Note to self:

When a cookie is really really stale, it takes a 2 year old a very long time to eat it.

Like, an hour.

Which means an hour of silence, and not begging for another cookie.

Note to self:
Only give Jackson stale cookies from now on....

Summer Wardrobe

Last weekend, there was a baby and kids consignment sale (they were consigning baby and kid items, not the actual babies themselves) put on by a local mother's group. It's where I got the clickety-clack bouncy seat. Some people might be turned off by used kids clothing. I have to admit that before I had Jackson, I thought I'd never buy used clothes for him either. That is until I packed away tubs filled with clothes he wore once or never when he grew out of his newborn clothes within the first few weeks he was born. What a waste of money. Ever since then, I've filled his wardrobe with about 75% consigned clothes. I still get him the occasional Old Navy outfit, because I really like the adjustable waistbands they offer for my skinny boy. But for the most part, I buy used. I also find that I get a better quality of clothing when I buy used, not to mention the price. I'm kind of picky about what consignment sales I go to and what I buy there. It has to be in good shape, and no stains or tears. This year, I spent $76.80 at the sale and this is what I bought.
Jackson got

13 short sleeved shirts

4 long sleeved shirts
4 sweaters/sweat shirts

11 pairs of shorts

4 pairs of PJs

The new baby got

3 rompers

3 pairs of pants

8 shirts

6 pairs of PJs

2 hats
1 bib

1 snow suit

And I got a couple maternity things for myself
3 shirts
2 pairs of shorts

I'm rather proud of myself for getting so much at such a reasonable price!

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Clickety-Clack Bouncer








Cloth Diapers

23 Weeks

Baby's size: If I go by the baby's gestational age, he is about the size of a large mango in weight, just over a pound and over 11 inches long. If I go by my *fundal height, he's the size of a rutabaga in weight, about 1 1/2 pounds and 13 1/2 inches in length, head to heel. I went to the doctor today and my fundal height is measuring about 25 weeks now. She told me that if I continue to measure this big, she will probably schedule me for another ultrasound around 30 weeks. She's a little concerned about me being able to give birth to an overly large baby, given my small pelvis. (not to mention the whole blown-out-who-ha factor) Around 13 weeks, he was measuring a few days big on ultrasound. By my 19 week ultrasound, he was measuring a week and a few days big. Now he is measuring about 2 weeks big. I have my glucose test in two weeks, so let's all cross our fingers that I don't have gestational diabetes. Big babies can be one of the symptoms.

*For those of you that don't know, fundal height is the measurement of the uterus from the pubic bone to the top of the uterus. Doctors just use a good ol' measuring tape and feel for the top of the uterus from the outside to get this measurement.

Belly size: About 37" around my belly.

Cravings: Meh, not really. I've had several of those peanut butter chocolate wafer bar things. I don't know if that's pregnancy related or if they are just really good.

Mood: Fine. Other than the occasional freak out about laboring again. The first time around, I wasn't worried about laboring at all. I was blissfully stupid. Now I know better.....

Symptoms: Same as last week. My back hurts. I get acid reflux almost every night. Braxton hicks are still very active.

Go to clothing: My baggie maternity jeans, maternity tops. That will probably be my answer most weeks.

Sleep: Good. When I can get to bed at a reasonable hour.

Baby movement: He especially likes to drum on my bladder.

Clickety-Clack Bouncer

Before Jackson was born, I registered for an adorable little bouncy seat. It matched his bedding set, was gender neutral so it could be used for any future child and was understated looking, which is something that I looked for in things that went in my house. One of the first times I put him in it, the bar with the adorable little bears hanging from it fell on his face. It didn't hurt him or anything, but was a very bad design and really not appropriate for little ones. I avoided putting him in it. He didn't even act like he liked it anyway. When he was a couple months old, we went to a friend's house and they had this bouncy seat. I put Jackson in it and he laid there for over an hour, mesmerized by that waterfall. I refused to buy him another bouncy seat and just dealt with our boring and borderline unsafe one until he outgrew it. But this time around, I really wanted that waterfall bouncer. They go for a cool $64.99 at Babies-R-Us. That's a crazy amount of money to spend on something I already have. Well, this weekend a local mother's group was having a HUGE baby and children's items consignment sale. I went on Saturday to pick up some summer clothes for Jackson and new baby (more on that later) but I asked a friend, who is part of the mother's group, and got to go to the preview sale the day before, to see if she could find the bouncer for me. She found one for $12! When she delivered it to me, I immediately put the batteries in it and turned it on. Only to see this happening:

That obnoxious clicking sound the frog is making not soothing for a baby and is certain to drive this mama nuts! So, in the spirit of DIYing and money saving, I decided to try to fix it. Even if it meant ripping the frog off completely. I was mostly interested in the lights and waterfall anyway. So I took the bar off, took all of the screws out and opened it up. This is what it looked like.
It wasn't abundantly clear what was making the frog clickety-clack so I put it back together, without the screws in it, and put it back in the seat and turned it on. (It has to be in the seat to work....that's it's power source) I then managed to pry it open, just enough to see inside and identify the clickety-clack source.
All I'd have to do is take those three screws and the arm connected to the roundy round thing off and that should stop the frog.

So I did. And I put it back together. I put it back on the seat and turned it on. It worked! The frog no longer clickety-clacked, but this was happening instead:

I have no idea how that happened. I don't even see how the monkey is connected to the frog. But at least I knew where the clickety-clack was coming from on this side

and how to stop it from going clickety-clack
After losing the arm on the monkey side, I put it back together, put it on the seat and turned it on. Now we have this:

So, it's not perfect. The monkey doesn't swing and the frog doesn't bounce. But really, it's SO much better. And for $12, I'm totally happy!

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Cake Pops









Baby's First Gift

I'm ready

Perhaps it's the nesting instinct you get when you are pregnant, or maybe it's because I have the mother I do, but for the past several months I've had an insatiable urge to simplify our house. I'm mostly referring to the stuff in our house, but also the way our house is run. I've always been a rather simple girl. My wardrobe, although abundant, is simple. My sense of humor, although dirty, is simple. My decorating style is simple. My approach to motherhood is simple. Yet, WE HAVE SO MUCH CRAP! Do you know how many sets of mixing bowls we have? Four. Four SETS. Not four bowls. And stored in those four sets of mixing bowls? I have two sets of measuring cups. You know how many bathing suits I have in my closet? Yeah, I don't know either. But I can promise you it's more than I need and more than I can ever wear. I seriously have my swim team suit from middle school stashed away in there! We have a coat closet for the leftover coats in our coat closet. I have three bedding sets for our one bed. Not three sets of sheets, but three entire SETS. Like duvet cover, shams, bed skirt. The whole package. I've used the same set for over three years now, while the other two have sat in the linen closet because they no longer match the room, now that we've painted it. For Christmas/Hanukkah, my in-laws got us a new set of everyday plates. I already had two sets (one from our first house that matched that decor, and one from this house, that matched this decor, but the plates were very chipped and cracked). Those old plates are sitting, packed away in the garage, ready to be sold. You know the last time I even thought about those plates? The day I packed them away and put them in the garage. I completely forgot about them! That's how important they are to me! At first glance, walking into our house, you'd never know how much unnecessary crap we have. It's kept rather clean and simple. But one look into our closets or our garage will tell you the truth. It's like Monica's secret closet on Friends. Through the years we have collected more than we've gotten rid of. We've inherited items from parents and grandparents. We've gotten wedding gifts. We've spoiled ourselves with meaningless kitchen appliances. (I'm looking at YOU Dairy Queen Blizzard maker!)

I think you get the point. We have too much crap. So, I'm getting rid of it! I'm ready for my closets to match the rest of the house. And I'm going to tell you about it as I go. So hang on. This could get interesting........

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A minimalist or middleist

22 Weeks

The past couple of weeks have been pretty crazy around here. Eric and Jackson went back home (to Ohio) to see Eric's grandfather. He wasn't doing very well, and ending up passing away while they were there. I joined them for the funeral last week, and that's why I missed the 21 week update. I promise, you didn't miss anything though.

Baby's size: A spaghetti squash. About 11 inches long and almost a pound.

Belly size: About 36 1/2" around my belly.

Cravings: Not many cravings. I woke up on Sunday morning really wanting a doughnut, which I normally hate, but it was really tasty!

Mood: Pretty good. I've been slightly obsessing about the baby's name lately. I still have no idea. I'm totally open to suggestions, too, as long as you are open to me shooting them down.

Symptoms: Ugh. I'm definitely starting to feel really pregnant. My back and feet hurt immensely if I stand or walk for too long. I've been getting more painful contractions lately too. I don't really know how much weight I've gained, and I try not to obsess over it too much. Last time around I didn't obsess over my weight at all, and I didn't really gain that much, but it was still just as hard to lose afterward. I think I've probably gained less this time around (even though I'm bigger in the belly) but that's just because I'm chasing a two year old around all the time, and not because I'm purposefully trying not to gain. With Jackson, I really thought that the weight would just magically come off once I had the baby, and now I know that it will be hard work to get it off. It makes me think twice before eating that bowl of ice cream. (that I always decide on eating anyway) I'm much bigger in the belly this time around. Like, way bigger. Like, people ask me all the time if I'm having twins or if my due date is right. Awesome.

Go to clothing: I've lived in my new pair of Old Navy maternity jeans. I'm either in those, yoga pants, or a skirt or dress everyday now. There is NO flip flopping between regular and maternity anymore. Same with the shirts. Sometimes I can wear a non-maternity shirt under a maternity shirt for layering purposes. I'm big though, and really need to wear maternity full time now.

Sleep: I've been sleeping good. As long as I can go to bed at a reasonable time. I end up on my back most of the time. That's how I'm most comfortable. But you aren't supposed to sleep on your back when you are as pregnant as I am, so I try to roll to my side. I've even managed to wake up kind of on my belly sometimes. I have no idea how I get in that position.

Baby movement: Lots of movement. Sometimes you can even see them from the outside which is cool and creepy at the same time.

A Love Note

Dear Baby Boy Best,
Feeling your little kicks is one of the best feelings that an expecting mom can feel. It tells me that you are doing well, and that you, in fact, have feet, knees and elbows, which are super important parts to have. And while I appreciate your night-owled nature, given that I am a night-owl myself, I really should be sleeping. Laying here, getting repeatedly kicked in the bladder isn't helping Mommy sleep. Let's finish this discussion in the morning and go to sleep now.

Love,
Mommy

P.S. I hope you enjoyed the ice cream I had about 45 minutes ago.