Pregnancy Highlights: 18 Weeks

How Far Along: 18 weeks - the baby is 5.5 inches long from head to rump, and is the size of a bell pepper.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 6 pounds

Maternity Clothes: yeah

Best Moment this week: Saturday, Seth let me sleep in, take a nap, buy a new lens for my camera AND took me to Red Lobster. Mmmm. Tilapia.

Gender: Not sure, but we find out SOON! Next week!!

Movement: tumbling around, and officially some kicks!! I feel them almost exclusively on my right side and yesterday, they sounded like little echoes.

Food Craving: Nothing at the moment.

What I miss: Eh, I'm fine for now. :)

Sleep: Fine, until my firstborn decides that 4:45 a.m. is acceptable. WRONG.

What I am looking forward to: The big ultrasound next Thursday! :) I am nervous for it, too, because it isn't just a "gender reveal" but so much more. I'm trusting everything is a-okay though!

Symptoms: lower back pain, round ligament pain, and still those pesky morning headaches. I tried the doctor's suggestion of caffeine. Note to self: that does not work.

Fun Kids Activity

I mentioned it in yesterday's post, but last night, we made ice cream in a baggie. It was SO cute and fun. :)

All we needed was sugar, salt, half and half, vanilla and ice.

Five minutes of shaking later, we had delicious homemade ice cream, and little man LOVED it. :)

You can try it here.

Pregnancy Highlights: 17 Weeks

How Far Along: 17 weeks - the baby is 5 inches long from head to cute little bottom, and is the size of a turnip.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 6 pounds

Maternity Clothes: yeah...still wearing some non-maternity though, but those are shirts!

Best Moment this week: a lazy weekend at home with my boys :)

Gender: Not sure, but we find out in two weeks. Today, if I had to guess, I'd say....boy. Heartbeat was only 157 this morning. haha :)

Movement: tumbling around, but no real "kicks" that I recognized at least.

Food Craving: These are dying down a bit...still some random salt-based things, but nothing worth writing about.

What I miss: Standing up quickly. :) OUCH!

Sleep: Not the worst, not the best. I'll live for now. If it isn't getting up to go to the bathroom, it's my mind RACING.

What I am looking forward to: Nothing too exciting this week...another somewhat relaxing weekend is in the forecast and I think I'll go a fun activity with Carter (like make ice cream in a baggie) Looks fun and he'd love it!

Symptoms: lower back pain, round ligament pain - both of which the doctor said are totally normal this early for 2nd and subsequent pregnancies (unfortunately). Booo. Here's to hoping that passes ASAP. She also said headaches are common and I could try a cup of caffeine per day - I won't do that, but I feel like that was permission for me to go get Starbucks...SETH. ;)

The Weekend and Such

This weekend has been heavenly. Seth hasn't had to work even once and we have had absolutely no plans except me going to hang out at a friend's house Friday night. We just literally hung out, used the slow cooker a lot and watched some football.

On Friday, I made cupcakes for his teacher at school and to take to the party that night. When I walked into his class to pick him up (and holding the cupcakes), he MELTED DOWN because he wanted one. I promised him one when we got home, and I made good on the promise. :)

 

We woke up to about five inches of snow on Saturday, and I wanted to take him outside. We had gotten him new snow pants, so we pulled those out. Unfortunately, 3T was WAY too big this year, so he was swimming in them. Add on a mismatched coat and accessories, and he was a hot mess. Adorable, but hilarious looking.

We don't really have a small snow shovel so he used his beach shovel. He was none the wiser.

When we got inside (which was approximately five minutes after we stepped outside), we made a fort and the little man LOVED it. He played in there off and on all day. He refused to take a nap in his crib and I was about to set up a sleeping bag in the fort. :)

All in all, we had a great weekend. My back has been killing me so it was nice to just chill and hang out. Today, I even got to take a nap while Carter napped...and he decided to take a two and a half hour nap! Thanks, baby love. :)

Carter-isms

I feel like it's been awhile since I've just recorded some things the little dude is doing/saying, and I don't want to forget many of these things.

Little man squeezes in with all the big kids to take a look at the hatching chicks at the farm show.

 - He talks all. the. time--from son up to son down, as they say. Sometimes the babble is incomprehensible, but sometimes it is as clear as day. Even when he isn't making much "sense," we do still pretty much know what he wants.

- He calls Bentley "Bubba" (like we do sometimes), hugs him all the time, rides him, and wants to give him a "bone" at every chance. I wouldn't know why he weighs 80 pounds.

- He calls ketchup "ket-koo" and it is absolutely precious. Tractors are "track-ers," he says his name clear as day, and says "lub ew" for love you. Melt my heart. He clearly asks for milk, juice, or water, though occasionally gets those things confused and gets mad when you give him juice when what he meant was milk. :) Oh, and snacks are still "nacks."

- He asks for my dad ("Pa") whenever we Skype.

- He gives the sweetest kisses in the world. Wet, but sweet.

- He slept his first 12 hour night EVER for us Sunday night into Monday. He is 20 months. You do the math. It was long overdue.

- He peed and pooped in the potty (multiple times) the week between Christmas and New Year's and I'm sensing some adorable little underwear in his future very soon. :) He moves to the next class at school in a few weeks, and they can begin helping with potty training then. Operation get-Carter-out-of-diapers-before-baby #2- arrives: soon to formally commence.

- He LOVES his big boy bed. He's not sleeping in it at night yet, but we have sheets and covers on it and he loves to play on it, read books in it, etc. Once it's painted, we'll get it moved up to his room and start the transition.

- He still loves his paci (his "pa-tee") and I'd love to break him of it, but I also like sleep. So that's a problem. His kindergarten teacher can probably help us break him of it. ;) We thought about trying before the baby comes, but I put one of his pacis in a doll baby's mouth (one of my old ones) and he walked over and smacked that baby silly to make the paci come out. He wasn't impressed. I think the diapers and big boy bed may be transition enough for now.

- He is obsessed  with his stuffed animals and has a very strict bedtime routine. Mess with it and you'll know it. The child must line up each and every single one of his animals just so, lay on his back with his head towards the window, and then you can pray, tuck him in and give him smooches.

I think that's the biggest ones for now...I'll add more if I think of something! :)

Pregnancy Highlights: 16 Weeks

How Far Along: 16 weeks. The baby is the size of an avocado!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: a few pounds...

Maternity Clothes: Yeah, though still many things that aren't.

Best Moment this week: We got to go on a date night Saturday night while Carter had a sleepover with his cousins. Even though the wait for Red Lobster was INSANE (and therefore we couldn't go or we'd miss the movie, much to this pregnant mama's dismay), we had a great time.

Gender: Not sure yet, but for some reason feeling boy.

Movement: Squirmy...not feeling any kicks yet, just tumbling around.

Food Craving: Meat.

What I miss: Nice skin...I did NOT have this issue with Carter. I'm hoping it's about over now.

What I am looking forward to: My appointment next Tuesday!

Symptoms: Still the headaches, and already having lower back ache. Not sure what that's about because the baby is hardly big, but I read online it can be caused simply by all the surging hormones. Lovely. I sense a lot of back massages in Seth's future! :)

Why I Hate Religion

Wow, this is incredibly clever. A guy wrote a poem about why he hates religion but loves Jesus. Take a look.

Green Thumb

Ever since we moved into our house (four+ years ago), I've wanted a garden. I say it every year and never do anything with it. And mind you, I'm not talking some complicated garden. I just mean a simple little thing with maybe green beans, carrots, potatoes, and lettuce.

I have absolutely, positively no idea how to do any of this, so I sense a lot of Google in my future. Does anyone have any experience with these four things?? If so, is that a reasonable, stress-free line-up for my first year (and the one in which I will birth a second child)? Or should I scrap this for another year?

A few other questions:
- Can I plant these things on a slight hill?
- How in the world do I keep the 1,028 rabbits in our backyard from eating these things?

Ok, go.

Pregnancy Highlights: 15 Weeks

How Far Along: 15 weeks. The baby is 4 inches long and the size of an apple!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 2 pounds at last appointment, but next appointment isn't for two weeks, so I won't know til then.

Maternity Clothes: Pants and a top or two. I need to find more cheap clothing somewhere!

Best Moment this week: Well, last week I said I thought I might have felt the baby move but I would wait for consistency to confirm. Well, I did!!! Been feeling him/her tumble around quite a bit.

Gender: Not sure yet, but don't forget to vote in the poll to the right.

Movement: See above!

Food Craving: Ok, get ready: salad with homemade ranch dressing, tortilla chips and dip, meat of any sort, tacos, the chicken sandwich from the farm show (oh. my. word. I talked about making Seth go back and park with his 4-ways on just to get me one) apple juice, grapefruit, chocolate milk. Still no sweets...gross.

What I miss: Nothing really...

What I am looking forward to: Napping on Friday. Does that count??

Symptoms: Nothing too big really. Headaches here and there and starvation.

...and now all I want is a hamburger. Awesome.

Take the Poll!

We find out what baby #2 is in a month. Over on the right is a poll to see what you think he/she is.

If old wives' tales are your thing, here is some background info for your selection. :)

- I was incredibly nauseous for all of trimester one.
- The baby's heart rate is around 160 bpm.
- I NEED salty foods. Sweets gross me out right now.
- My skin is not so pretty right now.
- I've been getting headaches.
Ok, go.

Pregnancy Highlights: 14 Weeks

I feel sort of bad that you need to read these every week. That seems so often but I really do love to look back at this kind of stuff, so I won't be offended if you skip these. :)

How Far Along: 14 weeks. The baby is the size of a lemon!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 2 pounds

Maternity Clothes: Pants and a top or two.

Best Moment this week: I'm PRETTY sure I felt the baby move. It was more of a tumble. I felt the first "flick" of movement with Carter at 17 weeks, and since this is my second baby, it's not unheard of. I'm waiting for some more consistency  before I make it official. :)

Gender: Not sure yet!

Movement: See above!

Food Craving: Salty things. Like I-need-a-taco craving. Mmmm. No sweets for me right now. Blech.

What I miss: A sound night of sleep, but I can handle what I'm getting in between bathroom breaks for now!

What I am looking forward to: Painting Carter's big boy bed so we can slooowly begin the transition. :)

Symptoms: Still occasional nausea and headache, but fine otherwise. I'm hoping to get some energy back now that I'm in the 2nd trimester.

Goals for 2012

I'm not making a "resolution." That's just a word that means say you'll do this but never really do it. I'm going to set some goals, if you will. Here they are:

Stress less.
This almost makes me laugh just typing it because it comes in the very year that we will be potty training, moving Carter from a crib to a toddler bed, and having another baby. I should probably just cross it off now, but I'll give it a whirl. I'll have to will myself to stay on track with this one and I didn't say NOT stress. I said stress LESS. :)

Tidy up the house every night.
This will help goal #1. We are already pretty good about picking up C's toys each night, but the kitchen is our tough spot. And the mail. Oh my word, the mail. Remember this?? I'm sensing this may happen again in the not-so-distant future.

Spend less.
We've been focusing on this more and more because, well, we have to with the little bean making his/her debut in six short months. And daycare for two is going to rob us blind, so I hope we have enough money eat and buy gas. I kid. But we will have to watch our spending big time when a 4-digit amount of money (just barely starting with a 1) will be yanked from our cold hands each month.

Go on more date nights.
Seems counterintuitive to the last one, but we have gads of gift cards and restaurant.com gift cards and free movie tickets BEGGING to be used and I'm sensing that several of them will be kid-less times for Seth and I to recharge. By the way, anyone wanna watch a super cute 20-month-old who may or may not spit red velvet cake on your light carpet? :) Anyone?

Have a baby without an epidural.
HAHA. Please, I'm kidding. Just wanted to see if you were awake.

That's all my goals for this year -keeping it short and sweet (and manageable). What are YOUR goals for 2012?

Deep Breaths

The past few days have been...rough. To say the least. I'm pretty sure it's just a wickedly bad culmination of over a week of "out of his routine" but Carter is giving us a run for our money. It is, quite honestly, wearing me down. He has entered into the terrible twos a few months prematurely, and we're trying to manage appropriately, but the refusal to nap and the other little shenanigans are tough for any parent.

Just tonight, he took a bite of red velvet cake, ran to the living room and promptly spit it out on our tan carpet. Cue deep breaths. (Though I think that would make ANY mom go a little nuts, am I right?!?) I cleaned it up, and gave him a cleaner snack of cheerios. That's a safe one. He walked to the living room and spilled the entire dish everywhere. Keep breathing...

We're going to be praying for a lot of patience before July 3, when we will have a terrible-twos toddler and a no-sleep baby (wait, we will also have one of those in toddler form too). :) I'm sure we will rise to the occasion and Carter is just in a typical toddler phase that he'll grow out of.

For now, I'll recite the quote above (and perhaps the Serenity Prayer a time or two), and thank God for my precious little boy who is giving me a few early gray hairs. 

And then take a nap.

Amen.