Baby names, healthy choices, pigtails and workouts

One of the biggest lifestyle changes I made in the past year is that I have learned that most of the time the healthy, more wholesome and less processed version of any food tastes so much better.

Take my Friday night homemade pizza ritual.

I cannot tell you how much tastier it is to control the quality of my pizza. If you have ever ordered a pizza thinking you were going to get fresh veggies and instead you had a can of mushrooms dumped on top and a crust that probably contains a stick of butter, than you know what I can talking about.

My pizza includes a full bag of spinach, a full container of fresh mushrooms, 1 whole fresh tomato (instead of sauce with added sugar), fresh garlic and olives....YUM!

I really love fresh veggies and I feel sad for people who are veggiephoebic. I often wonder if they just don't know how to prepare them correctly.

Anyhow, I am really hoping to pass on these healthy eating habits to these cuties.....

They are always asking me to buy them prepackaged, sugary, processed crap (the damn boxes and commercials are sooo appealing to the 3 year old eye) and it can be difficult to say no. I admit, they have eaten more gold fish crackers than I would like and they have had plenty of other treats in the same category....but I am trying to influence their choices even more these days.

I will let you know how that goes. At least they like my pizza.

Speaking of my babies, I am loving that Charlotte can have her hair in pigtails now. What is it about baby girls and pigtails that is just so stinking cute? Love it!

I am looking forward to seeing what this next little girl will look like. My sister and I look nothing alike and I find it strange that two siblings can end up being so very different.

The great news is that we finally named baby girl. I didn't know if I wanted to share it with everybody but now that I feel 100 percent sure, I don't care who knows.

Our newest little lady will be

Vivienne Rose

I have loved this name for a while. I adore the French spelling and pronunciation which honors my French heritage and Rose was my great grandmother's name. But best of all it is not in the top 100, which is super important to me. The kiddos are already calling her "Vivi" so I am pretty sure it has stuck.

Pregnant life is still going okay. I am getting a lot bigger and have had to modify some of the workouts, but I still made it four days last week. I am doing 2 days of lifting and 2 days of cardio/ core with lots of stretching.

I still spend a lot of time on squats, lunges and deadlifts because I know these keep my lower half strong for carrying around this big belly.

I love the looks I get at the gym; some sympathetic, some concerned some just friendly. I just keep plugging away. I also wear these tanks sometimes:

http://fortwofitness.com

I don't exactly look like this lady:

but I like the cute tanks and they are super long and keep the big ole' belly covered. Plus my picture was taken at 4:30am....so that's my excuse!

Good news for a Saturday

Oh Saturday morning, how your meaning has changed so much in my life.

I remember the days, before my husband and I were married and looong before Liam blessed us with his presence, when we would spend half of Saturday in bed. We would watch TV, fall in and out of sleep, and try to get rid of hangovers from the Friday night we had spent with friends. I am glad we had that time in our lives.

Today is different, for obvious reasons...but I don't mind. I am tired, that's for sure but I am also fulfilled.

This week was a good one. Despite a pretty bad cold that is still gripping my chest and stuffing up my head, we had a week filled with happiness.

Tuesday was our ultrasound. After my husband and son both became determined to find out if our baby was in fact the boy they were so convinced it was, and after I started to have an OCD panic attack about not being ready and not having control over every aspect of my life (typical Caroline behavior) I totally caved and we decided to find out the sex of the baby. Although I will not have that big 40 week surprise, I don't really feel regret about this. Somehow I am at peace with the decision and am happy to be able to day dream about what my future will look like.

So, we were all pretty shocked when within 10 seconds of the wand hitting my tummy, we saw a pair of spread legs that clearly belonged to a baby girl. We had all felt so sure it was a little boy, that it took me a while to believe what I was seeing. Another healthy little baby girl, squirming all around for all of us to see. It was pretty special having Liam there with us. I think he felt good about being a big enough boy to come and it was a moment we will all remember for a lifetime.

Afterwards we picked up Charlotte and headed out to see Santa at the Bass Pro Shop. It was a great night with the family and it was fun to spend the car ride talking about our newest baby girl and what that will be like for all of us.

I certainly am happy that these two girls will have a big brother to protect them. I hope to stress to all of them that though they may not like each other all the time, that family always sticks together and stands up for each other.

For the first day or two after I found out I had a lot of joy, but also some sadness. Because this is our last time, I couldn't help but think I will never have another little boy. I kept picturing Liam when he was tiny and it left a little empty feeling in my heart. But I know I would have been just as sad to think of never having a little girl again.

Now that I have moved past that, I am embracing all that is wonderful about a family with a big brother and two baby girls. This holiday season has me imagining getting my girls dressed up in holiday dresses, taking them into Boston and bringing them to see The Nutcracker (something I have been dying to do for years, but have not had anyone to go with who would actually enjoy it).

So on this Saturday I am simply enjoying my kiddos, being reflective about how our family has changed so much over the past 6 years, and wondering about what the future will hold.

In typical family with young children style, tonight my hubby is going to a Christmas party alone. Sadly, I cannot go because we have no sitter and my cold is still pretty bad. But that's okay, because the sacrifices we have made have all been worth it and I get lots of rewards. So tonight I will put baby girl number one to bed, put on the fireplace and snuggle up to my big boy, who is going to be 4 soon and who is handling the idea of being a big brother quite well. He and I will eat some good food and watch a special movie together...because this phase will not last forever.

A great week

YES!!! Finally a good week.

I am feeling about a thousand times better than last week. This alone makes it a great week, but some other good stuff happened too...

On the health front
I made it to the gym three times. Which is better than last week, when I went once. I actually had a decent workout or two and feel energized to get back on Monday. I actually would have gone more, but with Halloween on Monday, the earlier part of the week was a bit exhausting and I had a badcold..so I didn't push it. Cold was gone by Tuesday and I was at the gym Wed-Fri morning.

I am also eating better. My nausea is not so constant and my aversion to some of my old favs is almost gone. There have been a lot more veggies this week. Today I am making a slow cooked Italian pot roast and red, garlic smashed potatoes...I am in a home cooking mood.  I will confess I did hit the Halloween candy a bit harder than I would have liked, but I chopped the rest of it up last night and baked it into brownies for the kiddos, so no more temptation there.

I have been debating if I want to share the pregnancy weight journey...and I have decided I will. Let me just explain that I am sharing this because I want people to see the reality of gaining during (what I hope will be) a healthy pregnancy. This is not for the same reasons as I was recording my weight before baby. I am NOT holding myself accountable because I know my body will gain what it needs to gain, and I hope that exercise might help me maintain a healthy gain. I gained around 30 lbs with my other pregnancies, which I was fine with. It would be nice if I could keep it under that number, simply because I intend to exercise more and eat better than I did...but I will gain what I gain and that is okay with me.

My starting weight on the day I found out was 136.5 lbs.
This morning I weighed 140.9 lbs at 13 weeks pregnant.

The good news is I weighed 145 lbs when I got pregnant with my daughter and about the same with my son..so I am starting off at a better weight.

On the baby front
I had my NT scan this week, which is an ultrasound to check for genetic abnormalities. It was a lot of fun. The baby was more developed then I was expecting and the ultrasound was pretty clear. I also measured a week a head and I think they will be readjusting my due date. This put me at 13 weeks, and the tech was pretty certain based on babies size and development. He/ she was bouncing all around in there and I could feel it too. Even after two other babies, it doesn't get old. I had a boy vibe the whole time I was watching baby. I was thinking girl before, but my new guess is boy. The better best part is that it looks like the hematoma I had before has probably cleared up and that risk has diminished..wohoo.

All and all I am good and am happy to be feeling better. It is soo much easier to be excited when you feel good physically.

My love for them.

I am terrified to write this post, or maybe a better word is intimidated. How do you capture the love you have for your children in one blog post? I guess the best way to think of it is that you can't and you won't-but I would like to attempt to do some justice to my feelings on this.

As I begin to announce that we are blessed enough to be expecting a third child, I have come to realize that I am constantly apologizing for who I am. I have been anticipating the comments people have such as "another one!" and "what are you crazy?" and trying to avoid and make excuses instead of admitting who I truly am and clearly stating why I am over-joyed.

The fact of the matter is, that despite my profession, and my other roles in this great big world...I was born to be a mama.
In fact, I love being a mama more than I could ever love anything else I have ever done in this world. And I know that I may help thousands of other children in my 30 year teaching career, and I guess it is always possible that I could help solve a world crisis or develop a way to cure disease, but all of that would still not hold a candle to the joy of all joys, which is raising my babies in a loving, happy, accepting household.

I am convinced that my life would hold no purpose without my children. Watching them discover and grow and start out on their own life journey is by far the most rewarding observation I have ever been allowed to make.

I know that some people cannot understand this, and maybe they never will...but I would sacrifice every part of who I am if it meant giving my kids a better life.

Why? Because when my son came into this world he taught me what it meant to have full responsibility of someone's innocence. When he was born there was not one speck of hate, of self-doubt, of jealousy or fear in his entire being. I know this to be 100 percent fact. And as his mother I consider it my life's mission to protect as much of the goodness in him as possible.

Being loved by my children and having the pleasure of watching them become people is something I will never take for granted.
It is easy to almost do so. After a day of tantrums, and talking back, of "I don't love you anymore mama's" from the mouth of an over tired 3 year old and of grouchy mama's who take out their frustration on their equally grouchy, over-worked and over-tired husbands...it is easy to think, why would we have another one? But without fail something always makes it worth it.

This week
it is a baby girl who claps for herself every time she takes two steps and falls down.
it is a son whose tantrum always comes to an end and then asks his mama if she will be his number one girl forever.
it is waking up after a night from hell to find your son's hand wrapped in your hair because he is afraid you will leave him in the night.
or a baby girl who loves to ask 'dada, where are you?" whenever her favorite man on the planet is not in the room.
or two kids who love to chase each other and laugh uncontrollably because the youngest of the two has finally understood the concept of hide and seek.
or a son who declares that he loves his sister and if we have to have another baby it must be another girl and we will call her Charlotte number 2.
or a husband who loves his kids as much as their mama does and spends as much time with them as he can.

So how could I ever make excuses for that? how could I ever not want more of it?

It's the most real thing there is, my love for them. And despite the fact that I have locked myself in the bathroom at 3pm with a pint of ice cream and cried in exhaustion and frustration...being loved unconditionally is worth it every time.

I wish for every person I know, that you may experience that level of love as much as possible for as long as possible.

The BIG announcement, and baby makes 5!

Well,

After spending the past 6 weeks or so being vague, avoiding people and trying not to puke when anyone is around, I have finally gotten to the point where I cannot keep it in anymore.

I am 10 weeks preggo with baby number 3! Wohoo.

I know it is still very early, and there is always the possibility that something could go wrong...but I am hopeful that all is well and honestly, I am just sick of holding it in. I am just not a secretive kind of person.

I mentioned my "injury" a few weeks back. This was all related to my pregnancy. I had some bleeding around 5 weeks, which ended up being a hematoma. The result of that was taking it easy and being careful...especially careful not to have sex (poor hubby) and not to lift anything heavy (poor muscles).

Honestly, it was a bit hard to deal with at first, but then I ended up with such bad ALL DAY AND NIGHT sickness that I didn't get much done in the exercise world anyway. It was bad. I am talking a migraine and puking all day long kind of bad. I ate like crap because crap was all I could hold down.

With my son I was not sick at all. I had it almost as bad with my daughter...but this time was the worst of all. Another girl perhaps?

I am feeling better now and I can honestly say I am thrilled and just praying that everything is okay and that we have our third and final child.

I know this will be our last time, so I am trying to enjoy each moment. I know from past experience that it flies by and that no stage lasts very long.

I have been exercising again and am generally feeling pretty good about myself. I am really hoping to travel down a healthy and active road the next 8 months.

So my blog will probably take a bit of a turn here. I am hoping to focus on maintaining my happiness and health while pregnant, working, and caring for 2 toddlers. And then refocusing on regaining my post baby weight and staying active as a momma of 3.

I am due in May and this time I am hoping to have a gender surprise. So here's to another healthy baby!