Baby Pino 2.0: Thirty Weeks

30 week comparison between Preslie and Landon. 

He is definitely making a bigger appearance than his sister did at this point! 

Weight Gain/Loss: So far I've gained 20 pounds.

Size of baby: Almost three pounds; about 16 inches long; the size of a eggplant. However, I'm going to guess he's closer to three-and-a-half pounds - maybe even four pounds.

Gender: BOY!

Movement: He moves all. the. time. However, over the past week or so his movements have eased up a bit. Usually, he moved every minute it seemed. Now he moves most when I wake up in the morning, after I have a cup of coffee, after lunch, right before bedtime and any time I eat fruit.

Sleep: I've been sleeping great! No complaints in this department. Oh, and I do snore. Kevin doesn't hesitate to remind of this. I snored while pregnant with Preslie, too.

Maternity clothes: All maternity clothes. My maternity, work dress pants are starting to fit a bit snug but I refuse to get any new ones with only a month left of work. So, I'll make due for the next 30 days and maybe incorporate some more dresses into my work wardrobe.

Symptoms: 
1) I've been so emotional this pregnancy. I'm not usually a crier, but I can cry about anything.

2) Holy heartburn. This child better have a ton of luscious locks because I've never experienced anything like the pain of this heartburn. It comes randomly too: if I'm hungry, if I've eaten a healthy meal, if I've eaten a bland meal, in the middle of the night or any time of day. Doesn't matter - it's there.

3) Back pain has eased up some so that's been a nice relief.

4) Still have achy feet and at night my feet get so hot!

5) Contractions have slowed down. The last time I went for a leisurely walk on a cool day, I had contractions coming every five minutes. So the doctor told me no walks until I'm 37 weeks. Since then, I've been resting a lot more and drinking more water and it's helped ease the contractions. Little Landon still has a bit of growing to do!

6) I don't feel so tired anymore thanks to the fact that we discovered I'm anemic. So now that I've been taking iron supplements it's helped my energy level so much!

7) NESTING! It has hit hard this time around. I want to clean ALL THE THINGS!!! Baseboards, door casings, doors, window sills, blinds, behind and under all the beds, sterilize the bathrooms. All of it. And it has to be done like yesterday. I sit at work just thinking of all the stuff at home I could be cleaning. I'm sick.

Aversions: They come and go and I can't really think of anything specific at the moment. Obviously, still grilled chicken and anything sweet.

Cravings: 
1) Quiznos
2) Alcohol
3) Entenmann's chocolate donuts like WHOA. 
4) Fruit roll-ups (apparently I'm a child)

What I miss:
1) Being active 
2) My body, post-babies
3) Going out for drinks with Kev. Not that we really did that a lot before, but just having the option to do it is what I miss - where I can drink too.

Best moments:
1) Getting Landon's room about 80% done.
2) Folding and putting away newborn jammies and onesies in his dresser.
3) Opening a pack of newborn diapers. My word they are so tiny! You really forget how small they start out!
4) Feeling Little Landon kick when I sing songs to Preslie.
5) Having two, very relaxing weekends away over the past few weeks.
6) Finding out one of my BFF's is also having a boy!
7) Passing my glucose test.

What I'm looking forward to:
1) Getting the rest of Landon's nursery decor in and his room completed.
2) Maternity leave!

Baby Daddy:
1) Kevin finished painting the crown molding in Landon's room so I got to check that off my "To-Do List Before Baby."
2) He started a new job last week and seems to enjoy it. I'm hoping his new boss will give him at least a week off to be at home with us once Landon arrives.

Big Sister:  Preslie is starting to warm up to the whole "baby" thing. She now says "baby" and she will pick up her Cabbage Patch doll (which used to be mine when I was little) and kiss and hug it. So I feel that's a step in the right direction! Especially since she doesn't throw it. Improvement, people!

She's been throwing more fits lately and when she does I think to myself "Hmmm...this should be interesting when she does this and I have a screaming infant as well."

A Day in the Life...

I think about a year ago I did a post similar to this. I wanted to do another for this stage of our life - which feels like a never-ending dose of crazy.

Kevin is starting a new job on Monday, so he hasn't had work for the past week-and-a-half. Yesterday, his plans were to get his tires rotated, go to the gym, paint the crown moulding in Landon's room and possibly mow the lawn.

6:00-6:45am ~ Snooze the alarm. I'm a pro at it, really. ;)

Hop in the shower.

It takes me exactly an hour-and-a-half to get ready and Preslie and I are out the door on a work day. On this particular day, I wanted to be out the door by 8:00, which means I really should've gotten out of bed and in the shower by 6:30. Didn't happen.

7:00am ~ I wake Kevin up so he can wake Preslie up. They will snuggle in bed and watch morning cartoons while I put my face on, pack my lunch, rally all the bags I need to take for the day and make sure Preslie's diaper bag is stocked with diapers and wipes.

Mornings with Papa. Yes, she's trying to chew on a lock. No, it was not clean.

Makeup, my lunch and all the bags for the day.

If I planned ahead this is probably stuff I should do the night before; but lets be real here, folks. It hardly ever happens.

7:45ish ~ Lay out Preslie's clothes, she plays while I'm running around, and then attempt to do my hair in a way that would be quick and make me the least sweaty.

Clothes for the day.

I'm thankful she does a good job at entertaining herself, for the most part.

Meanwhile, she'll come in the bathroom to get my attention (i.e. whine and want to be picked up) and Kevin will manage to get her dressed. I also manage to brush my teeth.


8:00am ~ I try to find an outfit to wear that has to meet certain criteria: 1) Comfortable, 2) Quick decision-making process, and 3) Doesn't make me sweaty. Are you seeing a trend here? Eventually get dressed. Hmmm and haaaw about if I like my decision or not, put the necessary accessories on and perfume.

My bangs have since been trimmed and thinned out. ;)



Put Preslie's hair up (Kevin hasn't quite mastered that yet) and try to wrangle myself and P out the door.

She's a blur. Going "bye bye" is very serious business to her.



She has to explore the front yard on our way out.

8:15am ~ We're finally in the car and on the road and I realize I will be 15 minutes late to work because it takes exactly 30 minutes from our house, to Kara's house to drop P off, and then for me to get to the office. Luckily, the hours for work are lax for me. :)

She has her Lovey and thumb - all is right in her world.



8:30am ~ Finally arrive at the office and get busy.

My incredibly tiny cube.



12:30pm ~ Eat lunch at my desk. Today was leftover spaghetti from the night before.

1:30pm ~ Get my hair done on my lunch break! The salon is across the street from my office so it makes it super convenient.



2:30pm ~ Back to work.

4:00pm ~ Leave work for the day and head to Kara's to get Preslie.

Normal day...4:30-7:00pm ~ This timeframe is usually a race against the clock. I'll get home, get Preslie settled with water and a snack, unpack the bags from the day, go through mail, entertain P, try and figure out what we're all eating for dinner. Try to convince Kevin to make dinner. Play with Preslie. Pick up our bedroom and Preslie's bedroom. Feed P, bathe her, nightime routine of books and put her down. If Kev makes dinner I'll do bath and bed and he'll clean the kitchen, or vice-versa.

This night we went out for Chinese food which means no one has to cook and all that's needed is bath and bed for P! Luckily, Preslie was so much better at dinner than the last fiasco at sushi the other weekend.

Trying plum sauce for the first time. She was a fan!



Books before bedtime!

Normal day...7:00pm-10:30pm ~ This varies. Sometimes I choose to veg out on the couch. Other times I'll pay bills and pick up the house or do laundry. I usually try and spend some time with Kevin. Right now I've been trying to get Landon's nursery done and his clothes organized. I eventually get ready for bed. Lately, I haven't been falling asleep until 11 or 11:30. Eeep!



This night, I accidentally fell asleep at 8:30! So nothing got done except some much needed sleep.

That's our day in a nutshell. I'll have to do another Day in the Life post once Landon is here and I'm on maternity leave.



CHEESE!!!

There really needs to be three days in a weekend

This past weekend flew by, as weekends tend to do.

My FIL came into town to visit and he and Kevin had a nice weekend together.

Friday night we all went out to dinner for sushi. Mistake #1: It was right at Preslie's bedtime. Mistake #2: I failed to bring an extra change of clothes for her. Our child gagged herself to make herself vomit three times while at dinner! By the end of the meal (which we had to wait an hour-and-a-half for!) she was "that child" with nothing on but a diaper and bib, walking around outside with one of us to keep her occupied.

Preslie and her Auntie before dinner on Friday.

Saturday, I was able to go grocery shopping alone *angels singing* while P napped and Kevin and my FIL worked on our new office. I haven't posted about this yet, but we put up a wall in a huge room we have in the front of the house to make an office/man cave for Kevin. Our old office is now Landon's nursery. The new office will be a long work in progress since there is much to do in there still.

That night Kevin made some great steak and shrimp tacos. I ate way too much. Red meat is my go-to right now, so I can't pass up some good steak tacos!



Relaxing with Papa.

Sunday came around and Kev drove my FIL to the airport and then he went golfing (yeah... I'm a nice wife ;)) while P and I stayed home and I washed a lot of Landon's clothes and ironed most. Call me crazy, but I have a thing about my kids' clothes being ironed. I don't iron them all, but the ones that have collars, ruffles or wrinkles must be ironed.

I only had to put Preslie in timeout once on Sunday, so I count that as a good day. She decided to pick up the dog's bowl of food and dump it all out on the floor. She knows she's not supposed to do that so that earned her a time out. And while she was crying in the timeout spot, I was struggling to bend over with a belly the size of a watermelon to pick up the dog food off the ground.

Pouting in timeout

I should also mention that I hadn't taken a shower in two days by this point. I like to keep things real like that. Preslie also had a cold that started over the weekend and we wiped lots of snot. And...Kevin's car stopped working mid-u-turn as he was driving to the hardware store on Saturday.

This is our life! :)

Baby Pino 2.0: Twenty-six Weeks

I am carrying this bambino so low. He is always down in my nether-regions.

Weight Gain/Loss: I've gained 18 pounds as of this morning. I gained 18 pounds TOTAL my last pregnancy so I'm now accepting the fact that I'll be gaining much more this time around.

Size of baby: He is almost two pounds; 14 inches long; about the size of a large zucchini.

Gender: BOY!

Movement: All. The. Time. With Preslie, she kind of just floated around in my belly and I could tell definitively when her sleep schedule was. Landon on the other hand, has been the complete opposite. He is up and moving as soon as I get up in the morning, and moving well after I'm laying down for the night. It seems like he only sleeps in the afternoon. Lord help me. ;)

Sleep: I've been sleeping great! P and I visited my parents last weekend and I got a lot of good naps and relaxing in while Grammy and Grampy kept P occupied. It was wonderful.

Maternity clothes: All maternity clothes and some dresses that are non-maternity. I still feel like I'm wearing a mu-mu when I wear dresses while pregnant, but it's too dang hot here to care at this point.

Symptoms: The usual...
1) Back pain
2) Achy feet
3) Contractions. They're braxton hicks but as of yesterday I've been having one every hour. The doctor said if I have six in an hour then I should be concerned and head to the hospital. So I guess it's okay for now.
4) Thick hair! I got my hair thinned out just a month ago and it's growing so thick and fast that I can't keep up!
5) Very tired. I remember last time that I went through a few weeks of feeling first-trimester-exhausted right before my third trimester hit, and it's proving to be the same thing this time around. I feel like I could sleep forever!

Aversions: Grilled chicken, vegetables (although, I do like certain salads) and anything sweet.

Cravings: 
1) I'm still getting Quiznos almost twice a week.
2) Over July 4th weekend I was really wanting deviled eggs and I got plenty; but now when I think of them I get grossed out. Weird.
3) Alcohol and coffee.

What I miss: As it's been with this whole pregnancy: ALCOHOL.

Best Moments:
1) Getting Landon's crib set up.
2) One big thing on my "To-Do List Before Baby" was shampooing all the bedroom carpets (we only have carpet in the bedrooms). So I was able to do that and my clean-freak self feels much better about it.
2) My good friend Breanna gave us a bunch of her son, Lucas', baby clothes. Lucas and Preslie are only eight days apart, and Breanna is due with a girl just about 12 days prior to my due date with Landon. So crazy! So I gave her all of P's baby clothes. It has worked out great and saved lots of money.
3) Feeling all his movements. This time around I am not so much a fan of physically being pregnant as I was with Preslie. I just want the baby to be here. But I am savoring all his movements because I know I'll miss them big time when I'm not pregnant anymore.

What I'm looking forward to:
Basically, finishing the nursery and Landon being born.

Baby Daddy:
1) Kevin asked how much longer until my third trimester, and when I informed him it was just about two weeks, he almost choked on his food. He was thinking it was more like four or five weeks.
2) Landon will always move when he hears Kevin talking. So one night Kev got really close to my belly and was talking to him and Landon did a complete flip that he's never done before. It was pretty funny to us.

Big Sister:
1) Preslie is still not a fan of babies. However, she will give my belly a kiss. I don't think she gives it a kiss because she knows her brother is in there; I think she does it because I say "awww" every time. Smart kid.
2) We're trying to transition her out of some things to make Landon's arrival a little easier. For example: we no longer do nighttime sippy with milk while reading a book before bed. We stopped that last week and give her the milk with her dinner and it hasn't seemed to phase her one bit. Also, we're no longer sitting in the rocker while reading a book before bed. We lay on our bed and snuggle and read. The reason for this is we're using the rocker in Landon's room so I want to get her used to not having it now so it doesn't become that big of a deal later on.

Some Stuff

Whew! It has been forever and a while since I've written about something other than baby updates.

• There are some changes coming to the Pino household soon; and I don't mean with Landon's arrival in October. I can't elaborate more for another couple weeks, but it's been kind of a stressful last few months. I hope to fill in the details soon.
• Other than the stress, everything in our lives is moving along as usual. Time goes by way too fast - as always.
• Preslie is becoming her own little person day by day. She is FEISTY and FUNNY! It's still a trip to see her walking all over the place, even though she's been walking for more than two months now. Oh, and she's bossy. She loves to tell the dogs "No!" all the time and shakes her head and finger at them. She couldn't possibly get that from me. ;)
• I'm slowly but surely getting Landon's nursery together. Luckily, we're able to use a lot of Preslie's things (like the wipes warmer, closet organizer, glider and ottoman, etc.) so it helps save on money.
• It's been so hot here lately that we pretty much spend every weekend up at my MIL's house, swimming.
• Speaking of swimming, Preslie completed her first round of swim lessons last month. I think she was kind of bored with it and I wasn't that happy with the facility. She did learn how to go under water, float on her back, blow bubbles and climb out of the pool. I think we'll wait a couple years to enroll her again somewhere else when she can concentrate a little longer. We're able to practice almost every weekend so she improves all the time. The first day of swim class the instructor commented on how relaxed and "at home" she was in the water. The girl is a water baby!
• For Father's Day I got Kevin the Nike+ FuelBand and he loves it! It's gotten him so motivated to continue working out and eating healthy. I just thought it would be a fun gadget for him, but it's been more of a motivator than anything. Good purchase!
• My goal during this pregnancy was to begin Prenatal Pilate's at 20 weeks. Well, at 21 weeks I did my first Prenatal Pilate's class and that was it. Ha! It's just been crazy since then that it's hard to find the time. But...I'm going to get back into it once things settle down in a couple weeks. Pinky swear!
• Only about two more months until my maternity leave begins! I'll be off work September - February and I CANNOT WAIT! During that time I hope to update this blog which means I have to go back all the way to November 2013 for Thanksgiving. Yikes!!
• The past few weeks I've had my hair in a top knot almost every day. Today was the first day I've actually done my hair (i.e. blowed it dry and straightened it) in a while, and it took so long to do! Thicker hair during pregnancy is no joke. I think I'll go back to the top knots. ;)
• I hope you all have a great weekend!

He has a name!

We have finally decided on a name for our Baby Boy!

We've gone back and forth because certain family members (ahem...Dad!) have requested their name be included and since this is most likely our last child we (most importantly) wanted to be happy with the name of our son.

His name will be...

Landon Mark Joseph

"Landon" is my brother's middle name and it's aways been a name I've really liked. I knew a long time ago that I would like to use that name if I ever had a boy. Luckily, Kevin is a fan of this name too!

"Mark" is my dad's name. My dad (and mom) do a lot for us and even though the name "Mark" isn't very popular it was important for us that it was included.

"Joseph" was Kevin's Grandpa's name and had to be in our son's name no matter what. Joe was basically a father figure to Kevin growing up and I hold Joe close to my heart as well. Most of the first-born boys on Kevin's side of the family have the name "Joseph" incorporated in their names one way or another.

So that's that! We're happy with it and that's pretty much all that matters. Now there's just about three more months left to wait until we have Landon physically in our arms to put a face to a name!

Baby Pino 2.0: Twenty-two Weeks

I'm not sure how my belly in my 18 week photo looks bigger than my belly in this photo. One morning I woke up and it was like Baby Boy dropped lower and my belly deflated a bit.

Weight Gain/Loss: I'm up 14 pounds so far. Not too terribly bad since I'm over halfway done.

Size of baby: Baby Boy weighed in at 12 ounces at 19 weeks 4 days, which Baby Center indicated he would be around 8 1/2 ounces, so he was measuring a tad heavier than "average." As of right now he probably weighs over a pound, 11 inches long and is about the size of a spaghetti squash.

Gender: Sweet baby boy!

Movement: He moves all the time and he moves around down low. Preslie was always up in my ribs, but this little guy likes to hang out down in my pelvis.

Sleep: I've been sleeping great! I'm still able to kind of sleep on my tummy. It's more like part on my tummy part on my side. I think because he is lower that I'm able to. Who knows.

Maternity clothes: All maternity clothes. I purchased my first pair of maternity jean shorts the other week. I'm not a fan of shorts for myself, but it's too hot to be picky right now. They're not too bad.

Symptoms:
1) A lot of back pain. I will usually ice my back at night before bed. I purchased one of those belly/back support things but I was not a fan. It was so uncomfortable and made my belly look deformed.
2) My headaches have eased up a lot - so that's been really nice. :)
3) Hip pain - which I expected.
4) I've been kind of sensitive lately. I'm sure Kevin can attest to that.
5) NESTING! I want to clean out every cabinet in our house and clean out underneath every bed. I'm a clean freak as it is but it's like I can't reel it in now. Everything must be done!!!

Aversions: Grilled chicken, vegetables, sweet drinks and candy.

Cravings: Red meat and potatoes - whether it's baked potatoes, tater-tots, french fries; doesn't matter. Just give me some potatoes! This pregnancy I haven't once craved chips - I did a lot last pregnancy. Pasta with a butter parmesan sauce.

What I miss: Drinking alcohol. Just expect this answer at each update. I MISS IT! Bending over to pick up things off the ground.

Best moments:
1) Feeling Baby Boy move a lot.
2) Having my 20 week ultrasound and getting to watch him on the screen for a long time. He was basically bent in half the entire time. He didn't want to move for anything, but we were able to confirm that he is indeed still a boy and most importantantly, he is HEALTHY! :)
3) Ordering his nursery bedding this week.
4) Getting started on his nursery as of this week!
5) Finalizing his name.

What I'm looking forward to:
1) It mostly has to do with cleaning our house: shampooing carpets, cleaning out closets and cabinets, washing all the things.
2) Inventory what clothes Baby Boy has (which isn't much) and start stocking up on what he needs.
3) My maternity leave! I have about three more months until I'm off for four months.
4) Of course I'm looking forward to our baby boy being here.

Baby Daddy: Kevin felt Baby Boy move for the first at about 20 1/2 weeks. He gave a big kick too, so Kev was sure to feel it. I think it always makes the dad feel like it's a little more "real" when he can feel the movement too.

Big Sister: Preslie currently has some weird obsession with belly buttons. She'll lift up my shirt to touch my belly button (which is still an inny by the way) and if she has on a shirt she can lift up, she'll sit and touch her belly button too. At the same time, she's also kind of grossed out by belly buttons. She'll make a disgusted face and give a little whine. It's so weird. She has started to notice my belly is bigger and she'll pat it sometimes. She doesn't understand why it's big or what's in it, but she gives it a little pat every now and then.