CLICK HERE for a quick jump over to the new site.
And don't forget to save the new web address to your favorites bar now that we have moved :)
http://littlebirdslittlenest.weebly.com
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The website previously known as "The Adventures of Baby M.D." HAS moved, but I promise it's really easy to find!
CLICK HERE for a quick jump over to the new site. And don't forget to save the new web address to your favorites bar now that we have moved :) http://littlebirdslittlenest.weebly.com
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If you follow me on Facebook, you would've noticed my status yesterday involved a trip that MD and I took to Target. (Side note: If you don't follow me on Facebook, you should).
We walked in to find a woman painstakingly scrubbing the Target cart with those free antibacterial wipes. I mean, the woman was cleaning parts of the cart her daughter wouldn't even be able to touch the bottom of her shoe to. All the while, her daughter is standing next to the cart picking her nose. Seriously, digging for buried treasure. I guess on the plus side, the boogers would be landing on a santized surface? Another thing happened while we were on that same trip to Target that really irked me. It got me thinking about things we can control in our kids' lives, and things we can't. It has to do with grown-ups arguging. See, Steven and I make it a point not to argue in front of MD. I don't think it's healthy for kids to see their parents arguging in front of them. There's lots of things I think parents SHOULD do in front of their kids (show affection, make each other laugh, have kid-appropriate discussions, etc), but arguing is not one of them. I think it probably stems from, on my end, the fact that I don't ever remember seeing my parents argue in front of me. Honestly, that probably took a lot of effort on their part, seeing that they got divorced when I was young, so I'm sure plenty of arguments took place leading up that that. But I never saw it. It's not say that Steven & I don't argue. We are human. We've been together for almost 6 years, married for a little over 3, and have had MD for a little over 2. We argue. We just don't do it in front of him. So MD and I are casually strolling around the baby section of Target (diapers were on the list) and I overhear two people arguing. I mean, seriously arguging. Raised voices, the whole 9 yards. I walked over to the clothing section (winter hat was on the list as well) and accidentally ran square into this (un)happy couple who were yelling at each other over something, I have no idea what. We made a quick b-line out of there because not only did I want to hear their arguement, but I especially didn't want MD to overhear the madness. Luckily, he didn't notice and we went right on shopping. We headed up to the check-out, and I started putting all of our merchandise on the conveyor belt when I heard them. Of course they would pick the same register as me. Of course. Still arguing, even more heated now. They had their two kids with them who didn't seem phased in the last, but MD was. His eyes got huge, I visibly saw his body stiffen, and he strained his neck to see where the yelling was coming from. I was trapped...mid check-out and they were not jumping in another line. The aruging continued as I tried to figure out a way to get MD to lose focus on the situation. I started asking him to point out different items we were purchasing as they moved up the belt. I asked him if he had a good day at daycare, if he was excited to see Daddy when we got home, if he wanted a sticker for being such a good boy at the store. Luckily, it worked. Even luckier, the male member of the (un)happy couple decided he was so mad he couldn't even stand being next to his wife/girlfriend/baby momma and the kids anymore, so he stormed off outside. There was silence. We ran into him walking to the car. Now yelling at someone on his phone while pacing the parking lot. I was pissed. It was a prime example of something I wanted to shelter MD from, but I realized I don't actually have a choice in whether or not I can shelter him from it in the real world. I understand he will hear arguing at some point, heck the kid argues with me already, but I just don't think young children need to be exposed to the arguements of grown-ups. So I guess, in closing, I'd appreciate it if everyone at my local stores could please keep their domestic altercations to themselves. There are people trying to shop in peace amongst you. XOXO, Laurel As you may have noticed, there are some changes going on with "The Adventures of Baby M.D.".
I'm having the itch to give the site a little bit different look. More simple. More modern. More...me. Not that I'm modern by any definition of the word...but definitely simple. I also am brainstorming the major changes that will come when this is no longer just the adventures of one little boy, M.D. I am tossing around a few new titles, and have narrowed it down in my head. No, I will not tell you ahead of time. So many secrets associated with this pregnancy :) What I will say, is that I also tossed around the idea of just starting a totally new blog. New title. New website. Fresh start. Buttttttt....I don't think that's very fair seeing as it would cause a huge mess with everybody trying to find the new site. So, the website address will remain the same, though the title and content will definitely change and expand. On that note, thanks for your patience. I have computer skills at all, so you may see a few different versions of this site before the dust finally settles. XOXO Laurel With MD's pregnancy, I did monthly updates on my Facebook account of my growth and changes as he grew into a fully formed little human. This time around, I'm thinking I'll stick to the even-5 week updates. 15, 20, 25, etc. It just so happened that the first time I got around to taking a belly shot was at 15 weeks, and then it just seemed like a good number to stick with seeing as it jumps quite nicely to 40 weeks (even though this baby won't quite make it that long with a 39 week delivery to be scheduled). Baby Size: Apple Food Love: Orange Juice, Apple Cider, Salted Carmel Chocolates. Food Hate: Meat. Ugh. It's not only the chicken this time around, but also hamburger, pork, etc. Anything BBQ'd is an absolute no-no. I made Steve spray the entire room the other night with Febreze after he downed two sloppy joes. Bleh! Currently Wearing: Maternity pants (bonus: H&M has a super cute line of maternity skinny jeans now, which I'm obsessed with), maternity shirts...yup, we had to break-out the maternity wardrobe quite a bit sooner the second time around. Lots of open-front cardigans. I'm trying to make my purchases for this winter-maternity wardrobe wearable for winter (non-maternity) years to come. #investmentpieces Currently Feeling: Less tired, slightly more hungry, less nauseus. I won't say that I feel 100% of that blissful 2nd trimester feeling yet, but I'm definitely on my way in that direction. XOXO,
Laurel Earlier this year, Steven & I talked about revamping our basement family room. We honestly don't spend very much time down there (except in the winter), but that also means we haven't put a single lick of work or personalization into it since we moved in. We haven't done any major renovations, but I'll share what we've done in little bits and pieces. The first thing we did was to change the color concept. The original was green walls with white trim and black accents. It's exactly the same colors that were in place when we bought it. I even went so far as to use black accents to decorate because I had pieces in that color on-hand and it was easier than starting from scratch. To make a long story short, we ended up changing the color concept to really brighten it up. No more black. White, gray and cream became our major colors to play with. Originally, we had a black painted fireplace mantel with a black trimmed mirror over the top. It sounds super gothic, but it wasn't really THAT bad. Anyways, once we upgraded to a brighter space, I realized that we needed something brighter in color to hang over the mantle. I started scouring Pinterest, and immediately set my eyes on this beauty... You can buy various versions of this faux deer mount online, they typically run anywhere between $100-$150 apiece, depending on size. If you want the big poppa, you've gotta shell out the bigger bucks (no pun intended). Needless to say, I'm not the type of gal who can justify spending $100+ on a décor piece unless it's actual functioning furniture. I was bummed, but not going to give up that easily. I decided this is totally something I could DIY (even though I'm not known to be much of a DIY person). The first thing I did was find a cheaper faux deer head mount on Amazon. Totally terrifying. But, I'm a pretty savvy Amazon shopper, so I was able to be patient and wait for the right pricing (plus free shipping) to come along, and snagged this little bugger for around $40. Now, the first thing you want to do when you get your faux deer head mount is to put it on your husband's side of the bed, and wait for him to freak... ...trust me. This step is totally essential, and worth postponing your project for a few hours. The next thing you want to do, is go to your local home improvement store and pick out your paint and primer. You will need a separate primer and paint for this project, don't try to save a step and get the paint & primer in one, trust me. I had leftover paint from when we did our accent repainting in the family room in white, so all I needed was a little can of primer. Find your painting spot, and lay a drop cloth. Then take your deer apart...which essentially just involves removing the antlers. Next, put on your first coat of primer. Let dry, and put on another coat. Trust me, it takes a few coats of that thick primer to really stick in all the nooks and crannies of this big boy. I would recommend using a mini foam brush for the smaller areas (ears, eyes, nose) and then a larger foam brush for the neck (lots of "hair" to make sure you fill in). Then use a small regular paint brush to go over everything and smooth it out. Make sure to let each coat of primer dry completely between applications. Then, start applying your actual paint color. Again, you're going to need to apply multiple coats of the paint to make sure every little nook and cranny is covered in paint. Make sure to let everything dry completely in between coats. You will need to rotate the antlers to get all angles covered as well. It can be kind of tedious to do the antlers seeing as every time I thought I had every spot, I'd find another one that wasn't quite covered. Have patience friend, it will be worth it in the end. Like I said, the intent was to hang this deer over our newly painted WHITE fireplace mantle, on it's own. However, after hanging it solo at first, it seemed a little....lonely. We decided to take a picture frame that was not being put to use and paint it the same color as our new little (big) friend to frame him into his new home. It may seem kind of blah/plain to some, but it's exactly the clean crisp look I was hoping for! And don't worry...I full intend on dressing him with a manly x-mas scarf come the holiday season to brighten his holiday cheer, Check out this formidable creature! Our "guard dogs" have nothing on him when it comes to burglars :) I'll mention this side-note: The picture above is not actually the finished project. As you can see, there are still minor spots that are a little darker than others. Once he was up hanging out on the mantle, I whipped out my mini foam brush and went to town with touch-ups. It's a heck-of-a lot easier doing touch-ups when he's hanging than when he's laying flat on his back...or the back of his head. I never ended up taking a FINAL final picture...so sue me, I have a 2 year old. Ain't nobody got time for 1,000 DIY pictures in this household. With the cost of the deer head and primer the total cost to me for this project was around $50, which was less than half the cost of buying him online already complete.
Keep in mind, that was using some items I already had on hand. I always think it's a good idea to hoard...no, SAVE, craft materials just in case you end up needing them again in the future as it will definitely save you money in the long run! I'll end by saying this...if I can do it, I KNOW you can. XOXO, Laurel During (and after) my pregnancy with MD, I wondered what it would be like to be pregnant with our second child. I wanted to know, would it be different? If so, what would be different about it? I'm sure the experience varies for all expecting mothers, but I have to say there is a significantly large difference for me between my pregnancy with MD and now with baby #2. Some differences are physical whie others are emotional. Here's a short list of the differences I've noticed already in my 14 1/2 weeks along... THE PHYSICALThe most stark difference between my pregnancy with MD and this one was the sickness. Oh. My. Lord. I completely took for granted the fact that I was not sick with MD in the first trimester. I know now what it's like to have a "normal" 1st trimester experience, and I can fully empathize with all of you mommies out there who went through hell in a handbag to get to 12 weeks. I honestly came very close to punching out coworkers whose lunch odors would linger over into my cubicle. When Steven would ask me, what's for dinner? I seriously considered locking myself in the bedroom and hiding. I completely avoided all foods (except the few I could stomach) from about week 6-10. I made myself car sick just driving to and from work. It was not fun. This pregnancy I also lost weight during my 1st trimester (due to the severe food aversions) which was something that had never happened with MD. I remember being pregnant with MD and thinking I looked pregnant, when I 100% didn't (in hindsight). This time around, there's no denying. This baby jumped out of my stomach so fast I actually told my boss sooner than I was planning that I was pregnant because my belly had become so obvious already by 13.5 weeks. Maternity clothes are already here to stay, where with MD I did not even begin wearing them until late into my 2nd trimester. Here I am at 21 weeks pregnant with MD... I'm not lying when I say I am almost to this belly size already, and I'm not even 15 weeks in yet. I'm just hoping this growth spurt levels off! EMOTIONS...Emotionally, the first difference I noticed was in our initial reaction to finding out that I was preganant. This baby was planned, MD was a surprise. The only surprise element to this pregnancy was how quickly it happened, but we definitely knew it was a possibility. The reaction was excitement and celebration...instead of panic :). Also, I feel guilty because I honestly do not feel the same prolonged excitement with this baby yet that I felt with MD. I attribute it to the fact that I have a 2 year old running around my house, so I have little to no time to concentrate of the fact that I am in fact pregnant with another baby. It's not that I'm NOT excited, it's just that when I was pregnant with MD I spent my every waking moment (honestly) thinking about him, planning for him, looking up nursery ideas, names, clothes, etc. With this baby I keep telling myself that when he or she arrives, I will figure everything out. For now, I have to concentrate on the child who needs me to read him a book, or cook him dinner, or snuggle with and wach Cars. I feel bad that I'm not as emotionally invested yet, but I think it must be a fairly normal reaction to the second baby. I know that they when they are here I will give both MD and the new baby equally undivided attention (to the best of my ability), it's just that right now it's not practical for me to take time away from MD to look up impractical nursery ideas for a baby who is not even here yet. **NEW PREGNANCY PRODUCTS!**Imagine my excitement when I found out that The Honest Company had come out with a new line of prenatal care items that I could order for this pregnancy. WOOOHOOO! I have never held back my love for them and their awesomely organic products, so let me share with a few items that I'm trying this time around: ORGANIC PRENATAL VITAMINS I've started ordering both The Honest Co's prenatal vitamin AND the DHA/Omega for prenatal development. I order these through a separate bundle called Health & Wellness. It runs $39.95 per month, and you can choose which vitamins/supplements you want each month so you can switch it up even after your pregnancy. There's no monthly requirement or membership fee for Honest Co, and you can order as many or few months as you'd like (so you can order once and never order again, and that's cool with them...but sad for you). ORGANIC BELLY BALM I don't know about you guys, but I couldn't stand the smell of Palmers Cocoa Butter toward the end of my 1st pregnancy, and I surely wasn't going to be able to bring it back into my beauty route this time around with a stomach that wrenched at any questionable smell. I decided to order this organic belly balm through my Essentials Honest Co bundle that I get every month. *Reminder: The Essentials bundle is the one where you can choose any 5 items from that category(cleaning products, baby shampoo/lotion/soap, grown-up woman shampoo/lotion/soap) for $35.95 (free shipping). * I was really excited that they let this product be a part of their Essentials bundle because that is the bundle I've always found to be the one most worth the money you spend. I can get a month's worth of laundry detergent, multi-surface cleaner, floor cleaner, eczema cream, etc for only $35.95 a month....and it's all organic. Anyways..enough plugging Honest Co. Let me tell you how amazing this product DOESN'T smell. I mean, it's not that it smells badly. It doesn't smell at all. It's a pregnant woman's DREAAAAAMMM!!! It's also super thick but a little bit definitely goes a long way. Some other new items they have that I order, but haven't used yet (however, I intend to at some point) include: ORGANIC NIPPLE BALM For those lovely breastfeeding days... ORGANIC BREATHE EASY RUB An organic version of Vicks VapoRub?! Yes please! If you end up reading this and thinking, Hey! That Honest Co stuff sounds pretty cool. Maybe I'll give it a try for a month or two! , then PLEASE click on this link to the website:
THE HONEST COMPANY The Honest Company does not pay me to promote their products on this blog, and I wouldn't ever ask them to, because I only promote them because I love them. I'd never lie to y'all to get a check in the mail. BUT, if you click on the link about to get to The Honest Co website, and you decide to start ordering with them, I will get credit towards my future purchases with them (which is nice). XOXO Laurel No, I can't. Well that's not entirely true. I'm really good at keeping other people's secrets. I'm horrible at keeping my own. Which is why I've been gone. Radio Silence. Because I know something that I had to keep a secret. And this blog is where I go to talk about everything that's on my mind. And the number one thing on my mind has been something I can't talk about. Until NOW! So.....what is it? Suspense.... Okay fine, here it is. WE'RE HAVING ANOTHER BABY!!!!!!!!!Steven, MD and I are super excited to finally be able to share the exciting news! I wanted to literally shout it from the rooftops, but we kept to the typical 1st trimester = secret, 2nd trimester = share way of doing things. I'm sure everyone will have tons of questions, so I'm using this blog posting not only to announce our exciting news, but also to answer some of those common questions. WHEN ARE YOU DUE?My official due date is April 5th, 2015 which puts me at 14 weeks along at this point ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE ANOTHER C-SECTION?The short answer is, "Yes". But I feel the need because this is the large sometimes judgement blogosphere to explain my response as well. We had Mason via C-section because of failure to progress. Essentially, MD and my body did not agree that he could fit out of my body the way God intended him to. When I spoke with my OB regarding this future delivery, she explained that in about 50% of cases of C-section, mothers are able to delivery "normally" without need for another C-section. HOWEVER, in cases like MD's, the chances of a successful VBAC are very low. High risk and low chance of success. That being said, I will be having another C-section, and that means that the delivery will be scheduled. At this point, our expected delivery date will be March 30th, 2015. ARE YOU HAVING A BOY OR A GIRL?Obviously, we do not have an answer to this question at this point. AND we won't have an answer...until March 30th, 2015. That's right! We are NOT finding out the gender of this baby prior to delivery. We will be participating in one of the only true surprises that you get in life, the surprise gender reveal of the baby at time of delivery! BUT, YOU REALLY WANT A GIRL THIS TIME, RIGHT?WRONG! It's not that we don't want a girl, of course we would love to have a little sweetie to love on. It's just that we don't really care! I understand that a lot of people's ideal family includes a little boy and little girl, however, we really will be super excited with whatever God gives us this time around! HOW MANY MORE KIDS ARE YOU PLANNING ON HAVING?Zero. Steven and I have always planned on only having two chidren, regardless of gender, from the day we got married. That opinion has not changed, and I don't forsee it changing after this baby is born. There are a whole bunch of reasons that cause us to limit our numbers to two, and we feel very comfortable with that decision. ...BUT THE WEBSITE IS "ADVENTURES OF BABY MD"? WHAT WILL IT BE CALLED NOW?Valid question...and I honestly don't have an answer. I'm totally up to suggestions at this point, because I know it's not fair to continue this as MD's blog when there will be another sibling sharing the spotlight come March. I will make changes as I'm able, so please have patience with me if there are times when the website is either down or just completely horrid to look at as I'm updating things (I have NO tech skills whatsoever). SO there you have it :) The BIG news I just couldn't wait to share, and yet, waited to share! I can't wait to keep you all updated as our family expands (along with my belly). XOXO,
LAUREL Tell me one thing parents of young'ins like doing more than snapping photos of their kids? You can't. We are ALL guilty of it. I fill up my iPhone's memory with pictures of M.D. an embarassing number of times a year. Remember my GrooveBook push? Yeah, they've been a lifesaver in making sure that those pictures don't just end up in my iCloud (does anybody know what the iCloud is, anyways?) forever. The thing is, even though the iPhone 5 takes really nice pictures, I still like them to be a little bit higher quality, especially if I'm posing them to this blog or using them for framing around our house. That's where apps come in! There are SO MANY phone apps that claim to help edit your pictures to look amazing, and some of them actually do! Here's a list of a few that I put to good use in editing my pictures of MD: This is the pretty obvious 1st choice for people who like to edit their photos. You can choose to edit your pics AND post them to Instagram, or you can just use their editing features and save your photos to your phone to share elsewhere. It has pretty limited editing abilities, but it's free, and it allows you to "follow" your friends Instagram photos as well. P.S. You can follow me on Instagram (MRSDRECKMAN). :) COST: FREE pROCAMERATo be complete honest, I don't really use this app anymore. It's not because it isn't any good....I used it almost exclusively for a few years, but I have since downloaded another app which I prefer to this one. It has LOTS of options for editing so you can really adjust every setting on the photo until you get it just the way you want it. COST: $0.99-$2.99 (Depending on the day) OBABYI LOVE this app for specific pictures of MD that I take. It also would be a great app if you are expecting, as they have tons of captions that can be used to track your pregnancy photos and new born baby announcements. Unfortunately, it was not on my radar when I was pregnant with MD, so I have only used it on rare occasions when one of their adorable captions meets my needs. COST: $0.99 ADOBE PHOTOSHOP EXPRESSAHHHHHH....Here it is. My favorite photo app in the history of photo apps (thus far at least). I didn't even realize that Adobe PhotoShop had an app until I purchased my Adobe PhotoShop software for my home computer and though to myself...Hmmm, wouldn't it be nice if they had a less complicated phone version for quick photo editing on the go? Oh wait, they DO!!!! This app allows for very specific editing but it's in a very user friendly setting. I would highly recommend this app to everyone, even if you're not taking pictures of children. COST: FREE Let me know if you guys have any other photo editing phone apps that you like to use! XOXO Laurel I know, I know.
I am the worst blogger ever. I have seriously abandoned this page in the past a few months. The only thing that makes me feel worse is looking at the stats and seeing how many of you loyal followers keep checking back every day/week/month to see if I've actually posted anything yet. This doesn't count as a blog post. I promise I will write one VERY SOON that explains my absence. (I DO have an excuse.) In the meantime...here's a photospread of what we've been up to. XOXO Laurel Yes, you heard it here first, I'm a cool mom. Okay, maybe not. But at least I can think that way until MD gets old enough to set me straight. This blog post isn't about being a cool mom though...I just really love Mean Girls and the "cool mom" makes me laugh out loud every single time I watch it. This post is about being a "yes mom". Yup...I just invented that term. You may think you've heard it before, but this is my own personal spin on the idea. See, I read a lot of parenting articles today that tell you that it's not good to say "no" to your kids. You're supposed to "reason" with them and "explain" things in depth even when they are very young so they don't feel like you are writing off their feelings. That is not what this is about. In fact, I have written and deleted a blog post about that particular topic probably 5 times of which my conculsion is, you can say "no" to your kid without explaining yourself. It won't hurt them. Can you imagine a generation of kids who wouldn't even understand what the phrase, "Because I said so!" means? I mean, I for one am NOT passing on my chance to finally use that phrase to frustrate the living bejesus out of my kids. So this post isn't about not saying no...it's about saying yes. Steven & I own the movie Yes Man with Jim Carrey. If you haven't seen it, you should.
It's not his greatest work, but still pretty comical. The synopsis is basically this guy goes to seminar where he's told he should only say "yes" to things and see what happens. What happens? (spoiler alert) he goes on to do all of this awesome adventurous stuff he never would have tried before because he usually said "no" to things. I've noticed that as a new (and terrified) parent, I am a big proponent of saying "no". Usually for safety's sake...often for simplicity sake...sometimes because I'm too lazy to say "yes". No, MD. You can't play with the hose, you're going to get soaked! No, MD. You can't jump on Mommy & Daddy's bed, you'll get hurt! No, MD. We aren't watching Frozen again...unless you want to grow up visiting your mother at the psych ward. I started really noticing myself saying NO to a lot of things, a lot of the time. Like I said, usually they were very practical things to say no to, but I started to wonder if maybe I wasn't giving enough effort to the idea of "yes". So, I've been making a little change...and it's REALLY fun. I say YES. A lot more. In fact, before I say "no" to anything...I try to take a split second to rationalize if "no" is necessary, or if "yes" could be an option. YES, MD! You can walk around Target instead of riding in the cart (but you have to hold my hand). YES, MD! Let's stop and play with the hose for 20 minutes right before dinnertime, who cares if you're wet, you're going to love it! YES, MD! You can stay up a little past your bedtime and eat a special treat! YES, MD! Let's take all of your books off of the shelf and read 1.5 pages of each one before moving on to the next! YES, MD! We can blast Frozen in the car the whole way to the store! (Okay, that last one is still reallllly hard to say yes to, but I'm trying!) These are just a few examples that we've done lately...I try to let it permeate all areas of our lives. And yes...we DO jump on the bed. And it's hilarious...and leads to TONS of giggles. Maybe I was too much of a helicopter danger-everywhere parent before...and maybe I'm too lax of a parent now. The point is, there is no perfect way to parent. There are still definitely times when "No" is necessary. I mean...you can't just throw your kid to the wolves... But it's worth a try, even every once in a while, to say "yes" when you normally would have said "no". Give it a try :) XOXO Laurel |