2012, Here I Come

Another new year.  Another opportunity to set goals and become motivated.  At least for the first few months, then we can all go back to our normal lives and tell ourselves that we will do better next year.

My goal for this year is to simplify.  With less 'stuff' and fewer obligations I hope to focus on what I have and find happiness.  I tend to bounce from one thing to another and stretch myself to thin so I always feel unsatisfied and kind of lost.

This year I want to focus on just a few things and work at being really good at those. 

First, my family.  I have the awesome opportunity to stay at home with my baby this time around and I want to take full advantage of it.  Claire will also start pre-k this fall so I want to do all of the fun stuff I can with her before she is in the routine of going to school.

Second, crafting.  I love making things and I really want to see if I can turn my hobby into some extra income so that we can do more activities as a family.

Third, photography.  I have always been interested in photography.  In college I took photography classes as my art electives and since then I have been dying to get a digital slr.  Well, this Christmas I finally bit the bullet and purchased a Canon EOS Rebel T2i and I am so excited.  My goal this year is to learn how to use my fancy new camera and I plan on sharing my progress.  I feel like I have a fairly artistic eye and really want to learn to take beautiful interesting pictures.

So here's to 2012.  May it be a fantastic year!

~ Andrea

Back Again

It has been a few months but I've been a little busy.  I went into labor the day before my scheduled c-section.  Of course it was in the middle of the night because I love showing up to the maternity wing at 4am.  But after a very smooth surgery we welcomed Susanna into the world.

Susanna Emily Martin
October 27, 2011
7 lb 10 oz , 20 inches
8:06 am

It has been two months and I have finally gotten the hang of being a stay-at-home mom of two.  Let me tell you it's a lot harder than it looks but I wouldn't trade it for the world.  I am so excited for the new year and being able to share all of my new adventures. 

Susanna - 2 months

~ Andrea

A Tale of Two Babies

Are you tired of pregnancy posts yet?  If so, I'll save you some time and you can skip this one.  If not, then read on my friend.

I wanted to do a little comparison of this pregnancy vs. my first one.  I thought that they all were the same and I was really looking forward to being pregnant again since I had such an easy pregnancy the first time.  Well friends, I am here to tell you that that little myth is not true.  Pregnancies, just like kids, are completely unique.

With Claire the smell of meat made me want to vomit.  However, I had zero morning sickness and felt great the entire time I was pregnant.  I had massive swelling everywhere.  Picture the scene from Harry Potter where he accidentally blows-up his aunt, that's what I felt like.  The swelling only got worse after she was born and didn't go away for at least a month.  It was bad.

With Susanna I haven't had any food aversions I just haven't wanted to eat anything.  In the beginning, every time I ate I would feel sick so I had to resort to small bland meals that gave me lots of protein.  Let's just say I went through a lot of peanut butter.  I've been more tired, had more aches & pains and definitely more sickness with her too.  It's only been in the last 2 months that I have started feeling normal but then the insomnia kicks in and I feel horrible once again.  This time around I have had no swelling at all.  My best guess as to why is that she figures that I have suffered enough.

There are some similarities though.  I carried both of them very high.  While it was me vs. Claire's foot for control of my rib cage, Susanna has only just found it and is not to fond of living there, which is fine by me.  With both girls I cannot get enough root beer.  While I drink more water than should be humanly possible, anywhere between 70 and 100 ounces a day, I crave root beer.  With Claire I also craved watermelon.  The last month I was prego with her I was eating at least 2 a week.  Susanna has been baked goods.  Anything with pastry, cream cheese and fruit filling doesn't stand a chance with me in the room.

With that said, I'll move on to weight.  Just to give you an idea of my normal size I'm just shy of 5'6" and usually weigh around 130.  My total weight gain with Claire was 38 pounds and she was an 8 lb 8 oz baby.  So far with Susanna I have gained 21 pounds and she will probably be between 6.5 and 7 lbs.  Big difference people!

Here are some pictures for a good comparison.  In both I am about 37 weeks.

Claire

Susanna

I think the most noticeable difference is in my face.  I was so swollen with Claire it really made me look more tired than I was.  With Susanna, I'm exhausted but look great.  I guess it's a trade-off.

This is my last week of being pregnant.  Yippee!!  I will have a c-section on Friday and finally get to meet the baby girl who I'm sure will be the complete opposite of her sister.  For those of you wondering, I had to have a cesarean with Claire therefore Susanna has to come that way too.  I didn't pick the date though.  Some things should be left up to a higher power and in this case that was my doctor.

~ Andrea

Pumpkin Pickin' 2011

Every year since Claire was born we have made a trip out to our local pumpkin patch.  Hay rides, haunted mazes, corn cob cannons, sunflowers and pumpkins galore!  It is always a really good time.  So, if you aren't in the Fall mood yet, here are a few pics to get you going.

We each came home with a pumpkin.  Claire picked one for her and one for the baby and I got a white one as usual.  I love white pumpkins!  No carving for me this year since I am currently the size of a $7 pumpkin, which makes things a little more difficult.  Plus, there is a distinct possibility that I will be in the hospital Halloween weekend this year.

Happy Fall Y'all!

~ Andrea

5 Weeks and Counting

Because everyone loves to see pregnant women and how cute they are.  Here I am at 34 weeks!

Nothin' but baby!

~ Andrea

My Job

This time last year I had just left my full-time job to become a full-time mom.  It was the scariest and biggest decision I have ever made in my life.  I didn't know if it was the right thing to do.  I didn't know if it would really make me happy but I was miserable and something had to change.

Fast forward a year and I can't imagine going back to work.  While those first free days were filled with projects that I never had time for like spray painting my patio furniture and wallpapering my laundry room, Claire and I quickly settled into a rhythm and our days are now more laid back.  We have a routine but not a schedule.  Everything gets done eventually and if not today then there is always tomorrow.  The stress in my life had been decreased significantly which, in turn, has made everyone else in my house happier.

So now my days are filled with tea parties, picnics on the front porch, playing in the sprinkler, sidewalk chalks in the driveway, trips to the library and the park and computer games on Disney junior.  It may not be exciting but it is definitely more enjoyable than angry customers, angry installers, unrealistic deadlines and pressure to bring in customers to keep the business open.

The only part I really enjoyed about my old job was the creativity I got to use every once in a while.  So after quiting I decided to start this blog, just for fun, to put my ideas out there and possibly make a little money on the side.  Unfortunately, it is a lot more work than I had expected and sometimes feels like a full-time job in itself.  While I like blogging, I don't want to feel like I have to if I don't want to and lately I haven't felt like doing much of anything.  When it comes down to it my job is Mom.  I have spent too many years spreading myself too thin and right now I want to focus on my baby and enjoy the time I have with her.

So if my posts become fewer and far between don't worry.  I'm still here.  I'm just enjoying simpler things and doing what I want to do for once in my life.


Claire last Easter at the Jacksonville Zoo



~ Andrea

A Sad Day

I'm sorry I have nothing to share with you about pretty things today.  I received some bad news yesterday and it has filled my brain.  I went to bed thinking about it and thought it might make me feel better if I could share my thoughts with someone, anyone or no one who might read this.

I found out that one of my sorority sisters died 2 weeks ago.  She was 27.  This hit me hard because in college she was a ball of light and energy.  She always wore a smile and was excited about everything.  She lived life even if that meant getting into a little trouble and bending a few rules.  She was a good person with an extraordinarily generous heart.  I loved to be around her because she had such a positive energy it was infectious.

I tend to take things too seriously but being around people like my sister make me loosen up and force me to remember to have fun every once in a while.  I am an introvert so I am drawn to extroverted people.  They fascinate me.  They are able to do and say things that I only think about doing because I am too scared.  I don't do a lot of things in life because I am afraid.  My sister took on everything with her head held high even if it didn't turn out the way she wanted.

I regret that I lost touch with her after college.  I have done this with too many of the people I loved.  But what I failed to learn from her in life I will learn from her death:

Don't be afraid to take chances even if it means that I fail every once in a while.

Try not to take myself too seriously because no one else cares.

SMILE!

Live in the now and stop obsessing about the future.

I'm sorry if I have saddened any of your days but I think that this little exercise has helped and hopefully I will be able to sleep better tonight.  And to all of my sisters, I love you!  I miss all of you dearly and even though we don't see each other as often anymore I still think about all of you every day.



source

To Jessica

I have a sister who laughs when I'm happy,

and I have a sister who cries when I'm blue.

I know that she'll be there whenever I need her,

I know that our friendship is true.



You are loved and will be missed.

~ Andrea

Resolutions - Part 2

For the month of February I will be focusing on friendships.  I plan on being a better friend to my current friends by staying more up to date on their lives to show them that I care about them.  I also am going to try to make one new friend this month.  This may not sound hard to most of you but for me it is.  I know a lot of people but am only friends with a few.  I have never been an outgoing person but one of my biggest complaints these days is that I wish I had more friends that lived near me.  I only have one good friend in the town that I live in and the rest live hours away.  So this month I will put myself out there and try to make friends.

As for my January resolutions, I learned that I hate to exercise and I love to eat and sleep.  With this new knowledge I am very glad that I'm not 200 pounds and have decided to be happy with my weight.  Even if it is a little more than I would like.  Funny thing, I was looking at some wedding pictures the other day in which I was 15 pounds lighter than I am now.  I was thinking that even then I remember being unhappy and thinking that if I could only lose a few more pounds I would feel better.  Oh well, I guess we are never happy with what we have.

~ Andrea

I'm Thankful For...

On this day before Thanksgiving, I would like to share with you what I am most thankful for.

The usual stuff

• my family because they rock
• my friends because they rock harder
• my house because it is awesome and I will never leave it
• my husband having a wonderful job and my savings account so that I can stay home with my baby every day

The UNusual stuff

• cheese dip
• my husbands sweatshirts, he has none because I steel them all
• Nick Jr.
• central heat and air
• my pool
• McDonald's french fries
• fountain coke
• sweet tea
• Project Runway
• House Beautiful & Real Simple
• my bed, I hate to leave it every morning

I hope everyone has a wonderful Turkey Day!  I'm really looking forward to watching the parade with Claire.
Until later, Andrea out.

Motivate Me

Back in August I started a Couch to 5k program to train for a 5k race that was 2 weeks ago.  I was getting up at 5:15 am three days a week to go running with a group of people.  To my amazement, I enjoy running but since the race I have been a total of twice.  I blame motivation.  When I was running with a group I had other people to be accountable to and if I didn't show up they always asked why.

To solve this problem I have decided to become accountable to my readers.  My goal is to keep running three days a week.  I will post my distance and time at the bottom of my post for each day.  If I miss a day I give you permission to make me feel bad about it and tease me relentlessly.  If anyone would like to run "with me" just post your distance/time to my post for the same day.  I can be like Forrest Gump and have a following of runners.

So what keeps you motivated?  What goals are you working towards?

Today's 5k Time - 33:46