Friday is here!! It’s kind of crazy to think that this could be our last weekend before our little one arrives… or I could easily be typing up my TILF post with a baby in my belly again next week. At my appointment on Wednesday, I learned that I’m two centimeters dilated which doesn’t mean much at this point but I was actually admitted to the hospital when I was two centimeters dilated with Chase when I was 38 weeks which blows my mind a bit.
Since I don’t want to sit around and feel like we’re just waiting for signs of labor all weekend (aka a great way to drive myself crazy), I’m thrilled we have a great distraction arriving in town this evening. My parents are driving up from Florida and we have a weekend of boating, grilling out and relaxation on the agenda. Bring on the fun!
And now, before I sign off to soak up some family fun all weekend, I wanted to share my usual Things I’m Loving Friday post with you guys! Let’s dive right in, shall we!?
Things I’m Loving Friday
- “Mom, We Just Talk A Little Bit”
I read somewhere that when it comes to raising a toddler, you’ll either experience the “Terrible Twos” or a “Threenager.” It sounds like no one can fully avoid the challenges associated with toddlerhood! We’ve had our fair share of toddler battles and meltdowns but, for the most part, Chase is a really joyful little guy, kind, polite and a big ray of sunshine in my day every day… But recently, however, he seems to have entered a phase where his immediate reaction to many (MOST) things I ask him to do is the exact opposite of my request. It’s requiring me to become more creative as a mother and infinitely more patient which, at times, it admittedly hard.
I think this is why, lately, some of the quiet moments where Chase’s sweet heart shines through hit me even harder than usual. His high-pitched requests for playing (“Mom, you want to play airplanes with me?”), reading books and talking together (“Mom, we just talk a little bit?”) make my heart turn to mush. The “talk a little bit” request is one that came about a few months ago but surfaced again this week when he wanted to simply hold my hand and talk about his morning at camp before bed one evening. I could’ve cried no less than 10 times as we rocked together in him room and he told me all about Water Day at camp and a visit from the ice cream truck and then segued into telling me what he thought he was going to dream about that night (Sadie, Mom and Dad… and dragons).
File this under weird things I already think about as a mom, but I told Ryan I cannot help but feel a little nervous about future years – mainly teenage years – when I am not naive enough to think Chase will still want to share everything with me. I love the way Chase talks to me right now and wants to share the most minute details of his life (or his imaginary stories) with me at rapid-fire speed. I I love our open, honest and continuous communication right now and while I know it’s natural for Chase to pull back as he gets older, understanding how fast time flies by makes me really want to slow down and savor his “talk a little bit” requests even more.
- A Clean Car
I have to believe I am currently in the midst of some last-minute nesting urges because I’ve found myself doing a ton of random projects around the house during any spare minute I may have had this week. Yesterday’s must-do? Cleaning out my car! I swore I’d never have a car filled with crumbs and dirt but then a toddler came into my life and I’ve been driving around in a Crumbmobile for months. My car desperately needed to be vacuumed and wiped down and I took a solid hour to give it a thorough clean. I only gagged once over a horrible snack I found under Chase’s car seat which seemed to be some kind of gelatinous goo mixed with Goldfish cracker crumbs. Hooray for clean cars!
Oh, and in case you were wondering where all of your bobbypins go when they unexpectedly disappear, the answer is the depths of your car.
- A Positive Update
If you follow me on Instagram and Facebook you already know about my Wednesday prenatal appointment, but it was a bit unnerving in the beginning. My anxiety peeked as I waited to see our baby on the monitor during my doctor-requested ultrasound but thankfully everything ended up okay and I got to see our baby in 3D. It was amazing. Our little one has the sweetest little button nose and pouty lips and seemed to like to hang out in my belly with his or her little fist balled up right in front of their tiny face. (This reminded me so much of how Chase loved to sleep as a newborn!) I was overcome with a range of emotions – relief, love and so much gratitude – and left feeling all the more excited for the moment Ryan and I get to meet our baby and snuggle up with a tiny newborn. It’s crazy to me that it could truly be ANY day now… or in a week or two!
- New Phone (And No More Broken Home Button!)
I haven’t upgraded my phone in three(ish) years and I was totally fine with my old phone until the home button broke. I’ve tried to have it professionally fixed numerous times and have been living with a phone without a working home button for several months. (Yes, this is as annoying as it sounds.)
Well, I finally got my act together and upgraded my phone yesterday morning. This was another one of those items on my before baby to-do list that I was hoping to accomplish before our little one arrives mainly because I am excited for a better phone camera and portrait mode! Woohoo! But, I’m not going to lie, no longer relying on some random app to work as my home button trumps everything. And now to shop for a new phone case…
- Father’s Day Gift Ideas
I’m not planning to share a full Father’s Day Gift Guide on the blog this year just because I feel a bit pressed on time (gift guides take me a shockingly LONG time to put together), but here are a few ideas I had swimming around in my brain to hopefully help give you some ideas!
- Surprise Car Detailing (Can you tell what inspired this one!? Ha!)
- Fitbit Versa (Both Ryan and my dad have this watch and rave about it)
- Plan a Date Night or a Family Activity Day
- BONOBOS Chinos (Ryan LOVES these and they’re currently 25 percent off. They fit so well!)
- Marshall Kilburn Bluetooth Portable Speaker (A total splurge but Ryan and I are both obsessed with ours and use it all the time in the house, in the backyard, in the garage, etc. Excellent sound quality!)
- Tickets to a concert/sporting event/comedy show, etc.
- New Book (One of Ryan’s recent favs is Ready Player One)
- Kiehl’s Ultimate Man Scrub Soap (Ryan’s favorite “splurge” soap I give him for almost every holiday)
- Adidas Slides (These are coming back in style and Ryan never stopped wearing his even when they weren’t cool. He says he feels vindicated! Haha! He prioritizes comfort over everything and there’s nothing more comfy than a pair of pool slides in the hot summer months. I like the sleek look of this gray pair and they’re only $35.)
- Hydroflask Water Bottle
From the kids:
- Homemade Cake or Dad’s Favorite Breakfast
- D-A-D Picture Frame Photo Project (See above!)
- Homemade Signs + Cards
- All About Dad Q&A
- Friday Flashbacks
60-40-20 Kettlebell Workout (A total body kettlebell workout formatted in a decreasing repetition pattern so you’ll get the most challenging part of the workout out of the way first!)
12 Best Baby Toys for the First Year (Looking back at this post gave me all the feels! So many nostalgic memories from the toys Chase LOVED during his first year!)
Question of the Day
What is one thing that is making you smile this week?
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I need to clean my car something fierce, I have two toddlers and it is so hard to keep clean. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
I have ZERO expectations of it actually staying clean but it’s an amazing feeling to have a clean car at least for a few days! 🙂 I hope you have a fantastic weekend as well!!
You will obsess over the AMAZING pictures you will get using portrait mode. My husbands old iPhone stopped working and we had to upgrade. We were so happy the old one broke! lol
Woo!!! I am so excited to play around with it!
Hi Julie! So excited for you guys and your new addition. When I was reading your section about Chase, I immediately thought of this parenting book I just read. I am not really a “parenting book” type of person haha, but I’ve heard about this book from multiple people so I have it a shot. It’s called Parenting with Love and Logic, and I loved it. It was all about parenting with love and empathy (as opposed to threats or saying “no” all the time) while not letting your kid walk all over you. Parts of it were a little cheesy or made me roll my eyes haha, but I absolutely loved the overall message and have already started implementing strategies from it. It seems like something that might align with how you parent Chase! Either way, I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Thanks for this recommendation!!! I’ve actually heard of that book before but haven’t read it yet!
Thinking of you in these final days/weeks of your pregnancy! And my daughter is the same exact age as Chase and the do-the-exact-opposite thing just started recently for us to! I am struggling and don’t really have any tricks other than to ignore it? Halp. (But agreed on the sweetness…I love love love it.)
Phew! It can really test you, right!? Especially when it starts FIRST thing in the morning. Yeesh!
Where is your hat from in the above picture? I have been looking for a good hat for summer!
It’s Calia by Carrie Underwood and I got it at Dick’s last year!
So excited for you and your family! And I can’t recommend a Loopy case enough for your phone. They are so great! Happy Friday!
Gosh, my husband Ryan LOVES his adidas slides! And I freakin’ hate them and think they’re soooo ugly. But he never has/never will stop wearing them haha. Maybe it’s a Ryan thing! 😉
Um, I just bought a pair of Adidas slides last summer, and I wore them all year long around the house! They are SO comfy. I personally love this revival – kudos to Ryan for sticking with it – ha! Have a wonderful weekend with your family and look forward to baby news! 🙂
Yep, cleaning the interior of my car always takes longer than I think it will.
I am SO excited for you and your family, Julie!! I’m also so glad your appointment went well, I was praying for you! Have a great weekend, enjoy!! Xoxo
You are so right! That’s totally crazy to think about you going into labor at this same time with Chase! Maybe this little one will stay put a bit longer 🙂 I remember with our first I sat at 2cm/80% for 3 weeks and was SO on edge every day thinking every little symptom meant something, haha! Enjoy this weekend with your parents!!! YAY!
Exactly!!! Every little thing is making me think, “Could this be it!?”
Thank you for the gift idea list, I’ve been looking for my own dad from myself and grandpa gifts from my daughter and this was sooooo helpful, you don’t even know, ha! My dad is super hard to shop for.
Have a great weekend with your family! We’re officially on Baby Watch for you!
We are heading to Ocean City, Maryland in a couple of hours and I am SO excited to get away (even though it’s supposed to rain all weekend…oh well).
Have a great weekend with your family! We’re officially on Baby Watch for you!
We are heading to Ocean City, Maryland in a few hours and I am SO excited to get away (even though it’s supposed to rain the whole weekend…oh well).
I’m also on baby watch! I have been checking your IG story daily and I’m so excited for you guys. Any day now!
What size Bonobo polo does Ryan where? My husband is a similar build and I think he would like these.
I’m on serious baby watch now! If there’s no instagram post, I’m like, “IS IT TIME???” lol
I hope you’re enjoying your weekend with your parents – I know what a great combination of thrilling and comforting that is! Hope you’re having a BLAST!
Oh man I can SOO relate to the toddler defiance struggles and then just like you said, they break into song, or as you to play with them and I”m mush in a second. It’s those small times of sweetness I swear that keep us wanting more and more kids ha! I think the more open and talkative we are with our kids now the more open they’ll be later..isn’t there a saying like when we talk about the small stuff now they’ll talk about the big stuff later? Or something! Keep it up mama you’re amazing!
Hope you had a great weekend!
Hi Julie, sorry this message is late but I am just now going through and catching up on your blog while I am at work (sshhh) Your comment about going through the teenage years and not talking to you or snuggling with you as much …If it’s any consolation …and believer me this BLOWS my mind as well, my kids who are now 23 yr old son and 18 yr old daughter STILL to this day will come hang out, hug, hold hands and just talk and talk and talk. I think it comes from doing the exact things you are doing with Chase. Just be available and listen any time he (they) come to you. Listen to what they have to say, comment, give advice…whatever. Thank them for coing to you and sharing and let them know they can ALWAYS come to you for anything. Neither my husband or I had this type of relationship with our parents so it was very important to us that we always have good communication with our kids. They still to this day have not rebelled or hidden things from us. They are every open with us because it’s what they are used to. There are things that my daughter will talk to my husband about and they are different than what she talks to me about. My husband and I share all the “intel” at night before going to bed so we each know what is going on with our children. If it’s a subject we feel our kids would find awkward if the other parent knew, we make sure to tell the other…”Don’t tell him (her) I told you but …” ie. it’s important that my daughter talk to me about body issues especially if it effects her health, dad should know, but he doesn’t need to bring up the subject with her. Anyway, just wanted to let you know, that those days are not necessarily numbered…they (your kids) might surprise you as ours have surprised us. Take care. Love your blog. you’re doing a good job mama! ; )
I love this comment so, so much. Thank you for sharing your experience with me. It’s so clear how much you and your husband love your children and I’m so happy to hear they’ve always been so open and communicative with you. I hope for the very same with Chase and our little one on the way some day!! <3