E's Modeling Portfolio Update

We have gotten a lot of new bookings with it being the holiday season. I really don't post many pictures of the girls like I use to, so I thought I would just post random modeling updates of pictures.

This one is for E. She is now 9 months old, and she gets the most bookings between the girls during the cooler months. I'm sure it is because of her age. It's hard to find baby models, especially little girls. E has been modeling since she was 2 months old, and she has always glowed in front of the camera. I absolutely love taking her photo and watching her interact with the camera.

E now has 4 teeth. She loves to eat, and she is very demanding when it comes to things she wants. She eats double what A (her 2 year old sister) eats. Don't take anything away from her or it will be a tempter tantrum from hell.....o. She doesn't like to sleep. She can't stand to be too hot or too cold. She is strictly a boob baby, and I really wish she would take a bottle. She is 14.5 lbs and 27 inches long. She wears mostly 9 month clothes but because of her length, she can pull off 12 months in some pants and dresses. She is very long and skinny. She looks just like her Daddy, but her hair is starting to lighten up like her Momma's.

This is our little girl... our drama queen who has rightfully earned her nickname - Eva Diva. Enjoy!

Come back on Monday to see A's update!

Christmas Haul: Part 2

For Christmas, the girls are getting their big outside toy which are bikes. You can see that post here.

The way we do it is we give them one large outside toy and one semi large inside toy. This year because of A's age and the amount we travel, we decided to get her an InnoTab. I really like for my girls to be outside and not rely on insides toys and get addicted to being indoors. I really hesitated with this because part of me feels like she is too young and I am afraid she will get addicted to it, but the other part of me feels like it is something she (and us parents) will appreciate on flights, train rides, and long distance drives. We love to travel and I hate seeing her getting bored and doing nothing during the travels. Not to mention, kids her age have already had them for a year or two so I felt like 1 - she was mature enough anyway and 2 - as I parent, I waited until she was ready and understood its use. This will be used for travels and something to preoccupy her when I have to tend to E and need her to be quiet and still, especially when Mr. Man is gone. So here is her "big" inside toy:

Innotab 3s in Pink

Carrying Case

Toy Story Game

For E, she is obviously too young and really won't understand any of it. But I really wanted to get her another large item to be fair. Even though she may not catch on, A may. So what I did was I picked something that I thought she would really like based on her interests of the toys we already have, something educational, and something that would grow with her. With that, I found this new toy by Vtech.

Vtech Alphabet Activity Cube

The rest of what I got them are basic filler items. Smaller toys - both educational based on their age and a couple of what actually interests them. Again, since E really doesn't have interests, I bought her things that I never had with A that I would have liked or things that I felt A enjoyed but it brought or got abused and didn't make it to her.

Let's start with what interests A. A is very much a tomboy. Her favorite things are dinosaurs, Buzz Lightyear, Spiderman, the Hulk, and Iron Man. She has asked for a Jessie, Woody, and Buzz from Toy Story. But Buzz is by far her favorite. Mr. Man was set on getting her a Buzz, so we did.

Buzz 

Then, she recently started showing lots of interest in trains. We don't have space for a train table at this time, but she already had some magnetic trains. I thought I would go ahead and get her a figure eight wooden train track.

Melissa and Dog Figure 8 Train Track

For E, she doesn't have very many interests. She is starting to get more interested in A's puzzles. A does puzzles often right now, so I thought I would get more. We only have 2 right now. Even though I am using them as E's gifts, they will definitely both use them.

Melissa and Doug Wooden Puzzles

She is into putting things inside other things and digging things out. They had this cute hippo that you put shapes in its mouth and it tells you its shape and its color. It also plays music. The belly also lights up. I thought it was adorable and perfect for her.

Playskool Hippo Shape and Color Toy

I will do a separate post on the small toys and stocking stuffers.

It's Time to Write

It has been a while since I just sat and wrote what was on my mind. Generally I have list of what I want to blog about, but lately I haven't really looked at the list because it seems that most of it happened so long ago. Then I came across some cute pictures and great video footage that I thought would be so nice to document, so I started there.

But now I am here. Exhausted. And wanting to just write.

The last couple of weeks have been tiring. Mr. Man went to nights to prepare for his leave for my family who is coming to visit. Once he returns to work, he is moving to a different shop. For us, this is a big change. He is going to a days only shop. He says it is much more laid back and less responsibilities. The chances of him coming home and talking about work would be slim because it will be... well, boring because of the differences. He is excited and ready to move on, but I know that he will miss what he has been doing for the last 3 years. As a family that never knew when he would be home or what shift he would be on, this is good news. Even though I know he will miss what he did and I will miss the people, I am ready for this change. I don't know that he will be home every day by 5pm, but I do know that he won't work swings or mids. He will be on call less often, too. So back to being tired...

He went to nights. The first week he went to nights A decided to get sick. I'm not sure where she caught it or what she had. The weather has been changing and the tempteratures have dropped quiet a bit, but I really don't want to believe that it was her sinuses considering we have never had sinus problems. Now that she is in school, she could have caught anything from anywhere. So she got sick. E is 7 months and still wakes fairly frequently in the night. This made for a super long night for me. The first two nights were ok. I say that because they alternated waking up, and E was ok with us all sleeping together long enough to get A back to sleep. The third night was bad. They alternated waking up so I never really got the chance to comfortably lay down. It was still ok. But the last night of the week was a disaster. I drank and drank and drank coffee in hopes of keeping myself sane and normal to care for the kids. A continued school. She never had a fever and she didn't have the cough that she now has.

The weekend came and gone. Our schedules were all messed up so we didn't do much and just went with the flow. Sunday night, when Mr. Man was to return to work, he received a text stating that he didn't have to report to work that night because the other shops weren't reporting for whatever reason. He only had to go in last night. In he went, the next day I sent A to school only to get a phone call that she was running fever and needed to be picked up. She hadn't ran fever all night or even that morning. All day she ran a low grade fever but seemed fine. That night, when Mr. Man returned to work, it was another disaster. She couldn't sleep because she was draining and it was basically drowning her. I had another LONG night. The longest of all.

The good news from all this is that Mr. Man is off for the next 2-3 weeks, and we have family coming in to town.

My Mom and my brother will be here for 2 weeks. They have not met Baby E yet. It should be fun! :)

35 Weeks Pregnant with Baby C2

First off, I hope everyone had a great holiday season, a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. May this new year brings you  love, peace, health, wealth & happiness for you all!

Now to the original thought of this post. 

I am 35 weeks pregnant now. Nothing really exciting going on or has changed since my last post. A has become more affectionate to me and the belly, which I find absolutely adorable. When you ask her if she is going to be a big sister, she lights up and says yes then squeals a big Yayyyy! and claps her hands. She just started doing that, and I thought Mr. Man may have taught her that, but when I showed him he was just as surprised as me. It's very cute. I'm determined to get it on video. 

As far as the back pain, hip pain, and crotch pain that I talked about in my last post - it is still there. I'm sure it will be there until I deliver. I hear after your first you feel things more intensely, so I don't think there is much I can do to make changes for it to not happen. But stretching, repositioning, and so on really helps. It's not unbearable by any means, but I would just rather it not happen - especially when dealing with a 20 month old and trying to manage a house. I have to remind myself to take breaks and relax because the Braxton Hicks Contractions will start getting to me. 

I am having a harder time staying on my feet for long periods of time. This is another thing that I really don't remember experiencing this severely with A. The only time I remember having to sit down from being on my feet too long was when Mr. Man painted my belly for Halloween.  I was only about 15-16 weeks then, though. Right now, it's literally exhausting to just stand and sometimes to just sit. I think it is because this baby is so much lower than A was. 

As far as labor and delivery goes, I have had a few questions about my plans/goals, what I will do differently, and so on. So I thought I would go ahead and share. I don't really have a "plan" per say. And I definitely don't have a written or typed out plan for my doctor. I didn't with A, and I don't regret it so I figured I would take the same route this go around. With A, I went in with an open mind. I knew I wanted it to be as natural as possible, but I also knew that there were circumstances that could arise that I may  not be able to control. I personally feel like this is the best way to go for me. My goal is to make it to 39 weeks. I will not induce unless medically necessary. If I go until 40+ weeks, I will also be happy. I really don't want to deliver before 38 weeks. Other than that, I think it is fairly simple. Just to deliver and have a happy, healthy baby. If I need an epidural, I am not afraid to get one again. If I can go without it, then I definitely will. C-section will be uncontrollable, so no true opinion on that. 

Here is a 34 week picture of A kissing on her baby sister! 

33 Weeks Pregnant

I am 33 weeks pregnant with baby #2. Time has flown by so fast. I can't believe that we are so close to delivering our second child. It is just now starting to feel real. Real as in - "we are about to do this again!" Exciting, anxious, and so on.

Lately I have been feeling good for the most part. Some days my crotch is super sore; other days I don't notice it and am very energetic. I definitely do not remember my crotch being sore with A, but I also didn't carry her as low as I have this one. I have also heard that it is very common for that to happen the more children you have. My hips seem to be holding up very well considering she loves to ball up in my right hip. Every once in a while it will get sore or pop or something crazy like that, but overall it hasn't been bad. Again, I don't remember having any hip pain with A. Then there is the lower back pain. With A, my dull aches were in my ribs where she like to hang out, but they never slowed me down - NEVER! I wish I could say the aches with this one is the same; however, they definitely aren't. Even though I am not having rib pain, I am having lower back pain. Again, never had this with A. The back pain comes and goes as everything else, but when it hits it hurts! It will knock me to the couch for a good hour of relaxing before I can do more things.

I think a lot of the aches and pains are for a variety of reasons. 1 - I'm still carrying A around - up and down stairs, in and out of stores, and so on. 2 - This baby has been much lower throughout this whole pregnancy. Much much lower. 3 - Simply that it isn't my first. I hear the more you have, the more intense you feel things.

I haven't complained much about things, but when we have a long day out and about (like this weekend) I will get weak and sometimes nauseated. The nausea is something that just recently started. When I was pregnant with A, many people told me that they got nauseated from 33 weeks on from over exhaustion and so forth. With A, I never experienced it. With this one, it has started. Again, it's only when I really do too much which does take a lot.

The next thing I have noticed recently is the pace at which I walk. I walk slow, very slow. Compared to when I was pregnant with A anyways. Yesterday we went out shopping and I just felt like this baby was pushing down to come out and rubbing against my hip bones. It was horrible. Of course it caused me to walk extremely slow.

I had my 32 week appointment last week. The heartbeat was around 140 and baby was measuring in the 53rd percentile. She is head down and very active! As of that appointment, I have gained around 17-18 pounds this pregnancy. I had doubled that by this time with A.

That's the fun updates. Nothing overly exciting - other than it's really starting to get really close. It's real now.

I've been preparing for my maternity pictures and the newborn pictures. Her room still isn't complete, but I am slowly working on it. Other than that, things are going good and we can't wait to meet her!

The Children's Place

Yesterday I noticed that The Children's Place was having an amazing sale, so I decided to stock up on some things for A! We were hoodies around the house, and she really doesn't have very many long sleeve tops. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to build her closet for the rest of the winter and into spring time.  I thought I would share this because I got some amazing steals! And today's deal is even better.

To start with, they were having a major sale. Prices I wouldn't mind paying anyway. Then they were offering an additional 25% off with a code. Most of the deals averaged to about 60-70% savings. Today they are offering an additional 30% off!! with a code. I will share below, but it is also listed on their home page.

Here is some of what I bought for A and I did snatch a couple of things for Baby E, too!

This is what I bought for A. She needed some bigger size knit pants. Right now she is still wearing 18 months and they fit her fine,  but I think she will  be growing out of them soon. Then I bought the ruffled turtleneck to go under her adorable sleeveless jumpers. I wish they would have had more colors because I would have snatched more up. The blue jeans are the next size up. I love Old Navy jeans as well as these. She has plenty of jeans in 24 months, so I snatched these up for $7 each in a 2t! Some graphic long sleeve tees. This year I didn't buy her any Christmas-y clothes. I thought why not even though she will probably have them AFTER Christmas. They will be great around the house shirts or when I know she will be in her snowsuit or a jacket. The fleece hoodies were a steal for $5 each. We wear hoodies around the house because there is no carpet. It's an Italian thing. She has one hoodie right now, so I went ahead and got her two more. They can be worn outside the house as well as inside. So that covers everything I got for A. I had just bought a bunch of Carter's PJ's and Gymboree jumpers and dresses so I think t his will complete her until the Summer. Everything I bought was a mix of 24 months and 2t.

Now for Baby E. I didn't buy much for her because I have a hard time paying $6 for a onesie, so I just looked at the bigger ticket items, like jackets and bunting suits. Here they are:

The faux fur bunting was an absolute steal. I was hoping they would have had it in 0-3 months as I need one for when she is immediately born, but they were sold out. I went ahead and got a 9-12 month for next year. Regular price was $26, on sale for $16, with the additional off I got it for $12! I thought it was totally worth it. The fleece hoodie was $4, which I thought was another steal. Even though it is more Christmas-y, I thought they colors were ok for Valentine's day and possible through the spring. We will see!

Shipping was free for orders over $75. I placed this order yesterday with all sale items and an additional 25% off. My total was $90!! I couldn't believe it.

Today they are having their sale with an additional 30% if you use the code Y3K3012!

Happy Shopping (or browsing)!

Projects

Now that we have our house and are settled in, I started doing some small projects around the house that I knew I wanted to do for the playroom, decor for the holidays, and for the girls' rooms.

I also had several comments asking about things I will be making for the holiday parties, events, and our own traditions. I thought I would do it all in one post.  Organize my list of "to-do's" then show the finished product of each.

DIY Projects (Decor):

For the Playroom:
Stuff Animal Hammock - DONE
2 Artwork Displays (one for each child) - A's DONE, working on E's.

For the Girls' Room:
A a baby doll hammock in her play corner - DONE
Baby E stuff animal hammock
Tulle Pom Poms
Baby E bunting
Baby E picture frame
Garland - MAYBE

Christmas Decor:
Posterboard Trees x2
Bunting
Initial Tree topper
Family Thumb prints

Food:

Children's Holiday Party:

Mini Chicken Pot Pies

Mini Cheeseburger Pies

Airman Cookie Drive:

Peppermint Crunch Brownie Cookies

Cranberry Noels

Peanut Butter Cookies

Neiman Marcus Cookies

For SF workers on Christmas Day:

Christmas Tree Brownies

Pumpkin Bread Muffins

Cherry Chocolate Cookies

If there are any recipes that you would like me to share from these, please let me know. 

I plan to post pictures of the finished projects of the decor stuff as well. 

Ultrasound Confirms....

It's a Girl!!

While we were home, we did an ultrasound so our families could be involved in this pregnancy. I surprised both of our parents with an appointment for an ultrasound. We went to the ultrasound, and I was about 15 weeks pregnant. The lady who did the ultrasound said she was about 85% sure it was a girl, but she said with the way the baby was positioned we may want to double check later on. Since I knew I would have another scan for the anatomy, I was ok with that. We chose our name and announced it.

Here we are 6 weeks later, and the anatomy scan confirmed it is indeed a girl! She does already have a name, and it looks like she will now become Baby E! Would anyone like to do a name guessing game? I could give a $20 gift card to the winner. I would need to come up with hints or a rhyme to do this. Let me know!!

I'm not sure I ever told Baby A's name, so if I didn't then maybe I can do something for her's too!

I just wanted to make the official announcement. I will be doing posts on Baby A's big girl room inspiration and Baby E's nursey. As well as things of our new house and so on and so forth. I can't wait to get back into the swing of things!! :)