Thankful.

Today is a day to be thankful. Of course I'm thankful for all of the normal & - let's be honest - cliché things: my family, my friends, my health, yadda yadda yadda. (And by "yadda yadda yadda" I obviously mean "I promise I really am thankful for these things".) But something came home from preschool on Monday that reminded me that there are so many other, less philosophical or traditional things that I'm thankful for. If my 3-year-old can be genuinely thankful for pizza sandwiches, then I can spend some time appreciating the small things in my life. So here are some of the things I'm really thankful for this Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful that my 2-year-old isn't strong enough to open the refrigerator yet. Because once he is, we won't have any food left.

I'm thankful for the person that thought salt & caramel would make a good combination. Because they were right.

I'm thankful that Victoria's Secret continues to sell the same bras that I've been wearing for years so I can just get resized and grab one off the shelf without the super annoying task of finding the "right" one.

I'm thankful for really long, really hot showers. These only come on days that the husband is home & the children are supervised. If he's not here, I take a 3 minute shower in fear that my bedroom will be destroyed by 2 little adventurers. (And, on a related note, I'm thankful for winter because it means shaving my legs much less frequently = quicker showers.)

I'm thankful for free chip & salsa at Mexican restaurants.

I'm thankful that stores start putting out Christmas stuff at the beginning of October, which is the start of the season in my head. It makes my heart so very happy.

I'm thankful that my 3-year-old thinks that her snack mixes are called a "mix trail" and, even though we've corrected her, continues to call it that. It's really cute. I'm also thankful that my 2-year-old thinks a horse says "yee haw!" because that's equally cute.

I'm thankful that leggings are an acceptable form of pants now (but only with a long shirt that covers things up, for the love of god people!) They're crazy-comfortable & my pregnant belly loves them.

I'm thankful that my husband isn't a video-gamer. I really, really am. Related: Our entire family is thankful for Candy Crush. We might be a tiny bit addicted. (Yes, the children, too. Brooke is really good for a 3-year-old.)

I'm thankful that my kids still believe that Daddy is the only one that can replace batteries in toys.

I'm thankful that I didn't have to clean up the little guy's throw up on Tuesday morning. Well-timed grocery trip on my part.

I really am thankful for my husband & children & family & friends & all that other stuff. This year even more than ever. But sometimes it's these little &, some might say, superficial things that get you through the day, you know? And I'm thankful for anything that gets me through the day.

19.

You didn't think these updates would be on-schedule every week, did you? Of course not, it's me we're talking about. It's been hard to get motivated to open up the computer this weekend because I'm just physically and mentally exhausted. The babes have been sick the past few days & I have a pretty terrible cold myself, so things are pretty boring and gloomy around here. The husband is off all week & instead of taking advantage of this time to do fun stuff, we've been resting and running quick, silly errands just to get everyone out of the house. Sigh. Fingers crossed that we all recover soon before we go completely stir crazy!

How far along?: 19 weeks, 2 days
Total weight gain/loss: +1.5 this week, +12.5 total.
Maternity clothes?: I finally feel like I've developed a decent-sized wardrobe to get me through the next 4.5 months! If it gets bitterly cold, I may be in trouble because while my winter coats are a little big, they're not 9-months-pregnant-with-a-Reeder-beast big.
Sleep: With sick kiddos, not enough. Only getting up to go to the bathroom about 1 time, so that helps.
Movement: Tons of kicks that are getting stronger every day. They are finally strong enough to feel from the outside, though I'm the only one that has felt it. Baby tends to shy away from Daddy's hand.
Food cravings: None, but ice cream has been a staple lately.
Gender: It's odd to think most people find out around this time and yet we have months and months to go before we'll know.
New w/pregnancy #3: I've had lots of unexplained muscle pain in my legs. I'll wake up feeling like I ran 5 miles, just really tight and sore. So bizarre.
What I miss: The kids are sick. I'm sick. I miss wine.
What I am looking forward to: Pie! I don't even care what kind, I'm only in it for the crust. Hurry up, Thursday.
Best moment this week: Feeling the baby kick from the outside! Before we know it, I'll be able to watch the elbows and knees jut out and the head rolling around (I realize after re-reading that sentence that it sounds weird and creepy, but I promise you it's cute and fun. To some people, at least. The husband always finds that weird and creepy.)
Milestones: We're under 150 days!

Ariel Snow White Reeder.

How far along?: 18 weeks, 1 day
Total weight gain/loss: +1.5 this week, +11 total. Considering I'm 2 weeks shy of the halfway point, I'm pretty jazzed about this.
Maternity clothes?: I have a love/hate relationship with maternity pants. While they are very comfortable, I'm struggling to find some I like this time.
Sleep: Pretty decent, even with the 1-2 trips to the bathroom each night. But when I don't get enough, I pay for it. Saturday night was especially rough - up late b/c I just wasn't tired, then Brooke got sick a few minutes after I got in bed and I spent the next hour or 2 washing sheets/bunnies and trying to get her to sleep. 2:30 am is just not a good bedtime for me, especially with 45 lbs of toddler tossing & turning next to me all night. Yesterday was a pretty terrible day because of it. I may or may not have been in my pj's for 36 hours straight.
Movement: A fair amount of little flutters in there. Nothing strong enough to be felt on the outside yet, but very close.
Food cravings: Not really.
Gender: All 4 of us predict girl. Brooke's favorite girl name is "First name Ariel, middle name Snow White, last name Reeder." Joe's choices this week are Leap, Lily, & Rocket.
New w/pregnancy #3: This pregnancy is going faster than either of the others. I mean, just flying. Well, actually, it's been the 2nd trimester that's been flying. The 1st trimester, which was full of nausea & extreme exhaustion, seemed to drag. But these past 5 weeks have been super fast.
What I miss: Summer. I'm just so cold all day long.
What I am looking forward to: Next week. The husband is off the entire week, so we'll have lots of bonding time with the kiddos (& I will have lots of help!) And Brooke's excitement for Thanksgiving is starting to rub off on me.
Best moment this week: Joe lifted up my shirt and gave "da baby a kiss." Which basically meant he slobbered all over my belly, but it was still precious :)
Milestones: We're just a mere 6 weeks away from viability, which is just INSANE, you guys.

17 weeks.

How far along?: 17 weeks, 0 days
Total weight gain/loss: +1 this week, +9.5 total. Halloween candy, you guys.
Maternity clothes?: Such a struggle. Pretty frustrating that the seasons don't line up for me from my previous pregnancies, leaving me virtually nothing of my own to work with. Normal shirts are officially too short, so it's all maternity from here on out.
Sleep: Better than last week, that's for sure. Not terrible these days.
Movement: Yes, yes, & more yes. And it's awesome and makes this pregnancy scary-real. I can't wait for the husband and the kids to feel it, too!
Food cravings: Nothing in particular. I've been drinking a lot of hot chocolate this week because my body has forgotten how to regulate its own temperature.
Gender: It's a girl. It just is.
New w/pregnancy #3: Talking about the baby with the kids is so delightful and something I didn't really experience with Brooke the last time. It still baffles me to think about how young she was when I was pregnant. She wasn't even 15 months old when I was 17 weeks pregnant with Joe. She didn't speak in sentences and still took morning naps. She was a baby. This time, both kids are walking, talking tiny humans that pretty much understand what's going on. They bring up the baby all the time. For example, on Halloween, we brainstormed costume ideas for the baby next year. They are excited and totally get that there's a baby growing in my belly and he/she is coming to live with us. It's so much fun for me to see this pregnancy through their little eyes.
What I miss: Excedrin Migraine.
What I am looking forward to: April 27ish. Yes, that's a week after my due date when this kid will realistically be joining us.
Best moment this week: Brooke leaned over my belly today and started talking to it. "Hi, baby. Do you want me to tell you about restaurants today? There's Skyline and LaRosa's and..." It was so random and so hilarious. She just has so much to teach this baby, she figured she better start now!
Milestones: Got my first stranger comment this week! I was asked when I was due by the nurse giving Joe his flu shot. Caught me completely off-guard so I fumbled to come up with a response.

We've got movement!

Originally written on 11/3/13 at 16w0d. This was just last week, so everything from here on out will be up-to-date!

How far along?: 16 weeks, 0 days
Total weight gain/loss: +.5 this week, +8.5 total. Curious to see what weight the doctor gets at my appt tomorrow; it was a giant leap last time, but I really don't feel like I've gained all that much these past 4 weeks.
Maternity clothes?: Pretty much full time, shirts and pants. And I can't find a 2nd pair of maternity jeans that I like so I'm basically rotating between yoga pants & a single pair of jeans every day. That is not gonna work much longer!
Sleep: Oh, it's been a complete nightmare, but I can't totally blame this babe. Instead, I blame baby #2. Joe has been plagued with pretty terrible digestive troubles all week, which then developed into Hand Foot & Mouth disease. He's currently struggling with both a bad belly and some pretty painful sores in his mouth, making his appetite pretty dismal. All of this adds up to a week's worth of really terrible nights of sleep. Add to that some pregnancy insomnia and I feel like I've been awake for a month.
Movement: YESSSS!!! I mean, I think. It's always a little tough to be certain in the beginning, but I'm pretty confident that I felt the baby on Friday night. And it was the most pleasant surprise ever! It actually took my breath away for a minute. It went on for a while, too. The thing is I haven't felt it again since. But I also haven't really sat still since then, so that may have something to do with it. So excited that this is happening again!
Food cravings: Nope, but I've enjoyed quite a bit of Halloween candy this week.
Gender: I'll be just as surprised this time if it's a boy as I was when I found out Joe was a boy.
New w/pregnancy #3: {radio silence}
What I miss: Sleeping through the night.
What I am looking forward to: Tomorrow's doctor's appt. I always appreciate being checked out, hearing the heartbeat, & getting the reassurance that both baby & I are doing well!
Best moment this week: Without question, it was feeling the baby dancing around in there!
Weekly Wisdom: Only in pregnancy is it perfectly normal to throw up the entire contents of your stomach in a Skyline bathroom & then proceed to down a chili cheese sandwich w/habanero cheese & a Pepsi like nothing happened.
Milestones: Feeling this little thing bumping into me! It's such a relief to have felt this little one

Pumpkin time.

We did the Halloween thing in true Reeder-style again this year. In other words, we celebrated it the entire month of October. Our kids got to wear their costumes for 5 different Halloween events; by Halloween night, it was getting a little old for Mom & Dad. The kids, on the other hand, were ecstatic every time! They had such a ball all month long.

They both knew exactly what they wanted to be by October 1st. Brooke had her heart set on Belle, which I wasn't so sure about. This was before I realized her Belle dress was the one and only dress-up in the playroom that wasn't completely tattered and destroyed. By some sort of miracle, the Belle dress had been spared. Being pregnant & exhausted, a pre-made & already-in-possession costume sounded good to me, so she got to be Belle! A curling iron, some blush, and a tiara from Halloween 2 years ago, and boom - princess!

I'm not sure where he got the idea, but Joe told us he wanted to be "a Superman". Not sure he had ever really seen the real Superman, I started envisioning a Super Joe costume. He just wanted to be a superhero, so I thought we could make him look like quite the crime-fighter. And then 3 minutes later I remembered I was still pregnant & exhausted, so a cheap store-bought Superman costume was acquired instead. It ended up being pretty darn cute, due in large part to the built in muscles. (If you ask him to show you his muscles, he puts one arm up like this and growls at you. Hilarious.)

 

The first event of the season was a Halloween party at their cousin Owen's house. They don't get to see him often, so they were super thrilled just to go to his house. Their minds were blown when they realized there were games and crafts and treats involved! They had a blast painting pumpkins & making pasta necklaces & playing games. The afternoon was capped off with trick-or-treating all over the yard. Such a fun day with all of their cousins that I think will become an annual tradition.

(Oh, did I forget to mention the adults dressed up for this one, too? Ever seen Snow White with a baby belly? Also, I really wish someone had told me take off those sunglasses.)

 

The HalloweenFest at the Rec was a fun, chilly night! The snacks were heavenly (s'mores and caramel apples!) and the decorations were just the cutest. There were a dozen or so games and crafts for them to do inside, which was a lovely escape from the chill. It was deceptively cold; a last-minute grab of gloves became a lifesaver. Belle was very worried that she wouldn't look as fancy with sweats under her dress and a coat on...until we explained that Belle wore a coat when she went into the snow with the Beast. (And I talked a few friends into very emphatically telling her how fancy she looked, which she just beamed about.) They had a blast and were exhausted when we got home!

Costume event #3 was yet another Halloween carnival, this time at my high school. It was always fun to work the games when I was in high school, and it's really fun for me to see it from the parent perspective. We put the costumes on a 4th time for trick-or-treating down at the Rec with all of the employees. The kids got to go through the fire & police stations looking for treats, as well as visit Grandma in her office.

A few nights before Halloween, we carved our pumpkins. The kids were super jazzed about it, yet wanted to do zero of the work. As usual, both of them were too chicken to touch the gooey insides. They barely agreed to reach in the hollowed out pumpkins with a spoon. Look, we're not the play-in-the-mud types over here - not super surprising that my kids are prissy. But they were thrilled to design the jack-o-lantern faces and watch us carve them. Joe pointed to a jack-o-lantern on a place mat and wanted that exact one, while Brooke wanted something "reeeeally spooky". Nailed it.

We finally made it to Halloween night. All of those pre-Halloween events added up to a ton of candy - so much, in fact, that we didn't buy a single bag of candy to pass out this year! (No, we're not so mean that we don't let them have any candy. But our kids can't eat 60% of the candy because of allergies and another 20% b/c it's just too hard for their little mouths to chew. That pretty much leaves them with lollipops, Smarties, and M&M's.) Which ended up working out perfectly for us because Mother Nature went ahead and ruined Halloween this year. It poured the first hour and sprinkled the 2nd; we had 2 trick-or-treaters. The husband took the kids out with an umbrella (which everyone failed to stay under, apparently) and came back in the door 15 minutes later completely drenched. Between the rain and our neighbors' dogs, they were done. So they spent a quarter of their trick-or-treat time watching a Halloween episode of one of their favorite shows. We drove them around afterwards to finish up, so all was not lost. (Notice Belle's fancy rain boots?)

 

Though the kids were at a great age to appreciate the holiday and we had a ton of fun, I'm okay with the fact that October is over. I'm tired. I've carnival-ed out. And I'm thrilled to have a 2-week decoration-free break before the Christmas craziness begins. (You guys, my brain is already CHRISTMAS! LET'S DO THIS!)

Fifteen.

(Week 14's post is lost forever in our now-dead laptop. I promise you aren't missing much, just more whining about being tired & how nothing fits me anymore.)

Originally written on 10/27/13 at 15w0d

How far along?: 15 weeks, 0 days
Total weight gain/loss: +3 this week, +8 total. This whole Sunday weigh-ins thing is killer. Dessert bar at a family wedding last night = big number today.
Maternity clothes?: Yep, it's time.
Sleep: Doesn't even matter how much sleep I get; I'm completely wiped out all day long no matter what.
Movement: Still no. I'm starting to get impatient, which is completely ridiculous. But I felt those first little thumps with Joe on this day, 15 weeks. So I was expecting it today or even earlier. I even catch myself sitting still just focusing on my abdomen to see if I feel anything. So idiotic. A watched pot never boils, a watched fetus never kicks.
Food cravings: Not really, it was a weird week.
Gender: Joe said today that he wants a baby sister named "Joe" or "Baby boy".
New w/pregnancy #3: The headaches, you guys. They suck. Every flippin' afternoon.
What I miss: My really good acne meds. My face has gone back to high school.
What I am looking forward to: Feeling this baby move. Those daily reassurances are exactly what could start turning these crappy days around for me.
Best moment this week: Eh, I don't know.
Weekly Wisdom: There really is nothing more exhausting than being pregnant. I ran a 10K over the summer & that pales in comparison to just walking up the stairs sometimes.
Milestones: 175 days to go! I have a feeling they are going to go fast.