Legwarmers Stash / Collection

Here is our baby legs / my little legs collection as of now.

Both girls are able to wear these, and I use them for a variety of things!

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! :)

Crazy 8 Haul

Another addition to shopping for Fall/Winter for A and E. Thesse are one of our first purchases. I didn't have many skirts for A, and most who know me knows that I like to have a variety of dresses, skirts, and pants. Of course long sleeve and short sleeve, as well as jackets. Here is my steal of a deal on skirts.

For A:

Anf for E for next summer: 

For $3, why not?

For all of this, I paid $35. This is also including the shipping. 

First time E had solids:

Here is a video of the first time we gave E solids. She was 6 months old. We gave her blackberries. She is now 7 months old and eats like a champ. In fact, she almost always refuses purees and wants something she can chew. She only has 2 teeth (on the bottom). But she eats very well and is not picky!

Contractions: AHHHH!

I guess I actually have something exciting with this pregnancy to do an update, so I thought I would take advantage and do it.

When my pregnancy begin, it seemed that everything happened so fast. The changes in my body. However, I never experienced the typical pregnancy hormones. You know the ones that everyone just hates, but it seems to last forever. I never experienced those. So as each week went on, I felt like my weekly updates were boring so I kept the videos for ourselves (Mr. Man and I) and rarely updated on what was going on. Fixing up the nursery and traveling was much more exciting than what was going on with the pregnancy. I stopped doing updates on my blog because I did not want the pregnancy to take over the blog, but I also wanted everyone to know what was going on. Needless to say, there were some weeks were pregnancy posts did take over the blogs and others where I felt like I had absolutely nothing to blog about. This week is a different story and another week!

Today I reach my 35 week mark. I believe I mentioned somewhere in all my blogs that they moved my due date a couple of times. It was frustrating because it was hard to tell where I was at. I was measuring 2 weeks below, but other signs showed I was farther along. Of course, they went with my measurements. Now, I am 35 weeks (by measurements).

At 32 weeks, Baby A began to move down. Since I am a First Time Mom, I thought this was really soon. But in the end, I knew it was different for everyone. I had the very few aches and pains in my low back and sides. They lasted a couple of days until my body got use to it. It did not slow me down, but it was differently noticeable, especially in my "Pouch Pictures". At almost 34 weeks, I noticed she began to move down even lower. Mr. Buttons began to act weird. (See this post!) It slightly creeped me out because I still felt like it was early. Most everything I read and heard from people stated that their babies did not begin to move down until 34-35 weeks. She had already moved down twice by 34 weeks. Once again, I just told myself everyone is different.

Here I am 35 weeks and things are different. No longer is it just the Braxton Hicks. I can tell the difference. 35 weeks today, and Baby A has decided to take the plunge and move down even lower. Along with it came the true pains and exhaustion of baby carrying. This morning (Tuesday) I woke up and immediately had to use the bathroom.... TMI, but not just tinkle. I just blew it over because I had not felt much pain at this point. Not until I started walking around and doing stuff for the day. As the day went on, I have had contractions on and off. I keep telling myself maybe they are not contractions, but at the same time, what is it? Yes, I know sometimes when baby is low and moves it can be uncomfortable and even painful. But this is full blown tightness, pressure, and not always only when baby moves. Mr. Man said that every time I flinched from the pain in my lower stomach and tightness, he could see my stomach tighten up really hard. I have never looked down and noticed, but I took his word for it. I told him maybe it was me tensing up because some of them are really strong and painful, but they last only a few seconds. I thought as the day went on that they would ease up... Wrong! However, they are not regular. I'm not timing them or anything. I'm just sucking it up and moving on. Yes, I think about how I am only 35 weeks and maybe I should call the doctor, but I did not want to waste my time either. Chances are they would monitor me and send me home. I did not really want to waste my time. (But if they do get worse or more consistent then I would go in.)

As I sit here and think about all of this, I begin to realize that in less than a month we are no longer going to be "Mr. Man and Mrs. Ma'am", we are going to be "Mommy and Daddy". As excited as we are and so ready for this, it's still hard to imagine what it will be like to have a child, to have a daughter. We are beyond excited. Mr. Man is so ready for her to come out. He keeps asking me when it is safe to do something to get her to come out, and I just laugh at him and tell him a few more weeks. As much as I can't wait to meet her and have her here, I know I'm going to miss my "Pouch". I know I'm going to miss feeling her wiggle around. I know I'm going to miss having the "cute belly bump." I know I'm going to miss all this. So for now, I am trying really hard to take it all in and enjoy it. Plus, I know she is measuring small and we want her to come out big, healthy, and strong!

Can you believe that in 3-4 more weeks we are going to be parents?! Boy how time flies by!

Just a reminder- Don't forget to enter the English Giveaway! It ends Sunday, March 13th.

Questions: (About the pregnancy)

So, I mentioned in a past blog post that I have been receiving a lot of questions. Some are the same one from a variety of people, so I thought as I get frequent questions I would do a post on it. I had many people say that they would like to see videos but it was not a must, so I will do some updates via video when I have the time.

For now I am going to answer two questions that I have been getting a lot of.

1. Will I set up a PO Box for people to send our family gifts?

The answer is (sadly) no. It is not because I do not want to. It is because I can not. Since I live overseas, I am only allowed one PO Box number, which is my state-side mailing address. I have thought about giving this out since it is not a physical address, but to be honest, it freaks me out. I do not use our real names in these posts. I keep my Twitter, Blog, and Facebook all separate. All because of paranoia. If we were in the states, it would be a different story, but we are not. However, I am very, very, very thankful that so many people would be so considerate to think of such a thing. It really means a lot to our family! I wish I could personally hug and thank each and everyone of you because I was shocked whenever I read that so many people wanted to send us things. You guys are amazing! So thank you, and I am so very sad that I can not set up something for you. 


2. Do we have themes, baby names, and other odds and ends picked out?


I mentioned this in another blog post. We do have names picked out for either a boy or girl. We also have themes, colors, and a registry. As most of you know, I did not want to find out the sex so when I found out we were finally pregnant, we began planning for both in hopes that Mr. Man would change his mind about finding out the sex. It did not work, but we did get a lot accomplished. Now, we are just sitting and waiting until the time comes. Names - We do not plan to share with anyone for a while. Also, I will not share on my blog since I do not use our real names. However, I am sure the baby will some way, some how get some nickname. That is name I will go with on here... if it happens. Colors and themes - I really have no problem telling you, but I have family that reads this so for now it will be a secret until we find out the sex. The registries are officially finished, and I have already started giving the information out to my close friends here that are about to PCS and anyone else who has asked for it. 


Just because we have all this picked out does not mean we are completely done thinking about it all. So if you have any suggestions on anything, please feel free to share! 


I want to do a fun post about baby names in the future. Just to see names that people hate, love, or just would not use or really want to use but the significant other does not. So be thinking about those because I love reading other people's thoughts and such on baby names. 


For now, I am going to eat me some yummy taco soup that I made for dinner!


I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!! 

The Sweetest Thing:

Remember how I told you Mr. Man tries to listen to the baby with his stethoscope? It did not work because I was not far enough along, so I bought him a doppler device.

We got it in yesterday. I waited patiently for him to get off of work for us to try it out. I am normally in bed by the time he gets home, but this time I made sure I was awake. I was still in bed, but awake. I brought the doppler upstairs with me, so when he got ready for bed it was right there. He did what he needed to do and crawled in bed, and we listened to our baby's heart beat away. It was the sweetest little thing ever. And I mean this! 


Mr. Man was so tired from work that he just laid in the bed with the headphones on, and I held the doppler on my belly where the baby was. He was not sleeping, but he was relaxing with his eyes closed and all. Every time the baby would move Mr. Man would say, "He's trying to run away again." So I would move the doppler because the  baby just kept going in a circle. Mr. Man would say, "There he is." And just lay back and relax again. It was so darn adorable. 


Of course, I got a turn. I tried to count the heart beats per minute, and I think I got around 146. I only did it once, but I plan on doing it again the next time we use the doppler (which I'm sure will be in a few minutes or tonight) just to see if that was a close estimate. It was awesome to hear, and it's nice to be able to do it when you want and in the comfort of your own home. 


Of course, Mr. Buttons got his chance, too. He just perked up his ears, then laid on his stomach all attentive. He was moving his head side to side, like dogs do when you talk to them and move your head. It was so funny and so adorable. But he does not like to talk on the phone or have anything with noise on his ears, so it did not last long. Long enough, though. 


Seriously, I have to say that this first time doing it is one of the best memories I will have with this baby. I think Mr. Man, too. Since the first doctor's appointment was more shocking than relaxing and enjoying even though it was pretty awesome, too. 


I just wanted to share this memory with you all! 


Happy Thursday! Happy Pay Day!

Almost another whole week:

Seriously, it has been almost a whole week since my last post. I am slacking big time, and I apologize. I have so much I need to catch up on. For now, I will share the belly pictures that I promised last week. Please do forgive me!

Mr. Man is still working some long hours and has worked the last two weekends. With that said, they told him he may have to work this next weekend. He is already going on 3 weeks with zero days off. It sucks, but we get a "pat on the back" for it. They are giving us a 4 day weekend whenever we choose, so another trip here we come!! 

So for now, here is the last 4 weeks of belly pictures.

 Week 9

 Week 10

 Week 11

Week 12

So I know right about now you all are thinking, "Wow, she's going fast!" The truth is... I am growing super fast! But that's what happens when you loose your diet because of food aversions and stay sick in the gym. Like I have said before, I would not have it any other way. But I must say I do miss being able to run just a little or lift weights without having to take a 5 minute break in between. Hopefully, I will begin to even out now that I got the initial growth going. 

So by viewing these pictures, I think I would say I "popped" at Week 10.

Oh, and I guess I should add that I have gained 8 lbs so far. 

This Wednesday I will be 13 weeks based on the doctor's measuring, which is what I am going by on here. 

And now I will throw in the 10 week ultrasound we had done. The baby was jumping around so much that it was so hard to get good pictures. We only got two, but the two we got are so precious. I'm in love already! And so is Mr. Man. 

 Side view of Baby C waving at us. 

Front view! Too bad he/she is so small or else it would be perfect for finding out the sex.

Also, would like to mention that Mr. Man got a stethoscope a week or so ago. He has tried so hard to listen to the baby because I feel him/her quite often now. Mr. Man has tried with the stethoscope almost every day from the day we received it. But it is estimated that you can not hear the baby's heart beat with a stethoscope until about 18-20 weeks, so I decided to buy him a Doppler device. Hopefully, we will get it in soon, and we can listen to the baby as often as we want. 

Until next time... :) 

Survival:

Today, I started back at the gym throwing around a few weights. I forgot how much I miss the gym. I knew I missed the gym, but when I actually grabbed the weights, I was like "Ahhh, this feels so good." I did not want to stop.

Which means, I survived my first full day of the gym. I walked to the gym to get some light cardio in since I get so tired so easily. It would force me to walk back even being tired from working out. I did chest, a little legs, and a back exercise. I plan to do a little legs and back every other day to help keep them tone and my hip size down. I want my back to be strong because I know it will not be long, and it will start bothering me. Strengthening exercises is what I am doing for now, and it felt so good. I have to say my legs are dying right now, and I only did 3 weiny leg workouts! But at least I know I worked myself.

And I hate the "Are you fat or are you pregnant stare." It really gets on my nerves. But it is also quite humorous, too. I actually feel really confident being pregnant and in the gym. Even though I am at the stage of am I fat or am I pregnant, I know what I am and people that have seen me workout know. It's amazing the eyes you get, though. And I can now see why larger people or early pregnant people get discouraged by it.

Exciting news!! I felt the baby over the weekend. It was a full blown baby, too. It definitely was not like maybe it's baby, but I am not 100% sure. It was sooooo baby! And it felt awesome. It freaked me out, and I jumped at the first "kick." Then another followed not far after that one, and Mr. Man tried so hard to feel it. He wants to so bad, but I have feeling he has a few more weeks to wait until that happens. It was awesome!

We are also getting baby stuff in like crazy! I seriously appreciate everything that people are sending us. I got a pregnancy journal, stethoscope (specifically for Mr. Man), Pinocchio (Because people know I collect Disney movies), and the cutest little shirt like bib that says "I (heart) Take-Out" with an adorable Chinese take-out box and chop sticks. I received it all in the mail yesterday. I will try and get some footage of our gifts since we most likely will not be doing a shower that way people can see what others are sending us and how we adore and appreciate the things they are sending. My Mom told me she sent a couple of more boxes, too. So yay, for more baby stuff! It's amazing how babies change the world. I am so excited!

Also, in baby news, we started cleaning out the nursery. Eeeekkkk!!! We are way beyond excited. I am seriously nesting. I have to be. Not sure what else it could be. Poor Mr. Man worked 12s all last week, and he had to work on Sunday, but I still put him to work on Saturday. It was an awesome day/night because we started putting up things we have been receiving. We also cleaned out the upstairs bathroom to make room so the baby could have his or her own little shelf of stuff. So now, we have little baskets in there that will be for his or her small toiletries and then we have already gotten some Johnsons&Johnsons Head to Toe wash and the Night Time Body Lotion, also gifts to us. YAY for all of that!!

I think we have officially decided on a crib and changing table set. We have also decided on bedding for either a boy or girl. And....... EXCITEMENT PEOPLE!!!-- We have picked our baby names (for now anyway)! Another "Eeeekkkk" could probably go here. Especially since we never could agree before on names. My registries are officially finished! And I think that is it for the beginning stage of preparing for a child. Amazing, the feeling of shopping for your first child. Seriously, I am beyond excited. And Mr. Man keeps asking when we are going to start buying things. I think he's a little anxious, too!

Question: Is there an awesome breastfeeding book you would recommend? I am looking to purchase one, and I have a few in mind, but I  would like other's opinions if you have it. Thanks!

So, that's that on our Journey to Baby C!

Tomorrow I will hit my new week mark, so I will hopefully post up 4 pictures that you guys have not seen yet!

Clothing Diapering: Part 2

First, I want to thank you all for the information with the cloth diapers. I keep going back and forth and straddling the fence, which I am known for. As of right now, I'm thinking I will buy a few and try them out while we are home and around the house. If I decide I like them, I'll stick with them. If it becomes a pain, then I will ditch them. I really am wanting to find a way to make it work, but really there is so much to it. I will share a couple of videos with you guys to see what I saw, and then I would love MORE feedback! 

When I watched these two videos, Mr. Man and I immediately said there is no way we could do that because he is gone a lot, he works a lot, and I spend just as much time on school as he does at work. For those of you who have used cloth diapering or if you know someone that does, send them my way. I want to drill them!! Because I obviously, would love for this to work. 

Here are the videos: 

From ClothDiaperChannel on YouTube!

So what do you think now?