Tag: christmas

29 Weeks and the Holidays

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I posted 28 weeks right on time last week and since then we’ve celebrated Christmas, New Years and for the first time in 17 years, the Buffalo Bills going to the playoffs! So its been a very exciting 2 weeks!

I think I’m going to skip the survey again and just do some bullets. I feel like it was more interesting then the survey plus I have a lot to share with the holidays.

-29 weeks and 4 days today, we are almost to the big 3-0 Countdown. I feel like I’m so excited to be there that I’m jumping the gun and anyone who asks I just say I’m already 30 weeks, or that I only have about 8-10 weeks left (wishful thinking that she will come 2 weeks early like her sister did!)

-Christmas kicked my butt, I literally made myself sick on Christmas day night. Not sick, sick, but so exhausted that my whole stomach was tight and achy, I could barley stand on my two feet and my back felt like it was breaking in 9 places. We hosted Christmas Eve brunch, went to my parents for dinner, woke up at 5:30am Christmas Day with Ada and went non-stop all day getting ready and hosting a big dinner again, with our first guests arriving around 1pm and the last leaving close to 10pm.  Dad had to do bedtime because I felt so awful and I made Ada watch her show and have her milk in my bed with me because I couldn’t move. It was not the way I wanted to end Christmas but I was glad I woke up feeling much better the next day.

-I got the best Christmas gift ever from my amazing husband, hopefully I can continue wearing it throughout this pregnancy! Ada calls it glitter, which I love!

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-The tailbone pain that is setting in is REAL. It started way earlier with Ada, like it was one of my first pregnancy symptoms and it was bad enough to keep me from running a half marathon that I signed up to do, but it got better and was only mild compared to this. Its not constant now but when I have it, I can barely walk. I need to make sure I am getting up every 10-15 minutes so I don’t stiffen up.

-I’m trying to workout again. I know it feels like its too late to even bother, but I’ve kept the weight down a little, and I’m still starting to notice it in my face and arms so I thought if I could get some cardio in and some light upper body stuff, It would help in the long run. I’ve been giving myself the holiday excuse to eat like garbage and now that Its a new year I feel like its a good time to stop making excuses and eat better in general. I’ve stayed pretty active the whole time between chasing a 4 year old around, moving, traveling and the holidays that I don’t feel super out of shape, so I think I’m safe to ease back into a gentle routine.

-Braxton Hicks are getting worse (as I expected) they are not all that frequent yet but when when they come they are pretty intense.

-I’m sleeping like crap. I am so uncomfortable at night that I just toss and turn from side to side (a lot of its because of the tailbone). I fortunately don’t wake up feeling like I didn’t sleep at all, but I just can’t get comfortable. Ada has been sleeping good and she got her new “Ok to wake” alarm clock from Santa, so she’ll even stay in her bed until 7am, but I usually have to get up to pee at least once or twice myself anyway.

-Stealing from my survey a little bit: Best moment this week, I hung curtains and finished hanging the gallery wall in the nursery all by myself!! I was determined to get the last few things done in there, and my nesting was a bit crazy having so much time off between Christmas and New Years. I only have a couple things left to do for the baby’s new room. I’m working on reorganizing the playroom and our guest room too, so I ordered some stuff online that I am waiting for, then I think I’ll steal the shelf that’s in the play room now and reuse it for the nursery! See… the nesting stuff is bad! I told my husband to watch me, the day I went into labor with Ada I went on a cleaning frenzy, even vacuuming out the fridge. That seems to be my queue that the end is near! I’ll share nursery pictures when everything is done. This was my major project in the guest room, getting my craft closet organized since it got dumped on when we moved in.

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-Baby is moving like crazy! Big aggressive movements now. She seems to be snug on my right side which I think is where Ada spent all her time. I think now that the bump is so big and Ada can see it more she’s grown more and more obsessed with her baby sister. Its so sweet! I cannot wait for the first time she gets to meet her in real life. Ada talks to her All.The.Time. She gives the baby a play by play of everything we are doing and cannot leave or enter a room without kissing and hugging my belly. She also just loves to lay her head on my stomach any time we are snuggling together, which at this point is so uncomfortable for me, but too cute to make her move #MomLife.

Here are a few favorite Christmas pictures….

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My beautiful family, Can’t wait to have a 9 month old in my arms next Christmas!
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Leaving milk and cookies out for Santa after we sprinkled the reindeer food on the front lawn!
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The very best view on Christmas morning. I had those alcohol free mimosas flowing!

-Not only did I host Christmas (twice) but we also hosted my best friends baby shower and New Years Eve. both were much less stressful, and I really had fun opening my house up to all our friends for these special events. Here are a few favorite pics from those!

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My second attempt at a Diaper Cake
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We are only 4 weeks apart!
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New Year countdown at 9pm with hopes they would go to sleep after! Ha!
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Finally asleep!

The last picture is the best because she literally fell asleep on me like this at 11:54pm. She made it ALMOST to midnight and then had to sleep on me in such a way that it was almost impossible to get up to ring in the New Year 6 minutes later! Kids are A**holes like that!! She’s lucky I love her so much!

And that’s about it for baby news this week. We were mostly consumed with the holidays and now that its all over, I’m ready to slow down for a few weeks and patiently wait until this baby arrives.  We’ll be finishing up the nursery and buying a few last things that we need. I’m working on a Big Sister hospital Bag/Gift for when Ada comes to meet her and I need to dig out some stuff from basement storage like the car seat, my pump, and other feeding supplies, some of which will need replacing.  Next Doctors appointment is on Tuesday and as promised I want to try and do a side by side photo of 30 weeks pregnant with Ada and 30 weeks with this one!

Hope everyone else had a very happy Holiday and is ready to start fresh with a New year! We sure are happy to see 2018!!

28 Weeks -Third Trimester!!

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Its Christmas time!! Christmas weekend, so I wanted to make sure I got this post done early before it got away from me. I didn’t do a 27 week update really because the only major changes have been that I started to feel the baby hiccup quite frequently. Cute, but nothing earth shattering! I’ve decided to switch it up this week and I’m just going to bullet point how things are going, I’m starting to feel bored with the survey!

To start off… Hello Third Trimester, I am so happy to see you. Even though its the worst part, (so close, yet so far away) I am welcoming the countdown of the final 12 weeks, I can’t believe we are here already!

-The nursery is almost complete, I’ve had fun getting that in order while I Christmas shopped. Probably should have waited until after Christmas to save myself some stress but I got some good deals on things at least!

-I am soo incredibly exhausted and run down, I’m treating myself to a massage this afternoon before the crazy weekend gets the best of me. The hard part of shopping and baking is done, but now the hosting begins. My body is starting to hate me by the end of the day, sore back and feet, but mostly the “I just don’t give a F**k” is coming out in full force. I’m trying to maintain my normal speeds and Pinterest mommy-ing and I just can’t do it.  I’ve started to just simply not care what outfit Ada puts on in the morning and I’m letting her do her own 4 year old matching thing. If teeth get brushed and her hair gets combed I consider it a win. My Christmas wrapping is usually completed with ribbons, bows and cute tags, but this year, its wrapped half by me and half by Ada (she wants to help with everything- which is good and bad) so the fact that its taped closed completely is good enough for me, and the “to” and “from” is written in sharpie by Ada right on the box, still personalized but I’ve had to let go of my control and fortunately I’m okay with that. Below is how she is signing the packages and thinks its hilarious. My inner control freak was screaming while hearing her laugh at herself for doing it made it me shake it off and laugh with her.

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-I think my shoes are starting to get tight on me. I didn’t notice this problem the first time I was pregnant because it was summer and I spent all my time in flip flops, but I’ve noticed normal sneakers and boots are feeling a bit snug lately.

-We have crammed in every last Christmas event into the last 2 weeks we’ve been home. We’ve visited Santa twice, did the Polar Express Train Ride, all our decorating, shopping, baking and Parties. We had to skip out on a couple parties because of conflicts and honestly I was thankful we didn’t have to try to squeeze more in. Here’s a few pics from those events.

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This is Ada’s (and mine) favorite ornament from her first Christmas, she takes this pic for me every year!
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My niece Savannah, Ada and me at the Niagara Falls Culinary Center
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Ada told Santa what she wants for Christmas, notice her extra special Christmas outfit this year, cares given = zero!!
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The Polar Express Train Ride, Ada’s favorite thing to do at Christmas time!

-The movements of baby girl are getting so much more intense. I can see my stomach moving from the outside and she manages to wedge herself under my ribs sometimes which I didn’t think was going to happen because she feels so low, but I guess she’s getting so big now that she’s just running out of space. I forgot how intense it gets towards the end.

-My appetite is somewhere in between I could eat all day everyday and I’m too tired to make dinner so I’ll just skip it.  Ada was sick earlier in the week and didn’t want to eat anything, so we barely forced down some toast and buttered noodles, which meant I didn’t need to cook dinner and we were all on our own. But I’ll order a whole pizza for lunch at work and eat it by myself, so there’s that too!

-Ada completely melts my heart with how much she loves her baby sister already. When I got home from running errands this week, she came up and hugged my tummy and said “Mom I really missed the baby while you were gone”.  She loves to lay her head on my stomach and rub the baby while talking to her through my belly button, which is where she thinks the baby hears her from.

-On the other end of the spectrum, Ada has tried my patience over and over again this week and between the holiday craze and my raging hormones I feel like I’m at my whits ends sometimes. I really thought I was doing well with the whole hormone thing, but getting out the door in the morning can test you to no end. Arguing over getting dressed, what’s for breakfast and even simple things like making sure she still has manners, is driving me nuts. I don’t know if she is testing me or I just have no patience.

-I’ve been curious how my size and weight compare this time with last time, so I read back on old blog posts with Ada. At 28 weeks last time I was up 24 pounds, last week’s doctors appointment I was only up 15, so shockingly I am doing better there. The movement is about the same, I noted hiccups starting at week 26 last time, and 27 weeks this time. And I mentioned that exhaustion was starting to really set in and how I needed to slow it down, I was blaming Christmas this time, but I guess we’re just to that point in general. I didn’t do a 28 week pic last week, but I did a 29 and 30, so in one of the upcoming posts I’ll try to do a side by side comparison to see where we’re at size wise! I think its pretty close!

For now, here’s how 28 weeks looks from my view and cheers to everyone for a very Merry Christmas!! Hope you all enjoy time with family and friends and that Santa is very good to you all. Happy Holidays!!

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26 week update

Published on by stephaniemagsLeave a comment

Not much new to report this week. Feeling VERY pregnant. Feeling very tired and excited for Christmas. The holiday rush is always exhausting under normal circumstances, now to be pregnant and to have missed a week and a half of holiday prep has had me a little stressed out thinking about what I still need to get done.

We had a doctors appointment this week, the fun glucose test was on the schedule. Nothing like crushing a whole can of orange pop in 5 minutes at 9:00am. IMG_7320.JPG

Luckily I passed that test with flying colors and I’m safe from the 3 hour one! Phew! Aside from having to sit and wait an hour after the drink, the appointment was a quick in and out with not much excitement. So I guess I’ll just jump into the survey for the week!

How far along? 26 weeks 5 days

Total weight gain/loss: According to the doctors scale I am up about 15 pounds. Not as bad as I thought. 

Maternity clothes?  Yes, wearing a lot of the same things over and over again since I feel like I’ve found the few pieces that I feel good in. 

Stretch marks?  Not yet, I just feel like my body is adapting so much differently this time around. Like it already knows what’s coming!

Sleep: Sleeping great again now that I have my bed back. Ada has had me up a few times recently, but we’re usually all quick to go back to sleep. She’s also been waking up super early lately, sometimes falling back to sleep in our bed which is a habit I never wanted to start. She doesn’t know it yet, but she is getting one of those “Ok to Wake” alarm clocks from Santa, so hopefully that will help the early wake up calls I’m getting.

Best moment this week: Just having a doctors appointment again I guess. I hadn’t been in 4 weeks, so its always nice to go in and hear the baby’s heart beat, talk to the doctor and be reassured that everything is looking good and we’re measuring spot on. I start going every 2 weeks now! Which means only one thing…. we’re getting closer!

Have you told family and friends: Yes

Miss Anything? Being able to eat whatever I want. We had a holiday dinner last night with my husbands old co-workers and the restaurant had some AMAZING food, but a lot of it was raw. Beef tar tar, sushi rolls, brie cheese. I wanted it all, but had to be careful about what I was picking. They also had the wine flowing and the host of this party has exquisite wine taste so I’m sure I missed out on some really good bottles.

Movement:  Lots of movement, all the time. Getting sharp little elbows or knees to pop up once in awhile. She was moving so much the other night I just had to go to bed because it was getting to be a little much for me.

Food cravings:  Ice cream sandwiches!!! I’m obsessed right now! I think I single handedly ate the entire box out of our freezer this week (and a couple nights I may have had more then one.) I’m sure that weight is going to catch up to me after this week, and now I’ve got the holidays to look forward to with this sweet tooth I have!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Spicy food gives me incredible heartburn. I’m not sure what else is causing the heartburn because I end up with it almost every night now. I just noticed that spicy food will almost always cause it right away! Its been way worse this pregnancy, this baby better come out with a full head of hair!

Have you started to show yet: Yes, and my waddle is starting to show up in full effect too. I try really hard when I walk around the office to make sure I’m walking straight.

Gender prediction: Girl, and so far so good sticking with our name choice!

Labor Signs: Just braxton hicks. My doctor went over all the conditions on these under which I am to call the office. Same drill as last time basically. They are pretty random, but if they become consistent or I get more then 5 in an hour and resting and water doesn’t help, I need to follow up. Scary that we’re to this point already!

Belly Button in or out? We know this answer, way out!

Wedding rings on or off?  Still on

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, but a little stressed out. I still have a few Christmas gifts to finish up, and I have NO idea what I’m getting. I opted out of making a few of the things I was gonna do and instead ordered stuff online paying up the butt for shipping now because its last minute. Buuuut I think it saved me some stress of making gifts.

Looking forward to: Christmas!! Just 10 days away now! We’re hosting Christmas eve brunch with friends, Christmas day dinner and a baby shower for my best friend on the 29th. I think I also offered my house up for New Years Eve, so I’m a little concerned with all the hosting I have to do this year, but it will be lots of fun! I am soooo looking forward to having all our friends and family into our new home this holiday. I am so in love with our new house, and its already felt so homey to us, so welcoming everyone in for the holidays seems like an even more perfect way to make this house feel like home!

Here’s my 26 week bump picture and a few favorites of getting decorations up and the finished look of our new home all decorated for the holidays!

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The lighting is not the best on this picture and my photographer is only 3 ft. tall.

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Celebrating the Holidays

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Christmas is getting so close and it’s so much fun to do Christmas with a child, I keep talking up Santa Clause, hoping she gets it by the time she comes downstairs Christmas morning. She gets some things, like presents, although doesn’t quite understand what they are for I’m sure.  She loves the Christmas tree in the house and all the lights. We’ve been busy trying to fit in all the usual magical holiday stuff. We took her to see Santa a few weeks ago at Kelly’s Country Store, they are known for having the best Santa around, he comes down the chimney and there are real reindeer outside the window. They do a phenomenal job and our friends family grew up with this being a holiday tradition so we decided to start going with them.  Ada did not enjoy seeing Santa though.

This photo below makes way better Santa memories then her sitting nicely on his lap! I will forever cherish this photo of her meeting Santa for the first time.

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We had my dad’s fireman holiday party the following weekend and she did much better with him, She made me sit with her this time, which was kinda awkward. My dad got an awesome photo though of her giving him a high five!

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We had one more holiday party that same day, and went right from one party to the next. Dan’s family has gotten so big that their family party is hosted at the banquet hall his family owns. And since they are too large of a family to get together on Christmas they do it a couple weeks before. It’s always a good time and there are so many kids. We were able to get a great family photo done too!

 

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Like most things this Christmas, she doesn’t quite get anything but is receptive to it. I’m looking forward to the next few years when she is old of enough to really enjoy and understand the magic of Christmas! So far its been a great holiday season!

Getting ready for the holidays

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We’ve of course been busy getting ready for Christmas at our house. We went and got our tree Sunday after Thanksgiving. Every year I say I want to go to the Christmas tree farms and cut down our own tree, but since timing or weather never allows for that I’ve settled on just going to a local place and getting one. At least it’s real, which is the best!

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I had to give the tree a few days to fall out, but yesterday we went on a decorating spree, I pulled out all our stuff and while Dan sat on the couch and worked, I put it all together while Ada took it all apart! She had fun with all the ornaments and lights though!

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Ada also had a visit from Boo the Elf last Friday. It’s only been a week, but I think she already gets the whole Elf on the Shelf thing. We didn’t bother with the book because she obviously doesn’t understand the concept of Elf watching her, but she has had fun coming downstairs every day and finding her. I don’t do anything crazy, Boo just moves around every night. I’m not into Elf causing mischief around the house like so many of these intense Pinterest ideas suggest. the point is just for them to watch you and report back to Santa so Elf causing drama and making a mess on my kitchen counters seems counter-productive! I think next year will be even more fun with her!