baby – Page 7 – The Merfett

NewMerfbaby is as long as a Beer?

March 18, 2015 The Merfett

NewMerfbaby is 21 weeks today! And about the length of a beer bottle. Cheers!

How I’m Feeling: A little fatigued and run down. It’s probably the warmer weather we’ve been having – and the very active toddler in my life…I took a massive mid-morning nap on Sunday and felt so much better.

Belly/Weight: Not sure on the weight, but my belly is getting bigger! I’m starting to fill out my maternity tops, and finally feeling “cute” pregnant. My belly has started to itch a little – so it’s growing!

Life Changes: Got an awesome gift card to StitchFx for my birthday, and since they do Maternity clothing now I love them even more. I got a cute maxi dress and shirt that I kept. I’ve been much less reserved about investing in maternity clothing this time around. I know I’ll have friends in the future that might appreciate the clothes – and I can always sell them back. A maternity consignment store opened here in Burbank, and ThreadUp also pays pretty well for used Maternity clothing

Movement: Lots more movement! At my Chiropractor appointment today when she was done adjusting my pelvis he started kicking. I moved my hand down to my tummy and my Doctor asked if he was moving more because she gave him some more room! Ha, how crazy is that?

Sleep: Sleeping harder this week. With the time change it’s darker until later in the morning so Riley and I both sleep until about 7:00am/7:30am – it’s heaven. I don’t remember many times in my life I’ve been able to sleep in until 7:00am.

Cravings: Sweet stuff. I’ve been having frosted mini-wheats in the morning for breakfast – such a throwback to Jr High! I’ve also not been super into water. Not sure why, I’ve always been a big water drinker but since I have Dysgeusia (my mouth tastes like I’ve been sucking on pennies) water hasn’t been cutting it so I’ve been drinking flavored water (I heart La Croix!) to kick the taste, it doesn’t fix it totally but it helps a little.

Exercise: Back to my workouts. If it wasn’t for my trainer I probably would easily skip traditional workouts. Playing with Riley and working in my garden keeps me active, but I know it’s good to focus on strength too.

Favorite Pregnancy Moment this week: The Anatomy Scan Ultrasound. Everything looks great, and he’s growing right on track. He wasn’t into having his picture taken so we didn’t get a good keepsake shot – but it’s ok. I sort of think the 3D photos are creepy. Especially since he was moving around, so they look sort of crazy.

On My Mind: This toddler of ours! I’m making more preparations for him, and reading/researching more for him than NewMerfbaby! Normal, right?! I finally had a “duh moment” and ordered Secrets of the Baby Whisperer for Toddlers and started reading it last night. I wish I would have read it months ago! I gained so much confidence reading her other books, and I’ve recently felt like parenting a Toddler is so much harder than figuring out a Newborn. I hit a breaking point last week and felt like such a Mama failure. I was struggling with losing my patience with Riley, and starting to doubt what I know to be true about his personality. Little background: the Baby Whisperer uses 5 types of babies/toddler personalities and by knowing which personality your child identifies with most it can help you better communicate with them. I LOVE personality quizzes – I think they are awesome! When Riley was little I was sure he was a Textbook baby. So I learned his cues, and with the exception of teething and massive growth spurts we navigated that first year pretty well! Textbook babies hit development milestones on track, and thrive on routine and consistency. They will be social, but he need some time to warm up to a group or new situation. As Riley became a Toddler I started to doubt his personality type, and thought maybe he was more Touchy or Spirited. Last night I took the personality test for his toddler age and 14 out of 20 questions identified him as a Textbook Toddler! Kids can be a mix of 2 types, but they mostly fall into one category. I had been right all along – I just need to amend my skills to adapt to his Toddler personality. I already feel better and I’m excited to read more of the book, she even has a chapter on preparing your toddler to become a big sibling. Eeek!

Family

NewMerfbaby is a Banana

March 11, 2015 The Merfett

NewMerfbaby is 20 weeks today! Half-way…eeek!

He’s the length of a banana, head to toe! My other pregnancy tracker said the baby is the size of a boob, but to keep it PG here I decided to stick with banana ;)

How I’m Feeling: Pretty good! The time change sent Riley for a loop so we’ve been working through that, which can be draining. He’s sleeping well and still napping, but he’s been so cranky and emotional this week. We had a pretty epic meltdown today that took a while to work through. How am I going to deal with tantrums when I have a newborn too? Aye. I’m thankful he’s not a regular tantrum-thrower, but when he does they are memorable.

Belly/Weight: Not sure on the weight, but the belly is for sure here! I need to take more belly pics in the morning when I get dressed. Depending on the day and what we’re up to I don’t always get dressed up if we’re just working in the yard. But, I’ll try to be better about pics. I love looking back at the ones I did with Riley.

Life Changes: I’d say I’ve converted to maternity clothing now. I got another pair of jeans that are ok, and a few tops and dresses. I’m fully embracing the “lose and flowy” maternity look. We’ll call it hippie-chic, ok? It pairs well with my Birkenstock vibes! The dresses I got are non-maternity, but I know I’ll wear them a lot in the months after I have the baby. I wore some of my jean shorts with a belly-band this week, but I need to get some bigger or maternity shorts since it’s going to be hot this summer.

Movement: I think I can almost feel the kicks from the outside – a few times a day I’ll feel a several kicks and jabs in a row. It’s always a fun reminder that he’s in there :)

Sleep: Had to use my ear plugs a few nights this week. Kelly’s been especially tired (snoring) and I’ll just pop in my ear plugs so I can fall asleep faster. With the time change Riley is sleeping in later, so that’s nice. A few weeks ago he made the wake up stretch from 6:00am/6:30am to 7:00am, so with the time change that’s now 8:00am. I can’t complain about that. But our whole day shifts a few hours and he’s going to bed around 7:45/8:00pm now.

Cravings: I was just thinking tonight that one of my major cravings is cheeseburgers. Not just In N Out, but plain (meat and cheese only) cheeseburgers!! Silly. I’ve also been wanting ice cream, so I got some when we were at the store today. It hit the spot! Oh, and I fulfilled my donut craving from this weekend. Yum. Super healthy huh? To be fair I did have sweet potatoes and a giant head of steamed broccoli with my dinner tonight.

Exercise: With the time change and everything I missed a few workouts. Planning to work out tomorrow. Riley and I did some gardening and got my garden beds planted and ready for Spring this week. And we’ve been playing in the backyard every afternoon and going on walks around the neighborhood. I’ve been active, just not doing a traditional worked so much.

Favorite Pregnancy Moment this week: I think we have some solid names on our list! We came up with one over the weekend I really, really like. It may be hard to top.

On My Mind: We’re almost finished with Riley’s big brother room. The last thing we really need is a new baby monitor. I wish someone had told me to get one with Riley that would grow with our family. Now we’re looking at ones that will take 2 cameras. I also need to get another laundry hamper and diaper pail for his room, but he’s just about set! We have the bed all ready with the guard rail, and his new blackout curtains were hung this weekend. We’re planning to do a few projects around the house this weekend and get the backyard Spring ready – since we’ll be spending a lot of time out there.

Family

Our little Merfketeer is a….

March 4, 2015 The Merfett

I had an OB appointment on Monday afternoon. My Doctor walked into the room and before she even closed the door, asked if I knew the gender. I said no – that we’d probably be finding out in 2 weeks at our Anatomy Scan Ultrasound. She shook her head, and motioned for me to follow her into another room.

I told her she’s have to write it down and seal it in an envelope since Kelly wasn’t here.

She showed me the baby, and we listened to the heartbeat and then told me to look the other way. I said I didn’t know what I’d be looking at anyway but, sure. She said she wanted it to be dramatic :)

So she sealed it up and I sent this pic to Kelly at work. Pleading with him to hurry home from work that night!

When he got home I told him I wanted him to open it and tell me what it was. I was feeling pretty sure it was a boy, and said I would be very surprised if it were a girl. Sure – I’d love to have a little girl, but I’ve been imagining us as a family with 2 boys. He didn’t really have a guess – mostly since we didn’t think we’d be finding out for another 2 weeks.

Well….

A BOY!!!

We’re thrilled!! We called and shared the news with our families and they were so excited.

The Murphy Brothers – how cute is that?!

Also – since this little guy and Riley are only going to be days apart in birthdays I can recycle all the baby clothes!!!

I looked at a few name lists and we’ve got one that stuck, so that’s a start :)