Gaining 1 pound?!

38 weeks!! Paxton Joshua will be here in 8 days!

First let me start off by saying that I have obviously gained more than one pound...do not let my title of the blog confuse you!! Let's be honest here I have gained one pound plus about 39 more. I wish I could be that girl that claims to only gain 25 pounds during my whole pregnancy and to be eating whatever I want. Well folks that's definitely not my situation. I honestly don't remember how much I gained with Harper but I am pretty sure it about the same amount. I am also quite certain that my boobs alone have gained 25 pounds! However, I was able to get the weight off last time and I shall do so again =). Anyway..... I was chatting with my mom on the phone today as I was shopping through Target for Oreo's and bags of chocolate chips (hmmm maybe that's where the weight has come from?) for some baking I did this afternoon for a cookie exchange tonight. My mom informed me that Joy, from Joy's Fit Club, on the Today Show said that on average most people only gain one pound during the holiday season from Thanksgiving to Christmas! I was actually a bit surprised by this but if it was said on the Today Show then it has to be true, I mean it is where I get all my information these days.... well there and on Pinterest!! Josh makes fun of me quite often because so many of my stories begin with "Guess what Ann Curry said today?!" or "I saw this on Pinterest and we should totally do/make it!" Maybe I am lame but hey it makes me happy!! So speaking of Pinterest I found this delicious recipe that I can only justify making because I will be giving away 95% of them at a cookie exchange and I only have 8 more days of indulging myself before I am no longer pregnant and start my journey to looking like a normal, in shape, human being again. But prepare yourself because they are oh so bad for you. It is basically 3 cookies in one! It is called the Inception Cookie and it is 2 chocolate chip cookies covering an OREO! I know, ridiculous right? Ridiculously AWESOME!!

Look how scrumptious these bad boys look! They are giant cookies too so really it is difficult to eat more than one.
Like I said these treats are so yummy but they did take quite a while to make so I probably won't make them very often, which will be a good thing!!! So of course I have to leave you with a super cute picture of Harper. She has been extra sweet and fun lately and will come up and just give me a random kiss....melts my heart! She also came up to me the other day and kissed my belly and said Mah-Men (aka Paxton). I am thinking/hoping she is ready to meet her little brother!

Birthday Bliss

So I had the pleasure of spending the majority of my birthday with this little cutie and she must have known it was a special day because she was on her extra best and happy behavior! I truly did have the absolute best birthday ever! I am pretty sure though I say that each year but the more I think about it I believe that each birthday has been the best ever. I am at a different place in my life each time December 14th rolls around and my family and friends always seem to know just what I need to make me feel so special. Especially Josh! This year I have been a bit preoccupied with all the fun of Christmas ideas I have and with the thought of meeting my little guy so soon that I have really been much less consumed with my birthday as I normally am. The thing that is so fun about my husband is that it takes everything in his will power to keep a present if he gets it more than a day or two before the event/holiday. Therefore, I received one of my gifts early which was my new camera lens (hence all the fun pictures I have been taking lately). I have been wanting a wide angle lens for quite some time but never wanted to spend the money on it. He somehow managed to keep it at his office for over a week but broke down the night my parents came up so I could use it over the weekend (which I was super happy about!) Then yesterday he surprised me with yet another gift, which I really wasn't expecting, and it was such a pretty silver/lacy/glittery (haha where do you think I am going with this.................?) MAKE UP KIT, that looks like a jewelry box! I'll try and remember to take a picture of it because it is so lovely. It has sooooo much fun stuff in it and it was just the thing I needed without me knowing that I really wanted it! How does he do that? Plus he ALWAYS manages to make me cry with his sweet cards and letters he gives me. I am such a lucky gal to have a husband who is so thoughtful and kind!

Birthdays have always been a big deal in my family. My parents always made me feel so special (part of it being because it was so close to Christmas). There were never "joint presents" or anything that tied my birthday in with the upcoming holiday that everyone loves. When I was younger my parents introduced me to the "birthday fairy". I would make a wish at this fountain in our mall and tell the birthday fairy what I wanted. Somehow she always heard me and surprised me with my wanted gift. One year, my parents set up a video recorder in my bedroom and positioned it towards my bed. All of a sudden magically a new bike appeared out of thin air on to my bed?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! That was the cooooooooooolest thing that could have ever happened! It was the most amazing thing I had seen in my entire life. I am sure I told the world about it too. Also, my parents would fill the living room or my bedroom with streamers and balloons and decorations so when I woke up my house was all prepared for my special day. I cannot wait to do these things for my kids as they get older =). I really have some awesome parents!

So Harper and I decided that we should go to Target and buy some fun things to finish up our Christmas shopping & prepare for Pax-man's arrival. The little guy will be here in 2 weeks from today and I still needed some essentials and he needed some cool threads to wear when he is born. I have been much less consumed with buying him clothes which was very apparent when I was gathering together things for the hospital and he didn't really have much to wear! Ahhhh! So below are some pics of the cuuuuuute things I picked up at Target so he can look handsome and be warm....

Every little guy needs a skull and crossbone onesie right? And I loooooove the little long sleeved multi colored striped onesie with the little yellow dinosaur on it & we are Okies so he had to have a pair of camo pants =).

The little blue hats were made by my Aunt Vi along with a cute little blue blanket to match. I cannot believe a little tiny head is going to even fit in it!!! Then the rest are some fun PJ's and crazy cute suede & faux fur booties my grandma found for him! Last but not least the amazing aden+anis swaddle blankets we received from our dear friend Savannah at my baby shower for Harper. These are the BEST blankets ever!!!

The last item I picked up at Target was this super cute plastic mini reusable cup to match my giant one. Josh bought me the large cup quite a while ago and I am obsessed with it. I use it every day to drink my water and because of that it is the only thing Harper will drink water out of. After we checked out at Target I went to their Starbucks to purchase a Spiced Apple Cider because it is my new favorite treat & saw these mini reusable cups and could not resist! Now Harper has her own cup so she can be just like her mama! Aaaaaaaand to make the excitement even more exciting it was buy one get one free so she now has TWO! Lucky duck!
I mean seriously, could she be any cooler? Especially in her ensemble of polka dots and stripes? To end the day J came home and we all went out for a family dinner to eat some tasty Mexican food and enjoy each others company and then came home and watched a little X Factor. I received so many kind Facebook messages, text messages, phone calls, Iphone videos and FaceTime's from my friends and family which made me feel oh so special. Thank you everyone for making my 27th birthday the best one ever. It was perfect in every way for where I am in my life at this very moment.

sentiMENtal moments

Harper playing with her Grumpa!

When I found out I was going to have Harper I was unbelievably excited! I knew that this little girl was going to be so loved by all of her family and friends. I never really realized how it would touch me to watch her grow up and endure in the love that is all around her. I also knew that all the women in my family would gush over how adorable she was and all the cute things that she does. However, I never realized that what would really hold a special place in my heart is seeing the men in my family interact with her. She is the first grandchild to be born on my side of the family so it has been an adventure for all of us. As you can see from the photo above my step dad, Mike, is one of Harper's biggest fans. I have said this before but she is definitely a daddy's girl but the same thing goes with her Grumpa (or as she pronounces it Bump-pa). Now don't get me wrong she loves me and her Mimi but what I think she loves about Josh and her Grumpa is that they don't treat her like a little prissy girl. They will rough house with her and she just adores it. She loves to be thrown around on the bed, held upside down, thrown up in the air and to be treated not as delicately as the women tend to treat her. I do not know why but watching her interact with the men in the family sometimes brings tears to my eyes. Harper knows how to break down that manly wall they have and to let their massive amount of love for her shine through. It makes me so thankful to have these men in my life. I know that Paxton will receive the same love but at the same time it will be different. The interaction of a great grandpa, grandpa, dada, uncle, whoever with a little girl is one of the sweetest bonds I have been able to witness. I am so thankful for all the men in her life that will teach her to be strong, independent well rounded girl who can do whatever her heart desires.

Cozy cold weekend

H playing a little victory tune after the Chiefs beat the Bears!

Saturday morning cuddles

This past weekend was filled with lots of warm clothes, good food, football, and cuddling! This was our last weekend together as a Pluid family of three at home just us. So on Friday night J & I got a babysitter and went out for a date night! The big deal about that is that for the first time since Harper has entered our lives I allowed someone other than myself, Josh, or my mom to put my sweet little angel to bed. I know, I know, you probably think I am crazy, but it is one of those things that I just love being the last one to give her a kiss, say our prayers, and lay her to sleep. She typically goes to bed at 7:00, so in the past we would just have a sitter come around that time and then we would go out afterwords. She is a really great night time sleeper so we were never worried about her waking up once we were gone. However, I realized that it just might be time for me to step back from being a control freak and let a baby sitter do their job and have some actual interaction with my child. We had our baby sitter come over around 6:15 and I explained my process of bedtime to her (because of course it is the only correct way to put her to sleep and Harper wouldn't have it any other way......right?) and Josh and I left the house, with our child awake, to go out for a date.

Poor Josh could tell the second he got home that I was a tad (okay maybe a lot more than a tad) nervous about it but I know deep deep deep down in my heart somewhere I do want her to be an independent girl and to not always need her mama (sniff sniff). I did ask the sitter to text me once Harper was down just to give me a little peace of mind that things were going alright.

So, Josh was geared up to go out for a fancy steak/fish dinner and to really treat me to a nice night. But, being 35 weeks pregnant, with not many super cute clothes to wear, I was really wanting to do something more low key and just to really enjoy our time together. We ended up at this pizza restaurant called D'Bronx here in Overland Park and it was OH SO YUMMY!!!!! Giant slices of pizza, a delicious salad, and tea that tasted like the candy Peachy O's. J was unaware of this yummy gummy candy treat I was comparing my beverage to...maybe he will get some in his stocking for Christmas =). Anywho, since dinner did not take super long we decided to go and make a second stop for him to get a beer and myself some dessert so we could continue on our evening of fun. Where we ended up for date night part II was at Jack Stack BBQ and we actually sat up at the bar and just had the best time. There was not any major sporting event on so I truly got the full attention of my love and we shared the most yummy 3 kinds of chocolate brownie with ice cream on top...Oh my was it delicious! After we ended our time out, I took the baby sitter home and turned on the video monitor (a new purchase we have had for only a few weeks & what was I thinking waiting so long to get one?! They are freaking awesome!) so I could see sweet Harper snoozing away, not phased at all that someone else put her to bed and that mama & dada were away for the night. A bitter sweet moment to be honest.

Saturday and Sunday we really took it pretty easy. We watched Bedlam and my OSU Cowboys beat Josh's OU Sooners so that was a tad awesome. Then Sunday morning J made me breakfast (due to his team losing) and helped me with some chores around the house. Then the KC Chiefs won Sunday afternoon which always puts J in an extra good mood!!!! It was a great weekend for footballl. Last but not least we headed over to our friend's, The Lurvey's, house and they made us a crazy delicious dinner consisting of steak, potatoes, corn, salad and sugar cookies!!! We had such a great time just hanging out with them, listening to music and letting the kids run around and play. It was a perfect ending to a truly great weekend. I am one lucky girl =).

OH and in T-minus 4 days my family is coming to KC to stay with us.......... YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! Can you tell I am uber excited?!?!

27 days to go!

35 weeks..... 4 to go!!

I cannot believe that it is already December! I know everyone says that but what it means to me is that this is the month we will be going to a family of 4! We FINALLY got our date that we will be meeting little Paxton Joshua Pluid on December 29th at 7:30a.m.!!!!! I am so excited and so nervous all at the same time! Having a c-section all over again makes me a bit nervous just for the normal reasons (and the fact that being numb from the waist down freaks me out bigtime). We have a lot of stuff going on this month so I am sure it is going to fly right by! I am very very very very very very ready to not be pregnant anymore but I want to cherish these last days of just being a family of 3 also. Harper is honestly so entertaining and fun I am a little sad that my attention is going to have to be partially taken away from her.

I am so super excited though because Josh and I are going out on a date night tonight (it is our last weekend together just the two of us). Then on Monday I get to see my bestie Katie for a brief period because her and her hubs are driving through KC! That alone is the BEST news I received all week! Then on Friday night my mom and step dad are coming to stay the weekend with us..YAAAAAAAAAAAY..... Then Saturday my grandparents come and join us as well! My grandmas birthday is Dec 10th and mine is the 14th and since we will be staying home for Christmas this year my family is coming up to stay with us and celebrate our birthdays and drop off Christmas presents. I truly could not be more excited!!!!! Unfortunately after that J will be gone a few days after that but it will be some fun mommy & Harper bonding time which will include lots of sugary snacks and cuddling! Let's just all keep our fingers crossed that Paxton doesn't decide to join that fun and try to come while J is gone! Then for Christmas my brother in law is coming to stay with us and celebrate the holidays! SO MUCH FUN! Next it will be showtime with baby Pluid #2 making his debut and lots of family and friends coming our way to stay with us to help and meet this sweet boy. As always I feel like I have so much more to say but I need to go figure out what I am going to wear tonight for my date with my hot hubs! The jacket/poncho that I am wearing in the photo above is not his favorite thing (although it is absolutely my favorite item of clothing right now!) so I will put something on that will appeal to him a bit more =). I hope everyone has an absolutely fantastic weekend and I will hopefully take lots of pictures this weekend because I have been majorly slacking.

OH AND........................ GO POKES!!!!!!!!

How much longer???

Harper at 15 months!!

I had my second Dr. appointment this morning since I have been in KC. I am going to be 33 weeks along tomorrow which means I have another........6 weeks to go! AHHHHH it seems like an eternity! I am not sure my body can handle another month and a half of this baby boy doing his damage. My boobs are huge and resting upon my gigantic belly, I have a cankle on my right leg (due to a sprain not pregnancy), my belly button is literally non existant...its not an innie or an outie, it has become one with the rest of my stomach and is flush against the skin. I am pretty sure we have created a karate kid with the jabs, kicks, and nudges I have been receiving all day and night with this little guy. Harper was breech for so long that she only was able to kick me in certain spots but this guy he likes to stretch out and crazy kick all over my insides. I can even feel him pushing on the sides of my body which is oh so bizarre. Now don't get me wrong I am soooooooooooooooooooooooo excited to meet my little Paxton and I want him to take all the time that he needs to get strong and healthy so he is ready to meet the world but boy oh boy am I ready to hold him in my arms and get him out of my belly!!

At my appointment I mentioned that I thought he was a big guy and when the doctor measured my belly she said that he was measuring a few weeks ahead of my due date. If he measures the same way at my next appointment then we will most likely have to go in for an ultrasound to check and see if we need to get him out earlier than expected. So far he is going to be here sometime around the week of the 26th-30th! My little holiday baby boy =). I am a December baby as well so he will NEVER EVER receive a joint gift combining Christmas and his birthday. Oh no he will get the same treatment as if he had a summer birthday and will get a whole day of celebration for the beautiful person that he is!

We had a baby shower this past weekend and it is all starting to settle in that I am going to have another teeny tiny newborn again. Opening gifts of these little bitty newborn onesies, socks & diapers just makes me so excited to have a little cuddly baby around. Harper is definitely too much of a busy bee to really stop and cuddle with me as much as I would like. But she is just SO fun that I don't even want to stop her crazy running around because she is just hilarious! She is really starting to talk A LOT...... some random jibberish but surprisingly many real words. Her being able to communicate with us helps her to not get so frustrated when she wants something! As much as I can get frustrated with our pets these days (barking during nap times, teaching her that it is fun when she drops her dinner on the floor so they can eat it, and trying to steal her stuffed animals as toys of their own) I don't know what she would do with out them! They are pretty much the excitement of her days, besides when dada comes home. When she wakes up in the morning one of the first things she says is "kitty cat?" and looks around for him because he is usually waiting near her door to join in with waking her up. She follows Zoey our dog around all day long poking her and petting her probably more than she would like! She is such a fun little girl and I cannot wait to see what Paxton is going to be like. Maybe this time a little bit of me will rub off on him because Harper is 100% Josh from her looks to her personality....but that's okay because I kind of think he is the greatest anyway. =)

Hope everyone has a great week & I will give an update when we figure out the day of my c-section! =)

Home Sweet Home

So this is the new place!!! I have not blogged in quite sometime due to the craziness of being now almost 32 weeks pregnant and running around chasing my crazy mobile toddler. Oh, and the fact that I was packing packing and packing for a few weeks to prepare ourselves for our move to a new home, in a new town and even in a new state!! Yes I said state! If you know me you are probably thinking, yeah right she would never move away from good ol' OK. But yes in deed my friends, I am now a permanent resident of Overland Park, Kansas.

Josh had a new job opportunity arise that would allow him to get out of retail!! No more weekends, no more night time closing shifts, AND HOLIDAYS OFF?!?!?! I am not even sure what to make of that one yet. I was fortunate enough to have my first retail free holiday season last year but it was not the same with Josh still participating. Yet now we both get to sit back, relax, and enjoy 4 days off during Thanksgiving and a nice 3 day weekend for Christmas!! As long as everything continues to go smooth with my pregnancy then we plan to pack up the family and celebrate Thanksgiving in Oklahoma with our families. However since baby boy is due only 10 days after Christmas we will be staying here and having a small Pluid family of 3 celebration. Just a few days after Christmas we will be lucky enough to see all the family we missed because baby boy Paxton will be joining us and everyone will come up our way (so everyone keep your fingers crossed that the weather treats us nice so our Okie family can drive up here!!)

So far our transition with our new town and our new home has been pretty much seamless. We enjoyed our short 9 months in Duncan, OK and the biggest reason I was sad to go was the fact that I got to see one of my best friends Katie and Harper's BFF Keller, every single day. Not many people get the joy of living so close to a friend and having their kids get to play and love each other! Katie has been a true blessing in my life. She will know things about me that no one will ever know or understand. She has been there for me through some of the most difficult times as well. The day I went to say goodbye to them was definitely the most emotional time I had. BUT, I am now looking forward to having "girls weekends" and meeting up with her with no kids and having a great excuse to shop, pamper and catch up!! =)

So the fun part about being in our new town is that we definitely feel as if it is a perfect fit for our personalities. Josh and I love to go out and try new restaurants and get involved with fun community events. Overland Park has so much to offer with festivities and fun kids events and the simple fact that I could literally walk to Target from my house makes me such a happy girl!! I am pretty sure I have made up for not living in a town with a Target in just the few weeks I have been here. We absolutely love our new neighborhood which has lots of families and young kids. We were drawn to this area because of some friends we knew and worked with in Oklahoma that moved here a few years ago and raved about how much they loved the neighborhood & all their neighbors. I can literally walk to the elementary school, the park, and the pool from my house! We are definitely going to get use out of our little red wagon this next summer.

Well that is all the rambling I am going to do today. I will post more house pictures as I get the rooms all completed and pretty =). I'm trying to get that done as quickly as possible so I can have a few weeks of relaxing before baby boy arrives! Ahhhhh I can't wait to meet him!

The human garbage disposal

24 weeks of growing Paxton Pluid...

Harper is napping away and I was a bit bored and tired of constantly cleaning the house so I decided to take a few photos of the grooooooowing belly of mine! I have not done a great job of documenting as I did round #1. I of course feel HUGE, but when I look back on facebook around the same time I am pretty much the same size which makes me feel a whole lot better =).

I am finally in the state of pregnancy where I do have energy and feel pretty darn good. I have my bouts of emotions here and there and I am definitely becoming a human garbage disposal. This past weekend was basically equivalent to Christmas for my husband because football has begun. I could honestly care less about the game but it is a fantastic excuse for me to bust out the junk food and binge eat because that is what you do when football is on.....right? Yesterday morning I wanted to run to the store to grab a single can of pumpkin because I found a recipe on Pinterest to make homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte's! In this tiny town of Duncanville we unfortunately do not have a Starbucks and so I wanted to make the little fall time treat at home =). Well $80 later lets just say we had enough food to feed ourselves for an entire week...yet I was planning to eat it all in a day!

My meal plan yesterday consisted of:

Breakfast:

A giant cinnamon roll (shared with Harper & Hubby of course!)

Biscuits and gravy

Lunch:

An entire Totino's pizza

Snack:

Yogurt pretzels

Dinner

Ham & Beans with Cheesy Beer Bread

Dessert:

Pecans Pralines and Cream Ice Cream

HOLY MOLY did I really just admit that to you guys?

Well lets just say that I enjoyed every delicious and unhealthy bite of it and did my best to not watch any football =). Paxton seemed to enjoy it as well because he was moving like crazy last night! We were able to see the movements going on in my belly instead of just feeling them, pretty crazy! The best part about the whole shopping trip to the store was that I ran into my pregnancy baby doctor so she was witness to my unhealthy eating habits. Hopefully she does not think that is what my daily food intake is like!

p.s. I just realized that I have gone 24 weeks of being pregnant with out eating a single Oreo. What is wrong with me?!

Holy cow I am raising a GIRL!!!!!

Do not allow this cheesy smiling, tomboy acting, spitting image of her daddy fool you. She is indeed a girl! Today has definitely caused me to realize that I am headed down a road full of unbalanced emotions, tears, and craziness! Yesterday we had such a fun day filled with laughs, smiles, happy baby moments.....today on the other hand is as if a switch has been flipped and the evil emotional Harper has risen. Goodness gracious the tears are coming from literally NOWHERE! I can not leave her side for more than 2.5 seconds without an emotional breakdown coming out of this super cute little 21 pound being. Now its not the cuddling kind of day where she doesn't feel good and wants to be sweet. It is the crazy kind of sad that reminds me that the teenage years are going to be looooooooong! All that being said she is still of course the cutest little thing ever and when I do get those brief moments of smiling or laughter when tickling her it makes all the craziness okay. But just for the record... women are crazy! =).

Well gotta go, the monster has woken 45 minutes early from her nap =).

Change

Change in all things is sweet
- Aristotle

Over the 3 years of marriage and 4 years of being together, Josh and I have endured a lot of change. Some expected, some unexpected, some wanted, and some unwanted. However, through all the change it has brought us together and stronger and more in love. Although change is inevitable in everyone's lives it is really how you adapt and react to it that creates who you are. I tend to think of myself as open minded and ready to take on new adventures. Yet, I am not as quick to adapt as I would probably tell you I am. I do take time to get used to the ideas of something new (especially if it is unexpected) but altogether I always look for the positive side of things!

One of the biggest changes I had to adapt to was realizing that I was going to be a stay at home mom. This was a decision that Josh and I came to together and I am ever so grateful that I have had this opportunity. However, it was a very difficult adjustment to me. I had my first official job when I was 15 years old, worked throughout college to pay for my bills & started a career immediately after graduation. Working was something I knew, something I was good at, and something that I felt defined who I was. 99% of my friends who were already moms were in fact stay at home moms. I will admit that I was judgmental to the point of not understanding why some of them had house cleaners or went out and shopped like crazy when they were not bringing in a paycheck. A huge part of this was ignorance on my part because I obviously did not know what it was like to take care of a newborn. I also did not think about how not everyone has "a perfect baby" who sleeps on a schedule, is never sick, and does as they are told! I never realized the time and patience it was going to take to raise a little one...especially the patience it took to raise a little one who had acid reflux! Anyway, I am getting off track a bit but my point is that being a mom is a difficult job, but at the same time a very easy job. I get the chance to teach her things, I get to be the one to comfort her when she falls, I get to be the one who dances around the living room being extra silly and making her full bellied laugh all day long.

Now if you ask me if I miss my job the answer would be yes. Some of you may be surprised by this answer because my particular job I was not in love with. I did however love being responsible for projects and teaching people how to complete tasks or how to become stronger in the business world. I did obviously love bringing home a paycheck and being an equal contributor in the household. I did love all the relationships and friendships I created with those I worked with. Those are the things I miss but I would not give up one second of the time or the days that I have spent with Harper over the past year.

The other change that has been difficult for me to adjust to is the fact that in 8 days my little girl will be one year old. ONE YEAR OLD? How in the world did that happen?! She has gone from this helpless little bundle of 7lb7oz 19 1/2 in. long who could not even hold her head up to this 20lb 27 in long giant personality. She has opinions and thoughts (although they are simple) and she has the ability to melt hearts! I am so amazed that an entire year has passed by but I am so proud of the little girl she is and I think that Josh and I have done an absolutely phenomenal job raising her thus far. I can only imagine how much faster things will go when little Paxton arrives to add to the craziness. I will make sure to stop and cuddle him every moment I can because once they become mobile, the cuddling stops! I know it will come back some day with Harper but we find ourselves cherishing the sick days when she lays her head on our shoulders and is a bit more needy.

Last but not least the change that has gone along with my 3 years of marriage has been the best change of all. From my very few first initial interactions with Josh, I knew my life would be ever changed by him. There was something different about him and something different about myself with him. He made me more bold, more confident, and more in love than I had ever imagined. As each experience has been thrown our way with change, it truly has only made our marriage better. I am not saying things have always been perfect or that we have never had our down times. What I am saying is that we really do grow together more when we face a hard situation and realize that sometimes we are the only things we have to lean on to get through a rough patch. I am thankful to have him as my husband and partner. I am excited for the future change we will experience together. I am excited to teach our children to embrace the unknown and sometimes there really is a silver lining in those dark cloudy days. My life is not perfect but I know that I have all I need to keep going with a smile on my face!

Speaking of change, little Paxton is now big enough where I can feel him kicking in my belly. Oh what a good feeling it is! =)

Update on the Pluids

In 13 days our little girl is going to be ONE YEAR OLD!! I just can not believe how fun and crazy and unexpected the whole experience of being a parent has been. If you have read my blog posts before you will know that it has not necessarily been the easiest journey but it has by far been the most wonderful thing I have ever done! I have a fun party planned on the Sunday before her birthday to celebrate with our family and and a few close friends and am hoping that she will have fun and not be too overwhelmed by the madness! I will take lots of pictures and share the day of the event after it passes =).

I am now 18 weeks pregnant and we have recently found out that we are HAVING A BOY!!! I thought Josh's jaw was going to hit the floor he was so shocked! I can not believe that we are lucky enough to have one boy and one girl! I am due January 4th but since I had a c-section with Harper, I will be having another one with baby boy Pluid and will most likely have him right after Christmas around the 27th or 28th. Kind of a crummy birthday but I am very excited to be big and pregnant during the fall/winter with boots and leggings and sweaters instead of in this ridiculous heat. Plus I will not feel guilty (as if I do anyway) stuffing my 8/9 month pregnant self with all the yummy holiday food!!! Josh and I have been having a difficult time deciding on a name for this little boy! I had about a million girls names that I had on a list but for some reason boys names are not peaking my interest as much. The name that we both like the most is Paxton Joshua Pluid. I like the alliteration of the P's. Paxton Pluid....cute huh?

I can not believe I am only 2 weeks away from being 1/2 way finished with being pregnancy. Yet this go around has been much harder on my body. I have gotten sick 3 times from strep throat, colds, throwing my back out, etc. which is very uncommon for me. I am never ever sick! The past few days I was having terrible stomach issues but fortunately today I feel back to normal....yet Harper is now sick with the sneezes & snots! It's always something isn't it?

Lastly I will give an update as to what Harper is up to these days. Mostly for my benefit so I can remember since I am oh so good at updating my blogs hehe =)

*Last doctors visit she weighed 20lbs 7oz and was 27" tall
*Loooooooooves books.
*She now hands things to us and gets great joy out of it, unless its something she really wants and then she plays a sneaky game where she holds it out and then snatches it back as I go to grab it.....she thinks shes pretty funny.
*Plays peek-a-boo by bobbing up and down or hiding under her blanket
*Starting to put together words that we can understand such as: bye bye, baaa (sheep sound), bow wow wow (dog sound), night night, mama, dada, nana (banana), wuv woo (love you), hahahaha (mocks my laughing) & screeches with joy anytime she sees a picture or actual animal.
*She can point to when I ask her where it is: her belly, foot, leg, head, closes her eyes, heart and on occasion her ear, and waves byebye.
*She is obsessed with this Step 2 kitchen my dad & stepmom gave her and plays in that all the time
*She loves it when we chase after her to tickle her and she tries to scurry away
*Cruises all over everything & crawls like a mad woman. She has not had much interest in walking since she has become so confident in crawling
*Eats just about anything & everything

Well that is about it for now. I am sure there is much more but I won't make this post any longer than it already is!

3 years of wedded bliss

On our 3 year anniversary at The Arcadian Inn Bed & Breakfast!

I had the pleasure of planning Josh & I's anniversary fun this year. Usually he is the one that comes up wit a plan or surprise but I asked to take over this year and I feel as if it was a success! We wanted to do something fun & simple so I asked my mom to watch our sweet little Harper for the night and booked us a room at the Arcadian Inn Bed & Breakfast. Neither of us had stayed at a bed & breakfast before so it was a fun new adventure! When we arrived to check in they had a chalkboard out front welcoming us with our names on it. Then we went to check out our room and it was so pretty & quaint. We got dressed & ready for our dinner reservations I made for us at Signature Grill. We had been there one time before and it was such an unbelievably yummy experience! It is definitely a special occasion type of restaurant with the prices but for foodies like us, it is well worth the money! We sat and talked at dinner for quite some time so we ended up calling it a night after we ate. The next morning the owners of the Inn brought in the most delightful breakfast ever!!

I had one more surprise planned for us & had a couples massage scheduled to come and give us the massages in our room at the Inn! It was a perfect way to end our small getaway celebration!

Growing Pluid Family

my little water bug

This summer is hot! I know that it is hotter than normal & my apologies go out to all my friends who are 7 months pregnant and due in August because I am SO thankful that it is not me this time! However our big news that we did find out recently is that I am actually pregnant....AGAIN! Yes I said it. I am with child and due January 4th 2012. This was a very unexpected surprise and honestly I was in denial in the beginning but once we finally go to go to our doctor here in Duncan and see our little Lima bean on the ultrasound I fell in love all over again. Now I am not saying that all my nervousness has been thrown out the window because it definitely has not. Especially over the past few days while Harper has been dealing with 3-4 new teeth breaking through and has been extra fussy, napping poorly, and more accident prone it makes me realize everything I will be having to face again. I will have to be up in the middle of the night, working on cry it out to establish a nap routine, starting to breastfeed all over, work extra hard to get the baby weight off. There are a lot of things that I would not necessarily say I am looking forward to BUT then I think about how every morning I wake up so excited to go in Harper's room to wake her up and have her quickly scurry to the crib and pull herself up and to see that sweet goofy big tooth smile and my heart melts yet again that morning. Overall I am very excited & I know it may be a bit crazy for a year or two but it will be so fun to have them hopefully be best friends and close to each other since they will only be 16 months apart!

My sweet Harper is 10 months old now and is learning and growing so crazy fast. Some of the things she is doing now is:

Cruising all over the furniture
Waving bye bye
When I ask her she can point to her leg, belly, heart, head, ear
Can put her arms up when asked
Can sign to tell me she wants "more" or "all done" when eating
Pulls herself up on any and every piece of furniture possible
Learning to say bye bye, duck, and baa (what a sheep says)
Always says dada and mama
Obsessed with books. I read the same 3 books probably 10 times a day...at least
Loves watching her Your Baby Can Read video
Eats pretty much anything
Feeds herself peas,bananas, bread, green beans, etc.
Knows how to ham it up to strangers
Talks/yells/babbles constantly. She loves to hear herself
Pets the animals

Well I have so much more I wanted to say but looks like those teeth are bothering her again and she has woken up early sad from her nap so I will cut it short this time and hopefully write some more this week.

making a blueberry mess sucking on frozen blueberries to help her sore teeth =(

time stopping moments...

perfection.

Ok so just to forewarn you I about to get all mommy gushy & emotional on you. I am sure you all have those times where you really stop and soak in the moment you are living at that very second. It seems as if I never really remember doing this until I met Josh and we fell madly in love & even more so now that we have Harper. I just had one of those moments and I realized how happy I am with my life and I am so lucky to have all that I do.

Harper and I decided to drive and have lunch with Josh this afternoon. We went and had some Mexican food which is my favorite. Especially on a gloomy cloudy comfort food kind of afternoon. Josh works about 30 minutes away from where we live so it gives Harp and I some girl time in the car. On our way back home I looked in the mirror that is attached to her headrest so I can see her since she has to sit rear facing. She was just as happy as a clam playing with her stuffed blue frog that her Mimi bought her. I thought to myself that not too long ago she could not even stay awake for the entire drive to or home in the car. She would always fall asleep. However, she is now 8 months old and such a big girl and can keep herself entertained for the entire drive. One of her favorite things to do is to turn her head up and to the side so she can see what I am doing. I am usually singing to the latest weeks performances of American Idol and she doesn't mind that I may or may not be a fantastic singer =). Anyway, on our way back I saw her looking up at me and I reached my arm back towards her car seat so I could touch her. When I did this, with her tiny little soft hand she grabbed my fingers and just held on. This was when I had that time stopping live in the moment kind of feeling. Her tiny little hand made my world pause and realize how amazing it is that this little girl is mine, how special she is, how much I love her and how fast she is growing up. Only a month ago she could not stay up for the drive, two months ago she was just starting to sit in a highchair during lunch and four months ago she would have been asleep in her car seat during all of lunch!

Now, I loved Harper from the moment I looked at the little stick and saw a plus sign indicating I was pregnant. I loved her a little more the first time I found out she was a girl, heard her heartbeat, saw the little lima bean on the ultrasound, or met her for the first time in the delivery room. My love then however, was nothing compared to what it is today. Now that she has her own personality, her deep raspy voice, her crazy wiggles of excitement, her love for animals & her dislike for most green foods. Now is the moment that I love her more than I thought I could ever love anyone or anything in my life. It is unimaginable. It is indescribable. It is perfection.

J's 30th birthday

My handsome hubby with his birthday cake!

We kicked off the month of April celebrating Josh's 30th birthday! We invited some of our close friends and spent a weekend at the Hard Rock Hotel in Tulsa gambling and partying the night away! We had such a fun time and it was also the first time we left Harper to stay overnight with my mom for a few nights & she did fantastic. Josh was able to take off 10 days for a little R&R vacation/birthday time so after we got home from the party weekend we spent the rest of our time hanging out and doing a small celebration on his actual birthday. It started out with a home cooked breakfast with blueberry pancakes and bacon. Then we went with Josh while he golfed (which was not a great idea to bring a baby on a very windy morning......). That afternoon J took me out to the gun range so I could experience and learn to shoot a gun. OH MY GOSH it was so emotional. I don't know why but the second I took my first shot I just started tearing up. It was loud, it was powerful, it was overwhelming. Don't get me wrong I am a moderately emotional person but I am not one to just break out in tears for no reason. I told him that I didn't want to shoot it anymore but I decided to put on my big girl pants and tried firing a few more rounds. I became a bit more comfortable the more I shot but still, guns are scary to me. I am not about killing anything, even if you are going to eat it. I am not a vegetarian either but just the though of actually killing something makes me sad. I remember the first time J went to buy a rifle at Bass Pro Shops. The salesperson who was trying to explain the different bullets pulled out this super pointy one. He explained that it would be good to shoot dogs with. The second that sentence came out of his mouth I again just started crying. Now I am not sure if he meant actual dogs or if he meant coyotes or something else but the thought of an actual pet dog getting shot broke me down. I literally had to leave Bass Pro while he finished up his purchase. Wow I kind of went way off track with my gun stories but oh well!

After the gun adventure we went by the meat market to pick up king crab and steak for dinner and it was sooooo delicious! I had not eaten crab legs since the beginning of my pregnancy and it was amazing. I was glad that I didn't ruin it for myself because the smell of crab when I was pregnant grossed me out so much and I never wanted it at all. I also baked a delicious strawberry cake and bought our favorite champagne Sophia. This champagne is what we drink every time something special goes on in our lives! We had a really fun day and I am so glad we were able to spend the entire day together because I am a sucker for birthdays. =)

7 months of parenting fun!

We love to put down a blanket, bring out the toys and play outside in the afternoons. We have had some pretty incredible weather lately! And this sun hat is probably the cutest thing EVER!

Today my little girl is 7 months old! You will hear every parent say this but oh my I can not believe this much time has passed & we are getting closer and closer to her being 1 year old!! I thought I would update on Harper's progress on this post and then in the next few days I will update on our life in general. =). After my last post, my "tell all" that very day I had so many of my mommy friends contact me. I think possibly they were worried. That was not my intention with the post. I just wanted to be honest about how things have been and to inform people on the good & the not so good of parenting. However, a good friends of mine Jessi actually called me that day and informed me that her son has Acid Reflux as well and we were able to share stories and tips to each other that made me feel a million times better. It is always nice to know you are not alone.

Anyway, on to the fun stuff! Like I said, Harper is 7 months old today and these are the things she is doing now:

• She is starting to mumble words together such as babababa & dadadada
  
• Sitting unassisted for a little over a month now (boy is that a game changer with her being able to entertain herself with toys!)
• When on her stomach she can scoot herself in a circle going counter clockwise and we are working on clockwise
• She recognizes & absolutely adores the animals. They gravitate towards her and she mostly loves our cat Dexter. She pets him quite a bit throughout the day & he loves it.
• She can feed herself puffs and actually makes it in her mouth 50% of the time
  
• She is starting to work on getting to the stomach position when sat down somewhere to play.....my days of plopping her down somewhere and knowing she will be there when I get back are nearing an end
• She can support herself standing up when holding on to the coffee table or furniture (yet has not grasped the concept that when she lets go she will fall)
• When we hold up her hands and she is standing she is working on taking steps. Now I am not saying she is anywhere near walking but she seems to be more interested in this than the whole crawling/scooting business (this could be because of her stomach issues & not liking the pressure of being on her tummy?)
• She smiles A LOT! She is a very very happy child now that we have the reflux under control. Every morning she is so happy when we come get her and same with naps!
• She is eating solids with every meal and loves to eat bananas, pears, peaches, plums, kiwi, sweet potato, avocado, butternut squash, acorn squash, carrots, summer squash, & spinach. I do lots of combinations with these and her favorite seems to be banana/avocado (Thank you Katie for this suggestion!!)

Updating on the reflux:
After we saw our pediatrician here in Duncan for the first time she prescribed her Prevacid. We were on this for a little over a week or two and decided it was not working well for us and honestly it was more of a hassle than the Zantac. It had to be taken on an empty stomach so when we woke her at 7:00 she had to wait 30 minutes to eat. The tablet was not intended to be cut in half and we had to do so for her dosage so we had problems with it crumbling to pieces, etc etc. After her issues of spitting up and fussiness came back we went back to our pedi and put her back on the liquid Zantac 2x day 1.5mL . What we also decided to do was give her solids with each feeding. Harper is on a 3.5 to 4 hour schedule eating at 7:00am, 11:00am, 3:00pm & 6:30pm. After I breast feed her she eats some solids after and this has seemed to really help her stomach! Also I will be honest that she naps in her car seat for her daytime naps and then she is in the crib during the night time. Having her sit upright in the carseat has really helped her. I do think she now could go to the crib for daytime naps but it is one of those things that I don't want to mess up something that is going so well! She takes a nap from 9:00-11:00am, 1:00-3:00pm and a short cat nap around 5:00-5:30. Another big help is having a schedule for her naps & feedings. She knows what to expect, we know what to expect and it just makes life a bit easier. We still deviate some days but in general having some kind of structure has been a great thing for us. =)

Playing outside with daddy

Our newest bump in the road has been teething....yuck! I will say that Humphry's teething pellets are a huge help (Thank you again Katie!) Harper has one little bottom tooth that has broken through the gums and is working on the other one now. Of course she is the baby that is super affected by the teething process. She was up from 2am-4am the other morning crying in pain and was very fussy for a few days along with a fever. I will admit that the tiny little tooth is just so cute!!

Chewing on frozen blueberries to help sooth the teething pain. This mesh thing is AWESOME & pretty messy!

My tell all of my parenting experiences thus far...

Playing in her exersaucer her papa and nana bought her for Christmas! This has been a lifesaver to help me get things done around the house while she plays in it!

Ok.....so if any of you reading this are somewhat close to me and talk to me occasionally you will know that I was blessed with a BEAUTIFUL baby girl but not an easy baby girl! Harper is almost 5 months old now and I will admit that this parenting gig has been more difficult than I was hoping, but not expecting, for. Things started off strong after she was born. She quickly slept pretty well during the nights and when she would feed at night she would go immediately back to sleep with no problems. I read many books and decided that between BabyWise and The Baby Whisperer were my two favorites. So of course I thought that as long as I followed these books ideas and suggestions that I would end up with an "easy" child. Things were going pretty well and I thought I was on the right path to easy parenting when all of a sudden she was crying nonstop! I would lay her down for her naps during the scheduled time and she would SCREAM! I thought that she was just testing me but it just would not stop. If you are a mom and you have read these books then it will tell you that yes it is difficult to allow your child to "Cry It Out" but things will get better with time. This was not the case for me. I recall one day Josh was working and Harper and I were at the house. I tried all day to lay her down for naps and it was unsuccessful. The poor little girl was crying so hard and so loud and I was doing everything in my power to make it stop. I would rock her, walk with her, bounce her, feed her, whatever came to mind I tried but none of it helped. I will tell you that I ended up in the closet with the door closed in the dark holding her as close to me as possible and we were both crying. At this point I knew that this could not be a normal thing. I understand that babies cry, but not to this extent.

I, for some reason, did not want to be perceived as the mom that freaks out about everything. I didn't want to take her to the doctor and be the crazy lady that thinks everything is a bigger issue than it was. However, I recorded her meltdown that day with my iPhone and showed it to Josh when he came home so he could understand what was going on and why I was so incredibly stressed out. We decided to go ahead and make a doctors appt for the following day (she was around 5 or 6 weeks old). When went to our pedi's office the next day he said that her symptoms were most likely from having acid reflux. Are you kidding? A tiny little thing like this can have acid reflux?? Well, apparently so. Along with her prescription of Zantac that she takes two times a day, I have had to change my diet since I am breast feeding. NO dairy, NO caffeine, NO spicy foods. The caffeine & spicy foods were no big deal to grasp. Dairy though, that has been a struggle! I absolutely love milk, cereal, cheese, ice cream, yogurt, cottage cheese....you name it and I love everything else that falls in to the dairy category. But to choose between continuing to breast feed my daughter or giving up a food group, I decided to sacrifice the food. I mean I had already given up some of my favorite things, i.e. alcohol, sunny side up eggs and processed meats while I was pregnant it was just a new adjustment.

With the medicine she is on it is very weight sensitive. As she gains weight her dosage needs to be increased. Unfortunately, I have to find this out the difficult way when she needs her bump in medicine by going through a few hard days of her throwing up, being very fussy and not napping much at all. The nice things is that the pediatrician I was seeing in Norman has triage nurses on call 24 hours a day. I would simply call the nurses & tell them what her symptoms were, they would contact our doctor and then they would write me a new prescription with her increased dosage. We have not yet gone to meet our new pediatrician in Duncan but I am hoping things are as easy with him/her!

My next biggest battle that is correlated with the acid reflux is our daytime napping. I have talked to so many of my other mom friends and their kiddos nap like a dream! Three to four times a day for 1.5 hours to 2 at EACH NAP! I am quite lucky if Harper naps for 2 total hours throughout the day. I am so extremely lucky that I get to stay at home and take care of my little one, but I feel like a failure a lot because it is very hard to get all the chores done around the house, have the errands run, dinner on the table when she does not sleep much. Fortunately she is beginning to get to the point where she can entertain herself for a little bit of time so I am able to get things done. Again, since my friends little ones were napping so well I figured it was something wrong I was doing so I gathered all the information and decided to try the Cry It Out Method again. You see Harper will go down for a nap just fine but she wakes up after 30-45 minutes and will not go back down. Like I said, I decided to try the CIO method and that lasted only 4 days. She was a wreck, I was a wreck, and my poor husband was wondering what in the world was wrong with us! She would cry until the time she was "supposed" to be getting up and it never improved. Because she was crying it would make her spit up and the back of her hair was wet & again, I knew that this was not right for us.

With some additional research online I have found out that it is very common for babies with acid reflux to only want to nap for 30-45 minutes. Their reflux will wake them up and if you try to let them CIO it only aggravates the reflux and makes it worse. So I just have to come to terms that I do not have the "easy" child. She will probably not nap as well as I would like her to until she gets over her reflux issues (they can start disappearing around 5-7 months and typically do not last past 1 year).

What I can say is that although being a mom has not been a walk in the park with my little cutie Harper I have found that when I relax, stop stressing over what a book tells me to do, and just take her for what she is I realize that I am the most blessed person. Harper smiles ALL THE TIME, she giggles, she loves music and dancing, hearing herself talk and is a very happy little girl. Being a first time mom is hard but at the same time it is the coolest thing to be. To see the day to day progress of her learning and developing is simply amazing.

I know this is an long blog post, it is just something I wanted to get out there. I want to end this post by stating that I truly have the most amazing husband that I could ask for. He has never made me feel bad for not getting something done around the house when we are having a bad day and he does such a great job of helping out when he is home with us. I hope Harper understands that she has a dad that loves her more than she will ever be able to imagine. She has already has him wrapped around her little finger and he will do absolutely anything for her. I just wanted to say....Thank you Josh!! Thank you for cooking me breakfast on your days off or going to the store to get me a Sierra Mist Natural. Thank you for playing with Harper in her room so I can try and get in a nap. Thank you for understanding when you come home and we have had a bad day. Thank you for being you and for honestly being the perfect husband, best friend and dad Harper and I could ever ask for. I love you so much and I love our perfectly imperfect family!