phone dump

Here are some random pictures from the last week!

 

31 weeks pregnant!

big girl bed transition! We have some rerranging to do, and more work to do on the bedframe, but this is the update we did last weekend! Madelyn LOVES her new bed!

cuddles with my sweet girl

 

You can't have it all

This week I've been very emotional and in a reflective mood. I've been feeling guilty about not being able to spend more time with Madelyn. If only I could just snap my fingers, win the lottery or I had a bottle I could rub and a genie would grant me 3 wishes :) I really can't complain because I'm very blessed, and I know that. I'm just being real and sharing what's tugging at my heart right now.

Almost a year and a half ago, I was approached about a new job opportunity. The job would give me a consistent work schedule and a shorter commute = more time with my family. So, to say I barely gave it much thought, wouldn't be all that far from the truth. That's all I ever want - more time with my family. I took the job. I work 40 hours a week, not 10 minutes more and my commute was cut down by at least 50%. I got just what I wanted.... right? ;)

Shortly thereafter, we decided to put our house in Fairfield on the market. We were lucky enough to sell our house very quickly, and buy a great new house in New Canaan. The move was definitely more my idea than Brian's. I knew that living closer to family and friends would be awesome, but living closer to work has been the biggest life changer EVER! Really, we have some wonderful QT together as a family now that we just have more time at home, and that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. So again, I got what I wanted and I should be happy... (don't get me wrong, I am happy... trust me :)

As Madelyn has quickly grown up in the last 6 - 8 months, I find myself so emotional about each and every milestone and little development (maybe its the pregnancy?) I am obsessed with all of her talking, her manorisms, her personality, heck, even the tantrums - really, I just love her so much. Lately, I've been feeling guilty.  There are so many special and neat moments with her everyday, I don't want to miss a thing. I wish I had more time with her each day to just swallow up all of her cuteness.  The irony of all of the changes we've experienced, is that if we had stayed in Fairfield, I might not have had to work, or at least as much. Which would have meant lots more time with my kids. Granted, I'm not really sure the whole SAHM thing is for me (or I just tell myself that to cope with the challenges of being a working mom) but I can't stop thinking about it.

My motivation to tough it out through this little hurdle is knowing that when baby #2 arrives, I will have 3 months of time off with my babies! Unfortunately for Madelyn, she'll be sharing her mommy then, but its more time with me than she's used to, so it's all good. I'm so afraid that as my kids grow up, or lets say 10 years from now I'll regret being a working mom and not spending more time with them during this precious stage. I suppose, that totally might happen... all I can do is be proud  of the decisions we've made and the life we've created for our family. I just need to remind myself, you can't have it all.

On that note, I am very, very happy it's Friday :) Lots of QT lined up with my lovies this weekend. Hope you enjoy your weekend too!

XO

Trip to the Sunshine State

Since we're supposed to get a little snow today, I figured it was a good time to finally post about our trip to Florida :) I started this post right after we got back, but have been so busy nesting and organizing in my free time I haven't had a chance to finish!

Mid-December we booked a trip to Florida to kick off the New Year. We wanted to visit with Grandma and Grandpa, and get in some relaxing family time in the sun before we really buckle down for baby #2.

It'd been a year since Madelyn's last flight, and leading up to the trip I was more nervous about the flight, than I was excited about the trip! I just didn't want to be the parents with an uncontrollable child for the 3 hours in the air! I knew Madelyn wouldn't sleep. Although she's always been a good sleeper, she likes to sleep in her crib, and that's just about it. She's not a flexible sleeper. She doesn't sleep in the car, she'll never fall asleep in our laps, and no matter how tired I knew she'd be, she wouldn't sleep on the flight! We were up and out of the house by 5am on New Year's Day, so by the time our plane took off at 11am, it had already been a long day for M! Thankfully, she was entertained by the T.V. (thank you JetBlue!), a few new toys I'd picked up, and all the snacks, that we survived the flight with just a few little outbursts. Phew!

Once we touched down, we had a great few days! The only drawback was it wasn't long enough... isn't that always the case with vacation?! Well, the weather wasn't great either, but we didn't care. I had so much fun with my loves and I am so glad we decided to take the trip. We were able to spend some time at the beach, on the one perfect beach day, and then squeeze in a few dates and a few new kids activities!

One of the highlights of the trip for me was watching Madelyn really enjoy the ocean. The last few times she's been at the beach she's preferred playing in the sand to the ocean. This time, even with some decent waves, she LOVED playing in the water! Unfortunately, I was supervising her play and didn't have a chance to take any pictures. It was pretty cute to watch as she laughed, squeeled and jumped around in the waves until we dragged her out!

A few other highlights were our first trip to the Circus (which was just as much fun for us as it was M!), a rainy day visit to the Naples Children's Museum, Brian and my movie date (first in a year), and nice dinner date! We may not have had perfect beach weather during our trip, but we wore flip flops and t-shirts while a snow storm was hitting home, and we had a great time catching up with Grandma and Grandpa! A really great trip :) Here are a few pictures of our trip:

Merry, Merry!

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas with a 2 year old was SO.MUCH.FUN! Christmas is such a neat time of year, but watching a child experience everything really is magical. We were home for Christmas this year and had a very special morning with Madelyn at our house, before heading to my parents house for the day. It was a great day, and Santa was great to everyone :)

Sometime in November when the catalogs started to stream in, we got our first Fisher Price catalog. I sat and read the "book" with Madelyn one morning and she picked out a bright pink Minnie Mouse car that she wanted, and I told her if she was good maybe Santa would bring it for Christmas. I was shocked that over the next 6+ weeks, she didn't forget that car, or that Santa might bring it for her for Christmas. When anyone asked what she wanted, she said, the pink car. Thank God, we were able to find the car since it wasn't available everywhere. When she walked out on Christmas morning and saw a large wrapped mound on the floor, she pointed and said very matter-of-factly "that's my car" I mean, this girl is TOO much! We proceeded to make her wait to open it, and all of the other things she opened along the way brought new and fun excitement too.  Needless to say, spending the day watching her, made my day, maybe my year.

We were blessed with a great 2013 and winding down the year with a wonderful Christmas was the best icing on the cake! After our awesome traditional TK Christmas celebration on 12/28, we packed up and got ready for our trip to Florida :)

Here are some pictures from our Christmas!

 

Pregnancy Update - 29 weeks!

How far along? 29 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: As of my last appt at 24 weeks - up 9 lbs. I go tomorrow, and I feel like it could be double that now ;)

Maternity clothes? Oh yes... I think by 12/15 weeks I was fully in maternity clothes. I'm still wearing non-maternity sweaters and ponchos, but all of my pants are maternity. I got 2 new pairs of Loft maternity pants for Christmas, that I'm obsessed with. I liked their maternity line the first time around, but it's really improved since then.

Stretch marks? Yup. I just hope I don't add to my collection!

 

Miss Anything?  Wine! I had a glass on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and enjoyed both thoroughly :) I think there will definitely be a glass or two in my next 3 months as well. Other than that, probably coffee, but Dunkin's decaf is holding me over ok.

Movement: TONS! This little diva is in constant motion, literally. I first felt this baby kick at 19 weeks, which is exactly when I felt Madelyn for the first time. I don't remember Miss M moving as much as this baby though. More often than not, I feel like the baby is doing triple back flips, these are not just kicks :)

Food cravings:  Nothing really. I had a milkshake for lunch today, for no reason other than I couldn't decide what to eat and that sounded good.  I told myself it was OK since I was pregnant, and I never do that! For the most part, I've been eating normally.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope!

Have you started to show yet: Uhh.. yeah!

Baby is: A GIRL!

Belly Button in or out? In.

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy, with a slash of moodiness ;)

Looking forward to:  Spending the next 3 months planning, organizing and getting ready to welcome our little girl!

Babies Update: I don't remember :( Bad mommy. We haven't had an ultrasound at our doctors appointments since 19 weeks. I'm pretty sure that was the appointment when she was 12 oz. I'm hoping for an ultrasound tomorrow because I want to see my baby girl!