A year of Twilight Sparkle

My little Twilight Sparkle has really had a big year, I think 2013 has been the one to show the biggest changes in her.

She’s gone from a toddler to a real kid, I won’t lie, I’m super sad about it. Her speech has improved dramatically; I would guess it has a lot to do with putting her in school 5 days a week. She’s learned so much, in fact I had no idea she could say all the months of the year IN SPANISH. Hahaha. The things we learn when we take away the electronics on the ride home.

She swam the length of a pool with no floaties, UNDERWATER, with her gobbles of course.

She’s kept her friends and made some new ones, the kid is not shy, just like her Mama!

 

We love to play board games, she’s also a pro at UNO now.  

She loves fashion and would change her outfit 3 times a day if allowed.

She’s become more self-sufficient and more helpful around the house, which is great because…..

She also became a big sister.

 

She’s learned new things, like soccer, dance, and gymnastics.

 

Most of all she has grown into a polite, caring, and smart little girl, I couldn’t be more proud!

Have a safe and Happy New Year!
 
 

 

Bumpdate 29 weeks

Wow I feel like it's been forever since we chatted, the holidays can sure make time fly!

Christmas was great, Twilight Sparkle was excited over all her gifts for sure, but it wasn't the iPad she really cared about. No instead of the 400 toy she loved the 40 dollar talking Twilight Sparkle :) Of course.

The light up drawing pad and scooter were a close second though.

No holiday is complete without some new outfits to model, along with her new favorite boots. It still makes me sad that I have to get rid of all her clothing from birth until last season :( I plan to hopefully go through the MILLIONS of boxes in the attic by late January. 

My parents were closing on their new house 2 days after Christmas so we did it all at my house, which meant I cooked the entire meal. Not a great idea when you are over 7 months pregnant, I think I did dishes at least 7 times, but at least I got to sneak in some healthier dishes like this one. 

Oliver entertained the little one with Nerf wars, which included wearing protective eyewear.

I hit 29 weeks, belly poppin' all over the place. Well, booty and boobies too :) I've had some days where I feel really nauseous and tired, but going to the gym helps although it's really really hard. I'll do a full post on that later this week along with some fun things for the New Year. 

Still not done with Aiden's room, but his rug from Rugs USA came and I freaking love it so much!! The colors are perfect and I love the design, not to mention that it was a steal at 60% off! I bought a stroller, the BOB SE which I mostly choose because they were running a promotion where you bought the stroller and got the car seat for free plus I used a Buy Buy Baby coupon for 20% off and ended up paying less that 400 for all of it. Score! I don't actually plan to run with the baby much if at all, but you never know. 

The day after Christmas Oliver actually came down with the flu, then Friday Madison and I both caught it, weirdly I believe the last time I had it I was pregnant with her. Poor baby, I hate when she's sick she's so sweet, yet miserable. After laying on the couch most of the weekend we are all starting to feel better.

Although she did fall asleep during our pedicures. I wanted to leave her home, but she insisted on going and just loves it so much, I'm a sucker.

Saturday was Oliver's birthday, I have to say it's really hard to be married to a Christmas baby. I have a hard time finding ANOTHER present for him { I got lucky this year and found at PS4 so I'm set until next year!} and mustering up the enthusiasm to plan anything. We kept it simple and just went out for Hibachi with my family. Heck, he's all old now anyways, lets just forget the birthdays. Except mine of course although mine falls between Aiden's and Madison's so I'm screwed too. 

Hope you guys had a great Christmas!

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Bumpdate 28 Weeks

28 Weeks! Man, time is flying right now thanks to the Holidays! 

The honeymoon phase is over and the standard issue pregnancy complaints are hitting me. Heavy belly, can’t tie my shoes, heartburn, and general aches and pains. Oliver thinks it’s funny when I’m trying to put my shoes on and off, I may throat punch him next time he laughs.

Friday some co-workers met up for a date night at Bob’s in Dallas. We haven’t had been ‘out’ in a while so it was nice to get dressed up and have a good meal.

Saturday I celebrated with my BFF Amber, she just finished her Masters, with 2 kids, being pregnant, and working full time.  I’m so proud of her, so I treated her to a spa day of facials and prenatal massages. It was glorious, her first ever facial. If you’ve never had one you need to! We went to Pavitra Organic Spa in downtown McKinney.

Twilight Sparkle ‘helped’ my parents pack; they are closing on their new house Friday!!! I’m so excited to have them within 5 miles of me, especially with a new baby on the way. 

Sunday we took Twilight Sparkle to see Santa at the Galleria, the entire way there she kept telling us how she didn’t want to see Santa and she was scared of him. 

I told her ok, we will just go look at the giant tree. Well once she saw the fun ‘maze’ she was all about it and took a great picture. She’s  just got the cutest smile, I want to pinch those cheeks.

Her cute top is from Cici and Ryan and the skirt is from Macys. The aborable chevron scarf is Etsy.

I take the men along, one to carry my bags and the other to carry my kid :)

Here's to a fun relaxing week spent with family!

 

Blog Design Giveaway

Hey y'all. Isn't it looking pretty around here? Hubby Jack gave my blog a little facelift and I'm loving it! Who doesn't want a little gold foiled prettiness in their header?

Hubby Jack is running a special for the month of December, a complete blog design for $55. Even when I first started blogging I hated the templates that were free, I have no clue about HTML and all that jazz, so I always had to hire someone to do it. What I love about HJ is that I can be all ‘I have no clue what I want’ and he’ll do it up for me with exactly what I didn’t know I even wanted. Did that even make sense? Ha ha. Plus at any time I can email him a problem and he’s on it! Kinda like my blog husband.

Anyways for the next week we are running a giveaway for a complete blog design, you must be a follower of SkinnyMeg to enter. Good luck! If you have any questions feel free to bug Chris by email, cstanfield3@hotmail.com

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Teaching Healthy Food Habits

My little Twilight Sparkle is growing up and while I’m sad about it I’m also looking forward to doing new fun things with her.  This past year I’ve really been trying to include her in the kitchen. When I pick her up after work we discuss what we are having for dinner that night on the way home, the ingredients, and the steps that need to be taken to prepare it.  I get her excited to help and now she asks me what we are cooking before I can even bring it up.

I let her use the knives, big and small, with supervision of course.  Oliver usually shows her the proper way to dice up veggies, I kinda just do my own thing J  I let her measure out ingredients, stir, whisk, and pretty much anything else she wants to try.

Now I will say as a working Mother some days this is hard, if traffic is bad or I’m just really tired I honestly just want to do it myself and get it done.  Letting a small child help pretty much means a big ole mess, but I do it anyways because I want her to be comfortable in the kitchen.  I didn’t learn to cook until after I was married and I think that’s a shame.

I also am trying to give her a healthy feeling towards food, yes she can have a treat, but I also talk about how too many are not good for your belly.  We discuss what protein is and what it does for your muscles. I don’t force her to eat and while I encourage her to take a bite or two more of her food I never make her finish her plate. I give her choices and let her pick what she’s hungry for that day.

While she loves helping to make dinner she very rarely will eat what I make, she’s gotten pickier the older she’s gotten. She loves fish and chicken, likes pasta, but doesn’t like any type of sauce.  I plan to just keep offering it, one day she’ll come around.

What way’s do you guys teach your kids good food habits?

Here are a few of my recent favorite recipes:

Healthy Mac and Cheese

Spinach and Turkey Italian Sausage Soup

Easy Skinny Skillet Lasagna

Holly and Darren.

Some of you may already know Holly and Darren, I was introduced to their story on a very special day for them, a gender reveal for their twins. I came across the link on Facebook and I cried happy tears for them even though I did not know them or their story. Something about the sheer happiness they were feeling came across on the video and stuck in my head.

3 days later their story took a very different turn. Holly’s water broke around her baby girl Brinly at 17 weeks and she was left to do very little but pray that her sweet child would be spared, but at 18 weeks and 2 days Brinly died. The twins were in separate sacs which meant that Jude, her son, still had a fighting chance, but at 21 weeks an infection took over and she was forced to deliver her boy, still-born.

Holly and Darren having been fighting infertility for three years now and have suffered multiple miscarriages. I know that I struggled with ‘why them’ after reading their story, I thought about Holly, someone I’d never met daily, I prayed so hard for God to answer their prayers. How can so many unthinkable things happen to just one person? How do you stay faithful?

Holly and Darren are incredibly strong and are not ready to give up their dreams of having a family. I know this community is one of love and today I’m asking that we shower that love down on two people who are so richly deserving of kindness.

I don’t know the details of how expensive their journey has been, but I do know that 3 years, 8 IUI’s, and 3 IVF’s do not come cheap. Holly is a teacher and Darren just finished school and works for an investment firm. A fund has been set up if you would like to donate financially; I think their next route may be surrogacy depending on the outcome of Holly’s tests. The hospital cost for Jude alone was over $3,000.

Click here for the donation page for the Bensons.

Third Trimester Bumpdate

27 Weeks then and now, I like comparing these pics and knowing that I'm kicking ass this time around. I don't weigh myself because, really, I'm pregnant and there's just not a lot I can do if I think the number is too high, so why stress myself? I will weigh myself March 5th, the day before my c-section. I decided to just do another one for a few reasons, one is that I want my tubes tied, and the other is because Madison's birth was just a terrible terrible day. I labored all day, pushed for hours, and still ended up having surgery. Even if I choose a vbac I could very well end up in the same situation and I just don't want the stress. I have no desire to actually push a baby out and honestly the only reason I considered a vbac was so I could get back to the gym quicker, maybe. Surgery does suck, but I'm hoping the 2nd time will be easier for me now that I'm in shape.

Baby Aiden is measuring right on track at 2.6 pounds with a HR of 135. I passed my GD test, my levels all look great, my placenta is low which could cause some spotting, but nothing dangerous.

Sundy Runday was a disaster. Oliver, Meredith, and I all planned on doing 13.1 in place of the canceled half from last weekend, no problem. Well poor Oliver cramped up pretty bad because all the water fountains were off at the lake, so no water. I missed my window to get this done apparently, I started off so good, then it just got harder and harder, finally I had to throw in the towel and call for a ride. 

It's frustrating when your mind and heart want to do something, but your body won't. Remember that chick who ran a marathon at 9 months, she must have had a pelvis of steel! I'm ok with cutting back to 6 or so for the next 79 days :)

Twilight Sparkle got her weekend workout in too, she's really enjoying gymnastics. I was only going to keep her in for the soccer off season, but now I think I'll have to find a way to add it in with dance and soccer.

Everyday there is a mad dash for my Bump Nest pillow as soon as I'm not using it. I'm so glad I bought this, it's freaking awesome. Madison is rocking my Brady Band, she loves to dig around and wear anything of mine she can.

She's also ready for baby Aiden, she keeps telling me how she's going to feed him with my booby. Not real sure how that's gonna work, but I can tell she's going to be a great help!

Origami Owl: Perfect Gift Giving!

Tis the season! Another great giveaway today for a product that I REALLY love. Like a lot.

Origami Owl has the prettiest lockets and my favorite thing about them is that they are customizable. You can easily make someone a personalized gift in 5 steps or less!

Today Madison is giving away a gorgeous living locket from her website, you must be a follower of this blog to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway