Modest Maternity What I wore // Day 1

I decided I posted more with my 1st pregnancy than with this one, so I am going to try to do better. I did one time a link-up to a modest maternity week. I did not find any going on, so I will do my own 1 week series. It is my first week home on maternity leave, so I thought to do a few projects this week.

Highlights I washed all the downstairs windows, finished my skirt, biked 11.4 km (as part of my monthly goal of 80) and went through newborn clothes. My neighbor is having a boy a month after I have my girl. It is nice to find a home for the tons of baby boy clothes I have! Making space for the girl clothes that will be just as bountiful as the boy clothes.

 

Outfit I don't love these photos, but hubby had about 30 seconds before driving away. Skirt is from Miss Etam. I love it. It is probably my favorite maternity skirt. It has 2 shades of pink, white, brown, off-white and tan, so it is so easy to match. It is 2 light layers, so it is nice and cool to wear (yesterday was again above 30°), but does not require a slip. T-shirt is from JBC not maternity, but I can't imagine wearing it if I were not pregnant.

Hair This part is for myself for when I am lacking inspiration: Crown braid, sock bun, braid around.

Modest Maternity What I Wore // Day 2 // 27 weeks

Day 2 of the series. I once again decided I don't really like it when people comment how huge I am. It is often followed that it is just my stomach that is big, but still! It is not nice. Suggestions on complimenting a pregnant lady are: "You look nice." "Looking Good." "You have the pregnancy glow." "Picture of health." Forget words like "Giant," "Huge," and please don't ask if it's twins! I think these days people women know if it is twins and will likely tell you. Also, please don't be shocked when the due date is still a few months away...yes, I know it is possible I may explode by then. *rant of the day*

Highlights It is only the middle of the day, so there has not been so much progress today. I did wash the upstairs windows, bike almost 5k and went through another box of clothes.

We are working with self photography today...

Outfit Today I am excited to be wearing my newly converted skirt! Bright pink, stretch denim. Super comfy. White ruffle shirt (non-maternity) from Macy's. A gift from my mom.

Hair Teased with the cool little teasing brush I bought on my trip. An 'extension cord' bun and a super matchy headband.

Name 2.0

Here we are the 2nd time around and it is supposed to be easier since we know that it is a girl (going to triple check on Friday). BUT I had a nice name picked out for a boy. Levi. Or something with Cohen.

I came across this post from when we were thinking about Mateo's name.

The name I have loved for as long as I can remember is Kara Rae E--------. BUT hubby does not like it. He thinks Kara is a dog name. I try to convince him of the reasons why it is a nice name, but it seems to be out of the question. Which is kind of ok, because I am pretty set on an L name.

It is the same story as last time, Liberty, would be hard to do here. Lillie is the same name as hubby's boss's daughter, so that is apparently a no-can-do. I like Lucie, but supposedly it is an old lady name here. Lucia means light, which is what I thought was a nice meaning and I specifically looked for a name that meant light with Mateo. Hubby things it is ugly (see a pattern here?) Lexie was a hit with grandma, auntie and cousin, but hubby, again, thinks it is a dog name. *sigh*

I thought it would be easier this time around, but it isn't. Anyone used this babycenter.com name list feature? I had fun making the list. Not sure about the middle names, but I wanted to get a list of 10 names written down. My mom's middle name is the same as my very good friend's. Her birthday is November 7th, so I promised if baby girl is on her birthday, she will have that as a middle name.

1			Liora Marie
2			Lexie Marie
3			Lauryl Moriah
4			Livie Rae
5			Linnee Moriah
6			Lucia Marie
7			Lillie Rae
8			Libby Mae
9			Lucie Moriah
10			Kara Rae

2 years = 24 months

Our little man turned 2!!! Where did another year fly? I realized it flew by when I thought about his photobook. I planned to work on it some each month and suddenly I realized the last time I looked at it was probably in December and that seems like a few weeks ago!

Statistics
At Mateo's check up last week he was 13,840 kg (30 lbs) and 91 cm (35 in) and his head 46,7 cm.

Words
Out (he uses this all the time to mean 'take off,' or 'get out'), Peas (please)-I can't think of any other new words, but he is putting some together now, like 'die ook' (that one also) or kijk, mama! (look, mama!) I thought he was saying 'mine,' but maybe it was just when we got back. Finally he will say what we ask him to try to say. It is the first month where he will say 'please' or 'thank you' when we ask him. 'Sorry' and 'OK' are still hard for his stubborn little soul.

Tricks
Mateo slept his first night in a real bed! I asked him if he wanted to sleep in his cousin's bed and he said yes, so I let him go and he slept perfectly in there until the morning! Shocked us both, because he is normally so wild and climbs all over. We tried it at home with less success, but we were also worried he might climb out the window (yes, I am serious).

We are done with bottles! Go us. One baby item less. He did not like the milk in America, so he did not use a bottle and when we came back, we did not introduce them again.

Mateo is doing great on a 'loopfiets' (this one to be precise). He also has started getting the hang of a 'step' (Scooter).

 

I now let Mateo go up and down the stairs alone. He seems to have it under control.

 

He loves his cars, so I bought him a Little People Parking Garage for his birthday. He has been having loads of fun with it. He also enjoys his Duplos. I was so impressed last week. I looked and he had put the whole train track together ALONE!

Food
Still not back to how he was in May, but doing better.  It really seems that it just depends on the day, mood, environment...

Another photo from Stef @ www.stephaniesteinerphotography.com. She would like to come to Belgium in Sept. Are you interested in having her photograph YOUR family? If so, let me know, I can send details.

Dear Mateo, how has it already been 2 years since you came home with us? They went by so fast! You bring so much joy into our lives! Every day we are laughing at your tricks and expressions. You are quite the character. You are always smiling and if by chance you get angry and throw something to express that anger, you are right back to your happy-go-lucky self with in minutes. You still sleep a lot, which is good for your and mommy's moods. We, as your parents, find you to be quite athletic and musical. You can keep up with kids a few years older on the little bike, trampoline, kicking a ball, playing on the swings, climbing around the playhouse and slide. When you hear music you like to play match-that-tone and hold out the tone longer than the one on the recording. You also can match sounds from lawnmowers, ones that we make, the church bells or the ice cream truck. We love you, Mateo! xoxoxo

Happy 2nd Birthday

Photo Updates

June 1-17 weeks

June 6-18 weeks

June 14-19 weeks

June 21-20 weeks

June 29-21 weeks

July 4-22 weeks

I have indeed 'popped.' As a matter of fact I feel like I exploded. I feel HUGE! Everyone is now commenting how big I am. I am not gonna worry about it, because baby and I are healthy. Hubby was able to feel the baby last week, which was exciting, because I have not felt it very much. It seems less active than Mateo. Possibly I am just remembering the end of my pregnancy? How am I feeling? Pretty good. Tired, sometimes worn out, but I think that is mainly from the traveling and from having another little one RUNNING wildly around. I seem to have some pain that I did not have with the first one, but again it could be from not enough rest. 

23 Months

Taken by the super talented (in more than just photography!) Stehanie from www.stephaniesteinerphotography.com

Mateo turned 23 months on June 23rd, the same day his auntie turned 23 years. Fun, huh? We were driving the last leg of our journey. Portland-Home.

Mateo has had a big month! He has met a few hundred new people. Everyone asks how he did on the journey over. I have to answer that he did amazing. All things considered that is. It was not a 'fun' journey for us, but we survived in fine shape. We left our house at 5:30 am, so 8:30 pm here. 22 hours later we got to my parents' house and during that amount of time, little man slept only like half an hour. After he FINALLY fell asleep and we got him comfortable in front of our feet, the stewardess came and told us to pick 'her' up, because the seatbelt sign was on. Grrrrrr!!!

 Our little guy has picked up more English words this month *Yay* Shoes, "no-no-NO", "More" and "oh, no!".

He has been great. So flexible with the crazy schedule we have had and the multiple locations.

Everyone comments about how big (and tan) Mateo is. I did not ever think he was so big for his age, but he is taller than all the others we have met who are his age. His feet seemed to have grown since we left 5 weeks ago and his hair has lightened with the sun.

Mateo has had the chance to play with some young'ins his age. He and his cousin have a love/hate relationship. They are so excited to see each other, but start screaming at each other within a few minutes. It is funny to see how much Mateo picks up from the older cousins! He and his little girlfriend have gotten along wonderfully. I guess there is no competition?

--------- I am 22 weeks pregnant and LOOK every bit it. I 'popped' around 20 weeks. Feeling good, just tired, but that is probably also from all the visiting and not enough sleeping. Photos to come at some point. We found out that it is supposed to be a girl. VERY excited, however the doctor said it was difficult to see, so to be prepared that things could change by my next appointment. I am hoping the gender doesn't 'change,' but if so, we are also fine with that.