Baby Bump & Consignment Shop Finds

This week has felt like one of the longest weeks of the entire winter.  Just when the last of the snow in our yard was about to melt, it snowed again...about EIGHT inches of snow!!!  I am always so ready for Spring by this time of the year.  I'm counting down the days.  Tomorrow is the first day in March so I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Ruy's birthday is April 10, and it's always so warm on his birthday.  That's only about six weeks away.  I just keep telling myself that I can push through these last few weeks and then it will be open windows (unless my allergies get the best of me again) school on the back porch, iced coffee, flip flops, sun dresses, fun trips to the park and so much more!!!  

Well enough about the depressing snow.  I figured I should take a baby bump picture while I'm just a few weeks a long so that I can look back and remember how I looked throughout this pregnancy.  I just snapped a quick picture in my bathroom with my phone so it's not the greatest but it will have to do.  I think I am around six weeks along.  My first appointment with my midwife isn't until March 18, but I'll know my exact due date then.  I'm thinking I will be due around October 18 though.  

 I've gained 2 pounds so far, probably from all the chocolate I had to eat the first few weeks before I even knew I was pregnant and then the week after I found out.  I don't know what was wrong with me but I was wanting chocolate pretty much 24/7 for about three weeks straight.  It was crazy.  

Last week I started feeling dizzy a lot.  It comes and goes randomly throughout the day.  I'm trying to stay on top of drinking lots of water (even more than I normally do) but it seems I've been having a hard time remembering this past week.  I'm also extremely tired now by the time 2pm rolls around.  I start yawning and then all I can think about the rest of the day is the moment when my head gets to hit the pillow.  It's hard because I usually have so much I want to get done after I get all the kids to bed, but I've seriously had so little motivation this past week to do anything other than what absolutely has to be done.  I've slacked majorly on house chores, and I started several organization projects that are still incomplete and now I have boxes and things all over the place.  This coming week needs to be better cause I can't stand living in disorganization.  

Certain smells have started to bother me.  I made taco soup on Thursday night and ended up dumping the whole thing because 1. the peppers in it smelled horrible to me and 2.  it tasted horrible to me.  It probably would have tasted fine to every one else but Nathan was at work and I was so tired I didn't feel like cooking anything else.  So we went and got Pizza instead. 

I bought the new baby something for the first time already :)  I was at a consignment store and found the exact swing I wanted.  It was only $55 compared to the brand new price of $135 so I just couldn't pass it up.  It matched my living room perfectly.  I really didn't want to have a swing in the living room that was bright orange when my house is all natural earthy colors.  I really love consignment stores.  You can find such great things for such great prices there.

I also bought these two Baby Gap outfits for Alanna on the same day I bought the swing.  I love Baby Gap but can't normally afford anything from the store brand new.  But the consignment store right near my house always has beautiful girl Baby Gap clothes there.  A lot of my favorite dresses that Alanna has are from that consignment store and are Baby Gap.  Anyways...so I found these two outfits and snatched them up.  The lady at the register said they had just put them out the day before.  I can't wait for her to wear these.  The pink dress will probably be her Easter dress.  I just need to find a little sweater for her to wear over it in case it is cold that day and some little shoes.   The second outfit is a minty color with little cream polka dots on it. It's hard to tell in the picture but it's really just precious.

Liam got pretty worried yesterday and said "Mommy, when the baby falls out it's going to hit his head!"  I had to reassure him that the baby would be just fine when it comes out and Daddy will make sure that the baby doesn't hit its head! :)  

Well that's all for now.  I hope everyone has had a great weekend so far!

Snow & Sickness...Is it Spring yet?

This past Monday's forecast was calling for snow.  A lot of snow...like 6-8 inches!!!  I'm not a fan of snow at all.  I don't like being cold.  Anything below 60 is just too cold.  Anyways...the forecast was calling for snow which meant the kids and I would be cooped up inside for several days.  So after we finished our morning school we headed out to the Children's Museum.  Two families that we are good friends with happened to be up there as well, so Ruy had a blast playing with their kids.  At 1PM the snow started coming down.  We ate our lunch and headed home.  The boys were really excited but me...not so much.  

The boys didn't go outside to play on Monday but woke up Tuesday morning ready to go out in it.  They played for about 30 minutes to an hour and then they were done.  

Wednesday Nathan was home from the station so he went outside that morning before heading off to his office, and played in the snow with the boys.  He got his snowboard out and let the boys slide down the front yard on it.  They thought that was pretty awesome.  Liam didn't last very long outside though...he got snow down his jacket and was done. 

Later Wednesday I thought Liam was acting a little "off".  I picked him up and he felt a little warm.  He had a fever of 100.8.  He spent most of the day sitting under a blanket reading his new favorite book.  It's a book about animals with pictures of real animals.  He loves it.

The kids anxiously awaited Nathan getting off of work Wednesday night.  When they heard his truck pull  up, they all jumped up and ran to the window.  This is how they wait for him pretty much every time he gets home. 

Thursday went pretty much just like Tuesday and Wednesday...home all day, school, Liam sick, etc.  Alanna wanted to play with her rose from Valentine's Day.  I guess tearing it up seemed like a good idea. 

Liam looked at his animal book a lot, whether he was sitting at the table...wearing a hat and sunglasses! (Because a hat always makes life better!) 

 or laying on the couch under a blanket wearing crocodile slippers.

Thursday evening Ruy decided that he wants to be an amazing chef when he grows up, so he asked if he could cook something.  He picked out one of our favorite muffin recipes and made them almost completely by himself.  It was pretty cute. 

Thursday night Liam fell asleep on the couch at 6:45.  He was so cold and tired.  I wrapped him up and carried him to his room.  He slept till about 2:30 and then came and got me.  His fever was up to 104 and it was making him so cold.  I took him potty, got him more medicine, and then he fell right back to sleep. 

Friday Liam spent most of the day on the couch again.  He hardly ate anything but wanted a lot of water.  His fever got up to 101.5 on Friday.  He fell asleep on the couch at 6:15pm and when I tried waking him up, he was so out of it and so miserable I just carried him off to bed for the night.  He woke up at 4:30AM wanting to be with me.  I tried putting him in my bed but Liam is like me...he doesn't do well with change in sleeping routine.  It throws him off and then he can't relax and sleep.  So a few minutes later he was asking to get back in his bed.  I got him tucked back in and was about to fall asleep when I heard him come back out of his room.  I made a little bed for him on my floor but after 10 minutes of him kicking my bed, I put him back into his bed.  It was about 5:30AM at that point.  It took me a long time to unwind and I'm pretty sure it was after 6AM before I fell asleep.  Alanna woke up at 6:45AM.  My first thoughts were...is it Spring yet???  Snow and sick kids and little sleep for me = not to fun.  :) 

But Saturday Liam's fever broke and he actually didn't spend the whole day on the couch.  We spent another day at home...inside ALL day.  It was raining and so cold.  My boys are so needing warm weather so they can be outside and run and play.  Liam keeps asking if we can "go to Spring?"  If only it were that simple.  But Spring is only a few short weeks away.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now!  

Well that is how our week went. 

Here's wishing everyone a warmer, less snow filled, healthier week this week!

Baby #4

I had the feeling that I was pregnant.  It was two days before  I was expecting my period but I didn't want to wait any longer to take a test.  I took a test but...it was negative.  I felt disappointed because I was sure I was pregnant.  But then I remembered that I had tested two days early with Alanna and had a negative test as well.  So I decided not to worry about it too much and just wait two days. 

I took a test on Sunday (Feb 8).  I waited but saw nothing.  Then I realized there was just the faintest hint of a second line on the test.  I couldn't tell if my eyes were playing tricks on me.  I showed it to Nathan but even he agreed it was so light.  Nathan picked up a different brand of a pregnancy test later that afternoon when he went out to get a hair cut.  When he came back I took the test.  

 

I laid the test face down until Nathan came in so we could look at it together.  When I flipped it over there was only one line but it had only been about one minute.  After about two minutes a faint second line showed up.  We both kept asking if it was really another line.  You would think this was our first time taking a pregnancy test or something!!! LOL :) 

So yes, there were definitely two lines.  And YES!  We are definitely pregnant! 

 A few days later we decided to tell the kids.  We sat down on the couch with them and said that we had something to tell them.  We knew that Alanna and Liam wouldn't have a clue what was going on, but wanted to surprise Ruy.  We sat them down and then said "Alanna is going to be a big sister!"  Ruy looked at me for a minute and then said "Wait! What!  You're going to have a baby!"  He got really excited which in turn made Liam really excited even though Liam had no clue what was going on.  It was pretty funny.  We explained to Liam what was going to happen and then he seemed to understand.  He said my belly was going to get real big and that he wants a sister.  Ruy wants a brother.  And I'm pretty sure Alanna will be jealous either way :)


As of right now, I haven't had an morning sickness and don't feel any more/less tired than normal.  I usually start to feel sick around week 6 or 7 but I'm praying maybe it will be different with this baby. 

I've already had so many thoughts of how I need to organize the house, de-clutter, rearrange the kids rooms, and what foods I need to freeze before baby arrives!!!  I mean really... I only have eight months to get it all done. 

  We are all so very very excited about adding a fourth child to our family! And I am excited to have a way to document the journey this time! 

 

I love them

I love them.

 Unconditionally.And.Forever

Our Week

Friday, two weeks ago, I took Alanna to the doctor to see if she had an ear infection.  She has had a runny nose and slight cough off and on for the past two months.  She cut four teeth in December which I figured caused some of the runny nose issues but then all through January she has dealt with the same thing.  Her sleep has been not so great at night.  She has been been waking up several times a night, sometimes staying up for 2-4 hours straight at a time.  So after another sleepless night I finally decided to take her to the doctor.  

They had a really hard time telling if she had an ear infection.  They said her ear canals were so small it was hard to see anything.  They had to clean her ears out and even after cleaning them out, they could only see into one ear.  But the one they could see in to was infected.  

I held off giving her the anti-biotic for one more week hoping that the ear drops and ibuprofen would be enough to help her sleep and maybe it would clear up on its own.  But a week later and she was still sleeping horrible and no sign of her runny nose clearing up.  So last Friday I put her on the antibiotic.  By Monday of this week I could tell she was starting to feel better.  She wasn't following me around the house constantly wanting to be held and her nose was clearing up some.  She has been sleeping a little better this week as well.  She's still waking up at night but only to nurse for 10-20 minutes and then go back to sleep.  And two nights ago she slept through the night.  O thank you... I might be getting to the point where all three of my kids are sleeping through the night on a regular basis.  How amazing would that be.  

Monday morning Liam woke up with a runny nose.  I didn't think much of it though.  The doctor told me that kids get 8-10 colds per year...most of them occurring in the winter and usually happening back to back.  Really??? Spring please hurry up!!! Anyways...Monday morning kind of was a not so good morning.  Everything seemed to be "off".  So after lunch we went to the Children's Museum and played for about three hours.  Liam was totally fine the whole time we were there, although he had been super cranky at home before we had left.  When we got in the van he started screaming.  He cried for about 20 minutes before telling me that his ear hurt...Great!  Another kid with an ear infection.  

 

We were almost to my Mom's house by that point (she had invited us over for a bit) so I got all the kids out of the van and hoped my Mom would have some children's ibuprofen.  Alanna was sleeping the whole way from the museum to my Mom's and I knew she wouldn't be happy when I had to wake her up. She wasn't and my Mom didn't have an medicine and Liam wouldn't stop screaming and holding onto his ear.  So I called the doctor and thankfully got a sick appointment for an hour later.  I was out of ibuprofen at home so I stopped at CVS on the way to the doctors.  I strapped Alanna into the carrier and carried Liam into the store...with him screaming as loud as he could all the way into the store and the entire time we were in the store.  

 

This is how she likes to fall asleep...with her blankey over her face.

 

I gave him the medicine before we left the parking lot and hoped it would kick in soon.  It took about 35 minutes to start helping his pain but he finally stopped screaming a few minutes after we sat down in the waiting room.  The nurse was so great with Liam.  He made Liam smile and laugh and let Liam talk  about cheetahs and camels with him.  The doctor said he did have an ear infection.  Liam felt much better after getting some ear drops in his ears and getting on his medicine.  He cried a little on Tuesday about his ear hurting but hasn't said anything about it since.  

Wednesday was such a beautiful day.  It got up to just over 50 degrees.  As we sat at our dining table doing school, I couldn't stop thinking about how nice it would be to take the kids somewhere to enjoy the probably one day of nice weather we would have for some time.  So we finished up our morning school work, ate lunch, and headed out to one of our favorite parks.  This park doesn't have a playground but it has tons of animals, beautiful trees, bamboo, great rocks for climbing, and beautiful gardens. The kids love the goats, pigs, bunnies, chickens, buffalo, and black bears.  They were so excited to be going to the park they could hardly wait to get there.  Alanna LOVED the bunnies.  They jumped right over to her and she got to touch them.  Ruy's favorite part of the day was climbing up the rocks and Liam said his favorite part was the goats, cows, and pigs.  Ruy's prayer that night ended with ...."and thank you for letting us see the goats, chickens, roosters, bunnies, cows, horse, fox, bears, eagles, hawks, run in the bamboo grass, and climb the rocks."  :)  

 

 

Today we started out the day with some yummy overnight oatmeal and then spent the day at home...inside mainly.  

 

 

 

Ruy played outside for about 30 minutes but Liam only lasted about 2.5 seconds.  He came back in saying "I'm getting really cold."  And decided he would rather not go out again.  I'm so thankful for the nice day we had yesterday and for all the fun they got to have outside.  

 

Alanna just started loving throwing a bouncy ball back and forth.  She giggles and claps and thinks it's just so much fun.  Her, Liam and I spent some time this afternoon playing "throw the bouncy ball" together.  Alanna has also started helping clean up.  She loves to put her books back in her basket or if she sees me helping the boys clean up their toys she runs over and starts helping clean up too.  It usually ends with her re-dumping the whole box of toys back out but at least she is wanting to be a helper :) Alanna also has had some serious bed-head going on lately.  Whenever she wakes up it sticks up all over the place.  We all get a good laugh out of it. 

 

 Liam has started drawing "A's" over the past 2 weeks.  It's so neat seeing him learn new things and watching how excited he gets when he writes.  He said "See my A Mom!!! It's a BIG A and I made it for you!"  Then he hung it up on the frig for me. 

 

 

 

Alanna decided to see what a bar of soap tastes like during her bath tonight.  She made a terrible face but after I took the soap out of her mouth she tried to bite it again.  

 

 

 

This evening after I got Alanna and Liam to bed, Ruy and I had a little "movie date night" and had popcorn and watched the old black and white Daniel Boone.  He LOVED it.  It's a series so there are several seasons we can watch.  It was so fun snuggling with him.  He's growing up so fast.  I'm not ready for him to turn eight in a few weeks.

I'm hoping this weekend brings healthier kids and lots of fun!

My Daily Routine

I have received more than a few messages, emails, and texts recently from ladies asking me what my daily routine looks like, what Ruy's routine is like, what my favorite Trim Healthy Mama foods are, and how I keep up with my house cleaning/organization.  Rather than try to email everyone back separately, I decided just to start doing some blog posts about all of those things.  Today I'll be talking about My Daily Routine.

 Please understand that my routine will not work for every family.  Every family is unique and should adapt a routine that works best for their own family.  Also, when Ruy was in K-5 our routine was much different.  His school only took about an 1-1.5 hours back then which made our days go somewhat differently than they do now.  I also only had 2 children at that time.  If you don't home school at all, but just have children 4 and under at home, your routine will probably be very different from mine as well.  Last year after I had Alanna, our days were not very routine, and it was very difficult to home-school and keep up with the housework.  Since I started having a routine, meal planning, and sticking with a laundry/cleaning schedule things have been going SO much better.  The past 8 months or so have gone pretty smooth and we have enjoyed home-schooling this year very much. 

Another thing I wanted to say is that a routine shouldn't make your life more stressful...it shouldn't make you go around the house like a Drill Sergeant snapping at your kids to do this or that, or getting upset with them if you are behind schedule 2 minutes.  There are days when we are 30 minutes off but that's ok.  We just keep moving forward with our day.  Life happens, kids have tempers, potty breaks take longer than expected, boo-boos need kissed, diapers need changed, runny noses need wiped, kids need extra attention sometimes, drinks get spilled, school lessons take longer than expected, siblings fight,  toys get thrown into the toilet (yes...that happened to me today!  Alanna threw a pen in my toilet and then played in the water...Ew GROSS!).... but that's ok.  A routine is there to just help guide your day so that you don't wander around aimlessly feeling like no one is getting anything accomplished.  Be flexible and enjoy being Mommy!

So here it is...

6:15- Wake up. (If Alanna has slept well, I will get up and work out but the past few weeks she has been sleeping very bad so I haven't been able to work out like I want to.  So if Alanna has a bad night, I will usually sleep until 7 when the boys get up. 

6:30-7- Workout

7- Make Nathan's protein shake (if he is working at the fire station that morning) Snuggle with kids for a few minutes after they wake up. 

7:20- Get in the shower, get dressed, put on make-up, make bed, straighten up room & bathroom, put load of laundry in the washer.  

8:00- Breakfast

8:30- Clean up breakfast

9:00- Get Liam & Alanna dressed, , dry my hair if needed. (I have started washing my hair every other night.  I found that washing my hair in the mornings was causing me to take too long to get ready for the day.  I realized our days went much better if I didn't have to spend so much time in the shower in the morning or dry my hair.  So now I take a shower every night, and then take a quick 3-5 minute shower in the morning.)

9:30- Set Ruy & Liam up with books on the couch, put Alanna down for a nap.

9:45- My devotions

10- Start school (We do Bible, Phonics, History, Science, Math Flashcards & if we have time Reading during our morning school time.)

10:15- Snack for me & the kids (If I don't have a morning snack...I tend to get very cranky :)

11:30- Set Ruy up in his room with his Math lesson, Alanna gets up from her nap, put load of laundry in the dryer, start making lunch

12:00- 5 minute pick up before lunch, Lunch

12:30- Clean up lunch

1:00- Fold load of laundry, play with the kids.  During this time we will go outside when it's warm enough, play on the playground, take a walk, play a game, build blocks, make blanket forts :) etc.  or I will do our chapter book reading during this time.  Basically I just try to spend an hour just "being" with the kids and not focusing on work, school, or chores.

2:00- Ruy & Liam go to their room for quiet time.  Ruy does his seatwork, cursive, and spelling.  When he is done with his school he plays.  

2:10-2:30- I put Alanna down for her second nap.

2:30:  Balance checkbook, check emails, do my daily chore/chores, blog etc.  During this time I just try to regroup and get as much done as I can.  I usually have a cup of coffee and a THM dessert during this time :)

3:30- I get the boys out of quiet time, get them a snack and turn on a show or movie for them.  They are allowed to watch between 30-60 minutes of TV during this time. 

4:00-4:30- Alanna gets up from her nap.  I start getting dinner ready. (I try to do crock pot meals as much as possible to make things as less stressful as possible.  If I do a crock pot meal, I start it around 9AM.)  5 minute pick up, put load of laundry away if I didn't have time at 2:30PM,

5:30:  Dinner

6:00- Dinner clean up & pack Nathan's meals for the next day if needed *(My husband is a fire fighter and works 24 hour shifts.  He follows the THM plan with me and since he started doing that back in September 2014, I make his breakfast for him before he leaves and then pack him 2 snacks, lunch, and dinner.)

6:30-  Tues, Thurs, & Sat. are bath days.  Bathe kids, get kids ready for bed, play time with kids.  We read books, wrestle, play board games etc. 

7:30-  Put Liam to bed.

7:35- Put Alanna to bed

7:50-8:30 Read books or play a game with Ruy. (Nathan, Ruy, and I love to play games...this has become a special time for us to just be alone with Ruy.)

8:15-8:30- Put Ruy to bed

8:30-10:30- 5 minute pick up, prepare anything needed for breakfast next morning, get ready for bed, blog and/or work ( Lauren Zeigler Photography).  (Nathan works several nights a week at the station, so some nights I don't do photography work at all so that we can spend time together, some nights I work the entire 2 hours, some nights I just do 1 hour.  It kind of just depends on the night.)

10:30- Bedtime

A few notes...

1.  Every other Tuesday from 2PM-7PM and every other Friday afternoon to Sunday evening Ruy goes to his Dad & Step Mom's house.  On those days our school routine is a little different.  We don't take as long of an afternoon break so that we have time to get all of his school done before he needs to leave.

2.  Wednesday nights Ruy has Awanas from 6:30PM-8PM so our nightly routine is different that night. 

3.  I try to leave the house as little as possible during the week (unless it is for a field trip or other school related thing) so that our school and housework doesn't get behind.  We usually go to the library once every 2-4 weeks, and we usually do a field trip once a week or every other week.  It just depends on how the weather is really.  I do my grocery shopping on Friday afternoons after we have finished school.  There are obviously occasions that arise where we have to go out (doctor's appointments, etc.) but I don't just get up and run to Target in the morning just for the fun of it.  Those type of trips will throw off our whole day so I save that kind of thing for Saturdays. 

4.  Our Saturdays and Sunday aren't as structured as Monday-Friday.  They sometimes flow very similar just because that is what we are used to but Saturdays are usually really laid back and we just try to do something fun even if we stay home the whole day.  Sundays we have church in the morning and small group in the evenings.  

5.  There are days where our routine is totally off.  Not every day goes perfectly as planned.  We are human and have bad days just like everyone else.  Those are the days where I usually call/text my sister and get reassurance that everything is going to be ok! :)  

And that is it!  If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment or email me privately.  

And just because every post needs a picture...