Well this is fun…

Oh my. I guess the universe decided I needed a few more things on my plate at the moment.

Last week I returned home from a quick weekend in Austin to find something stuck to my door. A letter from the post office trying to deliver a piece of certified mail to our landlord. A quick google search of the company that sent the letter confirmed my fear……it was an eviction notice.

We found out about a month ago that our landlord had let the house go into foreclosure. A little piece of information she neglected to tell us. The house sold at auction in July so I’ve been waiting for something to arrive but was really hoping it wouldn’t until Dan got home! Ugh! I called up the lawyer’s office representing the bank to try and get more information but they were not interested in talking to renters….only problem with that is our now ex-landlord has completely disappeared. She changed her email and all other contact info and has moved lord knows where. The bank/lawyers can’t find her and neither can we (which stinks because she also owes us $1400 in deposit money).

Needless to say a lot of panic…..countless phone calls…..and maybe a few tears were shed trying to figure out our next steps. Luckily we found out that we could get the military to pay for our move (thanks to the 2009 Renters Protection Act by President Obama!) so that took a huge weight off my shoulders! I spend several days driving all over the city looking at houses that were for rent. It is slim pickings at the end of August with PCS season coming to the end! Ugh! Thankfully I managed to find a house that has the space we want and is closer to Dan’s work. The house is not my style (I loathe the kitchen)…but I’m not buying so it will work! 🙂  I’m just happy that I get to keep my guest room, give both kids their own room, AND have a playroom. Kids can make a house seem very tight quick!! 🙂

Once I found the house I had to set up the move. This involved getting military orders written to me (a civilian) under Dan’s name. Oh you can just imagine the fun that was! I have never talked to so many people and driven to so many offices in my life. I have a very intimate knowledge of several buildings on Lackland. Everyone wanted something different and in typical military fashion no one could agree on exactly what needed to be done to facilitate this. Aaagghh! Even more fun was some people were fine with my standard Power of Attorney and others wanted a more specific one (as in a POA for each individual military document I was issued!). Oh sweet lord. Thankfully calls to a few Jags on base cleared this up and my POA was allowed.

Once I finally had everything approved I had to head to the TMO office to actually fill out the paperwork to have movers arranged. I managed to get a very unhappy lower enlisted airman who had no clue what she was doing. Crap! Add into the problem that I couldn’t get the keys to the new house until Sept 9th (and I leave for Europe on the 10th!) and my head almost exploded right then and there! They refuse to set up a move on the weekend (um..ok) so I had to schedule it for mid-Oct when I get back. The “nice” lady wasn’t happy with that and kept telling me it had to be sooner. She even so “sweetly” suggested I cancel my trip. I told her unless the US Military planned on refunding me all the money I’ve spent already on the trip that was not happening. Then she kept pressuring me to put down someone who could accept the move for me while gone. That *might* have been possible except for the fact that they only want to do it during the week at normal business hours. Hmmm….she didn’t seem to understand that most people work or stay home with small children and therefore would not be able to hang out all day at my house watching movers pack & unpack. The best part was when she kept telling me to use my husband as a point of contact even after repeatedly telling her that he was currently deployed. She just couldn’t understand why he couldn’t be reached. I’m guessing she is a little green and hasn’t had the fun of playing in the sandbox yet! 😉

So as it stands now we are having movers come pack & load everything on the 15th and unload everything on the 16th of October. I really have to watch my return from Europe! I should be home easily before that….but I might decide to skip the few nights in Aviano to make sure I get home in time! I will not breathe a sigh of relief until this is over. I do not trust that something somewhere is going to get jacked up with paperwork the day before everything is set to happen. Only 2yrs but I have learned the military way! 🙂

Just what I wanted to do at 29+wks pregnant….unpack and organize a whole house. Yay. 😦

The one good thing in all of this is that I get to go through everything and toss anything we don’t need/want AND set up a whole organized system 🙂  Every pregnant nesting woman’s dream!! Haha!

Half Baked! :)

It is hard to believe but this kiddo is halfway cooked! We reached 20 weeks!!

A few days ago I headed to my midwife’s office for the big anatomy scan. I was shaking like crazy and more than a little convinced that something would be horribly wrong (just for the record I was the same way going to Harper’s big scan!). I always worry but this time it was worse since I had to do it alone. I couldn’t stop thinking about how I would handle bad news…and how I would tell Dan over the phone thousands of miles away. My imagination is crazy and this is where being a NICU nurse does not do me any favors!!

After a long wait (of course they were running way behind!) I was finally back in the room and even managed to get Dan on skype! He wasn’t able to really see much since the screen was too far away but he did get to hear the tech describe everything and ultimately give Thurow 2.0 a perfect bill of health! YAY!!!!! My scan actually went really really fast compared to Harper’s so I was shocked when it was over. Kiddo was relaxed in there with it’s little hands behind it’s head just sleeping away. Harper was going insane kicking and flipping around (does this mean this kiddo will be a better sleeper??!!). At one point the tech was pushing kinda hard trying to get a better face shot (she kept switching to the 3D view which honestly I don’t like! Creepy!)…..poor baby was getting a little annoyed at being poked and I swear it flipped us off. Too funny!

I am so relieved to hear that everything is looking great. I really wish Dan could have been there and got a little emotional at him having to miss it….hopefully he will make the birth! Baby was measuring 5 days ahead so we had a long talk and I told him/her they needed to slow down! No rush coming out! 😉  I also found out I have an anterior placenta which is why I haven’t felt strong regular kicks yet. What a relief because I was starting to privately freak!

After my scan I headed out to Cheesecake Factory with Harper and my sister (she came in town to watch H while I had my appt) to celebrate my almost birthday and a healthy baby report! 2 sweet healthy babies……I feel so incredibly lucky!

Weekly Update:

• How far along? 20wks!
• How big is baby? 7 inches and around 11ozs! The size of banana
• Total weight gain/loss: approx (+) 9lbs!
• Stretch marks? Nope
• Sleep: Some nights good…some nights bad
• Best moment this week: A healthy ultrasound!!
• Movement: Random kicks and nudges but only very very low. Stupid anterior placenta!
• Food cravings: Sweets are coming on strong! I love donuts…same as with Harper!
• Gender: Team Green!
• Labor Signs: Not for a long time hopefully
• Belly Button in or out? In but pretty flat and wide. Gross!
• What I miss: Wine and sushi!
• What I am looking forward to: Viability is getting close!
• Weekly Wisdom: Pregnancy flies by….and drags on! 🙂
• Milestones: Halfway done!!!!!!

Oh sweet baby!

How can something so creepy be so cute?!

I couldn’t have asked for a better 30th birthday present! My actual birthday was a pretty big bust since Harper woke up sick and everything seemed to go wrong. Oh well I’m not claiming 30 until I hit Europe 😉

The Big 3-0

2 more days in my 20’s….then it is time to welcome birthday #30!

I really thought I would be dreading this birthday but instead I am actually looking forward to it! I had a freak out at 25 with my “quarter-life crisis” because I felt so old and like things were changing too fast. Now heading into the 30s I feel like life is exactly as it should be. In a weird way I already feel like I should be in the 30s (in a good way!). I am married to an amazing man, have a beautiful daughter with another sweet baby on the way, and we are crossing off “bucket list” items left and right.

When I think of 20’s I think of college, parties, and some crazy times…when I think of 30’s I think of family, and setting new goals to reach.

I will say though that I’m not really looking forward to the actual day since I will be alone with Harper (I love being with my little girl but it isn’t exactly different than any other day!) 😉  My plans for now are to take Harper somewhere to play during the morning followed by dinner out that night….and I will enjoy a yummy dessert with no thoughts to healthy pregnancy eating! haha!

What I am looking forward to is my big “dirty 30” celebration trip in a few weeks with my bestie!! We have been talking about taking a trip together somewhere awesome for the big 3-0 since we turned 25 and dissolved into tears. Originally it was to be an (adult) girls only trip but Dan getting deployed threw a wrench in that plan. Now Harper is tagging along…but luckily she is an awesome traveller and K. didn’t seem to mind too much! 😉  After tossing around a bunch of ideas of where to go we finally decided on Paris and Germany (Rhine/Mosel region). K. has never been to Europe and always wanted to go….and I am ALWAYS up for Europe! We watched way too many Rick Steve episodes and decided on where we would go and K. managed to get 10 days off for the trip.

That is where it started….and then it kinda got crazy (on my end!). I figured Harper and I would head over a few days early so she would have time to adjust to jet-lag before K arrived and then thought about extending my time by a few days to relax in a different city. Many many many nights of watching Rick Steves, reading travel books, looking at pictures followed but I could NOT plan the trip! Not having a specific time I had to be back by and not having someone else to give their opinions caused me to continuously go in circles. Amsterdam & Belgium would be easy to get to and everyone loves them……but Italy sounded like the perfect place to relax and I wanted to see more of the country…..and..and…and..

There is a thing as too many choices!

Finally I decided to look at the budget I had for the trip and just fit as much as I could with the money set aside. We always stay in apartments now that Harper tags along so I decided to save money and find one that is 5-10 minutes away from the tourist area of the cities vs. directly by them. We did this last year in Munich and it saved soooo much money. A quick 10 minute subway ride is easy (especially in Europe where their public transport is amazing) and an added bonus is that it is usually much quieter at night! 🙂  Since we are not exactly hanging out at bars until the wee hours of morning with a toddler in tow it all works out. I also budgeted less for food/drink per day than I usually do since I won’t be indulging in lots of wine/beer with dinner and with Harper we enjoy more picnic type lunches/dinners. Fancy 3hr dinners are just not an option anymore! 😉  Luckily I enjoy the picnics with amazing views much more!

So after tons of planning, list making, book reading, daydreaming I finally nailed down my itinerary and started booking things. When it was all said and done it equalled up to 30 days overseas!!! I wasn’t kidding when I said I went a little nuts! 😉 It was actually 28 days but I figured at that point I might as well tack on 2 extra days so I can have 1 day for every year. Cheesy but it will make a good story!

My fun 10 day adventure with the bestie turned into a whole month spent overseas. I am so lucky that I have a husband who doesn’t bat an eye when I tell him these things! The man truly does get me! I will have to take things slower than normal since I will be 24+wks pregnant, with a toddler , and by myself for most of the time…..but that is ok with me 🙂  In all our travels we have learned that it really isn’t worth it to spend less than 3 nights in each city (and we usually strive for 4-5 nights). We like to explore and really soak in the surrounding culture vs. run around like mad and try to hit the 5 most popular sites for photos. With each trip overseas I feel less and less frantic about seeing everything since I know I will be back….there is no room for discussion there! 😉

My “dirty 30” celebration itinerary:

Paris – 8 nights

This will be my third time to Paris and I can’t wait. I honestly just love this city so much! Harper and I will land 3 days before K. so it will give us time to adjust and have a little fun at the kid parks/museums. We will probably do a fun daytrip somewhere during the time….I figure we will play that by ear! 🙂  I am dreaming of the bread/cheese/pastries right now! I am so going to fail my 28wk glucose test when I get back!

Cochem, Germany – 5 nights

I’ve been to Munich and parts of Bavaria and loved it so I am looking forward to exploring a different part of Germany! 5 nights exploring the small towns along the Rhine and Mosel river, playing in castles, and cruising along the water. We are renting a car for this stretch and I’m a little nervous about driving in another country (usually Dan does this part!). Eeek!  After our time there we say goodbye to K. who had to head back to the U.S. :*(  and Harper and I head out on our own for the rest of the trip.

Amsterdam, Netherlands – 4 nights

For some weird reason Amsterdam has never been high on my “want to see” list. It jumped on my list this time because it is so easy to get to from Germany (one of my criteria for places to go was easy & quick transportation since I will be juggling it all by myself!). It also sounded good because it wasn’t one of my “OMG I sooooo want to go there!”. Many of the places I researched I just couldn’t imagine going to without Dan. So many places we have daydreamed and talked about over and over and over….it just wouldn’t be right to go without him. Luckily Amsterdam wasn’t one of those places 🙂  The more I researched into it the cooler it sounded. I know Harper is going to LOVE the canal boats rides!!! I am excited to go to the Ann Frank home 🙂

Bruges, Belgium (3 nights)

Belgium seemed like a logical next step from Amsterdam….and I’m ashamed to admit that after watching a Rick Steve’s episode where he talked about the chocolate, fries, and waffles I was ALL about going! This pregnant lady started drooling right away! My first stop will be for fries or a waffle as soon as I get into town! haha!

Rome, Italy (4 nights)

I couldn’t get Italy out of my head so I decided to go for it! Dan and I went to Rome as part of our honeymoon and honestly….I didn’t love it. I don’t know why but for some reason it just didn’t live up to my expectations. It seems weird to choose to go back to the one city I didn’t fall in love with, but I really want to give it a second chance! I want to watch Harper run around the piazzas and snack on pizza & gelato (that did not disappoint!). I want to replace some of the photos of the sites from our honeymoon since our camera acted funny and gave everything a yellow hue. I’m curious to see what my impression of it is this time with my expectations lowered so much!

Florence, Italy (4 nights)

Since Rome is the only part of Italy I’ve seen so far I really wanted to see a different part of the country. Most people rave about Florence but originally I was really wanting to head into the Tuscany region and stay at an old farmhouse visiting the different hilltop towns. In the end the only way to really make that work would be to rent a car for the week and drive to each different town. I’m lazy and didn’t like the idea of driving by myself with a toddler at 28wks pregnant in the countryside of Italy. Too many things could go wrong for me to be comfortable with it! Instead I decided to enjoy the beautiful town of Florence and take one or two daytrips into Tuscany by bus 🙂  Best of both worlds!! I am so excited to just sit back and relax in the countryside while Harper plays and eat gelato. Yummy!

Aviano, Italy (2 nights)

Our last stop will be to Aviano where the military base is that we are hopefully flying home from! It is an easy daytrip to Venice (debating on if I want to go for a day with a toddler….) and Verona (I’ve heard it is gorgeous) so I decided to stay on base for a few nights to watch flight patterns and decide when to try to head out! We could get stuck there for more than 2 nights (something I am quite all right with!) 😉  But since Aviano is one of our top 3 choices of OCONUS bases I want to get a feel of the area! 🙂

Thats it!! 30 nights (and maybe more) in Europe! I cannot wait to go…..and I’m half terrified of how this is going to go! This will be my first time traveling internationally by myself (ok I will have Harper but lets be honest..a 2yr old isn’t much help if things go wrong!). It is the trip of a lifetime and I’m kinda excited to see what I learn about myself doing this all alone! 95% of the people in my life think I am absolutely insane…..but that is ok! 🙂

I’m am so ready to relax and EAT!!!!

Adventures in Potty Training

Adventure…..that is what we will call it 😉

My original goal was to potty train Harper before she was two. I know that for most people that sounds insane but I found it interesting that the world average for potty training is 18 months and the US is the only country that regularly has children 3+ still in diapers. Most of the people in my generation were potty trained between 18 months and 2yrs…..but then disposable diapers became mainstream and the average age just continued to be pushed back. It also made sense because I could do it before baby #2 arrives in December and my time/attention are in demand by two kiddos and I wanted it done far enough in advance to the new baby’s arrival that we would hopefully not have regression issues. I have to say I can NOT imagine trying to potty train Harper while also caring for a newborn. It takes a LOT of attention!

I felt if everyone else in the world could do it before two then we could too! If nothing else it was worth a shot. We try to follow Harper’s cues with everything and give her a chance to show us she is ready. Things like moving her out of our room and going from the crib to big girl bed were done with the attitude “we will give it a try and if she resists it then no harm done we can go back to the way it was!”. I’ve found that she was almost always ready for each new step….we don’t give our kids enough credit! 😉   With the crazy of deployment potty training got pushed back but 2 weeks after Harper turned 2 I  put away the diapers, pulled out the potty chair & pretty panties. We were going to do this!!! I had researched a million different sites/books on how to go about potty training and finally decided to try the 3 day method (seemed like the most popular). The basic idea is that you skip training pants/pull-ups (both basically glorified diapers) and go straight to undies. You spend the days watching your child like a hawk looking for signs that they have to go and reminding them constantly to tell you if they have to go potty.

Day one was a complete failure (as it is expected to be). We were swimming in puddles and Harper had no signs of wanting to sit on the potty. Good thing I bought a LOT of undies! The program really stresses that you are not supposed to force the child to sit on the potty at timed intervals….it doesn’t teach them to connect the feeling of having to go with actually going to the potty. The first half of the day I did attempt to take Harper to the potty every 30 minutes….but it backfired and she threw huge fits about not wanting to go. Plus we didn’t get a single catch so it was pointless. By the end of the day I decided to trust the program and just remind her constantly to tell me when she had to go (if she started having an accident I would scoop her up and put her on the potty…..we celebrated getting ANY in so she would see what was expected).

I went to bed exhausted & dreading the next day.

Day 2 wasn’t very different from the first day and by mid-afternoon I was close to calling it quits. I had promised myself I would stick it out the whole 3 days before calling defeat….but it is so frustrating to be cleaning up every 5 minutes! Man toddlers pee a LOT! Just about the time I was heading to grab the diapers I heard Harper yell “mommy pee-pee!”. We didn’t make it to the potty that time….but she TRIED!!!! It was a small glimmer of hope and gave me the hope that we could keep going. By nighttime she was telling me pretty consistently when she had to go! Most were still accidents in that she would tell me about 2 seconds before she went, but it was progress! Something was starting to click.

That night I went to bed exhausted but hopeful.

Day 3 saw no real improvement. She would tell me sometimes right before she went…and other times not at all. If she was busy playing she had no interest in stopping what she was doing! The program doesn’t encourage giving rewards but I felt that something was needed to motivate her over this little hump. Everyone knows how strict we are with sweets and food around Harper but I was willing to break the rules for a few days! We headed out and grabbed a big bag of gummy bears to use. Our only issue was that first I had to get a catch in the potty to give her one! I had noticed that the later in the day it got the less interested in going potty she was. I didn’t want to force it so we called Day 3 a semi-bust and waited to start rewards the next day!

I went to bed that praying that this would work because I was sick of puddles and sick of the house!!

Role playing with our baby doll! Harper was the mommy reading books while baby went potty! 😉

Day 4. Finally a bit of luck! I put Harper on the potty as soon as she woke up and we got a catch!!! Woo-hoo! I handed over 2 gummy bears and her face lit up. Yummy!! She immediately wanted more more more! It took a bit to get her to understand that she got the bears for going on the potty…..and once she did she wanted to go on the potty every 5 minutes. Ugh!!! I think we spent almost all day in there! Luckily after a few hours she realized that she only got a gummy when she actually peed in the potty…..that was when it clicked. I swear I think I actually heard the little gears in her head turn and click into place! We still had accidents that day but we got a lot of catches and she really realized when she had to go! Finally we were on the road to success!

That night I went to bed with a smile on my face! 🙂

Day 5 was the amazing day that everything seemed to come together. We caught about 85% of the pees that day. Not too shabby!!! Harper still had to be reminded to tell mommy if she had to go pee-pee a lot….but we had it! One thing I hadn’t counted on was my smart little girl scheming up ways to get more gummy bears. She would sit on the potty and pee a little before jumping off and getting her gummy….then about 10 seconds later she would say “try pee pee again?” and want to sit back down. Sure enough she would then let the rest go so she could get another gummy! She even managed to make several bathroom trips into 3 different pees! Girl has got some serious kegal muscles! 😉  Smart little devil! Luckily two can play that game so I started cutting the bears in half. She can’t outsmart me (yet!).

After that it was just working on control and remembering even when playing and distracted! I weaned her off the gummy bears after about 3 days. Luckily it was pretty easy! The 3 day plan was really closer to a 5 day plan for us but honestly I feel that isn’t too bad for a barely 2yr old. I was terrified at first of going outside the house and dealing with public toilets and accidents so we stayed home for almost 9 days…..I will say that was 100% the hardest part and we about drove each other crazy. Potty training would be MUCH easier if Dan were home to help and relieve me at times. Keeping a hawk-eye out for potty times is truly exhausting! After 9 days I decided we had to battle going out in public without diapers at some point so we should just get it over with. Our first outing was to Barnes & Nobles to play and lunch at Chipotle. She did awesome and we had no accidents!! I did remind her a million times but she told me 3X she had to go and held it until we got there. Score! 🙂  Not all outings went as well and I have had to reach for the paper towels and clorox wipes a few times but each day has gotten better and better.

Once she got the hang of potty training during the day I branched out into night training. I was dreading it but honestly it was super easy! The first few nights she had an accident or came running into my room freaking out that she had to go pee-pee so for now I just wake her up for a “dream pee” around 11pm (right before I head to bed) and she manages to stay dry untl the morning! Our only issue was that it did screw up bedtime for about a week. Harper used the “I have to pee-pee” excuse to keep getting out of bed. Drove me crazy! Finally I just started putting her on the potty (with the light off) and leaving the room (standing outside the door where she couldn’t see me). I let her sit there bored for as long as she wanted (usually 5 min) until she was tired of just sitting there and wanted to go to bed. Thankfully now we are back to a nice easy bedtime! Whew!

Our only other problem with potty-training was the poop issue. Harper had no issue peeing in the potty but pooping freaked her out and she REFUSED to do it. Most moms have told me this is 100% normal….but it is still super annoying! After 2wks of dealing with poopy panties (10X worse than a poopy diaper!) I decided to step up the bribes. Gummy bears weren’t a big enough enticement to get over the fear….time to bring out the popsicles! Harper had never had one and after finally getting a poop catch I handed one over. Oh she was a fan…a huge fan! I am not even kidding when I say it only took one popsicle for her to stop going in her undies! Yay! Luckily I weaned her off that reward after 3 days!

It has been about a month since we started this adventure and we are 98% potty-trained both night and day!  We still have an occasional accident but they are few and far between. Most accidents happen in the car because I can’t find a place to stop fast enough (or she falls asleep in the carseat…..no accidents while sleeping anywhere else but always in the car. Maybe the position puts pressure on her bladder?! Who knows!). For now I just put a prefold diaper underneath her to keep the seat dry. The only other place we have an issue with is at the gym child care center. They keep the bathroom doors locked so kids can’t make a mess and they do not do any assistance with diapers or toileting. Harper definitely is not at a place where she understands finding an adult to have them unlock the bathroom, pull down her pants, get on the toilet, and pull her pants back up all by herself. For now I just put a diaper cover (we call it a panty cover) over her panties before she goes. It keeps her from making a mess if she does have an accident but doesn’t confuse her with having an actual diaper on.

I don’t usually post pictures like this but you can’t do a potty-training post without at least one potty picture! 😉

While there are some annoyances that come with having a potty-trained toddler (having to always be on hyper-alert to where the closest bathrooms are, and hearing the phrase “mommy pee-pee” 5 seconds after getting kiddo buckled into the carseat) it is sooooooo nice being done with diapers! I didn’t even really mind diapers but I love not having to deal with them anymore (at least until December!). Plus just knowing the big hurdle of potty-training is over is so nice 🙂  It was worth the short 2wk period of frustration! My baby really is a big girl now! 🙂