Madelyn's 16th Month

Madelyn and I fought for a good 15 minutes trying to get her picture this month. Finally, I gave up and realized - this is just Madelyn at this stage in life. She is WAY too busy to sit for any of my photo shoots so I'm just going to have to take what I can get.

I can sum up the month in 3 words - Walking and Talking.

Madelyn's favorite things to do include walking around the house (she can go in circles now and is really proud of herself) and chatting to whoever will listen. Most of the talking is Da Da Da Da but she uses inflection which is pretty funny.

Since the weather is unseasonably warm, we've been able to head outside and I now understand the whole nice clothes/play clothes thing. This kid gets trashed!

Sitting in the mud I am trying to hose out of our driveway



She struggled for a day or so with the uneven terrain of the grass and rough texture of the cement (when she falls) not to mention that sidewalks around here are not level, but she has mastered it and loves walking back and forth on the sidewalk in front of our house.

She has also been working on stairs a lot this month and is getting pretty good.

My poor girl battled another tooth in early March complete with a runny nose, fever and rosy cheeks. She wanted to cuddle and we ended up kicking Nick to the couch for a couple nights since she turned into a mama's girl those few days.

She loves to read and her favorites include The Very Hungry Caterpiller, Goodnight Moon and Where's Spot. If we read in her room the first book off the shelf is The Very Hungry Caterpiller. I have even tried hiding it in a different spot on the shelf a few times (you can only read the same book so many times before you get a little tired of it) and she still manages to find it first. Next up is always Goodnight Moon. Her favorite part is the "old lady whispering hush". Everytime she hands me the book she starts hussssshing and does it the entire time I'm reading. We keep some books in the livingroom and this is where Spot lives. She likes this one because of the snake that says Sssssss - I guess she's liking the S sound these days.

The other day she saw a poster of a dog at Target and said "woof woof" - genius baby, I know! Cats aren't called cats around here - they are rowwww's. This makes sense if you realize none of our cats actually meow, they rowwww.





Oh and she can sing row row row your boat - because she's brilliant!

31 weeks

Ummm....what the bleep!!?!?!?!

We are 11 weeks from meeting this baby - how did that happen?

Here are some thoughts on second pregnancies, VBACing, childbirth class, and a nursery preview.

Second pregnancies are no joke! The good thing is that time flies because you are so busy running after your older child. The bad thing is you are tiiiirreeeddd and there is no rest for the weary because you are running after your older child. Now that I'm getting to the tougher parts of pregnancy, I am realizing how hard my body is working at keeping these kids happy and healthy. I told Nick that I am carrying an extra 50lbs around most of the day - no wonder my back hurts!

I also can't get over how different this pregnancy is from Madelyn's. I am hoping I can say the same about the birth! Anyway, with Madelyn I expanded sideways and this baby is all out in front and way lower than she ever was. My boobs literally sat on my belly the entire time I was pregnant with her. The good part about carrying lower is it is a lot easier to breathe this time around which I will take. The bummer is there seems to be a lot more stretching an expanding going on down below that never happened last time. Another major difference - braxton hicks. I never had one with Madelyn. I also never had a "normal" contraction. ie: starts in back and spreads to the front and tightening in your belly. She was all back labor, all the time. I would say I am having braxton hicks at least 1-2 times every couple of hours. Feeling my belly tighten like that is just crazy. I am hopeful that it is just things lining up to a successful VBAC.

This time around, I knew going in how long a pregnancy lasts. Obviously, I knew before but you just can't help yourself with preparing and I was ready to go 2 months before my due date with Madelyn. This time, HA! I have purchased a rug, hangers and a mattress. Seriously. Random purchases, I know but I got deals on all of them which is why I have bought anything at all. Not a onesie. No crib. Dresser, what? I told Nick, my goal is to buy one bigger item each week until showtime. With 11 weeks to go, we should be good, right?

Oh and can I just say there is not enough chocolate in the world to satisfy me these days! Weird, considering I normally don't have a sweet tooth.

Alright - onto a nursery preview! I am in love!!
Here is a reminder of what it looked like as Ben's room (which I will post a reveal of his new room later)

And the work in progress -

We (nick) tore out the desk and are installing shelving

Paint - after

I am in love with the colors! In.Love.

We tore the carpet out and replaced the window when Ben was still in the room. As a result, the work for this project was pretty minimal and Nick knocked it out in a week. I don't have any pictures of the rug or the shelving so that will come later. We also found fabric for bedding and my mom is going to make that.

Prenatal appointment went well. Heartrate was in the 140's - the baby actually punched the doppler off of my belly while we were trying to get a read. Blood pressure was 114/60 which I guess is good. Next appointment is in 3 weeks.

First night of childbirth class went well also. There are only 4 other couples in the class so that is nice. And we get to sit on comfy couches - yay! The closest due date to mine is July 7 so I don't know if that means we are way behind (surprise surprise) or everyone else is head of schedule but whatev's. We went over nutrition during pregnancy and the instructor gave us some pregnancy tea which was pretty good. I've got an iced tea obsession going on right now anyway so I might as well use her recipe and make it work to my advantage. We also went over some yoga stretches that can help with the aches and pains of pregnancy. All in all, pretty good class so far.

I also found a 1 day VBAC specific class in Ann Arbor that Nick and I plan on attending so I am excited about that.

Madelyn's 15th Month

These pictures are getting harder to capture!

This kid is on the move! She is now walking about 80% of the time. What's funny is she actually walks more as the day progresses, ending the night with actual laps around the kitchen and living room until I burst her bubble and put her to bed. I am pretty sure the laps are an attempt to keep moving lest she sit down and accept the fact that she's tired. Oh Madelyn, always a party!

We've also been working on using utensils while she eats. I've found she is much more accepting of foods she generally turns her nose at once I put it on a fork or spoon. She can load a spoon herself by picking up the food and putting it on the spoon and then bringing it to her mouth. Still working on stabbing things with the fork.

She loves blowing kisses and waving at me whenever she leaves a room. She also loves clapping for herself whenever she walks from one end of the room to the other. She also loves to climb into her very own recliner and read her books. It cracks me up everytime I walk in the room and find her reading to herself. New words - ni ni (night night) and raaaaa (her answer to what a lion says). She can point to her head when asked and same with her belly. She has also learned her first sign thanks to her BFF, Piper. Madelyn can now sign milk but I'm pretty sure she has no idea what it actually means since Piper uses it to nurse and Madelyn hasn't nursed in 3 months. I think she uses it as a way to show me she wants something.


Speaking of Piper, Madelyn and I went to visit Piper and her mama, Jen in Minnesota this month. It was a great few days full of baby friendly activities. We went to Mall of America, the Minnesota Children's Museum, a local baby play area and joined in on Piper's Music Together class. The girls had a great time playing together and it was nice to see Jen too!! We joked that it was Madelyn's baby moon since she will be sharing the spotlight in a few short months. Madelyn did a great job traveling and charmed both the pilots and the flight attendants, scoring herself both pilot and flight attendant wings plus oodles of cookies and pretzels. Jen shared a her travel tip to bring a whole apple on the plane for Madelyn to eat. It worked beautifully and kept her entertained for a good part of the flight. We were also lucky enough to score Madelyn her own seat for all legs of our flights which was awesome! I'm not sure how I would have managed to actually keep her in my lap.

Miss. Madelyn is during into quite the little dare devil. She climbs onto the ottoman in her room and rocks herself. She also tries to stand on the seat of her 4 wheeler. When she uses her walking toy, walking is just too slow so now she breaks into a full on run. She got her first shiner this month when she fell face first into the ottoman after walking a little too fast during one of her laps. I have a feeling this is just the first of many scrapes and bruises in her childhood.

She also had her first real few days of not feeling good. She's had a couple running noses and coughs but nothing major. Sadly, my poor little girl had double ear infections. We opted out of giving her the antibiotics because Nick and I both had tons of ear infections as little kids and as a result built up immunities to antibiotics. The antibiotics only work about 50% of the time and I don't want to jump to them every infection. We controlled her fever with tylenol and within a couple days she was back to herself again so I think we made the right decision. I still felt horrible for her while she was under the weather - ear infections are the WORST!

Last big thing - Madelyn had her first sleepover at Grandma's house! It was nice to go out to dinner with Nick on Valentine's Day and eat my food when it got to the table and drink my own water. It was also nice to sleep in the next morning but man, did I miss her little butt! My mom said she did great! Went to sleep without any hitches and slept right through the night as if she was at home.


Another great month!!

28 weeks!

Officially in the third trimester - yikes! Still don't have a name or a nursery but we are making progress towards both. I was able to score a new stroller on craigslist so we can cross that off the list and Nick is finishing up Ben's room this week so we can move him next week. This means we can start #2's room after that. We found fabric and my mom ordered it and will be making the bedding and window treatments - so excited!!!

Pregnancy news - I passed my 1 hour glucose test! Yay! Blood pressure was 118/60 which is where it has been all along. Weight gain - I honestly don't know how much I gained since my last appointment because I can't keep track of where I was at the last appointment. Overall, I am up 20ish lbs and still 20 lbs less than I was when I had Madelyn. Baby's heartrate was 140 and my midwife thinks he/she is head down which is good. I still feel pretty good but definitely am tired once Madelyn goes to bed.

I have been doing yoga and walking when weather permits (which is often this winter - thank you weather man!). I have also been doing some of the exercises from spinning babies. My midwife showed me an excercise to do with Nick that can help ensure this little one stays anterior. She also recommended we take a childbirth class since we didn't with Madelyn. I am researching all the local options and will hopefully find one by the end of the week.

Project 300ish

2/8/2012 - Heading to Minnesota - earned her wings!

2/9/2012 - BFFs!

2/10/12 - At the Children's Museum

2/11/2012 - Matching jammies!!

2/13/2012 - Daredevil child - She did this the same day her aunt jumped out of a plane. Oh boy!

2/14/2012 - Happy Valentine's Day!

Project 300ish

1/26/2012 - sick baby with a double ear infection

1/27/2012 - Uncle Caleb came to visit

1/28/2012 - French braids!

1/29/2012 - Trying out the new stroller! Love it!



1/31/2012 - Snoozing



2/2/2012 - Ben and his pinewood derby car

2/3/2012 - Madelyn, the 4 wheelin' viking

2/4/2012 - mmmm spaghetti

2/5/2012 - Madelyn's first shiner

2/6/2012 - Checking out Jungle Java

2/7/2012 - mmmm 1 hour glucose test

2012 goals - January check in

We are already pushing into February which means it is time to check in and see how I'm doing on my 2012 goals.

Meal Planning - I did pretty well here but am still going to make some changes. I did a full menu plan for 2 weeks. The third week, I tried to make do with food we had around the house, mostly frozen meats to keep the grocery bill down. It seems like meal planning definitely increased my weekly grocery bill. I have also been buying for the Once a Month Cooking throughout the month (still have to do my big cooking day) so I'm hoping that is where the bulk of the cost is going. Plus, here I sit on Monday with no meal plan for this week. I've found the weekly meal planning is definitely easy to get burnt out on so I might turn this into an every other week meal planning coupled with eating freezer meals in between. It will still build up my freezer stash, just not as quickly.

Couponing - I have ordered coupons once but haven't been able to hit a sale yet. I am waiting patiently, ready to go.

Purge My House - Man alive scanning pictures takes forever! I am down to my last 2 photo albums so this one has to continue onto February. I made it about 25% of the way through the basement until I hit the photo albums and this has definitely slowed me down. At the same time, Nick has cleaned out Ben's future bedroom which is creating more clutter - overwhelming but hopefully this is the biggest project for the house.

Pay Something Off - Still just plugging away with monthly payments.

Timeblock - This is another one that needs to get revamped. It is way to hard to decide what times to get things done around here since Madelyn's naps are fluctuating like whoa these days. Instead I have turned it into a general game plan for the day. I first decide if I'm staying home or hitting the roads. I then create a mini to do list for the day and accomplish it as time allows.

Focus on Work - I'm still under the non compete so this goal isn't full steam ahead yet.

Reduce Plastic/Nasty - Embarassed to say I've done nothing here

Project 365 - As I'm sure you've seen - this has been revamped into Project 300ish and it seems to be going well.

Pinterest - I did pretty good here this month! I made several of the recipes and they turned out pretty well. I am actually ahead of schedule on this one!

VBAC - I've just been focusing on staying active, taking advantage of the warm days when we have them and getting outside for walks plus doing yoga. I have also been doing some of the stretches on spinning babies. I have my 1 hour glucose test in a couple of weeks so that is the next hurdle.

Monthly Goal Check - Done and done!