10 week bumpdate and ultrasound!

How far along? 10 weeks!

Weight gain/loss: 118 lbs. No weight gain yet.

Feeling: Much better! Either eating every hour has made the nausea go away or I have just progressed out of the morning sickness stage. At 10 PM {almost} every night I've been reading. It feels fantastic. It had been way too long since I had read for fun.

Maternity clothes? I am rocking my Old Navy maternity jeans every day and I couldn't be happier.

Sleep: It *would* be just fine except Carina has been waking up 1-2 times per night lately. Some mornings I'm a zombie.

Food cravings: Bagels with cream cheese and my Mom's famous Apple Crisp.

Movement? Nothing yet.

What I miss? Bailey's. Amaretto. Just booze in general.

Best moment this week: Seeing baby geek #2 again (see below).

What I'm looking forward to: My niece's 2nd birthday party in Massachusetts next weekend!

Milestones: Baby is now wiggling and moving around in there. We could even see it during the ultrasound. Amazing.

Oh hai!

At 10 weeks with Carina I think I barely looked pregnant. This time around, ha!

Toddle Along Tuesday - Carina's Nursery

Carina's current nursery is actually the 3rd room that she has slept in during her short life so far. First she stayed with us in the loft of our apartment on the West side of Madison (P.S. feel free to laugh at my waddling in that video tour). Then our asshole cruel and heartless apartment complex made us move, so Carina had her own bedroom in our next place. Unfortunately, she had to share it with piles and piles of boxes. So when we finally moved to Connecticut in December, we were so excited to set up a proper nursery for her.

It is still not quite done. We have a few things to put up on the walls and hang from the ceiling, but we haven't figured out how to do that without destroying the fragile plaster yet.

Our summer project is going to be stripping the armoire (below) that M has had since he was a kid, and refinishing it to be the same stain as the crib and changing table.

We hope to replace the two diaper-case boxes covered in sheets that we are currently using to store her toys (above, back left) and books (below, bottom center) with an actual toybox and bookcase, but money is a bit tight right now.

After I took all these photos yesterday evening I realized I never got a good shot of the crib! And since Carina is sleeping as I write this, you'll have to settle for the best one I already have.

I am pretty sure we'll end up getting the same crib for baby #2, as well. Eeek, speaking of, we'll have to make room in the nursery for it! It's going to be hard considering the room has three separate doors, AND a closet door. Who needs three doors in a second bedroom? lol...



<center><a href="http://www.growingupgeeky.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x324/mchupie/Growing_up_Geeky/tatbutton150.png" /></a></center>My co-host for Toddle Along Tuesday this week is Libby from ELF: A Family Blog, and this week's topic is Nurseries! Show off your baby's nursery, child's room, or post some nursery ideas or Pinterest inspiration. There are no rules, except that you link up a relevant post rather than your whole blog.




Next week's topic is something you hope your children do or don't inherit from you. Maybe a bad habit, a great feature, or annoying personality trait? Should be fun :)  Would you like to submit a topic idea and/or volunteer to co-host one week? E-mail me!

Yeah that's not what I wanted you to eat....

Last week I posted about Carina's archenemy: food, and how she really does not want to eat. Well guess what?! You get what you wish for.

Unfortunately, our cats' crusty multiple-hours-old wet food was not what I had in mind. Cue vomit.

M was out running an errand and I needed to pee quite badly, so I brought Carina in the bathroom with me and let her cruise along the tub (which she loves) while I relieved my sad pregnant bladder. She looked at me mischievously and bounded out of the bathroom.

I followed after her into the kitchen about 15 seconds later to find her seated next to the cat food bowl. She turned towards me with a look of pure disgust plastered across her face. I opened her mouth, and fished out a fistful of 9 Lives shredded turkey in gravy. It's my cats' favorite. Carina did not share the sentiment.

It's awful that in retrospect I wish I had ran to get my camera, right? ;)


What strange things has your little one eaten (or attempted to eat)?

Carina says baby!

I mentioned last week that Carina points at my belly and says "baby", and a few of you asked me to try to capture it on video. This is the best we could do. She says it once, and then there's about 30 more seconds of us trying to get her to say it again...unsuccessfully, of course. She would rather watch Daddy with the camera ;)

Eat this please, or I'm going to cry again

I took Carina for her 12 month well visit two weeks ago. She is almost 14 months old...oops. In my defense I called our health system right after New Years' but their first available appointment wasn't until mid-February. Lovely. Guess I should have called them the day we moved to town. But that's besides the point.

Carina weighed in at 18 lbs. 4 oz. which is the 3rd percentile for her age. I showed the doctor her previous growth charts and explained that while she was in the 70th percentile for weight from 2-4 months old, her weight plateaued after I went back to work full time and it hasn't rebounded. She is still gaining, but very slowly. M and I were both underweight and at the bottom of the growth charts as kids. So maybe Carina is just going to be small like us?

She really doesn't like to eat. She would much prefer to throw her food around the dining room and/or smush it into her hair. She will eat a few bites of just about anything, but then it turns into playtime. She paints with tomato sauce, fixes her hair with peanut butter, gives herself a yogurt facial, and enjoys dropping pasta on the floor and then pointing at it while exclaiming, "da!".

Do I have something on my face?

Eat it? I thought I was supposed to paint my face with it.

It looks good in my hair, too, doesn't it?

I win. You lose.

I wasn't too worried until the receptionist at the Pediatrician's office called last week. She said that the doctor reviewed Carina's chart and is concerned about her weight. They want to see her again in a month. ::sigh::

Since the high chair has always been a battle, I started putting breakfast, lunch, and snacks on a plate and setting it on the coffee table. She toddles over, eats a bite or two, and then starts playing. So, I bring the plate over to her and offer here more. Over and over again. I feel like I am chasing her around trying to shove food down her throat. I cried a couple days ago when she picked up each and every morsel of food off the plate and and threw it. Clearly, she was as frustrated as I was.

I don't want to feel like I'm spending my whole day trying to get her to eat. She'll eat if she's hungry, right? Like I said before, maybe she is just going to be small? I would so appreciate any advice, tips, and/or words of encouragement. Any parents of tiny kids out there?

Pregnancy craving: the best Onion Rings recipe ever

I get some pretty intense pregnancy cravings and usually nothing can make them go away until my belleh is full. A couple days ago was no different. Onion Rings popped into my head and I had to have them. There was no stopping me.

Amazing Onion Rings - Printable version!
Ingredients:
1 large onion
1 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 to 1 cup milk
1 cup bread crumbs
oil for frying

Ingredients: the metal canister is flour

Heat the oil in your deep fryer to 365 degrees as you prepare the onion rings. Cut the onion into 1/4 inch slices.

Slicing the onion

Separate the slices into rings.

Rings!

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Flour mixture

Dip the onion slices into the flour mixture until they are well coated, and then set them aside.

Coating with flour mixture

Whisk the egg and milk (slowly - you might not need a full cup) into the flour mixture until the batter is smooth, but don't let it get too drippy. You want it to be able to coat the rings well.

Egg and milk in flour mixture

Dip the floured rings into the batter to coat.

Coating rings with batter

Place the battered onion rings on a wire rack. I put my rack in the sink so all of the excess batter just drips into the sink. Makes for easy clean up.

Dripping off the excess batter

Spread the bread crumbs on a plate. I prefer to use unseasoned bread crumbs, but we only had Italian Style this time around. The onion rings will taste fine either way. When the batter has finished dripping, place rings in the bread crumbs and coat them well.

Getting all breaded up

Since the rings aren't sticky, you can pile them up in the deep fryer basket (like below). Fry for about 2 minutes, and voila! NOM.

Fryer time!

Enjoy. Hopefully you won't realize you ran out of ketchup right before finishing these, like I did. I dug through drawers for 10 minutes until I found 5 rather dilapidated looking packets of ketchup. I don't even want to know how old they were.

Perfection

This recipe makes a lot of onion rings. The picture above is one of about 6-7 batches. If you're pregnant and hungry (like me), it might only be one serving, though ;)

Since you need quite a bit of oil for this, I always recycle mine. I put a coffee filter inside a funnel in the opening of an empty vegetable oil container. The oil filters through (sans breadcrumbs and gunk) and you can use it again and again.

Recipe adapted from AllRecipes.com

This is just the first of my pregnancy cravings recipes. Stay tuned: I will share my to-die-for Mozzarella Sticks and Oreo Truffle recipes in the near future.

We have a fetus!

How far along? 9 weeks - which according to many sources means that baby is now a fetus.

Weight gain/loss: 118 lbs. My pre-pregnancy weight.

Feeling: Not so great. We took a trip down to Philly to visit my in-laws and the stop & go traffic coupled with morning sickness = miserable. I felt sick most of the weekend, unfortunately.

Maternity clothes? I finally found my maternity jeans! They were buried in the deep recesses of one of my storage bins. I am so glad I found them - the muffin top look was neither flattering nor comfortable.

Sleep: M and I are trying a new "no screens after 10 PM" thing. So, once 10 rolls around, we turn off the TV, computer, and phones. Our first night is tonight...wish us luck ;)

Food cravings: Onion rings. I made a pound of them from scratch tonight, and they were amazing. Recipe and photos to come tomorrow!

Movement? Pretty sure it's still just gas.

What I miss? Not feeling sick all the time.

Best moment this week: Seeing M's family.

What I'm looking forward to: My first OB appointment next Tuesday.

Milestones: Baby is now a fetus!


While I don't think I look too much bigger than 9 weeks last time, I am feeling huge and distended.

Toddle Along Tuesday - Daddysaurus Rex!

To say that M and Carina have the most adorable relationship would be an understatement. Watching him with her makes my heart flutter and thank God and my lucky stars that this man is my husband, best friend, and the father of my daughter.

Carina's birthday

6 months old

One year old

I can already see his goofiness in Carina. Her favorite time of day is when M turns into the Daddymonster (if you haven't read that guest post written by M, you should) or the Daddysaurus Rex. What is the Daddysaurus Rex? Envision if you would a cross between a Tyrannosaurus Rex and one of those velociraptors from Jurassic Park. He breathes on the glass door that separates our foyer from the family room, streaks two fingers across the glass, and growls as Carina shrieks with delight. Then he "attacks" - or romps around the floor with her. The barrel laughs that ensue are like music to my ears.

If only she would still appreciate this when she is 13.




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My co-host for Toddle Along Tuesday this week is Kacie from Chasing Fireflies, and this week's topic is Babies and their Daddies! Show off some adorable photos, write about their relationship, or maybe even have Daddy guest post. There are no rules, except that you link up a relevant post rather than your whole blog.





Next week's topic is Nurseries! Show off your baby or toddler's room, or share nursery ideas or decor. Would you like to submit a topic idea and/or volunteer to co-host one week? E-mail me!

Flashback: Did my cat break my water?

Someone recently asked me what caused the slow amniotic fluid leak that led to an induction at the end of my pregnancy with Carina. Truth is: other than just random occurrence, the only other thing I can think of would be the time my cat fell from our 12+ foot loft railing and landed on my stomach.

I went back through old blog posts trying to find the one I wrote about this semi-traumatic event so I could see what date it actually happened, but as it turns out, I never blogged about it. So I will now because I don't want to let it get lost in time...

I *think* it was less than two weeks prior to Carina's birthday. I was sitting on our couch, in the corner directly below the railing in our loft apartment. All of a sudden, BOOM. My 11 lb. cat who is usually quite agile awkwardly landed on my very pregnant belly. She had fallen about 12 feet. She bolted into the other room and I chased after her, wanting to make sure she was okay. Then I cleared my head and realized that I should probably make sure that I was okay, too.

I freaked out. I didn't remember much from physics class but I did know that a not-so-skinny kitty + a 12 foot free fall = sizable force on poor little still-baking Carina. I called my OB and he assured me that so long as I wasn't cramping or experiencing any spotting, all was likely fine and that I should just try to relax. So I did.

A few days later I noticed what I thought was an increase in discharge. But of course when I finally went to the hospital to get checked out on December 27th (as it had progressively gotten worse), the amniotic fluid swab turned positive before I could finish saying "I'm sure it's nothing." I was induced, and Carina was born 18 hours later.

Did kitty want to meet Carina?

Could the force of kitty landing on Carina have caused the slow leak? Who knows. But it's interesting to think that maybe Layla (the kitty) was impatient and just wanted to meet the baby already.

Has anyone else ever had a slow leak?

It's baby geek 2!

Pardon the blurry photo, but here is our baby! He/she was measuring a couple days ahead at 8 weeks and 4 days, and had a strong heart rate of 163.

What a relief! I didn't have any reason to think that something might not be right, I guess I was just so shocked that I was able to get pregnant while still breastfeeding on demand. Almost seemed to good to be true.

I taught Carina to point to my belly and say "baby". I think it's one of the cutest things I have ever seen. Wow. Our family is growing :)

I think I've become a frumpy Mom

Before I got pregnant, I made promises to my future self along the lines of...


I will not hang around in pajamas or sweat pants all day.

I will be sure to put makeup on and do my hair every day.

I will never let myself go.

Cringe.

Now, I'm not saying I think I've let myself go, but there certainly are days where I realize it's 11 AM and that smell isn't the baby, it's that I forgot to put on deodorant. Or it's 2 PM and I'm still in my pajamas. Or oh goodness it's 6 PM and M just got home from work and a brush never made it through my hair all day.

I hate these days. They make me feel like I'm letting my{old}self down. I don't want to let them get to me, but they do. I feel like all the other Moms I see out there are so fashionable and put together. And here I sit in my giant pregnant sweat pants and maternity shirt I last wore when I was still recovering from labor. Maybe it's time for a makeover or something...

Yep, wearing this shirt as I type

There have got to be some other sort of frumpy Moms out there, too? And/or could someone point me in the direction of some stylish maternity clothes?

How am I 8 weeks already?

This pregnancy seems to be going by SO fast.

How far along? 8 weeks

Weight gain/loss: Still 117 lbs. Down 1 lb. from my pre-pregnancy weight.

Feeling: Much better than last week! Just a little bit of nausea, and I'm really tired. I'll take it.

Maternity clothes? Maternity tops daily. I love being comfortable, what can I say.

Sleep: I keep on trying to get to bed earlier, and I keep failing.

Food cravings: Chocolate. I can't get enough. Did you bring me some? Please tell me yes?

Movement? Not yet.

What I miss? Having energy.

Best moment this week: Recovering from the stomach bug. What a nightmare that was.

What I'm looking forward to: My first ultrasound is tomorrow afternoon! Can't wait to see baby.

Next Appointment: My first OB appointment is on 2/28. I'll be 10 weeks.

Milestones: Baby's eyelids, ears, upper lip and the tip the nose are forming.

My friend Jenni over at jenni from the blog is also pregnant and is just a week ahead of me. I really like the pregnancy survey that she does, so I stole a few of the questions from it. Hope she doesn't mind ;)

My 8 week belly from last time. It looks so tiny compared to my belly now!

Toddle Along Tuesday - The Party Carina Never Had

I spent countless hours scouring the internet and Pinterest for the perfect ideas for Carina's 1st birthday party. I created a whole board dedicated to her "Winter ONEderland", but then came M's thesis defense, and our move, and it just never happened.

So here is a collection of all of the great ideas I had that unfortunately never came to fruition. Maybe they will strike someone's fancy and inspire them to throw a fantastic winter themed party for their little one.

Food

 Martha Stewart

Pink Cake Box

A to Zebra Celebrations

Gordon Gossip

The Crafty Penguin

Decorations

Pink Ink Creations

 Plumcake parties

Plumcake parties

So Sweet Party Shop

Outfit

 Dainty Couture

 Bloom N Bows

Looking at all of these adorable things makes me sad that this party never happened :(



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My co-host for Toddle Along Tuesday this week is Ashley over at The Stauffer Shenanigans, and this week's topic is Parties! Show off one of your child's parties, or post about party ideas. Feel free to use an old post, or write a brand new one. There are no rules, except that you link up a relevant post rather than your whole blog.



Next week's topic is babies and their Daddies! Show off some cute photos, talk about their special relationship, whatever you like :)