Number Two

We have some exciting news to share, we're expecting number baby two! Most of you know this already!

We found out mid-December and since then have found out the due date which is August 9th!

The gist of the finding out story is, we've basically been 'trying' since Scarlett was born. I breastfeed for 9 months until my supply dipped so low we switched to formula. That's when I got pregnant. I had been waiting for weeks to finally cycle and had a weird inkling that on Nov 10th I was ovulating.. I waited 5 weeks after that to test for pregnancy since I had just tested around the 10th and I was basically testing once a month anyway. We were pretty surprised when the test was positive. I texted a photo to Alex and then had to go buy more tests bc of course that was my last one! I called the doctor the following day and scheduled the first appointment. I don't know why they didn't just schedule me and ultrasound right then since I told them there was no way to know when I was due. But in went for the blood test and normal first appt. It was at a different location than I was used to which was annoying bc I took Scarlett and I had to walk around for a while and ask people before I found it. And she's heavy! Giving blood was a real treat as Scarlett wiggled around after prematurely finishing the bottle I brought to drink while i gave blood. :) I scheduled the ultrasound for the following week though, silly Christmas time schedules.

The ultrasound determined the date as August 9th, which was close to both Alex's and my guess of mid-August. It was fun to see the babe on the screen looking like a tiny bean. They found a cyst on the umbilical cord which I did not find out until someone called a couple days later, maybe they had to send it for more tests or something.. Regardless they wanted a follow up ultrasound at 12 weeks, which was fine with us. Apparently these are common and usually resolve and aren't even seen bc most people don't have early ultrasounds.

At 12 weeks, we got that ultrasound and everything is cleared up and looking good. We always decline the first trimester screen but kind of got it as a freebie bc they tested/measured that stuff during this ultrasound to rule out most chromosomal abnormalities.

Here we are now, weekly posts coming soon!

And Here's to 7 more healthy months and hopefully a successful vbac!

Scarlett :: 12 Months

Stats
Length: 31"
Weight: 24 lbs
Head size..over the 100th percentile, ha!

Eats: Still drinking the formula. We did test milk but went back to formula .. Looking back we should've just stayed with milk or a mix. She drinks about 6-8 oz about 5 times a day. On New Year's Day we visited urgent care and she was 25 lbs, height unknown! She eats 3 meals a day with snacks in between if she's still hungry, it's usually not necessary unless we're out somewhere. Overall she's a good eater and there's nothing she hasn't liked, even Ethiopian!

Sleeps: 2 naps a day, goes to bed around 7 and wakes around 6. Naps range from 45 min to 2 hours. She's a light sleeper and I'm wondering if that will be constant in her life.

Activities: well she's still walking and sometimes faster than we like. She babbles constantly but only says a couple words including yum and mama. She can clap and point and stack things, she can put things into holes so they fit and she loves music. Her favorite song and music video is gangham style, the remix one that the girl sings.

Other:
She was fish kissing her lips together, one time. It was cute but didn't happen again. She has four teeth and sometimes it seems like she's teething but then is over it after a couple days with nothing to show for it.

She can definitely understand us and decides whether to listen or not. She's generally good though and knows what she's not supposed to get into. She loves other children, especially her cousin Makayla. Instant laughs when she sees her. Overall, her mood is almost always pleasant and she smiles and laughs and is just filled with love. Sometimes you can see it oozing out of her, it's awesome!

She's been into cuddling more, hugging and kissing. Before naps we sit for a little bit and cuddle. She cuddles her panda bear and monkey and she likes to lay her head down on different blankets when she's sleepy. It's cute and also fun to see her little personality.

She's the best!

Someone turned 1!

She didn't really open many gifts herself. But enjoy them nonetheless!

She loved this quilt right away!

Just wanted to add in one picture of decor.. it was kind of falling down at the end when I took this :)

Scarlett :: 11 Months

No Stats and No actual sticker shirt pictures.. :)

Eats:
She drinks about 5-6 bottles a day, varying in volume. We do about 75% formula and 25% cow's milk. She eats 3 meals a day with snacks in between if she's hungry. This past month she's tried lots of new things including having thanksgiving turkey dinners twice. Thus far she is not too picky, she eats whatever we feed her which is nice.

Sleeps:
She has been sleeping through the night since mid-November. She does still wake up sometimes and whimper but goes right back to sleep afterward. We eventually just had to let her self soothe through one night and then she kind of caught on. She doesn't cry when we put her to bed anymore, she just cuddles up to her monkey and either chats herself to sleep or drifts right off. Her bedtime is a consistent 7-7:30pm. Her naps are pretty consistent now too, and longer than before. One day she gave me 2.5 hours. I didn't know what to do with myself! She usually lays down from 9-10am and then from 2-3pm and the naps last anywhere from 1-2.5 hours. Morning naps are generally longer.

Activities:
She's been full time walking for a while now. She also added climbing to her repertoire. She can climb up on top of our hearth and stand up. Problem is, she doesn't know how to properly get down... we had it blocked off pretty well for a while but with an upcoming fireplace insert being installed, we aren't sure yet how we're going to prevent that. She babbles like a brook a lot of the time and loves to sit and laugh at her books still. She has said mama, baby and yum consistently now for a month. She likes to grab blocks that have been stacked and carry them around, trying to keep them stacked. She kicks her soccer ball and volleyball around the room a lot too.

Other:
Let's see, this past month she had her first Thanksgiving and she sat on Santa's lap which went really well. She found a snuggle buddy with her monkey which is the first time we've seen her actually cuddle something intentionally. We moved her nursery to the other bedroom upstairs for noise purposes and it's been working out so far. She loves to smile and laugh. It's so easy to make her laugh by saying "pee-yew" or tickling her. She's just so pleasant.

We love her so much!

We got our Christmas Tree!

Here is the lucky tree.. we always choose really tall and then cut part of the way up!

Christmas Morning!

Gotta sit in a tire at the Farm Show!

Scarlett : 10 Months

Stats
Weight: ??
Length: ??

Eats
We added chicken to the mix this month, hoping she might sleep a little longer at night if she had some more protein in her belly to process.. nope! It worked the first night but none following that. She's been eating the same and I asked the doctor about starting whole milk in the evening.

Sleeps
So far, same as usual. Consistently up at 6am. Daylight savings has not been nice to us so far.

Activities
She's definitely walking more and more. She squats down to pick something up and stands back up again. Sometimes she gets ahead of herself and tries to run, which makes her fall down. She probably walks/crawls 70/30. We chase her all over the house.

Other
She's working on her top teeth right now. Teething is not a fun process. I look forward to the end of that but seeing teeth in her mouth is such a sight when you're used to seeing so much of her gums.

Wow, this is the shortest monthly update yet. This is due to my lack of free time and hence, the little blog hiatus I was on. But i'm back! ;)

Tastefully Simple - Update!

So I just wanted to give an update of how this has been going for me now that I've been doing it for a couple months.

First, I have to say, I could've done more in the last couple of months but having a toddler is a time suck (in a good way). I wanted to get all kind of info out to local businesses to try to get them to use Tastefully Simple as a gift option for their customers and it just didn't get off the ground. I have had a total of 4 parties and a fundraiser for Relay for Life.

My most recent party was the best yet! I totally attribute that to the host getting out there and talking to her friends and family and getting orders. She did amazing! And February was a great month for her to do amazing because she ended up with over $140 in free product. See how easy it is!

Anyway, I really want to be successful with this but it's hard with so little free time BUT i'm happy to say I have more upcoming parties and I would like to do more fundraisers so if anyone is interested in earning free Tastefully Simple goodies just by sharing these products with family and friends, please let me know!

I think once the new product line comes out (very soon!) I may have another Mystery Host event at my house to introduce the new line. I want to do something at my work too but i'm not exactly sure of the stipulations regarding selling products within the workplace. I need to look into it more before doing it. If I turned it into a fundraiser it might work better but I'm not sure.

If you're interested in looking into Tastefully Simple, as a consumer, as a host or even if you're looking for a new opportunity to make some extra cash, check out my TS website or email me: brubaker.michelle@gmail.com .. It's so easy and the food is delicious!

Next time I will talk about my favorite products!

Southwestern Chopped Salad

I pinned this a couple weeks ago and this weekend decided to make it! Of course my original pin did not take me to anything (ugh!) but I just googled it and found the same version here! There are plenty other links if you google it but this one looked the most like the pin I pinned. I have since pinned this.

Anyway, onto the actual recipe itself!

Southwestern Chopped Salad
Serves a big serving bowl full.. probably 6-8 as a side salad
Salad Ingredients
2 red peppers, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 can of black beans, rinsed
1 can of sweet corn, drained
1 bunch of green onions, diced
1 head of iceberg lettuce (I did a mix of iceberg and romaine)
2 avocados, diced
1 cup cilantro, chopped (optional, I did not add this)

Dressing Ingredients
1/2 cup of Mayo
2/3 cup of Greek Yogurt
1 tbsp Ranch seasoning
1 tbsp Taco seasoning

Put all salad ingredients in a bowl. I omitted the avocado until serving time and since i've been bringing this for lunch, I cut the avocado right before eating and only use 1/2 per serving.

Stir together dressing ingredients and add to the salad if serving immediately. I keep it in a separate container in the fridge for individual serving type use. And I may just have to make it to completely replace ranch for salads.. taco ranch is way better! And I bought one of the small greek yogurt single serving containers, plain.. and I used half of it for this.

Anyway, it's delicious and i've had it for lunch the past two days and dinner last night so you know it must be good. I'm just hoping I don't wear it out because i'm too excited to have a salad that i love this much! And is healthy! (except for the dressing but the yogurt helps!!)

Playdate with Aunt Julia

Julia came down this past weekend (along with Jessica and Makayla, who only stayed for dinner) and we carved pumpkins, made chocolate chip cookies and played with Scarlett. Always a fun time! Here are some picture highlights!

Scarlett doesn't like to look for pictures anymore, so this was a good capture! She's probably mid-laugh!

We were going for fall themed since halloween is over. We toasted the pumpkin seeds afterward and they turned out the best I've ever made them. 400 degrees for 15ish minutes. mmm!