Norah's Birthday! {Better Late Than Never}

Norah was born in March. We had her birthday party in March. However, the photos just got uploaded. Oh well! Here they are!

We had a great time at her first birthday party. It was at our house and the theme was Norah in One-derland. Of course, there were so many details that didn't get photographed, but I had a ton of fun planning and throwing the Alice in Wonderland tea party. We were grateful for all of our family and friends that came over to help us celebrate. Most everything I made myself and put together over the course of the week before.

Although first birthdays are always more for the parents than the kiddo, she thoroughly enjoyed ripping apart the wrapping paper.

The cupcakes say "Eat Me" and "Norah's First Birthday." The homemade ones are pink and the morning of the party we worried we wouldn't have enough so Chris went to buy more. Glad we did!

The above banner was on clearance at Hobby Lobby. I got it home and it said "hapy 1st birthday" oh, and the "p" was backwards. So I adjusted it a little. Probably won't be buying clearance banners anymore, at least without checking them out first. 

The banner below I made with the help of a friend at work and her Cricut machine. It's hard to see the colors in this photo, but it looked lovely in front of our dining room window.

Oh yeah, she has always and still hates the Happy Birthday song. Everyone even whispered it...didn't seem to make a difference.

I made her hat with some leftover fabric and cotton puff balls. Below is the pre-cry face, but I love how bright her eyes look.

...and meltdown.

She recovered with a gf cupcake. Then on to opening gifts and watching the other kiddos.

We also had a little secret at this event, we had just found out that Gibson was on the way. It was hard to not tell everyone when they were at our house that day.

It's hard to believe how much she has changed in the last 7 months. Now she is closer to 2! Time to start planning the next party!

Pregnancy- Glass Half Full

This past week has been a little rough. Nothing huge just a combination of some relatively unfortunate events involving pets, work, money, etc...coupled with the "end-of-pregnancy" symptoms and a toddler who is not sure if she wants her independence or not has me in just a negative mood. So I set off to write this post to complain. Seriously. I wrote a bunch of negative things about how uncomfortable I am, how N is whining constantly, I can't sleep...yada yada yada.

But then, I stopped when I felt Baby Gibson move. At the moment, I'm not uncomfortable. Norah is rolling the ball for Thor and she is giggling pretty loud (so cute!) whenever he brings it back (which is every. single. time. haha). I'm actually not feeling too tired and my cat gets to come home (healthy--er) tomorrow from the vet.

So I deleted it all...

I decided to write down all the things I love and will miss about being pregnant.

1. My hair is SO shiny, thick and soft. My fingernails are doing great and my skin is clear.
2. I don't have to change cat litter!
3. Getting to know this little life we created better than anyone else. I get to feel him move, kick and stretch. He reacts to our voices (especially his big sister!) and I get to experience all of it.
4. I don't feel bad about wearing yoga pants or leggings every day.
5. The anticipation of meeting our new family member, all the feelings of anxiety, fear, excitement and love that go along with it.
6. Seeing Norah snuggle up and fall asleep on my belly.
7. Getting to play "guess the body part" when lumps come poking out of my belly.
8. The sheer amount of food that I eat...without a ton of guilt. It is A LOT.
9. A continuous feeling of accomplishment. Ya know...I'm growing a person!
10. The heartburn, swollen feet and hands, sciatica, hip pressure, headaches and exhaustion won't last forever. In fact, it's quite short considering the amazing gift we will soon get to meet. I know I'll forget all about it when I see him.

My glass is MORE THAN half full.

Contentment Challenge

Original image: here.

In July, we did a "no spend" month. We decided to see how much money we could save/not spend by strictly not eating out, not shopping, not buying anything online....we did it. We didn't fail. We also didn't save any money. I'm still confused and I don't think I learned anything, other than it made me mad. I felt like we worked too hard, both at home and work to not allow ourselves to buy things when we wanted them, to go out for sushi, to purchase an outfit for your daughter...right? But I think what I was missing was an initiative. Yes, we need to save money, but there is SO much more to it than that.

On various blogs, I've been reading a lot about a "Contentment Challenge"-- no spending on anything frivolous...clothes, shoes, accessories, make-up, gadgets, expensive coffee...etc. For three months... Three whole months.

I've been thinking about doing a Contentment Challenge for a while, although I was (and still am) quite hesitant to write about it. It seems that if I write about it, especially here, it becomes permanent. I can't change my mind, I can't rework the rules. What if I fail? What if I can't handle it for three months? 

Well, I'm doing it. Officially started on October 1...so this will go October, November and December. With a baby due right in the middle, I'm sure my shopping will be down anyway, so it works out. My goal is not to eliminate, not to tell myself "no," but to look at why. Why do I feel the need to buy "things" and instead of considering it a "can't have," I'm going to fill the proverbial void with a reason to be thankful, a reason to be happy, so many other reasons than just material items.

In the end, it's not about whether I pass or fail, but what I learn and discover along the way. Sappy, right? The original challenge is quite religiously based, so I'm going to alter it a bit to fit my lifestyle and general system of beliefs. It shouldn't negate the outcome at all. 

We're going into this at the height of the holidays, when frivolous spending is at a premium, so I want to make sure that I'm doing this for the right reasons. My children (I'll have another one at the end of this...) come first and they'll still get appropriate Christmas gifts that are meaningful, important, and in the budget. 

Here are the guidelines (I altered them from the original) if anyone wants to follow along:

• For the first 10 days, the homework is the following: prepare, organize, and make any necessary purchases that I might need during these months. (This is not a last minute shopping spree! This is one final trip to the store for items I may need, and the opportunity for you to say my goodbyes to Target.)

• Choose 1-3 inspiring books to read during this time. I don't have a lot of time to read, I decided on some of my favorite blogs for things I'm interested in like Young House Love and Finding Joy.

• Gifts are okay! If someone gives me a gift (my birthday is in this three months too!) I will receive it graciously! If I need to buy someone else a gift, by all means, I will do so. The point is not to be rude, but to learn more myself.

• Necessities are okay! If I drop and break my phone (gosh I really hope not!) ,I'll get a new one! I just can't start justifying new purchases for items that I already have. 

• I must actively pursue something - anything - that replaces my tendency to buy stuff. I will begin thinking about something I love or a hobby I've always wanted to do, and make preparations to actually do it.

More to come on this! 

Mini Mei Tai

Anyone who has been around since N was born knows that we have always used some sort of carrier with her. Moby Wrap, sling, Baby Bjorn and Ergo (our favorite!) to name a few. Not only do I enjoy the closeness with the baby/toddler but it saved my sanity while having a high needs baby. I learned how to nurse in it, hold my baby and still manage to go grocery shopping and occasionally make dinner.

We still wear Norah often, many times it is easier and more convenient than a stroller. Norah seems to enjoy the view, also. We anticipate wearing Baby G a lot (and still probably N, too).

I haven't decided if I'm going to give N this as part of her big sister kit or if we will wait until Christmas, but either way I couldn't wait to see how it looked before I wrapped it up. She will never remember, right? Haha.

I cut and sewed this in about two nap times (long ones because N has had a bit of a cold...). Honestly, it would have taken less time if I wouldn't have been too lazy to go find a crochet needle to turn the straps right side out. I used this tutorial.

I hope she continues to enjoy this! She seems to be just getting into playing with dolls and stuffed animals. I'm optimistic she will want to put her babies in it while we carry Baby G.

Birth Plan

Whoa- haven't kept up with the blog thing lately. I feel like we have been moving really fast just trying to keep up. Right now, both N and I are sick. Seems like a nasty cold is circulating. Hoping to be feeling better quite soon. In the meantime, Norah has been taking long naps (today was nearly 3 hours!) once I got her sleeping and all propped up so she didn't get congested while laying down. So I took the opportunity to write a birth plan.

Last week, I had an appointment with my midwife and she suggested that I write down my birth plan. I had been considering it anyway and it was just the push I needed to put everything into writing. It's also helping to get my mind of off the fact that we have about 7 weeks to go and baby G isn't head down yet (more on that later).

Let me preface this by saying that I had a relatively ideal birthing situation with N. Everything went very quickly, relatively smooth and with little to no complications. Although, I didn't have a plan. I went in mildly educated about a wide range of things and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I would breastfeed. That's it. Looking back, I wasn't really prepared for some of the decisions we would have to make in a stressful and frightening situation.

Here's what I have. I'm shooting for a natural hospital birth with little interventions. I know it's possible and right for our family and situation.

Baby Prep

We have about 11 weeks until Baby G's anticipated arrival. While I know it is naive to think that we could ever be 100 percent prepared for life with 2 kiddos. There are a few things I have been doing or plan to do with N to prepare her for another person to share her mommy and daddy with.

1. In the next week or so, we are taking the unused crib out of her room and put it in G's future room. It will be replaced with a twin bed we already have. Although she never slept in it, she is accustomed to her room being set up a certain way. At this point, we plan to cosleep with both children until one of them lets us know they don't want to anymore. That being said, I'd like to try some naps in her own room.

2. We have been playing with dolls (okay, mostly her stuffed Mickey or Minnie). We call them baby, she pushes them in her shopping cart, places them in the mamaroo, and she has even learned how to "burp the baby." So proud of her.

3. I know she is young, but I think she understands a lot more than she is given credit for. She is such a quick learner. We read books about the new baby and talk about mommy milk, and generally try to get her excited for impeding changes.

4. I'd also like to make her a "big sister" kit for when the baby arrives. I'm thinking of sewing her a mini mei tai carrier. I'd also like to include a book or toy from the new baby. Anyone else done anything like this? I'd like to include more, but useful things!

Am I missing anything helpful to prepare her for the baby? Suggestions please!

Food Intolerance and Healthy Eating

When N was an infant we started noticing some significant gastrointestinal issues- certainly not severe, but absolutely bothersome. As an exclusively breastfed newborn she was experiencing a significant amount of gas, tummy troubles and general pain beginning at about 1-2 weeks of age. 

At first, it was attributed to "normal newborn" stuff, but it wasn't getting better. In fact, it just continued to get worse. She was in pain, awful pain. She wouldn't have a bowel movement for days on end (which can be normal) but when she would it could be runny and green. In between she would have a rock hard tummy and just scream. It was heartbreaking. So, I knew something had to change. Initially, I did an elimination diet that I found through Dr. Sear's website. Basically, I cut out dairy, soy and gluten. Yep, I was pretty much hungry all. the. time. Not sure if it was just me, but I could eat just about anything and everything when I was first nursing. Always hungry. However, N was doing better within 2-3 days and it just kept getting better after that. So something was going right. 

I continued on with the elimination diet and slowly starting adding things back in, except soy; best to avoid that anyway. I tried on a few occasions to add dairy back in with not good results, it was then I decided to embrace my dairy-free lifestyle as it wasn't fair of me to keep experimenting with my daughter. I had hopes that she would eventually outgrow it. As she started to eat more solid foods, around 8-9 months, I could eat butter, yogurt and some cheese (very little). Not to mention I was nearly 20 lbs under my pre-pregnancy weight. Happy day!

Fast forward to N about 11-12 months, still nursing but also eating a pretty significant diet of whatever we ate. I was cooking with dairy, eating cheese and generally not worrying about it. The symptoms returned...Because I wasn't interested in solely treating the symptom and trying to avoid unnecessary medication, I made an appointment with an allergist.

After a lot of conversation, some testing and a very pleasant and informative appointment it was determined that N is dairy intolerant. Not always easy to detect in a toddler, but the signs were significant enough to the physician and myself. Interestingly enough, the doctor highly recommended we eliminate or avoid high concentrated corn products and gluten, as well. I was told that generally it is a myth that she will ever grow out of her intolerance, but someday she may be able to tolerate them better. It is a choice I will leave up to her as she gets older, but for now, we find it best to completely avoid the dairy. There are a few exceptions- butter used in cooking doesn't seem to bother her and she is also able to digest yogurt and dairy kefir. Which I attribute to their extremely low amount of lactose. The probiotic factor seems to cancel it out and actually seems to help. 

Surprisingly, it hasn't been as difficult as I initially anticipated. My husband is also trying to avoid wheat to combat some issues and overall, we are all doing well with the lifestyle change. So, all in all we aren't doing it necessarily to be trendy or cool, but because it helps us all. However if eating healthy, whole and unprocessed foods is hip than consider me on that bandwagon.