Our Journey 24

I know it is a cliche to talk about wanting to lose weight and become more healthy at the start of each new year, and tomorrow, the first Monday of 2014, Ethan and I begin our journey with Advocare's 24 Day Challenge.

I have done the challenge before and fell in love with Advocare and their products.  I am doing another challenge, not because I stopped being healthy all together, but I need a little jump start in losing the rest of the baby weight (in particular around my hips and thighs which is causing none of my pants to fit.)

I have also taken on another goal.  To try and share Advocare with as many people as I can.  I LOVE the products and how they make me feel.  I want everyone to feel as great as I do while taking them.  I want everyone to have the opportunity I am hoping for as well.

I have had this blog for little over 5 years now and I share much of my life with the friends and family who read this.  It only makes since to share my journey with Advocare here as well.

So for the next 24 days I will be sharing our experiences with the 24 Day Challenge.  Tips, recipes, highs, lows, favorites, results, and much more.  My hope is that anyone wanting to make a change, try something new, and challenge themselves will allow me the chance to share these wonderful products.

Just a Typical Trip to Mass

Dear Woman who sat in front of us tonight during Mass,

I would like to apologize for our 20-month-old daughter.

You see, we went to a different church tonight.  We do go to Mass every week, even though I am sure it looked like our little girl had never seen the inside of a church or been told to sit more for more than 5 minutes at a time.  As I am sure you noticed...she doesn't do that.  Ever.  But we do go to church.  Every week.  And we go through this, every week.  

We really really tried, again, to keep her quite and sitting down.  I packed her favorite book.  "Brown Bear, Brown Bear."  She LOVES it at home and will sit and look at it ON HER OWN, completely in to it.  Not at church.  She didn't care what Brown Bear saw.  I am sorry, that it ended up in your pew.  She tossed it there.  I tried to catch it.  I missed.

I am really sorry that she smacked you on your back as you sat, quietly listening to the reading.  She has NEVER done that one before.  I tried to stop her.  I missed.  

(On a positive note, she did try to pick off the loose hair sticking to the back of your shirt before she slapped you on the back.) 

I am also very, truly sorry for any little bits of cracker that you might shake out of your coat tonight when you get home.  You see, we don't normally go to church at this time.  It is dinner time.  She didn't get a snack after her nap this afternoon because all she wanted to do was sit in her high chair attempting to buckle and unbuckle the strap on her seat.  So she was hungry.  I pulled out the little peanut butter sandwich crackers in an attempt to stop her from screaming because she couldn't hold her new baby sister.  She did stop screaming.  However, that came at the cost of her pulling apart the sandwich to lick the peanut butter out of the middle and then shove the rest of the cracker in her mouth.  That resulted in little bits of cracker falling in the pew in front of us.  Where you were sitting.  Again, I tried to catch it.  I missed.  Sorry.

I would also like to apologize for the gurgling noises during the homily.  She was drinking her juice nice and quietly and then all of a sudden she throws her head back and starts to gurgle.  I know, that sound should only ever be heard when brushing teeth, and never by a toddler...in church.  All I can say is at least it stayed in her mouth...

I promise you we that we really do try to work with her on staying quiet.  She just doesn't get it, and she isn't old enough to understand bribes, such as "if you stay quiet during mass you can have some fruit snacks, or ice cream, or ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS!"  

I promise we try.  

God Bless You and your quietly sitting boys,

The noisy family behind you

I have read article after article, blog post after blog post on how to keep a toddler quiet and attentive during mass, and how even though they are moving and crying and trying to escape up the aisle and trying to dip their entire arm in the holy water, they really are absorbing the information.  I just keep reminding myself that this stage of life will pass, she will eventually sit and listen, until then, I will continue to pack "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and write apology letters to the people sitting in front of us. 

A New Bag of Tricks

We were blessed to welcome another beautiful, healthy little baby girl into our family on November 2nd.

Her name is Katerina.

Not that I will ever boldly attempt to say that I have things figured out as a mother, but the second time around brings about more feelings of confidence.  Kind of like teaching.  The first year, you're barely hanging on, figuring out things to do with your students sometimes hours before the come waltzing into your classroom.  The second year, brings new challenges, but you at least have a "bag of tricks" you developed that first time.

I have my bag of tricks.

Problem.

Katerina is not Jackie.

My bag of tricks was for Jackie.

Sure there are general tips that are pretty much the same for every baby.  Have the new diaper ready to put down before getting old diaper off, how to get a good latch for nursing babies, teething rings, bibs, timeline of when to take baby to doctor check ups, and so on...

However, I am quickly learning how two sisters may look very similar (despite one having GOBS more hair than the other) but be two completely different babies, and how even small differences and send that "bag of tricks" out the window.

As it just so happens, the two biggest differences between the girls is also the biggest issues parents of newborns face right off the bat.  Sleeping and eating.  Although, to be fair, that is about all a newborn does.  That an poop.  But doin' just fine there...lots of poop.

When it came to sleeping, other than being a very LOUD sleeper, we pretty much hit the sleeping baby jackpot with Jackie.  When she was a week old, we could no longer handle the grunting and squeaking that came from our little princess.  She was swaddled nice and tight and put to bed across the house in her crib.  Best. Move. Ever.  From that point on everyone in the house was getting four-hour chunks of sleep at a time.  Every single transition we have made with Jackie that involved sleep has been a breeze.  She now goes to bed (or takes a nap) in her "big girl bed" without a fight or fuss.

Katerina a sleep is a different story.  She likes to sleep, and sleeps very quietly.  She is just picky about where she sleeps.  We started off right away trying the crib.  No dice.  Tried the swing.  Nope.  The longest stretch of sleep in either of those two places is about two hours.  Kat likes to be where the action is.  She doesn't want to be off by herself.  I want her off by herself.  I want her sleeping in her crib.  I can be stubborn.  However, the other issue of eating has caused me to bend in my stubbornness and for right now, Kat sleeps soundly in her car seat on the floor of our room.  We start off the night with anywhere from 4-6 hours of sleep and from that point on, we get up about every two hours.  It is still a work in progress, while I try to update my bag of tricks to include things for miss Katerina, she will eventually sleep in her crib...

I thought Jackie was a good eater, and compared to my other mommy friends she was very typical.  The nurses at the breastfeeding clinic were impressed the first time I took her in when they discovered she was eating 2-3 ounces in about a total hour feeding.  This continued for 2-3 months before she was finally efficient enough to cut that time in half.  We struggled big time in the beginning to get just the right latch and position so she wasn't making me want to cry every time she latched on.  It was a very long process.

Now here is where my bag of tricks first came in handy.  I knew how to get Katerina to latch on correctly and the best way to hold her.  Within a couple days the soreness was gone and she was eating like a champ.  The first trip to the breastfeeding clinic to get weighed shocked everyone.  She was eating 2.5-3 ounces in half an hour!  Wow!  We have ourselves a super eater.

Having a super eater should be great, and it is because I know she's getting what she needs.  However, this has provided a new set of problems.  My milk has come in faster and in greater supply, Katerina is super-efficient.  This means she is eating too much too fast.  Causing our little one to spit up in great quantities multiple times a day.  It has been a crazy, milk-soaked week trying to figure out how long to feed her, how long to prop her up, how often to burp her, and guessing how much she is eating.  Tomorrow we are heading back to the clinic to see what advice they may have for this problem. Until it is solved, I just don't feel comfortable having her sleep across the house in the crib.  I don't want to have to change crib sheets as often as I'm having to chance Kat's clothes!  :)

I know as time goes and Katerina shows us more of her sweet little personality, I will add many new tricks to my bag.  I just hope the love that Jackie shows her little sissy stays around for a long, long time!

Jackie and her Daddy

To say that Jackie is a "Daddy's Girl" is a bit of an understatement.  I thought I would post a little about the two of them, so that one day, when he is saying "No, you can't date that boy..." She will know just how much he loves her, and how much she loves him.

"Da-da" was the first word out of her mouth.  Once she realized that the sound "Da-da" made daddy smile so big, she was hooked. 

It wasn't until a couple months ago that she started saying "Ma-ma."  However, "Da-da" still gets the sweetest little smile to accompany it. :o)

After a weekend at home over the summer with daddy, I would go in on a Monday to get her out of bed and she would just look at me with this stare, "Why are you not daddy?" and then look over my shoulder to the door waiting for him to come in behind me.  When he didn't, she would race to our bedroom door and stand there insisting that "Da-da" come out.

As SOON as she heard the little "beep-beep" that the alarm on the door makes when someone opens it at the end of the day, she will drop ANYTHING and race to the garage door, squealing.  Get a hug from daddy and then proceed to help him take off his shoes.  That is a must.  Shoes must come off!

Even now, when I am the one who gets home later and he's with her most of the evening.  She will come see that I walk in the door and then abruptly turn around and go hug daddy's legs. 

Even how they wake up in the morning is the same.  Grunt.  Stretch.  Roll over.  Peek out one eye and glare at me.  Close eyes again.  Roll around.  Grunt.  Then finally sit up. 

They are both "big dippers."  Jackie wants to dip everything she eats.  In katsup, salsa, sour cream, anything.  She saw that first from daddy. 

Spice is nice!  I've known Ethan was a spicy guy for a long time...and I like things spicy too and ate them while pregnant with Jackie.  (So maybe this one is my fault).  The other night, Jackie ate an entire hot link.  Last night it was spicy Rotel dip (with the HOT Rotel) and added jalapenos from the garden.  Don't even think about giving that girl something bland... she won't touch it.  I imagine family dinners in my future with the following "This is a good recipe, but the chicken could use a little something more...it's a tad bland."  That could come from daddy or Jackie.

You will never see popcorn disappear faster than trying to have some with one of them.  I have NEVER seen anyone eat shovel popcorn the way my husband does.  Even the first time he made popcorn for our movie date, I had to be fast about getting some, or I would miss out.  (That is unless I wanted the little trail of kernels left in the chair when he got up.)  That is until I saw Jackie eat popcorn.  Didn't take her long to figure out that one piece at a time is nice, but a FIST FULL of popcorn is even better.  Even her babysitter commented on it!

There is something so sweet about a little girl's love for her daddy.  I sure hope he's ready to have TWO fingers wrapped around TWO little girls :)

This One vs. That One

Jackie is almost 18 months old.

I have no baby book for her.

Haven't started.

Don't mistake that for a lack of pictures.  We have LOTS of pictures.  Just no organized scrapbook chronologically marking every "first" for her to read through later in life.

I just kept saying "I'll get to it." 

Yeah...in the mean time, I'm now 8 weeks away from little Katerina joining in with Jackie and all the fun thing they will get into growing up so close in age. 

So, I figured I would start now by comparing pregnancies, since Jackie's is still pretty fresh in my mind.  If I try to wait until baby #3 comes along, I might forget it all. (That might be a good thing...)

So here's a comparison of "This Pregnancy vs. That Pregnancy"  or "Jackie vs. Kat"

Getting Pregnant:
Jackie:  Took four months.  I thought it would happen like THAT.  I know that still isn't very long in comparison to other couples who tried for many, many months before getting pregnant, but I figured it would be no time.  (I guess I just had to wait until "God's Time.")

Kat:  Boom.  Like THAT.  This time I thought it would take 4-6 months for it to happen, so we started trying a little early.  Maybe she will be the "punctual" one! :)

Finding Out:
Jackie:  Had sort of "given up" for the month of July and put it out of my mind.  But 3rd Annual Mystery Weekend was about to start and I needed to know.  Took a test (an old one given to me from a friend at school who she insisted "didn't need anymore.").  It said negative.  No big surprise.  SURPRISE later when I saw the test in the trash reading positive.  Confused.  Googled false positives.  Drove to store to buy a new test.  This time digital.  No needing to figure out any line crap.  Got a two pack.  "Pregnant" read out loud and clear.  Called Ethan at work.  Called doctor.  No alcohol on 3rd Annual Mystery Weekend.

Kat:  I was in the "we are trying" mode, meaning not drinking unless I'm sure I'm not pregnant, already taking prenatal, and waiting until I was a week late to take the test.  Even though I was pretty sure I was.  Used #2 test in the pack of two bought before.  Positive.  Yelled to Ethan from bathroom.  Called Doctor.  No alcohol all summer...

Symptoms:
Jackie:  Had about a week and a half of "Knock-you-off-your-feet nausea" and did nothing but lay in bed the entire first week of August.  Started teaching and coaching just in time for the "So-tired-even-blinking-is-exhausting" stage.  Came home from practice at 6ish... and went to bed.  Threw up a few times if I ate too fast.  I'm a teacher.  I eat fast at every meal.  Had to learn to SLOW down.

Kat: No real long period of nausea, just would hit me from time to time, usually in the evening.  Barfed off and on.  Tiredness in first trimester again, this time, there's no going to bed after getting home from school.  Had a one-year-old to take care of.  (Although, I have found that the first trimester tired and coaching is nothing like the third trimester tired and coaching.)

Sleep:
Jackie:  Didn't have too much of a problem probably until the last month or so.  Had a hard time getting comfy and sleeping long enough.  I woke up a couple times a night to go to the bathroom.  Heart burn was only a problem if I ate too late before going to bed.  I snored.

Kat:  Take everything I said about Jackie, multiply it by two and then speed it up about 4 months sooner.  I hit the uncomfortable sleeping stage back in July.  Last night I got up every hour (on the hour) because my bladder urgently required me to.  That's a pretty normal night.  If I eat much after 6:30 I can pretty much assume I'll be up 'till midnight.  Heartburn a nightly problem, even if I just eat ice.  I snore. 

Cravings:
Jackie:  Any and all things peanut butter.  Just couldn't get enough of the stuff!  And milk.  We went through twice as much milk.

Kat:  Ice. Not just any ice, our ice from our freezer.  You know, the dense cloudy type that gets nice and soft once it sits in the water for just a little while.  I know it doesn't make sense, but my mouth actually starts to water when I see that my cup, filled with ice, is just at that perfect chomping stage.

Mood Swings:
Jackie:  Eh...not so much. 

Kat:  About the same.

Seasons:
Jackie:  I was "big pregnant" during the winter months and that was actually pretty great.  I remember being worried that I would slip and fall on the ice, but luckily that was one of the "warmest" winter's we have ever had.  I didn't have to worry about ice at all.

Kat:  Ugh.  Big pregnant during August, September, and still to come, October.  I actually lucked out with this being one of the coolest Augusts on record, but that didn't mean the heat didn't come.  It did.  We're in the middle of it now.  I was so worried about slipping on the ice, but turns out, coaching is just as dangerous.  I tripped during our first game and stumbled onto the bench, hitting my face on my manager's shoulder.  Good thing the parents sit up in the mezzanine and couldn't see how red my face was. 

Things-To-Do:
Jackie:  We started building our new house about a month after we found out Jackie was coming.  We closed on both the new and old house on Christmas Eve.  I was almost at my 7 month mark. Get new house ready, Jackie's baby room ready, showers, and plan for a long-term sub (who would be giving my kids their state assessments).  Yep.  Busy.

Kat:  Transfer Jackie to new room (current transition in progress...night #1 has started).  Coach volleyball.  Teach.  Got everything ready for sub before school started (whoo hooo...go me!). Plan baby shower for Sister-In-Law.  SIL has baby 9 weeks early.  Plan baby shower for later in September.  And most recently on the list, redo all of sub stuff due to hard drive crashing.  Last week was a rough one.  It will all get done...it will all get done...it will all get done...

Things-To-Buy:
Jackie:  Everything.  We had nothing, but a crib.

Kat:  Winter clothes for newborn - 3 months.  We may have two girls, but when one was 3 months in July and the other will be 3 months in February, those hand-me-downs aren't gonna work!

Feeling Baby Move:
Jackie:  I felt the first little flutter right around 18 months.  I know because that's when I had my sonogram and she was moving and turning all over the place and I was just feeling little tiny movements.  Ethan could feel her move for the first time when I was 22 weeks along.  I distinctly remember this because it was Thanksgiving. :) Jackie continued to be quite the mover, but only when I was resting.  If I was up moving around she was almost rocked to sleep.

Kat:  I felt her for the first time around 15 weeks, just tiny little punches.  Ethan could feel her by the time we had the sonogram at 18 weeks.  Since then it has been NON STOP MOVEMENT.  Big movements.  I swear at night it looks like she is trying to escape from the left side of my belly.  I am definitely blaming her on my stretch marks!  Oh, and she doesn't "rock to sleep" when I'm moving.  She's moving too.  Such a different sensation! 

Showing:
Jackie:  My goodness, I think I still had people coming up to me in January (7-8 months along) saying how I didn't look pregnant at all.  

Kat:  HA!  My Father-in-Law asked if I was sure I wasn't have twins by the time I hit the 7 month mark.

Time:
Jackie:  Everyone kept saying how pregnancy goes so fast.  It's 9 short months (actually...10).  It didn't feel fast to us. We just kept waiting, anxiously.  Ethan would constantly tell her that it was time for her to come out so he could hold her. 

Kat:  I stupidly thought this pregnancy would "feel" like it went faster because we were busy with Jackie.  Nope.  Not at all.  I am so excited for her to come and meet us all that it seems like time is dragging on.  Not to mention I've been uncomfortable longer than I was with Jackie, and I still have 8 weeks to go. 

Mega Meltdown Madness!

Terrible Twos...

Who was the "genius" that coined that phrase?

Because all they did was cause parents to be completely and totally take by surprise when the "terrible two tantrums" started at 16 months.

We are a WAYS away from two.

But yet, here we are.  Right in the middle of a 16-month-old screaming fit.  Screaming because...
~  She wanted to brush her teeth.
~  She wanted ice cream.
~  She couldn't walk UP the slide.
~  She was hungry but didn't want...grapes, blueberries, cookies, crackers, sausage, eggs, cheese, or any other single thing we tried to feed her.
~  She wanted a fork.
~  A "big-person" fork not a "baby" fork.
~  She wanted mommy's big-person fork.
~  She wanted to stay in her chair and play with the tray.
~  She wanted to throw food.
~  She wanted to eat like a dog off of the table.
~  She wanted to STAY in the hot car and play in her car seat.
~  She wanted ice cream.
~  She wanted on the couch.
~  She wanted to sit on the arm of the couch and fall off.
~  She wanted ice cream.
~  She wanted in the bath tub.
~  She wanted to drink the bath water.
~  She wanted out of the bath tub.
~  She wanted ice cream.
~  She wanted in her crib.
~  She wanted out of her crib.
~  She wanted her BLACK puppy, NOT the yellow puppy.
~  She wanted to pick green tomatoes out of the garden.
~  She wanted the iPad.
~  She wanted the remote.
~  She wanted the phone.  NOT her play phone, mommy or daddy's touch-screen phone.
~  She wanted ice cream.

The list could go on...  But our sanity won't.

So I did whatever any good parent of the 21st century does...

I Googled it.

Apparently this is a VERY common thing. There were MANY suggestions out there on how to handle the screaming fits of a child who cannot TELL you what is wrong.

On a good note, I found that we are doing most of them.  Redirection, praise for stopping, love and hugs when she's being good, not giving in to her "wants" when she's acting like that, telling her "no" and walking away from her so she eventually finds something else to do.  On a bad note...we haven't had much success. Again, this seems to be common.  Something that she will "grow out of" and we will have to be patient and firm.

Great...

I will mention that it is not around-the-clock screaming at our house.  She does still have many many moments of sweetness, discovering of new cool tricks, learning to say new words, and cuddles.

And we are VERY fortunate that she hasn't tried the screaming trick in public.  Yet...

So patient and firm we will be.

Wanna Grape?

We have a new game around here.

It's called "Wanna Grape?"

You see... Jackie is at that age where she loves to play with her toys, loves to pull things out of drawers, and loves to read, look at, chew on books.

As long as mommy or daddy is sitting right beside her in the living room.

I am a multitasker.

I have to be.  In order to be a working mom and have some sort of order around the house (however small it may be), I have to multitask.

Jackie doesn't like it when I multitask.

In fact, she will cling to my legs screaming at the top of her lungs if I so much as attempt to wash a dish or cut up a veggie for dinner.

This doesn't work for me.

So, one day, while I was washing and cutting up my recent fruit purchase at the store, Jackie was loudly exclaiming that she wanted my full and undivided attention.  I needed to get this task done so I could move on to fixing dinner (or sweeping, or loading the dishwasher, or folding laundry).  So I very nicely asked her "Wanna grape?"

She did.  She reached up and I picked one off the bundle and handed it to her.  She popped it in her mouth, rolled it around a little bit, and walked off.

It worked!

She played with some noisy toy in the living room for a couple of minutes and then wondered back into the kitchen.

"Wanna grape?"

She signed "please."

Again, popped the grape in her mouth and walked off to find her toy.

This little game was repeated many times until daddy got home from work and dinner was ready.

I had stumbled on to the BEST GAME EVER.

It's a win. Win. WIN. Type of game.

I get to multitask - win

Jackie gets a snack - Win

Jackie gets a healthy snack that I'm OK with if it ruins her dinner - WIN!