My Heart is Full

My hubby has been trying to get me to transfer ms. Addie to her crib for about a week now :( As much as I love my sleep freedom, I hate when it comes time to transfer my baby to her crib! It just makes her seem so big - and I'm not ready for her to be big yet! We set her crib up in the girls' room about two weeks ago so that Lydia would have a chance to get used to it before transferring Addie in there. Lydia  is used to it at this point, but I'm not! I've begun to lose the battle to keep Addie in our room. 

Here is what Addie's Rock 'n Play sleeper next to our bed looked like last week:

And this is what it looks like now :(

It looks so empty! To make me feel a little better, I went to check on my girls in their room before going to bed...they are just so sweet - my little sleeping beauties. My heart instantly felt full. I wish I could take a picture of them, but I didn't want to wake them. As much as I don't want to be ready for Addie to be in her crib, she looks completely adorable in there, fast asleep. 

In other news, I chopped my hair off tonight! It had been about 5 months since getting my hair done. So it was way overdue. I had an appointment at a salon in Eden Prairie (I bought a groupon). When I got there they said they thought I had cancelled my appointment (which I never did) and had filled it with another customer. Great. They were booked for the rest of the night. Double great. So I called around and got in at Life Salon in Chanhassen (love!). I figured since I had already driven all the way out there just to get my hair done, I was going to get my hair done! Random, the hairstylist lives in my neighborhood! Ha! Here is my new do:

I wanted to go shorter than usual. I was feeling daring! I like the results :) We'll see if I can style it myself (ha). I've got a question for you all...how much is customary to tip? I don't usually go to a salon, so I am out of the loop a little bit.

Lastly, some fun pics of the girls from this last week...

I love my little peanuts!

-Brie

I love packages! My Monthly Box Subscriptions!

I love getting packages in the mail! It doesn't even matter the size of the package - it could just be a free sample - I always get super excited! :)

This is one of the reasons I love Box subscriptions! It is like getting a magazine in the mail every month, but instead of something to read, it is a box full of fun goodies!!! The two I subscribe to are Birchbox and now Stork Stack.


I am so in love with Birchbox because 1. It is only $10/month and 2. I never know what beauty products (shampoo, perfume, etc) 3. I can be sure I like the beauty product before I spend $$ on a full-size. 4. I can cancel my subscription at any time! If I have plenty of samples laying around that I need to use up, I can cancel my subscription for a month (or several months) and re-subscribe at any time. I've done this a couple times :)

Some other benefits: *It ships FREE! I hate paying for shipping. *Earn rewards for shopping their online store. Rewards equal money toward products! *You can earn more rewards points for writing reviews of the products you sample. It is quick, easy and the points add up quick! (Click on the "Box" tab, select a product, then click "Write a review." *Birchbox offers full-size products of all their samples at their online store - no need to go searching for the things you like! It's all in one place! *They offer free shipping on all full-sized products that were featured in that months Birchbox. Again, I hate paying for shipping!

Sounds amazing, right?!? I love it!


I just signed up for Stork Stack and haven't received my first box yet - when I do, I'll review it :) I had been toying with the idea of signing up for this one for a while. It is a little more expensive than Birchbox ($27.99/month - BUT Free shipping!). For me, this price is a little steep, but I have heard such good things about it! Plus, I love trying new baby things! I don't have as much exposure to new baby products as I would like since I do most of my shopping at Target. Every time I go to baby boutiques I want to try all their adorable stuff, but it can be so pricey! After going back and forth about it for a while I received a referral code from a friend for $10 off my first box and decided it was worth a try! This way I can decide if it will be worth the $28/month without having to spend $28 ;) Hehe

What I like about it so far: 1. The completely adorable packaging 2. After looking on their website and talking to others about it, it seems they really load up their packages! 3. FREE shipping! 4. Information about and links to the products they feature in their box each month.

I am hoping I love it as much as I think I will! If you want to give it a try, here is a code for $10 OFF your first month! Code: D619F356

Love you all!
Brie

In Case You Missed It

In case anyone missed my TV segments, here they are :) For your viewing pleasure. I'd post the videos directly on here, but I am not that tech savvy! Hehe



List: 10 Overpriced Items at Grocery Stores


Freezer Foods

Have a good night, my friends!

Brie

It Happened!?!?

I had thought several times in the past year that it was possible this day would never come! It has been nearly one year since graduating with my Masters of Dental Therapy degree. I have had countless interviews. I have gotten to the point where clinics have wanted to hire me but time after time something came up where it just wasn't going to work to have a dental therapist at their clinic. This time is different! I think it still has not fully set in that I have finally been offered a dental therapy position!!! I think there are a couple reasons for this... 1. I wasn't expecting to hear back from the clinic for at least another day and 2. I did not allow myself to think about actually being offered the job since I have been let down so many times. But not this time!!!! :) I have been offered a full time (32 hour/week) dental therapy position at a federally qualified health center (FQHC) in St. Paul. The majority of my time will be spent in the clinic, but I will also be working with the outreach team to go to elementary schools and providing dental care to children - how perfect!! On top of the excitement about getting to do dentistry (finally), we also discussed pay and benefits. I found out that the clinic has a loan re-payment program that could potentially cover 50% of my student loans! What an amazing benefit! What a relief to have that huge student loan number potentially cut in half!

Anyways, I couldn't contain my excitement so I had to share... Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me. I have learned a great lesson in patience and now I am ready to fix some teeth! ;)

(I had a little fun playing with a photo app on my iPhone this afternoon - here is Adeline at 3 months old)

Love, Brie

Phases in Life

I always enjoy looking back at pictures and reading about different phases of my life. It amazes me how much things change - how quickly my babies grow, how different my relationships are, how my goals change. It is all so fascinating to me. This might be due, in part, to my short memory ;) It's a good thing I have kept either a journal or a blog since I was in middle school so I can look back at the phases of my life.

I figure since my last post was about maternity leave, I should update some photos of our family of 4!!!!

Adeline at 3.5 weeks old

Adeline and her Godparents - Jill and Ben

Me and my "little smooshie"

3.5 weeks

Easter 2013 - 2 months old

 

 

 

Easter 2013 - Miss Lydia

Crazy how quickly they grow, isn't it? It feels like I was just pregnant and now Addie is 3 months old! How did that happen??!! And Lydia is a wonderful big sister. Mike and I were worried that she would be jealous of Adeline, which in turn might lead to her being not-so-nice. That really hasn't been the case. She actually ignores Addie most of the time. She will check to make sure she is doing ok every once in a while, but that is about the extent of their interaction.

Adeline has been such a happy little baby! It was a nice change from the way Lydia was as a baby. If Adeline is fed and being held, she is content. She has gotten better about sitting by herself in the bouncy seat or the swing. She would still rather be held though. She is similar to Lydia in that sense.

Unfortunately, one of the things that hasn't changed is my dental career. It has been nearly a year since graduating and I have yet to find a dental therapy position. *Sigh* It isn't for a lack of trying, but I guess God is trying to test my patience a little longer! I have had quite a few hopeful prospects, but for one reason or another it always falls through. Despite this, I have really enjoyed the time it has allowed to spend with my girls. I really feel blessed to have two beautiful, healthy little ones. Lately, however, I haven't been able to spend much time with my dear hubby. I got a serving job for nights and weekends to help out with some of the family expenses when Addie was 6 weeks old (a little sooner that I would have liked, but the opportunity presented itself). Mike comes home from work and I immediately run out the door to head to work. This usually happens 3 days during the week. I also usually have at least one shift on the weekend. Throw in errands and other activities that happen during any given week and you can see there isn't much time for DH and I to be together. This is temporary though. And for that reason, I think we can both deal with it for now. I should find out next week if our routine will be changing again. I could possibly be starting a full-time dental position in a couple of months. Or it could fall through ;)

That's it for now - It's almost 1am and I should get some sleep!

Love, Brie

My Maternity Leave - Round 2

If I recall my first maternity leave correctly, I was done with everything I needed to do after roughly day 2...and so ready for the baby to arrive. I remember being so bored, so uncomfortable and so crabby. The first week home on this maternity leave has been a different experience - thank goodness.

I am slowly checking things off my "nesting check-list."
Monday, I didn't do much but enjoy not having to go to work.

Tuesday I got down to business. I cleaned (deep cleaned) the kitchen. I scrubbed the sink with a toothbrush and baking soda. I cleaned the stove. I cleaned every nook and cranny of the microwave with a 50/50 mix of blue Dawn and white vinegar (12 oz each) until it sparkled white. I cleaned/disinfected all the counters. It looked glorious. Unfortunately it lasted about 24 hours before it was ready for a good cleaning again. :-\ But the microwave still looks great! :) That night I got started on recipes to freeze. I got 2 muffin recipes done: Chocolate-berry muffins and hot chocolate muffins. Yum!

Wednesday (Yesterday) was grocery shopping. I mean major grocery shopping - with a 2 year-old. My extensive grocery list included ingredients for the freezer meals I had planned, as well as healthy snacks for when baby arrives and typical household groceries. I wasn't sure we were going to make it, but we survived. We went to our local grocery store's 'dollar days' and stocked up on some essentials for a great prices. This grocery store tends to be a little pricey, so what we didn't get a good deal on there, we finished off at Target. $220 and a full trunk of groceries later, we were ready to go home. All in all, it took about 3 hours (including our quick stop to pick up the Diaper Champ I found on Craigslist for $10). We were both spent by the time we got home. Lydia went down for a nap and I rested on the couch for a while before I could muster up the energy to actually unload the groceries. I eventually got it all unloaded and put away. Oddly enough, this process also took about 3 hours ;) I was so ready for a mama break right around the time DH called and said he had to stay late at work. Humph. Back on my feet it was to make dinner (Chicken and rice with broccoli). I was very tired at this point...Lydia, not so much. Luckily DH made it home about 30 min before her bed time and was able to do their typical bedtime routine while I rested for a little while. A short while. Before I decided I needed to make the other 2 batches of muffins I had planned to freeze. Coffeehouse Coffee cake muffins and Apple Oatmeal muffins. Luckily they were soooooo delicious. They were a nice treat before bedtime :)



Today consisted of more freezer meal prep. I made 2 gallon bags full of pot roast ingredient and 2 bags of fajita ingredients to freeze. I also did some laundry. I had a nice little rest while Lydia napped and then it was off to my OB appointment. I had to get my Strep B test...The midwife asked if I wanted to be checked. I hadn't decided before the appointment, but I figured since she was down there anyway, she might as well check me to see where things were at. Much to my delight, I am 1cm dilated! It doesn't mean a whole lot, but it is nice to know that my body has at least thought about working toward getting this baby out! Haha Now, we are off to bible study. I might take it easy tomorrow. Maybe another load of laundry and packing hospital bags for me, Lydia and Adeline? We'll see...

Full Term - Ready?

I'm officially full term as of today :) It's kind of hard to believe! Pretty soon we are going to have 2 little girls! I can't even picture it. I am at a loss to imagine what our life will be like. I get the feeling that having 2 is going to be so much harder than having one.

Plus, oddly enough, I felt much more prepared for Lydia than I am feeling for Adeline. I know I have done it before but 1) Every baby is so different and 2) I don't really remember anything from when Lydia was a baby. I haven't done a whole lot to prepare for Adeline either. Luckily, we have pretty much everything we need, so I didn't really need to do a whole lot. I made a check-list of things I would like to get done before her arrival - it is 3 pages long!!! Yikes!

Now that I am done with work, I should have the time to get it all done. The problem is, I'm lacking motivation. Today, I was thinking I'd get some stuff done while Lydia took her nap (usually about 3 hours long). Well she has been sleeping for 2.5 hours and I haven't gotten anything from my checklist done :-\ I also don't know how quickly I will be able to accomplish things with a little toddler running around. Especially when it comes to cleaning! Lydia tends to like to make a mess wherever I clean. Haha

With all that said, there are only a couple things on the list that need to get done before baby gets here - setting up the bassinet and rocking chair, sterilizing pacifiers, installing the car seat and packing the hospital bag. None of those things take very long and the car seat and hospital bag can be taken care of when I go into labor. I guess there is no need to stress too much.

I guess I will do a little update on how I've been feeling...Surprisingly, I am doing ok, My SPD really only bothers me at night. Sleeping is kind of hit or miss lately. And I've been pretty tired during the day. My belly is quite large, but I don't know that it is big as it was with Lydia (although I will probably still grow a little more). Most of the stretch marks I have are from the last pregnancy - only a couple of new ones. So overall, my physical symptoms are fairly manageable, considering. I have been pretty stressed and anxious recently. I'm not sure if it is related to the pregnancy or outside stuff I have going on.

Lastly, some pictures of my little Love - taken by Uncle Kyle with his new fancy camera :)