project