My First Triathlon

A few weeks ago, I competed in my very first sprint triathlon. This has been on my bucket list for years and it was an awesome challenge. I trained for a full month cycling in the gym, swimming laps at our local pool, and running miles along the canal. On race day, I pushed myself even harder and did better overall than my practice times. I LOVE knowing that my body is capable of doing hard things. My girls deserve a good, strong role model on living a healthy life. Them and their daddy are the best cheerleaders :)

Introducing... Rylee Elizabeth

Blogging has taken the back seat for the past 9 months as I've been learning how to mother TWO little ones. Rylee Elizabeth (middle name after my wonderful mother-in-law) was born January 18th at 2:30AM in Chandler, Arizona. She was 6 lbs. 15 oz. and 19 inches long. Perfect in every way.

Her birth story is already starting to get hazy in my mind.. so I'll record it here to jog my memory in the future: I went in for my weekly obgyn appt. at 39 weeks 3 days pregnant. I was only 1 cm dilated and slightly effaced. The doctor wanted to monitor the baby for 20 minutes with the belly strap on me. After 20 minutes, she checked on me and  wasn't seeing as much movement as she would have liked. She chalked it up to "baby is probably sleeping". After having me do what felt like jumping jacks at the time to get her moving, she put the strap on my stomach again and left me alone for another 20 minutes. When she returned, she still wasn't pleased with the amount of movement on the monitor so she sent me next door for an ultrasound to check fluid levels and baby's vitals. By this point, I was starting to worry. Will stayed home with Sadie during the (supposedly routine) appointment so I texted him what was going on. During the ultrasound, the tech said that baby's heart rate and fluid levels looked fine. However, she took some bone measurements and said that she was concerned about the measurements being odd. Basically, she made it seem like our baby could come out with super short legs in proportion to her body... now I WAS alarmed. Every appointment and ultrasound had gone great until now. I went back next door to meet with the doctor after she looked over the ultrasound notes. She told me not to worry, but since I was so close to my due date anyway, she just wanted to induce me and see what was going on once she was delivered. After an emotional phone call to Will and texts to our parents (which they of course forwarded on to our siblings asking for prayers), I drove across the street to the hospital to check myself in. I felt so funny showing up in nice clothes (even wearing wedges haha) all alone to check myself in to Labor and Delivery.

Will wasn't too far behind, after dropping off Sadie at my parents' for the night. I was induced around 3pm by a special kind of gel being injected inside up near my cervix. The drill was that I would do 3 rounds of the gel injections, with 1-1&1/2 hours in between to pick up more contractions. At this time, I was actually in the "trauma area" with just curtains separating me from other patients because there was no rooms available in the entire delivery unit yet... Because they would need to move me into one to actually deliver, I was told I couldn't get my epidural done in there. At first that was no big deal. We spent the hour after the first injection walking the cafeteria and eating dinner together. I swayed and breathed through pretty frequent contractions. Not too bad. When I got checked before the second injection, I hadn't really progressed in dilation. How could that be when the contractions were speeding up and already getting more painful?? After the second injection, things really started hurting BAD. I breathed and squeezed Will's hand HARD through each contraction. They seemed to be coming in giant waves every 2-4 minutes. I kept asking to be checked and when I could get my epidural. My pain tolerance is low but I felt like she was coming SOON. The nurse and doctor checked me a couple more times but I was dilating so slowly. I was only dilated to about 4cm. Finally I couldn't take it anymore and broke down in tears. Will got up and said "that's it. I'm getting you into a room and an epidural right NOW!" He was my hero. 

Just a few minutes later it seemed, I was in a room and they had paged the anesthesiologist in. He had me sign some medical consent forms and explained the procedure as I loudly moaned in pain over whatever he told me. Within minutes after he gave me the epidural, I had transformed from Mr. Hyde back into Dr. Jekyll. It was getting late and I knew this was my chance to get some rest while my body continued to transition. Will and I napped for almost 2 hours and I woke up apparently wet. The nurses came in and realized that my water had broken, so they checked me. I was dilated to a 10! They paged the doctor and got the room all set up for the delivery. Seeing the little bed under the heat lamp in the corner made me so giddy to get her out. I don't remember exactly how long I pushed, but I was given an oxygen mask like I had to breathe through with Sadie's delivery. I knew the drill, and my body pushed like it was made to do.  The most tender moment was seeing Will cover his mouth and say "oh my gosh" as the doctor lifted her up onto my chest. We finally got to meet our sweet girl. I'm convinced there is no greater feeling of euphoria than holding your newborn baby for the first time. We did "skin-to-skin" immediately and she started nursing. All we wanted to do was love on her for the rest of the night. 

Motherhood is a Rollercoaster

Motherhood is a rollercoaster. It's the joy of witnessing every "first" in your baby's life and the sadness of watching them slip, fall, and get hurt along the way. It's the tenderness of watching them fall asleep in your arms, and the roughness of your flailing toddler while throwing a tantrum. It's the sense of pride you get listening to your child use their manners, and the embarrassment when you have to walk them back into the store to return the tiny porcelain turtle they stashed in their pockets on the way out. And OH the "mom guilt"... "Are they eating enough fruits and veggies?", "Are they going to be less intelligent because they've watched a couple hours of t.v. today?", "My kid is older.. why isn't she __________ yet??", "Have I talked to them enough about strangers and protecting their bodies?" Motherhood can be quite stressful to say the least.. but yet I've never met a mother who regretted it. It is rewarding in a way that nothing else in life even comes close to. The love shared between a mother and her child is unconditional. We as mothers must choose to embrace the good and let go of our imperfections everyday too. MOTHERHOOD IS BEAUTIFUL. YOU ARE ENOUGH. Your children want and need YOU, present, trying, imperfect you. Forgive yourself for the daily struggles and slip-ups. I promise that your kid already has. Keep up the good work, mamas.

38 weeks

 Today I am 38 weeks + 5 days. I can't believe we're at the tail end already! I remember at 7 weeks thinking it would be an eternity before we got to meet our baby.. and here we are thinking any day now! Sadie came 4 days early, so wishful thinking is this one will be slightly early too. We'll see! I can't wait to see what she looks like, breastfeed again, and watch Sadie interact with her. I just know my heart is going to burst.

How far along: 38 weeks + 5 days

Total weight gain: 25 lbs.

Stretch marks: Faint ones starting to show

Ring on/off: On

Sleep: Few hour stretches between all of the bathroom trips

Best moment this week: My sweet friends threw me the most fun baby shower

Miss anything: Not getting winded so easily

Movement: SO much! It feels like somersaults and stretches more than kicks now.

Food cravings: SWEETS but what else is new?

Food aversions: Still greasy food

Gender: Girl

Belly button: Outie

Happy or moody: Both

Looking forward to: Hopefully meeting her next week!

33 Weeks

Where has the time gone?! I can't believe that next month is baby month! Everyone told me it flies by much quicker the 2nd time around and boy were they right. Nearing the end of this pregnancy is bringing me a lot of emotion.. We are excited to snuggle our little girl and watch her learn and grow alongside her sister. I'd be lying though, if I didn't say I'm also feeling anxiety and fear too. I get stressed when thinking about how I will split my time and attention between the girls. Sadie has been my little bestie for 3 & 1/2 years now and I'm nervous about her feelings with the big change. Most mothers I've talked to have been through these same emotions though, and assure me that everyone transitions just fine with time. Will keeps reminding me that my heart isn't going to split between the two, it will simply grow to allow even more room for each kid we have. I love that man's positive reassurance.

How far along: 33 weeks

Total weight gain: 18 lbs.

Stretch marks: Not that I can see yet

Ring on/off: On

Sleep: Between baby bouncing on my bladder, kennel training our puppy, and a toddler who is a nightowl, not so great anymore..

Best moment this week: Decorating for Christmas time

Miss anything: Not having my belly hang out of almost every shirt I own.. small sacrifice to pay though!

Movement: Alot! Especially late at night

Food cravings: SWEETS but what else is new?

Food aversions: Still greasy food

Gender: Girl

Belly button: Outie!

Happy or moody: Both

Looking forward to: A full month of holiday festivities

Seattle Pt. 2

 By day 3 of our trip, we were ready to venture outside of the main city. We took a scenic drive up north and stopped for breakfast at The Original Pancake House. We loved going to the one up in Salt Lake when we lived there, so it was a pleasant surprise to find another one along our drive. After breakfast, we went to Snoqualmie Falls. It is a gigantic waterfall surrounded by pretty pines and fall colors. Too bad we picked the rainiest day to visit.. so we didn't stay too long. But the view was gorgeous!

We decided it would be a good indoor, shopping day so we stopped at a mall in the closest town, Bellevue. I got pampered with hand massages and loads of samples by the girls working in Nordstrom. It was nice to shop at our own pace for once. For dinner that night, we decided to try out the highly-rated Duke's Chowder House in Seattle. It was delicious! We sampled a couple different chowders and shared a yummy marionberry pie topped with vanilla ice cream. Mm mm.

 Our last day was Sunday and everywhere seemed to calm down. We walked over to Tilikum Place Cafe for breakfast. I had delicious gingerbread pancakes topped with lingon berries. So good! (Can you tell, this was more like a "food-cation" yet?) After that, we checked out of our hotel and parked near the ferry port. Following many recommendations, we caught the Bainbridge Island ferry and enjoyed a serene ride across Elliott Bay and Puget Sound. It was the first completely sunny day, so the views were spectacular! We fell in love with the cute, colorful little homes lining the island.

 Will had no idea what this recreation from the Titantic movie was..

Our original plan was to catch a movie and lunch over there before heading to the airport, but the selections were pretty slim. We took a nice, long walk soaking in the gorgeous fall colors then hopped back on the ferry. Will's feet were killing him so I suggested we get a pedicure together (his first). It is the funniest thing to hear him retell the story.. he has the most ticklish feet and between that and him wincing through the pain of hang nails being pulled out, I doubt he will ever be back into a nail salon. I however, sat back and enjoyed haha. We finished off the trip with Pike Place Chowder. It's an alley up from the market and really popular, but was definitely worth the 30 min wait in line. We love a good clam chowder in a bread bowl! This trip was the perfect couple retreat for us. We can't wait to go back again someday with our girls!

28 Weeks

Today, I'm 28 weeks + 4 days. I can't believe we're already starting the 3rd trimester! I feel like the 2nd trimester came and went in the blink of an eye... I can't believe in just 2 &1/2 months our little girl will be here! Sadie is excited to play and help teach her so many things. The things she talks about the most are "teaching her not to eat sand", sharing her puppies (even her prized "Daddy puppy") with her, and sharing a bunk bed together with her someday like her cousins Vi & Jackie. She has of course already staked her claim on the top bunk. I can't wait to watch the sisterly love grow. Now without further adieu... Bump-date!

How far along: 28 weeks + 4 days

Total weight gain: About 15 lbs.

Stretch marks: None yet from this pregnancy

Ring on/off: On.. haven't noticed any swelling yet

Sleep: Starting to toss and turn more throughout the night

Best moment this week: All of the Halloween festivities with my family

Miss anything: Sleeping on my stomach

Movement: Alot! I've been pretty sugar buzzed this month.. haha

Food cravings: SWEETS

Food aversions: Pizza and burgers most of the time..

Gender: Girl

Belly button: It's officially an outie!

Happy or moody: So much happier now that the sickness has passed

Looking forward to: Soaking up the holiday season