25 weeks and celebrating 30!

Hey friends and family! Are you enjoying this amazing weather this week? Mason and I have been LOVING it. I am trying to get him out of the house as much as I can because I know winter will be approaching very quickly. I remember going stir crazy last winter and I know it'll be especially hard with a new baby to care for at home. 

This last week has been amazing! There is so much to write about that I'll try to share the exciting moments so I'm not rambling. My birthday was on Thursday and Brandon took me to a nice dinner while our neighbors babysat Mason. We enjoyed a tapas style dinner and it was nice to finally hang out in Brighton. On Saturday, Brandon set up a massage for me because he knows how much pain I have been in especially on my left side. The massage was amazing! When I came home Brandon kept trying to get me to go upstairs which I was thought was weird (I also found it weird he was cleaning). On the bed was a dress and a note that said "Wear this dress and be ready by 4:30. I am taking you out for dinner and a movie" I was all excited and quickly got ready. 

Brandon hired a babysitter for Mason and we started driving to one of my favorite restaurants Black Rock bar & Grill. When I walked in the hostess started leading us to the back and I saw my family and friends there waiting for me. It was so nice seeing everyone and I was quite surprised! Brandon is such an amazing husband and he really surprises me everyday. He's just the best and I'm so lucky he's in my life.

Mason and I went to an apple orchard last week and the zoo today. The weather has been so gorgeous I just can resist being outside. Mason's vocabulary has expanded so much from our little outings together. I have also signed him up for literacy classes on Wednesdays and Thursdays which will hopefully help him expand even more!

I am also happy to announce that Mason is still sleeping awesome in his big boy bed. Our next big step is to get rid of the paci at night and nap time and to get him trying out the potty. I still think we are a ways away from potty training but I'm hopeful we won't have 2 in diapers for too long!

I also had blood work done last week to make sure I didn't have signs of pre-eclampsia or gestational diabetes. My blood test was not fun! I took the glucose at the doctors office at 8am. and started feeling really queasy and weird after. I started seeing black and felt like I was going to either pass out or puke. I quietly went up to the nurses to let them know how I was feeling and before I knew it I was puking in the room! ew! I was mortified but later found out my blood levels showed I'm VERY anemic. Anemia during pregnancy can make you dizzy, tired, and weak so that makes sense why I have been feeling sooooo out of it! I am now on an iron supplement and will get tested monthly to make sure my blood levels are improving. 

I hope all of you have a wonderful week. My goal this week is to hopefully find a double stroller for Mace and baby and start planning her little nursery. I feel like it's going to be a lot tougher doing her room than it was for Mason's nursery. This mama has no energy! xoxo

The polar bear was enjoying the weather today too!

I finally finished the side tables I found at the garage sale a couple weeks ago. I also found two lamps at TJ Maxx that work nice in this room. I am excited to finally start hanging pictures soon!

Playing Keno like an old lady on my birthday! Always my mom's favorite numbers of course :)

Find the living animal

24 weeks and photos of Mace man's room

Hi friends and family! We have had quite a few big milestones accomplished in the house this week. Mason's room is FINALLY done! It's crazy to think we planked his wall back in February and we are just now done with getting it together. Another major even it Mason is finally sleeping in his BIG boy bed full time! It was a struggle for awhile because he was all about our bed which is NOT good. He was too large for his crib and we were not quite prepared for him to be in his room with all the renovations that needed to be done. The first two nights were a little rocky but now he is really enjoying it in there. When he wakes up I always have a special little treat for him to let him know how proud of him I am that he is in a big boy bed :)

Mace had a lot of fun the last couple of days. Renee came down and we took Mason to Chuck E. Cheese and the zoo today. He was so happy! I don't think I've seen him light up like that in a long time. I think this was the first week I realized my little boy is now my big boy! New bed, Chuck E. Cheese, and talking, talking, talking! His vocabulary has nearly tripled in the last couple weeks it's amazing and has sure eased my worries about his development.

I have been feeling pretty good the last couple of weeks. I am finally feeling like baby is giving me less worries and things feel more "normal" now. She is really active which helps a lot!

In two days I am going to turn 30 and I can't believe it. A couple nights ago I was feeling pretty down and was trying to pinpoint the exact reason why. I think the combination of pregnancy hormones and not having my mom on my 30th has  made this birthday feel especially weird. I don't remember feeling this down last year. I think now that Mason is getting older and I am reaching a new milestone year in my life, reality has set in that this special woman is not going to be here to celebrate it with me. She has always done such huge celebrations for us kids growing up. For my 13th birthday she got my friends and I a surprise limo, on my 21st she took all my friends out to eat and took us out for a night of fun, and I know for my 30th she would have done something over the top because that's just how my mom was! She loved birthdays, holidays and making memories on big occasions. 

Hope everyone has a great week.

Renee is demanding more pictures…so here ya go

I guess I have been "bad" at posting pictures so I thought I'd share a few just for fun. Being a rainy and crumby day is was the perfect time to capture some fun photos of my little man at this crazy age in his life. If you are reading this and have toddlers you KNOW how hard it is to photograph them! Their eyes seem to want to be everywhere but the camera. 

I feel pretty lucky to spend my days with Rocco and Mason. They are probably the two cutest boys I know! (Brandon is my cutest MAN of course) Sometimes I giggle when we are all hanging out in the morning because they are hilarious together and pretty adorable! 

This weekend I am finally finishing some house projects and the picture wall for our front room. I'll post pictures Saturday night! Have a great day!

Hope this video works!! If not sorry :(

Baby and I blogging. She is wild in there today!

23 weeks!

Hi friends and family! I am LOVING this fall type weather this week and I hope you are too. Last weekend we had a major storm roll through which cut out our power for a couple days. I never realized how awful it is without electricity when you have a small toddler. I realized that almost all his favorite meals are heated up so I had to scramble around town finding him something to eat that he would enjoy! Unfortunately we can't do the peanut butter and Jelly sandwich as a snack because of his peanut allergy :(

We spent the weekend doing some projects around the house and spending time together as a family. It was nice to have a weekend to relax! Brandon and I are fixing up an older hutch I found at a garage sale along with a side buffet table I bought a few years back. I am happy how they are turning out and I'll post pictures later this week when they're done!

I am excited to finally be 23 weeks now. The closer I get to the 30 week range the better I am feeling. I am still so nervous with this pregnancy! It's been extremely hard to relax this time around and I'm constantly having nightmares of baby arriving too early or something being wrong. I really think the ectopic along with all this babies surprises has given me a bit of anxiety. I'm hoping I can chill out the remainder of the pregnancy and enjoy it…especially because it may be the last one I'll ever have!

I also wanted to update everyone on the job I had originally accepted. I went to a training last week and was given a schedule of the clients I would have. Instead of needing me 10 hours a week like they said when they hired me, They had a schedule for 25-30 hours. This normally wouldn't be a big deal but the hours were a little crazy. 9am-11am. 2:30-7:00 and Saturdays. After calling around to several daycares, They told me they would not be able to take Mason for hours like that unless I paid full time which was $35 a day mon-fri. I later found out with this job that if my clients cancel on me, I wouldn't get paid for that time. Brandon and I started crunching numbers and realized that the cost of child care would almost be a wash with this part time job. I was obviously devastated but was able to communicate these concerns with the woman who hired me and she said she'd be happy to have me come on board in the future if I can make it work with our family. 

The good thing that came out of this is I learned a lot about what is and isn't possible for our little family right now! The only way to really be profitable would be for me to be full time again using my degree. Brandon and I both discussed that this may be when Mason goes to Preschool and baby girl is close to Mason's age. For now I am content being a stay at home mom and really watching our spending!! I have learned so much about what we need and what we don't need since staying home. I look back at the old me who used to be almost everything brand new. Now I get almost more joy finding something older or used and making it beautiful again! My uncle was getting rid of a couch and I realized this could be something we could use without having to buy a brand new one. He doesn't smoke, has no pets or kids, so I knew it would be perfect! I found a cute slip cover and voila! I now have an amazing piece of furniture for less than $60. It's really helped finding alternative ways to decorate our home and ways to find entertainment. Instead of going out to eat as a family we do take out once every couple weeks instead. It's amazing the savings we've found just doing minor little adjustments.

I could probably write a novel on how we've saved money the last year with me being home but I won't bore you with all that today. Basically I'm happy that i've been forced to be smart with out money! It will make the time when I go back to work feel a lot more fortunate! Have a great week everyone.

22 weeks!

I can't believe I have hit 22 weeks already! Time is really flying by it seems like. I am a little late on updating my blog because I have been really busy with Mace and trying to get things in order for a new part time job I am starting tomorrow. I will be working part time for a company where I will be helping families with their autistic child. The company has a behavior curriculum that I will use which will help mainstream these kiddos into classrooms in the future. I am really excited that I will be able to use my teaching degree again. I am a little nervous about the pay because it is definitely WAY less than what I made teaching. I have been scrambling all week to get my fingerprints done, TB testing, CPR and first aide certification, and all the paperwork needed to qualify. 

The hardest part has been trying to find daycare for Mace part time. I will only need someone 2-3 hours a day but they charge basically the same rate as a full day! It was been a little stressful so I'm hoping tomorrow I can find out more about my schedule. I have flexibility where I can plan to meet with families in the evening and Saturdays so I may only need someone a day or two a week for a couple hours at a time. I really hope this job works out for us as a family! 

I have been feeling pretty good this week which has been nice. I am still not over the spotting but I have come to realize this is going to probably happen everyday until I have baby and I am finally ok with it and not as crazy when it occurs. The only weird symptom I have been having is my weirdo ice craving again! When I was pregnant with Mason I needed ice all the time. It's a little trickier living in the country now because well ice water is nasty! I have been having Brandon bring me slurpees a few times  a week after work :)

We were able to go up to Tom's house for labor day and we had a great time. Mason and Landon ran around playing and got to enjoy the boat on Sunday. The weather was pretty terrible on Saturday and we ended up getting rained out in the middle of the lake! luckily I had lots of towels and Mason napped on me and slept through the whole rainstorm. Being there brought back a lot of memories with spending that holiday with my mom. A really cool thing that happened was Tom found some things my mom had bought at Meijer on 11-1-12 almost exactly a month before she passed. There was a pair of Halloween PJs size 18 month which will fit Mandi's little boy next year and a dracula costume size 3t/4t. It was almost like my mom had got the boys something for THIS year. It's pretty amazing having a gift from my mom almost 2 years after she has already passed. I know that this is definitely the last gift so I will cherish these little items she picked out for the boys.

I have been getting ideas on how to decorate baby girls room. I don't want to go over the top crazy with it but i do want a fresh, clean, girly looking room where she feels happy. Mason's room fit his little personality so well so I hope hers does too! Right now I am thinking of doing a very light gray wall and lots of different pink, white and even some gold accents. I have even been making some little bows for her on my sewing machine. In the picture below you can see my sporting one I made for myself! I had to practice somehow! I hope everyone has a great week. I will let you know how the new job goes! Somedays I wish daycare was more affordable this is definitely going to be a good test to see if being part time will be doable for us!