18 months

So I'm pretty sure this is the last __ months post I'll be doing for Carly. At this point I think she'll be 1 1/2 yrs until she's 2 yrs? A lot of people like to keep doing the months at this point, but I'm not sure I'm one of those people. We went to the doctor and she got her last 2 immunizations! Woohoo! She doesn't have anymore to get until she is 4 yrs old :) But the day we went to the doctor was a rough day. She was just having a bad day and cried for everything. She cried when I set her on the scale to weigh her. She cried when she was still sitting on my lap and they wanted to measure her head. She got fruit snacks when it was time for her shots. Poor girl. We let her walk out to the car with no pants on and it was very cute. Once she was out of that room and moving, she was just fine (like always).

Carly has been such a picky eater these past few months. I feel like it's harder on me lol. It drives me crazy when she hardly eats anything. She still loves Dora of course. Her new thing is she'll ask to watch Dora. She'll look at the TV and say "Dora-Dora?" Apparently yesterday she handed Morgan the remote and said "Dora-Dora?" She is getting pretty smart these days. She'll attempt to repeat most one-syllable words and understands a lot of things. I'll ask her to get a book and she will, or her blanky. She understands when I ask her if she's tired and wants to go to sleep. Yesterday I couldn't find her sunglasses and we were ready to go to the state park, I asked her to find her sunglasses. She walked straight to them and put them on (correctly, I might add). Putting them on the right way was actually a first :)

Carly has been going to nursery for 2 weeks now and doing great. Last week was Mother's Day and she made me a cute little mother's day flower in a pot (mostly made out of paper). The flower was her hands traced & cut out and it came with m&m's with a new label mOm's. I got lots of treats, Morgan made me breakfast and dinner - it was a good day.

 We went to a state park in the Gig Harbor area. Carly had a really good time. She kept grabbing handfuls of rocks and dropping them all over herself.

 Daddy taught her how to throw rocks in the water. At first Morgan was throwing them from the blanket we were sitting on. Carly picked up a rock and twisted her wrist around, then stood up and walked down to the water. So Daddy helped her throw rocks in the water too :)

 There was a stake family run this month. Morgan & I did a 5K. Apparently, this was Morgan's first official 5K race. We've run further than that on our own, but this was the first official event/race he's done. He told me this on our way to the car, so of course I had to snap a picture.

 Some days Carly and I will go on a walk around our complex. Often times, she will wander to the back gate and try to get out. She will shake it, try to stick her head between the gate and grab at the chain. Pretty funny.

 Daddy made a fort for Carly. She likes to get on top of it more than get inside. I think it's mainly because the box is somewhat low to the ground. If it was higher, Carly would probably go inside more.

 Blackmail photo. Sometimes when her nose is really bothering her, her finger will end up there lol.

We went over to our friend's house for cinco de mayo. It was a lot of fun. Carly had a blast playing with the girls, and sitting in their fun chairs. 

 We went to the zoo this month. The kids zone really takes on a new meaning once your little one starts to enjoy it. Carly really enjoyed it this time. Autumn & Carly went into a little cave area for a few minutes and were just giggling like crazy. Lots of fun at the zoo!

 Sometimes Carly likes to climb on top of her ball.... Momma doesn't really like this....

 Daddy decided to teach Carly how to play soccer. She is still learning. She kept picking up the ball when it came to her. Work in progress.

 Grandma came for a day before her international flight to Paris, Croatia and Rome. It was so fun to see her!

Confessions of Pregnant Woman

Confession #1: Mini Fridge. Once we were ready to start trying for baby #2, I had a discussion with Morgan. Once we found out we were expecting, we would get a mini fridge. That way I could keep all my snacks, sodas, protein shakes, etc. right next to my bed. Not to mention, I wish I had had this last time while pregnant with Carly - not only for the pregnancy, but also postpartum. I followed my sister-in-law's advice to make frozen pads (I made a pot of chamomile tea, dipped pads in the tea, then froze them). This may sound really strange, but they were super helpful. Chamomile tea has anti-inflammatory properties. Mix that with frozen pads and you've got a recipe for minimal pain and discomfort postpartum. Simply genius. Just after having a baby, standing is hard enough, I don't want to have to walk to the kitchen to get these. I look forward to having these in my mini fridge - right next to my bed - this time around :) 

 Confession #2: Gummy vitamins. When I was pregnant with Carly, I was losing weight and hardly able to keep anything down. I saw an OB early on to get some anti-emetics. I told her I was concerned that I hadn't been able to swallow my multi-vitamins. (We had actually even tried mashing the multivitamin, putting it in yogurt, and I plugged my nose while I tried to eat it = I was unsuccessful. It was still nasty because I could tell how gritty & gross it was. That might have even made me throw up.) Anyway my OB told me that folic acid is the most important before you even know you're pregnant. She recommended just getting some chewable or gummy vitamins and taking those until I was able to take multivitamins/prenatal vitamins again. 

 Confession #3: Couch Snack Stash. I was talking to a good friend a while back. We were talking about pregnancy and feeling awful. She mentioned that when all you want to do is lay down, it's hard to want to get up to go get something to eat. I laughed and told her about my couch snack stash (not in those words exactly). I started stashing snacks behind the pillows on my couch. As you can see I have tortilla chips, goldfish crackers, pretzels. I also kept animal cookies, wheat thins, and chex. All the major carbs I could snack on during the day when I wasn't feeling great. Morgan totally made fun of my stash, but secretly I think he liked it too :) Now that I have been feeling better and have more energy, the couch snack stash is gone, but it was super nice to have during my 1st trimester. 

Confession #4: Netflix. As soon as I started feeling crummy, I gave up and signed up for netflix. It's been really nice to have. When all you want to do is lay around and get through the day, this is helpful for more than one reason. (We don't have cable - if we did, I probably wouldn't have signed up for netflix.) This provided Carly with lots of Dora the Explorer episodes, and me with lots of movies/shows to watch. Many days, while she would watch Dora on the TV, I would either rest or watch something on my laptop. Way too much screen time for both of us during my 1st trimester....

Confession #5: Baby Food. Carly had not eaten baby food for a while before I got pregnant this time, but once I wasn't feeling well it was really hard to fix & feed her meals. I started buying baby food again. Those squeezy pouches can really be a lifesaver. 

Confession #6: Pregnancy Stash. Once we were ready to start trying for baby #2, I started buying things I remembered eating from my 1st trimester last pregnancy. I stocked up on sprite, tortilla chips, vitamin water & sports drinks, sugar-free hard candy (teeth are hard enough to brush without throwing up - I wish I had discovered this earlier last time around), gum, etc. I was really glad I had bought these things early on. We went on a weekend trip to visit Morgan's family and I started feeling crummy while we were there. It was nice to have those things waiting for me when I got home (no rushing to the store to get them). 

Confession #7: Sleep aid. With my first pregnancy, I would seriously sleep at least 15 hours every day, sometimes more. This time, if I took a nap, I wouldn't be able to fall asleep at night. If I didn't take a nap, I would still have trouble falling asleep/staying asleep at night. I have had to take either Benadryl or melatonin supplements to help sleep at night. I've stopped having to take a sleep aid just a few weeks ago. Finally.

Confession #8: Skinny jeans. I'm not really talking about skinny jeans, I'm talking about jeans you can wear when you're skinny lol. My first pregnancy, I lost 10 lb during my first trimester. I never actually had to wear maternity clothes - I did have some tops, but I never bought or wore maternity jeans. I felt like I could have used maternity pants after I had my baby though. I just couldn't seem to ever lose the weight. I'm pretty sure I haven't lost that much weight this time around, but I have definitely lost weight. I regret getting rid of some shorts/pants I thought I would never be able to wear again. I have been buying new jeans because I only have 1 that I've been wearing. I feel like I'm swimming in all the others. 

Well that's all for now. I'm sure I'll think of some more funny confessions later.