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winding down. (79)

Today was a full day, and the babe must have sensed it was one for keeping busy, because busy he or she has been! To represent these days and weeks accurately, I’ll do best tonight just to admit that I’m pretty wiped out after a long and productive day. I continue to stay optimistic that I can hang on to some serious energy for at least the next few weeks, but I know I’m going to have to pick my battles. Blogging this evening may not be one of them I choose to fight 😉

When I left the house for work this morning, H cried and tried to keep me from leaving the gate at the back door. We’re pretty much over this most days, but for some reason, today was an exception. We exchanged extra kisses and hugs, and I promised him he’d have a fun day (we have an amazing sitter!) while I was gone. I went to work, had meetings here and there, plugged in my adult brain for the day, and returned home to a sweet boy, ready to greet me at the door. The very first thing he told me about his day was that he cried when I left, that he gave me two kisses, and that I had to go to work. Yep. It’s true. And I’m happy to say we all made it through. I thought it was so cute that H remembered how he’d been feeling this morning and wanted to tell me about it. Whoever believes that little boys aren’t just adorably sweet has clearly not had an encounter with a doting two year old 🙂 We snuggled up in the living room with a pile of library books, and when dad got home, we all fit ourselves on the couch together and read away, happy to be home as a family at the end of a longish Thursday.

Now I’m just kind of letting my brain go, gearing up for weekend time and looking forward to making more progress on baby-related things over the next few days. Throw in the farmer’s market on Saturday, church on Sunday, and a few other items on the agenda here and there, and it promises to fly by as most do in the summertime. Beautiful and brimming with activity, but all too short.

I’ve no infinite motherly wisdom to offer tonight, not much else to say. Just that it’s a good evening for leaning back and easing into bedtime before starting over again tomorrow.

cheers to a busy belly, a sentimental boy, and a stack of “you want to read this to me?!” library books. it’s a wonderful life.

mm

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wonderful wednesdays. (80)

Um, 80. 80! I’m on the fence today about how fast or slow this baby is making his/her way into the world 😉 I’m so amazed at the whole process, and tonight, I really can’t decide if I’m thrilled by our 11 week countdown, or slightly panicked–there’s so much to do! Perhaps I’m experiencing a healthy combination of both, and a sense of urgency that will be enough to motivate me in my productivity for the next several weeks. Goodness knows I’m not going to be running around here with a toddler-like energy two months from now. (Although if you know me, you might call my bluff on this. I sort of get a thrill out of working under pressure to make everything come together at the exact right moment. It’s the party planner in me, I think.) Regardless, we’re having a baby! I’m super excited to be mama to two, and to get to explore the world with big brother H and our newest little munchkin!

A few weeks back when the farmer’s market officially came to town for the Summer/Fall season, I decided that Henry and I needed a little something special to mark the days and weeks until baby’s arrival. As much as I’m thrilled to be a family of four, I also know I’m going to miss our mommy and Henry times, when we head out and have little adventures all to ourselves. I get a little choked up just thinking about it. You can bet I’ll still prioritize those moments after we’re settled in with baby. I can’t get enough of my little buddy!

Since the farmer’s market takes place on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and since Saturdays are “weekend time!” and fun days with daddy, I declared this the Summer of Wonderful Wednesdays for H and me. The timing is great mid-week–especially as I work on Thursdays and miss my Bug a bit on my days out of the house. When we started our plan, I counted a potential fifteen Wonderful Wednesdays before baby is due. Each Wednesday morning, we head downtown to pick out a few treats (ie. fruit, veggies, flowers, bread, honey) to round out our menu for the week and to fill up the fridge and pantry with fresh, local delights. I love watching H at the farmer’s market–particularly as he learns more and more about different foods, plants, and flowers. It’s an education every week, and we both enjoy the leisurely stroll it takes for us to get all the way down to one end of the market and back again. Side by side with a trip to the market, we pay our obligatory visit to the local coffee shop for “a bagel and dip!” (and a latte for mom:). I love that Henry has his favorite chair, that he cozies up in it every week like he’s perfectly at home, and that this little hour of joy has made it into the fabric of our weekly routines. Sometimes we bring a book, sometimes cars to play with, and sometimes, we just sit quietly and ease into our morning. It’s a beautiful thing for this mama who’s trying to savor all of this time with my boy.

After coffee and a bagel and the market, there’s always something else fun to do. Occasionally we meet up with other friends, pay a visit to the library, or wander to a park or outside to explore what’s happening in the world. We admire cars and notice all of the trucks that go by. Summertime is a great time to wander past construction sites and to follow ants down the sidewalk…there’s never a shortage of things to do!

Wonderful Wednesdays haven’t necessarily changed the fabric of our weeks an incredible amount, but they have helped me to focus on making sure we’re taking time–for the sake of taking time. It’s so important to me that I’m not always rushing around with H from one thing to the next, and although it feels that way sometimes, I know we’re being intentional to slow down and go at a toddler pace here and there. I love it when we do. I can’t believe we’re already down to a potential eleven Wonderful Wednesdays, but time is passing quickly. You can bet we’ll be soaking it up as much as we can from now until August, and then, we’ll have to come up with another great way to spend our one-on-one time. It’s such a treasure to live somewhere that has so much to offer young families like ours!

I’m wrapping up this particular Wonderful Wednesday in the quiet of the living room. H is sound asleep upstairs, J is out with a friend, and baby and I have just been enjoying our own version of one-on-one time together. He or she is busy in my belly, but as I’ve sat here typing away and talking to the babe, it’s been amazing to notice how his or her movement changes with my activity. I can feel the little one quite clearly through the bump, and it’s pretty surreal to have my hand on this sweet baby, knowing that before long we’ll be cuddled up and snuggled together in the day to day. I’m loving these quiet moments and the opportunities God keeps giving me to reflect and enjoy. So grateful for this life, for Wonderful Wednesdays, and for all that a day filled with simple pleasures can hold…

blessed to the brim,

mm

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the dreaded orange drink (and other additives). (81)

I ventured out to the dr. today for my 28 week visit and the highly anticipated, standard glucose screen. This is, of course, my favorite medical appointment in pregnancy, because the joy of drinking 10 oz. of overly sugary, non-carbonated, orange goodness is almost more than I can stand. It’s just such a treat! As I read the label before consuming my mid-morning refreshment, I was disturbed (although not shocked) by its contents. My favorite? Natural Flavorings and Yellow 6. Really? Yellow 6? Does making the beverage orange increase any of its appeal?

For this mama, the answer is absolutely not. It’s totally perplexing to me that the healthcare industry thinks it brilliant to offer its pregnant population such an admirable choice when it comes to this kind of thing. Now, I don’t get on my whole foods/raw foods/organic foods soapbox very often, and I certainly do it with little frequency here on the blog. But. I’ve done my level best to eliminate colors by number (and other such offenders) from our diets for some time now, and (I think) for good reason. I come across articles and legislation and packaging every day that make me wonder with regularity, “What on earth is happening to our food?!” And I think the answers are terribly frightening.

I could go on for a long time about why we try to hard to keep certain things (ok, lots of things) off of the table and out of our pantry these days. Just see my kid after a whole foods based meal, versus after a few too many bites of ice cream or anything else sugary or processed. Plain and simple, it’s just. not. worth. it. At least as far as I can see it. This doesn’t mean that we don’t have the occasional treat, or that our family is the perfect picture of health at all times. It just means that I’ve grown accustomed to reading labels and taking our consumption (food, body care products, baby items, and the like) pretty seriously. I know some people think I’m a bit out there for doing so, and others are much further along the curve than I am (I generally envy their knowledge and clean living savvy). Regardless of where people are on the continuum, I think it’s super important these days that we’re all owning our health and the choices that impact it on both a daily and lifelong basis. This will continue to be a consistent effort for me in the time to come. There’s always more information available, and certainly, so much more we can do to make sure that we’re consuming responsibly–for our bodies, our minds, our communities, and the environment. So much more.

At any rate, I begrudgingly drank the obligatory orange stuff (read: garbage) that made me sick to my stomach not minutes later, and trudged on over to my appt. Try as I might, it honestly did make me a bit cranky (just saying). Quite thankfully, I “passed” the test and all of the other necessary counts for the day, and it seems as though the babe and I are fairly agreeable with one another on a physical and physiological level. Phew. Scratch that three hour screen off the list (at least this time around:).

I’m trying so hard not to be crabby about anything pregnancy related, I really, truly am. Especially after last year and now having a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby–I couldn’t (and shouldn’t) ask for a whole lot more. So please bear with me when I’m just terribly honest and needing a space to air my baby-carrying thoughts. And please also know that I am overjoyed and still in awe of this process–as much as possible, and every day. Still, I’m human (and growing a human), and sometimes things get to you in a way that they otherwise wouldn’t sans pregnancy hormones. I think that’s alright. I want the Button to look back on these crazy 100 days entries and know that his or her mama is real, authentic, sometimes vulnerable. I actually think there’s a whole lot of health in that!

detoxing tonight (kidding!). but perhaps unwinding from a somewhat challenging and edgy day for yours truly. here’s to wonderful wednesday tomorrow–it promises to be looking up!

mm

Some helpful and wonderful links if you’re walking down a similar road to health (or aspiring to), or just wanting a little more info:

–Healthy Child, Healthy World

(check our their newest infographic on food and the farming industry here:

–Healthy Child’s Farm to Fork Infographic

–The Honest Company (A personal favorite for household, bath and baby products that are safe for our bodies and kiddos)

–gDiapers (There are LOTS of great cloth diapering companies and products out there these days. I just love what these guys are doing and how they approach cloth and the environment)

–Vine.com (Great place to shop products and companies with a bent towards all natural goodness 🙂

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Happy (and healthy) browsing!

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2,046 words. (82)

mom munchkin babyI am in love. With my babies. With this season. With the beach. With all of God’s perfect creation swirling around me so tangibly. It doesn’t really matter how hard it can feel sometimes. This motherhood thing? It is 100% holy and pure and good.

sunset belly silhouette

amazed.

mm

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in celebration of being born. (83)

Today has been a delightful day. All day long, H has been wishing me a happy birthday–taking my face in his little chubby hands and getting up really close to whisper it to me like a beautiful secret. Have I mentioned I love my boys? And this precious babe doing flip flops in my belly? Somehow, the gift of life inside makes celebrating my own birthday particularly poignant and sweet this year.

I woke up this morning and had a good snuggle with the munchkin. On my way downstairs for breakfast, Henry met me with a trio of birthday balloons. He and J and Grammy (J’s mom) had blown up a whole bunch and decorated the living room with festive color. Then of course, H helped me to open my birthday gift (“Here Mommy! It’s a car!”), along with sweet birthday cards, a new top from Grammy, and the like. Mid-morning, we headed out to meet my mom, dad, stepmom and stepsister for brunch and had the loveliest time. Despite the drizzly and chilly day outside, my birthday was looking up!

Next up on the festivities list? A visit to IKEA for nursery accoutrements and random two dollar treats for H. For a couple with family living ten minutes from the big blue destination, we sure hadn’t been in a long time! It was fun to dream up ideas and visualize the Button’s space becoming more of a reality in the days to come. 28 weeks today, world! We’re getting ever closer to meeting our babe!

The rest of the day was nice and mostly normal…packing up to come home, making the return drive to our side of the lake, picking up ice cream from our favorite place on the way for a late night treat (it’s waiting in the freezer for me to hit publish on this post at this very moment ;). H conked out in the car for the ride home and summed up my evening sentiments quite nicely, new IKEA truck nestled safely in his lap:

ikea henry.jpg

We returned to the little blue house at the tail end of it all, and tucked the small one into bed with hardly a fuss. Now I’m just sitting here grateful–for all of the fullness of the day and the richness of my life here on this planet in such a time as this. It has been a weekend abundant with celebration!

eml reunited.jpg

I am so fortunate to be surrounded and loved, so blessed by dear friends and family and life all around me!

h told me all weekend i was going to have a chocolate cake with brownies on top and colored things. granted. :)

h told me all weekend that i was going to have a chocolate cake with brownies on top and colored things. i’d say this does the trick!

here’s to thirty one! it’s gonna be a beautiful year, i think. 😉

mm