22 weeks, Valentine's Day

 

 

Oliver is about a pound now and roughly 8 inches long. 

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  Today we started by celebrating with a heart-shaped breakfast.  Then we all went swimming. Penelope was shivering the whole time, but didn't want to get out.  After we came home, She fell asleep right away and took a 2 hour and 20 minute nap. I bought Josh a home brewing IPA kit and he got me a dozen roses.  I haven't gotten a dozen roses since my 16th birthday from my dad. I also got Josh some heart-shaped Snickers but turns out, he can't eat them with his braces, so they are mine now =]  Penelope got some chocolate too.

He was in Guam last year on Valentine's Day while we were in Ohio.

 

 

Today has kind of been crazy for me.  I feel like I've been busy since I woke up.  After breakfast, we threw the dishes in the sink and ran to the pool before her nap.  Once she was sleeping, I worked on the chalkboard, lunch and the blog.  She got up and had lunch, then immediately we did the photo shoot and bath.  After she was dressed, I took more pictures of her in her Valentine's Day outfit and now it's almost 4 pm. The house is a disaster and I just want a nap.  To top it all off, I absolutely hate my camera and have been battling it all day and messing with the settings.  I so want a new one, but until it breaks, not gonna happen. 

Since Penelope has too many cute red/pink/heart outfits to just wear on one day for Valentine's Day, I decided to give her a Valentine's Day outfit everyday this week.  Plus, I just got her 4 pairs of adorable legwarmers from Screaming Owl so we had to take advantage of that. People wear Christmas gear for a whole month, so Valentine's Day can have it's own week, right?  Works out perfect since it's on a Friday this year. 

Onesie by Carters and legwarmers from Screaming Owl

Onesie by Carter's and tights from Healthtex

Onesie by Carter's and headband from Etsy

 

Top is from Etsy shop Saseadecor, skirt is Jumping Bean and legwarmers are Screaming Owl

 



I love Mom onesie by Carter's, cardigan by French Toast

Enough with the pictures, Mom!



Onesie by Faded Glory and legwarmers by Screaming Owl.
She insisted on wearing her new socks from Grandma. 
Headband from a small shop in my hometown.



Onesie by Carter's and legwarmers from Screaming Owl

(I know in most of these pictures, she is zoned out and watching TV but that is the only way she will sit still long enough for me to get a decent picture of her from the front.  She is not always watching TV, I promise.)

Even her swimsuit is pink with hearts on it!  We got it on sale last summer for $3!

Penelope last year on Valentine's Day

Screaming Owl- New item each week!

How far along? 22 weeks
Maternity clothes? I think there is about one pair of jeans I can comfortably wear now.  I can still squeeze into my "transition jeans" but they are so tight at the waist.  The problem with my maternity jeans is that they are a size small and about 3 inches too long so I cuff them.  I just bought a new pair of skinny maternity jeans, size small to keep my weight in check.
Sleep: It's hard to get to bed.  I wish I was in bed at 10 but the last few nights I have been up until 1 am.  Then I sleep on the couch from 7-9 am when Josh is home to watch and feed Penelope.
Best moment this week: Probably getting to feel Oliver moving around more.  His movements are so different than when I was pregnant with Penelope.  Oh, and we got offered a house!  We move in a month, I'll talk more about that in a later post I'm sure.
Miss Anything?  Sleeping on my back 
Movement: He is still moving really low.  It almost feels like he is below my belly.  Not sure if it can be felt from the outside yet.  Certainly can't see it yet.  It feels like he rolls around more than he kicks.
Food cravings: peanut butter toast and cake
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope
Have you started to show yet: Yes
Gender: A little mister!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? Far out! Seriously thinking I'll have a permanent outie after all this.  
Wedding rings on or off? On.  I got my ring cleaned and for now, no more rashes.  Since this is the second time it's happened in a few months, the jeweler thinks it's my hormones from being pregnant.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy.  I feel like I have so much to look forward to lately!  Moving into a new and bigger house, sister coming to visit in 3 weeks and my parents in 4, planning a fellow Air Force wife's baby shower, starting on the nursery, MEETING OLIVER and beach vacation in July! (plus, tax returns =] )
Looking forward to: Oops.  See above.  Plus, warm weather!

Daily accomplishments

I had to share with someone.  Penelope slept through the night!  She only does this a few times a month and when she wakes up at night, lately, it's a pain getting her back to bed.  Plus she's waking up between 645-700 now.  Not her 8-9 like she used to.  Last night I finally got her to bed at 910, after starting at 825.  I went to bed at 1015, which is early for me but since she's been getting up earlier, I forced myself to go to bed as soon as I was done cleaning up after her.  I heard her wake up and whine twice last night and almost got up, but she fell back asleep.  So she was in her crib for 10 hours and I finally got a good sleep!  I always say this, but it never happens, but I hope this pattern keeps up!

About a month ago, I decided I was going to start potty training her at 18 months and she is almost 16 months now.  I have been getting her ready, but not expecting anything from her.  Before she gets in the bath, she sits on the big potty for about a minute and we sing a song until she gets too anxious for her bath.  I got her a Seasame Street potty a few days ago and showed her how to use it.  She always follows me to the bathroom (or will sit outside the door and cry while daddy is trying to sleep ) so now she goes right to the potty and sits down on it.  About an hour ago, she was squatting in the living room and grunting so I said "Do you have to go potty? You go poo poo?" And she jumped up and ran to the bathroom!  I opened the door and she sat on the potty.  Still fully clothed.  I'm not concerned with trying to rip her diaper off.  I knew the deed was done, but wanted her to know where to go when she has to potty.  I was so proud of her for understanding what to do.  Hopefully when we get aggressive about potty training in 2 months, she will catch on quickly.

I was so happy with her sleeping and running to the potty that I had to share her accomplishments today.

Make sure to come back tomorrow for my big Valentine's Day post I've been working on all week!

Penelope's First Birthday!

As you may have noticed, I stopped posting for about six months.  I just couldn't find the time and kind of gave up on the blog and lost direction.  But once I found out I was pregnant, I decided to bring it back up.  The point I'm trying to make is, in the time I took off from blogging, Penelope turned one and had an epic birthday party, so this is the post covering it (3 1/2 months later).

 

My friend was getting married the week before her birthday, which was perfect timing because that meant we would definitely be in Ohio with all of our family for Penelope's first birthday.  I decided to do a circus theme because that was my first birthday theme, too.  I also didn't want to do anything like princess or a TV show.  Especially since she's only one, she's not really into anything like that yet.  Speaking of big birthday parties for a one year old.... I know people say, why do it?  They won't remember it...  She still had fun and will look back at pictures and see all the love.  She is not likely to remember much before the age or 4 or 5, but that doesn't mean we aren't going to do anything fun with her since she won't remember it.  Birthday parties aren't only for memories.  It was also a great opportunity for family to see her since we live 700 miles away.  Some of them never met her before.

 

 

The biggest hassle of the whole thing was the cake.  I went to the same person who did my wedding cake.  She bakes the cakes and her husband decorates them.  I had two meetings with her to go over the cake.  All I wanted was a smash cake for Penelope and my sister was making cupcakes for the rest of the guests so I could save some money since we were expecting around 50 people.  I was so happy with the price when the lady said that a 2-tiered fondant cake would be about $15 and a 2-tiered buttercream cake was $10.   I gave her a picture of a tent cake I found on Pinterest and we decided to do mostly buttercream frosting so she could actually smash it and just use fondant where necessary for decorations.  She said she would call me after speaking with her husband to give me an accurate price (I bought the plastic animals).  This was at least a week before the party.  Two hours before I'm supposed to pick up the cake, she calls me with the final price.  My sister answered my phone and pretended to be me because I was busy getting everything ready.  She told me the cake was $50!!!  I was so mad that the price was so far from what we discussed and now she considered the cake to be 3-tiered, which she did not mention at any of our meetings.  I was so upset and so ready to go into the bakery and raise hell.  But then I saw the cake, and it was exactly what I had asked for and I'm not much for confrontation.  So I didn't really say anything and my mom was nice enough to offer to pay for some of it since it was so unexpected.  But now I had this giant cake for Penelope and all these cupcakes for everyone else.  That was my rant. Now, on to the decorations.

 

 

I made the backdrop out of three plastic table cloths.  I stapled them together at the top and tried to cut even strips, stopping maybe 6 inches from the top. They were far from even or straight, but barely noticeable.  Then I braided them a little ways and tied them off.  And when I say "I cut" and "I braided" I really mean, me, my mom, my sister and my husband.  Over a two day period.  Took a lot of time,  but it was easy.  We hung it up with putty and tape. 

I bought the red and white table skirt from Oriental Trading.

For snacks, we did caramel apples, animal crackers, circus peanuts, lollipops and popcorn along with cupcakes and punch.

I bought plastic bunting flags off Oriental Trading and was able to hang around on 3 of the walls in the hall.

 

I ordered the name tag things from Etsy for like, $3.  They are totally unnecessary, but since they were so cheap, I thought, why not...  They were editable so I could customize them to say whatever I wanted.  I just forgot to make one for the lollipops.

 

 

The cupcake stand, cupcake cups and toppers all came from Oriental Trading.  So did the popcorn containers and lollipops themselves.  All for a great price.

 

 

I made the lollipop stand from a block of foam and I just painted some red stripes on it.

 

Sorry for cutting off the top of the picture.  I did a time capsule for her.  Guests were supposed to write letters to her and she will open them on her 18th birthday.  I know some people were predicting what the world would be like in 2030 and others were predicting what Penelope would be like. Unfortunately, not very many people did them compared to how many attended.  Mostly immediate family.  I'd say she got 10-15 letters.  Which will still be exciting on her 18th birthday.  Her daddy has still yet to write one.  I just have to keep reminding him.  Hopefully before she turns 2 he will get around to it.  And any family reading this that didn't get to write her one but would like to, you still can!  Just mail it to me.  Write time capsule or something of the sort on the envelope and I promise not to open it!  :) 

 

 

I knew I wanted lots of balloons all over and came up with the great idea to tie one to each chair.  I made sure the strings were tall enough so they wouldn't get in the way of people who were standing.  The whole room looked like it was full of balloons; I loved it!  I bought a helium tank at Toys R Us.  It came with 50 balloons and string.  I think it was about $35. I can't remember exactly.

 

For centerpieces I used Penelope's monthly photos and foam animal face masks that I borrowed from a friend.

 

 

We had the party at the church that I and my family are members of, so it didn't cost much at all to rent to hall.  It was also the same place where I had my baby shower.

 

 

This was me trying to tell everyone we were going to start on the presents.

 

 

 

 

Cake time!

 

She loved it!  She ate so much, I was surprised she didn't get sick.

 

What a mess to clean up.  She looked a little bit like a zombie baby.

 

Family photo!

(borrowed from a friend)

 

Moments after leaving the church and moments before falling asleep. 

 

She had such a busy day and missed a much needed nap.  She loved all her toys and mama loved all her clothes!  I was really surprised that she didn't get any repeat gifts since all of our guests were from about the same area.  She will not have a large second birthday party.  Like I said, the main reason she did was to see family who she might see once a year or once every few years.  I was so glad we had such a big turn out.  Penelope was a little overwhelmed though.  You know, everyone gets there at the same time and want to say hi to the birthday girl and she just wants to hide in her mommy's shoulder.  But soon she was running around with her older cousins.  I loved planning her party and I hope we will be in Ohio in June 2015 (Wow, does that seem far away) for Oliver's first birthday.  Maybe we'll make the trip just for that reason!

 

 

 

20 weeks, 5 days

The first half of this pregnancy has gone by pretty quickly, thankfully.  I think it also helps that I didn't know I was pregnant until about 7 weeks and with Penelope it was right away around 3 weeks.  I lost a whole month right there.

I spent $25 on a "used" infant car seat with two bases for Oliver.  The lady said she bought it for her grandson and just used it for the bases to put in her car.  Penelope's car seat was the same price but it was pink and red so hopefully I can sell that to someone without too much difficulty.  I could have just looked for a car seat cover I guess, but it's not like I spent that much money.  Also got him a bag of newborn clothes for $30.  When this woman had her son, he was in 0-3 month clothes so these again were new, without stains.  Some of them were winter clothes.  Pants and long sleeves... I'm trying to resell those but no biters yet.  I saw a boy baby bath for $5 that I bought.  Looking back, I don't really know why I did that.  Penelope's bath is pink, but it's not like he is going in public with it.  Oh well, it's $5.  And the most exciting purchase of all is his swing.  Everything we had for Penelope was second hand (besides her sleep and play rocker).  She had a used crib, dresser, pack n play, bouncer, swing, high chair... So I was really happy to get something brand new for Oliver.  It's a swing that goes forward and side to side.  That solved my problem on which kind to get.  The "seat" is also removable and essentially a bouncer.  I'm just glad it's not like Penelope's old one with a tray and I had to put it between her legs.  She stopped using it at 4 months (because it broke) and babies that young don't need a tray. It wasn't removable either.  I got the swing for $112 with free shipping, regular $235.  I couldn't pass it up. 
Fisher-Price-Zen-Collection-Cradle-Swing

We are still on the waiting list for a 3 bedroom house.  We have been at #13 for two weeks now.  We were offered a house after waiting for 5 days but turned it down.  We would have been moving in right now and thank goodness we aren't because first we had horrible freezing rain that shut down the base with the thick ice and we just got a foot of snow yesterday. Not ideal moving conditions.  I want to move sooner rather than later, but I also want the weather to be decent.  I want to get started on the nursery!  Plus, my mom and dad aren't coming to visit again until we move (to help us)  and I've gotten spoiled by seeing them every 2 or 3 months.  We will NOT turn down the next house though, if at all possible because then we would go to the bottom of the waiting list, which is about 22 right now.

Penelope has learning to climb into her crib, but not out of, thank goodness.  She usually only does this when she's tired.  I hear her yelling from the nursery, take her out of her crib to rock her until she falls asleep then put her back.  She is getting a little better at sleeping for more than 30 minutes.  Yesterday she took 2 hour-long naps.  She is still iffy at night.  She is also sick and teething, so I'm not holding that against her.  She has this horrible hacking cough and nothing has helped.  The clinic is closed until noon because of the weather, so hopefully I can call to get her in right away.  This is the first time she has ever been sick.  Never had a runny nose or anything.  One time, she did have a low fever for a day but that didn't seem to affect her at all.  This cough doesn't seem to slow her down either.  I was sick around Christmas for about 3 weeks total and she didn't catch that and I just got sick again last week and she finally caught it.  This pregnancy is killing my immune system. 

Now we get to look forward to Valentine's Day.  I think I've decided just to get Penelope some chocolate and not a stuffed animal (even though there are some cute ones out now) because she is cluttering up this small house enough with her toys.  I really need to pack away some of the baby toys she doesn't play with anymore, but that's for another day...


How far along? 20 weeks and 5 days
Maternity clothes? A few. When I have to leave the house and can't wear my sweats or leggings, it's a toss up between regular jeans and maternity jeans. I don't think I'll be in my regular jeans much longer though.
Sleep: Penelope still isn't good at sleeping, so neither am I.  Still having a lot of hip/pelvic pain
Best moment this week: Getting Oliver a car seat and some newborn clothes 
Miss Anything?  Sleeping on my back and energy.
Movement: Some wiggling really low.  Hoping my placenta moves out of the way so I can really feel some kicks!
Food cravings: Yellow cake with chocolate frosting sounds awesome.  
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope
Have you started to show yet: Yes
Gender: baby boy!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? far out!
Wedding rings on or off? Off, just because I have this problem with hand sanitizer and if it gets on my ring, I get a dry rash on my finger and I haven't got out to get it cleaned yet.
Happy or Moody most of the time: normal, happy
Looking forward to: moving into a new house to start on the nursery!  And I feel like it's been winter forever, so I'm ready for that to be over and move onto spring so we can play outside!