Updates and Ramblings

Weeks along: 26, give or take.

How I'm feeling: aside from tired and uber emotional, pretty good. Seriously, my hormones this time around are so whack. I have no idea who I am. 

What the baby is doing: baby girl is kicking and moving and being your typical tiny baby in utero! She's been head down for at least a week now and is still like that. I'm sure she'll continue to flip flop about, though. According to all the websites she's about a foot long and a pound and half. 

Weight gain to date: 18lbs. Basically, I'm right on track with where I was at this time with Julian. I feel large, to be honest. But hey, I'm pretty sure all pregnant women feel large at some point in their pregnancy. I mean, I packed on nearly 20lbs in a matter of months. Scary. 

Next appointment: Tuesday, August 20th to do the glucose testing. Everyone hos and hums and huffs and puffs about this one. I have it pretty easy, I think. I don't even have to drink the goo. All I do is eat a hearty bfast of 2 eggs, 2 pieces of toast, 8oz of OJ, 8oz of milk (in my case, almond milk) and 8oz of water. After I shove it all in there as quickly as possibly and attempt to not pee my pants, then I go to my appointment (an hour after eating) and they draw my blood.

What's happening in G-ville: I'm really enjoying our twice-a-week romps to the library. Julian's little personality shines when we are at storytime. Some days he's your typical cranky, ornery, shy 2 year old and some days he's full of energy, loving every second of it! Last week he was so cute. They passed out scarves to play with during music time. Julian had to go around the room to every single adult, put his face right in their face, smile his huge, adorable smile and wave his scarf at them. He also tried getting a little 18 month old girl to dance with him. 

We always look forward to Sundays. I haven't been hanging out with people too much during the week, but on Sundays we get to have some good teaching and fellowship. Julian has even learned to sit through an entire hour and a half church service without talking or running around. Pretty amazing. I didn't think it was possible for a 2 year old to do that, but after a few Sundays of trying it out, he just got used to it. Of course, I bring a coloring book, crayons, a bag of small toys, stickers, juice and snacks...but hey, you do what you gotta do! Haha. He learns things very quickly and it amazes me all the time! He really is such a good, sweet little guy.

So when do we go back to Cali: Soon! The time has gone by quickly and the end date is near! We leave on Thursday, August 29th after being here for 12 weeks. While I am definitely looking forward to being back home, I will miss the amazing people I have met at Redemption OPC. What a loving, caring, kind, and open church family! I tend to get very attached to people, so I'm not excited at all about our last day and saying our "goodbyes". I will cry, just a fair warning. I was an emotional person before getting pregnant and those emotions have now been magnified x100.

What happens when we get home: Literally, the next day, Jordan starts school! I know, crazy. We will just be diving right in and being busy. The following week Julian and I will head to SLO to have a LONG OVERDUE visit with our family!!! Julian talks about his grandparents almost daily. Jordan will be able to join us there later, but just for a couple of days due to school.

I've had the pleasure of coordinating and helping plan my wonderful sister-in-law's bridal shower coming up in October, so in that month I will once again travel to SLO to help with that. I'm excited! I love weddings. :) And family weddings are the best. Although I wouldn't really know because this is the first one I've officially been part of!

Then comes November! Due date month! I really don't know when this baby is going to come, but I have 3 EDD's: Nov 15th, 18th and 22nd. Julian came 4 days "early" and I'm feeling the 18th might be our closest bet for baby girl! Either way, she'll come when she's ready. Just not too late because I have a wedding to attend on December 7th! Oh ya, Thanksgiving is around this time, too. Well, I have a feeling Turkey Day will be spent with some nice family in Escondido who has pity on us. :)

Which brings us to the December month! WEDDING TIME! Sis-in-law is marrying Marky Mark the first weekend of December and it will be just a lovely, beautiful event! Jordan and I will be "honorary bridesmaid and groomsman", accompanying Julian down the aisle, and oh, baby sister will be in tow as well! How cute is that? Truly a family event and we are so happy to celebrate with our loved ones! :) Right after the wedding, Jordan will be taking his finals and then a couple weeks later it's Christmas!

FOR REALS, PEOPLE! This year is going to fly by so fast for my family! Jordan graduates from Seminary in May and then it is on to a whole new place and a whole new life! I'm really looking forward to whatever surprises God has in store for us. Just please, let them be in California. ;)

And some pics:

Me in all my pregnant glory: yoga pants, comfy Nike flip flops tank, pony tail. Oh yes people. Glamorous, indeed. 

A cute, cute little boy crawled into my bed and said he was daddy, then proceeded to grabbing Jordan's Bible and "reading" it. Melts.my.heart. 

Just a quick snapshot of us. :) Boy, do we look tired!

My sweet little monkey climbed into these baskets and did what he does best: looked cute. 

It's Fall, why are we still sweating?!

The past few nights Julian has slept HORRIBLY due to teething (molars). But, I'm not too bothered by it because for the past couple WEEKS he's been sleeping great!! When a family chooses to breastfeed and co-sleep, they're basically choosing to have a baby/toddler who nurses frequently at night. I know that's not always the case, but it is the norm. I don't regret that decision one bit.

Julian is now 17 1/2 months old. It may have taken 17 months, but I'm happy to say he is now almost sleeping through the night, going to down easily, napping for 1-2 1/2 hours straight in the pack n play and also starting the night out in his own bed. He's letting me pat his back to get him to sleep and he's cuddling instead of nursing right before he drifts off into sleepy land. It has taken a lot of patience, yes, but it was definitely worth it. Bed time still takes 30 min to an hour and I'm still the only one who can successfully do the bed time routine with him, but I feel good about the progress we have made. We're still nursing because I enjoy it and he still needs it. So, it's a win-win situation.

Having a toddler in the home is...interesting/trying/delightful/exhausting/exciting. :) It's so fun watching him learn and grow. His vocabulary is booming, although his words are only intelligible to the trained ear, aka, his mommy and daddy. For example, "shish=fish" "wawa=flower" "chi=cheetah" "gahr-garh=tiger" "raf=giraffe" "baah=bear" "ba=ball" "hawa=hello" "ba-ba" is a sippy cup of cow milk (because "milkeys" are for nursing") and he also says "mama" and "dada".

Alongside being a wife and mother, I've also doing my own business called "Jewel Kade". I became an Independent Stylist a few weeks ago because I wanted to earn a little income, try to be more social and I REALLY love their jewelry! It's really hard to not buy everything in the catalog. ;) So far things are moving slowly, but I know the first year is always the toughest. I just need to stick with it and not get discouraged. Check out my catalog here.

I hope you all are able to enjoy this loooong summer! 90's in October?!?! Oh, California, you clearly did not get the "Hey, it's Fall!" memo. Take a hint...we all want to wear our sweaters, boots and drink hot Pumpkin Spice Lattes without sweating.

A Shamelessly Proud Mama of a Toddler Growing Up Far Too Fast

Today I nearly cried. Now, that's not that unusual of an experience for me. I'm quite naturally an emotional person to begin with. Add to that naturalness the hormones related to breastfeeding and you occasionally have a blubbering fool on your hands. But I digress.

Without a doubt, every mother has this "sudden" realization occur once in a while - my baby is growing up! Yes, yes, that was the epiphany I had this afternoon as I watched my sweet little toddler romping about, darting back-and-forth between the deck and the living room. He's running. He's walking backwards. He's walking backwards IN CIRCLES. He's learning what "jumping" is and how to "walk slooooow" and "walk FAST!". He can point out countless animals and objects in our (multiple) daily reading sessions. 

Today when we were looking at a picture of me on Facebook I said, "Julian, who's that?" (While pointing to said photo). "Mama!" He sweetly said! OH.MY.GOSH. Melt my heart, child! That was the first time he's actually verbally acknowledged who I am. I'm his mama. I love being his mama...his very shamelessly proud mama.