happy mothers day!

to the one who made me a mother and the fierce one in my belly who will make me a mother again (and my fur baby)
my mother who taught me how to be a mother and now goes by grandma
my mother in law who raised my amazing husband
my sister who is celebrating her first mothers day
my lil auntie who spoils us rotten
my grandmothers who are not with us anymore
my 2 awesome sister in laws
my cousin who always has a full plate
my friends who struggle with infertility
the strong women and role models in my life
my mama friends who make up my tribe
and to all mamas, care takers and nurturers...

wishing you all a day as special as you are!

this weekend was all i could have asked for and more!  we pigged out at the cheesecake factory, went shopping and enjoyed lots of family time outside in this beautiful weather we are having.  it was simple and perfect and i felt so blessed to be with my little family.

living the dream...

i think this qualifies as a true washingtonian right here..

stevie wonder impersonation...

being a goof ball at breakfast...

rubber ducks and alphabet water bin...

new activity today in the sensory bin.  today i filled it up with a few inches of water, added ice cubes, rubber duckies and alphabet letters.  i gave her a colander, slotted spoon, spatula and cup and told her to fish out the duckies and letters and put them in the bowl.  you could take this a step further and ask them to separate the objects.  it was fun, but not as popular as playing with the rice.

**i got a bunch of these small rubber duckies and i used hot glue to seal the hole in the bottom of them, helps to keep them from getting moldy**

rainbow rice play...

here is my first time using our rainbow rice.  i set it up on the train table with funnels, measuring cups, spoons, slotted spoons, colander and cookie cutters.  she did a pretty good job of keeping the rice and toys inside the bin and had fun moving and transferring the rice from the different items. 

sensory bin!

i am slowing down in my pregnancy which means i am having a hard time keeping up physically with bowie, so outtings like toddler time and little gym will be less frequent.  but luckily our weather is warming up so our backyard provides hours of entertainment!  but i wanted to have some new and fun activities in my back pocket.  i have been following a lot of toddler blogs for ideas and inspiration.  we have done plenty of sensory play but i have not put together a sensory bin like this before.  i found there was a lot of common themes to these sensory bins, for example; fun colors, sorting, counting, textures and patterns.  i did a little prep work and shopping and i think this may be the best $30 spent on a kids "toy."  but i love how the possibilities of how it can be used are endless, there is much learning to be done with it and it's a new experience every time we use it.

prep work:

i made 10 cups of "rainbow rice."  it's so easy and pretty!  all you need are a few ziplock bags, rice, food coloring, vinegar.  i did one cup of rice at a time and put it in ziplock bag with 1 tablespoon of vinegar and a few drops of desired food color.  mix up until all grains are coated.  then allow to dry on a cookie sheet, this process can take up to a few hours, or you can stick in the oven to speed it up.  store in an air tight container.

shopping list:

large sensory bin and accessories for it such as:

~tongs
~ice cube trays
~measuring cups and spoons
~spatula
~slotted spoon
~cup cake tin
~cookie cutters
~foam alphabet letters
~craft pom poms
~funnels
~paint brushes

**i went through my kitchen drawers first to see what i don't use anymore and then had a blast at the dollar store for the rest!**

ideas for sensory bin:

~painting ice cubes in sensory bin
~play with rice and kitchen utensils
~sort pom poms into cupcake tins by color or size and grab them with tongs
~use slotted spoon to fish out rubber duckies or alphabet letters (used in bin with water)
~water beads

i love that the sensory bin can be used wet or dry, inside or outside.  i will be posting some of the activities we do with it and hoping bowie is as excited over it as i am!  

32 weeks!!!

it wasn't very long ago that i remember being so excited to enter my 3rd trimester!  but i am moving out of the "uncomfortable" phase and into the "get him out of me" phase.  this last week has proven to be one of my hardest, we traveled which always throws us off of our game temporarily, but i have experienced lots of sciatic pain, exhaustion and tons of braxton hicks contractions.  we went to california for the week to visit my new baby niece, and get one good visit in while we are still a family of 3.  of course the day after we arrive, bowie gets sick and not just a little sick, but full on snot rockets, high fever and glazed over eyes.  well this put a damper on visiting with my sister and new baby, so we did the best we could until jarad arrived and we could divide and conquer, but the sickness lasted a good 3-4 days.  so we had to cancel a lot of plans and squeeze a lot of visiting into a few days.  i am shocked that somehow my mom and i stayed healthy through all of this because she was all over us the first couple of days when her sickness was at it's worst.  but even with 4 sets of hands on bowie (grandma, grandpa, jarad and me) it took its toll on me physically.  i got minimal sleep and was having non-stop braxton hicks.  this trip reminded me that i was about at the same point in pregnancy when we moved to washington.  we drove and i can't believe how i was able to do it! despite my complaining i am so happy we got to spend some good family time and most importantly get some newborn snuggles in from baby Q!  my favorite time was on a weekend afternoon, just having lunch together and then jamie and ryan took a nap while we all took turns holding the baby.  i was reminded how good it feels to hold a newborn again and the pure exhaustion of being a new parent!

we definitely ate very well on this trip.  jarad had a list of places he wanted to eat at.  and between that and some home cooking, i was constantly shoving food in my mouth and snacking all the time!  i feel full all the time because i don't think i have much room left but i ate until i was full for a lot of meals!  i felt like i was going to come home 5 pounds heavier, but surprisingly i didn't, although my weight gain this week is higher than normal.

weight gain this week =1.5 pounds
total weight gain = 10.5 pounds

i had my first night back in my own bed last night and it was amazing!  i forgot how much more comfortable i sleep with my pregnancy pillows and even bowie slept through the night, allowing me some good uninterrupted and much needed rest!  today is our first full day back and i am on a mission to be as productive as my body will allow and get stuff done!  i am really slowing down so this will be challenging i am sure, but each thing i accomplish feels so good to check off my list!  it is scary to think that we are in single digits when it comes to weeks for when we meet this little guy! i'm really starting to feel like this is the home stretch and i know that even though he is measuring big, that doesn't necessarily mean he will come early, but i have a feeling he will (at least i hope, because i am miserable).  i am anxious for my doctors appointment next week to see if i will get another growth scan or how my doctor feels about his size.  i still have no stretch marks or linea negra and my belly button is totally flat, which grosses jarad out, LOL.

baby milestones...

~baby may be sucking on his thumb
~sprouting hair on head
~hopefully rotating into birth position, closer to pelvis
~about 18 inches long
~has full set of both finger and toe nails
~baby can use all 5 senses