Being a young mom means we met a little early, but I get to love them longer.


Here are some links to helpful posts I have done in the past :)

Learn about car seat safety HERE!

Need breastfeeding advice? Click HERE for lots of helpful tips!

Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers

Lilypie Second Birthday tickers

Lilypie Breastfeeding tickers

Saturday, July 30, 2011

My Gracy girl..

I haven't done a post specifically about Grace in awhile. She is growing so fast!! She will be 21 months old in four days!
For the most part she doesn't really get sick anymore,  but the other day she decided to give us a little scare. She started running a fever on and off for three days. We would give her fever reducer, and it would go away,  but come back as soon as the medicine wore off. At it's highest (that I know of) it was 103.8!! We took her to the doctor and they couldn't find anything wrong with her. She never showed any other signs of being sick, so I'm not really sure what was going on.
But from that I do know that she now weighs 31 (almost 32) pounds. She definitely a big girl! But she's not really chunky because she is tall too (not sure how tall though because the didn't measure her).

She is very concerned about her body. She had a cut on her foot and every time she would realize it was still there she would grab my hand and make me touch it and give it a kiss. She now has two mosquito bites on her legs that she is very concerned about. She will touch them and say "oh no!" and then make me touch them.
She also has to wipe her feet off before we put her shoes on. She does this every time lol.

She still LOVES to dance. She is amazing at remembering the moves to dances.

Barney is her show. She will barely watch anything else. Sesame Street is the only thing that will hold her attention for any amount of time besides Barney. I really like Word World and Dinosaur Train, but she has no interest in those shows lol. Anyway, we are still planning on doing her party with a Barney theme.

She loves the alphabet song and any song that has counting in it, so the other day I bought her some alphabet flash cards and some number flash cards. Since I have bought them she has already learned how to say the word "five." We are still working on "three" and "four" though lol.

She also is majorly in love with the kitty. Every morning we go to get the kitty out of the bathroom, and she gets so excited to see him :) She loves to give him hugs and kisses (he doesn't like it so much lol), and she loves to get him to chase things. We bought a cat toy today, and she has had a blast. She thinks it is absolutely hilarious to watch him play.


This is Grace giving the kitty a hug lol.

This is wear she decided to watch tv the other day :p

Friday, July 29, 2011

As promised (pillow post)..

I'm going to give the instructions for the no-sew pillow :):) I have some pictures of my own, but I can't find them, so I will try to find some from the internet to substitute.

 You will need:
  • 3/4 of a yard of the fleece of your choice (Hobby Lobby has fleece that is always 30% off, and it comes folded, so you get twice as much). Where ever you get it from, you will want to insure that it comes folded like that.
  • scissors
  • a ruler
  • toilet paper
  • a few pins
  • some sort of stuffing, like fiberfill (I used one bag per pillow)
Steps:
  1. Make sure that your fleece is folded evenly, then cut at the fold. This will give you two separate pieces of fleece, but you want to leave them stacked on top of each other.
  2. You want your fleece to be a perfect square. The perfect way to do this for a no-sew pillow is to have each side be 26 inches. The 3/4 of a yard is fairly close to that, but you will probably have to trim some away.
  3. Now it is time to make the fringe around the edges. You are going to want each piece of fringe to be 4 inches long and 1 inch wide. To do this you will want to measure 4 inches into the fleece toward the center. Take your toilet paper and lay it all the way across the fleece at the 4 in mark. Pin it to the fleece, so that it gives you a straight line. This gives you the stopping place when cutting. Then you want to measure 1 inch for each piece, and cut up to the toilet paper. This will make each piece 1 inch wide and 4 inches long.
     It will look sort of like this..
  4. Once you have an entire side cut you will want to remove the toilet paper, move to another side, and repeat step number 3 until you have each side done. Every time you do a side there will be a 4x4 inch piece that can be removed from each corner. This is supposed to happen.
  5. Once you have each side cut, you then take the pieces that are laying on top of each other and tie them together in a knot. Do this for each little piece all the way around the pillow, but stop when you only have a place big enough to put your hand in.
  6. Take the stuffing of your choice, and pull it apart to make it more fluffy. Stuff your pillow to the consistency you want (softer or firmer).
  7. Tie the remaining pieces together to close your hole.
Then you have a no-sew fleece pillow!

This is what mine look like:

I am not the best at giving directions, so if this is not understandable please don't hestitate to ask me what the heck I mean lol. I will try to explain it more clearly for you :) If I could find my pictures this would be much more clear.. sorry about that! I had step-by step pictures :(


This is the simple, and fairly quick project. The other one is much more time consuming, and does involve sewing, but still a fun project! I will make a post about it when I get the chance :)

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Feeling productive :)

Now that I have finally have tons of free time I really feel like I have been getting things done :)

Brentley's room is now almost completely ready. I just have to decorate his walls. We only have two things left that we need for his arrival, and I am in a bidding war for one of them on ebay now lol. Wish me luck because it's open for 3 more days.. I am currently the highest bidder :)
If I win that we will only have one thing left that we need!

I got his car seat ready for his arrival..

I'm going to install the base after my doctor's appointment next week. It is my 36 week appointment. They are going to check my progress. I am actually excited about this because I'll get to know if I have dilated and if he is engaged or not. I would be willing to bet that he most definitely is engaged. Chris' mom says she thinks I'm going to go early. My neighbor think I will have him in two weeks! Ahh! I don't think I'll go quite that early, but you never know lol. Also, we're getting our last ultrasound that day!! We get to see our little man again, and since we already paid for the 4D they are going to do some more 4D!

Anyway, back to feeling productive..
I have the thank you cards completely filled out.. just have to send them; I got Chris to fix both Grace and Brentley's drawers; I completely organized our bedroom (which has needed to be done for forever now); I have Brentley's bag completely packed for the hospital, and mine, Chris, and Grace's bags are half way packed; I got our new curtains put up in the livingroom. I don't have much left to do to be completely prepared for Brentley's arrival, and I still have a little over four weeks until his due date :) I'm proud of myself because I am usually a major procrastinator.

Also, I know I still haven't done the post about it, but I have finished the pillowcases for both Brentley and Grace, and I made the no-sew pillows for Grace, Brentley, and my sister. I have five Christmas presents down :):)
This is Brentley's pillowcase. I will eventually get around to the post specifically about these. I promise.


Monday, July 25, 2011

For anyone who is new to following my blog..

I have noticed recently that I have several new followers (mostly thanks to cafemom), so I wanted to give you guys some background information on myself because I know it would take forever to read through all my posts.

My name is Christina, and I am 19 years old. My fiance, Chris and I started dating on July 24th, 2007 when I was 15, and he was 18. We were engaged on February 3rd, 2008 (my birthday). I got pregnant sometime in February of 2009, and we found out that I was pregnant in March of 2009. I gave birth to our daughter on November 3rd, 2009. He was almost 21, and I was 17 and a senior in high school, so yes, I am a teen mom. We lived with my mom while I was in high school, and I graduated high school in May of 2010, 6th in my class of 256, with a 4.0 GPA (our daughter was 6 months old at the time).
The next month, my fiance and I moved into our own apartment with our daughter. In August of 2010 I started my first semester of college, and I am studying to be an Early Childhood Special Education Teacher. At the end of my first semester of college (Dec. of 2010), we found out we were expecting our second little bundle of joy. He is due in just a little over four weeks (August 27th)!!
In January of this year I began my second semester of college. I completed that semester in the beginning of May, and began my third semester of college at the end of May. I just completed that semester about a week ago. So far, I have maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout college as well.
I am taking the fall semester off for the birth of our son, and I will be starting back in January of 2012. For now we are just anxiously awaiting the burth of our little boy :)

Now, I am sure you have been wondering.. did we plan our babies? The answer is no. We did not plan either of our babies. With our daughter (Grace), we rarely used protection. I was one of the ignorant teenagers who thought it would never happen to me, but it most certainly did! However, that is when I left my teenage years behind to be a mom. I did end my childhood early, but I would not change a thing now.
With our little boy (Brentley), he was not planned either. However, there was not a single time after we had our daughter that we did not use protection. Our protection failed one time (and we knew it happened), and I got pregnant. We are planning on me getting an IUD after I have Brentley. We do not want anymore children after we have our son. We are perfectly happy having a girl and a boy.
And I just want to make it clear that while we did not plan our babies, I believe that everything happens for a reason, and that every child is born with a purpose. I would not trade my babies for the world.

So that is my life in a nutshell. If any of you have any questions feel free to ask. I am not shy, and I will answer any question. That goes for any post. Not just this one. And also, thank you for following my blog! If you like what you read, tell your friends :)

Sunday, July 24, 2011

A good day :)

Today was mine and Chris' 4 year anniversary! My mom agreed to watch Grace while we went out. He took my to Olive Garden, one of my favorites! It was delicious! After that we decided that we would go shopping for some of the rest of the baby stuff we needed. We got a nursing cover, a diaper bag, and his car seat, and we still have around $50 left in gift cards!!
The diaper bag we ended up getting wasn't the one I intended to get, but we both liked it, and it was $7 cheaper than the other one, so we got it instead.

We went to pick Grace up, and she didn't want to leave lol. She loves going to my mom's now. They wore her out because as soon as we got home she passed out. I took that opportunity to paint the letters for Brentley's wall.

I also have pictures of Brentley's room now that we have had the baby shower.

His bed.

This inside of his bed.

His Build-A-Bear has a home now :)

His diaper stacker.

His changing table.

The corner of his room is full of diapers and wipes, and there are about 8 more packs of diapers in his closet!!

This is the car seat, diaper bag, and nursing cover we got today :)

Grace after we brought her home from my mom's lol.

Painting the letters.. his walls will be decorated soon :)

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

My lists..

Random fact about me: I make lists for just about everything because they help keep me orgnaized and on task.
Since I have lots of free time now that I am done with school I have made several different lists of things for before Brentley's arrival.

The first is just a list of things to get done before Brentley gets here..
• Change doctor’s appointment (They scheduled me with the wrong doctor for my next visit. I called to change it today, but they are apparently closed on Wednesday's. This task will be completed tomorrow though) 


• Send out thank you cards (For the people from the baby shower)

• Get car fixed (My tails lights are messed up, but Chris is fixing that tomorrow. Then we still have to get my motor mounts fixed)

• Get everything we need for Brentley’s arrival (I have a list that spins off from this lol)

• Fix Brentley’s wall decorations (Still have to get his letter painted and hung up, and have to hang the signs Jessika made for him)

• Fix Grace’s and Brentley’s drawers (Both of their top drawers are coming apart for some reason. This is a job for Chris lol)

• Get shelf put up (Chris is going to put a shelf up over our washer and dryer, so we can store stuff there. That will help with the next thing on my list)

• Get house organized (This one will probably take me the longest. My house is clean, but not organized if that makes any sense)

• Mop floors (We have no carpet at all, so I want to mop every inch of the house before Brentley comes. I am bad about remembering to mop though)

• Get bags packed for hospital (It's getting close to time now, and I have always heard that a woman should have her bags ready by 36 weeks. I'm 34 weeks and 4 days, so I still have a little time for this one)

• Install Brentley’s car seat (Once we buy it of course)

 
 
Now the spin off list..
What we still need for Brentley:
• Car seat (We know which one we want and we are going to use some of our gift cards for it)


• Diaper bag (Also know which one we want and are going to use gift cards for it as well)

• Breast pump (I have a friend who is going to sell me hers for $30. It's a double electric pump that she only used 5 times and it has since been sterilized. That's going to save us about $40)

• Nursing cover (I found one at Target that I really like. Target is so much more breastfeeding friendly than Walmart is)

• Nursing pads (The same friend that is selling me the breastpump is giving me half a box of disposable nursing pads that she never used. That'll get me started at least) 

• Suction cup (This is one of the things that is going to help me breastfeed. I can get one at Walmart for $9, so we are going to use our gift cards for it too)

• Pump bra (This holds the pump on, so you can use your hands, which I'm sure I will need. It can only be bought online though so I don't know when I'll buy it)

 
Sunday is mine and Chris' 4 year anniversary. My mom is going to watch Grace for us, so we can go out to eat and maybe a movie. While she has Grace we are going to go get the car seat, suction cup, diaper bag, and nursing cover. We will then have most of the things we need for baby Brentley :)

Monday, July 18, 2011

I'm done!!!

I finished my last class today :):) I'm not sure what my grades are yet, but I'm pretty sure I made all A's!! Especially since I made a 97 on my speech about inducing labor!!! I made a 97 on my first speech, a 93 on my second speech, an 89 on my third speech (I hated my topic), and a 97 on my last speech! That's great considering I thought I sucked at public speaking! Lol. And that was my hardest class, so if I made an A in there, I am certain I made an A in my other two classes.

Now I can finally relax.. well, sort of. I plan on getting the house completely organized, so when Brentley gets here I won't have to worry about any of that. And then of course, I just want to spend as much time with Grace as possible. I try not to think about it much because it makes me sad to think that she is not going to be my only baby anymore. I already have so much love for my little man, but I haven't met him yet, so it's hard for me to believe that I could ever love anyone as much as I love my baby girl. I feel horrible because it's like I'm cutting her love and attention in half. I guess it will all work out though.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day... my dad's car broke down and it's in the shop, so I have to take him to work tomorrow morning. Then, my mom has to go to the dentist tomorrow, so Grace and I are going to go watch my brother and sister for her. Hopefully while I'm there I will be able to put the rest of my baby shower pictures up :)

Saturday, July 16, 2011

The baby shower!!

Today was our baby shower :):)
I had a lot of fun! I don't have many pictures yet because my mom took all the pictures for us, so they are all on her camera at her house. As soon as I get them I will post them on here.

We had just about 30 people there, which was about what I was expecting. As far as family, there was my mom, sister, brother, dad, nana, aunt, and cousin, Chris' mom, 2 aunt's, and 5 of his cousins. Then for friends there was Erica, Cayle, and Adam; Kendra, her boyfriend, and son (Michael), Ashley, Haley, my mom's friend Deborah, and B.J. and his step-son Austin (our neighbors). And of course, Grace, Chris, and me. Which is amazing consdering I only had like 15 people at Grace's shower!! Lol. I thought since this was a "second shower" we wouldn't have many people show up.

I also didn't figure we would get many big ticket items, which was fine with me. I wasn't expecting anyone to buy anything big, but I was pleasantly surprised..
We got a bath tub that folds for storage, the bedset we wanted, a bumbo seat, the swing/vibrating chair combo, the corvette walker, a small diaper bag, two receiving blankets, a monkey toy, a healthcare kit, a really nice picture frame, some teethers, a burp cloth, some booties, two hats, several bibs, a height chart, dirty diaper bags, ointment, a towel set, several packs of wash cloths, a rubber ducky, 2 things of body wash, a bath sets, some pacifiers, a set of ten bottles that are good when breastfeeding, 7 things of wipes in different sizes, 4 things of diapers in different sizes, a bow to hang on the hospital door, and $130 worth of gift cards!!!
And my nana also made a diaper cake that had tons of diapers, 4 onesies, socks, booties, pacifiers, bath and lotion stuff, and two little cars.
I feel so blessed to have such an amazing support system!! We literally had to load up my car, my mom's car, and Chris' mom's SUV to get everything back to our house. I never ever imagined that we would get that much stuff.

Chris' mom also bought Grace a ride on toy.. I think they are called powerwheels. It's purple and green Tinkerbell 4-wheeler. It's one of the ones that you have to charge up once the battery drains. Grace LOVES it! She want Grace to feel left out. It was really nice of her because those things are not cheap!

And then I cannot forget, Erica made the cake and cupcakes for us :) The cake was soooo cute! And both the cake and cupcakes tasted really good!


These are the other pictures I have for now..

Chris took these when we were opening presents lol.



 Once we got everything home the stuff took up our entire hallway!

Also, Grace thinks that this belongs to her :p 
(You can see the front of her Tinkerbell 4-wheeler in the background).


It really is amazing how much this shower has helped us out though. Now all we need is a car seat, a breasstpump, a big diaper bag, and a couple of other breastfeeding items, and the $130 in gift cards will really help out with that stuff!!

I will have more pics soon!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

My birthing plan..

So after my experience in the hospital when I was giving birth to Grace, I wanted to make sure we had a detailed birthing plan this time. I used a template I found online to creat my birthing plan. Now I say "my birthing plan" but it's more of mine and Chris' birthing plan because we have gone over a lot of this extensively, and came to the decisions together. Anyway.. this is it..

Labor induction/augmentation
  • I would prefer not to be induced unless there are health risks (even if I go past my due date).
Environment

  • I would like Chris and my mom, Donna, present during my labor and delivery.
  • I would like to be able to take pictures and videos during the labor and delivery.
  • I would like to be allowed to remain mobile during my labor and delivery. 
Preparation

  •  I would prefer not to be given an enema.
Monitoring
  • I would prefer external monitoring only. 
Anesthesia – Pain Medication
  • I would prefer to try laboring without pain medication. I will ask if I would like something for pain. Please do not ask me. 
First Stage of Labor
  • I do not want to be separated from my partner during labor and delivery.
  • I would prefer there be no time limits on laboring and prefer labor not to be augmented unless medically necessary.
  • I would prefer my water not be broken during labor. 
Episiotomy
  • I would prefer not to have an episiotomy. 
Second Stage of Labor (pushing)

  •  I would like a mirror present to view the birth.
  • I would like no time limits on pushing.
  • I would like counting to help me push.
Cesarian Section
  • I would like to avoid a c-section if possible.
  • If a c-section is necessary, I would like Chris present.
After Birth

  •  I would like to have the baby placed on my chest immediately after birth.
  • I would like to have Chris cut the cord.
  • I would like the baby to room in with me.
  • I would like Chris to stay in the room with me.
Breastfeeding
  • I would prefer to breastfeed.
  • I would like to see a lactation consultant.
  • I do not want my baby to have a pacifier.
  • I do not want my baby to be given any formula or water, especially from a bottle.
Circumcision

  • I do not want to have my baby circumcised.

So what do you guys think??

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

My dentist appointment..

I had a routine cleaning today at the dentist. I was supposed to get x-rays at this appointment, but since I have mister Brentley in there, no x-rays for me. They said my teeth looked really good, which was good news to me because I have been a bad girl, and haven't been to the dentist in several years! I was supposed to go when I was pregnant with Grace, but I didn't get to. I was afraid I was going to have cavaties or something, but I always make sure and brush my teeth everyday, so I guess that explains why I don't. Unfortunately though, he says that I am more than likely going to have to have at least my two bottom wisdom teeth taken out, and maybe even my top two. He won't know for sure until I get x-rays when I go back in six months. It's pretty much a definite that the bottom two will have to come out though. My mouth is already crowded on the bottom. Plus one of them is growing in weird. He said it's amazing that I haven't had any pain from it.
Anyway , I am NOT looking forward to that. I've never had surgery of any kind. So that will definitely be a new experience. My mom said that she would help me out when I have to get them taken out though. She had all four of hers taken out, and she said I will not be able to take care of the babies for a couple of days because of the meds they will have me on. At least I know I have a good support system :)


Also, a little bit of update on life..
  • I have already noticed Grace's language improving since I posted that one post about her. She is getting a lot better at repeating words back to me, so her vocabulary has expanded, and she is using words a lot more. I am very happy about that!
  • I only have two days of school left (tomorrow and Monday)!! Unfortunately on my last day I have to give a 7-8 minute speech :( The good thing is, we got to choose our topic, and I decided that my speech is going to be about why women should let their bodies go into labor naturally instead of electing to be induced. I am really passionate about that, and I don't mind doing the research because it actually pertains to me at this point in my life.
  • And lastly, baby shower on Saturday!! I am super excited about that. Erica is making the cake for us. My nana is making us a diaper cake too! And my mom is going to watch Grace Saturday morning, so that Chris and I can get everything set up and the food ready. I am so thankful that I have all these people willing to help us. I've had over 20 people RSVP. I'm expecting anywhere from 25-30 people. I will have pictures of the shower asap :)

Friday, July 8, 2011

Pregnancy update..

I haven't done one of these in awhile, so I figured I would do one.

32 weeks and 6 days pregnant.


I will be 33 weeks tomorrow! I still can't figure out where the time has gone. As far as symptoms, I have several new ones. The first one is extreme PRESSURE! It's very painful. When I walk it feels like my bones are rubbing together, and I can literally feel popping. And you can forget bending.. if I bend over it feels like someone is stabbing me what I stand back up. Most of the time it's in the mornings and it lasts like 30 minutes to an hour, but here in the past couple of days it has been getting worse. It's been lasting a lot longer.

He also likes to lay on my nerves. There is one he lays on that sends a sharp pain through my right hip.
And my last new symptom is trouble breathing.. which honestly confuses me.. how can he be so low that it feels like I have a bowling ball between my legs, but then also be so high that he's compressing my lungs?
I seriously think that he is going to be a big boy! I'm hoping that means he will come early enough that they don't want to induce me, but honestly I sometimes wonder if he's going to come too soon. I feel like I am constantly in pain between the pressure and the random Braxton hicks :(

At my doctor's appointment the other day (I go every two weeks now) my doctor was asking me if I had felt him moving that day. I said no, and she got this weird look on her face. She didn't say anything though. She just started listening to his heart beat, and then she started pushing on my belly, and she goes, "His heart rate reacts to me pushing on you. That's a good sign." I knew there was nothing wrong because he never moves much in the morning (it was an early morning appointment), but still.. my doctor acting like that is never a good feeling. He moves ALL the time though. He makes me belly look like waves in the ocean lol.

The next couple of weeks are going to be pretty busy, but I'm getting a little break.. I found out yesterday that we are ahead in two of my classes, so both of those classes are going to end on Tuesday, which means only one more 12 hour day!! Plus, after those classes end, I will only have one class to worry about. I am very happy about this!
And it is just in time for my baby shower, which is next Saturday! I'm really excited about that. And we are also going to have maternity pictures done the next Saturday, so I'm excited about that too :)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The 4th of July :)

I can tell Grace is definitely not a baby anymore :( This past weekend we had a lot of fun with her though!
I had Monday off from school, so I got to spend the whole day with her :) We spent the first part of the day just lounging around, then around 5pm we went to my family's cookout. There were tons of little kids there and Grace played so well with them! She also swung in a big kid swing, and she didn't fall out! She has never done that before, but she did such a good job! She even played all by herself with the other kids. Usually she wants me right by her side, but she didn't mind then. And let me tell you this kid can eat! She ate baked beans, TWO corn dogs, and a cookie lol. She was not going to let that food go to waste :p





Then we came home, and my mom and sister came over for awhile. We let Cheyenne and Grace play with some sparklers (I help Grace hold hers). We also discovered that you can see Lake Winnie's fireworks display from our yard. They had fireworks Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, so we got to watch them all three days. Grace was so cute!  Every time a firework would go off she would start pointing and saying "look!" It was precious, and she really liked it.




And lastly.. the night before the 4th this little guy pretty much adopted us. We had never seen him before that night, but he was still hanging out on our front porch the next morning, and all day on the 4th. We asked everyone around us, and no one has ever even seen him before, much less claimed him. I was hesitant to take him in because I didn't really want anymore animals right now, but he was still hanging around the next morning, which is when we found out someone shot our neighbor's dog. It had gotten out, so it was partially her fault because the dog wasn't on a leash, bit still.. that didn't give a person the right to shoot it! I couldn't bare the thought of the poor kitty getting shot. Plus Grace LOVES this cat. Everytime she saw it she would say "kitty!" (which she had never said before) and want to play with it. She even tried to protect it from the dog our neighbor was walking. Grace ran toward the dog holding up her hand and saying "stop, no, stop.".. and now that it is in our house she says "my kitty!" One of her first sentences! He's a really good cat too. We have decided to name him kitty, since Grace can say kitty, and also because someone may put up flyers for him. He had no collar, but he's declawed and very domesticated, so he had to be someone's cat.