Pregnancy Pains

I've had some pain during this pregnancy. I had it during my pregnancy with Adalyn although I didn't know what it was so I never blogged about it because I was told it was just muscle pain probably due to weight gain. I had a lot of pelvic pain (not really a topic that comes up in conversation nor had I ever known anyone that had it so I thought I was just a freak of nature.) Well it came back during this pregnancy and I started feeling the pain really early on before I even started gaining weight.  I was desperate to try anything to fix the pain (since I knew the further into my pregnancy, the worse it would get...been there done that) so when my friend recommended her physical therapist I jumped at the idea.  I went to a physical therapist a couple weeks ago and was diagnosed with Pubic Symphysis Diastasis which is actually bone pain, not muscle pain. It actually was a relief to be diagnosed with something that my PT said can be treated. This is something that seems to happen more often later in pregnancies, but this started in right at the beginning of my pregnancy. Extra hormones have actually made my pelvic bone shift all around causing my pelvic bones to rotate completely out of position causing a lot of pain. I had 3 different areas in my hips and pelvic area that were severely misaligned. My PT said that possibly I was so very misaligned because my pregnancies were so close together and my hips never fully realigned after my first pregnancy.  So now in our (my PT and my) quest to realign my hip/pelvic region and alleviate the pelvic pain, I've gotten pain in my back and hips since my body and muscles don't want to get realigned. I do have to say that maybe the extra Relaxin hormones that are causing my bones to be too loosey goosey was maybe the reason that I had such an easy delivery with Adalyn. So I guess the bad comes with the good! Either way, I'm hoping that within the next few weeks we can get my pain under control. Other than waddling around like I'm 37 weeks (due to the pain) I feel pretty good during this pregnancy. Each week of therapy and exercises seems to lessen my pain so I'm encouraged.  You better believe I'll be going to my PT after Cayden is born to make sure that my hips stay aligned once the hormones are out of my system. The websites say that once you have the baby the pain goes away, but mine stuck around for months after I had Adalyn so I would bet that my hips never realigned themselves.

I thought this time around I'd blog about my pelvic pain since I honestly had never heard of anyone having it...maybe someone else is in this same place and maybe my blog about my weird pregnancy pain will help someone know they aren't the only one with crazy pains. Oh and also Physical Therapists are a-mazing and usually covered by insurance so find a good one who specializes in the pelvic region and also pregnancy and you'll be happy you did! When I had researched this pain online, the places I found through google never mentioned that a PT could completely alleviate the pain... most said to avoid situations that cause the pain. I'd like to say a big HA HA to that since everything I did (even laying in bed) caused pain. Oh and one site recommended pain medication. Why use meds when you can heal the problem instead of masking the pain with chemicals?

So there you have it. I never thought I'd do it, but there's an entire post dedicated to my pelvic region. ::blush::

20 Week Update and a Name

I'm now 21 weeks along (although I have yet to take my 21 week belly pic) which means we had our big ultrasound last week!  I'm happy to report that we have a healthy baby boy!! I just love hearing that heartbeat! Of course as he was at our 16 week ultrasound, he was head down and facing my back so he was a bit difficult to see, but we did get one really cute profile picture!

I also owe my 19 and 20 week belly pictures...

We have some exciting news!! We have told our families baby boy's name so it's time to tell our friends! We bought Adalyn a big roll of craft paper at Ikea last week, so this is how we told our parents...

(Don't mind my shadow...you can read this one better.)

Baby boy's name is Cayden James. Jonathan actually picked out both names. We wanted a unique first name and I had never heard the name Cayden (of course once we chose the name I started seeing and hearing the name Caden everywhere...at least we're spelling it different) and James is my dad's name. I was thrilled when Jonathan had the idea to name our son after my dad. He's such a wonderful role model and I'm happy to honor him.

So those are all of my updates for the bebe. Well, actually I do have one more because I think I've picked out bedding (gasp) finally, but I'll wait to write about the nursery. I can't wait to start decorating!!! If only I could draw or use one of those fancy computer programs to sketch out the picture I have in my mind that I want the nursery to look like! I will say that it looks pretty awesome in my mind:)

Easter Egg Hunt

Adalyn had her first ever Easter Egg Hunt last Saturday. Our church's nursery department did an awesome job in putting on such a big event. They opened the different ball fields for the different age ranges. Adalyn was on the soccer field with other kids up to 24 months. This was great because she didn't have big kids running over her getting to the eggs. They also had empty eggs which made me happy because she doesn't eat candy so I was glad we didn't have to worry about taking it away from her. (There are so many allergies out there they don't take that chance.) They gave each child a small stuffed bunny afterwards and that was all Adalyn needed. Give her a stuffed animal and she's a happy girl.

Of course mommy had to take billions of pictures (and video too) of this momentous occasion. After a bunch of summer weather days, Saturday we had cooler temps with a bit of wind. Thankfully it was beautiful out with lots of sunshine (thus the sunglasses).

I've got my basket. I'm ready to go! (I love how she carries things around like she's got a purse.)

 No, Coda you can't come. Just big kids. (Recognize her outfit from my consignment sale pic? Love it.)

First egg found. You mean I'm supposed to pick that up off the ground??

 Shiny purple egg. Pretty.

In the basket?

Look at all those eggs. She figured it out!

 She got really into it!

My two favorite people! Love them so much!

 Family pic. Such a fun morning!

Once we got home Adalyn spent so much time transferring her eggs from one basket to another basket. Back and forth. So funny. I know I say this at every age, but I really think this is the most fun age. I love watching the world through her eyes. And I love seeing her discover new things and seeing her personality shine! She's going to be a pro at hunting eggs by the time Easter rolls around!

Iphone Pics

I've been a very quiet blogger lately. I just can never find the time to sit down and write a post. I had my 20 week appointment and ultrasound yesterday so I have a sweet ultrasound pic and some belly pics to post soon! My evenings have been spent weeding through the thousands of snapshots that we took through Adalyn's first year of life. Overwhelmed is an understatement. I started with delivery day (November) and so far I've sorted through pictures through February. I'm attempting to make a "First Year" Mixbook of Adalyn before baby brother comes around (and preferably before my groupon expires June 30th) so I've got a serious deadline. All of the Mixbooks I have made in the past have been of Adalyn's photoshoots with Jes, which means I don't have to choose the pictures. I just upload the entire CD of pictures and use them all. So this step of finding pictures is a huge extra step in creating a Mixbook. I know afterwards I will be thrilled to have it so I'm pushing through, but right now it seems to be taking over my free time!

Because I've been bad at posting regularly I thought I'd drop in and post a few iphone pics. Well, that and my dad was giving me a hard time for no new blogs since his misses his baby (i'm sure he's talking about me and not Adalyn) HA!

Adalyn likes to check out the magazines in the basket in the bathroom. It's cute. She acts like she's really reading them. She was reading Kelly's Kids and I guess Dakota missed her that day because he just kept giving her kisses.

 Please don't mind our 90's laminate flooring. It's on our "one day" list of upgrades...

 We drove up to two outlet malls last weekend. Adalyn was decked out in her UK outfit (but she did have a green bow on for St. Patty's day) and was such a good little shopper. So content hanging out in the stroller.

We also went to Ikea. (We had a very long day!) I grabbed a stuffed animal for $1.99 out of a bin before we started through Ikea and it seriously kept her company the entire time through the store. Of course "Mousey" had to come home with us and Adalyn's still quite attached to her. I love eating at Ikea. I wish we had one closer because that would totally be our Friday night "date night". Adalyn loved the food! She inhaled 2 chicken strips and a huge amount of steamed veggies. (And can we talk about how clean they keep the tables, chairs and food area? Ah-mazing!)

Because she was such a good eater, mommy gave her a bite of the chocolate cake Daddy and I were sharing and she was in love and wanted more. Oops. Mommy ate it all:) She likes to shove as much food as will fit into those chipmunk cheeks. So funny!

It's been so hot here this week that we had to break out Adalyn's summer clothes (that are a size too big). She looked so cute before daycare the other morning.

Grandma came for a last minute little stay this week and she thoroughly enjoyed her Gram time. I'm pretty sure she'll be expecting multiple wagon rides a day now.

 Loving Gram before she had to leave.

Randoms

I haven't had much to blog about lately. Life is just moving fast and I'm trying to keep up! The past few days we've had beautiful mid-70 degree days and it's been wonderful! Adalyn turned 16 months this week and I'm now 19 weeks (I actually typed 18 weeks and then realized my ultrasound is next week so I had to look up on my phone to see that I was indeed 19 weeks along...see? Life is moving too fast!)

I haven't done an Adalyn update in a while. (I totally forgot to blog about her 15 month check up and shots.) She is talking up a storm. At home. In public she refuses to speak to or smile at people she's not comfortable with. But if she has time to warm up she'll be running in circles in no time. We went and visited Jes, Justin and baby Caleb earlier this week and Adalyn was a bit interested in the baby mommy was holding and wanted to touch him and then was immediately distracted by their sweet lab-mix of a dog. She squealed and would run around trying to get Jada to play with her. It was fun to watch.

Adalyn loves music. She loves singing night night songs and never wants me to stop. She just keeps signing "please" when I finish singing. She loves watching the wiggles because it's all singing and dancing. She puts her little fingers together for Itsy Bitsy Spider and tries to sing along (in a very quiet voice). And lately she tries to repeat everything we say.  A lot of times we can tell just by the number of syllables that she is using that she's trying to repeat us (because she sounds nothing like what we just said) but then sometimes we look at each other shocked because she just said something plain as day!  She can pick specific things out on the pages of her books when asked where the bunny is or where the red balloon is. It is just so fun because she's so interactive and she communicates so well.

She loves to "help". "Help" means emptying out the laundry basket and handing me the items to fold or taking the lowest row of salad dressing bottles out of the fridge when the door is open and then putting them back again. Or throwing her diaper away (or anything else we ask her to throw away).  Sometimes I'll ask her to carry something for me (my keys walking in from the car or for her to get my clementines out of the fridge and put them in my lunch box). It's so cute to see the pride in her eyes when I tell her what a good helper she is. I know once we get past the jealousy when baby brother comes, she's going to be a wonderful big sister!

Here are some iphone pics from the past few days. She's such a moving target that I can barely catch a clear picture of her!

Our little UK Cheerleader! Daddy's teaching her to say "GO CATS!!" (It is so cute!)

Yes, this is a 6 month onesie. Poor thing needs a new UK shirt!

 After church on Sunday

 Wound up!

 Ready for nap time!

 Her first ever painted toe nails! This beautiful weather called for pink toes! She was so good while I was doing it. She just watched me and sat so still and never tried to touch them. (I did feed her while they were drying so she'd stay away from the wet paint!)

 After work yesterday it was 75* so we went outside with some bubbles. She was more interested in watching the boys play basketball at the end of our driveway than watching the bubbles. There are two young girls next door that just love her so once they saw we were out she was surrounded by girls oohing and aahing over her. She didn't quite know what to do with all the attention. It was funny. She just kind of clammed up.  I think we have some built in playmates/babysitters on the street!

This outfit makes me laugh. We need more "play shoes" because it looks like she's got these big chunky high tops on with tights. Ha! I think these shoes are funny because they make her little size 3 feet look even smaller than other shoes do. One of these days her feet will grow:) (Can you tell she was figuring out how to walk on the incline of our driveway?)

Out with the Old, In with the New

UPDATED TO ADD AN EXTRA PIC:)

We switched Adalyn to a convertable Britax carseat in my car (our main family car) back in August. She was (and is) still under the weight limit for her infant carrier so we left it in Jonathan's car. On Sunday, Jonathan switched it out to install our new to us seat from the consignment sale. Adalyn hugged her owl friend bye bye when J took her baby seat out of his car. It was so sweet.

 She was pretty excited about her new (clean) big girl car seat!

A few follow-ups from my last post...

I had an anonymous comment so I didn't know who to respond to, so I thought I'd write a response here.  You are never supposed to use a car seat that has been in a car accident.  When buying a car seat at these sales, the sellers are asked to fill out a paper and sign it saying the seat has never been in an accident. After the seat is taken in by the sale, one of the committee members checks the frame to make sure there are no visible breaks or damage. They also check to make sure the seat has not been recalled. All of these items are signed off on a paper that is with the car seat. (Other large items being sold are also checked in this same manner for recalls, etc.)  You have to hope that sellers are honest.

Jonathan was putting the stroller back together after washing it all. After he got the front seat in, Adalyn decided she wanted in. He figured she'd want right back out. She stayed in it the entire time it took him to get the back seat in. Then she still didn't want out. She wasn't being pushed. Just sitting in the middle of the living room watching me vacuum and do other house chores. She loved that her sippy cup fit into a spot on the tray. About 30 to 45 minutes later she still didn't want to get out but Jonathan finally got her out because he wanted to collapse the stroller and put it away. She's just so cute. I had to take a pic of how excited she was about her new stroller.

In case you missed this comment from Jonathan on my last post, I thought I'd share it:

OK, so I don't think you quite described the crowd good enough. So to all your readers, picture this: day after Thanksgiving style shopping, right before the doors open. But the crowd is full of preggos and psycho moms (my wife included). I was scared for my life!!!

Belly Pics

We finally took belly pictures at week 16 and then again this week (week 18). I thought I'd share them on here. It's amazing how far my belly has popped out. It's like it remembers way too easily how to grow! I've been feeling baby boy moving around and I love it! That was one thing I missed after Adalyn was born.

16 Weeks

 18 Weeks

Baby boy is getting closer to having a name...at least I think he is:) And I'm still working on getting ideas for bedding and the nursery. I want to have all these decisions made yesterday:) I know I have time, but the first half of this pregnancy has flown by so fast that I'm worried that the second half will fly this fast also and I'll run out of time to prepare!

Consignment Sale Loot

After my excitement in my last post about the possibilities of what I might find at this consignment sale, I thought I'd follow up with what I got!  You all, it's crazy. We went Thursday at 3pm to get line numbers. I was 88 and we were in the front part of the line of volunteers. Thankfully they give out numbers so we can leave and come back when the sale starts. We got there around 6 and they put us in number order and you could feel the excitement building. You all. It's a different kind of special. All these women excited for deals.  OK, and for those 2 ladies pushing strollers... DON'T. And don't bring your kids. Seriously. It's worth hiring a baby sitter. The clothes racks are so packed that there is literally not enough space to push a stroller down the aisle so you're just in everyone's way!!! Learn Consignment Sale Etiquette.

Anyway, J and I were on a mission. I fast-walked (in order to not be a crazed runner) to the area where the car seats were. (This is where I should add that committee members get to shop before volunteers.) ALL of the Britax convertible seats were gone. I wasn't surprised. I grabbed the last convertible seat that was there. It was a FP Sport that said made by Britax. It was dirty but it was $25 so I reserved it. Then I eyed the infant car seat base that we NEEDED and I about tripped over a bunch of other car seats and bases to get to the one and only Chicco base left before someone else. $20 score! Graco bases are always piled up at sales but you can never find Chicco bases. I know I'm biased but I think it's because Chicco is such a better car seat that no one ever gets rid of them. While I was at the car seats, J was at the strollers. I found him across the room and we quickly decided which of the strollers to reserve. It's a sit/stand deluxe so it will fit a car seat, then it will fit two small children and then at some point we can take the back seat out and Adalyn can stand in it. It was in really good condition.  From there, we stayed in the big items room, and found a brand new outdoor swing  and we looked for an outside riding toy but didn't find any that we liked.

I then made a brisk walk to the clothing room while Jonathan went to look for other odds and ends. I found some great deals on clothes for Adalyn! The way this goes down is that you go through the racks of clothes and put anything in your (laundry) basket that you might want. Then you take your entire basket to a corner with your girlfriends and husband and go through everything to look at the clothes closer to make sure there aren't stains and are in good condition and worth the price listed.  And get second opinions on whether it's worth the price listed from your friends:)  I loaded up (and even put back a good amount). Then I went to the newborn boy rack. Newborn clothes are mostly onesie type of clothes so I'm not willing to drop much money on them. I got a few cutie outfits though. I was planning to go back to the half off sale to load up on newborn clothes but we had the tornado warning so we were home in our basement. They rescheduled the volunteer early half off sale for Saturday morning at 6:30 and I could not bring myself to get up for that! There are more sales coming up so I'll be looking for baby clothes at those.

Here is a pic of all of the clothes we got. Boy clothes are on the bottom row. Jonathan also found 2 pairs of shoes for A and 3 pairs Robeez for baby boy. Each pair of Robeez was only $4 and they look unused! So excited about that!  You can also see at the top of the pic that Jonathan picked out a couple Wiggles DVDs for $3. Adalyn is captivated by the Wiggles so he figured we should have a couple for her to watch on trips in the car:)

I got 1 pair of pjs (I usually don't buy pjs second hand but these had the tags still on), 2 jackets, 6 dresses, 5 bubble outfits, a bathing suit cover up, 4 pants/capri outfits, a skirt outfit, and a shorts outfit for A. I got overalls, 4 one piece outfits and a swimsuit and shirt for baby boy. I ended up getting 5 items with the tags still on them... brand new!! I got mostly brand name clothes: Bailey Boys, Gymboree, Gap, Carter's, Polo, Tommy, Janie and Jack, Talbots Kids.

I usually stay at the $5 price range for clothes, but sometimes I have to be reasonable. I splurged on a couple full outfits. See the 3 outfits on the left side of this pic? The first is a 3 piece Gymboree set that will go into fall with a sweater for $14. The second was a 5 piece (including the hat and glasses) Gymboree set that still had tags on it for $17. The third outfit is a skirt, shirt and shrug that is Janie and Jack for $12. (I looked on the Janie and Jack website and the shrug alone retails for $52!!)  Sometimes I just have to step back and ask myself if I would pay $14-$17 in the store for this outfit (when it looks new). So I got them!

Here is a pic of a few of the dresses. The two in the center are front runners for an Easter dress. Because of this, I went ahead and did pay a little extra for them than the $5 that the other dresses were.  The pink, green and white dress with the pink sweater is Carter's and I usually don't pay extra for Carter's brand but I loved the dress so much that I paid $13 for it.  The green dress with the pink flowers is absolutely gorgeous in person. I love it.  It's smocked on the top and the flowers on the skirt are all very delicate.  It was $15 and originally I was going to put one of these two dresses back and only get one "expensive" one but Jonathan said to get them both:) I love when he shops with me:) The green dress is Talbots Kids. I didn't even know they made kid clothes. I looked online and I guess they no longer make them. When I got it home and took it off the hanger I found that it had original tags on it and it was $78!! So I got a $78 brand new dress for $15. I'd call that a score!

Here is a pick of our gear. Double stroller $65 (retail $200), convertible car seat $25 (no clue what retail would be... $100+ish), car seat base $20 (retail $85), brand new swing $10 (retail $29) and a Fisher Price booster seat that was in pristine condition for $14 (retail $28). We figured that we needed to get A to start using a booster because soon and very soon baby brother will need the high chair. So far I think she loves sitting up to the table to eat!  Jonathan already took all fabric and belts off of the stroller and car seat (with Lindsy's help while we were all home bound during the tornado warning) and washed, sanitized and put them all back together. They look great!

Here is our receipt and total... With tax we spent $342.14 which seems like a lot. It's a lot more than we have ever spent at a consignment sale! But when we realize all the gear we got, I think we did well!  Jonathan is a stickler about spending money and had his calculator out on his phone adding things up while we were shopping and he admitted later that he thought with the big items we were buying that we were going to spend a whole lot more than we did!

Lindsy was a seller for this sale and actually needed a few more items to sell (sellers have to have a minimum of 75 pieces) and last weekend while we were cleaning out the basement we came across a large bin of clothes that I had forgotten about. They were items I had bought on clearance while I was pregnant and some items had been hand me downs from people (who didn't want them back). I wasn't emotionally tied to them since A hadn't worn them and they were all too small for A at this point so I sold 28 pieces/outfits in the sale. I sold most for $5 each and also listed them for the half off sale so many sold for $2.50.  Out of those 28 pieces, 24 sold and I made $52 (even with the 30% fee that the sale takes). So that $52 will go toward what we spent and then it feels even better!

Can you tell I love consignment sales? There are 3 different sales this coming weekend! They are small sales but I'll be there! The next "big" sale is in a couple weeks and I can't wait for it!

It's that time of year again...

March Madness!! (ok, so we're into the basketball March Madness around our house too. Especially since our UK Wildcats are ranked #1 in the country right now!!! Go CATS!!!) But I'm talking about a different kind of March Madness. I'm talking about the consignment sales that run through the month of March around here! Every single weekend of March there are different (and up to 3) consignment sales at different churchs, community centers or clubhouses.  If you've been around my blog for any length of time, you know that consignment sales are where absolutely all (unless they are gifts or we need a specific outfit for an occasion) of Adalyn's clothes come from. And yes, I only buy name brand and yes, I only buy clothes that look unused. Almost all of Adalyn's toys (even the toys we gave her for her 1st birthday) are from sales!

This weekend is the BIG sale. Last year there were over 40,000 sale items at this sale. Jonathan's mom likes to call it a garage sale. I don't think she gets the idea of what these sales are, but I would imagine unless you actually saw with your own eyes, you can't really imagine what these sales are like.  The items even have bar codes on the tickets so checking out is like checking out at a store!  Since we have another bun in the oven and this bun will need a whole new set of clothes (since pink just isn't going  to fly on my boy) we have our work cut out for us.

I have to say that I have an amazing husband.  For the fall sale in August, I didn't need much gear or many toys. I just needed winter clothes for Adalyn. I worked the sale (with a ton of other girls I know) so I could get in for early shopping. The problem? Only volunteers can get in for early shopping. I couldn't bring Jonathan (aka my extra arms/hands to hold stuff and also the second half of my brain when making quick decisions on pricier items than clothes), so this sale since I knew we need an entire list of items I coerced him into volunteering with me so he could shop with me.

Last night we worked our 3 hour volunteer shift (7-10pm) which had us out way past our bedtime (thankfully Adalyn was in bed at her bedtime thanks to our awesome babysitter) and we were beyond exhausted but it was so worth it.  At 7pm sellers started bringing in their goods. I stayed at the check in counters and organized clothes into sizes for runners to take them to the appropriate room/racks. Jonathan was a runner. They appreciate husbands because people bring big gear and furniture and they need muscles. They were just in luck since my hubby is strong! We stayed busy and it's fun to see everything coming in the door. It was insane to look around after only 3 hours to see the clothes room looking full, the large equipment room looking pretty full and the nursery item tables full. That was 3 hours. The sellers started drop off again this morning at 6am and will drop off all day today. It gets me excited to imagine all the stuff that will come in in that amount of time.

As a worker we get to shop tonight with all the other workers before the sale opens to the public tomorrow morning. This is HUGE. Not only do we get first picks of everything, we get to shop in a significantly less stressful situation since there will not be the crowd that there is when it opens to the public.  We then get to shop again Friday night. Saturday morning most items sell for half off (depending on whether the different sellers choose for their items to be half off), so Friday night all workers get to shop half off before it's open to the public on Saturday morning! So, yes we will be going back on Friday night because a lot of clothes are worth the extra half off!

Maybe I'm a dork, but I get a crazy rush from knowing what we need and the idea that we could get stuff for dirt cheep. Jonathan was working in the big equipment room most of the evening so he was able to peruse the different items that we are looking for. He found multiple Britax convertible car seats for I believe $50-ish (wha?? that is insane!) We need a new car seat for his car for Adalyn so we can let the baby use the Chicco infant car seat that she currently uses in his car. Can I please remind you that Britax car seats new start at $250! We also need another base for our Chicco infant car seat. New they are $80. Priced at the sale for $15. We need a double stroller so we're looking at the sit and stand because they seem to be the best option for the kids ages and still relatively light weight. New they are $170. At the sale they are priced around $50. You all! This is the kind of stuff that doesn't get much wear and tear on it so why not buy used for crazy cheap? Our sitter says Adalyn needs a Cozy Coup since she loves playing outdoors with it at her house. New they are $60. Sale price $20!

We have actually typed up a list of items (other than the obvious clothes) that we need to buy at the sale. Jonathan and I have already agreed to the most important items and which item each of us will be making a dash for first. I believe it will be like Supermarket Sweep (except without the cart...we can bring laundry baskets for our goods) tonight. We have never needed this much stuff at a sale so it will be interesting. Here's to some good shopping and some serious good deals tonight!!

And yes, I realize I just wrote an entire post about my excitement for shopping. Wow.