I Got Dressed {And the Dumbest Thing I've Said All Week}

Lately I've been resurrecting all these old Target dresses from the back of my closet!

They are all fairly similar - printed, loose fit, and cheap material - which is kind of the trifecta for any mom of a toddler. Prints to hide all the food and snot smudges, loose so you can run out to the church halls with said toddler, and cheap material so when it inevitably gets stained you're not too heartbroken!

See the last couple Target dresses I've worn here and here. 

And ironically her little pom pom dress is from Target too! Ha. We are v predictable. 

Also! Michael and Lydia and I were driving to get ice cream a few nights ago when we see this guy on the sidewalk steering a wheel attached to a long pole and this is what my genius mind spits out, "OH MY GOSH! Is that a unicorn???" 

Hahahahaha. I am blaming this one 100% on pregnancy brain. 

After Michael died laughing he said the best part about the whole thing was that it's not even a unicycle, it's a measuring device for construction. LOL. 

So please rest assured that Lydia is getting a really high quality education over here ;).

Christensen Family Pictures

I got pretty lucky in the in-law department. Love this crew!

At the end of our annual summer California trip we took family pictures by the pier! About one minute into it, we were all standing under the pier facing the camera when this huge wave came up from behind and totally soaked us from the legs down! Hahaha. It must've been hilarious watching us all in our coordinating outfits sprinting from the water. So you can't tell but all of our shoes are sopping.

We are so lucky that Lydia has such awesome cousins! On my side of the family she is the one and only grandkid (get to work, Olivia! ;) ). So I love that she has all these cousins to grow up with on this side. I'll admit, I was always slightly jealous of those people in school who had tons of cousins their own age and hung out all the time. I didn't really have that! I'm the oldest grandkid on both sides and so I basically just hung out with the adults at all family functions. It's so fun watching all these guys grow up and bonus I get to steal all the good patenting tips from my sisters-in-law who have done this before! Haha. 

Bumpdate: Week 12

I'm excited to post pregnancy updates every few weeks, mainly so I can look back and remember everything! It's crazy how fast you forget - I already am forgetting things about my first pregnancy since I didn't do a good job of recording it. For instance I got a leg cramp yesterday and then Michael reminded me about the HORRIBLE charlie horses I got last time! How did I space those?? I think this whole pregnancy amnesia thing is kind of a blessing or else we would not be having many kids ;). SO! Bumpdate:

How far along: 12 weeks

Fruit size:  Plum

Weight gain: A couple pounds and I feel like a whale.

Maternity clothes: I'm pretty close... I actually bought a belly band and it has been awesome. I'm not big enough yet for my maternity jeans but my normal jeans are TIGHT (already?!) so yay for the awkward pudgy phase and yay for unbuttoning my pants and no one knowing ;). (Except edit as I was going through these pictures you can totally see that my jeans are unbuttoned through my shirt... so... that's great. Hahaha.)

Sleep: I AM SO TIRED ALWAYS. Like literally it is painful to get up and get Lydia out of her crib in the mornings. On Sundays when Michael plays with Lydia all day or when I was in AZ and my mom watched her I took 4 hour naps!! I just got my blood test results and found out I'm slightly anemic, so maybe that explains some of the exhaustion. (Plus the obvious fact that I'm chasing around a 1-year-old all day, ha.)

Symptoms: Nauseous 24/7. It's like this dull sea-sickness that just never really goes away. BUT good news - I didn't take my medicine one day and I threw up 8 times! So it's good to know that the medicine is indeed working and that only nausea (with no vomiting) is actually "doing good" for me! Other symptoms - ligament tugging feelings down by my uterus, weird dreams, heartburn (which is new, didn't have that with Lydia), and I'm already getting those pesky leg cramps.

Food cravings: Depends on the day, but nothing really sounds great except for fruit, lots of water, and bland basic stuff like mac n cheese or saltines or a soft Target pretzel. Haha, super healthy over here.

Food aversions: Weird things! For instance I cannot handle peanut butter in any form, and I used to love it! Making Lydia a pb&j almost makes me gag. Also can't stand the sight of Mexican food, bbq anything, most meats/fishes, eggs, and oddly enough chocolate! I don't know who I am anymore.

Gender: I am 100% convinced it's a boy!! Every single thing about this pregnancy has been so different, and the other day I even found a hair on my big toe - I'm blaming it on the testosterone levels :). Definitely a boy. 

Bump: Not a real bump yet, but already really high. With Lydia I carried unusually low (like the doctors were surprised how low), so with this one it's so weird to feel a bump right underneath my rib cage.

Belly button in or out: In. With Lydia it stayed in the whole time, I kind of have like a crater for a belly button ;).

Thoughts: Generally I just feel like things are moving a lot faster! I'm already kind of showing, and that didn't happen till around month 4 or 5 last time. The weeks go by so much quicker because I'm constantly feeding Lydia, cleaning messes, reading to her, doing laundry, etc and then before I know it Baby #2 is the size of a plum! Huge contrast to last time when I was checking my pregnancy app multiple times a day and eating up baby articles any chance I got :).

See the buttons? Hahaha. Oops.

The Zoo and the Nicest Phone Call

I finally did it. 

I canceled my gym membership! Go me!

Ha! A little back story. I've been so sick for the past couple months, and I keep telling myself, "Tomorrow I'll feel better! Tomorrow I'll go to the gym!" 

But of course, this doesn't happen. I constantly think I'm going to barf, and when I actually have a spare hour I sleep. Really glamorous over here :). 

So I finally stopped throwing money down the toilet and put a freeze on my membership. And I'm actually way proud of myself! Now I don't put all this undue pressure on myself to constantly be doing more than I can.

This is how the phone call to the guy at the gym went: 

"Hi, I'm pregnant and super sick and need to put a hold on my membership."

"Wow! That's amazing. Yes of course, let's do that." 

"Haha thanks."

"Okay, you're all set. And you're a woman warrior, ya know that? Being pregnant is freaky stuff! You're a rockstar! I could never do that pregnancy stuff."

"Thank you! It is kind of freaky."

"Alrighty, well good luck with everything and congratulations!"

So nice, right??? It totally made my day. "Woman warrior." :) 

Lydia and I spent a few days in Arizona letting my mom pamper us as I pretty much laid on the couch the entire time. We took a flight home super late Sunday night and slept in Monday and then... headed to the zoo! And it was a pretty fantastic way to spend a couple hours - with friends and sun and NO SICKNESS! Yay medicine.

Apple Pie

A few weeks ago I decided it would be very patriotic of me to bake a pie! 

Granted, I kind of suck at making desserts. But hey! Worth a shot. 

It takes quite a lot of concentration to stir sugar and butter, as you can see ;).

I cheated and used a store-bought crust because in the past I've made my own, but I feel like they turn out sooooo similar that it's not worth it to me. 

(Pie experts will LOUDLY disagree. Sorry pie people.)

Voilá! Apple pie!

I used this recipe here and followed a lot of the suggestions in reviews. Also, it definitely was too runny right out of the oven, but the next day was perfect. So in the future I'll make it a day ahead!

Baby #2 - How I Told Michael!

One of the most exciting moments in life is finding out you're pregnant! There's this instant rush of happiness and gratitude and disbelief that a tiny tiny embryo is hard at work inside of you!

Back in the end of June, I peed on a stick first thing in the morning (supposedly the best time of day?) and then didn't tell Michael about the news till that evening! I wanted to surprise him and tell him in a cute way. 

So immediately when I saw the positive "+", I was freaking out inside but tried to stay really calm. I want to the gym, came home and made breakfast for Lydia, tried to act normal as Michael was getting ready for school - he actually thought I was in a bit of a bad mood because I was being kind of stand-off-ish, ha!

Then as soon as he left for school I was allowed to freak out again :).

I drove to a friend's house (we were planning on swimming), and about 5 minutes into hanging out I couldn't help but tell her!! She was so darling and excited for me, and then we went into planning mode to figure out how to tell Michael. We drove to Sweet Tooth Fairy and had them write "Baby #2" on chocolate cookies for us and put them in a box. (Okay, we were a little disappointed at the penmanship involved here - but I was in too good of a mood to be like, "that looks bad, do it again," haha.) 

That night, I told Michael I really wanted to go to Bombay House - our favorite Indian restaurant. We had been planning on having a little family date night so this worked out perfectly. Then near the end of dinner, my same friend dropped off the box of cookies and had the waiter bring them to our table! Michael looked at me confused, "What is this?" I nodded at him to open the box, and the second he did his face was pure shock!!! Hahaha. Poor guy. He was totally taken off guard! We were in the restaurant so he couldn't freak out, but he was so surprised and excited. 

When we got to the parking lot later we hugged and kissed and talked all about how Lydia's going to be a big sister! It will be crazy and busy and Michael will be in the middle of studying for board exams, but it is such a wonderful blessing and we are thrilled. 

So there's how I told him! And of course we had to get home and snap a few pictures re-enacting the surprise ;).

Like Mommy Like Daughter

Fave Five

I always love hearing what products other people use and love. In this house we are big on reviews - I don't know the last time I've bought something (baby toys, makeup, TUMs chewys on amazon) without first scouring reviews or getting a high recommendation from a friend. In fact, most of the best products I've found have been because of blog or instagram posts! I thought it might be fun to share some of my own favorites every week or two, and I want to hear what you guys think of these products and what other ones I should know about!

Fave Five:

Method cleaner

I literally whip this out ten times a day! I spray this on the highchair after every meal, I use it on my counters, on the floors for little spills, on my table - I go through a bottle at least once a month (probably more). It really does a good job of cleaning. The smell is nice, nothing earth-shattering, but I like that it's both cheap and natural!

Clinique exfoliating face scrub

This stuff is magic! My mother in law gave me this for Christmas a few years back and I have used it religiously since then! Seriously in love. I use it on my face three days a week in the shower to sluff off dry skin - it smells fabulous and makes my skin tingle a little, which I like! Whenever I've been bad at washing my face or have zits, this exfoliator makes my skin smooth and helps zits go down! Win win win. And surprisingly it lasts a long time - I think I'm only on my third bottle in over two years.

Snack containers

I always have at least two of these in my diaper bag filled with snacks for Lydia. I was getting sick of throwing away zip locks daily, so I found these and they're great! Light weight, perfect size to throw in a bag, and the food doesn't get smashed in them (like with the ziplocks). They hold everything from gold fishies to graham cracker sticks to blueberries. Go team.

Wet n Wild contour kit

Okay, this is not anything fancy shmancy. But I was at target a month ago looking for a new bronzer and walked out with this. Disclaimer: I only use the bronzer half, not the highlighter part (it looks too chalky on my face), but for a cheap bronzer/contour thing I am liking it! It's kind of a cross between a powder and a paste, so after I put on my foundation (I'll tell you about my favorite foundation another time!), I use the same foundation brush, tap it in the bronzer and then sweep it in the hollows of my cheeks and make sure it's blended really well. Then I'll sweep some on the sides of my face up to the edges of my forehead, under my jaw and on the sides of my nose. I'm sure there are way fancier/better high end contour products but for $5 I'm pretty happy!

Cotton lululemon pants

(Btws didn't use my own pic because nobody needs to see a makeup-less and bra-less Annika running around.)

I've actually had these for a couple years now. I own at least 6 really nice pairs of sweat pants, and for some reason these are the ones I always seem to throw on! Whether I'm at home or running to walmart at 11pm or going to get a soda, these sweats beat out all the others in my dresser. They're cotton, so I don't love them as much for actual exercising, but because they are a little thicker they hide any wrinkles or underwear lines and make everything look nice and smooth. Also they are softer and more legging-ish than typical work out pants, which is a nice change! These have retained their shape and stayed tight throughout the years and the high waist is really flattering. 

So there are my Fave Five this time around! I am kind of a product junky so if you have anything awesome please fill me in!!

I Got Dressed {Neutrals}

I found this lacey fringey tunic-y thing at a consignment store a few months back and finally figured out how to wear it! Haha. I've been looking for a white skinny jean that's not see through and is actually flattering and BAM - go Madewell (of course). I really love them. And these Splendid heels are seriously like walking on little brown (ew) clouds? Everything Splendid makes is so yummy. Good job Splendid.

I gotta be honest, I wish I could say I rocked this outfit yesterday all day: ran errands in it, went to a mom lunch in it, folded laundry in it, even cooked a fancy dinner that was on the table by 5:30pm in it.

But..... no.

Yesterday I was so sick. Like we left the house hoping for greatness and twenty minutes later boogied straight back home, got in pjs and watched Baby Einstein all day. 

Pregnancy, though I'm extremely grateful, can be a trip sometimes!

So basically I'm saying in some alternate-hippy life I would wear fringey tunics and strappy heels and ginormous glasses everywhere ;).

"Lydia come baaaack!"

Whoo! Survived yesterday. Here's to hideous house dresses and nausea drugs and saltines!