You might have noticed...

I just published three posts I have written over a year ago about or efforts trying to conceive Baby #3. I left them sitting unpublished for almost a year.
Why?
I miscarried that baby.
It was painful at the time to read my hopeful words, not knowing the disappointment I'd soon face, but now I can look back at them for memories.
I still have a few people trickling through here reading what Ive written, maybe someone will appreciate reading those posts.

Anyways, I have a new blog now. Also about family life, our life now a year after those last entries, including all about a healthy baby boy named Benjamin that was born last February!

Come see what were doing now at Baileys on a Budget!

This is it!

January 26, 2015

After three months of "trying" for another child, yesterday we found out we're expecting! We're so over the moon happy yet I feel so much more calm in this pregnancy than in my first two. There was no PANIC like before, just happiness. I'm dying to start getting the little nursery area together and start washing and folding little clothes, going to doctor appointments and seeing baby grow. I can't believe that after thinking about it for months and years that it's finally here, we're finally pregnant again.

There's no real big story about how we found out. I had planned to test yesterday and managed somehow to wait. Jeff was right in the kitchen as I was reading the test. We even told Sam and Abby and they were really cute and said they wanted a "baby to come to the house " but I don't know if they remember. I've told a few friends but no family yet. I think we'll tell people sooner this pregnancy but I'm not sure when yet.

And on that note, I present my second pregnant picture ever!

I told myself that I would actually document this pregnancy every week. So along with the picture, here's some more stuff:

How big: size of a poppy seed

How far along: We just found out yesterday, so 4 weeks and 2 days, Due November 30th

Doctor's Appointment:  April 22

Feeling Pregnant: I've definitely been nauseated since yesterday and super wiped out. I was really nauseous on the way to the store yesterday (to buy the sets that came back positive!) but by the time we were coming home I stopped at Dunkins and DESTROYED a toasted egg sandwich with bacon that I don't even usually like! I never eat anything with bacon.
Today is a little worse, a little more tired, a little more nauseous, but I have two other children and a house to care for so I'm really trying to pace myself, get the rest I need and still got done what I need to. I'm trying to munch on toast and sip water to settle the nausea but I haven't been able to eat much yet today.

Everything is really falling into place here. Jeff and I both found out we'll be getting raises in April, and Jeff is getting call backs from even better jobs that he's been applying to.

So what's next??

Sam's birthday is coming up next week and he wants to go to the aquarium. He's tuning four and I can't believe it.
Abby is going to start potty training this weekend.
I'm starting to detox from coffee again. I was totally free from it a month ago, but its so so tasty. I just love it. Its part of my routine in the morning. But I know its not the best for me so its going.

Now We Wait...

January 12, 2015

So I guess we're done trying to conceive for this month. I honestly have no idea whether or not I think we'll be successful. My cycles have been like clockwork so I ovulated when I thought I would and our timing was good, but we didn't get to "try" as much as we would have liked. Both kids have been sick for over a week, Jeff has been back to work and gets home very late at night and I've been so tired lately, probably because I haven't had a coffee in weeks.

In the mean time, I've been focusing a lot on my health and making sure my body is as ready as it can be for a possible pregnancy. I added an extra Omega-3 supplement after rereading the chapter about it in The Healthy Pregnancy Book. This is in addition to the prenatal, and the gentle iron I started since my prenatal had no iron (boo).

I've also been eating super healthy. I started making smoothies today with yummy fruits, peanut butter and almond milk and sipping on one for breakfast. The one I made today was super filling and I just had a small bowl of lentil soup for lunch. I made fish for the first time on my own, and had baked haddock and quinoa for super. Shockingly the kids actually ate it, even Sam who eats nothing.  I'm working on increasing good fats with nuts and fish, decreasing bad fats by cutting fried stuff and sweets and increasing fruits and veggies and legumes.

The healthy pregnancy book is so inspiring and it really gives you the stuff you need to know and how to do it. Now that Abby has her own room, its nice to be able to stay up a little bit and read something interesting (and still be asleep by 930 ha!).

So now we wait and wait... the dreaded two week wait. I'm going to be distracting myself with nutrition, daily yoga and of course my sweet sweet littles. I'm going to keep tracking my cycle in case we have to try again next month and hopefully everyone is healthy and well rested so we're not too tired to try!

New Year and New Changes

January 7, 2015 

So after over a year of planning and thinking and waiting (I first wrote privately about it in November 2013), I am so happy to announce that we are, as of this month, trying to conceive baby #3!

Lets look at the goals I set back then and see where we stand today:

to do’s

finish bedrooms and entry way

buy a vehicle that fits three car seats

move to day shift

finish classes for bsn with clinical component

small goals

buy and install reverse osmosis water filter

dental check up

buy life insurance

fitness goals

get back to goal weight!

consciously eat healthier

eliminate soda

increase vegetables

start juicing 

stop ordering out (a lot)

start practicing yoga again

The bedrooms and entryway are mostly finished and we are using all of them. The only work that remains is to refinish the floors in our bedroom and the upstairs entryway.

I have a down payment saved for my new family vehicle and with our trade ins we are financially ready at this point. We're just now looking around for a good deal and this is something that can wait a few months. Also, I realized money was a huge stress on my mind. When I had Abby, I didn't have any paid maternity leave and it really drained our finances, and I was tired of worrying about money month to month. The last half of last year and now this year was spent straightening out or finances. I calculated how much I would need saved to cover my bills when I wasn't working and set a plan to accomplish that. I also decided on how much of a down payment I would feel comfortable with for a family vehicle. One of those goals has been accomplished and I'm only a few weeks away from the other. We also took a long hard look at our bills and made some cuts and sacrifices to lessen the pinch every month.

I moved to day shift at work a few months ago. This is the one I was most nervous about and its a big check! Now we have more baby sitting options.

All of the small goals have been accomplished for some time now. The filter has been in for a year, I've had life insurance for months and I even now have a retirement plan. Yay adult things!

One huge thing that I'm so so excited about is that Jeff finally quit smoking a year ago. I fell like he's so much healthier and it's so much better for our children and any future children. I hated that smell of smoke and what he was doing to his body. During my other two labors, he had to keep excusing himself to go smoke and then would come in with the smoke still on him. I hated it. I'm so unbelievably proud of him now and grateful that he did this for our family. 

As far as my health, between January and June of last year I lost 54 lbs, finally reaching 1lb above my goal weight. Since then I have gained back about 10lbs. I really did not watch what I ate at all or even try to exercise over the past few months so I'm excited that 10lbs is all I gained. Honestly I've never had trouble losing weight, but the second I hit my goal, I bounce right back up to what I was before. 

What I'm Doing Now

Since this cycle began and I knew we were actively going to start trying, I have really turned my diet around. I've detoxed from coffee (the worst), I'm eating small healthy meals about four times a day and snacking on super healthy things only like apples with peanut butter, hummus and pita (or hummus on my finger...) and lots of greek yogurt with fruit. 

I scored a really good deal on a nice blender on Target.com that's supposed to come in tomorrow, and I plan on making healthy smoothies once a day.  

Earlier this week I also started practicing yoga daily. I'm so sad that I let this fall by the wayside this past year. On the other hand, the last time I practiced I hadn't reached my weight loss goal and was 30lbs heavier than I am now and I'm finding it so much easier. I remember from my last pregnancies that in the 3rd trimester the body releases something called relaxin (a hormone) that helps relax the pelvic muscles and ligaments in preparation for birth and it makes you super stretchy and bendy, so I can't wait to see how that affects my practice!

It's amazing how easy it is to change your lifestyle for someone else, compared to changing it for yourself. 

Preparing for Pregnancy Pre-Pregnancy

I've been taking prenatals intermittently since the summer, but since were actively trying now, I switched to a chewable one that has fish oil to help the baby's brain grow (there are also tons of other reasons and benefits for both mom and baby) after being inspired by a chapter in The Healthy Pregnancy Book by Dr. Sears on the benefits of Omega-3s. I love my prenantal. Except for the fact that it doesn't contain iron. I've never had a problem with anemia or bleeding but I feel that iron is important to have on board, so today I bought Slow-Fe, or a slow release iron supplement. 

On top of the prenatal and iron, I've started drinking 8oz of pure pomegranate juice a day and at least one cup of raspberry leaf tea a day which I will continue throughout my upcoming pregnancy. Raspberry leaf tea has a gazillion benefits for conception, pregnancy and just women's reproductive health in general including overall uterine health, less painful periods, and shorter easier labors. More are listed here. I first heard about drinking pomegranate juice when we were trying to conceive Abby, and the cycle I started was the cycle we got pregnant. Its rich in antioxidants and overall thought to be crazy good for you, but specifically its thought to thicken the lining of the uterus and increase blood flow to the uterus promoting implantation. 

I've also already been to my doctor for a check up and "preconception counseling," which basically just included him telling me basic pregnancy info. Being my 3rd pregnancy almost I really knew all of the stuff he was saying. I weighed in there at 185 and he made a comment that I was up 8lbs from the month prior when I saw my primacy for asthma exacerbation. So now my goal is to be 177 at my first prenatal visit. 

So as of Today...

Ovulation is coming, I can feel it but I haven't had a + ovulation test yet, which I'm really not expecting until tomorrow or Friday. We've started trying anyway, just incase. And because it's fun (lol). The next time I can test is in 16 days.

Last month we weren't actively trying but had already ditched the birth control. Our timing wasn't anywhere close to ovulation but it was still exciting buying those tests again and waiting and waiting... for the negative. 

For emotions? Excited! I can't wait to be pregnant again. I honestly love it. I love the anticipation of waiting for labor, and I even love labor and delivery. I can't wait to be the mother of a newborn again and then watch that child grow and become a unique being. But also... Nervous! Oh my God are we seriously talking about another child? That's three children! Sam and Abby are only 3 1/2 and 2, they're practically babies! But on the other hand... Confident and calm. This is our third child. I know pretty much what to expect. And I'm 27 now. When I was 23 and first pregnant with Sam, I knew nothing about babies children or family dynamics. Since he has been born I really dove into natural and gentle pregnancy, birth and child raising philosophy and I just feel better prepared. 

Hopes for this Pregnancy

We always said that now that we have one boy and one girl, if we decided to have a third we wouldn't find out the gender. I still hope to do this but I don't know if we'll be able to hold out!

I'm hoping to continue healthy eating and practicing yoga throughout my pregnancy. 

My last delivery was all natural, so I'm hoping to do that again. I also want to try to push in a different position and maybe catch the baby myself. I'm thinking since it's my 3rd, and second with the same doc, maybe he'll say ok. 

For the more superficial: I want to do weekly updates! I have like one picture of myself pregnant! I have a tripod now so I really want to try for weekly updates here and see the both of us grow.

So that's all the news for now. Hopefully this first month is the month! 

A Quick Potty Update

     So Sam has been potty trained for about 4 months now (it seems like a lot longer than that). In the last potty post I had made a few goals that we were still looking to hit. As for now, he will mostly say when he has to go to the bathroom, but if he's doing something really fun he'll totally lie and say "no" even if he's doing a full on potty dance.

     I'm working with him now on pulling his pants up and down but he still needs a lot of help. It's hard to watch him trying to do it on his own when I know that I can just do it in two seconds, but it's part of the process.

     He hasn't had any accidents in a long time. at one point he did regress for the better part of a week and had, like, three accidents a day all over himself and the couch, floor, kitchen chair, wherever. We went back to basics and did almost a "toileting schedule" and put him on the potty every 90 minutes and we fixed that problem in about a day.

     I still put a pull-up on him at night and a nap time, though nine times out of ten he's dry after nap and in the morning, so mostly its for mess prevention and convenience.

     Our biggest problem right now is poop. Most of the time, he out right refuses to poop on the potty. At the beginning of last week, some wind of fortune blew in my direction and he went on the potty for about three days straight and of course we made the hugest deal ever about it. Since then? Nada. At least he is considerate enough to go during nap when he's wearing a pull-up instead of messing his whole outfit. I've tried to read some things about kids who refuse to go #2 and I'm not finding anything definite or really helpful. I'm hoping he'll just grow out of it at this point.

     Next is Abby. I was hoping to train her by the end of the summer before the weather got too cold. I let her run around the house for two days with no pants like I did for Sam, but she didn't seem to be making the connection and we stopped. She picked out her own potty and underpants (yup, Despicable Me boy briefs), and she is definitely still interested in in so I'm thinking about trying again shortly.
   

Our First (real) Vegetable Garden

     I've been planting vegetables since I was a little girl. It was one of the benefits of having a HUGE yard and massive amounts of super private land which we had when I was a kid. After I moved out, me and Jeff lived in little apartments and places that either didn't have a yard or had one that we couldn't dig up and honestly I kind of forgot about growing. 

     Now that we have kids and have been thinking more and more about eating healthy food and the safety in organics over the past few years, I started getting the itch to start having a garden again. Buying organic all the time is expensive, so last year I bought a few seeds, and a few strawberry plants and we had a very small little crop of just a few things (squash, tomatoes and strawberries I think) in a little 4'x2' plot near the porch. 

     This year we cleaned up a big section of the yard, tearing up the rose bushes that were here when we bought the house, which I was a little bit sad about. I had this big plot (possibly I think 10'x10', maybe more) and the small side plot. I added a few bags of soil but honestly the soil that was there was pretty good. It must have been a garden before that just needed a little help.  I got organic seeds which were a little more expensive but worth it, and we planted two tomato plants, a patch of rhubarb, onions, garlic, two long rows of corn, one zucchini plant and a small patch of broccoli in the big garden. In the small plot I planted carrots and what I thought were strawberries since that's what it said on the BAG, but turned out to be butternut squash. I really wanted the berries but hey, We like squash too. We also planted blackberry and raspberry bushes on a whim, which shriveled and died.  I also had one cantaloupe plant that I thought was dead, but then gave one delicious melon. 

What We Learned

     

     All summer I was griping that my rhubarb, onions and garlic never grew. Last weekend I bought a Farmer's Almanac and found out that, well, that's possibly because you're supposed to plant them in the fall. My plan is that I'm just going to leave them there and hope they come up in the spring. Ewps. 

     My broccoli did come up but never turned into anything that looks like broccoli and then was eaten by some type of creature. I probably won't waste my space trying to grow it again next season since even organic broccoli is pretty cheap. 

     The zucchini plant looked good all year, grew one huge perfect zucchini and then died. I always remember zucchini being super easy to grow and having more than we knew what to do with. I'm not sure what happened here. 

     The two rows of corn yielded about four full sized stalks and these were the only ones that gave cobs. I think it has something to do with the sun falling differently on the plot but I'm not sure. I have to research this and figure out how to fix it because the corn that we harvested and ate was delicious. 

     A few weeks ago I found a packet of cucumber seeds and lamented never planting them so I planted a small patch and had Jeff make a little wooden apparatus to hang strings on so they would grow up and not all over the ground. I know I had a slim chance of actually eating cucumbers this year (my real intention was to can them which would be another first), and thanks to the short growing season up here and a sudden drop in night time temps, I have a 3' square patch of dead 1" long mini cukes. 

 My Plan for the Coming Season

     Even with the learning curve I managed to pull out a pretty good little crop. The basket in the picture above was just one harvest. I also got about six more ears of corn and carrots and tomatoes every few days through out the summer.
     This winter I plan on educating myself more about vegetable gardening in general so that I can get a higher yield on my small plots of space. I probably won't plant the broccoli or rhubarb next year and use that space for something else. I hope the garlic and onions decide to come up because we use a lot of those cooking. So next year the plan is:

• Plant only the things we grew successfully and eat regularly: tomatoes, corn, butternut squash and carrots. 
• Figure out what was up with the corn rows and how to get more to grow to full size. 
• Plant the cucumbers early and grow enough to can, which leads me to
• Learn how to can (lol)
• I also really want strawberries since the kids love them, they're cheap and easy to grow and buying organic berries is expensive. Maybe buying already started plants and keeping them in planters? 
• I also was thinking about planting a patch of pumpkins, but it's possibly just because it's fall now and I'm seeing them around because I have no idea where I would put them. 

     After looking at my list I think my big problem was that I just tried to plant too many different things in a too small place. I also think we have a few branches to take down so that more sunlight can get to the plants. 

     SO I'll be doing some light reading all winter on general gardening with the goal of a larger crop. Maybe adding pumpkins next year and selling them in the fall for a little pocket change.  Then I'll be able to hopefully adjust my shopping list and buy only minimal amounts of produce at the store and that will be organic especially if it is on the list of the Dirty Dozen, which is a list of the produce that is the most contaminated with pesticides EVEN after it's been washed and peeled!

Boomerang!

Where have I been?

Oh my goodness I did not expect to take the WHOLE summer off from blogging. Honestly the time that I spent on this thing just got overwhelming, especially the photos, which I suck at editing.

I really did like writing here and am planning to come back but mind my pictures because they will be strictly unedited lol.

So just a quick preview of whats to come: what we were up to all summer, how the first season of growing our own food went and plans for next year, a quick potty update (hint, he's doing fantastic), our continuing prep for possibly baby #3 (!!!), Sam's home schooling schedule.