My Little Brody Monster is THREE!!

Ok so maybe he turned three in September before Tanner even arrived, but I'm a busy mom with two jobs and was pregnant.  Now I'm a busy mom on maternity leave trying to organize work schedules and family schedules and figure out what everyone can buy my kids for Christmas...  But in all seriousness, I've been trying to edit some photos.  I have been wanting to get back into my photography but it's been a bit frustrating.  I was thinking about asking for a new dSLR for Christmas but I think the full frame camera I want is a bit expensive (Nikon d610).  So maybe I'll just relearn my current camera, maybe get a new lens or two and start saving for a camera upgrade.  Anywho, here's an update on my big little guy.

Brody Lawrence Hales

Age: 3 years (and 2 months)
Weight: 32 pounds (this was slightly before his birthday as he was sick so we took him in early)
Height: 39.2 inches

Gross Motor skills:  This little guy is completely full of energy and runs, jumps, leaps, climbs on everything.  Literally.  He likes to play a game where he jumps from the stairs to the floor and each time climbs up a step.  (We had to curb this habit.)  We had been trying to work on pedaling before the winter came upon us.  He has a seriously amazing arm, but a difficult time catching (pitcher? QB?).  He likes to show people how to bump a volleyball.  Having a boy is definitely different than having a girl.  He loves to play rough, which Kayla will allow because Brody makes her laugh, but then inevitably someone gets hurt.  He has a tendency to "hit" or step on people as he walks by them. I'm not sure what this is about but we've been talking a lot about nice hands since Tanner was born.  He usually very nice hands with Tanner but not everyone else so we are working on that.  He's getting much better.

Fine motor:  Brody has been working really hard on writing at school.  He has a very good grip and just started writing a few letters last week (I, O, R).  When I ask him to write his name, however, he always asks me to do it and cries if I make dashed letters for him to work on writing his own name.  He may not be super motivated to do what everyone else wants him to do, but when he wants to do something on his own he sure catches on quickly.  He is getting a little bit neater with eating, however still the messiest kid I know.

Speech:  Brody actually has pretty good speech skills at this point.  I am sure having a big sister who is extremely eloquent is helpful. :)  He has a few issues which are normal I believe such as L's sound like W's.  He likes to say he "needs" something when he wants it.  I can't tell you how many times I've told him he doesn't quite understand what "need" means.  "Mommy I need a cookie."  Um...no you WANT a cookie.  He sure does make me laugh though.  Among my favorite conversations with Brody:

      Brody while I'm getting him changed for swimming class: "Mommy, I take my penis in the pool??"
      Mommy (giggling slightly): "Yes, buddy, it pretty much goes wherever you go."

      Brody upon finally noticing me breastfeeding Tanner: "AH!!!  Why is he eating your meatballs!?!"
       (Backstory: I am pretty adamant about using proper anatomical terms for private parts with the kids given my profession and specialization. A while back while in the shower with me, Brody pointed at my nipples and asked what they were.  I told him nipples (he interpreted that as meatballs which Justin obviously encouraged.)  Now whenever I get out of the shower he asks if he can touch my meatballs.  I am always saying we do not touch other peoples meatballs, but was concerned about how he would feel about Tanner eating from my meatballs, so this was seriously a classic.  I wish I had been recording it!)

Potty training:  So, as a mom of three and two of which are fully potty trained now, I feel like I seriously cannot give much advice to moms at all, besides give them time and let them do it their own way.  Potty training Kayla was ridiculously easy, and frankly Brody was even easier, albeit later than Kayla.  Shortly after Kayla had her tonsils out in July, daycare/school potty trained Brody for me.  Here's the story:
      One day, when I picked the kids up and Brody noticed his friends in Kayla's classroom, he wanted to play with his friends.  I've been telling him he cannot go to Jungle Bungle (the preschool classroom) until he goes on the potty.  He sat at the potty every day at school but would NEVER even sit on the potty at home.  The week after this occurrence, There were a couple days where Brody peed on the potty once each day.  He would run up to me when I picked him up saying, "Mommy, I got a skittle!!"  Then the third day, when I picked him up eh ran up to me saying the same thing, I said "That's great buddy!"  Then his teacher came up and said, "Yeah he did great.  He was dry all day!  I think you can bring underwear next week!"  Me: "Ummmmmm WHAT?? I mean I can do that but he won't even sit on the potty at home."
    So we went off to dinner with my parents, and low and behold he peed three times the potty while out.  The next day at home, he refused to sit on the potty so we didn't push it at home.  Sunday night after giving him a bath, he said he wanted to wear underwear so I told him he had to tell mommy or daddy if he had to go to the bathroom.  He peed twice on the potty during dinner.  The next day I decided to try underwear on him.  He did ok, about 2/3 of the time going on the potty and 1/3 of the time peeing in his underwear.  I figured he would be better the next day at school, which he was.  No accidents!  Then we got home and he peed his pants almost immediately.  But a few more days and he was pretty much dry!  He also had a night here or there where his pull up would be wet in the morning but he basically night trained himself within weeks as well.  The hardest thing was pooping which he didn't want to do on the potty, but once we went way overboard with the celebration when he did go on the potty, that problem was solved.  I.e. "WOW buddy look at that long snake poopy!!!" Ah the things you resort to as a parent.

So as you can see, my best potty training advice is don't force it and wait until the kid is ready, and let school/daycare do it for you if you can. :)

Likes:  Movies, jumping, climbing, making a mess and not picking it up, playing babies with Kayla, playing anything with Kayla, taking food orders (pretend), helping put the laundry in the washer/dryer, wanting to do everything on his own, listening only when he wants to

Dislikes: listening, cleaning up after himself, time outs, answering mommy and daddy's questions

Behavior:  This has been a bit of a challenge as Kayla is pretty easy, however, if I'm completely honest, I believe Kayla instigates a lot of the problem.  She is very smart and knows how to push people's buttons as well as how to hide it and make it seem like not her fault.  Brody is definitely all boy, hitting, kicking, playing rough, but I think he is getting slowly better with the use of timeouts and encouragement to use words.  Tanner coming around also has helped I think.  He is very hard to discipline because sometimes he is a perfect child, great listening, agreeable, funny and a joy to be around.  Other times he is the more obstinate kid I have ever encountered.  The other night I was asking him if a rough, red patch of skin on his leg hurt and he just out right refused to even answer me.  I could be asking him if he wanted a cookie and he would just put his head down and not say a word, or say he wants Daddy.  He been a bit rough but I think he's just at a hard age and time outs seem to be helping.

It's sometimes hard to discipline him because he really is hilariously funny.  He loves to make people laugh and will do anything he can to make you smile.  And once he makes you smile/laugh, he will continue doing that thing until, well until I tell him to please stop.  Or until he gets distracted by something else, because inevitably he will.  I've said it from the beginning, but I really think he is going to be the class clown.  He has no fear and loves to talk to new people and do things for Mommy and Kayla.  I could go on and on about this little guy.  I know I say this all the time but he really is the perfect fusion of opposites and I love every ounce of his little being.

 

Tanner David Hales: A Birth Story

So I was "over due" again.  At my 39 week appointment with my midwife, I was only 1 cm dilated (much different from Kayla (3 cm) and Brody (4 cm)).  At my 40 week appointment, she couldn't even FIND my cervix.  What?!?!  I was trying to just enjoy what may or may not have been my last pregnancy in the final stages, but it was pretty hard to stay positive.  At least with K and B I was dilating.  This sort of felt like I had been having contractions on and off for weeks but nothing was happening because of them.  And how do you go backwards? So my midwife said she was thinking I should make an appointment with her on Wednesday October 14th, if I didn't mind driving to Evanston.  So that is what we did.

My mother-in-law, Jill arrived that Sunday.  We took the kids to "school" (a.k.a. daycare) on Tuesday, cleaned/organized boy and girl baby and toddler clothes, and still no baby.  Took the kids to school on Wednesday and headed to my appointment with Linda for a check-up, non stress test and ultrasound to check the fluid levels.  I had the US first, my amniotic fluid was a 16, which normal was 5-22 I think she said and at 40+4, a 16 was a LOT of fluid.  The technician also asked when the last time I had a sizing US was.  I told her the only US I had had was the anatomy scan at 20 weeks.  She decided to "size" the baby, but made sure to make clear to us that after 36 weeks the numbers were likely not correct (1 pound more or less usually which is a large range).  Baby measured 10 lbs 1 ounce on the US, but neither the tech nor I were worried that the baby was actually that big (neither was L, my midwife turns out).

We went back to the waiting room, my feeling a bit better that everything looked good on US, but still feeling nervous and anxious due to my lack of dilation and my desire to NOT be induced.  *Sidenote: I know you can go from 0 to 10 in no time flat and have had friends who this happened to but it wasn't my experience so I was nervous.  We waited a bit to be brought back and hooked up to the fetal monitor for the NST.  Then nurse took my blood pressure which came up high.  The baby looked perfectly fine on the NST, however she was a bit concerned about my BP.  She asked if I wanted my membranes stripped, I told her yes and explained to her that I was really nervous about being induced as I wanted a drug free, natural labor as I had with Brody and was afraid being induced would jeopardize that.  She checked me and said I was 3 cm, then she stripped my membranes and I ended up at 5 cm.  She wanted us to just go over to the hospital due to the combination of things (baby on the larger side, high BP, already 5 cm dilated.)  Due to my concerns with being induced, I asked her if we could go home and see if the stripping membranes would help jump start labor, on the agreement we would call her before her shift was over and she left work at 4-4:30.  She also suggested maybe trying castor oil and chocolate milk to help move things along.

So we drove home, stopped at Walgreens on the way for castor oil and chocolate milk.  I ate some lunch, drank the castor oil mixture (this was tough, it's VERY thick.  Doesn't taste awful but I had to stir the drink before I sipped due to the separation of the milk and the oil.)  Justin and I both took showers, knowing full well we would likely end up at the hospital tonight because I trusted my midwife to help me make the best decisions for myself and my baby.  I called her at around 4 pm.  Told her I thought contractions might be starting up a bit but nothing significant.  She said to call her back in 30 minutes and we would make a plan to head to the hospital.  We ended up agreeing to meet there between 5 and 5:30 pm.

We left at the same time as Jill (who was heading to school to pick up the kids) which was about 4:30 pm. On the way to the hospital, I felt like contractions may be starting up so I sort of started timing them (about 10 minutes apart, still not much pain.)  We parked at the hospital between 5:20 and 5:30 and walked to Labor & Delivery (we ran into my midwife on the way in just like we had during Brody's labor).  There was another midwife there who remembered me from my prenatal yoga teacher training earlier this year which was kind of cool.  We got into a room and the nurse took some info from me.  Linda came in, looked at the monitors and said, I think you are in labor.  I was having regular contractions, much more often than the other ladies on the floor, at least the ones we could see on our monitor.  She said she thought I was probably 7 cm, if she had to guess, and likely breaking my water (like she had with Brody) would be all we needed.  No pitocin!  Yay!  She did come back to check me and I was 6.5 cm I think.  She broke my water and, again, just like with Brody, the contractions started to get a little more uncomfortable.

A major difference this time around was the scary decelerations that baby was having during certain contractions.  It happened first with one of the longer contractions I had.  Turns out, it wasn't really a long contraction, it was multiple contractions on top of each other and the baby's heart rate dropped from like 150 to around 40-50 in a matter of seconds.  The nurse was searching for the baby's heart beat and instructing me to turn on my side, the other side, or get on all fours.  I was scared, for the first real time in any of my labors.  After what felt like hours but was actually probably seconds, baby's heart rate rebounded and all was well again.  I was so close to telling them to just get the baby out of me.  After the first decel, we decided to face time with Jill and the kids.  BIG mistake.  I was fine, but Kayla was not.  She was just crying for me, which in turn made me tear up.  Then after we got off the phone, baby's heart rate dropped again during a series of contractions.  And I broke down. L, my midwife, knowing me very well asked what was wrong.  I told her I was worried about all of my babies.  She said not to worry about K and B because they would be fine and then said she and Meghan (the awesome L&D nurse we had) would make sure this baby was fine as well.  I still sort of blame the castor oil for those series of intense contractions that made the baby's heart rate drop, but that's the decision I made.

I ended up having to get up to go to the bathroom, due to the castor oil I am sure.  Sitting on the toilet and getting all that out of me felt SO much better.  But then, when I got back to the bed, things definitely entered the serious phase.  Before this, Meghan had told Justin she wanted him to go watch another woman labor at 7 cm because "this" (gesturing at me) wasn't normal.  I have really been blessed with generally easy and fast labors, at least with the boys.  Contractions got significant more intense in the next few minutes and everything is somewhat a blur to me.  I go from 8.5 cm to complete in mere seconds it feels like.  Apparently there was a lip of cervix that L flipped over baby's head and then we were pushing...well I was pushing.  I do distinctly remember saying I couldn't do it, mostly because for some reason the pain and contractions and emotional distresses had really worn me out.  I felt so tired I truly wasn't sure I had the energy to push.  They were asking me to hold my legs so I could push but the thought of pushing was hard enough, let alone holding my legs as well.

I recall the "ring of fire" distinctly again, and L asking me to wait at one point when she was getting all her labor gear on.  At this point, I wanted to scream as it felt like the "ring of fire" but almost as if the baby's head was halfway out and just holding there while everyone got ready.  It was pretty awful but probably only lasted a minute or 2.  I think I pushed for about 5-10 minutes and L helped get the baby out.  She then said "Look!"  I said I couldn't because lifting my head felt like a lot of work.  Justin was on my right side and I managed to look and say "It's a boy!"  After which I said, "He's not crying!  Is he ok???"  They had called the ISCU nurses in just in case due to the decels baby was having during labor.  Turns out, the cord was wrapped around his neck and his body 2-3 times.  It took a minute but I did end up hearing him cry, obviously since he's here and thriving. :)

I had minimal, but odd tearing, so L called in the OB on call.  I recall liking this male OB much better than the lady that stitched me up after Brody, solely for how he spoke with me and with L.  It took about 40-45 minutes to stitch up the superficial tears I had internally.  No tearing externally.  The OB apologized for the time it was taking.  He said it usually would take less time but it was a little bit odd tearing and he wanted to make sure he did the best thing for me.  I told him I was a pelvic floor PT and he could take all the time he wanted as long as he fixed everything up well down there!

My mom and dad were there in the delivery room this time which was actually pretty nice.  It's hard not to be embarrassed by how you react to labor, the yelling and crying, etc, but that is life.  And it is beautiful.  I think my yoga training really helped me breath through the contractions this labor and also helped me try to focus on my breath with the decelerations that were happening with baby as well.  I was blessed with three beautiful but very different labor and delivery experiences, all of which I am so very thankful for and don't regret in the slightest.  I'm so glad to have L taking care of me and the amazing nurses I've had as well.  And honestly, I had three very healthy pregnancies and labors, but I'm glad I was in the hospital especially with this babe because of the heart rate dropping.  I think I felt safer there.

In labor, I recall my dad laughing at me when I told Justin we were "definitely done" with three.  But the minute that adorable babe falls asleep in your arms and snuggles up to you, it's hard to not want more.  Really hard.  And if we decide to have a fourth down the road, I suggest everyone just assume the baby is coming four days late.  I find it completely crazy all three of my babies were pretty much spontaneously four days late.

Final point, labor is one of the most beautiful things in life to me.  There is no greater feeling of power and strength than giving birth and subsequently having someone announce that it's a boy (or a girl).  However, watching the man you love in tears of joy and relief when his son (or daughter) is born is seriously another miracle.  Justin is a very strong, steady and calm presence in my life.  He is like a rock.  I've seen him cry exactly three times and each time it makes my heart swell with pride and love for him more and more.

Tanner David Hales was born on 10/14/2015 at 7:54 pm at 9 pounds 3 ounces and 21.75 inches long. He barely lost any weight at the hospital and is an excellent eater.  He surpassed his birth weight at 5 days old, something doctor expect by 2 weeks.  He is a very calm presence in our family so far and despite a rough start meeting at the hospital, Kayla and Brody cannot get enough of him.

Pregnancy #3 Update

Well I may be the worst "blogger" of all time.  It's been a crazy busy summer but I really do want to try to blog more, for the mere fact that I love looking back on these memories.  My goal is 1x/week blogging at this point. I'm hoping to put in some updates about Kayla's surgery and Brody very soon!  Working on editing photos now.  Anyways here some photos and info about how this pregnancy has been going:

• Total weight gain/loss: I try not to look at the scale.  I feel like I may just be one of those people that gains more weight in pregnancy no matter what I do or how big the baby is.  Trying to let it go and looking forward to getting back on track with eating and yoga after baby comes. :)
• The bump: I think at first I was mainly pretty bloated which made me feel the need to tell people we were pregnant earlier than I would have liked to.  It has grown a fair bit, still not sure I'm anywhere near as big as I was with Brody, but no one seems to be shy about telling me how large I am.  P.S. this is rude people.  The two photographers I've been with in the past two weeks are my favorite people as they have both told me how small I look.  It's really a breath of fresh air to hear that.  I know I shouldn't care but hearing it multiple times every day from coworkers, patients and other people's patients can really drain you.
• Symptoms:  Mostly really tired.  It's like the amount of fatigue multiplies every pregnancy.  You know what else multiplies?  Every other symptom of pregnancy, i.e. heartburn (doesn't matter what or how much I eat, round ligament pain, pelvic pain.  Those are my main complaints.  Every once in a while I'll get some swelling in my ankles if I do too much sitting at work (or at a continuing education course) but it goes away over night.  I'm getting a bit more crabby as the weeks go on and irritable (see people telling me how big I am).  I'm contributing it to my lack of a regular yoga practice as I had before.  Trying to keep it up as much as I can. Oh did I mention I'm hot.  Like really freaking hot.  I honestly have no other way to describe it to anyone than I feel like I could be sitting naked on an iceberg in Antarctica and still be sweating EVERYWHERE!
• Food cravings: cereal, Twix, hummus, nothing that really stands out.
• Anything making me queasy/nauseous:  No, another morning sickness free pregnancy.  Smells sometimes make me gag but I have a bad gag reflex anyways.
• Sleep:  This hasn't really been great.  My pelvic pain is making it tough to find a comfortable sleeping position and it's getting tough to roll over without aggravating my diastasis recti.  Also, knowing so much more about everything with my new women's health/pelvic floor specialization at work makes it more difficult.  
• What I miss:  My normal yoga practice. 
• Wedding rings:  I can get them on I discovered 2 weeks ago, however it's not worth it to me.  The extreme heat I'm going through is definitely causing swelling so it's not worth risking them getting caught on my finger.  I'm currently just wearing them on my necklace.
• Maternity clothes:  I am so thrilled I can wear Lululemon and Athleta gear at work.  I am proud I made it to 20+ weeks without pulling out any of my maternity clothes.  Currently, I have some maternity shorts and shirts out.  Mostly maternity shirts unless I can find a longer normal shirt.  I would say it's about 50/50.  
• Labor signs:  None.  I had a small thought I might be leaking amniotic fluid last week but turns out I'm not (didn't really think I was, just was more curious if that was a possibility).  Otherwise mainly just more Braxton-Hicks contractions than I remember with either Kayla or Brody.
• Best Moments:  Having prenatal yoga photos taken almost 2 weeks ago and having our family maternity session this weekend.  We also celebrated Daddy's birthday this past weekend.  I think my favorite part of this pregnancy is how excited Kayla is.  Both kids love helping my midwife, Linda at my appointments.  They put the "belly jelly" on, help listen to the heartbeat, measure my fundal height and clean up the belly jelly.  They really love coming with me to my appointments, and Kayla has said she now wants to be a "mommy doctor."
• What I am looking forward to:  Fall and football!
• Worries?:  Right now, it's just figuring out who will watch the kids and hoping I don't go into labor at 38 weeks when Justin is on a work trip in San Diego.  Otherwise, I'm feeling pretty laid back and mostly trying to bond with this baby when I get a free second. :)

I've been trying to semi keep up taking photos so I can do another possible comparison post like I did with my pregnancy with Brody.  Here are some I have taken.  I will also share some prenatal yoga and family maternity photos when I get a chance. 

Week 8/9...mostly bloating I think but either way

Week 12/13

Week 16

Week 18

Week 20/21

Week 24

Week 26 forearm stand before teaching yoga class.

Week 30

Clearly I was super busy through the month of July since I completely forgot to take a classic bathroom selfie.  I'll be updating on Kayla and Brody and everything we were busy with soon!  I also had a continuing education course in Wisconsin for 4 days in July which had me and my mind very busy!

Until next time...

Toddler Sleep Study

So I guess it's been a long time since I have blogged about my family.  I've been doing some soul searching recently and realized how much I missed my blog.  Not because I truly enjoy writing or think anyone really enjoys reading, but it really is a great way to document and be able to look back on our kids little lives, which are flying by way too quickly.  Hopefully later this week I will be able to do a quick update post on the family again, but for now I just wanted to document my experience with having a sleep study done with my toddler.

Kayla (almost 4.5 years old! what?!?) had tubes put in her ears for consistent fluid and ear infections about 18 months ago.  It has been great since then.  We went for a 6 month follow up with the ENT doc last June and were supposed to go back in December for another follow up 1 year post, however I was putting it off because I didn't know how much it was needed and I wasn't the biggest fan of the ENT we had seen.  Recently, it seems that her snoring has gotten worse, teachers at day care have mentioned things to me, and she and I had a sleep over in her bed one night because she had been so great at bedtime for an extended period without me begging.  This "sleep over" turned into her sleeping and me up all night, literally, just making sure she was breathing.  Her snoring is like an old, large truck driver - huge, extensive noises coming from a very petite little girl.  I couldn't sleep due to the snoring and then between snores, I found myself staring at her chest almost willing it to move.  I was pretty convinced she wasn't breathing in these 6-10 second breaks between snores.  Bolstered by the fact at the end of the pauses she was taking large gasping breaths, I decided to set up another follow up appointment with a different ENT to check the status of her tubes and talk about her snoring.

The new ENT was super nice, Kayla was extremely well behaved.  One ear tube is still perfectly in place, one has pretty much fallen out but there is no sign of infection in the ear.  The ENT said her tonsils were very "significant" and said we had two options: 1. just have her tonsils and adenoids taken out or 2. have a sleep study done to find out exactly what is going on.  I opted for the sleep study since she has been snoring for pretty much her whole life and I had only experienced this fear of her not breathing the one night I slept with her.  So we scheduled a sleep study for the next week.

Oh yeah, we are expecting Baby Hales #3 incase you weren't aware already!

We arrived at 8:30 for the sleep study.  Kayla was pretty anxious and nervous, clung to my side, but overall did great.  We filled out some paperwork, get settled into our small room and watched the end of the Blackhawks Stanley Cup playoff game.  The tech then came in to put the "stickers" or monitors on Kayla.  These monitors involved 14 stickers on her head, 1 on her neck, 2 on her chest, 4 on her legs and a finger (pulse oximeter).  She was actually quite good during the placement of all these stickers, and actually was extremely fascinated by the red light on her pointer finger.  When I turned the lights off, she even was shaking her finger around to see the little red light in the mirror on the back of the door. This whole thing was pretty painless, but pretty jarring to see as a parent.  She looked like she was getting out of brain surgery, but all it was was little electrodes on her head.

No so sure about this. 

Warming up to the process

What is that thing?

Eventually, probably around 9:30-10:00 we went to sleep.  Well, she went to sleep and I lie awake for pretty much the whole night.  At first, I was worried she would have a great night where she failed to snore and was breathing normally. Then the snoring began, I was already emotional about her looking like she did and my nerves were on high trying to figure out if my little girl would have to have some surgery or something worse.  The snoring seemed worse than normal and the lack of breathing seemed worse than before as well.  I have never wanted to get out of a place and go home as much as I did this night.  Kayla slept great, we even had to change her nasal cannula in the middle of the night and she barely stirred.  At 6:15 am, the tech woke us up and came into our room to remove all the stickers from Kayla.  This was the worst part.  Kayla cried a bunch because I'm sure it felt terrible removing all the tape, etc.  Her sensitive skin turned red almost immediately but I was so glad to be headed home.  The tech said to me, "You didn't sleep much did you?"  I said, "No, I'm already anxious and it's impossible to sleep when you are laying next to your daughter who you KNOW isn't breathing properly."  She said that she couldn't say anything but "we got what we needed."

Showing off her little red light finger

We stopped for breakfast and donuts on the way home and were home by 7:30 probably.  We took it VERY easy all morning and watching movies huddled together in the basement.  Then the waiting to here from the doctor began.  

I did hear from the doctor last Thursday (5 days after the sleep study), which wasn't so bad, except it was in the morning while I was waiting to begin my last weekend intensive of prenatal yoga teacher training (more on that in a later post). She has SEVERE obstructive sleep apnea and the ENT suggested a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy, so we are in the process of trying to schedule the surgery ASAP, as I can barely check on her at night without crying due to the fact she isn't breathing properly.  I know it's a pretty routine, quick surgery, but my little toddler is still having SURGERY.  I'm nervous and anxious and I just want it to be over so we can be past this.  I want her to feel better and sleep better.  I will keep you updated! 

Yoga

And I'm back.  Sort of.

I know it has been forever and I know I need to post an update on the kids and all the goings on in our lives.  I promise I will, but this post is for another reason.

Many of you may know that I have recently become very interested in yoga (obsessed would probably be what Justin told you.)  I love it so much, and for more than just the physical work out, that I decided to pursue my yoga teacher training this summer.  It was one of the best experiences I have had.  I has changed me as a person and grown my personal practice tremendously.  I love that yoga is about more than just the physical poses. It's about learning about yourself and being mindful and present in all aspects of your life at all times.  It's about breathing and meditation and most importantly to me, community and support.

After I finished my teacher training, I took a continuing education course for work to begin to pursue my specialization in women's health and pelvic floor.  I especially want to work towards a specialization in perinatal health.  I truly love this time in my life (pregnancy, labor, babies, kids). I am so passionate about helping ladies in this time of their life find community and support, especially when they are down or in need of that community of women in similar situations.

Prenatal yoga is what initially got me interested in yoga over 4 years ago.  If you have been following my blog from the beginning, after finding out we were surprisingly pregnant with Kayla and not being completely overjoyed at the thought, you know that prenatal yoga really helped me through my pregnancy by keeping my active and giving me a community of other pregnant mommies who were in similar situations.

I want to share yoga and what yoga has done for me with everyone around me.  I cannot wait to start teaching yoga, but I am especially passionate about prenatal yoga teacher training.  I have felt my whole life that I have a general idea of what I love and want to do, but I've always felt somewhat lost on what I TRULY wanted.  I feel like over the last year, deciding to pursue Women's Health Physical Therapy and with the introduction of yoga into my life, the path of my life has finally been set before me.  And I really want to start walking that path.  But I need some help!

My birthday and Christmas are both coming up.  I've done some research and found a certified Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training program that I really want to pursue.  I've figured out a way I can help the instructors out and get a slight discount on the price of the program, but I still need some help with the cost.  It's going to end up being around $1500 for me to start my journey towards what I believe is my calling.  If you feel like donating, giving me a small gift for my birthday or Christmas, or maybe you want me to teach you yoga (I totally will), please click the button below to donate as much or as little as you wish!!!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this little old blog!

Household Update

So I took Brody to his 18 month check up last week so I figured it was time to actually post instead of just saying I would.  So here's a semi quick update on the Hales' Household:

Kayla: 3 years + 2 months

Height: About 5-6 inches taller than Brody I think (however his measurement was likely off...see below) so I'm guessing around 3' 4".

Weight: Hovering around 30 pounds and not eating that well lately...she's still a peanut.

Likes: Frozen, movies, coloring, writing her letters and numbers, "reading" (a.k.a. reciting books she's memorized), Mommy, her friends "Sydney and Sara" which she states every time something starts with the letter "s", asking what every word starts with, writing words we help her spell, singing any song she can remember especially songs from Frozen and the Sound of Music, airplanes, baby dolls, Barbies, the swings

Dislikes: Sometimes Daddy (and Mommy), listening to directions, sitting down on chairs/couches, standing still, being dropped off a school, when you don't give her hugs and kisses when she wants them, when you try to give her hugs and kisses when she doesn't, trying new things (food, the dentist, swim lessons, etc...)

This kid has been a breeze so far, but the 3's are turning out to be no fun.  Everyone is right, three year olds ARE assholes.

Brody: 18.5 months

Height: 34" although this is probably wrong as he was ridiculously fussy and he is insanely strong therefore impossible to straighten out enough to measure accurately.

Weight: 26 pounds 10 ounces (my hefty boy)

Likes: Mommy, Daddy to put him to bed (ALLELUIA), music/singing/dancing, swinging, slides, running, climbing, jumping on anything and everything, being obstinate, his tiger/paci, giving hugs and kisses, cars, things that move, balls, food, milk, technology (don't even THINK about taking the phone or the note away from him), movies especially ones with music, blowing his nose, reading especially Brown Bear and Hippopposites, bathtime

Dislikes: sometimes waking up from naps/bed, getting in the car, sitting down, being told what to do, getting his diaper changed, everything noted above under "likes" at certain times, being hungry, going to bed

Overall, he's a really happy kid.  But when he's not, it's like the exorcist.  God help me.

Mom and Dad Hales: 364 and 379 months respectively

Height: 5'9" (on the roster), 6'4"

Weight: decreasing since starting to use our fitbits and eating out less.  Back to meal planning

Likes: Our kids (most of the time), each other (most of the time), our jobs (most of the time)
           Mom: yoga, photography, reading, tv, movies, volleyball, alone time in the shower (that can be construed as dirty but it's definitely not)
           Dad: relaxing, the time after this kids go to bed, figuring out/fixing house situations without anyone else's help (backup sump pump anyone), watching sports when he has the chance

Dislikes: our debt (all of the time), when our kids don't sleep (all of the time)

Basically we are all doing great.  We've made it through the winter without any serious sickness (at least for the kids) and have come out of this Polar Vortex alive.

I've slowed down on my photography.  I still love it, but it's not at the top of my want to do list anymore.  I still want to take photos of my kids but it's not as important to me that they are "good" anymore.  I love yoga and am hoping to pursue that in the future as it's up my ally and it relates to my job.  I love my job and am starting to work a few more hours a week to help us start paying down our debt.  We are reading/read Dave Ramsey's book and we are on the bandwagon.  We have a plan and are "gazelle intense" to pay off some of this stuff so we can live a bit better and easier.  Overall, we are great.  I am going to try to get back to posting, just know that pictures may not always be involved at this point.  It takes to much time and effort to take/edit a ton of photos.

I'm going to try to update on our progress with Dave Ramsey's plan, our meal planning and I've been contemplating a every Monday post "The Happenings at the Hales'" with some weekly iphone photo updates and meal ideas.  Anyways, sorry for the radio silence...again.

Happy Monday!

Special Connections

Anyone with kids notice that they have a special connection with a member of your family early on?  I realize that some of this may be who they see the most, but even beyond that I see something special with Brody and my dad.

Honestly, I'm not even sure how to describe it.  My dad is a pretty awesome guy, but he's a lot of business and only a little bit of fun. Well, I guess he is a lot of fun too, but he comes off as all business, not something kids warm up to really quickly.  But Brody loves him.  He is not shy at first when he sees him (which is usually is with people).  He gets excited and says "Papa" when I mention my dad.  I think if I lined a bunch of people up in chairs, Brody would run to my dad to have him pick him up.  I've been noticing this subtly recently, and then I captured some of these photos on Christmas Eve that kind of solidified it for me.  I mean, I think my dad was just sitting there minding his own business despite the semi craziness around him and Brody was kinda fussy because it was nap time or close to it.  So he just grabbed his pacifier, his tiger lovey and went right to my dad.

And then this happened when we went to visit my dad at his new office.  (This happened BEFORE my dad got back to his BRAND NEW office/desk from his meeting.) He climbed up there himself.

Anyways, I love seeing my kids have connections with my family and Justin's family, because family is so important to me.  Every time, my heart grows 2 sizes I swear.