Bluebonnets

It seems every good Texan Mom takes pictures of their kids in a pumpkin patch in the fall and in bluebonnets in the spring, right? 

Well I wasn't planning on doing bluebonnet pictures until I saw some cute ones my friend Joan took just a couple miles from our house. So I headed over there today. I am going to try to get Greg to go back with me sometime soon because it is really hard to try and take pictures and get her to smile at the same time. She was making a scrunchie face the whole time (even though it was overcast) and was not really interested in looking at the camera and smiling.

Oh well, here are bluebonnet pics round 1.

Baby #2 Bumpdate: 13 Weeks

How far along: 13 Weeks

Baby’s Size: Peach 

Maternity Clothes: Belly band sometimes, a couple maternity shirts although not really necessary yet. I am in that awkward stage.

Movement: None yet

Sleep: Great. At least one bathroom trip a night though.

Symptoms: Nauseous throughout the day and extremely nauseous at night, tired, easily lightheaded.

Food Aversions/Cravings: Cheesy things, milk, smoothies, pickles.

Best Moment this Week: Seeing Greg's family, hearing the heartbeat - 172!

What I Miss: Feeling good enough to go on walks around the neighborhood.

What I am Looking Forward to: Feeling good again!

Random Updates

Here are a few random things lately:

1) First, a few Cambry pics. She loves sitting in her glider like a big girl.

2) This past weekend was my first time to be away from Cambry for more than a few hours. That may seem crazy since she is almost 16 months old, but I nursed her for so long and she wouldn't take bottles so it was never possible until recently. It wasn't bad at all. In fact, it was kind of a nice break away from responsibility. She had a great time with Greg's family. They were sweet to send us pictures and updates the whole time.

When we got back she wasn't immediately excited to see us. She gave us a little attitude to let us know that she was not happy we left her. Then the next day at church she cried so hard when we dropped her off in nursery. Poor thing did not want to be left again.

3) I recently tried these Naked smoothies. They are so good. Definitely a splurge since they are more than $3 a bottle at Kroger, but kind of worth it for this nauseous pregnant mama who needs to get more fruits and veggies in. I am sure somehow they aren't as healthy as eating the actual fruit, but they are all fruit, no added sugars or preservatives so hopefully that means they aren't too bad!

4) I tried this recipe the other night.

I haven't been doing a lot of cooking and when I do I choose easy meals. I pull up a chair next to the stove and try not to throw up while I cook :). This was pretty easy. I modified a little. I used sweet Italian turkey sausage instead of beef. Therefore I used less spices and seasonings than the recipe called for. I left out the bell pepper due to laziness. I thought overall it was too salty so I would not add any extra salt next time. Also didnt think it needed as much cheese as the recipe calls for. I did use whole wheat noodles. Cambry loved it. When I cook we eat the leftovers the following night. I am going to have to start cooking more than 4 servings though to have enough. Cambry's portions no loger round down to nothing. When she likes something she is a little piglet. This came our pretty thick (more so than the picture) so next time I would probably add more tomato sauce and chicken broth to make it more soupy and have more leftovers.

5) Cambry's wake up time is constantly changing. Cannot figure her out.

6) Our little mandarin tree in the backyard has lots of white flowers budding. I am hoping that means we will get some fruit this year.

7) This morning as I was laying on the floor in the playroom (so sleepy) while Cambry was playing, she came over to me a couple times and gave me kisses on the cheek unprompted. She is the sweetest thing ever.

Bonus Belly Pic

Last week when we were trying to get the lighting right for my belly pic, I had Greg fill in for me while I messed with some of the camera settings. This is the pose I got.

Baby #2 Bumpdate: 12 Weeks

I feel like hitting 12 weeks is a huge milestone! I know it's not quite in the second trimester but it is close. And hopefully means I am getting closer to getting past this nausea. I feel like I have been pregnant forever, which is good and bad. Bad because I feel like I have been sick so long. But good because besides the sickness I really do enjoy being pregnant and don't want it to just fly by. Also by the time I'm due my first baby will be almost 2 and I do not want her growing up too fast!

How far along: 12 Weeks

Baby’s Size: Lime 

Maternity Clothes: Belly band sometimes, a couple maternity shirts although not really necessary yet. I just bought a really cute maternity maxi dress from Target that I am excited about.

Movement: None yet

Sleep: Great. At least one bathroom trip a night though.

Symptoms: Nauseous throughout the day and extremely nauseous at night, tired, easily lightheaded

Food Aversions/Cravings: Cheesy things, milk and cereal, other generally unhealthy foods

Best Moment this Week: Easter Weekend - the beautiful weather and spending time with family

What I Miss: Feeling good and being able to be productive around the house

What I am Looking Forward to: My appointment tomorrow! Also, hoping that this nausea starts to go away soon.

Overall, not much change from last week!

Delicious Not Nutritious

Things on my grocery list this week:

Doritos
Pickles
Mac & Cheese
Waffles

Those are just a few of the unhealthy things I have been eating lately. Every time I go to the grocery store I am embarrassed at the checkout because of all the junk I am buying. I usually try to eat fairly healthy but with this nausea all bets are off. As soon as I feel better I really need to start eating better.

I had been writing this post in my head the other morning, then it just so happened that at the grocery store yesterday I get this comment as I am loading chips into my cart:

Random man: "It's too expensive to eat healthy nowadays (chuckle)!"

What?? Who says that! I mean, listen buddy...I am pregnant. At any and every moment I feel like I could throw up. So yeah, my taste buds have gone a little crazy.

Grosse Family Vaca 2013: Cayman Islands Edition

The other week we were blessed to get to go on the most amazing family vacation to the Cayman Islands! We had such a wonderful time. The beach there is absolutely beautiful. Crystal clear blue water and white sand. Perfectly warm weather the whole time. I couldn't have asked for more.

The kids had a blast. Kyler looked so adorable the whole time. He is such a cool kid. I don't think his hat or backpack came off the whole time. He would walk around and hold Cambry's hand - so cute.

We stayed at a resort right on the beach. Each morning after breakfast we would all change into our swimsuits and walk right out to the beach. 

Cambry was all about roaming around the whole time. Greg was the best and would let her roam and follow her everywhere while I relaxed. She was loving the new environment. Every time we would leave our hotel room she would take off roaming the halls. She was such an explorer.

Pretty much every day all day was spent at the beach. Is anything better?? Plus it is kind of hard to go off and do excursions with the kids. Ashley was able to do some fun stuff though like swim with dolphins and rent a paddle board. She even went to cross fit one day!

The kids loved playing in the sand, and we loved relaxing and getting in the water.

Probably the best thing about the vacation was that the hotel provided pack-n-plays on the beach! Whoever thought of that is a parent for sure and a genius! 

When you choose a place to sit they bring you umbrellas and then they asked if we wanted play pens for the babies. Um, YES PLEASE! 

So instead of being stuck in the hotel room during nap time, we had fun on the beach while the babies napped. The ocean is the perfect sound machine.

Hayes slept in his pack-n-play too. They did so good. My parents watched Cambry while she slept and Greg and I would go off and snorkel. There were really cool fish just right out in front of the hotel. It was so cool to swim through all the schools of fish and be close enough to touch. We also rented kayaks one day and paddled up and down the beach.

We ate out for all our meals which was nice because it meant no one had to cook! We would either eat in the hotel, or walk across the street to a nearby restaurant. A couple of times we took a cab to a restaurant that was a little further away. It was a lot of eating out for the kids (breakfast lunch and dinner), so sometimes they got a little fussy/impatient/bored, but overall they did good.

Here is my 10 week belly shot that we took there. Looking big for only being 10 weeks along! Let me tell you how awesome I looked in a swimsuit - ha! The bump is not big enough for people to assume I am pregnant but definitely looks like I ate a few too many donuts or something.

 Overall during the day I felt pretty good. I think God was just so gracious and gave me a little relief while I was there so I could really enjoy the vacation. I am so so thankful for that. Since returning home the nausea is back in full force but I am grateful that it seemed to be a bit lighter there.

 In the evenings we would put the kids to sleep and then stay up a bit talking with the Kimmels. There was a little veranda area just steps away from our rooms so we would just watch the video monitor while we hung out. Then we would sneak back into the rooms for bed. Of course we bought milk and cereal to have on hand because who can go to bed pregnant without having a bowl of cereal first? Not me.

So thankful to my parents for planning this wonderful vacation! We had the best time!