It's a Boy!

Ok so I'm a little late posting this but thought I should do another pregnancy update. A couple weeks ago we went in for the "big" ultrasound to find out what baby #2 would be. I swear the wait up to that point felt like it'd been like 5 years. I was so excited to find out.

Seth & I took Sylvie with us to the ultrasound appointment that morning and eagerly watched and waited as the tech pointed out and measured all the important parts. We were both waiting for the big lead up to the reveal and were caught off guard as she casually mentioned "looks like you've got a boy." Wait, WHAT? Did we just hear what we thought we heard? It took us a second to realize what was going on. This giant piece of information was just thrown out as if it was another statistic like a leg measurement. THIS WAS HUGE!

Needless to say, Seth and I were both ecstatic. I teared up and tried to hold myself together as I processed this life-changing piece of information. Seth and I would have two kids: a girl and a boy. Our little family was complete and this is what it looked like.

We were both divided on what we were hoping for. I thought it'd be fun for Sylvie to have a little sister. And it'd be nice to be able to have another baby that got to wear all of the adorable clothes she'd outgrown. Plus I'm a pro at girls. Most of my real experience with kids has been with Sylvie and my own two sisters growing up. I don't know much about little boys except that they can squirt you in the eye if you're not careful. But, I thought having a boy would be a cool new adventure and the possibility of having a mini-Seth look-a-like pattering around the house was also very appealing. I knew I'd be happy with whatever came our way.

But here it was. We were having a boy. The option that carries more uncertainty and less knowledge and familiarity. And I couldn't be happier. Turns out my hunch was right. I thought there was a possibility the initial lack of morning sickness in those first couple of weeks and the lack of any kind of food aversions indicated something very different this time around.

These days I'm feeling great. My bump seems to be growing at an incredible rate. I've been asked several times if I'm having twins. Carrying Sylvie around is getting harder and harder to do as we both get bigger, which is hard for both of us. We're learning to be content with snuggling on a chair. I figure it'll help transition us to our new scenario which will involve me holding a baby instead of my little toddler.

At this point we're just trying to make it through the winter months. Baby Boy doesn't have a name yet and it's proving to be the most difficult part of this whole process. It's a good thing we have some time to argue about it think it over. Any suggestions?

Letters to Sylvie: September 2014

Dear Sylvie,

Things have been a little crazy around here lately and I haven't been quite as diligent in writing about you and your milestones. That's not to say there is a lack of things to talk about, however.

Hanging out with Daddy

I honestly can't believe how much you have progressed in the last couple of months, especially with your language skills. You're like a little sponge – constantly listening to everything around you and repeating what you hear. I can actually understand a lot of what you say, as basic as your language is. You're beginning to put together multi-word sentences and can tell me little events that happened during the day, or details about something you see. You know all your colors and love to point to things at random and tell me what color they are. Grandma & Grandpa Hanson came to visit recently and even a couple of weeks after they'd been here, you kept talking about "Grandma & Grandpa's red car." You love to look out the window and name the colors of all the cars on the street.

Helping Mommy make cookies. You love to help in the kitchen!

You are very good at your letters. You don't repeat the alphabet, but you can identify about 80% of the letters. You love to point out the letters on signs and tell me what they are. You're also starting to get a handle on counting and numbers. Usually when I ask you how old you are you'll say "2!" and hold up your fingers to show me (even though you have a hard time with that part and it usually looks like a 3). You know what "one" and "two" are and can count to two. The other day while we were sitting at the dinner table you tooted twice and correctly said, "TWO TOOTS!" My favorite thing lately is instead of saying "one, two, three" before you do something you say "two, nine, ten!" I have to make a concerted effort not to encourage the adorable, but incorrect counting.

Out getting donuts on a Saturday morning.

Your new "hat"

You have recently started saying "OK" instead of "yes." These terms are not always interchangeable. For instance, you will say something like "Play outside?" and I'll repeat "You want to play outside?" just to make sure I've heard you correctly. Then you'll enthusiastically say "Oh OK!" as if I just presented you with this great idea that you are now agreeing to.

Having a blast playing in the Ogden River

While you have always being outdoors, over the last few months you have become quite the little adventurer. Your daddy will frequently take you out in the morning to various places like Antelope Island, walking along different places on the Weber River, or to the park to feed ducks. Recently we went for a hike up by Snowbasin. You hiked the whole way up, picking up small rocks and "jumping" off the bigger ones, and refused to be carried at all. You were also very interested in seeing deer. You chattered the whole time asking "Where did the deer go?" and looking all around. At one point you claimed you saw one.

Hiking up to Green Pond at Snowbasin

You have a handful of favorite things right now. Daniel Tiger is out and Disney movies are in. More specifically "Nemo" and "Miyama"(Llama) aka "The Emperors New Groove." While you watch your movies you like to have "Tohwn" (popcorn) or chips. Even better is when I let you watch movies with me in my bed (on the Kindle). Sometimes I'll get you a little bowl of grapes instead of popcorn or chips. Maybe I should even switch to broccoli. You will tune out and watch your show and mindlessly eat everything in your bowl.

You and your cute cousin Liam at the fair.

Milking the cow with Soren & Liam

Speaking of favorite foods, you have a handful of items that you would eat at any time. Your most recent find is Trix cereal which you call "balls." You will now eat cereal with milk (woohoo!) and it's the cutest to hear you ask for your "balls with moot." You also love corn and tomatoes. You will easily eat a whole ear of corn by yourself. And you love to eat the little yellow grape tomatoes from the garden. You also like the larger red tomatoes in the garden as well, especially when you get to pick them. The other day you picked a nice red one and immediately started eating it like an apple. It was the cutest thing ever to see you tottering around the yard munching on your tomato. Did I mention you call tomatoes "toes"? Adorable. Oh and how could I forget about fries and juice? It's kind of a tradition to go out once a week and get McDonald's. Once when I took you there after we went to the park we got an ice cream cone too. So now whenever we're driving around running errands you think it's fries, juice, and ice cream time. Sometimes you're right!

Chomping on corn at the Idaho Fair

Eating your favorite... tomatoes!

Your biggest accomplishment as of late is your mastery of the swing set. You will finally go down the slide all by yourself. You go down the slide and climb up the slide. You always look so proud of yourself. Heck you'll even go down some of the slides at the park by yourself! And all of a sudden you love to swing. You used to hate it and wouldn't last more than 30 seconds, if you'd even get on it at all. Now you'll swing for an hour if we let you, especially if you're playing "swing ball" with Daddy. This is where you hold a ball and then throw it in a way that Daddy can't catch it. I am not good at swing ball. Daddy claims he can catch just about everything you throw. You think it's so funny and will giggle and laugh like it's the funniest thing you've ever seen.

Showing off your slide skills.

Daddy or I will occasionally tell you about the baby in my belly, just to prep you a little and keep you in the loop. One time Daddy asked you if it was going to be a brother or sister and you told him it was a brother. So I asked you on a separate occasion if there was a boy or a girl in there and you said it was a boy. We'll see in a few weeks whether you're right! I think you're going to be a great big sister.

Sylvie your Daddy and I love you so much. You are just the sweetest little girl. You're always so fun to be around and your laughs and crazy antics make me want to constantly smother you in hugs and kisses. I couldn't have asked for a better daughter.

I love you Sylvie Sue!

Love, Mama

Week 10: Kumquat

Thought I'd give a more recent update of the baby happenings around here since there's been a bit more to tell.

First of all, I broke the big news of my pregnancy to family and work this week. Though, I'm not sure it was really necessary as everyone already kind of knew from my appearance. I had an older dude at work ask me last week if I had the "Egyptian flu" (going to be a mummy... har har har). Looks like I'm showing a bit earlier this time around! No big deal, it just means I get to wear my comfy maternity pants sooner! Ha!

I also had my first doctor's appointment and ultrasound. Unfortunately they were not on the same day and I wasn't sure what would take place with the doctor, so I had Seth & Sylvie come along. I didn't want Seth to miss out on hearing a heart beat. But, turns out Sylvie is all too experienced in the ways of the doctor and was scared and crying most of the time. We tried to give her snacks and assure her that it was Mommy's turn this time, but she wasn't having any of it. Luckily nothing much happened and Seth was able to take her outside mid-way through without missing anything but a blood draw.

The good news is, when we came back a couple of days later for the first ultrasound, Sylvie had been prepped a little. I told her we were going to watch the baby in Mommy's tummy on a tv and showed her what the technician lady would do to me. It also helped that as soon as we got in the room I climbed up on the evil paper covered table. This was a sure sign that this in fact was Mommy's turn. We got to see a great image and 3D video of the baby with arms and legs kicking and moving. Pretty dang cool. It was quite a bit different than when we saw Sylvie at 8 weeks. She was mostly a little bean-shaped lump. We didn't get to hear the heart beat this time because they've upgraded the equipment and they don't like to do the heart beat this early on anymore because it's too strong. But hopefully when I go back in a few more weeks we'll get to hear it.

As far as my pregnancy symptoms go, things haven't been too bad. The nausea did rear its ugly head at about the 6 week mark. Nothing too serious and I think it's a little better than it was with Sylvie. So long as I keep food in my stomach I feel ok. I always feel the most sick at night, especially while brushing my teeth or after I take a prenatal vitamin. Somehow those two things have made me lose my lunch a couple times. I do feel more tired this time around and haven't had much motivation to do anything. But luckily the nausea and tiredness seem to be subsiding. I'm hoping they'll completely disappear at 12 weeks like they did last time.

At this point we're just super excited and crossing our fingers everything continues to progress normally. I'm doing my best to keep baby supplied with cheeseburgers so I feel like I'm doing everything I can! :D

Here Comes Another One!

Written July 15, 2014

At the end of 2013 Seth came to me and said he thought we should start trying for a second kid. Now I don't know why this always takes me by surprise. It's something I'm constantly analyzing... are we ready? can I handle a second kid yet? what about money? what about sleep? In my mind we hadn't quite made it yet and I wasn't really sure how things would work out, so I was in "waiting" mode. So I was a little freaked out by Seth's proposition. But over the next couple days we talked things through and came up with a pretty solid plan. Then I decided that come Christmas, we'd give it a go.

I was hoping the second time around would come easier, but it seemed to be a long, drawn out process like it was the first time. It took us 9 months to get a pregnancy to "stick" the first time around. I was pretty diligent with the ovulation times and such on the 2nd go, but that little stick would just not give me the sign I wanted. So, I went searching for ways to improve my odds. I was pretty consistent at taking my pre-natals and omega-3 & omega-6s, but they didn't seem to be helping much. It wasn't until 6 months later when I cut out caffeine completely that we got the big fat positive. 

It took me by surprise really. In the past when I tested positive I'd felt lots of symptoms before I got the confirmation on the test. This time, we'd been on vacation with Seth's family and I'd expected Aunt Flow to come and ruin the trip (like she so often does). She still hadn't come by the time we got home that Sunday evening so I decided to just pee on a stick for fun. I set it down in the bathroom and forgot about it for a few minutes. When I finally remembered I went in and picked it up and lo and behold, there were 2 lines instead of the one I was used to seeing. Wha? I dug the instructions out of the garbage just to make sure I was reading it right. Yep sure enough. This was positive. I ran into the bedroom and showed it to Seth. He just looked sort of stunned and caught off guard. We exchanged our hopes that this would stick and went on with our evening. The next day I took one of my fancy electronic tests. PREGNANT. Wow. I tried not to get my hopes up. It took a few positives the first time around before one stuck. I hoped I wouldn't have to go through that again. 

But, it has been over a week now and little sesame seed is still in there. I haven't had a lick of symptoms. No nausea. No food aversions. The last day or two my bewbs have been very faintly sore, but nothing I'd notice normally. Ok fine, I'm a little more gassy and bloated but that's it. I wouldn't complain if this pregnancy decided to go easy on me. Now for the planning to begin...

Letters to Sylvie: 2 Years!

Dear Sylvie,

Well, you made it! You are officially 2 years old! I think you've known there was a big milestone coming up because you have been learning and doing so many new things.

Climbing on the rocks at the park. You love to go there to feed the ducks.

You are becoming quite the little chatterbox. I can't believe how many words you can say now compared to a couple of months ago. You'll generally try to say just about any word, though you still look at me like I'm crazy when I try to get you to say large words like "hippopotamus." You finally refer to me as "Mama." When you get excited you point to all the things and say "Mama Dada Mama Dada Mama Mama Mama!!" Your newest words are grandpa & grandma, though they both sound like "Papa." Every old man we see is now Papa. You can also say duck, peas, pool, home, meow (for cat), again, sauce, ball, all done, shoes, tall, popcorn, Nemo, down, blue, car, ah oh, mess, poop, yes, yeah, & no. I'm sure there are more. There are a lot of things you can identify but can't say the word for. You know all your animals, colors, and body parts. You also make up signs for different things, the most common being "thirsty" and "hungry". You'll point to your tongue for thirsty and pat your chest when you're hungry. You now use these signals when it's time for bed to try and stall the inevitable. Sometimes it actually works!

Wearing two of your favorite things – your shades and your robe.

You have a great sense of humor. I don't know how you can identify jokes at this young age but you do. One day I was naming off a list of things trying to figure out what you wanted to eat. You were answering 'no' to all my suggestions so I asked you if you wanted a "kick in the bum." You immediately smiled with delight at such a prospect. I now routinely ask you if you want a kick in the bum just to get a smile out of you. You also show embarrassment at your father's crazy antics. He'll sing a song using a weird voice and you'll look at him and shake your head and say "Daadaa". I'm going to give you a hint here and tell you that giving Daddy a reaction to his antics will only encourage him.

Farmer Sylvie out harvesting your peas. It's the first thing you ask for when you get up.

Although we haven't started the potty training process yet, you are slowly becoming more interested in the idea. You'll sit on your potty while Mom or Daddy is in the bathroom and once I caught you just in time and got you to poop in the potty! More of a fluke than anything but it's a start! You really hate getting your diaper changed so I think you'll be much happier when you can wear your big girl panties.

You've taken to removing your pants while you're sitting on the potty and putting them on your head as a nice hat.

You're getting much better with your physical coordination. You can climb up the ladder on your little slide, screw lids on & off, drink out of a regular cup, climb up into your high chair, and you can walk pretty long distances. You are also getting much better at doing puzzles. You got a new farm animal puzzle for your birthday and I left you to put it together one day on your own. It took you about 10 minutes to finish but you ran into the kitchen to tell me you were done so I could come see your work. You were very proud of yourself. Since then you have gotten much faster and have a couple other puzzles you can do as well.

This year we had your birthday a little early so we could have more family members there. You had a Daniel Tiger theme because you LOVE Daniel Tiger. You watch it every day. Grandpa Fred & Grandma Denise and the Westons came for the party. We had pizza and Daniel Tiger cupcakes. You didn't quite get the blowing out the candle thing, but you did eat some of your cake this year! You really seemed to like your party this year and had a lot of fun. Actually you kind of had 2 parties. Your cousin Luke is just a week older than you so we had a double party during our Hanson family reunion down in Cedar City. You got to hit a pinata and play with all your cousins. Luke was very nice to share his party with you.

Eating your Daniel Tiger birthday cupcake. You wouldn't touch it with your hands.

Looking at the cute play food your Auntie Annie made you for your birthday.

Testing out your new pink bike.

Your Daniel Tiger party decorations.

Whacking the pinata at your cousin Luke's birthday party.

In general, you continue to be very obedient and helpful. You can put away all the clean silverware from the dishwasher into their correct places in the drawer and you will always help put away your books and toys where they go. Your little basket full of board books is usually pretty immaculate with all the spines facing out. You are also really good at putting your laundry away. You know right where your shirts and socks go and love to help Mommy by putting them in their place. I definitely think you got your Dad's cleanliness genes. The other day I was making something in the kitchen and you got very quiet playing in the living room. I called to you and didn't get an answer for a couple seconds so I went to investigate. Suddenly I heard your little feet pattering towards me and as you burst into the kitchen, you furiously started "cleaning" things with a ragged looking napkin you'd found. You cleaned EVERYTHING – the chairs, the window, the stools, the fridge, even the pedal on the trashcan. It was so dang adorable. Then, when you were all done I figured I'd take advantage of your cleaning spree and gave you the Swiffer broom to push around. You thought it was fun so that makes it OK (you threw a fit the other day when I wouldn't let you have a turn because you were being grabby and not asking nicely). Along those lines, we've started small punishments when you don't behave. Usually all it takes is a threat for you to go stand in the corner and you'll do what you're asked, though we have had to enforce the dreaded corner a couple of times.

You during your cleaning spree.

Cleaning up the "mess" on the floor.

Sylvie you bring so much joy into our lives. The hugs and the giggles and the sweetness make my heart feel like bursting. Every day I love you more and more and I love to see you grow and learn and become your own little person. It's crazy for me to think that one day you'll be all grown up. Hopefully by then you'll wear more clothing when you go outside. But for now, I'll soak up all your babyness for as long as I can. I sure love you Huggie Buggie.

Love, Mama

Beauty Tip Series: Curly Hair Perfection

When I was a kid I had stick straight hair. Gradually as I've gotten older my hair has become more wavy. Which is actually the best of both worlds. Having wavy hair makes it easy for me to go straight or curly depending on my mood.

For years my curly hair success days had been a bit hit-or-miss. The good days my hair looked evenly curled and not too frizzy. On bad days my hair would be flat on top and have loose, frizzy looking waves. No big deal... a messy bun always fixed that. But, I wanted a more reliable way to get beautiful, soft, defined curls every time. Lucky for me I stumbled across the Curly Girl method and I can't believe the difference a couple of tweaks in my hair routine have made in the outcome of my curls. Now, some of these processes are more crucial than others. Some are a bonus if you can work them in. I'll let you know the importance of each as I walk you through the process. And of course feel free to check out the Naturally Curly website for more info on your specific hair type. I'm just going to generalize the process and tell you what works well for me.

Before: Frizzy and flat

AFTER! Curly & defined!

Before you step in the shower to wash your hair, make sure you have the following at the ready (in addition to your shampoo & conditioner):

1. Wide Tooth Comb (essential)
2. Product for your curls (essential)
3. Microfiber towel (bonus)

After cleansing your hair, apply conditioner and comb it through to evenly distribute and detangle hair. This will be the only time you comb your hair as anything after this will make your hair frizzy. Rinse out the conditioner and grab your hair product. I really like Suave Professionals Captivating Curls Whipped Cream Mousse because it creates nice curls without being crunchy. Plus it's cheap & easy to find.

Readily available and only about $2

With your hair soaking wet, flip your hair upside-down and squeeze out the excess water. Shake your hair at the roots with your fingers to separate the curls naturally. Using a generous amount of product (I use a palm-ful of mousse), emulsify it between your palms and lift your hair up to your scalp and then scrunch. Repeat over all the hair.

With your hair still flipped over, use a microfiber towel (microfiber doesn't cause hair to frizz as much as regular towels but I haven't seen a huge difference here) to lift hair up to the scalp and scrunch. Repeat to remove excess water from hair. Do not wrap your hair in the towel or rub the towel over your hair. Only use it to lift the hair up to your scalp and scrunch. This is a key technique.

At this point your can flip your hair back over but don't touch it. You're technically supposed to let your hair air dry at this point but my hair doesn't turn out very well this way. I typically let mine air dry a bit then finish it off with a diffuser. If you want to use a diffuser, carefully pile curls onto the diffuser head, put it up to your scalp, and allow it to sit there and dry on low-- moving the hair dryer to different sections until it's dry (or nearly dry). Try to move/touch hair as little as possible because the more you touch it, the more frizz it creates.

That's basically it. I've found that adding product to super wet hair and using the scrunching technique have had the most influence on how my curls turn out. I went from fuzzy-ish waves to more defined corkscrew type curls by following this method. What do you think? Try it out for yourself and let me know!

Beauty Tip Series: Cowashing

I’ve been meaning to do another “I Can Vouch for That” post of my favorite products, but lately I’ve found more processes I like than actual products. More specifically, beauty processes. After a lot of experimentation I’ve found a couple things that really work well for me so I thought I’d pass them along in a series of posts.

Twice now I’ve tried going “no poo” or shampooless. It typically involves washing your hair with baking soda and conditioning with a diluted apple cider vinegar rinse. I tried all the combinations of ratios and just never liked the results of this. Plus I just didn’t like the process. It was a pain and didn’t have a very satisfying feel to it like using shampoo. And truth be told, I don’t think my hair is that horrible to begin with so switching to something so drastic just didn’t seem to be that beneficial. It’s not like I’m spending hundreds of dollars on shampoo and conditioner every month.

What I have tried with success is “co-washing” or washing with conditioner. I know. I’ll be the first one to admit I was skeptical of this because I have oily hair and have to wash it every day. I can get away with using a dry shampoo on off days if I pull my hair up but it never looks too good. Basically the purpose of cowashing is to keep more of the natural oils in your hair. This is especially good if you’ve got dry hair or process it a lot.

The process basically involves using a silicone (and other “cones”) free conditioner as shampoo. There are small amounts of cleansing agents in conditioner and it turns out it’s plenty to get all the oils & dirt out of your hair. The good news with this method is one of the best conditioners to use is Suave Naturals… the conditioner that costs like $1 per bottle.

To wash your hair with conditioner, just get your hair wet and using several palm-fuls of conditioner (you can’t use too much), work it into your scalp and the length of your hair. Massage your scalp really well to get all the dirt loosened up (like you normally do with shampoo). At this point use a wide toothed comb to detangle your hair and evenly distribute the conditioner (this is a critical step if you have curly hair… I’ll cover this in my next post). Then rinse really well with warm water. Sometimes I’ll add a higher quality conditioner to the ends of my hair and rinse again (with cooler water), but it’s not really necessary.

So that’s it! I still use a regular shampoo about once a week for my problem scalp, but for most people that wouldn’t really be necessary. I’m really liking my new cowashing process and think I’ll keep it around for a while. If any of you have tried this I’d like to hear your experience and/or tips as well!