It's Been Awhile

So I've taken a bit of a hiatus from blogging, but I have a good excuse.

We are having another baby! We are due in June and are super excited! 

Anyway, I have been plagued pretty bad with "morning" sickness this time around so I found it hard to stay caught up with just about anything for awhile. Those who know me know that I have a huge fear of vomiting so this has been quite a challenge to say the least.  Thankfully it's mostly behind me now, so I thought I would re-enter the blogging world by sharing some of the best morning sickness remedies I found, and trust me I tried EVERYTHING.

Let's start with smells. This was one of the biggest challenges for me. I have a superhuman sense of smell to begin with so pregnancy took it to a whole new level. If anyone in the house was eating anything I pretty much locked myself in my room with the windows open and got out my essential oils.

Lemon and peppermint were my favorite oils to smell.  I would put some under my nose or diffuse them or sometimes I would carry around a washcloth with the oils on them to smell when needed.   I also would rub the peppermint on my stomach to ease nausea.  I highly recommend Young Living oils, they are the highest quality I have found.

Prenatal vitamins were tricky because I gagged everytime I tried to swallow a pill.  I found a great whole foods based vitamin that is in a capsule form so I could empty the capsule into a smoothie and consume them that way.  The brand I used was garden of life, I really found that if I missed too many days of my vitamin I would feel worse. 

I learned this time around that magnesium deficiency can greatly contribute to morning sickness.  Most Americans are deficient in magnesium to some extent. Because magnesium is poorly absorbed via the digestive tract, I supplemented with this oil spray:

I chose this brand because it is made so it is rapidly absorbed into your system and because it is guaranteed to be free of mercury, something you need to look out for with magnesium supplements.  There are other benefits to supplementing with magnesium including better sleep and prevention of restless leg syndrome.

Daily epsom salt baths helped me tremendously this pregnancy.  They help to detox your system from excess hormones and toxins and also help replenish magnesium.  They are also very relaxing! Four cups of the salts in a bath is the recommended amount, and you need to stay in for at least 12 minutes to reap the benefits.

Another thing that was really helpful that I wish I had discovered much earlier was bentonite clay.

It sounds weird and kind of gross, but consuming this first thing in the morning (1tsp dissolved in 8oz. of water) greatly reduced my nausea.  It combats a whole host of stomach ailments including reflux, nausea, and diarrhea.  It also helps support a healthy normal flora in your gut which is always a plus.  Seriously people, give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

I kind of went a little crazy with tea during the first trimester, but I found a few teas that were really helpful.  

Dandelion root tea isn't the best tasting tea but it helps promote liver health which is important in pregnancy as our liver is processing a lot of hormones.  I noticed that if I drank 2-3 cups a day it really helped nausea.   Raspberry leaf tea I drank by the gallon, it is awesome for helping to balance hormones pregnant or not.  Pregnancy tea was a good blend that I tried to incorporate daily and also helped ease my nausea.

Milk thistle was another supplement I took to support liver health. I noticed a big difference once I started taking this. I took this 3 times a day. It is a smaller pill so easy to swallow!

My probiotic was the most difficult to take daily because it is a bigger pill, but I really tried to take it as much as possible.  It really helps keep your gut healthy and prevent constipation.  Jarrow is my favorite brand.

Another thing that I always had on hand was fresh ginger root.  I found that just sucking on a piece of fresh ginger was so helpful in easing nausea. It's very strong but eating it fresh was much more helpful than the tea or capsules. It's good stuff.

I feel like I have to mention pickles because I have probably consumed 100 jars since getting pregnant.  I don't know what it is but something about pickles settled my stomach.  I got really carsick even when I was driving but eating pickles in the car really helped...No idea why.

And last but not least is my wonderful husband, Jon.

I seriously could not have gotten through this without him.  I can't tell you how many midnight trips to the grocery store he made, and he handled bath time and bedtime for little Kaitlyn every night for a long time.  And since there was no way I could even think about cooking, he survived on frozen pizzas for about 3 months without complaint.  Thanks Jonny, I love you!

The Fine Art of Exercising With a Toddler

It's always hard to find time to exercise.  I remember before I had Kaitlyn stressing about when I would have time to work out.  Ha.  Now, if I can even find the time to squeeze in a workout, I have a 15 month old crawling on my stomach while I'm doing sit-ups, hanging on my leg while I'm doing squats, and at the same time trying to completely destroy everything in sight.  Needless to say, I've had to get a little creative.

Sometimes it's just easier to include your toddler in your workout rather than try to entertain them while you workout.  Here are a few ideas I've come up with so far:

Sit-up baby toss (toss the baby as you sit up)

Baby Squats

And for cardio, a good old fashioned game of "chase"

There are plenty of ways to wear yourself out with a toddler, not sure why I ever go to the gym!

O-H-I-O

So we drove up to Ohio this past weekend to visit my grandparents.  Kaitlyn has never met either of my grandparents so it was great to visit with them and introduce them to their great-granddaughter.  We had a great time but it was a pretty exhausting trip.

 The drive on Friday wasn't awful, it took about 9 hours with several stops.  Kaitlyn didn't sleep much in the car so we had to give her some opportunities to stretch her legs.

Luckily we didn't ever have to stop for food.  I prepared and packed lots of food to take along so we wouldn't have to spend money and also to avoid eating a bunch of junk on the road.  I will probably do a post on what all I packed because it ended up working out really well, we definitely didn't go hungry.

The drive up was pretty smooth, didn't hit much traffic until the very end.  There was a big Jazz festival going on in Columbus and our hotel was right in the heart of  downtown.  By the time we finally made it to the hotel it was about 1am.  Of course Kaitlyn was wide awake when we got to our room and jumped and played on the bed for about an hour before we finally put her down.

The next morning we headed to grandpa's house for a visit.  Kaitlyn is his first great-grandchild so he was pretty excited to see her.  She was a little scared at first seeing a new face but she definitely warmed up to him by the end.  She also got to meet my Aunt Chris, Uncle Jim, and my cousin Camilla who came by to visit while we were in town.  Of course she was showered by all with lots of awesome gifts and treats.  I think she had a pretty good time.

We left Columbus around 11 and headed to Shelby which is about an hour and a half away.  My grandma lives on a huge farm, it used to be one of my favorite places to visit as a kid. I spent countless summers running around, riding horses and climbing trees on the farm. 

 Kaitlyn had a great time meeting grandma and my aunt Heidi and running around outside.  It was a really nice, mild day so we just sat outside on the porch and talked for awhile.

While I wish we could have stayed longer I'm glad we made the trip.  Though I'm not gonna lie, the drive back was BRUTAL.  Kaitlyn pretty much refused to sleep, I think she was just tired of being strapped down in that car seat for so long.  I can't blame her, I wanted to cry too at some points on that never-ending journey home.  One thing you just have to accept when you have kids is that things just take longer.  I guess you just have to learn to go with the flow!

Kaitlyn Turns One!

My daughter turned one this past Sunday! I really can't believe an entire year has gone by since she was born, especially since I still feel like the labor pains are fresh in my mind.  Hopefully one of these days I will start to forget that, yikes!  Anyway, this past year has been one of the most difficult of my life, but also one of the best and most joyful of my life.  I am so thankful that God brought this little girl into our lives.  Her personality comes out in new ways every day it seems, and she really is such a joy.  Here is a picture of the day she was born:

I can't believe how tiny she was! I remember just being floored by how awesome God is after experiencing childbirth.  It truly is a testament to our Creator. 

Anyway, back to the birthday.  I ended up getting sick and we had to cancel her party but we still had family over for a little celebration. My good friend Kaitlyn (whom I will now refer to as Kpo to avoid any further name confusion) volunteered to make a cake for the party, so she came by with her husband to deliver the cake.  She ended up making a monkey cake that turned out awesome! It was made from all natural ingredients and was free of any artificial food dyes. Everyone thought it was delicious.

She made a little cupcake for Kaitlyn to smash into as well. It took her a few minutes to dig in but once she tasted the icing, she was hooked!

I also got a good shot of her in her high chair eating lunch before her cake, I thought it was pretty funny.

 I might have to start strapping her in a little better.  After lunch and cake we opened some awesome presents from uncles and grandparents including a sandbox and a little chair!

 

She got a pretty cool ladybug book from her uncle Will, my brother.

 

All in all, I would say it was a pretty awesome birthday. Thanks to everyone who contributed! If you live in the area check out Kpo's website, Cypress and Myrtle for more info on her cakes and other goodies.

Under the Weather

It has been a very long week in the Mills household. Kaitlyn was sick with an ear infection followed by a bout with Roseola so she was pretty miserable. Poor baby.

 To top it off I have been having some back issues that kept me in bed for pretty much all of Wednesday. We were pretty pathetic. It didn't help that the sun didn't seem to come out once all week, blah. I found myself getting really down at times this week, I was pretty exhausted caring for a sick child and the weather didn't help brighten my mood. I find it so hard when I have had a week like this to choose joy. What I really want to do is just crawl in bed, watch 7th Heaven on my laptop (yes, really), eat ice cream, and wait for a better day. I find my bad mood rubbing off on those around me and it just makes for a pretty miserable situation for everyone involved. When I am in the depths of feeling sorry for myself I just start along this pathway of thinking that I deserve to be in a bad mood and no one really understands what I'm going through. It is really hard for me to believe that I can choose to feel joyful. I guess its times like these that knowing scripture and clinging to it can really make a difference. For example, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." That verse really hit home for me because I see it as a command. It is so easy for me to start thinking that my present circumstances are unique and I am somehow justified in feeling sorry for myself and being in a bad mood. But I do have a choice. In light of what Christ did on the cross my present "sufferings" seem so petty. It's so hard for me to have that mindset, its really like exercise for me, it seems like such hard work to just TRY to be joyful despite my circumstances sometimes. Maybe as God continues to teach me this, it will become easier. I hope so.

I do hope this weather improves very soon, something like this would be nice: