Category Archives: family

A Family Visit and Some Cute Pictures

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C and Baby Jo changing table

C loves his sister so much that he has to scale the side of the changing table to give her kisses.

C twin bed

Since we’ve been having so many issues getting C to sleep in his bed all night long, we decided to have one of the student beds brought in from our storage room. He is so excited about his “big boy bed,” and he slept in it all night by himself on his first night with it! At least if he needs us, Hubster or I can now fit beside him while he falls back asleep.

Baby Jo and Auntie J

Hubster’s brother, T, and sister-in-law, J, came to visit yesterday. It was so great to see them!

C and Uncle T puzzles

C had a lot of fun playing with his uncle. He’s so lucky that Hubster has two brothers who are both fantastic uncles.

C cars cake

They brought C a cake to celebrate his 2nd birthday – and it even had a “Cars” candle. C was excited about his “Cars cake!” Side note: yes, the paci has made a comeback for daytime use. He’s having a difficult time adjusting to life with a new sibling and he really needed the comfort. Breaking that paci habit is a battle I can fight later!

gift for baby jo from uncle t aunt j

I’m geeking out over the gifts they brought Baby Jo! I LOVE BABY SHOES!

Things Are About To Change

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Our family is about to grow from three to four. That’s kind of a crazy concept for me to think about. As an only child, I’m unsure how to navigate this change for C. He’s sensing that things are about to change and it’s affecting his behavior.

C and mamaHe has been very needy lately. Every night, he needs one of us to sit in his room until he falls asleep. He wakes up around 4 or 5 in the morning and needs to come into our bed with us in order to fall back to sleep. He spends a lot more time whining than usual. This may have something to do with the “Terrible Twos” making an appearance, but the timing is suspect.

We’ve been talking with him about his baby sister, and he knows that she lives in Mama’s belly. Sometimes he’ll come up to me, rub my belly and say, “Baby.” I don’t really know how else to prepare him. He has a baby cousin and second cousin, and has been very gentle and sweet with both of them. Whenever he sees or hears a baby, he excitedly says, “Baby!”

I know that he’ll love his baby sister, but I hope that he won’t feel too left out from not having our undivided attention anymore. I can’t believe my sweet little boy is about to become the big brother.

A Desire to be Settled

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Ever since we moved in July, all that I’ve wanted was to feel “settled” here.  I want to make this place our home.  We know that we’ll be in our apartment for 3-4 years, and perhaps in this city more permanently after that.

When Hubster and I got married, we knew we’d be moving away after he graduated college.  After we moved and he started graduate school, we knew that we would only be there for two years.  We’ve never settled anywhere as a married couple.

I think that being settled entails having a routine, and putting down “roots” in the community.  We started attending a church every week…until our busy fall filled up with traveling and hyperemesis.  I want to get back into that routine now that I’m starting to feel a little better.  I’m also trying to regularly attend my local chapter of MOPS.  I’d like to make friends in the community.  Friends who are also settled, putting down their own “roots” with their families.

This year, I want to decorate for Christmas.  I didn’t bother to do that the past two years, because we were never home to enjoy it.  We spent weeks visiting family over the holidays instead.  We’re going to make a point of starting a family tradition of celebrating Christmas in our home.  I want to take C to our city’s holiday parade, take him sledding, to visit Santa, and all of the things that families do around the holidays when they’re settled.

I feel like I’ve passed the point in my life when being a nomad is desirable.  We’re building a family of our own now.  There’s nothing I desire more at this point in my life than being settled.

Wedding Weekend!

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Despite a near-tantrum seconds before walking down the aisle, everything went off without a hitch!  C and his sweet cousins did a wonderful job walking down the aisle at their uncle’s wedding.  About halfway down the aisle, C turned around as if he was going to run back out of the church; but thankfully the girls directed him back to the front and they walked the rest of the way.  At the end of the aisle, C started heading toward the bridesmaids.  Everyone chuckled and Uncle T (the groom) scooped him up and handed him over to Nana.  It was pretty adorable!

The fuzzy pics will need to suffice until we get the ones from the photographer! Thank you to our dear friend, R, for working that zoom on her camera! :)

They had a photo booth at the reception with some super fun props.  We had a blast taking some pics with our friends R and K.

It was a fantastic time!  Big congrats to my brother-in-law and new sister-in-law!  It was a gorgeous wedding and we couldn’t be any happier for them. :)

A special thank you to my mom for picking up C after dinner so that he could go to bed and we could enjoy the reception without chasing him around the venue.  It was quite a relief for me, since I spent the entire day chasing after him!

We Love Our Home State!

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Hubster and I are absolutely loving being back in our home state.  We’ve been able to catch up with many family members and friends.  We joke that in one month of living here, we’ve had more visitors than in the two years that we lived in a neighboring state!

Some of the fun things we’ve been able to do this past month is welcome a new sister-in-law into the family at her bridal shower, host our friends and their three kids for the weekend, attend a college friend’s nearby wedding reception, have several visits with C’s grandparents and more!  We’ve been busy, but it’s been really fun.  We’re so happy to be back, closer to so many of our loved ones.  :)

Cousins!

I have the best sisters-in-law. :)

Standing up in our friends’ beautiful wedding.

On Living Far Away

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Sometimes it makes me sad that we live far away from our family and close friends.  I wish that we could just jump in the car and attend every birthday party, life event, holiday or random get-together.  We thought a six-hour drive was difficult when we moved here…but then we had C, and it is exponentially more difficult.  There is so much stuff to pack and plan for, and the drive is so much longer with him.  He hates being confined to his carseat, forcing us to make numerous stops and endure his loud protests.  PPD and 6-7+ hours in a car with an angry baby do NOT mix.

This weekend, one of my dearest friends had a bridal shower.  Hubster had a bunch of work to do and couldn’t leave for the weekend, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to make that trip with C by myself.  I was so sad that I missed it.  I’m honored to be a part of her wedding and can’t wait to celebrate her big day with her!

We’re so excited to live closer soon so that we can see our loved ones more often!

C Loved Seeing His Cousins!

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C was able to spend time with his cousins, ages 2 and 4, last week while we were visiting family.  I’m excited that C has cousins so close in age!  I think they’re going to have so much fun together growing up. :)

You should check out my sister-in-law’s blog, On The Night You Were Born.  She’s talented, and her writing is so real.  Love her!

I’m Coming Down With Baby Fever…

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Hubster and I are noticing how big our little baby is getting.  How do they grow so much, so quickly in their first year?!  He used to be only eight pounds, 22.75 inches long, and completely dependent on us.  He was so easy to hold and cuddle, and so very tiny.

Now he’s our little monkey, climbing all over us and lunging in every direction.  He yells, screams, calls our names and does hilarious things that even he laughs about.  I just started putting my little boy in 12-month size sleepers and size 3 diapers.  Did you know that they start putting rubber on the feet of 12-month sleepers for when kids start to walk?  *sniffle*

I’ve always wanted to have kids close in age and now that we see our baby getting to be a much larger baby, I’m starting to get the itch.  I’m fighting an inner battle with my newfound baby fever, because logically I know that it’s not the right time.  This summer, we’ll be moving to a different state (which one is yet to be determined) and Hubster will be starting a different job.  I don’t want to be pregnant when we’re in the middle of a big move.  There’s a lot of stress that goes into it, not to mention the change in insurance – and the possible gap between when we have coverage.  Most importantly, I’m in the midst of my battle with postpartum depression.  I’m still working with my OBGYN to find the proper dosage of medication to help me.  After that, she said that I should stay on it for a year before trying to wean off of it.  I know that I shouldn’t get pregnant again before dealing with this first.  But, then there’s the other part of me.

My biological clock has been screaming at me lately.  I know that I’m young (24), but I have extenuating circumstances.  I have PCOS, which can make it very difficult to get pregnant.  Until we try again, it’s impossible to know if C was a medical marvel or if I don’t have a problem conceiving despite my PCOS.  It might take a long time for us to have another child.  I want more than one.  In fact, I want more than two children.  I feel like my ovaries are screaming at me to get going on all this babymaking!  I really want C to have a sibling close in age.

Thus, I continue to grapple with logic versus the heart’s desire and probably will do so for the next year.  Have you had difficulty deciding which time was right for you to add to your family?

Family Spoiled My Child!

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We had the opportunity to spend two weeks with our families over the holidays…and time has revealed it was both a good and a bad thing.  It was good to see everyone and C had fun playing with his cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents.  The bad part of the trip has reared its nasty head in this past week that we’ve been at home.

C refuses to play independently.  He cries and screams when we put him down to play alone.  Our families have spoiled him with constant attention.

I don’t know what to do!  I’m having a difficult time getting anything done.  Has this ever happened to you?  How do you reverse the bad habits?

Help!

When Did Leaving Home Become a Hassle?!

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Hubster, C and I are preparing to drive to our home state for the weekend.  He has an annual weekend with his high school buds.  C and I are going to drop him off and spend the weekend with my parents.  While Hubster smashes 5 days of work into 4 (during Homecoming week!), I’m trying to get the apartment cleaned and get everything ready to leave for the weekend.

Since we will be moving presumably in late June…and probably to a different state…I would like to take some stuff back to my parents’ to put in storage.  For example, I don’t need my old maternity wardrobe hanging around here taking up space.  There’s also a box of pregnancy-related books (among others) that I won’t look at before we move.  I’d like to haul back more, but I don’t think our economy sedan can handle it in addition to our gear for the weekend.

I’m racing around packing, organizing and cleaning and it occurred to me, “When did leaving home for the weekend become such a ginormous pain in the bootie?!”

Since it’s the end of the month, I also have several work deadlines coming up that I need to take care of.  I just don’t know how I’m going to fit it all in.  I have a feeling that I’ll be working a bunch this weekend while my parents oogle over their grandson!