I just love this kid.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013
22 weeks
Photo shoot before Church. My frontside and backside are the same size. Scary. We told Britta to kiss my belly and she kissed my crotch. Apparently she is not as tall as we thought.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Baby Two
I always told myself that I would not be one of those people who fawns over her first child and then barely acknowledges all other children that follow. I mean not that I have a middle child complex or anything, but there is literally one picture of me before I hit the age of about 18 months. I chalk it up to one of three reasons A) I'm really adopted B) I was one ugly baby or C) my parents were running around like chickens with their heads cut off after my older brother that they simply didn't have the time or energy to take pictures of sweet, perfect, angel baby me. I'm going with option C. Regardless, this child has already received way less air time on the blog and I am going to attempt to amend that now. Blogs seem to be a dying art, but since they are my form of journaling I am committing to plow on.
If you saw my video below announcing arrival of baby two to our family you may have noticed how many times I plead ignorance and surprise to the whole situation. Now I wish I had some sort of filter so this child doesn't one day watch that video and think she was totally unwanted. While I was surprised, I do know how the reproductive system works. Without going into too much detail, what really surprised me was how quickly it worked in this instance--we're talking like one day Britta was super cute and I thought I wanted another one and then the next day I wasn't convinced anymore. Too late. On average Chris and I are only in the same state like 36 hours a week...so....
So even though baby was a marginal surprise, we could not have been happier. I found out the day after my birthday--two days after we got home from the Dominican Republic--so I don't think that's where this baby came from. I debated waiting to tell Chris on Christmas Eve with the rest of his family because I thought it would really add to the shock value, but then I caved ten seconds later and called him. I'm impressed I kept it a secret for a week from our families.
My first trimester was pretty smooth sailing. There were a couple nights when I felt sick, but nothing too drastic which was a real blessing since I was doing the single parent thing. Britta was an easy pregnancy too, so I guess I am just lucky that way. I think it is a trade off for looking like a blimp during pregnancy. I don't know how many woman think they look good while pregnant, but I KNOW I don't. I get pregnant in all the wrong places--butt, face, love handles. No real boob growth and no basketball under my shirt. That's fine by me, I would rather look like a Heffalump than barf my brains out.
At my first Dr.'s appointment at 12 weeks, I went in for the initial ultrasound and was shocked when the Dr. asked me if I wanted to know the gender. I just sort of sat there in my hospital gown and stirrups debating whether it would make me the worst wife in the world to find out without my husband there. Finally I asked "can you even tell this early?" followed by "is it a boy" because that was the only thing that would make sense. Why would they ask me if there was nothing there--there must be an outie, right? He responded with pretty much 100% certainty that it was a boy, the nurse backing him up all the way. I was shocked and elated. I tried to figure out how to tell Chris. I went out to Old Navy and bought some baby boy shoes (and two pairs of socks for Britta).
When Chris got home that night, the first thing he asked was how my appointment went. Instead of answering, I handed him the Old Navy bag and said, "see for yourself." He gave me a weird look and then looked at me in disbelief and said "No Way! It's twins!!?" I had apparently forgotten to take Britta's socks out of the bag and he saw two pairs of socks and went from there. Why he didn't notice the shoes that were twice the size of the socks, who knows. When I told him that no (praise be) it was not twins, but to look at the shoes he was even more shocked. He didn't believe me until I showed him the ultrasound pictures.
Exhibit A:
So we have spent the last two months fighting over boy names and trying to figure out how to do a blended boy/girl nursery. During this time I switched Dr.'s and hospitals because I have decided to attempt a VBAC and the hospital in my town does not allow them. On Tuesday I met with our new Dr. and had the big 20 week ultrasound. I was already 21 weeks and Chris is on the road for another four weeks so we couldn't really postpone it until he was home. I figured it was okay since we already knew the gender and that's the most exciting part anyway. So I'm lying there and she asks me if I want to know the gender. I say I do and she says it's a girl. I just start laughing and tell her that I was told at my 12 week it was a boy. She double and triple checks and is pretty definitive that it is a girl. I knew I should have listened to my instincts that 12 weeks was way too early to know, but the Dr. seemed so sure. I could tell that my new Dr. was worried I would be upset, but actually it was not a tough adjustment at all. I went into this pregnancy not caring one bit which gender this baby would be. Truth be told, I think I am more excited now that I know it's a girl because I think it will be so awesome for Britta. When I called and told Chris he thought I was pulling his leg. Then he said "So, you're telling me we have to think of another girl name?" But really, he is very excited. He is such a wonderful Daddy and there is nothing like a sweet little girl to turn her Dad into a puddle of goo.
Exhibit B:
So as of now, we are 21.5 weeks, happy, healthy and large. This little girl moves all day and we are so excited for her to be in our family. Now we just need to wean Britta off the binkie, potty train her, and move her into a big girl bed in the next four months. Anybody want to come do that for me?
If you saw my video below announcing arrival of baby two to our family you may have noticed how many times I plead ignorance and surprise to the whole situation. Now I wish I had some sort of filter so this child doesn't one day watch that video and think she was totally unwanted. While I was surprised, I do know how the reproductive system works. Without going into too much detail, what really surprised me was how quickly it worked in this instance--we're talking like one day Britta was super cute and I thought I wanted another one and then the next day I wasn't convinced anymore. Too late. On average Chris and I are only in the same state like 36 hours a week...so....
So even though baby was a marginal surprise, we could not have been happier. I found out the day after my birthday--two days after we got home from the Dominican Republic--so I don't think that's where this baby came from. I debated waiting to tell Chris on Christmas Eve with the rest of his family because I thought it would really add to the shock value, but then I caved ten seconds later and called him. I'm impressed I kept it a secret for a week from our families.
My first trimester was pretty smooth sailing. There were a couple nights when I felt sick, but nothing too drastic which was a real blessing since I was doing the single parent thing. Britta was an easy pregnancy too, so I guess I am just lucky that way. I think it is a trade off for looking like a blimp during pregnancy. I don't know how many woman think they look good while pregnant, but I KNOW I don't. I get pregnant in all the wrong places--butt, face, love handles. No real boob growth and no basketball under my shirt. That's fine by me, I would rather look like a Heffalump than barf my brains out.
At my first Dr.'s appointment at 12 weeks, I went in for the initial ultrasound and was shocked when the Dr. asked me if I wanted to know the gender. I just sort of sat there in my hospital gown and stirrups debating whether it would make me the worst wife in the world to find out without my husband there. Finally I asked "can you even tell this early?" followed by "is it a boy" because that was the only thing that would make sense. Why would they ask me if there was nothing there--there must be an outie, right? He responded with pretty much 100% certainty that it was a boy, the nurse backing him up all the way. I was shocked and elated. I tried to figure out how to tell Chris. I went out to Old Navy and bought some baby boy shoes (and two pairs of socks for Britta).
When Chris got home that night, the first thing he asked was how my appointment went. Instead of answering, I handed him the Old Navy bag and said, "see for yourself." He gave me a weird look and then looked at me in disbelief and said "No Way! It's twins!!?" I had apparently forgotten to take Britta's socks out of the bag and he saw two pairs of socks and went from there. Why he didn't notice the shoes that were twice the size of the socks, who knows. When I told him that no (praise be) it was not twins, but to look at the shoes he was even more shocked. He didn't believe me until I showed him the ultrasound pictures.
Exhibit A:
So we have spent the last two months fighting over boy names and trying to figure out how to do a blended boy/girl nursery. During this time I switched Dr.'s and hospitals because I have decided to attempt a VBAC and the hospital in my town does not allow them. On Tuesday I met with our new Dr. and had the big 20 week ultrasound. I was already 21 weeks and Chris is on the road for another four weeks so we couldn't really postpone it until he was home. I figured it was okay since we already knew the gender and that's the most exciting part anyway. So I'm lying there and she asks me if I want to know the gender. I say I do and she says it's a girl. I just start laughing and tell her that I was told at my 12 week it was a boy. She double and triple checks and is pretty definitive that it is a girl. I knew I should have listened to my instincts that 12 weeks was way too early to know, but the Dr. seemed so sure. I could tell that my new Dr. was worried I would be upset, but actually it was not a tough adjustment at all. I went into this pregnancy not caring one bit which gender this baby would be. Truth be told, I think I am more excited now that I know it's a girl because I think it will be so awesome for Britta. When I called and told Chris he thought I was pulling his leg. Then he said "So, you're telling me we have to think of another girl name?" But really, he is very excited. He is such a wonderful Daddy and there is nothing like a sweet little girl to turn her Dad into a puddle of goo.
Exhibit B:
So as of now, we are 21.5 weeks, happy, healthy and large. This little girl moves all day and we are so excited for her to be in our family. Now we just need to wean Britta off the binkie, potty train her, and move her into a big girl bed in the next four months. Anybody want to come do that for me?
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Big Top Birthday Bash
As mentioned below, Britta has a n obsession with Dumbo. So I thought there would be no better to celebrate her second birthday than with a Dumbo circus-themed party for her and her homies. We had circus fare, including hot dogs, popcorn, lemonade, and peanuts (nutter butters). When my cupcakes were a major fail, my wonderful friend Suzanna came through at the last minute with some awesome red velvet beauties. The cupcake toppers were just a random picture I found on the internet and taped to toothpicks--I'm all about thrift baby.
Britta had a wonderful time until it came to her cake. She freaked out when I pulled the wrapper off her cupcake. Apparently she just wanted to hold the cupcake without getting her hands dirty and lick off all the frosting. I figured this out after she proceeded to do it to approximately three cupcakes. She knows what she likes.
All in all, it was a great day. Miracles of miracles, the sun even came out for a bit! :)
Britta had a wonderful time until it came to her cake. She freaked out when I pulled the wrapper off her cupcake. Apparently she just wanted to hold the cupcake without getting her hands dirty and lick off all the frosting. I figured this out after she proceeded to do it to approximately three cupcakes. She knows what she likes.
All in all, it was a great day. Miracles of miracles, the sun even came out for a bit! :)
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Birthday Girl
On her birthday morning, playing with the balloons I put in her room.
(belated) Birthday to my wonderful, sweet Britta. I am so grateful to be her mom. I am definitely not the most patient mother, but I am working on it. We have so much fun together and I love watching her learn and grow so much every day. She is such a happy, sweet girl and we can't imagine life without her.
The last post I did about Britta was six months ago. She has changed so much since then. She is super talkative. Just in the last two months or so, her vocabulary has exploded and I think other people besides me can now understand her also. She says things all the time that make me laugh and wonder "where did you learn that?" She sang the whole "Rock a bye Baby" song to herself in the car the other day. I think I have sung that to her like once, but ask her to sing "twinkle, twinkle little star" which she gets before every nap and she looks at you like you're crazy.
She counts to ten, but notoriously leaves out six and seven. She sings "A,B,C,W,Y,Z" as her ABCs--it's kind of adorable.
She's recently been on somewhat of a food strike. All she ever wants to eat is cereal--especially "raisy bran." I think she is subsisting off of cereal and milk alone.
She is OBSESSED with Dumbo. Chris found it on Netflix a month ago and put it on one night and now every day she asks me to watch "baby elephant." When I do put it on, she literally sits on the couch for the entire hour and doesn't even blink. It's amazing what you can get done in an hour, by the way.
She loves to play with Play-Doh. She asks me like ten times a day what I am doing and when I ask her back she always answers "playin play-doh" even when she isn't. When she does play with it, it entertains her forever but she makes a HUGE mess. I don't know how she gets it stuck to like every surface of her body and clothes, but she does.
She is off the binky except for sleeping times. I thought this would be a terrible transition but it was actually much easier than I expected. Plus, she loves to throw her binky back into her crib when I pick her up after her nap or in the morning. Sometimes when she gets really upset, she will ask for her binky and I tell her she has to go in her bed if she wants it. If she is really upset she will get in her crib and use it to calm down for a couple minutes and then call for me when she is ready to come out. It is actually awesome, like a calm down "time out" and then I save myself from getting angry (or angrier).
She is a terrible "mine" monster. I cannot tell you how much I hate this word, and the fact that it comes out of her mouth like fifty times a day. The concept of sharing is beyond lost on this child. Another child cannot even look at me with her saying "MY mommy." And that's just little old me, don't even get me started on her toys. Let's just say we're working on it.
Overall, she is so much fun. She loves her Daddy and her Grandma and Grandpa and cousins. She gets so excited when anyone she knows comes over, especially Grandpa. She loves to play hide and seek and have tickle fights with Dad. We couldn't ask for a sweeter girl. Plus, I think she's just about the cutest thing you ever saw. :)
Valentine's Day
I couldn't ask for a sweeter Valentine. This girl caught on pretty quick that Valentine's Day was somehow related to chocolate. She kept asking for her "present" which was all chocolate. The next morning when I asked her what she wanted for breakfast she said "a chocolate treat." Me too, sister.
My other love pulled through and sent me a beautiful bouquet and chocolates and a teddy bear for Miss Britta. Next year we will actually be together for Valentine's day--I am so excited. We'll probably end up watching TV in our sweats, but at least we'll be together.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Job
After three years of having a weekend husband, I am so happy to announce that I am going to have a real husband!! I could not be more excited. Most of you know that Chris' job has required him to be on the road Monday through Friday and this has been increasingly difficult as Britta gets older. Starting in April he will be working from home. PURE JOY!! It will be an adjustment for sure, but one I couldn't be happier to make.
Cabin
The week following Christmas we spent four nights up in Leavenworth, WA in a cabin we rented. We spent the week stuffing ourselves (I gained one pound for every day spent there) and riding snowmobiles. Britta loved the snow and probably ate a gallon's worth of the stuff. She was so cute in her snow clothes and such a trooper about talking them on and off ten times a day --more of a trooper than I was, that's for sure.
B and I were big fans of the hot tub. It is the perfect place to eat snow.
I just love watching this girl with her cousins. They have so much fun together.
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