11 Weeks... Our 2nd Baby

How far along? 11 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: I started this pregnancy at 118. I've had 4 appointments where I've gained a few and lost a few but on Tuesday, I'm still at 118 lbs. I'm sure the weight will pile on in a few weeks.

Maternity clothes? Yes and NO. I can't lie, I never stopped wearing my Liz Lange maternity shirts, but other than that, still in normal clothes.

Stretch marks? No- but I've been using coco butter body spray and lotion. I'm so dry. This kid is sucking the moisture out of my skin. its terrible. 

Sleep: I'm so tired, but who can sleep with a toddler running around?? Sometimes I will nap when he naps.

Best moment this week: We had an ultrasound and saw the baby. We are were at 10 week but measured 12 weeks 6 days. It was very active. I even told my OB that I felt it at night, he said it wasn't possible until we saw the ultrasound.. he's now a believer.

Miss Anything? The sleep I got with my my first pregnancy... 

Movement: Yes, I think.

Food cravings: Not really. I like crisp fresh grapes... oranges, salad, and I went on an obsessive search for chili cheese burritos from taco bell. My husband was able to bring it home once.. just once. luckily I'm over it!

Anything making you queasy or sick: I have severe nausea from 4pm-midnight. It's mind numbing. I get dizzy and light headed. I started using PSI bands (like sea bands but for pregnancy) and I feel better. I didn't get this with my first pregnancy its overwhelming. 

Have you started to show yet: I do feel a little chunky.

Gender: not sure yet.

Labor Signs: none.

Belly Button in or out? IN. 

Wedding rings on or off? on

Happy or Moody most of the time: HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!

Looking forward to: We finally got to see my mom this weekend after 6 weeks. she finished her last 2 rounds of chemo, with that and a round of colds between my mom, dad then Landon caught a bug.. we really couldn't visit her until we made sure everyone was in tip top shape.  Also my brother and his wife are having a gender reveal at dinner- We've been waiting for weeks to find out. So excited!

A Sweet Little Announcement

Well our little family is excited to announce that there's a little bundle of joy expected to arrive May 2014! 

Toddler Activities: Duck Week

I decided that at 16 months, we would start teaching Landon about different farm animals. He currently knows bird, dog and cat. 

I got these farm animal figurines at a learning store, but you can buy them on amazon, at Walmart and I've seen them at target. 

I also pull all of our books with ducks in them to read for the week. Any book with ducks in it works. So I introduced a few different ducks. 

Remember to ask questions and talk about ducks. "Landon, what is this? It's a duck", "a duck goes quack quack" etc

By the end of the day, he caught on about ducks, so we went to feed ducks at the lake and he loved it. Now he can tell the difference between ducks and birds... We also went to the pumpkin patch where they had ducks.. And he kept pointing and screaming "Duck!! Duck!!"

Toddler Activities: Jumbo Peg Boards

We are introducing colors to Landon. I bought this peg board activity from lakeshore learning center. They also sell them on amazon.

to start this activity, we let him have a handful of pegs and we talked about stacking. Every time he would "stack" a peg, we would say "Stack". 

Always offering positive encouragement by saying "good job, you did it!"

Within minutes, he mastered stacking 3 pegs per row. 

On the second day of jumbo pegs, We introduced only 1 color. we talked about blue and every time he would pick up a peg, we would say, "blue." "that's blue." "stack the blue!" "good job, you stacked blue" and by the end of the week, he said blue. second week, we introduced red.

Toddler Activities: Clip-A-Bowl

This is a pretty easy activity for a toddler. I recommend clothes pins to start with a young toddler and chip clips for older toddlers.

I just had a bunch of chip clips laying around and I clipped them onto a plastic bowl.

Landon can easily take the clips off the bowl.

It took him a few days to master clipping it back onto the bowl and a few times, he clipped it onto his palm and would yell "stuck"!! 

He loved to pull apart the clips and count them. "2 and 10" are his numbers.

This activity is great because he's so inquisitive about how stuff functions. He also loves watching things open and shut. 

Landon's Date Night: Chuck E Cheese

Auntie Cat took Landon on their second date to Chuck E Cheese. I downloaded a coupon for them, for $25 they recieved 100 tokens. That was plenty of tokens to keep a toddler busy!

He loved observing the other children dance, she thought he would jump in and join, but he was very shy. 

She taught him how to use tokens to pay for rides.

He rode every ride there! It's only 1 token per ride! 

I love that he was able to explore!!

Clearly he's an expert with rides!

I love that my sister takes Landon on little adventure! She's so amazing with him and to watch them bond and grow is totally heart warming! When he sees her, he whispers "cat" then turns around and and waves "Bye" to me. He has no problem leaving me for his beloved auntie Cat! 

Until next time!

Landon Visits Pennsylvania

We had our summer visit to Pennsylvania to see my husbands family!

Here we are at Sunday church.

Landon and his pap pap walking to church. They're buddies. I can't believe how grown he looks!

Landon with his dad and grandparents!

He sat quietly through mass. clapping and cheering when the choir sang. its pretty funny.

The tractor became a huge daily activity. The minute he woke up, he would tell my fil "brrrrrrrr" and pointed outside. we would bundle him up so pap pap could take him on a ride. its pretty funny how he has them wrapped around his little finger!

On a beautiful Sunday, we went to "camp" to have an early dinner and enjoy the outdoors with my husbands aunts and uncles.

We went boating, ate pie, enjoyed a camp fire. it was pretty relaxing and fun! Definitely my favorite thing to do when we visit!

Landon LOVED steering the boat and exploring! 

Here he is with Aunt Shannon and his cousin Selah.

We also scheduled a play date with one of my SIL's friends daughter. We LOVED letting him interact with friends. They were so playful and social! I couldn't believe how well he interacted with Netty. 

My MIL and SIL took me to see my first penguin game! 

Of Course we had to visit our favorite Italian place for dinner! We even celebrated my nieces birthday! 

We love visiting Landon's Great Grandmother. We always have such an amazing time visiting my in laws. We get plenty of sleep and Landon gets to spend time with my husbands family! They've always welcomed me with open arms and they LOVE Landon so much! I have been blessed to marry into such an amazing loving family!