What Men Don't Think About

On Saturday we went to visit my hubby's best friend and his family to see their new house and help in the yard (which ended up just being the hubby helping in the yard as my 20 week pregnant body says NO to bending and stooping).

These friends are really conservative with money and made some very wise decisions with their house that really got Caleb and I thinking- hey, if we really buckle down, we could probably afford a house while he's still in school!

So we went over some basic numbers on Sunday and think it's possible.

But I reminded him- my main priority right now is affording a longer maternity leave than last time.

I took 6 weeks last time, which was perfect for healing from a c-section.
BUT I regret not taking longer so I could have more time with my son.

So with this baby I'd like to take 10 weeks which would give me a good chunk of the end of the year off.

Hubby- "Oh, I didn't factor in your time off work for maternity leave."

Oh what men don't think about.

Luckily I KILLED it with my goals at work
*sidenote for a pat on the back- I am the only team member to go over a million dollars in revenue this year AND I hit 131% of my goals, hurrah!
So my bonus come August should be substantially greater than it's ever been.

So if we budget just right I should be able to afford that maternity leave, no problem
PLUS make a big payment on my student loans
PLUS pay for fall tuition for the hubby

But factoring in saving more for a down payment... Something we'll need to figure out.
We do already have some money saved for that but would like it to be more so the mortgage is a bit lower.

But we are kinda excited about these thoughts/ideas of being on our own.

It's nice to think like an adult sometimes. :)

But wait. We've been living with the in-laws for almost two years now.

if we buy a house we have to factor in bills- power, internet, gas.

Never mind.

We're not going be adults.

I'm good where I am.

Answers and Wonderments

It's a girl.
I cried.
Caleb comforted me and was more excited.
Since I was 10 I only wanted boys.
Now I have to buy pink.  I always hated pink.
But I am wearing the one pink shirt I own at work today to announce.

My last pregnancy I hated all meat (I could cook it but not eat it).
I loved anything lime and TONS of drinks.

This pregnancy I CRAVE meat (except chicken).
I hate drinks and mostly hate anything sweet.  Sugar makes me sick.

I should have known with the cravings that a little girl was taking over my body.

She moves a TON all the time!
Except during her ultrasound.
She was laying on her side, towards my back.  Therefore we got HORRIBLE profile shots compared to the Little Man who was in a perfect position.
Luckily she turned just enough to prove she is a girl.

So there ya go- I get to raise a girl now.
Apparently I needed more blessings and trials in my life? :)

My Big Belly

In 2011 I had a miscarriage at 12 weeks.  We discovered a VERY large fibroid tumor on the top of my uterus (I guess the most rare and the best place for one to be).

Luckily I was able to get pregnant two cycles later and we had a baby boy in the summer of 2012 after a VERY painful pregnancy due to the fibroid.

*I usually call it the tumor cause I get a better reaction out of people.  I'm an awful person! :)

The fibroid was HUGE at the end of my pregnancy with the little man.

So huge in fact that I only felt the baby on one side of my body because the fibroid took up the other half.

My son was 9 pounds.  So I was ENORMOUS with him and the fibroid.

This is me at about 36 weeks on our Babymoon.  I'm only 5'2".  No where else for the baby to go but OUT.

So with my current pregnancy we were told the fibroid would do about the same thing- cause tons of pain for me (something to do with once the tumor runs out of the blood supply from your body it causes tons of pain until it just stops seeking it for  a bit) and make me huge.

I am 18 weeks right now.

I have been feeling this little one since about 11 weeks which is INSANE but the fibroid has pushed my uterus clear over to the left side making any movement from this little one right close to the surface.

Which is cool but crazy I could feel him so early on (I say him because I want/need a boy.  That's for another post).

But I cannot feel him on my right side at all.  It's like a dead space on that side.

Which is kinda weird.

So this next Tuesday we find out what we are having- I am extremely apprehensive but my little man keeps asking when his baby brother is coming out.  So I guess we gotta find out if he is having a baby brother!

Living with the In-laws

We have been married 5 1/2 years.
We have moved 4 times.

Personally I LOVE moving.  I love dejunking, I love cleaning, and I like organizing a new place.


We've now been in my in-laws basement for 1 1/2 years.  The longest we have been anywhere and I am going BONKERS that so much of our pretty STUFF (yes, stuff) is in storage and I can't use it.
Our new couches, the kitchen table my grandma bought right before she died, and my own dishes and kitchen supplies (which as a newlywed you get awesome stuff- you want to use it!).

In addition to this STUFF I look around our little area and wonder why there's still SO much making it cluttery.
We live in a small space-
Little man has the only bedroom in the basement.  We are SO jealous of his window.
We live in the old playroom.  Which does have the bathroom next to it so it's almost like a master bedroom.
The bathroom was just redone 4 years ago- HUGE jetted tub, granite countertop, big cabinet that stores everything you need for a bathroom.  But it is small.

We have a small fridge with a microwave on top next to the bed.
The fridge is adorable though and Caleb has already claimed it for his someday-man-cave.

There is a family room down there that the in-laws said we can make our own during Christmas but need to share the rest of the year with grandkids so they have a place to play.
But it's turned more into our family room now- Caleb has his school set-up in the far corner.
And a lot of the toys have filtered out there.

I have this strong desire to de-junk everything (plus in doing so in the spring preventing SPIDERS everywhere as the storage room in the basement is called the spider room for a reason).

But I am pregnant.
And tired.
And my husband, though he's great at cleaning, is not one for re-organizing and de-junking.
So I don't have a lot of help to get this done right now.
But I want a more simple life down there where I don't look around and get depressed that not everything has a place.

We are there for at least 2 more years until Caleb graduates.
Unless by some miracle he gets a great job or I switch to a better paying job- we are there.

My mother-in-law tells us we can never move out as she loves having us there.
My father-in-law... well I think he likes that we're clean.  :)

Using the kitchen isn't too bad.  They have all the essentials and understand we can't survive with just a microwave in the basement.

We can and shall survive and we will look back on this as a great experience and not just a humbling one, right?

Preschool and a Working Mom

Remember seeing in movies like Little Fockers that you have to sign your kids up super early for the best preschool around?

Well I assumed, living in Utah, that I wouldn't have to worry cause there's only a few amazing prep schools but TONS of other preschools.

WRONG.

The best one in the neighborhood, which happens to be in the house I went to preschool at, was full 1 year out and has a waiting list!
And the next best one, which is the one I preferred, also has a waiting list.

My biggest struggle is that these amazing preschools in someone's home all start at 9:30 or 1:30.
I work full time.
My husband does school in the morning and hopefully soon will have a job in the afternoons/evenings.

So how do we coordinate preschool?

We would only need to REALLY figure it out in September and two weeks in October until I got on maternity leave until Christmas.
But come January...  No clue.

I have VERY few friends who work full time (hubby in school or working).
In fact I can only think of one right now but she has an amazing babysitter that takes her kid every day, all day, and even drives to/fro preschool.  Now that's amazing!

So how do people do it?
I want my son to experience a good preschool where he learns social skills and is ready for kindergarten.
I don't want a preschool that has him in a desk most of the time.
I remember preschool really well (I started when I was almost 3 and did two years.  I remember learning how to play store, water fights in the backyard, and getting to pick a book to take home.  I was a VERY early reader).  I only remember the fun parts and rarely having to sit for very long.

Also I have a summer boy.
A lot of friends are holding back their summer babies so they're older when they start.
So I either have this year to do preschool and kindergarten next year (yikes!) or two years until kindergarten.
This is apparently called "redshirting" and I hate the term!
It's like blue collar, white collar. *later finding out this is a sports term

Why is everything about our shirts?  (mostly being sarcastic but really- how did that come about?)

Anyway our little man is totally ready social wise to be around kids.  He loves meeting new kids, playing with them. HOWEVER in church when he has to sit still for 15+ minutes he CANNOT do it.  It's not a matter of holding him in his chair, talking to him about it.  He's just not ready for holding still that long.  And I don't blame him :)

Pros and Cons of holding him back: http://www.whattoexpect.com/toddler/pros-and-cons-of-redshirting-kids.aspx

In our religion  the boys can now serve religious missions at 18 and having graduated from high school.
If we hold him back a good portion of his friends will be long gone on their missions.
If we keep him in the year he should be he'll be the youngest but still turning 18 in July he'll go right after them.

Such dilemmas I didn't know I'd be faced with as a parent!
*additionally the hubby should graduate May 2018.  If I hold little man back then we don't have to pull him from a school he's just gotten to know when we move to wherever.  And please pray we move out of the in-laws! :)

I love to write

I'm not a great writer.
I sometimes wish I had become a high school English teacher because I realize now that I loved it.
And I want to write- I have ideas, stories, thoughts, and opinions I want to share.

I have a fault- I am too honest.
My family will tell you this and consider it my real fault.
My friends will tell you this and I *hope* consider it a positive aspect of our friendship.

I've tried several blogs throughout the years and have been judged and critiqued by others and then I always felt I wasn't being true to what I wanted.

So here we are- a very honest blog where I will post what I want, leaving out too strong of opinions, but showing what my life is.

As of today my life is this:
I work full time in a fun but demanding job.
I have a 3 year old and one more child on the way.
I have been married almost 6 years to my best friend.
The plan was my husband would quit working when he had two years left of school to concentrate on projects and do internships.
3 months into our marriage he lost his job.
Mine paid enough so we were fine to let him do school full time.

Here we are 6 years later and there's still 2 years left of school for him.
We live with my in-laws which is a blessing and a humbling experience.

I rely on my faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and my testimony to get me through some days.

But life is good, life is fair.
I always have clean underwear!
- my mantra for 2016