>Dance, Dance

>Conner has been dancing for some time now. Everytime he sees the camera, he magically freezes. Needless to say, it's taken me a while to get this on film. When he first started dancing, he would just bob his head. Then he started stomping his feet and dancing (running in place). The Imagination Movers taught him "turn around, turn around". It's the most adorable thing EVER. I have several videos of him doing one type of dance or the other. He was so hyper the other night and I got all 3! I was one excited momma!
http://www.youtube.com/get_player

Dance, Dance

Conner has been dancing for some time now. Everytime he sees the camera, he magically freezes. Needless to say, it's taken me a while to get this on film. When he first started dancing, he would just bob his head. Then he started stomping his feet and dancing (running in place). The Imagination Movers taught him "turn around, turn around". It's the most adorable thing EVER. I have several videos of him doing one type of dance or the other. He was so hyper the other night and I got all 3! I was one excited momma!

>Supermom?

>I was reading blog this morning (while eating my lunch and Conner napping), and the cake lady has a great post about being supermom. Now, I can not speak for all of my mommy friends but I am not supermom. I do know several of them...although I don't know that they want to necessarily be called out. Anyway, this got me thinking. What do I consider a supermom? Before I answer my own question, let me just preface by saying that I think society puts that demand onto moms. It's the demand that your kids always look perfect. That you, as a mom, always look completely put together, your house is spotless, you cook everynight, there are never toys to trip over, never a visible snotty nose or dirty diaper. Every hair is in place, make-up done. You show up to playgroups and birthday parites early with a perfectly wrapped gift in hand. You probably made the card to accompany the gift. You're never running late and being frazzled is not something that you experience. That's only if you're supermom. If you are like ME, you forget to pack wipes or diapers but you have FOOD b/c your kid loves it. Sometimes, there isn't anymore milk in the sippy cup and there's no spare in the diaper bag. I showed up for one of my OB appts w/my son in pjs. I had to wake him up just to go, so he ate in the car and I changed his clothes in the waiting room. To top that off, a very sweet family walked in....3 children all dressed perfectly, hair done perfectly. That sure makes a girl like me feel less than adequate. My house is never completely spotless. EVER. I clean a little every day. There are always toys on the floor, I do cook dinner every night but it saves so much money, so there's the motivation for that. I'm usually late for playgroups and the gifts for birthday parties are thrown in a gift baf as I'm getting into the car. Conner is teething so he has a constant runny nose and after his naps, sometimes the snot is in his hair. Do I give him a bath immediately? NO. Absoutely not. I'm a mom; I play with my son. If something doesn't get done today there is always tomorrow. I do my best, that's all I can do.

Do I feel some guilt that I am (clearly) not a supermom? HELL no. I have one life to live and at the end of the day, I want to tell my very hardworking husband funny stories of things that our son and I did that day, not about how I spent my time preping for someone's party/playgroup or cleaning all day. I love living through my 15mo old's eyes. He sees the world as this amazing new place. It's a joy to me to stop cleaning and trying to be this fictional character. I enjoy my non-spotless house. I gain much more than a stupid social label. I have memories of my boy. Memories of him learning, playing, laughing. That is much more important to me.

Supermom?

I was reading blog this morning (while eating my lunch and Conner napping), and the cake lady has a great post about being supermom. Now, I can not speak for all of my mommy friends but I am not supermom. I do know several of them...although I don't know that they want to necessarily be called out. Anyway, this got me thinking. What do I consider a supermom? Before I answer my own question, let me just preface by saying that I think society puts that demand onto moms. It's the demand that your kids always look perfect. That you, as a mom, always look completely put together, your house is spotless, you cook everynight, there are never toys to trip over, never a visible snotty nose or dirty diaper. Every hair is in place, make-up done. You show up to playgroups and birthday parites early with a perfectly wrapped gift in hand. You probably made the card to accompany the gift. You're never running late and being frazzled is not something that you experience. That's only if you're supermom. If you are like ME, you forget to pack wipes or diapers but you have FOOD b/c your kid loves it. Sometimes, there isn't anymore milk in the sippy cup and there's no spare in the diaper bag. I showed up for one of my OB appts w/my son in pjs. I had to wake him up just to go, so he ate in the car and I changed his clothes in the waiting room. To top that off, a very sweet family walked in....3 children all dressed perfectly, hair done perfectly. That sure makes a girl like me feel less than adequate. My house is never completely spotless. EVER. I clean a little every day. There are always toys on the floor, I do cook dinner every night but it saves so much money, so there's the motivation for that. I'm usually late for playgroups and the gifts for birthday parties are thrown in a gift baf as I'm getting into the car. Conner is teething so he has a constant runny nose and after his naps, sometimes the snot is in his hair. Do I give him a bath immediately? NO. Absoutely not. I'm a mom; I play with my son. If something doesn't get done today there is always tomorrow. I do my best, that's all I can do.

Do I feel some guilt that I am (clearly) not a supermom? HELL no. I have one life to live and at the end of the day, I want to tell my very hardworking husband funny stories of things that our son and I did that day, not about how I spent my time preping for someone's party/playgroup or cleaning all day. I love living through my 15mo old's eyes. He sees the world as this amazing new place. It's a joy to me to stop cleaning and trying to be this fictional character. I enjoy my non-spotless house. I gain much more than a stupid social label. I have memories of my boy. Memories of him learning, playing, laughing. That is much more important to me.

>Baby Ryleigh is on her way!

>My brother and Sister-in law are expecing their first baby. We got a phone call last night around midnight...her water had broken and they were off the the hospital. As of right now, he's dialted to a 2 and got the epidural (wimp, haha). They started pitocen. I was so excited for them when I heard that I actually started crying (maybe I'm the wimp). I can't wait to see her sweet face. I'm beyond thrilled for both Rusty and Janice. Stay tuned! I'm sure I'll have some pics to post.

Baby Ryleigh is on her way!

My brother and Sister-in law are expecing their first baby. We got a phone call last night around midnight...her water had broken and they were off the the hospital. As of right now, he's dialted to a 2 and got the epidural (wimp, haha). They started pitocen. I was so excited for them when I heard that I actually started crying (maybe I'm the wimp). I can't wait to see her sweet face. I'm beyond thrilled for both Rusty and Janice. Stay tuned! I'm sure I'll have some pics to post.

>Appt update

>Today, I had my 16w ob appt. I brought Conner with me and he was so, so good! It's like he knows when I really need him to behave. I've gained 4 pounds. I'm glad that I've finally gained a little bit because I've been getting some grief about my lack of weight gain. I think that some people forget that I do have a very active 15mo old to chase around. Anyway, I asked Dr. Rush (who I LOVE) about my weight and he said that the ideal weight for someone 5'2 is 115 (HAHAHA, not this girl) and he wants me to stay around the 20-22 pound range for the entire pregnancy. He thinks I'm right on track and told me to tell the people that are giving me a hard time that they gained too much when they were pregnant! See why I like him so much! The baby sounds great; heart rate around 145-150. I asked him about the cramping and told him that the cramps get worse when I exercise so I've stopped and he told me to START exercising again but to do very low impact things. He doesn't want me to not exercise. It's hard for me to remember that cramping is normal. I don't want that pre-term labor again and especially not at this stage. I have an ultrasound next Friday (the 19) and learned today that I get another one on March 9. I'll let Josh decide which one he wants to go to and that's when we will find out the gender. I just want him to be there when we find out. I have a feeling he will skip next week's and go on the 9. We'll see.

My goal for today is to get some fitness (which actually makes me happy). Conner slept really poorly last night. Guess who else did too? When he naps, I'll exercise; even if it's just pilates.

Appt update

Today, I had my 16w ob appt. I brought Conner with me and he was so, so good! It's like he knows when I really need him to behave. I've gained 4 pounds. I'm glad that I've finally gained a little bit because I've been getting some grief about my lack of weight gain. I think that some people forget that I do have a very active 15mo old to chase around. Anyway, I asked Dr. Rush (who I LOVE) about my weight and he said that the ideal weight for someone 5'2 is 115 (HAHAHA, not this girl) and he wants me to stay around the 20-22 pound range for the entire pregnancy. He thinks I'm right on track and told me to tell the people that are giving me a hard time that they gained too much when they were pregnant! See why I like him so much! The baby sounds great; heart rate around 145-150. I asked him about the cramping and told him that the cramps get worse when I exercise so I've stopped and he told me to START exercising again but to do very low impact things. He doesn't want me to not exercise. It's hard for me to remember that cramping is normal. I don't want that pre-term labor again and especially not at this stage. I have an ultrasound next Friday (the 19) and learned today that I get another one on March 9. I'll let Josh decide which one he wants to go to and that's when we will find out the gender. I just want him to be there when we find out. I have a feeling he will skip next week's and go on the 9. We'll see.

My goal for today is to get some fitness (which actually makes me happy). Conner slept really poorly last night. Guess who else did too? When he naps, I'll exercise; even if it's just pilates.

>updates

>There really hasn't been a lot going on here. Conner had his 15m appt last week and the gist of it is that he's still small and needs to gain more weight. He weighs 19lbs 9 oz; 2%. Great, huh? The only reason they didn't go straight to testing is because he is still progressing in height and head circumference. The pedi told me to add protein powder to his milk...if only he'd DRINK the milk. He eats all day long but he also RUNS all day long. He's busy and small. So, I'm trying. Honestly that is all I can really do.

We haven't gone to a playgroup, well we hosted one and then we went to a friend's house to play...is that really a playgroup? It's been too cold and rainy to even play outside. I don't mine cold or rain but I despise them together. Conner has figured out how to go up and down the stairs on his slide. It's his new favorite thing to do. He loves taking things apart. In fact, he took apart a picture frame that I have. He unscrewed the piece that makes it pivot. Then he brought me the screw.

I've been really bad at NOT taking pictures but I promise that I'll do better this week.

I have my 16w appt this week. I'm going to talk to the OB about these headaches. They are really killing me. I get them every single day. Tylenol doesn't really do much for them (or me). Maybe they have a solution that won't make me sleep all the time. That's not really an option.

Here's my 16w belly

updates

There really hasn't been a lot going on here. Conner had his 15m appt last week and the gist of it is that he's still small and needs to gain more weight. He weighs 19lbs 9 oz; 2%. Great, huh? The only reason they didn't go straight to testing is because he is still progressing in height and head circumference. The pedi told me to add protein powder to his milk...if only he'd DRINK the milk. He eats all day long but he also RUNS all day long. He's busy and small. So, I'm trying. Honestly that is all I can really do.

We haven't gone to a playgroup, well we hosted one and then we went to a friend's house to play...is that really a playgroup? It's been too cold and rainy to even play outside. I don't mine cold or rain but I despise them together. Conner has figured out how to go up and down the stairs on his slide. It's his new favorite thing to do. He loves taking things apart. In fact, he took apart a picture frame that I have. He unscrewed the piece that makes it pivot. Then he brought me the screw.

I've been really bad at NOT taking pictures but I promise that I'll do better this week.

I have my 16w appt this week. I'm going to talk to the OB about these headaches. They are really killing me. I get them every single day. Tylenol doesn't really do much for them (or me). Maybe they have a solution that won't make me sleep all the time. That's not really an option.

Here's my 16w belly