Fun October outings!

We've been doing some fun fall things this month and I thought I would share:

2nd Annual Bluthur Camping Trip!
This past saturday we traveled an hour north to Lake Texoma to go camping with our community group and two others close friends. Unfortunately, the Vogs didn't get to stay the night due to 1. An uncomfortable mama (almost 30 weeks preggo+ a hole in the air matress= No way to get comfy!) and 2. A MK who was scared and not going down to sleep at all. But, we still had a blast hanging out with our friends during the day. And, we learned a valuable lesson: the Vogs aren't campers... at least not with a potty training toddler and a very pregnant mama! :)

The girls and their little girls!

The girls playing in the water

They look like pro campers!

The Vog family camping!

Our group- minus the Vog girls (Mike went back in the morning to help them pack up the campsite!) We love these peeps!

Fun with daddy!

My sweet happy (until 7pm) camper!

Owens Spring Creek Farm Pumpkin Patch!

Mama and Maddie at the patch!

Sweet girl sitting on a pumpkin!

MK feeding the goats!

We went this morning with our friend's Ashleigh & Lilleigh and Allie & Shepherd. This farm was literally 8 miles from our house and it was so fun for little ones. Our $6 admission included a little pumpkin from the patch, a cup of goat food to feed the goats and a hay ride. The kids had a blast playing in the pumpkins. They also LOVED feeding the goats. We will definitely be going back next year! :)

This next weekend we are going to carve our pumpkins and then next weds is Halloween!! Can't wait to show y'all the fun family costumes I'm working on... and Khloe is included! The next few weeks we have Baylor Homecoming, a quick trip to Vero Beach, a babymoon in Austin and then  a couple weeks after that it's Thanksgiving... December will be here in a flash... and then Khloe will be here!! :)

Love,
The Vogs

29 weeks!

This week we are 29 weeks!

11 weeks to go, and our last week in the 20s!!

 

 How big is baby? Baby is the size of a butternut squash!

Weight gain/loss? Up 22lb- blah!

Sleep: I'm sleeping ok, still a little hard to go to bed and to get back to sleep when I wake up in the middle of the night. I am definitely getting more tired during the day and enjoy a daily nap.

Movement: Still flip flopping between head down and breech, but she's definitely a mover! :)

Symptoms: fatigue, heart burn, braxton hicks

Belly button: innie/outtie- can't decide which one it wants to be!

Food cravings: Haven't really had much of an appetite lately. I think my stomach is getting squished, so I'm getting fuller faster and not enjoying food as much because of terrible heart burn afterwards.

Gender: A girl! Khloe Margaret

What I miss? Feeling confident about my physical appearance... I'm entering the "whale" phase of pregnancy- feeling like I am gaining weight in my face and not feeling super confident. The weight gain is totally worth it for Khloe's health and I'm eating heathly and exercising and I'm estimated to be in the "normal" weight range, but it's still hard to gain weight. :(

The Baylor shirt I made! :)

What I'm looking forward to? I'm super excited that we're getting down to the end and I'll get to meet Khloe soon. I'm also stoked that I'm taking MK to Florida right before my "no travel" cut off date to see my parents and twin sister who I haven't seen in a couple months. We're also going to Baylor homecoming in a couple weeks so I made a Baylor shirt for me and Khloe (like the one I made for MK last year at homecoming!) and I can't wait to wear it to the game and all the festivities!

Big sister: Still working on potty training and she's also entering the "terrible two's" with full force!

 

Love y'all!
The Vogs

An Rx for a change of perspective...

So, if you're on Facebook you may have seen a status I posted yesterday about it being a rough mommy day. It was the perfect storm for behavior challenges for miss MK: no nap, family in town (aka, she thinks she can get her way and she's trying to show off!) and being a two year old who is discovering her independence. She pushed all of the boundaries and threw many temper tantrums... Mike said she was like a hormonal teenager. He then started freaking out because he realized he was going to have two, possibly more, hormonal teenagers in the house in a few years!!!

Anyway, after a little time out for mommy and some reflection on Galations 6:9, I pulled it together and armed myself for battle against the terribe twos. And, surprise surprise, we survived! We were beat when she went down at 7, but we had survived our first hard toddler day and learned a TON for the many, many future ones we are going to face with MK and Khloe.

Today is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss day and I have a couple friends, close friends and blogger friends, who have experienced loss- both miscarriages and stillbirths. So, today on Instagram and Facebook and blogs I was reminded of how incredibly blessed I am to have a temper-tantrum-throwing toddler. No matter how bad my days are, I need to be so incredibly thankful for a healthy Maddie.

A couple weeks ago at a pre-school mom talk at Watermark, the speaker spoke on thankfulness (as well as a wonderful talk on gender differences and celebrating the "boy-ness" and "girl-ness" in your children... you can find it here!). She was answering a question about when to reel in the high energy toddler boy and she basically said "you should change your perspective." She had delivered a little girl several decades ago who was in the NICU and suffered a brain bleed and eventually passed away. She told the group that when she was getting frusterated by her boys non-stop energy, she would remember her sweet daughter in the NICU who was unable to move and she immediately became thankful for her boys ability to run and dance and be silly and crazy with energy. That was such a powerful message for me... sometimes we just need a change in perspective! :)

To all of my sweet friends and readers for whom this day means remembering the loss of your precious babies- I can't imagine the pain you have endured and continue to endure. You are in my thoughts and prayers today, especially as you celebrate and remember the life that you carried. Thanks to the many of you who share your stories of loss in your blogs, your stories of faith and trust in the Lord in the midst of extreme pain is inspiring.

Love,
Katy Vog

It's finished!

The hybrid nursery/guest room is complete! I am so pleased with how it turned out... my vision came together so nicely! I wanted something sophisticated, but still girly, and shabby chic! I'm loving all of the white linens and pops of coral and blue.

This room provided a lot of challenges: 1. It really only has two full walls to put furniture against- they other two are a wall of windows and a wall of closets. 2. It's a pretty small room for cramming a queen sized bed, crib, glider and dresser into it. 3. LIGHTING!! Don't get me started on this one. None of our bedrooms in our house had ceiling fans in them when we bought the house (how you can live without a ceiling fan in Texas in the summer? I have no clue!). So, we outfitted our rooms with fans when we moved in. The one in this room didn't come with a light kit, and despite several trips to Lowes, we can't find a light kit that works. So, we are stuck with a floor lamp, which works fine, it just makes taking pictures hard (see below!).

Here are some pictures (sorry the quality is poor... I need a to start using a better camera than my iPhone camera!) and a list of resources for where we got everything!

Khloe's crib

Glider & dresser/changing table against windows

Rocking chair and lamp



View from the door

Guest bed!

Paint: Valspar from Lowes

Crib: Graco Sarah Classic crib in Cherry from Amazon.com (bought 2.5 years ago for MK).

Bumper pad: Pottery Barn Kids new in package with tags on from Craigslist... for only $15!!! :)

Crib sheets:Circo brand from Target in Khaki

Crib skirt: made by Sew Katy (me!) from some white linen curtains I had from Ikea

Mobile: Was MK's, but it had ducks on it and I replaced them with hand made birds from this tutorial

Frames above the crib: Hobby Lobby

Print of Micah 6:8 : Custom made from Sallie Kate Designs

Coral "K": Letter from Hobby Lobby, painted coral by me

Crosses throughout the room: A souvenier from a cool market in Albuquerque when I went there for spring break my junior year of college

Bed: From the guestroom in my grandparents house

Bedding for guest bed: From Dillards and Bed Bath and Beyond several years ago

Guest bed skirt: Lanna collection in coral from Anthropologie (my inspiration for the room... I wanted to get the Euro sham covers, but they don't sell them anymore and they are SUPER expensive on ebay!).

Euro Shams: Ralph Lauren from Dillards (bought after we got married), I added the chevrons using this tutorial and the same fabric as the curtains.

Shelves and frames above guest bed: Ikea

Prints in frames: Scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby

Glider: A gift from Mike's parents when we were pregnant with MK. We painted it and recovered the cushions to match MK's room. I recovered the cushions again in a coral ikat fabric from Sky Reve Fabrics.

White linen pillow on glider: Made by me from the same white linen curtains as the bed skirt

Lamp: Target

Curtain rod: TJ Maxx

White linen curtains: Ikea

Coral roman shades: Made by me, fabric from Joanns

Dresser: Also from my grandparents, used in MK's nursery

Knobs on dresser: Hobby Lobby

Wire baskets: Target

Changing pad: From MK's nursery- got it at Buy Buy Baby

Changing pad cover: Boppy brand from Buy Buy Baby in Khaki


It's so fun to create a nursery! It is also so nice to be completely DONE with it! It was my goal to be done before the end of October because our November and December calendar is packed with fun stuff and I didn't want to stress the last two months of my pregancy. Miss K also has all of her newborn diapers bought and all of her clothes purchased, washed and hung up/folded. We are ready for you Miss K... Just don't come for a couple more months! :)

Love,
The Vogs

28 weeks!

This week we are 28 weeks!

12 weeks to go!





Got one of MK smiling... now she just needs to look at the camera! :)

How big is baby? the size of a Chinese cabbage (whatever that is!)... or approx 2 1/4 lb and 14.8 inches long... but according to our sonogram last week, she's definitely bigger than that!
Weight gain/loss: up 20lb... lost one this week, I'm not upset about it!
Sleep: What you'd expect in the 3rd trimester... sometimes hard to get to sleep, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and have a hard time getting back to sleep. I started taking Tylenol PM with MK when I couldn't sleep and that helped a ton, but we aren't there quite yet!
Movement: Like last week, she's still flip flopping between head down and breech, and many times when I'm laying on my side it seems like she's transverse! She's not kicking quite so hard anymore, just nudges, thumps and stretching- she's getting cramped in there already poor girl!
Symptoms: leg cramps, heart burn, fatigue during the day again, frequent urination, braxton hicks.
Belly button: not and innie and not an outtie!
Food cravings: We've had another attack of the stomach bug for big sister, and that usually makes my tummy a bit queesy, so I've really not been craving anything lately. We did get Chick-fil-a chicken noodle soup today and that was delicious!
Gender: Khloe Margaret- a girl!
What I miss? nothing this week!
What I'm looking forward to? The next 12 weeks!! We have so many fun things planned before miss K's due date.
Milestones: No one could argue with me I'm in my 3rd trimester! :)
Big sister: Still potty training, despite coming down with her 4th stomach bug in 3 months. I ordered her and Khloe custome made big sister/little sister shirts this week from Jacks and Roxanne on Etsy and I can't wait to see both of them in them when sweet little sister arrives!

 

Hope y'all are having a wonderful week!
Love,

The Vogs

 

MK's adventure in potty training!

Mk using the potty while watching veggie tales!

A little over two weeks ago, we embarked on a new adventure: potty training MK! She’s been showing signs of being ready for a couple weeks and after reading the chapter on potty training in The Baby Whisperer, I was motivated to start working with MK towards being diaper-free.

For the first week, to gauge MK’s readiness, I would take her to the potty 30 minutes after eating/drinking and before and after naps/bedtime. I took detailed notes about the days, including what she ate/drank and when she had a dry diaper, a successful pee/poo in the potty or a dirty diaper. I learned a lot about MK during that week, including that she could physically hold her pee for 2-3 hours and that she had a very predictable #2 schedule. During that time she got “treats” for going to the potty and we talked a lot about wearing big girl panties and saying “bye bye” to diapers. I knew by the end of that week that she was ready, especially when she told me a couple times when she needed to use the potty before going in her diaper.

So, last Saturday we decided to go cold turkey on diapers and we haven’t looked back (although we’ve been tempted to!). On Friday, MK and I went to Target and she got to pick out two packs of “big girl panties” which she called “big gurl penies”…. Yes her “panties” sounds a lot like a male body part! She was so excited to get to pick them out and talked about her new present the whole way home and to everyone who would listen to her! Saturday morning was filled with lots of accidents and lots of reminders that “we don’t pee pee in our pretty princess big girl panties!” She learned quickly that she did not like to be wet and got very upset at herself when she had an accident.

Despite a terrible stomach bug on Saturday night, we stuck to our plans and kept MK out of diapers. She did progressively better with accidents all week, including two days of no accidents. This past week, she conquered a fear of public restrooms and even traveled in the car to Austin and back with no pee pee accidents (she did have one #2 accident, but something she ate didn’t agree with her so that was understandable… and those panties didn’t make it home to Dallas!). We are still working with her on telling us when she needs to go versus having to be reminded/asked, but so far I am shocked at how well she is going!

Here are some tips I have for anyone who’s going to be embarking on this adventure:

1.       Don’t give up! There were many days that I felt discouraged.  “Was she ever going to get this?” “Was she really ready if she’s not telling me when she needs to go all the time?” I know that for me to give up and put MK back in diapers would be communicating failure to MK. I would be saying to her “you can’t do this.” And I know that she can! J

2.       Pray! I have said more prayers asking for patience and wisdom this past week than I have in a while. Potty training has been by far the most challenging parenting task for my control-freak, perfectionist self.

3.       Accidents don’t mean failure. I was so afraid of accidents, that I found myself hovering over MK asking her all the time if she needed to go… and she was getting annoyed! So, I decided to back off and changed my perspective. An accident was an opportunity for MK to learn how to read her own body and to communicate with me…it wasn’t a failure for her or me! Having accidents didn’t mean that she wasn’t ready or able to potty train, it’s a necessary part of the adventure. I made sure to not shame MK for having an accident, but to remind her that we only go pee/poo on the potty.

4.       Study your child! The Baby Whisperer book really emphasized this point and I couldn’t agree more. Take some time to notice and write down their potty habits before you train. How long can they hold their bladder? How often do they go poo? Are there foods that make them poo more often? Also study what motivates your child. I thought that treats would motivate MK, but it turns out that a simple sticker chart with “special potty treats” (dollar spot toys from Target) when they reach certain milestones (the stars on our chart) was MUCH more motivational for MK.

Our potty rewards sticker chart... she gets more excited about putting a sticker on here than getting a candy treat!

5.       Diapers are WAY more convenient than potty training… It takes a lot of effort, planning and thought to have a child in panties versus a diaper. It’s totally worth it in the end I’m sure, but it’s a monumental change.

I am so thankful that we started potty training now. I’m sure that the older she becomes, the more it would be a battle of the wills and that would make this infinitely harder. The Baby Whisperer Book recommends starting the studying (taking them to the potty often) between 18-24 months to avoid this “battle of the wills.” Obviously this is totally dependent on each child and their personality… some might not be ready to start this until closer to 2.5 or 3. I’m also thankful that we’re doing this far enough away from Khloe’s upcoming arrival. I never had my heart set on getting MK out of diapers before Khloe arrived because I didn’t want to put that pressure on me or MK if we weren’t ready. But, now that we’re working on potty training, I’m glad we’re doing this now. J I’m already starting to pray that she doesn’t regress once she sees her sister wearing diapers…. But we’re doing a lot of talking about how babies wear diapers and big girls wear panties, so hopefully that doesn’t happen.

Any potty training advice from my experienced mommy readers? Would love to know your tips and experience!

The potty-training Vogs!

a late 27 week post!

This week has been crazy... but, better late than never and technically I'm still 27 weeks, but only two days away from being 28!

This week we are 27 weeks pregnant... 13 weeks left!

I'm so confused on when the 3rd trimester starts, but it's sometime between 27 and 28 weeks so we celebrated this week!

How big is baby? At our dr appointment she weighed in at 2lb 6oz (61percentile) and she's the size of a head of cauliflower!

Weight gain/loss: +21 lbs...EK!

Sleep: It's getting harder to get comfortable and to get to sleep and get back to sleep if I've been woken up in the middle of the night. I also got my first middle of the night leg cramp, and that's always a sleep disrupter :(

Movement: K's been flip flopping between being breech and head down and I can tell by where she's kicking. One day she'll be attacking my ribs and the other day it'll be my bladder! She's still reaching 10 kicks in about 3-6 minutes during our kick counting sessions at night.

Symptoms: Fatigue, leg cramps, increased urination, heart burn, braxton hicks and my boobs have grown a size in a couple weeks not to mention leaking colostrum already (I just bought a new bra that's already too small...)

Belly Button: So close to being an outtie... I think it will be for sure by 8 months!

Food cravings: I haven't been craving mac and cheese this week (shocker!), but still craving my yummy feta/craisin/almond salad.

Gender: A girly girl!!! Khole Margaret

Khloe's sweet profile and little hand... I love sonograms! :)

What I miss? Eating chili or pasta sauce without getting heart burn

What I'm looking forward to? Getting my meet my sweet girl in 3 months... and I have a feeling they are going to fly by (like the last 6!).

Milestones: I am done with K's nursery! The final touches above her crib are complete, thanks to the amazing work of my dear friend Sallie who made a print of K's life verse (Micah 6:8) for me. You can see some of her other amazing stuff on her blog Sallie Kate (I've linked her blog to mine at the top right).

Big sister: She'll get her own potty training post on the blog tomorrow! :)

Big sister and me before church this morning... it was 40 degrees outside and we were excited about wearing cold weather clothes!

Dr appointment notes: We had our 7 month appointment on weds and it was a long one! It started with the glucose tolerance test, which means drinking a bottle of flat highly concentrated orange soda in less than 5 minutes and drawing blood to check your blood sugar after an hour (my dr called on friday and my sugar looked great!). In between that hour we got a sonogram to check out Khloe and see if there was a fibriod or any other uterine abnormalities like Dr. C had thought based on my 20 week sonogram. Khloe looked perfect, still measuring 5 days ahead. My uterus looks perfect too, no signs of fibriods or uterine masses!! YAY! Mama and baby looked great and that was a huge answer to prayer. So, we still have no answers to explain the bleeding, but it hasn't happened since, so we aren't worried about it! We got checked out by Dr. C and then were on our way! We go back to the doctor at the end of October and then start going every two weeks until 36 weeks!

 

Mike preserving the memories of the dreaded glucose test!

Hope y'all had a wonderful week!
Love,

The Vogs