My Head's Spinning...

Sorry for the radio silence. My head's spinning. Life is overwhelming right now, but in the best of ways. So here's a little catching up...

We had TWO Thanksgivings this year. Rick and I hosted his family as they passed through Chicago on their way to other festivities, and let me just say it was fun, chaotic and made me really glad I decided to invest in a double over in our new house :)


Cam had the best time playing with his Mathews cousins.

And he's definitely obsessed with Kate. He just follows her around saying, "Hi" all day long.

Rick smoked our turkey! It was delicious :)

We then celebrated actual Thanksgiving at my parent's place here in Chicago. Our Voticky family tradition is called Pajama Thanksgiving. Every year, my mom buys us all new pajamas and we wear them for the entire day and eat our dinner in them. It's nothing but fun! Sadly, I took zero pictures. I was having too much fun with the whole gang.


We took some family pictures back in October, and now that our holiday card has been sent, I can share a few of my favorites!

We also celebrated Hanukkah. I have to admit, I dropped the ball this year. It was ridiculously early (Thanksgiving + Hanukkah do not mix!). I was barely catching my breath from Halloween, Cam's birthday and then hosting my first Thanksgiving that we really slacked on our Hanukkah celebrations. Rick and I apologized to each other profusely for our pathetic gifts we bought each other. Cam lit the candles each night and sang "Dreidel, Dreidel" on repeat for days. He also asked for presents nonstop for a good two weeks after Hanukkah was over. Nevertheless, I think I got one cute picture of Cam playing with a dreidel.

Oh, and we closed on our new house. Talk about stress. I really can't complain. It's the best kind of stress. We are so fortunate to get to put our stamp on this house and make it what we want, but it is really, really stressful. Especially pregnant. And taking care of a toddler. And trying to figure out how the heck we are gonna sell our condo. It's a lot. But I spent nearly the entire day at the house yesterday with our contractor and I'm really excited about what he's going to do. I took a ton of before pictures and I plan to go out there tomorrow to check on the demo progress. I'll give you a little sneak peek of the awesome wood panelling in the basement. Are you ready to travel back to 1973??

And the floor. Oh my. So that's what we're working with.


We also took Campbell for a quick visit to Florida to visit my grandparents. We typically go visit them in April for Passover each year, but since I'll be in the midst of newborn craziness, we decided to go now and spend a weekend at the beach. It was a wonderful visit and Cam had so much fun bonding with his Gigi and Papa. We spent some time at the beach, ate a lot and tried to relax as best we could. It was great.

On the pregnancy front, I'm feeling great. Exhausted, but good. I don't sleep at all, mainly due to insomnia, not discomfort. I have too much on my mind and it keeps me up from about 1-5 am. Then Cam is up at 7:00, so yea, I'm tired. I passed my Glucose Tolerance Test which was a relief because I was certain the Halloween Candy Indulgence of 2013 may have made me a diabetic. The belly is growing and at my last appt I had gained a total of 11 lbs. (at 24 weeks). So I think I'm on track for about the same weight gain as my last pregnancy, but for some reason I feel much bigger and much less attractive this time around. She's moving a ton and Rick and I actually saw her movements on the outside while we were on the airplane home from Florida last weekend. We are pretty sure we have agreed on a name, but we aren't monogramming anything yet. :)

So that's that. Tonight I'm hosting book club, then my sister Ashley returns from two months overseas in Asia on Friday! We have a busy weekend planned with soaking in time with Ash and hauling boxes and bins to the new house. I'm pretty sure life will continue to be this chaotic for the next 18 years!

It's a....

For those of you who follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you already know we found out the gender of Baby #2 yesterday. For those of you who don't...

It's a GIRL!!!!

Honestly, I am still in shock and still wiping away the tears. We are both so excited and so overjoyed there aren't adequate words to really describe how we feel. Luckily, I have some pretty awesome pictures to share that can explain exactly how we are feeling! 

First and foremost, baby is healthy and perfect. My blood pressure remains low and and the doctor was really pleased with how the pregnancy is progressing! We asked the ultrasound tech to put the gender results in an envelope for us, and when we left the doctor's office we drove straight to Baby Gap. We picked out two outfits, one for a boy and one for a girl. We asked a young sales associate to help us by wrapping up the correct outfit for us while we shopped around the store some more. She did her job and came and found us and said, "Okay. All set. I wrapped them both up, that's what you wanted right?!" And we laughed. "No, not exactly" I replied. And I explained that I wanted her to actually open the envelope and see what it says and wrap the corresponding outfit! She finally understood, returned to the checkout counter and wrapped up the outfit and rang us up. We told her to throw out the receipt so we couldn't take a peek at what it said and then we were off to our house! 

Waiting at home were my mom and sisters with Campbell and my niece and nephew. My youngest sister, Ashley, is currently volunteering in Bali and we planned to Skype with her so she could participate in the whole ordeal but when we got home, it wasn't time to Skype with her yet and we just couldn't wait another minute. (We did eventually Skype with her and were able to share the news! It was so cool to talk to her and see her half way around the world!)

So we opened the box. And then this happened...  (Sadly all these pictures are blurry iPhone pictures. But that's just because there was a lot of jumping and screaming!) 

I love this last picture. I hope Baby Girl knows how much love she comes from. 

I haven't stopped smiling since. Honestly, I would have been thrilled with either a girl or boy. I really wanted a brother for Campbell, but I also really wanted to experience the joys of having a daughter. I think the reason I feel so elated and just full of happiness is that up until this point, this pregnancy didn't seem very "real." That sounds terrible, but I just haven't been able to focus on this pregnancy like I did my first. Between chasing a toddler around, buying a house and dealing with other day to day life events, I feel like I've barely thought about this pregnancy and I'm already halfway through it. I have a lot of guilt about that, but let me tell you, Baby Girl, you are SO wanted and SO loved already. I finally feel like this is happening because now I can call the baby she instead of "it". That makes it so real. And so fun. 

I think 2014 is going to be a great year. Chaotic, but amazing. Pardon me while I go browse bows and tutus online now... 

20 Weeks

Yesterday, I hit the 20 week mark. For most pregnancies, this is the half-way point, but because I will likely be induced between 37-39 weeks (depending if I get pre-eclampsia again or not) that means I am more than halfway done with being pregnant. That's so crazy to me!

I never did "bump-dates" with my first pregnancy. I think I was more self-conscious two years ago. I credit a combination of getting older (I'll be 30 in two months!!) and mothering to my recently acquired attitude of "I-don't-really-care-what-other-people-think." Okay, and a lot of therapy :) So here's my first ever, bump picture on the worldwide web!

Anyway, here's how I'm feeling at the more-than-halfway point:

Due Date: April 2 (expecting to deliver in mid-March though!) 


Gender: We will find out on Tuesday! It's so funny because I don't feel like I've been obsessing over this as much as I did the first time. I have no gut feeling, though with Campbell I was 100% certain it was a boy. And I was right. So far, people are 50/50 on their guesses. I'm really excited about the idea of either a brother or sister for Cam for different reasons. I'm pretty sure I won't be disappointed on Tuesday and am just praying for a healthy anatomy scan. 

Exercise/Weight Gain: I've been really bad at the exercise department. As in none. I walk a ton and picking up Campbell should count as exercise alone. But I'm bad. At my 16 week appt, I had gained  total of 5 lbs. We will see what the scale says on Tuesday. 

Cravings/Aversions: Not really craving anything. I have been more interested in sandwiches than normal, though. Truthfully, I'm just in the phase where if I overhear someone talk about a baked potato, I MUST have a baked potato. No aversions either, really. 

Symptoms: Insomnia. I've been having pregnancy insomnia for a couple of months now. I have no problem falling asleep right away (usually at 9:00 pm!) because I'm so tired. But I wake up in the middle of the night to pee around 1 am and am usually up until 4. I'm also starting to have heartburn. I've heard this is the only true old wives tale (heartburn = lots of hair on the baby!) and Cam was born with a full head of blonde hair so I believe it could be true. We'll see with this little peanut! 

Movement: Definitely been feeling the baby moving around for the last two weeks consistently. I thought I felt some movement from the outside about two days ago, but haven't been able to feel that since! 

Excited about: Finding out the gender and seeing the baby move around during the anatomy scan! 

Anxious about: my blood pressure and the future of this pregnancy. We obviously have a LOT going on in our lives, and being on bed rest is just unimaginable to me right now. Between dealing with a toddler, moving, and some exciting celebrations we have planned in the next few months, I'm just praying my blood pressure stays low and I don't develop any pre-e symptoms. 


So there's my first bump date. My therapist would be so proud :)

The House

I mentioned back here that we bought a house. It's all happened really quickly and to be honest, I'm still digesting the fact that we are going to be moving to the suburbs. It was always in the plan. An inevitable move of a young family from a small condo in the city to the space we need in the burbs. It's just taking a little bit of time to come to terms with the fact that we are moving. I'm sure it's normal nerves I'm feeling, and I know once we are there and moved in, it will eventually feel like home. But for now, I'm focusing on enjoying our last few months in the city and getting excited (and anxious!) about all the renovations we plan to do on the house.

It all started about a month ago when I was having panic attacks at 2, 3, 4 am. I would wake up in a cold sweat and freak out about having a newborn, a toddler and a dog in our little condo. I started worrying about taking the dog out to pee with two kids, about staging and showing our house when we want to move, about finding a new place, etc. all with a newborn. And toddler. And dog. It just overwhelmed me. So Rick finally told me to just call the realtor and start looking. If we find something great, we'll move now instead of later. I saw 18 houses in almost 2 weeks. There were only two I wanted to take Rick to see. One of which is the house we eventually purchased.

There's not a lot on the market right now, and in our price range, every single house needed some work. Even at the top of our price range, these houses were not perfect. Luckily, we got a great deal on the purchase price of the house because it's in really poor condition and had been on the market for months with not a single offer. Truthfully, I don't think many people could see past the 70s decor or the smell. Luckily for me, I watch a LOT of HGTV and am not a first-time-homebuyer so I can see potential. And this house has it.

It's on a street that dead ends into the elementary school that our kids will eventually attend. It's got a huge basement (which was a must on my list!), an open kitchen/living room space, a mudroom (swoon!!) and four bedrooms. Plenty of space for us to grow into. The kitchen needs a complete gut, the master bath needs a total gut and the rest needs cosmetic updates. I plan to overhaul the exterior in the Spring once the ground thaws and we can repaint the siding in mild weather.

So there's a lot to do. No doubt. We close mid December and plan to start construction the next day. We hope to move in March, and hope I don't go into preterm labor. Or go on bed rest like my last pregnancy. We are currently working with our contractor to draw up plans, and I've begun the beginning stages of shopping and researching tiles, cabinets, vanities, etc. It's a lot. Especially pregnant with a toddler. But, I know it will be worth it in the end and I know we will be so glad we did this now instead of next summer when we have a new baby to juggle.

So for now, I'm trying to embrace the stress and focus on the positive. We get to make this house into our home.

Here's a picture of the front of the house.

 Like I said, it needs work, but I can't stop looking at it and reminding myself, "this is where I'm going to raise my babies." And that is what I'm so excited about. Life is good.

Two.

Campbell turned two on Saturday. TWO! It's really hard to wrap my brain around. Two years ago we were in newborn chaos. Back then, I could not have pictured what life would be like with a two year old. Even when I did get a glimpse of what his personality would be like as a baby, I never imagined it to be this fun, this exhausting and full of so much love.

Everyone told me that difficult babies (which Campbell absolutely was!) make for easy toddlers. While I wouldn't call toddlerhood easy, it's definitely better than I expected. Cam is really easy going and super verbal so it makes our lives a lot easier. He doesn't get mad if someone pushes him or takes a toy from him. He only gets really frustrated when he can't figure out a toy or if we tell him he can't do something. And when he gets mad, he either yells, cries, or says, "Campbell sad!" It's hard not to giggle at that.

We went to the doctor yesterday and he weighs 30 lbs 11 oz. (90th percentile) and he is 34.5" tall (50th percentile). The doctor, like me, isn't concerned about his picky eating because he eats something from every group (except meat) and just needs to keep being exposed to new foods. So we will keep offering them and I'm sure he'll keep refusing to touch them. But it's not worth a fight at this point. I'm a big fan of picking my battles. This is one I'm willing to go with the flow on and take his lead. I really don't want to create traumatic memories around the dinner table nor cause eating issues because I made him sit at the table until bedtime so he would eat his meat.

To celebrate Cam's big day, we had two different little parties. Sine last year's Halloween party was such a hit with his friends, I decided to make this year's bash a birthday celebration too. So a few of his buddies came over dressed in their costumes and celebrated our little two-year-old. Here are a few pictures:

On his actual birthday this past Saturday, we had a very fun-filled, family packed day of fun. Rick's mom and my parents both came to town to celebrate. We started the day by opening presents and then headed to the aquarium with my sisters and niece and nephew. We had a blast, and Rick had never been to the Shedd Aquarium before so he really enjoyed it. Cam thought the live show was "too dark" but sat mesmerized through the whole thing anyway. Later in the evening, we had a small pizza party with more presents and cake. 

Cam hasn't stopped singing "Happy Birthday" to himself since. He's also been asking for presents and cupcakes every day, as well (yikes!) Birthdays are a big deal to me and my family always made a big deal of them as we were growing up. I hope Campbell felt as special as we wanted him to feel. It was a really fun weekend!

And just because you know me and how I like to keep it real...

Being two is tough stuff.

Barefoot in the Kitchen

It's so funny how there are moments in my daily life when I stop, look at myself and internally giggle for realizing I've achieved my "dream." You see, ever since I was a little kid, my dream has been to be a mom. A dinner-making, laundry-folding, carpool-running mom. And there are moments when I stop and think, "Oh my gosh. I'm here. I did it."

My book club (of which I'm the only stay-at-home mom) met last night. We read Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. I have to admit, I wasn't interested in the book, the conversation, or the ideas behind it. Her argument that more women need to be in more powerful positions in the world, hire nannies, make more money and stop conforming to gender stereotypes didn't appeal to me. And I'll tell you why... I don't want to be powerful. Or hire a nanny. Or make more money. I want to be exactly where I am...  having a dance party with my son for the eighth time because he thinks it's hilarious. That is success.

I'm tired of the mommy wars. I'm tired of people judging me for "giving up" a career to stay at home. I'm tired of my working mom friends feeling like they need to defend their decision about going back to work. I'm tired of reading blog posts where moms have to defend their choices. I'm just tired of it. So instead of diving deeper into my thoughts and feelings on the subject, let me leave with you some food for thought.

Literally.

I've made some amazing and easy recipes lately and I want to share them! I whipped out the Crock Pot about a month ago when the temperatures dipped below 70 and I decided it was Fall. I made this delicious taco soup, this awesome tortilla soup, this yummy version of chicken chili, and this delicious queso for a special football Saturday. They were all delicious and I was able to freeze leftovers for each (other than the queso).

I'm planning to make these vegetarian enchiladas this week, too. And let me tell you, I'm pretty darn excited and proud that this is how I'll be spending my evening one day this week. At home, barefoot in the kitchen.

Time for an Update

I'm alive! It's true! I have no idea who is still out there reading this, but if you are, I think it's time for an update.

I'm not sure how to explain my absence on the blog. There is no concrete reason I stopped writing. In a way, it gave me some time to actually focus on life and stop worrying about documenting every single thing. Instead of thinking, "oooh I need a picture of this for the blog!" I felt more engaged in the moment during every day events and special occasions. But, I do miss writing and connecting with the people I've met through this blog. And, I miss documenting the adorableness that is Campbell. So, I'm back. Here we go. (Be warned... this may be long!)

Okay so let's start with a little Campbell update. He's turning two next weekend. Yes. TWO! I honestly don't know where the last year went, but he's grown into this independent, spunky little guy who has more personality than I know what to do with. He's still obsessed with cars and trucks and can name almost every construction vehicle, type of truck and car you never knew existed. He's really smart and it sometimes freaks me and Rick out. He has a crazy memory. In the last month, he's become very musical and will sing a whole list of songs. Some of his favorites are "Happy Birthday", a couple of Elmo songs from a video he's watched, "Roar" by Katy Perry (no joke), and the ABCs. He has a ton of energy and loves to run, jump and climb on everything. He's all boy. He's still my picky eater. It hasn't gotten worse since the last time I wrote at 18 months old, but it hasn't necessarily improved. He refuses to touch meat. I hid a teeny-tiny piece of hot dog in his lunch one day and you would have thought he had tasted poison. It was traumatic, and I haven't tried since. He eats something from every food group and takes a multi-vitamin every day so I'm not worried about his nutrition (especially since he is still a very big kid). But it's frustrating and I am trying to just let it be instead of fighting it.

He's typicality he passive kid you see in the sandbox who will stare down another kid with a toy but won't every swipe it from him. He's also very mild tempered and doesn't get angry or mad when other kids bother him or steal from him. (Except his cousin Izzy, in which case he's become quite assertive. I think it's because they have grown up together and they act more like brother and sister). I'm grateful for his self-control and the rarity of tantrums. I think because he's so verbal, he's pretty good at telling us what he needs and gets less frustrated than other two-year olds who may have a harder time communicating.

Needless to say, that doesn't mean we haven't had some very real glimpses into the Terrible Twos. Mainly, he wants to do a lot of things his way. He likes telling us, "NO!" to just about any question or command we give him. He doesn't like to transition from activities (i.e., leaving the park). But it's not as bad as it could be, and I keep reminding myself of that. He's still my rock star sleeper and I am so beyond grateful for that. Still taking a 2-3 hour nap daily and sleeping 11 hours at night (usually 8 pm-7 am).

However, sleep is something I've been struggling with lately. Why? Because of this...

Yup. We are pregnant. I'm 18 weeks along right now, and yes we will be finding out the gender. That's scheduled for the week before Thanksgiving!


Oh, and we just bought a house. In the suburbs.


Talk about a lot going on at once. For someone like me who likes to plan, overanalyze, think, plan some more and then re-evaluate those plans, it's been a whirlwind and I've been losing a little sleep over all of it. Add on some pregnancy insomnia, and let's just say I'm very grateful that HGTV plays House Hunters at 2 am.

But aside from the worrying and planning and minor panic attacks when I think about having two kids and listing our condo and packing and unpacking and sleep deprivation... we are so beyond excited about expanding our family and moving into a house that we will raise our children in.

This house needs a lot of TLC but it's in the perfect place in the perfect school district. Actually our kids will go to the school I used to teach at, which is crazy to think about it. We didn't seek that out, but it happened and I'm sticking with the motto, "things happen for a reason." We hope to close December 17, and start some major renovations the next day. Right now we are interviewing contractors and coming up with plans and ideas. Our hope is to move into the new house at the beginning of March. We may just drop off our boxes on the way to Labor and Delivery!

So that's what's new. And so much more... so glad to be back.