The Big Leap (the long awaited update)

So I recently took a test that calculated stress levels.   681.  The scale said that 0-149 was low susceptibility to stress related illness, 150-299 was moderate, and 300 and over was high.  681.  Seriously?  Stressed?  The funny thing is that I don’t feel stressed, but honestly, it must be there and underlying.  A little over a month ago, I gave birth to our second child.  6 days later Kai’s resignation was final.  12 days later we packed up our house and moved from one coast to the other.  We crossed the country with a newborn and tried to reassure ourselves that he would be fine.  We were neurotic about germs and sterilizing e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g along the way.  We successfully made it to the other side of the country with our family intact and relatively healthy.  And then…what?  What was our plan?  Why would we even consider doing something so…reckless?  Well, here’s the abbreviated story…

We loved a lot about Vermont.  In fact, we were making plans to stay there for many years.  Kai put an offer in on the practice he was working for, the owners accepted, and he was in the process of getting a loan to complete the deal.  We were really excited about owning the practice and had started to see ourselves living in Vermont for the long term.  Throughout the whole process, we were praying for God to lead in the deal.  We had a lot of things that we were really looking forward to, but we had some major hesitations as well.  So our prayer was simply that if God didn’t want the deal to go through, that he would close all the doors and make the process impossible. 

Long story short, somewhere in the middle of the whole process the owners changed their minds and wanted significantly more money for the practice than we were willing to pay.  At that point we decided to walk away from the deal.  When Kai signed his contract in the very beginning, there was a clause that said if he resigned then we would have to move at least 35 miles away from the practice so as not to take any patients from the practice with him.  We knew this before he put in his resignation, but we decided that since he wasn’t buying the practice, which had been his intention, he would put in his 2 month notice and we would move on even though it meant moving at least 35 miles and moving at a tough time (right after the birth of Baby K).   I’ll spare you all the details, but we considered all the options to try and stay in the area, even considering buying the non-compete clause which would allow us to stay, but the owners wanted to charge close to a couple of hundred thousand dollars for it even though the going rate is in the ten thousands range.  Kai is apparently very valuable :-)   We realized that our prayers were being answered even though the answer was different from what we had expected.  It seemed that God was obviously and completely steering our ship in a different direction. 

So knowing that we had to move at least 35 miles, we decided to start thinking about where we really wanted to live.  We were crushed to have to leave the close friends we had made in our short time there.  (I cannot say enough that the friends we made while in Vermont were some of the best people we’ve ever known!!  We have already been missing them!)  So we started trying to decide.  Would we move somewhere else in Vermont?  We didn’t know anyone in Vermont when we first moved and now moving 35 miles from where we began would mean starting over making new friends again.  We thought of Michigan where we have family and lots of friends.  That was a very real option, but we’ve discovered that we’re not very fond of the cold.  Texas?  Warm weather and it’s rumored there are tons of jobs, but again, we would be starting over making new friends and not knowing anyone.  California?  Where we just moved from almost a year ago?  We have so many family and friends and we love the weather.  We love all the busyness of the city and all there is to do, but a big drawback is that the market is overly saturated with dentists.  Kai had many friends that had wanted to stay in Southern California, but never found jobs and had to move away.  From what we’ve heard, the job situation hasn’t changed.  But one thing we knew for sure was that we loved it there and missed our friends and family.  If we had to start over, why not try in a place we loved?  God had answered our initial prayer (not the way we expected), so we continued praying and decided to make a huge step out in faith. 

Our plan was simple.  2 months.  We would move back to California and give it 2 months of long, hard, persistent job searching.  If after those 2 months Kai still didn’t have work, then we would look at our options again.  That decision was both simple and formidable.  It was simple because it was obviously what we wanted, and if you know us, you know that we don’t mind a little adventure in our lives.  But it was formidable because we had an idea of how tough it would be and while we love adventure, we don’t like to be irresponsible.  With 2 children, 1 of which would be a newborn at the start of this “adventure”, the feeling was dangerously close to that of irresponsibility and thus, left us with an uneasy feeling.  Yet that uneasiness was overshadowed by a feeling that we were, for some unknown reason, heading in the right direction. 

So we packed everything we owned back into a 26’ Penske rental truck and moved out of our house a mere 12 days after Baby K arrived.  We took our time getting from coast to coast with a stopover in Michigan to visit family and friends, and a stopover in Texas to break the trip up and see if it would be a potential “plan b” if things didn’t work out after 2 months in CA.  We also met friends for dinner along the way and introduced Baby K to 13 new states.  Traveling 4000 miles with 2 small children is daunting.  Between books, stories, movies, snacks, feedings, changings, and bouts of screaming (mostly the kids—though Kai and I joined in to make a merrier chorus at times ;-), we were thankful to reach our destination! 

We arrived on a Saturday night and Kai had 2 interviews scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.  Both interviews went well and one of them wanted a working interview on Thursday.  Both places offered him jobs and Kai came home Thursday after the working interview with full time work!  What a HUGE blessing and relief!  I had thought for sure that it would take almost the entire 2 months to find anything and I was steeling myself for the reality that we might end up resorting to “plan b” in the end, and yet everything worked itself out in less than a week!  This whole experience reminded me of 2 of my favorite Bible verses:   

“In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”  Proverbs 16:9 and 

“I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11. 

Things are far from “completed” yet and we still have a lot ahead of us, but one of the major pieces in our uncompleted puzzle has been placed and it makes it a little easier and less stressful as we plan for the future.  I’m thankful that we decided to take the leap of faith, though it was stressful and seemingly reckless, and I’m so thankful for the way things have worked out so far.  For the record, both boys are doing great.  I hardly find the time to check my email and blog lately, but now with this megapost completed (which has been hanging over my head since the inception of this whole ordeal), maybe I will allow myself a few minutes to post smaller bits and pieces of our lives on a more regular basis and catch up on the blogs of those that I have been seriously neglecting.  Thanks for your patience!   

Week 38 and a 1/2

(I had to include one where I'm wearing a maternity outfit instead of the boring black and white regular outfit!)

How far along:  38 1/2 weeks

Best Moment of the Week:  Last week I had a great baby shower brunch with local friends from K's playgroups.  It was so much fun and we got all kinds of awesome gifts for our new little guy.  It was a completely different shower than I've ever had before.  The food was all maple themed because of the start of maple syrup season here and every present we received was made from organic, all natural products.  Several gifts were even wrapped in cloth instead of paper!  Very cool!  

Movement:  He’s slowing down a little now probably because he’s out of room.  He still stretches and moves quite a bit, but it’s not as sudden and jerky.     

Food Craving: Now that I’ve been on iron for a few weeks my ice cravings are gone.  No big cravings at the moment, although today we went out to brunch with some great friends at a Victorian Inn and had some of the best food I’ve had in my life!!!  K ate his fill too, eating as much or more than I did!  He surprises us like that at times. 

What I'm looking forward to: There are soooo many changes taking place right now.  Life is so crazy!!  At the moment I am just ready to meet this little guy and be done with pregnancy.  I love being pregnant, but the last month is soooo hard!  My list of complaints are: not being able to sleep well, back aches, not being able to bend over easily, etc., etc.  But who likes to hear all of the complaints?  On a positive note, people are even more friendly (if that’s possible in our state which I swear has the largest grouping of the friendliest people on earth!) when you’re huge with child.  I get help all the time—from the grocery store to the airlines to the doctor’s offices.  I will miss the special treatment once pregnancy is over.  ;-)

Weekly Wisdom:  A parent's love is whole no matter how many times divided.  ~Robert Brault

Big Brother:  Have I mentioned what a great helper he is lately???  Wow!  This week it seemed we had a doctor’s appt everyday trying to get everything in before I go into labor (K’s 2 year checkup, dermatology appt.’s, OB, and a couple others—our insurance is going to love us!).  Well, K made friends with everyone at every single appt.  From the nurses and doctors all the way to the other patients in the waiting room.  At one point he had 4 different people all playing cars with him.  It was a huge relief because it’s much harder for me to get on the floor and play with him myself at this point. 

Also this week at church, he took a spill and got a nasty rug burn that runs the whole length of his nose.  It looks absolutely terrible and will likely still be there for our first family pictures when our new little one arrives.  I feel so bad for him every time I look at him.  Poor little guy!  He was really tough though and handled it well.  He did catch a glimpse of himself in the mirror while we were brushing his teeth and stared for a long while at his road rash.  I don’t think he liked what he saw either. :-(  It was really cute to see him look so puzzled though!    

Weight:  Several people have asked about how much weight I’ve gained this pregnancy.  I've found that pregnancy affects every woman’s body differently and I’ve had friends that have gained 100 pounds and others that have gained 5 pounds and the shock of it all is that even those that have gained 100 pounds have had it all come back off after the baby comes.  Soooo…with that said, I’ve had a personal goal with each pregnancy to gain in the neighborhood of 20 pounds because for me it seems that weight doesn’t just pour back off of me when I want it to like it seems to for other people.  With K I gained 19 pounds and with this pregnancy I have gained 20 so far, but he’s not here yet, so who knows what the final number will be…  Honestly I don’t think my body could handle much more than that (see my list of complaints above).  

Hopefully my next post will be pictures of our new little guy... :-)  

The Belly Progress 35 1/2 Weeks

How far along:  35 1/2 weeks (Almost there!!  If he comes on K's schedule, I'll start labor in 2 weeks!)

Best Moment of the Week:  A special Valentine’s date with the best guy in the world!!

Doctor:  Started seeing the doctor weekly now and he says that everything is looking great!  I’m excited that this time around they will admit me as soon as I have regular, consistent contractions instead of waiting until I’m a 4 to admit me.  With K, 5 days of labor was not fun! 

Movement:  All the time and usually both sides of my stomach at the same time which looks weird if you’re watching my stomach.  This little guy loves to stretch and move. Good thing because K will need an active playmate!   

Food Craving: Ice and even snow!  I must be slightly anemic because I can’t stop eating the stuff.  My husband has been lecturing me about how bad it is on my teeth.  In my own defense, I have a great recipe that I think is easier on my teeth:  

1 cup of ice + 1 cup of water.  

Let stand for 10-20 minutes and then enjoy the soft crumbly ice.  

Mmmmmm.  Makes my mouth water just thinking of it.  Although the other night I did have one of my bizarre pregnancy dreams in which all my teeth fell out on one side because of chewing ice, so today I’m planning to pick up a bottle of iron since that’s a lot cheaper than fixing a broken tooth (or a whole mouth). 

What I'm looking forward to: Getting this baby out!  I’ve been sooooo uncomfortable lately.  Sleep at night is restless at best: waking at least 10 times to pee and tossing and turning to try and get comfortable.  Oh how I miss stomach sleeping!!  And my back has been screaming at me for all the strain.  

Weekly Wisdom:  A ship under sail and a big-bellied woman, are the handsomest two things that can be seen common.

~Benjamin Franklin
He obviously was not ever pregnant! ;-)

Big Brother:  Started K in a toddler gym class this week.  He LOVES it.  He played on the balance beams, trampoline, and swung on the rings.  It was so much fun to watch his eagerness.

We also started potty training this weekend.  We’re trying the 3 day potty training method and so far he’s done pretty well except that he doesn’t like to go poop in the potty, so we’re trying to figure out what to do with that.  He seems really proud of himself for peeing in it though!

The Name Game:  After months and months of trying different names, I think we may have found one that we love.  We just came up with the middle name this weekend and have to see if we still love it in a few more days, but it’s looking promising…

The Belly at 30 Weeks

How far along:  30 weeks (Oops!  I got ahead of myself last week.  I’m actually just over 30 weeks now.) 

Best Moment of the Week: Planning for our vacation in a couple of weeks.  Although everything has been overshadowed by the unexpected passing of my grandpa last week.  I’m working on a post regarding that, but I’ve been busy going through old pictures and mentally sorting through all the memories.  He was a great grandpa and will be greatly missed.  :-(  

Movement:  Honestly, it feels like he’s walking across my stomach all the time.  The weirdest feeling is when he moves his hands and feet at the same time and my stomach gets tickled all over from the inside.  I can’t wait to meet this little active guy!   

Food Craving: Healthy stuff!  After the holidays I don’t want to see any more junk!  Our fridge is stocked with fresh fruit and veggies.  Tonight we had veggie pitas with homemade cucumber dressing, chickpea and roasted veggie salad, and fruit salad.  Also had some Martinelli’s to drink in our pretty wine glasses. 

What I'm looking forward to: Family vacation soon!

Weekly Wisdom:  "You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment. ~ "Things That It Took Me 50 Years to Learn""

Author: Dave Barry

Big Brother:  LOVES trains!!  Even though we don’t have a TV, I’ve been letting K watch a few online Netflix movies of Thomas the Train once in a while.  It’s so cute to watch him get soooo excited about it.  He yells, “Choo Choo Train!!  Choo Choo Train!!”  I have no doubt he’ll introduce his baby brother to trains as soon as he arrives. 

The Name Game:  I think we have the first name picked, but now we’re trying to decide on the middle name…

Biggest Fear:  How do you divide your love between 2 kids??  I've been so nervous over making sure both kids know they are equally loved without loving either of them less, but I have no idea how I'm going to do that...

Brief Glimpses Into My Everyday Life

A simple re-cap of my last very ordinary 24 hours.  

• Woke late thanks to my awesome husband who took K and let me sleep in a little extra.  This made me late to playgroup.  Oh well.  I think an extra hour of sleep was definitely worth it! 
• Met Kai for a lunch date which consisted of black bean burgers, fruit and veggies, chips, and yogurt.
• Went to the post office to get our weekend’s worth of accumulated mail and chatted with the friendly post office workers that I see weekly.  They think I’ve now suddenly “popped”.  Lovely.  I still have 3 months. I’m blaming it on those darn Christmas cookies that I have been craving the baby loves! 
• Opened beautiful Christmas cards from great friends and it made me miss them all the more!
• Opened Kai’s loan repayment notices that start next month.  He’s worth a lot to someone else besides just me now!  Ugh!
• Headed out the door to the next playgroup.  K grabbed a granola bar from the pantry and I thought he’d be fine playing with it in the car.  Halfway there, I noticed it was a little too quiet and checked on him only to find that he had smashed, mashed, smooshed, and utterly destroyed the granola bar thus breaking open the wrapper and covering himself in gooey chocolate and peanut butter.  He was thrilled with his genius.  I was not.  This was realized about 2 miles from playgroup #2. 
• Prepared for a small winter storm coming through our area.
• Put K to bed after our normal routine of story, songs, prayer, teeth brushing, and rocking.  His favorite song is, “Only a Boy Named David”.  He's awesome with his imaginary sling and makes a great dying giant impersonation!  
• Finalized the purchase of the bedding set for Baby K.  Julie, you're a genius!!  Found the matching aeronautical set I wanted on Craigslist from a major city several hours away.  They are shipping it directly to me and it will be perfect!!  I love conveniences of the internet!   
• Realized I have only several short days until Christmas!!!  Eeeek!  So much to do!
• K woke up at 3 a.m. for some unknown reason.  I went in to check on him and was immediately overpowered by the stench of a behemoth mess in his diaper.  Good morning to me! 
• Woke again later in the morning to discover a beautiful white wonderland outside.  It’s gorgeous!  Sometimes I miss the beautiful weather and palm trees of southern California (not to mention great friends and family), but we may be making a trip there again soon! 
• While writing this, K has brought me almost every toy in his toy box trying to entice me to play with him.  He’s adorable, so I’m done.  No blog, you just can't compete.  I think I’ll dress him up in his winter clothes and take him outside to make snowmen and snow angels!  Hope you’re having a great day too no matter how ordinary it may be!       

26 Weeks and the Belly

How far along:  26 weeks   

Best Moment of the Week: Today!  Spent the day as a family and took K to see Santa.  He didn’t do very well this year though.  He screamed and ran away from him.  So, we all sat on Santa’s lap in order to get a decent picture ;-)  Also paid for a full day’s admission into the enormous bounce house exhibit in the mall for K—to which he also was not interested.  Note to self—schedule a long nap before attempting new things.  Still, even though K was not excited to try new things today, he absolutely adores Kai and I being with him together all day.  It always makes me smile to see him so happy. 

Movement:  A lot of rolling!  I feel a butt or foot stick out all the time and I love it!  

Food Craving: Christmas cookies!!  I made some yesterday and decorated them today.  Such fun times with K!  Finally after years of trying and failing, I actually made a great batch!!!  Martha is a genius--again!     

What I'm looking forward to: Kai’s mom coming to visit next week and Christmas of course!  Also, I’m almost into my 3^rd trimester—whoa!  Where did the time go??

Weekly Wisdom:  A mother's joy begins when new life is stirring inside... when a tiny heartbeat is heard for the very first time, and a playful kick reminds her that she is never alone.
-- Author Unknown

Big Brother:  My favorite thing he does lately is when he comes up, pats my belly, and says, “Baby!!” in a singsong voice. 

His favorite thing to do is read, read, read!  He loves books lately, which makes me soooo happy because up until a few months ago he showed very little interest.  Being a teacher before having K I know how important reading is for kids, but he wouldn’t sit still for stories.  I worried a little about it, but didn’t push it.  I figured when he was ready he would let us know.  Now he brings us book after book to read to him and absolutely loves story time--especially if the book includes an airplane or a digger!

Nursery: The second convertible crib has been purchased and we are thinking about the bedding options.  I love the bedding set we have for K and since they will be eventually sharing rooms, I looked for more of the same bedding, but since Babies R Us seems to retire every collection after a year or two, I can’t find it anywhere L  So…we’re still considering several things.  I might buy baby K some neutral bedding that would match the colors of the already loved aeronautical theme or we may go with something completely different…

The Great Stroller Debate

We've been debating which double jogging stroller to get.  I think this will be the only double stroller we get since they are rather pricey (although we may get a double umbrella stroller for the quick trips since they aren't too bad).  When I was going to my mommy and baby workout group, all the moms had the Double Bob stroller and they seemed to be great for the daily pounding we put them through.  I had pretty much decided that we'd probably go with that one this time around, but then a couple of friends recommended the Chariot Carrier Cougar 2.  After looking at it, there are several things I really like about it.  First of all, it has attachments for a bike and also for cross country skiing, so it's extremely versatile.  I like the options this one has, but it's a little pricier and I've never actually seen it in person yet.  I guess we'll have to make a trip to REI to see both of them and then decide which one is a better fit for our family...

If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share them as this is probably the biggest purchase we'll have to make this time around.  

Chariot Carrier Cougar 2

Double Bob

As a side note, we decided on the bed...we bought another convertible crib exactly like K's. It's actually being discontinued now and we had to do some searching, but found it clearanced out!  Yay!! We decided on this because both of them will convert to toddler bed's and then full size beds later.  It seemed like the easiest choice since we wouldn't have to buy another toddler bed and then regular bed later.  They will have separate rooms in the beginning until Baby K's sleep routine is figured out so K can still get sleep, and then we'll probably transition them into the same room.  Thanks for all the advice!  It helps so much to find out what others have done and how it has worked!  

The 23 Week Belly

How far along:  23 weeks   (I'm starting to get the feeling of having a beach ball in my belly when I bend over!)

Best Moment of the Week: Putting up our Christmas tree on Sunday!  Yes, it's way too early, but I really couldn’t wait and after a little begging and pleading, I convinced Kai to bring in the decoration boxes :-D  

BTW, we get another peek at our little guy tomorrow!!  I can hardly wait!  Maybe this time I’ll get around to scanning in the u/s pictures to share them.  I miss LLUMC and how they put them on a cd for us.  It made it so much easier to share online.  Oh well, enough complaining, I will definitely try to make it a priority ;-) 

Movement:  All the time!    

Food Craving: Nothing too out of the ordinary.  Lots of citrus still.   

What I'm looking forward to: My mom coming to visit, maternity clothes shopping this weekend, Black Friday, and seeing our little guy tomorrow! 

Weekly Wisdom:  Everything grows rounder and wider and weirder, and I sit here in the middle of it all and wonder who in the world you will turn out to be.
-- Carrie Fisher

Big Brother:  He’s becoming so helpful!  He has been “helping” me cook in the kitchen and loves it.  He’s also pretty independent.  If I take something away from him that he’s not supposed to have and set it on the kitchen counter, he’ll push a chair over, climb up, and retrieve it.  I tried not to laugh the first time he pulled that stunt, but it was hard.  Now I’m getting more creative. 

Our biggest battle right now is that he’s been trying to skip nap time every day for the last couple of weeks.  I gave in and figured he was done with naps, but the dr. said that he needed it and I needed to let him cry it out.  It’s agonizing to hear him cry it out, but I know he needs it.  He was a perfect napper until a few weeks ago.  So now I'm praying for strength and am very happy that the baby monitor has a volume control.  

Nursery: We’re going to pick out a few things this weekend…  

Life As I Know It

Here's a brief snippet of my week:

• When I picked K up from his nap this afternoon, he was in an especially cuddly mood, so I wrapped him in a warm blanket and we snuggled for a few moments.  He immediately fell right back to sleep in my arms for another 45 minutes.  The entire time, Baby #2 was giving playful little kicks and I was reminded that I am a mother to 2 very active, wonderful kids.  In those special moments I felt so blessed.
• Made quinoa and Black beans with vegetable quesadillas for dinner and spice cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for dessert.  Won over the affections of my husband.  
• Made Indian lentil stew last night for dinner and won over my own affections.  I thought it was great!  My dear husband was not so impressed--neither was K.  Note to self--make that one again only when I'm eating alone or when I'm really mad at Kai ;-)
• Bought $500 in energy saving light bulbs and spent only $5.  Yes, it was a GREAT feeling once I assured myself that I was not actually robbing the store. 
• Ordered my Christmas cards from Shutterfly!!  Very excited to see them!
• Bought a gently used treadmill off of Craigslist and am loving it so far!!  Put it in K's playroom.  Tried to avoid stepping on the toy cars he kept launching down the center of the track amused by how they flew off the end.  

I've also been busy reading some more great books and thought I'd share:

Have a Little Faith 

This book was great!  I literally cried the entire last 2 chapters.  Pregnancy hormones?  Not sure.  Mitch Albom is a great author.  Tuesdays with Morrie was a previous favorite and I cried on that one too (and I wasn't pregnant then).  

The Secret Life of Bees

Another good book.  I felt like I was transported to the time and place in which the story was set.  Great story.  

Eat, Pray, Love

I'm in the middle of this one right now and am not sure yet.  I know they made a movie of it (haven't seen it), but so far I haven't been overly impressed.  I'm still in Italy though--1st of 3 countries.  Has anyone read this one and does it get better?? 

The Associate 

Not so good.  You wouldn't miss much if you never read this one.  John Grisham, you disappointed me this time.  

I'm also in the middle of another long series, but I'm not sharing the details about it because I don't want to be judged ;-)  

The Belly--21 1/2 weeks

Do you see the growing bump??  Here's last time's progress.  I think I'm definitely bigger this time around.  

How far along:  21 1/2 weeks   

Best Moment of the Week: Finding out that after our big scare, everything is okay with our little guy.  Saw the doctor twice last week and got the gold star both times :-)  We have an ultrasound scheduled again next week, so we’ll get another peek and verify either the 85% or 15%.  Woo hoo!

Also, we had a great date this weekend.  We went and saw the TSO, which was a lot different than what we expected, but we still had a good time.  We ate some great food, visited a new state, and started the Christmas season in our home.  Yes, the Christmas tunes are now playing regularly.  I’ll wait to decorate a little longer though. 

Movement:  This little guy is a strong kicker just like his older brother!  He kicks K incessantly when he’s sitting on my lap for story time.  I think feeling the baby move is probably my favorite part of pregnancy.    

Food Craving: Korean and Mexican food together also known as Kogi.  It’s way better than it sounds!!

What I'm looking forward to: My mom is coming for Thanksgiving in a week and a half!  I can hardly wait to see her!  We’re also planning to buy a few big things this year on Black Friday, so I’m gearing up for that (hoping we can get a few baby deals too).  I LOVE Black Friday!!  Though this year will be much colder!

Weekly Wisdom:  A mother's joy begins when new life is stirring inside... when a tiny heartbeat is heard for the very first time, and a playful kick reminds her that she is never alone.

-- Author Unknown

Big Brother:  I just have to share a super cute thing that K does all the time lately--SING!!  When we do our nightly routine of singing before bedtime, he has been singing along and doing the hand motions.  And when we're listening to music, or even when he's just playing, he'll belt out the tunes!   It's the cutest thing ever!!  

Nursery: We’ve been debating having the boys share a room or just giving them separate rooms.  Also in the debate is whether to get another crib or give K a big boy bed now.  I go back and forth about both of these things almost every week.  If you have any words of wisdom on either of these issues, please feel free to share!  

Update

I know.  I haven't been faithful this week with posting.  As you know, I've been visiting my MIL as she's recovering from surgery, and have been so busy.  I have tons of pictures to share soon of our time here.  We've been able to do a few small local things that don't require much getting around and I've seen so many great friends and family in my few days here.  My sister surprised me with a special overnight visit this weekend.  It was so much fun to catch up again. We stayed up until 3 a.m. talking and laughing, but I definitely felt it the next day.  Being in my 2nd trimester and having a 19 month old wake me up in the morning makes those late late nights a little different now.  I have to say that after this trip I am completely exhausted and am looking forward to heading back soon.  It's the good kind of exhausted though--you know the kind that comes because you've filled the time with so many fun moments.  


I've learned that life as a single parent is hard!!  I'm thankful that I have a great husband that helps out with K every chance he can.  After this trip I appreciate him even more!  I'm hoping that once I get back he'll let me have a late-sleep-in morning (hope he's reading this;-)  BTW, the baby bump is growing due to all the great food I've been eating and the irregular exercise I've been getting while gone--missing belly pictures will be up soon.  AND, in just a few short days until we'll find out the gender!!!!  I can hardly wait!!!  So, I'm off to bed a little earlier than the last few nights (though still much later than I should) in hopes of catching up on some dearly missed zzzzz's.

The Belly Update--17 Weeks

How far along:  17 weeks

Next week we could find out the gender, but I will be out of town, so we’ll be finding out in 2 WEEKS!!!!   I can hardly wait!  The suspense is killing me!!

Best Moment of the Week: Had my monthly checkup yesterday and heard the little one’s heartbeat!  It was 160 again, so…???  Also found a new hair stylist and am very happy.  After over 10 years of Aveda salons, they’re all I trust.  I did a search on their webpage, had 3 options and am very happy with the one I chose.  No more mom hair.  Okay, maybe still a little because I’m trying to let it grow out again.   Oh and we got our family pictures done this morning.  I'll post some as soon as I get them!  Busy week!

Movement: Tons!!!  Especially at night!  The kicks and rollings are getting stronger and more frequent.  Another active little one!  Kai could feel the baby a lot this week too.  It's so fun to have him be more a part of this now!

Food Craving: None.  I'm perfect and never have cravings.  Okay, major confession...I was getting my prenatal vitamin prescription filled and saw Skittles on sale.  I hardly ever eat these (honestly it's been years), but I had a seriously strong craving all of the sudden so I bought 2 packs, and enjoyed them both.  Yikes!  Can’t do that very often!  Although I have this to say about that:  Why purple ones???  Personally I love the reds and can't get enough, but I had to leave all the purple's in the pack because they made me sick.  Okay, so maybe it was the fact that I ate 2 packs of Skittles that made me sick.  If you love purples, we'd get along great.  I'll trade you purples for your reds :-)  

What I'm looking forward to: Heading to MI to be with Kai’s mom as she’s recovering.  Looking forward to seeing her and spending some quality time.  Also looking forward to seeing some friends and family while I’m there. 

Weekly Wisdom: Pregnant women! They had that weird frisson, an aura of magic that combined awkwardly with an earthy sense of duty. Mundane, because they were nothing unique on the suburban streets; ethereal because their attention was ever somewhere else. Whatever you said was trivial. And they had that preciousness which they imposed wherever they went, compelling attention, constantly reminding you that they carried the future inside, its contours already drawn, but veiled, private, an inner secret.
-- Ruth Morgan

Something Told Me...

I knew I should have avoided the all-you-can-eat dessert bar.  After 15 pieces of pie, I really wanted to stop…

Okay, so maybe that’s not entirely true.  Here’s the real one: 

(K wanted to be part of it this week.  Isn't he such a cutie?)

How far along:  15 weeks

Best Moment of the Week: Found out this week that our ultrasound would be moved up to 20 weeks!  Wahoo!  Not too much longer now!!

Movement: Lots of little flutters.  This baby is already very active and wants me to know it! 

Food Craving: I gave in and got a skinny, decaf, soy, pumpkin spice latte.  Oooohhhhh it was heavenly!!!  I’m planning to get another today! 

What I'm looking forward to: We are heading to Boston for the weekend.  The fall colors are just starting to pop and it’s gorgeous!!  So this year we’ll be “to Boston in the fall.”  I’ve been before in the fall, but it’s a first for Kai.  Oh and no sales tax on clothes is an added bonus!

Weekly Wisdom:  The most important thing she'd learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.

-- Jill Churchill

That one really hit home with me this week.  

Big Brother:  K has been doing amazingly well with all the changes going on around him these last few months.  I don’t think he quite realizes that he’s going to be a big brother yet, but he’s getting so much more independent and is able to follow instructions (not that he always listens, but at least he can!).  It makes me so happy to watch him change from a baby into a “big kid”.  I realize the terrible 2’s are just around the corner, but I’m crossing my fingers that he keeps heading in this direction…