2/26/10 - Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday...so HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! She has big casino plans tonight, so we're taking her to dinner on Sunday to celebrate!

Olivia and I just spent the day playing at home...destroying the basement in the process. Christian had to work a couple hours late, so it was a pretty long day. Our big news is...we are taking Olivia off the bottle, and we're very nervous about it! She was on three bottles a day...once she turned 1, we started weaning her off formula and the bottle at the same time. We took away her afternoon bottle, and she did just fine. Then, we took away her morning bottle and worked on getting her to take the sippy cup more...this took some time, but went fairly well. Now, she is doing great with her sippy...almost a full glass with each meal, and she hardly drinks any of her bottle at bedtime, so we think it's time! I do think she'll do just fine with it, but change is always a little scary. Our biggest reason for getting her off the bottle (other than the fact that they recommend to do it around 12 months) is that we need her to be completely over them before baby comes, so she doesn't get jealous about it. Hopefully this is soon enough to get it out of her mind. So, we'll see how it goes!!

Here is today's picture...as you can see, she always has her sippy close by!!











Until tomorrow!!!

2/25/10 - End to a Long Work Week!

Today is my Thursday/Friday, and it is very welcomed!! I need a B-R-E-A-K, and I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend! Christian will be at work tomorrow, like normal, and he's also working some more overtime on Saturday, so it will just be me and the lady for the next couple of days. Sunday we're taking my mom to dinner for her birthday, and I'll hopefully make it out for my weekly Target shopping, otherwise...NO PLANS! I'm very excited about that!

Today was a pretty boring day overall...work as usual, then home for the usual dinner, play and bed! I will say, I was officially hit with my first ever craving today, and it was very overwhelming. Right around lunch time I was hit with the NEED for Chinese food...and it would not go away. I swear, I was about to cry I wanted some so bad...so I ended up ordering some take out, risking my parking spot at work, and picking some up...I just couldn't take it anymore! I felt like such a loser...but it was delicious and well worth it!!

Here are some pics of Olivia from tonight...she's really been getting into her Lego's and love having me put them together for her. She's also become obsessed with the cable boxes...she's figured out the "on/off"button, and it is NOT cool. Of course "NO" means "do it again" in her world, so nothing helps with this little phase.











Until tomorrow!!!

2/24/10 - 18 Weeks!

Well, today is 18 Weeks!! I still can't believe it! So close to half way! I'm feeling good, but I'm already starting to feel uncomfortable. Maybe it has to do with the previous c-section, maybe I'm just so tired it's making me uncomfortable, maybe it's just the added energy Olivia requires, but I am UNCOMFORTABLE! I'm now up 3 lbs (trust me, this update will stop once I'm embarrassed by my number!), which doesn't seem like much, but I have this huge belly anyway! I actually like that though :)

I've decided I'm adding a little rant to my weekly pregnancy update. Seriously, I swear, being pregnant is so stressful, in so many ways...I've decided to vent to the world about what bugs me. Sit back and enjoy the ride :)

Today's vent is weight..not actually gaining it necessarily, but other peoples' view of it.

With Olivia, I packed on the LBS, from day 1. I never had any morning sickness, I was always hungry, and I subconsciously decided I was "eating for two" and took that literally. By this point, with her, I was already up around 17lbs! On top of it, gaining weight with her happened EVERYWHERE, and my belly didn't grow out, it grew wide. I was so disgusted with myself my entire pregnancy, it actually was starting to depress me. I felt out of control, and like there wasn't anything I could do about it. I still loved being pregnant, but it was really ruining the experience for me.

As I mentioned above, I've so far gained 3 lbs, which doesn't seem like much to me, but I definitely LOOK pregnant. But, everything feels different. I had really bad morning sickness for the first 14/15 weeks, so I actually lost weight, and since, have been slowly putting it on. Some days I'm starving, some days I force myself to eat. BUT, the biggest difference this time, I actually feel OK with myself...I feel like my belly is growing out, much cuter, and I'm not gaining weight everywhere else (at least not yet). I actually have a healthy view of myself.

Now, here's my rant...why do people think it's OK to comment on somebody's weight just because that somebody is pregnant? I've had so many people already tell me how "big" I am "already", and ask "are you sure you aren't having twins". Even Christian, my wonderful husband, looked at me like I had two heads when I told him I've only gained 3lbs...following it up with "how can that be, look at your big tummy"...nice. I'm 18 weeks, already getting these comments...what is it going to be like 10, 15, 20 weeks from now? The worst part about it is that every time somebody says something, it just chips away at my confidence, and I don't want to end up in the place I was in last pregnancy...depressed and upset and overly emotional about it. But what can I do? I know logically people aren't saying things to hurt my feelings or be mean, but it's hurtful. You wouldn't walk up to Jane walking down the street and comment on her sudden weight gain, so why do you think it's OK to comment on it to me just because there is a person growing inside of me?

So, in conclusion, NOTE TO EVERYONE: It is never, I repeat in capital letters, NEVER OK to comment on somebody's weight, body shape or anything of that nature, pregnancy or not!

Until tomorrow!!!

2/23/10 - Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

Well, today is my Grandpa Hartfiel's 79th Birthday!!! YAY. After work, we met up with my parents, my grandparents and some other family members for dinner. Olivia had a blast being the center of attention, as always. I hadn't seen my dad for quite a while, so it was nice catching up and it's always so funny to watch him with Olivia. My dad is a big guy...6'6", deep voice, mustache, SCARY to most kids. Olivia just seems to love him, which makes me so happy!

Once we got home, it was time for American Idol. Tonight was the first live performance shows...the top 12 girls. It was so diappointing. There was only one girl I liked, I think her name was Katelyn or something like that. Tomorrow is the boys, and I sure hope it goes better, otherwise I think I'm in for a LONG season!

Other than that, it was just a normal Tuesday!! Olivia's and my boots happened to be next to each other, and we thought it was too cute, so we snapped a picture! I think I'm determined to turn her into a mini-me!!

Until tomorrow!!!

2/22/10 - Flashback

Well, I have nothing interesting to share today...it was a regular Monday! We were both off to work like normal, Christian is still on baby driving duty, so I'm still on my break from that. After work I was off to Target to do my weekly shopping. Target drove me nuts though...it was SO crowded, but the worst was...I was checking out and there were a bunch of employees and managerial looking people standing around chatting about something/someone being "out of control", when all of a sudden a little girl, maybe 4 or 5, can running by. One of the manager's stopped her and told her she had to stay by mommy and stop running away. Well, Mommy was printing pictures over at the kiosk, paying absolutely NO attention to her little girl. I couldn't believe it, who does that? How could you do that? I get worried when Olivia is out of my sight too long at HOME let along at a store. I was just in awe as it appeared the mother didn't even notice the manager continuing to "return" her child to her over and over again. WOW.

So, nothing really interesting happened today, so I'm doing a little flashback. It was perfect since we just happened to take a great side by side photo tonight...sleeping photos :) Colored photo from tonight, black and white from a year ago! My sleeping beauty!











Until tomorrow!!!

2/21/10 - A Day at the Museum

Today was a fun day! We were up and at em' early today, getting ready for our first trip to the Children's Museum. After checking in, we were off to explore the first floor. Olivia got to play with some Chinese musical instruments, then a sudden dance party broke out in the lobby, that she just HAD to join in. The Madrid's showed up shortly after, and we went on exploring. Next up was some water fun, and the girls definitely enjoyed that. Other rooms included some animals and a dinosaur room. At the end, they had a room for "tot" to just run around, climb and explore...and I know Olivia had a blast there. She loves being "free" and just running around exploring everything, we definitely need to find more things like that to do. There is a community center over in Eagan that has a special toddler area set up...I'm thinking we'll need to check that out!

After a few hours at the museum, Olivia was exhausted...she passed out in the car and didn't wake up for quite a while. So, I started on laundry and cleaning up. Hopefully a long busy day will equal a sleep induced coma all night long! Here are some pics of our adventures!

Until tomorrow!!!

2/20/10 - Surprise Play Date!

Today was a good day!! Olivia and I spent the day together while daddy earned the "big bucks"...as he should. We had a fun day of playing around the house, making quite the mess of course. I will say, NO cleaning got done! After Christian got home from work, we all got ready and headed over to the Madrid's for a surprise play date. It seems like the girls just get better and better at interacting with each other. There is definitely some "fighting" and not-sharing that goes on, but they seem to really get into playing with each other here and there. I can't wait to watch them grow up together....now we just have to hope they don't grow up to hate each other!!! AHHHH. Well, that's about as much news I have to share today, so here are a few pics from our play date!











Until tomorrow!!!

2/19/10 - Friday Fun Day!

Friday is over!! And, we actually have some plans for this weekend, which is fun! Tonight, Christian went to purchase the new car seat. We had another coupon (I love coupons), but a gift card to Babies R Us, so we got $45.00 off today...YAY for saving! Now, Christian's truck is not quite as "cool" as it was before...poor Christian. Again, if anyone is in the market, I do highly recommend our car seat...Evenflo Symphony (so far, I've only been able to find it at Babies R Us though)...

It should be a pretty relaxing weekend for us...tomorrow Christian works some more OT (YAY for OT pay), then we'll see where the night takes us. Sunday we're off to the Children's Museum with the Madrid's...apparently admission is free every third Sunday of the month. Although I'm sure that means it will be extra crowded, free is good! I've never been, so I don't really know what to expect, but I'm sure Olivia will have a blast! Other than that, I'm in for the usual...cleaning, laundry, cleaning, dishes, cleaning! YAY :)

Until tomorrow!!!

2/18/10 - Nothing Interesting...

Well, it's Thursday again. As with most Thursday's, it was the same old thing! I'm always so amazed how long short weeks can be!!! It seems like having Monday off always makes the rest of the week drag...while at the same time, forces you to constantly be behind a day. Well, at least we're almost there. Work has been good lately, still crazy busy, but doesn't make me "long" for the weekends like they usually do!

We're slowly buying things for the new baby...we don't need a ton. For big ticket items, we really just need another crib, a bassinet for my in-law's house and a convertible car seat. Olivia's crib turns into a toddler bed, day bed and twin size bed, so she'll always have that, and her convertible car seat eventually turns into a booster up to 100lbs, so she'll always have that as well, so we need to get new baby their own! We bought the bassinet a couple weeks ago because we had a coupon! We've decided the car seat will be the next item to check off...now that Christian's on temporary driving duty, it seems ideal to just get the car seat NOW, so we can have one in each car until new baby needs it. This will make life much easier.

We are most definitely sticking with the same car seat, the Evenflo Symphony. I LOVE it, and it's actually gotten even better than when we bought Olivia's...BONUS!! With this one, baby can be rear facing until 40 lbs (rather than 35 with Olivia's), then forward facing with the 5-point harness until 65 lbs (rather than 40 with Olivia's), and still booster with a seat belt until 100lbs. I love it...safety first!!!

So, that's our exciting news :) Don't you wish the highlight of your day was researching car seat!!! Bet you do :) Now, here's today's picture...my lovely lady upon waking up...she's a total morning person, and always rocks the best bed head!

Until tomorrow!!!

2/17/10 - 17 Weeks

Well, today marks 17 weeks! I say it every week, but I can't believe it. I'm so close to the halfway mark! WOW. I'm yet again feeling even better. Just a headache here and there, otherwise doing very well. I got my quad screen results back from last week, and everything looks good...no elevated risk for birth defects. Great news! The scale has started going up...which I'm not so happy about, but so far only 2lbs, which I can live with. I'm really hoping to stay at 15lbs or less, so fingers crossed!! It would only increase my chances of a VBAC, which is really what I'm hoping for, so hopefully! 3 more weeks until my next appointment...and the wait is killing me!

In other news....last night was HORRIBLE. First, it was a bear trying to get Olivia to bed...for some reason she just didn't want to go to sleep, so I ended up rocking her for quite a while. Finally got her down, watched a little TV and went to sleep. Well...3:15 we got a wonderful wakeup call. Let me tell you...Olivia does not "cry" when she wakes up/wants something...she SCREAMS, at the top of her lungs, and it is torture. Christian tried to get her down, and failed. So, I went in, and I also failed. I went in again and after another long session of rocking, she went back down at 4:45...lucky me got to lay down for about 45 minutes for a few extra zzzz's. Please baby sleep gods, don't let tonight be a repeat!!!

Until tomorrow!!!