Obsessed much?

Peter, Peter Pan, Never Land, Tinker Bell, Tiger Lilly, Mermaid Lagoon, Captain Hook, The Jolly Roger...

I hear these names day after day, after day.

Leila is OBSESSED with everything Peter Pan.

He is her best friend, she's married to him, he flies, he runs, he pees and poops, he eats lunch, he holds her hand, I hold his hand, he's imaginary, he's a stuffed friend, he's EVERYWHERE. (No joke, the other night I heard her talking in her sleep about Captain Hook's ship, the Jolly Roger.) 

Someone asked Leila what her name was and she replied, "Tinker Bell." If her Tinker Bell t-shirts are clean you better bet that's what she's wearing.

Needless to say, we'll be having a Peter Pan themed third birthday party for little Miss Leila Tinker Bell! And could it be more fitting that the the re-release of the Peter Pan DVD will be August 20th?! Let's hope Disney goes big on this one...it's not easy to find a Peter Pan t-shirt in a size 3T.

What is your child obsessed with these days?

I don't feel crazy anymore.

Well, that's not entirely true.

I still have my moments when I am too tired to see straight, my to-do list is so long I refuse to write it down, and I could use 5 seconds of alone time.

But overall...life with two kids is starting to feel normal.

A LOT has happened in the past six weeks.  It's been a very wild ride! 

• My job ended, hopefully just for the summer.

• We went to Chicago to spend time with my family. Twice. 

• Carson is no longer a newborn and he's on somewhat of a schedule since I've sleep trained him for naps. (Which is why I actually can write again!)

• Leila became obsessed with Peter Pan, sleeps in her big girl bed with no issues (phew), and is showing more interest in her brother.

• I am less than 5 lbs away from my pre-Carson weight.

• The kids met their first "real" cousin, Jaxon, and I got to see my youngest sister embracing and enjoying motherhood.

• I started drinking white wine. (Wait..what?! Who am I?)

Cheers to catching up and finally getting the hang of things again!

Six weeks later {Postpartum life}

If you could see the half-folded laundry on the couch or the dishes in the sink, this would be the perfect photo describing our life the past six weeks. 

Toddler meltdown. Smiling baby.

Someone is always crying, fussing, or whining (this includes the adults). Toys and baby gear are scattered about. Chores are half finished. The television is on the Disney Jr. channel. Someone is eating. Always.

It's crazy. At times the crazy drives me crazy. Other times I can go with the flow and not stress out. Wine helps. Getting out of the house helps. Knowing that "this too shall pass" helps.

I am excited to go back to work and to begin an exercise routine. I have my 6 week postpartum check-up tomorrow and my maternity leave is officially over on Tuesday. I am ready to slowly get my body back, wear regular clothes, do my hair and make-up, and spend time fueling my passion for teaching. 

I'll be training for a 5K, using the well-known Couch to 5K program, for a fun run this July. I know it will take time to lose the last 15 pounds (yikes!), especially when I plan to be nursing Carson as long as I possibly can. 

I also plan to BE KIND to myself and not hate on my body during this process. This is it. No more kids. No rush to get back into shape before the next baby. My plan is to go back to my healthy and active lifestyle, whatever that may look like with all the new changes in my life.

You bet I am still wearing maternity pant! My pooch is way worse without the panel sucking me in.

Six weeks later...

• I am still sweating at night.
• My deodorant is no longer doing it's job during the day either, but Jeff''s is.
• I am starving but having trouble finding time to eat, grocery shop, and prepare meals.
• My hair is always in a pony-tail.
• I've had one pedicure.
• I am not nearly as tired as I thought I would be (despite the tired look on my face in the picture).
• And the laundry still doesn't do itself.
• Carson has only peed on me once but in his own face twice.
• We leave the house daily.
• I love rocking my baby to sleep.
• I STILL need a new blog name.

Naming this baby wasn't easy...

...and I realize it was my fault.  I am the one with all the crazy baby-naming rules. 

But Jeff didn't make it any easier. He had no problem crossing names off the list without any real reason behind it.  He'd randomly veto a name because he didn't like how it sounded.  I, at least, had a clear set of rules to guide my decision.   

Here's a recap of the rules I had for naming this child:

• The name, when written, cannot go below the line.  No lowercase y, p, g, j, or q allowed.

• There are also some uppercase letters that I just don't like writing so they are out too.  (Told you they were strange rules.)  I don't particularly like writing the uppercase letters G, Y, A, or F.

• The name of my child my NOT be one of a pesky student that I had.  I taught for eleven years...that rules out a lot of names.

• I will not name my child the same name as a friend.  Friend can be a loose term these days with Facebook, Twitter, and all the blogs I read.  Since I make the rules, I can decide whether or not this friend's child's name is a contender or not.

• For those of you who know us personally, you know that our last name can be tricky to match up with a first name.  (Trust me on this one.)  It is a hard sounding, one syllable last name that starts with an S.  So guess what...S names are out too.  (Jeff would beg to differ, but I make the rules remember!)

• My son and daughter will not both start with the same letter, so L names are out.  We are already Jeff and Jen...Leila and L-something would be too much for me.

We are officially calling this baby boy...Carson.

We love it for many reasons...  

• It has a strong sound to it
• It's fun to write
• I don't know of any non-famous people named Carson
• It's not super-popular or super-unique (ranked #83 in 2012)
• It follows all my crazy baby-naming rules!

Thank you for all of the suggestions.  The name we chose was actually suggested more than once!

I know a lot of people choose not to share their unborn baby's name.  Many times they don't want to hear people's negative reaction or they want it to be a surprise for their family.  Sometimes parents can't commit to a name until the baby is born!  

Not us.  We chose to share both Leila and Carson's name before they were born for one simple reason...to help us connect with our unborn baby. Hopefully it helps you connect with him too! 

Carson, your big sister cannot wait to meet you.  See you in March!

Did you share your child's name before they were born?

Strange pregnancy symptom

I don't really know how to say this, or why I am even telling you this in the first place.  Hopefully it will help some freaked out pregnant lady in the future.  More likely you'll get a giant laugh out of my confession, then Google my symptom like I did.

My pregnant butt is turning the toilet seat BLUE!*  

For reals.  There is a nicely blue-dyed ring on my otherwise white toilet seat.  It won't come off; not with bathroom cleaner, not with Magic Eraser (if that stuff doesn't work then nothing will!).  These are some seriously crazy hormones people.  Or maybe I'm secretly a smurf. 

Nothing else is blue.  Trust me.  I checked my butt and the undergarments it has touched.  My sheets aren't blue like some women have reported.  I did notice that one side of my cross-body diaper bag is dyed blue, and I still blame the new shirt I was wearing.  I did not however, sit on the toilet seat with this new blue shirt covering my butt and thighs.

Is this what having a boy is all about?!

Ever heard of this strange pregnancy symptom? 

Should I be worried?

*After further investigation, I have discovered that it was in fact my dark blue maternity jeans that caused the blue tint on the toilet seat.  I first noticed the blue toilet seat on Saturday, the day after I wore these jeans.  Today I wore the jeans again.  There was not visible blue dye on my butt or thighs, but after wiping my body down with a baby wipe to test this theory, I discovered I did indeed have a blue baby wipe.  Go figure, my toilet seat is a brighter shade of blue as well.  I am not a smurf after all.  Phew.  

Crazy Push-up Challenge {check in}

It is week three of the crazy push-up challenge. After completing just two weeks I already feel stronger and am able to do more push-ups each day.

Before starting week three it's recommend to check your progress with an exhaustion test. Guess how many push-ups I did?


TWENTY!

Yep! That's double the amount of push-ups I could do when I started this crazy challenge.

How are your 2012 fitness goals going? We can do this!

Crazy Push-up Challenge

My friend Betsy came across this website claiming that after completing their six week training program you will be able to do one hundred push-ups. You? Yes! You, me, your mom, and maybe even the kid down the block.

Naturally I was inclined to say, "Hells yeah! Let's do it!" Whereas Betsy and the rest of my crazy friends said, "Duh!" The first challenge of the year is ON! One hundred push-ups in a row on February 12th!

The initial challenge is to do as many push-ups as you can so that you can begin training at your appropriate level. I did ten and am nervous to report that I am already sore.

Tomorrow marks my first official training day. I'll keep you posted.


Anyone crazy enough to join me?