Lexi-Pie - My Little Toddler

I'm going to start doing quarterly updates on Lexi. Since she's getting older she's not hitting a new milestone every month like when she was a baby. We're in toddler land now! 

Summer obsession: bubbles... seriously, this kid wants to blow bubbles for freaking hours...

 

Helping unload the dishwasher
 

So, since Lexi turned two in June she has been a busy little girl (not a big girl because as she says, "I still little"). We've been going to the park a lot to jog and play. Social situations have actually taken a huge step back this summer. She had been doing pretty well, still shy, but she was ok with being around and playing with other kids. But then we had a couple play ground incidents where some random little kid ran up to Lexi and screamed in her face for no reason. It happened once with KJ and once with me. I seriously hate other kids sometimes. When it happened with me it scared her so badly the poor girl just clung to me for dear life and balled her eyes out. Since then she's literally been terrified when she sees another kid at the play ground. I think she expects every kid to be scary now like those two little a-holes were. I've talked to her so many times about how it's ok to be nervous, but that most kids are really nice. And that I know she got scared, but mommy and daddy were there and she always safe with us. I feel so bad for her and I really don't know what to do. I know avoiding social situations is not going to make it better, but it's always such a disaster when we go out and try to play. She's fine with adults and older kids, but with kids her age or size she just looses it. It make me sad. :(

A new love: parades! She loves, loves parades and asks to go to one at least once a week!

Running beside the stroller because she wants to "run like mommy does" :D Love that!!

For her birthday Lexi got the movie Frozen... We are officially Frozen obsessed! She seriously can't get enough of this movie. She "sings" all the songs and acts out different parts. She loves to knock on the door and does the whole "do you want to build a snowman" bit. It's freaking adorable!! I got her a set of plush Anna and Elsa dolls and she's in love with them. They sleep with her every night. When we play she's always Anna and I'm Elsa.

Looking at herself in the mirror with her Anna doll

For Lexi's Halloween costume, I asked her a bunch of times what she wanted to dress up as. I didn't want her to say one thing, I make her costume, and then have her decide she wanted to be something else. So first she wanted to be Daniel, then Katerina, then she finally settled on Anna. I really like how her costume turned out! I spent about $13 on the material and trim, so less than it would have been to buy one, and this way when every other girl is dressed up like Anna or Elsa she'll look a little different. :) 

First French braids!

She's really gotten into playing dress up in the past couple weeks. She has a Tinkerbelle shirt and I got her a green tutu to wear with it, so she says she looks like Tink. She also loves her Ariel shirts. I found one at a yard sale that she calls her sparkle Ariel shirt and asks to wear it just about every day. That was $2 well spent! 

The Tinkerbelle outfit


My little tree hugger in her sparkle Ariel shirt. This shirt gets a lot of wear!

Lexi continues to love books. I've read some to her so many times that she has them memorized. She'll sit and "read" them to herself now and recite them pretty close to word for word! I love that she loves to read. I'm really trying to nurture that love so it continues when she gets into school. (Not this year, probably next fall we'll start her in preschool a couple days a week)

Lexi got this doll house for her 1st birthday, but only really started playing with it recently. She loves it now!

Other things, she learned how to pick her nose shortly after her birthday. So, now I'm constantly saying "don't pick your nose" and "get your finger out of your nose". She's a little parrot and repeats pretty much everything I say. Her favorite phrase right now is "don't worry, I promise". She also imitates Daniel Tiger a lot. She pretends to be mad and grrr, or wants to "twirl like Katareina does", or wants to rub noses and say "ugga mugga". She's working on dressing and undressing herself. She can take her jacket and shoes off, sort of pull her pants up, and put her shirt on and off. 

We're heading towards potty training. Lexi is starting to show a lot of the readiness signs, so I think it's time we get more serious about it. Right now we talk a lot about using the potty and practice when she asks to. We have a couple potty books. Princess of the Potty is a good one. It explains step by step how to use the potty, which some of the other books just kind of glaze over it, which isn't terribly helpful. She has yet to actually pee on the potty and doesn't always want to sit on it when I suggest it. So, I'm reading up about it and trying to come up with a game plan. The more I think about it the more I think it will be easier to PT before baby boy comes and deal with possible regression, than to wait and PT after he gets here.

Singing "The Elsa song" (Let it Go) on her "stage" with her "microphone" (the top of my turkey baster lol)


Lexi has been asking for weeks to go to the zoo (thanks DT!) so we all went to the Pittsburgh Zoo on mine and KJ's anniversary. The carousel was the highlight of the trip!


A very tired momma and a happy Lexi :)
 

Lexi is bigger than a 3 month old rhinoceros! 
 

Lots of Love,
KJsbabe

24 weeks! It's V-day!

Baby boy is 24 weeks! We have reach viability day! It feels really good to reach such an important milestone. :) 

6 Months baby!

 

My app on the 8th went well... That is, when I remembered to go to it. I sort of forgot about it! Oops! The 8th was a Monday and the weekend before some good friends of ours got married. KJ was a groomsman so all that week leading up to it I was thinking wedding, wedding, wedding. In the back of my mind I knew I had an app on Monday, but I woke up that morning and thought, "It's a beautiful day, we have nothing to do, let's go to the park to jog and play!" So that's what Lexi and I did! We had just finished jogging and I was pushing Lexi on the swings, and my phone rang.... It was of course the doctor's office calling to see if I had forgotten about my app. Oops! I felt terrible! I was hoping they would have me come in that afternoon instead or maybe the next day, but nope! They wanted me to come in right then! Ugh, the park is only a couple minuets away, so Lexi and I went to my app. Me sweaty, unshowered, and in my workout clothes, and Lexi in her dingy play clothes. Not my best moment... I feel like I need to dress extra nice at my next app to make up for it! But other than that, baby boy's HB sounded good and my fundal height was on track.

The aches and pains of pregnancy are starting to set in. It was right around 24w with Lexi that they started, so not surprising. Things are just going to get more uncomfortable from here! Joy! My belly is heavy. It's hard to get comfortable to sleep. I'm constantly warm. My feet and hands are starting to swell. I hate all pants except yoga pants. I get out of breath walking up and down the stairs. Oy.

But, baby boy seems to be doing good. He kicks and moves around a lot. Last week he kind of gave me a scare. He's usually very active in the evening after Lexi is in bed. Well, last Wednesday I barely felt him move all evening and the morning and afternoon were about the same. I still felt a little kicks here and there, but nothing like it had been. Friday morning I woke up really early because I just couldn't sleep, so I had some breakfast and laid down to see if I could feel him. I felt 10 kicks in 10 minuets, no problem, so that really put my mind more at ease. I have anterior placenta, so I know that can make it harder to feel him in certain positions. I've checked on him with the Doppler a few times and he's still chugging along at 149. 

22w2d at the wedding

How far along? 24 weeks

Total weight gain: 16lbs *le sigh*

Maternity clothes? Shirts yes. Pants depend. I mostly wear yoga pants, but if I feel like I need to look "dressed" I do jeans. If I know I'm going to be sitting a lot I wear maternity jeans because they're more comfortable. The thing I hate about them is that they sag which bugs the crap out of me and I constantly have to pull them up. If I'm going to be walking or standing a lot I wear my "fat jeans" with a belly band because they stay up better. They are pretty uncomfortable to sit in, though. I can't win.

Stretch marks? Nope

Sleep: I'm sleeping ok, but some nights it's hard to get comfortable. Sometimes I wake up laying on my back, which makes me nervous. I don't want to cut off his circulation accidentally.

Best moment this month: Every moment with my healthy little boy is the best :)

Miss Anything? My figure 

Movement: Lots! Baby boy loves to kick! He's a wild man some nights!

Food cravings: Cheese, chocolate

Anything making you queasy or sick: My prenatal when I don't eat enough with them.

Gender prediction: Still boy :)

Labor Signs: none

Symptoms: Lots of movement, my growing belly

Belly Button in or out? In, but getting flatter

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy but tired

Looking forward to: The 3rd tri :)

Next app: Oct 6

Lots of Love,

KJsbabe

20 Weeks! Half Baked!!

We are half way there already! This is going so fast!! I'm feeling good physically and I'm happy to have reached thesis milestone. My belly has grown exponentially. I look like I'm 6 or 7 months, instead of 5. Because of all the growth my belly has been sore a lot in the evenings. It's starting to get hard to bend over already. I've stated to ever so attractive pregnancy squat to pick things up off the floor. I wasn't expecting to have to do that for a while still. I'm much bigger already than I was last time. 

5 months!

Comparison pic: 20w with Lexi (pink) vs 20w with baby boy... I'm huge! Lol

Maternity clothes are a struggle right now. Nothing fits right. I found some small jeans on eBay for a good price and they fit well when I tried them on. But the first time I wore them out I hated them. I'm disappointed. They were hard to move in and they cut into my belly at the bottom while still sagging down in the back. I joked about it before, but I think I'm really just going to wear yoga pants for the rest of this pregnancy! 

18w in my new mat jeans... Too bad I hate them!

KJ and I have been doing more work on the nursery. The room is all cleaned out now. I primed the dresser and painted the book shelf. I need to get some feet for the shelf and new hard wear for the dresser. I need to get KJ priming the walls. I really want to get all the painting done while the weather is warm so I can do the small things outside and we can air things out when he paints inside. 

How far along? 20 weeks

Total weight gain: I don't even want to admit to this one. I'm up 13lbs *hides head in shame* My original goal was to be at 6lbs at 20w so I would be free to gain a pound a week for the rest of the pregnancy and I'd end up right at my end goal of 25lbs. Well, the best laid plans... Granted, my belly really grew a lot this month, but 9lbs in 4 weeks! Ugh. Not what I wanted to see :( I know this gain is for the best reason there is, but it's really hard watching the scale go up. I was over weight all though school up until I graduated college, and I worked really hard to get to where I am/was. But I keep telling myself I lost all 47lbs after Lexi, I can and will do it again.

Maternity clothes? I don't even want to talk about clothes right now. I'm so over them!

Stretch marks? Nope

Sleep: Sleeping well most nights. I can't lay on my back any more, so every night I try to focus on laying on my side. I usually wake up at least once on my back, though :/

Best moment this month: Finding out that we're having a boy!!! I'm so excited!

Miss Anything? Sleeping on my back and clothes that fit.

Movement: Yes! I finally started feeling little kicks around 17 weeks. I found out at our a/s that I have an anterior placenta this time, so that explains it a little. I mostly feel kicks on the sides and bottom. Baby boy still loves to kick my bladder.

Food cravings: Soy milk, tomato sauce 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Cereal and milk. This is Lexi breakfast of choice right now and it's better if I eat the same thing she does or else she wants whatever I have and not her own. Blah

Gender prediction: I was right! Boy!!

Labor Signs: none

Symptoms: My ever growing belly, shortness of breath. I'm starting to really slow down, I get really tired after I run.

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy most of the time. I gave into my no caffeine rule and now I feel like a whole new person! Lol

Looking forward to: Reaching v-day next month!

Next app: Sept 8 for a check up

Lots of Love,

KJsbabe

And a cute Lexi pic :)

We're Having A...

We had our anatomy scan today and everything went really well! Baby looked great! We got to see the heart, arteries, kidneys, spine, brain, head, abdomen, arms, legs, placenta, cord, nose, lips, face, and everything looked just as it should. HB was 157 and baby was even measuring 6 whole days ahead at 19w3d! I was really surprised because everything, arms, legs, head, abdomen, and spine were measuring ahead. Baby also weighted 10oz. They were wiggling around and sucking their fingers :) All in all, we have a healthy LO! 

I'm so happy and so relieved that everything is going well! Also at our scan we were able to find out the gender! :) When the tech zoomed in on the area it was pretty obvious. With Lexi we were 90% sure she was a girl and there was nothing indicating boy, but there was always a little doubt. Well this time there is no doubt about it! Lol

We're having a BOY!!

I'm so excited!! I've always wanted one of each :) I feel like everything has come full circle now. I always felt like one or both of my losses were boys, so finally having and getting to meet our boy feels really good. It feels right. This baby will complete our family! 

And now on the planning!! Now that we know what the sex will be we can start on the nursery and I can start yard saleing for baby boy clothes! First thing is to clean the room out. It's been our guest room/ storage room/ cat room/ catch all room since we bought our house five years ago. There's a lot of stuff that will need a new home. Then KJ will need to do lots of priming. There's a beach mural on one of the walls from the previous owners. We never had a reason to redo the room before, so we never painted over it. So much to do and we're almost half way there already! January will be here before we know it!

I found a great announcement idea on Pintrest and I made scratch off cards to send to our families. They were easy to make and turned out well!

Lots of Love, 

KJsbabe

My 2 Year Old!

Well, Lexi has been officially two years old for a couple weeks now! We had a nice quiet day at home for her birthday. We did presents and cake and watched a little Daniel Tiger. We actually went to another little girls birthday party for a few hours in the afternoon (Don't get me started on that!! Lol), but she had a great day and that's what was most important. 

Lexi's birthday trikey!

Playing with her jewelry box

Lexi got the movie Frozen for her birthday and we've pretty much watched it every day since! She loves it and is totally obsessed! She calls the abominable snowman in it "big tiger", because clearly anything that says "roar" is a tiger :)  She likes to act out parts of the movie. She'll tell me "go to sleep mommy" so then she can shake me and say "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" like Anna does to Elsa in the beginning. She also likes to stand at the back door and knock, then she'll say words from the "Do you want to build a snowman" song. She'll say "build snowman?" And then turn around, throw her arms up in the air and say "why?!" It's really cute! 

Just chillaxin' on the couch

Trying on mommy's shoes

We've been doing some different activities this summer. Our local movie theater has been showing free kids movies, a different none every week. So every Thursday morning Lexi and I go to the movies and share a box of gummies. We've seen two the the Alvin and the Chipmunks sequels, which she loved. She still talks about seeing "the chipmunk movie" and how the "green chipmunk got scared!". We saw Turbo, which was a cute movie, but Lexi wasn't super into it. We've also seen two Ice Age sequels and she liked those. She still talks about how "the baby dinosaur cry!" and "the big dinosaur says ROAR!" and "baby catch a snowflake!". It's a fun time and she's done better sitting through a whole movie than I thought she would. I like that it's all kids and parents at the showings, so if she whimpers now and then it's not as big of a deal. I also love that it's completely free for both of us!! I pick up a 99 cent box of gummies at Walmart before hand, pack her sippy (no drink for me or else I'll have to pee 9 times!), and we have a great morning. 

Playing with playdough... an obsession lately!

A day at the beach

KJ and I took Lexi to Idlewild Park (south east of Pittsburgh) a couple weeks ago. It was her first amusement park. She did ok, but it wasn't a fantastic day. It was a two hour drive down that stretched into 2.5-3 hours because we had our first experience puking in the car. Fun fun!! She was watching Tangled on KJs tablet and I think she got car sick. So we had to stop and find a Walmart to get extra wipes, carpet cleaner to clean the car seat, paper towels, and an extra out fit. I had one back up outfit with us, but I was worried she would get sick again and then I'd have nothing to put her it. Luckily, that was the only throw up incident! 

Hand car with mommy

So we finally got to the park and it was 90 freaking degrees already. Omg it was a hot day! The big draw to the park for us was that they are remodeling part of it in order to put in a Daniel Tigers Neighborhood section. It previously was Mister Rodger's Neighborhood of Make-believe and now they are updating it for a new generation. But anyways, Lexi got to meet DT again, and of course, loved him. That and seeing trolly was the high light of the trip. KJ tried to take her on a couple rides, but she got scared. I couldn't go on a lot of them with her, so it was kind of hard. I was able to take her on the carousel, though, and she really liked that. She got to ride on a black pony, which she still talks about. 

We ventured into the water park, which wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Lexi actually did really well with the crowed kid's area and the water in general. She had a good time, but I honestly really did not. I hate those gross, over crowded changing rooms. And it was so insanely hot. And then I had to juggle Lexi, getting us both dressed, and our bag. Ugh. I hate water parks. 

All in all Lexi had a decent time, but I am not looking forward to taking a toddler to an amusement park again any time soon! As she gets older I think it will get better, but for now it's a huge pain in the butt. (Haha and I say this as we are tentatively planning a Disney trip for summer '16 when Lexi will be 4 and LO will be 18m! Oh fun times!!)

Samores by the "fire place"

Sol that's a recap on life with a 2 year old at the moment!

Lots of Love, 

KJsbabe

16 Weeks - 4 Months!!

Well, I am officially in the second tri now (I count by 13w3d). I'm still tired all the time and I keep waiting for my energy to come back. I guess it has a little, but not like I'm used to. I really miss caffeine!! I'm still running every other day and walking on the off days. I'm running 4.5 miles when I'm on my own or 3.2 miles when I have Lexi in the stroller. A long way off from last summer, but I'm doing what I can! 

15w2d

So, just after 12w I started to have trouble peeing at night. I would get up in the middle of the night, sit down to go, and nothing would come out even though I had a full bladder. I had an app on July 14th (just a check up/ Doppler check) and my doctor told me that baby was sitting on my urethra and blocking things off. Super fun!! I had to do like a downward dog jiggle thing to get baby up higher so I could pee. But, at about 14.5w I noticed when I woke up one morning that I could feel my ute up above my pelvis and I haven't had the problem since. I'm so glad the issue didn't last long!!

Speaking of peeing, this baby loves to sit on my bladder and make me have to pee every 15 minuets. I know my bladder isn't full yet, but I still feel like I have to pee NOW! The other day it got really bad. Lexi and I were getting ready to go to story time. I peed right before I got us in the car, but as soon as sat down I felt like I had to pee again. I thought, "there's no way. I literally just peed, I'll be fine." It's a half hour drive to story time. Omg by the time we got there I was ready to explode! With Lexi this peeing all the time thing didn't set in until late third tri. 

How far along? 16 weeks

Total weight gain: 4 pounds. The running is really helping me to keep things under control.

Maternity clothes? I'm sticking with the belly button bands. They work for the most part. I like that they attach to the buttons of my pants. I can unbutton how ever far is comfortable and it's covered up. I have some problems with my pants sagging in the back, but I usually have that problem pregnant or not. I tried on my maturity pants the other day and they're still too big. With Lexi I started wearing them at 16w, but I had also gained 15lbs by that point. So I think the weight is really making a difference.

Stretch marks? Nope

Sleep: Sleeping ok. I wake up at least once a night to pee. Surprisingly I'm still ok laying on my back. With Lexi I started feeling sick every time I laid on my back around 16 weeks. I really missed it all though that pregnancy, so I'm excited it's not setting in as soon this time.

Best moment this month: Being able to pee again! Lol

Miss Anything? Caffeine. Seriously, it's a struggle to get though the day sometimes. I don't feel like I'm being a great mom to Lexi because I just don't have the energy to do a lot. And when I'm tired I get snippy and I just don't have a ton of patience. 

Movement: I keep thinking I feel little flutters, but then I convince myself it's just gas. I thought I felt a kick last week, but I was pretty high up and I really don't think my ute is that high yet. With Lexi I felt full on kicks at the end of 17w, and they say you're supposed to feel movement earlier with baby number two. But I'm still waiting for an undeniable kick.

Food cravings: Mexican. I'm really loving the combo of pineapple salsa, sour cream, and cheese. Love it!! And spaghetti! Yum!  

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope

Gender prediction: Still thinking boy. We will find out on Aug 11!

Labor Signs: none

Symptoms: Tired. Growing bump! 

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Tired, which makes me moody.

Looking forward to: Our anatomy scan is so close! I can't wait to find out the sex! 

Next app: August 11

Lots of Love,

KJsbabe

 PS My sister finally had her baby!! She was 10 days over due and needed induced, but Hannah Joy was born this afternoon! 10lbs 6oz!! Yikes!

I Think We're Going to Have a Baby!

Today baby is 12 weeks! I'm 3 months pregnant! 28 more weeks to go!

I had my NT scan this morning and baby looked great! Such a relief! The NT measurement was .12, heart beat was 157, and baby even measured ahead at 12w4d. Lexi measured a few days ahead at her NT scan, too, so not super surprising. The tech said everything looks good. Yay! We'll get the full results with the blood work and everything in a couple weeks.

My doctor also gave me a lab order for a GTT. I was kind of surprised to have to do one so early in this pregnancy. I asked one of the nurses about it and she said it's standard now at their office to have all patience do one at the beginning and then another at the normal 28w. A little weird, but I guess if they think it's necessary I'll do it.

There's nothing I can do to jinks a pregnancy, so I'm going to go ahead and say it... I'm feeling really good about this baby!!! I'm really excited!! I feel like this is my second (or fourth) chance at an enjoyable pregnancy. Everything has been going so well, no actual scares (just PgAL brain). I feel naive again. I know in my head that there is no safe place in pregnancy, that there are no guarantees, but I feel like we are going to get to meet this LO in January. I feel like this LO will complete our family. Here's hoping!

How far along? 12 weeks

Total weight gain: 1/2 a pound. I gain back what I lost, so I'm about even now.

Maternity clothes? I'm trying out some new belly bands "The Belly Button Band". Last time I had one from Target that I really hated. I was just way too tight and constricting. I like the Belly Button much better! It buttons on to the button of your pants and then hold everything up pretty nicely. My jeans and shorts still fit well in the legs and but, so I think this will work well for the next couple weeks.

Stretch marks? Nope

Sleep:  Pretty good except for a couple nights. There was one night that I woke up about 3am and was so antsy I couldn't fall back asleep until almost 6.

Best moment this week:  Seeing LO wiggle and turn over on the u/s today!

Miss Anything? Wine. Omg I would LOVE a glass of sweet red wine.... 

Movement: Not yet.

Food cravings: Lately it's been veggie cream cheese, Nutella, Alfredo, and pickles.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Water on an empty stomach. 

Gender prediction:  KJ and I are both thinking boy

Labor Signs: no!

Symptoms: Fatigue!! Omg I'm still sooo tired!

Belly Button in or out? In.

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or Moody most of the time: A mix. Feeling good most of the time, but. I get annoyed easily.

Looking forward to: My bump turning into a real unmistakeable baby bump. I kind of look like I've just gained some weight...

Next app:  July 21 for a check up and Doppler check.

Lots of Love,

KJsbabe