Ella's 5th Birthday Interview

I always forget so this was an interview 11 days late. She's getting better at answering but I have no idea why she lists pizza as her least favorite food.

1. How old are you? 5 
2. Who is your best friend? Aurelia and Gio 
3. What is your favorite color? Pink and purple and white 
4. What is your favorite animal? Bunny and zebra 
5. What is your favorite food? Marshmallow and hot chocolate 
6. What food do you really dislike? pizza 
7. What is your favorite TV show? Shimmer and Shine 
8. What is your favorite song? Shimmer and Shine 
9. What is your favorite book? Don’t know 
10. What is your favorite thing to wear? Don’t know (Don’t you like to wear dresses?) I like to wear every costume. 
11. What makes you happy? nothing 
12. What makes you sad? nothing 
13. What is your favorite toy/game? Don’t ask me about that 
14. What is your favorite holiday? Nothing 
15. What would you buy if you had $1,000? Pretty things 
16. Where is your favorite place to go? Pump it up 
17. What is your favorite restaurant? McDonald’s 
18. What is your favorite memory? There is no memory 
19. What is your favorite stuffed animal? Santa, doggy, and my camel 
20. What is your favorite thing to sleep with? Everything. No i already said it to you. Santa, Doggy, and Camel 
21. What is your favorite fruit? I don’t know. 
22. What is your favorite cereal? 
23. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes 
24. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? {shrugs} pizza 
25. What is your favorite dessert? Ice cream and cookies 
26. What is your favorite drink? fruit punch 
27. What is your favorite game? Connect 4. 
28. What is your favorite movie? Home Alone and Home Alone 2. The Christmas movie with the bullies and the kids (I think that’s a Christmas Story) 
29. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play Soccer 
30. What are you really good at? Singing shimmer and shine songs. Drawing and coloring and being an artist. 
31. Where do you want to go on vacation? Pump it up. 
32. What do you want to eat for your birthday dinner? pizza 
33. What do you want to be when you grow up? Ice cream parlor, mom, and teacher. 
34. What is your birthday wish? I wish I had a pink unicorn. 
35. Who is the president? Donald Trump. (She made some spitting with her lips after she said it.) She wants me to add that Daddy’s favorite President is Obama.

Kennywood (12.26.18)

We decided to go to Kennywood and use our season passes 1 more time. Even with moving I'm wondering if we got our moneys worth anyway. The longer video took many tries to upload which delayed posting this. 
We met Jen there. She moved to CT and we moved to CA and yet we still meet.

Best Nine 2018

I did my Best Nine Instagram photos for 2016 and 2017 so decided to do 2018 too.

My goal is to post 1 post of the kids a day. I post workout stuff too. I felt like I wasn't meeting my goal but apparently some days I post a lot to make up for the days I miss.  I had more posts in 2018 (552) than in 2017 (391). 2016 was even lower at 310.

Someone had mentioned they thought it was random and some posts they knew had higher likes weren't included so I skimmed mine and one of mine actually did have more likes than some of these but for the most part it was right. I don't get a million likes so the lower end got 12 likes.

I tried to go back and do 2015 but the sites don't seem to work right that did it.

24 Weeks (December)

Holding Miles and walking around is a lot harder than it has been. My belly is big and I have to hold him higher and my arm gets numb. I also get out of breath easier than I used to.  Miles is so much heavier than Ella was at this point in my last pregnancy.

My new orthotics are in but of course they came in the day I started traveling so now I wait 2 weeks to get them.

I wrote most of this a day early then come 5 days late I'm trying to finish it. Then I get all my days mixed up.

Size of baby: Grapefruit, 11.8 inches long from head to heel. My app on my phone says the baby weighs about 1.3 pounds.

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  I'm not around my normal scale and I can't get my parents scales to work and I assume if/when I do, they would not be accurate or at least consistent with my scale at home so I'll just have no weight measurement this week.

Maternity Clothes:  Mostly everything but workout pants and some tunic sweaters.

Movement: The kicks are a lot stronger this week. 

Sleep: It sucked this week. Traveling made it worse and I had a few days of very little sleep because it took so long to get the kids to sleep. 

What I miss: Working out. (Traveling somehow makes it tougher to workout)

Cravings: No.

Aversions: No.

Symptoms: Having to pee constantly! Vivid dreams

Best moment this week: Being with family.

Looking forward to:  Figuring out a name. 

Exercise: No official workouts. Did a bunch of walking at the science center and down tot he point. 

Same this time: I never have cravings or aversions. I always have vivid dreams. 

Different from last time: Apparently I had the registry done by this time when pregnant with Ella and I had worked on it this week when pregnant with Miles. I haven't thought about any needs this time. My shower invites went out both times before!  Ella felt the baby kick twice last time and 0 times so far. 

24 Weeks with Ella
24 Weeks with Miles

2018 Week 50/52 Photo

There were some good pictures but they will have separate posts or already do (Christmas Concert and Ella's birthday celebration). So I went with this one.  Miles found a container of buttons I said was for Ella to craft with.  He said he can do it. I didn't think he could do it and told him. He said he could. He got glue and paper by himself. I said the glue wouldn't work. He said it would. And sure enough it did.

He showed me his finished master piece. A few buttons did come off when he showed me but he glued them back on.  Then he gave it to Daddy and made another one. He had so much fun. These are old buttons I had been saving that come with various clothes as the spare buttons. Most of the clothes I don't even own anymore. When I was purging a year ago I saved them for Ella.

Photo Taken December 16, 2018

Merry Christmas

My hard drive died so I didn't have my normal programs to make a pretty collage. I used my laptop instead and used picasa instead of Photoshop. Also we didn't take family photos in front of the tree because Dave wouldn't pose until he had a hair cut but also wouldn't stop playing video games to get a hair cut when I offered. So this is what I managed to pull together.

Some people got some extra collages. Also some people got some preschool photos too. I mailed some preschool school pictures too.

I did make a few variations of the main collage but then realized after realized our name was far too small on them. 

2018 Week 49/52 Photo

Well I'm doing 2 different photos just because neither will probably ever be included and both are good. Actually I wanted 3.

I was trying to get something don on my laptop but Miles was not having any parts of that. He wanted to sit on my lap. He also didn't like my arms around him to reach the keyboard.  Fun times.

Photo Taken December 3, 2018

Dave got a toilet mug from an elephant gift exchange. He showed it to Ella in the morning. She liked pretending she was drinking from a toilet. She was just drinking water. Hot chocolate out of this would be even more fun.  She's also in her Santa PJs.

Photo Taken December 6, 2018

23 Weeks (December)

I keep getting a pain in my groin and it makes me limp. It lasts a few hours then goes away but has happened a couple times.

I seem to have lost my water bottle somewhere. I swear it's in the house but I can't find it. But then I'm drinking less water and have had some leg cramps.

I took time I didn't have to make a collage to compare all 3 pregnancies.  Finally the comparisons look a lot different. I wonder what the rest of the weeks will look like.

various angles

I took photos from behind various weeks and made my first collage. You can start telling a little more in the waist now.

Size of baby: Pomegranate, 11.4 inches long from head to heel. My app on my phone says the baby weighs about 1 lb.

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  I gained 2.4 lbs this week so now I am up 6.1 lbs overall. (Last time I was up  7.6 and time before 5.8 lbs at this point.)   If you think about it I lost 7.5 lbs so if you add it up I have put on 7.5 and 6.1 lbs (13.6 lb) in 13 weeks. 

Maternity Clothes:  Same as it's been. Maternity tops and workout pants. 

Gender: Boy

Movement: I'm consistently feeling movement throughout the day. 

Sleep: It's been like crap. There is just too much going on and then I don't sleep well. 

What I miss: lunch meat

Cravings: No

Aversions: No

Symptoms: Going to the bathroom a million times a day.

Best moment this week:   

Looking forward to:  Being less busy and hopefully resting and maybe even watching a TV show while lying down.  

Exercise:  I exercised 1 time. I keep having too much to do and don't make time for me. 

Same this time: I don't know. Exercising seemed to suck all 3 times but for various reasons. My sleep was crap for various reasons. 

Different from last time: I lost weight with Ella when I got a stomach bug. I was 2 lbs higher earlier in the week. This time I just gained a huge amount. I gained 1.7 lb the other time.

23 Weeks with Ella
23 Weeks with Miles

1 SE November 2018

Well I finally did my 1 Second Everyday video for November. I did it insanely late. I keep thinking I should open the app throughout the month and do a few videos so then at the end it's not so much but then I don't.  Some days I have no horizontal videos and other days I have 30.  What do people do with all the videos they take? I feel like I need other summary apps or something.

Rearranging 12/9/18

The internet went down. Our cell signal sucks in the house.  So when Dave went to the store I decided to have the kids help me measure the loft and then I rearranged it. It was a little challenging. Miles kept trying to play. Dave would text me from the store so I had to stop the video to reply.  I compiled the videos.

Preschool Christmas Concert 12.14.18

Ella and Miles were both part of the Christmas concert at school. They both said they had fun. They both did better than I expected. Even today (the day after) if you ask Miles about it, he says how he had fun. He loved it.

I was in charge of photos and video so it was tough!  I couldn't record video at the same location as the camera since the camera clicks.  I got some great pics and I am wishing the video wasn't so far off to the side. My choices were limited.  I made an album with all pics and my edited videos. I also am hoping other parents share their videos and pictures. Many parents were recording near me and I hope they share.

I wanted to get a quick 1 minute clip of my favorite parts of the concert. I made the 36 minute video down to 13 minutes so clearly I wasn't getting it down to 1 minute. I cut out the intro stuff and cut out more and got it down to 5 minutes.

After the concert they had refreshments and I got a couple pictures.

Ella and I wore dresses that coordinated. They weren't the same as Ella kept pointing out because her sleeves were longer.  We failed at getting a picture to show the dresses. 

22 Weeks (December)

I'm behind again. 5 days late before I even started writing this.

Some people ask what we need but this baby but I can't think of anything. I bought an Ergo 360 for forward facing. Then a month later a friend asked if I needed one.  Sigh.  The only thing I think of is the monthly stickers.

I am the worst this time around. I don't even think about being pregnant until I am lightheaded or until my belly grazes something that I try to sneak between when I used to fit.

Ella's classmates loves to see me and run up to me and then talk about the baby in my belly and want to give me (my belly) hugs.

Poly tries to sleep on me when I'm on my back and I have to move her off because it's just too much pressure on my belly.

I wish I was working out more. People keep commenting about how often I work out but I feel like I barely work out. My goal is to work out 6 days a week but that isn't happening. 

My plantar fasciitis is a lot better but my feet still bother me a lot. I want my new orthotics to come in. I was told they come in in about a week but they aren't in yet.

Size of baby: Papaya, 10.9 inches long from head to heel. My app on my phone says the baby weighs about 12.25 oz.

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  I gained 1.3 lb this week so now my total weight gain is 3.7 lbs. Oddly enough on Friday I weighed 1.1 lb less than on Saturday.

Maternity Clothes:  I'm pretty much wearing workout pants and maternity tank tops. If I want to be fancy I wear a maternity tunic with my workout pants. I really want workout pants with pockets. I've been trying to find some but even a store I finally found that carried longs they are still 2 inches too short. 

Gender: Boy

Movement: Yup. I'm writing this 5 days late so it's hard to remember but I think it was the first time I felt movement throughout the day and not just when I was lying down and calm. 

Sleep: It's pretty crappy. The same as it's been. Also the vivid dreams seem exhausted. 

What I miss: Being able to go hours without peeing. 

Cravings: No. 

Aversions: Nope.

Symptoms:  I'm still getting lightheaded a bit. My tendons feel looser when doing things. I get sore differently. 

Best moment this week:  I'm not even sure. 

Looking forward to:  Traveling for Christmas and matching Ella. 

Exercise:  I started the week great and worked out 4 days in a row (Monday - Thursday).

Same this time: I never have cravings or aversions.Apparently it's always uneventful. I didn't have a best moment last time either.

Different from last time: I sure was better at comparison collages and pictures the past 2 times. Now I just suck. I don't even look at the pictures I take.

22 Weeks with Ella
22 Weeks with Miles

Rearranging 12.9.18

The internet went down. Our cell signal sucks in the house.  So when Dave went to the store I decided to have the kids help me measure the loft and then I rearranged it. It was a little challenging. Miles kept trying to play. Dave would text me from the store so I had to stop the video to reply.  I compiled the videos.

Cleaning 12.4.18

I was doing some insane cleaning because everything was a disaster. I posted some of them to instagram and meant to save the story from the day so it was compiled but I forgot. I compiled the before video, cleaning time lapses, and an after video.  I didn't record while I cleaned the kitchen though. I also did some laundry and some things upstairs.  I didn't get all the Christmas containers away yet since I was still deciding what to do.

2018 Week 48/52 Photo

I started a new thing and I got so behind. Oops. 3 weeks of catch up happened. Oh wait by the time this posted I'm behind again.

Ella spent the weekend working on making ornaments. She needed pictures to go in them. She kept asking me to take her picture in front of the tree so then we did before preschool. She posed for a bunch. Then she was mad they weren't immediately printed for her to put inside the ornaments. It took me a few days to get them printed.

Photo Taken November 26, 2018

Updated Stuffed Pepper Soup Recipe (2018)

I posted a recipe almost a year ago but have made some adjustments so decided to do a new post.

I went from one sous chef to another.

Ingredients:
2 c rice  (cauliflower rice is also wonderful but then I used a little more)  I also liked 2 c cauliflower rice and 1 c brown rice)
1 - 1.5 lb lean ground beef
4 green peppers (or up to 6!) (Or a cut TJs frozen bag of peppers that I cut up more and then 2 more peppers)
1 red pepper
1 onion
garlic
1 can (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes (I have used the one with green chilis too but it's a little too spicy for me when I'm pregnant.)
1 3/4 c tomato sauce
2-4 cups chicken broth (I add 2 then more if the liquid is lacking.)
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt (I don't measure)
1/2 tsp pepper  (I don't measure)
1 family size of Campbell's tomato soup. This time I used Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup but not sure if it was better or worse.

Cook meat and onions on stove.
Cook rice
Put all ingredients in crock pot and stir.   Cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 5-6 hours.

It makes everything smell so good.

This makes a lot of soup. I love leftovers. It freezes really well.

2018 Week 47/52 Photo

There were so many good pictures from the week but I decided to use the one that had almost the entire group for a picture.   This was Thanksgiving dinner just before we ate.  There were 14 of us. (Well there were 8 adults, 6 kids, and 1 newborn.) Not everyone is in the picture. Ella was under the table at this time.  This was right before the madness of starting to serve the food happened. Also Ella was upset she wasn't sitting by me.  I like having food on the table for seconds but it is way too hectic. I think next year I'll just do buffet style.  There were lots of arguments about who would sit where and by whom. 

Photo Taken November 22, 2018

2018 Goals Progress (November)

I last updated in October.

I made a post with 2018 goals and I have updated about my monthly progress a few times.

For 2018, here are my exercise goals:

1. Run 72 miles (that's 6 miles a month) with a reach goal of 100 miles * --- I didn't tally my miles yet but I was already at 60 miles and I ran 17 times so probably 17 more miles.  -- So apparently I didn't tally my miles in August either. I haven't in September or October. I did run 18 times in October and most were 1 mile long.  --- I still haven't updated my run google sheet but I ran a 5k in November so that's even more miles.  I have had updating my miles on my to-do list for a long time but it always gets bumped for other things. It's killing me not having it updated. 
2. Complete 4 Beachbody programs - I completed 3 phases of 80 day obsession but still only count that as 1 program.  I am almost done with LIIFT4 but injuries put me behind. 
3. Exercise in some form 208 times (that's 4x/week) - My app says I have exercised 264 times (out of 333 days). I only had 13 workouts in November because my plantar fasciitis was so bad and then being lightheaded was so bad. I still met my goal here. 

Random other goals related to exercise -- I haven't done anything there!

1. Have a photo shoot while running
2. Have a photo shoot while doing various forms of exercise
3. Combine random exercise files/videos to one spot on my computer

For inspiring others, I plan to

1. Run 6 free challenges - I ran 2 in February and another in 2 March. I ran 2 more in June!  I ran 2 more in August. (So that's 8 total) 
2. Run 3 month long challenge groups - I ran one in August (~7 weeks) and started one October 1 (9 week group)  Just with these 2 that counts 3 months. I also started another in December. 

 I need an exercise photo shoot!  Anyone want to take some photos of me!?

2018 Week 46/52 Photo

I wasn't sure which pictures to use. I kept thinking oh I'll do an entire post about t his so then I didn't pick them. Then I scrolled through the entire week and didn't pick any for this post because I kept thinking I'd do another post! Well most likely I won't actually do the other posts.  I will definitely do a Friendsgiving post so I went with a group picture from Laura's Birthday Party.  I thought I clicked on 1 apparently only 1 and it's too hard to scroll through a month of pictures to go back and get the other.   We had a moms night out birthday party.  I was an hour late since Miles gets to sleep so late.  

Photo Taken November 12, 2018

21 Weeks (December)

I keep not even starting these posts for days after I should.  Third kid troubles.  This week was better than last week but still I felt pretty useless. I napped 3 days in a row. One day I napped for 52 minutes while Miles was awake making a huge mess.

My fingers seem to get swollen a lot easier and my rings are harder to get off.

I've started showing a lot more lately that people actually started commenting. At MVPNS, people finally asked how far along I was.

Size of baby: Carrot, 10.5 inches long from head to heel. My app on my phone says the baby weighs about 10.5 oz but last week at the ultrasound they said 11 oz already. 

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  1.5 lbs gained this week so 2.4 lb gain overall. The day before I was .9 less and the day after .2 more.  So the trend seems to be consistent at least. 

Maternity Clothes:  I wore maternity tops everyday I think. I wore regular athletic pants most days but Saturday I did wear maternity jeans.

Gender: Boy

Movement: Some days there is more movement than others. Mostly I don't notice it. 

Sleep: I've had issues sleeping. When Poly wakes me up, I just pee while I'm already up. I have such awful dreams. I sleep restlessly. 

What I miss: being able to function. I just want to lie down and have the kids watch TV all day long. 

Cravings: None

Aversions: Nope

Symptoms: I'm lightheaded a bit, I'm super tired. I have crazy dreams. I still have issues brushing my teeth. I feel like I barely have any yet also have a lot so maybe I'm missing something. 

Best moment this week:  Can't think of anything. 

Looking forward to:  

Exercise:  I think I worked out one day this week. I have notes beside me but too lazy/tired to turn on the lights and look at them. 

Same this time: I never have cravings or aversions.Apparently it's always uneventful. I didn't have a best moment last time either. I had the same exact write-up for Maternity clothes this time as last time. Athletic pants + maternity tanks for the win. 

Different from last time: With Ella we had ordered a crib so I felt like we were doing something.  With Miles I didn't do any prep and this time I haven't either. I did start looking into names last time. I couldn't find any we liked but at least we were trying. We haven't even tried.

21 Weeks with Ella
21 Weeks with Miles