18 months old

So my little man will be 18 months 3 days! I can remember giving birth to him like it was yesterday and now he will have a little brother in 4 short months. I have been thinking about getting him into the big boy bed for naps so in the next 4-6 months when the baby will need the crib he will just want to be in the big boy room. He is hitting and biting and I am reading "Happiest Toddler on the Block" so we will see what works and how we get to the other side of this. The biting is very deliberate and I think because he cannot communicate what he wants, he doesn't even try he just grabs my arm and sinks his teeth in like an ear of corn. On top of it all I think for sure there are more teeth coming in! Yesterday he was up and screaming at 4:30am and cried for 45 straight and didn't want anything I was trying to get him to settle down. So I gave him some medicine and did better the rest of the day and took a long nap. Today was more odd behavior for him. He didn't want to get out of the stroller after our Stroller Strides class this morning and play with his friends; he was just a grumpy face. By dinner tonight his bottom canine "holes" were fire engine red so i got my fingers crossed that those pop out tonight and in the morning I will get my sweet boy back. Thankfully when he is in pain he just wants to cuddle and watch a movie or we always got the water table and the weather is awesome so we will be just fine, I just hate to see my boy not being himself. Good night and hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Baby Bump update- 22 weeks

So we are 22 weeks already! It is crazy how fast this all just fly's by while you are chasing a toddler around. We do not have an official date yet when my husband is leaving but we have a tentative date and we only have about 7 weeks to go as a family under one roof! So we are just soaking up every moment and counting down till the next chapter.

This week is World Breastfeeding Week and I came across this article CDC Calls Out Hospitals For Not Supporting Breastfeeding

I breastfed my son for 13 months and I feel that my success was do the great nurses at my hospital putting that baby on me every moment and having great women in my life to support me no matter what. My opinion on the subject is this I totally agree they should support the mothers decision on how to feed their baby, unfortunately many women who want to breastfeed never get or can afford to get the support to do so and are forced into bottle feeding. I wish it was as easy as a personal choice for all and support either way was available if needed. Unfortunately the story I hear from my friends that wanted to breastfeed and can't it usually goes like this. A lactation consultant never met with them while at the hospital and since nobody showed them how to breastfeed the baby is given formula in the hospital, making it more difficult. Then when home milk never comes in and when help is looked for it is already too late and when they decide to commit to formula, and then they are made to feel like a failure. None of this is acceptable in my book, mothers should be supported and surrounded by love in the beginning stages of motherhood. I truly believe i was successful because the hospital did what this article suggests, the baby stayed in my room , and the nurses had no problem waking me up during those first days to feed him every opportunity I had, and that I had a great support system. Whatever your choice mothers need to be supported and given the resources to do what is right for them. I loved my time as a breastfeeding Mama and can't wait till December to have another nursling at my side constantly, it was such a wonderful blessing and magical time in my son's life!!

Baby Bump update- 20 weeks

Well we are half way done! It is amazing how fast time goes the second time around and while chasing a ever changing toddler. We found out for sure we will be having another little BOY!! Everything is going just perfectly uneventful and just growing and feeling more little bumps every day. I can't wait till the stores start carrying all the Christmas outfits so i can start picking out the boys matching Christmas outfits! So exciting and scary to know I will be raising two little men, the on my own part is the scary part. Somehow it will all work it self out I just wish I could fast forward to the other side of this family separation. After going through 3 deployments I know my husband I will make it work somehow I just wish I knew how that all works out.

We are just enjoying every moment...

So we have orders but we are still waiting on the official dates. We know my dear husband will be moving to Oki for a two year unaccompanied tour. This separation was our decision but that doesn't make it any easier. He will be leaving sometime in September and we are hoping he will be able to come home for 3-4 weeks in December for the new baby. We have been talking about this next step for so long and I know with my experience with going through 3 deployments now you can't plan for this stuff. You just got to jump in so I am ready to jump so we can move past this and move forward. I don't know how I am going to raise to kids on my own for 2 years. All I do know is if I keep moving my feet my ass will follow! I just hope we made the right decision and the little feet follow and they later understand that we are going through this as a couple and parents all for them. We will just have to see how it all plays out and how we handle this next stage.

Baby Bump update- 19 weeks

Everything is going just perfectly. I am starting to really look pregnant now so it is getting fun. I had a an appointment last week and I had Scott with me and my mid-wife let be the big helper with the doppler. So he would push the button on and off and I would say either "uh-oh you turned the baby off!" or "can you turn the baby back on?" and he was so proud of himself and my midwife and her nurse were so excited to see for the first time since he was ity-bity. It is amazing how fast this all goes. She said everything is great and my weight was perfect which is always good news, weight in pregnancy seems to be this odd balancing game for me. Sometimes i am too low sometimes too high and I just don't like talking about my weight every time i come in since it is really not a good way of measuring proper nutrition since everyone gains weight differently but that doesn't reveal anything about their diet and true fitness and the real health of mom and baby. I can't weight till next time to share this whole experiences with my little man! I love being a mom and growing babies!

Summer is here!

After not having a summer last year now that I am incubating a little person we are having a record hot one this year. I have been very tempted to ask my husband to sleep in another room, but we have been managing. We have made lots of trips to the pool and beach this last couple of weeks and my little boy has zero fear of the water, which makes everything more interesting. We don't have dates yet but we do have orders and my husband will be leaving in September some time for 2 years unaccompanied tour. So we are just leaving it up and trying to enjoy this summer as much as we can. Once we get dates I will start my mental count down till then. In the mean time I will just keep organizing as much as I can and prepping for this big change so I stay ahead of the eight ball. I got my in-laws coming in a couple of weeks so I just need to stay on top of keeping this house running well and staying clean and organized. I feel good and things are just seeming to fall into place so hopefully we can keep that up.

Summer outside cooking

I love cooking for my family! I wanted to share some of what I have been feeding my boys this week.

Tuesday: Balsamic marinaded steak and corn
I just bought some new gourmet Herb de Provance infused olive oil and Juniper Berry balsamic vinegar from Baker and Olive in Encinitas, CA. So I took my new treasures and marinated some steaks for 24 hours and simply just grilled them over a high flame. While the steak cooked on one side of the grill the corn in the husks did there thing. I know it all sounds very easy, but if you do it right you can keep it simple.


Wenesday: BBQ drumbsticks and potatoes
Another dinner on the grill ( it is too hot to cook inside rght now) I dusted the drumsticks with bbq seasoning and sliced the potatoes into wedges. Warmed up the grill. Put the potato wedges in a foil packet with some Italian dressing. The potato packet goes in the center of the grill for the whole cook time. The drumsticks get lined up around the packet and rotated a quarter turn every five minutes for a total cook time of 20 minutes. I serve the potatoes with ketchup and my husband and 17 month old devoured this! 


Thursday: Mini Farfalle with Cherry tomatoes, Broccoli and Romano Cheese off the Barilla Piccolini box! This is one of new favorite places to get quick dinners latley. They are quick, use ingredents I usally have and these resipes are delishious and the boy loves eating pasta with a fork and just shovels all those yummy veggis away.