Pregnancy Can Break Down Barriers

I have learned a lot of things about life in the last decade. I can safely say I am not the same person that I was ten years ago, and I hope we can all be thankful for that because my ninteen year old self was annoying. 

That being said, nothing has changed me more than becoming a mom. From that first few weeks of discovering we were pregnant, it changed me. In a good way! I'm very comfortable with who I have become now. You have to learn to let things roll off your back more as a mom though. People really enjoy giving unsolicited advice to pregnant women and mothers. Pregnancy is one of those things where perfect strangers don't mind approaching you and striking up a conversation about what's going on inside your body. I usually don't mind it, sometimes you can get to know someone better because of it. Other times you can be quite entertained at the things people will tell you. 

The things I've heard while pregnant have ranged from "Were you trying for a baby?" (What? Why would you ask someone this?!) to "Oh good luck, you're going to be so tired for the next ten years." (Gee, thanks). Labor and delivery is another hot topic for pregnant moms to encounter. There are many methods and schools of thought on this, so it's often interesting to hear someone's plan of attack. Everyone is different, therefore I fully believe that each mother should be the one to decide how she wants her delivery to happen. If you want to go all natural and birth at home in your living room, have at it. If you are determined to have a c-section at 39 weeks, so be it. It's your decision. However, if you ask an expecting mother what her plan is, it's a good idea to have the phrase "Awesome! That sounds great!" ready, no matter what they say. (I also recommend this response for when you ask them what they are naming their child. More on that later.) No mother wants advice on how someone else thinks they should do things unless they flat out ask for it. If they ask for advice, then, by golly, you are free to give it! 

Something I was not at all prepared for was the pressure to have a girl with baby #2. Daniel and I had no preference on gender either time, so we were very happy to hear that the baby was healthy and growing right on track. It was a bonus to discover it was a boy. However, other people were apparently hoping we would have a girl for some reason. I guess it's just an American standard to have one boy and one girl. I was hoping for a baby. As long as it was a human baby that was healthy, I would be happy. Mind you, if the baby wasn't totally healthy, we would still love it no matter what because it was our baby. It was a HUGE relief to find out he was doing great so far. When we announced the gender, I was pretty shocked when people actually said "Oh well, maybe next time you will get your girl." and "You can always try again next time!" This is incredibly awful to me! It's as if I had made a recipe that didn't quite turn out like I wanted it to, so we just had to throw it out. This is my son! I already love him!  I have continued to hear these statements from people, even strangers, and it really hurts. The other day at a restaurant one of the employees looked at Gunner and then said "I sure hope there's a baby girl in there! (Pointing at my belly)". At first I had no idea what to say. I finally replied with "Nope, it's another boy but we are perfectly happy with that!"  Later in the day I actually got really mad about the whole thing. I just don't understand what the problem is with having more than one of the same gender. There's literally nothing we can do about it! This is what God wants for us, and if He decides to give us three more boys before we are done having kids, then obviously He's got a plan there! Maybe He wants us to have a family basketball team! I'm not upset by another boy, so I don't think anyone else should be either. Pregnant women are extremely hormonal, so it's important to be very careful with what you say to them. 

The name game comes to mind as well. When you ask someone what they are naming their baby, your response should fall along the lines of "Wow! That's a great name!" Asking where they came up with the name is ok too. I've even said "Oh cool! That is a very unique name!" I'm starting to understand why people wait until their baby is born before announcing the name. 

Pregnancy can often bring down barriers between people and you might discover a common ground with someone you didn't expect. This is not always a good thing. However, it's part of life, and it's helping me learn the hard way to not let the things other people say bother me. I am incredibly lucky to have a second baby on the way! I know far too many people who would give anything for the chance to have just one. If we all approached things with this thought in mind, we might not be so critical about things like gender and names. 

Rejoice in The Lord always, again I will say rejoice! 

I'm Not a Winter Girl

It has been cold y'all! I know it's winter, but dang. We've had several days of bitter temps with sub zero wind chill. I'm not a fan. I did enjoy the big snow we got in December. Gunner quite enjoyed getting to play in it. 

We've had a busy winter so far. We went on our annual Fairfield Bay vacation in December. We barely made it there because the roads between here and there were incredibly icy. What normally takes us 4 hours to drive took us nearly 7 this time. It was rough, but Gunner was amazing and content and my husband was an expert navigator. Once we arrived we were pretty much stuck in our condo for a couple days. We didn't do much this year, but Gunner got to spend several days at Nanny's and we made the best of our time off. 

After we came back home we had one week to get ready for the Babb Christmas party. It was at our house this year! Lots of fun. We really enjoyed getting to host this year. 

Then came Christmas. This year was so exciting because Gunner absolutely loved every minute. From the first Christmas decoration we put up, to...well, now. He has enjoyed the holiday season. He still runs around singing Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman. 

Daniel's birthday was a few days later followed by three showers I helped host! THREE! One shower a week for three weeks. Two baby showers and an adoption shower for my sis. It was a blast. 

Speaking of, my sister and brother in law have been in the process of adopting a girl from Guatemala for the last 6+ years. She will be turning 15 next month, and they will be bringing her home at the beginning of February! How exciting is that!!!? Her name is Mia and she (along with the rest of their family) will have some adjusting to do over the next several months. It is going to be a huge change for everyone but we are all so excited to get to know her and welcome her to our family. I'll keep you posted on her homecoming!

Last year during the week of my birthday, Daniel was in the hospital for three days. He had acute bronchitis and it really wore out his lungs. We had made dinner reservations for my birthday, but had to cancel them. That was super scary but he has not had issues since. However, this year I was really hoping to make up for a really stressful birthday last time. This year I turned 29, so I was really wanting a fun and memorial birthday for the last year in my twenties. Boy did he deliver! He scheduled for my parents to keep Gunner the whole weekend. We saw a movie on Friday night. We had breakfast at The Egg and I on Saturday morning. (It's in Pinnacle, you should check it out some time) We drove all the way to Alma to go to A to Z furniture just because I wanted to. We also FINALLY got to have dinner at Mister B's! I had waited a year to eat there and boy howdy, it was worth it. We dressed up, we took our time, we talked, we ate, we didn't rush. It was fabulous. Sunday we went to church and then headed down to my parents for lunch and to bring the boy home. It was so stinking awesome. What a great way to begin the last year in my twenties. 

This week Gunner started getting a cough so I went ahead and took him to the doctor, just in case. He is fine. We had an entertaining time waiting because this paranoid mom requested hospital masks for us to wear while we waited. Y'all, that place was so full we had to sit in the hallway. I was not about to breathe everyone else's nasty germs. Gunner thought it was cool getting to wear a mask. 

The most exciting thing to happen this winter has been getting to see our sweet baby on an ultra sound! We found out that Gunner will have a baby brother! I'm serious, I knew it was a boy and I could not be more excited. Everyone had been asking if I had any "feeling" of what it was, but I would tell them no. All the while I knew it was a little boy! Same feeling I had with Gunner. He looks perfect and we are thrilled. We've decided to name him Levi Wesley. Gunner went from not really caring much about the baby, to being super excited and wanting to know all kinds of stuff about him. It's pretty cute. 

Here are some random photos!

Happy to Announce...

We are expecting Baby Babb #2 in June! Gunner is going to be a big brother! He really does not care at this point. He just knows there is a baby in mommy's tummy (and thinks everyone else has one in there too).
I have been feeling pretty yucky this time around, but I think it's starting to ease up a bit. I did get to hear the heart beat last week! 160 bpm! It was exciting.
That is really all the info as of now. Not a lot to do but wait! We can't wait to welcome another little one into our family and watch Gunner become a great big brother. He is going to be awesome at it.

Friendly Conversation

I go grocery shopping often. I usually go sometime in the middle of the week, and usually around 10 or 11. I always seem to find the cashier who likes to talk about weird things or ask lots of questions. The thing that weirds me out the most is when they ask me why I'm buying the things I have put on the conveyer belt. Seriously. It's happened more than four times in the last six months. It went down something like this:

*Disclaimer* The following conversations may have taken place prior to the six month block of time I previously mentioned. I am just using a few of the experiences I can remember the best.*

[C] You having a bunch of people over? Like a party?

[M] Uh...yeah! Yeah, we are having a get together. 

[C] Cool. Like a birthday party?

[M] ....yep. My son is turning two. Having the grandparents over for dinner.

[C] My husband's friend's cousin has a baby. She's so cute. The other day she said momma! It sounded like [person imitating a small child].....

[M] .....yeeahhh.....kids are funny. 

[C] Do you use brown sugar a lot?

[M] Um, no, not a lot. I just ran out. 

[C] You must use a lot if you ran out! What do you use it for?

[M] Cooking. I cook and bake with it. 

[C] Like, all the time? What do you put it in? I've never used it before!

[M] Well I use it in certain baking recipes and I have a few dinner recipes that call for a small amount. 

[C] That is crazy. I have never used brown sugar. I don't even know what you'd use it for. 

[M] ???

[C] Are you going to make a pie? (Scanning two cans of cherry pie filling)

[M] No, just a dessert. 

[C] Like a cherry pie?

[M] Not exactly. Just a dessert that requires cherry pie filling. 

[C] I don't know what dessert you'd make with cherry pie filling that isn't a pie!

[M] It's not a cherry pie. It's more like a cobbler, I think. I can't remember the name of it. It's for a Father's Day dessert.

[C] Well I hope they like cherry pie stuff!!

[C] Where did you find this?! (Cannot remember what it was they were asking about)

[M] Oh, it was over on the aisle with (whatever aisle it was on)

[C] Woah. I have got to get one of these. Do you know how much it was?

[M] .........ummmm no. I can't remember. 

[C] Oh look! I scanned it and it said it was $5.99! That's a good deal!!!

Don't get me wrong. I do not mind chatting with people, even at the store. It just feels very weird when they start closely examining each item I am purchasing, ask lots of questions and get a little personal. I don't even mind awkward conversation, just not about all the stuff I'm buying right then. I would also like to mention that I am ALWAYS nice to people at the grocery store. I make a point to be kind because you never know what kind of stuff someone is dealing with. Plus, I see too many people who are cold and rude to these employees on a regular basis. So, I try to engage them in a friendly way. It's a lot harder during these types of chats. I get really weird and never know what to say exactly. 

It never fails though- if someone is going to talk about something weird, I'm the person they go to. I think I seem very approachable. 

Gunner's First Trip to the Library

On Thursday mornings the Rogers Public Library has Tumbling Toddlers, which includes story time, songs, and crafts. I took Gunner this week and he had the best time! He really got into the interactive songs with the other kids and did a very fun painting, coloring and glueing craft. I was hoping to take him each week this summer while he is out of Kids Day Out, and I think it will be an excellent weekly activity for us.
After tumbling toddlers, most of the kids and moms hung out in the very large kids library section and let the kiddos play. It was super fun! Gunner mostly stuck with puzzles, but I'm hoping he will learn to love reading new books. He loves reading at home, but I think all the new toys they had there were more interesting.
Below are a few photos from our trip.
It's been a while since my last post so I will update on what all the little man has been doing lately.
As I mentioned, he is in Kids Day Out at Cross Church in Pinnacle Hills. He is going twice a week. This was a HUGE step for both of us since he has been home with me (or the grandparents) all day every day since birth. It's been noticeable to me that I needed to start him in a school like environment, so we went for it. Aside from a few minutes of tears at the drop off first thing, he has enjoyed it! He only cried the first three days. He really loves it and I am so proud to see him learning and socializing. They had school pictures so I cannot wait to see how those turned out.
On the days we have together at home we spend time doing chores together and trying to have fun learning new things. Gunner has taken a liking to music and loves to sing songs. He has a really good memory. I am actually surprised at the things he can remember. He can sing an entire song to you or read one of his books to you. It's pretty amazing and I love hearing him sing and read. He is incredibly active, as boys tend to be, so I encourage Daddy to play with him in his free time. Mommy just can't keep up sometimes.
We practice learning new words and their meanings, we work on our manners often and we try to enjoy doing things to help out around the house. Sometimes it's easy for me to want to do everything myself since he is still so little, but I am trying to take more time to let him do something and give him praise even if it means more work for me. I know that's very important.
He is still such a happy kid! I am looking forward to warmer weather so he can run off some energy outside. He is a lot of work, but he makes me so happy even with that work.
Here are some photos of the little guy!

Life as a Stay At Home Mom: Toddler Edition

I know I've posted before about a day in the life of a sahm, but it was many moons ago, and it was with a baby. Life with a toddler is a completely different ball game. It's practically a whole other sport.

I was reading past entries, pondering how I could have had enough time to do all the things I talked about. That was then. Life as I know it is essentially a never ending fencing match. Or maybe it's more like constantly chasing a tornado to try and keep it from destroying entire cities. Scratch that, it's like fencing a tornado. Yes.

My child never stops. I'm not sure if this is the nature of my child, or if it has to do with the fact that he's a boy. It's probably just a two year old trait. I've heard that boys are much more insane when it comes to constant energy and being destructive, though. This child is like the energizer bunny on crack. From the moment he gets out of bed, he's running. I can hardly change his clothes. Most of the time he runs off with one arm in his shirt and one out because I didn't do it fast enough. He loves playing with moving objects, so cars and things of that nature are his favorites. He loves to dance, so we watch shows with lots of music and he really lets loose. He really loves being close to us, so he's in our face a lot. I say in our face and not on our laps because he can't sit still. There are days where he's more inclined to sit with me and read or play, but they're more rare. This kid also never stops talking. Ever. He is constantly saying something. He talks to people in Walmart. He asks who we are going to see when we are in the car. He talks to cartoons on tv. He really gets going when Daddy comes home. Poor Daddy thinks Gunner doesn't have an off switch.

He loves taking things apart. From toys to food, to ripping up paper. I'll never understand why he would rather completely obliterate a toy than play with it.

It's hard to get him to do things like sit and eat, or be still long enough to go potty. He is so impatient. He gets very frustrated when he can't figure something out in less than two seconds. He has started throwing fits. This is not acceptable. I'm trying to figure out how to handle it. On one hand, he's only two and I shouldn't expect him to understand why he can't just throw fits. On the other hand, I don't want this to become a habit. It's not an easy thing trying to communicate with a toddler.

The kid is smart. He's sharp. He really catches on quickly to most things. I want him to be in a constant state of learning so I try to keep him doing things that are challenging. He is starting to learn to count, he can say most of the alphabet, and the other day I discovered that he can color match! (Put blue items with blue items, red with red, etc) His speech is ridiculous and I'm amazed at how well he can talk. He will say almost anything I say. He's my little parrot. Not only can he say a ton, he says it quite clearly. He recently started saying snacks instead of nahh. He used to call his favorite show (Bubble Guppies) dah dah duppie, and now says bubble duppies. Yain morphed into rain, she is shoe, da is socks, and dee is feet. Baby talk is fading. Learning every day.

It's kind of insane. I have to be careful about what I say, and wait to do certain chores until he's either in his high chair or asleep. He's so hilarious though, and he's so sweet (most of the time). It's been awesome being able to actually communicate with him. I think he has enjoyed it too.

He has started taking an interest in helping with things lately. He likes to help do the laundry, and at the end of the day loves to take off his clothes and put them in his laundry basket before he streaks into the bathroom for his bath. He's very good at helping pick up his toys too. (I'll be ecstatic when he can help me carry the groceries in.) I've even gotten him to "clean" the windows a few times! We are working on learning to put our clothes on, though I think it will be a while before he masters this.

Potty training has been in progress for two months now. He is doing very well. We had a setback recently since he wore pull ups the entire time we were on vacation, and nearly the whole month of December since we were so busy. He's had several accidents since Christmas, but being only in underwear really gets him back in shape. So I'm hoping that in another week we will be back on track. Pooping is just a disaster. I really have no idea what the heck to do. He has gone on the potty several times, but something has yet to click with him. He seems to be afraid of it, and I don't mean the potty. He's fine with the potty. He's afraid of the actual task of pooping. I won't give details, I will just say I literally am at a loss. We just wing it.

He is learning and growing so fast I can hardly keep up. It is a different world than it was two years ago. I'm very proud of him.

New Year, New Goals

I don't think there's anything wrong with making New Years resolutions. Some people don't like to do it because they feel it's like setting them up for failure. I am not afraid of failure, I'm afraid of being stagnant. I need to make sure I am working towards a goal to keep me going. That said, New Years resolutions aren't meant to make you feel like you're a failure if you don't accomplish them. It should be something that keeps you motivated. The journey is important.
Here are my goals for 2013.
Starting with the obvious, I'd like to be healthier and lose weight. I'd like to get to a healthier weight (not an unrealistic one), drink more water and less sodas, and start cooking healthier meals for my family. Along with that, I would like to take better care of myself in general. More flossing, more exercise, better skin care, stuff like that. Also along the same lines, I'm going to try and look less like a stay at home mom (aka a hot mess). Seriously, I shouldn't have to wear a hat every day I go out in public. That's just me being lazy. Speaking of laziness, I'm going to start trying to keep a better daily routine. I'm going to work to keep the house cleaner by being more organized and I'm going to work towards saving money by really keeping a tight grocery budget.
Going along with a daily routine, I'm going to try to start incorporating a time during the day where Gunner and I focus on something school related. Maybe we will do flash cards, or work on counting or his ABC's. I'm wanting to start him in a Mother's Day out once a week this year, and I would like for him to start at home getting used to a scheduled learning time. I think it's going to be important for him (and myself). Lastly, and this goes in with the first things I listed, I want to run another 5k. I would love to do that by October. I was really very proud of myself doing it once, and it was the first thing I've done in a long time where it was up to me to make it happen and I actually finished it.
There you have it! Nothing too insane, just things that I really need to do to make myself a better human.
What are your goals for the new year?