Half baked

So I'm officially 21 weeks pregnant! Over half way there.  Baby bump number two is officially a boy!!! And he has spent his past two weeks at the beach.  His kicks are getting stronger and more frequent every day and he wiggles whenever he hears big brothers voice say his name.  Big brother while he doesn't truly grasp the whole big brother concept loves asking how little brother is doing and where he's at.  We've shown him my belly and encouraged him to talk to his baby brother and give him kisses.  We've also told him since baby brother is in mommas tummy growing he has to be careful of mommas belly.  If I say ouch he immediately asks what's wrong with baby Eli.  It's so cute and I hope it carries through to when Eli really arrives.  Pregnancy so far has been good to me.  The nausea for the most part is gone, I feel great in the mornings and have worked really hard to keep up some sort of workout routine.  It helps that Noah loves going to the gym and asks when are we going to go which is an awesome motivator for me.  I feel like I'm bigger this time around but the scale says I've only gained approximately seven pounds,which I'm feeling good about.  Picking up Noah is getting harder as is hauling him around when he decides he's tired of walking.  But like I've heard from most moms what's a gal to do?? We leave the beach tomorrow and Friday is the anatomy scan!!

Happy birthday!!!

BSo this post is over a month late, but being a mom of two is hard!!! Even with Casey around I feel like I'm always being pulled by one boy or another, but that's a story for another day.  September 12 I was officially 34 weeks and all day long I waited for someone to come and tell me it was finally my turn in L&D. Around nine pm my nurse put me on the monitor to see how Eli was doing and that's when Casey and I started to notice a trend in my contractions, they had started coming at regular intervals of every ten minutes.  The nurse was unimpressed however Casey and I were very excited because that meant my body was progressing on its own!!! Finally at around 1030ish I got a bed!! It was time to get the show started.  We moved over to L&D and I was put on the monitor and given my first dose of cytotech.  I rested as much as I could through the night, but it was somewhat difficult as the cytotech worked its magic and put my body into more active labor.  By morning I was starving, but since no one had known when I would get a bed there was no food. Luckily my nurse was amazing and found me a breakfast tray along with dose number two of cytotech. After that is when labor got sort of rough for me.  I would never recommend to anyone to be induced labor is rough enough as it is.  With my first it was all back labor and major hip pain as my son dropped and my hips widened.  With Eli I felt the contractions everywhere!! I had back labor, front labor, and as I call it vaginal labor.  I told my body it needed to pick one , and ultimately chose to have an epidural.  However since I hadn't been on fluids they had to super hydrate me before they could give me an epidural. Once that was in place life was much better. Noah came to visit along with my mom and dad and towards the end of their visit is when I started to feel a lot of pressure in the nether regions, but not wanting to frighten my son waited until they left. However, my nurse came in rather quickly and was like umm honey you feeling any pressure?? And I said yes that I was about to call her, so she checked me and was like yep we're having a baby!!! And made the quickest stream of phone calls ever! All of a sudden a flurry of people rushed in ready to take care of Eli should he need it.  And with very little pushing Eli arrived!! All five pounds thirteen ounces and eighteen inches of him! Soon after we brought Noah in to see him and my favorite part of the whole day happened when Noah said "momma he came out!" Why yes son yes he did. 

Eviction day

So D day is officially here!!! We made it 34 weeks and all that's left to do is be induced and have a baby!!! Here comes the fun part though L&D has been full all week long!! They have no idea when I will get to go over but I'm first on the list.  Little scary little exciting.  I've done the whole being induced into labor before and while not fun I feel I'm slightly prepared for that.  The scary and unknown portion of this day revolves around my son.  He's already pretty amazing for a 34 weeker he's passed his stress tests with flying colors all week long sometimes he even enjoys showing off for the nurses and really showing them what his little heart can do.  The perinatologist gave him on 8/10 on his BPP which I discovered stands for biophysical profile.  Basically they look at five different categories to see how well he's going to do in the outside world.  The only category he missed was of course the fluid, which they knew would be against him of course.  But he moves well makes breathing motions passes the stress test, and has a nice chunky umbilical cord with great blood flow.  He's estimated at five and a half pounds and they said most NICU babies that are over five do very well.  So now we wait and see will he be a NICU baby or will we go home with a 34 weeker in our arms?? That's another source of stress and scare the thought of taking a 34 weeker home knowing the possible potential problems.  However the Lord has brought us this far and to stop trusting now would be stupid, but I'm going to have to work harder at it. Other worries are of course feeding and pumping.  I don't pump well and I really want to be able to breastfeed whether he goes home or stays in NICU. I'm hoping lactation can help me figure out what to do.  In other news here's what I've learned staying in a hospital on bed rest for a week.  A good view goes a long way towards keeping spirits up, bring some sort of project, they need to make a truly waterproof bandage for IVs.  My IV is probably the thing I'm most ready to get rid of, I'm tired of bumping it on the toilet when I wipe, trying to keep it dry while washing my face or showering, and the in general soreness that has come with having an IV In your dominant hand for six days.  I've also been on more antibiotics this week than I have in my entire life!!! But if it means healthy baby I'll take all of it.  I'm also ready to be a mom again to my toddler.  I can see his change in demeanor and attitude over the past week and it makes me so sad.  My mom and dad are complete lifesavers, but even my mom looks like she could use time for self.  I did however get all the balloons and clouds finished for the mobile and my amazing hubby captured some pretty awesome maternity photos for me!!

33 and 4

So today I'm 33 weeks and 4 days and by the grace of God and some amazing prayers warriors I'm still pregnant!!! The goal is to make it to Saturday at which time I will be induced and sometime after that my little 34 weeker Elijah james will make his presence known to the world.  In the meantime I'm learning how to pass the time in a hospital bed.  My electronics are my lifeline to the outside world and more often then not a source of entertainment. I have watched sooo much hgtv and food network I could probably run both networks!! Mom brought me crafty stuff so I'm also working on balloons and clouds for a mobile for the baby's room. My main source of motion is getting up to pee or sneaking looks out my window when I hear sirens.  Otherwise my bed and I are quite close now.  

Early

So it's 542 am on Sunday September sixth and I'm laying in a bed in labor and delivery.  I'm officially 33 weeks and my son may be coming to say hello soon.  My membranes spontaneously ruptured again, but this time he's to little and needs to stay inside and grow. I'm praying he stays inside and breaking down a little bit because if he does stay inside I don't go home.  My toddler doesn't get to see his mom when he wakes up if I stay, there won't be any morning cuddles in mommy's and daddy's bed if I stay.  But if I don't stay my newest baby will be to little and possibly have complications or even a NICU stay.  His room isn't ready, his clothes aren't clean or organized, so many, many things we had planned to do in the coming weeks. I'm scared and feel like crying, but instead I'm watching the clock listening to his heartbeat and praying that God keeps him in my body a little longer.  I want to go home and see my son, but I want to see this little life inside me grow strong as well. It's quite the feeling, part of me also feels guilty that for whatever reason I can't seem to keep babies inside until they are full term.  Makes me ask the eternal question what's wrong with me?? I'm 33 weeks today and could possibly be a mom of two soon. 

6*4=24

So, fun little fact I turned 24 weeks on July 4th!!! Which means I'm officially in my second trimester and we are closer to the finish line than the starting line!! It's getting real y'all, and I gotta say a little overwhelming too!! I'm starting to realize in a few short month I'll be a mom of two boys!! The honey do list is growing not shrinking and to top it off we are about to start finishing our basement!!! One nice thing though is the fact that Noah's big boy room is basically done and he's been sleeping in there for about a week and a half. In other news Noah also no longer takes milk to bed and has started falling asleep on his own for nap time as well!  This is such a big step for him and us and one that'll hopefully help when baby Eli gets here.  Noah loves asking about baby Eli, if I make any sort of odd noise nah has to check and make sure baby Eli is ok.  We've also entered terrible twos with a vengeance my son is the king of meltdowns over what I think is nothing.  He's also gotten very whiny about leaving the house so I'm working on getting into a routine of leaving the house everyday and going somewhere.  Pregnancy is easier and harder at the same time.  I love that I can go to the gym, but hate that my nap time is pretty nonexistent right now.  Also picking up my son is getting harder and TMI here but I have some crazy vagina pain going on this time.  Some days it's not so bad others it feels like I've pulled my vagina muscles for lack of better terminology.  Hoping that with my start back of prenatal yoga this'll help.  Here's to three more months!

Spring in review

So we've actually had what most would call spring weather here in Georgia and I for one have loved it!! Cool morning great afternoon breezes... Ahhh so very nice.  My sone has thoroughly enjoyed his spring weather and asks almost daily to go play outside.  It amazes me how fast my son switches from thing to thing.  In an hours time outside he can have ridden Mater, plane, and blue truck, played with big green ball, and have drawn on the sidewalk using his chalk!  The way his little mind works never ceases to amaze me and he's so very imaginative.  He pulls up to the neighborhood trash can and pretends to get gas, he carries "big loads" using maters tow hook.  It takes all I have some days to keep up with him! Casey has decided he's definitely going to be smarter than us and we are in BIG trouble.  Even his teachers at two day talk about how smart he is and how he has to study his surroundings before leaping into the fray. Noah's newest accomplishments are 8-10 word sentences, carrying on a conversation with you, telling you what he wants, jumping using both feet, and tumbling on any and all available surfaces. Some of his favorite things right now are trains, birthday parties, the gym, school, and asking to go to the beach. With summer right around the corner I think the fun has just begun!

Guess What?!?!

Well hello there, long time no see. So, big things happening in the stokes household the biggest being baby number two is on the way!!! Our due is end of October and we couldn't be more excited to watch our little family grow. We had great fun telling Noah he was going to be a big brother although for all that he is two not quite sure he's grasped the concept yet. He does however say he's going to be a big brother when you ask him. So far this pregnancy is completely different than my pregnancy with Noah. With my first pregnancy I had the classic morning sickness, that I battled with a thirty minute breakfast while drinking ginger ale with my feet propped up. I stopped going to the gym very early on in my pregnancy because I just felt ill after every workout. I hated red meat and didn't want sweets at all, at least until second trimester when I could have eaten a bag of marshmallows everyday, but limited myself to one a day. With this pregnancy I want sweets, bread and starbucks peach green tea lemonade. I'm not at all sick in the morning and love going to the gym. However, evening time is when I struggle, the thought of cooking makes me ill and if I'm going to be nauseous evening is the time of day it happens, making cooking a very difficult thing for me right now. I'm trying to come up with ways to be able to cook and not be ill, so far grilling and crockpot recipes have been the winners. Also I have a few favorite keep the ickies at bay that I'm really loving. One is preggo pop drops, my SIL introduced me to these and they have been a lifesaver in the evening time when my tummy can't decide what it wants to do. My other favorite is celestial seasonings jammin lemon ginger tea it is another great stomach settler that I can drink in the morning or at night, especially if I wasn't hungry when I woke up and then all of a sudden I'm like starving and nauseous all at the same time. My last favorite is so much a stomach soother as a gut mover. As all women know being pregnant can cause the pooper to become a little slow to non existent. Luckily I discovered dark chocolate covered prunes!!! Amazing little things that satisfy the sweet craving and keep things moving in a timely manner. I've found a small handful a day is just perfect. Casey and I are hoping for a girl, but we will of course take whatever God gives us and pray for a healthy baby above all else. As of right now we're about ten weeks along which makes us already 1/4 of the way through!!! Can't wait to see how this pregnancy goes.

DIY laundry fix

So my husband and I have been talking about changing up the laundry for a while now. Our current laundry space just wasn't conducive for all the things we needed it to be, ie. Storage, laundry, and mud room.  Enter Pinterest and an entire board was created just for a better laundry.  Well last week the diy bug bit my husband hard and he decided laundry was on the chopping block.  We found a paint color worked out a scheme for more storage and off we went.  As with any project what started out as a paint change and some added shelves, warped into stripes a new lighting fixture and pretty baskets to make it look fancy.  Paint color is Valspar for the blue and behr for the gray stripe.  I've wanted stripes for a while and I'm so glad I convinced myself to take the extra time and do it!! Plus it meant I got to use my favorite tool the CHALK LINE!! I have a seriously unhealthy love for that little guy.  But back to the laundry we added extra shelving and hooks and moved all our cleaning products.  I purged a ton of stuff as I restocked my new baskets and it felt soooo good.  The shelves themselves are Allen Roth and target hooks and the pendant light was an awesome clearance item at Home Depot! So without further ado the before and the after, and I must say this is my most designer worthy makeover yet!

Adventures in baby sleeping!

OurSo did anyone catch the movie reference in my title?? Huh huh did us? Well just like the movie this tale of full of excitement and danger. Well maybe not danger so much as heart stopping astonishment. Starting in January my almost two year old son decided to kick off the new year by climbing out of his crib.  Yep you read that right, my never even tried or attempted to make an escape kid made a grand escape one night and scared the bejesus out of me and his daddy.  Let me start by saying my son has never been an awesome sleeper he was ten months before he slept through the night and even then would still wake up in the night.  He does not sleep well in strange beds which makes traveling more exhausting then rejuvenating, and we've always put him to bed already asleep. Now I know you people are thinking horrible mom let him cry he's gotta figure it out on his own.  Well here's my dilemma with letting him cry it out. It doesn't work he cries until he vomits or hyperventilates and the. It's that's much longer and harder to get him back to sleep.  So in the end we modified CIO with no tear sleep solutions, and it was working until that fateful January evening.  It started with noah waking and crying off and on for two hours and ended with me soothing him and putting him back to bed. He immediately started crying but I was like he's gonna figure it out and doze off, oh no mere minutes later I hear this little voice and both Casey and I shoot out the bed as we realize that voice is getting closer open the door and there stands a hiccuping hyperventilating little boy who as soon as daddy picked him up passed out.  Needless to say he slept in our bed that night. Next night in the crib we're asleep he wakes up fussing we leave him be and I watch him climb out his crib quite gracefully I might add. So night two in our bed, and we needed a plan.  Next morning we are off to babies r us and come home with a toder bed. The next few weeks are spent redoing his entire sleep routine and finding ways to keep him in his room.  Our mini genius figured out how to pop open the baby proof doorknob and escape so we taped that together.  Then began the process of a new routine one in which he went to bed awake and fell asleep in his toddler bed.  It's still a work in progress but it's gone so much better than I had thought it would.  He gets a bath, pjs bedtime story of choice milk a quick snugs and then into badge goes awake.  I sit next to him but I basically ignore him and he drifts off all by himself!! Now the way he sleeps is one for the books! So many crazy positions! So for moms who hate CIO there is another way you just have to pull the pieces together so it works for you.

Yummy serendipity!

So today I'm going to tell y'all about a yummy dip I came up with all by myself!! Well my mom assisted slightly but the over all idea was mine and I'm kinda proud of myself so I'm sharing.  As you all know today is New Years what you don't know is that it was my holiday to work.  Sad face I know but someone had to take care of the sick and afflicted as my husband calls them and that was me.  But I digress, so anyways couple days ago one of my fellow nurses sends me a text saying that she and another coworker are bringing snacks am I in.  Well of course I'm in!! Hello snack queen here, hence the reason why I still have baby weight, but that's a tale for another post.  So back to snacks the hardest part is deciding what to bring, so I start with Pinterest of course!  I have a board labeled party food, but as per my usual wasn't feeling any of it or didn't have ingredients readily available. Then I decide to type in New Years dips and see what happens, eureka there it is a s'mores dip!  I'm digging it and I have chocolate and marshmallows.  Then comes the dilemma, this dip is best warm and I can't keep it warm at work.  So mom and I brainstorm and come up with a delicious solution!  

S'mores dip

All measurements are approximate

 4 oz low fat cream cheese 

1/8 c Nutella 

Dark chocolate chips to taste

Marshmallows (tiny) to taste

Directions

Bring cream cheese and Nutella to room temp or if short on time place in microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds at 50%. Then mix until combined add chips and marshmallows and store in fridge till ready to serve!!

This dip was tangy and not to sweet and perfect on either nilla wafers or graham crackers! 

Happy New Years!