The days are flying by

My pregnancy is flying by these days! I am now 30 weeks pregnant – only 10 more to go (I hope). Our baby girl is not in the proper position for birth like she should be but my doctor is giving her another 6 weeks to get there. I am understandably exhausted these days, insomnia is rearing its ugly head again :/ Getting up for work every morning is turning into a serious chore, I miss my housewife days when I could focus solely on my health and comfort.

Steven and I are trying to focus on baby-prep in these final weeks. We have a small stockpile of diapers and wipes, nothing close to what we will truly need though. My aunt sent us several boxes of baby clothes which was such an amazing gift! I had gotten rid of almost all of Avery’s baby items before we moved here from Korea so the clothing was desperately needed. The cherry on top was receiving a very generous gift card from Steven’s co-workers which got us the remaining baby gear we needed. Now all we need is a baby!

My mom and best friend are throwing me a baby shower next month. I am really excited this time around because I had my shower with Avery while still in my 2^nd trimester because we were living overseas at the time. My grandmother is flying up from California for the shower, I can’t wait!

Still completely obsessed with Cars haha

Cars jammies, Cars book, 2 stuffed cars, on her Cars couch

Avery is growing like a weed these days, she apparently didn’t get the memo that she’s supposed to stay my baby forever. She recently became fully 100% potty trained!! I am enjoying these diaper-less days before we have a newborn. Avery’s been day trained for nearly a year but nights were a struggle for us, she didn’t have liquids at/before bed time but still had accidents. After a few weeks of dry diapers we switched to a cloth diaper, and after a few weeks dry in that we made the switch fully to panties at bedtime – she hasn’t had a single accident (knock on wood).

Learning to swaddle at her sibling preparation class

I met with Avery’s pre-school teacher last month for her evaluation and I was surprised to hear that she is way ahead of her peers on almost every level. We are constantly told how smart Avery is but I assume people are just being polite, hearing that she’s advanced from her teacher and seeing her work portfolio kind of solidified that notion for me. Steven and I have increased the amount of money we put in her college fund each month, we can’t let that brain go to waste!

Avery's dance recital - her ballet outfit

And with Uncle Quinn in her tap outfit

All in all the Lyon family is doing well.  

Oh Baby

I'm now 20 weeks (closer to 21 weeks at this point), I'm now half-way through my pregnancy, give or take 2 weeks on either end. I've reached the point in pregnancy where I can no longer put on shoes without hurting myself :/ Thankfully the weather has been gorgeous and I've been able to wear sandals. This pregnancy is completely different from Avery, with her I easily put on my shoes while in labor, but Avery was high and tight while this kid is low and wide.

I'm actually really bummed about being half-way done with this pregnancy. Women only get to experience pregnancy a few times in their life, and I enjoy being pregnant. I hope we can have a third child YEARS down the road but only time will tell.

Avery's insanely long hair

Anyway, I had my 20 week appointment and ultrasound today. Steven and my mom were both able to make it to the appointment :) The ultrasound tech confirmed that this baby is a GIRL :D That news confirmed what we were told when I visited the hospital at 16 weeks so we've already had time to digest the news. I'm very excited but also really regretting the fact that I gave away all of Avery's baby stuff. We weren't planning on having another child for a long while so I gave the clothes to other moms or traded them in for toddler clothes haha.

This baby looked great on the ultrasound - the baby is about 10.5 inches long, roughly the size of a large banana. We confirmed with the ultrasound tech that this baby didn't have a velamentous cord insertion like Avery did. Thankfully VCI only occurs in 1% of pregnancies so this baby is in the clear :) Now that we know for sure this baby is a girl we start the difficult process of choosing a name!

20 weeks

In other news, Steven and I made some final arrangements on our belated anniversary trip to McCall. Somehow Steven and I keep getting further and further away from our actual anniversary by the time we can celebrate. The only year we have actually celebrated on time was our 1 year anniversary which was pre-kids haha. Year 2 was celebrated in February, year 3 we were in the ER with Avery getting stitches, and year 4 celebrating in March haha. Our anniversary was in December but it took us these 3 months to save a bit of money for the overnight trip. Ahhh being poor sucks! I'm really excited for our trip though, we go this weekend :D

I'll end this week's update on the fact that I'm extremely disappointed in the state of Idaho. In our great country there are 47 states that have laws that specifically protect a mother's right to breastfeed in ANY public or private location. Two of the remaining states - South Dakota and Virginia - protect mothers from public indecency or nudity laws (although Virginia is in the process of joining the other 47 states in being awesome). And then there is Idaho...close-minded, pathetic Idaho. I just so happen to live in the ONLY state in the entire country that has ZERO laws in place to protect my right to breastfeed. Idaho has the highest percentage of breastfeeding mothers in the country at 91.8% while the national average is only 76%, even past the 1 year mark 45% of Idaho moms still nurse while the average is only 27%. How is there nothing in place to protect so many women?! I'm baffled. So just a heads up, since the law won't protect me I will take matters into my own hands and throat-punch anyone who complains about me breastfeeding this baby girl.

Steven and Avery at the Monster Jam

February thus far

It's been about a month since my last update. Life has been surprisingly dull with only a few bumps in the road. Many of you may remember how I struggled with mysterious lymph node swelling over the summer, no amount of testing found the cause. The swelling went away as quickly as it had started and I haven't been plagued with it since, until recently. After being symptom-free for 6 months the swelling suddenly started again :( This is around the same time everything started happening last year, so now I wonder if its an allergy to something that occurs during January/February. Before I was pregnant I would take massive amounts of ibuprofen to manage the pain and swelling but that is no longer an option for me until the baby is born.

I went back to my ENT, but he basically said he wouldn't touch me with a 10 foot pole while pregnant, and to come back after the baby was born so we could repeat the CT scan. Are you kidding me guy?! I'm still paying off the first one! I wanted a 2nd opinion and lucky for me I have a friend whose father is an ENT. I love my new doctor already! He offered his opinion on the situation and asked me to come back during a flare up, so now its a waiting game.

Avery at the Canyon County Kids Expo

The other bump in the road was a little tumble down the stairs. On my way down the stairs one morning I forgot how many there were, I tried to break my fall with my hands but I hit Avery's doll stroller instead so I landed completely on my belly and chest. No OB in the area was able to see me to make sure the baby was fine and after several hours of cramping and back pain I finally went into the ER. Since I wasn't yet 20 weeks I had to be seen in the actual ER instead of by the actual maternity department. I was in the ER for HOURS!! After everything was said and done the baby and I got a clean bill of health.

During my ER visit I was given an ultrasound to make sure things were fine internally. The ultrasound tech said she got a glance at the gender but when she went back to confirm what she had seem the baby's legs were crossed. Steven and I have decided not to share the gender yet based on a "glance", we are waiting for it to be confirmed at my 20 week appointment in March.

One piece of good news is that I hit my 1 year at work :) I'm waiting for my review to be scheduled but in the mean time I moved to a nice window desk at work, I absolutely LOVE seeing the sunshine throughout the day. I feel much more motivated lately.

The pregnant ladies at work :) From left: Corann due mid March, I'm due July 25th, and Melissa is due just 8 days after me!

Avery is due to start dance class tomorrow. She's had one class so far to see if she liked it, its a mix of ballet and tap. Avery is so darn cute in her leotard!

Steven started working his new tax season schedule. He works 6 days from 8am - 5pm with one day off and 5 days from 11am - 8pm with two days off. It sucks now but work is allowing him to turn that sixth of work into PTO for when the baby is born. 

The gang at Evelyn's 2nd birthday

I am now 18 weeks pregnant and so far things are going well. I have yet to gain any weight which is surprising given my current size haha. I lost 5 lbs in the first trimester and expected to gain that back quickly but nope, I didn't gain anything with Avery until I was 6 months pregnant so I have no worries that the pounds will find their way back eventually. I don't feel the baby moving anymore which was another reason I had gone into the ER at 16 weeks which really sucks. The ER doctor said the placenta was in such a place that he's not surprised I couldn't feel him/her anymore. I was lucky to feel the baby so early but once the placenta was fully formed that stopped. Also around 16 weeks I started getting Braxton Hicks which has slowed me down just a bit because they occur so often just like they did with Avery. I had to quit prenatal yoga for a few months while Steven works his crazy schedule.

18 weeks

I'll end this blog on the fact that I have had a great weekend so far. On Friday, we got off work early so I got a pedicure with my friend Melissa. As I was leaving Melissa's house I got a text from my friend Kristen, we took our kids to the park. I had dinner with my parents that night while Steven had dinner with his. I ended the night snuggled up in bed with my favorite girl watching cartoons until Steven got home :) Saturday was pretty good too, Steven had to work but the lack of actual work allowed him to go to breakfast with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, and us of course. After breakfast Steven went back home while Avery and I ran a few errands with my parents. When we got home I spent several hours binge watching Revenge in bed haha.

Life is peachy

This is last week's update but I'm dragging ass lately, fatigue has decided to hit again.

The Lyon family had a pretty full week. We found out that next month Steven has to start a hectic new schedule. Its basically working one week a normal 8am - 5pm and the next week 11am - 8pm, while alternately working Saturdays as well. The really crappy part is that he will be alternating this crazy schedule with my dad so our family events are going to be put on hold for a few months.

Steven and my dad worked this schedule last year as well and it was very difficult on the family, this year I am mostly worried about how this will effect my yoga class haha. I have yoga on Monday and Thursday from 5:45 - 6:45pm so I will need to figure out how this will work. I'm hoping my instructor will work with me and allow me to pay per class instead of per month. We shall see.

Avery in her new apron that her great-grandmother made her :D

Steven and I were supposed to spend this weekend in McCall properly celebrating our 4 year anniversary but we had to reschedule. Steven is (well was) considered a private contractor because of his work-from-home job, the downside of that is: 1. he got paid twice a month BUT it was via snail mail so we were never sure when his paycheck would actually come. 2. his private contractor status was making it very difficult to get a mortgage. 3. taxes were not taken out of his paychecks so we ended up owing an entire year of taxes when we filed. Starting January 1st, Steven made the switch to a regular employee so that he has taxes taken out and actually gets a W-2. The terrible part is that he got a regular 2 week paycheck at the end of December and won't get paid again until January 31st. So during this transition we've had a month's worth of bills and only a 2 week paycheck to pay them. We've eaten so much top ramen and microwavable burritos lol. So we rescheduled our McCall trip for March when we have money.

Puddle jumping

In baby-related news: I am now 13 weeks and feeling absolutely gigantic. My baby app says the baby is the size of a peach but seriously its like James and the Giant Peach in there :/ I've unintentionally lost another 1 1/2 pounds this week, but the baby is still growing fine. We had an ultrasound this week, I was told at my first appointment I would only get 1 ultrasound at 20 weeks, so it was nice to see the baby this early. This baby is camera shy just like Avery was, both hands covering the face haha. I find myself referring to the baby as "he" now. With Avery I had the undeniable gut feeling that she was a girl from the very beginning but I don't have that with this baby. I kind of feel like it will be a boy so I'm just going with it for now because Steven and I are still undecided on whether or not we are finding out the gender. Steven 100% wants to find out the gender ASAP, while I change my mind about a million times a day on the subject.

Three years and three months

This week our beautiful daughter turned 3 years old! Avery came into this world two days late but made up for it with a quick and easy labor. She was 7 lbs 9 oz and 19.5 in long - at 3 years old she is 29.5 lbs and 38 in. We celebrated Avery's birthday at our home this year, she chose a Cars theme. The party didn't have a big turn-out but all of the important people in Avery's life made it which is all that really matters. This kid is seriously spoiled, I'm glad she had a great last Christmas and birthday as an only child before its not all about her. My favorite gift was a 5ft tall wooden growth chart. My grandparents have a certain spot on their wall where they measure all the kids and grandkids on their birthday. I really want something like that for our kids but since we don't own a home yet it would be pointless to mark up a wall that we can't take with us. The wooden growth chart really takes care of that for us :) Avery's favorite gift was a tie between a doll house and a Hello Kitty airplane haha. Although she got $3 from her great-grandmother and instantly hid it behind her back to hide it from us haha.

In new baby news I am now 12 weeks. Its funny to think that Avery is 3 years and I am 3 months along. I started feeling little baby movements this week, but I only really notice them when I am not pre-occupied with life. We got the baby's new car seat this week, we went with a Chicco Keyfit 30 which was the number 1 car seat in America in 2014 and is the leader going into 2015. This baby is really lucky because we learned from a lot of car seat mistakes with Avery. We were first time parents, living in a country that has no car seat laws, with no family or friends to guide us, and no one corrected us when they noticed errors - no one wants to offend new parents by pointing out what they are doing wrong but I really wish they had.

Our of the top 10 car seat mistakes that parents make, Steven and I made 5 of them!

1. Getting a used car seat. That's exactly what we did. We bought a car seat from someone we didn't know, had no idea if it had been in an accident, and it was missing parts. Oh boy, a trifecta of stupidity. So obviously we can't use Avery's old seat for the new baby.
2. Placing the car seat in the wrong spot. One we didn't fail yay.
3. Using the car seat as a replacement crib. Turns out letting a baby sleep in a car seat (when not traveling) is bad for the baby. We would often let Avery sleep in her car seat even after we got home. Our thought was why wake a sleeping baby?
4. Incorrectly installing the car seat an/or buckling up your child. Our used seat didn't come with a manual so we didn't know that we needed a metal seat belt lock (which was also missing). We put the seat in the middle using a lap belt that didn't even lock. Even a fender bender could have been fatal, 43% of parents also install a car seat too loose.
As far as buckling up goes, we screwed this up too. Our seat didn't have a strap adjuster that would loosen or tighten the straps. Avery's straps were occasionally too loose because any time we wanted to tighten her straps we had to manually re-thread them through the back, which we did not do every single time. Buckling up properly includes: tight straps (68% of parents fail), non-tangles straps, chest clip on the chest (33% failure), and making sure the straps are at the right height (at or below the shoulder for rear-facing, at or above for forward-facing.
5. Reclining the car seat at the incorrect angle. Another thing we didn't fail, but probably would have if our seats weren't perfectly angled to handle Avery's seat.
6. Moving to a forward-facing seat too soon.  A shocking 75% of people forward-face before the recommended age of TWO. Even worse, 24% forward-face before ONE (which is ILLEGAL). We turned Avery around the second she turned 1, and we bought a forward-facing seat only so when we realized our mistake months later we were too poor to buy another seat. We were able to buy a new car seat shortly after Avery's 2nd birthday when I started working, she's been rear-facing ever since :)
7. Dressing your child in bulky clothing. We didn't fail but ONLY because we failed # 9.
8. Not using the top tether. Something else we didn't fail. Forward-facing car seats have 3 tethers, 2 at the base and 1 at the top. Only 42% of parents actually use that top tether though. Using the top tether decreases how far your child's head goes forward in a crash by 4-8 in.
9. Using after-market accessories. We used a Bundle-Me and head support with Avery. Basically if it didn't come with the car seat it hasn't been crash tested with the seat and therefore isn't considered safe. This goes for strap covers, head support, Bundle-Me, seat protectors, dangly toys, etc.
10. Putting an infant seat on the top of the a shopping cart. We never did this but I see it every time I go to the store. I always hear "well, mine snaps in perfectly." No, it doesn't. Every car seat manual (excluding Babytrend) specifically says NOT to put a car seat on top of the cart.

Our new car seat :D

Its a miracle Avery even survived to be honest. One minor crash could have easily taken her life. I wish that the hospital staff would have said something or even bothered to check. No one checked her straps, our installation, and the only comment the staff made was that she looked comfy all snuggled up in her aftermarket products. 93% of parents make a mistake when it comes to installing the seat or strapping in the newborn when they leave the hospital. Yikes, here's hoping as 2nd time and more informed parents we can avoid making those 5 mistakes again.

Out with the old, in with the new

This week was a fun one because some family from California drove up to spend the week with us :) My mom's younger brother and his family visited last year as well, I'm hoping it becomes a tradition because I really love seeing them.

Steven tried his hand out at predator hunting last Saturday with his dad. The pair were gone for nearly 12 hours and saw absolutely nothing haha. The next day Steven went snow tubing with my whole family like we did for our 3 year anniversary. Avery and I stayed home for obvious reasons on both days so it was a mommy-daughter weekend :)

I started prenatal yoga on Monday, honestly it was much more difficult than I expected. I was actually pretty sore the next day, it was embarrassing haha. There are only 2 other women in my class so it was nice to learn in a small group setting. My favorite part of the class was the 10 minute cool down at the end: we laid on our mats with a pillow and blanket in the dark :)

Steven and I saw something slightly disturbing this week :/ While picking up Avery from daycare we noticed a small baby alone in a car. The baby was awake, without a blanket when it was 20-something out, and in a very portable infant car seat. I didn't understand why a parent would leave the child but I tried to withhold judgement. I waited in the car while Steven went inside to get Avery and inform the daycare staff of the situation. Minutes ticked by and I was prepared to call the police if Steven returned before the baby's parent but just as I was looking up the number for dispatch the mother showed up. If looks could kill I'm positive that woman would have dropped dead from the glare Steven gave her. Again, I am trying to withhold judgement since I do not know the struggles of two children yet, but I am really hoping I never get to a point where I am complacent enough or lazy enough to just leave either of my children in the car. Unfortunately, there are only 19 states that have laws in place making illegal to leave a child unattended in a vehicle, Idaho is not one of them :(

2015!!

The year started off great with a family trip to McCall. We went on a sleigh ride pulled by 3 Clydesdale into a herd of elk. The seats on the sleigh are hay bales so the elk came right up to you and ate the hay under your butt haha. Avery thought the elk were adorable, she initially thought they were Santa's reindeer but then decided that since most of them didn't have antlers they couldn't be. It was awesome to do the sleigh ride with Avery since Steven and I did the sleigh ride during our honeymoon.

The rest of the long weekend was pretty fun. Steven and I took Avery out to Red Robin for her birthday dinner, we let her order whatever she wanted which ended up being mac-n-cheese and carrots. After dinner the staff sang "If it's your birthday (happy) and you know it clap your hands", Avery was clapping like crazy, then they brought her a giant sundae.

My uncle and his family left for California early on the 2nd. We're hoping to take a trip to California next year, Steven is dying to take Avery to Disneyland, plus it will be the first time our extended family get to meet the new baby. It will be interesting to see how the whole family gets to California though. I will 100% be flying alone with 2 kids before I make that drive with them. At this point, I think Steven will be driving while we fly. With the recent string of plane crashes and the fact that 2 years ago we had a very traumatic flight I am starting to think that he may never willingly board a plane again. It will be interesting but we have a year to work out the logistics :)

Baby Lyon

I am 11 weeks pregnant now and the baby is the size of a lime. Nothing too exciting has happened pregnancy-wise. I'm pretty sure the morning sickness is completely gone but I still have little to no appetite. I picked up a few flowy shirts this week, I'm not ready for maternity shirts but my regular shirts are uncomfortably snug. 

11 weeks