30 Weeks

I hit the 30 week mark in this pregnancy on Monday!

I went to the doctor last week and I've gained 15 pounds total. My blood pressure was 122/68 and the baby's heart rate was 142.

Aubrey moves a lot and we are at the point where I can see just about every movement from the outside.

I'm not sleeping very well most nights.  I have a few sleepless nights in a row and then I'll have an awesome full night of sleep.

I have had cramps at some point every day, been super emotional, and just haven't felt great.  My doctor told me to eat, drink, and rest more.  I've been trying!!  I have been limiting myself to walking only 2 or 3 times a week and I've tried to sleep during Langley's nap time every day.  I've felt a little better in the past few days.  I've also tried to eat every few hours and not let myself get hungry.  Bring.On.The.Pounds.

I wear all maternity clothes, accept for my yoga/sweat pants and tshirts/sweatshirts (which is what I wear most days!) 

Differences in this prenancy than with the first one:  I'm hot most of the time, my skin has been itchy and sensitive, I do not have the black line down my stomach, I am more tired and uncomfortable, I've gained less weight, and I haven't obsessively kept up with every week in the "what to expect" book or online. 

I am so excited to meet my precious Aubrey!  I pray for her everyday.  Langley kisses my belly everyday.  We are so excited to meet her in 10 weeks -  OR LESS!

Langley's 2nd Birthday Party

Josh will be gone to the first round of our conference tournament on Langley's actual birthday, so we celebrated early!  The theme was "Wild About Two" and I was able to use a lot of hot pink and zebra stuff that I already had or could find easily.

We invited our family and the families in our neighborhood that we have playgroup with.  Some of the players also came!

It was a beautiful, but windy day.

My favorite part of the party was when we sang happy birthday.  Her face was beaming!

We had cake, ice cream, fruit, and some chips and dip.  I had the cakes made at the (only) grocery store.  I may have been able to decorate it better than they did, but I was not going stress about it.

Of course opening presents was fun!  Everyone was so generous and she played with her new stuff non-stop between the end of the party and bed time,

Look out world, she has motorized wheels.  My child now has her own fleet of vehicles, but only one with  power :-) 

The 23rd Month: February 22-26

Feb 22 - Hanging out while I folded laundry.  Actually, she was begging to watch TV.

Feb 23 - Happy shot before daddy left for the last regular season game!  We made it! 

Feb 24 - not.a.single.picture. from this day.  We bought groceries, shopped for her birthday party and at chinese for lunch.

Feb 25 - Langley spent the morning with Josh while I ran errands.  He dressed her :-) 

Feb 26 - We went "Wild About TWO" at Langley's birthday party!!  This was during the present-opening stage.  I'll do an entire post on the party later in the week, once I get all the pictures!

***  I just noticed that my child wore a lot of gray last week and Josh is the MVP of this blog post.

Pretty girl, Pretty weather

After lunch the past few days we've played in the back yard with bubbles, sidewalk chalk, the swingset , and the mower.  She's grown so much since last summer!  I think she will want to spend more time outside this year.

The 23rd Month: February 17-21

Feb 17 & 18= No picture, I went with Josh and the team to the game for the weekend and left Langley at home with my mom.

Feb 19: Actually, this was taken on Monday morning, but this is how she looked when we put her to bed on the 19th.

Feb 20:  First day in a while we spent time in the back yard. 

Feb 21:  rediscovered the mower.  We played outside for about an hour soaking up the sun!

The 23rd Month: February 13-16

Feb 13: Playing

Feb 14:  Reading a Valentine book

Feb 15:  Trying to watch her show and getting annoyed that I'm taking her picture.

Feb 16:  Ate a good lunch! 

My Loves

Josh -- I love you for making me a book for Valentines.  Forget the homemade card, you pretended to have practice so that you could go to the office and make me a book, narrarated by Henry.  You have many talents.  I also loved my surprise rose you left for me after Langley and I headed out to the softball game this afternoon.  That was sweet, simple, and unexpected.

Even if I vacummed and cleaned the toilet on Valentine's day, I love you for working hard and making decisions that are best for our family so that I can be a stay-at-home-mom. 

Langley -- We've had a fun day.  You got 3 new books for Valentines, I'm putting off the loads of chocolate as long as possible!  2 of the books are about being a big sister, you read them all morning, watched sesame street, then we went to playgroup.  You acted nicely and played well with the others, and I got to visit with the other moms.  After lunch we went to the softball game and made it 2 innings before it was naptime.  It was nice to see daddy and get to be outside for a little while.  You took a good nap, we played, and watched some TV before dinner.  I love you so much.  I love being your mom.

Aubrey -- I love you, too.  I can't wait to tell you face to face and kiss you!  If all goes as planned we'll see you in 11 or 12 weeks!

@ Daddy's Second Home

The 23rd Month: February 8-12

Feb 8:  I took about 25 pictures and this one pretty much the only one where she was facing the camera and had a semi-pleasant look on her face.  She was playing and did not want to be bothered with pictures!

Feb 9:  Love a clean baby!

Feb 10:  The first few hours of potty bootcamp.  She had just had a bath, hence the beautiful clean hair, and was sitting pantless on a pallet watching a show.

Feb 11:  I didn't take a picture this day, just another one from the 9th of a happy girl in the tub.

Feb 12:  We went to daddy's gym to get out some energy.  It is too cold to play outside so he broke out some fun stuff including the parachute!

Potty Training Day 3 - Monitor and Adjust

So, potty training bootcamp is officially over.  Langley is NOT potty trained, not even close.  But, we all learned some things from the experience and we will continue to move forward, not returning to diapers.

For now, Langley wears panties and we go sit on the potty every hour while we are home.  She will continue to nap and bedtime in a pull up.  If we need to go out for extended periods of time or other circumstances arise where it is best for MY mental health that she wears a pull up, that's what we'll do.  I don't call them pull ups, just panties like her normal panties.  I don't make a deal out of them being any different.  I know she can tell a difference, but I pretend like there isn't one. 

We also removed the little potty and just use a potty seat on the normal toilet.  This has improved her attitude about trying to potty immensley!  She still has not peed in the potty.  There may be a fear, or just complete lack of understanding, or pure stubborness.  I honestly can't tell at this point.

We all feel so much better that these 3 days are over.  Yes, I felt very defeated - like a failure- but if the kid isn't ready, she just isn't ready.  She's not even 2.  I will try this 3 day approach again in 6 months or so, if she doesn't show any interest before then.

Thanks for reading our journey!  I will post about something other than using the bathroom next time!

Potty Training Day 2 - This is the Worst

Today has been harder than yesterday.  The "list of events" would look almost identical.  She's figured out to wait until she sits to eat or for nap and bedtime to do most of her peeing.  She has not yet peed in the potty.  This is the hardest parenting thing we've faced yet.  Langley has cried alot.  I have cried alot.  We will stick with our current plan for 1 more day, and if there is no progress...as in getting 1 more sticker on the potty chart, I will back off.  Honestly, we are all miserable.  Physically she is ready, she can hold her pee for several hours.  Cognitively, not so much.  She's either not ready mentally or she's already outsmarted us. 

She also screamed for 2 hours during rest time again today.  She was in bed for the night at 6:25 pm. 

Potty Training Day 1 - I survived.

Ya'll I'm so tired.  Like physically, mentally, emotionally exhausted!  I think today was harder on this pregnant momma than on Langley.

If you are not interested in potty talk, stop reading.  I'm going to list how today went, mostly for my own memory and just to help me process today and see what I need to change/altar. 

As with most parenting decisions (sleep training, paci, feeding issues, etc) I have consulted some books and other parents and have formed my own plan that best works for us for potty training.  Some people do this in 1 day, 3 days, or dont attempt until 3 years old.  I feel like the timing is right for Langley.  She has displayed several signs of readiness, being 2 weeks from 2 years old.


7:00 am - wake up, take off wet diaper, sat on potty
7:30 - breakfast
7:45 - wet pants, sat on potty
8:05 - pooped pants
8:30 - sat on potty
8:45 - " "
9:10 - " "
10:00 - " "
10:20 - " "
11:00 - " "
11:30 - " "
11:35- lunch
11:45 - wet pants
1:00 pm - POOPED IN POTTY!
1:20 - sat on potty
1:30 - 4:00 - "naptime = mostly screaming, finally fell asleep at 3"  wore pull-up
4:00 - sat on potty
4:05 - wet pants
4:15 - snack and drink
5:10 - wet pants (on our way to the potty)
5:55 - wet pants
6:15 - sat on potty
6:45 - mommy gave up, started bedtime routine.



*For 2 days now, she's done the maniac marathon screaming during nap time and I feel like that made today harder.  A well-rested Langley always functions better.  I have no idea what this is about.  Hopefully it's short-lived.

*This has nothing to do with potty training, but the Eagles went 2-0 this week!  Another conference win, finally!

*Josh stayed with Langley for about 2 hours mid-morning while I went to Walmart and ran some errands.  In that time he taught her to say "shoot!"  It was not on purpose. She peed in the recliner and apparently that was his first reaction.  When she says it, it sounds like sh*t.  FANTASTIC.  So, every time she's wet her pants since then, she yells "shoot!"  And I can't laugh, I have to pretend I don't hear it.  Ya'll pray for me.

*I definitely got discouraged at times today, but stayed very positive with her regarding potty issues.  I was encouraged that "the book" says "the goal for this first day is learning to sit on the potty at your direction, rather than looking for results...the simple behavior of going to the bathroom...will...set a successful pattern."  Thank goodness, because the child only got 1 sticker on the potty chart today!

Making Cookies

 I saw these Mickey Mouse Valentine cookies at the grocery store and thought it would be a fun activity for me and Langley.  In reality it took all of 30 seconds for her to "help" me, and she had a meltdown when we put them in the oven. 

They were bite sized and yummy after we baked them.

The 23rd Month: February 5-7

Feb 5:  Sunday before church.

Feb 6:  She spends a lot of time playing with her letters on the refrigerator.  She was telling me a story while I took this picture.

Feb 7:  Her new thing is to run a "hide" when she doesn't want to do something.  She knew it was nap time and ran into the living room to hide on the couch.  It's always hilarious when I "find" her.

The 23rd Month: February 1-4

Feb 1:  It had finally stopped raining so we went out after naptime and splashed in some puddles with her rain boots on.  Can you tell she was happy to be outside?

Feb 2:  We made a quick trip to see my mom.  Langley enjoyed reading the books when we got there because she was super sleepy.

Feb 3:  Brooke stopped by to say hello!  Notice L's boots and beads.  Funny girl!

Feb 4:  She did so well in the car today.  So glad she got to bring some books back from Nanny's because she could entertain herself while we were in a little traffic jam!

APA

I've already put the name of our 2nd daughter on Facebook, but wanted to have the meaning and story behind it here for me to remember.

Baby #2 will be...

AUBREY PIEARCE AUSTIN

Josh has been set on the name Aubrey for several weeks now.  It was the only name he liked.  I wanted to wait to see what all of our pregnant neighbors were naming their children and practice saying "Aubrey Austin" a million times to make sure I loved it.  Well, it looks like we will have a Jacqueline, Kinsley, Madelynn, and Aubrey all here within the next few months. 

Here's why I love her name:

I put Aubrey on the (short) list of names I liked after looking at Abigail.  I loved the name Abigail after I did a Bible study last year on women of the Bible.  Abigail's story of her character and faith is inspiring.  I hope my girls can have some her traits.  However, I know several Abigail's, Abby's (one is a canine,) and Addie's, so I needed something a little different. 

The actual meaning of the name Aubrey is something like "king of the elves."  I'm sure she will appreciate that!  I knew I couldn't have a Langley Elizabeth, whose name has lots of family history behind it, and then an Aubrey "elfish ruler,"  so a family name for the middle name was a must.  We had picked out the middle name Piearce for our boy name, so we decided to use it for our daughter since it is derived from "Piearcy."  Piearcy is my mother-in-law's maiden name.  It is also special because my mom has a dear friend whose last name was Pierce.  She has been like a second mother to me at times, and loves Langley like her own.  My Aubrey Piearce represents some special people!

We can't wait to meet Aubrey and love her so much already!

Bets are on what Langley will end up calling her.  I'm guessing either "sissy" or "bobby"  because I know she won't say Aubrey  :-)

Wordless Wednesday