Less than a month

Less than a month till we meet baby Frankie. Less than a month till my charlie horses and heartburn stop. Less than a month left of what is probably my last pregnancy.

I know we are slightly leaving it up to God but it does feel like this is the last. It makes me sad. But then I remember the charlie horses, and the peeing all the time, and the heart burn.

And then I remember the baby hiccups that are special between me and him, and the movement when he is awake. And his heart beat close to mine.

I wish ... I wish.

Can't wait to see Frankie! Can't wait!!

Coppertone Clearly Sheer

Summer is here! Hooray! And truth be told, I suck at remembering to put sunscreen on myself. And my kids. Unless we're doing something fun like the splash pad or the beach. I have some sunscreen somewhere in my house. From last year. Which means it's probably expired. 

Then I got into the Bzz Campaign for Coppertone Clearly Sheer. You know Coppertone, right? Cute girl with the puppy pulling down her swimsuit. Makes you think it's just for kids, but this new line is awesome for adults too! Especially since they don't smell like normal sunscreen does. So I can put some on before heading to the park, or on a walk or just to garden without smelling like the beach.

I tried two kinds. One was specialized for sunny days with a SPF of 30 and came in a bottle that fit perfectly into my purse to take along on our outings. The other was specialized for the beach or pool with a spf for 50 and was in a spray! I have used spray sunscreens before and always had to spray it and then rub it in. That left streaks and smears, especially if I was spraying it on myself. This spray went on clear and I didn't even need to rub it in.

The only thing I didn't like about the spray was if my kids breathed it in, they hated it and fought me about putting the sunscreen on the rest of their body.  No, I didn't spray it on their face, but if we did it outside and it was windy, it carried the mist. It reminded me of bug spray smell and they weren't having that. But being able to spray it on myself rocked! I could get my back and shoulders without worrying about missing a spot. 

Both formulas are water resistant for up to 80 minutes which was nice since that's about how long before my kids are tuckered out and ready to rest up.

We headed up to Bear Lake and to the Idaho side because the beach is much nicer and had a day of it. 85 degrees and not a single sunburn! Hooray!!

 Here's a few photos.

Daddy with Mercy & Bethany

It took a bit but Bethy did eventually go in the water. They loved looking for shells. 

It was windy and chilly if you got out of the water, so I stayed in as long as possible. Grace was a little guppy and barely came out of the water. She came back in for a photo.

Mercy needed a cookie break. Notice the Coppertone spray next to her. She had gotten into the other bottle and it was all over her face and hands. Unfortunately, I was in the water and no where near my camera to snap a pic. Shoot.

When Bethy finally got out of the water, she was shivering and needed a snuggle with daddy. She's such a sweetie.

So while it was nice to have the sunscreen at the beach, it's also nice to have something to apply that doesn't make me smell like I'm going to the beach. And it also didn't clog my pores or make me break out. Coppertone's Clearly Sheer is clearly a good choice!

I received this product for free to try and review because I'm a Bzz Agent.

#GoitItFree

Good2Grow

I've been a BzzAgent slacker lately. I was in a ton of campaigns and life got in the way and I didn't Bzz as much as I should have.

But I'm in a truly awesome campaign right now (three actually, so stay tuned for more posts in the future).

The one I'm currently loving in the good2grow juices with reusable SippaTops. We have used drinks like these in the past, and I can't honestly remember the brand of them. Usually they last a few weeks in our house because we reuse the bottoms. And the tops would be washed in the dishwasher and reused as well.

We haven't had one in our house in a long time.

Until my Bzz pack came in the mail and we got three new SippaTops! Thomas the Train, Sully from Monster's Inc & Ariel. Having 3 girls, this was a good assortment of characters. They drank the juice fast. So fast, in fact, that I never had a chance to really look at it so I could brag about it.

So today, we picked up a refill pack. And a new SippaTop because Mercy saw Cinderella and HAD to have her. Cinderella was on the apple juice flavor and the refills I picked up were strawberry kiwi. They also had a refill pack of apple and tropical fruit medley.

Loves:

• There were a ton of different tops from Tinkerbell and friends to superheros and even Keropee frog. 

• They are 100% juice! I love that there isn't any added sugar, especially no high-fructose corn syrup. 
• Washable. Even in the dishwasher. This makes cleaning them so much easier. 
• Spill-proof. My kids never leave drinks sitting upright so it's nice to let them have one and not worry about spills all over my carpet. 

• The shape of the bottle is nice for little hands to hold. It's "hourglass" shaped so their little hands can grip the middle with ease. 

Not so much love:

• Really there isn't much. The "Strawberry Kiwi" ingredients are water, apple, carrot & beet juice concentrate, citric acid, ascorbic acid, natural flavor, D-alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate (which they say is Vitamin E) and Vitamin A Palmitate. Don't see with Strawberry or Kiwi listed there. Which means it's just flavored like strawberry kiwi. Prob won't go for that flavor again and I'll stick with the apple juice. 

That's about it. Like I said, not so much "not so much love". These help keep my kids hydrated (especially good since summer is sneaking up on us) and I can control what they're drinking. Plus they like it and I'm not giving them sugar laden beverages. 

And how much fun would a birthday party with good2grow drinks be?! You can enter here: win.good2grow.com/bzzagent for a chance to win. Good luck!!

#GotItFree

I received these products for free to try and review because I'm a BzzAgent

By the way...

Yes, I know what causes "this". If I didn't, I wouldn't be pregnant again.

No, I'm not getting my tubes tied, or my husband snipped, or anything like that. I don't believe in altering my body because I want or don't want something. Some times what we want isn't what we need.

I don't know if we will have more children. Part of our faith is trusting God knows what we need. He won't give us anything that we can't handle. He may provide challenges that shake us, but in the end we are stronger.

I'm not sure if there are two babies inside of me. If there are, then there are and my heart gets to double again. Every body is different. Telling a woman she is big or must be carrying twins in rude and insensitive. I don't tell you what is wrong or not normal with your body. And if I did, you wouldn't appreciate it. Please respect that.

Birth is natural. We were made to do this. I'm not sick. I don't need a hospital. I need positive energy and support.

I wouldn't change my children for the world. I don't regret them. I don't wish I wasn't pregnant. This is a miracle and I feel blessed every day.

I'm blessed to have a husband who is strong, faithful, moral and kind. He loves me. He loves our children. He supports my decisions and stands by me. He is my warrior. He is my protector. He is my soul mate.

I'm blessed to have three beautiful girls who are inquisitive, smart, funny and kind. They love to explore and learn new things. They make me laugh and light up my life.

I'm blessed to be carrying another child and bringing new life into this work. Baby depends on me to provide a warm, nurturing environment for growth and a loving and welcoming home when he or she is born.

I'm thankful that my life is the one I have. There isn't anything I would change.

I am blessed.

18 weeks

I'm 5 months pregnant already. It's going by quickly. We'll find out if Frankie is short for Frances or Franklin in just 2.5 weeks. Crazy!! Today Frankie is the side of a bell pepper. That seems sooooo big! Very wiggly and moving around a lot. I have felt movement on the outside but it's not frequent and not hard enough for someone else to tell.

I weighed 150.2 lbs today and considering all the candy I ate yesterday, I'm surprised it's not more. Didn't track my food too well last week but it was crazy. Who am I kidding? Every week is crazy, so I can't use that as an excuse.

I did catch up on the Catechism and I'm 40% of the way through it. It's kind of cool because it changed how I perceived church yesterday. Oh church yesterday...Bethany threw up all over Mike. Blech! At Easter Mass, no less. And we keep having kids. Must be crazy.

Had a lady ask me if I knew what causes "that" (Meaning my pregnancy). I said yes, and it's fun. Ha! If I didn't enjoy it, or children, I wouldn't keep having them!!

I'm at 34 of 100 books done for the year. Been listening to Room by Emma Donoghue. It's an interesting book and I'm pretty into it now and want to know how it ends. And I've been cross-stitching a lot. Hooray!

Other than that....we're pretty boring!

Happy Easter!!

Week 16

Ok this has been an interesting week.

And it's only Wednesday!

So on Monday my scale said like 149 or something, but yesterday (midwife day) it was at 148 and at the midwife it was 153 (with shoes & clothes on) which is only a gain of 1 lb since last visit. Janell and I went over my food from the past 3 weeks and I did great on protein but not so great on fruits & veggies. So that's my goal for this month. Keep the protein up but add in healthy fruits & veggies.

So today I made this:

Peaches & cream oatmeal with fresh mango.  This is AMAZING. And took less than 10 min to make. I added a drizzle of honey but I could have left that off cause it's sweet enough without it. I used greek yogurt (peach flavored) so I added extra protein and I have fresh fruit on it and mixed it. 

We (me, Mercy & Bethy) got to hear baby's heartbeat yesterday. It was fluctuating between 134-140. That's the lowest heartbeat of all the kids. Starting to think it's a boy. Starting to think I ovulated early and all my science with why it's a girl is going out the window. But we won't know for sure until next month. They faxed over the order for my ultrasound and I just need to call and schedule it. I will probably do it the first week of May since I'll be 20 weeks at that point.

As fas as books go I finished the audio book which was cool. Listening to it in the car to drive down to Layton was awesome. I will be doing that again. Also finished a Grisham book and now I'm reading Spiritual Midwifery which is an inter-library loan so I have to power though it. Pretty easy to do. I'm at 30 of 100 books for this year's challenge. 4 books ahead of schedule.

Catechism I am on day 93 and about 30 days behind still but I've been reading a few days worth each day.

And I've been doing the cross stitch for Bethy while I listen to an audio book so kind of killing two birds with one stone. 

Had to fix the garage door today which was unexpected and next week the Impala is getting the water pump replaced. Boo. But the birthing center is fully paid for! 

Lastly, here's a selfie of me at 16 wks. Enjoy!

15 Weeks Down - 25 To Go!

Strangers are asking how far along I am. Well, technically, how much longer I have left.

I carry big! Every time, and it sucks a little because I look a lot further along than I actually am.

I'll get a photo next week.

Baby is size of an apple. A stinkin' apple! It just goes so fast now. It's amazing how you don't even realize another week has flown by. I should hopefully feel her move sometime soon. I've been laying quietly and waiting for it, but nothing yet. I don't really remember exactly when I felt the others move but I remember what the feeling feels like. I can't wait! That's my favorite part of being pregnant.

I weighed 148 today so a gain of 1.5 lbs since last week. I swear, the second trimester makes you eat and eat and eat. I have been craving Stove Top stuffing like its going out of business and I will simply not survive if I don't get any. Thankfully Mike got me some. I love that man. :)

Only have gained 10 lbs since before pregnancy. Not too bad since I didn't even know I was pregnant for the first month of that and it was Christmas time and candy all around, etc.

I'm at 26 books read for the year. It's been crazy this week so not a lot of extra reading time. Still reading Birth Matters (a chapter here and there) and I have The Bradley Method on hold at the library and need to pick it up soon. I'm also reading The Chamber by Grisham. It's a long one, but thankfully on my Kindle so I can fly right through it. And I started The Circle on an audio book. Never really listened to an audiobook before and it's ok. I can't be doing a lot of other stuff at the same time or I miss things, but I listened to a lot yesterday while I was couponing. And I have listened to a bit in my car. I was to listen to Atlas Shrugged instead of read it because it's so hard for me to get into reading it. I was thinking it would be a good thing to listen to on the drive down to see the midwife.

On Day 80 of the Catechism which is good. I caught up. If I read to day 100 this week and then the rest the next week I should be caught up by Easter which is my goal. I might not get to ready any today because it's a crazy, crazy day, but we shall see.

Spring Break for Grace this week which means she gets to sleep in. The other kids get to as well. They didn't. Mercy woke me (and probably Bethy) up by singing "Let It Go" as loud as she could.

Oh and Mike and I got smart phones this week. Finally upgraded ours and it's only like $20 more a month for us to both have smart phones. Ok time to start the crazy stuff (laundry, dishes, bills, dinner, grocery list, etc)