Getting Ready

So here I am again at 4am wide awake with no chance of getting back to sleep anytime soon. The same thing happened when I was pregnant with Maya towards the end. To pass the time this post will keep me busy from laying in bed analyzing the zillion things that I tend to analyze about life on a daily basis. 

We are at 38 weeks ladies and gentlemen! Well by my calculations I am 38 weeks - by my last ultrasound dates I am 37 and a bit (but really what's the difference, we are talking a range of a mere days, people!).  My OB appointment on Wednesday confirmed that things are moving along nicely. The doc doesn't think I will make it to 40 weeks. He guessed that I could go anywhere as early as tomorrow or next week. Lots of signs are happening, but it's one of those things that you just never know how long you have to wait - only baby gets to decide!

My plan was to take ten days of vacation from work before my due date to have a chance to nest and get organized, as well as spend some time with Miss Maya before the big arrival. But after my doc appointment I started panicking, thinking that I might not get the time at home I was planning, and so instead of starting my vacation on Monday I decided to get a head start a few days early (thanks to flexible bosses that I am lucky to have!).  Chris and I have also gotten the nasty head cold that Maya had last week (my throat is on fire, y'all). So I am hoping I will have a few days to recuperate a bit before I go into labour!

So on my first morning off, the need to get my house in order struck me fast. We spent the day organizing, making phone calls / arrangements for various things, and doing research on some last minute baby stuff. 

Maya must have known what was going on because as soon as she got out of bed she started practicing for when baby brother comes. 

She has been so freaking cute and adorable and so "grown up" lately it's disgusting - but we'll save that for another day. 

Another thing that I have been doing here and there is purchasing a few new things for baby Nolan's arrival. We pretty much have all the baby essentials that we need, but after having Maya there were a few things I came across that I wished I had, that I know I will use with the new itty bitty.

The real problem though.  There are these daily deal web sites that you can sign up to get steals on baby products. You never pay more than half price. This is dangerous for me because I literally get e-mails every day with a new deal that I am just so tempted to take advantage of, even though I don't always need the stuff, know what I mean? So I have been trying to be real good and only purchase things that I know are things that I will use a lot. 

I just love getting packages of baby stuff in the mail! Here are some things I have gotten lately online (FYI - I have not been paid to advertise for any of the said baby products - this is not that kind of blog). 

Hotslings

With Maya I used a Moby Wrap, which I absolutely love for around the house,  but it's a pain to use in public because it is so long and drags on the dirty ground when you put it on. I can't wait to try this new one out!

PB Green Bags

I was getting tired of always using up plastic sandwich bags so when I saw these I scooped them up.  They are great for keeping snacks in the diaper bag when we are on the go and easy for Maya to eat out of when she is hanging out in her stroller!

Macy Grace Cloth Diapers

I have been thinking about making the switch to cloth diapers for a while now and am slowly starting to build up a stash. Every time I see these diapers, or other ones half off I order a few at a time. Last order I also got a wet bag for when I am changing diapers on the go. 

Bambino Muslin Blankets 

I saw so many people with these multi-purpose swaddling blankets when I had Maya, (and thought they were the greatest). So this time around I snagged them as soon as I saw a deal. They are so light and airy for summer months. You can use them to swaddle without overheating or as a really breathable nursing cover when you are out and about. I so can't wait to use these!

I got all of these products half price, yo!

I also keep seeing deals on amber teething necklaces that I would like to eventually buy (but I promised hubby I would restrain myself and not go overboard with any more online purchases for a while). 

A few other things I snagged in store:

First Years On-The-Go Booster Seat

Planet Wise Wet / Dry Bag 

(you can hang on the back of your bathroom door to store dirty diapers)

Summer Infant Swaddle Me Blanket

Chris' parents were recently generous enough to purchase a double electric breast pump for us. With Maya I borrowed the Avent one from a friend and used it often. This time around we are going with the Hygeia, thanks to good reviews from my sis-in-law.  

The biggest purchase we still have to get is a double stroller. We love our BOB Revolution Stroller that we receivedas a gift for Maya,  but with two kids under two we need to expand! 

So we are looking at the Baby Jogger City Select double stroller. This thing you can use as a single or a double and it has so many different configurations. We plan to sell our BOB and use the money towards this new purchase because, whoa, the City Select is darn expensive. We have been looking to buy it used but no such luck yet. 

Today I have an appointment to get a much needed hair cut so that I don't look completely gross in my first pictures with my new itty bitty.  My next post will probably be a birth announcement so stay tuned. I'm getting excited!

Braids

This weekend was busy. A wedding, my sis was in town, stayed with the in-laws, and a family bar-b-que. On top of it Maya came down with a fever and was fighting something. Today she stayed home from daycare cause she was still warm and miserable but after her afternoon nap she was starting to feel much better. She even let me put tiny little braids in her hair.

So cute! They didn't stay in for very long but we had fun while it lasted. 

We're getting into the home stretch, I will be 37 weeks on Friday. Between sore back, heart burn, hot flashes, head aches and everything in between I am ready to have this baby. But really I'm not. I still have to get done a gazillion things on my crazy to do list that I have convinced myself I have to get done before baby comes and I am not officially done work until August 3rd. I want this baby to come soon, but I don't want to. I want to cherish this time we have left, just the three of us (four if you count Gunther) before the crazy starts. I'm so excited to meet little one but sad that it's changing. I'm so ready to complete our family but not looking forward to the sore nipples, sleepless nights, extra weight to lose. But I can't wait to see our family evolve again, for our house to be filled with even more joy.  I love my Maya boo so much and I know that my heart will grow even more when Nolan arrives.  I know one day I am going to look back at this time and think fondly of it. I hope I live in the moment as much as I can. 

Michelle's havin' a baby....

You may remember me mentioning my BFF on here a few times. 

We've been friends since we were fourteen years old and I have now known her for more than half my life. It's kind of like with my husband who I've known since I was a teenager - I don't really remember my life with either of them not in it. We've really come into our own since then and have been through all of life's big moments. 

Here she is with her lovely step daughter. 

Here she is holding one of our other BFF's daughter after she was born. She's always loved to hold everyone's little babies and always shows enthusiasm when a new bundle arrives.

Now its her turn, she's with child!!!!!     

Michelle is the last out of our group of friends to get preggers and she has been waiting for this moment for while. When she told me the news I was already ten weeks along with my bambino and I was ecstatic that we were going to be able to have such an experience in common. Since we sometimes carpool together (we both commute out of town for work) we would often find ourselves comparing notes about symptoms, doctor's appointments, nursery ideas, baby names, etc.  The thought of having babies so close in age is so exciting! 

Michelle even had this crazy idea to take random pictures of us together every few weeks and see how much our bellies start to grow. We only got one picture so far (bear in mind we just got home from work on a Friday afternoon and were tired and not looking top notch). 

But then Michelle got admitted into the hospital on bed rest due to a short cervix. She was only 24 weeks and they obviously didn't want her going into early labour. So she has been literally sitting in bed (with the exception of using the washroom) for almost a month now. Anyone who knows Michelle understands that this is prison for her, she is a very active person and does not like to sit around and do nothing. 

My heart goes out to her, this is not what she envisioned how her pregnancy would turn out. We always joke that nothing ever seems to go according to plan for her, and so it's not a surprise that she would have to roll with this too. So I made her a calendar to put up in her hospital room where she can mark off every day that baby grows until she gets closer to her due date. I wrote down something every day that she can do to pass the time, just for fun. I try to visit her as much as I can, but you know how it is with working full time and having a little one at home, so at least she has something that shows my support. 

Luckily Michelle has a great support system, lots of family and friends who love her and will help her out. She also works at her parents' business so she doesn't have to worry about her job right now which is good. The other day she told me that the doctor may let her go home in a few weeks and she can at least be in her own bed so I am keeping my fingers cross for her. Baby M, I am rooting for you kid! Keep growing and don't come out until your momma says so!

Hey There!

This blog has been ever changing since I first started it. The goal at the beginning was to use it as a way of keeping myself motivated every day to get back into a healthy lifestyle and work towards weight loss goals. Every day I would write about a reason to stay motivated and would keep track of what I was eating. Then, once I made some progress I got preggers again and it sort of just evolved into talking about my life as a Mom, going back to work, you know that sort of thing. Now a days it's pretty random, I just can't seem to find the time to update this thing as often as I would like to. So I thought today I would at least give a pregnancy update and let you know how I have been doing on the whole back to work, healthy eating thing. 

This is me at 31 weeks. 

So far this pregnancy has been pretty typical. Brutal morning (all day sickness) lasted for about the first four months, but then it tapered off. Now it's just the usual aches and pains of pregnancy, nothing out of the ordinary. When I found out I was pregnant, I decided to stop modifying what I eat in terms of trying to lose weight and just try to eat as many whole foods as I can. Well since then I have been eating pretty much whatever I want. That includes processed foods and some take out. Since I have been back at work it seems to have been a slippery slope in that regard. I get so hungry during the day, so a lot of mornings you will see me walking down from the cafeteria with a muffin and a chocolate milk, after already eating breakfast at home.  I could plan ahead and bring something healthy but it is a chore just to pack a lunch every day let alone a morning snack. Anyhow, I have also allowed myself the occasional chocolate chip cookie in the afternoon, and so on. You get the picture.  I do get my servings of fruits and veggies in every day, but I know that I could be way more disciplined when someone offers me dessert or when I am tempted to order pizza on a Saturday night (which we did when I had my Dad over last night to celebrate father's day).

So far this pregnancy I have already gained 30lbs, and I have nine weeks to go. I still only weigh a few lbs more than I did before I even got pregnant with Maya last time but I know this is not just all baby and so I feel a bit guilty about weighing this much. I can see the chub in my face and the sausage arms back in full force. The good news is in the last few weeks I have only been able to eat smaller portions and snack rather than eat big meals (since baby is now taking up all the room).  So hopefully there won't be too much more gaining going on, but they say the last month of pregnancy is the most weight gain so I better watch it.

I kept going to my cardio kickboxing classes until I was about six months pregnant but then stopped once my membership expired (and belly was starting to get in the way). I felt so much better when I was exercising regularly. Now I try to get out for walks but honestly with this weather I usually opt to stay inside after work and put my feet up after Maya goes to bed. I can't wait to get back into a regular exercise routine though!

But overall I would have to say that I could be doing a lot worse, and I am confident that when I get my body to myself again I will continue working towards my goals. In the mean time it's just the count down until crazy craziness mccrazy enters my home with two kids under two.

But don't get me started on my thoughts about working full time and having a kid. It is so much easier to stay on track when you are at home and just focusing on yourself and your family - but we'll save that for another day.



So Maya and I did a spontaneous photo shoot in the back yard last week in preparation for father's day. It took forever just to get a few decent shots. But now her daddy has updated photos he can bring to work with him.

Father's day was pretty low key today. Chris got back late last night from being out of town for an adventure race that he does with guys from work every year. When he woke up today he was pretty sore and so we didn't do any traveling or visiting today, just hung out as a family. In fact, that's what we're doing right this second as I sit here and type this. 

Stay tuned for pictures of the nursery - it is almost complete!

I hope you all are having a wonderful day!

For Comparison Purposes

So here's what I looked like when I was pregnant with Maya around 26 weeks, 36 weeks, and 38 weeks. 

First of all, I look back at these pictures and think, "Wow!" I was as big as a house. How could my belly get that big, seriously people!". But the part that really stands out is how unhealthy I looked cause of all the extra weight. I thought maybe I would see how I look with this pregnancy and compare later on, just to see if I will look a bit different or not this time around since my weight loss. So far my pregnancy weight has been wavering back and forth in the 4 lb range. Some days I am up 4 lbs since my pre-pregnancy weight, others I am down 2. But the past week I have mostly been up. I already feel blah when I look in the mirror. My waist is completely gone and I am already popping out a bit, depending on what outfit I wear. I feel flabby because the foods I have been eating have dramatically changed since I was on my weigh loss meal plan. I have been eating way more bread and pasta. Still can't seem to get into eating a lot of meat. It's been hard to get all my servings of fruit/veggies every day. I have no problem with fruit, but veggies is a bit more difficult. I have been going to kickboxing regularly - this is the only thing keeping me from feeling completely gross. I keep telling myself being in the second trimester (I'm now 14 weeks) I will be able to eat more normal again but thinking back to my pregnancy with Maya all my tastes were changed just like this time. As soon as I was no longer pregnant with Maya I craved salad and apple sauce and meats - all things that I couldn't get into when I was pregnant. Anyway, the point of all this rambling is that pregnancy has changed my eating and I am going to have to really make an effort to stay afloat in order to maintain and give my little bean all the nutrients he/she needs.  When I go to my first OB appointment in a few weeks I am going to ask them how much I weighed at this point in my previous pregnancy just for comparison purposes. I think I need to use the numbers to keep myself focused. I have been feeling the baby move a lot earlier than when I was pregnant with Maya - just little pops here and there. But last night when was taking a bath I felt full out movement. Oh how I missed that feeling!

Baby Fat

TODAY'S MOTIVATION

There is this online birth club that I joined when I was pregnant with Maya that is all Mom's with March babies. Yesterday someone started a thread on the message board about losing baby weight. She had asked whether anyone else was still trying to lose their baby weight and if not, how much more they had to lose before they are back to their pre-baby weight.  Reading this thread made me feel good because I have lost all my baby weight plus 26 lbs on top of that. 

This is a big deal for me because I always had this fear that I would gain more and more weight each time I had a baby and never truly get back to how I was pre-baby. My body is still not the same - stretch marks and a few varicose veins (I know gross), but at least I can say that I got back to a decent weight. There's still more weight that I want to lose but at least I have accomplished this goal. So that's what keeps me motivated today: being able to feel good about losing the baby weight and then some. 

RANT OR RAVE

Christmas is coming up and I am feeling a bit anxious about all the parties and stuff that will have lots of food and desserts. I know that everything is fine in moderation but it's really hard not to "fall off the wagon" at this time of year. 

I've warned my husband - it may make me a bit cranky. I hate that something like food can ruin what is normally a magical time of year for me.  I know it's mostly in my head, but it is frustrating all the same. 

RANDOMS

So here are the rest of the pictures from our visit to Nova Scotia. It was a pretty low key trip. We did not travel around and see the ocean or eat lobsters or all the other things you do when you visit the east coast. Really, Maya and I just visited with my sister and her husband. They don't get to see Maya that often, and so they were kinda just soaking up the time they had with her. 

How we spent our time:

celebrated my sister's birthday

celebrated my birthday early

went out for lunch

walked around downtown

ordered take out

went to the market

had impromptu photo shoots with Maya in the living room

cuddled and watched TV

had turkey dinner with my sister's friends

set up a play date for Maya

fed Maya her first taste of ice cream (omigod she went bonkers for it)

went swimming

watched movies

played with balloons

listened to a lot of records

went for walks

It was a good visit. The people living above my sister were really loud and so Maya did not sleep very well. Once we got a white noise machine it was better. Maya was a bit off kilter the first few days and would scream if I was more than three feet away from her but by the end she had made herself right at home.  I am glad that she was able to spend some quality time with her Aunt and that I have pictures for her to look back on her first trip out east. I look forward to spending summer vacations there going whale watching and seeing the tides go in and out.  When we returned home you could tell that Maya was missing her Daddy. We talked to him on the phone while we were away and skyped him a few times. Every time she heard his voice she would light up. When we saw him at the air port she was overwhelmed with emotions (from all the travelling and being away from home and lack of sleep). She laid her head right on her Daddy's shoulder and stayed that way as if to say, "I had fun but I am sure glad to be home!".  The first morning that she took a nap back in her crib she slept for two and a half hours.  I guess there's no place like home!