weekend wrap-up & a head injury.

and we're back.

we had a nice long weekend down in portland full of family & fun & laziness & productivity & when we got back home monday night i kinda extended all of that into my tuesday.  it was one of those days where laundry was calling & bags needed to be unpacked & there was a whole heckuvalotta things i shoulda been doing & i didn't do any of them.  don't you need one of those days every now & then?  i did, however, walk to the library with a friend & go grocery shopping & make a warm dinner for the fam so i'm chalking the day up as a success.  

our weekend was eventful.  two major things:  parker took a nasty fall down some stairs & hit the back of his head on concrete & we bought a new car.  these things happened within two hours of each other.  

it was one of those moments where you watch something happen & feel so absolutely helpless after the fact.  what's done is done & you can only hope for the best.  sam had been spotting parker down the stairs from his sister's apartment & with about two more to go, asked me to watch him so he could run ahead & get started loading up the car.  my hands were full & i was one step behind parker & i knew i couldn't really spot him like i should but i told sam to go ahead anyway because i thought in my head, shoot, he only had a couple more steps to go & i figured he was fine.  as soon as parker saw sam run ahead, he of course tried to hurry & keep up & got tripped up on his feet & fell on his knees on the step ahead of him & then twisted around & hit the back of his head on the concrete at the bottom of the stairs.  THUD.  he hit HARD.  

the scream wasn't immediate... there was a moment to catch his breath & then came the scream.  a couple good screams & then cries.  there wasn't any blood but he got a pretty good bump & his face went as pale as i'd ever seen it.  his lips were ghost white & he wasn't really responding to any of our questions & wouldn't walk.  the color started returning after a few minutes but i still put a page into our pediatrician who was on-call due to the holiday & we had to wait for a call back.  

ugh, don't google "toddler fall hit head" in these circumstances, folks.  unless you like to freak yourself out beyond what your own mind is already capable of conjuring up.  because at this point i'm already playing worst case scenarios in my mind & how i'll never forgive myself for thinking he'd be fine taking those last two steps on his own.  google doesn't help.

ok, long story short, our pediatrician called back & told us as long as he wasn't vomiting, didn't seem dizzy or disoriented & was walking/talking/running/playing as normal we were probably in the clear.  within half an hour of the fall, he was back to his normal self & never looked back.  but holy crap, it's a full day later & i'm still shuddering at how it could have been worse.   i'm still playing out all the "what-ifs" & "coulda-beens."  how quickly our lives coulda changed.  SCARY.

parenthood is scary.

in other news, we bought a new car this weekend!  it's a 2010 Subaru Outback & i'm pretty much in love with it.  i don't feel like i own quite enough pairs of hiking boots to be the owner of an Outback but i think i'll make due.  it's comfy & spacious & fits our double stroller with ease & i can't wait to tote around two kiddos in my new soccer-mom-mobile.  so forgive me if i'm never online anymore, i'm probably just driving around somewhere aimlessly in the new ride.  

and lastly, a pic of this cute little munchkin hanging out with his dad.  he's just my favorite little guy & i'm pretty sure no post on this blog is quite complete without his little face.  LOVE him.

our week by iPhone - week 80

happy long holiday weekend saturday morning, friends!  we're off to spend some time down in portland with family & there just might be some hot dogs roasted & a s'more or two eaten.  and if i have my sneaky little way, i'll probably throw some peanut butter cup s'mores in the mix & then go into a happy coma for a few days.  so we'll catch up on the other side of that, mmmk?

here's what we did this week.

monday.  we woke up to pouring rain & a cancelled stroller strides class so what better way to kill some time than shopping & cooking?  p-ray & i hung out around the house & i whipped up some pinterest-inspired "man-pleasing chicken" which turns out, is not only "man-pleasing" but also "toddler-pleasing."  p-ray was pretty into it.

so into it that he giggled all the way through his bath.

tuesday.  the rain wasn't gonna keep us indoors another whole day so we strapped on our rain gear & drove to stroller strides.  after class, parker spent a good 45 minutes splashing in puddles & getting completely soaked.  toddlerhood is pretty awesome.

wednesday.  i spent the day getting work done in my jammies {working from home is kinda awesome} & stuffing leftover cookie dough in my face.  that evening p-ray & i met up with sam on his way home at the grocery store where parker took lead of the cart pushing... he's a pretty no-fuss cart pusher & allows very little stops.

nothing exciting happened that night, unless you count lining cars & trains up in the windowsill as exciting, in which case every night would be a party around here.

thursday.  i flaunted my extremely poked out belly button in the office {really, belly button?  really?} until it was time to go pick up parker at the end of the day.  only thing is his sitter was out running errands so i had a little time to kill... oh, hello target muh-love.

then i drove my silly little man home where i painted my nails summery-tangerine-orange & parker stalled bedtime with some cute antics.

friday.  it turned out to be a gloriously gorgeous day so we spent a good hour playing at the park after stroller strides.  there was all kinds of tunnel-crawling, dirt-playing & flowers-giving to pretty older girls.

friday evening we headed downtown for a walk around the lake where i hauled my belly up a small mountain for an awesome picture & parker played king of the bench.  love me some {almost} summer-time strolls with my two favorite boys!

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***photos edited via instagram.  do you instagram?  find me @amy_agoodlife & let's picture bond!***
that was our week!  how was yours?  i wanna see, so link up!

Game Rules:
1.  your pictures have to be taken by your camera phone. that's it!  you don't even have to have a picture for every day.  got one camera phone pic of something fun from this week?  link up!

2.  if you want to grab the code below & put it in your post to have the linky with all the thumbnails show up on your blog do it.

and please post a link to my blog so others can come here to grab the code, too.
the more kids who come out to play, the more fun it will be, right?

Grab the code here:

<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=146875" type="text/javascript"></script>

...and get on the linky here:

twenty-nine weeks. bumpdate!

{compare boy two belly to parker belly here}

as of today i am twenty-nine weeks!  whooooooa.  seriously?  the last week of my twenties.  how did we get here?  didn't i just post about being halfway through this pregnancy?  i swear that was yesterday.

you guys, i'm going to have a BABY here soon!  like, i don't think i've really been taking this pregnancy for real... it has seemed like it took forever for my big belly to get here, for the baby to make big movements & for this to actually all start happening.  but it's happening.  and as much as i sometimes feel like this baby will never be here, i'm starting to realize he'll be here before i know it.  scary AND exciting!!  i am not ready!!

although, we did purchase a couple pretty big baby things this last week... our double stroller & an ergo carrier.  i am way too ridiculously excited for both these things.  i'll probably wheel parker around in the stroller by himself just because i can & maybe i'll try to convince parker & sam to test out the ergo.  it can hold up to 45 pounds, ya know.  and then when it's time, i am so excited to take my two little boys out for walks in the sun in their shared stroller or wear this new little guy around in the ergo while finding ways to get parker out of the house.  two pretty big items that are gonna make life as a mom of two a little bit easier... can. not. wait.

but seriously time?  s-l-o-w down.

little bits of happiness - week seven

i haven't linked up with stephanie & done one of these posts in a few weeks, so i figured i was overdue.  i got stuff to be happy about ya know, might as well share.

we got to see little man #2 last week!  the only thing almost as good as laying there & watching him squirm around & wave is taking home the ultrasound snapshots to look back at.  litte face, little feet & little hands make me happy.

some things take parker a while to adjust to.  his new flip flops?  were one of those things.  but now, thanks to a few hot days last week, he understands flip flops = playing in water.  so now he's all about them.  so much so that the other day while it was pouring rain outside, he got them out of his shoe drawer, brought them in to me, demanded his socks off & his sandals on & then said, "ok.  go outside... play water!"  i wish p-ray, i wish.

if you follow me on instagram you may have seen a similar picture in my feed already.  but this is too good not to share again... although i'm pretty unwilling to share this stuff in real life.  i made a batch of cookies sunday night & after baking two sheets, put the rest of the dough in the fridge for later.  genius, genius move.  the sad part of this story is that it's all almost gone.  booo.

and then there's this kid.  he cracks me up daily.  he's such a goof & i could just sit & watch him all day.  good thing that's basically what i do.  it's so funny to watch him react to things & learn & interact.  and by interact i mean make animal noises & roar & meow & bark at his toys.  because that's what two year olds do.

how "mommy-hood" has changed my identity.

when i was twenty-eight weeks pregnant with parker i wrote this post about "keeping my identity" & wondering how becoming a mom might change me.  i was all up in my life as a career woman at the time & wondered if i'd get "dumbed down" by a life of diapers & spit up.  i came across that post last week & now, at twenty-eight weeks pregnant with parker's little brother, i want to write a follow-up to all the questions i asked back then... because now i know.

here's the short answer.  i know more about myself now & who i am than i ever did back then.

these last two years of being a {mostly} stay at home mom really have changed me & honestly?  the only thing i miss about that full-time career woman is the bigger paycheck.  but getting to stay home with parker & watch him grow has made up for that in amounts way more priceless than dollars.

ok, that's the cheesy short answer.  here's some other ways i've changed.

i discovered my love for photography & started a business.  i've always been an obsessive picture-taker & always insisted on taking a million pictures of every occasion.  but when parker was just a couple months old i realized i wanted to take this passion to the next level & we purchased my first dslr.  it started with millions of pictures of parker but now i'm on my second camera & have since shot countless families, seniors, kids & a handful of weddings.  if it wasn't for staying home & photography blogs & a cute little model to learn on, i'm not so sure any of this would have ever happened.  i definitely see a long life as a photographer ahead of me & hope this is just the beginning... i think it's something i am good at & something i strive to be better at.

also?  this might not be true for most moms but i feel like i've discovered a lot about my own personal style & fashion sense since becoming a mom.  when i dress up, i dress with more purpose & my home is decorated much more to my liking than it ever has been {although it's always a work in progress!}. pinterest & fashion blogs & lots of trips to target & the mall probably have something to do with this.

when i was pregnant with parker i think i thought all moms were destined to lives of yoga pants & slippers & although this really is what i wear 75% of the time {it's actually quite glorious}, i still find times to dress up & look nice.  i still clean up well.  i still get to curl my hair & wear heels {if i want} to church on sundays or for my one day in the office on thursdays.  this is plenty for me.  it turns out moms wear yoga pants & flip flops or slippers all the time because it is COMFY.  who knew?

when i was pregnant with parker i worried about losing touch with current events.  becoming a mom-in-a-bubble.  this is something i work on.  i watch the news, i read cnn.com & follow all kinds of newsfeeds on facebook.  i think i have a pretty good idea what is going on in the world around me & i enjoy talking about current events with sam every night.  it would be easy to tune all that out & worry only about the number of dirty diapers parker had that day but this is something that's important to me & i hope it always is.

and lastly?  what i didn't know about myself back then is how much i could love another little human being.  i didn't expect that i would honestly feel like i love my kid more than any one in the whole world could possibly love theirs.  i didn't know that watching sam be a dad would make me fall in love with him over & over again everyday & that being a family kicks the crap out of being a married couple.

basically, all my fears i had back in the day were unnecessary.  mommy-hood is what you make of it.  i think it's important to make time for yourself & put yourself first when it's appropriate because no one should ever feel like they've lost their identity.  of course i have my daily struggle with fitting in all the things i have to do versus what i would like to do but that happens with kids or no kids, right?  you just have to figure out your priorities.

turns out being a mom is a pretty good thing to be.  i highly recommend it.

twenty-eight weeks. bumpdate!

{compare boy two belly to parker belly here.}

lots to report this week.

first off, we had our twenty-eight week check-up this week along with an ultrasound.  they wanted to see how baby boy is growing since he was a little on the small side {19th %-tile} when we had the gender scan at eighteen weeks.  good news:  he's in the 50th %-tile now!  he was moving around & kicking & also good news?  still a boy.  we never had an ultrasound this late in the game with parker so it was interesting to see how much bigger he is now & how cramped it is in there for him.  he's just gonna get more & more smooshed as the weeks go on though!

secondly, i described all my pelvic/back pain issues to the doctor & told her i'd self-diagnosed myself with symphysis pubis dysfunction.  she agreed!  i has it.  unfortunately, the only good this does is give all the pain i feel a name.  the only thing you can really do is wear a maternity pelvic support belt & wait for your baby to be born... so that sucks.

basically what happens is your ligaments relax too much & your pelvis separates way too much causing lots of instability in your hips, back & pelvis.  this causes horrible pain when rolling in bed, getting up from sitting down, trying to stand on one leg & getting dressed.  all things i experience.  and apparently 1 in 4 pregnant girls get it too.  do you have it?  misery loves company!

the good news is that with parker it went away pretty much as soon as he was born when my body quit producing relaxin & the ligaments tightened back up.  so that means only t minus twelve weeks of living with SPD!

lastly, the other night i stumbled upon a post i wrote when i was twenty-eight weeks pregnant with parker.  it was all about how afraid i was to change & lose my identity once i became a mom.  i was worried about the change from career-woman to mommy-woman & if i would hate who i'd become.  this week i will be writing a follow up to this post as an answer to myself about how i've changed... but basically?  i would change NOTHING about how i've changed.