The Laubster Tale

Nora-Bora-We-Adore-Ya

2014-10-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Getting back on track here! But I couldn't jump in to our day to day life without giving you all an update on our favorite little Miss! Oooh where do I begin? She is probably the silliest little thing I've ever met. If you catch her in the right mood she will just giggle non-stop, give you the brightest smile and say the most adorable things in the most adorable voice...can you tell I'm a bit of a fan of her? Since we brought her home, I remember saying to Jas 'Don't you just get so excited when you realize she's OURS TO KEEP?!" he of course looked at me like I was crazy, but I don't know, she's always just been SPECIAL - there is just something about her that I think will forever make the world, or at least MY world, extra bright.

Making the world SO bright, she has to wear shades

In my last post she was just a bit over 3 months old...and just kind of a blob. A blob that gave AMAZING facial expressions but a blob all the same. Now, she's a walking, talking, silly little hurricane that STILL has amazing facial expressions.

Awesome amazing facial expression example 1

Awesome amazing facial expression example 2

Awesome amazing facial expression example 3

She started walking around 10 months - just like her big brother. She has quite the little vocabulary with a few favorites that she says daily:

- "Bay Bay" (baby)
- Mama
- Bubba (Her name for Logan...I should note that she SOMETIMES wakes up asking for Mama, but USUALLY, she wakes up asking for Bubba...ya, she's a bit of a fan)
- Hi
- Ooooooh (When she wakes up asking for Bubba and I say "He's still asleep" she'll say "oooooh!" in a very surprised and overly adorable way)
- Whyyyyyyyy (it's actually not nearly as annoying as I typed it out there, it's once again super cute but she DOES say it after every single thing I say to her)
- Kitty (she's OBSESSED with Munchkin our cat)

You'll notice that Daddy is missing from this list - she definitely knows how to say it as she said it LOOONG before she ever said Mama. And I sincerely think she's holding out on Jason just to mess with him. She'll spout off a random roll call when we're all together; "Bubba...Mama...Baby...Kitty..." and then start again...Jas will look at her and say "What about me? Who am I?" and she'll just smile, laugh and look away! But then other times she'll say Dadee no problem! It should be noted that she calls him Daddy already - she does not call me Mommy - EVER. She has a special name for Jason already...It's hilarious. Get ready Jas...this one's a manipulator!

See what's happening here? Yes, this is Jas being wrapped around Nora's finger...

We have her 18 month appointment on Monday and I'm really looking forward to seeing how tall she is and comparing it officially with how tall Logan was at that age. She is SO long, it's crazy. I measured her on Logan's height chart in his room and it appears that she's only like 3" shorter now than Logan was on his 2nd birthday. A friend told me once that to determine the final height of your son, you double their height at age 2, and to determine the height of your daughter, you double her height at 18 months; if that's true then Logan and Nora will be the same height; 5'10" which is as tall as Jas. I will flip if I end up being the shortest member of my family! Ha!

Dreams coming true! She's finally JUST LIKE Logan!

Nora's latest thing is to play Mommy with her Baby...all day long from the minute she wakes up she wants a doll swaddled. She'll say "Thank You" to whoever helps her wrap the baby (but look out if you attempt to wrap it wrong! She will cause a FUSS and shout "No! No! NOOOO!" as she waves her arm violently at you! Kind of hysterical), then she'll carry the baby to whatever makeshift cradle she's created (Usually a small toy box). It is one of the most amusing and interesting things I've ever seen. I've never pushed dolls on to her - she came up with this obsession all on her own. And it's not like she's ever seen me acting like this with babies and she's mimicking me - she's the baby of the family so all that she's doing is completely intuitive.

Swaddling a baby for the 8 millionth time one day

It's absolutely fascinating! I wonder if she'll always have this sort of nurturing way about her; will she be a nurse? A mommy of many kids? Will her obsession with our cat meet her obsession for caring and she'll be a Vet? Will she just be a compassionate person in general who wants to help and she'll become a doctor? This is parenthood I guess; you think far into the future based on little things your baby does from the beginning. I'm excited to see where Nora's life will take her!

She was so excited to ride in the kayak - may she always be this fearless!

Super-Double-Triple...and other Logan Updates

2014-10-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

Sooo....Hello! We're going to completely ignore the fact that it's been WELL over 1 year since I've posted anything on this blog. Life's been busy, crazy, exhausting and all of THAT has left little to no time to write! So we're just going to gloss riiiiiiight over the fact that this blog has been very neglected! And to help gloss over the fact that we've been absent, I'm just going to sprinkle updated photos of Logan so that it feels like you've been reading this blog for the past 12 PLUS months!

Logan being quite possibly the cutest person EVER to be that close to a lion.

So on to more CURRENT topics...like LOGAN! And all that he's been up to as a fun, feisty and crazy 4 year old!

The title of this entry "Super-Double-Triple" is Logan's new favorite thing to say - he uses it daily. Sometimes it's a good thing and I am told that I'm a "super-double-triple fun Mom", sometimes it's a speed thing; "I'm going to do that super-double-triple fast!" and then other times, it's a bad thing like "Mom, you are super-double-triple not nice!" That last one is hard to not giggle at - he says it with SUCH conviction too! I have no idea where he learned this phrase, but chances are he just made it up himself and thinks that it just means SUPER SUPER SUUUUUPER ________ (whatever he is trying to say).

Logan Laub - aaaaaaalllll boy!

Logan and Daddy as Jas crosses the finish line at his FOURTH year of doing the SF 1/2 Marathon!

Aside from his new catch phrase, Logan's in his 2nd year of preschool. We changed schools from where he was at last year. His previous school was great, and he made a lot of great friends there, but i just felt like the school wasn't ENOUGH for him. I will admit that I spend way too much time worrying about what school is like today as opposed to when I was a young kid. I've heard that kindergarten is the new 1st grade and instead of it being a year about LEARNING how to write and things like that, your children now need to hit the ground running in kindergarten. So with those crazy thoughts running through my brain every day, we thought it would be best to get Logan in a school that focused a litlte more on academics. That's not to say he's being forced to write his admissions essay to Harvard this year but he is tracing his name, getting to do science experiments, learning a new letter each week and basically doing everything I'd hoped he'd be doing last year. And I will say, while I was nervous just before school started that we'd made a mistake; he is THRIVING at this new school. Is happy as can be every day when I pick him up, talks about his days on our way home and made new friends almost immediately. Nothing warms a Mother's heart more than seeing her child adjusting well to a new situation. While I think some of this has to do with the new school, I think a lot of it also has to do wtih Logan being a year older. A few months ago we attempted to trace some letters and it didn't go too well, we've also tried cutting a few times since last year and he's never done that great and he's never ever EVER done much drawing...I can no longer say ANY of that is true as of now. He brought home a paper last week where he'd traced his name and it was amazing! He also brings home different samples of papers he's cut at school and I'm SO impressed. And just this week he's become obsessed with drawing on his magnadoodle - drawing people (random shapes with legs and smiles) and even a carrot, a plumb and a grape yesterday!

This past summer Logan and our neighbor Kylie enjoyed a week at "Weird Animals Campl" which Ashleigh volunteered at as well

After slipping in the bathroom, Logan split his chin open and had to get stitches...the Dr said of the 5 other kids who were in that night for the same reason, Logan was THE BEST! Silver lining to this crazy night; Logan slipped because he stepped out of the tub onto the floor and not on the rug JUST as Ashleigh was saying "Step onto the rug or you'll slip" so now we have an amazing example to get him to listen to Mommy and Daddy! "Remember what happened when you didn't listen to mommy and hurt your chin??" Parental WIN!

He's an amazing big brother to Nora (still learning how to be gentle) but 95% of the time he's genuinely excited to be around her, to include her, to teach her, to play with her and to laugh with her. Omigosh - hearing the two of them giggle together is a sound I will NEVER get tired of hearing. Just today, Nora was beyond tired at nap time, so as we went into Logan's room to get him settled and read their story, Nora just climbed into Logan's bed an laid down. Logan got in next to her and they cuddled and giggled and it was adorable. I hope they are always this close and while I know there will be fights I hope that there are more moments of closeness like we have now. Love my two babies!

Logan loving on Nora last March for some photos we had done of the kiddos

And I'll leave you with this...which is probably the greatest photo of Logan EVER captured...nice work Jas!

Looking forward to seeing this same face, pose and cup in about 18 years!

Balance Bike!

2013-07-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

Logan's Great-Grandpa Laub (Great PawPaw) got him an amazing present for his 3rd birthday; a balance bike! For those of you who don't know, a balance bike is a little kids bike that has no pedals and it teaches kids how to BALANCE on a bike before they ride one for reals! The theory behind a balance bike is that the child will learn how to balance and therefore will not need training wheels. So once the balance bike is mastered, they can graduate right to an actual bike! From what we've seen of Logan on his bike after just a few times, I believe it! Check it out!

Don't worry, we got him a new helmet...

He wanted to park his bike next to the other big-kid bike

Happy Birthday Logan!

2013-07-23T22:20:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it...out "little" guy turned 3 last month!! Where has the time gone? Our 9lb 1oz big eyed baby boy has grown into a handsome, hysterical and sweet little boy!

We decided to keep things "low key" for the birthday party and just invite family over...too bad our family now consists of almost THIRTY people! But it was so fun to have everyone over here for a Pirate Party! Auntie Benzo brought some pirate face tattoos, we had a pinata and WAAAY too many presents! I'm pretty sure our family kept amazon.com and Disney in business during the month of June!

Out oh so cute pirate!

Cool dude pirate!

Believe it or not, this is our first family photo at one of Logan's birthday parties!

Go Logan, Go!

good form EE!

CAAAAAANDY!

More CAAAAANDY!

Action shot! Must jump onto coffee table!

More Jake stuff!

PURE joy!

More presents!

What is this tissue paper?! Where's the present?!

Clothes? Moving on!

Grandpa and Uncle Gary

Papa Laubster

Mommy in training (Angelique is due with baby #1 in December!)

Auntie & Uncle Bob (Uncle Adam in the background)

Gigi and Auntie

Poopy Pirate Nora

The whole family!

Clearly Nora disapproves of Logan's cake faceplant

SUGAR RUSH!!!

It's over?

The cake! I was pretty proud of this!

3 Months Already!!!

2013-07-22T21:37:00.001-07:00

Well shoot, she's just shy of 4 months at this point, but oh well! I gotta get those pics up right!? I have been slacking on this whole blogging thing (don't even ask me about The Mommy Stop!), it's not for lack of wanting to write, its more about lack of energy and time! I'm hoping that once Nora starts sleeping through the night I'll have a little more pep in my step and will be able to think more creatively and actually sit on the couch each night (or early each morning) and type away instead of snoozing away! But, c'est la vie, thus is life with a newborn! Ain't in grand??

Actually, yes it is! Nora is a true delight. Seriously. She is the best. We love her so much and I just cannot get enough of her. She has the greatest smile (Looks a LOT like her brother's smile) that just engulfs her entire face. It's impossible to be gloomy around her. There are moments when I'll look at her and just become overwhelmed with excitement that she's OURS and that we get to enjoy her forever. I know that sounds weird, but she just seems like she's going to be a really special little thing and I am so enjoying getting to know her day by day by day.

So month 3 has brought us more of her personality, a more regulated schedule (Thank goodness!) and more time OUT OF THE HOUSE (another THANK GOODNESS!) and best of all - GIGGLES!! The cutest little chubby faced baby giggles! Logan had/has a full on BELLY laugh and it was music to my ears every time I could pry one out of him (it was not hard to do...still isn't!) and Nora's laugh is just as fantastic, but totally different. She has more of a cackle and it kills me!

I'll let the pictures do the talking for the rest of the post; starting with her 3 month collage and the rest are of random photos from this month! Enjoy! If you have a second, flip back between her month 2 collage and this one - yes that's the same bunny and no it did not shrink, homegirl just sprouted up!! Awesome!


Best Faces EVER!

Aww Shucks!

Delicious!

Happy Bbay!

So beautiful!

Had to get them both in their shirts before Homegirl outgrows hers!

Silly Logan!

See that bodyguard grip he has on her? We'll be counting on that in 15 years...

Buds

Great toy for our kicking baby girl!

Mom - don't bother me...I'm busy kicking

...and grabbing!

Ok, so none of these photos show the OUTINGS we've gone on, but I promise! We've been leaving the house regularly and it's awesome! Even if it's just out to go to the store, I'm just glad that leaving the house with both bambinos isn't as daunting as it once was :)

I wanted to note one thing about Logan and Nora and how they are together. It's clear to me already that Nora adores Logan. She will just look at him with such intensity it's fantastic. He can always make her smile, and he has never been anything short of sweet with her - it's so great. I feel so blessed!

More posts to come - Logan turns 3! Logan learns to ride a balance bike! Nora laughs! Uncle Nate, Auntie Gretchen and Cousin Luke visit!! Stay tuned!!!

2 Month Collage!

2013-06-20T23:17:00.002-07:00

I completely forgot to post the pics of Nora's 2 month photo shoot! Oops! Here's the group of photos for our sweet little Miss! Love her!

Nora Nora Bo-Bora Fee-Fi Mo Mora...NOOORA! (Nora Update)

2013-06-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

Well it's been 2 months since this "little" ball of delight came into the world and she just gets better and better each day! She's still pretty easy - still sleeping a lot, but definitely starting to be awake more and more. Her schedule is starting to get more predictable; up early then down till about 7 then down for the tiniest nap ever then down for a nap then up for awhile then down for a looooong nap (She's currently in that nap now) if she doesn't get that long nap she's a bit difficult to get down for the night but in all honestly, so far her most difficult days have not been that bad...someone pinch me!

On my last post about her I mentioned her weight and how her Dr was having us supplement her a LOT of formula to help get her back up to an acceptable weight. I had several issues with his (none of which had to do with the use of formula, more-so that I just felt deep down that she was FINE and didn't need me force feeding her 5 times a day!). After weeks and weeks of this, we finally met with the Dr face to face and after looking at the weight Nora has gained from the beginning she finally agreed that all was perfectly fine with our Laubster. Nora has consistently gained 1oz/day since her birth and while that pattern has taken her from the 95%ile on her Birthday down to just above the 50th, the Dr thinks it's all well and good and that she just isn't going to be super chunky baby yet. I cannot tell you how amazing it felt to finally get validation on what I knew was going on! There's nothing worse than knowing something in your heart of hearts that something is fine and then being told by a Dr that it's not. I am the most obnoxious rule follower so to have ME going against what I'm being told to do was really stressful for me! I'm just so happy that it's confirmed our little string bean is healthy! So while her weight is in the 50th%ile, her HEIGHT is in the 90th! The Dr thinks she'll be pretty tall; looks like she'll be a Hanson/Underhill lady! Someone tell the Seattle Storm!

I don't really know what else to SAY about Miss Nora, so I'll let some pictures do the talking...enjoy!

Mesmerized...

2 Months!!

Killing. Me.

Not sure if she's saying "Seriously, Mom?" or "Whatchu Want?"

Not digging the hat...

"Bell (bunny) Look! A light...on the ceiling! Isn't it awesome?!"

"What did you say?"

Nora

Laughing

My Dad meeting his first Granddaughter!

Chilling in the shade

Almost there...

...Aaaaand done!

Laubster Life Update

2013-06-08T14:24:00.003-07:00

Wow! Nothing like having 2 kids to make your Blog(s) take a back seat!! I love being a Mama of 2 but holy cow there is no such thing as ME time any more! With just Logan I could always carve out a little time to write a post here, check email in detail there or even watch some TV but all of those things are the least of my priorities these days! If I didn't have a smart phone I don't think I'd have read an email since Nora was born! Ha!

So in my absence from the blog world, we've been having a LOT of fun! We've gone to some great parks, had my Dad visit, Jason's Dad has visited several times on his way either back to LA from Rio Vista or vis versa which was been really nice! Nora has been growing like a weed and is just the sweetest little baby - she is making Logan look like a DIFFICULT baby which is crazy because he was pretty easy too! Big Brother Logan is in love with his baby sister and always wants to kiss her and cuddle with her and he REALLY wants to help me put her binky back in her mouth; but his inability to know how much pressure in a babies mouth is TOO much makes him my binky ASSISTANT so far...yikes! He's fed her a couple of times, but isn't too fond of it haha...the minute she starts squirming he's outta there! While he's a dream with her he's been less than precious with me. His Dr described this stage as "FIESTY" and yup! That's a great way to describe it! My obedient little angle has turned into a boundary testing, sassy mouth monster! It's faaaaantastic. And although I feel like my days are filled with more disciplinary action than fun times when it comes to Logan, I know my "hard-ass" ways will pay off when we have a well adjusted and well behaved child and hopefully teenager some day! I can take the brunt of this developmental stage as long as he's sweet to Nora and pretty sweet to Jas (Jas still gets some tude now and then...).

Anyway, here are some pics of our adventures over the last few weeks! Enjoy

Water Fun @ Sycamore Valley Park

Soaking wet and happy as a clam!!

"Watch this, Mommy!!" Love it!

Pure and utter happiness!

Superman!

He was literally too cold to smile! This was his best effort but he was shivering so bad!

Auntie Angelique is visiting for the summer from Italy and practicing her Mommy skills before her baby is due in December!

This is at a neighborhood park near Desiree & Gary's house - its AWESOME!

That Giraffe had water coming out of his mouth for awhile!

Having fun and making friends

Watching Nora...

Hot weather in the East Bay called for a hefty investment of $12 to make us all happy!

~SPLASH~

Happy Baby!

Pulling double duty

My life right now!

It really is exhausting being THIS adorable!

Having fun at the Concord KidsFest

No fear!

Handsome and happy! That's my boy!

Seriously, the kid is BEGGING for a trip to Disneyland!!

Anticipation...

1 year ago Logan was so scared to ride on something without Jas or me...I think he's over that...

Mommy and Logan (note to self - NEVER wear this sweater AGAIN!)

If I look like I'm jogging in this pic, I practically was! These ponies went FAST!

Mommy, Logan and Strawberry the pony!

Like Father like Son...having FUN FUN FUUUUN!

Best picture ever!

Arms up!


YAAAAA!

The Joy of a Chunky Baby

2013-05-17T23:58:00.001-07:00

As you all know, Nora was a big ol' baby from the get go...but since her birth, while she's still BIG, she's not AS big as one would expect. By that, I mean that she hasn't been gaining as much weight as her Dr would like her to have, and that's been the case for the past several weeks.

I wrote at one point that her initial weight check, 2 days after being released from the hospital, was excellent, but since then her progress has slowed. She isn't LOSING weight by any means, and has actually been gaining a consistent 1oz per day (At her last appointment she actually gained a little MORE than 1 oz per day, gaining a total of 17 ounces in 13 days). Babies all lose weight after they're first born; anywhere up to 10% of their total body weight is considered normal. By their 2 week check up, Dr's expect the baby to have gained enough weight to be back at their birth weight. Nora did not do that. She did it by week 3, but by being slow to that first weight check, she's basically been 1 week behind in her gaining. Because of this, we've had to supplement 2 bottles a day with formula. So that means I've been breastfeeding her on demand as she needs it, but then twice a day I give her 4oz of formula when she's not asking for it (One in the afternoon and then one at night before bed). Even with all of that, she hasn't gained enough to satisfy the dr. This week I took Nora in for her third weight check and the dr still wasn't happy with her progress, so we are now on a new kind of crazy plan. I'm still nursing her during the day every 2-3 hours and then after every other feeding I give her a bottle (however much she will take - I always offer her a 4oz bottle) and then I also do the 2 additional formula bottles as we were doing before. It is a LOT of food to be giving her. Holy cow...I feel like all I've done all day is feed, feed and FEED her. It's kind of crazy. But, if this will get her up to where the Dr wants her to be then we'll continue to do it.

I decided to take a picture of her today and I'm going to try to do this every day until Thursday so I can see if there are any obvious physical changes in my chunk-o-munk.

Is that the face, and are those the thighs, of someone who isn't getting enough? The jury is still out...

Just wanted to keep you all updated on her!

Nora Lynn: 1 Month!

2013-05-09T23:11:00.002-07:00

I can't believe it's been 1 month since our chunky nugget entered this world! It's flown by but we've really loved (almost) every minute of it!

Just like I did with Logan, I will be taking photos of our little lady each month with an adorable onesie one that pronounces her age (Though this time around I ordered stickers from etsy instead of doing iron ons).

1 Month; smiles, "laughter" and good times with Belle the Bunny

There are a few things I've begun to learn about our lady:

1. She does not like a lot of people around. I've noticed on a few occasions (Our first attempt at newborn photos, a few playdates we've had with multiple people) that she gets VERY fussy when there is a lot of noise, commotion and people about...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh?)

2. She likes to sleep...a LOT. The first night home she slept 6.5 hours and scared the CRAP out of Jason and I...we were worried she would lose too much weight by doing that, but I had a weight check appointment the next day and it turned out she was ahead of the curve. But, cut to her 2 week appointment and she was 4.5oz away from her birth weight (which was 9lbs 6oz) which the Dr wasn't too excited about. The Dr wasn't CONCERNED, but wanted me to start feeding her extra times throughout the day to try to chunk her up. So I've had 2 more weight check appointments since then and have at each one she's gained a great amount of weight; 1 oz/day each time which is phenomenal, however, she's still about 1 week behind on her weight gain. So basically, I somehow have to get her to gain a full POUND in 1 week...I'm seriously not sure how that is going to happen. She's an amazing eater, and always wakes up to eat it just happens to be every FOUR or FIVE hours instead of every TWO or THREE. In my heart of hearts, I know that she is 100% healthy. I honestly believe that her birth weight may have been off a bit. I was pumped full of fuilds the WHOLE time I was in labor and I've read reports that say that can directly effect the baby and their size. So while I'm taking my doctor's orders seriously, I'm not stressing about her "lack" of weight gain becaues HULLO, she's gaining an OUNCE A DAY!!

3. She's pretty impressive...I feel like she'd already doing things she should NOT be doing at this point. For example; she has managed to place her hand in front of her binky to keep it from falling out on several occasions, she can stop the flow of a bottle with her tongue (the dr suggested I supplement with a bottle because she won't be able to refuse it at this age...apparently she hasn't met Nora very well) and while yes at this point smiling is perfectly normal, she started doing it a week ago which is a little ahead of "Schedule" so I'm bragging about it!

4. The skin around her eyes gets red when she's tired

5. She'll make you believe she doesn't like to be swaddled, but it works on her EVERY-SINGLE-TIME.

6. She's a sucker for a swaddle, some white noise and a dark room...we use our powder room for this purpose every night...I like to call this space "The Bath-Womb" because it's basically just like the womb when we rock her in there

As the days and weeks go on she seems to be getting more and more settled into life with our family. I can KIND of start to plan things around her schedule now; she eats when she wakes up between 5 and 6 and takes about an hour to finish, then by 8:30 or 9 she is "DESPERATE" for more food but only wants a little. Then she's up until about 11 and then sleeps until about 2. Eats again, is up for a bit and then down for another nap. We feed her again around 5 and then again around 7 or 8. Then she's down until about 1 or 2 then up again at 5 or 6. It's been maneageble but having 4 weeks of interrupted sleep, even if it's in longer stretches than most Mom's get at this point, is ROUGH on the body. Jason gave me a HUGE gift the other night by offering to take on the Nora duties all night so I could get some sleep. I went to bed at 8:30 and woke up at 5:30 - it was AMAZING. I haven't gotten that much sleep in YEARS...literally.

I would say all in all, we're adjusting really well as a family. Better than when we added Logan. Speaking of the worlds best big brother, Logan LOVES his baby sister. He is always kissing her and telling her how cute she is. It's pretty awesome. So while he's loving his sister, he's not loving life at home with Mommy and Baby. There's a lot more "Don't go over ther with that Logan" and "Please be quiet right now Logan" and definitely a lot of "I can't play right now, I need to feed the baby" which is starting to take it's toll on him and it breaks my heart. He's fighting back with attitude and sass-mouth which I cannot tolerate.

He insisted on taking a photo with HIS stuffed animal too

Tonight, for example, homeboy was sent to bed at 7am (a good hour, hour and a half BEFORE his usual bed time) for giving me some pretty ridiculous 'tude while I was telling him to head upstairs for a bath. It'd been going on all day and none of my "talks" with him work working so my final step was to give him a real consequence - he was upset about it for sure, but I just checked the monitor and 90 minutes after being sent upstairs, he is finally asleep. Surprisingly, he only attempted to "escape" once - and the rest of the time he stayed in his room talking with his stuffed animals. I know life at home wll get more exciting for him as we venture out more and more to do things, so right now it's a transition period that hopefully he will forget in the coming months.

In the hospital

Logan holding his baby sister!

COZY (I know I know, no loose blankies around baby...we've sinced stopped doing this)

Proud papa

Thumb!

Our first outing at the park...it only lasted 10 minutes, sorry Logan!

First bath...her face KILLS me

Mommy snuggles!

Making friends!

More Mommy snuggles

Binky's are a girls best friend...especially bright purple ones

The Nora Story

2013-04-18T21:26:00.001-07:00

As many of you all probably know, NORA LYNN has arrived!! We could not be more thrilled as a family to welcome this precious, beautiful and amazing little girl into our clan - she fits so well into our lives I already can't remember what life was like without her.

I'm going to give some "brief" details of the birth so if you just want to see pictures, keep on scrolling! haha :) I say my description will be "brief" in quotes because those of you who read this blog regularly, know that I am not capable of writing something quick or short - everything is long winded, so settle in to your chair and get ready for a story!

With Logan, we did a scheduled c-section because the doctors suspected he was so big. Jason was 9lbs 12oz when he was born and given the size of Logan's head and body in the womb, the doctor was worried he would be 10lbs or more at birth. So having him at 39 weeks, I never experienced any sort of labor - no contractions, he never even dropped and in fact he was so comfy where he was in my body that they had to vacuum him out during the surgery! With all of that, my surgery recovery was amazing and we were planning on doing another c-section with Nora because it just seemed like the way to go. But at my 24 week appointment, my doctor had other plans. She suggested we attempt a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) at first, I laughed at her and said I'd think about it, but I had no intention of thinking about it. But over the next week it's all I could think about - there seemed to be a lot of benefits to a vaginal birth; I'd be home quicker (1 or 2 days in the hospital as opposed to 3 or 4), I'd be up and moving around quicker, I could pick up Logan whenever I pleased (I wouldn't be able to do that for a couple of weeks with a c-section) and I could walk up and down our stairs whenever I wanted (again, that wouldn't be possible for a couple of weeks with a c-section). Aside from all of the recovery reasons, there were also some health reasons to do it; I'd avoid major surgery, I'd be more capable of carrying a third pregnancy if we did a VBAC, if I need to have abdominal surgery in the future for some reason there would be less risk. So with all of those reasons thrown into a hat, I made the decision to go for the VBAC and after a little convincing, I had Jason's full support which was great.
Cut to 40 weeks and I'm more pregnant than I've ever been and showing no signs of delivering Miss Nora any time soon. At my 40 week check up, I was only dilated 1cm at the most - bummer. That was on a Wednesday, so on Friday Jason suggested we hit up a local pizza restaurant that had an item on their menu called the "Prego Pizza" and legend has it that whatever is on that pizza somehow kick starts labor for women. At that point, I was up for anything as I was feeling pressure to get this baby out the way we had intended rather than via a c-section which was scheduled as a backup plan for Wednesday 4/10.

The description of the Prego Pizza is this; The masterpiece had thirteen different toppings including extra onions and extra garlic. The pizza was loaded with fresh vegetables and six types of meat. Those of you who know me, know that being experimental with my food is NOT my forte and that the maximum amount of toppings I have on my pizza at at any time is TWO - Canadian Bacon and Pineapple! So to say I was hesitant about trying this pizza is an understatement. But much to my surprise (and delight) it was SCRUMPTIOUS! I ate over 1/2 of the pizza easily! So we headed home that night and just waited. Around midnight, I headed to bed, disappointed that the prego pizza obviously hadn't worked (I was expecting immediate results). Cut to 4 hours later and my disappointment was proven premature!.

That's right, I was woken up around 4am by some odd pains - it felt like Nora was head banging against my pelvic bone - awesome. I headed into the bathroom and googled "Rhythmic Pelvic Pain contractions?" because I had no idea...I couldn't find a definitive answer so I went back to bed. But 45 minutes later, I was awoken again and this time I was 90% sure what I was feeling was contractions. I headed downstairs, and pulled up my "Contraction Tracker" app on my phone (Yes, there's an app for that) and sure enough, what I was finding was that I was having very consistent contractions 5 minutes apart. I waited about 30 minutes before heading up stairs to let Jason know what was up. We couldn't call the hospital until I'd been having contractions for at least an hour, so after telling him I thought I was in labor i told him to go back to bed until I called the hospital. 30 minutes later I was still having contractions and decided to go ahead and call the hospital. I was told to wait until my contractions were 2 minutes apart before coming in. So we waited. We both took showers, I (against doctor's orders) ate some cereal (I was STAAAARVING), and hung out with Logan once he woke up. It didn't take long until my contractions were getting VERY strong and were quickly approaching the 2 minutes apart mark. I told Jas we should head out as soon as possible to get Logan to Auntie and Uncle's. By this point, my Mom had already purchased her plane ticket to come down and was scheduled to arrive in Oakland around Noon.

We dropped our little man off, said our goodbyes and then headed to the hospital. At this point my contractions were pretty unbearable and Jason and I started joking about how we were probably already at 6cm given how much pain I appeared to be in and my high tolerance for pain. I remember thinking almost immediately "What is wrong with women that do this without drugs? I want that epidural NOW"...yes, those were my thoughts before we were even IN the hospital.

Once we were in the triage area, the nurse hooked me up to the monitor and was immediately impressed with how strong my contractions were. He did an internal exam and then delivered some bad news; we were NOT 6cm along...we were barely 1.5cm. Not-Good. He said that he wasn't sure what would happen next; either I would be sent home or I would be sent outside to walk for 2 hours...I looked at Jas and told him I couldn't do either of those. I was ready at that point, to demand a c-section if they were going to send me home. The Dr told me that if that's what I wanted to do, they would support it but they did not want me to head in that direction strictly based on pain because they would begin to manage my pain once I was admitted. Luckily, because I was going for a VBAC the Dr wanted to keep me close and decided to admit me so I could be monitored. However, because I was a VBAC they didn't want to give me an epidural until I was 3cm along because they saw that as meddling and with a VBAC situation they want to stay out of it for as long as possible until Mother Nature has a chance to progress things. So what they were able to do was give me some pain meds - oh glorious pain meds (it must be noted that I do have a very strong pain threshold, but that I have NEVER known pain like these contractions. This was the worst, gut splitting, made me want to vomit, couldn't get comfortable pain I'd ever known it was UNBEARABLE). The meds only lasted for 30 minutes and basically made me feel like I was drunk; which was actually NOT how I wanted to be feeling during contractions because I felt totally out of control. But the pain meds did something and by the 2nd dose, I was dilated to 3cm - EPIDURAL TIME! YAHOO!

Next, the nurses moved me to my final labor and delivery room and told me that the anesthesiologist was just outside my room ready to give me an epidural (I was expecting to wait an hour at least for this!) so in came Jeremy and did his magic quick quick quick and I was feeling almost perfect...I say almost because something went wrong and my right side wasn't completely numb. They rolled me on my right side and said that by doing that, the epidural would gravitate to that side and numb me up. Within 2 hours my left side was totally numb but I was feeling contractions on my right side - feeling contractions that were TWICE as intense as they were when we first arrived (Please re-read that section above where I note that those initial contractions were the worst things I'd EVER felt in my life!). I called my nurse in to see what was going on, and he immediately looked at my face and said "Umm...ya, you look very stoic right now. You aren't even pronouncing syllables...I'm going to get Jeremy back in here..." and that's just what happened. Turns out, the epidural didn't work the first time. When they put it in, there was something blocking the catheter so it kinked down and didn't supply any medicine to my right side - yikes! they redid it and I immediately felt AMAZING. Seriously, I felt like I was sitting in cloud of lovely and got a kick out of people looking at the contraction monitor and saying "Woah! That was a big one" as I sat there pain free. Seriously, I have to say it again- WHY WOULD YOU GIVE BIRTH WITHOUT DRUGS?! THEY ARE AMAZING!

At that point, I was dilated to 6cm and my water had broken so it was just a waiting game - a comfortable waiting game. I tried to take a nap a few times, but I just wasn't feeling like sleeping! We had the most amazing nurse who would come in our room and hang out and he was just hilarious and so much fun. At one point, Jason and I felt bad because he was spending so much time with us, we were certain he was neglecting his other patients! Haha - but he was so great and definitely made the day that much better.

Around 7pm we got a new nurse, Kourtney, and she began to tell me what should happen next. She said I was at 7cm at that point and that soon I would start feeling like I needed to go to the bathroom (#2). She said when that sensation began to call her because it would mean pushing was just around the corner. Even though she told us these last 3 cm go the quickest, we still figured we had HOURS of time before anything happened. So Jason and his Mom headed across the street to grab some dinner. I didn't say anything at the time, but from the moment Kourtney was telling me what I was going to start feeling, I had started feeling it. I chalked it up to me being a head case and just THINKING I was feeling what she was describing rather than actually feeling it...but I KEPT feeling like I had to go to the bathroom and it wasn't going away. So I called Kourtney, she came in and sure enough, I was at 10cm and we were ready to go! Just one problem...the hubs was NOT IN THE ROOM! She told us to call him and to have him come back ASAP - she said he had at most 10 minutes before we started pushing. So my Mom called Jas, they had just sat down and she told him to come back NOW! Omigosh, that was the LONGEST 10 minutes of my LIFE waiting for him to walk back in the room! The minute I saw him I think I shouted "I NEED TO PUUUUUSH!" so that was it, it was GO TIME. According to the doctor's notes, I started pushing at 7:45 and omigosh, pushing is no joke. Someone told me earlier in the day that for a first time vaginal birth, pushing can last up to 2-3 hours...within 1 minute I knew THAT was not going to be ok with me! There was no way I had the stamina to keep that up! It was so intense and exhausting. And for someone like me, who is very goal oriented, it was beyond frustrating to have no definitive end point of the whole process. I had no idea where Nora was, how close she was to coming out or when I could stop pushing! I wanted to hear someone say "We see her head!" or hear Kourtney call the doctor and say "She's coming, get in here" but none of that was happening. So what did I do? I gave myself a goal. I told myself I was going to push 12 more times and then I'd be done...luckily for everyone involved, that's what happened!

At 8:09, 24 minutes after I started pushing, Nora had arrived! She came out HUGE and purple but cried soon and her color evened out. I could NOT believe how large she was. I kept asking "How much does she weigh??" my dr had convinced me she was maybe at most 7lbs and when I saw her, I KNEW she was way more than 7lbs! Once they got the scale working, the final numbers were in:

Weight: 9lbs 6oz (5oz bigger than Logan!)

Length: 21" (1/2" bigger than Logan!)

Head: 14.5" (1/2" SMALLER than Logan, but honestly, she came out vaginally so her head may have been shaped a bit differently and therefore measured smaller)

I was in total and utter shock that she was that large, it was crazy! When they brought her to me it was amazing. I didn't get to hold Logan for over 2 hours when we delivered him so being able to cuddle with and feed my daughter within MINUTES of delivering her was pure heaven. Though, with that said at some point after delivery, I looked at Jason and said "Umm...ya, Bbay #3 is coming out via c-section!" I've since changed my mind about that, but in the moment I was so over the VBAC.

What is most amazing to me is that within MINUTES of pushing like crazy, screaming like an animal and going through the craziest physical act I've ever been through, I look like a totally normal person in all of our pictures. Not sweaty, not red faced; just a totally normal person eating dinner, talking with people and holding a baby - whaat?! The human body is AMAZING. In all of our post delivery pictures with Logan I just look out of it in my opinion.

So THAT is our story of how Nora entered this world! We had a successful VBAC, had an amazing SHORT stay in our hospital (Delivered Saturday night, discharged Monday afternoon) and then began our life at home as a family of 4!

Nora is just a little over 1 week old and she is doing awesome. We went in for a weight check on Wednesday (4 days after birth) and she was up to 8lbs 12.6oz (all babies lose weight after birth and are "allowed" to lose up to 10% of their birth weight which would have put Nora down to 8lbs 6oz - so to say she's doing well in the weight dept is an understatement). We have her 2 week appointment on Monday and I wouldn't be surprised if she was up to 9lbs 12oz if not more. Homegirl is an EATER and has already gone through one growth spurt (we think) which is crazy.

Aside from her weight, she's just an easy baby - I thought Logan was easy but so far she is redefining easy. She currently wakes up once at night because she is on a 4 hour eat cycle - so she's been going down between 10 and 11, then up between 2 and 3, down again between 3 and 4 and then up again between 7 and 8. It's crazy. I remember with Logan getting up every other hour for weeks. He would stay awake for hours at night - so to have her not be doing that is just weird to me (But I am NOT complaining!).
Big Brother Logan is adjusting well - he has his off days but I feel that's more because of his age rather than the fact that he has a sister. He adores Nora and is so sweet with her, I love it. He always kisses her head, pats her back when I burp her and is just really loving and amazing with her, it's great.
Jason's back at work as of yesterday and while i was very nervous about trying to manage 2 kids without him (He was an awesome help with Logan - they would go to the park, out to run errands; poor Logan is probably hating his lack of activity these last 2 days more than anything), it's been going quite well. Both kids have gotten up between 6:45 and 7 each morning which is helpful (There was one night when we first got home where I had just gotten back to bed at 5:45 and Logan came in at 6:30 and since Jason and I had already agreed he could sleep in that morning I was a mess until nap time). We've just laid low - watched a lot of TV while I'm feeding Nora, but played a lot withOUT the TV when she's sleeping. We ALMOST went to a park this morning but it's "really" cold here right now and SUUUPER windy so park time isn't too much fun for us.
My Mom arrives on Saturday for a week to help out which will be great. I'm hoping she can help me with meal planning, maybe cooking some meals to freeze and letting me do some trial runs of making dinner while having 2 kids and hopefully provide me with some tips on how to do it better and faster! She did it for years with 3 little ones, so I'm sure she'll have some tips on how to manage it all with 2!

So that's our story - here are some photos of the day and days after!

The Prego Pizza - Where it all began

Trying to rest after the epidural started working

Our amazing nurse Michael

Grammie, Baba & Great PawPaw

All smiles thanks to the drugs!

Ready to meet my girl!

She's here!

And she's huge!

Seriously, the thighs!!

Her weight!

Pure bliss

All of our stats

Food! Glorious food!

So happy to have his baby girl in his arms!

Happy Grammie

Our glasses say "It's A Girl!" a gift from the hospital


Happy Papa Laub and Baba Blakeman

Our little laubster showing us how big he can be!

So cozy!

Proud Papa

Smiling Baby

Out!

Everyone says Nora looks like Jas - but here she is holding a picture of ME when I was a newborn

Logan showing off his big brother skills

Nora Laub - Fashionably Late

2013-04-04T23:42:00.002-07:00

So here we are...OVERdue....Homegirl's due date was Wednesday and while we're only 1 day beyond that, from my Dr appointment on Wednesday, it doesn't look like our little lady is coming home any time soon. So we're waiting...we do have a C-Section scheduled for next Wednesday if I don't go in to labor on my own before then, HOWEVER, that doesn't mean that Jas and I aren't prepared to take measures into our own hands.

Exhibit A: The Prego Pizza.
Oh yes, you read that right, a PREGO PIZZA. There is a local pizza parlor in Walnut Creek that has something they call a Prego Pizza. Legend has it that if a pregnant woman orders this pizza she will go into labor within hours. Worth a shot!

Exhibit B: Long Walks
We haven't started these yet (I've been sick and I'll get to that in a moment) - but assuming I get healthy soon, I plan on walking a lot this weekend.

Exhibit C: Being Induced
Technically this CANNOT happen unless I'm at least 3cm dilated by my Tuesday appointment. Something about there is a lot of research showing that women who are trying for a VBAC delivery that get induced before they are at least 3cm dilated have a higher risk of uterine rupture (Doesn't that sound delightful?). So, I will go in at 10:30 on Tuesday for another check and if I'm at least 3cm then I'll be sent upstairs to get induced! If I'm not that far along, then it's back home to to prepare for surgery. Woo!

All of these things are contingent upon the need for me to feel a whole heckofa lot better than I do now. Since last Saturday I've been sick. It started with a nasty sore throat, then moved to my sinuses and is now resting uncomfortably in my ears and chest...it's awwwwesome. So, while I would love to meet Nora, I'm actually pretty ok with her staying put until I'm better. I can honestly not imagine going through labor feeling the way I'm feeling.

So for now, it's a waiting game...aside from being sick, I actually feel really good pregnancy wise - which is weird. I would think, most women at this point are screaming "GET THIS CHILD OUT OF ME!" but I'm not there yet...I'm not overly swollen, I can still get around relatively well and ya, I'm feeling oddly ok. I'm kind of hoping something will change in the next 72 hours; either I start feeling better, or I start feeling SUPER uncomfortable so that I have some motivation to get this baby out, because right now - having her safe inside is fine by me!

Here is a pic of me from tonight -40 weeks and 1 day prego and then 1 comparing tonight with what i looked like at 38 weeks with Logan...I can't tell if I'm bigger in one pic over the other but my belly is just different.

Dreaming of a Dwellable Getaway

2013-03-20T08:46:00.001-07:00

You know you've found a good app when it makes you think of doing things you had no intention of doing before you opened it. Enter the Dwellable app for iPhone and Android...it's got me dreaming of far away lands, crystal blue pools and making me completely forget that in 2 weeks time I will be housebound with my newborn!

To give you a little background, Dwellable is a great website that helps you locate rental properties in destinations all over the US to stay at on your next vacation. The Hubby and I have always preferred to stay in rental properties because it can save you so much money! Once we had Logan, then it was a bit of a no brainer as we always needed just a little more room, needed to save just a little more money and needed certain amenities that hotel rooms just don't have like a full kitchen, bathtubs and separate bedrooms.

App Icon with Mr. Logan peering at you from the background

I was asked by Dwellable to do a review on their new app which is free (yay!) and available in both iPhone and Android markets (Double Yay! As Jas has an Android and I have an iPhone, I love that we can both use it separately). So last night as I crawled into bed at an hour that was much too late for my mental liking, and continued to just lay there in a state of uncomfortable pregnancy insomnia, I decided to turn on my phone and wander through the delightful dwellings available on Dwellable. What I found was, in a nutshell, my dream vacation home. Sigh. I was just trying to peruse all of the available properties, and happen to start looking in Austin, TX (a destination Jason and I have been talking about visiting for years!). Who knew my dream home was waiting for us in the Lonestar state?! While I love this app, I'm beginning to hate it because it's forcing me to dream of vacations that cannot be taken for several months (Have you traveled with an infant and a toddler much? Ya, I'm guessing it's NOT the most relaxing!).

The Dream Vacation Rental: It says it sleeps 3, but I'm pretty sure it can accommodate a cowboy party of 50!

Anyway, enough about my findings, let me walk you through this clean cut and awesome app so that you can all head over and find YOUR dream vacation homes as well! The first easy feature I like is choosing your destination; you can type in where you want to go if you already know, or you can choose to search all of their listings which are organized by state. Currently on the App, they only have listings available for all 50 states - no international rentals or US territories (Puerto Rico for example), but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before more properties all over the world are added. Another feature I was impressed with was once you choose your state destination (again, this is great if you don't have a specific location you want to stay at) the app then takes you to a new screen which divides the state up into several different areas. In my home state of Washington, for example, you can choose to look for properties in Eastern Washington or Western Washington, the Cascade Mountains or Puget Sound etc. This is a great feature because not only does it narrow down where you want to stay but it also informs the unaware traveler that there are that many different areas to stay within one location.

Once you've chosen a more specific area you can filter your search by dates available, price of unit, number of beds, fun amenities available (Pools, hot tubs, pet friendly etc). The photos that are shown for each property are awesome as well. Each are clear, bright and of the properties I sampled, it appeared that every single one had at least 5 photos which is very helpful for a visual person like myself. If you are less visual and instead rely on written descriptions to find out where to stay (Like my husband) each property also includes a lengthy description of what the property offers, certain highlights and in some situations, area highlights which are always helpful.

Once you've landed on your dream property, you now have to contact the owner to finalize your stay. How do you do that you ask? Thanks to the ease of this app, you can do it all with the push of a button...or the tab of your screen. Each property either has a "Email Owner" button which doesn't require you to leave the app at all to email which is brilliant. Or the owner's phone number and/or website is available for you to start up a conversation.

The only real con I found on this app to counter all of the amazing Pro's seems to have been fixed in the 6 hours I was sleeping! Last night the calendar filter wasn't working, but as of this morning it's functioning just fine!

So there you have it - a FREE app that can show you a vacation you NEED before you even knew you needed it and it has ZERO Cons! Haha! Seriously though, I encourage you to download it and check it out, it will certainly be worth your while! And hey, maybe the 4 Laubsters will see you in Austin soon...anyone want to babysit?

Update on Our OTHER Baby...

2013-02-03T15:04:00.001-08:00

I know our last few posts here have been all about me and my growing baby bump, so I thought I would give everyone a little glimpse in to our first born, Mr. Logan and all of the awesome things he's been up to!

Homeboy is growing like a weed, let me just put that out there right now. He's over 3' tall and looks more and more like a BIG BOY every day (Breaks my heart a little, not going to lie!). And let me be honest, when I say he's OVER 3', he's over by 1" but hey, over is over, right?!

He shocks us every day with the new words and sayings he comes up with. His personality gets stronger each day and we love it. He keeps Jason and I rolling in laughter every day. Some of the great things he says now are:

1. "Two R's...whaaaa???!" This came about when he was looking at a Trader Joe's bag and reading the letters off to us (those that he knew at least) when he got to the 2nd R in "tRadeR" he exclaimed "2 R's? Whaaaat?" it was hysterical

2. His own twist on the Alphabet Song. Most people know that the end of the ABC song goes 'And now I know my ABC's, next time won't you sing with me" but Logan sings it like this "And now I know by A,B,C,D,Eeeeeeee....next time won't you sing with me?" We've tried correcting him a few times, but I secretly LOVE this new version and kind of hope he keeps singing it.

3. No-Filter...we were at the Dr's office the other day (Poor boy has a double ear infection!) and when the Dr realized their birthdays were 1 day apart she got excited and I said "Buddy! You could have a birthday party together" and he looked at me, and at the Dr and said "Umm...no...that would be weird" True...very true Logan, it WOULD be weird.

4. "Where's Logan" is a faaaavorite game right now! He'll hide anywhere and everywhere...under couch cushions, in the pantry, shoot he'll hide right in front of you because when he covers his eyes you OBVIOUSLY can't see him - did you know that?

5. Giving Raspberries to Miss Nora...poor lady in my belly must be wondering "What in the HECK is going on out there?!" haha - but it makes those of us on the outside of the womb laugh hysterically!

Last night Logan spent his first night in his new big boy bed (Just put a rail up on his crib and converted it to a day bed) and he did great! He woke up at 6:30 and got out of bed himself, had a nice conversation with Earl and Chase (Both of whom usually wait outside his bedroom in the morning until he is awake and then they enter to claim their stake on Logan's changing pad for the next several hours; Lazy bums!), and then walked into our bedroom and said "good morning Mommy" it was pretty great :)

He's also been making excellent strides on the whole Potty Training front! We aren't going into full on potty training mode, but we are encouraging it as much as possible and there have been a few times when he's initiated going which is AWESOME.

In terms of prepping for his baby sister's arrival, he actually seems pretty excited. He'll hug and kiss my belly and he knows that her name is Nora and will tell people about her when they ask. He does get a little confused about what's going on inside my belly and has on more than one occasion compared me to beings with large belly's (an orangutan was one example and a family friend who has a little junk in the front was described as someone I look JUST like the other day...thanks buddy) he also mistakenly told Jason that Daddy had a bigger belly than Mommy - don't worry babe, that is absolutely NOT true - we will have a talk if it ever is! haha!

I think that's about it for Logan! Here are some photos to let you see our little man in adorable action!

Posing for a photo in his big boy bed just before bedtime

Hanging Tough at a new local park

As Logan would say, he's "Just Loungin'" in this photo

Telling Mommy to go downstairs (ALLL THE WAY DOWN Mommy) so he could have some "Privacy" (Code for going #2)

Practicing how to rock bay Nora to sleep

Proud Big Brother!

Sweet kisses for baby sister (Let's hope Nora is a big cuter than Mr. "Tomato" head)

29.5 Weeks

2013-01-20T22:14:00.001-08:00

Disregard the tired eyes...I think that's all I have these days!

1. How far along? 29.5 Weeks

2. Total Weight gain/loss: So I weighed myself today and was at 19lbs gained - that's 9lbs in 4 weeks! Yowza, kind of seems like a lot, but I guess this is just my welcoming to the 3rd trimester!

3. Maternity Clothes: Oh yes, they are all that I wear now - and while on my days off I still feel relatively fashionable and cute, on the days that I work I just feel like Humpty Dumpty and nothing looks quite right anymore.

4. Stretch Marks: Not a one!

5. Sleep: Going pretty well. I get restless leg every single night; omigoodness is that annoying! And turning over from side to side throughout the night is not a subconscious thought, it's like a whole-body ordeal that takes thought and practice...definitely interrupts my slumbering!

6. Best Moment this week: Since I'm not doing this update WEEKLY, I'm going to answer this for the Best Moment of the Month; probably taking our maternity photos :) We've gotten a sneak peak of a few of them and so far they are awesome! I can't wait to see the rest!

7. Movement: Ooooh yes- little Nora is a mover and a shaker lately. Just today for instance, she was moving so much it was shaking my whole body (I remember Logan doing this as well and I thought he was having seizures inside of me his movements were so fast and intense) then later when I was trying to nap, she was moving so much I woke up sore! It was like she was trying to escape! haha!

8. Food Cravings: Still no cravings; sweets sound good as usual, but I'm TRYING (and probably failing) to cut back on those. For snacks I've been trying to do cashews or fruit, for an after dinner/pre-bed snack I try to do whole wheat cheerios with fruit on top.

9. Gender: As far as we know, it's still a girl :) haha

10. Labor Signs: No - thank goodness!

11. Belly Button: Still in and I hope it stays that way for a LOOONG time.

12. Wedding Rings on or off? Still on, but I may take them off soon just to be safe. I took them off a couple of weeks ago to get them cleaned and inspected and it was quite difficult to take them off! I don't want to get in the position where I wait to long and then they have to be CUT OFF! Eek!

13. What I miss: I still don't really miss anything - I can still lay on my back somewhat, I haven't had major back-aches like with Logan and I'm just feeling good all over which is great!

14. What I am looking forward to: Meeting Miss Nora soon!

15. Weekly Wisdom: Hmm...my brain is kind of done right now...so we'll just skip this question for now :) Sorry!

16. Milestones: We decided to go ahead and try for a VBAC...crazy, right? The few questions or conditions that I had for the delivery were answered and met by my Dr so I feel like we're doing things right. We're going to have an ultrasound at 36 weeks to check on the size of the baby (We didn't know Logan was large until this point so I've said that if Nora is looking at all like she's going to be big like her brother, I'm not chancing the VBAC and I'm going to do a c-section), my doctor also agreed that they will not induce me. They will allow me to go into labor naturally all the way up to 41 weeks and if I haven't gone into labor yet by April 10 then we'll do a c-section. So even with the horror stories I've been hearing from friends over the past couple of weeks (Thanks, ladies), I think I'm going to be successful at this. The planner in me is going crazy because I have no idea when labor will begin, where I will be at the time, what we will do with Logan, how my family will get down in time etc but I know women and families deal with this all the time and we'll figure it out when it gets closer, it's just weird not knowing how things are going to go down.

Here's a series of pictures to show where I'm at size wise...I feel like within the last 24 hours I've kind of popped - and these pictures tend to prove that! I'm a little nervous because I look SO much bigger at this week than I did at 27 weeks with Logan. Granted, a lot can change within 2 weeks, so maybe I won't be quite as big this time around (And to be honest, I gained over 55lbs with Logan and I don't foresee myself gaining 35lbs in the next 9.5 weeks! Let's hope not at least!!)

25 Week Update and a Note About Connecticut

2012-12-18T23:20:00.000-08:00

Let me just preface this entry by saying it feels really weird and wrong to be writing about something as trivial and brainless as updating my family and friends on where I'm at with my pregnancy given the tragedy in Connecticut that happened last week. I don't think I've fully wrapped my head around what happened. I learned about the event through friends postings on Facebook. I've shunned all news correspondence I've seen on the topic and have just today started reading articles about what actually happened. I can't bring myself to look at the photos of the children who lost their lives that day, I can't bring myself to learn their names. I know I'm being an ostrich in this situation and hiding my head in the sand in hopes that none of this is real. but as a mother of a young son who will soon be in preschool, then kindergarten and then first grade and a woman pregnant with a little girl it's all I can do right now to get past the tragic events of last Friday. I have no idea what the answers are to this problem are country is facing; more gun control? I'm all for it. More help for the mentally ill? Absolutely. How do we get there? I don't have a clue. I just want to be able to take my son to his first day of kindergarten in a couple of years and be excited about the journey he's about to embark on. I don't want my heart to jump every time my phone rings while he's tucked safely away in a school. I hope and pray that our country will get there and not just because enough time has passed that we've forgotten the events of this past week, but because change has occurred and we've found a way to protect our children. I don't know how that will happen but I pray that it does...

So with that, here's my mindless, trivial update on me and what's going on in my belly...

1. How far along? 25 Weeks

2. Total Weight gain/loss: I've finally reached the double digits! At my 24 week appt (1 week ago for those of you a little slow in the math dept) I had gained 10lbs - WOO!

3. Maternity Clothes: I'm definitely in them now! I still have one pair of jeans that I can get in to if i use the rubber-band method to secure them, however, I wore them one day a few weeks ago and by the end of the day, they had stretched out and the rubber-band wasn't working to keep them closed, so I figured I'd just button them up like a non-pregnant person. While that method technically worked, about 2 hours after doing so I started getting sharp pains in my belly and felt VERY VERY nauseous, thank goodness it didn't take me long to realize what the problem was and I promptly changed into sweats as soon as i figured it out - sorry baby girl!

4. Stretch Marks: Not a one!

5. Sleep: Sleeping well - just need to get to bed earlier (ya, it's 10:40 right now and I'm still down stairs snacking...brilliant.)

6. Best Moment this week: Feeling like my belly finally POPPED :)

7. Movement: Most definitely. It's funny though, she's very much like Logan. Let's me know that she's there and that she's doing well but is pretty mellow. I do remember Logan kicking more during the day (When I'd drive to work or I was at work during the day) but I don't remember what stage that was all happening at. It seems like every day she kicks a little more so I'm sure she's just amping up for an all day dance party. Right about now, 10:30/11pm seems to be her favorite time to get down :)

8. Food Cravings: Still no cravings...I am eating more so that's good, but food just hasn't been on the forefront of my mind this pregnancy. I did experience 2 things that did NOT sound/smell/taste good today however, both of which were weird. The firs was a sandwich made with toasted whole wheat bread. A gal at work ordered a sandwich and she wasn't in her office when the kitchen brought it over so they put it on my desk until she returned. I don't know what it was about that bread, but the sweet smell of it made me sick to my stomach. Then later tonight I had one of my most favorite snacks, sliced apples and peanut butter - the peanut butter just didn't taste as good as it normally does. BOTH of these taste things are weird because just this morning for breakfast I had a PB&J on WHOLE WHEAT toast...and it tasted fine.

9. Gender: As far as we know, it's still a girl :) haha

10. Labor Signs: No - thank goodness!

11. Belly Button: Still in and i hope it stays that way for a LOOONG time.

12. Wedding Rings on or off? Still on and I feel like they may stay on for a while this time around...again, SO WEIRD. I think I took them off at 20 weeks when I was prego with Logan.

13. What I miss: As of this moment, nothing. The pregnancy is going really well , I have energy, I feel healthy and I'm not completely uncomfortable yet...by the next entry I'm sure I'll have something to miss :)

14. What I am looking forward to: Going home to Seattle in a few days to celebrate Christmas with my family!

15. Weekly Wisdom: Umm...can I just say this is a pretty big item with some large expectations from a pregnant gal - WEEKLY wisdom?! First of all, it's expecting this prego brain to have any sort of wisdom and second of all, it's expecting it on a weekly basis...not happenin! The only thing I can think of at this point is to just enjoy pregnancy as much as possible and not stress about the details. I'm trying to get to that place now as we're in the time frame where we have to start thinking about delivery options - my Dr is telling me she thinks I'm a great candidate for a VBAC but for so long I've been set on having another c-section. I'm completely torn on this topic and not sure which way to turn. I'm trying not to focus on making a decision and to just think about being pregnant right now and hope that the right decision will just come to me.

16. Milestones:I passed my glucose test last week! WEEEEE! I wasn't as fortunate when I was prego with Logan and had to take the 2nd test which is 3 hours of pure torture. I am SO grateful I don't have to endure that this time around!

Guess What! We're Having A...

2012-11-11T21:00:00.000-08:00

We found out what we're having on Friday and we decided to reveal it in a special way :) We had the ultrasound tech keep the results a secret from us and had her write it down on a piece of paper we brought in with us. Then we drove to a nearby park with 4 pink balloons and 4 blue balloons, after taking a few pictures, Jason pulled out the piece of paper and told me which balloons to release! As you'll see from my face, I was quite surprised!

Enjoy!

Monthly Pregnancy Update - 18.5 Weeks

2012-11-03T22:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a pic we took last week and a pic of me from around the same time when I was carrying Logan - what a difference a 2nd pregnancy can make!

Here's the first pic we took this pregnancy - 17.5 weeks

Here's me while pregnant with Logan - .5 weeks farther along than the above photo. Oooh the days of a smaller belly!

1. How far along? 18.5 Weeks

2. Total Weight gain/loss: Thankfully I'm gaining now...but slowly. I think it's still around 4lbs.

3. Maternity Clothes: I bought a pair of larger jeans before we got pregnant so those thankfully fit as do my 1 pair of non-maternity work pants. I did buy some (hideous) work pants that I've worn a few times, and they work, but are probably the least flattering pair of pants I've ever worn (and that's saying a lot if you've known me since middle school!)

4. Stretch Marks: Not a one!

5. Sleep: It's definitely not as restful as it was a few weeks ago...I'm not physically uncomfortable but I did wake up a lot more throughout the night just because...maybe it IS physical but I'm not realizing it, but it certainly is annoying!

6. Best Moment this week: A few minutes ago, when I felt the baby kick for the first time!

7. Movement: Yup! I felt GRAND movements the other day, but I wasn't 100% sure if that was the baby or not (though I have no idea what else it would be), I even thought I felt THE BABY from the outside, but I'm fairly certain that doesn't happen until MUUUUUCH later...but again, what in the heck did I feel if it wasn't the baby? But just tonight as Jas and I were watching TV I felt a bunch of flutters all in a row - baby is here and KICKIN'...officially! Yay!

8. Food Cravings: Still no cravings...my appetite is getting better, but it may just be because I'm forcing myself to eat. I've been making protein shakes in the morning and trying to make lunch for myself to take to work so I can snack throughout the day.

9. Gender: We find out FRIDAY! You can be sure that there will be a post about that!

10. Labor Signs: Ummm....no! haha :)

11. Belly Button: Still in, but it looks FLATTER than it normally does which is just weird. Belly buttons weird me out during pregnancy. I'm totally that girl who will attempt to COVER the outie button once it pops...ugh, it grosses me out.

12. Wedding Rings on or off? Still on, and surprisingly I took them off to clean the other day and they came off more easily than they had before I was pregnant. Go figure!

13. What I miss: Feeling cute in my clothing! While there's definitely a belly, it's just still in that weird stage where some of my non-maternity clothes fit and a lot of my maternity clothes DON'T fit so I just kind of look like a sack of potatoes in everything I wear. Or a sack, with 1 VERY large potato in it.

14. What I am looking forward to: Friday November 9 so we know if we're having a LaubstO or a LaubstA!

15. Weekly Wisdom: Pregnancy is a state of mind (You can quote me on that). People keep asking me how I'm feeling and I think that's SUCH a weird question. I'm done with the first trimester, so I feel great. I definitely feel DIFFERENT than I do when I'm not pregnant, but that's because I'm pregnant! I think one way to deal with pregnancy and all of the physical curve balls it can throw at you is to put your physical state in a different folder than normal, put it in a PREGNANCY folder and things may seem more manageable. You're building a HUMAN inside you - if you didn't feel at all differently that would just be weird.

16. Milestones:We're out of the first trimester and looking forward to the remaining weeks!

Pumpkin Patch!

2012-10-22T20:49:00.001-07:00

On Saturday morning, The Laubster's 3 ventured out to a local pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins for the very first time! I don't believe we've ever carved pumpkins as a family before; for one reason, Logan is just now at an age to get into Halloween, and for another reason, this is the first HOUSE we've lived in together - having pumpkins in apartments doesn't really make sense to me...

So anyway, we had a great time; Logan got to ride on a Helicopter with Jas and a train with me and then pick up and carry as many pumpkins as he could carry!

So excited to be in the helicopter with Daddy!

He was convinced we were riding with Simba...

Hi Dada!

Oink!

Big boy pulling our haul!

Checking on the pumpkins

Taking a break and riding in the wagon

My little guy!

Found one!

Putting it in the wagon all by himself!

My two guys!

The Laubster's 3!...and 1/2

Kissing the Baby's pumpkin

Forced smile for mama

Goodbye Pumpkin Patch!

We carved them that night for Logan to see. We did a traditional Jack-O-Lantern face for his, Jas used a drill and put holes all over his, I used a cookie cutter to make stars and Baba did a star/moon scene free hand :) All in all they came out pretty well!...we'll get pics of those out soon :)

Happy Halloween everyone!!

Bump

2012-10-15T10:26:00.002-07:00

Here's a self portrait I took this morning...mainly because I liked my sweater ;)

Monthly Pregnancy Update

2012-10-07T11:23:00.000-07:00

As my blog friends around me have gotten pregnant time and time again, I've loved peeking in to their baby bump world and reading how things are going for them. Now that I'm in that position, I'm excited to let everyone know how I'm doing week to week or month to month! One thing in particular I've loved is when bloggers put up a Pregnancy Questionnaire each month, answering the same question each time so readers can see how they've changing throughout their pregnancy! Though I'm sure I'm a little premature in doing this at only 14 weeks, it will at least give us somewhere to start, right? So enjoy my first Pregnancy Questionnaire entry!!

1. How far along? 14 weeks 4 days

2. Total Weight gain/loss: At this point, it's a loss - which is weird since with Logan I gained probably 5lbs within the first 6 weeks of being pregnant. Not having an appetite for the first several weeks and then getting the flu definitely isn't helping this one, so I think my total weight LOSS at this point is still 2lbs

3. Maternity Clothes: Though not out of necessity, I did wear a pair or maternity leggings and sweater yesterday and it was SO comfy! I'm still in my regular slacks at work, but I feel my tops may be getting more and more billowy throughout the coming weeks as this bump is getting more and more obvious.

4. Stretch Marks: Nope

5. Sleep: Once I'm in bed, I'm out...no waking up to go pee, no sleepless nights, though I did notice last night as I turned over that I need to be more careful when I do that and need to actually use my core to flip over because whatever I did last night (Flopping) did not sit well with the belly!

6. Best Moment this week: Getting to see the baby on the ultrasound and hear the doctor tell us "it" looked perfect!

7. Movement: Nothing yet, but it's early

8. Food Cravings: Nothing yet

9. Gender: We find out in about 1 month

10. Labor Signs: Nothing yet THANK GOD!

11. Belly Button – In or Out?: Still in - thank GOD!

12. Wedding Rings on or off? On...but I don't think that will last much longer. My fingers/knuckles never went back to their pre-Logan size after having him so while they are ON and comfortable, it basically takes a small army to get them off. We will definitely be resizing the engagement ring after this baby!

13. What I miss: It's funny, but I miss having a cocktail with friends! With Logan that was not the case. The mere mention of alcohol made me want to vomit...but last night we met up with some friends and everyone was ordering martini's and cocktails and I had a Pepsi...sure the caffeine and sugar rush was fun, but nothing like a good Captain and Coke...oh well...next year, right?

14. What I am looking forward to: Finding out the gender so we can start planning!

15. Weekly Wisdom: I'm trying to enjoy life as it is now; meaning I'm trying to enjoy Logan as much as I can while he's my only child-sized distraction, trying (and probably failing) at trying to connect with Jason because I'm sure once we add another one to our brood it'll just make it harder to have time together, and I'm just trying to savor and remember our life as it is NOW when we kind of feel like we know what we're doing!

16. Milestones: We've just entered the 2nd trimester so I'm feeling good and hoping this streak continues!

I hope to have a profile pregnancy pic up at some point...but we just haven't made the time to do it yet!!

Like Brother Like...?????

2012-10-03T16:21:00.001-07:00

No, no, we don't know the gender of this next little Laubster swimming around inside me, but "it" IS already showing some similarities to Big Brother Logan!

Jas and I headed to Kaiser this morning for a routine, 1st Trimester Screening ultrasound appointment (Read "We get to the see the baby! We get to see the baby! Appointment). The 1st trimester screening appointment is a lot of fun for us, the parents, because we basically get a detailed look at the litlte one as the Ultrasound Technician looks at different angles and does measurements to hopefully rule out some chromosonal birth defects (Down Syndrom being one of them).

As I got settled in the chair and the ultrasound goop was plopped on my belly I was nervous about seeing our little baby! I just wanted everything to be ok, for the baby to be "perfect" and to be in a good position so that the technician could get the measurements she needed. My nerves were immediately put to rest as the tech exclaimed "Oh my, this baby is just sitting perfectly for me! This is amazing!" I couldn't help but laugh because that's basically exactly what our Dr said when we were doing this screening with Logan. It took both our Dr from last time and the tech this time a whopping 15 minutes to take all of their measurements and then they spent the rest of the appointment just showing off and looking at our "beautiful" baby (Their words, both times, not mine). At one point, the tech brought the Doctor in and she did the same thing .It was kind of hilarious. She said that this was the kind of screening they show at conferences because the baby is in such a great spot and you can just see everything!

As the baby laid in my belly, pretty stretched out, I just stared in amazement at this little being we've created...again! I can't believe we could see it's heart pumping, all of the chambers, we saw its brain, toes, fingers, spine! It's incredible! At one point, I asked the Dr how long this baby currently was in reality, and she said "Roughly the size of a quarter" even MORE amazement! I'm sure to most people this ultrasound shot just looks like any other baby, but to me, I think it looks a LOT like Logan. It looks like him, it performs well for tests, and so far seems to have a similar temperament...it MUST be related to Logan :)

Our next appointment is in early November and THAT'S when we'll learn if it's a boy or a girl! I can't wait!!

What's Cookin' Good Lookin?

2012-09-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been FAAAR too long since I've posted anything! We've had such a crazy but fun last few months! Rather than bore you with silly words describing in long-winded detail about our adventures, I'll just leave you with a few photos!

Giants Game - This area was more fun than watching the game for Logan

Break dancing with Elmo...Best-Moment-EVER.

A friendly game of chess at Daddy's office

My 2nd job...Horsey!

Engineer in the making

Welcome to our jobsite - pants are optional

Chilling with cousin Brodie!

Monkey Toes!

Not the greatest photo of me, but SOOOO cute of Logan!

Where I found him one day while I was vacuuming, "I'm just reading, Mommy"

Saturday morning haircut

Sad attempt at a family portrait over Labor Day weekend

Showing off his muscles

Someone discovered water balloons!

Headphones...I can't believe how chubby he looks in this picture!

Stretching out in a borrowed travel crib

BK treat after dinner!

Calliou Backpack on and ready to fly!

Who needs first class?

Cheeseburger in Paradise - obviously

Captured coconut (It was really gross!)

Beautiful rainbow in Kaanapali!

Logan and his friend the frog!

Hi fishy fishy fishy!

I have no words...

Lounging...


Zen baby

And finally, our greatest adventure is just about to begin....

We are 12 weeks pregnant as of today! We're thrilled to be pregnant and to be adding another little Laubster to our family! So far things have been going well - I got a bit sick last week and it took me down pretty good but I'm feeling great now and looking forward to the 2nd trimester!

Vancouver Videos

2012-05-31T00:04:00.000-07:00

A few videos from our trip...enjoy!!

Logan walking up the stairs like a CHAMP!

Jas & Logan on our bike ride in Stanley Park!

Logan's "magic" trick

Chasing pigeons on Granville Island

Logan's taking over!

More Granville Island fun!

Capilano Suspension Bridge!

2012-05-30T22:08:00.000-07:00

One day on our trip, The Laubster's 3 ventured out to the Capilano suspension bridge! It's a must-see for tourists in Vancouver, and we were super excited to take our little climbing man with us on this day trip. Jas had come here on his solo trip to The 'Couv a few years ago, so we were excited to do it all together.

Logan did amazingly well here...he's been walking and clmibing like a champ (aka, 5 year old) since we arrived but we weren't sure how he'd do on a wobbly suspension bridge. We shouldn't have put even an ounce of worry in to it as Logan was a total rock star on everything.

The Capilano park has added a TreeHouse Adventure area beyond the suspension bridge which is pretty cool and totally reminds me of the planet Wookies live on in Star Wars (nerd alert). We all loved being there, and Logan did awesome. I think we honestly slowed him down and he would have preferred to Not have us with him! His independence kills us sometimes!

We have videos of Logan walking as well, but our internet connection isn't very fast so I'll do a post later (Maybe when we get home) of all of our videos :)