Today is Monday?

If I had a general sub-theme of this blog it would be 'busy' because besides Marlee, I am generally always talking about the business of being busy. And I am pretty sure there are a bazillion people busier than I am but hey! I do not care. 

Yes, I do. I feel bad for busy people. It is exhausting!

My beautiful Grandma brought it to my attention that I have not posted at all this month! So this post goes out to her! 

Hey Gma!

Marlee, my sweet little baby girl, will no longer be a baby. This Wednesday she turns one. So I have been busy planning her birthday party (which was Sunday and will have a separate post for itself) and emotionally preparing myself for this big day. Time flies. I know everyone says this but seriously, my baby, the baby that just a year ago I was in the hospital getting ready to give birth to, is turning one. Her party was amazing. My family and friends are amazing. It really was a great day, but we will get to that later. 

Nick and I both started new jobs within the past month. So we have been trying to adjust to new surroundings, new schedules, and new specialties. He is now in the car selling biz (check out Ohio Auto Warehouse - great cars and helpful staff!) and I am now an Emergency Room nurse for a local hospital. Big changes with hopefully even bigger possibilities for both of us - and of course the family! Unfortunately with training being on days and Nick not getting home till after six, things have been really crazy with Isaac and Marlee. I am used to being home with her all day and I have had quite a few days that I do not get to see her at all. BUT this week is the last for orientation and then we have a week for vacation. After that, things should be back to normal. Hopefully.

Vacation is next week so the mental prep has started for that. The craziness will start Thursday when I start packing. How do you pack with a nine and one year old? Ekk. 

Baby number two pregnancy is going wonderfully. I feel great but am exhausted. It could be the new job, the crazy schedule, pregnancy in general, or Marlee keeping me on my feet at all times. Regardless of the culprit, I fall asleep as early as possible. Lets just say that husband and wife time was far and few in between. We were able to watch a movie last night though which was something small, but definitely needed. 

Once I write it all down, it doesn't really seem like that much! ha! We are extremely busy though. I have a growing appreciation for stay at home moms and working moms alike - since I dabble in a little of both. I think staying with Marlee all day gives me a break from work and working all night gives me a break from Marlee! Hopefully that is not too horrible to say! Eh, truth is life. 

Ok one quick sneak peak from Marlee's Boats and Anchors Birthday Party! 

I will update soon! I won't make you wait a month for the next one!

Baby Lime

Well my anxiety filled two weeks has passed and after the longest doctors appointment of my life, baby lime (size, not name) is happy and healthy. Minor complications lead to an early ultrasound and -wala! - there was our little peanut on the screen. Big head, big belly, and little arms and legs were swimming all around. Heartbeat was a steady 156 and after shedding a little tear of happiness, we were sent home with a couple pictures and a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. The doctor does want me to take it easy for a couple weeks but besides that, everything is perfect. Next appointment is in a couple months and we should of know the sex then!

I will leave you with a picture of our little lime.

Hello baby!

Happy Eleven Months Marlee!

The countdown has started to Marlee's big one year old birthday party! She is now eleven months old and I have starting feeling a bit nostalgic about her getting so big. I started packing up her clothes that are too small and kissing her baby months goodbye. At this time last year, we were counting down the days to her arrival - to the moment that I would meet the little peanut that has been growing in my belly - to make our family bigger by one sassy, beautiful, funny, joyful baby girl. And here I am counting down the days to her birthday.

Que secret, silent sobbing

This month Marlee has learned to give kisses, give high fives, and clap her hands. Although she is currently on a kisses strike, (I see you kiss your bear Marlee so I know you still know how to do it!) it is so adorable and I love every drooly one. She is walking more and more everyday. If she would take her time and stop laughing hysterically, she would be a pro! Her hair is super curly and she has three teeth -two bottom and one on the top. She is perfect in my eyes.

Here is her second to last birthday photo shoot!

It was a very giggling one. 

It is impossible to see her smile and not smile myself. 

Is It Nap Time Yet?

I feel like this is my life motto lately. I literally wake up and the first thing I do is plan my next nap time.

 

Not literally. Marlee demands attention waaay before I get any actual intelligent thought in my head.

 

Lately I have not been sleeping well. And of course my anxiety is at all time high because of this. Or maybe my lack of sleep is because of the anxiety? Either way, they are directly correlated and its sucking me dry. I am either too hot, or too cold, or uncomfortable, or have a bad dream that I can't shake quick enough to fall back asleep.

 

My OB appointment for baby number 2 was last Thursday and I have been having anxiety ever since I scheduled this appointment. I am not even sure why I feel this way. I am having way more symptoms then I did with Marlee but still don't 'feel' pregnant. I have the textbook nausea (just barely), fatigue, cravings, and bloating. I obviously have take several pregnancy tests and the doctor confirmed it - I'm pregnant! - but I feel different. So I was so anxious to finally get to hear a heartbeat at my appointment - maybe just so it would feel more real!

 

Well we did the 20 question interrogation as usual - 'Second baby?' 'Any symptoms?' 'Any bleeding?' 'Do you smoke?' 'Is Dad healthy?' 'How was the birth of baby number one?' Etc etc. Then we had to do the exam and she said we would try to hear the heartbeat since I was 'thin' and almost 10 weeks along (I was nine weeks and 4 days). So she applied the cold gel and waved the magic wand but there was nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

 

It was hard. Really hard. She said it was too early. I knew it was too early. But I wanted to hear it so bad. I was waiting and praying and hoping for a beat. She asked if I wanted an ultrasound but I declined. My husband was not there and I did not want to get all upset over nothing. It was too early. I just have to wait two more weeks and she said I could come back to hear it. Just because we could not hear it does not mean that there is not one.

 

But my anxiety is not at bay. I am restless and secretly distraught. I need to snap out of it and realize that we didn't even go to our first appointment with Marlee till after 12 weeks. Everything just felt so much more real with her.

 

Now that my anxiety is out there, maybe my anxiety will subside for a bit. A little release of emotions. My next appointment is the 26th which is a little over a week away. I should be pretty busy between now and then so my mind will be full - hopefully.

 

Here's to busy schedules and even busier minds!

Happy Ten Months Marlee!

Marlee has finally hit double digit months! (On May 23rd - a bit late!)

She is blossoming into a full of energy and curious little nugget. 

Marlee now has TWO teeth - both on the bottom. She loves to open and close things - such as drawers, cabinets, and books. She is standing all by herself and even takes a couple steps every now and then. Her laugh is so contagious and she knows it. She is going to be quiet the little ham. It is very obvious that she gets her personality from her dad. 

Besides being read to, swimming in the tub, and watching Disney, my baby girl loves to eat. Which makes this Italian momma very happy. There is very, very few things that she does not like. Strawberries being on that list but I think it is more of a texture issue rather than taste. 

We are loving the nice weather and being able to get outside for walks and playing in the grass. This summer is going to be loaded with fun!

Now some pictures!

Thanks to Nick for helping with her attention!

Marlee also helped plant the garden which will be the next post! See you soon!

Quick Hello!

I am the worst blogger ever! 

This child is kicking my ass though! 

Sleep > blogging. 

But I do have 2 posts in the works, I just need to finish and post. 

I will leave you with a picture of my little fishy in the pool!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Is it really only the 16th of May?

Longest month ever!

Or maybe just the busiest?

First let's talk Marlee. She finally has a tooth! And took three steps! Three! Nick and I were both there to witness it and I was so in awe over the monumental milestone. She also is starting to say a couple words. She hasn't really learned how to use them but 'thank you', 'uh oh', and 'duck' have all been heard from her mouth. She even said 'no' at the grocery store but she sang it beautifully. Instead of a terrible 'no', she turned it into a 'no, no, no, no, no, nooo'. Pretty sure she can make anything sound cute. 

Mother's Day was last Sunday and it was amazing! My first time as a mother and it just felt right. I was exhausted and possibly a little grouchy from lack of sleep BUT it was great. I loved all the family time and being able to celebrate with all the wonderful mothers in my life. 

I did a little crafting for the grandmothers too which looked like this:

Last post I talked a little about food planning and trying to make a budget. The budget went wonderfully and knowing exactly what I was going to make each day was a lifesaver. My husband didn't have to ask 14,000 times 'What's for dinner?' which helped with my sanity also. 

The actual cooking part didn't exactly go as planned...

Let me just say that I love to cook. Even though I love to cook, does not mean that I am necessarily good at it. Pizza - check. Pasta and meatballs - check. Chocolate chip cookies - check. Anything outside of that, I like my recipes. I also love my crockpot. Top ten invention ever. Ever!

With that being said, here are a couple examples from my dinner list that did not go quite as planned. 

Day two was chicken tetrazzini and while the recipe was a bit more involved then what I like (Have you ever tried to whisk flour and milk continuously while your 9 month old rips through the kitchen? Accident waiting to happen.), it was delicious and my family ate it up. So of course I took pictures to show everyone.

Mmmm cheesy goodness.

What this pictures doesn't show you is that I still had the top burner on. 

So while I situated Marlee in her highchair and set the table and of course took some pictures, my dinner was burning. The whole left side of the casserole was black. 

Black. Black. Black. 

Fml. 

On Friday, we had steak carnitas. It was fantastic. Absolutely recommend and will be trying them again. Unfortunately, my crockpot is apparently super-duper and while I thought they would be ready to go after the baseball game, my meat was a little over cooked. Ok a lot overcooked. Isaac wanted to know why we were having beef jerky for dinner. 

He literally said this people. 

Still ate it. 

And my final fail for the week can only be explained via picture.

That would be my crockpot. After the overcooked steak carnitas incident, I need to do a little extra soaking. Well the next day, I did some scrubbing and it slipped out of my hands. 

Dead. 

RIP Crockpot. 

Ok so I know I am not winning MasterChef anytime soon but my family is fed. Grilled cheese will always be a staple of a our family meals. 

Besides the Mother's Day crafting, I also made a shirt for Marlee to wear. Have you ever done iron on letters? That shit is hard. We had to re-iron half way through the day!

I was going to see if anyone actually reads the shirt but this proved to be ineffective - by both of my families. Lead to some pretty funny responses though :)

Yes, Marlee will be a big sister in January. 

Marlee and Me will soon become Marlee and Us.