Pregnancy Purchases.

     Thus far I have been so shocked at the speed of this pregnancy that I feel like I have had little time to plan ahead for whats about to come, however I knew that specifically there were plenty of things on my mind that I wanted to do "differently". The beauty of your first born is the gift of learning, you would never call them the "guinea pig" of motherhood but there is no denying the fact that they teach us everything we do know! Even still, as I sit here and want to pretend that I have everything mapped out because I have been-there-done-that.. this new baby will require needs of their own that I am entirely unfamiliar with. The very best I can do is prepare, prepare for what I do know and be very open to the unknown. Periodically throughout this pregnancy I plan on sharing with you little things I find as must have purchases for our second little bundle, take them or leave them I hope you are able to find a few things on our lists that you yourself can indulge in and hopefully find great use of!

1. Natursutten Rounded Pacifier (as pictured above)
We never truly explored the world of pacifiers after Carter was born, we were given a few at birth and just felt that he would enjoy them like any other baby we knew. We were very wrong. I had no clue that breastfed babies often times wouldn't take a pacifier at all, yet I knew that for my own sake I wanted him to have one so badly. Unfortunately we spend way too much money store hopping and buying new, unheard-of brands only for him to decide against them and eventually we just gave up all together. When he was about 6 months old was the first time I had ever heard of the Natursutten pacifier series and knew from that moment on we would be investing in them whenever another child rolled around, and here we are creating a stash! We purchased the Rounded Pacifier which is said to be easier for breastfed babies to enjoy as it mimics the nipple of their mother, this being one added benefit of many:

• They are 100% natural, made from pure natural rubber from the tree Hevea Brasiliensis.
• The protein that can often times spike an allergy to latex is removed during production of the pacifiers to keep them safe.
• Made exclusively in Italy, all pacifiers adhere to the European Unions concerns for safety, health and environment.
• No artificial coloring.
•  No cancer causing substances.
• No hormone disturbing substances.
• No chemical Softeners.
• No parabens, PVC and phthalates. 
• They are molded as one piece to avoid any cracking or separating, allowing no room for dirt or germs to grow!

We purchased our Natursutten Pacifiers through Ryan and Rose, and plan on purchasing more after the little one arrives, I have only heard amazing things and cannot wait for our little one to enjoy them.

| http://www.natursutten.com/100-natural |

2. Ryan and Rose Binky Clips

Well this one is a given! Along with pacifiers we need a way to keep them attached to our little ones. This was one of my biggest frustrations in the binky process with Carter, they were always on the floor therefor I was always washing and re-sanitizing them all day long. Especially because he refused to keep them in his mouth. The older he got the more interesting they looked and he used them as a toy and our dog would find them shortly after.. I'm sure you can imagine what happened next. 

Ryan and Rose and ran by the super mom Lindsey Ferrell, who after having her own kids felt the need to create a binky clip of her own. The ones on the market were either unattractive or too long to serve their purpose, and she did it! She created insanely adorable, perfect length binky clips for little ones. One thing that drew my to Ryan and Rose was their wide variety of gender neutral clips. As most know we wait until birth to find out the gender of our baby and this proves to get harder and harder each time, not because we want to cave in and find out, but because there is progressively less and less gender neutral options available to us team green parents. All clothes, toys, accessories and decor seem to be strongly gender specific now days making shopping more stressful than necessary. Being able to search for fun things that will work for either gender certainly makes life easier!

• These clips are all handmade with loads of love.
• They range from 5.5-7 inches in length to aid with sanitation, i.e. keeping them off of the dirty floor!
• The clips themselves are universal and can be attached to anything.
• The metal on the clips are lead free!

The short length and long lives of these gems are why I will continue to build my stash (I have no shame in having one for every day of the week.. or month)

| http://ryanandrose.bigcartel.com/about |

3. Rock-N-Play Automatic Rocker

This item almost needs no explanation.. Carter lived in his rock and play for months, as well as slept in it nightly until he went to his own room. The incline of the rock-n-play is desirable to infants, and keeps them safe from harm of asphyxiation (choking on spit up). The sides of the rock-n-play are made from a mesh to ensure that it stays breathable and temperature sensitive, and it comes up on either side of your child almost mimicking being held in a parents arms. We truly didn't know what sleep meant until whipping out this device, and plan on using it again. 

     When I was scrolling the internet one day I saw an add for a rock-n-play that rocked itself and nearly cried. Our rock and play being the oldest model did nothing but sit there and had to be rocked manually. I cannot even begin to describe how many hours of my night were spent with my arm hanging from the side of the bed rocking and rocking the rock-n-play while Carter snoozed away. They then created a newer model that added a vibration and noise option. Adding a white noise at night helps an infant soothe as well as drown out other noises that could potentially wake him or her such as you turning around in bed or a dog barking off in the distance. The newest model that have created took ideas from all the previous models as well as added the automatic rocking technology.

• New rock-n-play auto rock comes with two rocking speed options.
• The vibration option was discontinued.
• There are 12 options of songs and 3 nature sounds to play while your little one sleeps.
• You can set a timer of 30 minutes or 6 hours of continuous rocking motion in order to avoid long nights of rocking it yourself.
• Comes with a attachable toy.
• Can be plugged into a wall or battery operated, this option to me is a huge one as we spent way too much money on batteries to sustain Carters devices!
• Easy to clean removable pad.

| http://www.fisher-price.com/en_US/brands/babygear/products/Auto-Rock-n-Play-Sleeper |

4. Newborn Cloth Diapers

We were given an amazing six months worth of disposable diapers for after Carter was born, and we used every last one of them! After reaching the point where we ran out we knew that we didn't want to have to spend the ridiculous amounts of money on disposables and wanted to try to save as much as possible. That is when we decided on cloth, I was nervous as I didn't want to have too much work on my plates being a stay-at-home-mom as well as a small business owner, however we were to pleasantly surprised with how easy it truly was. 

We were recommended to use pockets or all in ones, but decided to try prefolds first.. they are extremely intimidating and seem impossible to use as they are the old fashion versions of cloth diapers without any snaps. Just a big cloth square that you somehow had to get onto your baby. After using them and finding out that they were much easier to wash and maintain we LOVE prefolds! We plan on getting a variety of pockets and prefolds in all sizes, especially since we are lacking in any newborn sizes considering we waited 6 months to start Carter. Some of our favorite brands, and brands we have heard great reviews on are:

• Bummis
• BumGenius
• Apple Cheeks
• Charlie Banana
• Lalabye
• Econobum

Such a small list of accomplishments before baby, and such a long way to go with time just flying by. Cannot wait to share more of our Pregnancy Purchases with you, cheers to a happy, healthy nine months momma bears!

-T

18 Weeks.

We skipped a 17 week update because we were having far too much fun back in Boise to even realize we made it yet another beautiful week! The entire time we were in Idaho, both AJ and I were telling everyone that we were about 12 weeks along when they would ask and quickly have to correct ourselves to realize that we are nearly half way finished.. the fast pace of this pregnancy has blown our minds!

This weekend we will be moving all the rooms in the house around and starting on your nursery as well as spicing up Carters room with a big boy bed that he has been so excited for! I have too many ideas in my head, planning the nursery is one of my favorite parts of pregnancy.

If AJ is extremely patient he can feel the baby make teeny tiny little movements from the outside, I feel them all day long but only a few little kicks here and there are strong enough to be felt from the outside. We have yet to see them for ourselves, but I am enjoying these tiny little movements before they get so big they are almost painful! This next 10 weeks is by far the most enjoyable parts of pregnancy, we are busy soaking up the energy I have found and how great I am feeling before things like getting up from the couch become an olympic sporting event!

After 18 weeks of SHEER disagreement with names we have finally rounded them up and they are beautiful, elegant, strong and perfect for our little family. We love names that have meaning to the family lineage so when we found them they lit up our world! As some of you may know, Carter is named after his father AJ (Alexander James), who is named after his father and so forth, so it was natural to give the name Carter Alexander to our first born son! After falling in love with Carters name, falling in love with another one was super difficult. In case you don't know yet, we will be waiting until birth to find out the gender so we have to think of names for both a girl and a boy.

One thing that I found that was interesting is that the girl name we had picked for if Carter, which was Charlie, was no longer in my dreams. I feel as if that name belonged to a little girl that I didn't end up having and it didn't seem to sit right when we figured we would just use is again for this pregnancy. It was a new pregnancy, a new baby and a new time in our lives and I felt as if the name was already "taken" in a sense. I am so happy we went another direction!

If we give birth to another big strong boy he will be named:

Henry Brian Paslay

Henry, after his great grandfather and Brian after his grandfather and only uncle.

If we give birth to our first beautiful baby girl she will be named:

Penelope Mae Paslay

Mae after her great grandmother.

So little Henry or sweet Penelope, I cannot wait to see your face and kiss those tiny little fingers and toes. We see you one more time next week at the anatomy scan and then the next time will be at birth! Slow down time.. I am not quite ready!

-T

Give You the World.

Every mom is quick to share their desires of giving their children "the world". I say it all the time because it's true, I want to give my children the world. I want to give them everything that I know, I want to provide them with every path they wish to follow and the entire world to explore and all the lives in this world to impact as they've impacted mine. But the idea of giving our children the world is simply a phrase, clearly we cannot give them everything on earth. Have you ever stopped to think further into what it is that we are saying when we imply this? We want to give our children the world.. but do you?

I find myself worrying every day about the harsh realities of this life and the world we live in and how my babies are going to be exposed to them. All that they know right now is this blissful perfect "world" in which they live in, the worst part of their world consists mainly of boo-boo's and being told no. I wish I could live in that world. They are innocent because they are unaware that things exist like prejudice, they have no idea that there are children in this world that don't get to eat on demand like they do, they don't know that every day children are separated from their mothers and so much more. But they will learn. Slowly the ideas of good and evil will set into their fragile minds and change them forever. Everyday I wish I could keep my children inside of this perfect little bubble we have created for them, but I can't.. and that kills me.

While my husband and I can do our very small parts to attempt to make our world a better place, I know that certain things will never change. So while I play my part and attempt to create a better world for all of our children, I can dream of the world I actually do wish to give my children. When I say "I want to give them the world" what kind of world do I want to give my children? Most of my hopes and dreams seem far fetched in today's world, but sit back and imagine what world you would give your children if it was at all possible.

I wish to give you a world in which:

• You won't be too crippled with debt from school to enjoy the career that you fought and studied hard for. 
• You won't be afraid to travel to all edges of the earth, and that we can enjoy the beauty in every place without fear.
• You are able to surround yourself with those who wish to see you succeed and easily weed out those who only wish to drag you down.
• You are able to live in a world where you aren't familiar with prejudice and we are all looked at as one.
• A world in which the female body isn't looked at in such a sexual manner, where breastfeeding is simply feeding your baby and bare pregnant bellies aren't inappropriate but rather they are the beautiful source of life and love they are meant to be.
• A world where you will never find your plates empty, or be afraid of when you will be able to eat again.
• A world where we can cure serious, life threatening disease as easily as a common cold so you never have to say goodbye to anyone too soon.
• A world where face time is actually time spent face to face.. where being social involves coffee dates and barbecue's rather than pictures on the internet.
• One where you are confident enough in yourself to pursue anything it is you wish to do, if you wish to be a doctor - that the hard work it takes to get there won't scare you away. If you wish to be a dancer - that you don't feel the pressure to become something "better" or "more successful".
• I wish for you to live in a world that makes you happy, keeps you healthy and surrounds you with nothing but love and light. A world that see's just how much you mean to me.

A perfect world isn't an obtainable one, the realities and harshness of life aren't avoidable. In fact they help us learn. Because of life's difficulties I have learned what it is I want, what in life truly makes me happy, and where I want to go. Watching our children struggle through these moments is what makes them stronger, but I can't help but wishing they never had to struggle in the first place. This is why we are here, this is why we are made into mothers, we are their guides through this world despite how unpretty it may be at times. 

No matter the "world" we are a part of, nothing will ever stop me from wishing to give it all to you. So there for, whether its simply a phrase or not, I wish to give you the world. 

-T

Far from Empty.

As blessed and excited as we are to add another little one into our lives, I would be lying if I said it wasn't also a life altering and very scary experience. Both my husband and I knew that we wanted a big family, we wanted our children close in age, we wanted loads of love and a house full of chaos. Most call us crazy but I am sure that there are many others out there who share the same dreams as we do! After having our first born, I fell into a place where I truly believed that all of my prior dreams had vanished and my desires no longer lined up with my husbands. Carter was, and still is my "baby".. even the idea of sharing our time and love almost made me ill. He was my best friend, we went on countless dates together and we were the perfect team and in my eyes adding anything to the mix that could ruin that was disastrous and nothing I wanted any part of. AJ was always understanding, and attempted to talk up the idea, and very patient when I told him no. From the beginning we had the "2 year plan" in the back of our minds and as the days slipped past me I began to feel this heavy weight on my shoulders knowing the day would soon come that my husband would want more children.

During this time I decided to focus all of my energy in on what was current, and what I knew best, which was the undying love I had for my son. I started observing mothers of many in public and trying to envision their lives and watching as my peers started popping out their second or third child and seeing how their lives were changed by this. And all in one moment it smacked me in the face.. I am so in love with my son. I get to wake up every morning to a heart that is overflowing because he and his father are in my life. The man that I love most helped me create this perfect little human who I felt I had known my entire life and will never go another day without having the pleasure of loving (even when he doesn't want me to!). This love is special and I am an addict to this love.. why wouldn't I multiply it? Why wouldn't I want more of this incredible relationship? The love I have for my son can't, and will never be changed, I physically CANNOT love him any less. If anyone were to ask me if I wished I could have more of this feeling I would be a fool to turn them down.

Adding another child to our growing family then grew right back into a dream of mine. Many people who have chosen a different way of life have asked my why I didn't give "enough time" to my son, or why I feel empty and need another child. And to be honest.. I have found nothing more offensive than those words and assumptions. I am not empty, I am SO entirely full of love and gratitude for this family that I want us to bring another tiny human into our mix only to break the boundaries of our hearts once again. To insinuate that my son leaves me empty in any way is not only offensive, but so incredibly false I cannot help but laugh. I can say without hesitation that everyone in my life is aware of the bountiful love I hold for my family because as annoying as people may think it is I cannot help but share it to the whole world! My time with my son will never come to an end, I will never quit devoting myself to him. To say I haven't spend "enough time" with him, enjoying him is also false. We live every second of every day with each other, and this won't be changing anytime soon.

This second bundle of joy is exciting to our family, it is a gift that I get to give to my son and our families. The bond that these children will experience - both good and bad - will change their lives and when you ask them 10, 20, 30 years from now I am sure they will be unable to imagine a life without each other, just as I am unable to comprehend a life before them.

The late nights, little sleep, lots of laundry and loads of love will help mold me into who I was meant to be in this life. I am meant to be a wife to my husband, and I am meant to a mother to these children. The strength of love is what will power me through, and I can assure you, we are far from "empty".

-T

16 weeks.

Here we are at 16 weeks little one! This week was exciting, we felt your first little flutters, everyone said they should feel like butterflies or tickle.. I may be odd but to me you feel like a goldfish swimming around. I love it! Alongside those sweet little movements every now and again, we can now feel braxton hicks contractions, boo. I'm hoping that because they are starting early this time it is a sign that my body remembers what it is doing and this time around we can go in to labor on our own, without the necessary help of medication.

Our list of names is starting to grow but we are unable to create a "favorite" and have pretty much decided that we will just have to wait to see your sweet face to decide on who you look like. Who knows, you may look unlike every name we have picked out! I go back and forth on a daily basis on whether you are a boy or a girl and am just about to give it all up because I don't have any hunch. Your surprise will just be that much more worth it in the end!

We are starting to plan the nursery that you will sleep in, and how you will share mommy and daddy's room the first few months. One thing that we want to try differently this time around is teaching more self soothing techniques, things like swaddling and a binky (if you will take it..) both are things that your brother refused to accept!

We are so excited to be getting more energy and are enjoying the blissful second trimester before we get large and in charge and so so uncomfortable. Having no aches and pains and painful baby kicks is fun but we are well aware that they are on their way and we will be seeing them sooner than we know. This pregnancy is flying by so much faster than my pregnancy with Carter, I feel like I have all the time in the world to get ready yet no time at all! For now we are happy to enjoy the little things and like the procrastinators we are.. we will save the planning and preparation for later ;)

-T