Keeping it Simple

I came to a realization the other day. I realized that I have changed in the last few months. I use to really like being busy- just going going goin- and I called it "being flexible". But come to find out, flexibility doesn't mean leading a life of craziness and chaos. It means being willing to adjust your schedule when need be- not every day for any reason. So, I have decided to tone things down a bit. Not drag my daughter out in the middle of what should be naptime to meet up with someone, to then make her miserable and overtired, and pay for it all when I come home. I have been trying this out lately, and wow does it make life SO much more simple. I have felt so calm.

On another related note, Adam and I have decided to do the same thing with our date nights- or outings depending on the night. Instead of choosing multiple things to do and trying to cram in so much "fun", I thought that we should pick just 1 thing we'd like to do for the night or evening, and let that be it. That way, we're not out and about going to the mall, then trying to decide if anything else sounds fun, and hey while were at it, lets go spend $30 on a dinner that I could've made at home for $6! For example, last night Adam wanted to spend his Sears gift card from Christmas, so that was the plan. Go to the mall, he shops for his stuff at his leisure (all alone! Hallelujah when you don't have your child speeding up the process), while Ellie and I hang out in the play area. We DID contemplate eating out after that, but decided to stick with the plan and just go home...and it was great!

I'm totally on the train of looking for any budget friendly cut-backs too. By avoiding eating out, we probably saved about $25 last night. Call me weird, but I was really excited about that! And now, we can go use that $25 a different time, when what we want to do is go out for a simple dinner together and have a nice time chatting it up since we won't have other plans to go along with it- ya know, keeping it simple!

Wow, I feel like I just rambled & rambled about something that none of you may find the least bit interesting! Hahaha! That's okay. But just to sum up in case you feel lost as to where I was going:

• Trying to make life simpler
• Not going out in the name of "flexibility" and making my day harder than it needs to be
• 1 track mind date nights & outings
• Saving money when I can to make it stretch longer

There you have it! We're having a nice relaxing weekend...hope you are too!

Love, K

Week 32

Can you tell Claire is totally on the left side of my body here?! Crazy.

I am so happy to be in my 32nd week of pregnancy. I'm big & sometimes uncomfortable, don't sleep very well, and at times can be "all touched out" (notice Ellie intrigued with my belly here), but I LOVE being pregnant! I love to feel Claire move and do her thing.

Some things to note:

1) I have not been as good with keeping up with my nutrition this time around- shame on me! But I'm all over it now! Lets get this baby healthy :)

2) I'm carrying WAY lower than with Ellie- which I really like. It feels different- I feel heavier- but it feels right.

3) I haven't gained as much weight this time around! Woo hoooo! I have gained 17 lbs so far, and only have 8 weeks to go- crossing my fingers for 6 weeks though :) If she comes when Ellie did, I'll only have 6 weeks. But we'll see...I still have plenty of time to pack on the pounds :)

4) I can't stop thinking about what she is going to look like. Will she look just like Ellie, or totally different?! I can't wait to meet her and find out!

5) I'm anxious/excited about the birth. I feel like I know what to expect, but I just wonder if I can hack it! Labor pain is pretty intense to say the least, but I think it's time for a major refresher on all the comfort techniques and little sayings I put in my mind before Ellie's birth like- "It's only a day of my life- I can do ANYTHING for a day".

6) All of Claire's clothes 0-12months have been washed, folded, organized, and are just waiting for her little body to crawl into!

7) I am still nervous about being a mom of 2. I told Adam last night that I feel like I have a really good routine down from the time my day starts to the time Ellie goes to bed, but that's about to all change once Claire comes. I have to redo the whole process! Whew! Pretty overwhelming to think about.

8) I have also started to re-explore my breastfeeding/sleeping routine method. Babywise or Demand Feeding? I kinda waivered and had my own style with Ellie. Sometimes I felt she needed a strict schedule and she was happier that way, and sometimes I felt like she just needed me there with her to help her fall asleep and just be cuddled. Hmmmm...we'll see!

9) Ellie still LOVES my belly. First thing she does when she wakes up is get into bed, pulls up my shirt and lays on my belly, rubs it, kisses it, says baby...and she needs a good 15 minutes of doing this in order to feel ready to get out of bed! It's so cute. The only part that's not as cute is when were out in public and she thinks it's fair game to pull up my shirt and rub my belly! Eek!

10) We have yet to start on Claire's room as you can tell. Hoping for this next week! I want to have everything done by Feb 10th so that I can just chill out and let my body relax and be ready for her to come.

- K

95%

So, my wish came true! We (Adam) was able to get 95% of our room finished! Hallelujah!! That's record time compared to Ellie's room :) But first, remember this photo from my last post?? Well, I decided that it was time to get a new comforter to freshen things up! So, I finally got a nice new comforter set! I can't wait to put our bed back in our room and see the completed look, but here's a sneak peak of our new comforter, and then our flooring in our room:

BEFORE
AFTER! ( I hadn't bought my king sized pillows yet in this pic, so we just laid the pillow covers over the current pillows, but you get the idea :)

The guys working! Thanks to Ben for all your help :)

Our room w/o baseboards- Adam is putting new ones in tonight. Can't wait!

Sleepover!

We are having a sleepover with Ellie tonight :) We have ripped out the old musky smelling carpet in our room, and are in the beginning stages of installing the wood flooring! Yippee!!! Thankfully we have some friends coming out tomorrow to give us a huge helping hand, and we are still crossing our fingers that we will be 95% done by the time Monday comes around. I'm actually really excited to bunk up with both my babies tonight (well actually all 3 of my babies including Claire!) :) Ellie will be SO excited to wake up and see us in her room...plus it was a lot of fun laying in her room on our bed reading her bedtime stories...makes me kinda wish we could do this more often!

A king size bed, a crib, and a bunch of toys shoved in the closet and corners make this arrangement in a 10 X 10 room possible!

And this is the current state of our bedroom! There are so many secrets to be unlocked in our little condo...it all began with tearing away a goudy (spelling?!) mirror in our living room to discover walls upon walls of mold...remember that?! Well, maybe you don't since I was such a terrible blog slacker at the time, but it happened, and I'm sure I at least wrote about it once :) And today, when Adam was tearing out the old carpet in our closet, he discovered this yucky, cafeteria looking laminate flooring! We would soon find out that it covered the entire room! Haha! It is SO stuck on the floor that we are just gonna give it an immaculate clean, then lay the wood right over it...what were these people thinking?!?! So ugly.

Anywho, I will be back to report of our progress soon! Stay tuned...

Love, Krystle

Pony!

I have waited SO long to put Ellie's hair in a ponytail! It's just so short- people ask all the time if she just got a haircut...Ugh! Well today, while distracting her with Elmo and crackers, she let me put it in a little ponytail and I think it looks so cute! The pictures aren't great, but I needed to take a few just for proof that it actually happened :)

Done & Done!

So my estimated time of being done with this room was WAY off! Haha! But that's okay. It will be considered our "practice" room, and I'm sure our bedroom and Claire's nursery will go much much faster! I have to add though, that Adam did ALL of the work. I just made sure that Ellie wasn't in the way. He has become such a handyman since getting our condo- You are the BEST babe :)

Laying the Floor
A view from the closet- if you look out that window, that will be where we are making Claire's nursery...pictures to come!

Ellie walking (or wobbling around) on her new wood floors!

Getting all the toys out of the living & back in her room- Hallelujah!

Finished!

Our next project, which we are starting on tonight, is the wood in our bedroom. We can't wait to start and keeping making this little home our own :)

P.S. Hopefully we really will be DONE by the end of the weekend and I will post 2 blogs in 1 week! Crossing my fingers :)

-Krystle