Just a Good Pic

1st Appointment for Peanut

Sheesh I got all excited and it was just that stupid appointment where they get your life history, weight blood and pee, and give you bags of information and samples. I didn't even see the actual doctor, but I do in three weeks.

Since I am healthy and low risk I don't get an ultrasound until 20 wks because it's not covered by insurance until then (unless there's a problem). I was lucky last time to get two in the first trimester because I am Rh negative, but I guess since I had all the injections that that is no longer an issue for me. I wish I could see the little jumping bean though, oh well!

Back to the Museum

We were back at the museum today but this time with Melissa and her little ones, Grace and Nicolas. We had a great time visiting the toddler room again, and today Nicolas showed us the dinosaur exhibit. We had lunch where I got a birthday rice krispie treat, and rode the carousel. Fun Fun. More pics...






Finally my first prenatal appointment is tomorrow...stay tuned!

Product Endorsement of the Week

Cures the craving for M&M's but they have fig inside so they're nutritious too. YUM...I could have eaten five more bags. I found them in the pharmacy aisle for some strange reason.

Oh.My.God.

Let me set the scene...

It's a beautiful summer day and we've spent alot of it outside. We went to stroller aerobics this morning and played at the park afterward. Tessa was begging to go outside again this afternoon so I dumped out her bucket of outside toys and let her go wild.

She wandered around inside the fence while I sat on the stoop and watched. She chased the dogs, scooped mulch into her bucket, pushed her toy mower and rocked on her fish. What a happy babe.

Once in a while she plays with the mulch and tries to eat it...this is pretty normal. I think playing with the chunky mulch at the park is her favorite thing about going. I spied her at the birdfeeder with her hand full of something brown and she quickly toddled over to me making a horrible face...this was not mulch.

Yup she had a big mouthful of dog poop.

We ran inside and tried scooping it out with a paper towel but she wouldn't open her mouth eventhough she was obviously disturbed by the taste...so stubborn! Finally she spit out a huge wad of poo. Now it should be noted that I had to try VERY hard not to barf, VERY very hard.

I washed her hands and face with soap, made her drink like a whole sippy of water and brushed her teeth twice. I think I was definitely more grossed out than her, as long as I could smell the poo I was on the verge of barf-dom, so we washed and washed until the smell was gone.

Ugh.

Our New Fave Place

Tessa's Grammie and Grampie got us a family pass to the Indianapolis Children's Museum for her first birthday. We finally got there, and I don' t know what took us so long! After a couple of failed attempts to go with other people, Tessa and I decided to go it alone and it was great.

I think we are going to go several times a month since we have the pass and it's easy for us to get to, and most importantly Tessa really enjoyed it.

They had a huge toddler/baby room that we spent about 2 hrs in. While we were there they did story time and music time with instruments. Above is a picture of her at the water table, she wasn't quite sure what to think of that (the water was super cold so she didn't want to stick her hands in it)

I was also really impressed with the food court. I was afraid it was going to be all hot dogs and cookies but they had some good healthy food too, including a toddler restaurant where Tess got her green beans and potato smiley cakes.

After lunch we rode the carousel but my camera was in the stroller. She was sort of dazed and confused by it really, but we were approaching nap time. Maybe she though it was some trippy weird dream.

Thanks Grammie and Grampie!

Logged Back In

After a couple of junk food laden days I decided I needed to start using www.babyfit.com with this pregnancy as well. I remember why I really loved this website. You log your food intake and while it keeps tabs on your calories it also helps you know if you're getting enough iron and calcium, etc in your diet. All tailored to pregnant needs of course.

Oooh Shiny!

My house that is. So my birthday is coming up and I told Jeremy that the onliest thing I wanted was a maid to come and 'deep clean' the house.

I know it seems silly for a stay at home mom to have a maid at all, but this was a one time thing and they cleaned windows and according to Jer actually got on their hands and knees and scrubbed the kitchen floor. Wooh! That never happens around here.

This may become my annual birthday present, we'll see. I will just say that my tub has never been this clean in the 3 years we've lived in this house. So happy birthday to ME!! Now that we don't have to clean for a while Tess and I will have to come up with some summer activities.

We made ourselves scarce while the maids were here and went to play with Tessa's cousins



I now know the answer to two food questions. First of all no, toasting your sub at Subway does not make the meat okay for pregnant consumption. Deli meat and hot dogs must be heated to 'steaming hot' before pregnant women can eat them, according to babycenter.com. So that's the end of that.

Secondly, a 14 month old just shouldn't be fed taco bell, period. I'm blaming Jeremy who wanted taco bell after church for his father's day lunch. She ate a bunch of pintos and cheese which I thought was a healthy option for her, not taking into account the red sauce they put on top. Diaper rash is back today with a vengeance.

Poor kid for have stupid parents that feed her beans with hot sauce. In our defense our burritos made us both sick...so it's fair to say no one in our house should have taco bell.

Tessa Hated Art Time

Note to self....when a baby has a strong routine that includes doing only one activity in a high chair (eating), that may be the only activity she ever wants to do in said high chair. When she discovers that what she thought was her snack (paint brushes) actually taste like paint, she might thow a fit.

This was a short lived activity and I did most of the painting, but hey it was fun.

I think I had my first craving yesterday. I really really wanted lunchmeat. I started thinking about it at breakfast, a bagel with ham. Mmmmm.....so I ended up getting a Subway Club for lunch. So I have a question. Pregnant women are supposed to cook their lunchmeat so they don't get lysteria. Does having the Subway people toast it count as enough cooking?

Tessa has started clearly saying "Rosie" which is sort of exciting. I thought I was just imagining it at first but you can definitely hear it and she says it directly to Rosie, not Hayden, and yes she does know the difference.


I didn't want to post this but Mom wanted me to so...you know anything to make her happy. I'm a little famous in North Vernon, must be a slow news day: http://plaindealer-sun.com/main.asp?SectionID=10&TM=55163.35. If only those two skinny chicks weren't there making me look bad.

All Wrapped Up

Our Moby Wrap came in the mail and although it's really for the new baby we thought we'd give it a go in the toddler position. Jeremy went on a walk with us over our lunch break and Tessa and I walked like this while he walked the dogs. I know it looks strange but it is crazy comfortable and also not as difficult to do as it looks. We walked for 25 min and it didn't hurt my back at all. I wonder if carrying the weight on my back is bad for me since I'm pregnant and all but I will ask the doc when I see him next week. I have a feeling the Moby Wrap days are numbered until the next babe comes.

Tessa has been working on using a suction plate and a spoon. Actually getting food ON the spoon is the hard part, getting it to the mouth is easy. You can see that yesterday she had some yogurt, which required an outfit change afterward.

Peanut (baby #2) is treating me very well so far. No morning sickness yet, just tired sometimes.

Random Pics

I know it's been a day or two since I shared pictures. Here are some random ones from our 'great flood weekend' in North Vernon. Enjoy!


Tessa and I shared and ice cream, then she shared the cup with Hayden.

We're Home!

Well after taking a somewhat convoluted route home which avoided all rivers and interstate closures we made it home today!

We could definitely see where water had been on the roads in Greenwood but it is mostly receeded in our area. There are still many areas south of us that are pretty bad I guess.

Jeremy's investigating a leak upstairs in our guest closet and is getting ready to check out the crawl space for damage. Other than that it seems our life is back to normal!

Tessa is currently eating bing cherries and staining her hands purple :)

We're Okay....Just Stranded

Some of you may have seen on tv the flooding and evacuations in Indiana. I just wanted to let you know that we are fine and according to our neighbor, so is our house.

We came down to Mom and Dad's this weekend to so I could sing in a memorial concert and it looks like we are currently stuck here. All roads leading home are closed and our home county is currently under disaster emergency.

There are more storms in the forcast and water expected to rise tomorrow so we are just making ourselves comfortable down south. Luckily we are comfy and flood free in Mom's house and have the pups with us.

In other exciting weather news we had a tornado here in North Vernon two days ago. There were many fallen trees on the farm but no major damage. Jeremy was excited cause he got to help Andy play with the chainsaw today. Boys!

I will keep you all posted! Prayers needed for our friends back home. Here's a local news story on the state of our state.

Boo Hoo!

This is Mommy's pity party :(

I weighed myself this morning and I've gained about 8lb since the time we started the weaning process. Argh!

I'm not even blaming pregnancy yet, and my diet hasn't changed that much (aside from the giant tub of popcorn I had on Saturday). I'm blaming weaning and all the body/hormonal changes lately.

This was a wakeup call for eating healthy! I'm hoping to either lose or not gain much in the first trimester. Wish me luck!

Shoppping

Either I'm way overly preparing or I'm just in the mood to shop (I think the latter)but I've been looking at baby stuff online and stuff for Tessa's room. The good news is we hardly need to buy anything, yay!

But I did just bid on Ebay on a Moby Wrap. I have a feeling this baby will be in a sling alot more often than Tessa was, so I can I have my hands free for the 2 year old! This thing is pretty cool..you can wear it like 10 different ways up until they are 35 lbs.


Jeremy and I are going to go shopping for twin beds sometime soon. If we can find a good priced twin bed and dresser we will buy the rails (or put it on the floor)and try that as Tessa approaches two. We figure a toddler bed will last for 6yrs but a twin will last through college....makes sense right?

I guess we'll just try putting her in the bed when the time comes and if it doesn't work we'll figure it out! It seems like everyone I've talked to agrees it depends on the kid.

Aside from the shopping and whatnot I don't feel pregnant, haha. I'm sure it will sink in one of these days (hopefully not the day I go to the hospital).

Decor Decisions

I said before that we were going to re-do the log cabin room to make it Tessa's, but Mom has got me half talked into leaving the log cabin and doing a country/cowgirl theme. We could get some country style patchwork quilts to hang on the wall and things like that. The idea is definitely growing on me. I think it could be really cute.

The log cabin is very well done which is part of what makes it so cool. We were never sure we were going to use it but never had the heart to paint over it either.

The nice thing is that it would be easy. The only thing that room would require would be a bed for Tessa, dresser (the closet got mutilated when they installed our new ducts) and curtains. And voila we would be done!

Here's the question of the day though, for all you vetran Moms. Tessa will be 22 months when baby 2 (yet to be given a cute nickname, suggestions welcome) is born. Will she be old enough at that age to move into a toddler bed?? We found one online for $75 and we're tempted to just snatch it up for later. It says it fits until 6 years old.

If she's not old enough that means of course we need to find a second crib. Our bassinet is pretty small so will only fit the new babe for a little while (Tess only fit in it until 3 months before she was too long). I just don't know much about 2 year olds....do they sleep in cribs or beds??

Thoughts? Opinions on a cowgirl room? Here's some pics of what it looks like. Excuse the crap, it's currently a storage room.

Answers to All Your Questions

Wow what a fun couple of days!
My email inbox has been absolutely flooded so my apologies to those I didn't respond to.

So yes we're pregnant, no it's wasn't completely a surprise (we all know how these things happen right?), I'm 4wks along due February 4th. Tessa and the new babe will be 22 months apart. I'm feeling just fine, just a little tired. So far I don't have any other symptoms but we'll see what comes in the next few weeks. And no the name of the blog won't change to 'babies bennington', haha. We'll just leave it the same.

Exciting huh? It will be crazy to have two kids here. I can't quite wrap my brain around it actually. Our plan is to move Tess into the uninhabited 'log cabin room' and since our nursery is a uni-sex jungle theme the new babe will move in there! Sorry to all who love the log cabin room but it's going to be painted over and become a little girl room. Now we need to think of colors and stuff, ooh fun! If we can find a toddler bed for cheap (used) we will do that, if not we will get Tessa a twin bed...but moving into that is a ways down the road.

We are going to TRY to not find out the sex of this baby, but we said that last time too. I really mean it this time though, haha! I think it would be the ultimate surprise. I've already put some thought into training myself harder for natural childbirth, and maybe even getting a doula. But that too is a ways down the road!

And no we won't tell you names this time either, sorry :-)

In current Tessa news, tonight will be her very last time to nurse to sleep and then we are done. I think we are both ready, but I worry about her nighttime routine being all disturbed. I'm hoping a song and a little rocking will make her snoozy...we'll see!

So I only had a couple weeks of breastfeeding while pregnant (or 'duel fueling' as I like to call it) and I'm glad, it's quite a toll on the body. Although I'm not sure how smart it was to overlap the pain of drying milk with the symptoms of early pregnancy but here we are.

Can You Read Me Now?

We *thought* the ink was dry until we tried to put it over her head. Either way, you get the message?

Cheap Entertainment

I swear we don't need a tv around here. Between wiener dogs, Tessa and myspace karaoke we're set on entertainment. Here's an example of what I mean. Yesterday the dogs went nuts for a cheap yard ball that you buy at Walmart. They so badly wanted to get it in their mouths!

It was pretty funny for a good long time. The white dog is Mom's dog Moose. He was visiting us cause the boys went to the 500 yesterday and Mom and I went shopping.

Tessa's New Cousin

Tessa got to go to the hospital and meet her new cousin on Friday. She did say 'hi' to him and petted his head really nice like she does the dogs, but that was about the extent of her interest. There were lots more things to look at in the hospital room.



Saying 'hi' is really her thing now. When we go to the store she waves and says 'hi' to all the people we walk past. Alot of times she will say 'hi teh-duh' (=hi Tessa) or 'hi dadddy'. Maybe one day she will realize not everyone is named Tessa and Daddy. There is after all a third person in her house :)