Yay I'm back!

Wow it's been forever since I've written on here-I've got to do better! Anyway, it's been an interesting couple of months.  Baby M has matured like crazy and doesn't even look like my baby anymore-she's a mini-adult now! She's had a vocabulary explosion and now we can really understand what she's saying lol.  Another exciting development in our household is that Baby M is not going to be the only baby!!! That's right-we'll be expanding our brood next April :) We are super excited because we always knew we didn't want a big age gap between our kids and 27 months seems like a great distance :) Want to see our little bean? Here ya go!

At this appointment a couple of weeks ago, I thought I was 8wk2d but Lil P'nut is a big one who measured at 8wk6d! This is hopefully not a forecast of things to come because I measured small with Baby M and she was almost 9lbs!  Either way, we're excited to be newbie parents again and can't wait to see my belly grow!!

Happy 1.5 birthday Baby M!!

Mackenzie,

It's still hard to believe that you are a year and a half today!! I still remember the very first time I held you and when we got to bring you home.  Mommy was scared and nervous about doing everything right but I think she's done pretty well so far ;) I love you so much and look forward to many more half and full birthdays with you!!

THEN

 

(Don't judge me on the sposie! We didn't start CD until 6mos).

 

NOW

I just love waking up to this little one who lights up my life like you wouldn't believe! I mean, how can you honestly have a bad day with this face smiling back at you? :D

Throwback Wordless Wednesday

I want to do something slightly different than the other blogs for Wordless Wednesday.  I'm going to start doing Throwback Wordless Wednesday which will feature an old picture of Baby M, Daddy B, or myself :) Good idea, right? Since Baby M is so adorable, I'll let her start!

This is a photo of Baby M when she was about 3 months in a breastmilk-induced coma lol.  I miss these days :(



SN: Would you all mind voting for Baby M in the Gerber Generation Photo Search? Go here, search for Mackenzie from Anderson in the Toddler section and click vote :) I'd really appreciate it!

3000 in 35 Ab #Fitblog Challenge

I'm in...as in I'm in the 3000 in 35 Ab #fitblog Fitness Challenge! I have been trying (unsuccessfully) for a while to find a workout program that will keep me motivated and want to do the exercises on a continual basis.  Unfortunately, I hadn't found such a program...until now.  The 3000 in 35 Ab #fitblog Fitness Challenge is a "program" where all the participants are going to do an average of 100 ab exercises a day without doing a single crunch or sit-up! The challenge runs from July 1 to August 5th.  Since that time frame is 35 days, you can have either 5 days off (no exercises) or 10 half days (50 exercises/day).

I want to join this challenge because I really want to shrink down my belly and have abs again! I unfortunately didn't know about postpartum muscle support belts after having Baby M so I have now developed a pooch that is far from sexy! I also want to do this challenge because the end date is the day that we head to the beach for our annual family vacay/celebrating our 1st wedding anniversary and I want to be able to wear a 2-piece (or a sexy 1-piece lol).  Also, this challenge is important to me as a Health Education major because belly fat is linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, among other health issues.

All in all, I want to be healthier, look great, and serve as a positive health role model to my daughter because if I don't teach her, who will?

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Can you really saw no to this face?!

My Latest Ponderings

Whoo! May has been a CRAZY month for me! I finally finished my undergrad career (my mom did too!), in the final stages of becoming a "real" adult and having a FT job, and, after much soul-searching, have decided to attend graduate school to obtain my Master's of Public Health! Add all this on top of DH & I starting on our TTC journey to give Baby M a sibling.  She has lately become obsessed with babies-on TV, on the computer, anywhere! As soon as she sees a baby, she starts oohing and ahhing over it with a big grin on her face.  We hope that she will be the same with a real baby!

Speaking of another baby, I wanted to write about something that has been on my heart for a few months.  As you may or may not know, DH and I have been talking about having another child for a couple of months now.  The other day, I had a heart-to-heart with myself about my true intentions for wanting another child.  Of course, there's the obvious that we want to open our hearts and home to other little blessings from God but I wondered if other reasons were at play.  I thought back to my birth experience with Baby M.  Being our first, we didn't know what to expect so we attended Bradley classes and hired a doula.  Well, when the time came, much of what we learned and practiced went out of the window because of all the interventions that take place in a hospital birth.  I labored for close to 30 hours in which time, I gave in to the pain and received an epidural.  This went against everything that I envisioned for my "perfect" birth and it took me a while before I accepted it and came to terms with it.  Basically, I said all that to say this: is my wanting another child misguided? Am I wanting one because I truly want it or am I doing this because I want a chance to have the birth I always dreamed of? I don't want that child to be born with the perfect birth and I love him or her more than I do Baby M because of that.  Maybe I am just completely over-analyzing this.  I would love to hear from you, especially those of you who know where I'm coming from!

Giveaway Winner and More

Since only 1 person entered my giveaway, she's the winner! Congrats Cassandra!

This is shaping up to be a very exciting week for me!! Today, I will participating in a Clemson tradition known as Senior Walk (this is from last year).  It's basically a day of complete debauchery & drunkenness (don't judge) with your friends before you all graduate and go your separate ways :(   Then Tuesday and Wednesday are spent recovering until your family rolls in for the big day on Friday! "The big day" being the day that I finally receive this super-important and crazy-expensive piece of paper also known as my undergrad degree! It has been WAY too long but I've finally made it-through having a horrible advisor for 3 years, changing my major in my 1st Senior year, having my amazing daughter, and getting married! I'm ready for this chapter in my life to end and see what God has in store for me!!