Beginning of 2015 (January, February, March)

I am in complete disbelief that we are halfway through 2015 - much less DAYS (days...not months...not even weeks) away from meeting our baby! To say the year has flown by is a complete understatement.

Also an understatement is to say I've fallen off the blogging wagon. I thought it had maybe been early June...perhaps mid-May since my last post. But no...April?! Good grief.

So here's my attempt to get back on track...at least to a certain degree...

January

• January was an up and down month in terms of "morning sickness" (aka all day sickness for me), so we sort of took the month one day at a time. Like my pregnancy with Linnea, the sickness just lingered...forrrrreeever. Unlike with Linnea, I ended up on medication, which helped a bit- although I think time was the biggest help. I'm sort of grateful that I felt this way in January - my least favorite month of the year. It was a decent time to just lay low.
• We managed some good outings... most notable being a trip to the Science Museum (Linnea's first time). 
• I obsessed a bit about a preschool decision for Linnea (and we managed to make a decision that we feel really good about - woo hoo!!). 
• The last weekend of the month we took a second annual retreat with our faith group from church. Last year was a little rough - sleep didn't go well. But this year was WONDERFUL! Linnea did so much better with sleep. We all had a great time. It was a great mix of play time, time with friends, and couple time. We needed that weekend - it was very refreshing. I'm kicking myself that I didn't get more pictures, but I thought this one was pretty sweet...

Random photos from the month...

 

February

• We hosted our annual Super Bowl party. We did it a bit differently this year - adults only. It was a hard decision, but our house just isn't big enough to effectively hold our friends and their growing families. We had a much smaller group, but we had a great time and it was a super entertaining game.
• I took a day trip down to Rochester with my besties Kirstyn and Jackie to meet up with other bestie Bethany. We had such a fun day shopping and catching up. I love these girls more than I could ever say! 
   
  
  
• We had a great Valentine's Day. Jeromy and I are not huge fans of a "traditional" Valentine's Day, so we've really enjoyed making our own traditions as a family. This year we hosted a pancake breakfast at church for our faith group. Super fun! We also had a family date to Pizza Luce, and then Jeromy and I had a movie date in our pajamas. It was perfect! 
  
• At the end of the month we found out that Baby Carlson #2 is another girl! I am so excited to have two girls!!
  

Random photos from the month...

March

• Early in March we spent the weekend down in Decorah, IA (home of our dear alma mater, Luther College). I'm serving on the 10-year reunion committee, and we had a meeting down there. We had such a good time! We stayed at one of the nicer hotels (had a suite, no less!). Linnea enjoyed the pool in the hotel. What a little fish! We enjoyed a couple of our favorite restaurants in town, and a bit of time on campus. We're super excited to go back down there for our reunion in October!
  
• Mid-March we took a day trip down to Eau Claire. Pretty much Jeromy's whole family lives down there. We were much overdue for a visit. We had a really great visit. We started the day off with a geocaching event (it was pi day!) at Perkins with Jeromy's Uncle Jeff. Following that event, we did some geocaching by Jeff's place. We then visited Jeromy's grandparents for a couple hours, then spent the rest of the day (including dinner) with Jeromy's aunt, uncle, and cousin. Jeromy's cousin has been battling leukemia. Although they've ceased treatment, he's doing quite well. It was great to see everyone. The weather was wonderful, and Linnea was very cooperative the whole day.

Linnea and Uncle Jeff at the Pi Day geocaching event..

Geocaching by Uncle Jeff's house...it was such a gorgeous day! (Can you find Jeromy in the below picture? LOL...)

Linnea with her Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Carlson

 

Reading with Great-Grandpa...

  

Linnea and cousin Tom

  

• The week after our visit to Eau Claire, my dear friend Rachel came into town with her new baby Andrew AND my other friend Kirstyn had her new baby Jack, So we had a major baby weekend! Linnea and I went to Ellsworth, WI for the day (with our friends Jackie and Gavin, and Sarah) to visit, and then Linnea and I stopped on the way home to meet Jack. Hooray! I love watching my friends become mamas. Awesome mamas at that. 

 Meeting Andrew for the first time (this was actually at a WOWZA dinner out, prior to our weekend visit...)

  

Ellsworth (where Rachel is from) is the Cheese Curd Capital of WI...so a trip to the creamery was definitely in order!

Gavin and Linnea at the creamery

Linnea loved helping Auntie Rachel with Andrew...

Reading with Auntie Sarah

Linnea became seriously smitten...

Meeting Baby Jack! This made me quite excited to have a new baby at our house! Linnea was so excited...

• Linnea got a big girl bike! After having learned how to ride a two-wheel bike (with training wheels, that is) at our Faith Group retreat, we decided it was time for Linnea to have a bike of her own. The bike we got is a bit big, but she's really enjoyed cruising around the neighborhood like a big girl! 

Random photos from the month...

3rd Trimester!!

As I type, I'm in total disbelief that I've actually entered into my 3rd trimester of this pregnancy! But indeed, at 29 weeks (and a few days at this point), that's the reality.

I am SUCH a mess of emotions as of late. Earlier this month marked the year anniversary of finding out I was pregnant with the baby we ended up losing. In just a week or so it will be the anniversary of finding that out, going through the D&C, etc. We've come so far in this year, but those emotions are still fresh and affect me.

I also find myself a little sad. As silly as it sounds, I'm mourning a bit the loss of our little family of three. We've been this way for almost four years, and it seems odd (albeit super exciting) to add another person to the mix. I also am sad recognizing that this may be my last pregnancy. At this point, I would still like another baby, but Jeromy is pretty set on two - and this process and pregnancy has been very hard on me...on us...so I'm not sure that we'll take it on again.

And of course there's excitement and anticipation! It's hard to believe that in less than 3 months we'll have another baby - start over with all those firsts, and learn to love another little being, and become a family of four. Man, oh, man!

So here's a little glimpse of where things are at since my last update.

Maternity Clothes: Yup, definitely. Pretty much all my pants are maternity. There's one pair that I managed to wear recently that isn't, but the button was undone, and it wasn't the most comfortable. I'm wearing regular, non-maternity leggings, and I have some dresses and skirts that aren't maternity, but that's about it.

For tops, it's a bit of a mixed bag. I don't have a ton of maternity shirts. I did start pulling out some more in the last few weeks, but for the most part, my tops are non-maternity. When I'm not pregnant I wear my tops loose enough, or in a style that lends itself well to wearing when pregnant. I keep meaning to go out and get a couple new tops and maybe a new pair of jeans, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Sleep: Ahhh...sleep. I have been having some major pregnancy insomnia. I'll wake up in the middle of the night (sometimes because Linnea makes noise or is up, sometimes for apparently no reason), and I CANNOT get back to sleep. I'm exhausted, and want to sleep, but can't get there. It's not even that my mind is racing (which is weird because my mind does that a lot). I just lay there. It's been as long as an hour and half at times. I know it's probably just preparing me for less sleep when the baby comes, but I would really like to sleep well when I can!

Like I mentioned in my last post, I'm usually a stomach sleeper, so it's been hard on my body to not be able to do that. Using the body pillow helps, but a lot of times I wake up pretty sore, and I think that's why.

Best Moment of the Week: Again, I'm covering several weeks here... however, we've gotten into the stage where there are not as many firsts. I appreciate continuing to feel better. Jeromy has gotten to feel a lot more movement out of baby. It's fun to have those big, regular movements again - it's one of my favorite parts of pregnancy. It makes things feel a lot more real. I've enjoyed continuing to feel more like myself - having more energy and appetite. I (knock on wood) haven't had any bad waves of nausea recently. I'm also glad that the weather has been improving (with the exception of a good portion of last week) so I can be out and active more.

Movement: Yup, this baby is quite a mover. Lots of big movements. She's a little shy, in that I've had a bit of a hard time getting others to feel her. Linnea likes to try a lot, but I don't think she's really felt any big movements. I've had a couple other friends try without any luck. And a lot of times when I have Jeromy feel her, she'll stop (though he has caught several good kicks).

I've been surprised at how high she feels already. I'm getting some ribcage pain and kicks, which I definitely remember with Linnea - I just thought they came a bit later.

Food Cravings: Lately, not as many. Thankfully, my appetite has come back for the most part, so the peaks and valleys of cravings and aversions have leveled off.

I still have a bit of a sweet tooth. I was seriously concerned that this would cause me to fail the infamous glucose test, but I passed with flying colors this past Friday! Woot! Now pass me that bag of Skittles!

I'm loving lemonade - specifically of the pink, strawberry/raspberry variety. Jeromy bought some Simply Lemonade on sale last week and I had to stop myself from drinking the jug of mango lemonade in one sitting.

Confession. One day recently (after a doctor's appointment no less) I wanted McDonald's french fries so bad that I couldn't resist a trip through the drive thru to get some. I usually have WAY more willpower than that.

Another confession is that I haven't been great about resisting the temptation of pop. I guess there are worse things, and I don't go crazy with it, but I have a few pops within the week.

Other than that, nothing super strong...

Food Aversions: As alluded to above, this has been much better. Overall, I don't quite have the appetite that I usually do. Foods rarely "sound good" to me, though at least they don't "sound bad." Mostly, everything is fair game, though meats and seafood are sometimes touchy.

I'm really glad to be past the point of being nauseated by anything and everything!

Morning Sickness: Glad to have this behind me! Occasionally when I get up I'll just have a teeny tiny level of quesiness in my stomach. Maybe this sounds gross or odd, but a little scoop of peanut butter usually does the trick to get it to go away. I can definitely deal with that - so much better than what it was.

 

Gender: Another girl. I'm a little sad we don't have a fun nickname for her like we did for Linnea (Sweet Pea). She is most commonly referred to as simply "baby sister."

Symptoms: Like I said in my last post, I've been a little surprised by how early some of the other symptoms of pregnancy have presented themselves. I've been a lot more tired and sore this time around at this point. I try to cut myself a break because I know it's hard work growing a person (and chasing a 3-year-old), but it's frustrating. I'm not used to feeling so tired and sore.

I also have a numb spot right along my bra line, under my boobs. It's so weird. I thought it was caused by my bras, so I switched to nursing bras (no underwire). It's gotten a little better, but is still a bit bothersome. I feel like baby sister is sitting quite a bit higher than Linnea did, as most of her movement and my soreness is in the rib area.

Also the sleep issues I referenced above.

What I miss: I still am really missing running. I didn't help that I totally geeked out over Boston Marathon a week or so ago. Between my 2nd pregnancy, my miscarriage, and this pregnancy, I haven't been running regularly in a very long time. Running (and generally being active) is an important part of my health and well-being for me, so it's really hard to feel SO far behind from where I usually I am.

I'm not much of a drinker, but I found myself missing cold beverages this past week or so. We had our neighbors over for a BBQ last week, and I was wishing I could have a beer too. Oh well.

I miss sleeping on my stomach.

I miss having clothes fit right. I don't have a lot of maternity clothes, and nothing that fits great, so it just kinda feels like nothing fits right/looks good. I'm such a cheapskate, that I really resist buying new clothes, especially ones that I'll just wear for a couple months.

What I'm looking forward to: When I started writing this post, I wrote that Jeromy and I were going on a little babymoon. I didn't get a chance to post this before we left, so that's behind us already. We had a great time - post to come (I hope!).

I'm looking forward to taking steps towards getting things ready room-wise (we have hardly done ANYTHING yet - poor second baby). And just generally feeling more prepared. I'm SUCH a planner, that it's quite alarming that I have hardly done anything in terms of getting things ready for this little one!

Here are some bumps pictures recently. I am just not good with weekly bump shots - I wasn't with Linnea either, so I can't even say that's just a second baby thing.

26 1/2 weeks

27 1/2 weeks

A collage of bumps at 28 1/2 weeks (apparently I'm not on top of it enough to take pictures at the week mark, and hit the 1/2 week mark?)

July is coming fast!! Eeeeee!!!

 

Spring Blogger Exchange

 

I readily admit that I'm not really what I consider a "real" blogger. I have never had a sponsored post (I don't even know how one would go about doing that). I've never done a "link up" (nor do I really understand what that is). No one designed my blog (it's the best I could manage with my limited computer skills). Despite my best efforts, my plans to blog regularly with interesting and insightful posts have failed miserably.

But never the less, I try. I was initially motivated to try by some friends whose blogs I enjoyed reading. I wanted to blog to keep a record of my life. I like taking pictures, and I like remembering the big and little milestones. In my mind, it would be a bonus if I made some new friends or connections.

Although I haven't managed to be a "real" blogger with regular posts, I have managed to make some new friends and establish new connections. Woo hoo! WIN!

Two new connections I've made through blogging are Amy and Jess, whose blogs I started following thanks to the suggestion of other blogging friends. It's been especially fun to connect with people like them -  young mamas who are in a very similar stage as me.

So when I got an e-mail from Amy saying that she and Jess were organizing a Spring Blogger Exchange, I was instantly intrigued. But then the doubt creeped in... compared to these awesome bloggers, my blog seemed totally amateur. I have actually worried about writing this post because I wanted it to be "just right."

But after a couple e-mails back and forth with Amy I was convinced that I should put those feelings behind me, and go for it! I'm so glad I did.

Amy and Jess had invited a few other young mama bloggers to participate. The basic gist is that each blogger would be matched with someone, and exchange a fun little Spring care package for their kids. Once Amy gathered the names, we were all paired up - and set out to create our care packages!

I was assigned to send a package to Sara, and her kiddos Mac and Mim. As much as I love buying gifts for people I know, it's almost more fun to buy gifts for people I don't know. I suppose to me it's less pressure... I'm less hindered by what I know about them, and just excited about finding things I think they might like. It's like a little puzzle.

Sara's blog wasn't one that I followed at the start of the exchange, so I did a little bit of reading to get a feel of things they might like. Sara's cutie pie Mac is a little younger than my Linnea, and Mim is an adorable little 7 month old.

Armed with a little insight I got from her blog, I set off to Target to put my care package together. It was super fun! I had no problem finding lots of things to include - if anything it was hard to narrow it down!

I brought home the gifts, and talked with Linnea about the exchange. Though she was a bit bummed that she didn't get to keep the things I bought, she was excited that she was going to get gifts in the mail!

We wrapped up the gifts, and tucked them carefully in a box to be mailed. I added a little note to each one to help Sara know what I was thinking with each gift. It looked like this...

Linnea LOVES coloring (all the rainbows, all the time) lately, so I enlisted her to make a couple colorful notes to include in our package.

Once it was all wrapped up and set to go, off to the post office we went to mail it off. I was down right giddy (is that weird?) thinking about them receiving it...hoping they liked what we chose...hoping that they got as much joy in getting it as we did giving it. Linnea seemed pretty excited too.

A few days later, we received our package in the mail from our partner Amy. Her and her son Cash put our package together, and we were both super excited to see what they sent.

Yup. Linnea was just a bit excited... :-)

Opening the package, it was hard to believe that we've never met Amy or Cash - they made such good and fun choices for us!

We ooed and ahhed over all of things inside. Full disclosure: one of my downfalls as a blogger is that I don't have a fantastic camera, and I often forget to take pictures in the moment, so we don't have pictures of opening the package. You'll have to take my word for it - lots of excitement!

Here's a shot of what we got... a cute little book (a feel and read - with soft down for the chick), a fun spring-y note pad, chocolate, an adorable onesie for baby sister, a pair of sunglasses for Linnea, spring window cling/gels, a coloring book, some cute paper straws, and a nice note from Amy (I'm hoping I'm not forgetting anything - the package got opened and scattered by my dear Linnea).

We got the package in the still-gloomy days of March, so even the brightness and sunshiny-ness of the presents made it feel like spring!

I love this shot with a little handsy Linnea...you can tell what one of her favorite items is! :-)

Like I said, Linnea was probably most excited for the coloring book. Girlfriend is SO into coloring right now (heard at least once a day in our house: "Mama, I'm going to color this RAINBOW colors!"
She didn't hesistate a bit to dig in!

So excited for her new bunny coloring book!

Another Linnea favorite was the sunglasses (or sunnies as we call them in our house). She loves sunnies, and we always have to have a pair nearby in case she needs 'em.

3 going on 13 much? She was giving me a little attitude with this one...

Ready for some spring-time SUN!!

Linnea also liked the book...she is SUCH a bookworm. This one earned the trifecta ultimate compliment from Linnea... A) she wanted to read it right away, B) she wanted to read it at bed time and C) she wanted to take it to bed with her (while other kids fill their beds with stuffed animals, Linnea fills hers with books - she is allowed to take 3 books to sleep with her, and it's the ultimate compliment for a book when it's chosen as one of the three!).

I think this will also be a great book to have when baby sister comes. I couldn't help by smile imagining Linnea reading it to her come July!

One of my favorite items was the onesie. Amy, how did you know that I LOVE owls?! It's still such a shock to see teeny baby clothes again. I can't imagine Linnea was once small enough to fit into clothes that small, but I know she was...and our new Little Miss will look SO cute in this little owl onesie.

(Funny side story, as I was taking the picture below Linnea said, "Uhhhh, mama? I don't think this will fit me!" I had to remind her that it's for baby sister, which made it very excited.) :-)

A mutual favorite item of ours was the chocolate. Again, Amy, how did you know that me and Linnea's ultimate love language is "chocolate?" :-) Needless to say, we didn't hesitate to tackle this bar together.

Amy, thank you so much for inviting us to take part, and for encouraging me to give it a go. And a HUGE thank you for putting together such an awesome spring package for us.

In case you are curious, here's a full list of the mamas who participated in this exchange:

Jamie from Cocktails and Carseats
Jessica from The Newly
Sara from Running from the Law
Alisha from Simple Luxury
Jessica from Kessler Kraziness
Amy from Keepin' Up with the Smiths
Becky (me) from B Happy in Today

 

 

Thanks, Amy and Jess, for organizing such a fun exchange!! 

"Half Baked" - a 20(+) week update

Hello, blogging world.

Man, I have been just horrible with posting on here. I'm not sure quite what it's been... a lot going on, I guess...still a lot of emotions...still having some "under the weather days."

Never the less, I wanted to try to keep up with updates...mostly for myself, to be able to look back on, but also just for the sake of blogging (I'm still really trying to be a "real" blogger).

It's a little crazy, but I'm already more than halfway through this pregnancy! In some ways the time has gone by SO. SLOWLY, but on the other hand, I can't believe that I'm over the halfway mark. July will be here before I know it! This very well could be my last pregnancy, which makes me sad... I'm trying not to "wish away the days," and savor every bit of this experience.

A lot of people have been asking how I've been feeling. Thankfully, I am feeling MUCH better overall. For the last 3-4 weeks or so I've seen an increase in energy, decrease in overall nausea, and a bit of an increased appetite. I've been reminded how gradual this is (at least for me). I don't notice the change right away., But then I have a string of days that I don't need a nap at work (seriously, at it's worst I was depended on a work nap every. single. day), don't crash on the couch after work, and/or can actually eat somewhat normally, and I realize...it's better!!

Now, at 23 weeks, good days are (thankfully) the norm! Waves of nausea still creep up on me, and I still sometimes need to crash on the couch after work, but it's maybe 1-2 times a week instead of 6 or 7 times a week. Whew!

It's good timing too, as Winter in Minnesota seems to be (knock on wood) coming to an end. I know, I know...we could still get another storm or cold snap or two, but now that we've seen weather in the 60s, I gotta believe we're in the home stretch. This is one thing I've really enjoyed about being pregnant on this timeline. I feel crummy for a good stretch, but it's when the weather is crummy, and I don't really want to be doing anything anyways. Win!

I don't think I've EVER done one of the "standard" pregnancy updates, but since I've sort of slacked with blogging - in general and with this pregnancy - I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Here we go...

Maternity Clothes: I, like most 2nd time mamas I've talked with, found myself in maternity clothes a lot earlier this time around. Partly because I've gotten bigger faster, but particularly because I remember how darn comfy they are!

I remember "fighting" maternity clothes for a while with Linnea, in denial I suppose that I was ready for them. This time around...no shame. I'm exclusively in maternity pants (and have been since about week 18 I think). I have some maternity shirts, but mostly I'm wearing my normal tops.

I am discovering that I'm in need of some more basic pieces...that's on my to-do list. Any good places I should check out?

Sleep: Sleep is still good. If anything wakes me up at night, it's usually Linnea (thankfully, nothing extended...usually just a bad dream or needs covers or lost a stuffed animal or something). When she wakes me up, I have to go to the bathroom, but I don't wake up for that exclusively.

I'm getting a lot more uncomfortable sooner...I'm a stomach sleeper usually, which obviously doesn't really work. I always (pregnant or not) sleep with a body pillow, which helps a lot.

Best Moment of the Week: Well, since I haven't posted any sort of update in a while, I've got several weeks to cover.

Best moments lately:

• Feeling better overall
• Feeling baby move (definitively around 17 week)
• Having Jeromy, Linnea, and my mother-in-law feel baby move shortly after
• Finding out baby's gender (more on that in a bit)
• Ultrasounds - the big one during week 20...one this week as follow-up because they couldn't get all the measurements they needed (my mom got to come to that one)

Movement: As mentioned above - yes! And a lot earlier and stronger than I felt with Linnea. If I recall correctly, it wasn't until around week 20 or so with Linnea that I for sure felt movement. And probably another 4-5 weeks after that before Jeromy felt her.

This time around, I was pretty sure I was feeling the baby around week 16 or 17...and definitively around the 17 or 18 week mark. This baby is SUPER SUPER active.

During our routine heartbeat checks, the doppler picks up LOTS of movement. Both my doctor and nurse practitioner- as well as the ultrasound techs have mentioned how active the baby is.

I was SHOCKED to find out that the placenta is anterior (in front), which usually means movements can be dampened a bit. I seriously can't IMAGINE how crazy the movement would be otherwise. It'll be interesting as the baby gets stronger...it's going to be crazy.

Food Craving: It's been more aversions for most of the pregnancy, although some cravings have snuck in. Earlier on, cravings were all things sweet and fruity...gummy candies, Skittles, Froot Loops. Crazy sugar overload!

Lately, the cravings have been a bit more random...but still generally in the "sweet" category. Rice Krispie bars, ice cream, milkshakes.

Bagels are also something I've been eating a lot - not necessarily craving, but really enjoying. Jeromy was joking with me yesterday that the baby is going to come out circular, with a little hole in the middle. Hopefully that's not the case! But man, this baby does like bagels! (There are worse things, right?)

Food Aversions: Oh man, yes. It's gotten a lot better, but this was the reality for the first 20 weeks for sure! Like my pregnancy with Linnea, the biggest aversion is meat. I basically become a vegetarian for the first half of my pregnancy. Chicken is usually the first meat that I can eat again. Beef is the last. I'm happy to say that I'm back to eating beef!

Smells are also bad. At the worst, I would have to hide upstairs after work while Jeromy cooked dinner or him and Linnea, with my nose covered by my blanket or shirt.

Let's be honest, I was so sick for the first bit of this pregnancy, that I had aversions to everything but bagels, cereal, saltines, and...that's about it. I'm so glad to be eating regularly now!

Morning Sickness: I joke that whoever made up the name "morning sickness" was likely someone who has never been pregnant. I get "all day sickness." It was all day, every day. Worse in the morning, and at night...but also bad if I got too hungry, or got a whiff of a strong smell. We had a couple really rough months. I'm so thankful to have it behind me!

Gender: We had our big ultrasound at the end of February, which confirmed that we are having another baby girl! I'm excited that Linnea gets a little sister.

Symptoms: In addition to the nausea, I've been very very tired. It's getting better, as with the nausea, but I need to be a little careful to not overdo it. I've had some ligament pain and back aches, which seems really early, but I've heard that's normal when it's not your first pregnancy.

What I miss: Lately, I've really been missing running. I know a lot of women run through their pregnancy, but I just am not comfortable running...it doesn't feel good, and just becomes frustrating. That mostly it. I guess I miss feeling 100%. I'm feeling so much better overall, but just not quite myself. I tire easier, and physically am not quite where I usually am. But other than that, I'm just thankful to be feeling well overall!

What I'm looking forward to: Continued nice weather so I can be active again! Continuing to feel better and more like myself.

I leave you with some bump shots...

About 18 weeks.

20 weeks... (half baked)