Thrift Shop Haul!

So originally Joey and I were going to go to my favorite local consignment shop (it's literally down the street from my house!) but they were closed due to a family emergency so that will have to wait. I dropped some stuff off to consign a while back and wanted to see if there was anything on my account and how much (I also have more to drop off!) in addition to getting more fall clothes for Joey. Plan B became traveling a bit farther to my favorite thrift store where you have to do more digging (nothing is arranged by size, just by type of item and who wears it) but you can usually score some good finds. Today's haul included 2 sweaters for me, one maternity and one that is technically not maternity but can totally be worn anyway (the blue one). For Joey I found 3 shirts and 3 pants, and they're all Carter's, Old Navy, Children's Place, and even a pair of pants is by Nike and still had the original tags on them! I got 8 items for $29.60, pretty stoked about that deal! We have some 24mo/2T fall clothes for Joey already, as well as 18mo/24mo/2T sweatshirts, but we didn't have much in the way of pants that would fit him now if the weather got drastically colder. He's currently wearing 18mo separates and 24mo one-pieces, the 24mo long pants are way too long and even rolled up he still trips over them. I didn't want to get many 18mo long pants because I do see him growing out of them before winter is over, but he does need something that fits when it starts getting cold out. Judging by the way he's been growing and by the way the 18mo pants fit now, I'm pretty comfortable with what we have for him now.

In baby news, I had a midwife appointment this week. Everything is looking good and I officially passed my 1hr glucose test! I had suspected as much since I didn't receive a phone call about my bloodwork after the test had been done, but it was nice to hear that my numbers were good! I'm very glad that I won't have to sit through another 3hr glucose test, the last one was bad enough. It also is a distinct possibility that I will hit 200lbs with this pregnancy. I was hoping not to, considering how much I had lost post-Joey, but that is probably not in the cards for me. Pre-pregnancy weight this time was 165 (conservative guess, I was close to 20lbs below pre-pregnancy with Joey weight which would have been 159) and I'm now up to 189. With roughly 8 weeks left to go, and baby gaining 1/2 a pound a week, I would definitely bet money on hitting 200. Granted, at my highest with Joey, I was 220lbs, so being right around or just over 200 is not bad at all. I decided that if I do hit 200, I'm going to celebrate at 5 Guys with a nice, juicy bacon cheeseburger ;) A lot of the weight with Joey was water-weight, especially towards the end. This time, I haven't even started swelling in the ankles/feet yet (knock on wood!) and while I haven't tried in a while, I'm pretty sure I can still get my wedding/engagement rings on (a month and a half later than last time!). Since I'm mostly belly this time around, I'm not sure how quickly the weight will come off, though I have no doubt that it will between breastfeeding and as much walking as I do at work. Thankfully, no new stretch marks have shown up, there's still plenty of skin left from last time apparently, I need to post some progression pictures...

So after getting distracted on Facebook for like 20minutes, here are belly scar progression pictures:

10 days post-op, 3 weeks postpartum

6 months postpartum

1 year and 1 month post-op, 22 weeks pregnant.

1 year and 3.5 months post-op, 32 weeks pregnant.

I know it looks like the baby is attempting to show himself through my stomach or that I have a 2nd belly button, but it's neither of those things. I think it's where my belly button used to be prior to the surgery because I can push it and it bounces back like my belly button used to (still does actually) and the placement is right for that as well.

My Breastfeeding Toddler

I didn't see myself initially breastfeeding much beyond a year. Honestly it wasn't something I thought much about until I started seeing articles and research (and some horror stories of what strangers actually have the gall to stay to people they don't know). With my exposure to breastfeeding growing up, I knew it was something I was going to do and I wasn't weirded out by nursing toddlers as I had seen many of them through the years. So my initial goals changed as I did research, especially research regarding history of food allergies in the immediate family, and I wanted to at least BF exclusively for a year if I could, and would go longer after that if Joey wanted to. I knew that some toddlers can completely forget about nursing once introduced to solid foods, especially yummy table food off Mommy/Daddy's plate, so I was prepared mentally for Joey to wean once we started solids. Not only did Joey not wean himself, he continued to request to nurse any time of the day or night! He loves food, has several favorites that change by the week or by the day, but his nom-noms (nursing) have remained a constant and I can actually say that it does make me happy. Don't get me wrong, I love not being his sole food source at this point. Not having to worry about my supply or pumping for a while has been great, especially since I know I'll be back on that horse in a few months for another year or so. But with working full time, I love coming home and having Joey hug me and want nom-noms. It's our quiet time together where can "check in" with each other and reconnect after having been apart for hours. Even when I'm home on the weekends, Joey still asks to nurse. We've gone back to nursing at night when it's my turn to get him, so not really night-weaned anymore, but he doesn't get up nearly as often AND when I do nurse him, I can usually un-latch him and get him back to bed fairly quickly. Nights are getting much better, and just in time too!

Joey cut 3 teeth a week or so ago. At once. I knew something was up because he basically wanted to nurse pretty much as long as I was around. It's hard to stay annoyed with that many requests when he looks at you with his toothy grin and signs the word "please" (well, his version). It's also nice because now that he's bigger, some positions are actually more comfortable than they were when he was small. Our favorite is me semi-reclined on the couch with him snuggled up next to me and we can either both see the TV (Curious George is a favorite) or I can slip into a light doze while he watches TV. Some days this is the closest to a nap that I can get and I will take it! Joey is not super affectionate, sometimes he will give hugs when you ask, but kisses rarely happen (we haven't really asked for any, so I'll have to see what happens when I do), and after reading Nursing The Older Child today, I definitely think that his main form of showing me affection is through nursing. The affection through nursing is definitely two way, I snuggle him and kiss him lots while he's in my lap (or sitting next to me, lol), and I love it. I'm glad he decided he wasn't ready to quit, I would have been ok if he had, but the extra snuggles definitely help my long days at work not seem so bad. It also explains why he gets so upset if I have to stop a nursing session (especially in the early morning to get ready for work), it's like breaking a hug with someone you don't want to leave. You want to hug them and hold onto them for a long as you possibly can, and when I have to stop nursing either to do things around the house or to leave for work, we're both sad that our favorite form of affection has to stop.

I definitely jinxed sleep last night by starting this post then going to bed. I think Joey's got a bit of a stuffy nose (possibly from the weather changing) and he had a difficult time staying in his flat crib. I brought him back to bed when he woke up, and usually after an hour or more of nursing/sleeping I can put him back into his crib with no problems. Not this time! As soon as he felt that crib mattress he was instantly awake and upset! I tried going back to bed with him but that was it, it was too close to my alarm going off AND Joey never fully settled back down. He was constantly moving his legs or hands (I need to trim his fingernails, they're sharp and he kept scratching me!) and I could tell even in the darkness that he was opening his eyes and looking around. Eventually, after two straight hours, and 30 minutes until my alarm, I woke Dan up and had him take Joey. Joey cried for a minute or two but not nearly for as long as he has in the past when I have to give him to Dan, and I was glad for that. I needed that 30 min not just to have some time for myself and doze a little, but also for Dan and Joey to get settled before I started getting ready for work. If I got ready while Joey was still awake enough to realize I was out and moving around, he wouldn't go to sleep for Dan. The plan worked, I dozed lightly and they were both asleep when I got up, time for another week at work.

Not-so-late-night Hospital Run

I joked with Dan about how this baby and Joey were both awesome pregnancies, it was my dang organs that like to mess things up and be difficult! With Joey it was the ovary that grew a giant cyst (though I'm sure it didn't really want to and the cyst just showed up) and now with this baby I get an "irritated uterus" lol.

Thursday is Dan's day off from karate and that's the day we've been going over to visit Emma and to practice obedience training between classes. This past Thursday my dad was on a business trip and my mom had to work late, so we went over early to let Emma out and take her for a walk in addition to practice. It wasn't too hot out, just a little muggy, so we brought the stroller and Joey and I went with Dan and Emma on the walk. Just a short walk to make sure she went to the bathroom (she's weird about using the backyard and has an odd preference for paved surfaces over grass) and then we headed home. On the way home, literally as we started pulling into the driveway, I noticed a couple of Braxton-Hicks contractions back to back. This wasn't too odd, with Joey I had a couple happen close to each other, but it was never the "6 in an hour" that you're supposed to call your doc about. I started making myself some dinner and noticed a couple more. Total I had 4 in like 10 minutes, which was more frequent than anything I'd had with Joey. No pain or anything, just annoying BH contractions. While my dinner was cooking, I told Dan what was up and that I was going to lie down to see if they went away (and drink a ton of water), since if I called the MWs at that point, those were the suggestions I was likely to get. Dan brought me my dinner when it was ready and I ate in bed while reading the stuff given to me at my last MW appointment (never got around to reading it prior lol), BH were still happening and they were happening fairly regularly, between 3-5 minutes when I started keeping track.

I knew it was time to call the MWs and I was hoping to get a definite answer either a "You're fine" or a "Go to the hospital" because this is my second time and I know my stuff. It wasn't early/active labor, but it wasn't normal either and I had already tried the things you're supposed to try. Since it was technically after-hours (8pm) I had to call the answering service and they paged the MW who was on call that night, after 15 minutes of no call back, I called again and finally got a response in a few minutes. I got my definite answer and it was "Go to the hospital", not necessarily what I wanted to hear but at least we could make sure that the baby was ok. Since it was so close to Joey's bed time, Dan stayed to put him down and called his mom (who was only a few minutes away at a meeting and came straight over) to have her be in the house in case Joey woke up, then he would join me at the hospital. In the meantime, I drove myself over (again, no pain, just annoying BH which have only slowed down a little bit) and my mom met me over there (Dan called her too since I was driving) so I wouldn't have to be alone until he got there.

At 29 weeks, almost 30, I was far enough along that I didn't even have to mess with the ER beyond telling them what was wrong and how far along I was. They called straight up to the maternity floor and someone headed down with a wheelchair for me. Mom and I waited in the waiting room (and I took the opportunity to use the bathroom--which I asked if I could do first and they said yes) and noticed that a whole bunch of people were walking around with IVs started in their arms. They weren't hooked up to anything, mind you, they just had starter IVs for easy access. We joked that maybe Thursday night was "IV Night" like "Wing Night" or "Karaoke Night", come to the ER get your IV! The transporter came down with my wheelchair and we went up to Maternity. The transporter was nice and had kids herself so we were chatting about random baby stuff. I got to do everything paperwork-related on the maternity floor, register and check out (when the time came), so it was nice that everything was all in one place. I got taken to a triage room, which I'm not unfamiliar with as Sinai has them also and I had to sit in one for about an hour with Joey to make sure I was in active labor. Got the gown, put that on, then they wanted a urine sample, despite me telling them that the ER had let me go to the bathroom already.
"They know they're supposed to tell you to wait, but they let you go anyway."
Apparently I'm not the only one who has experienced this problem. I managed to give them enough for the tests they wanted to run and settled into the not-so-comfy bed to watch Pawn Stars (the only good thing on the few channels they had available). Sinai's triage room did not have a TV, so this was an improvement even if the bathroom was shared.

Eventually, after initial questions and putting monitors on, they let my mom come back. I had a monitor for the baby's heartbeat and a monitor for contractions. The baby's monitor was funny because he did not like having it on and we could hear every time he kicked it, the monitor made this funny "whoosh" sound! I was glad he was enjoying himself, it meant that we were both probably fine. The doctor finally came back to do an exam (I'd only seen my nurse up until then) and thankfully I was "long and tight" (can I get a "that's what she said!"??) which meant no labor and the BH contractions weren't even registering on the monitor. They had slowed way down at this point anyway, 10pm or so, it was like how your car makes a weird noise until you get it to the mechanic's shop then suddenly you have car that runs like it just came off the factory floor! The nurse encouraged me to keep drinking my water (I brought my Camelbak with me) and she even got me some ice to put in it. Dan arrived not long after that and you can only have 1 person in triage with you so my mom went home and I promised to let her know what was up. We watched another episode of Pawn Stars waiting for my test results to come back, because the doc was ready to let me go since everything else looked so good.

Finally the results came back completely fine except for a slight hint of bacteria which could be the start of a UTI. So the doc wrote me a script for some antibiotics to clear it up before it becomes a full blown UTI (which CAN trigger labor) and said that bacteria can sometimes cause instances of crazy BH like I had. All in all, we were home before 11pm but that was still super late for me since my bedtime has been around 9pm from back when I was pregnant with Joey and exhausted all the time! I still had to go to work the next day because several people in my office were out and several things would be greatly hindered by my absence (not to mention I only get two weeks PTO total, no maternity leave, so I'm trying to save that all up for baby). Thankfully, I had just applied for and gotten a special medical parking pass earlier in the week that they give to pregnant women in their third trimester (also for other medical reasons but I like this one!), so I stayed to sleep as long as I could, which was about an hour more than usual, then went in and worked like normal. Originally, Lyndsay and I had plans to hang out again (she's home until next Thursday and we hung out once last week already!) but with the lack of sleep, and Dan taking Joey to karate with him anyway, I went home and took a nice longggggg nap and rested as much as I could all weekend.

Now I'm officially 30 weeks and have less than two months until "full term" and just over two months until my EDD. I have no guesses as to when this baby's going to come. Joey was early I think mostly due to the cyst and just not having any room, supposedly first time babies are supposed to be late, but Dan was #2 and was late, although Joey measured a week ahead from the beginning and that's about when he arrived was a week early (8 days technically), so I don't know. There is definitely NOT a cyst in there this time and everything looks completely normal (the midwives would not have accepted me as a patient otherwise) and baby measures exactly on track so I haven't got a clue what to expect from him! I initially told work that I wanted to go until I went into labor, but now I'm thinking that I might want to work until right before my due date then take off and come back in January, which will give me enough time off no matter when the baby comes. That way, if he comes past his EDD then I get some time off beforehand and if he comes around then, I get more time in for cuddles. So we'll see, it's a bit fuzzy because I'm a contractor and they have to bring someone in to watch my spot while I'm gone, they may need hard dates or they may not.

Two Years of Posts!

Without realizing it until yesterday, when I was reading back through old posts, it's the 2-year anniversary of starting this blog! Holy cow! Obviously so much has happened in our lives since I started and I have to say the timing of the blog couldn't have been better. I found out less than a month after my first post that I was pregnant with Joey and it's pretty much been about documenting our lives since then--when I have time!

This year we went to Renn Fest on Labor Day because both Dan and I actually had off work. It was also the last weekend that Hack & Slash were going to be there and we wanted to make sure that we saw them! They weren't at Renn Fest last year and we ended up not really being super motivated to take a 4-month-old with us just for the food. Now that Joey's older and there was the option to see them, we braved the ominous forecast (it's been thunder-storming and raining all weekend) and hit up Revel Rove. It was hot and muggy, it felt like we were swimming around the festival rather than walking, but totally worth it. My plan was to buy Joey some Medieval Moccasins because a) they're cheaper than the adult shoes I've had my eye on for years but never had the extra $70-$80 for them and b) they are fantastic toddler shoes because they can be adjusted as the feet get bigger. Not to mention they can be worn with or without socks and are light and flexible, perfect for little toddler feet :) He currently wears a 5.5 in toddler so we picked out a cute pair of tan 6s and he wore them until we got in the car to leave!

 Lately, he's been trying to take his shoes off a lot, I think it's because his feet get too hot with socks and shoes. He didn't once try to take these off while we were there, even while he was being carried in the backpack and didn't need to be wearing shoes. The ladies at the shop loved that I had planned ahead and not put any shoes on Joey to begin with. As with most of the people at Renn Fest, they were super cool (and these in particular were even a little "crunchy"--they instantly recognized that Joey's necklace was amber for teething) and that stop by itself made the whole trip worth it. Of course I had another goal besides shoes for Joe and seeing Hack & Slash. Food. The last time I was at Renn Fest (two years ago) I tried the "Queen's Baked Potato" which had nacho cheese and sour cream on it. I loved it so much that I ended up getting a second one an hour or two later (hadn't found out I was pregnant at that point lol). This year I was determined to get that and the "Mac & Cheese on a Stick" (which is fried mac & cheese on a skewer) and funnel cake if I could find some. I got everything over the course of the few hours we were there, I was in preggo heaven :)

Dan tried some Alfredo from one of the stands next to the potato place and while it was bland for us, Joey really liked it. He was also big on feeding himself with utensils. Since he's been teething so hardcore, he hasn't had the same appetite he normally does and when he feeds himself, he's more excited about eating so we'll take it! Dan ended up with Alfredo all over his pants, but Joey ate, drank, and was merry afterwards so I like to think it was worth it. Sorry Dan ;)

I was smart and instead of our normal messenger-style diaper bag, I packed a regular backpack (not to be confused with the child-carrying backpack that Joey rode in on Dan's back). With the new office job, my faithful Eddie Bauer backpack doesn't get as much use as before, so I was glad to pull it out again. It's also purple which is awesome. I lugged around extra water for us and Joey, normal diaper bag stuff (change of clothes, diapers, wipes, etc.), and my lunch cooler with multiple ice packs to keep extra milk and cheese cool for Joey. It was still cool long after we got home, I didn't have to put anything back in the fridge, Joey took care of most of it for dinner! It did finally start raining while we were watching Hack & Slash, but their show was almost over anyway. Joey was not a fan of the shows (probably because none of them contained an animated monkey named "George") so Dan and I had to take turns watching him while he ran around outside of the theaters. Thankfully Dan had him when it started to rain because when I had him, my phone and backpack were left with Dan and his parents in my seat. Dan had his phone in his pocket so after the show ended (and we were all wearing ponchos or carrying umbrellas) we set off to find Dan and Joey under the cover of one of the nearby taverns. Apparently they had wandered over there because Joey heard bagpipes playing and started dancing! After we all got back together we headed out (Dan's family stayed) because between Joey being hot and tired, and me being hot and tired, it was definitely time to go.

Joey napped both on the way to Renn Fest and on the way back which was awesome. I still had cash left for food so we grabbed some Chik-fil-a on our way home, to make the drive longer and because we were hungry. Sadly we couldn't unload the car while Joey was still sleeping, it's like he's programmed to wake up no matter how softly we attempt to close the car doors. The rest of the evening was spent in air conditioned comfort. For a while, Joey and Dan even played in the living room and gave me time to play around with my new-to-me, hand-me-down serger from his mom. I've used a serger all of one time in high school so I needed a refresher on everything! Threading the thing is a little intimidating, but not too bad because they realized it was intimidating and color-coded everything and that helped out a lot. My first few attempts on scrap fabric were miserable. First I pulled too hard on the fabric trying to turn it (circular piece) and one of the needles came loose and fell down. So after I spent tons of time cleaning and re-threading the machine, I had to almost start over. THEN once I got that fixed, I forgot to put the pressure foot back down on the fabric and started a huge tangle of thread because while the fabric was moving, the thread wasn't going into the fabric! After those issues, I finally got my act together and had a few more practice runs that were much better. I'm really looking forward to learning how to use it and what it can do :)

All in all, it was a pretty great day! Now on to a 4-day workweek thanks for the 3-day weekend :)

Temper Tantrum Nuggets

I used 2 chicken breasts that I defrosted and had more than enough sauce/breadcrumbs. Modified from Cooks.com.


Chicken:

• Milk bath - I ran out of eggs, but you can also do an egg wash, I found water + frozen chicken does not make the breading adhere very well.
• Equal parts flour and plain breadcrumbs - I used 1/4cup each.
• I forgot to season the chicken first, but salt/pepper are awesome
• Veggie oil for frying - or whatever you have in the house

Sauce:

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cooking sherry
• 1 tbsp. garlic - I had minced in the fridge
• 1 tbsp. or so honey - I would have used ginger but I didn't have any

Prep:

• I cut my chicken into bite-sized nuggets after defrosting.
• Pre-heat oven to 325
• Heat oil on stove
• Line a cookie sheet or baking pan with foil
• Combine sauce ingredients in large bowl, set aside

Directions:
Dunk chicken pieces in milk bath then move to breadcrumb/four mixture. Once evenly coated, move chicken to either plate with paper towel (minimizes mess) or directly to hot oil. I had a bowl ready for when chicken finished in oil. I used a spoon to put the chicken into the oil so I wouldn't get as much splatter. Using a long-handled utensil (I had a wooden spoon handy but metal is probably better), move around the chicken pieces as they fry in the oil. Once they reach your desired level of browned, transfer them from the oil to the bowl or plate you've set aside. Repeat until you've done all your chicken. Note: a few pieces at a time makes it easier when it's time to remove chicken, you'll have less burned pieces, they also are less likely to stick together.

Once you are finished frying your chicken, drop a few pieces at a time into your sauce mixture and let them soak for a minute or so. Then, move them to your baking pan. I drizzled a little bit of sauce over pieces once they were all in the pan, but not too much so they wouldn't get soggy in the oven. Place baking pan in oven for 20-25 minutes (go closer to 25, I did 20 and while they were good I would have preferred a bit more crisp on the outside). While the chicken is in the oven you have the option of reducing your Asian sauce on the stove, I did this to make a dipping sauce and it was yummy :) The flavor was strong though, just be aware that this is what reduction does to sauces.

When chicken is finished plate and enjoy!



P.S. I named them "Temper Tantrum Nuggets" because Joey had a tantrum when I left him in the living room with Daddy to make these lol.