Tag: quick takes

one

The first month postpartum is just the worst for clothes. You still have a pooch, your boobs are suddenly huge, you have to wear something you can easily nurse in, you don’t want to wear something that makes you look pregnant, if you had a C-section most pants hurt your incision, and none of your old clothes fit yet. Thank goodness I rarely have to go out of the house. I’ve settled mostly on maxi skirts and loose button-down shirts for now, but here’s the outfit I wore today which includes neither of those things.

two

Liam is doing great. He’s still calm and quiet and fairly undemanding. Even when he’s hungry he just grunts and squirms a little. I’m so glad he’s so low maintenance so far because his sister sure commands attention. Anyway he passed his second newborn screen, is gaining weight, and seems to be healthy all around. He has a cephalohematoma which is a pool of blood underneath his scalp on one side; I just call it his bump:

It will reabsorb, but it may take several months. His cord stump fell off a few days ago and of course I cried. Which leads me to my next point…

three

I’m still so emotional. At some point every day this week I have cried or come close to crying. I’ve already started trying to convince David to have another baby which is just crazy talk at this point. I’ve been looking forward to maternity leave for a long time now, but I am remembering that it’s not just a three month break from work. I mean I’ve basically been relegated to the house for two weeks which has gotten depressing but it’s probably good that these hormones aren’t being released into the wild yet. I am struggling with wanting to spend more time with Meredith and being exhausted by her when she’s around. I’m still processing the whole birth experience. I’m not yet in a groove of caring for two kids by myself, but I’m getting there.

four

Yesterday I went to the doctor and was released to drive!!! I think this is going to do a lot to boost my mood. Today I took Meredith to daycare and it was so fun to see her teachers again and she was so excited to show off her baby brother. Then of course I hit up Starbucks and later I’m meeting my sister-in-law (& her kids) for ice cream, so it’s looking to be a great day.

five

I’ve been setting mini-goals for myself each day to keep feeling productive. For example, on today’s list is: add Liam to my insurance, call about maternity leave benefits, read 30 pages, stitch one square of the sampler, write five thank-you notes, and watch one episode of Sherlock. In addition to that, every day I make sure the whole house is picked up and tidied. Next week I think I’m going to migrate from the couch to the craft room and get started on the holiday minibook.

six

Have a happy weekend…David has to work on Saturdays for the next couple months so I will be desperately calling family to find some help on the home front. Not ready to face an entire day with two kiddos all by myself yet!

1. Meredith has suddenly developed a stutter. It is very pronounced and not particularly cute. We are calm about it and know that it’s probably just developmental. I tell her to think about what she’s trying to say and rarely finish her words for her. We’ll see how it goes.

2. She is not potty training yet, but there are signs of readiness coming. I don’t think I’m going to attempt anything for awhile though, except get her some underwear for her stocking. Also, for now I’ve switched her over to disposable diapers. I love cloth and I’m going to cloth diaper the next baby, but this is a relief for now. Meredith kept getting a rash, and I realized that her diapers probably have detergent buildup and need to be stripped. I don’t have time or energy for that right now. The velcro is also really worn out and fixing it involves seam ripping and sewing and I don’t have time or energy for that right now either. I have to say that I’m not complaining about the lack of laundry during the week. And she fits into so many more pants now!

3. We were given a classic chocolate Advent calendar for Meredith, so every night I tell her that she can have her special chocolate and try to explain how we’re counting down toward Christmas. It’s fun, except so far she has thrown a fit every night when she is only allowed one piece. So, not sure if this is worth it.

4. Then there’s this.

Those are some Craisins she was eating. I blame my husband.

5. We might have a name for baby brother. I don’t know for sure yet though. David is set on it but we have changed our minds a bunch of times already so I’m not prepared to say that we’ve decided. I’m also wavering between two middle name options. Other pregnancy updates include: heartburn like whoa, nausea again, being kicked like crazy. But seriously with the heartburn: I’m over it. This kid better have a head full of luscious hair.

6. Stocking update!

I can’t wait to finish this. I’ll be so proud. It’s so close! Just a couple more boxes to add, some detail at the top, and then putting it together.

7. Weekend plans: do chores, hang out with my family, finish decorating for Christmas, go to Ikea for the extra curtain rod & hardware we need, do at least one spread of Project Life (preferably two), maybe some gift shopping, Messiah singalong with Mom, work on the stocking. Fun!

8. Last thing: just a heads-up that in the next couple of weeks I’ll have a few sponsored posts going up about things that I don’t normally write about here, but they are nevertheless things that I do feel strongly about so please bear with me!

I can never seem to get these quick takes up before late Friday afternoon. Ah well, let’s knock em out.

one

Remember how I said I was having car trouble? Turns out that while we were away for the weekend and my car was safely stowed away in the garage, some kind of rodent crawled into the engine and starting chewing up wires to the tune of $545. Not cool. I guess that could have happened to any car, but we are still considering trading mine in pretty soon because it’s having more and more problems recently.

two

I had such a relaxing weekend when we were on our mini trip, yet I still felt just as tired when we returned. I’ve regressed back nearly to my first trimester fatigue in wanting to go to sleep at 7:30 every night. I guess that’s just par for the pregnancy course when you have a two-year-old at home.

three

I made a ton of progress on my niece’s stocking but I’m lame and forgot to take a picture. Tonight our church is having a ladies’ craft night (these are my kind of people) and I have been looking forward to it for weeks so hopefully lots more progress to come.

four

Some Meredith updates. One night this week we visited David’s brother and she hung out with her cousin Cameron, who is three, all evening. First of all it is adorable to watch them play together. Second of all, she spilled milk all over her shirt and because I’m a pro parent we didn’t have any backup clothes so she wore one of Cameron’s home. She refused to take it off so she slept in it, and in the morning when I tried to put regular clothes on her she had an epic meltdown. So I sent her to school in it because I pick my battles and I am not willing to die on the hill of toddler fashion.

For example, see the shirt she’s wearing here?

It’s one of her favorites, and it doesn’t matter that it’s almost too small or stained or really cheesy to begin with. She wears it all the time. Anyway, that’s Meredith’s sort-of cousin Stella with her, who came over (along with my brother and his wife) for dinner one night this week. We ate and made s’mores in the fireplace and Meredith followed Stella all over the house playing and the whole time she was sucking on her Tootsie Roll pop. I admired her dedication and she finished the whole thing.

five

So I used to be obsessed with Candy Crush just like everyone else, but then I got stuck on level 65 for months and I refused to pay money to beat it, so I eventually got bored and gave up. I hadn’t opened the app in several months until this week when I decided to play for the heck of it and I beat level 65 on the first try!!! And that is how I’ve come to be obsessed with Candy Crush all over again.

six

I’ve trained Meredith to make my coffee in the morning. It’s a Keurig, so it’s not rocket science, but she knows how to do it all including removing the drip tray to fit my travel mug in, throwing the old pod in the trash, placing a new one, which button to push to get the correct brew, and then to not touch it because it’s “ritty hot.” Usually I supervise her fairly closely but I was in a rush this morning and she was feeling particularly independent so she climbed up on her stool by herself and made me a cup, only I guess she was feeling adventurous and decided to push more buttons mid-brew and ended up turning off the whole thing before the cup was done. So then I ran another cycle using the same pod so the coffee was all diluted and I had to put in a bunch of hot chocolate mix to salvage it. I mean what do you have to do to get good help these days?

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Weekend plans: visit a friend and her new baby, get my hair cut, go to the library, have a visit from another friend, and host our church small group for dinner. That last one is stressing me out because our house isn’t super conducive to large gatherings with a bunch of kids so it will take a lot of preparation. Other things I want to get done: document a day in the life, cook some food, prep my holiday minibook, and do a Project Life spread.

Have a good one!

Posting my quick takes a day early because tomorrow we’ll be headed to the hill country for our anniversary mini-trip!

one

This will be my first time away from Meredith overnight, and although that may seem like a long time I am glad I waited. I don’t know if she and I would have been ready before this, but now I know we are. When she is picked up by her grandparents from daycare and we come to take her home she usually throws a fit. She has also fallen asleep at their houses during babysitting so I really think she’ll be fine and happy. As for me, I KNOW that I could really use the break, especially with this baby coming. And my husband and I could benefit in a huge way with some more togetherness, so our marriage and family will be all the better for it.

two

I’ve made a lot of progress on my niece’s stocking, but it’s all been on preparing the pieces so I don’t have any pictures to show. But really I am to the point where I can basically just start appliquéing the pieces down and I plan to work lots on this during our trip (mostly the drive, but probably some while we’re there too). I am excited to see it come together and although I have loved working on it, I will be glad to finish so that I can get back to my cross stitch and maybe even some other holiday crafts.

three

My second trimester of pregnancy seriously flew by but now that I’ve hit the third, time has seemed to come to a screeching halt and so has any semblance of comfort. I’ve been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for a couple of weeks now, my energy level has dropped a lot (which is probably mostly because of work being crazy + toddler), I get short of breath, and the latest fun development is a pinched nerve in my upper back. I got an emergency massage yesterday which felt good but now today my muscles are just sore in addition to the shooting pain still being there. Plus my mouth sores have returned after being gone for six months which is almost worse than anything else. I am wondering how I’m going to make it three more months at this rate.

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Follow me on Instagram to keep up with my “from where I stand” photo a day project during November. So far it’s been fun!

five

The other night Meredith was in the shower with me. She soaped up her hands and then rubbed them on my belly. “I washin baby brudder!”

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I’m going to just end this now on a high note before I start back on the complaining again.