32 Weeks

Last Sunday marked 32 weeks of this pregnancy. My how time has flown! In less than a month we have our home visit with our midwife, and soon we'll be in the "normal birthing window" - weeks 37-42. Both baby and Mom are still looking and sounding healthy. Baby is head down, on the left side, but not quite anterior (baby's spine closer to the belly vs. the spine). You want baby to be in the LOA position (Left side of the body, Occipital Anterior) for the easiest labor and delivery.

Baby #1 (Left) vs. Baby #2 (Right)

As you can see, I got my hair cut! Seventeen inches is being donated to Children With Hair Loss. I had been wanting to cut my hair for a while. It was just way too long and getting in the way. I must say, this is probably the first shorter hair cut that I've had where I DIDN'T want long hair within a week of the cut. It has just enough sass and pzazz for me to fully enjoy the shorter length.

I have noticed recently that I've been getting crankier and more easily agitated lately. Reflecting on that I realized that I have had no bodily autonomy since December 2012, when we conceived Dan. Almost 2.5 years of being pregnant and/or nursing - part of that simultaneously! No wonder why I'm itching to get away and do something with just ME and FOR me. Not sure what I plan to do yet. I was thinking of catching a movie, but nothing looks interesting enough for the price (or I haven't seen the first movie of the series). So we'll see what I end up doing to do a little pampering for myself. Maybe just having a day to deep clean something in the house will be a good start. Bonus with that idea is that something gets cleaned in the house! That is something that doesn't happen too often with a husband, two dogs, and a toddler who is very "helpful" around the house.

Other than that, we are planning out our raised garden in our back yard. Right now this is one of the ideas we're working in. We definitely need fencing around the outside as there is at least one rabbit in the neighborhood. I also need to get some 5-gallon buckets for the tomato plants that I have going. I plan on painting those with spray paint so they don't look like 5-gallon buckets. I might do something fun with the paint. I have some spray paint already so I'm thinking paint them all black then take the silver and do an ombre effect with the solid sliver on the bottom and lighter on top. Could be fun.

Still waiting on Dan to pick up some adult words. Sometimes it sounds like he's trying, but it's not consistent. "Blueberry" is one word that he seems to try. I only say that because his most common sound is "da." Anything outside of that I'm thrilled with! I know that boys tend to develop language a bit later than girls on average, but my patience is starting to wear down and my worries are starting to mount. At least he does understand adult words, so really it's just a matter of time before he starts using them himself. I'm sure that as soon as he does start talking it will soon be constant (and I'm sure it will be defiant at times - can't wait until the "no" stage :/ ) and I'll be kicking myself for wondering why I wanted him to talk in the first place!

So I'll end with a few pictures from the last few weeks. Enjoy and take care :)

Easter 2015

All set for a family funeral.

Hanging out with Mom's cousins
(yes, these are my aunt's sons which makes them Dan's 1st cousins once removed)

Too funny not to post :)

My aunt Sara, my Mom, my Grandma, and me all wearing clothes my sister either got rid of from her own closet or gave as a gift. This was NOT planned!

California Vacation

Early March, Jason and I took a week long trip to San Diego and Los Angeles. Jason had a flight voucher that was expiring, which is why we took a vacation. We had originally thought about having a family vacation with Dan until one of Jason's coworkers suggested the (brilliant) idea of going on vacation with just the two of us. I had fully weaned Dan about a month before we made this decision, and with baby #2 on the way, this was a fantastic idea that I couldn't pass up!

Now, deciding where to go was a little bit of a challenge. I have been to just over half of the states in the US whereas Jason has been to far fewer. Combine that with the fact that we both wanted to go somewhere warmer to get us away from the Midwest winter weather. The places I thought of were Southern California and New Orleans. Florida was another option, specifically the Florida Keys area. Jason had already been to California and Florida where I have been to New Orleans and Florida. I don't remember exactly HOW we ended up with Southern California, but that's where we decided to go.

Now, who was to watch Dan? Grandma of course! When I called my Mom to ask if she wanted to watch Dan for the week we were gone, she mentioned that she was already thinking of coming for a visit so she could see him (of course it's all about Dan - once grandbaby comes along, daughter becomes chopped liver ;) ). It worked out really well for her to come down, house and dog sit, and have undivided attention with Dan without having to kick us out of the house.

The travel down to Southern California was quite the adventure. We decided to fly in and out of LA as it gave us the best prices and flight times. The night before our flight Jason checked our flight times to make sure that everything was still on track. Thank goodness he did! It turned out that our flight was changed. Instead of a layover in Chicago, we now had a layover in Denver - and our flight left an hour earlier than our original flight! So my Mom's boyfriend drove us down to the airport so we didn't have to leave a vehicle there for the week, saving us money. We had no issues getting through security - although the woman TSA agent I told I was opting out of the body scan wasn't too happy that I told her right before I was to go through the body scanner. (Seriously - when was I  supposed to tell her? when there were 10 people in front of me? while in the scanner itself?) Anyway, she was having a moment and we were not in a hurry so it didn't bother me I had to wait a whole minute for another female TSA agent to come give me the pat down.

I choose the pat down over the body scanner for two reasons. The first reason is that I'm pregnant. I don't need any extra radiation, no matter how small, hitting my body and baby than necessary. Second, the body scanners are just a big waste of money that make people think we are flying safer. That line of reasoning is a whole other post that I won't get into.

We ended up boarding the plane a little later than what was indicated on the flight board. Almost 2 hours later and 2 de-icings, we FINALLY lifted off for Colorado. Now, due to the delays in Milwaukee, we missed our connecting flight in Denver. Thankfully we were able to get on another flight just under an hour after we landed. There were no issues with our flight from Denver to LA. Now, after we got to LA we grabbed our bag and got our rental car. While we saved some on our rental, the service was SNAIL PACED! I think we waited almost an hour before we got our car. Thankfully the company knocked off one day of our rental cost as an apology. Off we went to our hotel just north of San Diego - a 2 hour drive! Along the way we stopped to grab supper at a local mall. I can't tell you which one it was, but it was really nice to sit outside after sundown and eat a meal. Definitely couldn't do that back at home that day, where they got around 1-2 inches of snow!

After almost 14 hours of travel time, we made it to our hotel.

 Our first day we went to the San Diego Aquarium, took a stroll along the shoreline, and had a night time dinner cruise along the bay. The aquarium had some pretty nice set ups for their sea life. One of my favorites were these eels. They look like grumpy old men!

So while I've been on the West coast before, I have never stepped into the Pacific Ocean. This trip gave the opportunity to do just that! It was a bit chillier than the Atlantic, but I expected as much due to the fact that the Pacific is MUCH bigger and deeper than the Atlantic. This was one of my favorite parts of the day - just strolling along, listening to the waves, and checking out the locals. There was a piece of kelp that washed ashore. The "flower" part of it is about the size of my hand. The entire plant was at least 20 feet long!

After the beach, we took the long way back to the hotel. Along the way we ran across a park with some fun trees and a little cove where a bunch of seals were relaxing with their pups! There were a lot of people watching the seals and the other wildlife that occupied the rocks and ledges along the shoreline.

Once back, we relaxed in the hotel room while waiting for the dinner cruise. After we checked in for dinner, we had a little bit of time before boarding. Along the boardwalk there were several of these benches with hand-painted tiles. Some of them were really elaborate while others were clearly done by children. The colors and variety were a lot of fun to look at.

The cruise was really nice and the food was delicious. I had the salmon - how could I not when it was local! It was ALMOST as good as the salmon I had years ago when I went on a family vacation with my Mom's family on an Alaskan cruise. Our port was in Seattle so we had dinner at the top of the space needle - which is where I had the salmon that still makes my mouth water thinking about it years later!

Anyway, the cruise was really nice. There were only 8 or 9 other couples aboard so plenty of room. We got a table next to the window which was very nice for viewing the city. Jason took some very nice pictures of the city while we were out. The only bummer about the cruise is that champagne was offered as part of the meal. I can't tell you how badly I have been craving adult beverages this pregnancy! I will admit I did have a small sip of his champagne. Otherwise it was sparkling cider and water for me.

The second full day (day 3 of our trip) we spent at the San Diego Zoo. Holy cow is that a large zoo! We spent 7.5 hours there and got through about 80% of it. The part we didn't go to included the children's fun zone and the petting zoo. I don't think we lost out. The most exciting part about the zoo was seeing giant pandas for the first time! The neat thing about these pandas is that the male is able to naturally fertilize the female. This is the only naturally mating pair of pandas in the US! If you know anything about giant pandas, this is a big deal. I would say the second most exciting part about the zoo was me getting through the whole day without my feet hurting! Yay for yoga and strong feet!

Needless to say, we were both happy to get back to the hotel and put our feet up after spending all day at the zoo.

The next day we spent touring the U.S.S. Midway. we got through most of the ship before we had to run out and put more money in our meter. The one section we missed was the tower on the flight deck. If we had more time we would've gone back to take a tour, but between a late start and lunch, there just wasn't the time.

The park next to the ship had the statue of the nurse and sailor kissing at the end of WWII. Jason checked - she wasn't wearing anything under the dress ;)

Our last day in San Diego was spent at Balboa Park. We wandered the gardens and checked out the art museum. The architecture was amazing! I won't bore you with too many pictures of it, but I simply couldn't get enough of the intricate details. There were several fountains scattered throughout the park and all but one were not running while we were there due to the drought conditions that Southern California is experiencing.

After we were done at the park we made our way up to LA. We took the scenic route, which added about 3 hours onto the trip. We went through a bunch of small towns split up between a bunch of beaches with lots of people sun bathing and surfing. The hotel room was a welcome site.

Our one full day in LA was spent at the Hollywood walk of fame, a one hour massage that Jason treated us to, and the Hollywood sign. Seriously, the valley that the Hollywood sign is in is gorgeous! I wish we had more time to explore the park that it was a part of.

All in all it was a wonderful vacation. It allowed us to reconnect and enjoy our time as a couple without worrying about taking care of Dan. We did call home once a day just to see how things were going, but we waited until the end of the day so we could enjoy "our time" before seeing how Dan was. Now with baby #2 coming in just under 2 months, who knows when our next "parent's only" vacation will be. Only time can tell.

Until then, take care!

18 Months and 28 Weeks

So since my last post, Dan has reached his 18 month "birthday" and I have come to 28 weeks gestation. About a week before Dan's 18 month appointment we got a letter from the doctor's office that had us go through a slew of milestones that Dan should be hitting at this time. The first page was all verbal. The choices for each point were "always," "sometimes," and "never." With most of the verbal points, Dan was more in the "sometimes" and "never" categories. He has always been so focused on his physical development that the verbal just hasn't been a major focus for him. This was very evident when continuing through the document as it hit on the various physical milestones that he should be doing or starting to do. At this point we aren't too concerned that he doesn't have any true words as he is communicating what he needs via sign language, pointing, and other gestures. He does understand what we're saying as evidenced by asking him to point things out, asking simple commands, etc.  and he is able to point out the objects we mention, follows commands, and what not. However, if he hasn't started adding words by the time baby comes we need to start thinking about getting him evaluated to see if there isn't anything that is preventing him from physically forming words.

So, for stats: Dan now weighs in at 27 pounds and 9.2 ounces, putting him in the 87th percentile for weight. Definitely won't be blowing away in any summer storms! He is 2 feet 8 inches tall, putting him in the 23rd percentile for height. Jason wants to stretch Dan out so he ends up taller than both of us, but we'll see how he ends up growing. He's a strong, solid kid that's for sure! Just the strong and silent type :)

As for me, I'm now 30 weeks gestation at this time, but as I only take belly pics every 4 weeks, I'm including my 28 week picture. You can really see the difference in how I'm carrying this baby vs. Dan. A lot of it I'm contributing it to all the yoga that I've been doing since Dan was born. Not only have I continued teaching, but I have also done additional training focusing on core work and now prenatal yoga teacher training as well.

Baby #1 left vs. Baby #2 right

On top of the additional yoga work, I also haven't gained as much weight at this time compared with Dan, and I overall have a better heath regimen using more simple, non-toxic products not only for health and beauty but also for around the home, and being more conscious about what I'm eating - less processed foods, more organic when I can, etc. Baby is still moving around a ton and as of my last appointment is in the LOA position - left occipital anterior - which is the ideal position for an easy delivery. Here's to hoping he stays there until delivery! Jason and I have a name we like, but haven't officially settled on it. More than likely the name we have will end up being the baby's name in the end. Just like Dan's name, this one is also a strong and more traditional name.

And yes, my hair is ridiculously long. I have an appointment in a little more than a week to get it cut. Not sure exactly what I'm looking for, but it will be significantly shorter and more manageable!

In other news, Jason and I took a trip out to San Diego and Los Angeles at the beginning of the month. Once I finally get through the 1000+ pictures we took I'll write a post on that.

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the spring weather that's been creeping in! Take care :)

And Baby #2 is...

...a boy! Dan has a little brother on his way. I will admit that a part of me is sad that we're having another boy. I love all the little girl clothes that you can buy! On the other hand, I'm not sure about those teenage years. SO much drama can happen, and even more so with girls. So unless we have more children, I will continue to be outnumbered in the house. Even both our dogs are boys! Good thing I like getting dirty, checking out dead animals, and overall exploration.

Being that we didn't make it down to see Jason's family over the holidays, we decided to head down to have the reveal with them. The last time we saw them was over the 4th of July. At that time Dan was only crawling around. Now, he's walking and running! Needless to say, the family was gushing over him.

We headed down on Saturday after my prenatal yoga class that I'm teaching (if you haven't done prenatal yoga before I highly recommend it!). It worked out great that it was during Dan's normal nap time. That made the 3hr trip pretty smooth sailing as Dan slept most of the way. Jason's aunt was kind enough to let us stay at her place again. His uncle and his wife were already there when we arrived. After some socializing and leg stretching we headed out for supper at a local Mexican restaurant. Always a safe bet for our family. I LOVE food with a kick! That love has been inherited by Dan. He will sit there and eat salsa straight out of the bowl! We found that out a few weeks ago when we stopped at a local (to us) Mexican restaurant and he insisted on having salsa on his chips. I would have thought he wouldn't like it as salsa is a pretty strong flavor. I was wrong. He kept on asking for more!

Mmmm...salsa!

The next day we went and visited Jason's Grandpa. He unfortunately is now living in a nursing home due to his dementia. Back in July, he recognized Jason. He didn't recognize me or Dan, but that's to be expected as I haven't been in the family very long and don't live close enough to see them on a regular basis. This trip Grandpa didn't recognize Jason. It was pretty sad and reminded me of when Jason's Mom had her last stroke before she passed. His Grandpa wants to go home, understandably, but doesn't understand that he can't. According to Jason's aunt, he even asked where John was. John is Jason's father who passed away 5 years ago. (If you're keeping track, that's 2 deceased parents. Over the 10 years we've been together, we've lost 3 parents and 2 grandparents. Dan has 1 living grandparent and 4 living great-grandparents.) Dementia is a terrible disease. It steals your family away while they are still living.

Jason, Grandpa, Dan, and me.

We left the home at lunch time. After a quick stop at KFC we went to visit with Jason's Grandma. She was thrilled to see Dan. She now calls him "Prince Daniel" as she thinks he looks like Prince George from across the pond. Too bad he doesn't come with the family money like Prince George does ;) Once lunch was over we cut into the cake. Only Jason's cousin thought we were having a boy. Everyone else thought girl. The lady who made our cake for Dan's gender reveal made this cake as well. It was just as delicious and just as adorable. We still have some left - stop on by and have a slice!

Jason, Grandma, Dan, and me.

Family picture before the cake was cut.

Blue for boy!

Dan's gender reveal cake. Our friend is so talented!

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With Austin and Janelle.

We left soon after the cake was cut. Dan was getting crabby as nap time was upon him. I ended up driving most of the way home. Both Dan and Jason (and probably the dogs as well) all slept while I drove. Thank goodness it was only a 3 hour drive. I've done a 5.5 hour drive by myself before, but it is much easier to spend that time on the road talking to someone than channel surfing on the radio.

Not much to report on this last week. Baby boy is sitting breech so most of the kicks are on my bladder. Thank goodness I know how to work my pelvic floor muscles! One new development is pregnancy-induced insomnia. Not fun! There are a few things that I'm going to try to help counter the insomnia and I'll let you know how that works out. Next belly picture is in a few days so I'll post that when that's done. Maybe I'll have an update on this insomnia "fun." Fingers crossed!

Take care and stay warm!

Baby Pictures

The picture above is how we announced on Facebook that Dan was going to be a big brother. He normally loves reading books, but when we took this picture it was later at night and he was getting ready for bed. The look on his face was perfect though! (Side note: that is my Dad's - Dan's grandpa's - sweater. I'm pretty sure my Grandma knitted that, but I could easily be wrong on that. She did know how to knit so I have that going for me!)

When we were expecting Dan, we were much better at getting those early weeks documented by taking belly pictures. With this pregnancy, I decided that I wanted to compare the two with one another. We didn't take our first belly picture until a few weeks ago when I was 18 weeks pregnant.

My pregnancy with Dan is on the left and the current pregnancy is on the right. It does seem like I'm carrying a little different. Not sure if it's a baby gender thing (myth of carrying girls high and boys low), me knowing how to use my core muscles more efficiently, or if there's something else at play. I will say that this pregnancy is different than Dan's in regards to aches and pains. With the two pregnancies being so close (and my body knowing how to BE pregnant), the relaxin hormone is in full force already. This is making my hips ache and creating challenges when teaching and practicing yoga. Thankfully I am very in tune with my body and how to properly practice yoga that the hip aches are tolerable.

Just a few days ago we went and got my mid-pregnancy ultrasound to check the fetal anatomy. I'm happy to report that baby looks healthy! Yes, I said baby. We did get the gender information, but it is sealed in an envelope. We do NOT yet know if we are having a boy or a girl. We do plan on finding out with a gender reveal party with family. I have a guess as to whether Dan will have a baby brother or sister, and I have a 50% chance I'm right!

Profile

Feet

Arm

One big difference between the two ultrasounds (the one with Dan and this one) is that we actually got good 3D pictures! With Dan, he was snuggled into my placenta when we tried we only got one good side of his face. When one side looked good, the other was hidden by the placenta. When we moved further down and got past the placenta, the other side then looked like a skeleton. Definitely not cute. It is so neat how technology has advanced so we can not only check to see that everything is developing normally with baby, the umbilical cord, and placenta, but now we can even get 3-dimentional pictures as you would with a normal camera!

I think they're a keeper :)

I really enjoy being pregnant. I enjoyed Dan's pregnancy and I'm enjoying this one, too - achy hips and all! Coming into the second trimester makes it even more fun as baby is getting bigger and you can start feeling them move. With Dan, I felt him move for the first time around 15 weeks. This baby, my first flutter was around 12 weeks! Yes, crazy! At this point I'm feeling movement almost daily, especially when I take a few moments and focus on baby.

Elsewhere with the family, Jason's basketball team came in 2nd place in a tournament last week! This was the first year he was in the winners bracket. I'm so proud of him for coming in 2nd place! He will grumble about it as the kids weren't playing the best they had been, but this is the first time in 6 years that he made it to the winners bracket. That is something to be proud of.

Dan is still doing his thing. I'm really hoping that he'll start getting words out. He's babbling quite a lot, and does know some sign language, but he is getting frustrated that he can't communicate well enough what he wants without me having to guess what he wants. He has been so physical - crawling at 6 months, walking at 10 months - that the language has been a little slow to develop. Nothing to really worry about, just would be nice if it would come in soon so we both can reduce our frustration in our communication!

That's all for now. I hope everyone is doing well! Take care.