Baby Shook #3: 14 weeks

Baby Size: Peach

How I Feel about being Pregnant: Still don't feel too pregnant though my stomach is definitely protruding! You know its getting big when your husband comes home from work and keeps looking at your stomach and laughing.

Symptoms: Well, the pregnancy eczema is here. When I was pregnant with Gwen, I had eczema covering my face. With Bennett it was contained to the neck down. This pregnancy I have it from my eye brows down to my ankles! Yay! You would think after 27 years of dealing with eczema I would know what works for me, but I am still experimenting. Going to try some new products and hope I can get some relief!

Food Cravings: Yogurt with granola on top. Great timing because my doctor made me go gluten and dairy free to see if it helps my acid reflux. Trying out some coconut milk yogurt soon!

Food Aversions: Not too many things, but cooking meat is still not pleasant.

What I am Excited About: 2nd trimester! The next real milestone doesn't seem like it is until 20 weeks, so I'll celebrate this one!

Sweet Thing My Husband did for Me: He had the morning off and cleaned the whole kitchen for me! FINALLY the floors got mopped. He also has done a lot more of the house work.

Boy or Girl: Now that I have eczema on my face like I did while pregnant with Gwen, definitely saying girl!

Something I have Done to Prepare for the Baby: There seems to be not much to prepare for a third baby, but I found this onesie and I think I need it.

Funny Moment: Gwen saw my stomach, got an excited look on her face, and hugged my belly. She is so excited and sweet! 

Baby Shook #3: 13 weeks

Baby Size: Lemon

How I Feel about being Pregnant: I don't really feel pregnant most days which at this point I am thankful for! I'll take barely feeling nauseous over how sick I felt with the other two. Since it is too early for baby flutters, I kind of just feel like I ate too much cake so my pants don't fit.

Symptoms: Not too many. I get very nauseous if I get too hungry but once I eat it subsides. My main discomforts are all related to my weird upper GI/acid reflux issues.

Food Cravings: Potentially potatoes, but I really haven't had many cravings. I wish I would because most of the time nothing sounds good!

Food Aversions: Anything tomato related. Again, this might be acid reflux related more than anything! I think I have an aversion to making dinner too because that never sounds like fun! Ha!

What I am Excited About: Letting out news out to the world! Also, excited to be almost done with the first trimester. 

Sweet Thing My Husband did for Me: Not saying a word when I really wanted Jimmy John's but I am supposed to be doing Whole 30... I even got delivery even though its in our backyard. Bread never tasted so good. Sorry Whole 30 friends! 

Boy or Girl: I'm going to stick with my gut reaction of girl because it was spot on with the other two. Also, if you haven't seen this gender reveal video, it is amazing.

Something I have Done to Prepare for the Baby: I was researching baby names on the Social Security website since it seems the most accurate way to know which names are most popular by year. It was fun looking up different years and even looking at them by state. One of the most interesting things I noticed were the names on the California list. I figured they would have some unique names and it was definitely true! Some I couldn't even pronounce, but yet were in the top 100. 

Funny Moment: Gwen keeps wanting to pet the baby and talk to the baby. I can't wait to see her reaction when she can feel the baby kick! She tells me all the time how excited she is for the baby to come!

Baby Shook #3: 7 weeks

Baby Schuchter #3 is officially happening! I had more time on my hands than I knew what to do with while pregnant with Gwen so I could actually write regularly about my pregnancy. With Bennett, I barely blogged, and this time we will see what happens! This is really more for me because I love rereading my posts to find out how this experience compares with past pregnancies.

Baby Size: Blueberry

How I Feel about being Pregnant: Happy! I feel like a new mom in so many ways because I haven't been pregnant in 3 years.

Symptoms: So hungry all the time. I eat full meals and am ready for another full meal an hour later. I thought this was new to this pregnancy until I read my 7 week update with Gwen and I said the same thing. I also am very tired. My face physically hurts I'm so tired! I never nap, but the other day I fell asleep on the couch and woke to hear our social worker pounding on the door. Yep, I forgot she was coming, our house was a disaster, and it smelled like old garbage that needed to be taken out. Welcome to my home!

Food Cravings: Waffles, potatoes, and breakfast sandwiches.

Food Aversions: Pesto. When I was 5 weeks along we all got a stomach virus. The last thing I had eaten was a pizza with pesto sauce. I usually love pesto, but I want nothing to do with anything including basil.

What I am Excited About: Telling our families at Christmas! They will know by the time this is published, but we got a super cute onesie made to surprise them. We will wrap it up for them to open. I really hope its an actual surprise, though I'm currently reading into their every look and comment to see if they found out our secret.

Sweet Thing My Husband did for Me: He changed 7 poopy diapers today. SEVEN.

Boy or Girl: Team Pink!

Something I have Done to Prepare for the Baby: I'm being a real grown up and have a pill box to remember my prenatal vitamins. Don't be too impressed but this time they are an actual pill and not gummy vitamins.

Funny Moment: When Gwen told my dad she wants us to have another Schuchter baby... cue fumbling over my words and awkward laughing.

Baby Shook #3: 8 weeks

Yay for the 8 week mark! Every week kind of feels like a milestone, but I have my first OBGYN appointment at 8 weeks so this is an exciting one!

Baby Size: Raspberry

How I Feel about being Pregnant: Still pretty excited, just not feeling great.

Symptoms: I have been having upper GI issues over the last 6 months and pregnancy is apparently making it worse! I'm in pain from my throat to my stomach. I'm hoping I can find something to give me relief!

Food Cravings: Bagels and cream cheese

Food Aversions: Anything with red sauce. Maybe this has more to due with my acid reflux issues, but I want nothing to do with it. I also am not super into sweets which is not like me at all. I wouldn't say its an aversion, but I don't crave chocolate like I normally do.

What I am Excited About: My doctor appointment in 2 days! It is always such a relief when you go and see the heartbeat. With every pregnancy, I convinced myself that I was having twins so we will also find out how many there are!

Sweet Thing My Husband did for Me: Did our mountain of dishes yesterday! Since I haven't felt well, he has gone above and beyond to help me get some rest.

Boy or Girl: Still thinking girl.

Something I have Done to Prepare for the Baby: Hhhhhhmmm... told our kids? 

Funny Moment: We told Gwen that she was getting another brother or sister, but we hadn't told our families yet. We made sure she knew not to tell anyone. Apparently 4 year olds can't keep secrets and she went up to my sister and said, "I have a secret. My mom might be having a baby." Luckily she didn't say it loudly and we were still able to surprise everyone!

Special Moment: Telling our families for Christmas! People were genuinely surprised! 

Garden Food: Zucchini

I officially haven't blogged in over a year. Poor Bennett got like 2 updates about his life. Second child...

I doubt I will ever blog regularly again, but lately I have found when people ask me questions about how or why I do something, it would be nice to have it in writing. Even more realistically, when I can't remember something a year from now because I have a one track brain that just thinks about feeding mouths, changing diapers/potty breaks, and the countdown to nap time, I don't remember anything. This blog has been so great for that reason because I was able to compare my pregnancies and the baby season of life.

I'm on hiatus from pregnancy and babies, but other areas of life are in full force. Gardening is one of them.

Last year, we had a small garden and were all ambitious with a 2 year old and 6 month old. We were filled dreams of happily picking weeds while the children frolicked and played in the backyard. If you have ever been outside with my now 3 year old you understand how laughable this is. MAJOR bug phobia. Anyway, we didn't even know you are supposed to put cages around tomato plants or stake them up. We ended up with a giant, hot mess of tomato plants all interwoven culminating to a bunny family moving in.

This year, we promised to do better. We indeed put cages around our tomato plants, currently weed the garden (kind of), and have filled the deep freezer with a year's worth of zucchini bread. There have been plenty of failures along with it and it is a commitment. You will never actually wonder this, but if you ever wonder what I am doing from 1-3 everyday it is making what I call my "Garden Food of the Day". It has become a minimum 2 hour a day commitment to simply use what we hauled in that day and preserve it for the months to come. It is wonderful and I am equally glad its just for a season.

In an effort to make my life easier next year, I want to document what garden food I have made. In addition, if you need recipes, I hope this saves you 45 minutes on Pinterest.

In my first edition, I give you zucchini.

• Zucchini Pizza Bites
• Freezing Shredded Zucchini
• Zucchini Cheddar Scones
• Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread
• Zucchini Bread
• Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins (replaced half the oil with unsweetened applesauce)

Enjoy! Nothing better than a warm slice of zucchini bread with cream cheese.

Bennett Peter: 4-6 months

Poor second born, forgot to blog about Bennett at 4 and 5 months so we will just do a lumped together summary of what has been going on the past three months for this little guy. My friend of 4 kids claims that it isn't the first three months that are hard with a newborn, it is the 3-6 month range. I would have to agree! I kept wondering why he was so fussy when previously he was the happiest little baby. I realized, "Oh! You need an actual schedule now! I am not giving you any naps!" I was just letting him stay awake for however long he wanted. When I finally tried putting him down for naps at consistent intervals, it made a huge difference. Aren't I supposed to be smarter the second time around? 

Bennett's "Firsts": Rolling over belly to back, camping, laughing, trying food, riding a Merry Go Round

High of the Month: I love how he interacts with us now. I can tickle him and make him crack up. It is also fun how he laughs at Gwen. I know all babies like to be talked to, but it seems like he really likes it. Maybe he will be the extrovert of the family!

Low of the Month: Sleep... I am having déjà vu back to Gwen's baby days. Lots of pacifier plugs, bouncing to sleep, tip-toeing out of the room, etc. Last night I got 5 hours of sleep in a row for the first time in months! We started sleep training last night so here's to hopefully getting some better sleep soon. 

Eating: Still every three hours during the day and once overnight.We have had a rough go with his feedings the last few months. I am slowly transitioning to formula because I just can't keep up with him. I tried for awhile but it only resulted in a very stressed out and angry baby and momma. It has been frustrating and makes me an emotional rollercoaster. I feel like I don't have a choice which is what makes it hard. If I had it my way, I would keep breastfeeding for the full year, but it is better for him that I don't. I know once this is all over I will look back and wonder why I made it such a big deal, but for now it is a big deal to me. It has nothing to do with "keeping it fair" between kids, but more that I feel like I failed. Being a mom is hard guys!

Sleeping: It is funny that last update I said I wasn't worrying about a schedule. Well, I should have been! He loves sleeping on his belly. We have given up the swaddle and are hoping once he is sleeping better overnight to transfer him upstairs to his room.

Gwen vs. Bennett at 6 months: I prepared myself that no two kids are the same and that just because something worked with Gwen doesn't mean it will work with Bennett. Well, it is strange how similar they are. Really strange. Here are some of the striking similarities: huge spitters, small in height and weight, completely bald, no desire to roll over, nowhere near sitting up, fight sleep, "easy" as long as well fed and rested, and if refusing a bottle, go on a walk and then it will work. The only two differences I can think of are that Gwen looks identical to David (Bennett does not) and Gwen would sleep in her carseat. That's about it so far.

Facts for the Month: 

Loves: pacifier, swing, Ergo, talking
Hates: being overtired, hungry, Gwen smacking him

I don't have a whole lot of pictures because I just did a phone dump and its easiest to choose pictures from my phone. Here are a few from the last week:

Poor kid in the girl bib and purple Bumbo

Essential Oil Face Cream

I have started using essential oils and love them! It feels like a new hobby. As I learn and play, I have started incorporating them into our everyday lives.

The first thing I was excited to try with them was to make my own face cream. I normally just use whatever lotion I put on the rest of my body, but had been wanting specifically a lotion for my face. Problem is they are expensive and I was not willing to fork over that much money for a tiny container.

After researching on Pinterest how other people made their own, I married together all the recipes and ended up with this!

Ingredients

6 Tablespoons coconut oil
6 drops lavender
6 drops frankincense

Directions

1) Use a mixer to whip your coconut oil. I put the coconut oil in my Kitchen Aid for about 5 minutes until it was smooth and more like a cream.
2) I added the drops of essential oil to mix and again blended it together in the kitchen aid for a few more minutes to combine.
3) Transfer them to a glass container and you are done!

I chose lavender and frankincense because they are both known for benefiting the skin in so many ways. Many people like to add lemon to the mix. I decided against this because when using lemon oil on your skin, you can not be in the sunlight for 12 hours. Another good oil to use is tea tree oil which I think I will add in next time!

I have noticed a difference in the overall texture of my skin. It feels smoother than it did previously. Yay!

I got my cute little jars from Hobby Lobby. Other people use baby food jars as well! Just make sure it is glass! This recipe will fill one smaller jar. I doubled the recipe to fill the two shown!