16 Weeks

I "turned" 16 weeks pregnant yesterday, but more importantly, gained a niece (sort of)! Congrats to Jordon's cousin Jameson and his wife Katie on the birth of their baby girl, Sadie Elizabeth :-)

On our baby front, I've been tiredddddddd. Tyler wears me out and so does pregnancy haha. Other than that, it's been fairly easy to forget I'm pregnant. I'm anxious to feel baby move so I have a little more assurance that he/she is actually in there and okay, but I'm not sure I'm getting anything yet. Yesterday and today I did feel some flutters, but I'm not 100% sure it's baby, so I'll wait another week before I make any claims of quickening.

On the toddler front, we've entered the terrible 2s (I can't remember if I mentioned this last week, so if I did, forgive me). Tyler has been VERY bossy and really lets us know if he's discontent with something. Okay, not really bossy, but definitely demanding. We have these folding chairs that go with our card table, which I brought up to the living room when we had the tennis teams over. Well Tyler has decided these folding chairs are his special seats and he likes to point to each and tell Jordon and I where to sit. Then, 15 seconds later, he points to a NEW seat for each of us to sit in. Jordon and I also have the job of finding someone to sit in the fourth seat since Tyler, Jord and I only take up three. Mr. Rocking Horse, Mr. Woof, and Mr. Musical Dog. He is not content unless all four of those seats are filled. Goof ball. And as usual, he throws a fit if we don't take him outside or if we bring him in from outside. Unfortunately, the weather has been a bit sub-par recently, making less than ideal outside playing conditions and a very discontent toddler. Boo. But even with all that, Tyler is still giving out kisses, laughing at Jordon and I's attempts to be funny and is a great snuggle buddy. So all is not lost during those terrible 2s.

15 Weeks

Today I am 15 weeks pregnant. It all has kind of flown by and sometimes it still doesn't hit me that I'm pregnant. Tyler has been wearing me out everyday, but I guess that is what toddlers do best. He is awesome and so full of life and energy though, so I don't necessarily consider being worn out at the end of the day such a bad thing.

On the pregnancy front, I've been feeling decent. I still feel a little nauseous every night before bed (my "morning" sickness has always been worse at night, even with Tyler) which sucks, but I'm thankful I'm not throwing up like I was just a month or so ago. I'm feeling plenty of stretching and little cramps as my uterus is growing to accommodate our growing child and I have a fairly legitimate baby bump. Not big enough for people to brave the "Are you pregnant?" question, but enough for those who know I'm pregnant to comment on how I'm showing. I have one amazing pair of maternity jeans (thank you Mom!) that fit great right now, but the rest of my maternity jeans will have to wait another 4 weeks or so before they get worn because they are a tad big in the belly area. In the meantime, I've been wearing my non-maternity jeans fine with a hairband through the button hole (giving me an extra 1-2 inches in the waistline). I'm excited to get some new maternity wear though... I'd wear elastic pants and empire cut shirts all the time if I could :-) And no movement in this belly yet! I think I felt Tyler around 17 or 18 weeks last time and they say you can feel them a little earlier in subsequent pregnancies, but I haven't sensed anything yet. I'm very anxious for that to start so I'll have a better indication that everything is okay in there, since sometimes I forget I'm even pregnant right now.

On the toddler front, Tyler has been busy busy. He is OBSESSED with playing outside. We'll play for 3 hours outside and the moment we come inside he has a conniption and cries while pointing the the door saying "dis!!!!!! disssss!!!!!!" (translated: "You see this door here Mom, Dad?! I want you to open it up and take me back outside!). It's been great to have such nice weather to take him outside though.... I think he is a much happier baby toddler when he gets outside time. He's been helping me garden, splashing in the water I use to water my plants, and collecting all the rocks I dig out of the garden and putting them in his little race car. So easily entertained! He's also been very contently sleeping in between Jordon and I every night. It's going to be a tragedy in October, but for now, it's working for us. And honestly, I love waking up to his smiling baby face. Ahh so in love. He's the best.

That's it for now. We don't have another appointment until May 17th (18 weeks). Can't wait to hear baby's heart beating again!

Here's to you, baby Robinson number two!

Yes, the Robinson family is about to expand by two little feet! We found out at the end of January that we are expecting baby number two, and I'm in my 15th week of pregnancy. I've been a little anxious this time around, which would be why we haven't made this quite as big of a deal as last time. I'm not sure if it's the fact that we actually had to try to get pregnant this time (Tyler was our pleasant little surprise), or because I know what can go wrong in a pregnancy thanks to our scare last time, or because I'm sort of freaked out that we will soon have TWO children at once, but I've been a nervous nelly for the last three months.

So to catch you up, we found out I was pregnant and unlike last time, I didn't have a single symptom of pregnancy when I tested. I basically just tested because I was anxious to know if we'd finally succeeded haha. But of course I was nervous because I wasn't having symptoms so my midwife went ahead and did a 48 hour HCG blood test. They take your blood and measure the amount of pregnancy hormone (HCG) in your blood, then take your blood 48 hours later and ensure it at least doubles in that time. Mine more than doubled so that calmed my fear for the time, but then when I was about 6 weeks pregnant I started having pain on one side of my pelvis. Yet again, I worried. They did an ultrasound to make sure the pregnancy was in the right place, and not in my tube, and I thankfully saw our little peanut in my uterus, with his/her heart beating right away. The ultrasound tech said it probably had just started beating THAT week. Crazy!!!

Since then I had my 8 week appointment, which was a nurse educator appointment and completely pointless because I'm pretty well educated on pregnancy having been pregnant before and slightly obsessed with it haha. We were supposed to go in 4 weeks later but had to push our appointment back due to Jordon's crazy tennis schedule, and the fact that we're still seeing my midwives in Harrisonburg even though we live 2.5 hours away. So I was very anxious to hear our baby's heartbeat again, and finally got to this past Friday at 14 weeks.

This pregnancy has been fairly similar to my last, but definitely has it's differences. Although I was symptom-free for the first week, my morning sickness kicked in about a week earlier than last time and was, I believe, worse. Jordon says I just don't remember last time, or having to chase Tyler around while sick makes it worse, but I'm pretty sure it was just worse in general. I definitely threw up a lot more this time... there was a period of 10 days where I lost my dinner EVERY night. Ugh. It makes me sick just blogging about it haha. The morning sickness lasted a little longer as well. In fact, I'm still a little nauseous at night (definitely not the extent that I was thank goodness) and in the past couple days I've had a little relapse of my all day sickness, so I'm hoping soon enough it will all pass.

At first, my fatigue didn't really seem as pronounced as it did last time, but I'm pretty sure that was because I'm used to being tired all the time thanks to Tyler, and I just didn't have the option to be overly-tired because I had to take care of my son. However, more recently the exhaustion has really gotten to me and my body is really feeling the toll of pregnancy. Last pregnancy I was able to get back to running at this point of pregnancy, but this time when I just take Tyler for a walk or go to the grocery store, my body is just exhausted. I've been getting a little light-headed and feel like my blood pressure or sugar is low and it is just not fun! I mentioned it to my midwife and she said it's probably just exhaustion from taking care of a toddler at the same time as growing a baby, so she's not worried.

My pregnancy probably couldn't have come at a worse time, because Jordon was in the midst of tennis season during my entire first trimester. So while dealing with fatigue and nausea, I had to take care of Tyler alllllll day and deal with Jordon being gone :-( NOT fun. The day after tennis season officially ended, I spent almost the entire day on the couch while Jordon entertained Tyler. Totally deserved.

And as for my little boy (who will ALWAYS be my little baby)... he is just SO big. He has so much personality and is so much fun to be around. I can't believe how much I love him. He is still obsessed with dogs, however he now calls them "woof" instead of "da." He's also obsessed with balls... "ball" is one of the 5 or 6 words he actually says consistently. He is so smart and great at listening. He'll throw a piece of trash away in trashcan if you ask, picks up his toys, will lay down for you to change him if you tell him and helps put the laundry in and out of the machines. He's been a great eater and will eat anything we eat (which is occasionally annoying when this pregnant momma doesn't want to share, but I'll do anything for my boy). We told him that mommy has a baby in her belly and I think he sort of understands. He'll give my belly hugs and kisses and will bring toys over to it too, which is precious, but occasionally I'll ask about the baby and he'll point to HIS belly button. Hmmm. Not quite! But I guess I shouldn't expect too much from a 21 month old haha. I think he'll be excited to have a sibling though. He loves to see the babies in the nursery at church and in our family, so he should be pumped to have one of his very own.

So before this blog becomes a novel, I'll end the update here. I'm exhausted and this pregnant momma needs her rest!

I'm a terrible blogger

Four months, no blog. I've been a terrible blogger! In my defense, we have been a busy family and I've been one busy momma. My mother has been bugging me to update, so mom, this one's for you!!

So since my late-August update, I've been busy at my new job. I taught 10 credits of Health and Human Performance courses at Ferrum, 9 lecture credits and 1 lab credit. That's enough to keep me busy, but adding a toddler on top of that and any opportunity for me to do anything else flew out the window. I really enjoyed teaching, but it was tiring! I worked from 8am-12pm Monday-Friday, then played mom in the afternoon, wife at dinner time, then had to catch up on my school work and house work once Tyler went to bed. I won't lie though, having a significant increase in our household income was VERY nice. We managed to pay off one of Jordon's school loans in about 3 months by putting the majority of my paychecks towards the loan (thank you Dave Ramsey!).

Tyler did well with me working. Even though I worked a little last spring, this fall was definitely a big change for him. Plus he was spoiled by having both Jordon and I home all summer, so it was a bit of a shock when he had to start leaving us every weekday. On Monday, Wednesday and Thursday he stays with Jordon's grandma and granddad and on Tuesdays he stays with our neighbor who has twin 3 year old boys. It's nice for him to socialize with some kids! And Jordon keeps him on Friday mornings. This new semester I'm teaching the same times, so we've kept the same schedule. Luckily I'm teaching a couple cardio classes in place of one lecture course this semester so hopefully I'll be a little less busy. Of course, Jordon's tennis season will pick up here in a few weeks, so things won't exactly be easy!

Tyler has been growing like crazy since I've last written. He of course walks everywhere. I love holding his little hand and walking with him in the store or around campus. He's not much of a talker yet... too busy moving I suppose. He has said "dada" and "mum" (he thinks he's British apparently), "dog" and "duck" and actually today he said "stick" haha. But more often than not, he won't saying anything, just point to whatever he is concerned with and say "dis" (This). It's hilarious. He'll do it with the most random things... my coffee cup, a picture on the fridge, a shoe. Crazy baby.

He's been a terrible eater. I'm not sure who is to blame for giving him his first taste of sweets, but he's obsessed with candy. Definitely my child. It's weird though, because of all the random cravings I had while pregnant, I never wanted sweets. Other than candy (because I refuse to let my kid have a diet of candy alone), his diet is comprised of peanut butter (on a spoon, in a sandwich, on crackers, apples dipped in it.... the kid LOVES peanut butter), any fruit (especially applesauce in a pouch haha), goldfish, cereal and milk, and waffles. I've tried and tried for vegetables but he's just so darn picky! He'll also eat pizza and spaghetti most nights, but really he is already a picky boy. Sigh. I do only give him milk and water to drink, so at least he's drinking healthy!

Jordon and I have definitely been getting that "when's the second baby?" question and ton recently and for the record our answer is..... Whenever God chooses to bless us with one! We'd love another child (in fact, I'd love a bunch more children) but apparently my body is just not ready for one right now. Since Tyler has been born my thyroid has been going crazy. In fact, I see my endocrinologist for blood work every 3 months, and with one exception, I have been put on a new dose on Synthroid EVERY time. I also had a wonderfully (note the sarcasm) painful 5 cm cyst on my ovary which has finally gone away. I could tell a nice longggg story of how that diagnosis and recovery went, but I have a stack of dishes waiting to be washed, so I'm trying to make this blog concise. And lastly, somehow I weigh 3-5 lbs less now than I did prior to my pregnancy with Tyler, so I'm sure that's not helping the situation.

So I've been trying to get my body in tip-top baby shape while impatiently waiting for baby #2. Jordon and I started going back to the chiropractor (we've been so busy, we haven't gone in a year) and it's made a huge difference. If you've never seen a chiropractor, I highly suggest it! And I've started acupuncture. My chiropractor said she went and it made a big difference in her stress level, so I figured it'd be worth a try. Definitely an experience! It does not hurt and it feels like you're floating on a cloud kind of. The doctor even thought we could get my thyroid under control with the acupuncture and diet (rather than medication) which would be great since I'm way to young to have a crazy thyroid like I do! So hopefully it helps.

For now, Jordon, Tyler and I are having fun being a family and getting adjusted to having a crazy toddler! We've already dealt with a marker on the wall/floor/fridge experience, pulling trash out of the trash can incident, breaking of fragile items, throwing food on the floor, etc. And I'm sure there is plenty more to come.

Houston, we've got a toddler!

Tyler is all toddles now, barely crawling at all! His first steps were right before his 1st birthday, but for the last couple weeks he's really been taking off and using walking as his primary mode of transportation. I guess that officially makes him a toddler. Today we went to the grocery store and I put him in one of the carts with the little car attached/in front of the basket. Well when I was trying to decide on something, Tyler managed to escape the car, walk over the shelves of hotdog buns, and grab a couple packages. He then toddled over to the cart and put them in the front seat of the car part, then went back for another two packages! I was laughing so hard I thought I'd cry. He's a goofball!

He also has been sprouting all sorts of teeth! Our tooth count is at 11, and will probably get to 12 in the next week or so (there is one just pushing to get through!). While his bottom molars weren't too painful to come in, these top ones have turned my little angel into an obnoxious, whiny toddler. Boo. I know it's bad to call your kid obnoxious, but if you heard "uh, uh, uh" and had to bend over and pick up then put back down then pick up and then put back down a baby all day long, you'd think he was obnoxious too. But I still love him nonetheless! I hope this last molar comes in and we get a break for awhile.

Thankfully, even though he's been fussy during the day, he's been a great sleeper! (Welllll with a few exceptions!). Last night, he was asleep by 9pm and slept all the way to 7:15 or 7:30ish. I can't remember. Either way, it was great. I LOVE SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! Almost makes me not want to have anymore kids.... almost ;-) Jordon and I have officially starting getting the not so subtle hints that it's time for #2. Not that I'd argue at all, but it is definitely a little daunting thinking about going through sleepless nights, constant carrying, and the wonderful breastfed-baby-poop stage again. We will see when God decides we're ready for the next little blessing in our life, but for now we're just trying to enjoy this new stage in Tyler's life!

And as for Mommy and Daddy, we're getting ready for the school year which starts on Monday. Yes, I said WE because I got a job! The head of the health and human performance program here asked me to teach 10 credits of classes, and I definitely agreed! This momma is ready to work and use her degree! I get an office and a laptop and everything... big time adjunct faculty here! Of course, getting all my prep work done is near impossible while watching baby, but hopefully once the year starts up and we start having Jordon's grandma watch the baby, I'll have more time to get work done.

Lots of growing all around for this family!

One Year!

Wow, does time fly! My little baby turned one year old yesterday, and I cannot believe it. One year ago today I was FINALLY holding my little one in my arms, after a long 39 week and 1 day wait. Phew.

To celebrate Tyler's first birthday, we had a Very Hungry Caterpillar themed party with family and friends. It was a blast. Thanks to Pinterest, my Cricut, and my personal creativity, we had a Very Hungry Caterpillar cake, cake pops, decorations and more. I had so much fun making everything and definitely went all out. I have a lot to live up to for the next birthday! But it was definitely fun.

Instead of gifts, we had people bring baby-related donations for us to donate to the local food pantry. We collected 471 diapers, 420 wipes, 97 containers of baby food, 7 cans of formula, 9 bottles of infant juice, 16 boxes of pedisure toddler drink, 3 bottles, 2 boxes of baby cereal and a fresh food mesh feeder. I was just amazed at everyone's generosity, and was so excited that we could make such a large donation to such a needy cause. I have a huge spot in my heart for feeding and clothing those who don't have much, so I am hoping that this was just one step in teaching Tyler to have the same convictions (sure, he won't remember it much, but you have to start these kind of traditions young!).

Tyler seemed to have a great time at his party. He loved seeing all his family and honorary aunts, and all his baby cousins! He was apprehensive when it came to his cake though. He spent a good couple minutes just feeling the icing haha. I finally put a bit of icing on my finger and gave him a taste, then gave him some cake which he shoved in his mouth. Lots of frosting everywhere! And he played in the sandbox awhile, and with the pinwheels we put out in the yard as favors for the kids.

On his actual birthday (the day after his party), Tyler had a special breakfast (Daddy shared his biscuits and gravy with him), and then played and played with his cousins outside in the sandbox (his new favorite). He went swimming in the evening then slept a nice longggggg time (9pm to almost 8am straight!). Who says parents don't benefit from their children's birthdays? As for our gift for Tyler, his Daddy is building him a toy box! It didn't get completed quite in time for his birthday (we've been traveling like CRAZY and Jordon's been working a lot at Wintergreen), but it should be done soon. Then Jordon's talented aunt will be painting it a Noah's Ark theme! I think Mommy may be more excited than him about this gift!

We took Tyler in for his one year doctor's appointment today and everything looked great! He weighed an even 20 lbs and was an even 30 inches long (although Jordon claims Ty man is at least 30.5 inches), putting him at or just below average for everything. And his head circumference was right at 50%, which is amazing considering everything we worried about while I was pregnant with him. Praise God that he is a healthy boy! Tyler had a blood test for lead and a CBC to check his iron levels, all of which were normal (although the doctor commented his WBC were just slightly elevated and he may be getting a cold soon.... yikes!). Finally, Tyler got 3 shots, much to his discontent. We definitely had a grumpy boy on our hands!

This week we are back to Wintergreen and then next week we'll be camping at Philpot Lake for our family reunion. I'll be excited to finally get back into my house and settled once all of this is over! We have some new neighbors just two houses down from us... the new wrestling coach at the college and his wife and twin boys. I am SO excited to have another mom my age around. I baked some homemade apple streusel muffins with the apples from our apple tree for them, so I think we'll be good friends :-) AND I got a new job! I'll be an adjunct faculty member at the college, teaching Exercise Prescription, Kinesiology, and Athletic Training courses. I even get an office! I'm pretty excited to get out of the house a little more and finally put my degree to good use.

That's all for now! Thanks for sticking around and keeping updated with us this year!

Baby's 1st Fourth of July!

What an awesome week we've had! First of all, Tyler took his first steps on the 3rd! So proud of my little one. He still needs some practice, but he's going to be running around in no time. He's been busy eating like a big boy too, including whole milk! The pediatrician said we could cheat a bit and start it midway through the 11th month, so we decided to give it a go and he loved it.

Little boy is now also officially weaned. It is definitely bittersweet. I had planned to keep at least one feeding in the schedule until his first birthday, but a couple of weeks ago he came down with hand foot mouth disease (sounds a lot worse than it is, I promise). He got little blisters in his mouth (and a couple on his feet and hands, hence the name) and didn't want to nurse AT ALL. They healed after 4 days or so, but when I tried to nurse him after than, he still didn't want to nurse. Although I REALLY wanted to keep breastfeeding him, I knew it probably wasn't the best idea to try and try to get him to nurse, especially when I was planning on weaning him in less than a month anyway. So my once exclusively breastfed, bottle and paci-refusing baby, weaned with NO problems at all.

It is nice not having to worry about nursing/pumping at all now though. Especially because we've been so busy traveling and doing fun stuff for summer! On the fourth of July, we went to Smith Mountain Lake because Jordon's aunt, uncle, and cousins were vacationing there and graciously opened up their house, food, boat, and two jetskis to us :-) Thanks Kosers! Anyway, it was a BLAST. Seriously, I can't remember the last time I had so much fun. We took Ty man on the boat and he loved it! Even though we put him in a life jacket, he didn't complain once. Jordon and I got to tube behind the boat, which was awesome and hilarious at the same time, and Jordon got to wakeboard (I was a wimp and didn't try haha). Then later, Jordon's aunt watched baby so we could go out and ride the jetski. Awesome. The lake was beautiful and we just had a blast. Tyler loved meeting all his family and they loved having him. I definitely heard the phrase "cutest baby ever" at least 10 times that day. He is pretty cute, huh? We even came back the next afternoon to hang out some more (we only live about 40 minutes from the lake) and to see Jord's Pap and Grandma who came to visit the Kosers too. It is awesome to see family!

We're visiting with Jordon's parents, Luke and the kids this weekend, and are off to Wintergreen tomorrow for Jordon to work and for me and baby to play. And then it's off to Columbia to visit my side of the family. Phew... busy month! Next thing I know, it's going to be Tyler's FIRST birthday. My oh my, where does the time go?!