12 weeks and How We Found Out

I'm now 12 weeks 1 day pregnant and finally starting to feel more like myself. Up until about 11 weeks I felt nauseous all day long and so tired. It was really hard to get anything done. I also just didn't feel like myself, and to be honest, that made me feel a little blue and really grumpy. Now I have some more energy and the days where I feel like puking are a rare thing. Yes! I also started getting a belly and I'm trying to embrace it and not feel self-conscious. My husband swears I look pregnant and not like I drank too many 12 packs, so I'm choosing to believe him. I absolutely LOVE having a big pregnant belly, but feel self-conscious during the "is she pregnant or fat?" stage. We get an ultrasound in 3 days so I'll include a belly shot with that post.

For memories sake I'll tell the story of how we found out we were expecting this sweet little baby. We had been trying to get pregnant for 10 months and I was really feeling like it wasn't going to happen and that God didn't have any more children planned for us. It was just a gut feeling that I couldn't shake. I had decided that after this month I wasn't going to try anymore. It was just too hard! I couldn't handle another trial of infertility like we did with Corbe.n.

April 3rd, a day before my period was due,  I woke up feeling really nauseous and ended up puking all day. I didn't at all think I was pregnant because I've never had morning sickness that early and it felt to me like a stomach virus. I felt better the next day, but decided to take a pregnancy test just to see, like I had every month. I snuck downstairs while my husband was sleeping and took a test and immediately it came back positive. Let me tell you after so many negatives I was not expecting a positive. I was shaking so bad and ran upstairs with the test and scared my husband awake, very romantically shouting and crying  "Babe, I know why I was puking yesterday. LOOK!", while then shoving the test in his face. I wish I would have told him in some cute, or at least less scary way, but it is a funny story.

So now here I am 12 weeks pregnant and feeling so blessed and so excited! Up until this point I have been absolutely stressed out and so scared about losing this baby, but luckily along with the morning sickness that too is fading. God is good! I'll be back in a few days with our NT scan results and pictures!

Dusting Things Off

I have returned and I must say that I'm astonished at how long it's been since I've blogged! I just felt like I ran out of things to say. I decided to come back because I really began to regret no longer having this online memory keeper of my children growing up. 

Right now my blog is a complete disaster. I don't know what happened but my background disappeared and a bunch of my pictures aren't displaying anymore. I'm trying to figure it out, but I'm not as tech savvy as I used to be. So the next little while will be spend trying to get back what I had or at least come up with something new.

Things have been well the past few years... My baby boy is now almost five and my little princess will be 3 next month! I can't believe it! We are also thrilled to be expecting baby #3 in early December! We're all so excited! I can't wait to kiss some fresh little baby cheeks!



 
 More updates to come soon!

Beyond Blessed

 I'm so beyond blessed. Thank you Lord for these beautiful, amazing, sweet babies that you have entrusted me with.

 

I Ran My First 5k!

 Saturday I ran my first 5k and I'm still on cloud nine and completely emotional about it. 

Let's go in reverse here for a little bit. I've been busting my butt the past few months with working out and getting back into running as well. I'm not one of those lucky people where breastfeeding makes them magically drop the pounds and transform into a hot mama. I'm the type where it makes your body hold onto the fat for dear life. What a new experience for me! I've always been very thin, in fact I always had a crazy fast metabolism and had to work hard to maintain a healthy weight. After I had C.orben I lost the weight very quickly once I started eating a healthy diet. I thought that would work after having Quinn as well. I switched to a clean eating diet and good portion sizes, but the last 15 lbs WOULD NOT budge and worst of all my stomach always looked very pregnant. It was so depressing! I cried a lot over how I looked. Finally I had enough and signed up for a gym membership (home workouts do not work for me) and I bought 4 personal training sessions to get me started and to expand my knowledge base.

I met with my trainer once a week and then (and still now) work out 5-6 days a week. I really focus on pushing myself outside of my comfort level. My goal is to not just be a healthy weight, but to be toned. It feels really good to exercise! Not to mention it's a wonderful stress reliever and gives me some alone time away from the house... and by house, I mean the kids, but for some reason I feel like a bad Mom saying that. 

One of my other goals is to get back into running and to become an actual runner. There is a 5k in May that I was planning on working towards and having that be my first 5k. I didn't think I would be ready before then. Until my husband told me about the 5k that I ended up running and we decided to just go for it. I was nervous, especially after an injury (post tibial tendonitis) set my training back, but then I decided to not worry about it and to just have fun. It would be great to do well, but if I ended up having to walk it, no big deal. I just wanted to enter and have a good time. 

Well folks, it was exhilarating! What an amazing feeling! I ran the entire 5k and finished in 30 minutes. Getting around all of the people walking slowed me down quite a bit in the beginning, but that's okay because my goal was to finish in 30 minutes and that's what I did. Crossing the finish line was completely emotional and I'll admit without shame that I cried. To finish this goal was just.... WOW! I am so thankful to God for enabling me to complete this goal. I really felt Him there with me. 

Now I can't wait to reach my weight loss goal (7 more lbs to go!) and to reach my fitness goal of being toned. I'm excited to do more races and to watch my running ability get better and better. I don't know if anything will top the feeling of completing this first 5k though. I'm so dang proud of myself!


 

My Little Cowboy

Corbe.n got to ride a pony at the rodeo today. He kept saying "Yeehaw! Yeehaw! Hi pony!". Quinn on the other hand slept through her first rodeo experience.

 

7 Months

Man this post is late! I never thought I would be such a slacker on updating, but here I am in total slackville. Sorry baby girl! I promise this isn't a reflection of my love for you.

This has been a big month! Quinn is crawling now, will pull herself to standing from my leg, and goes from crawling to sitting and vice versa. It all happened so quickly too. Corb.en spent 2 months rocking on his hands and knees proficiently before he started crawling. Quinn started consistently getting on her hands and knees one day and then the next she started crawling. She's still not completely strong enough to get very far and takes about four crawls (is that a word?) before she needs to rest. She is loving the freedom though... her brother not so much. I will admit that I find his reaction amusing when Quinn gets to the toys he's playing with. 

Well folks, I got the shaft once again. If you remember I was hopeful that my second born was going to honor me with babbling "mama" before "dadda". Nope. My husband is now 2/2 in this milestone. Quinn busted out with "dadda" and then "nana" and then "nene" and there is not a hint of a "mama" to come. My husband, in trying to make me feel better, said that "nene" really meant mommy, haha! I love that man.  

This girl still loves to eat and she is so good at it! She likes her purees thick and chunky and while we didn't purposefully take a BLW (baby led weaning) approach, she chows down on toast sticks, and similar things, like a champ and she loves it! It's great because it enables us to actually eat when she does instead of having to frantically keep shoveling puree in her mouth or else deal with a very angry baby. 

I don't know quite where to start this next part because so much has happened, so I'll try to keep it short and sweet. For several months Quinn was really fussy, not sleeping well, and just wanted to be held and comforted a lot of the time. If you tried to set her down to get something done it would result in a meltdown. 

About a month after this started and hit a peak we found out that she had an ear infection. After her round of antibiotics (I really want to go off on a tangent about that, but I won't) she seemed better for a little while and then it all started up again. Her doctor suspected teething and had us try medication at night before bed. Didn't work and in fact she got worse. At this point she was waking up every 2-3 hours screaming at night. The second you picked her up she would fall asleep on you... until you laid her back down and then it would be screaming again. She would also cry when you would lay her down for diaper changes. 

Ding! Ding! Ding! Cue the light bulb going off. She has GERD (acid reflux). My Mom's side of the family has this really bad due to a hiatal hernia and I even had surgery for it. Corb.en had it REALLY BAD until he was almost 1. We didn't initially suspect it in Quinn because she didn't display the severe symptoms that her brother did. Now I realize that this is because exclusively breastfed babies tend to not suffer from reflux as severely. Once we started her on the medication we noticed an instant improvement and after about 2 weeks, combined with learning what foods she couldn't handle, she was completely back to normal. Praise God! I feel really guilty that she was suffering for 3 months before we figured out what was going on. Both C.orben and Quinn had their reflux symptoms start up at 3 months of age, so with our next baby I will just strongly request that we have some on hand before things get bad.

With each month that passes she gets to be more and more fun. It's so exciting to watch her personality blossom and really come out and I'm really looking forward to watching all the new things that she's going to learn to do.

I love you baby girl to the moon and back! 



 

New Years Non-Resolutions

I hate doing anything that's trendy or fadish, so even when something is a good idea I resist it until I finally concede that it's awesome and would make my life easier (umm hmm I'm talking about you Pinterest). With this personality trait of mine I have never been one to make New Years resolutions, so that's totally not what I'm doing here-- haha! It's just that with a crisp refreshing cold front finally arriving in Texas it has made the New Year feel like a clean slate and a chance to make changes to be who I want to be.

So, here are my New Years Non-Resolutions:

• Continue pre-planning meals and eating a clean diet. 
• Eating clean was another thing that I avoided researching because it seemed so fadish and snobby, but after lupus kicking me to the ground and feeling constantly to the bone exhausted I knew I needed to make changes. I've been eating clean for about a month now and I've lost weight and I feel great! It's not hard like I thought it would be and it's actually easier to plan and cook meals than before. My go-to website is www.thegraciouspantry.com. She's amazing and everything is so full of flavor!
•  Start running again. 
• When my husband and I were separated (physically, not maritally) due to the military, running was my form of therapy. It's what got me through the tough times. I have been aching to start running again. Not only is it the cheapest form of exercise, it feels so darn good. My husband and I would really like to run a 5k in a few months. I'm just having a tough time figuring out the best time of day to fit in a run with my husband's crazy schedule. I tried the jogging stroller thing when Cor.ben was a baby and honestly I need for this to be a part of my "me time". Which brings me to...
• Make time to pamper myself and just be "me".
• I have whole heartedly thrown myself into the role of wife and mother and have left ZERO time for myself. While I love these roles more than anything I need time to just be Jennifer. While my family was visiting for Christmas my sister plucked my eyebrows and did my nails and it felt amazing and reawakened my need to do things for myself. My plan is to get out on a minimum every 2 weeks to just go sit at a bookstore and read by myself with a cup of coffee. This was my favorite pre-baby thing to do and I miss it so much. I'm also going to start getting my eyebrows professionally waxed and maybe even my nails painted. Getting my eyebrows done was another pre-baby thing I always did and it's crazy how something so small makes you feel so much better about yourself. I always have my toenails painted, but last night I painted my fingernails a sassy red and I feel so pretty and fancy even though I'm just wearing yoga pants and a sweatshirt right now. Also, while I don't think I would do it on a regular basis, every once in awhile I'd like to get my nails shellaced. 
• Read my bible for at least 10 minutes a night.
•  I haven't been making my relationship with God a priority lately and I feel the hole that it has left in my life. I miss the closeness that I used to have with Him and I want to get back to that place. I realized the other night that after the kids are in bed my husband and I waste so much time immediately getting on the computer or putting on a TV show. While that is a great way to relax after a crazy day- and we will continue to do that- we would feel so much more refreshed if we immediately spent at least 10 minutes reading the bible and reconnecting with God. 
• Make my marriage a priority
• In the past year we have had a major move, had a miscarriage (that still hurts), my husband has started a new career with an entirely different schedule, had a baby (holy crap that's been an adjustment), bought a house, and we're both still in school (and I probably will be until I'm 90). That's been a lot and has required our active focus to be on other things besides each other. Now that the dust is settling a little, I would like to take the time to focus on letting my husband know, without words, how much I love him and how great I think he is. I found some great ideas on this website: Dating Divas: Strengthening Marriages One Date at a Time. What we really need is a babysitter! It's just so hard to trust someone with your children. We did hear that a 17 year old on our street is a good babysitter, so hopefully we can meet her soon and have someone that we are comfortable with so we can actually-- GASP!-- go on a date together! While my family was visiting we went out to a movie together and it was great. The downer was that we went really late at night and I was so tired. It would be nice to go out early for dinner and a movie.

So those are my New Years Non-Resolutions! I'm really excited about them and hope that I don't lose focus and let life streamroll over me. I know that if I just get started on these things that they will become a permanent part of my life and boy oh boy do I NEED them to be.