Baby Boy's Surfer Room

Literally, since I found out I was pregnant this time, I have been planning a little boy's room. I even have a secret Pinterest board full of all of my nursery ideas. I figured, if it was a girl, I could delete all the boy stuff and make another girl board. Though it wouldn't have had much on it since I would probably have re-used all the bedding I had for Avery's crib, which would have been super boring.
BUT, since I am having a BOY, I get to decorate a room! Yippee!
Naturally, the room will be surf/nautical theme. I love the blue/navy/lime green/white color combo for a boy, so that is where I started. I will be using Avery's dark brown crib and changer, and we already have a tan chair and a light so aside from décor and few minor things, there really isn't much to be purchased for this room.
(For those who care to know) Here are a few ideas I have!

I want to do a gallery wall above the changer with a variety of ocean/surf-related posters such as these:

 

Some shelves like this (but darker, more natural-looking wood) would be really cool

 

 

 

With a few whimsical items such as this awesome vintage surf VW



I would love a bedding set like this from babybedding.com

                     

Love this display of cute little boy things like shoes, ties and hats



I am having so much fantasizing and planning already!
Stay tuned...

It's A....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are THRILLED!!! And shocked! Our wildest dreams are coming true, and we are getting a little prince to balance out all the princesses dancing and twirling around our home and in our hearts. 

My healthy, perfect little dude is already so loved it is overwhelming to think about and impossible for me not to get emotional. Our family will be totally complete when our little man joins us in October. 

 

Now, time to GO SHOPPING! ;)

 

 

Harper is 11 months

Our little peanut is barreling toward being a one year old...what a difference (almost) a year makes! We find our family in a place I wouldn't have imagined before her first birthday, expecting another one!
Anyway, little Miss Harper Joy is reaching milestones left and right. She took her first unassisted steps on Easter and since then we have been practicing with her every night. She has started crawling on all fours with no knees on the ground, so I think one day SOON she will just stand up and go for it.
She has 7 teeth so far (4 on top, 3 on the bottom) and is working on one more on the bottom. We have weaned her off formula a little early and have tried to start her on whole milk...but she isn't a fan (just like her sister!) but she enjoys almond milk. She does eat yogurt and cheese daily, and LITERALLY any vegetable, fruit or protein I feed her, so I am not really worried about her nutrient intake.
She weighs about 22 pounds and is wearing 12 month clothing and size 4 diapers. She can point, clap, sign more, do some motions to Itsy Bitsy Spider, say "mama" "dada" and "wowowowow" (my fave). She loves her pacis and her lovey blanket in her crib, and above all else she loves her sister! Avery is the apple of her eye, anything she does is interesting and hilarious. These two play more and more together every day, and it is an absolute joy to be witness (though they certainly find ways to drive me CRAZY at least once a day).

Flower Fields

Today was a beautiful day and our play group went to the Carlsbad Flower Fields. Even though we live less than half a mile from this attraction, it was our first visit!
The fields are so beautiful, ranunculus in a rainbow of colors in full bloom.

 

The kids, however, couldn't really have cared less about the vista and were much more interested in the dirt and the tape asking them to KEEP OUT of the flowers! Haha, oh well!

 

 

 

 

 We had a good time riding the antique tractor around and attempting to get some poetic shots of them. They also have a playground there, a cool bird cage and a Sweet Pea maze.

 

 

12 weeks

We had our second ultrasound last week and...
We are so thrilled and relieved everything is alright with this peanut! We had a few scary weeks in the beginning with this pregnancy. About a week after we found out I was pregnant, and two weeks before my first appointment with my OB, I experienced bright red blood. I freaked out and headed to the ER at Scripps Encinitas where I will be delivering this baby (we switched me off Kaiser after I had Harper, so I have a new OB and hospital this time around). After a pelvic exam, the ER doc recommended an u/s and thankfully, I saw the little baby!! It was VERY early, 5 weeks or so, so there wasn't much more than a sac and a dot but there was a flickering heartbeat and the tech was confident everything was ok. I saw my OB earlier than planned to confirm all was well, and we got to see the baby and hear the heartbeat again (120 bpm).

The blood was from a subchorionic hemorrhage which is basically benign blood trapped between the sac and my uterus, and it comes out when I over exert myself (the first time it happened, I was lifting Avery's queen mattress all around to make her bed). The only way for it to stop is to let it heal by resting. THAT is a tall order for a mom of a toddler and a 10 month old! But, after about another week of off and on bleeding and LOTS of worrying, it stopped and I haven't bled since.

This pregnancy already seems like the longest one EVER (and I know for a fact I said that with Harper too). Luckily, my symptoms have been there but much milder than both of my pregnancies with the girls. Avery was the worst (headaches, nausea, cramping...) Harper was milder than her and this one is the mildest so far.
I feel the worst in the evenings around dinner time, I just get grossed out by whatever healthy meal I am preparing for the family and usually skip eating it myself. I enjoy salads and smoothies which I HATED with the girls, only wanted carbs and starch. I also feel hungry almost all day and hit a wall of exhaustion around 7 at night, so bathing the girls and putting them to bed is hard for me. Alex is super helpful and has been doing everything he can to make it easier for me. I have to pee all the time, and that was actually my very first pregnancy symptom.

I am not showing anything besides food baby but I am bloated and rocking maternity pants for comfort (not that I ever really stopped wearing them, ha!)

 

Next post will hopefully be a gender reveal post! Yippee!!

Party of Five

On Sunday, February 10th we found out, much to our surprise, that we would be welcoming Baby #3 into our family in mid-October! Some might know about my desire to have another baby quickly, and while we weren't "trying" we weren't preventing either. It took us 4 months of trying to conceive Avery and 8 months for Harper, so I assumed it wouldn't happen until well after Harper's first birthday. Those who have done it, know "trying" to conceive really sucks so I can say we are both relieved not to have to go through that this time.  My "clock" is ticking louder the older I get so I am SO HAPPY to be welcoming another baby so soon. I really missed being pregnant and though some will say it seems like I was JUST pregnant with Harper, I have forgotten how wonderful baby kicks and a baby cute bump are. I am so looking forward to experiencing it all again.

For those that are wondering, all the Chinese Gender Charts I have checked and the baking soda test predict....BOY! Both predictors were correct for both of the girls so FINGERS CROSSED! We are participating in a local study in which they need 1,000 participants in hopes to detect fetal birth defects in the first trimester by drawing the mother's blood and separating her DNA from the baby's. In doing this, they are able to determine the baby's gender very early. So we might be able to find out the gender as soon as 10 weeks! AND they pay me $250 for my participation! Where do I sign up??

Stay tuned!