And Baby Makes Three....

Baby Lane has arrived and boy oh boy has life changed!  I am doing a one week update post a few days late (oh well considering I almost never know what day it is these days).

Before I do the one week post, I wanted to re-cap the last 9 months since, as usual, I did a horrible job of pregnancy posts.  I am really hoping with me being home that I find the time to really do weekly updates so that I will have those memories captured forever.  I will admit though, now that we are moving into week number two at home, I find that I really don't have as much time yet to do things as I thought I would.... go figure!

A little preggo re-cap in photos of course:

And... without further ado, introducing Charlotte Marie!!!!  She arrived promptly on Thursday, May 2nd at 840am weighing 6 lbs and 12 ounces:

I am pretty sure that I'll be doing a "Birth Story" post as I read so many other bloggers stories that really helped me be prepared for delivery that I want to also share my story as well!

ONE WEEK:

There is so much to say about this first week.  Emotions, transitions, pictures, family and friends--its a wild time!  My favorite part about week one was that John was home all week and it was just the three of us for the entire week.  Sure family and friends stopped by for short visits but the three of us spent some really great quality time together!  Charlotte and I got the hang of breastfeeding by about midweek.  I was super nervous as you had lost 10% of your birth weight by the time we left the hospital and the countdown was on for my milk to come in.  Sure enough, it came in and you have been nursing great all week.  We did do some pumping and syringe supplementing those first two days at home to ensure that my milk had fully come in given your weight loss but by the end of the week, we were exclusively breastfeeding.

You haven't cried a ton, you do more grunting and mini cries (I am not complaining). However, when you are ready to eat- it is go time!  You move your arms up and down and shake as if you are so hungry at that very moment you can't stand it! As far as sleep goes, well some nights were better than others.  You did have one night where you slept in 4 hour blocks but for the most part you are in a 2.5 -3 hour feeding schedule so we will take what we can get!  You definitely recognize my voice and Johns voice, which melts my heart.  Diapers are a bit of a challenge on you as you have skinny mini long legs,  so we have been trying different brands to see what works best!  All in all, there are no words to explain how amazing you are and how much we love you.

BIG move and BIG news...

It's official-- all moved into the new house and starting to feel settled in!  We moved in about a week before Christmas and hubby was on the move to get this home feeling as normal as possible for the holidays.  He did such a good job, tree and holiday decor went up before we even had dishes unpacked! We did a lot of unpacking and settling in mainly because we had NO TV OR INTERNET until two weeks ago (not because we actually felt motivated to get it all done as fast as we did). Either way, I am glad we pushed through getting it all done so that now we can concentrate on decorating and prep work for Baby Lane!

Quick shot of holiday decor in the new place:

Whats that you ask sticking out of my stocking??? That would be the gender of Baby Lane!!!!

A few side details about the 2 minutes prior to opening the envelope:

- I second guessed a million times should we open it.
- I was more nervous in that moment than any other moment I could recall EVER being that nervous.
- I started to open the envelope and just couldn't so I let John do the honors!
- I knew I would be a hot mess whatever the note said!

So.......

It's a GIRL! OM freakin' G!!!!!!!!

To all of our surprise Baby Lane is a girl and we are beyond excited!  I don't think either of us were swaying really hard one way or the other in terms of what we thought we were having but I think we both thought the chances of having a boy were better than a girl-- turns out its always 50/50 (imagine that).

We then both got dressed in record time and started to make the rounds to the parents to spread the good news.  We do have video of each family opening the envelope which we will be compiling into one big video I think when Baby Lane arrives!

Christmas was really fantastic this year and I know we have many more to come!  New Years was quite low key but spent with good friends and family at Trummers on Main.

So, don't shoot me because my holiday post is almost two weeks late-- we've been busy people!  I am on the mad dash to get this house in decorated order before the Spring and certainly before Baby Lane arrives!
Weekly pregnancy posts will resume starting tomorrow!  Happy Saturday :)

Ch Ch Ch Changes...

Lots and lots of things have been happening lately:

1. We got the house!! Hip Hip Hooray!!!!  We go to closing on 12/13 and I am so excited that we will actually be in the house before Christmas.  Disclaimer:  This does not mean that I have to decorate but the thought of waking up Christmas morning with no tree is B-O-R-I-N-G.  With the new house comes a full list of things that randomly became a priority:

**Our holiday card needs to double as "we've moved" notification with our new address and hopefully will include a picture of us AND the house.

**Decorating!  I have already been drooling over decor ideas on Pinterest and have actually thought about changing paint colors in the house even though the current paint colors are actually quite nice!

**Baby Lane's room becomes a reality.  It was really hard for me to even start to visualize what I wanted a nursery to look like, until I actually had a room to call a nursery.  Planning in this room can definitely begin (insert anxiety).

2. 18 weeks preggo and counting... I have been feeling really good and energized.  Not sure if its the excitement over the house or if I am actually moving into an "energy phase."  But either way, I am going to enjoy it.  I am going to go ahead and commence the weekly bump update in this post as its pretty official that the bump is here to stay:

 

Fun Facts...

- Size of baby: A bell pepper
- Maternity clothes: Not yet, but the work options are slowly diminishing in the morning.
- Movement: Have definitely felt some flutters this week that I haven't felt before and I am looking forward to those being more defined moving forward (I may kick myself for asking for that later on).
- Gender:  We have our 20 week apt in 2.5 weeks.  By the new year, we will probably be announcing Baby Lane's gender (at least I am pretty sure of this today).
- Cravings:  Just VERY VERY VERY thirsty-all the time!
- For those of you that know me, this is certainly a fun fact-- I have not bought one single baby related item... NOT ONE.  Not sure why that is but its actually shocking to me given my random (and frequent) trips to TJ Maxx and Marshalls. 

Hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather this week and are more prepared for the holidays than we are this year!!!

xoxoxo

Questions Answered

Good Afternoon & Happy Monday!  The Thanksgiving holiday flew by as usual and here we are, well on our way to Christmas.  Christmas--I cannot believe it.  This year flew by!  Thanksgiving didn't have too many exciting events to write about so instead of a holiday post, I thought I would take the time to answer some commonly asked questions I get these days for all of your curious minds. Here goes:

Q: When will we know something about the house we have a contract on?
A: The house inspection was completed the week before Thanksgiving and the appraisal was completed on Saturday.  We are now awaiting the results of the appraisal and that is the last "hurdle."  After that we should be good to go to move in mid December!

Q: Are we going to find out the sex of the baby?
A:  Jury is still out on this one.  We have our 20 week Level 2 sonogram on December 20th and we are going to have the technician write the gender down in a SEALED envelope.  I figure this way once we make up our minds we will be able to know without having to wait until another appointment. I struggle with this decision daily for some reason.

Q:  When will I start doing weekly pregnancy posts?
A:  I thought I would wait until I started showing to do a post with a pic each week.  My doctor seems to think it will be any day now that I "pop" out! 

Q: Am I having any cravings?
A:  I am not sure I would use the term "craving" yet but it is very clear each day what I do want and what I don't want.  I am wanting more foods that are full of flavor and spicy.  I do not want anything to do with sweets.

Q: Have I started wearing maternity clothes?
A:  I am entering 17 weeks and so far no maternity clothes.   I did just order my first set of clothes on Black Friday to get some good deals since maternity seems to be rather expensive.  On a side note, I did try on a pair of jeans that were in regular rotation in my wardrobe on Sunday and  eek.... they were definitely too snug for comfort. The good news:  I just moved on to the next pair and they fit just fine (thank God or meltdown may have started).

Q: How are things living back at home while in transition?
A:  There are way more pros than cons.  That's the best way to sum it up.  John and I are both looking forward to having our own home again and getting back into our normal routine however, I am desperately going to miss coming home to meals being cooked!


Until next time, xoxoxo!

A fail and a few (BIG) updates...

Its no surprise that I have completely FAILED at keeping up with blogging, hence the date stamps on this post and my last.  EEK! I thought about blogging quite frequently, and the nice casual reminders from my friends about my lack of blogging hasn't quite provided the motivation I needed.  However, can I throw out a few excuses to make me feel better about the lack of dedication --- sure I can!  To top that, I will disguise my excuses in the form of updates to really showcase my sense of denial:


Updates since April:

--We put our house on the market in late August--it sold in record time (woohoo) and we began the crazy-mad hunt to find our next home.  (Insert Drama Begins here) We sold our home the end of October and had a few contracts on other homes fall through so needless to say we are shacking up with my parents for a few weeks. 

--The good news is that as of last night we have a ratified contract on a home that we love and we just need to keep our fingers crossed that no unforeseen issues come up and this home falls through like the others!  Fingers crossed that we will be in our new home before Christmas!

-- I am 15 weeks pregnant today!  Whoa, yes, there ya go, this is where you can lift your jaw off the floor to continue reading.  I feel like there is so much I could write about this update but here are just some quick thoughts: yes, we were trying; no, we didn't think it would happen as fast as it did; I will be 20 weeks right before Christmas and we can find out the sex if we want; we are still unsure about whether or not we want to know the sex; our families (and friends) are super excited and so are we!

-- I will be starting weekly pregnancy update posts as soon as I start to "show."  I mean come on, who wants a weekly update without a photo--not me!  ** I promise that is not all I will post about, I am still utterly obsessed with the idea of decorating our new home and weddings.  Super excited for all the fantastic weddings coming up in 2013!!

So there you have it, a re-cap of whats been going on.  Things have been really crazy with the move out, the move in, the hunt for our new home all while being pregnant for the first time!  Lots more to come, seriously, I promise!

April Birchbox and face rant...

I was actually in CR when my April Birchbox arrived and I was super excited for my little pink box to be in in the mail when I returned.  That being said, I think my excitement over the "delayed" Birchbox added to my overall disappointment in this months beauty products.

I will admit that currently I am battling my first ever case of acne--yes ladies and gentlemen, at almost 28 I am now having to deal with acne and IT STINKS!  **Interject me yelling "where the hell is all of this coming from!!!!" While I used to be devastated when I would get the occasional pimple here and there, I have now come to realize that was nothing compared to the countless imperfections I currently have appearing on my face.

Besides the usual TMI, my point in referencing the above issue is that this months box contained mostly natural skincare products.  You would thnk that I should be excited, however, given that most items are in trial size--I am currently in a phase where I need to start a regime and stick with it to see improvements.  Thus, I will be holding off on giving any of these products a try until I can gain some form of "normal" back to my face.

There were two products that will be trying out and that is the Amika Obliphica Nourishing Hair Mask
and Zoya "Lotus" nail polish from their 2012 True Spring Collection.  I think the nail polish may be a bit over the top for work so I will be trying it out this Friday to have for the weekend!  I'll post a picture this weekend.

One last product (not contained in the Birchbox) but that I received this week as part of my acne panic, was the Clarisonic Mia 2.  I have actually been wanting a Clarisonic face cleansing system for quite some time and now that I actually need one, I splurged and made the purchase.  Today is day 1 so hopefully by this time next week I will have some positive news.  Anyone else have any acne clearing products that they would recommend?  I am up for suggestions at this point.....

CR Trip Report!!

Costa Rica was amazing!!  I am about 2 weeks behind posting but my goal was to at least complete in April (mission accomplished).

Of course the end of the post will contain a few photos but I will admit it was very hard narrowing down what to post here and on a Facebook album as all together we took over 400 pics.  Costa Rica is such a beautiful place and while we were there in the dry season, we heard that the rainy season is an even more beautiful time to visit.  There are lots of things that I could write about our trip, but I thought I would use this trip report to give you an idea of what vacationing in Costa Rica (CR) is like as opposed to other beach destinations you could choose from--here goes:

1. CR is the jungle, period. I think I wasn't prepared for the bugs, wild animals, morning AND evening noises. However, after the first few nights the bugs are still bugs, the wild animals are fascinating and you appreciate getting up early before the intense heat so the noise isn't ALL bad.

2. CR is hot and steamy from January to May and I mean STEAMY!  There was no point to do your hair, put anything on your face other than some suntan lotion and maybe a touch of bronzer.  I didn't even bring a hair dryer and good thing because it was useless.  This was a little frustrating as you are in this beautiful place and then you go to take photo's and um..... frizz central!  John (and his new tan) of course, looked great--grrr.

3.  Mal Pais and Santa Teresa are still very non tourist CR destinations as opposed to other coastal locations in CR.  This might be the most important point to this post, if you wanted to go to a resort, have paved roads, lots of US amenities, etc there are coastal places/beaches that offer that in CR.  We, however, did not choose to go to those locations.  Mal Pais and Santa Teresa are (in my opinion) still an up and coming tourist attraction so its a very relaxed, surf town at its best..

-- roads are terrible, ATV is the best way to get around if a rental car is not in your budget
-- restaurants are amazing but not cheap as they know that they are the only options in those two cities
-- beaches are out of this world and deserted; we were maybe 2 of 10 people we could see for miles in either direction and we were there during Easter (very busy time).
-- when the sun goes down, the whole town stops to grab a beer and head to the beach for a sunset celebration, EVERY NIGHT!
-- after the sun goes down, its the darkest place I have ever been and to look up the sky is so clear and the stars seem thousands of miles closer than I have ever seen in the US.

4.  Adventure:  CR was probably one of the best vacations we have taken that offered a little adventure everyday and equal relaxation time at the beach or pool.  We had something planned every day (zip lining, surfing, ATV off road tours, snorkeling, etc) that we would do either in the morning or afternoon and then had the other part of the day to explore, spend at the beach or relax by the pool with a nice cold beverage.  This was my favorite part of this vacation is that there is ALWAYS something to do and for every age and family type.

5.  CR is no frills, its easy, the people are friendly and the basics are offered wherever you are:  grocery stores, banks, medical attention if needed.  Most of my sundresses that I brought I was over dressed compared to the rest of the population.  All you really need is plenty of swimsuits, cute cover ups and flip-flop options, literally.

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All in all we had a fabulous time and if we ever went back it would be when we have elementary age children (we think it would be such an adventure for kids that age) or with a group of friends, and 100% we would stay at Villas Hermosas each and every time we go to CR!!

Here are some photos from our adventures in CR.