It's a Good Thing I'm already Pregnant...

...because I just hauled out my pregnancy pillow. The chances one would have at scoring while that monster is in the bed are slim.
Have you seen one? Have you used one? It's one of the greatest inventions ever. I used it early on while I was pregnant with Charlotte, and just last night I thought it might be a good idea. I've been feeling mostly fine physically, but noticed my husband has been extra frisky, so I thought maybe this could keep him away. (just kidding.) (nothing could keep him away, he's very persistent.) (kidding again! omg!) (hi, mom!) (but seriously.)

*sigh* Moving forward...
It really is a super comfy giant size pillow which is nice because then I don't need to spend the better half of my bedtime routine (50 push ups, 200 crunches, brush teeth, 400 jumping jacks, wash face, bikram yoga, wam milk) arranging 5-7 pillows into a little fortress around me. It is sort of a pain when you want to roll over, but then again, you aren't losing a pillow here and there and knocking over that glass of milk.

I figured since I don't have any photos of me actually using the pillow, a picture of Jennifer Lopez is obviously the next best thing.

So, moral of the story: if you have a pesky partner who doesn't know how to take a hint, use a full body pillow and fake pregnancy if you have to. It's working for me!

I'm "17 weeks pregnant" and I've never slept so good!

Budget Schmudget

I have a confession.

We do not have a "budget." 

That does not mean we don't aren't on top of things. It does not mean we buy whatever we want all of the time.    It doesn't mean that we aren't saving. But it does mean that more than necessary is being spent. 

In the last few weeks, I decided I wanted to take a deeper look at my habits even though I might be frightened by them. I put it off because I was afraid it would start an argument and I didn't really want to make a change.

I compare a budget to joining weight watchers. I need to be ready to make a change. I need to be excited about seeing how little I can spend but how great it can be. It's like making a delicious filling meal on very few weight watchers points. I think I'm ready!!

For those of you who are super organized and loving your budgeted life, I'm sure this just makes you insane! The places I can cut back on are my spontaneous trips to Target, spending too much on groceries when there is food to be made already in our pantry, and maybe....just maybe...I can cut back on spending on Charlotte and me. I'm not a huge fan of buying second hand, but will definitely do it if I find something I like! But when little kids need a new wardrobe every 3-4 months, it adds up! I need to pack more lunches instead of going out on days that I go to work. 

I'm thinking about trying the whole cash envelope system, but not down to every last penny. I recognize that probably isn't the "right" way to do it, but I plan on using them on the things I need to cut back on. 

I don't really know how much/how little to start with. I know everyone is different, but if you have any helpful tips or suggestions, let me know!

Things I Didn't Teach

Last Friday, I babysat a friend's 3 month old son. She just went back to work, and I remember those days so clearly, yet so much has changed since then. He did so well at my house, I hope my friend doesn't resent me.
I was curious and slightly anxious to see how the day would go with an almost 15 month old and a 3 month old.

I think it went too well. I'm already thinking that having a newborn with be a breeze. I'm so screwed.
All I really have to say is that I did not show Charlotte how to treat the little baby, and I did not tell her what to do. These are all candid moments.

Peeky Peeky

Playing with his little toes

It's sort of hard to tell, but she's bouncing his seat - you can see the hanging fish are all blurry :)

She kissed him a few different times! 

Helping with the pacifer

Hanging out while I cleaned up and packed for my weekend away

Tummy Time!

New Friends!

I had convinced myself that everyone was right and I won't take as many pictures of the new baby when he or she arrives, but just seeing how many I took with a friend's baby sort of changed my mind. :)

The Time When I Went Shopping With My Husband

Marcus and I took a little trip to Chicago this weekend! We were invited to a friend's baby shower on Sunday, so we thought we'd make the most of the weekend and get away just the two of us.
We met up with friends, played cards, ate way way way too much, but best of all, I got him to go shopping with me. I'm being serious.
It ended up being a lot of fun. Mostly, funny. Marcus does 99% of his clothing shopping online. He basically knows what size he wears and hopes for the best once it arrives. We were at H&M and both found some things to try on. Mine happened to be regular priced maternity items, and his were super clearanced  hipster pants. We both crammed into one fitting room and I knew this was going to be funny. I made a comment about  it being like a Hinder song being in the dressing room, but he wasn't sure what I was talking about.
He had no idea what to do with the clothes once he was done. "Do I hang them back up? Where do I put them? That shirt is $24?!"

We both had success, and continued over to Top Shop for even more ridiculousness. The racks were filled with crop tops and hot pants - neither of which are things that I could make work for me. We headed up to TopMan for Marcus and he couldn't help but point out every item that he has seen at Goodwill and announcing that it should be $1 and not $65. There's something funny about seeing a dude shopping and saying out loud "this should be a dollar. i'm not joking. I would pay one dollar for that."

We made our way to a Starbucks and it took way too long to find considering it's a Starbucks in Chicago, but we chilled for a bit and planned our dinner. We were still so full from having dip dish pizza at lunch, we waited about 8 hours before eating dinner and we still weren't hungry. So we had a popcorn appetizer and called it a night.

It was a really nice trip overall. We picked up a little souvenir from The Disney Store (a little minnie mouse) for Charlotte and I felt so oddly sentimental about it. It was the first time we got her a toy while we were away and I feel like she's old enough to make the connection between her Minnie Mouse and the Minnie Mouse she sees on TV. And I don't know...I can't put my finger on it anymore, but I just felt all sappy about it and even got teary while in line. I think I just really missed her. We saw a lot of children there and I think it would be fun to bring my little girl some place soon.

Anyway, that's all for now.
Oh, by the way, Charlotte loved her Minnie. She hugged it immediately and fell asleep with it tonight. My heart has broken into a million little pieces.

When Summer Came Early

Has this been a crazy March or what?! We've had record highs and though it's been great to get outside, it was sort of confusing. Little Charlotte had nothing to wear because most of her summer clothes are a size up and on top of that, she only had two outfits that were for hot weather. We didn't have just two or three days of this hot (I'm talking 80+ degrees!) weather, we had something like 10 days.

We had lots of fun during our sample summer, so I thought I'd share some pics!

45 minutes of fun! Learned my lesson though - splat mat = slip-n-slide when water is added. (duh)



 


My little cutie



Shouting at the birds



That dog gone hat is always covering her face




This is actually a shirt. Works as a dress too!



Who needs fancy toys?

We thought we could do a diaper day in the heat, but the stinker figured out how to take it off.

Pregnancy Cravings - Fact or Myth?

I could make myself believe that cravings during pregnancy are just an excuse for women to be all crazy bananas and make their husbands go on a quest until they find that perfect treat to satisfy the craving.

I mean, I crave things when I'm not pregnant, as I'm sure most people do. But it's kind of easy to get over. Let's say you really want a greasy cheeseburger from Culver's (holy crap, Culver's is so good. I feel so bad for anyone who has never had it.) But then you talk yourself out of it. You know it's not that good for you, so you make yourself order a small salad. And you survive. You are full, you feel good about yourself, and you pat yourself on the back for resisting the urge.

But with pregnancy, or at least in my case, I will attempt to talk myself out of eating junky food. I prepare vegetables or order salads. And I proceed to gag and stifle the vomit. I don't really have much in the way of morning sickness, but good golly, as soon as I eat a vegetable, it's gag city, chick.
So back to the whole cravings "myth" - I want lemonade ALL THE TIME. It has to be the real kind. Preferably made with cane sugar and no high fructose corn syrup. If it's strawberry lemonade (with real strawberries) omg, even better. And here's the thing: I don't like lemonade. I like a good Arnold Palmer on occassion, and maybe a lemonade cocktail...but I never ever ever want lemonade. I normally try to avoid drinking my calories, and the urge to consume barrels of lemonade makes that difficult. I've tried just doing the water with lots of lemon thing, but that's b.s. Worst idea I've ever had. Oh, and sugar substitutes just will not work. I try to avoid them anyway, and that's going to really screw up my dreamy, tart, lemonade.
Must be real lemonade. My mouth waters. And I never even liked the stuff to begin with. SO weird.

I haven't noticed too many other cravings besides things like fruit, which I'll take! And today strawberry pie sounded like the bomb and I don't like pie.

Did you have any cravings that you knew were different from just wanting something you always want anyway? And better yet, pica? I'd love to hear a story about how you crave non-food. Fascinating...

And also if you have a recipe for some bomb ass lemonade, please share it with me, before I go broke on my mission to find my favorite.

A Word About Las Vegas

About 6 weeks ago I crammed a carry on with mini dresses covered in sequins, sky high pumps, and false eyelashes. We had our trip planned for weeks and we were so looking forward to getting away! We would take a break from our parental duties, stay up late, win some money, indulge in cocktails-a-plenty.
A good time always awaits us in Las Vegas.
The day before our trip I thought...hm...pretty sure I was supposed to have a *certain* visitor by now. But the last few months it's been quite screwy, so I really wasn't all that concerned. (I'm talking about my period, dummies.) So, just for some peace of mind, I thought I should probably take a pregnancy test before we left on our trip. I knew it would be negative, but I knew I wouldn't enjoy my trip to the fullest if there was any doubt. Even though my purse never has a pen, and my diaper bag never has wipes, I seem to always have a pregnancy test on hand.

And wouldn't you know it. It was positive.
Or a big fat positive as they say in the baby making biz.

While thinking in terms of the long term future, I was absolutely thrilled! But it's my short-term response that made me feel guilty. I think it went something like this: Holy SH*T. (I had a toddler sleeping, I didn't want her to hear me swear.) We were getting on a plane in just over 24 hours with our siblings who really know how to have a good time. I didn't want to ruin their fun!

And while I've had day dreams about the adorable way I would tell my husband our wonderful news of expanding our family, maybe "Juno" style where I arrange a big chair in the front yard and chew on a pipe before I tell him the news. Or maybe like Aunt Becky and Uncle Jesse from Full House where Becky makes Jesse baby carrots, babyback ribs, and baby got back. Wait...that's not right.
The only thing I could manage to do was call him. It wasn't cute, it wasn't well executed, it was what it was.

"I'm pregnant."
It was awkward and abrupt.

It hadn't set in yet and we didn't know what to think. Adding more children to our family has always been our plan, it just happened sooner, and easier, that we would have ever planned.

But now that the dust has settled (and honestly, it settled about 30 minutes after I found out), it feels really good. I am happy, feel oddly at peace considering the chaos that is about to ensue in a few short months, and simply exhausted. And I love it.

Here we go!!!!