An Exciting Mashup of Announcements

Posted by on July 8, 2010 14 Comments

It’s been a big exciting week and I have much to share with you all. I’m going to swirl it all together and pack it all into one post in an effort to keep your readers clutter free.

1. Let me just start by saying I’m in love with my new headshots! Bludoor Studios in Southlake, TX really came through with some amazing and fun images for me to choose from. This photoshoot was a blast from beginning to end. I wound up not even doing anything (professionally) to my hair. I just ran a curling iron through it and, in true TX fashion, sprayed it with about half a can of hairspray. If you look closely in some of the pictures you can see some of my premature gray hairs, but I’m going to lie to myself and call them “highlights.” I did, however, treat myself to a wonderful makeup application by a M.A.C. makeup artist. She was the best one I’ve ever had work on me, hands down. He name is Nia and she’s the counter manager out of the Firewheel Dillards (for local gals who might be interested).

While I need the pictures for professional reasons, I’m not going to deny that, on a personal level, it was a ton of fun to dress up and feel pretty. Not pretty for a mom or pretty even though I’m carrying a diaper bag and there’s a spot of spit up on my shirt. Just good ol’ fashioned, children have nothing to do with it, pretty. I think all moms should treat themselves to something that makes them feel so good.

If you’re in the DFW area and looking for a photographer to take some fun shots of yourself, your family or your children, definitely give Rejana and Mike at Bludoor Studios a call. You will not regret it (seriously, look at this scrumptious baby picture). Plus, if you mention “Baby Rabies” you get $50 off your session rate!

2. I’d like to formally introduce you to my newest blog baby- PartyLikeAKid.com! Around the beginning of the year I started doing some searching around for birthday party inspiration for Kendall’s 2nd birthday and was frustrated that there didn’t seem to be one blog/website that focused solely on kid’s parties and featured more than just inspiration boards. I wanted to see what other people had done for their kid’s parties, and I wanted to get inspiration for my own DIY and creative details. I could find this information on tons of blogs, of course, like personal ones and general party blogs, but it was frustrating having to hunt all around for ideas. I just wanted to go to ONE place and find all the inspiration I could ever want without having to sift through other stuff. So… I decided I’d make it myself.

I’ve been working with a designer Judith Shakes Designs for a couple months now and we just got the design finalized this week. The content is very minimal at this point and there’s a lot I have to add and tweak, but the bones are there, and I’m looking forward to watching it grow. I’ve already got some awesome partnerships and giveaways in the works (including one I’ll tell you about tomorrow), and my inbox is filling up with amazing reader submissions. This blog relies HEAVILY on people sharing and showing off their creativity and great party ideas, so please head over and send your idea if you have anything to show off! PLK also features baby shower ideas.

You can also find PLK on Twitter and on Facebook.

(And for those blown away by the beautiful design of PLK and looking for a web designer, Judith Shakes Designs just announced an awesome new special – “Now through July 18th, enter your favorite Elvis song in the promo code section of your quote request and get either $50 off a Blogger Quickie Supreme package or WP Starter Package or $100 off a WordPress Advanced or Expert Package. Share this on Twitter, Facebook or wherever else you share the things you do, and get another $25 off.”)

3. Just got back from my 16 week appointment. That baby sounded great. I got to hear his/her heartbeat for the first time and it was going strong at 143. The “big” ultrasound is set for Monday, July 26th!

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Filed Under: Headed to Toddlerhood, Round 2, Stuff |Tagged With: , , , |14 Comments

Hello world! So nice to re-join you.

Posted by on July 6, 2010 34 Comments

I figured I’m due for a pregnancy update, so basically it goes something like this:

You know, when I was in the thick of the 1st trimester exhaustion and non-stop hangover I sort of felt lame, like maybe I was being a wuss for complaining so much and doing so much laying around and sleeping and bitching about food. But now that I’m starting to feel better, SO MUCH better, I’ve got to cut my 1st trimester self some slack. That was not really that much fun. at. all. Granted, I certainly didn’t have it as bad as so many (with the puking, thank goodness I didn’t have the puking), but it wasn’t pleasant. I’ll give myself that.

So I try to keep that in mind when I’m doing things like cleaning our house that was neglected for the last three months. Don’t get me wrong, we kept it in livable condition (and by we I mean my husband while I laid on the couch and moaned/cat napped/pressed play on another episode of Diego/threw fruit leathers at the toddler), but you know, there are certain things that will go untouched when it’s left up to my husband… like the microwave… with chunks of chili stuck to the roof.

I don’t know if it will ever be possible to get back on top of things around here, to get this house sanitized and smelling less like… pee before the baby comes. I had a mini-tantrum today as I cleaned the play room and started ranting about how I’m so sick of disgusting things like dog pee and cat vomit and toddler pee ruining my day and making my house smell. I’m one crazy hair away from ripping all the carpet (which has been steam cleaned and scrubbed with nearly every chemical I can bring myself to exposing our family to) out and living with concrete floors until we can get wood/laminate floors put in. At least I could spray it down with a hose. (I’m only half joking.) But I take this new found interest in the cleanliness of our home as a good sign because a month ago I didn’t know, nor care to remember the last time I vacuumed.

(Seriously. If anyone has any secrets to getting dog pee smells out of carpet with chemicals that aren’t going to make my baby grow a second head, please cough it up.)

I’ve also got to reclaim the television as Kendall now thinks he is the master of it and is quite disappointed when I don’t allow him to watch 4 episodes of Diego in a row. True story, that totally happened. A lot.

While I won’t venture to say I have the energy of a marathon runner these days, I will say that I now only need a small nap (1-ish hours) instead of a 4 hour nap and an 8 o’clock bedtime. The food aversions are fading, and I’m still in LOVE with all things red meat covered in BBQ sauce. I need to get back into the gym soon, especially now that I really want to E-A-T.  Maternity clothes are just now starting to look not so ridiculous on me, although I’m not nearly as big at this point as I thought I’d be. I guess I was super bloated in the beginning. Now, there are days I wake up that I really don’t look pregnant at all. Of course, 12 hours and a couple BBQ sandwiches later it’s a totally different story. Truth be told, how pregnant I look really just depends on the last time I pooped.

So there you have it. I’ll be 16 weeks tomorrow and we have an appt. on Thursday to hear the heartbeat. We’ll also schedule the big ultrasound then, so I should be able to tell you all soon when we will find out if it’s a boy or a girl. What do you think? I almost hate to type this because I might jinx it, but I have a feeling it’s a girl, but then again, I would not be at all shocked if it’s another boy (or disappointed).

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Filed Under: Round 2 |Tagged With: |34 Comments

“I’m in love, I’m in love, and I don’t care who knows it!”

Posted by on June 22, 2010 40 Comments

With just one day away from being 14 weeks pregnant, I *think* I’m in my second trimester. I certainly feel like I’m in my second trimester. The incessant hangover has faded and there are days that I can get away with not taking a nap, although just because I can doesn’t mean I want to. Naps are so glorious. Why we have to stop taking them after kindergarten is beyond me. This world would be a lot nicer, I think, if everyone would just crawl into bed for an hour and a half after lunch.

There are days, I will admit, for hours on end that I forget I’m pregnant. I’m not looking very pregnant yet. I mean, depending on the outfit and what I had to eat, I might have a tiny bump at the end of the day, but it’s gone the next morning, leaving me in a body closely resembling that of my sophomore year in college, complete with beer gut and EXCELLENT rack. The girls are back in town, yo. OH how I’ve missed them!

Unfortunately, I’ve cleaned my closet of all those clothes that fit that old body, not that they were appropriate for a pregnant mother of a toddler to begin with. Something about squeezing into faded, fitted Abercrombie shirts/Express halter tops and daisy dukes doesn’t really scream “responsible mother” for dropping Kendall off at school twice a week. I’ve purchased some maternity clothes here and there, but I’m not filling them out at all. It’s a very awkward stage for me.

Now that I’m not laying around, wallowing in my own self pity anymore something is starting to happen that I didn’t think was going to affect me this time around. (No, really. I just blogged about this on BornFreeMom.com.) I’m starting to get antsy about STUFF, baby stuff. Mainly? Strollers. Lord help me and my bank account.

I still have my Quinny Buzz, which I adored with Kendall when he was little, but honestly haven’t used it much lately. We use the Maclaren Volo when we’re out for short trips and the BOB Ironman has seen the most mileage since we take him for runs/walks in it very often.

I have no idea what to do about the double stroller situation. I am 99% sure that we will for sure need a double jogger, and that I want that to be a BOB Duallie Revolution. I’ve already told Scott to plan to put money aside from the tax return next year for one and I’m scouring Craigslist every day. If our single jogger is any indication, this will be the stroller that gets the most use.

At first I was okay with that being our only double stroller and keeping the Quinny and getting a new infant seat to snap into the frame for the baby when I take him/her out solo or Kendall’s holding daddy’s hand. We would have to get a new infant seat for it because I sold the original Maxi Cosi Mico we had. It sucked. We hated it. The shade was way too short and the straps always got tangled. Plus, the buckle was super annoying. Well, the only option for the Quinny now is the slightly re-designed Mico (with updated straps, but same shade) or the Safety 1st OnBoard 35, which I can’t find any reviews on and just not really loving. Ideally, I’d love to get a Chicco, Graco or Britax infant seat, but none of these are compatible with the Quinny frame.

Also, I wonder if I’ll want a more lightweight, easier to transport double stroller? The single BOB is hefty enough. I can’t imaging lugging the double in and out of the mall every time we go.

And yes, I plan on wearing the baby frequently, but it’s not within the realm of my reality to expect myself to baby wear enough to not need to put two kids in a stroller on many occasions.

Then the other day I had a wonderfully insightful email exchange with The Baby Guy NYC(@thebabyguynyc) and he introduced me to the soon to be released Britax B-Ready stroller (he writes about it in this Stroller Traffic article, and you can see more details here). Oh my goodness. First, I’m shocked it’s by Britax. I’ve never been a huge fan of their strollers (but love their car seats). I love it… so far. Of course, I haven’t seen it in person, but everyone who has has told me it’s as fantastic in person as it is in pictures. I love that it, like some other strollers we’ve considered, can function as a single or a double, but with far more configuration options than those others. I love that I can use the Britax Chaperone infant seat in it with the provided adapter, and that that adapter can stay on the infant seat while in use in the car (or I could purchase a separate adapter and use the Chicco infant seat). I know many don’t like strollers with one seat in front of the other, but the way I see it, by the time the youngest is old enough to protest it’s view, Kendall will hopefully be old enough to not be in the stroller anymore. Plus, I really think if that’s all the kid knows, then are they really going to complain? They can still see out the side.

I will say the one configuration that makes me go “hmmmmm??” is the one with the infant seat on the bottom, rear facing. I have to wonder if I’d kick the baby accidentally, and Scott pointed out that it would have a lovely crotch view the whole time. I guess I’d have to see it in action to understand.

Of course, there’s the cost issue. I’d definitely have to sell the Quinny (which I think I can still get a good sum of $$ for it since it’s in excellent condition). I can’t believe I’d ever even consider selling my Quinny ( I specifically got a job at Right Start while pregnant last time for the discount so I could afford it), but it’s just not super practical any more. If I keep it, I’ll probably only end up using it like a Snap & Go with an infant seat I’m less than excited about.

I realize these are such stupid, trivial things to worry about. I do. It’s just, for some reason, it’s something my brain keeps coming back to. And really, what I need to do is just get over it. I need to get back to my first trimester, miserable feeling state of mind where I didn’t care if I pushed the baby around in a hi-jacked grocery cart lined with old blankets. That was a much less expensive solution, although, admittedly not nearly as stylish.

How did you handle/ do you plan on handling the double stroller situation?

Kendall is 2 years old and still requires being strapped down in public and I’m just about 14 weeks pregnant

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Filed Under: Round 2 |Tagged With: , , , |40 Comments

2nd trimester update – the good, the bad and the gassy

Posted by on November 13, 2007 5 Comments

I’m well into the second trimester now. I have quite a cute baby bump to show for it. Nothing huge yet, but I’m definitely looking more pregnant than fat and can finally fill out those maternity shirts I’ve been hanging onto. The upside to this new stage is I physically feel pretty good. The food aversions are definitely gone, and have been replaced by an incredible urge to eat almost anything every three hours. Perhaps that explains why I have gained as much in the last four weeks (5 lbs) as I did the whole first trimester!

Yeah…I’m kind of alarmed that I’m already up 10 lbs at 16 weeks. I guess pregnant women really can’t eat whatever they want whenever they want ; ) I’m hoping my recent cravings for fruit and vegetables paired with my prenatal water aerobics classes (which are actually 90% senior citizens with one or two pregnant gals in the mix) will help me get everything back in control. Don’t get me wrong, I know gaining weight is part of the process, but I’m not going to just let myself go for the next five months. I know I’m far too lazy to trust that I’ll take it all off after the baby if it’s too large of a number.

I also have a considerable amount of energy back (I only sleep 9 -10 hours a night now and hardly need a nap) and the belching has drastically subsided (only because the gas is now choosing to escape via other avenues, I’m sure). And yes, the books are right when they say the sex drive comes back in the second trimester. It’s not like I’m pouncing on him…more like not running the other direction. However, I ask this question – what good is a surge in the sex drive if I am constantly in a bitchy, unpredictable mood?

Yes, this is the downside of the second trimester for me. I do not know what it is, but it takes absolutely nothing for me to turn from a cheerful, kind version of myself to an irrational, agitated bitch. Seriously…I will just be walking and all of the sudden find myself in a terrible mood. Since my husband is usually the first person I see, he gets the shitty end of the deal and is constantly confused by my state of mind. He even mentioned to me this morning, “You know, those weekly baby emails I’ve been getting have done nothing to prepare me for these mood swings.” So ladies…warn your husbands. I think he finds it quite comical though. He will just bust out laughing at how ridiculous it is that I am so flipping pissed off that the ice cream shop doesn’t have mint chocolate chip. I have to say, I eventually laugh at it too. In doing a little experimentation and research on the subject, I *think* these mood swings happen when I need to eat or need sugar. They always seem to coincide with some crazy craving, and as soon as I get what I want I’m happy again. I think I may need further testing to prove this theory. I’ll be sure to report back.

As far as other updates go I have to say that the most exciting thing to date was when we FINALLY heard the baby’s heartbeat at our 16 week appointment yesterday. I seriously freaked out at 12 weeks when they couldn’t find it with the doppler and was only slightly relieved to see it flashing on the u/s screen. I just wanted to HEAR it. The nurse found it yesterday only 20 seconds after lubing up my belly. It was the most reassuring sound ever. I really need to spend a whole post talking about worry and how much it changes you during pregnancy. I have a feeling that will be a long one though, so I will save it for a rainy day.

And to end this on a funny note I will elaborate more on the gas escaping via other avenues situation – I have never been a loud farter, and I don’t think my husband has ever heard me fart. It’s not like I hold it in and run to the other room to let it out. It just has never been very audible. Well, let me tell you – that’s changing. So now after nearly 7 years of never farting in front of my husband I’m almost scared to! I don’t know why. It’s not like he’ll be disgusted by it. I’m sure he’ll find it hysterical. I just need to….uhmmm…break the seal – just fart and get it over with. So I’m just waiting for the day that I let it rip in front of him. I know it’s got to come soon or it’s going to be a very uncomfortable 5 months ahead of me. I also learned recently that I really should avoid Morning Star sausage crumbles. I had them for dinner the other night and had such bad gas while I was sleeping that the next morning my husband thought one of the dogs had shit in the bedroom! I didn’t even have the balls to fess up.

16 weeks 1 day

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Filed Under: Pregnancy |Tagged With: , , , , , |5 Comments
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