~Bebe Numero Dos~

Yes, you read the title right, we are having Baby Rivera #2!! As of today I am 15 weeks along and am due on November 22, Thanksgiving Day!

We found out on March 16th, after I took a pregnancy test at work.  The real kicker was when I went to our clinic to confirm (because in the military you have to notify God and Country) they said that I was in fact not pregnant.  So my afternoon was spent taking these....

Never one to be told I'm wrong, I had to prove what we already knew! Two weeks later I headed down to the clinic, where I was known as the girl who thought she was pregnant but wasn't, and walked out fifteen minutes later with a smug smile on my face and my confirmation slip in hand!

We got to see and hear BR2 on April 30th and it put on quite a show for us.  With Rowen's first ultrasound he was curled in a ball so it was a whole new experience actually seeing arms and legs!

Knock on wood, this pregnancy has been great, but I also had a pretty easy go of it with Rowen.  The only thing I crave is ice water with a splash of pink lemonade! I had a few ill feeling days towards the beginning, which may of resulted in me saying good bye to Dunkin Donut's iced tea permanently, but otherwise I am handing food much better this time, although I don't feel like I have very much room, which didn't show up until the third trimester last time.  And I think BR2 is going to complete the stretch mark mural on my stomach because I feel like I am carrying higher than with Rowen who hung low as long as he could. 

I dug through some of my pictures from last time, which are amazing iPhone quality, and found one that I took right around this time with Rowen for comparison...

I like to think I look a little smaller this time, but I also started out a little heavier this time.  So far I have actually lost in the pregnancy, but I cut a lot of what I was eating out, and we try to walk everyday (which I think is a bonus of being pregnant in nice weather.) And at this point last time I was already 'needing' cookies and cream milkshakes from Chick-fil-a and was moving right along on the 40lb weight gain train.  

The best part of this pregnancy is that it seems to be going by super fast.  Last time all I had time to do was sit around and focus and agonize about baby decisions, but this time the little one's big brother has been keeping us pretty distracted.  

We get to find out if IT is a HE or a SHE on Monday, and I.can.not.wait.  Rudy thinks it is another little boy, and I think it is a little girl, but I also thought Rowen was a girl.  However, according to the Old wives, the fact that I have the acne of a 13 year old boy and it had a heart rate of 159 yesterday, both point to a girl.  When I asked my nurse practitioner if that heart rate was a girl or a boy, she knew what tale I spoke of, and answered girl with a high five.  Have I mentioned I love her?  And I think Rudy may be secretly hoping a girl since today he proclaimed he should get "an awesome push present" if its a girl. Either way we will be happy as long as it is healthy! 

I probably won't do these updates every week but I think it will be fun to be able to look back and see where we were throughout this journey! And I have to post a picture of my other children, J & L who helped take the picture today.  This is Lola's "I hope I remain the only girl child in the family face."

~Pink Eye is Not for the Faint of Heart~

This isn't what I had intended to post today, but then again I didn't intend to be home today.e  So this may be a whole gaggle of random.  According to Urgent Care, Rowen has the plague, aka Pink eye, so we are spending the day at home today.  

My favorite part of the day thus far has been the two times that I have had to forcibly hold him down while he screams bloody murder all in the pursuit of getting one drop in each eye.  This  may have driven me to call Hubs T Rivera this morning at 530 in an emotional state of distress, hoping that if he heard both me and Rowen crying hysterically he would say "screw work, I'm going home to my family." But alas he did not, and I had to put my big girl pants on again for dose two.  Thankfully I learned bribing him with a veggie pouch distracts him from the fact that I'm pulling his eyelids apart, and I was able to give him the one two punch pretty quick.  

The day hasn't been a total wash since I can get some errands done and get our packing done for the weekend, but every time I play hooky from work for my sick baby I feel like I don't really have a grasp on this whole working mom thing.  He is and will always be my top priority.  But when I stay home, I feel like I'm not doing my job well/my job cannot survive without me (which oddly I don't feel when I'm on vacation, and believe me it can survive and will.) 

It may be because I have rarely had to take a sick day myself but without fail I get the feeling on days like this.  And it just so happens that while my baby hasn't been an ear infection baby, he does seem to get every type of virus that prevents him from attending daycare ~ which I will happily take over ear infections any day.  It also doesn't help that our support system, aka the families, are thousands of miles away.  I simply can't drop him at grandma's on sick days and be on my merry way to work.  

Its days like this that make me doubt our decision for me to work.  While I couldn't of been a stay at home mom when Rowen was born ( I had two more years of my commitment left), I now only have a year of committed time left, but we have committed ourselves to being a dual income family.  There is a lifestyle we want, a barbie dream house that I often whine about, and a future for our family that we need to plan for, and in doing so, I need to be a working money contributing member.  Woe is me. 

That doesn't mean that doubts and fears don't pop into my head.  Like today when I sat there worrying that if Rowen was home with me he wouldn't of gotten pink eye, when in reality he could of just as easily gotten it at the park on one of our "What I would do all day if I were a SAHM" daily park trips.  Which in reality would probably look more like how I spent my day today~running doing errands, and just now sitting down with my first cup of coffee and Luna bar, baby napping, dogs snoring, and the soft hum of my energy efficient wash machine in the background. 

And believe me this is not me in anyway knocking SAHMs, every time I see one of you in target on one of my random days off where I get to pretend I'm in "the club," I turn pretty green with envy imagining how magical it must be to be a SAHM.  I realize its not just that, its also work, and its hard work.

On a different note, along with Pink Eye 2012, I had to wash all of Rowen's bedding including his beloved stuffed golden retrievers, big dog and little dog (yes I know we are creative name geniuses, at least Rowen's name is unique.)  As I was throwing them into the wash machine I had a flash back to when I was six years old and my mom would forcibly make me wash my best friend the Cabbage Patch James.  While I don't think  I minded getting James cleaned, it was the fact that I thought of him being locked in the air tight wash machine and that he was going to drown (as if he was a living breathing person) once she started the spin cycle.  Funny thing is, I had the exact same thoughts last night about little dog and big dog when I was throwing them into the wash.  I may have to start thinking of a  way to explain this whole washing lovies life crisis to Rowen so that one day when he asks me what I'm doing he doesn't get a complex that I'm drowning his friends.  

~Memorial Day 2012~

This year we had a nice relaxing Memorial Day Weekend, which was nice because last night Rudy headed off on a trip for the week, and we won't see him until Sunday night. It's hard to believe that this time last year Rowen was this itty bitty baby...

We thought he had sooo much personality then, little did we know! This year we spent the majority of our weekend mooching off enjoying our friends B & G's pool.  It may be my favorite pool ever since yesterday temps were over 90 degrees, and after our 830 in the morning walk, we were definitely looking to cool off!  Rowen absolutely loves the water, he sits in his float until his hands and feet look well beyond prunes.  And he is getting more used to being taken out of the float and dunked as well.  A few pictures from pool time of course....

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and get to enjoy a short work week!

~It Sure Has Been a While~

Now that every person I know in real life has commented that my blog has gone missing, I thought I should get back at it.  Its not that I haven't had things to blog--life has been pretty exciting these last two months--but its also been busy, and I have had to put my efforts into other things...like taking naps.  On most afternoons when Rowen is asleep I make the life altering decision of whether I should blog or take a nap, and everyday of these past two months the nap has won.

Yet here I am again.  I have some old and new things to blog about so hang with me while I play catch up.  This is Our story and its important that I document it,  even if its a few weeks late.  And the Mr. is off on business this week so before we jet off to watch my baby brother graduate from high school, I'm going to attempt to get a few posts up. Thanks for stopping by again!

~One Year Old~

Dear Rowen,

Today you are one year old.  Today your dad and I have kept you alive for an entire year.  I still remember every second of this day last year--how tiny you felt in my arms, and how amazing it was that such a little person could change your life in an instant.

Today isn't about that day though, but rather the year we have had with you.  It has been simply put, magical.  You are the light of our lives.  The first born, my first baby.  When I think about showing you these letters some day, I try to think of things that I would want you to know.  Here are a list of a few things about you this past year:

1. You are what everyone considers an easy baby.  I will have to remind myself of this in your toddler and teenage years.  But everyone loves how easy going and happy you are.  You slept through the night since five weeks old and eat anything and everything.  You simply love to be loved.

2.  Everyone says you look exactly like your dad, but you have my eyebrows and my chin, so don't you forget it! Right now your hair is a little bit wavy and light brown, and if you catch the sun just right, you can see red highlights.  I like to think its the ginger fighting through.  You have the darkest of darkest brown eyes, with the prettiest long eyelashes.  You make women envious everywhere you go with your long eyelashes.

3.  Your favorite songs are You are my Sunshine and Wheels on the Bus.  If I don't do all of the hand motions to Wheels on the Bus you get mad!

4.  You are literally days away from walking.  You have taken a few small steps here and there and I know its only a matter of time before you completely take off!

5.  You LOVE Jack and Lola.  If they would let you follow them everywhere you would.  We are teaching you to be gentle with them and you could pat-pat-pat them on the head all day long.

6.  You are an early riser, sleep on your belly, and sleep for a long time each night!

7. Your favorite foods right now are spaghetti, strawberries, mandarin oranges, and apples.  You aren't a huge fan of vegetables, but you will finish them all.  When you get really hungry, you growl and grumble until you are no longer hungry.  

8. Your favorite toy is your stuffed dog, affectionately named dog. He sleeps with you every night and when we let him out of the crib you drag him all over the house.

9. You have four teeth on top and two teeth on bottom.

10.  When you want to you have a bit of a temper.  It is short lived, but is mighty for one so small! And sometimes it is accompanied by a single rolling tear. 

11.  You love to cuddle us.  Sometimes when we pick you up you just lay your head on our shoulder for a little while and it is the sweetest thing in the world.

12. We call you row row, Chicken, Chicken little, The Baby, and gremlin.  And Rowen too.

How do you quantify a year?  Its hard to imagine what life without you was like.  Obviously we have those memories, but remembering that  you weren't there just doesn't seem like how they actually happened.  But they did, and so did this wonderful year.  A year that may just go down in the books as being the best.

Happy Birthday our sweet little boy, we love you so so much!

~Coast Guard Crash~

It isn't often I speak about the Coast Guard here on my blog.  But my blog is about my family, and the Coast Guard is a big part of my family.  Without it, I wouldn't have met my husband. Or my best friends. For the last eight years it has been my second home.

We are a small service, no bigger than the NYPD, but we get the job done.

 Last night one of our helicopters fell from the sky.  

For many around the country those big Coast Guard orange helicopters have been a symbol of hope in times of need. They search for and rescue people everyday, often with very little fan fair.  They do it simply because it is their job and it is what they love.

Right now I ask that you pray for my Coast Guard family.  Rescue crews continue to search for three of the four members who are still missing. 

Hope and faith are what we must hold close tonight.

Read More Here

~Midweek Randoms~

Tuesday felt like a Thursday this week, so if that were the case today would be Friday.  Its not, but at least its pay day! Here we go...

~We still have our Christmas lights up.  Yes, its the Leap Year and I still have white icicles dangling from my roof.  I tell myself if we owned a ladder I would climb up there and take them down myself, but thats probably not true.  My real goal is to get them down before Saturday when we have visitors so they don't see that we are 'those neighbors'.

~I need to stop believing in the powers of Pinterest.  Take for instance last week.  I have a tendency to make recipes from Pinterest based on two things: 1. How astetically pleasing the picture of the food is 2. How many repins it has.  While this has worked a few times, last week was an epic fail.  The recipe in question called for a block of cream cheese, which should of been my first hint that this would not turn out well.  After two hours of simmering in my crock pot my house smelt awful  wonderful,  I made Rudy be the guinea pig and taste it.  It was no bueno. Turns out all of those people who were gushing over the the recipe had never actually made it.  I didn't find one 'review' that actually said it tasted good.  Lesson learned, read the reviews.  

~My husband loves award shows.  Not entirely sure why as he has yet to have ever been able to convey an exact reason to me, but nonetheless we watch them everywhere.  While I would have rathered not stay up til midnight to see a silent movie win, I did overall enjoy the broadcast.  A few of my favorites were...

Jessica Chastain from the Help.  I thought she looked stunning and I would kill to be able to haver her perfect Strawberry hair.

Penelope Cruz...I absolutely loved the color of her dress!

~ A couple of months ago I purchased one of Erin Condren's Year Round Notebooks.  While the blog world was oohing and aahing over the Life Planner, I just couldn't make myself love mine.  But the notebook is different, and works perfectly for me.  I don't have a ton of meetings/events that requires a lot of space for the day, but with the notebook I can just look at the entire month and fill in the smaller blocks.  I have the meetings/appointments for the month, our cleaning schedule, weekly meals, and blog topics.  In the back on the note pages, I compile my weekly grocery lists, and the lists of things I need to do.  I LOVE LISTS, and the notebook portion of this plannerish book is perfect!