Babies and Blogging

My husband is out for the night seeing one of his favorite bands, so I figured I would whip up a little post tonight.

One I my favorite times of the day is getting to chill with this little guy on my bed. I remember the times so fondly when Little Ox #1 was little and I would do that. I guess it is kind of a wonderful thing as the first and only child. Sometimes I feel guilty about not having that same kind of time with Little Ox #2. That's why, for at least a little while, while #1 is napping or has already gone to bed, I will sit on my bed with #2 and talk to him and play with him, just the two of us. 

It helps me to feel better knowing that he is able to get a little bit of one-on-one attention with mama! I remember with our first, peaceful nursing sessions - we could just stare at one another and "talk" the whole time. He had my full attention. Now, with #2, I am lucky if I can get through each nursing session without having to unlatch him to stop older brother from doing something crazy. So the alone time I get with him every now then is nice!

It is hard when my toddler wants my full attention when my baby needs it - and it is so hard when baby wants my full attention (or needs to be held, or fed, or rocked) when my toddler needs me! I love being needed by my boys, and I can feel guilty at times, but I know I am giving them both my best and loving them with all the I have.

I can't be the only one who feels like that when they have a second baby, right?!

At least this makes me feel a bit better. 

The Wonders of Kindness

This week, I read something amazing that made me decide to change the way that I was parenting my children. Specifically, my 2 year old.

The way I was doing it before wasn't the way I chose to do it, nor was it the way I had always pictured. I got caught up in noticing how often my child was misbehaving and not enough on how he wasn't. I caught myself being a mom that I didn't want to be.

Two-year-olds can be so difficult at times. I'm sure that every age is difficult (and perhaps even more difficult than twos) but I was struggling with how I responded to him when he was misbehaving. I noticed myself getting angry with him when he would get angry, frustrated when he was frustrated, and loud when he was loud. I would tell myself, "how is he supposed to know that I am upset with his behavior if I don't show him that I am mad"?

Then God showed me something I needed to hear. Something that I have been wanting to hear, to remind me of who I wanted to be as his mom and a child of God.

If you haven't heard of the blog called "Mundane Faithfulness" I suggest you visit it and check it out.

I happened upon a post by Blythe Hunt called "Kindness Matters" on their website and something stuck out to me in a beautiful "God-planned" way.

"Anger does not beget heart change; it begets shame. Yelling does not beget understanding; it begets hurt. Harsh words do not beget love; they beget humiliation. Intimidation does not beget kindness; it begets fear. Only kindness begets kindness; kindness begets love."

WOW. That insert changed me and I felt God speaking to me and telling me that this is why the last 2 weeks with my 2 year old have been so hard. I am so thankful that I stumbled upon this post and took the time to read it because it spoke to my heart in ways that I can't put into words.

The thing that is even more amazing is what happened the next day (and every day since I read this). I woke up the next morning committed to this statement. I would not get angry with Josiah. I will not yell at him and I will not use harsh words. No matter what.

When Josiah got up and started misbehaving: yelling, throwing things, hitting things... I was not going to use anything other than kindness. I could not believe the day that we had. It was AMAZING the effect that kindness had on him that day. After struggling with him every day for a week, all I needed to do was show him more kindness and love.

Isn't it amazing how Jesus love us so unconditionally. How we disobey Him and His Word, yet he loves us and shows us kindness continually, no matter what?! Every day, I pray with Josiah that we will remember to love one another like Jesus does to act more like Jesus every day.

How did I ever think anger was going to work anyway? Young children are such imitators, that when I treated him with kindness, love, and patience, he showed me the same in return.

“The Book of Romans tells us that it’s God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. I want to love with a kindness that nurtures a hard heart to desire to be soft. God is the only one able to transform someone else’s heart, but if I live a life submitted to Him, then His love will be reflected through me.

 — Kara Tippetts, Big Love

@ http://www.mundanefaithfulness.com/home/2015/3/11/kindness-matters

A Letter to a Two-Year Old

Little Ox #1,

When I think over the last two years, I am amazed by just how fast it actually went. Everyone always tells you "It will go by fast", but you don't realize it until you experience yourself and you stop for a moment and see how much has changed in the last two years.

I remember the time you were growing inside of me like it was yesterday. I remember being pregnant with you and not being able eat almost anything the whole first three months. I can recall the first time I felt the beautiful little flutters inside of me that told me you were in there. I remember thinking about what you would look like, how you would act, and what your personality would be like. I remember how nervous I was when you broke my water and we knew your arrival was imminent. I remember, so vividly, pulling you out on to my chest and looking into your little eyes for the first time.

I remember those sleepless nights, breaking down and giving you bottled breast-milk because breastfeeding just seemed too hard at the moment. I remember panicking, waking up after your first time sleeping through the night and finding you fast asleep. It seems like just yesterday you were learning to hold your own head up, rolling over, and trying your first foods. I remember cheering you on, watching you crawl and walk for the very first times.

You are TWO now though and those things seem like just yesterday and so long ago, all at the same time. You love Spiderman, singing Jesus Loves Me at bedtime, and you LOVE making people laugh. You are hilarious, you are fascinated with cars, and your grandpa is probably your favorite person. You love watching Daniel Tiger, you love to read, and you think football is the greatest thing ever. You want to do most things yourself, you are almost fully potty trained, and I still melt every time you say "mama".

I love you Josiah Samson. I love being your mommy more than you will ever know. I love being the one who grew you. I love being the only one who could feed you for your first 6 months. I love being the one who you run to when you are hurt, the one who's leg you grab for when you are scared, and the first girl you will ever love. I love every single moment we have shared so far in your first two years on this earth.

From our first moments:

To a year later:

And the year after that:

So, my little two year old...

I will try to be the best mommy I can for you. I will try to be there with you in every moment, so I don't miss a thing. I will try not to think about my stresses and my to-do list, because I know that you need me. I want to embrace the fact that you do need me, for I do not know the day when you will not need your mommy any more.

"So while you are living in these times, remember there are only so many of them and when they are gone, you will yearn for just one more day of them."

I HOPE YOU HAD A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY!

Updates!

I am pleased to announce a few new changes!

One of which, you can read about HERE.

The link above is the birth story of our second Little Ox, Nolan who surprised us a month earlier than he was expected!

Oxmamafitness has officially change to theoxmama.com!

Essentially it is the exact same blog, with just a different name. I will still focus on clean eating and fitness but I wanted to emphasize the thing that I am most passionate about which is family.

I love being a mom and it is the reason for everything I do and everything I put my effort into. My main focus will be sharing my life and family with you all as well as bringing to you some of my other passions like cooking, sewing, fitness, and many others!

Thanks for moving along with me in this beautiful journey!

Getting Ready for Baby + My mom is Amazing!

With (hopefuly) less than a month to go - I am almost finished with everything I wanted to have done before this new baby gets here!

Things have been so busy and this pregnancy has been a lot harder than my first! LOTS and LOTS of decreased energy - although that may have something to do with chasing around a very active two year old all day long.

Here is my most recent BABY BUMP pic - at 34.5 weeks:

This post is mostly to show you the AMAZING things my mom has made for our Little Ox #2. I like to rave about how amazing my mom is because she - well she's just that - AMAZING!

She is so selfless and so loving toward other people - it amazes me. AND on top of all that she is so talented. When I was pregnant with my first son - she went all out and sewed him over 40 adorable spit up rags, his own crib set, sheets, and a quilt. Since then, my husband and I convinced her to open her own Etsy shop - which is something she has wanted to do for a while. And she did!

CLICK HERE to visit her shop.

Well, since I got pregnant with #2, she wanted to do the same kind of thing for this baby. I LOVE it all SO much I just had to share it with the world. We are doing #2's nursery in nautical theme - full of whales, anchors, and lighthouses galore! Here is just a start of what she has done for us so far:

Boppy Cover:

Car Seat Canopy:

with WARM minky underside

A Spit up Rag/ Receiving Blanket Set:

AND the one that blows me away the most-

A Car Seat Cover with matching hood:

She did the last one with NO pattern and the hood is absolutely perfect. 

She is also making #2 his own crib set as well that will include - a crib skirt, a quilt, two sets of sheets, and a diaper stacker.

Everyone should really check out her website and share it with your friends!

www.etsy.com/shop/mimasnurseryshoppe 

Refreshed at 16 Weeks

I think it is crazy how fast this pregnancy is flying by compared to the last!

16 WEEKS.

Some of the best parts right now:

• more energy
• less nausea
• Showing - instead of just looking like I gained weight out of nowhere!
• BABY WIGGLES
• Name planning

Some of the not so great parts:

• nausea (even though it has lessened)
• back aches
• headaches
• ligament stretching - UGH.

On top of that - I have been having issues with my tailbone - which has been painful at times.

However, all of this brings me to today and 

PiYo.

I only just got this program today and I am going to tell you why I already LOVE it.

The last few weeks my body has been aching. Even though I have been working out, I felt like my body needed something different. I started pondering over a few ideas and programs - and ultimately landed on PiYo. I knew I wanted to get it eventually, but I wasn't thinking in the middle of my pregnancy. However, I knew I needed yoga or something to get my body feeling refreshed AND worked out all at the same time. BOY am I glad I chose PiYo over everything else I considered. 

And like I said - I have only done the first day. Since I was pretty familiar with yoga and pilates, I skipped the foundations video and started with lower body - and here is why I fell in love immediately.

• MY tailbone and lower back have IMMEDIATELY improved. 
• My mind AND body feel so refreshed.
• It was exactly what my body was telling me it NEEDED.

And just a little bonus to throw in there:

• One move made me have to stop a second because I could feel our little baby flippy-flopping all over the place. MAGICAL :)

So get PiYo. End of story. 

Little Ox #2 - Week 10

10.5 WEEKS!

Our little baby is one-quarter of the way done! :)

It is exciting that our baby has moved from an embryo into a fetus this week! Yay!
This pregnancy seems to already be moving a lot faster than the time before - no doubt, because I have another little one keeping me busy :)

It is weird to think that I am already 25% done with this pregnancy!

Luckily the nausea is starting to subside, because the last two weeks it got much worse and it was very difficult to eat.

Plus, last week we were able to see our little one for the first and and hear its little (but LOUD) heartbeat. That is always SO exciting, just watching the baby grow and change every time you go in for a new ultrasound.

We probably wont be as lucky as before - with Josiah we had around 18 ultrasounds throughout the course of the pregnancy - which was AMAZING, even though some of them were for scary reasons at the time.

I am figuring we wont have that many this time, so every chance we have to see our baby on that ultrasound is exciting! :)

Not showing much yet, but my lower abdomen is definitely already starting to harden up. Love the progress!

This week or next week I will be starting my first trimester blood work and have to do the 2 hour sugar test. BLEH! Wish me luck! :)

Little Ox #2 - Week 8

A little behind on my week 8 post. (I will actually be 9 weeks on Thursday).

Only 2 more days until we can see our little one's heartbeat and get our first picture of him/her!

Here is what I hate right now:

• nausea!!!!
• fatigue

Yeah, that's about it. But don't think it is all "easy-peasy" since I only hate those two things right now. If you have ever been pregnant you know how much these TWO simple things can debilitate you. 

It's also interesting how different these two things are compared to my last pregnancy. 

With Josiah, nausea KILLED me. I could hardly eat. In fact, I believe I lost 10-15 pounds the first trimester because of how little I could actually eat. And it wasn't cute little morning sickness that went away after noon hit. It was ALL DAY LONG - literally from the second I woke up until the moment I fell asleep. 

With this baby, I knew how miserable I was last time, so I have to force myself to eat, nausea and all. Same with fatigue. Last time, it was easy to take a long nap in the middle of the day, then get up and get things done. But things change when you have a toddler.

I now do not have the luxury of laying down for a mid day nap and moseying through chores when I wake up. I don't have the ability to lay in bed all day complaining about being hungry but not being able to eat.

Welcome to motherhood. Suck it up, Kimberly. I do not have time to let myself feel sick or tired because I have another human life (besides the one growing inside of me) that needs love and constant attention. Luckily, this has actually benefitted me! Forcing myself to eat - even though nothing sounds good - makes the nausea go away! And not doing chores because I am too exhausted means more play time and attention to my little one year old who needs me. :)

Week 8 Stats:

• Symptoms:
• Nausea
• Fatigue
• Movements:
• None yet!
• Cravings:
• Mexican Food
• Fruit Popsicles

Excellence rather than Perfection.

It is so important to remember that in any area of life we are never going to achieve perfection.

I am NEVER going to be a perfect mom.
I am NEVER going to be perfect at working out.
I am NEVER going to eat perfectly all the time.
I am NEVER going to be a perfect wife.
I am NEVER going to be perfect at my job.

I see so many people striving for perfection and then beat themselves up because they have failed. Well, you will always fail when your goal is perfection.

It is okay to not be perfect or not do something perfectly.

What is the purpose in an unattainable goal? Why wear yourself out in a never-ending search striving for something that is impossible? You are only setting yourself up for failure, heartbreak, and self defeat.

Our goal should be progress, excellence, achievement. Our goal should be self love and personal development. Our goal should be anything but perfect.

I am also not saying that we should not strive for excellence, be lazy, or throw out goals all together. FAR FROM THAT.

We need goal. We need something to strive for. These things can fuel us, keep us on track, and make us the best versions of ourselves we can be.

We NEED more of these things and less of worrying about having the perfect body, being the stepford wife, and the A+ mom everyone dreams of.

How will you be committed to excellence instead of perfection today?

When will YOU start throwing away the idea that perfection is attainable?

Ergobaby Babyyyy!!

We are LOVING the Ergobaby carrier today! When J was younger we loved our Moby Wrap and used it to death! And we still love our Moby. But it doesn't seem to work as well now that he is a lot bigger and heavier - so he usually prefers to walk himself. 

BUT...

since we haven't been using the Moby Wrap and since we are going on vacation soon (doing LOTS of walking) we decided to finally get one after seeing and hearing SO many good things about them! (Plus Target was having an amazing sale at the time.)

Also, Josiah loved #babywearing as much as I did - and I think we were both missing it. The only thing I worried about was that he would not want to be carried anymore. (you know, since once a toddler gets the taste of freedom and independence - there is no turning back.)

However - HE LOVES IT. 

YAY!

1 point for mom 

1 point for baby

10 points for Ergobaby!

Everyone wins.

I was testing the three carrier ways out and every time I took him out - he would cry and want back up! 

I think we will use it a few times a day until our trip so we can wear it in and get him used to it.

Pros:

• love the comfort
• for mama and baby
• light feeling
• not too hot
• puts pressure lower in hips rather than back
• front, back, and side carrying
• safe for baby's hips
• sleeping/weather "hood"
• cute colors
• easy to put on/off by self

Cons:

• Not outward facing (although I didn't care for that much anyway)
• although they now have Ergobaby 360 for that.

Any other baby wearing mamas love their Ergo?

In the Blink of an eye

My baby boy is 15 months and 3 days old today. It is hard to believe sometimes that I have a TODDLER. I remember when he could hardly hold his head up, the first time he said da-da, and the rush of joy and love I felt when HE wanted to kiss ME for the first time.

I found this old picture that was taken a year ago. J was barely 3 months old.

and here he is yesterday at 15 months old:

That same amazing smile that lights up his (and everyone else's) face. That same soft face and beautiful brown hair.

The same blue-gray eyes, just like his mommies. The same silly attitude and olive skin like his daddies. 

I love seeing the little boy that he is growing up to be (even if it is a little naughty every now and then!) ;) I wouldn't trade him for the world and I am SO blessed to be able to stay home with him and enjoy every second taking in his AWESOME-ness.

Just needed to get that out. I am a little emotional right now. Why do they have to grow up so quickly?! 

Barnyard-Themed First Birthday!

Josiah's birthday was in January but since it happened before the website launch, I thought I would make a post about the party! It was very much "Pinterest inspired" and it turned out exactly how I pictured it. He enjoyed himself and LOVED all of the decorations!

I will start with the food since I LOVED the clever names for all of the food.
It was an afternoon party, so we mostly had appetizers and cake.
Here is some of the food:

Included is:

"Farm Fresh Eggs"

Deviled Eggs

"Barnyard Chicken Sandwiches"

"Chicken Feed"

Chex Mix

"Pigs in a Blanket"

"Hay Stacks"

Rice Crispy Treats

"Garden Veggies"

Along with that. Here are a few more shots of the table, as well as the decorations. We even had a friend of our bring in hay bales for the gift table (which also allowed Josiah to feel like a "big boy" sitting on them while opening his gifts.

And more decorations...

Last but not least, THE CAKE.

We bought a small and large cake for the guest but I also made J his own "healthy cake" - and he didn't even know the difference ;)

Found it here: 

http://whisperedinspirations.com/2011/05/30/babys-first-organic-birthday-cake-recipe/

Pure joy.

For party favors, we wanted to keep it simple. We stuck with the rustic/farm theme and tied up brown paper sacks with burlap ribbon and gave everyone homemade caramel corn and chocolate chip cookies.

What were your little one's first birthday themes?

Most Important

Even though your mind can get caught up in eating healthy, choosing the right portions, and finding time to work out - remember to take time each day to reset and remember what is important, what your priorities are, and how you can change your focus back to where it needs to be.

I love that my "job" allows me to take that refocus any time I choose. Because of my husbands job at a private Christian University, he has Good Friday off and that means we have a TRHEE DAY WEEKEND as a family. So we decided to take today to be in the moment and share our time together as a family.

Amidst our busy culture that is always go-go-go, we need to remember that the current moment we are in will NEVER come again - so take the time to slow down and remember this moment. So many people told me when J was first born that "he will grow up fast"and it will go by in an instant. While that is SO true - I don't HAVE to let it go by in an instant. I can milk the moments, the days, the cuddles, as MUCH as I possibly can. It can be hard sometimes, but I do believe that it is NECESSARY.

So in this moment I want to simply stop and love.

What will you stop to do today?