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A few things...

Let's start this post with a picture of the baby, shall we? He's so cute, I can hardly stand it. That chubby little face!

Ok, moving on...

There have been a few things that I've been loving over the past few weeks. If you didn't know, I'm off work on my maternity leave (12 weeks long- going back July 29) so I'm enjoying the time spent with my kiddos (plural! I have two kids! Crazy!) and not putting too much pressure on myself to do anything major (like get dressed before 11 am, for instance.)

Here are a few things I've been loving lately:

Oh goodness, this salad is to die for. I've never been one to choose salad when at a fast food joint, but this one is so amazing. I have a Wendy's very close to my house, and I may have gone to the drive through 3 times in the past week for this salad. It's just that good. My co-workers will be laughing at this one, because they know how obsessed I am with this salad. Yum.

While I'm on the food kick, can we please discuss the deliciousness that is the Chobani Key Lime Crumble flip? Holy amazing, this tastes just like really good key lime pie. I've already eaten one of these today, and I'm trying to convince myself not to eat another one until tomorrow. There are a few different kinds of flips, and I'm definitely going to pick some up the next time I'm at Target. 

It's no secret that I love, love, love to organize, and my linen closet was my latest victim. Things never looked terrible, but there was definitely some work to be done. I'm so proud of my efforts- everything is in its place and labeled. Sorry for the janky iPhone picture, but you get the idea. After finishing this project, I immediately sent this picture to my mom, since I knew that she would appreciate my organizing. 

I purchased the Summer Handheld Color Video Monitor just before Owen arrived, and life has been so much more easy and flexible with it. Owen sleeps so much right now, but I didn't want Dylan and I to be tied to the indoors during each of Owen's naps. This monitor has a range of up to 600 feet, so we have been able to play out in the yard with no worries that Owen would be needing me- I just take the handheld monitor out with me and we're good to go. 

What's this, you see? Yep, that's a big stack of paper plates. In my efforts to make my life easier during these early days as a mama of 2, I've fallen in love with the idea of using paper plates rather than dishes that I'll have to wash. Seriously, it makes things so easy, and I'm all about cutting corners these days! Why didn't I do this when Dylan was a newborn?

So there you have it, some of my recent faves. Enjoy!

Owen at One Month.

Oh my goodness, I can't believe that Owen is already a month old. The time has flown by so quickly, and it's been such a great month. Before Owen was born I had the fear that he wouldn't immediately fit in to our family and it would take awhile before things felt normal. I am amazed that he just fits right in and it seems like he's always been with us, if that makes sense. 

Owen has been such a pleasant, mellow baby from day one. In fact, during our first night in the hospital I was really concerned when I woke up at 2 am and was wondering why the Owen hadn't been brought back to me for a feeding. It has almost been 4 hours since he last ate. I called the nurse's station and they said that he was fast asleep and would bring him to me as soon as he woke up.... which they did, 2 hours later. Even then, he wasn't screaming his head off when he was delivered to me, just whimpering a bit. 

Owen has been a champion eater and sleeper- he took to nursing right away and seemed to know that nighttime was for sleeping from the beginning. I keep comparing my newborn experience with Owen to my experience with Dylan, and it seems like all the hard things I had with Dylan are non-existent with Owen. 

I really feel like Ben and I are just able to relax and enjoy Owen, rather than being anxious and paranoid over every little thing. Seriously, I remember calling my mom at 2 am one morning when Dylan was about 3 weeks old concerned that I had already scarred him emotionally by letting him cry for a few minutes. Oh, first time parenthood. None of that with Owen- it's been smooth sailing so far, knock on wood. 

Not to make it seem like everything is absolutely perfect- poor boy sometimes has a fussy tummy and has a hard time with #2, but I feel like I can recognize the issues much better, rather than just wondering why the heck my baby is crying. 

Owen has been on a pretty predictable schedule- eating every 2-3 hours during the day and every 3 hours at night. He stays awake for around an hour before needing another nap. He enjoys being swaddled and loves nothing more than snuggling up against my chest for some skin to skin cuddle time. 

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past month:

Owen's Birth Story.

On May 7 I woke up at 5:15 am to get ready for my 6:30 induction. I was feeling super tired, since I had only gotten about 5 hours of sleep the night before. Despite getting to bed later than I wanted, I fell asleep easily and was able to put aside my anxieties about the next day's events.

My mom and Ben's mom were both in town, so they stayed at the house with Dylan while Ben and I left for the hospital at 6:15. We arrived at the hospital right on time and were able to get checked in pretty quickly. We asked if we could get the same delivery room that we had with Dylan, but it was already being used. 

Our day shift nurse Becky was a riot and made the morning a lot of fun. She had a lot of funny stories to tell and put both Ben and I at ease. I got started on pitocin at about 7:15 and then we were in business! I really didn't feel like anything was happening during the first hour or so- I wasn't feeling any contractions or discomfort at all. A little bit before 9 my doctor came in to say hello and to break my water. For some reason it hurt really bad when he went about breaking my water, which surprised me. I didn't feel any pain or discomfort when they did this with Dylan. Maybe it was because I was more dilated and effaced when I was induced Dylan. Either way, I felt a huge amount of pain for about 30 seconds, and then it was gone and my water had broken. 

After my water broke, my nurse encouraged me to get my epidural sooner rather than later, since labor really starts to pick up once the water breaks. Also, there were three others moms getting induced that morning and I didn't want to have to wait in line for my epidural. 

I had been plagued by one big fear throughout my entire pregnancy: What if my epidural doesn't work? I had heard one too many horror stories (including my sister's) of failed epidurals and I was terrified that it would happen to me. That, compounded with the difficulties in getting my epidural going with Dylan's delivery (it took them 4 tries to get it right) made me paranoid that I would have to have an unmedicated childbirth. Luckily, all that fear was for nothing- my epidural worked perfectly, and the nurse who administered the epidural got it right the first time- hallelujah! 

Once my epidural was in effect I got super sleepy, and spend the rest of the day dozing in and out of sleep. Seriously, I slept through the majority of my labor, or slept as much as I could despite being poked and prodded every 30 or 45 minutes. This was definitely not the case with Dylan- I was anxious and alert the entire day, and I didn't sleep a wink. This time I just felt relaxed and sleepy... and hungry. I think that I ate about six popsicles during the day. Ben watched Oceans 11, 12, and 13 to pass the time and my mom and mother in law came in to hang out with us too. Dylan spent a few hours at a babysitter's house so that everyone could be at the hospital for a little bit. 

Everyone had told me that childbirth the second time around goes by more quickly, but things just weren't progressing that fast with Owen. Around 2 pm I was starting to get a little irritated that things weren't moving along, since two of the other moms who were induced that morning had already had their babies. I think that I was only dialated to a 4 or 5 at this point. The night before, we all took bets on what time Owen would be born. Everyone was thinking sometime between noon and 3, but it was looking like that wouldn't be the case. I was ready to meet Owen and just wanted him to come. 

My mom left the hospital around 3:45 to pick Dylan up, and we promised to call her with updates as soon as Owen was born. Things finally started up pick up around 4- I was dilated to an 7 and it was looking like the baby was going to make his arrival sometime soon. 

I started to feel some major pressure around 5, and pretty soon after my doctor came in the room. I was a little confused, since he didn't come with Dylan until I had been pushing for about a half hour. I asked him if he was just stopping by to say hi or if it was go time. He said that it was time to push and that the baby was ready to come. 

I started pushing at 5:20, and at 5:25 Owen was here! It was so nice only having to do two sets of pushes- it was so much less tiring! I'm not sure how I can describe it, but I just felt so much more aware of things this time around- there was no sense of panic like I felt with Dylan. Keep in mind that I almost had an emergency c-section with Dylan since his heart rate kept dropping with every contraction. There was no drama with Owen's delivery and I felt like things were just progressing exactly how they should. 

After Owen came out the doctor held him up so I could see him and then passed him off to the nurses and respiratory people to check him out and clean him up. Owen cried for just a minute and then calmed down. About 2 minutes after being born he ended up scratching his cheek with his sharp little nails, but other than that he was perfect. 

As soon as I held him, Ben and I were amazed at how much he looked like his older brother. They had the same sweet, round faces and alert little eyes. He was so calm from the very beginning, and I felt really calm too.

All through my pregnancy I was a little concerned that there was no way I could love this baby as much as I love Dylan- how could it be possible? But wouldn't you know, my heart swelled three sizes that day and I amazingly, automatically fell right in love with little Owen. 

The Pregnancy + A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Well look at that, I'm posting again! To be honest, I'm pretty proud that I've followed through on posting again so quickly, since I'm in a (barely) functional state of sleep deprivation. Just keeping it real. 

Before I start into my storytelling, can I just share a few pictures of my little Owen? He's so cute, I can barely handle it. 

{2.5 weeks old}

He has a major dimple on his right cheek and a little one on his left cheek. This is the only picture I have of his cute right dimple. 

Anyway, I wanted to let you know how things went for me with pregnancy, as well as the ridiculous series of unfortunate events in the days prior to Owen's birth. You know me, ridiculous things just seem to happen at awful times. Lest we forget, the time I ruined Ben's birthday surprise. 

Overall, pregnancy #2 was very good to me. It was so much better being pregnant throughout the winter and spring, rather than all through the summer like I was with Dylan. There wasn't nearly as much discomfort or bloating this time around. My least pleasant pregnancy symptoms only lasted through weeks 6-12, and I felt pretty great otherwise. The only real blips on the radar were my random 24 hour bugs on Christmas and Valentine's Day. Apparently the flu only likes me on holidays.

This pregnancy I was a big-time slacker on taking photos of myself. Here are my three pregnancy pictures:

{28 weeks}

{38 weeks}

{39.5 weeks- delivery day!}

Good gosh, just looking at my pregnancy pictures makes me feel sorry for myself. Like I said, overall I had a great pregnancy, but ask anyone how they feel from weeks 38 until delivery and you'll probably get complaints out the wahzoo. I liked to compare myself to a hippo, manatee, etc. when asked how I felt at the end. 

And onto the unfortunate events...

On May 5 (2 days before baby), I was getting ready for church. I was going downstairs to the laundry room to iron my clothes. As I was walking downstairs, I smelled something disgusting. Imagine my surprise when I got to the laundry room and saw that there was a giant puddle of poo-water seeping up from the drain in the floor. No joke. As a result, church was not attended that day, as we stuck around the house for the plumber to fix the nasty sewer problem. $300 later, the poo-water was gone. The cause? Things that we couldn't have controlled, such as the roots from the tree in the front yard causing sewer drama. 

On May 6 (1 day before baby), Dylan woke up at a freakishly early hour (about 6 am... he usually gets up around 8) and crawled into bed with us. He was being very quiet and had a funny look on his face. After laying with us for a minute he turned to Ben and puked all over him. It was about 90% disgusting and 10% hilarious. We cleaned things up, gave Dylan a puke bowl, and laid down some towels. Over the next 3 hours Dylan managed to throw up in pretty much every room of the house. Just what I wanted to do the day before we had a baby- clean up vomit everywhere I turned.  I was terrified that Dylan had the flu and we were going to have to deal with keeping Dylan quarantined from the baby if he was still sick when we brought him home. Luckily, it seemed like Dylan only had a 3 hour bug, since he was good as new after 9 am that day. 

After the two days of drama, I was a little concerned that there was going to be a disaster of some sort on baby day, as bad things seem to happen in threes. Luckily that was not the case for us. 

Next up...

-The nursery

-Owen's birth story

Oh, hi.

Hi friends! I took a bit of a blogging break, didn't I? Well, I'm really hoping that when I say that I'm back to blogging that I'll really follow through. Getting my thoughts/life events/likes/dislikes out there really is nice... it's my little public journal and scrapbook. And I so desperately need to document some of the changes that have taken place over the past few months, because there have been some major ones. 

The biggest change is that we are now a family of four! Hooray! 

I was induced on May 7, and at 5:25 pm Owen Maverick Harris made his arrival. There is so much that I want to say about that day, and I will, but not today. It was a wonderful day and surprisingly quite different from my labor and delivery with Dylan. Not that my childbirth experiences have been bad, but I was just surprised how different they were from each other. 

You know what else has surprised me? How different Owen is from when Dylan was a newborn. Seriously, Owen has been the most content, laid-back  baby that I could have ever imagined, knock on wood. I think that Dylan was just a little more of a normal baby (he had his days and nights mixed up for the first few weeks, oy) and Owen is just really, blessedly easy. 

You know what has not surprised me? How Owen and Dylan look almost identical as newborns. Seriously, take a look:

Owen, 7 days old

Dylan, 8 days old

Seriously, their little faces are so much alike!

There really are so many things that I want to document on the blog, so maybe if I list them out it will be more likely to actually happen. Here are a few things that I'm planning to post about in the upcoming week or so:

-The unfortunate events of May 5 and 6

- Owen's birth story

- Owen's nursery

- Becoming a mama of 2

A Few of My Favorite Things...

Here are a few things that I'm loving as of late, and I thought that I would share them with you.

1. This commercial

The first time Ben and I saw this All State commercial we both cracked up. Why? Because it is so true! Dylan is usually really good in the car, but every once in a while he turns into a little demon out of boredom or just being in a mood. The back seat of my car is always trashed as a result. 

2. Hulu Plus

We just started subscribing to Hulu Plus a few weeks ago and goodness do we love it! It's so much cheaper than regular cable and I feel like it's better, since it stores all the episodes from each show's season. The only downside I have identified is that while it has the majority of shows I'm interested in, a few are not on Hulu Plus (ummm The Bachelor for one). 

3. The Naked Palette

Ben got me this awesome eye shadow palette for Christmas (he may have received a hint or two from me, not gonna lie) and I have used it almost every day since. The colors are rich and vibrant and can be combined to make anything between soft and subtle to dramatic and smoky. I also love the primer that comes with it, as I am a huge advocate of using primers with my makeup. 

4. Chick-Fil-A

Let's be honest, when don't I love Chick-Fil-A? I'm trying not to go overboard with my food intake this pregnancy, but I cannot resist Chick-Fil-A! It's a good thing that there isn't a drive through in Orem (just in University Mall) or I would be there waaaaay too often.

5. This Boy

 I realize that Dylan is always one of my favorite things, but I just wanted to share this cute picture of him. This was yesterday morning- he woke up so happy and excited and just wanted to watch The Incredibles while eating breakfast (a ziplock bag of Life cereal... ghetto alert). Dressing in superhero costume is a must for Dylan while he watches this movie. He also requests that I call him Dash and he calls me Elastigirl. 

6. Valentine's Day!

Ben and I typically keep things pretty low-key for Valentine's Day, meaning that we might get take-out from India Palace and get each other a little present. This year I'm going to try and make the day especially happy for my two Valentines. Balloons, love notes, and heart shaped cookies are all on the agenda. 

What are some of your favorite things as of late?

Potty Training... oh goodness.

Hello friends! Remember when I was a good blogger? Yeah, me either. Things are good for out little family, full of trying to prepare for baby #2 coming in May and enjoying these last few months with just Dylan. One of the biggest things I have done to prepare for baby #2 is to get baby #1 potty trained. Cause who wants to change diapers for two when you only need to change one?

Let me tell you- I've been wanting to get Dylan started with potty training as soon as he turned 3 in September, but it was so easy to put off. I kept dreading the days spent confined to the house during the first new days of potty training that I kept putting it off. I finally bit the bullet on almost a month ago. One day I decided that potty training would start, and that was that.

I decided that potty training was going to work and that I was going to help Dylan figure it out as best as I could. That meant that I was not just going to approach potty training with a "just winging it" attitude. Nope, I  had a very specific plan in mind.

I based my approach on a Potty Training 101 pin I found on Pinterest. I really followed most of what the post recommended, such as talking it up, having Dylan throw all of his diapers in a trash bag, giving potty treats, and giving potty prizes. 

{the treats}

{the prizes}

Day 1 of potty training was exhausting, since I took him to the bathroom literally every 20 minutes, all day long. There were a few accidents, but lots of successes. Each day got a little bit better, although going #2 in the potty was still a major struggle. 

Now we are almost a month into potty training and things are going really well. Dylan stays dry almost every day, and he's ok with going to bathrooms outside of our house. He's not to the point where he goes on his own- I just tell him that it's potty time every hour or so and he runs to the bathroom and does his thing. #2 has been much more difficult, but things have been clicking for him over the past week. 

{Not too excited about his picture being taken}

Overall, I'm confident that he'll be 99% potty trained by the time baby #2 arrives, which has been my main goal. Yay for Dylan, my mostly potty trained boy!

Recent Happenings.

With the year nearly over, I think that it's time for a little life update post. Lots of little things have been happening, and I'd love to share them. Specifically regarding my pregnancy, a death, and an adoption... we've got it all.

I will be 21 weeks pregnant as of tomorrow and I'm still feeling pretty good. Love that 2nd trimester. I'm wearing maternity pants, but still wear mostly pre-preg tops. The weight gain has stayed under control, but this is how it was with Dylan- normal gain until I hit about 5 months and then boom! the pounds started packing on at an alarming rate- 8 pounds each month for like three months straight. Yikes.

Unfortunately we have no idea what we are going to name this little guy. Any suggestions are appreciated! Our main requirement is that the name is something you've heard of- nothing too obscure. Also, nothing too trendy and NO ridiculous, Utah unique spelling. 

We haven't done much planning for this little guy's arrival, although I did make one baby purchase a few weeks ago:

Not to worry, though. I have big plans for Baby #2's nursery... the color scheme is already decided and will be discussed at length on a future post. My lovely mother is willing to make another bedding set, which I'm sure will look fantastic.

One sad thing that I shared on facebook but not the blog was the death of our sweet cat, Moo. He had been having kidney problems since he was just a year old, and after five years of special food, medication, sub-q fluids, and many vet appointments it was clear that his time had come. On November 5th we put him down. We told Dylan that Moo went to heaven to live with Jesus. He seemed ok with that, but Dylan has since changed the story and says that Moo lives at the airport in an airplane. I'll take it!

We thought about getting a kitten a few weeks after Moo was gone, since our other cat Oscar seemed pretty lonely and sad. On December 19th, Dylan and I went to the local animal shelter and adopted a little kitten and named her Stella. We all love her- especially Dylan. We've really been working on teaching him to be soft with her and there has only been one incident of him picking her up by the head : /

I want to share details about my birthday and Christmas, but that will have to wait for another day. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Baby #2 {The Details}

First off, thank you friends for all the Facebook and blog love following our happy announcement. Your sweet words are so appreciated. I thought that I would provide some details on our new addition, as well as share how our family has been doing with the news.

When am I due? I'm due on May 12 (Mother's Day!), which puts me at just over 17 weeks along. 

Do you know the gender? Yes! We found out that we're having another boy at my last appointment, just before Thanksgiving. We were really, really hoping to have another boy, so we were so excited when we found out. 

How am I feeling? Lately, I've been feeling great. Bless you, second trimester! My pregnancy symptoms have been almost identical to my pregnancy with Dylan- major fatigue hitting at 6 weeks, nausea hitting a little later, with both letting up almost completely by 12 weeks. Overall, it hasn't been too bad- I know that I'm lucky with this.

How are we doing with the news? Despite this pregnancy being planned, it's still terrifying to know that life is going to change in a big way and there's no turning back. Life has been so manageable over the past few years, and it seems a little crazy that we are intentionally turning it upside down. After, ahem, a few weeks of me being in slight denial about our great news, I have now completely adjusted to the changes coming our way. 

What about Dylan? We are doing our best to prepare him for what's coming, but he can only understand so much at this point. We talk about baby brother on the regular, and we make a big deal about him getting to be a big brother. I think that he'll start to get it more when my stomach is enormous. Either way, we know that the first few weeks (and months) of having a baby around will be tough on Dylan. He's so used to being the center of attention, and it will be really hard for him to see life change. 

Any name ideas? We don't have anything yet. We were so lucky with Dylan, since we both loved the name and were going to use it whether Dylan was a boy or a girl. We both felt so sure about the name that there was so time spent on looking at other sames. But this little one... we have no clue. We have a few names that we both like, but there's no clear winner. I'll keep you updated though.

Food cravings or aversions? This seems to be the only big difference between my pregnancy with Dylan. This time around, I can't drink soda (which isn't a bad thing to give up anyway), sugary candy (like skittles, sour patch kids, etc.), and a few other completely random things. What I have been craving has been really random- apples at room temperature (not refrigerated!), salads, pasta with just butter and Parmesan cheese, and pretty much any restaurant food. 

Showing yet? Yes, but not a huge amount. I would say that I'm showing a little more at this point than I was with Dylan, but not a huge amount more. I'm still wearing all my normal clothes, but it's looking like my pants won't be working for long. 

So there you have it- some updates and info on baby #2. I'm really going to try and get back in the swing of blogging, as I really want to document this fun (and crazy) time in our lives. Wish me luck.