This is a Tough One

I am 39 weeks pregnant.

It is hot, well, today it is still overcast at 10:40am, so I am grateful for that.
EE is heavy and resting quite low, I can feel her in my lower hips, and she doesn't have much room to move around.

I am extremely hormonal, emotionally labile, needy, and irritable. Everything makes me want to cry, and I am ready to meet this little one. I hate feeling this way and I hate asking for help everyday because I'm having trouble keeping up with my developing walker.

I am prayerful that the midwife will send me straight over to Labor & Delivery on Thursday morning, in the mean time, I am doing everything I can that is safe here at home to encourage my body to go into labor naturally.

I write this with tears because I know the Lord has blessed me and given me so much grace through this pregnancy. I have been able to keep exercising, I have been eating better than when I was pregnant with AJ, and I have been able to spend more time managing our home and reading godly insight instead of giving into many lazy temptations.

I am grateful to be home with AJ to teach and train her. I am so proud of how well she is doing with her schedule and of her independent spirit. She is 11 months old now and she enjoys playing in her room for large chunks of time; has moved up to the toddler room at church early, as it has aided her separation anxiety; she sleeps 10-12 hours at night, waking up at 6:15 each morning; she loves food and will try most new things with a pleasant response, but is not shy about letting us know her preferences; she drinks her milk and water from a straw cup like the big girl she is; and we are so blessed beyond measure that she is our daughter. We cannot wait to see her love on her little sister.

Please pray for us as we continue to await the arrival of our little girl. That we would be prepared and grateful for this time we have. That I would not be anxious or push myself beyond measure for my preferences and desires when we bring her home. For a safe delivery and short hospital stay. For my parents as they take time from work to take care of AJ while we are in the hospital. That AJ would not be overwhelmed, and the transition will not be too difficult for her. Also, for PJ, that he is able to prepare his store well before he goes on leave starting this Thursday.

Thank you, friends and family, for your prayers and support. We would not be able to do this without knowing we had such an incredible community around us!

August Life Update

Good morning, everyone! As I mentioned in my last post, we have been subject to a few changes here in the Molina Household. We have moved to a new rental, a condo with 2 bedrooms and a 2-car garage! Woot woot! This means that AJ has her own room and our car insurance is going to go down a tad because we park both of our cars in a garage! =D

PJ has been doing so well at work! In June, their store was #1 in their scores and I am so proud of him for all the hard work he has been putting in. Currently, his staff pharmacist is out of the country for her mother who has breast cancer and is facing treatment, please be praying for her, as she will be out until the end of the year helping to take care of her family. It has been fortunate that the store is receiving great floaters to come in and help the technicians keep up the work flow. Hopefully, one in particular, will be placed as the temporary staff pharmacist until her return.

The heat and schedule changes with AJ have made keeping up with steps difficult, as walking outside brings me to the point of mild heat exhaustion and the mall gets a little crowded because of said heat. The plus side, though, is that I have been able to keep up with house work and organizing in the mean time ;) Please be praying for motivation and possibly a walking buddy to distract from crowds and/or heat.

AJ is blooming right before my eyes! Her latest "trick" is sipping through a straw. I have been trying to help her with this lately, but she has seemed so stubborn in just wanting me to hold my water bottle to her mouth. One day last week, though, she just sucked her water without batting an eye! Then on Thursday, she took her cup from PJ and held it while accomplishing the same feat!! (Wow, the things you get excited about as a new parent ;P) hahaha I am pretty stoked that I get to train and teach another one all of this again soon!

EE is a kicker! She rolls and moves and plays and she has not even arrived yet! My goodness, she is crazy. AJ moved quite a bit (and is still a mover and a shaker who loves to explore), but she did not delay my sleep at night like this one does. I have a small feeling that my tummy is a little tighter than last time, though, so she has less room to move and therefore makes me a little more uncomfortable.

Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed the weekend!

Love,
Jessy

Bump 32

Hello Friends! Thank you for your patience as we have had a surge of life change going on over here these last couple of months. I was glad I was able to post AJ's 9 month update, even if it was from my phone.

32 Weeks

Anyway, it has been a while since I've updated you on the whole "Embracing the Bump" journey. I will say, though, that I have appreciated and felt very loved by all the encouragement and support, particularly in the last couple weeks. It has been rough to push through schedule changes with a little one and keep doing daily workouts, but we have managed.

AJ goes between an early morning nap or late morning nap and then a long afternoon nap. I have been able to get away with the late morning nap and an early walk, but it is a bit more challenging to keep her engaged on the walk and not throw off the rest of our morning. So, we will be sticking to the early morning nap and the late morning walk for now. Hopefully the heat will continue to await the later parts of the afternoon (that is, max out in the 80's around 9) - yes, I know that I am dreaming.

However, I have hit a bit of a motivational snag as my fitness watch (The Withings Activite Pop) is currently dead and awaiting a new battery! It has been so nice not to depend on my phone for the pedometer, I can't go back to it - partly because it's just too big now :P

Almost 7 Weeks Postpartum AJ 

Food wise, I will be honest in sharing that motivation, self-control and moderation have escaped my vocabulary and I have gone a little crazy, particularly over the weekends and eating out with family. Fortunately, God has blessed me with the energy to keep walking and do a little prenatal yoga a couple nights a week; this has kept my weight down and my doctor is still impressed with me as far as my gain has gone for this pregnancy! Yay!

I will also share that as I have looked at photos from just 9 months ago, when AJ was just over a month, I can say I feel better and healthier than at that point and anyone can see the difference! It feels good to see the physical change, even if I don't feel it sometimes. It is particularly difficult to take control of any aspect of your life when you have a little human growing inside of you, so I think that I am doing pretty well! EE is 32 weeks in and I am pushing through with flying colors and an almost 10 month old! =D

Thanks for loving me, everyone! Until next time...

Love,
Jessy
Numbers 6:24-26

9 Months

Okay, so she's actually 9 months and 1 week now, and I missed posting an 8 months blog… but give us a break, it's been a busy month and a half. We found a new rental, we moved, we've been setting up (and we're still in the process of that), so boom! 

Anyway, AJ is 9 months old now! Where does the time go?! She is bear crawling everywhere (and very quickly). She is scaling coffee tables and couches and anything else she can pull herself up on. There are 2 teeth on the front bottom section of her mouth and she definitely knows how to use them! AJ loves exploring and observing and is quite the independent gal, except when she's tired or wants attention 😜 She enjoys tasting new foods and likes to feed herself. 

Daddy and mommy are grateful for her newfound love of sleep! As soon as we moved and AJ had her own room, she was down from 6:30pm-6:30am! Yay, 12 hours 😃😴 Now it is just a matter of adjusting to a new place and new naps/eating schedules during the day. She is a champ, though! 

Rough Season

Hello friends! It has been a busy, busy couple of weeks. Hubby and I have gone to several apartment complexes and a few privately owned residences and we are both a tad overwhelmed.

We are communicating well, but having a difficult time landing on the same page. Our area has a high rental price tag for 2 bedrooms, unless it is less than 900 square feet and privately owned. There are a couple of units which have stood out to us, but we are in need of some prayer regarding a timeline as well as contentment. Our lease is up October 1, EE is due September 19, the units are open in July. It will cost us an extra month of rent to exit our lease early, plus the new rent with a security deposit to move into a new place.

Hubby wants to push our move into August, but I was hoping to move by early July so we can all get settled into our new home and I can have everything ready for EE, as well. This is going to be a process, and I will admit that some of this is my OCD and need to have life "put together" before I'm admitted to the hospital and then have to come home with a new baby. I truly do not want to come home to a living room and bedrooms filled with boxes or objects with unassigned places.

Obviously, if we could predict when EE will be joining us outside the womb, we would have a solid moving plan in place. However, this is an impossible feat, so what makes me nervous is all of the uncertainty that comes from pregnancy anyway, joined with the rental market going up or down and units that fit our needs being available at the price we prefer to pay. Our ideal unit has 5 people on their wait list and it is not likely that we would be able to move in this year.

Please be praying for my humility and a heart of submission to my husband. Also, for his gentleness in communicating our immediate needs over my preferences as we go through this process. Thank you, friends and family.

Love,
Jessy

Update - May 14

It has been a great week for me here at home. After a successful grocery trip, I was able to spend Friday preparing for next week. All of our dinners are ready, lunches are done, just have to do the actual cooking :) I am so excited that I was able to prepare everything and feel so accomplished about how I spent my time and energy yesterday.

PJ has had a bit of a rough go at work this week. A few wrong fills brought about an incident report and he had to stay late yesterday to keep up. The store is definitely feeling the loss of their awesome extern, along with a few days without one of the top technicians (his wife had a baby, so we're excited for them). It has just been a tough week, though, so we are praying that he can get ahead today. It seems to be overcast, so hopefully it will be a slow day.

AJ is growing and learning and very adventurous. Every chance she gets, she is pulling herself up to stand, starting to scale the coffee tables, couches, and walls; and she loves to laugh, squeal and observe, as well as eat everything she climbs on. There seems to be some constant teething, but nothing has cut still. Yesterday she made a huge stride in eating. We have been giving her dissolvable cereal and letting her test other foods besides the baby stuff, and she picked up her cereal yesterday and put it right in her mouth! The simplest things are so exciting! We are not quite doing it every time, as she is fisting pieces and not opening her hand to put them in her mouth, she leans over her tray to eat like a puppy. I love my silly little peanut!

We also had dinner with Kelley and Sean this week. Kelley was here on Wednesday to enjoy some yummy comfort food, and brought a beautiful bouquet of flowers for Mother's Day! She is such a loving friend and encourager! Sean stopped by on Monday to enjoy some pasta and catch up after a long while! Enjoyed catching up and hearing about his schooling and church. We are excited to stay caught up and see how school goes over the next couple of years.

Tuesday was a tough day for me after I got my first adjustment with steel ties on my braces. It has been new pain, as cold has become quite sensitive for me. It's going to be more getting used to, after I thought I just got the hang of these things.

Thursday was a great day, too! PJ's parents were generous enough to watch AJ while we had a movie date to go see Captain America: Civil War! Highly recommend, you should go check it out. Later, my brother came over and for dinner, PJ's parents took us for a yummy evening at Red Robin!

So, it has been an awesome week, busy, but fun. I am definitely looking forward to having a relaxing Sunday afternoon at home tomorrow.

That's a short update for our little family. Love you all!

-Jessy

Life Update

So, this month is a busy one, and this first weekend is no exception! Tomorrow is Mother's Day and I am sitting here in bed composing this blog while my wonderful husband updates our budget before we go to sleep. I cannot help but consider how grateful I am for the servant's heart he has for our family. He spends his days at work, patiently dealing with difficult customers and learning his role as a manager (which is itself an ongoing learning experience), then he comes home to play with a joyful daughter that we both could not be more delighted to have, and after dinner he spends his evening encouraging me and making sure I am thriving as a Christian, as a wife and as a mommy.

Tomorrow, we will enjoy our church and then spend the afternoon with our family finding out the gender for baby number 2 so we can start calling them by name and tell AJ she will have a little brother or sister instead of having to keep saying "sibling" because it is driving us crazy! LOL We are so excited to find out! My mom finally found (on Etsy) a big sister onesie for 6-9mos size... I guess there is not enough of a market for mass producers to make them for kiddos under the age of 1 hehe. We will be posting a layout photo with her and our ultrasound photos for the reveal, so keep an eye out.

AJ is doing so well this week! She is adjusting nicely into a new schedule, playing hard, standing up all over the place, and eating lots of solids - well twice a day - (along with 4 bottles a day!). She is growing up right before my eyes and it is such an incredible blessing to sift through photos of her and see how much she has changed in such a short amount of time. I cannot wait to see how she grows into a little girl, but I already know these stages are going to pass by so fast, I don't want to rush through them. 

On the gluttony front, I am still struggling with food intake and staying healthy, but this past week I have walked A LOT and given myself every excuse to keep up with my steps goals. I know that real health starts in the kitchen on what I choose to put into my body, but this is a lifelong struggle, so changes and habits are not going to change overnight. However, I can tell you that because I have been walking, choices have been getting better and I feel a lot better throughout the day and the next when I have achieved my goals. 

As far as the pregnancy itself goes, I cannot complain. I am starting to notice more movement, so I'm not forgetting that I am pregnant anymore. LOL I love feeling #2 move around and cause flutters in my tummy. I am feeling really good and this has been an awesome week. I cannot wait to celebrate Mother's Day tomorrow and enjoy hubby's day off! 

Love, 

Jessy 

Numbers 6:24-25