The Little Things that make Being a Mommy so Rad

Waking up in the morning to have Meadow ask me:"How'd you sleep Mommy?"

Getting a kiss on the forehead

Meadow telling us that she is so proud of us.

Listening to her talk to her dolls and stuffed animals

Listening to her make up songs

Listening to her read one of her books and she knows the words by heart, or she makes up the words but the tamber is the same

Kissing Meadow good night and having her raise her arms and ask for a hug, and holding on for almost 30 seconds.

How excited she gets over EVERYTHING!

Watching her hold hands and hug and kiss her friends

Knowing that she is such a special and amazing girl, and how lucky I am to know her for her entire life.

Meadow 2 Update

I had an ultrasound yesterday to check the weight of the baby and make sure she was plumping up! Since I have a significant difference in the amount of weight I have gained this time around as opposed to what I gained with meadow the Dr. just wanted to make sure all was okay. And of course it is! My Dr. said the majority of women gain more weight with the second pregnancy and I don't know how that's true! Granted I am working out everyday with Stroller Strides, but just keeping up with Meadow is enough of a workout to keep off the extra pounds!

The little baby was very active as we were looking at her, not shocking at all! Her head is already down which is a great sign, and I am measuring about a week and a half ahead of schedule. Now my Dr. said that doesn't mean anything for when I am actually going to deliver, and I assured her I wouldn't hold my breath! Although I do feel this baby is going to come before April 15th. I did gain 1 pound again putting my total weight gain at 15 pounds. My Dr. is no longer worried about my weight gain since she knows the baby is growing just fine. Plus with me having the flu last week it's a good thing I kept any weight on at all.


So now we have 8 weeks to go! It is starting to feel closer, I think once we get to 6 weeks it really will be the home stretch.

Big Girl Bed Success!

Well, it finally happened...Meadow spelt in her new room last night in her big girl bed! Mike and I were prepared for a rough night, but it went so much smoother than we could have hoped for!

At first she was excited and ready to sleep in her new bed, which is not what we have been experiencing for the past few weeks so we figured this was our window to jump on! We put her down in her toddler bed, read her 2 stories, and said good night. We went out to the living room, and, as expected, Meadow was out in just a few minutes. I picked her up and told her it was bed time and she told me she wanted to sleep in her crib. My heart broke little because we want her to feel safe and comfortable and it must be scary in a new room and a new bed all at once. After that, every time she came out Mike and I took turns putting her back in bed Supernanny style not saying anything. After 30 minutes and with Mike stationed right outside her door to turn her around, she gave up and went to bed.

This morning she came into our room at 7, telling me that she slept in her big girl bed and the light came on. We need to get a new shade for her room, the one we have is way too transparent. Mike gave her a big kiss and told her that we were so proud of her for sleeping in her big girl bed, and she said, "me too DaDa!"

So now I can move on to getting boxes down of baby stuff to sort through what we have and get the nursery set up for the new baby...still yet to be named, but we're leaning towards Meadow 2.

The baby has the hiccups

Ah yes, it is all coming back to me now! I am feeling so very pregnant and a little shocked that I still have at least 10 weeks to go! Does anyone else feel like I have been preggers for 6 years?

The baby is all over the place, just like Meadow was although this time it is a little less uncomfortable since the baby seems to be hanging out much lower than Meadow did. Meadow was always up high in my rib cage, trying to be as close to me as possible, which knowing her personality now doesn't surprise me one bit!

As I was sitting on the couch last night I thought I was being kicked up high in my belly and was impressed at the amazing beat she was keeping and then quickly realized she had the hiccups! Meadow had them all the time so it was cute to feel them again! Cute and then the novelty wore off, she has now had the hiccups 4 times! Maybe I should stop drinking so much liquor???

Whining from a stay at home mom

As I sit her on a Saturday afternoon while Meadow sleeps, I am feeling quite sorry for myself and figured I should just write about it and move on instead of sulking all day! I think it goes without mentioning that I absolutely LOVE being a 'stay at home' mom and would have it no other way. I use the term in quotes because while I do stay at home, I also run my own business and work a part time marketing job. These two combined are what make it possible for me to be at home, but are also what cause me the most conflict with my role as a stay at home mom.

I started feeling sorry for myself when I walked out to the never ending mound of laundry in the garage, and saw Mike, happy as a clam playing with his newest toy- a table saw. He is building all types of gadgets for the garage, storage bins etc. he has his music up loud, sports on the TV, and a delicious cocktail in his had(don't worry, it's after 10am!). He looks forward to the weekend to work on projects, root for his favorite teams, and just relax. I look forward to catching up on laundry, hoping to get to clean the office that I can barely work in, maybe getting to mop the kitchen floor, and finally clean our bathroom! Not to mention new research for my marketing job and catching up on paperwork for my business, planning events and workouts, oh and wait a minute...what about Meadow?

I wanted to stay at home to spend as much time with Meadow as possible, but that is happening less and less. She gets up close to 6 every morning, and I am not one to get up at 5 to get in an hour of work! After she goes to bed at 8, now that I am entering my third trimester I am so exhausted that I'm lucky to get the dishes done. I usually do all my work related calls etc. during Meadow's nap so that I can speak to adults on the phone without having to hush Meadow. So I find myself putting on the TV for Meadow so I can try to get caught up. PS- has anyone ever been to that magical place of caught up? I am beginning to wonder if it even exists!

Mike assures me that our moms went through the same thing, and Meadow is in no way being deprived and that she has an ideal childhood. And he tells me I need to learn to delegate responsibilities to him. He did say he might roll his eyes and complain a little bit but that's OK. And so we come to the final conflict of the stay at home mom: asking my working husband for help. In theory I would love it if my husband did the dishes every night, or better yet cleaned the bathroom, heck I would even settle for making the bed. Yet if I do walk in on him having to pick something up, I immediately feel guilty, obviously it has been there too long and is starting to get on his nerves, and isn't it my job to take care of the house?

Well, I am deciding today to get over them all. Meadow is a very bright little girl with more social skills than she knows what to do with, so clearly all the TV isn't rotting her brain yet! I am not going to believe that anyone lives the perfect life of having everything clean all the time, and if I just vow to get certain things done everyday, I can keep things manageable. And I will let Mike help me, and even tell him what he can do to make my life easier. He knows how hard I work and how much pressure I put on myself so he wants to help relieve that so I can be the happy wife and mother all the time! As long as I promise that some of the things I ask him to do need to be outside, and possibly involve the table saw!

As I preach to my moms in Stroller Strides all the time, the best thing you can do for your children is to take care of their mother. So for my first real New Year's Resolution I am going to give Meadow's mommy a break.

I'm So Proud of Me!

Last night we were enjoying quality time here at the Kraber House- Mom and Dad lying on the couch watching TV while Meadow danced around! She brought her foldable chair over to the couch and wanted to set it up on top of the couch. Mike asked her nicely to put the chair back where it belongs. We watched in awe as she walked it right over to the spot where it is kept, folded up and everything! Mike looked at her and said: "Great job Meadow, I am so proud of you!" To which Meadow got a huge grin on her face and replied: "Me Too!"

She finally did it...

Yesterday my girlfriend Natalie and her son Dayton were over for a play date for the kids while us moms worked. Natalie is the new owner of the Stroller Strides franchise in San Clemente so I am helping her with all the programs etc. So, it was getting close to nap time and I suggested we just put the kids in Meadow's room to sleep, Meadow in her crib and Dayton in his pack and play. What harm could that do? Natalie looked at me like I was nuts but went along with it anyway. I figured they might chat for a little bit but would soon tire out and fall right asleep.

Well, they were making noise for a few minutes and then it was quiet. Perfect! See Natalie, I told you it would be fine. We decided to walk back and check on them, since silence can also mean trouble in toddler land. We slowly opened the door and peeked in meadows crib, no Meadow! Then we quickly panned over and there was Meadow in her new playhouse entertaining Dayton as he stood in his bed. Meadow has never gotten out of her crib, which was actually surprising to Mike and I since she is a climber! I put her right back in to see if she just got lucky, and out she climbed in less than a second like she's been doing it for years!

We moved Dayton into the other room, and I had to put Meadow back in her crib 3 times supernanny style before she stayed put and went to sleep. I guess this is what life will be like when we move her into her toddler bed next month!

The good news, it seems that supernanny is on to something. When Meadow woke up from her nap she stayed in her crib and called for me to get her out. Then this morning I left her in there for about 20 minutes, she woke up at 5:55am, and she didn't try to get out. Granted this is only one day, but I'd like to pat my parenting skills on the back for keeping her in the crib. I'll let you know where I stand on this tomorrow!!!