PREGNANCY - 11 Weeks with baby #2

How far along: 11 weeks

Gender: ????

Weight gain: Don't know because we don't have a scale at home and I never weigh myself! Guess I'll find out at our next appointment :)

Maternity clothes: For sure. Maternity pants... still haven't busted out the maternity tops yet though.

Sleep: I've actually had good sleep this last week- I've been really tired lately and have totally been taking advantage of Gavin's nap time in the afternoon... sneaking in some little naps myself!

Miss anything: We've had some really nice weather lately, and I really missed being able to crack open a Red's...  :(  

Looking forward to: Still anxiously awaiting our next doctor appointment. I also really can't wait to be able to spill the beans and tell people! Especially since this belly is becoming quite tricky to hide...

PREGNANCY - 10 Weeks with Baby #2

How far along: 10 weeks

Gender: won't know until 20 weeks

Weight gain: None yet ...and won't know until our next doctor appointment because I DO NOT weight myself at home. I really don't worry about weight, I try to stay active and eat healthy, and I don't worry about the number on the scale!

Maternity clothes: My belly popped so early this time around! By 8 weeks my stomach was popping out enough that my regular jeans were no longer an option. I slightly feared twins!!... I resorted to either sweat pants, my one pair of maternity leggings, or yoga pants (which were all fine by me) ;) I have SO missed maternity clothes! Sooooo comfy! I haven't busted out the maternity shirts yet, because I have enough flowy tops that should get me through for awhile.

Sleep: Sleep during this first trimester hasn't been so great - but most of that can be attributed to the big brother Gavin, who reverted back to being a not so great sleeper. I find that throughout the night my low back gets sore, so I've already been using a big ol' pillow propped in-between my legs, and that seems to help.

Best moment so far: Our first doctor appointment (at 9 weeks) and that first ultrasound! I LOVE all of our baby appointments! It's always so crazy to see this tiny little baby in there on that ultrasound screen for the first time! In the first trimester it's so weird for me, because besides the nausea, it just doesn't seem like I'm pregnant. You're belly seems mostly just bloated, and you don't feel any baby movements, so it just never seems very real until that first appointment. To finally see that itsy-bitsy baby in there, it's such a wonderful, exciting feeling! OH, and of course, hearing that little heart beat - literally nothing better than that sound.

Worst moment so far: Overall just the nausea. It kicked in around week 5, and would start around 1-2pm every day. Then at about week 6 it would hit me by mid-morning every day. I would feel so nauseous, I constantly felt like I had to puke- but I never actually did. I would have to force myself to eat, even just tiny snacks like crackers. Breakfasts were my main source of nutrition for those few weeks!! By week 8, I noticed my nausea would come and go...I would feel good for a couple days, and then the next few days would be HORRIBLE, then I would feel good again for a couple days, and then the nausea would come back worse than ever! That nasty little cycle lasted about 2 weeks. Then by week 10, I noticed I would feel really good throughout the day, I could eat normal and there was really no nausea, but then it would usually hit me after dinner, around 7ish. 

Miss anything: I miss Gavin being able to crawl all over me, rough house and wrestle, and not having to worry about it! Now I'm so careful when he's climbing on me, because I'm so protective of the little baby bump! 

Cravings: I haven't had any real crazy cravings, it's been more like only one thing will sound good for a meal. From about weeks 5-7 the only thing that ever sounded good was Panera Bread's chicken caesar salad and creamy chicken wild rice soup. I don't even want to know how many times we ordered take out from them throughout that time-frame ... I crave salads a lot. 

Aversions: From about week 5-8, I could not drink plain water, which is crazy for me, because I usually drink so much water every day! Just all of a sudden I couldn't drink just water, I had to mix fruit in it. Around week 8 that went away, and I could drink plain water just fine (so weird). The one thing that almost makes me sick to even think about, is bacon. Even turkey bacon, which I like better than regular bacon, I just can't do it anymore... even the smell makes me feel sick. I've noticed meats, like chicken and beef just doesn't usually sound good to me, which is so crazy because we usually eat chicken at least 3-4 times a week! So it's been hard trying to have a healthy, well balanced diet when the normal things we eat, just won't sound good. 

Sickness: Since I already explained most of that above, I'll compare this pregnancy to when I was pregnant with Gavin. With Gavin, from 6-12 weeks I was nauseous every day like clockwork from 4pm until I went to bed. I would feel so nauseous, I constantly felt like I would have to throw up, but I never actually did. At week 12, I felt good for 3 days, so I was all happy thinking that the sickness was over...then it hit me again, for about 4 days, and by week 13 it went away and stayed away!! Woo Hoo! This time around, I was sick a lot more during the day than I was with Gavin. I've also noticed my sickness started to ease up around week 9, and was totally gone around week 10.

Looking forward to: Our next doctor appointment and hearing the heartbeat... it never gets old and I'm always anxiously awaiting our next baby appointment :)

Gavin Has a Brother or Sister on The Way!!!!!

We are so excited to be adding to our little family!...and to finally be able to spill the beans! (although there's something fun about keeping it a secret for awhile!)

Our sweet baby #2 is due December 8th, and I am currently 13 weeks along.

I can't wait for Gavin to have a little buddy, whether it's a sister or a brother- I can't wait to see how they bond with each other!
(we'll find out the gender around 20 weeks) 

I really can't wait to have a little newborn to snuggle on those cold, snowy December nights!

I also plan on doing weekly pregnancy updates, and baby bump pictures :)
Those are on the way!

Life!

Wow.

Spring has officially gotten away from me this year...which has caused me to totally neglect my blog.

:(

First things first, we have been LOVING spring so far! Finally being able to get outside after the long Wisconsin winter has been heavenly, and literally, such a breath of fresh air for us AND Gavin!!

Gavin has become SUPER OBSESSED with dirt...Which means
he easily goes through 3 outfits a day...

Harley loves being able to get his tan on again!

NOW, here's the crazy going on in our lives right now:

We are 90% sure we are going to be building our dream home late this summer! Which is SO exciting, but we've been SO busy getting our house ready to put on the market! We're also doing "For sale by OWNER"... which means we've been doing a lot of research into that too.

So here's just a taste of our last 2 months:

The numerous things that go along with building a house (finalizing house plans, revising bid prices, multiple meetings with the builder, setting up financing...)

Then all of the things we've had to tackle on our house, to get it in prime listing shape!...

Touching up paint

Finishing painting some trim white

DEEP CLEANING everywhere...

Touching up baseboards

Replacing old, abused door handles

Power washing our front porch concrete (literally looks brand new! Such an easy way to freshen up a porch!!!)

Cleaning all of our exterior window trim & fascia

Decluttering

Beautifying our yard (we seed it every spring so we have a nice, luscious yard! We love to go barefoot around here!)

Cleaning out landscaping 

And the list goes on.... it was seriously one heck of a To-Do list, but we are FINALLY done with it and as soon as we get our final price back from our builder... which hopefully will be within the next week... as long as it's still a go, we'll be ready to list our house ASAP!

I had to finally sit down, and take the time to blog and update as to why I have been MIA lately!

We have a super exciting next week ahead of us!

Can't wait to share all of our exciting news!!!! Plus, within these last couple months I've whipped up and perfected some of my own, new recipes! YAY! I'll be sure to share them with you soon! So stay tuned!

Here's hoping yall are having a relaxing, but productive Spring also!

My Very Own Banana Bread

So here's the story behind this banana bread recipe:

I was having one heck of a sweet tooth, and as much as my stomach wanted sugary ice cream and chocolate sauce, my mind new better...and it directed me to making my very own banana bread recipe! I had 3 very ripe bananas I knew I had to use up within the next day or two... so it was time to get baking! I wanted a banana bread that tasted sweet and delicious (duh I had a nasty sweet tooth to get rid of!) but I also wanted the bread to be healthier, and I knew I wouldn't be adding any processed sugar...  

So I rummaged through our pantry, and came up with a recipe! Within the next week, after making it a few times, and using my husband and young son as taste testers (my husband is always brutally honest...which is good...I guess...) I tweaked some ingredients, and the third time making this recipe seemed to be the charm!!!  

This banana bread is amazingly moist thanks to the greek yogurt and applesauce, and it stays that way. It doesn't dry out on you after day 1.

It's also so deliciously sweet due to the maple syrup and honey, it's hard to believe there isn't any processed sugar in it! ...Oh and chocolate chips in banana bread is a must for me too by the way. 

So here you go:

p.s. I always use organic ingredients

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350.

*Set aside chocolate chips (if you plan to use them) they are added last!*

In a medium sized bowl, combine all "dry" ingredients.

In another medium sized bowl, combine all "wet" ingredients, including the 1 stick of melted butter.

In each separate bowl, make sure you mix your ingredients well. You can use a whisk for the wet ingredients, but I just whip it up really good with a fork. Once you have the two separate bowls mixed up well, combine them into one larger bowl. Fold the batter until there are no clumps, and you have a nice, smooth batter.

There's no set way of doing this, in fact I'm not even sure it's necessary to separate the ingredients, it just so happened that it's the way I did it the first time, and every time there after, I've just made it the same!

If you choose to use chocolate chips, add them now!

After you have your chocolate chips stirred into your batter, pour the batter into a greased (I use coconut oil) bread pan.

The bread will not rise that much, so you can fill up your bread pan to about 3/4 the way full.

This recipe makes 1 nice, big loaf of bread.

Bake for 50 minutes at 350. 

Check the bread at 50 minutes by inserting a knife or toothpick- you want it to come out clean and not battery. Every time I make this bread it takes about 55 minutes until  it's done to perfection, but I always start checking it at 50 minutes.

Let the bread cool, and ENJOY!!!!!!

All Natural Face Wash Challenge- UPDATE!!

Well it's been 1 week since starting my all natural face wash challenge!

A lot changed since my initial post.

I use about 1tsp of coconut oil in the morning to wash my face, and I use the same amount at night to wash my face before bed. I also use it throughout the day (if I need to) as a moisturizer. 

I will admit, I was super nervous about using OIL on my face. I didn't want my skin to be left greasy and oily... and since I have such sensitive skin I was ridiculously nervous that I would be left with angry skin, and bad breakouts. Thankfully, that is NOT the case. The oil absorbs into my skin within minutes, and since I've started this, my skin has been so soft and smooth! I've also noticed my skin is FAR LESS oily! Isn't that odd?! Since using OIL to wash my face, my skin is LESS oily! Awesome how that works! 

When I say I "wash" my face with the coconut oil, I really do just that. I get my face wet with warm water first, then rub about 1 teaspoon of coconut oil in my hands to melt it, and then massage it into my skin for a couple minutes. Then I rinse my face, but there's always a decent amount of oil that stays on my skin. If you're familiar with coconut oil, you know what I mean. I lightly pat-dry my face, and then most of the coconut oil is off, but there's always a decent layer that doesn't rinse or dry off. I let this soak into my skin, it only takes maybe a few minutes. Sometimes if I notice my skin really absorbing the oil fast, I'll add a tiny bit more, just so my skin feels more moisturized. I do this morning and night, and it's all I do now. I will occasionally use a drop of tea tree oil in my moisturizing coconut oil at night, right before bed, but I don't even feel like it's something I need anymore!

I originally planned on using a combination of baking soda and coconut oil a few times a week as more of a deep clean cleanser- after doing it once, I realized it dried out my skin A LOT. It really left my skin feeling SO clean, and smooth, but the next few days I could tell it dried my skin out more than I liked. So I haven't done it again since! ...and probably don't plan to do it again anytime soon...unless I feel like my skin needs it. I will also probably only use a pinch of baking soda to 1 teaspoon of coconut oil, so it's less abrasive on my skin.

I also thought I would use apple cider vinegar (mixed with water or witch hazel) as a toner a few times a week... but, I haven't even used it once, because I haven't felt the need to use a toner! Before using coconut oil as face wash, I would feel like I needed to freshen up my skin, since it tended to get oily throughout the day... but since using coconut oil, I haven't had that problem, not even once!

I have been SO happy using just the coconut oil on my face! 

It's only been 1 week, so we'll see how it continues, but so far, I love it!

I'll keep you posted!

P.S...upcoming blog posts:

Health(ier) Banana bread

EASY Chicken Cordon Bleu Bake