Yay, me!

Getting older is not as fun when you grow up. I’m getting closer and closer to thirty, and that sounds terrible. But when I went in to get Eva this morning, she jumped and yelled, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” at me… I realized, I have it pretty great and there’s no one I’d rather spend my whole day with than that hilarious three year old (and T.J. when he gets off of work tonight). Go out and eat some cadbury eggs to celebrate the day of my birth. We are heading into the city to see the Macy’s flower show and maybe eat a waffle for a late National Waffle Day/B-day celebration at Wafels & Dinges.

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Almost 15 Weeks

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Well, here I am. A blurry, out of focus iPhone pic of me. I don’t have a huge bump yet, I just feel like a disproportioned bloated woman. I hate this in-between stage. I just want a real bump because my clothes just look awkward on me right now. But I am sure in a couple months I’ll be begging for this smaller bump phase, especially when I’m out in a swimsuit.

I’m still taking my nausea medicine because I’m too scared to get off of it, but it’s almost out so I think in the next week I’ll try and go off of it to see if I feel normal without it.

I’m getting blood work taken this week and then next week, the 31st, we find out the gender. So, that exciting. I’m hoping that will make all of this seem a little more real. T.J. thinks it’ll be a boy, I think it’ll be a girl, and Eva thinks SHE is having a girl in her belly and I’m having a boy, although she wants a sister. So… lots of different opinions around here. I keep referring to the baby as a “he” accidentally, so I don’t know what that means. We will be excited for whatever, we just already have tons of baby girl clothes that I want to get out again!

As of today, I still haven’t gained any weight which is really quite a miracle. I have been wanting candy all the time, so I was surprised when I stepped on the scale. I guess all the walking around here really makes a difference. I’m hoping it continues to make a difference since my starting weight was heaving with this pregnancy compared to where I was at the beginning of my pregnancy with Eva.

Other than my candy craving (especially nerd robes or chewy sprees… same as my first pregnancy), I have wanted Orange Dream Machine smoothies, chips, Chipotle/Qdoba burritos, and weirdly enough (because I generally dislike pickles)… last night I thought, I really want a fresh pickle! The other night on my burger, there were some fresh crunchy pickles and I can’t stop thinking about them. If that’s not a classic pregnancy craving, I don’t know what is!

I’ve been really emotional lately. Crying in commercials, McDonalds commercials, animal commercials, car commercials… you name it. Last night I cried to T.J. and said, “I just feeeeelllll sooooo emotionallllllll!” He couldn’t help but to laugh. Pregnancy is just weird. So many emotions all the time. I can’t handle it, apparently!

That’s all I can think about right now. Stay tuned for a post next week to find out if we’re having a boy or girl! What do you think it’ll be?

 

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My Bushka

T.J. has been working so hard this year. He’s in a new team at work and it’s required more hours at the office. Last night he got home after I went to bed (1:30 AM ah!) and left this morning before I woke up. I felt flashbacks of our first years of marriage when that boy used to work on design projects all night long, day after day. I honestly don’t know how he did it. I envy his work ethic and am grateful he works hard to support us. Thanks, T, and please treat yourself to a Dr. Pepper today 🙂

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Happy Monday!

IT’S 50 DEGREES OUTSIDE TODAY! We are finishing up a few things around the apartment this morning (including eating lots of monkey bread) and then getting the heck out of here. We will walk along the river to see my favorite city skyline and then spend a couple hours at the park. This is how I feel about warmer weather:

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Weeks 5-11

Backing up a bit to write down some things about the first couple months of pregnancy.

I think we found out around week 3 or 4 and then exactly on week 5, I started feeling sick. I don’t throw up during my pregnancies, so I feel like I can’t complain too much. But I do feel nauseous all the time and SO tired. But I got on some medicine right away and to my surprise, it actually has helped quite a bit for the nausea. My doctor tried to have me take this with my first pregnancy, but I never took it regularly… why was I so stupid? It makes a big difference. Unfortunately, it also has a side effect of making me even more tired. But I’d rather feel a little better and really tired, than sick and tired. The medicine has also helped with food aversions and smells. With Eva, so many foods turned me off and smells were a HUGE issue. It’s still not completely normal, but it’s much better than I know it could be. The only thing that makes me want to throw up is lettuce… I had a bad batch of lettuce (ahhh I can’t talk about it) in week 5 and now just the sight of it (or thought) makes me sick… so let’s move on and talk about something else. Oh and Diet Coke. All of a sudden I didn’t like it, or even crave it. I’ve had it a couple times then, just because I need it for energy, it just doesn’t taste the same to me. I should just stop drinking it completely, and not keep trying to see if I like it again, but as a mom, it used to be the magic potion to get me through each day. Haha!

The tiredness. Oh gosh. There were times where I hardly knew how I was going to make it through the day, let alone get off the couch to play with or help Eva. I still feel tired often, but I’m getting more bursts of energy regularly which gives me hope the first trimester really is ending.

I like my doctor and the practice well enough. I don’t love the hospital where I am supposed to deliver at, but for now, it’s the closest one and that just makes the most sense to me since we don’t have a car. I was so spoiled at the Orem Community hospital, so pretty much any hospital out here will be a huge downgrade. Things may change as the year goes by, though.

I haven’t gained weight yet, but I have definitely gotten bigger. I know the bump is going to pop out really early since it’s my second one and I’m already heavier to start this second time around… but I’m trying not to worry about it and just be healthy. I do love how in the mornings while in bed, I can feel the little peach pop out a little bit. That was always my favorite thing with Eva.

I haven’t liked cooking at all these past couple months, so we have eaten a lot of frozen foods and sandwiches. It was rough. I’m hoping it wears off soon.

Oh, as for telling family, and telling TJ we were expecting, it all went really well and so cute. I wrote a little card for TJ to find when he came home from work on the 9th and he couldn’t believe it. He was so sweet. I told my parents over FaceTime asking them to send Eva some Bernstein Bear Books (we used to read them as kids all the time), specifically the New Baby story. It took just a second and then it clicked with both of them and they cried and laughed. Perfection. And then to tell TJ’s parents, Eva repeated a poem after me, saying, “Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, September is when the baby is due!” Kelly’s reaction was amazing. I’m so grateful Eva and the new baby have such wonderful and supportive grandparents!

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#tbt to last month when we shared a valentine poem with @kellyrderrick. #ahh!

A video posted by Katie Derrick (@katiederrick) on

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12 Weeks: It is what God gave you time for.

I kind of feel like I was just announcing the pregnancy of Baby Eva but here we are again! I am pregnant! We found out on January 9th. That weekend I was a HOT MESS. Seriously. I cried so much. My emotions were just crazy (more than normal, even more than pregnancy normal) because I wasn’t too sure about how I felt about this whole thing. Since having Eva, I really couldn’t see myself having another kid. I mean, I LOVE Eva! But that was the thing… I love her SO much I just couldn’t imagine ever having enough love for another child. And I love our life so much, especially recently, I know how to be a mom now! I know how to have a child in NYC. I have a child that sleeps for 12-14 hours through the night. Being a mom right now is pretty easy and enjoyable! I know this life and I didn’t want to rock it. So, we kept prolonging the inevitable.

There were a million things we kept using as excuses as why it wasn’t the right time, in addition to those I just mentioned. Work, housing, money, blah blah blah. But ultimately we knew we needed to grow our family and it came down to this quote by Rachel Jankovic, later quoted by Neil L. Anderson that I have shared before:

Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for.

IMG_7403I’ve had to remind myself of that quote a bit this pregnancy, especially in the beginning. This is the right thing to do. This is what life is all about. Eva has changed our lives completely and made us happier than we ever knew possible, so I can’t imagine how it’ll be with another little one! It will be different, and sometimes hard. But it will be great and rewarding! And as far as having enough love for the second child, I’ve heard from everyone that your love grows, not divides. I am still nervous about how it’ll all work here in the city, but we will figure it out. Can’t wait!

(Unflattering but perfect photo taken as soon as that sneaky second line showed up on the pregnancy test.)

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Eva’s in Primary!

This year Eva went into Primary, which is for kids 3-11 at church! One hour is with the 3-7 year olds, and then the last hour is just with the 3 year olds. I can’t believe my little girl is now old enough to be in there. She loves it though and has done really well. On the first day they asked her what her favorite food was. She gave the answer of “orange juice” which is pretty funny because we rarely drink it!

Here is Eva on the first day of nursery, 16 months old (I was a sub teacher so she got to go in a little early):

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Here she was on the first day in Primary at 3 years old:

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I’m so proud of my little Diva Eva! And side note: she hasn’t had any accidents at church this year! Amazing!

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Friday Five

  1. I loved this article that was being passed around Facebook this week called, “When Did Being a Good Mom Turn Bad?” When you think of being a mom as a full-time job, just like in the workplace, you want to continually work hard and try to be the best you can be. We also should encourage others to be that way. Instead of being negative when they seem to go above and beyond, just congratulate them and tell them they’re doing a great job!
  2. Eva had been putting up a fight on the whole going to bed process last week and I was going to lose it! I also hated her going to bed after us yelling/threatening/crying. I’d much rather my child going to bed peacefully after giving me lots of hugs, wouldn’t you?! So, I decided to make a chart for the week. She got a sticker each time she finished something on the list, such as brushing teeth, reading books, going to bed with three books without asking for more (she had been calling me in her room over and over again asking me for more, but refused to read the same one she had read within the same week!). All of the tasks had to be done without any whining or crying. Each time she would cry, she would get a “crying sticker” and if she got more than three crying stickers through the week, she wouldn’t get a prize on Friday. Well, it really worked! The first two nights she got crying stickers and TJ was very skeptical of the system, but the third wasn’t filled so today she gets a prize! It made putting Eva to bed SO much easier this week and more fun for Eva. And the prize? An ice cream sandwich! She’ll be so excited!
  3. My beautiful bestie Danica is having her baby any day/minute back in Utah. I can’t stop thinking about it and am constantly texting her for an update. She wrote a blog post yesterday about pregnancy style and since I have a million friends that are expecting right now, you all should check it out! Come on, Baby Holdy… we are all so ready for you to come!image1-767x1024
  4. We finished the Friends series on Netflix, please don’t try and calculate how fast we finished it. I watched the whole series through back in college, but it was fun to watch it again since we are in NYC (even though it wasn’t really filmed here). But now that that is finished, what show should TJ and I watch on Netflix now?
  5. Here’s another post I saved on Facebook called “Are You Lonely, Mama?” I’ve been thinking about this post a lot. I’ve always been someone who likes having a social life, so I continually try and make friendships. But next week, one of my closest friends here in Jersey is moving away. I’m trying to come to terms with her moving and just be grateful for the wonderful times we had together, that we both moved in at the same time, and that we could learn to love this place and call Jersey City our home. It’s just hard to lose friends, isn’t it? And it’s even harder to FIND new friends, close friends. Especially as mothers. So this article put a really great twist on it, reminding me that this is the time for me to focus on my family.

Mama, I know that you’re lonely too. It’s ok. Just remember that this is a season and it is the most sacred season you will ever have the honor of experiencing. This is the time when your babies need you and want you and enjoy having you around. This is the time when they will cling to your legs as you try to leave the house without them and run into your arms when you come home as if you’d been gone a lifetime. You will never be more loved and wanted and needed as you are right now…in this moment.

That’s it! I hope you have a great weekend! And didn’t this week go fast? If only the rest of February goes this fast, we’ll have beautiful Spring in no time!

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God Answers Small Prayers

This morning Eva was in tears about wanting to wear her “long pink dress with the cat.” For the life of me, I couldn’t remember such a dress. We went through each skirt, dress, and play dress she had but none were what she wanted. I kept telling her there was no such dress and she needed to find something else.

“I just want to be a princessssss,” she cried in the corner.

“WE DON’T HAVE A DRESS LIKE THAT!!!!” I started to get so frustrated as I was sitting in the dark closet on my knees.

Then I decided I should say a prayer, something I don’t do nearly enough in my daily routine.

I just asked that we could both calm down and that I’d be able to find something she’d be able to wear.

Immediately, I remembered the dress. It’s technically a nightgown, so I hadn’t even though about looking in her pajama drawer!

A simple prayer about a princess dress was answered and peace was restored in our home.

I’m so grateful for a Heavenly Father who answers even the smallest of prayers from a tired mama. Eva said a prayer of gratitude afterwards and then we had to take a picture to document the moment, of course.

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Or Santa will bring you…

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So, I debated on whether or not to write this story down. But after going back and forth a couple of times… I’m going for it. Judge me. Laugh at me. Tell me I’m a bad parent. Whatevs. If you’re a mom, you know sometimes you just accidentally say stuff, especially if you’re heated or are desperately trying to make your child do something/stop bad behavior. This story reminds me of the time I accidentally told Eva there was a fish in the humidifier.

Okay, Eva was doing something bad, I don’t remember what and it was around the beginning of December. I decided it was time to bring out the big guns. Santa threats. The convo went something like this:

“Eva, Santa is watching you!”

“And he’ll bring me lots of toys?!”

“Well, if you’re good, yes. But if you don’t stop doing [what you’re doing] then he’s going to bring you…”

Then I stopped. A lump of coal? She has no idea what coal is! My brilliant mind started listing things in the same category as coal. Dirt! Yes… DIRT!

“…DIRT!”

“Santa will bring me dirt???”

“Yes…”

Oh, I couldn’t stop there. No, I’m not a normal parent. T.J. was just looking at me so confused like, “What the heck are you telling her?” Okay, more brainstorming. Dirrrttt, what else is terrible and gross? GOT IT!

“AND snakes! Santa will bring you snakes and dirt if are bad, so you BETTER BE GOOD!”

From then on, whenever I told her that Santa was watching she’d finish it off and would say while shaking her head, “Or he’ll bring me snakes and dirt!”

There you have it. Parenting during the Holidays 101. Nailed it.

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