Hanley Goes to the Dentist

This picture makes my heart happy!

Hanley had a dentist checkup last week. Overall, this was her second dentist appointment ever. I started taking her when she turned 2, I want her to be comfortable and enjoy getting her teeth cleaned, like her mama!

She's such a great little patient!! She listens very well and opens up when they ask her to. She's the best 'go with the flow' little sidekick! I always make sure I warn her, so to say, when things like this are happening. Since her appointment was on a Wednesday, I started talking to her around Monday that she was going to have a dentist appointment. So that way, we talk about it for a couple days to sort of get her prepared. I'll talk to her about what they'll do and what makes the dentist happy and unhappy. That way, she knows exactly where we are going, and has an idea of what will happen so she doesn't have to feel afraid.

Thankfully, no cavities and she finally had her first 2nd year molar break through the gum with another one on its way.

I've been too nervous to start her on actual fluoride toothpaste and had still been using the safe 'training' paste because she always sucks it off then brushes (and then I brush better for her, after) but her dentist reassured me it would be totally safe to start her, using half a pea sized amount of toothpaste. Much to my surprise, half a pea size amount of toothpaste (which sounds like nothing at all) goes a very long way in a toddlers mouth! I surely would've been using way too much had I not had this conversation with her dentist. So the evening after her dentist appointment, I talked to her about her 'special' toothpaste and told her all about how she shouldn't swallow it. I demonstrated how she should rinse her mouth out with water afterwards and she was anxious to try herself. Shockingly, she did amazing. She didn't swallow any of the fluoride toothpaste and rinsed her mouth like a champ. I was so ecstatic! She doesn't quite understand how to keep all the foamy toothpaste from dripping down her mouth but I guess that's the least of my worries. I have to constantly remind her the entire time she is brushing (or when I'm rebrushing for her) not to swallow because there's been a few mishaps where she swallows everything instead of spitting it out when its time to rince her mouth with water.

Thankfully, she loves brushing her teeth and actually asks to floss some nights too. Here's to hoping we can keep her dental hygiene up to avoid cavities for a very long time!!

33 Weeks {baby #2}

How Far Along: 33 weeks
Total Weight Gain/Loss: 24 pounds. 
Maternity Clothes: Nothing but! It starts to suck when even some maternity clothing starts to fit snug and uncomfortable.
Best Moment This Week: watching Hanleys face light up when she feels him wiggle around inside my belly!!
Movement This Week: very active little guy! I get lots of jabs to my pelvic bones and they are borderline painful and very new to me since I never felt that with Hanley.
Food Cravings: none - none this whole pregnancy, its kinda strange.
Anything Make You Queasy or Sick: Nothing - I've felt very lucky with both pregnancies.
Have You Started to Show Yet: Yes
Gender: little baby boy
Symptoms: occasionally pain in the belly and sore hips, mainly from sleeping on my sides. My left leg goes numb sometimes if I'm leaning to the left while I sit but it goes away as soon as I move.
Belly Button IN or OUT: flat like a pancake
Looking Forward To: I'm having a small "sprinkle" shower on Saturday and excited to have everyone together!

Vacation in Florida

Greetings from vacation! Hanley and I are visiting friends in Florida for the week and it's absolutely beautiful here! The weather at home (Ohio) is blistering cold with snow that just won't.go.away. I am never one to complain about the cold or snow, I just deal with it, there's nothing that's going to come out of my mouth that will make it any better and who likes a complainer!? Not me!

My best friend has a (almost ) 4 year old and him and Hanley play together so good! We arrived Monday, had a great (nonstop) flight and had a chill evening. Tuesday (yesterday) we picked up subs for lunch and headed to the beach with the kids. She lives 5 minutes from the ocean so we spent a couple hours there then headed home for late naps. After naps we had to go to Wal-Mart for some things and picked up dinner while we were out. Today (Wednesday) we went to a Busch Wildlife Sanctuary. It's a free zoo and small enough that we can let the kids walk and tire them out and don't need strollers. It's nothing fancy but works for little kids! Bears, panthers, crocodiles, bobcats, lots of birds, turtles, snakes, otters and foxes.

It's currently nap time for the kiddies and relax time for these mommas and when they wake up we will take them to a splash pad/fountain where they will have so much fun! Tomorrow it's supposed to rain so we are taking them to get haircuts; Hanleys first official haircut, just trimming up her ends, but not chopping her length. They have the cutest little area for kids in this outdoor mall complete with an outdoor carousel and train ride (crossing our fingers for dry weather for 10 minutes while we attempt those) then a children's hair cutery and a fun indoor playground/cafe for them to be let loose!

Friday we go home and while the weather is warm and beautiful, I get home sick very quickly! I miss my husband who had to stay behind and work and have things I need to get completed before this baby boy decides to make his arrival! Friday morning before our flight home we will attempt to go to a Loggerhead Turtle rescue where they house and rehabilitate loggerhead turtles that get sick or injured. It's also free and the turtles are HUGE!

It's been a nice little warm get away for me and Hanley, last one for a little while once baby Conrad comes!

Update 30 Wks {baby #2}

Wooo have I neglected this little blog or what?!

I'm nearly 31 weeks pregnant and things are moving along great! I've had no morning sickness, no heartburn, no complaints for the most part! I've definitely been having Braxton Hicks contractions for a couple weeks now and a lot of movement. I never felt Hanley in my pelvis or rib cage in all the 9 months but this little boy LOVES hanging out in both! Not the most comfortable feeling.

We fixed up the spare bedroom and it makes me so happy because it looks so nice! It's not nearly as big as Hanleys room but equally as cute!

Next week Hanley and I are going on a little trip to see my best friend in Florida!! It will be nice to get away from this crazy cold weather and to get away one last time before the new addition.

The week after we get back from Florida, I'm having a little "sprinkle" for this baby boy. I don't need much but diapers, wipes and some boy outfits will be nice

I saved every piece of clothing that was Hanleys in case we had another girl and since we won't be needing them, I started taking her clothes to 2nd hand children's shops but it was a lot of time for not much money at all. I then decided to try Facebook and found a baby buy/sell site where I sold 90% of her old clothes and some girlie gear on and it made all the effort sooo worth it!

Hanley isn't exactly ready to give up her crib and I'm perfectly ok with her still being confined so one of my best friends was generous enough to give me a crib and mattress that's practically new. We moved Hanleys changing table/dresser into Conrads room and bought her a dresser on CraigsList. His room will be vintage aviation when it's all said and done! I'm currently working on a 4 panel art piece of a big abstract plane to go above his crib but it's trying my patience and not turning out exactly how I wished but hopefully will be ok in the end.

Night Terrors {Hanley}

One day last week I was busy all day helping out my mother in law so Hanley had to stay at my sister in laws house. She was practically there the entire day and had no nap. That night I put her to bed just like any other night. We went through our routine of brushing teeth, going potty, jammies, reading books, then laying down. About an hour or 2 into her being asleep, she woke up crying. She was laying on her back with her hands up toward the ceiling saying "hold me mom" with her eyes closed. I went to her like I normally would if she wakes up and isn't  soothing herself back to sleep. I tried putting her pacifier back in her mouth and she was refusing it which never ever happens, which should've been my first clue.

So I pick her up and sit down in the glider in her room and she just keeps yelling "no mom, no mom, no mom" over and over and over. Nothing would break her from saying that nonstop. I noticed her eyes were still mostly closed so I turned on her lamp and her eyes opened but she got mad. She slid off of my lap, onto the floor and started screaming at the top of her lungs at me. She's never even done that on a bad day so I had no clue what was going on. I was so confused, I just kept saying "what?? Hanley, what is wrong?" My only thought while this is all happening was that she was in pain for some reason.

So Michael comes in her room because he heard her screaming at me and then she just started saying "no dad, no dad, no dad!" And screamed a couple more times... We kept asking her if she was in pain and what was wrong but she just kept saying "no".

Then all of the sudden, like the flip of a switch, she was her sweet normal self and said "hold me mom" and so I picked her up and cradled her while sitting in the glider and she drifted back to sleep almost instantly.

So strange and confusing. I put her back to bed and researched it some and according to Baby Center "Night terrors are sleep disturbances in which a child may suddenly bolt upright in bed, cry, scream, moan, mumble, and thrash about with her eyes wide open, but without being truly awake. Because she's caught in a sort of a twilight zone between being asleep and being awake, she's unaware of your presence and isn't likely to respond to anything you say or do. They commonly have night terror in the first few hours of the night, during deep non-dream (non-REM) sleep. An episode can last anywhere from five to 45 minutes, and when it's over your child falls back to sleep abruptly with no memory of the incident. Don't try to wake her. And expect that your efforts to comfort her will be rebuffed — a child having a night terror really can't be calmed down, and if you try to hold her it may make her wilder."

After reading all of that, it was very clear what Hanley was going through was a night terror. It was pretty much exactly how the website explained it, to a T. Now that she's had one and I am aware, I will react differently and know how to better handle the situation (or lack thereof).

Gender Reveal {baby #2}

And our newest little baby Nemitz is a ... BOY!!

We easily settled on the name Conrad River Nemitz! We had a fairly difficult time coming up with some good boy names over the years (we are always discussing names!)

I had no idea what to think because my dreams were all over the place with different genders of babies and I had no feelings or intuition like I did when I was pregnant with Hanley!

When I was around 14 weeks pregnant, I had an ultrasound and the tech asked if we were finding out the gender and said she was thinking it was a boy but obviously at 14 weeks, couldn't be positive. We were having our anatomy ultrasound at 18 weeks so we decided not to get hung up on 'boy' just yet in case it was a misread.

We both kind of wanted another girl; familiar territory, we have another killer girl name and I saved ALL of Hanleys clothes. No big deal, I'm even more happy to know I will at least have one of each boy and girl if this is where we stop! I feel like its the perfect family!

While I've been starting to go through and sell 90% of Hanleys old clothes I saved, our car seat, stroller and a lot of 'gear' is gender neutral. So far I've sold a large basket of Hanleys old clothes and replaced those with new boy clothes for Conrad! I do have to say boy clothes just aren't as cute as girl clothes! lol

When we found out Hanley was a girl, I couldn't find any 'theme' I wanted for her nursery so I went with a color theme that would easily transition from baby to toddler and up. But with Conrads room, I was pretty set on a (vintage) aviation theme pretty early on. If it wouldn't have been aviation, I would've went with another color theme. The aviation theme I am going with won't be 'babyish' so it will easily be transitional. I have so many great ideas, I can't wait to get it going!!

Hanley is getting excited, I do think. Sometimes she comes up to me and says "I wanna hug brother!" And she will start pulling up my shirt and give my belly a hug; its soooo cute!!!

Halloween 2014

Halloween was so much fun this year! Hanley loved every minute of it. She dressed as Cheer Bear - her favorite care bear!

Funny story- when Hanley was around a year old, maybe a year and a half, we all were at a children's consignment shop and Michael found this pink care bear for $1 and wanted it for Hanley. I, on the other hand, was against the stuffed bear. She already had a ton of stuffed toys and doesn't really care about many of them and they take up so much space. He insisted and so I told him to go ahead. Well what do ya know, she loves that silly bear! It's her favorite and she sleeps with it every night.

Not long after that trip to the store, I was going through some things I had stored away for Hanley, like clothing for upcoming seasons. I spotted a pink Care Bear costume someone must've handed down to us and much to my surprise, it had the exact same rainbow design on the belly! I got excited for Hanley and checked the size on the tag, which was a 2T. Perfect!

Halloween where we live is typically pretty cold. Her costume was so warm, especially if she had on sweats underneath. Hanley actually got to go trick or treating 3 times this season! We took her to Boo at the Zoo and then Michael and I took her out trick or treating in a relatives neighborhood the week before Halloween. It was actually a fairly warmer evening and she got half a bucket full of candy. It was cute watching her up at the doors, she would say "trick or treat". Most of the time the kids got to pick their own pieces of candy and Hanley would always go for suckers if they were available, which are her favorite. 9 out of 10 times she would say "thanks" on her own.

My mother in law and brother in law came with us trick or treating again the night before Halloween. It was much chillier and again, got about half a bucket full of candy.

She never fussed, never refused to go and was always happy. It might've helped that we were either pushing her in her car or pulling her in her wagon, sometimes right up to the door. She still talks about going trick or treating some days!

Although she wouldn't wear the hat/head of the bear, I didn't see any other Care Bears while out trick or treating! I already can't wait until next year!!