New Blog!

Dear followers,

Follow me over at my new blog, Totally Trish. I've combined 2 personal blogs into one and have been talking about Delaney, Pregnancy #2, my new business, and lots of references to my professional, self-titled blog. Make sure to click on the big "Follow" button to keep up with the Jackson's!

Move with Me! Combining Blogs

I've finally been able to combine 2 blogs into 1 which leaves me to only needing to access 2 places at any given time.

Don't miss out - follow me at TotallyTrish (http://trisharjackson.blogspot.com). I'll be shutting down this blog in one month as all posts are now at the new address.

Wii for All Ages

I couldn't help but laugh hysterically at my father in this video. My nephew turned 6 on October 9th and we celebrated in Evert-like style. Dean was so excited to play the Wii that Jennifer (my sister) rented for him. Little did my dad know, it is MUCH harder than it looks.

I think Santa needs to come to the Evert household around Thanksgiving time. What a hoot that would be for Grandma Alice and Grandpa Jack to watch! Then again, we may all have heart attacks from the excitement!

Office Refridgerator Notes

We've all been here before! Why do some people have the compulsion to eat another's food? I used to write "BREASTMILK" on anything I put in our fridge after having Delaney. That steered folks pretty clear of my bag. I wish I would have taken a picture of that!

What will change with #2

I've been thinking about what we'll do differently with baby #2 on the way with regards to preparation, surgery recovery and the first few weeks home. Knowing what I know now, here's what I've come up with that I think will work better in my favor:

• Take the full 4 days in the hospital and just get rest. I'll most likely keep the baby in the room with me this time. They brought Delaney back every 2 hours anyhow so what's the difference if I'm sleeping at the same time? With an infant waiting for me when I get home, I'll need all the rest I can get in the hospital
• Limit my guests in the hospital. I got very lonely when no one was around and enjoyed the company but I was drained. I think I'll take the time to enjoy the quite time and bond more with the little one, skin to skin.
• Make a "to-do" list for those who come to help out at the house. If it's done ahead of time, I won't feel as guilty as I did when I'm home trying to rest and others are asking me what they can do.
• If I have the energy in those last weeks, make frozen meals. We had a TON of lasagna that was absolutely critical and delicious. I think we ate that for 2 weeks straight :). We appreciated every bite of it.
• Create a baby central station. Craig wants to take out the kitchen table now and put in its place, a changing table and stand-alone baby cupboard so that all of our supplies are in one area. We need to make sure that it's low enough for me to access though as the one on the Pack-N-Play is way too high and hard to constantly bend over
• Make arrangements for Delaney's care to get us through the first few weeks. Even if it's 1/2 day at the sitter's house, it'll be nice to allow her to get to know her sibling while not overwhelming mommy and daddy. Okay, this isn't something we needed to do with #1 but I'm on a roll.
• Buy a stock in ear plugs. Why I didn't learn this until too late is beyond me. Helps keep your sanity in check. You can absolutely hear that cry!

What else may help?

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Cloth Diapering Update

It's been a while on the cloth diaper front so I'll bring all interested parties up to speed. We're currently using mostly fitted diapers and going through the last stretches of the Green Mountain Diaper red edge (large) prefolds. Our chunky monkey kiddo legs are just not fit for prefolds right now and very hard to maneuver so that the bulk isn't at her knees.

Fitteds consist of the One Size Goodmamas (got these on a STEAL of a deal - $8 each I think?), Crickets, my one prized Bububebe, and the rest are Thirsties Fab Fitteds (found all at $11 each during a closeout sale). All have to be covered and we're still loving the Thirsties covers. Fitteds work much better for our Mother-In=Law as well. Now that Delaney squirms so much, it's easier for her to use them more like regular diapers than worry about snagging herself and D with the Snappi. Not to mention that's a lot to hold on to plus a wiggling infant.

Delaney is sleeping in Blueberry Mediums right now bought at a B2GO sale. They are super absorbant and it's so nice to stuff them to suit our needs. We're also using OS Fuzzibuns, OS BGs pockets and a few other random stuffable OS. What I detest is microfiber but it's so soft and pliable when wet. The smell really gets to my pregnant nose now so I'm constantly stripping the cloth diapers with Dawn and white vinegar to get the ammonia smell out. That's the downside of using sewn in MF inserts. I never have any trouble with hemp.

Looking back, I would probably have done more OS diapers in the earlier stages. That is, if money weren't an object and I knew what the heck I was doing. CDing is such a personal choice though and it's hard to know what you'll like and not like when first starting out. I don't regret any of my choices, but probably would have altered my stash slightly. Prefolds worked out really well when she wasn't blowing off the charts in height and weight :).

Laundry hasn't been a big deal. We change her less frequently as her body regulates to a more predictable pattern. I NEVER thought this day would come! I do laundry about every 3-4 days. That's with 24 GMD prefolds, 8 Thirsty Fab Fitteds, 8 GMs and her nighttime dipes. So yeah, I do have a lot of diapers for her age but I've obtain them overtime so not to break the bank. We still use Crunchy Clean which I'm actually going to start using on all of our clothes as well.

I Am Mom

Creator of smiles
Slacker of laundry piles

Catcher of tears
Protector of fears

Stroker of cheeks
Insomniac who desperately seeks sleep

Wearer of juices
Sound maker of Mooses

Lover of wet kisses
Constantly washing dirty dishes

This is what this mother is made of.

Giving Up Purees

I've finally resorted to buying baby food from jars and containers. Pureeing was fun until we learned we were pregnant and it's one chore than I can't keep up with. While the savings are astronomical, the convenience far outweighs that need right now. She won't be eating baby foods for very much longer.

I'm quite alarmed at the lack of variety of baby food out there. Where's the eggplant, zucchini and avocado? It's no wonder why kids won't eat broccoli or cauliflower! I am thankful to have found Earth's Best products though so that I can rest assured that she's not getting any more hormones or bi-products than necessary. She continues to be off the charts in height and weight - we certainly don't need additional help in those departments.

9 week Update

Baby J3 is 9 weeks along as of yesterday and growing well. We had our 1st OB appointment and no news is good news! Those appointments are pretty boring at this point. Can't hear the heartbeat on the doppler, nothing to measure, nothing to see.

I'm cleared of high risk status since I've successfully carried a baby to term. Although I'm glad that I don't have to go to the doctor every other week, I'm sad that I don't get a chance to see the baby until week 20 when we have the 2nd trimester ultrasound (gender scan). I was really spoiled the first time around.

Tiffany predicts that baby J3 will be a monster! Delaney was born at 8lbs 4oz 2 weeks early which meant she would have been 9lbs 4oz had she gone to full term. Since 2nd babies tend to be larger, Baby J3 may push 10lbs. EEK! I have a choice of doing a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) or scheduling a C-section outright. With the chance of a 10lb baby, I'm going to save my lady parts and take the easy way out. Kudos to all the women who have vaginal births!!!

I've put on a good 10lbs myself, already. Not sure if that's true weight or a bunch of water weight at this point. I lost a good chunk of weight in the 1st tri last pregnancy. I'm doubting it's because I'm less active this time around than I was with Delaney. Between pregnancy #1 and #2, I put on 10lbs and wasn't working out at all with her either. For pregnancy #3, I'm constantly on the go and on my feet with Delaney.

And then, there's the belly. I understand that you show earlier in your second pregnancy than in your first but when I look down and see the blob that now sits above my hips, it's a little disconcerting. My uterus is taking full advantage of the empty space where my abs used to reside. I can just see it stretching it's walls and yawning while settling in for the next 7 months. So instead of a cute baby bump forming as it does in your first pregnancy, you're left with a bunch of fat, rolls and jiggling that just gets squished and pushed to the top. So I'm not convinced that you technically show earlier with your 2nd pregnancy but your body telling the world - "hey all, check out the damage that was done last time" :). All totally worth it, of course.

I'm still feeling green around the gils with a lot of food aversions. No meat, no spices, and a lot of bread and butter. I've survived off of Cheez Its and Easy Cheese and PB&J while yearning for week 14 to hurry up and bring my appetite back. My pregnancies have been similar thus far. My back pain is starting as is the shortness of breath which has shown up much earlier than before. I'm still pretty miserable with allergies but hope it subsides with winter just around the corner.

Milestone countdown: 11 weeks until our gender scan. We'll skip the NST - what will we really have to gain by knowing if Baby J3 does have Down's Syndrome? Sure, we can learn more about it but I don't want anything more to worry about. We can deal with what God has in store for us in 30 more weeks.

2 under 2 confirmed!!

Thanks to my kidneys, we had an emergency u/s again today to make sure that Baby J3 was growing. Much to our happiness, not only do we have a baby still in there, we have a healthy little heartbeat of 127 (old wives tale alert: ?!?BOY?!?). Why my kidneys? Apparently a lot of pregnant women are also blessed with kidney stones. So I'm down for the count today, masking the pain with a few good drugs.

We are 6w4d and due on April 23rd. This means that our C-Section will be April 16th. Delaney is going to be such a good big sister. I sure I hope I get our taxes done in time!

It's a little tough to see since it's so early in the pregnancy but the dotted line is there and more clear if you double click on the picture.