You Want How Many Kids?

Tom and I get this a lot when we mention how many children we want. By the way, we want 4 although we know it is really up to God how many we are blessed with. We are hoping to not be blessed with more than that but if it happens it happens and we will figure out how to deal with it. I have one brother and Tom has two sisters (although he  only grew up with his older sister as his younger sister was adopted when he was a senior in high school) and as much as we love them we both want our kids to have multiple siblings and have a big family. My mom is one of four, my dad is one of two, Tom's dad is one of five and tom's mom is one of five with 5 (I think) other step-siblings so we both grew up with big extended families and LOVE that. So basically we want our children to have lots of siblings because we see how awesome it is through our parents.

We know financially it is more difficult to have 4 kids, but once Tom and I pay off our student loans (in hopefully 5-7 years) we will feel like millionaires considering our monthly payment is 2.5 times our mortgage right now. But we also know that our children will not be in the latest and greatest clothing and we're fine with that - they grow so fast anyway that to me it seems like the biggest waste to spend a lot of money on their clothes. We know that eating out will be a treat but that's how it is with us too since we only go out maybe once a month or on a special occasion.

College tuition is the only thing we know we will struggle with having 4 kids. Most people believe that their children should take out loans and that as parents they do not owe their kids a paid college education. But Tom and I believe education is the most important thing we can give our children and want to give them the best they can get. We also do not want our children to have to be in the insane school debt that we are in as it is a huge financial burden and if God forbid we were to loose our jobs there is no way unemployment could pay even half of our payment thats how much we owe. My parents paid almost all of my education but Tom's parents were not able to and he got very limited financial aid as he was in one of the most competitive physical therapy programs and they don't give scholarships so his loans are massive. We have already decided that we will be starting a college fund for each of our children as soon as they are born and then we will help out a much as we can so that they leave school with very minimal debt.

We are already planning a family vacation to Disney next July for our Little Man's 1st birthday :)

We still plan on taking family vacations every year by making sure we save throughout the year. We both love to travel and my parents traveled everywhere with my brother and I - from Hawaii to Europe - and we want our kids to travel to amazing places as well. Growing up my parents believed traveling was more important than having a summer camp or having "toys" like dirt bikes or 4 wheelers and as much as I wish we could have a summer camp and travel to Europe that won't be an option with 4 kids so traveling wins. Again, this means we will have to save and skip eating out except for special occasions, but traveling is important to us and we want all of our kids to experience that no matter how many we have.

So yes, 4 kids is "a lot" to most, but it is just right for us and we can't wait to grow our family :)

Mom-To-Be Worries

I'm sure every new mom has many worries about, well, being a mom. Don't get me wrong I am a little worried I will completely screw our little man up somehow but honestly I've always had motherly instincts and feel that I will know what to do when the time comes. Right now my biggest worry is about my relationship with Tom. We decided to go to Boston on a whim a few weekends ago and had so much fun together, we always do, but as we were laying in bed all I could think was that next time we go to Boston [ most likely not on a whim ] we will have a baby, or maybe two by the time we get there again. I'm worried we'll both be so wrapped up in the baby and kids that we'll forget about each other and not connect like we use to. It's been just the two of us for almost 9 years its kind of hard to imagine it any different. We are obviously both beyond thrilled to be having this baby and want a big family but it's change, it's good change, but change nonetheless. 

Climbed a mountain, drank a beer at the top :)

We know that having a baby will change our lives and what we do - like going to Boston on a whim - but just like my parents did with me, we plan on taking this baby everywhere with us - out to dinner like normal, to the grocery store, TJMaxx [ it's the only store anywhere near us haha ], to visit our parents as often as normal, to visit our friends in Maine, and anywhere else we want to go.

On our honeymoon!

I know we will both love this baby more than we could ever imagine loving each other so I worry about us loosing sight of one another or that I'm going to get so wrapped up in the baby that Tom feels like I've forgotten about him. We know date nights are important, but with no family around that will be hard once the baby is born and we've already decided that we don't want to leave the baby with a sitter - even our parents for the first year since that is when bonding is the most important. We do have a wedding to go to in October in NJ so my parents are coming with us and will watch the baby when we are at the reception so weddings are really the only exception to our first year rule.

At a VT brewery two years ago for Tom's 25th birthday. I surprised him with a brewery tour to 6 different breweries around VT and a night in Burlington.

Is it normal to have this worry? Or am I just not as good with change as I thought I was? Maybe this whole idea sounds crazy to most, and I know deep down Tom and I will be fine and I'm really worrying over nothing, we've made it through a lot over the last 9 years, but baby makes three and it has only been two for a very long time!

28 Weeks

Sorry, Tom failed to inform me that my shirt was blending in with the background making it hard to see my bump.

I'm wearing my new PinkBlush maternity skirt that I got with the gift card I won from Katie!

How far along?: 28 weeks 

Maternity clothes: Still just maternity jeans and leggings but everything else are my regular clothes. I am very excited that I can start to wear stretchy skirts and dresses!

Best moment this week: I cleaned up the nursery and put away all the clothes our little man already has. I wasn't feeling great so the weekend was kind of a bummer since I had to forego a bachelorette weekend for one of my bets friends in NY.  

Symptoms: Nothing really. The round-ligament pains weren't present but now I'm back to being tired again and just generally drained throughout the day. 

Miss anything?: Again, just some good wine during this beautiful weather. 

Movement: Oh yes, he's very active and moving a lot!

Food cravings: Eh, nothing really still.

Have you started to show yet?: Oh yes! 

Gender prediction: It's a boy!

Mood: Happy but starting to get anxious that we don't have everything we need yet and everything isn't set up. I know this is crazy since we still have around 3 months left but I'm a planner by nature and with us being so busy the next few months it makes me a little anxious.

Looking forward to: My shower this weekend that my mom is throwing me! I can't wait to be home and to see all of my friends and family :)

Oh, and do you want a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card? Check out the giveaway!

BabyClip $50 Amazon Giveaway!

BabyClip has just launched and we are celebrating by giving away a $50 Amazon Gift Card!

BabyClip is a brand new virtual clipboard where users can discover, collect, and share baby kid products and ideas. Moms can get overwhelmed with the never ending search for the best baby products. The BabyClip founder decided to make it easier for Moms to get recommendations from other experienced Moms by creating a website where they can collaborate, discuss, discover and share products.

The website is similar to Pinterest which makes it easy for most users to navigate. Simply install the BabyClip button to your bookmarks and start clipping! 

There are several ways to organize your clips. You can organize them by age groups: 0-8 years old. You can create as many boards as you want and invite others to clip on your board too!
A few board ideas: Recommended Products, Gift Ideas, Nursery Decor, and Wish List.  

Moms to Be can even create a Registry board. Products they want or are trying to decide on. They can then ask for advice on the products to get expert advice from the experienced Moms.

To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is sign up at BabyClip and become one of the newest members. There are several extra giveaway entries to take advantage of and increase your chances of winning $50 to Amazon. All entries will be verified so make sure you complete each entry.

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Disclosure: I received no compensation for this publication. My opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.The hosting blog, Irish Italian Blessings is responsible for prize fulfillment.

27 Weeks

Too busy for a chalkboard picture so we took this last night before Tom's birthday dinner and apparently my left eye was not prepared for this picture!

How far along?: 27 weeks 

Maternity clothes: Still just maternity jeans and leggings but everything else are my regular clothes. I am so excited that the weather is finally starting to get nice so I can wear stretchy sundresses and skirts!

Best moment this week: Tom's mom had a couples baby shower for us and it was so much fun getting to see his family and  of course we were blessed with a bunch of gifts for our little man.  

Symptoms: Oh, hello round ligament pain. I've only felt it twice but it comes at 5am when all I want to do is sleep but I can't because I'm in pain and nothing makes it better except waiting it out. 

Miss anything?: It would be nice to have a nice glass of sauvignon blanc on the front porch in our adirondack chairs on these beautiful days. 

Movement: Oh yes, he's very active and I found out at my midwife's that he is head down now thank goodness!

Food cravings: Eh, nothing really still.

Have you started to show yet?: Oh yes! And I feel like I look waaay bigger in this picture than I actually am which means I am probably arching my back making my belly stick out more than normal.

Gender prediction: It's a boy!

Mood: Happy but not feeling too good right now. My allergies have started up which is wicked early for me and its leading to a cold which is not good so my midwife told me to take it easy so it doesn't tun into bronchitis which I get really easily.

Looking forward to: My shower next weekend that my mom is throwing me! I can't wait to be home with my parents and see all of our friends and family! 

A Happy Birthday!

Doing the Chandler Bing picture face on our honeymoon - this is why I love him :)

Happy Birthday to my best friend and the best husband a girl could ask for! 

Back in high school when we were young, Tom was super blonde and I actually tanned!

At one of my best friends weddings being silly!

First Things First

Linking up with Kaitlyn for First Things First!

Today's First Things First questions and answers:

1. First thing you would do/buy if you won the lottery?
Oh, this is easy, I would pay of our massive amount of student loans [ Tom has his doctorate so that's a lot of loans ]. And then I would pay off our house, buy a car and then move us to our dream city - Ithaca! And I may have a shopping spree in there too and of course save enough for all of our future children to go to college and not have to worry about loans like us :)

2. First person you call when you get amazing news?
Definitely my mom. She's my best friend and I always want to tell her good things since she's the reason I am who I am - that is if I can get ahold of her since she never seems to answer her cell phone! Usually all of the good things that happen to me include Tom which is why I don't call him first plus he's even worse at answering his phone and he can't answer it when he's at work.

3. First thing you do when you've had a bad day?
Call my mom or Tom and complain, then go home and eat ice cream while watching reality tv. Oh and I would probably cry sometime during all of this too - usually in the car on my way home from work.