Our Journey to Baby #2

Ryan and I have been talking a while about when we would like to have our next child; since late January approximately when my friend Emily over at Baby Dickey  wrote a post about baby fever! It really got me thinking about the right time for us, age spacing and then the list making started about all of the things I want to accomplish before we start ttc (trying to conceive) and before baby #2 arrives. I'm sure I will have things to add, and I welcome any suggestions you all may have!

1. Have our house finished (trim, fireplace, porch, 2nd bathroom and kitchen). Most of these are relatively small but just time consuming, except for the second bathroom. I don't necessarily have to have the house decorated but the construction has to be finished. This has been going on almost two years and I want to be able to enjoy it with my family rather than working on it.
2. Make a will. As much as I hate to think about this, I really feel it is something we should have in place just in case something would ever happen. I would rather over prepare than leave things unattended.
3. Continue to exercise and get to a more healthy weight. I would like to lose about 15-20 more pounds which would put me at the weight I was my first few years in college (back when I worked out almost every day!) I'm continuing to find new activities for Tray and I to do together which makes it more fun for both of us.
4. Transition Tray to his own bed. We still bedshare but he falls asleep on his own after nursing and is sleeping well through the night. I'm in no rush to do this, just gradually before we have #2.
5. Continue to educate myself about pregnancy, births, c-sections and postpartum options. You can never learn enough in my opinion and you can never be too prepared to make educated choices. If there is one thing I learned from my dear friend Emily, it is this.
6.Discuss with Ryan and look in to hiring a postpartum doula. A post is coming soon about this. When Trayton was born Ryan was VERY busy with the farm calving, planting etc. He had to leave the hospital to do things at home and couldn't take any time off for us to smoothly transition in to having a baby at home like a normal job with leave. It put a lot of stress on us and I felt overwhelmed trying to recover myself and figure out a new baby. I want to make sure the needs of my family are met stress free, especially with Trayton if we have another; it should be a positive experience not something to worry about. A postpartum doula might be an option for us with their specialized training.
7. Learn even more about and look for a specialist to have placenta encapsulated. Posts are coming soon about this too. Now before you go thinking I've gone off the deep end, hear me out. The research behind ingesting the placenta speaks for itself. It is highly beneficial because it is made by you, tailored to what your body needs. It helps in faster recovery, more energy, boosts breast milk production, and my main concern, it helps with preventing postpartum depression. Dried and encapsulated it can be taken for  longer period of time to the benefits can be reaped longer. My baby blues were bad but other factors were also in play with Ryan not being available, and looking back I can't help but wonder if maybe I did have signs of PPD. In any case I am going to do everything possible to be healthy the next time around. I will be discussing it with my  OB who is very supportive and also knowledgeable about alternative and natural practices.
8.Have at least a two month grocery supply stocked up and meals frozen for two weeks after coming home. I really wanted to do this with Trayton and I just ran out of time working right up to the day I got induced and getting other things ready.
9. Learn more about cord blood banking. Another thing that we wanted to do with Trayton but didn't have the finances to undertake. I plan to do  lot of research on this for the next one.
10. Look for a birth education class that Trayton can attend. I want to make sure he is involved as much as possible. He's my little shadow, helper and deserves to know everything that is going on.
11.  Have all the necessary baby items stocked up. A post is coming soon about this. I want to hear your opinions about what is essential to have for #2 and/or what you wished you would have had with #1 :)
12. Take a babymoon before #2 arrives. Even if its just an over night trip somewhere close with our little family :)
13. Get more massages during pregnancy and a pedicure before my due date. Even if its just one  trimester, they are wonderful and a great way to keep the body cleansed! I only had one while pregnant with Trayton and I wish I had went more often. I was painting my toes the day I was to be induced and next time I want to have them done before (might have to make a trip with Miss Gabbie!)
14. Update my birth plan.15. Get a 3D ultrasound
16. Get family maternity pictures and let Tray paint my belly. We have a wonderful photographer AG Design Photography and I can't wait to have her take some.
17. Get a few more maternity clothes and nursing clothes. I was able to stay in my regular clothes until about 6 months with Trayton but I hear you start showing sooner after the first. I also had hardly any nursing clothes which was ok until I went out in public. I don't want to have to fight my clothes next time.


Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!

Tray's First Trip to the Zoo!

A few weeks ago we took Trayton to the zoo in Omaha for his very first time and he had a blast despite the scorching heat! He loved making the noises of the animals he knew and his favorite new animal is the penguin; I'll try to upload the video from that exhibit once I figure out how to do so!

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!

Wordless Wednesday: County Fair!

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!

Wordless Wednesday: Up Close

We visited the zoo in Omaha this past weekend and Tray got so excited to see all of the animals, especially the big cats!

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!

365 Letters Week 3

Photos 15-21 are up for week 3! I mentioned my old computer biting the dust right? Ha, yeah, grr!

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!
 

Oh, the Places You'll Go

A short while ago I wrote a post about unstructured creative play and all of the places I wanted to take Tray and let him explore. Here is my list I would like to complete before classes resume in the fall, some of which might have some structure and educational aspects to them but for the most part are a place where he can decide how to define his activities!

Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo - visited 7/10/11 and he loved it especially the big cats, pics coming soon!
Reiman Gardens - in town of our alma mater ISU!
Iowa Arboretum and Children's Garden
Jester Park Natural Playscape
Science Center of Iowa - ok, this may be more for mom than Tray!
Iowa Statr Fair - as long as we're showing cattle and horses, we'll be there every year; Tray loves the animals!
National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium
Crystal Lake Cave
Minnesota Zoo - hopefully on a trip to visit uncle Matt
Minnesota Children's Museum

Where have you/are you planning on visiting this summer? Any other ideas for places to explore?

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!
 

Parten's Categories of Play

I have taken Tray to a playground in the town where my college is located a few times and after he has exhausted himself out on the slide and starts playing in the sand, I find myself people watching. It's interesting to me to watch different children (almost all older and more mobile than Tray) play and interact and it turned the magic light bulb on for this post. In my developmental psychology class we discussed Mildred Parten's research regarding the correlation between children's play patterns and their social development. The research grouped play into six categories which illustrated the degree of children's social development. it fascinates me to be able to see concepts and research come to life (call me a geek, it's ok!)

1.  Unoccupied behavior describes the child who doesn't really seem to be playing but watches anything of momentary interest. This is my son when we first arrive on the playground; he likes to sit back and take it all in before he makes a decision about what he wants me to help him play on. He watches the other children, the trees, the cars entering and leaving the parking lot and after a while points, grunts and attempts to tell me what's interesting in his little one and two words sentences.

2. Onlooker behavior describes the child who spends most of the time watching other children play, may talk to them, but does not enter into the play. I've seen several little ones engage in this type of behavior, so intent and curious but not ready to make the move.

3. Solitary independent play describes the behavior of children who play alone with toys or objects that are different from those used by children near them but they make no effort to join in the other children's play.

4. Parallel play describes the behavior of children who play independently among other children and who play with similar toys as used by the other children (although not necessarily in the same way). They tend to play beside others without influencing the other children's play. This is the play my son assumes after his unoccupied behavior. I've seen so many children around his age do the same thing, all relatively close to each other but playing away in their own little world rather uninterested or shy.

5. Associative play describes behavior of children who play with others, taking, borrowing and lending toys, following others, and deciding who is playing in the group. Children engaged in this category play similarly is not identically, there is no division of labor or organization surrounding any goal in the activity. The children appear to be more interested in being in the company of the other children than in the actual activity that is going on.

6. Cooperative or organized supplementary play describes the behavior of children who play in groups organized around a goal, rather it be to make something, play a formal game, or dramatize a situation. One or two children control who belongs in the group and also direct the activities, the others in the group take on different roles, supplementing each other's efforts. The last time Tray and I were at the playground a group of little girls were cooperatively playing together and just listening to the level of organization of the game astounded me; they couldn't have been older than 8 but the amount of rules to remember had me guessing!

Socially, Tray is cautious but he is also 15 months and after a given amount of time spent observing he generally decides to explore what interests him. I've also found that on different days he plays differently which is perhaps dictated by his perception of the uncertainty of a situation. How do your little ones play?

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!

Another one bites the dust...

A few days after I wrote my last post, my Dell decided to keel over and die. It started with my power adapter shorting out toward the end that connects into my computer and then the power button itself decided to retreat inside the screen slot, like a scared turtle. So I packed it up and visited my nearest Geek Squad location (which is approximately 55 miles away) thinking I would just buy a new power adapter and have the computer sent in to get the button fixed. Hahaha, right. My Geek Squad guy, who was very helpful, informed me that it would be nearly as much as I paid for the computer to fix the button and buy a new cord. Seriously? I can't believe it is that labor intensive to replace the button! I realize there is rewiring to do once you get the computer apart but is it really that difficult? Apparently. I am thankful my squad member was able to work his magic and retrieve things I needed off of the computer because it wouldn't even turn on (I wonder what really goes on behind those black curtains at Best Buy?) I had a TON of edited pictures saved from Photoshop but they were only able to recover the original pictures before being edited...sigh. Next time I will remember to change the format so they can be rescued should anything happen! 

Long story short, I ended up having to purchase a new computer and picked out a Toshiba! I'm really excited to get things loaded onto it and start working with it; school has kept me busy with a presentation and the holiday weekend was spent with family, good food and of course fireworks! This has not been as productive of a summer as I would have hoped, but I'm crossing my fingers that this changes in a couple weeks! Hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th! 

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!