What's Up Wednesday- March edition

What We're Eating This Week...

Well, we are eating but it's nothing fancy! 9 months preggo has this mama not in the mood for cooking. We had a lovely Chicken and Rice casserole (homemade), Mexican take out and tonight we had Josh's famous Quiche. Tomorrow and Friday? Who knows. These boys may be fending for themselves. Ha!

Henry obviously enjoyed his quiche tonight.

What I'm Reminiscing About...

How sweet is this picture of my brother with Henry? I can't believe in just a few days he might be holding another nephew! Ahhh!!

What I'm Loving...

The beautiful spring weather that is finally arriving! Henry loves to be outside and the warmer temps sure make
being outside in the afternoons more enjoyable. If only I didn't have to deal with the temper tantrums from when we have to come in. *sigh* #lifewithatoddler

What We've Been Up To...

We've been pretty low key lately. Haven't been going to far and just kind of sticking by the house. This was my last week of school before Spring break and my maternity leave so I've been super busy making sure my classroom is clean, prepared and set up for my interim. You teachers out there understand how it's more work to be out then to be in school! Ha!

What I'm Dreading...

Giving birth? Well, not really dreading. It's more excitement mixed with dread. Labor wasn't bad, I just think it's the fear of the unknown since each birth is so different. Will I be able to go natural or will I be induced? Will I end up having a c-section? Ugh. Wish I had a magic mirror to see the future.



What I'm Excited About...

Holding my sweet baby! Seeing Josh hold his second sweet son. Witnessing my two babies meet for the first time. I know my heart is going to BURST.

What I'm Watching/Reading...

These books are in constant rotation in the Lindstedt household. Thank goodness for Scholastic book orders. I was getting a little tired of the same three books at night for the past 6 months!

As for what I'm watching. Moana. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. By the time it's clear for me to watch adult shows, I'm in bed. Real life. Maybe when I'm up in the wee hours of the morning nursing the baby, I can catch up on some shows.

What I'm Listening To...
When Henry is not in the car, it's This American Life podcasts. If he's in the car it's more of the above. He requests his music. LOUDLY.

What I'm Wearing...

Let's be honest...whatever fits. Which is not much anymore. Even my maternity pants are starting to not go over this bump of mine! I did take the liberty of ordering some new tops from Loft for me to wear in the next couple months. A reward of sorts. Push present to myself. I'm such a dress girl in the spring and summer but they just aren't very convenient for nursing. So I ordered some super cute tops that will be easy to wear with a nursing tank underneath. I figured shorts and skirts will be my uniform this summer. They are super cute, right?!

 

What I'm Doing This Weekend...

HOPEFULLY HAVING A BABY!
If not, enjoying Easter with my family. My sister and brother in law got a new puppy and they are bringing her to my parents for the weekend. I'm sure one little boy will be very excited to meet his pup cousin!

What I'm Looking Forward To Next Month...

Learning how to be a mom to two babies! Settling into a groove as a family of four and just enjoying every beautiful (hectic, crazy) moment! Might not be a lot of blogging for a little while- I'll try to keep up! I'm asking for your prayers for a smooth delivery, healthy baby and easy transition into this new stage of life- for me, Josh and precious Henry! 

What's up Wednesday

What We're Eating This Week.......

Since family has gone home, we are back on a regular (meaning not eating out or as much food as when company is around) eating schedule. Ordered my groceries online this morning and will be picking them up tonight. If you haven't tried online grocery shopping, it's awesome and a game changer for anyone (especially new mamas)! I know that Walmart and Harris Teeter do online ordering and I'm sure there are others that do it as well. These recipes are all on my Pinterest board labeled "Food". Obviously cooking in my crock pot will be where it's at this week! Ha!

              

What I'm Reminiscing About.....

I've been thinking about how crazy it was that just two months ago I was still pregnant with sweet Henry. My cousin Thais is pregnant with a baby girl and watching her and hearing her plan things for the nursery, etc. just took me right back to when I was doing the same. Time really does fly. Animation below is from when we announced that we were pregnant! 

What I'm Loving....

I have to say I'm loving this beautiful Carolina weather! 70's pretty much all of February has made for some beautiful days for taking walks. This weekend we even opened the boat and Henry got to have his first boat ride! Do I think we are done with winter? NOPE. I have a feeling we will get the rogue March snowstorm. It may not be big or last long but I think we'll get one last winter hurrah. 

We sure love Aunt Holly and Aunt Thais!

                                                           "Captain, my Captain!"

                                        Happy Henry. He promptly fell asleep. 

What We've Been Up To....

We've been blessed to have my aunt, uncle and cousin visit us this weekend. They loved on Henry and we enjoyed talking, shopping, boating and eating lots of good food. I swear I gained at least 5 pounds over the weekend. Another funny moment was my father changed a diaper for the first time in a LOONNNGG time. I had to capture it on camera. Henry loved Gramps changing him and just cooed and smiled the whole time. This is a miracle because usually he writhes around and pitches a fit about being changed. Gramps should consider himself lucky! ha! 

What I'm Dreading.....

Henry has his two month doctor's appointment tomorrow and he's going to get his first shots. Dreading how upset that will most likely make him. Temporary pain but still hard on a mama's heart! Good thing his daddy is coming with us. 

"What did you say about shots, Mama?"

What I'm Working On.....

Nothing much really. Need to work on cleaning up my garden beds for spring flowers and put up some spring decor since I finally took down my Christmas! 

What I'm Excited About...

I'm excited just dreaming about summer. I can't wait to have a 6 month old who I can take to the pool and celebrate so many fun summer things with. Fourth of July, trips to MI, family weddings! I can't wait. Dinners outside, trips to the park and boat rides are a few more of the things I can't wait for. 

What I'm Watching/Reading.....

Unfortunately haven't read anything much other than Babywise and baby articles that I've found on Pinterest. I have been able to watch quite a few things on tv. Here's a few! 

(Cause who isn't watching this?!?!)

(I find it funny that Savannah is on maternity leave too!)

(This show just makes me laugh. Clever writers.)

What I'm Listening To....

I've been listening a lot to the Praise Baby Pandora station and whatever Josh has been playing as we drive in the car. Nothing super special to share. 

What I'm Wearing.....

I have my first post-pregnancy Stitchfix arriving at the end of the month. Not sure I'll be keeping much but I'll be blogging about it for sure. Here were some of the outfits I hope my stylist viewed. Comfy and easy is the name of the game right now. Things that can be easily lifted up or unbuttoned for nursing are must haves too. 

Cute stuff that Henry has been wearing? Cause kids fashion is exciting too. 

Ordered this cute bubble for Henry to wear on Easter! 

Gap rompers. Can't wait for summer! 

The Cat and Jack brand at Target is super cute. Boys gear is equally cute as the girls! 

What I'm Doing This Weekend....

We will be spending the weekend with our youth. Time will be spent playing some fun games and having great spiritual discussions. Our group is so awesome, we enjoy leading them so much. 

What I'm Looking Forward To Next Month.....

Just enjoying time with my sweet fella before going back to work the last week of the month. Going to treasure these last 4 weeks because I know they will fly by. Excited to see my school family again but know it will be very bittersweet. Ending the post with some pictures from this past week. 

                    I was allowed to take one good picture of him in his Sunday duds before he got fed up!

Baby's first Notre Dame gear! (Which he promptly pooped on. Ha. Made this MI State mama proud.)

Milk coma. His expressions just kill me. 

Sleeping in his bouncer while we get ready in the morning.

We call this his old man look. He gets all serious and the forehead wrinkles come out. It doesn't help that he looks a bit bald on top too. Poor kid. 

Some Valentine's love from Daddy.

Life Lately

Happy Thursday everyone! 

Did this week seem long or was it just me? 

Wanted to share some moments from life this past week. 

 Spent a week with these two precious kiddos. They keep life interesting (them and that other big kid..) We got the full experience of life as a parent of school aged kids. The getting everyone ready and out the door in the morning part is the worst! I'm used to jumping out of bed and heading out the door in 30 minutes (remember..I'm low maintenance). That was not happening. It went like this, alarm goes off, get up, turn on straightening iron, walk to kids room, turn on lights, gently shake them, they seem to wake up- walk out and continue to get ready and repeat the waking kids part a few more times! Yikes! It was a blessing we made it to school on time. I'm not an early morning person but I guess I better start getting used to it. I get why parents say they get up and have themselves all ready before even waking kids. *Side note- I got to try out some fun braids! Glad I practiced all those years on my American Girl doll, Samantha!

On Sunday, I sent the picture below to my friend...let's just say it was a crafting weekend at my house. There was a Team Dress up Challenge day at school on Tuesday and Kindergarten decided to go dressed as the characters from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. First off, because it had enough characters for 10 people. Secondly, we figured it'd be easy. Of course, I thought it would be cute to make fascinators (like they wear in Britain) for each dwarf instead of caps. So, I trekked to Hobby Lobby and bought a little bit of everything, as you can see below! My mom was sweet enough to come and help me. I think they turned out really cute even though we didn't win. We had fun, that's all that matters!

                        Clockwise from top left: Sneezy, Happy, Sleepy and Doc

The Wicked Witch, the Mirror and our Kindergarten Team (in character)

Dopey, Bashful, Snow White and Grumpy

I've been following @lissletters on Instagram for a while and always marvel at her beautiful lettering done with a warterbrush and liquid watercolors. While I was at Hobby Lobby I picked up a brush and some colors. IT IS HARD. Mine did not look like hers at all. Ugh. Her strokes look so pretty and perfect. I guess practice will hopefully help me get a little better?! (For the record, I love words that have the letter "H". It's so pretty to write in different styles.)

(Photo of @lissletters beautiful work! Follow her on Instagram to add some beauty to your feed!)

Being the shopper I am, when I'm out and about I'm always stocking up on future birthday gifts for the nieces and nephews. How cute is this outfit from Old Navy? Our nephew is such a dapper little dude and looks adorable in cute little bow ties and hats. I also picked up a cute sundress and bathing suit for my niece as well. It's so fun to shop for kids. 

My new dresses that I ordered from Boden arrived. I'm in LOVE. Each one fit me perfectly and they are so pretty and comfortable! I wore one today and received lots of compliments. Even my Kinders were complimenting me! I may have to order 2-3 more...ordering from there may just replace my Stitchfix orders. 

I have a big doctors appointment tomorrow and have been given a date for FET #3. Next Friday! I start lovely progesterone shots next week while continuing two different estrogen meds. My poor body..it just settles down from being off meds and I start all over again. Why does it always seem that important dates fall on a busy and stressful week?!?! I have so many meetings, musical at school, acupuncture appointments, etc. Stresses me out thinking about it! I'll make it through. Been struggling a bit lately with resigning myself to God's will for this journey. Am I okay if his plan is for me to not be a mother (this way or at all)? Is knowing I'm loved by him enough for my life? I know the answer should be an immediate YES but my very human heart has a hard time climbing on that train of thought. It's really a struggle for me. I'm actually ashamed to admit that but have to remember that it's my journey of faith and through trails we learn truths. God has blessed me in so many aspects of my life and I have to remember to be thankful for those blessings. I'm asking of course for prayers that this third try works but also for peace with God's will for me (us). Thank you for the support and prayers you've said for us already so far. If this journey of infertility has taught us anything, it's that prayer can bring strength and hope! 

To end on a positive note, after my doctor's appointment tomorrow I hope to have a quick visit with my sweet friend Melanie and her darling baby Ella Kate (and maybe get to hold her)! Prayers DO work because baby Ella Kate has been such a fighter! She's over a month old now and though her medical condition has not gone away, we can see God's hand of grace already being used in her little life! Please say a prayer for Mel and Cuz and that for Ella Kate healing and restoration can continue to take place. She's a precious and beautiful baby. #prayforellakate