FINALLY getting back into the groove.

It only took 3 months, lol! I am finally back to my old eat healthy-workout-avoid junk food ways. Well, i still have to give in to junk food occasionally! I have been doing at least one workout DVD a day and when everyone else goes to bed i watch tv and do my own versions of crunches or butt and leg workouts. It helps that Brody has been sleeping much better now and only wakes up one time during the night. I still have 4 lbs to lose to get to pre-preg weight but i mainly just want to tone up and work on my stomach. I am nowhere near swimsuit ready, that's for sure! It was so much easier after Carter. I could nap with him during the day and had more energy to work out. I also never had time to eat, which isn't healthy but i lost weight just the same. You would think with two now i wouldn't have time to eat, but for some reason i have been snacking more, probably because we always have snack foods for Carter in the house. Anyways, now i'm just rambling. :)

And Another Thing...

I'm currently wearing a pair of pre-preg jeans at this moment! Yeah! I had 2 pairs i was switching back and forth that were big on me before i got pregnant with Brody. Today though, i found a different pair of jeans in my closet that i really liked and wore all the time before i was pregnant with Brody but i totally forgot about. I tried them on and they fit! I still have 5 stubborn pounds that won't budge but i'm honestly not working very hard at getting them off so i can't really complain. I have a bridesmaid dress to fit into though in August so i have GOT to step it up for that!

Wedding Fun!

My friend Jenna got married yesterday. It was a beautiful wedding full of tears (of joy!) and great times! It was such a great day! The weather cooperated and everyone had a blast! Brad had to work so i took my sister Jolene, and we had so much fun! It was nice to get away for a night and be "Erin" and not "Mommy" although i missed the boys and they were never far from my mind. Oh, and be prepared for tons more wedding pictures this summer. I have like 5 to go to!

Fun in Chicago

Saturday night was my friend Jenna's Bachelorette party. We left Saturday morning at 10am and made the 4 hour drive up there. We stopped at the Northbrook Mall to do some shopping and so Jenna could get her make-up done. Then checked into the hotel and started getting ready. After that we went to her friend Gina's house for a pre-party of food and drinks. She also opened a few gifts of lingerie.

Yes that is a penis straw in my beer, lol!

Penis cookies!

Then a limo came and picked us all up and off we went!

Inside the limo


Getting crazy!


We drove around and enjoyed free drinks in the limo and came to our first stop, Baton Lounge, a drag show. It was hilarious! Those guys(?) were pretty and had better boobs than me! lol No cameras were allowed but i did manage to sneak one picture-hehe.


After that we loaded back into the limo and headed to Enclave, a club in downtown Chicago. We were only there for maybe 10 minutes because it was so packed in there, literally shoulder to shoulder!


So we loaded back into the limo and were contemplating going to another club but by the time we would have gotten somewhere it would have been time to leave anyways so we went back to the hotel. It was a lot of fun and i'm so glad i went! I was really debating going or not since Brody is so young. It was a great trip and a nice getaway!

Why.......

Why won't my baby sleep more than 2 hours in a row at night? Seriously, he will rarely go longer than 2 hours! He has gone 3 or 4, but that has just been a few times. I have started giving him formula in the evenings hoping that will help keep him fuller longer but that hasn't helped either. I am exhausted.

St. Patrick's Day (edited with Carter's pic)

Well, i'm not Irish but my name is and if there is any day that allows me to dress myself and the kids up, i'll take it! So here are some pics. I feel like such a bad mom though, because Carter went with my mother in law all day and i haven't gotten one of him yet...hopefully he didn't get his shirt all ruined and i can take one of him when he gets home. Me and Brody had a photo shoot though!

One of the joys of NOT being pregnant!

I am sitting here drinking a beer!!! Yeah! Okay, yes, i do enjoy my beer. I'm not gonna lie. I finally have Brody somewhat figured out with his sleeping habits and right now is one of his usual nap times. I got him all fed and asleep and will have at least 2 hours until his next feeding so i'm enjoying a nice cold brewsky! Carter is with my father-in-law for a few hours and Brad is working nights this week so i sort of have the house to myself for a few hours. I'm loving the peace and quiet.

Body After Baby

I am 11 days postpartum today and am very happy with how i look. I've lost 17 of the 22 lbs i gained. So i have 5 lbs to go until i get to pre-preg weight but i want to lose more 10lbs total. My stomach has gone down so fast and i'm going to have to credit breastfeeding on that one. I didn't breastfeed Carter and i lost the weight very quickly after him, too and my stomach went down fairly quickly but it seems like i'm gaining tone back a lot faster this time and i am not even working out yet. I have not been sore at all after this baby, i have felt great ever since i had him! I can't wait to start working out! My butt and thighs need it.

This is right before we left for the hospital:

This is the 2nd night in the hospital:

This is this morning:

How It's Going

So far having 2 kids isn't really as hard as i thought it would be. First off, i feel great! I haven't really been sore at all. I'm definitely not as sore as i was with Carter. I remember it took about 2 weeks before i really started feeling better "down there" with him. I am not as tired as i thought i would be. The past couple nights we've been going down for the night around 10 or 11, waking up at 2:30, nurse and back to sleep until around 4:30 or 5, nurse and back to sleep until around 7. Definitely not as much sleep as i'd like but i'm not complaining because for the most part he falls right back to sleep after eating. He had his first doctor appointment yesterday and is gaining his weight back. He left the hospital at 7lbs 1oz and at his appointment he weighed 7lbs 3oz. It is such a relief because i was so worried he wasn't getting enough to eat. Carter is adjusting well, he loves to hold and kiss him. He gets jealous sometimes that i can't do as much with him as i used to because i'm pretty much constantly nursing Brody during the day but he's getting better. I am finding that evenings are a little hard for me. It seems like that's when my emotions go crazy. I cry for no reason, or for stupid reasons. I hope it's just my hormones trying to balance out and it doesn't last long. I don't feel overwhelmed, i just get sad. Right now i don't feel like it's something i need to worry about but if it gets worse i will talk to my doctor about it. I'm thinking it's just a little of the baby blues. Well, enough of my ramble, i just thought i'd write a little about how it's going over here. Oh, and of course, here are a couple new pictures.

On the Mend..I think..

Yesterday was the worst of the sickness. Carter and i hadn't slept in like 2 nights b/c of our stuffy noses and his cough. We took him to the doctor yesterday and he has an ear infection. Luckily, his cough isn't anything and now he has some medicine and seems to be doing a lot better today. I feel much better, too. I used a Sinus Rinse 3 times-twice yesterday and once this morning...and i think it ended up making it worse. I had Brad go out and get me some Afrin this morning and it did the job! I can breathe again! We all finally got a good night's sleep last night and are just staying home resting today. I Lysol'd the whole house and we are going to be washing all the sheets and blankets later on today. Carter is going to stay with the in-laws tonight since we have such an early morning tomorrow. I hope i can get some sleep tonight but i doubt i will b/c i'm just so excited to meet my baby tomorrow! I am still in denial that i will have another baby. These 41 weeks have really flown by! Prayers and well wishes are definitely welcome!

Of All the Luck...

I noticed a couple days ago that Carter sounded stuffy. I didn't think too much about it but then he started coughing. He woke up yesterday so congested and coughing...great. So i have a sick 2 year old and will be having a baby in 3 days max. He hasn't had a fever so i'm just hoping it's a cold. His coughing just seems to be from the drainage from his nose. He isn't sluggish or acting sick and his ears aren't bothering him. Also, Brad and i are now getting runny noses. I am drinking orange juice like it's going out of style and plan on staying in as much as possible this weekend. Hopefully by Monday we're better.

An End in Sight

I had my final dr. appt today and will be induced Monday morning at 5:30am unless by some miracle he decides to come on his own by then!

New Pics

Here are some recent pics of Carter and my 39.5 week belly pic. I still haven't taken a 40 week pic yet...i plan on taking one right before we leave for the hospital..whenever that is....


Opening a present on Valentine's Day:

Looking handsome:


Poor thing thinks that you have to pull up your shirt for every picture..lol


Giving mommy some love:

Carter and his "Island of Sodor" if you have boys you know what i'm talking about..(and he got even more trains and track for Valentine's Day)


Here i am last Thursday...39.5 weeks:

Still Here, Still Pregnant

I promise i will update when it's time to leave for the hospital..unless i'm out and about when the time comes. I'm having my sister bring her laptop to the hospital but i'm not sure if they have WiFi there or not. If they do i will be updating as soon as possible. I have lots of people needing an update through Facebook also, so i will be doing that as well. So far today, i'm feeling fine...i'm so SICK of feeling good! lol i mean, if i felt miserable at least maybe that would mean the time was coming but no, i feel absolutely fine!!! Seriously, how do i make it not so comfortable for him in there! I went on over an hour long walk yesterday(in the freezing cold) and also did my exercise dvd last night and had a decent amount of BH contractions but that's about it...i'm going to my parent's house in a little bit to wash our sheets and make my sister go on a nice, long walk with me again. I plan on doing some laps up and down their stairs, too. In all honesty though, i just really would like to have this baby out by Friday, i could deal with that. I'm really hoping that at my appt Thursday they tell me that they can get me in to do that. If they tell me i have to wait until Monday to be induced...i think i'll start bawling right there in the office, then again, if i do that maybe they'd take pity on me and go ahead and let me come in on Friday... I have legit reasons for being induced before Monday. My brother in law and his girlfriend are coming home this weekend and i would hate for them to have to leave without seeing the baby..that and i will NOT be a good person to be around and don't want to be a huge bitch when they're home. My parents live 4 hours away and while my mom can come back when i go into labor, my dad has to wait until the weekend b/c of work and i'd hate for him to have to wait until Friday night to see his new grandson when if i have him this Friday, he'd have all weekend to see him before he has to head back.

Today is My Due Date

Well, i can't believe i actually made it this far. I really thought this one would come early but i guess he's just way too comfortable in there. Of course it's way too freaking cold out to go on a walk..(i may just have to bundle up REALLY well and go). Nothing's really going on. I woke up at 2am on Friday night with really horrible cramping, it was constant menstrual like cramps that came with waves of pain and thought that it might be time so i took a shower, blow-dried my hair, and sat on my exercise ball for a while. Eventually i got too tired and just went back to bed thinking if it was the real thing they wouldn't go away if i rested. Well, of course they went away. I had lots of BH contractions yesterday, some actually got a tad painful, but so far today i have only had some random BH. I give up...

I'm Sorry I Haven't Been Keeping Up

I haven't really been reading or commenting on everyone's blogs. My mind is so consumed with getting everything done here around the house, spending as much time with Carter as i can, and then sitting around just wishing i'd go into labor already! I've been trying to keep as active as possible, and i believe it's helping, maybe not sending me right into labor, but it's helping me progress. I just can't really focus on much else. I hope i can get back into the swing of things soon, but i'm sure adding a newborn into the mix will make it worse for a while. Sorry i've been absent!

39 Week Appt

Well i had what i *hope* is my last dr. appt today. I'm 39w4d. Everything looks great with the baby, my blood pressure is great, i gained 1 lb. I'm up 23 lbs. Oh well. I am 3cm and 70% effaced and the dr. said my cervix is very low, she was shocked at how low it is! She asked me how i felt about this baby's size and i told her that i took comparison pics and i think i look pretty much the same as i did with Carter. He won't be doing much more growing so i'm just waiting and praying that he isn't too big. I have an appt set up for next Thursday the 19th and if i don't go into labor by then i'm going to be induced. I'm hoping that i'll have a baby by next Friday at the latest! Anyways, i feel so good about that appt and am going to be keeping extremely active to see if i can get me some contractions going!

39 Weeks

Wow--only 7 days left until my due date. I can't believe it! Well, since i was induced at exactly 39 weeks with Carter i thought i'd put on a comparison picture on here of the two pregnancies.

Here i am the night before being induced with Carter. (38w6d)



And here is today at 39 weeks exactly. I don't feel as big as i was with Carter but i think i look like i am! Ugh...

I Did it Again

Well, i decided to chop my hair again. It was already starting to take too long to style, and i can't imagine having to do that with not one, but two kids to take care of. It seemed like anytime we had to go somewhere it would take at least 2 hours for me to shower, get dressed, do make-up, do hair, get Carter dressed, etc. Now, my shower is MUCH shorter, it only takes about 5 minutes to dry my hair as opposed to about 15, and maybe 5-10 minutes tops to flat-iron it as opposed to about 25. Much easier!! I can actually envision myself being able to style it decently with the baby in the mix, too! We'll see i guess!

By the way...i cannot WAIT to be able to fake-bake again. I HATE being so pale!!!

38 Week Appt

I didn't even want to post this b/c it is so pointless but whatever! I had my 38w3d appt yesterday. I gained 2 lbs......grrrrr. My total weight gain is 22 lbs now. I can't gain anymore! Blood pressure was 110/60, baby's heart rate was fine, basically, absolutely nothing is happening! Didn't get my cervix checked but dr. said if i make it to my appt next week she'll check me then. I really feel fine, which sucks b/c that just means that i'll be pregnant even longer! I've had a little bit of cramping on and off, and lots of BH contractions, lots of pressure, my crotch bones hurt-it feels like i've been riding a horse. But really, i'm not that uncomfortable at all! I'm not near as uncomfortable as i was with Carter! I think it's b/c this baby seems to be smaller and isn't taking up quite as much room. I am just praying that i have given birth before my next appt, which is the 12th--3 days before my due date! I really want it to be sometime next week. If anyone feels like praying for me, feel free! Really though, i know that he will come eventually, and i'm trying to be patient, but it's starting to get hard!