Lupton Life

Summer

2011-10-04T22:46:00.000-04:00

Today I got a phone call demanding more updates... Ok, well, technically the call demanded more updates on the quote blog, but despite a raging smart assed 3 year old, I've got nothing. I'll try and get into the habit of writing them down as they happen. But onto this blog. So summer is over, and I had very few legitimate updates. My bad. Finn took swimming lessons, learned to push every button I've got, and at the same time became incredibly charming and sweet. He likes to color, draw and write more than anything. He's painfully short tempered, and if anything goes wrong, even the tiniest, smallest of things, he loses it and yells 'I outta here!' and storms off. This includes self caused problems, like coloring outside the lines, or the inability to draw an elephant... He calls everyone sir, me included, and says sorry a lot. 95% of those sorrys are when I ask him to do something, and he says 'Sorry mom, I outta hands', which is the typical response to my demanding help while cleaning up. Finn has also started soccer, which so far, he ADORES. I figured it would be hit or miss with the two most unathletic parents ever, but shockingly, he loves it, and for 3, doesn't suck at it. He also listens to the coach which is HUGE.

Atticus is now 5.5 months and just a doll. He has got to be the most laid back baby in the free world. Like I mentioned last post, he cut two teeth, which is an entire 4 months sooner than Finnegan. He has developed some shittastic nap habits, he's in that 45 minute nap phase, but without fail, despite teething, and a nasty cold he inherited from Finn he sleeps through the night. Every single night. Thank you universe for that one, I was expecting another no-sleeper like Finn. I should probably keep my mouth shut though, we are weaning from the swaddle, finally, and hes done ok without it at naps, but this is the first night without it. He is sleeping on his belly which does give me only minor heart palpitations, but I rigged the bumpers so they are below the mattress, kind of like a crib skirt, so I'm trying not to be too neurotic. Lastly, I moved him to the convertible car seat today. I just don't have the arm strength to lug around that damn infant carrier any more! So if you even read this far, I will now apologize for the photo bomb. I realize that for some friends/family, this is the primary source of info/photos, so here you are! Enjoy :) (sorry they're out of order)

So I don't forget

2011-09-29T11:11:00.002-04:00

Atticus is 5 months old. He is cutting his two bottom teeth, and my period came back. One of those is not really blog update worthy, but if I don't write it down, I won't remember, and this is how I remember stuff these days. You should have heard my conversation with Lisa this weekend. Dear lord I was dumber than a box of hair. I can not wait for my memory to come back! At least a little! Other updates to note, my high school reunion is Saturday and despite 8 weeks of bust my ass working out, I have not lost a single pound. Oh well, I'm going to keep working out, but at least I gave it a good effort! We are getting family pictures done on Sunday, and I'm super excited, and maybe, just maybe, I'll remember to post them here.

Atticus

2011-08-28T09:54:00.002-04:00

For all 2 of you who may not have seen it on my facebook as well :)

He is getting SO damn big! We are beginning to get rid of 'newborn' stuff, and move into baby territory. Today I'm getting rid of the vibrating chair thingy and getting a jumper/exersaucer. Refresh me on how you make them stop growing!!!!

Irene

2011-08-25T14:33:00.001-04:00

We are dead smack in the cone of uncertainty. Awesome. And it's moving west right now. Glad we sprung for flood insurance!

He's fine

2011-08-21T15:39:00.001-04:00

As expected, Finns EEG was completely normal. Well, as normal as it is for any 3 year old. Looks like bad genetics. Sorry kid, sucks for you!

On my toes

2011-08-05T23:15:00.003-04:00

Well, I've resumed my status as not a good blogger again. I'm busy and I'm tired. I've finally figured out a decent balance in life again, about time since Atticus is 15 weeks on Monday! But between two boys, a booming business, a house, and an adamant attempt at trying to get back in shape, blogging has taken a back seat.

Atticus is doing wonderful, he is very laid back and go with the flow. Still sleeping through the night, I usually get from about 8pm-5:30am uninterrupted, although a few times he has busted out of his swaddle which wakes him up, but a reswaddle and wticking the plug that is a pacifier back in seems to put him right back to sleep. He is nursing anywhere from every 1.5 to every 4 hours during the day, and napping decent in the morning if hes in the swing and questionably at best in the afternoon. Honestly though, the kid can eat and nap whenever the hell he wants if he keeps sleeping at night! He is getting really good at holding up his head, and still rolls from belly to back. He also thinks diaper changes are the hotness, and giggles and coos the whole time. I keep trying to remind myself to enjoy every bit of this because we are rapidly approaching that stage where milestones happen one after the other. From 4-9 months Finn started rolling both ways, sitting, crawling, and then walking.

Onto Finn. This kid is going to take YEARS off of my life. The other day we were at the park, he came up to me, and said he wanted to go home. I said ok, and started getting my shit together, he turns around, and it looks like he fell. I hand A to my girlfriend (I was with a handful of mommy firmness), and bend down to help Finn up and tell him he's ok, when I realize he is completely limp. Roll him over, and he is seriously disoriented and glassy eyed. I yell 'Shit, get my phone!' and call 911. He then proceeds to completely pass out, totally unconscious, for about 15 seconds. Then goes back to the glassy eyed, disoriented state. Paramedics come, check him out, let him cool off in the ambulance. They think probably over heated (it was 10am, but already pushing 90 degrees). We are released to go home (no hospital trip necessary). I take him to the ped the next morning and they are pretty sure he has inherited my lovely vasovagal response (thanks Dad!) and that its harmless. But just to be safe and cover all of our bases, they want to do an EEG to rule out possible seizure disorders. A sleep deprived EEG. So this Wed night, I get to keep Finn up until 11pm . Then put him to bed, and have to wake him up at 3am. 3AM. Seriously. And keep him awake until we get to the hospital at 8am. You've got to be freaking kidding me. This kid may wake up early naturally, but when he's asleep he sleeps like a BEAR (another trait he inherited from his mother). I'm not looking forward to this. Once we get to the hospital I think it will be a piece of cake. EEG is non-invasive, I had one as a child, also after I started displaying my lovely vasovagal response. We aren't really talking about his EEG with him yet, I think I'll wait until the day before and then talk it up big for him. He has ZERO concept of days right now. Everything is 'next Tuesday'. He'll peepee next Tuesday, he'll see Grandma next Tuesday, Uncle Josh is coming next Tuesday, etc. So talking about it now would do him no good. And honestly, I don't want to scare him. Everyone is 99% sure its nothing, and just being cautious (which I appreciate), so I'm really not worried. And if you ask him what happened a the park it goes something like this - "Well, I was playing with my friends at the park and I fell down, so I had to call the am-bu-lance. They help people" LOL. This kid seriously gives me a run for my money! Beyond all of this though, Finn is doing well, talking all.the.time. and very busy :) Oh to be three again!

What do good blog slackers do?

2011-07-25T11:41:00.001-04:00

Start second blogs. I started a blog dedicated to the shit that comes out of Finns mouth, LOL. luptonboys.blogspot.com - you should follow it :)

3 years

2011-07-11T23:13:00.003-04:00

I'm just going to ignore the fact that my baby is 3, talks (and talks back) like a big kid, and is so independent it's scary. He had his 3 year check up today, which was also his first 'big kid' style checkup, including not having to sit around in his underwear (or diaper as it was prior to todays visit), blood pressure check, and yelling at the nurse who gave him a shot by telling her 'the medicine hurt me and I don't like it', LOL. Here are his stats

29lbs, 36.75 inches, and I didn't write down his head size. Pretty much holding strong in the 25-30th percentile range he was in last year. It looks like I failed to make a 2 year blog post, but I remember he was right around 30th then, and the ped wasn't concerned today, so I'm sticking with it.

Today was also the first day of swimming lessons. Have I mentioned my child is overdramatic? Yeah... I'll never know where that came from... The first part of class went wonderfully, he listened, and did really well. Well the second half of class they have the kids kick (with floaties on their backs) and run them up and down the pool lanes. Guess who lost his freaking mind? Everytime the teacher would let go of his hands, he would SCREAM 'SAVE ME!'. Good lord. LOL. Thankfully, there are an unholy number of kids taking lessons at the same time, so his screaming was muffled by the kids who were totally melting down. Those college kids/swim coaches who do this are saint like to get up early and deal with neurotic toddlers (can I still call him a toddler??). I think letting someone else deal with Finns crazy is totally worth my $150. If the rest of the two weeks goes anything like today, I'd pay double.

Second from the right

While things were still goodHe's no longer very pleased with the situation at this point

2 Months

2011-07-07T01:03:00.003-04:00

Since I learned quickly the first time I don't do baby books, this will have to cut the mustard. Atticus had his 2 month well check today. 13lbs 6oz, 22 3/4 inches, and I don't remember his head. He was 50th percentile across the board. A change from Finn who hug out in the 95th percentile until he was mobile. He had two shots, and screamed bloody murder, but it was a short lived moment. He has been pretty fussy this evening, and seems a little warm (baby thermometer needs to be replaced since someone thinks the 'thermopeter' is a toy...), but not too bad. In other Atticus milestones, he is officially sleeping through the night. Not sure who to thank for that, but I'm in SHOCK. Finn was the ultimate no sleeper. But Atticus is the polar opposite. It started because Jays snoring was waking A up, and pissing me off. So I started taking a chance on the boys being in the same room with A in his crib to prevent snoring wake up. He very quickly began sleeping much longer stretches, and we are now getting from 9pm until 5am. Seriously, Finn still doesn't sleep that well.

Finn is now potty trained all the time except for nights, which is wonderful. And just in the past few days, he's moved to peeing standing up. It is HILARIOUS, LOL. We go for Finns 3 year well check on Monday, so I should be back to update on him then. Things are otherwise fairly uneventful for us. I'm hoping to have the chance to type out a 'day in the life' soon. I would say I'll photograph it too, but I know thats a stretch in the commitment world for me. Here are some new pictures of the boys, including my new favorites of each of them :) But on the photograph note, we are having family pictures done (with my mom, Josh and Kate too) the first weekend in October when I'm home for my high school reunion. I'm excited, and Jay is dreading it!

Finn favorite - I'm going to print this one big. I have a 20x30 canvas credit I may use

Atticus favorite :)

Having a hard time believing he's 3!

My mini me :) (for once, LOL)

Tell Jay this is online and die a very slow painful death. I promised to crop him out so it was just the baby smiling - he lost that battle :)

Success!!!

2011-06-25T15:55:00.003-04:00

Finn's 3rd birthday was a resounding success :) The cupcakes melted, but otherwise, everything went wonderfully, even when the ice cream man drove through the parking lot, and stopped, and every single parent said no - there were no tears. I was impressed!!

The rest can be seen here

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.873339209358.2372937.29700061&l=11bdb8ac10

Workout update

2011-06-20T18:35:00.002-04:00

hmmmmm, well I didn't expect this. So my body is protesting. I'm finally motivated to work out, and get my ass in gear, and my body says, no no, thats a bad idea. As most of you should know I exclusively breastfeed Atticus, and low and behold, working out has caused a supply issue. According to numerous online calculators, I should be eating something in the 2800 calorie range to sustain me, and breastfeed, and work out. Guess what - its not happening. By evenings little boy is irate because hes getting so little at the breast despite doing all the 'right' things to keep my supply up. He has been taking 2oz of pumped milk in a bottle before bed just to keep him happy. So I stopped working out, and low and behold, my supply got better. To make sure I had a control fctor I worked out again, and my supply struggled again. Pain in my ass. So my working out has now been knocked back to minimal walking or yoga for now until I get a bit more regulated. A is only 8 weeks old, so I still have PLENTY of time to get in shape - but I will tell you this is a curveball I was not expecting.

Potty training continued

2011-06-15T21:39:00.003-04:00

So it seems that Finn has no qualms with the peeing aspect of PTing. He wore underwear all day, peed in the potty, easy peasy. Poop however, is a different story. It took him 3 days to go the first time, which Jay just so happened to be bathing him and saw happening and sat him on the potty. Today (4 days since his last poop) he asked for a diaper late afternoon. I told him no, and stuck him on the potty, knowing he needed to poop. Nothing happened. A few more hours pass, and hes going outside to play with Jay, pees on the potty, and not 5 minutes later comes waddling back in with poop in the pants. We flushed it, and talked about pooping in the potty, he seems to understand, but for whatever reason understanding and doing are not meshing. I'm not giving up though. Its been super easy until now, and I don't miss having double the diaper laundry. I'm already 4 seconds from getting rid of all of Finns diapers.

7 whole days! And 4 whole days!

2011-06-13T23:58:00.003-04:00

I've made it 7 whole days in my weight loss journey. And I 'm still motivated. Excellent :) I'm obviously not in shape after one week, but I feel less like jello after my 20 minute not all that difficult workout, so I'll call that an improvement. I've also decided that I like Jillian Michaels, but I just can't do the same video over and over. It makes me want to kick her, and it makes Finn correct my form he's so familiar with what she says (no joke - he was correcting my pushups the other day, I fell over laughing). So I'm going to keep doing Jillian Michaels video but I think I'm gonna start doing yoga in the middle. I also think that a non high impact on my knees will be much appreciated. I felt my first twinge of knee soreness today and freaked out. I'm not over doing it. I will not hurt my knees (and yes, I have been wearing my brace preventative this whole week). Thank you Time Warner cable for having an Exercise OnDemand channel. Its going to save me a lot of money in work out videos.

Finn has made it 4 whole days of potty training! While naked, he has not had a single accident. I'm incredibly proud of him. We put him in underwear Sun am since I was going out Sun pm and wanted a test run. He peed in his underwear twice and then requested a diaper for the party Sin night. I thought that was the kibosh on PTing, but I was shocked that his diaper was 100% dry after we got home from the party, and he went back to naked training without a slip up. He also finally pooped in the potty :) I think I'm going to keep up with the naked time for now, and do short 30 min underwear spurts, so I can make a big deal when they stay dry. But honestly, I have NO problem just letting him be naked all day. This has all been nice and easy so far, and I'm not going to let it get stressful. Neurotic is not my game.

Potty Training

2011-06-11T11:18:00.003-04:00

So like any good mother, I've refused to potty train Finn. For many reasons, fear of regression with Atticus in the house, fear of acting out because we moved and peeing on everything, and above all else, fear of the time commitment and my child's ability to play 'the game'. I will not use bribes, charts or stickers. I have always said I'd wait until he was ready. Well, I ignored every sign of ready for the last 2 months. And then Wednesday happened. And my almost 3 year old informed me, and I quote, "Mommy, I don't like when you wipe my penis that way, wipe it the other way". Guess what kid, if you're able to make those kinds of demands, you're able to do it yourself. So I decided to go for the three day naked method. I leave him naked for three days, he either gets it totally, or isn't ready and back to diapers to try again later. Yesterday was day 1. And I'm proud to say a total success. No accidents, lots of peeing in the potty. So far, day 2 is going well, he was eating breakfast an all of a sudden told me he needed a paper towel. I asked why and he said peepee. I looked on his chair and there were only 6 or 7 drops, so I asked if he had more, he said yes, and we ran to the potty and he finished. Honestly his ability to stop it and tell me he had to go more is HUGE IMO. He still has not pooped in the potty. That's going to be the big test. Fingers crossed though, this is all going incredibly well so far!!!

Day 3

2011-06-09T12:26:00.002-04:00

So far so good as far as working out is concerned. I'm sore but no knee pain (YAY!) and I'm still super motivated. Problem however. My boobs don't fit into my sports bra. I look like Ice-Ts wife Coco they're spilling out so bad. I'm going to need to remedy this situation ASAP. I also had a workout partner today. Hes 3, and thinks this is a jumping jack (sorry - cell phone video)

My mega Mom moment of the day

2011-06-08T23:40:00.003-04:00

So both boys miraculously go down at the same time. I give it 20 minutes, and decide to work out. Within 2 seconds of starting the video Finn is up. I don't have the energy to play the naptime game. I tell him he can sit on the couch and watch. I start the video. 5 minutes later Atticus is up in full force. I am bitter at this point since its the first day in weeks I haven't gotten a solid 2 hours out of both of them, screw 40 minutes combined. So I stick A in the swing. As expected, Finn gets antsy, and A gets fussy, but I'm determined. Determined while using some soup cans as hand weights. As my phone rings ( a friend who needs to pick up a baby gate to borrow for her vacation), both boys go into make mommy crazy mode. So here I am, doing side lunges with a workout DVD, soup cans in hand, phone pressed between my ear and shoulder, and two boys that are just a hot mess. I wish someone had taken a picture, it was definitely one of those moments...

Day 1

2011-06-07T10:33:00.002-04:00

Day one of what you ask? Day one of try not to look 3 months pregnant for the rest of my natural life. I had my 6 week postpartum visit yesterday, and got the all clear to work out. I'm not a workout junkie, and I suck at diets, but anything has got to be better than what I'm doing now (which is nothing for the record, hahaha). I'm putting this here so I can keep track, and because significantly less people see this than my facebook currently, and I don't want my before pictures flaunted all over facebook- at least not until I have a nice after picture with a smiling face, LOL! (FTR - the frown isn't intentional, I'm just concentrating on technology). My goal is 50lbs (although I don't own a scale - intentionally - so its more like my goal is a size 6). I don't actually have a real time frame, I'm happy to take my time, I'm pretty darn sure the baby factory is out of business, so I've got oodles of time. The plan is Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred (like 3 ish times a week as opposed to her recommended 6 times...), and walking. I'd like to move up to the full 6 days a week and the couch to 5k program, and by the end of summer ish I'd like to move up to P90x or Insanity. I think my goals are realistic, and I'm giving myself time, but my body may protest. I'll keep you posted. But for now, here are my before pictures (well, taken immediately after workout 1 - which was level one modified with no weights on the 30 Day Shred workout). No sucking in, or forcing my belly out. This is the real deal.

Where have I been you ask?

2011-06-05T15:37:00.003-04:00

Why we've been buying a house! What else should you be doing with a newborn at home?!

It all started when I demanded a mini van (which FTR I still don't have, and it doesn't look like I'm getting...). I told Jay between trade in on my car and savings, we could out right buy one. He told me the savings was for a house. I laughed at him (and yes, am eating my words). He had been sitting on the mortgage brokers phone number for MONTHS, and had never even called her - so I wasn't expecting much. But to shut me up, and get out of buying me a minivan he called her to talk about our options. This is the timeline from there.

Tues April 19th - Jay met with the mortgage broker and (shockingly) got us prequalified for a loan

Wed April 20th - Jay gets home from work and asks why I don't have a list of potential houses waiting for him (not b/c its 'my job' so much as he knew I already had picked a neighborhood and waiting was uncharacteristic of me). So that evening I looked online, found a few houses, one in particular sounded to good to be true, gound the listing agent, and called to set up a time to view the property

Thur April 21st - Call back from listing agent, in 4 short days the property that I thought was too good to be true went on the market and sold. But she would be happy to help us find other properties - magically making her our realtor. She sends me a list Thurs evening.

Fri April 22nd - I send an email back to our realtor with a list of properties we want to view, a combination of her list and mine

Sat April 23rd - We go look at 8 homes. Narrow it down to 3.

Sunday April 24th - Jay and I decide on a house, and call our realtor

Monday April 25th - I spent all morning signing contracts, dropping off the earnest money, making our offer official. 2:30pm I went into labor, and 7:17pm, Atticus showed up.

Tues April 26th (from the hospital) - they countered, we countered back

Wed April 27th - they counter again, we counter one more time. We take baby Atticus home from the hospital

Thurs April 28th - they accept :)

Fast forward, we closed May 26th, after inspections, repairs, appraisals and walk throughs. We luckily have been renting from the nicest people in the free world, and don't need to be out until June 15th - so we spent a few days moving small things and painting, and just moved our furniture on Thursday. Still a few little tings and some cleaning left at the old house, but we're getting there. Here are is a picture of the new casa! (I'll have more once we unpack!)

Birth Announcement

2011-05-16T16:15:00.004-04:00

Since I only mailed about 30 announcements, I thought I'd post it here (and facebook) so everyone else can see it as well. I ADORE how they turned out, 5x7, double sided.

I knew it would happen eventually!

2011-05-14T12:01:00.003-04:00

First, before I forget, Atticus had his 2 week well visit at the peds office. He is up to 9lbs 4oz. That's a whole pound and 2 oz in 14 days. Way to go tiny boy! I am officially allowed to stop worrying when he sleeps 6 hours and enjoy my sleep :) Because yes, he is still all the sleeper Finn never was. No complaining here - just trying to enjoy it while it lasts!!

Now, on to yesterdays adventure. So earlier in the week I took both boys, by myself, to the peds office for A's well visit. We survived unscathed and it was quite a confidence booster for me. I should have known better, LOL. So yesterday it was a crappy morning and a few girlfriends decided to meet at the mall and walk around with the munchkins. So we get to the mall, I've got Finn in his stroller - kinda. His friends are walking so I figure he can too. I've got Atticus in the carrier. We had been there close to an hour, the kids had a blast, rode the merry-go-round, and all was wonderful. So we were all walking to the play area in the mall and Finn was running ahead with one of his friends. While running ahead of us all, he falls, smacks his head, and starts crying. Nothing new, he's somewhat of an awkward mess these days. Well I get up to him (and am totally unable to pick him up b/c A is in the carrier), and one of my girlfriends helps get him into his stroller and I squat down to talk to him. I get on his level and the kid is white as a ghost. No color in his lips, hes so pale he looks almost green. The spot on his forehead where he smacked into the floor is also not turning into a bump, which worries me - bump is good, dent is bad. Then I notice he's breathing ok, but taking an odd deep breath every few seconds, and I try and talk to him and he seems super disoriented. Shit. So I call the ped (yay for having them in my cell). I tell them whats going on, and ask if they think I should take him to their office or urgent care. What do the say? They say call 911. Oh hell. So I call 911 (side not - D- for the operator, 6+ rings to answer and then was following her script so intently she didn't even listen to me - I realized this when she told me not to try and move the injured baby - AFTER I told her he was up and walking and talking, and almost 3). So mall security shows up (idiots. Taking pictures of my kid, his feet and his flip flops in case I try and sue - right, because my 3 year old has two left feet I'm gonna sue the mall!), and then EMS. Thankfully, the two paramedics were wonderful. Very understanding, especially since by the time they showed up almost 10 minutes had passed and Finn was up walking and talking like nothing had happened. They checked him out, and I'm very proud to say, I didn't lose my cool once. No tears, no crazy psycho mom, just calm, collected, and rational (props to my Dad - that comes from him, no doubt in my mind). They gave me the option to take him to the ER, but everyone agreed he seemed completely normal by this point, and so they gave me a list of things to watch out for. I'm 99% sure Jay thinks I over reacted, and should have known better than to put him in flip flops (because I'm a fortune teller and can predict the future!), and what I would expect to be a massive goose egg is actually quite small and not even all that bruised. Whatever, I called the ped first, so I don't feel bad about calling 911. Although I do have a feeling this is only the first phone call to 911 for these boys!

And of course, what good would this adventure have been without cell phone pictures :) Thanks Dina.

Hopefully my next adventure out of the house won't include any emergency services!

Pictures :)

2011-05-08T15:45:00.004-04:00

Things are going well here. Adjusting to life with two hasn't been horrible - but Jay goes back to work on Tuesday. I think all of my confidence will go straight out the window at that point, LOL. I'm enjoying having a little boy in the house who doesn't talk back though - yesterday Josh and Kate were here and I asked Finn to do something (not sure what.. it doesn't really matter) and he looked at me, stuck his little hand out, waved me away and said 'you stop all that noise'. Right. My talking is already just noise. Stellar. Here are some fun and exciting new pictures from the past two weeks - all taken by yours truly (even the one I'm in, hello self timer!) And sorry if you've seen them on facebook. I'm far to lazy to have separate pictures.

Atticus Calum is here :)

2011-04-27T21:32:00.001-04:00

He's here!!! April 25th, 8lbs 11oz, 21.5" long. Here is the full story for anyone interested

So Monday the 25th I'd been running errands all morning. I felt crampy but nothing noteworthy. I had actually commented to a friend that nothing was going on and he was totally not coming out in the next 3 weeks, HA! While Finn was 'napping' (read- destroying his room) I had my first real contraction at 2:30pm. Not gonna lie, I totally blew it off. I had been having contractions randomly for weeks, and one was a joke. By 3pm (yeah, only 30 min later) I was having contractions every 3 minutes. They were short, only 45-60 seconds, but they were coming FAST. Called Jay at work, told him I thought it was time, and he should call his parents to come get Finn. In the next 45 min I left my midwife (Pamela!!!) a message, stripped down (it is now confirmed I like laboring naked as they come, LOL), and got in the tub. Shout Out of the day to Little Einsteins for occupying Finn. Jay got home, his dad came and took Finn, and Jay got on the phone with Pamela. She agreed this was it (I was moaning in the background), and to wait an hour or two and then call her again. The next hour sucked, I spent it naked, in random places all over the house, moaning and crying. When the hour was up I told Jay to call Pam and tell her we were coming in. So we loaded up the car, I miraculously put on enough clothes to walk outside, and we headed to the hospital. The drive was horrible, and it was about 5:30, so rush hour, but I lived. Got to the hospital, went to triage, and I was an 8 - a very in pain and miserable 8, LOL. The wheeled me in the bed to my room immediately, where we met up with Pam. I stripped down (again), and am soooo happy my photographer made it in time Labored for just over an hour and hit MISERABLE. I was crying, and begging for a break, contractions were on top of one and other with absolutely no break. Pam offered to check me, and as she did my water broke - all the way up her arm, and to make it extra special, there was meconium (Finn had it as well). Jay said her face was priceless, LOL. So the next contraction is pure hell, and I'm screaming my head off, and all of a sudden my body was pushing. There was no stopping it, and no one was ready. Pam was telling me to slow down, and I tried my hardest, but someone else had other plans. Just 4 minutes and 3 contractions from my water breaking Atticus made his grand debut Total labor from random naptime contraction to delivery was about 4 hours and 45 minutes. A SHOCK after Finns 17 hour shoulder dystocia extravaganza. I had a 2nd degree tear, but Pamela said it was right over my old scar, and unavoidable since he came flying out. Atticus did have to go to the nursery, the amniotic fluid/meconium smelled horribly, and they wanted to make sure he didn't have an unknown infection (all clear ) and was well suctioned since he came out so fast. He had a lot of bruising from his mad dash into the world, and only passed his hearing screen on one side, which they think was from gunk in his ears, we follow up with that in June. He looks EXACTLY like Finn - I'm going to dig up some baby Finn pics and do a side by side, its kind of ridiculous how much they look alike. He is breastfeeding like a champ as well My cloth diapering didn't go quite as seamlessly as I hoped - he wore his cute special first diaper, and promptly soaked it in 20 minutes, and Jay was with him in the nursery with no more cloth. Then we had a meconium poop and I promptly decided I was not washing that out of my brand new diapers, LOL - so hes in sposies until he has a real poop.

We are home, and although I think we both feel overwhelmed, we are both more laid back and more confident. I feel shockingly great, I've already been to the store, and I don't care if it actually flattens my belly, but the abdominal binder is WONDERFUL. Helps my back a ton and that empty belly feeling. Here is a link to pics from Amber (our birth photographer) http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.843306674798.2361624.29700061&l=3ddddb5ce8

37 weeks

2011-04-15T07:53:00.004-04:00

And Atticus is officially 'full term' :) Hoping he decides hes done cooking soon because uncomfortable isn't even beginning to cut it over here! Realistically hoping for a late April delivery, in reality anything before 41 weeks and I'll be thrilled! Here is a lovely cell phone picture, I will do nice pictures at the end of this week

And for good measure, the pregnant survey

How far along? 37 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Not entirely sure. 30/35lbs ish. Enough that I have an extra chin and can't wait to lose it.

Maternity clothes? You can call them that if you wish. Lots of dresses as pants to contain the belly since even maternity shirts just aren't cutting it!

Stretch marks? Of course. Atticus felt he should forage his own path and ensure I got lots of new stretch marks instead of reusing the existing ones.

Sleep: Disastrous. I'm up 2+ times a night to pee, and my night is rarely more than 6 or 7 hours long. I have hideous pelvic pain - pubic symphysis to be specific. If I roll over I literally feel like I am being torn apart from the inside out. Excruciating.

Best moment this week: Full term! We did it! He can GTFO now :)

Movement: Non stop. Day, night, doesn't matter. Big sweeping alien like movements all the way to head butts to the cervix.

Food cravings: occasionally. Nothing remarkable (although I did want some kids cereal yesterday - and I don't keep that shit in the house)

Gender: penis #2

Labor Signs: Well I had that false labor scare a week or so ago. Lots of random contractions since then. Braxton Hicks all the time. Not super used to this since I didn't really have much in the way of prelabor with Finn.

Belly Button in or out? still completely flat with a bit of an outie by the end of the day.

Wedding rings on or off? off. The real ones got just a hair too tight, enough that they were hard to take off. Rockin my temporary band from WalMart I got when preggo with Finn.

What I miss: sleep and beer. That is all.

What I am looking forward to: Baby boy :) Of course I could still do 800 things around my house, but the cosleeper is set up, diapers are ready, boobs are ready. He can show up now :)

Weekly Wisdom: relax. And enjoy Finns last few weeks as an only child!

Milestones: Full term!

Hey false labor!

2011-04-07T22:16:00.001-04:00

TMI. Overshare. Whatever warning you need insert here

So I 100% thought this kid was coming last night. I decided to be a good wife and take one for the team, both in combination to keep Jay happy, and because I figured when I really need him to help me get this kid out in a few weeks, he won't feel quite so used, LOL (tell him that and I will personally kill you). We literally only had sex once my entire pregnancy with Finn. And it was at like 19 weeks. So this 36 weeks business is a whole new ball game. So things went lovely (but weird, LOL, not gonna lie!). Jay goes to bed, and I go plant my butt on the computer to get some work done. Started having the occasional contraction, not abnormal for a long day, totally passed it off. They started feeling a bit more legit and a bit less like Braxton Hicks. Still passing it off. It wasn't until I realized they were coming every 5-7 minutes that I decided to get my tail off the computer. I did my Bradley tricks, eat, water, lay down to see if they'd slow down. Nothing. 2 full hours of intensifying contractons every 5 minutes. They were still short, only 30 seconds or so. Seriously - I FREAKED out. Our co-sleeper won't be here till next week. I've barely set up the room/done baby laundry. I haven't re-read my birthing book - I am NOT mentally prepared for this yet!! LOL!! At this point I felt like I was gonna puke, took some Zofrain, and then got another glass of water and some regular strength tylenol, and knew that if that didn't make the contractions stop it was likely go time. So I took that, and continued laying on the couch. The contractions spaced out a bit more, but didn't stop until almost 5 am (7 hours after they had started). So lesson learned. Sex is the way to get the baby out. I will say though, that despite my pain and waddling, I'm not ready yet. I don't want to go through labor yet! AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!! K. Trying to keep my freak out minimal. But seriously. I had forgotten that pain - and whatever happened last night was only early labor! Not even the real deal! I can't wait until I can have a beer again, LOL!

Baby Pool

2011-03-26T23:41:00.001-04:00

Since I did it with Finn as well

34 Week survey

2011-03-26T23:22:00.002-04:00

Well I've proven to be a much worse pregnancy blogger this time around... hoping I'll at least remember to update major milestones for Atticus once he gets here - otherwise poor kid will have nothing!

How far along? 34 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Enough. I think I'm right around 30lbs which was about my total with Finn. Not pleased at the potential weight gain coming in the next few weeks. Love this kid but ready to go back to a normal size

Maternity clothes? Barely. As in, my belly hangs out the bottom of all shirts, so I stick to dresses with pants/leggings. Stylish for sure.

Stretch marks? Almost some new ones. Obviously hanging on to the old ones still, but I've had a few new teeny tiny beginnings of some new ones creep up. Right near that pancake flat belly button of mine

Sleep: Disastrous. I love sleep. Finn hates sleep. Atticus thinks its funny to drop kick my bladder late night, and Jay snores lie a bear. Waiting very impatiently to only be woken for late night feedings and not late night pee urgency. Also having massive hip pain, makes emergency peeing a challenge.

Best moment this week: Baby Expo for my business :) It means I have two more shoots scheduled, plus one workshop, then some editing and I'm DONE. Working for yourself has its perks :)

Movement: Non stop. Day, night, doesn't matter. Big sweeping alien like movements all the way to head butts to the cervix.

Food cravings: meh, not really.

Gender: penis #2

Labor Signs: Crap tons of braxton hicks contractions, and a surprising amount of real contractions. I'd say an average of 3 or 4 real ones a day. Not enough to worry, but hopefully something vaguely productive is going on down there.

Belly Button in or out? still completely flat with a bit of an outie by the end of the day.

Wedding rings on or off? off. The real ones got just a hair too tight, enough that they were hard to take off. Rockin my temporary band from WalMart I got when preggo with Finn.

What I miss: sleep and beer. That is all.

What I am looking forward to: We have scheduled nesting this coming week :) I'm a shitty nester/organizer, and Jay needs advance warning about taking time off of work to help, so Wed and Thurs are the day. We're doing everything from deep cleaning bathrooms, to baby laundry, to furniture reorganization, to crib set up. Chances are high Jay and I will hate each other by the end of it all.

Weekly Wisdom: relax. And enjoy Finns last few weeks as an only child!

Milestones: Atticus is head down and knocking at the door!

33 Weeks

2011-03-17T21:10:00.003-04:00

Poor baby, we still haven't done anything to get ready for him other than dig up his carseat. In the next three weeks we have big plans... And by big I mean clean the bathrooms and wash his clothes - nothing drastic here, LOL. Next belly pic I'll let you know what actually happened.

:)

2011-02-21T18:58:00.001-05:00

Passed the 3 hour :) My drama was once again unnecessary. Having spaghetti for dinner as a personal reward

29 Weeks

2011-02-20T13:20:00.002-05:00

How far along? 29 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Somewhere between 20 and 30lbs. Not really keeping track because I'm not really all that concerned with it.

Maternity clothes? I should say all the time, but I wear a lot of non-maternity yoga style pants. Actually spend most of my time in yoga pants and a tank top these days. Fashion forward is an understatement

Stretch marks? Nothing new, but my belly is stretched pretty tight and Finns are becoming more noticeable again.

Sleep: Blech. Between a two year old who gets up at least once a night (hunting for the root of that problem), and peeing, sleep sucks. My hips also aren't helping the sleep situation.

Best moment this week: Actually doing something for this baby! Poor Atticus gets hand me down everything, and I know its all still around, so I haven''t really even gone looking for it. I did get his carseat out thought to make sure it was still good.

Movement: See previous video. All the time. Never stops. Sooooooooo busy.

Food cravings: not a ton. Sadly I don't get super hungry for anything any more.

Gender: penis #2

Labor Signs: I've had a slew of Braxton Hicks contractions, and I did have two real contractions last week after... well, use your imagination. But that's it.

Belly Button in or out? totally flat, and at night the top pops out a tiny bit. This is new, I barely got to totally flat with Finn.

Wedding rings on or off? on :) And comfortably at that. Kinda surprised, but thinking as it starts warming up that will change.

What I miss: alcohol. Beer specifically. Jay even bought me O'Douls to try and keep me happy. It works for about 3 minutes.

What I am looking forward to: Atticus being here :) Pregnancy just isn't as exciting the second go round. I have a lot going on, a two year old to chase, and a business to run. I'm ready to get to the adjustment period of two kids, and stop waddling!

Weekly Wisdom: weekly wisdom to myself - enjoy the last few weeks of Finn before my time is split between two kids. I'm excited, but would be lying if I said I wasn't worried about how things are going to go :)

Milestones: Third trimester home stretch!

So onto my bitchy moment of this post. Gestational diabetes. I may or may not have mentioned early on, I'm considered 'at risk' for GD b/c Finn was over 9lbs and had shoulder dystocia. Because of this I had to do early GD testing at 18 weeks. I wasn't thrilled, but I did it. Failed the 1 hr (barely), passed the 3 hr just fine. So as 28 weeks rolled around, I asked to skip the 1 hr, and go straight to the 3hr. Long story short, I was told no. I should have fought harder, because I failed that damn 1 hr again. I have to go sit in the tiny waiting area of the lab for 3 hours AGAIN on Monday. This throws a serious monkey wrench in my week. Finding a sitter, spending 3 hours not able to do much of anything, etc. I get it. GD is serious. I'm not arguing that. But I'm not failing these tests miserably, its borderline, and even the 3 hr I passed I had abnormal 1 hr results. Obviously my body is less than thrilled with this one hour mark. I also hate that just because Finn was big I have to deal with all of this. My brother and I were big. My husband and his brother were big. Of the 4 of us I was the smallest at 8lbs 13oz or something like that. No history of diabetes. Finn was tested at birth since he was so big. All clear there are well. I really think I just make big babies. Like I said on facebook, I'll eat my words if I fail this damn 3 hr test on Monday, but I think this is all overkill and a waste of my time. At my appointment a week from Monday w my midwife I will be making it expressly clear I will not be taking the 1 hr test for future pregnancies (should such a thing happen). I will take the three hour. And if this boy is over 9lbs as well, and I don't have GD this time either, I will be fighting the 18 week GD testing in the future. One big baby might be a warning sign, two big babies is genetics. My poor midwife, shes just gonna hope I don't ever get pregnant again after this, I'm sure I'm quickly becoming one of, if not her least favorite patients.

Its Alive!!!

2011-02-06T01:01:00.000-05:00

Well, after surving his first round of the stomach bug that made it through our house earlier this week, baby Atticus decided to show everyone how active and crazy he is. All. Day. Long. I think he's busier than Finn was. 27 weeks, 2 days, and just happy as can be squirming around in there!

He has a name!

2011-01-31T20:27:00.002-05:00

Atticus Calum it is! It seems to be Atticus is the more popular choice with people my age, and Calum is preferred by people my parents age. I will not let people call him Calum, but I may consider AC Lupton, you know, like AC Slater...

A picture

2011-01-24T01:33:00.002-05:00

The upside of being a photographer? Photographer friends who like to get together and shoot for fun. Exhibit A, yours truly :) Lots going up on facebook, picking out my faves, but here is a one I LOVE. 25 weeks. Taken by Amy Ames.

Snoring

2011-01-13T15:03:00.003-05:00

For someone who is a once a month blogger, this is an entirely random ass post, but my exhaustion is telling me to write it down and remember it. So Jay snores. A lot. Always has. I can sleep through just about anything, the caveat is I can't fall asleep to it. But if I'm sleeping, we're good, you could run a chainsaw 3 inches from my head and I'd still be sleeping. The exception to the sleep through anything rule is Finn. Anything that child does, I hear, and it wakes me up - and yes, we still use a monitor in our room despite the fact that his room is 6 whole feet away. Well he contracted some toddler crap, cold stuffy nose whatever, and has been INSANELY stuffed up for a few days now. As in, sounds like a 65 year old smoker when he talks, and has taken to snoring because he can't breath out of his nose at all. Darling, but annoying (and the ped said saline spray to help him work through it. Let your mind wander to saline spray and a mouthy two year old). So I've been hearing him on the monitor lately, not a huge deal, I usually just wake up briefly. Until the other night when he decided to come sleep in my bed. He's already a bed hog that was evicted over a year ago, snoring really doesn't help his case. But hes cute, so I let him crawl into bed, and in less than 60 seconds, he was snoring. Moments later, Jays snoring kicked in. I now have surround sound snoring, and can't get back to sleep. Cruel cruel joke at 4 am when all I wan to do is sleep. And then for funsies, the new kid decided to start summersaulting around. I promptly left my snoring boys alone and went to sleep on the couch. Lame. I need to make this snoring go away, I'm really gonna need me sleep back...

and some pictures because I took them the other day and they turned out darling

Happy New Year!!!

2011-01-01T12:04:00.003-05:00

We survived 2010 :) Although you obviously wouldn't know it by my blog. The 2.5 year old keeps me on my toes to say the least, and I've started knitting for the still nameless little boy to be in my mommy time. Pregnancy is going well. I'm HUGE this time, as evidenced by the side by side I did last week posted below. I'm not working at a desk this time, so I don't have to wear the stuffy maternity clothes this time, I spend lots of time in yoga pants and extra long tanks. Baby is doing well, growing right on track, penis and all :) Still no name, but I'm workin on it. Baby boy has given me raging heartburn, and the sneezy pees already, its such a darling treat from the unborn... Since baby to be is a boy, he doesn't actually need much of anything, which is actually really nice, I can just get him fun stuff. I got a new baby carrier, a few little brother shirts, and a darling fitted diaper for him to wear home from the hospital (for those in the CD know - I don't really use a ton of fitteds, especially the $$ kind, but I figured since I'm buying this munchkin almost nothing new, I could get him this - and it was in a charity auction :) )

My 'New Years Resolution' if you want to call it that, is to actually get me ass in shape post baby. Despite my issues last time, I really enjoyed running, and I'm planning to give it another go. I'm also planning on breastfeeding helping me shed the extra pounds like last time which will hopefully make all the difference to my legs/knees. I don't have a goal weight or any of that crap, I just want to be in some kind of shape. I know realistically it will be fall/winter before any of this happens, and I'm cool with that. Here's to a great 2011 blog world!!!!

For the non facebook stalkers

2010-12-14T18:55:00.000-05:00

ITS A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What is with all the girl votes??

2010-12-08T21:39:00.003-05:00

LOL! I just remembered I put up a poll, and looked, seriously, 76% of you voted girl. Not sure if I think this is hilarious or if I'm horrified! Less than a week left and we'll know for sure :) Although after talking with Jay, we are strongly considering waiting until Xmas to make the announcement. Its only 11 days, and although I'm a hideous secret keeper, I think we may try. Maybe.

And for the sake of remembering, I took my 1 hr GD test a week and a half ago, failed which pissed me off royally, and caused me to need the three hour test. So 3 hours, 4 needles, one nasty drink and one blown vein (thanks darling nurse, I look like a flippin drug addict with the size of the bruise I'm currently rocking on my arm), I passed the 3 hour test. I'm not done, I get to do it all again in about 8 weeks, and depending on my specific numbers, I may opt to just do the three hour again. I apparently failed at the one hour mark with the 3 hour, and I'd rather save myself the time and headache and just do the long one. I'll talk to my midwife on the 20th to find out for sure.

K, I'll be back in a week with u/s pics, and maybe a sex announcement, or maybe a taunting message. Either way, see you in a week :)

17+ Weeks

2010-11-29T23:06:00.004-05:00

For your viewing pleasure - the belly
And one that showcases how much like a preschool my house really appears to be!

So since my last update I've had hip problems, and raging heartburn. Both I'm not thrilled with because they took so much linger to appear last time! I think one (or both) may have to do with the fact that I'm carrying much higher this time. Or at least I think so. I caved and am taking Zantac for the heartburn since mine (and my midwifes) one goal is to not create another big ass baby. Not that I fear the weight so much as the shoulders. I'm forever being reminded that shoulder distocia is not typically a one time thing, and its likely to happen again. I already had my first GD test (today - results tomorrow hopefully!) so they can double check and make sure they didn't miss anything last time. I've also got more exhaustion this time than I remember from last time. I feel like the second trimester was a party with Finn. I'm still super tired, and one morning of running errands I'm spent for the day. Other than those things (which in the grand scheme of things are not that bad) - I'm doing well. This whole thing is FLYING by, which is good, I've got patience equivalent to my two year old. December 14th is the big day, the boy or girl day :) I'm hoping for a boy, but my gut isn't sold on it as much as with Finn. I knew with him, and this one, I just don't know!! LOTS of people are saying girl, but I don't know if that's a spiteful thing because girls scare me, or legit, haha! I'm gonna try and figure out how to add a poll on the side over there, so if you see it, go ahead and vote (all three of you that still read :) )

Alphabet

2010-11-09T13:09:00.000-05:00

There is a lot of mommy crazy at the end of this, please excuse that

Well call this 14 weeks

2010-11-03T23:14:00.004-04:00

About 26 hours shy of 14 weeks, so in all my lazy, I'll go with 14 weeks.
And 15 weeks 5 days with Finn for point of reference

Honestly, I'm just now barely beginning to get bigger. There was all of that initial bloat, and its just now turning into legit baby and not leftover. I can feel my uterus now, it still pretty low, but its getting there, and my belly is rounding out. Pregnancy is going. I'm definitely not paying as much attention to stuff as I did with Finn, I'm to distracted and tired to worry about it honestly. I did manage to get a UTI which SUCKS. I am a frequent recipient when not pregnant, have been since I was a little girl. No biggie, antibiotics and I deal. Well 4am on Halloween morning is not a good time to wake up with one, let me tell you. Its significantly more of a pain while knocked up, but its on its way out now, so that's a plus.

We celebrated our first Halloween that Finn actually cared about. And it was DARLING. Here is Finn pre trick or treating

He went door to door like a pro. Said Trick or Treat and thank you, and loved every second of it. Here are some better shots of the costume

And for the record - he left that hat on the ENTIRE time. Both trick or treating and at the kids Halloween party I took him to.

Not much else is really going on. I'm usually exhausted by 10am, so all of nothing gets done. Lots of heartburn, and the occasional (but still very rare) baby flutter. Looking forward to those nice baby kick - you know, the ones that happen before you risk broken ribs :) For good measure, one more video of Finn, this one is from cooking with Daddy. And yes, he talks all the time now. Its hilarious.

12 Weeks

2010-10-22T23:39:00.002-04:00

And bringing back the pregnancy survey :)

How far along? 12 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: I'm thinking we're still around zero. I still refuse to own a scale, and won't go to the midwife until Wednesday. Watch, it'll be like 10 freaking pounds...

Maternity clothes? a lot. I feel like I peed on the stick and 2 days later my pants stopped fitting. I wear either maternity clothes, or stretchy clothes (I bought 4 stretchy skirts from Old Navy, they're not maternity but I think they'll last the long haul.

Stretch marks? All of what is left over from Finn. They're mostly white and faded, but they're starting to get shiny again as the belly gets bigger

Sleep: Pretty good. I sleep like a rock, which makes me pissy when Finn wakes up in the morning, but it seems the middle of the night peeing that I dealt with early on has temporarily subsided.

Best moment this week: not having a headache or morning sickness!

Movement: I think I've felt the kid two or three times, but its fleeting and faint, so I can't be sure. I expect to get more movement in the next 3 or 4 weeks.

Food cravings: tonight it was Eastern Carolina BBQ (vinegar based pulled pork!), and I've had insane cravings for subway tuna subs. I limit my self to one foot long a week, but would eat it twice a day if I thought it was ok.

Gender: unknown. Jay and I both clearly want boys, and the placenta theory test says boy. But I have no strong feelings. With Finn I just knew, this time, I've got nothing... god help us all if this kid is a girl, LOL

Labor Signs: absolutely not thank you very much

Belly Button in or out? surprisingly shallow for only being 12 weeks

Wedding rings on or off? on. I'm hoping they'll stay on a lot longer this time since I'll be bigger in the cool weather and not so much in the heat. But I have my faux backup ring from my pregnancy with Finn waiting in the wings.

What I miss: alcohol. I don't eat sushi, and I didn't give up anything else this time. I eat lunchmeat (not steamed), tuna, caffeine, and a whole host of other things I'm sure the crazy's avoid. When I meet someone who has actuallyharmed their baby with a Dr Pepper, I'll get back on the crazy train, until then, I'm good.

What I am looking forward to: not sure... the baby I guess, LOL. Pregnancy just isn't as exciting this time. I know whats coming, energy and cute belly for about 10 weeks, followed by 10 weeks of bloated waddling misery. I don't hate pregnancy, there is a long portion I really enjoy, but I'm in this for the kid, not the belly.

Weekly Wisdom: Relax. All of you. I have been lurking around my 'birth board' again, and the crazy astounds me. I'm not going to force my family and neighbors to get the flu shot in May, nor am I scared that cinnamon candy is dangerous (she was worried about the cinnamon, which I guess can cause contractions later on - I'm pretty sure there isn't even any real cinnamon in those things, LOL). I'm not having 400 optional tests run, and I'm not running to the ER every time I cough. Take a nap, sit on the couch, enjoy your family now before it changes. Breathe. Seriously.

Milestones: Thisclose to the end of the first trimester :)

Picture tomorrow... or sometime.

Its so different but sooooo similar

2010-10-16T17:09:00.002-04:00

So after almost 4 weeks of morning sickness to the day, it went away, and has traded places with raging headaches. LAME. Finn I had about 4 weeks of ms followed by a good week or two of headaches. At least I feel like I know what to expect. It doesn't make it any better though. With Finn, if I felt cruddy, I just laid down. Two year olds don't exactly get that concept, and Jay works non traditional restaurant hours, so hes usually not home during convenient times of the day. Yuck. My regular strength tylenol is a joke, it works for maybe a a few hours, if I'm lucky. I'm trying to use those feel good hours to work on the wedding photos from the wedding I shot in Charleston, and fit in my portrait clients locally as well. Good times, lemme tell you. I'm ready for about 3 or 4 weeks from now, when I feel good again, no headaches, no morning sickness, and significantly less exhaustion :)

Don't cave to the non potty trained toddler...

2010-10-07T12:09:00.002-04:00

Finnegan BEGGED me to let him wear his underwear after he peed on the potty this am. I didn't want to, but figured he had just peed, I easily had 30+ minutes of safe time. So I put him in his underwear (that is ENORMOUS on him - its really hard to find tiny underwear that isn't licensed characters - these are the XS from The Children's Place, and the equivalent of a size 4. Kid wears a 2T on a fat day), and asked him every 3 minutes if he had to go potty. Lots of no's, lots of walking around holding onto his manhood. Just about 20 minutes into the adventure I look over and there is a beautiful pee spot. On my couch. I don't even know how to clean that! We have hardwood (laminate) floors. I swiffer everything. You can't swiffer pee off the couch. I'm not listening to the begging next time. I'll wrestle him into a diaper from the get go. On an unrelated Finn side note, I bought him his Halloween costume. He will be a Garden Gnome, LOL. I have to take full advantage of what is likely my last year picking his costume. Although I will have a newbie to pick for next year :) Speaking of, the newbie is fine, my morning sickness is fading (NOT gone, but a little better), and I didn't have to wake up to pee last night!! Nothing exciting to report in the pregnancy department, other than my belly button is getting shallower already, which is creepy, but expected.

I leave tonight for a trip to TN with 21 other photographers, and I am beyond excited. Girl time. No husband. No baby. I'm not thrilled at the idea of the drive, but oh well, I'll live! Be back next week with lots of fun pics!

It's a baby!

2010-10-04T09:49:00.002-04:00

Everything looks perfect. I cried when the ultrasound tech said it. I cried again when I heard the heartbeat. I bought said baby 2 egg McMuffins as a thank you. I was only off by one day, I'm due May 6th, making me 9weeks 3days today.

Terrified....

2010-10-03T22:43:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow morning is my rescheduled ultrasound. I am absolutely beyond terrified. I mentioned in my last post about a girlfriend potentially miscarrying, well she got less than stellar news back on Friday that her hormones levels are going down, and then I had a second friend find out Friday morning her baby passed at just over 9 weeks. Both of them found this out at their first ultrasounds. I know the chances of it happening to me as well are small, but it hasn't calmed my fears. I don't even have words to describe how scared I am to go tomorrow morning. I was never this scared with Finn. Its so hard to watch a good friend be so devastated. And to see it twice in one week is almost more than I can handle. Appointment is at 8:30am, so I'm crossing my fingers for good news, and glad I don't have to wait all day. Also hoping I at least get some sleep tonight - although at this point I'm not counting on it.

BOOOOO RAIN

2010-09-29T21:36:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow mornings ultrasound was canceled. Its monsooning here in town. They're going to call me - but not to reschedule, but to inform me of my new appt time. Lovely. It better fit in my schedule of out of towning in the next two weeks.

Little Photographer

2010-09-29T11:23:00.002-04:00

He has the right idea at least

9 weeks (ish)

2010-09-28T22:44:00.003-04:00

So according to my current math I'll be 8 weeks and 6 days in just over an hour, and I get a dating scan Thursday morning, which I think is probably going to bump me up maybe one or two days (or 8 or 9....) so we're calling this picture 9 weeks. Side by side with 7 weeks its about the same, which makes me at least feel like I got this initial bloat and its now gonna hold strong until the kid actually catches up in there. The picture may be deceiving, but in real life I don't think I actually look pregnant yet.

In pregnancy news, the nausea is still in full force but WILDLY different than it was with Finn. With Finn, it was in the morning, right when I woke up, and was usually almost completely gone by 9 or 10 am. Not this time though. This time it doesn't kick in until 11am or later, and lasts ALL evening. When I woke up to pee at 1 am last night (another one of those symptoms that showed up much more quickly), I had to eat. Not wanted to eat, I'm pretty sure I cried about having to eat, but if I didn't, I though I was going to puke my brains out (nice image - huh?). So I was sitting on my couch, at 1am, no lights on, in a t-shirt and underwear, eating pretzels. And crying. It's really a great mental image, isn't it?

Otherwise I'm playing the waiting game until Thursday when we have the dating scan. I think I mentioned before that a small army of my friends are also pregnant, well one of them had her first scan Monday and was 5 weeks behind what she thought. She is waiting on blood work now, but could potentially be dealing with a miscarriage. My heart goes out to her and her family, I can't imagine what she is going through. I'm hoping for the best for her, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me fearful for my own scan. I joke about twins, and wanting a boy, and wanting my all natural birth and yada yada, but honestly, I'll go for healthy. However it gets here, what ever it is, I don't care. Healthy is all I want. So I don't end on a negative note, I just found out another girlfriend is pregnant. Well, technically two more close friends since my last mention of pregnant friends. The baby boom right now really is kind of insane, so if you don't want to change the occupancy status in your uterus, don't drink the water. Or screw up your birth control. Or you too may get a screaming little miracle in 9 months :)

First Appt :)

2010-09-25T14:57:00.002-04:00

So my first appointment was yesterday afternoon, and so far, so good! I'm at a new office with a new bunch of midwives since they were fired from the old office just over a year ago. I was a little worried, not knowing what I was getting into, but I had a great experience and think I will like the new office SIGNIFICANTLY better than the old office :) Of course I will miss my first round of midwives, but I still am able to keep in touch with them (yay facebook!), and I already know two of the three new midwives I'll be seeing, I meet the third at the end of Oct.

The visit was mostly family history chit chat type stuff (all done with my midwife I might add - not a nurse). She did schedule a dating ultrasound for next Thursday am since there is some question regarding my exact dates. There were no surprise needles, they actually don't do any needles on site, which is a HUGE relief for me (the old office was constantly springing needles on me), but at the same time, it is now my grown up responsibility to go to the lab and get the needle on my own. I've got 5 weeks before I need to get the bloodwork done.., I'm totally going to make Jay go with me. Since Finn was such a beast, I do have to do the GD testing twice, once in a few weeks, and again after 24 weeks I think. No biggie, that is just a finger prick, and those don't freak me out. I was a little shocked to learn that since Finn had shoulder dystocia, and it was documented (ie - actually written in my chart) that I have the option to have a c-section. I will NOT be having a c-section. Or I should say, I will not be having a planned one - it would have to be a life altering emergency for me to say yes to that. My midwife said she was required to let me know, which is the only reason she even mentioned it - but seriously, I thought squeezing that kid out meant I had a proven pelvis, but apparently that's not the case. Whatevs, the plan for next time is less milk. Less milk *hopefully* equals smaller baby (with Finn I drank about a gallon of 2% per day for the last month and a half to two months... the thought makes me want to vomit).

I'll shoot for getting a picture up between now and Thursday, and hopefully an ultrasound picture on Thursday!

Note to self

2010-09-22T22:12:00.002-04:00

You will start feeling crappy. Give it time. Yuck yuck yuck.

So I'm now hovering somewhere between 8 and 9 weeks, and feel like ass. I spend the majority of my day nauseous. I need to eat every 2 to 3 hours to keep it at bay, and I just can't do it. I've tried. I'm not a puker, which I'm thankful for most of the time, but when you hit the 2 hour mark of nausea and are in the bathroom begging yourself to just puke and be done with it, and can't, it sucks.

On a happier non nauseous note, I have my first midwife appt Friday afternoon. I'm thinking she will schedule an appointment for the following week for an ultrasound to confirm my dates. And confirm the number of occupants in my uterus. There is zero reason to believe I am harboring more than one fetus, but Cory is convinced its twins, as are a few other people, and since I'm huge, I'm not ruling out the possibility. Don't get me wrong, twins may be my only shot at baby #3, so I'd totally take it, even if it would likely be a financial and logistical nightmare right now. But back to the point, I'm not counting on double, and plan to just see one little stowaway in there. Off to stress about the giant needle and bloodwork I'm sure is coming on Friday. BOOOOO needles.

Finally made Jay do it

2010-09-15T17:19:00.003-04:00

I have zero desire to lug all of my photography stuff in the house for a 30 minute adventure for one picture. So I made Jay take one, much to his own dismay. I still don't have my dates confirmed, and I'm starting to think they may be a little bit off (meaning I may be a few days further than I think), and Cory thinks I'm having twins.... but here is what we are currently assuming is 7 weeks.

First of all yes, that is the 'melon gone wrong' outfit from this post. Actually, its the same shorts and a different shirt that happens to be the same color. My fashion sense has obviously not changed much. And for point of reference, here is 17 weeks with Finn. People aren't lying when they say you show sooner the second time.

I want to keep track

2010-09-12T21:58:00.002-04:00

Since I want to keep better notes, here they are - 6 weeks 3 days (I think) and I had NASTY morning sickness this am. 2 hours of not being able to move, eat or function. No actual puking, but honestly, puking would be better so I could just get it over with, but its just not happening. My body prefers to live in misery. It is somewhat reassuring that I feel something even if it is something shitty.

Sorry, still no picture, no energy to get it done. I'm gonna have to pass my camera off to someone to get one instead. The through of a 30 minute ordeal is quite upsetting.

6 weeks

2010-09-09T20:43:00.002-04:00

I'm going to try and get the picture post Jays bed time tonight. Try being the key word.

So I keep looking back on my pregnancy blog entries from Finn to see what I did last time, and what is the same different. I did a crap job writing a lot of shit down. I have no reference point, and my memory is shot, so on the off (but hopeful) chance I ever have a 3rd and/or 4th kid, I'm going to try and write more stuff down this time.

I have yet to have any morning sickness, and that's what I keep looking for in the old blogs. I know I had it, and the first time I mention it was at 9 weeks. It is unnerving not to have it yet, because in my mind, I had it at 'the beginning' of my last pregnancy, so I should have it now. I've had 3 brief waves of nausea and that's it. My boobs are super sore, and I look 15 weeks pregnant, those are my only two real symptoms. After quite the debacle with my old midwifes office I have my first appointment with the new midwives set for Sept 24th. 8 weeks I think, but 9 weeks by my last period. I was pretty sure I was right, but now I'm starting to question myself. We'll figure it out eventually.

Outside of pregnancy, all is well. Finn knows the baby is in my tummy, he pokes my belly button. Tonight we discussed sharing his PJs with the new baby (he has a PJ obsession). He said he would share 2 pairs. So its a start. LOL!

Off to Project Runway, eat, and then get some work done :)

The video :)

2010-09-06T18:22:00.001-04:00

I'm exhausted, so no stories tonight, but here s the video from telling my mom :)

Secret's Out :)

2010-09-03T21:48:00.001-04:00

Told my Mom today, it was quite hilarious - story and video as soon as I get home Monday! Enjoy the holiday weekend!

Thanks for making this a pain

2010-09-01T13:27:00.002-04:00

Today is one week from finding out baby #2 is on the way. 2 more days until I tell my Mom (and then the secret is out!). I still don't feel pregnant. I'm not sure if its because things are just different than they were with Finn early on, or if I still remember feet kicking me in the ribs, so anything going on now is minimal. Still no morning sickness, major cravings, or anything else really. Still holding onto some bloating - and I'm pretty sure by the time that goes away it will be legit baby, so although I'm not wearing maternity clothes yet, I've got no real plans to wear my non maternity jeans for about a year or so now, LOL. The pregnancy bong is also alive and well. I've been a moron for a solid 5 days now, can't say I've missed that so much.

I've jumped back onto the baby boards, which is also interesting not being a first time mom. I read some of the crazy and wonder if I was like that (and the answer is probably). I've also started getting some more cloth diapers since I fully expect to have 2 in diapers when this kid arrives. Unless I find out this kid is a girl (which I'm not expecting), I have very very little to buy. We have all the baby stuff like car seats, play mats, swings, etc. I think I may get one of those vibrating bouncers this time (never had a need for one w Finn) so I can take a shower once in a while though. The only things I really need though are cloth diapers, a new crib (ours is on the recall list and my chipmunk of a two year old all but chewed through it), and eventually, I may want a new high chair. Or I at least want to burn the one I have. I've hated that thing for almost as long as I've had it.

So onto the pain in the ass I mentioned in the title. So as you may (or may not know) the midwives were fired from the office I used to go to. The whole midwifery program was dissolved. Very very long story short, a new office now has midwives in town. Awesome, I'll go there. Well the old office is making it a raging pain in my ass to transfer my records, and the new office would like to see my records and make sure I'm not high risk before they take me on as a patient. I have now called 4 times, left messages for multiple people, and finally treked my ass up there. She told me it would take two weeks to transfer everything. I told her this was unacceptable since I'm already pregnant and need to schedule and appt at the new office and they are holding me up. She said she understood and would talk to the lady in charge of record keeping since I was only transferring OB records and they didn't need to span multiple offices to gather stuff. I even offered to pick up the records and take them to the new office myself. I'm just waiting at this point. They have until Friday. If they don't have their butts in gear by then, I'm going to start ranting about them quite loudly and publicly to get some help from other midwife loving friends. Hey OB office - you don't want to play that game again, do you not remember last summer? yeah, gimme my damn records already.

Oh and yes, he brought me home the Flintstones :)

He doesn't believe me

2010-08-30T15:18:00.003-04:00

So its still early, but so far so good for kid #2. Other than being bloated, which makes my pants not fit, so that's a pain, and being tired a lot, which doesn't win me any points with the 2 year old - the nausea hasn't hit (yet - I know its coming), so that's a plus, and honestly I don't really feel pregnant yet. I've been having some issues with my prenatal vitamins though. I don't swallow pills. Ever. I can gag on a sudafed. So I emailed my midwife and asked her if there was a chewable option, since I don't think the vitamin is doing any good at the bottom of the sink - which is where the last one ended up after I gagged on it and it spit a solid 3 feet into my sink. She said I could take 2 Flintstones a day, which I'm totally down for. So today Jay called me on the way home from work to ask if I needed anything, and I told him Flintstones vitamins. He thinks I'm full of shit. He thinks I'm playing some stupid joke on him, or something else ridiculous. I tried to tell him I wasn't kidding, but I don't know if he believed me or not. If he doesn't bring Fred and Wilma home in chewable form, I'm gonna have to trek my ass to the Food Lion, which would suck since I've already been there once today.

Ben & Jerry I love you

2010-08-28T16:47:00.003-04:00

I think Ben & Jerry got together and said 'how can we appeal to the pregnant?' They figured it out. $1 mini ice creams that even come with spoons. I'll probably eat all three in one sitting, but I'm ok with that. Thank you Food Lion for stocking these right where they can't be missed.

4 weeks

2010-08-27T00:08:00.003-04:00

I know I'm tempting fate by posting this already and trying to keep the secret from my mom, but my memory has been shot since I was pregnant with Finn, and if I've never gotten in trouble for talking about her before, I'm pretty sure shes not reading, so its post now, or forget the beginning

So yes, I'm just barely 4 weeks. Due May 5th. I'm not a secret keeper, and shared early on w Finn too, so figured I'd do the same with this stowaway. The cliffs notes for the interested - yes this was planned, and yes, it happened much more quickly than we expected, which was a pleasant surprise :) I'm not to the point of morning sickness (yet), although I've been convinced I'm pregnant for 2 whole weeks. Two weeks ago I had all the 'symptoms' - sore boobs, nausea, exhaustion, and the list goes on. Well after one week that all went away in favor of constipation, bloat and moodiness. I've been super awesome to be around, let me tell you. I had given up hope on this month thanks to a crazy cycle, but low and behold, here I am!

I have no feeling about what the baby is, but based on timing/logic, think its a boy. Jay says he knows its a boy (and FTR, has vetoed the boys name we agreed on many many months ago. BOO JAY!). I was the 4th to announce I was pregnant in 3 days in my moms group, plus a small army of other people who are a bit further along, or trying, we will all be taking over the hospital this spring.

Here is my first belly shot. 4 weeks. I'm not only sucking in, but 'flexing' my abs. Thanks Finn, mommy loves whatever the hell you want to call that. There is also a tiny bit of bloating, but mostly leftover from the 2 year old.

I do need to find a better way for belly shots though. This was a 30 minute adventure involving backdrop stands, studio lighting, and a tripod. All for 6 attempts, and one final picture. I won't have this kind of patience soon enough.

Or maybe this will motivate me to blog more:)

2010-08-26T09:07:00.002-04:00

SSShhhhhhhhhh!!! Its a secret from facebook, and especially from my mom - so if you know her please don't say anything!!!!! I'm going to tell her when I see her in about 10 days.

Isn't it pretty?

2010-08-21T00:59:00.004-04:00

Its going to motivate me to blog more :)

New video :)

2010-08-17T20:49:00.004-04:00

My dad and Julie got me a Flip video camera for my birthday, and I'm super excited to have videos again! Here is the two year old for all the blog stalkers who aren't on my facebook!

I don't think I can say I'm a stay at home mom anymore

2010-06-13T00:33:00.004-04:00

(I don't know why the text is a hyperlink to that one picture, and I can't figure out how to fix it. Sorry)

Hi blog world. How have you been? Obviously, I've been wildly MIA. Blogging just doesn't happen any more. My photography blog has even taken a backseat to the much easier and quicker facebooking for my business. A lot has gone on since March. Its all good, but has kept me very very busy.

I was training for a 5k (that was today), but that unfortunately was sidelined first by bursitis, and 4 weeks after recovery, a stress fracture. I was pissed to say the least. I've been told to start slower (seriously, slower than the couch to 5k which is intended for people who sit on the damn couch). I will be borrowing an elliptical that is currently holding up a friends closet, and hope to get into that, and once I lose some weight/get in shape, move to running (on a rubber track per the doc - which means my sorry ass is going to trek to the local high school, and be forced to run with perky blond 18 year olds). I would really like to complete a 5k before the end of the year (provided I don't get pregnant - more on that later).

I also am the proud owner of a small man. He will be two in just a few short weeks and he is a busy ass little kid. He has a social calendar better than mine, he talks now and makes wild demands, and generally runs the house. He's about as cute as they come, and after weeks of telling me about it, just got a new haircut. Full on buzz cut - just like Daddy. He also counts (typically only the numbers he likes best, rarely in any normal order), and knows random letters of the alphabet (and like numbers, says only the ones he's fond of). He is talking in full, sometimes understandable sentences. He still eats an unholy crap load of food, the only difference is he now tells me what he wants to eat, and if we don't have it, I lose to a massive toddler melt down. He is now forward facing in his carseat after 22 months rear facing, and a solid week of hell in the car that caused me to cave to desperation to do anything to end the shrieking. He is now forward and harnessed, which is how I plan to keep him until he gets married. I am not currently pregnant, although I'm not gonna lie, I want to be pregnant yesterday. We have a plan (that if I discuss on the blog will cause my untimely death), and I'm hoping to be knocked up and cooking a baby by fall.

Lastly, my business. It has full on taken off, and is also now a fully recognized by the state legal business. I pay taxes, I have insurance (not the health variety, the business variety, I'll stick to health through the husband), I have full paying clients and no longer consider myself portfolio building. It is going amazing. More amazing than I ever dreamed it would be going after such a short period of time. But amazing also equals busy. I have had shoots 4 days in a row this week, and add that with editing, and all the less than fun stuff that goes with running a business, I've been glued to the computer, worked more than 40 hours this week, and Finn has seen his grandparents more than his parents this week (ps - yay for awesome grandparents who live near by and will take him at the drop of a hat!!). Even with running a business, I have still considered myself a stay at home mom, but I think I need to change that. I'm not a full time SAHM, I work my ass off, even if it is just 10 feet away from Yo Gabba Gabba. I do as much work as I can post bedtime, but f I only worked post bedtime I'd never catch up! Don't mistake this for bitching, I LOVE what I do. I get to see babies being born, and cuddle tiny tiny newborns. I absolutely adore every moment of it, its just a tough pill to swallow that Finn needs me less, and I spend less time with him.

Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment (including the new haircut :) ). Maybe I'll blog more than once every three months. Maybe I won't. So take what you can get!

Is it a hint??

2010-03-12T20:01:00.002-05:00

Why in the world have I been getting craploads of spammy comments recently???? Is it the internet's way of telling me to get better about blogging? I caught the memo internet jesus, I've just been really busy. I promise a real update after the Baby Expo tomorrow. It's been running my life for quite sometime now. The mini update - Finn is feisty, and chatty, and learning tons of words every day. He is also mastering the art of backtalk, tantrum throwing, and all around being a two year old ish ness (and he won't even be two for 4 more months). I'm going to CO at the end of April, and to see Wicked in May. Cory, Joe, and Ashlee will be here at some ungodly hour this evening to help me with the Expo tomorrow, and DD and Riley will be here in the am. There's your mini update. Real one soon. Promise. A few of Finn's Easter pics in the mean time.

Well crap

2010-03-03T12:55:00.002-05:00

So couch to 5k was doing well. I was wnjoying it, and somewhere in week 2, my knee started to hurt. A lot. So I went to the doctor who said it is bursitis. Yes, bursitis like old people get as Cory so graciously reminded me. So I am not allowed to run in any way shape or form, or even go for long walks. He gave me mega motrin, and said 2 to 4 weeks of no walking/running, and once the pain is gone I can restart the program with a full week of walking first. If the pain isn't gone in 4 weeks, or the pain comes back when I start again, hes going to refer me to a specialist who will take large needles to me knee. I don't do needles, so this better go away. I'm still allowed to do yoga, so thats a plus, but I'm incredibly bitter, I was really enjoying this so far. I'm still planning to do the 5k in June in Raleigh, but I don't think I'll be doing another one before then. Glad my body decided to revolt against exercise. Stupid body.

Oh yeah

2010-02-22T00:44:00.001-05:00

And I'm freaking addicted to the Olympics. Have watched literally every single sport (although I do limit the amount of time I spend watching curling. Its super boring).

My update of the week... or month... or whatever

2010-02-22T00:24:00.002-05:00

I would like to let everyone know, I got off my fat ass, and started the couch to 5k program! We got our tax return, and I trekked out, bought nice new running shoes, a Nike+ thingy to keep track of everything, a hot pink high impact sports bra for the girls, and one super awesome arm band for the ipod that currently pinches my arm fat - it's hot. I ran 4 times this week, and did yoga once. Somewhere in the middle of the week I wanted to die, but yoga helped a TON. Mind you, the yoga is over priced, at an inconvenient time, and full of farting hippies who wear patchouli (for the unaware, you're supposed to let your body go in yoga, farts and all). And its hot yoga. Yoga in a 94 degree room. But even with all of thatm I keep going because it feels soooo good. If I could convince Jay it was appropriate to crank the heat to 94, I may do it here at the house, but he'd kill me when the electric bill showed up, and TV yoga just isn't as fun as real yoga. I feel pretty good, my 4th run was this afternoon. I should clarify, its more like a wog. Especially this week - intervals of 30 seconds of running followed by 90 seconds of walking, but call it what you want, I'm covering just over 2 miles at a time. Although I didn't have some miraculous weight loss a la Biggest Loser this week, I can tell a difference in my breathing at the end already. I'm enjoying this so far. I'll let you know how I feel in a few weeks when I actually run for significant periods of time. Hopefully it all works out well though, as DD and I have recruited a small army to run a 5k with us in Raleigh in June.

Finn is doing great, and is still busy as hell. He is picking up what seems like 4 or 5 words a day, he's like a sponge. Still loves to count using only the numbers two and five, can growl, and say elephant. We had our first legitimate babysitter the other night - you know, the kind you have to pay. Up until now we've been very lucky with the inlaws willing to watch him, and my neighbor who I trade babysitting with (her little girl is two weeks older than Finn). The other day though the inlaws were away for the day, and the neighbor wasn't home, so I called one of my best friends little sisters (who is 23, but will always be about 8 in my mind), and Finn did great!

I'm still on the 'I want another baby' warpath. If I kept my mouth shut, Jay would totally wait 10 years. I have sworn I will not be having children in 10 years. I'm still shooting for pregnant before Christmas, but we'll see how that goes. I am getting ready for the maternity baby expo, its in just a few weeks. In theory, if it were tomorrow, I could go and have enough stuff, but in true Nichole fashion, there are still more things I want, but the important stuff (sign, marketing cards, albums, etc) are in my possession and ready to go. I'll be making a super quick trip to Raleigh this week to go see my step mom who is in town for a few days (who for the record, is included in the small army of 5k runners :) ), and after tonight, I may be planning a trip out to CO in the next few months. My Dad and Julie think it will be amazing birth control for me to be in a house with a 5 year old and almost 3 year old who are clearly trying to run the show - and I just want to go to CO, because I not so secretly want to live there, and want to see everyone (and FTR, still have not actually met Eva, although we have talked on the phone a few times).

I think that's everything I have been meaning to blog for weeks. I'm sure I forgot something good. Maybe I'll blog again soon. Or at least sooner than a month from now.

It snowed at the beach!

2010-02-14T13:14:00.002-05:00

So for the first time in Finn's little life, it snowed at the beach! Here are a few pictures of our snow adventure yesterday :)

Update

2010-02-12T09:56:00.002-05:00

Hey blogging world. Hope you're not all sitting impatiently at your computer desks waiting for me to update, because in case you haven't figured it out - I kinda suck at it. Finn is a super busy little kid lately, and he does and says tons of cute shit, but I just can't find the time or energy to get on here and record it all. So here is a quick update on our world. Finn is now almost 20 months old. He just moved up to toddler story time at the library and it breaks my heart but he loves it. He is talking up a storm, and gets seriously pissed when I don't understand what he's saying. He is a total mooch and trys to take all of my food, and he is also such a BOY! He is rough and tumble and has quite the little attitude lately. He pees in the potty when he feels like it (not too often), and can drink out of an open cup (although I limit his opportunities as I have cleaned up lots of spilled water around my house). He's getting taller and thinner by the day (lucky kid - I wish that was my problem). We put a twin bed in his room, but I don't let him sleep there yet, we read stories on there and cuddle in the morning. We are in the discussion phase of baby number 2. Hopefully we move beyond discussion sooner rather than later because talking doesn't get you pregnant.

Nichole Louise Photography is doing amazing, worlds better than I expected for this time of year, and is keeping me very busy. I will have a booth at the upcoming Cape Fear Maternity & Baby Expo, so I'm trying to get all of my ducks in a row for that. I went to a 'hot yoga' class (read - kick your ass yoga in a 90 degree room with 30 other people) last Tuesday, I'm still freaking sore from that adventure, but I'm planning to keep up with it. As you may remember from a previous post, I am also going to start couch to 5k. I finally got my sneakers, and just got an email this morning that my contacts arrived at walmart and I can pick them up. If I manage to get my ass in gear, I'm going to get to WalMart so I can start running tonight - otherwise I'll start Monday. My plan is couch to 5k Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and hot yoga Tuesday. Considering hot yoga once a week costs more in a month than a gym membership - I'm not sure how long that will hold up, and I'm strongly considering joining a gym instead that does regular yoga, has treadmills and childcare - but I have a distinct feeling I would quickly join the ranks of the masses and not ever actually go to the gym. I'm also pretty sure I've suckered a handful of my mommy group into running a 5k, so that's a bit of motivation right there.

So there is my post of the month. I'm thinking maybe I'll post more, but I'm not making any promises since I've obviously sucked at this for quite a few months now.

Thanks to facebook and Youtube

2010-01-30T15:51:00.003-05:00

You get the pleasure of a clip from one of my absolute most favorite movies as a child - Troop Beverly Hills. You can ask my Dad, I'm pretty sure he'd rather stick a fork in his eye than watch this movie ever again. Maybe I'll buy it for Eva ;)

Want to know how amazing of a housewife I am?

2010-01-22T16:33:00.002-05:00

I'm about 90% positive I washed all of our laundry for a solid month (or possibly much much longer) with fabric softener, and not laundry detergent. So here's the story. I'm a major bargain hunter, no surprise there. Well I try and only use 'free & clear' laundry detergent for the sole reason that it's what I use on Finn's diapers, and going back to being cheap, I'm not keeping a full supply of two different types of laundry detergent in the house.

So one day (a long time ago) I was at Food Lion (local grocery store) picking up laundry detergent, noticed food lion had their own brand of free and clear, and went with it. So I go on washing laundry as usual (ie - 7 flipping loads at a time when its built up beyond reasonable levels). I notice that Finn's clothes seem exceptionally difficult when it comes to removing stains, but attribute it to toddler life, not my detergent. So forward to last week, I'm in Food Lion, and go to grab detergent, get the Food Lion brand, and I'm on my way. As I'm in the checkout line (being that girl and removing items because I went WAY over budget), I notice I don't have detergent, but fabric softener. The bottle looks the same as the one at my house, but I still didn't put two and two together, I just took it out of my groceries (along with about $100 in other stuff - obviously grocery shopping is not my strong suit either), and went along my merry way. Jay picks up some All Free and Clear a few days later when we run out of detergent.

Move to tonight. I'm folding the piles of clean laundry that have been hanging around the house for close to a week, and I notice the stains seem to be gone from most of Finns clothes. My brain has a moment of clarity. It is very very likely that I had been using fabric softener on all of our laundry all of that time. Shit. I'm sorry if I smelled and you never told me. I'm sorry to Jay and Finn for jacking up the laundry for a month or two. I never claimed to be a good housewife. My bad.

New video :)

2010-01-22T00:26:00.002-05:00

First of all, for the curious, peeing in the potty is still going well! It's no miracle, and he's in no way anywhere near actual/full potty training, but he has cut my cloth diaper laundry down significantly, he's averaging only 3 or 4 diapers a day (down from 10 or so - cloth gets changed every single time its wet). He LOVES peeing in the potty, and is so proud every time (although I think half of that is the excitement of getting to wash his hands after words - he is obsessed with washing his hands, and the soap).

And here is a video of his latest words, and Finn showing you his head and stuff. He knows head, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, neck, belly, hands, and feet. He does about half of them in this video.

Not counting my chickens

2010-01-18T23:54:00.003-05:00

I'm sure I've mentioned Jay's life mantra in the past - 'Don't count your chickens before they hatch'. He likes to say it when I frustrate him. He just looks at me and says chickens, LOL. So over the years, I've become really good about trying not to count my chickens, and this is one of those times - but I can't help but be vaguely excited. So As I think I mentioned a few months back, I had bought Finn a potty. He would pee in it occasionally, but nothing regularly, and would rather pee on the floor. Then one day he accidentally pooped in it (hilarious moment BTW), and it scared him so bad he refused to sit on the potty anymore. He started putting toys in it and carrying it around the house. So I put the kibosh on the potty and put it away. Fast forward two ish months to now. So he has started loving washing his hands, but holding him was getting old, and I haven't had the chance to buy him a stool yet, when I remembered our potty has a lid and can be used as a stool. So I brought it back down. Well, I rarely pee alone these days, and so I figured I'd let him sit on his potty if he felt so inclined. I'll be damned he freaking loved it. He peed on the potty about 10 times today - literally every time I asked him if he had to go, he would yell potty and run to the bathroom. And every single time he managed to go. One time he even came up to me and said potty so I took him and he peed! He woke up dry from his nap today (and it was a three hour nap), and only had 2 wet diapers all day! I know this could all change tomorrow, and that's fine, but I'm not gonna complain if he keeps loving the potty, I would love to do less diaper laundry, or have a few less diaper changes a day. But we'll play it by ear. Not counting my chickens.

I'm gonna do it

2010-01-17T00:08:00.002-05:00

So last year, I said I wanted to do the Couch to 5k program. That was as far as I got. This year, I still wanna do it. I've made one step towards it and downloaded the podrunner thingy for my ipod so I don't have to time myself. I really plan to do more than just that this year. A bunch of my sorority sisters from college are running a half marathon in March, and although 0 to half marathon in 8 weeks is not an option, I think a year is a reasonable goal. Before I can start however, I need sneakers (I don't own any... I HATE sneakers, I wear flip flops 99% of the year), a sports bra (or stock in duct tape), and contacts (I lost one on New Years Eve... it was definitely one of those nights - but in the best way possible :) ). I would also like a jogging stroller, but that's a craigslist purchase in my book. Jay and I have agreed we're being super responsible with our tax $$ this year, and paying off my car, and paying our car insurance for 12 months, and then splitting the rest 20/40/40 (Finn 20, Jay and I 40 each). So that's my plan with part of my 40. Well, that, and get everything in line to have a booth at a local children's expo for Nichole Louise Photography, and put whatever is left into the I want a nicer camera fund. I'm really good at spending money I don't even have yet. Back to my original point. I'm going to do couch to 5k this year. I am. You can all bug me about it too. After I get the tax money though, because doing laps around the lake in flip flops and no sports bra just doesn't sound all that appealing.

Too young

2010-01-14T16:31:00.001-05:00

There are so many milestones in Finn's life I'm looking forward to. And just as many I'd be ok if they never happened. Well, in the past few days, he got to one of those 'I don't want this to happen how do I make you unlearn this' milestones. He can now open doors. Both ways. Literally, I was sitting in his room with him the other day, and he walked to his bedroom door, turned the knob, and pulled it open. I wasn't even sure what to do I was so shocked! I thought opening doors was at least a solid year away. Especially when it involved pulling, not pushing. Apparently I'll add that to the list of things I was misinformed about. Now I need to get those damn toddler things for the door handles that I hate.

Judgmental

2010-01-12T19:39:00.002-05:00

Fair warning. This post is judgmental. And not in a good way. I know that, no need to let me know. So for the blogging savvy, blog stalkers among you may already know, a very well known blogger has just announced her 5th pregnancy. I think it's great she's going to have her 5th kid, and in more ways than one, I am jealous (the baby fever has once again hit me like a train and I am SO ready for number two). I do have to say however, I am a bit in shock. She has made it very clear to the blogging world that she and her husband are having MAJOR issues. She openly discusses going to marital counseling, and how frustrated and angry she is with her spouse. Now I am the first to say that marital counseling is not a bad thing (no, we don't go, nor do we feel the need, but my 4 and change years in college studying psych make me very open to counseling, it is a good and healthy thing), but they are going for major (or what she has led the blogging world to believe are major issues). She has also very openly discussed how they were days away from foreclosure on their home, and avoided the nightmare by selling her home and moving to a new less expensive one at the very last minute. I think my frustration (and in turn judgment) comes from the fact that I have a happy marriage, and financially comfortable (not amazing, but perfectly stable) life, and yet we're waiting a little bit longer for another kid. I know, and fully believe, the statement that you will never be financially ready for a kid. Or subsequent kids. Shit comes up, plans fall through, yadda yadda yadda. But I guess in some way it just doesn't sit right (again, a big part of this is the jealousy) that she is in financial and marital disarray, and is still having another kid. Don't get me wrong, I wish her nothing but a happy healthy pregnancy and baby. And I'm sure there are other factors that she will never share with the blogging world that are a part of this (I mean, this is baby #5 in 5 years, there is reason to believe possible religious beliefs play a part). I guess in the end I'm just unsure for her, and hope this isn't the straw that breaks the camels back for her family.

Thanks Wilmington Plastic Surgery

2010-01-10T16:10:00.002-05:00

Bitches. So I went to check the mail today (for yesterdays mail, because I'll be damned if I can even manage to get the mail without it baing a shoes coat and hat toddler production), and waiting for me was a shiny new magazine. I was momentarily excited since I bought myself a subscription to Mothering Magazine (the ONLY parenting magazine I will even consider reading) . But no no, it was some lovely piece of crap from Wilmington Plastic Surgery called Radiant Life. Now, once, I went to WPS - for the pregnancy tumor my long time readers may remember. I have not been back since, and I have no intention of going back ever - barring horrible accidental disfigurement. So while waiting to meet one of my photography clients today to give her her canvas she had ordered, I started filpping through this piece of literary wisdom. It is 30 some odd pages of how safe boob jobs are and how good they make you feel. Or why you need laser hair removal (which I don't know that I'd be opposed to since shaving my legs has become a luxury lately) all over your body, and even a piece on what you should have done before Valentines day. So to whom it may concern at WPS, you can take my name right off your mailing list, I will not be returning for any more procedures, even if you called right now and offer a free boob job. Thanks. Bitches.

I don't even have words

2010-01-07T09:29:00.002-05:00

In the good way:) My birth photography client had her baby yesterday and it was the most amazing experience I've ever had. Her labor ended in a c-section (after over 24 hours of labor), and the doctors allowed me to watch the c-section! I wasn't able to photograph the surgery for legal reasons, but I got some shots of mom and dad, and some of baby as soon as she was born. Thanks to the anesthesiologist, I got to stand about 4 feet from the surgery and watch the entire thing. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd watch a major surgery in real life. I got some great shots of baby Sloan, and was with mom for about 10 hours of labor, so I got some great photos then as well. Pics to follow in the next few days!

Waiting

2010-01-06T08:05:00.003-05:00

I got a text late last night that my birth photography client is in labor! I only met with her yesterday, so I am super excited! Possibly more excited than I was for Finn's birth, LOL. I'm trying not to spend my entire day at the hospital, so I'm holding off until she's progressed a bit further before I head up there. I barely slept last night, I was waiting for a phone call all night long.

Finn is eating breakfast as I type. Three eggs and a cup of mandarin oranges. I swear the boy is a bottomless pit. Speaking of the kid, he's been talking up a storm lately. Most of his words are still only understandable by Jay or I, but he's working on it. He's also managing to develop quite the little southern accent, and I'm not entirely sure where its coming from. When he says Finn, it comes out See-in (say it out loud and you'll get it). Yesterday he started saying help when trying to get on the couch. It comes out 'hep' and is adorable. He also told me he was stuck yesterday when he was trying to climb on the kitchen chairs, he didn't get his way there though, which sent him into a tantrum. Whoever coined 'terrible twos' missed the memo on 18 months. This little boy is a big fan of tantrums. Over every little thing. And these are full blown, laying on the floor screaming with crocodile tears because I said no to a cookie tantrums. It's a joy, especially first thing in the morning, let me tell you.

What do you mean I have a blog....

2010-01-04T08:28:00.003-05:00

I haven't written in forever. I'm sure my 30 followers have totally given up on me at this point. My bad. I was ridiculously busy for the last two months, and spent 80% of my time on the computer editing photos (the other 20% split between facebook and the mommy boards). I'll give you the super cliffs notes of the last few months, and add to my list of new years resolutions 'blog more often'. (But it will be in second place, immediately following get off my fat ass and work out once in a while)

November is when my photography business really picked up tremendously. I did 12 shoots in November, mostly on weekends, and averaged 4+ hours editing each shoot. We also took a trip to Charlotte for Thanksgiving, and saw some of my dad's family. December I did 12 more photoshoots - all in the first 15 days of the month, and stayed nice and busy. December was also met with tragedy as one of my maternity clients (and friends - her boyfriend and Jay worked together) went into premature labor and although the baby is now home and doing amazingly, Katalin developed a blood clot and passed away just a few short hours after delivering her baby boy. This brought my photo editing to a grinding halt, as I worked diligently on her photos so they could be used at her memorial service. If I never have to deal with a situation like this again, I would be ecstatic. Lots of time spent crying. And I mean lots.

The holidays rolled around, Finn got more gifts than he knows what to do with. A play kitchen, an art easle, a nice new umbrella stroller (Britax Blink - and I'd recommend it to ANYONE! It also helps that I picked out the cowmooflauge cow print pattern, because I'm cool like that - and apparently a sucker for all things bovine as we now have a car seat, beco carrier and stroller all in the cow print). Finn also got a gorgeous table and chairs set that my father in law made for him, and a slew of random toys, DVD's and clothes.

Barring Finn's toy collection that could rival the store shelves at Toys R Us, Christmas passed uneventfully, and New Years came along. I left Finn home for 5 days (a HUGE first!!!), 4 of which he spent at Granny Peg and Papa's house, and I went with Kate (my brothers girlfriend and hopefully one day my sister in law) to Washington DC. We stayed with my Cory (who you may remember from our blog every day in July challenge - that I won :) ), his boyfriend Joe (who I am in LOVE with), Lio, and Ashlee. We had an amazing time - I'm pretty sure we're all in agreement that it was the best New Years ever. It included parties, dancing, bottomless mimosas, two porn stars, a russian, and a made up game that might cause you to get stabbed with a pen. A-MAZ-ING!!!!

It is now January, I'm home, and back to the grind. I'm meeting with a potential client for Birth Photography today and I am beyond excited. She thought her water broke while I was in DC, and I was going to miss the birth, but luckily (for me at least), it was not her water, and I didn't miss out. I'm readjusting my day to wake up at 7am with a running toddler with an ever expanding vocabulary after many days of sleeping in and doing nothing responsible. I really really really promise to do better this year. I also promise to try not to break the resolution 60% of the female population makes every damn year, and to lose some holiday weight. Promise.

Holy giveaway!!

2009-12-09T14:54:00.002-05:00

I rarely do this (hell, I rarely blog anymore at this rate), but I'm not a fan of bugging what few readers I have left with contests for t-shirts and hairbows - but I can't pass this one up! MckMama is giving away an HP TouchSmart computer!! Checkout the whole giveaway here!

I found it!

2009-11-28T08:19:00.002-05:00

For the unaware (or incredibly dense), I live in NC. Here in lovely NC, we have 17 public universities in the UNC system. They are all over NC, and most are pretty self explanatory as far as location goes (UNC Wilmington, UNC Chapel Hill), or big enough that you just know (Appalachian State, NC State). Well there is one school that didn't have a damn cluse where it was. UNC Pembroke. I've never heard of Pembroke, never met anyone from there, or known anyone who went there. You could have told me that school was in the mountains or on the beach and I totally would have believed you. Well driving to Thanksgiving, I found UNC Pembroke. It is in the middle of absoluetly freaking nowhere, about half way between Wilmington and Charlotte. I actually woke Jay up to tell him I found it - he was not amused, and did not care. But now you all know, UNC Pembroke does exist.

17 Months

2009-11-25T07:32:00.002-05:00

Just a few days shy of 17 months, and Finn is officially weaned. So as many of you may know, I was still nursing Finn twice a day, once when he woke up, and once before he went to bed. I was perfectly happy letting him continue nursing twice a day as long as he wanted. Well, in the past 4 or so weeks, he has started biting, which hurts like hell, and I honestly don't think he was getting much, if any, milk anymore. He would nurse in the morning for about 20 minutes, and then immediately sit up and say eat (which in Finn language means stuff as much food into my pie hole as you can right now lady, or suffer the consequences). So if he was getting anything, it wasn't satisfying him in the least. So knowing full well when the biting picked up (and when I planned a 4 day trip for New Years that did not include Finn) that Finn's nursing was coming to a close, I started to reintroduce milk to him. He started on cows milk just after he was 12 months old, but I stopped after about 6 weeks or so, it was really bugging his tummy. So I slowly began to reintroduce cows milk, and he had zero issues this time. He's been drinking two to three sippys of milk a day for quite some time now, so I wasn't worried he would be losing anything nutritionally.

I debated how I was going to wean him. I wanted it to be the least traumatic way possible for him, and the least painful way possible for my boobs. There have been quite a few nights where Jay has put Finn down, or mornings when he has woken up with him, so I knew skipping one session wouldn't be a problem, but we've only skipped two in a row twice. I originally planned to cut out the am or pm feeding first, and then cut out the second a few weeks later. As it turns out, that was completely unnecessary. Sunday morning, I nursed him like normal. Sunday night, Jay put him to bed, and Monday morning, Jay got up with him. So far, so good, as I wasn't in pain, and Finn wasn't asking to nurse (he used the sign for 'milk'). Monday night I figured would be a true test, Jay was working that night, so I put Finn down alone. I'd never put him down without nursing before, but figured I'd give it a chance. So I went through the whole bedtime hoopla, and instead of nursing, I picked him up, gave him a big hug, and put him in his crib. He said night night, I shut the door, and he slept through the night. I was SHOCKED. I expected this big to do. Nothing. So I went with it, and now Wednesday morning, and Finn still has not asked to nurse. Nothing has changed in his behavior or sleep, and he still hasn't nursed since Sunday. I'm thinking this just confirms my suspicion that he wasn't really getting much at all while he was nursing.

So that's the end. I feel good. My biggest goal was 12 months (which had a lot to do with being too cheap to buy formula). After 12 months, it was all a bonus. And for the concerned parties, my boobs are fine. No engorgement, so soreness, no anything. Except now I need to (and in my opinion deserve to) go bra shopping. And bras aren't cheap.

Sunday morning at Home Depot

2009-11-22T14:27:00.002-05:00

I kind of want to start going every Sunday morning, LOL. I went after my photoshoot this morning to get my brother's birthday gift (hey Josh - put it towards fixing your bathroom!!!!), and to get some glue to fix my car. That's right, I clipped my side mirror off of my car, and glued that sucker back on. In all fairness, the previous owner had already glued it on once (although I was none the wiser until I knocked it off), so I'm not doing any more damage. So Finn and I get there at 9:45 this morning, and I was worried they wouldn't be open yet. Much to my surprise, they open at 8 am on Sundays. Finn was in his own little toddler heaven with a huge ass store to roam around in, and lots of people to look at. And I was totally cracking up. There were only two types of people at the Home Depot this morning. Cute couples, coffee in hand, obviously getting ready to start a project, and men no longer with their wives, looking bitter and worn down, obviously already fully into a project. I was so amused it wasn't even funny. After I got the glue and gift card I wanted to walk around, because I can find things I want anywhere, even Home Depot, but one small boy who will remain nameless, decided to throw a tantrum in the middle of the store. Sprawled out, on his back, screaming (I don't even know why, and this was only about 4 hours ago if that gives you any idea how unfortunately frequent these tantrums are becoming). Speaking of, that same small boy is throwing cheerios onto the floor right now, saying 'oh no' after every one he drops. Lovely.

4 year olds

2009-11-21T21:17:00.002-05:00

In the last 30 or so hours, I have photographed three 4 year olds, on three separate occasions. I bow down to the mother of a 4 year old! All of them had endless energy and ran my ass out. I'm not sure if I can hand;e a 4 year old full time. I may be loaning out Finn when he turns 4 if this is the case. Julia keeps telling me Eva is the same way too. Seriously, do you women live on redbull? LOL!

You may resume blogstalking as usual

2009-11-20T20:18:00.003-05:00

I was informed my photography is inhibiting the blogstalkers. My bad. I will say, it is helping immensly as far as holiday expenses (and my trip to DC for New Years :-) ), and I really enjoy it, so I'm not complaining, but because I love my blogstalkers, I will try harder to post.

So like every good Twilight fan, I went and saw the midnight showing of New Moon last night with Lisa, Dina, and Dina neighbors. The movie was as expected. As a stand alone movie, no, it's not that good. As a movie based on the book, filled with angst, shirtlessness, and love triangles? It's awesome. I enjoyed it, and will likely watch it an unhealthy amount of times once it comes on DVD, just like I did Twilight. I will say, while being vague (although it's not ruining anything), that Alice's vision of Edward and Bella in the future is a total joke. I laughed (as did every one else in the theater). That was my only real issue with the movie. It cut out all the boring parts of the book, and attempted to cover all the major points in the story (although the Bella and Jacob love story could have used more... well, more anything, it was lacking). Lisa and I would also like to note that under no uncertain terms should you EVER consider mixing red bull and red wine (not in one glass - although that would suck too - I just mean mixing in your stomach. It's just a bad call all around.

In I swear I'm not a fangirl news, Jay and I are headed to my Aunt and Uncle's house in Charlotte next week for afew days for Thanksgiving, and get to see my Grandma which I"m excited about. I swore I was not going to do Black Friday, especially since I'll be out of town, but I have changed my stance and you will find me at a Charlotte area Best Buy before the sun comes up next Friday. Joy. Shopping before sunrise doesn't exactly make my hot list, but I'm super cheep, and a deal hunter, so I'm doing it.

That's about all I've got right now. I swear I'll try harder this week. Swear.

Video

2009-11-13T09:36:00.001-05:00

Sorry I'm still a crappy blogger. I can't promise it's going to get much better until after the holidays.

For the interested, we took Finn to the ped last week, he weights just over 25lbs and was 32". 50th percentile all around. Not bad for the kid who came out in the upper 90th percentile!!

Here is a video of Finn's latest words :)

WTF Nichole!

2009-11-04T06:53:00.003-05:00

I know that's what you're all saying as you wonder if I'm ever going to post again. Sorry. I have been sooooo busy (in the good way!) with Nichole Louise Photography. Not only have I had fairly consistent shoots, its all the work after the shoots! I had no idea how much really goes into all of this. After my biggest shoot (Jamie and Tiffany's wedding reception) I had over 500 photos to proof and then edit. I made it through those, and after 4 days, and probably close to 10 hours, I had 144 fully edited photos for Jamie and Tiffany. Then Jamie asked for a leather bound album, which took about 6 more hours to get laid out, and then her mom asked for an album, and at least I was able to eliminate the learning curve, but that was still another 4 hours. Don't misread, I have loved every single second of it, and learned a TON, but the last time I worked 20 hours in a week was when I was pregnant 16 moths ago. And that's not counting the time communicating with other clients, working on marketing materials, working on the website, and being dorky and studying to try and better my work. At one point this week, Jay was looking over my shoulder and made a comment that 'it's weird watching [me] work'. And like a true sap, I got excited that he realized it was work, and I wasn't spending all of this time playing on http://www.perezhilton.com

So I'm sorry I've been MIA, I'll get better eventually! I should have another post tonight or tomorrow though, as I am finally taking Finnegan for his 15 month visit this morning. Only 6 weeks late.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T07:43:00.004-05:00

So unlike last year, where we dressed Finn up for pictures and then did nothing (he was only 4 months old... so I feel justified), this year we went trick-or-treating - at the mall though, since his bedtime prevented us from really going out in the neighborhood. Here are pictures from the day (obviously not all in costume, but cute none the less in my opinion.).

Show Us Your Life - Halloween Costumes

2009-10-30T00:14:00.003-04:00

Joining Kelly's blog fun and showing off Finn's Halloween costume(s) :)

Finn, Marlee, and Finley at the WilmingtonMommies Halloween party

Isn't he a cute pumpkin?

And my little skunk

of course I can't leave out the picture that is on Celebrity Baby Blog

If you submit your kids picture enough

2009-10-28T12:51:00.000-04:00

People notice :)

http://celebrity-babies.com/2009/10/28/check-out-our-seasonal-galleries/

http://www.people.com/people/celebritybabies/gallery/0,,20315669_20695857,00.html

More words

2009-10-27T10:28:00.002-04:00

words he's said this morning that should have been on the list below

yes, all done, down, and uh oh

I was doing so well!

2009-10-27T07:49:00.002-04:00

Remember when I did so good, and was blogging like 5 times a week? My bad. Between being busy, and Finn being busy, I just haven't had time, and in all honesty, I don't know that anything of note has really been going on lately. I'll give you a big old Finnegan update since it's been a while. Our days are pretty boring, wake up (too damn early), eat, play, nap, eat, errands/park whatever, home, eat, play, bedtime. Finn has become a master of the slide, and if I let him would totally go up the stairs and down the slide for hours on end. He also seems to have become a little person lately. I think anyone with a toddler knows what I'm talking about. He was a baby for so long. And even after her started walking, I still considered him a baby. But now that he walks well, and is starting to talk, he has such a personality!

His choice of words helps define his little(huge) personality. Words Finn says (some require Mommy ears, but they're there) include, dude, China, taco, eat, stuck, poop, diaper, night night, bye bye, up, off, down, mama, dada, shoes and cat. He can give high fives, he can bump fists (which I strongly recommend you all teach your children - it is a major crowd pleaser), and knows a handful of signs. He can climb on the couch, and most recently, has figured out how to climb over the side of the couch. He also stacks things up and climbs on them. Still waiting for that first ER trip - I know it's coming. He is a master at getting into my cabinets, and throwing away everything (both things I ask him to throw away, or things he chooses to throw away on his own). He eats everything in sight, and refuses to let me feed him. He uses a straw sippy for his water, and still nurses twice a day. He still sucks royally at going down stairs (although he doesn't have the opportunity in our house, so I can't say I'm shocked). He is getting himself down to one nap a day, which some days I appreciate, others I loathe. He sleeps really well at night, but gets up around 5:45 or 6am no matter what I do. As a result, bedtime is a strict 7pm in this house.

We're totally behind on his doctor appointments, his 15 month visit is not until the first week in November (at which point he'll be 16 months and one week). He is up to speed on all of his shots, with the exception of chicken pox, which we are not doing, and we don't give flu shots of any kind in this house - pig or otherwise. Being on time will change at his next visit as it is time for the dreaded MMR and I have agreed to do it however will not be doing anything else at that visit, which will put us behind schedule. At last check he was about 23lbs. I don't think that's changed much, if at all, but he has gotten a lot taller. His 18 month jeans only need to be rolled up about half an inch these days, as opposed to the 3+ inches when I bought them. He wears 18 month clothes all around, and his shoe size is a 5 (thanks to the fatness of his Flintstone feet - length wise he could totally be a 4). He is still rear facing in his car seat, and I plan to leave him that way for quite some time still.

I realized recently, thanks to the mommy boards, that I may be a hair behind in giving him a pillow and/or blanket in his crib - hell, I won't even let him have a stuffed animal in his crib 90% of the time. I guess we haven't really rushed for it because he hates having anything over him when he sleeps (he immediately kicks off all blankets), and doesn't have a lovey (although I tried!). We recently bought Finn a potty, not that he cares. He likes to get naked and sit on it, but hasn't connected the whole 'this is where I should pee' thing. I'm not pushing it. As of right now, I'm going to let him potty learn - which is where you don't bribe, and reward, and force your kids to use the potty, but let them learn at their own pace, on their own schedule. Yes it works, and yes, it means there is a strong likelyhood he will be in diapers well into his 3's - but I don't really mind (well... I don't mind now. Talk to me when I'm changing a 3 year old's poopy diapers). We use cloth diapers full time now - days, nights, and weekend get aways. The only time I use sposies is when we're gone for three or more days. I've been using BumGenius, and Happy Heinys pockets full time - I love prefolds, but I'm a fan of quick diaper changes.

So there you have it. And because I love this picture, here is a 16 month shot of Finn

Before I do another pictureless post

2009-10-25T07:51:00.004-04:00

Here are a few recent pictures :)

Finn's hairstyle thanks to putting oatmeal in his hair

The Godfather t-shirt Aunt Tiff bought him

Sunrise at Carolina Beach

Same Sunrise

At the beach

More beach time

This morning during breakfast

the contents of that bowl is now all over his high chair tray

I'll be back later today, or tomorrow for the Bradley Childbirth post I mentioned the other day

Kinda surprised it took two years

2009-10-24T09:04:00.003-04:00

I am proud to say, I got my first bitchy comment, YAY!!! Actually. Two, as the nasty poster just left another as I type this. Sweet deal. Too bad its my blog, my rules. It you want to be a bitch, grow a pair and leave your name and I'll consider leaving your comments. Otherwise, sucks to be you anonymous!

Safe versus crazy

2009-10-23T17:47:00.004-04:00

So yesterday on one of the mommy boards, I came across a post asking how people felt about children wearing clothing with their name on it. Long story short, a Mommy was in charge of something at her kids school, and suggested personalizing (shirts... or stickers... something) for the kids. And the fellow Mommy's at her kid's school went ape shit about how unsafe it was to let their kids wear their name on their clothing. So this Mommy was asking if that was the general consensus of the mommy board as well, or if her fellow PTA Mommys were just up tight. So I start reading through the responses, and I'm not sure why, but I was shocked to read that most people agree with this sentiment! So like the good antagonist that I am, I googled my little heart out, and discovered that of the estimated 200,000 child abductions in the US, less than 1% are stranger abductions (which was the number one argument - your child is more likely to go with a stranger who knows their name). Of that 1%, it is an even split between teens and young children. So we're down to .5% of all abductions are strangers taking young kids. For the mathematically challenged, that is approximately 1,000 abductions are young children taken by strangers. In 2006 there were an estimated 74 million children in the US. That makes it a .001% chance my child will be taken by a stranger. I told the Mommy's this. Honestly, his name on his shirt just isn't going to make a difference if you ask me. I also learned in my internet hunting my child was more likely to be born with Down's Syndrome, or be struck by lightening, or get seriously injured playing rec sports, or get poisioned by toilet bowl cleaner, and the riskiest thing of all - get in a car wreck (car accidents are the number one killer of young children. Search the blog for my past car seat posts. Check your car seat installation, more than 90% of carseats are misused in some way!!!). I told the Mommys, I still chose to procreate, run errands in the rain, drive him around in my car, and much to my own dismay, clean my toilet. In my opinion, parents have enough to worry about with vaccinations, and peanutbutter, and eating hot dogs while pregnant. If I want to put my kid in a shirt with his name on it, I'm gonna do it. And hell, I have a blog, and a facebook, you already know everything about me, and what you don't know is public record, and with little to no effort, I can tell you what you paid for your house, the year it was built, your address, and your voter registration information.

Seriously, my kid's name is Finnegan. And the Mommy's need to take a (large) pill if you ask me. I just don't do neurotic.

Preferences?

2009-10-23T12:25:00.001-04:00

So I have two hot topics I have been in mommy-internet wars about lately. Bradley Childbirth, and Child Safety. Any preference as to which I blog about now, and which I do in a few days?

Bullshit

2009-10-22T23:43:00.002-04:00

I call total fear mongering bullshit that 20% of US children had the flu in the first 11 days of October. And saying most of those cases were swine flu with absolutely zero medical confirmation is even bigger bullshit. Don't make me switch to BBC news MSNBC.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-20T23:37:00.004-04:00

Today like good parents we took Finn to the Pumpkin Patch. Last year we totally copped out, so I dressed him in something other than a sleeper, and off we went! He had a total field day, and went straight for any pumpkin he could pick up. We ended up getting a decent sized one for the porch, and a tiny one for Finn to carry around. I would say it was definitely a successful adventure!

I disappeared again!

2009-10-20T13:03:00.004-04:00

Sorry. I've been busy. And now I'm sitting on 500 pictures I need to proof and edit from Jamie and Tiffany's wedding shenanegans. Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy in the mean time (and if you're my facebook friend, my bad, you've already seen these)

Happy 2 year blogiversary to me!

2009-10-16T22:04:00.003-04:00

So I realized in the shower (apparently my brain was bored), that I was coming up on the 2 year anniversary of finding out I was pregnant, which meant it was also the 2 year anniversary of blogging - and that would make a lovely post. So without further ado, I give you a 2 year blogging recap.

To condense the majority of the first 9+ months, here is a mini pregnancy progression (click for a bigger version)

I learned from throwing this together that next time around, I am going to do pictures in one spot, every week (ok... that may be a bit ambitious). Likely with a nice set up now that I'm a total picture fiend. And the only picture I really like from my whole pregnancy is that one at 23 weeks.

The only major event from that whole pregnancy (other than the baby) was the pregnancy tumor. To date, that is my most frequented blog post as it is the number one search result on google for 'pregnancy tumor'.

I was due June 23, 2008. Finnegan (who over my pregnancy was known as the Spawn, Bam Bam, and Bruiser), graced us with his presence 7 days past my estimated due date on June 30, 2008. You can read his birth story here. The cliffs notes of the story is 17 hour all natural labor. He was such a hoss he got stuck coming out. Still no drugs. 9lbs 8oz, 22". And now, 16 months later, I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. It was slightly traumatic immediately after the fact.

Here are some pictures from Finn's first week. The beast was over 10lbs by the time he was two weeks. He had a bout of jaundice, and much to the dismay of mainstream medicine (and the Saturday am on call pediatrician), I didn't give him formula to 'help' the jaundice, and I'll be damned, it went away on its own. Like a good mom, I also documented his first poop face. He still makes that same face when he poops. No joke. Ask Cory.

Over the next year, we experienced Finn's first booger, and his first Halloween, where I dressed him as alobster and stuck him in a bean pot. Finn developed a love of the baby in the mirror, and upgraded to a non baby bucket car seat. He spent his first Christmas at my moms, and started to become the busy body he is today. We moved to Carolina Beach, Finn got teeth, and we won our first photo contest. In June, Finn turned 1, and we had a birthday party, and in July, I became a big sister again! In August I got a new lens for my camera, and I really dove head first into this photography thing, and just to shake it up a little, I dyed my hair in September.

It's been a fun two years. I'm glad I've been doing this blog, becaus eI SUCK at keeping a baby book - so at least there is some kind of record of Finn's first year!