What’s your favorite name from this list?
Category: Family
Our Summer Family Photos 2018
I AM BEYOND EXCITED ABOUT THESE PHOTOS!
I am someone who LOVES capturing moments and taking family photos during all stages of life as much as possible. In June, I was already planning on getting family photos done. Mainly, cause when Bennett was 3 months old we had photos taken by friend of mine which we absolutely loved and I wanted to take photos around the same age for Owen. Another thing is, we have been very fortunate to work with different photographers and I specifically love working with new photographers and help them build their portfolio.
I want to preface this with saying I love every photographer we have worked with before and I would totally work with them again. BUT The photos I am about the show you are HANDS DOWN my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE Photos we have EVER taken as a family.
So, to back track… Earlier in the month I was getting ready to start looking for a photographer for Family photos when I received an E-mail from Julia asking if we would like family photos with her. I looked up her work and immediately responded YES! It was like serendipity. We picked a date, time and location and I eagerly waited for the day to arrive.
We selected Elizabeth Gamble Garden in Palo Alto,CA and when we arrived, my jaw dropped. We had lived 15 min. away from this place and had never been. It was this perfect little garden with so many nooks and crannies offering for a multitude of fantastics shots and a beautiful historical home nearby as well.. in our hour there we didn’t even cover most of the location. We could go back and have a whole different photo shoot experience.
Working with Julia was just amazing, she is a sweet quite women with young children herself and what I loved is that she is very flexible and she moves quickly. Bennett is a a kid on the go and he doesn’t really stop long enough to take a beautiful posed photo (it can drive me crazy) and if you want a wall worthy photo from him you need to be on your toes and Julia was just that!
I could gush about this experience forever but overall I am so grateful to have met and connected with Julia. She is sweet and professional, but also relaxed. I like that she was great with candids, but also giving directions too. If you are in the Bay Area. I HIGHLY Recommend you check her out, on top of that her sessions are VERY affordable and she has even been SO KIND as to offer my followers a discount code Kelsey20 at the booking and get 20% off your session (promo expires 09/01/18) Seriously, this is an AMAZING deal with or without the code!!! I am only showing you a small portion of the photos she took and Andrew and I have yet to decide which ones we will be printing to put on the walls cause there are just too many great ones to choose from.
Do not be surprised if our Christmas Photos this year are taken by her! Go over to her website Shelepova Photography and also, check out her blog post featuring us.. here. And do not forget to use the code Kelsey20 for 20% off your session when you book with her… cause you would be crazy not to!
Uncommon & Unique Girl Name Beginning with “B”
How Do You Find Time?
No Seriously, this is mainly directed to the mama’s out there.. specifically stay at home moms who don’t use childcare… but how do you find time in the day to get anything done? With to little ones on different schedules, I find it hard to get anything done during the day. I wake up every morning with big plans and great intentions but most of my day look is planned around a time with they hopefully both nap and whatever errand we have to run that day and than filled in between with play time, diaper changes and feedings and by the time the day ends I have found i haven’t accomplished much else.
I want our days to be filled with meaningful entertainment and activities for the kids, my house work getting done and being organized, exercise, getting blogs posts done, uploading youtube videos and getting my personal work done as well and maybe reading a few pages of a book.
My biggest struggle I find is that Bennett is at an age where I can’t really leave him alone in a room , cause he now not only climbs on everything but gets into EVERYTHING no matter how childproof I make it and our home is small. So we don’t have a dedicated play room, where i can throw him in and not worry about anything happening. Owen is 3 months old so my ability to do stuff his based on his attitude and his schedule. AND even if I get a miracle of them napping at the same time, i usually just want to have ME time and once Andrew gets home, I just want to have time with him ( he works 6 days a week… so the few hours a day we get together mean a lot)
I had started a plan to wake up at 6-6:30 AM and go running before the kids wake up. That way Andrew is still home with them. BUT I find myself wanting to sleep in if Owen woke up at 5AM or a few times during the night. I like my sleep and I am a night owl. So today I decided to start a new plan. Instead of going back to bed after taking care of Owen in the morning. I am going to wake up and start my day. That means I may wake up at 3AM or at 6AM and anywhere in between. BUT I will NOT go back to bed. I will wake up and start working, clean whatever needs to be cleaned or organized and workout/go for a run. Now.. sleep is important but I can either nap when the kids nap or if I have to get up super early go back to bed before the kids wake up.
SO Mama’s i need to know HOW DO YOU DO IT?! I know it is possible. I know it can be done… but How do you find the time?! My plan my be crazy and I may fail at it.. but I have to TRY something new, cause the current system I have isn’t working.
20 Uncommon & Unique Boy Names Beginning with “B”
That’s right, I’m going to be going through the Alphabet! Check out my list for the letter A Here & let me know which name is your favorite from the list below!
Bennett’s 2nd Birthday Party: Curious George Theme
So late last month we celebrated Bennett’s 2nd Birthday Party. We had it later in the month because Bennett’s actual birthday on the 3rd was just too close to Owen’s birth and I knew I wasn’t going to be up to planning a birthday party SO soon after giving birth. In fact, usually I start planning a party months in advance and although i had an IDEA of what i wanted for Bennett’s party; I didn’t begin until about a week before and most of the supplies I got were from the Dollar Store, some Target and Amazon too.
For the past few month before, I also debated between whether his theme should be Curious George, Cars or Baseball. He loves all 3 of those. However, I figured baseball & cars are things he will most likely still like as he gets older, but Curious George represents his current age very well. Since I love planning parties and have such bad luck with them (usually the weather) I decided to give myself slack this time around. I was going to keep it very simple and casual and not stress about it. And that paid off. Cause just like every other party I have had before, the weather was my nemesis. The WHOLE Week, the weather had been perfect, but of course the day of the mainly outdoor party it had to be overcast weather with some light showers. Which led to very anti-climatic decor as I couldn’t really decorate outside. BUT i didn’t panic and just accepted the day for what it was and what was accomplished looked nice.
For food we kept it simple with Sloppy Joe’s I Made, pizza from Little Ceasar’s, Fresh Veggies, Pretzel Chips and for Dessert. Funfetti Cake w/ Lemon Icing, Banana Cupcakes w/Cream Cheese Frosting and Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Chocolate frosting all of which I made and decorated.
The weather did get better towards the end and the party overall was nice and Bennett had a bajillion cupcakes and enjoyed himself thoroughly which is all that really matters at the end of the day.
Unique & Uncommon Girl Names Beginning with A
On Friday I posted a list of 20 Uncommon Boys Names Beginning With AÂ so, I of course had to follow up with the girls version! ENJOY!
Do you have any favorites from the list?! Next up is the letter B, leave your suggestions down below!
20 Uncommon & Unique Boy Names Beginning with A
Last week, a friend of mine on Facebook asked for baby boy name suggestions, as they are having a boy very soon and have yet to fins a name they like. I quickly messaged her and asked her a series of questions to determine the styles of names they were looking for and then I made her a list of 40 names. Whether they end using a name from list, we will see.. but what I do know is I enjoyed making that list. You see, I have always had a fascination with names and their meaning and origins. I am odd like that, always being interested in random subjects and interests. After making that list I thought to myself… could I have this as a job? haha and although, I don’t know if baby list name making for those expecting can actually be a job… I figured.. Hey! why don’t I make it a series on blog?! So today, I present to you 20 Uncommon and/or Unique Baby Boys Names Beginning with the letter A.
And those are the 20 names! What name is your favorite?! Do you have a child with any of these names? Were you maybe inspired to use one of these names? Let me know in the comments down below! Coming soon will be 20 Uncommon/Unique Baby Names for Girls Beginning with A.
Weekly Re-Cap: #1
I am still trying to figure out what exactly I want this blog to be. I have a general idea of content I WANT to create but I am just not quite there yet… and I may write a post on that soon too. However, I do know I want to use it as a diary of sorts, to remember how I was feeling during this time and where the family was at during a particular time. That is also the reason why I have began vlogging.. but I haven’t kept up with it. Bits and clips here and there but nothing daily or weekly. So, the way I look at it, even if I didn’t film anything. I can a least have a verbal account of what happened that week. I will try and post these every Saturday. I like the idea of a monthly re-cap, but I just don’t want to miss out on anything and with mom brain being REAL strong these days, that is bond to happen…
We will begin with the Sunday, although I wont go into too much detail since I will be writing a blog post on the day, but we celebrated Bennett’s Birthday Party. We celebrated it later in the month, to give me some time to actually be mentally present to plan it, since Owen had just been born the month before. It was a Curious George Theme and Bennett has an absolute blast!
Monday and Tuesday were probably the most trying two days I have had with Owen since he was born. The Saturday before Bennett’s birthday we ended up having to make an emergency trip to the doctors office, because we had been having issues with Owen projectile vomiting. He ended having to go to the hospital and get some blood work and testing done. Luckily, everything came back normal… but he was also given medicine and they had us switch to the very fancy expensive special formula. Fast forward to Monday and Tuesday. I spent my whole day holding Owen cause it was the only way I could get him to stop crying. He was screaming and crying in pain , the vomiting had stopped but now he was just miserable. I would like to add that although, it was exhausting and it was disappointing to not be able to get other stuff done. I amazingly was still sane, and a big part of that probably has to do with Bennett being very good and playing with all of his new toys.
So, after two days of torturous screaming I called the doctors office to see if I needed to come in or if we should just wait for our 2 month check-up. The advice nurse assumed it was just colic but had us come in that morning anyways. I should add, we had to rush to that appointment so everyone including myself were in PJ’s haha. I met with a nice young doctor, as our primary pediatrician is out on medical leave. I liked that she listened to my theory ( this all started once we switched formulas) and she agreed with me! I switched Owen’s formula when we got home back to out regular formula and so far no more screaming and crying in pain. Also, since giving him the anti-acid medicine no more projectile vomit too!
Later that day I also met with my doctor to get a copper IUD… because the shop is closed for babies, at least for another 2-3 years. Like I have a date marked in my calendar on my phone for when we can start trying again, if we want to. The fact that I got an IUD put in is a big step for me, because I have always been funny about birth control. I just have never liked the idea of messing with my horomones and also, remembering to take it. So the copper IUD was a nice option for me. After that appointment I met Andrew and a nearby park, where he was watching the boys.
It might sound silly, but I was super proud of Bennett at the park. He likes to run around the park and he will climb on the structures but doesn’t do much besides that. So it was fun to watch him climb around and go down a slide for the first time, on his OWN. He has never gone down without being on our laps or one of us pushing him down. So, that was a silly milestone moment for this mama.
Overall, nothing too exciting. I have been working out more, began to start a Keto diet. Not fully, but mostly. The main thing I am working on , is to only drink ONE coke a day. I had gotten myself down to 2-3 a day, so now it is just one and I am decreasing my sugar intake by a lot! I am a sweets LOVER so just slowly taking it at of my diet for now is key. I also purchase the sample shirts for my website. Which I hope to launch later this month (fingers crossed!) . Also, May 2nd marked 10 years since my Grandma T passed away; although I was able to keep myself pre-occupied for the day, I have realized I have some thoughts and feelings about her passing that I would love to share soon.
Andrew as per usual has been working non-stop. Even working today (Saturday). He has had two dinners with his boss this week, which is nice. I like it cause it means I don’t have to prepare dinner and he is currently in limbo with his job, as his boss is preparing to sell some of the company. So we are waiting to see if Andrew will be staying with his current boss, going to the new company or being laid off. I would personally be very shocked if it was the latter though. Since we just got a new SUV earlier this month too, we are hoping he will be staying with his current boss.
As for the boys in general, they are both doing good. I am a little worried that Owen we will be told Owen might need a helmet at his 2 month appointment coming up, since one side is a little flat, but now that we have seemed to fix his stomach issues he is just a normal infant. eating, sleeping and pooping. And man does that kid poop. I never had this problem with Bennett. Bennett never had blowouts or porjectile poop. BUT OWEN. It’s like he waits for me to open his already dirty diaper to start pooping some more! He has also began to smile out of recognization and he really does have the sweetest most joyful smile for baby.
Also, no one warned me how emotional Bennett turning TWO would be for me. Cause now he really isn’t a baby anymore. He is a full fledged “all boy” toddler. The new haircut doesn’t help with my feelings either. I am constantly staring at him in awe and sadness that he is growing up and won’t always be a little boy. He also, gave me a great scare yesterday when he went over the side of our couch, head first into the hardwood floor. Somehow, he was fine though.. but my mama heart drop thinking about how much worse that fall could have been! I am also enjoying watching him play and sing to himself. He is still obsessed with cars and that is what he plays with the most but right now his favorite song to sing is Wheels on The Bus. He just sings the basic on the song ” wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round ,all through the town” but he has now added “shush,shush,shush” for the Mama’s on the bus part. Although, he doesn’t add the mama’s on the bus, he just makes the noises.
And that is it for our week. Most weeks we don’t have many exciting things going on. I spend most of my days in the house with the boys, trying to accomplish a task or two and running errands, but there are always small moments worth remembering.
Owen’s Birth Story
If you have read Bennett’s Birth Story (here) or watched the birth vlog (here) than you know that it was classified as a traumatic birth. Although, i personally don’t feel that way… it was. Which meant that with my pregnancy with Owen we had to have more of a plan.
After my 36 week appointment it looked like Owen would be an 8lb baby. Considering that and other factors we formed a plan. I was a good candidate for a VBAC, but we scheduled a C-Section for his due date (March 13th) just in case, I didn’t go into labor. We really wanted to avoid a c-section since we plan and hope to have more kids down the road. By my 37 week appointment I was 2CM, which we were hoping was a good sign, that labor would start soon, by my 38 week appointment I was 3CM. At this point I started doing labor inducing wives tales, then at my 39 week appointment I was STILL only 3CM. We were getting closer to the scheduled c-section date, so my doctor proposed that we induce me. Since I was already 3CM; it should go relatively quick. Andrew and I left the appointment on the schedule to be induced that night, which meant we probably wouldn’t actually be called in until the next day. We were in complete shock.
We called our family members to let them know and we went about our day getting ready to have a baby! On March 8th around 8:30 in the morning I got a call from the hospital letting me know they were ready for us to come in. Around 10AM we arrived at the hospital and were settled into our room.
I wasn’t immediately put on pitocin, but my doctor came in and broke my water to naturally jumpstart labor. This was a lot more uncomfortable than I had anticipated. But that is because with Bennett’s birth, I had come into the hospital already in labor and they had offered me medication right away, so I was pretty drugged up for a lot of the labor process. This time around I wanted to go through my labor as long as I could without drugs/an epidural. About an hour after my water was broken contractions started picking up, becoming regular. A little uncomfortable every now or then but nothing crazy.
After awhile I still wasn’t progressing and the contractions started to die down. So they hooked me up to some pitocin and had me walk around the maternity wing and after awhile I was just walking in a figuring eight around the room. However, they were a little concerned (but not too much) that Owen’s Heart Rate would drop everytime I had a contraction. Even after all of this I was STILL not progressing.
At this point it was midday and I was not progressing, the babies heartrate would drop every so often with a contraction and I was just expecting that we would call it quits and have to have c-section. My doctor came in to check on me and said he would suspect we would have a baby within 4 hours. Which honestly, I thought he was crazy. The nurses came in to let me know I was free to have an epidural whenever I wanted as the anesthesiologist was currently not busy. I wanted to wait a little longer as the contractions weren’t unbearable yet. Welp, about 30 minutes after that the contractions came on STRONG and QUICK. It was miserable. To top that off, between those 30 minutes the anesthesiologist ended up being with another patient and I had to wait about an hour! Inside my head I was kicking myself, thinking this horrible, why do people do this. I want all the meds again next time.. i should of just had the c-section, since it seems like thats what is going to happen anyways…
Eventually, the anesthesiologist arrived and bless her heart. She was SUPER sweet and very chatty, but in that moment I didn’t wanted to talk to her. Again, I was mentally having a panic attack about the fact that, last time I had had an epidural, I was heavily medicated. I couldn’t feel anything, but this time I wasn’t medicated. I had no medication was beginning active labor. I would have to sit very STILL while going through intense contractions and having a giant needle that kind of stings in my back. Luckily, my nurse was AMAZING and calming talked me through the process and although uncomfortable it ended up being manageable. They then did my vitals and found I was tachycardic. Which then led to me having to have a an EKG! It all came back okay, but definitely added to my thoughts that we would end up needing a c-section; it also didn’t help that they checked me and I was STILL only 4CM. After all that, after roughly 8 hours & painful contractions I was only 4 CM!!!
But here’s where things start to pick up a little quickly.
After checking me at 4 cm she had me move into a position on my side using a peanut ball. Owen’s heart rate dropped, so she moved me to another position. I was in that position for maybe 30 minutes when all of a sudden Owen’s heart rate REALLY dropped. I remember Andrew and I looking at each other and thinking this is it, they are going to rush us into ER for an emergency c-section. The nurse came in and put me on oxygen. At this point I could tell Andrew was truly nervous. She decided to check me. I had heard an “oh!” and I remember i could kind of feel a wet tacky sensation, so I really thought, my fear of pooping had happened, but it turned out it was a blood clot and that within an hour I had gone from 4 to 10!
So, we began the pushing process. No at this point I was excited but because I had gotten to this point with Bennett I really didn’t think we would be having the baby this way. Eventually, it was time to call my doctor. Nurses came in prepped the room for delivery and since my doctor was home and I was pretty close to giving birth, there was about 15 minutes of waiting around, where I didn’t even need to push, and we just waited. Once my doctor arrived I would say it was about 6-9 Pushes and Owen was born! The nurse old me to look and all of a sudden there was this little baby being held in front of me. I was in complete shock. I had just given birth! I had a successful VBAC! As they laid him down on me, he was screaming he was just contently breathing on me and all I could think was “you are definitely NOT 8 pounds”.
The experience was so surreal. The nurses were cleaning Owen, while he was on me. Andrew got to cut the cord this time and then they just let us have an hour with Owen. Which was nice and Owen was so comfy that he had his first poop on me too. haha Owen’s birth was flipped with Bennett’s. With Bennett the labor was so smooth and easy and the birth part was super dramatic. With Owen the Labor was dramatic and the birth part was SO easy. Really it was stupidly easy. Almost two months later and I still cannot believe I had a successful VBAC, but I do have this sense of accomplishment. I am woman here me roar, ya know? Also, I feel bad for Andrew cause the nurse made him look down there… several times!!! Just like Bennett’s birth, we vlogged it and you can view it here. Sorry for the lack of dramatic emotional music.
alittlebitbiscardi.wordpress.com 