January & February Beans 2021

[lisaalove]

Sander such a cute bump! I'll be doing maternity pictures this time too. I didnt get them done with my other two boys but really wanted to get them done this time since its my last pregnancy.

 

[Jules8]

Sanders- Such a cute bump!

I have a friend at church who is a photographer and she’s doing them for a small price, otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to do it. Most photographers here charge an insane amount and you barely get any pictures back. We paid about $300 for a maternity and newborn package when I had Emma. It was worth it for the two sessions and she gave us so many pictures. The same photographer now charges double that amount and you only get to choose 10-15 pictures. It’s crazy! It makes me so sad that people are taking advantage of people who just want nice pictures of their family and babies. I get making money in your business, but charging over $500 for a handful of pictures is ridiculous. I paid less for a professional camera that I use to take the kids pictures and I get as many pictures as they’ll sit still for. Lol

 

[Sander]

Oh that’s terrible Jules! It actually makes me so annoyed - before I had the kids I worked as a videographer by profession, and I always tried to keep my prices affordable for people. Seeing other videographers or photographers charging crazy prices is irritating because they only charge that when they know people will pay it. There’s no way any photographer (or videographer) should be billing you at $200+ an hour.

The photographer we used for our family pictures in the summer charged us $80 for the 20 minute session and 10 pictures, which for me is reasonable. It probably works out to close to an hour of work if you add in travel time and the edits themselves. She actually said she would come shoot newborn pics in the hospital for us at the same price if Covid allows, so I’m really hoping I can have her come do that for us

 

[lisaalove]

I could never do 500$ for pictures. Its 200$ for an hour of pictures and she said she'll focus on maternity mostly for me but also do some family pictures for us. This will be the first family pictures we've had done since I think 2015 or 2016.
She actually lives on the east coast and is flying into Vegas for an early Thanksgiving with her family here so im glad she's coming at a time when hopefully ill be looking round

 

[Sander]

That’s actually a great price for an hour of shoot time Lisa, I’m sure you’ll get awesome pics out of it. You’ll have to share some once you’re done (if you want to!)

We are attempting potty training for the 4th (?) time. I’m actually losing count, lol. Just finished day 2, had a couple of successes but he still won’t tell us when he needs to pee - we more rush him to the potty while he’s peeing on the floor.

Anyways, it’s such a long process haha. So much pee, so many smells. I lit all my fall scented candles now that the kids are in bed so my house can smell good for a while

 

[lisaalove]

@Sander right! I was totally okay with the price plus I've been following her since after I had Collin and knew that the next time I got pregnant she would be the one id want to do my pictures. Ill be sharing them everywhere!

Oh man I cant imagine going through potty training again. Neither of the boys were fully trained until 3ish. Lol at least I have a while before I have to deal with that. However I've learned that it doesn't matter how old they are because they'll always pee all over the seat and anything in the vicinity.

Speaking of fall candles I really want to get some! Its finally supposed to be under 100 for an entire week. *fingers crossed*

 

[Sander]

Ah I’m so happy for you Lisa! I hope you get amazing pictures. And YES but some candles they’re the best

Potty training day 3 here and my son DID IT!!!! Honestly this morning he peed so much on the floor (and my shoes, his toy box, these fabric storage boxes ) that I was so close to giving up again. But he took a nap, came out and I said to him for the thousandth time - what do you do when you have to pee pee? And he went BY HIMSELF to the potty, sat down and peed on it. Then did it 3 more times in a row

I was so excited and shocked he was doing it haha. He didn’t even need reminders, he just stopped watching his show, walked to the potty and peed in it like a pro.

Then we capped off our evening by him standing inside his Playdoh storage bin and peeing all over the 8,000 Playdoh tubs and accessories inside. Sooooooo you win some you lose some I guess

 

[Jules8]

Lisa- That’s a great deal and so amazing you can get her to do them! It’s been pretty warm in my area on the East Coast then it rained last night and we woke up to fall. Lol It’s going to be in the 60s almost every day through the rest of the forecast. I’m not ready for it to get any cooler though!

Sanders- How old is he? I feel as though Luella has come to the point where we have to start. I wanted to wait til the baby comes, but she’s driving me crazy with the bathroom and toilet. She keeps ripping off all her clothes then runs to the potty and will sit. Yesterday she said she had to poop so she ripped off her diaper and sat for a while then got up and pooped on the floor. She knew she had to go, she just has to understand it goes in there. I was thinking of doing a trial run over the weekend.

 

[Sander]

Oh wow Jules sounds like she’s definitely ready! Elias is 28 months, we’ve tried it so many times but I also really want it done before baby is here because I keep hearing they regress when a new baby is born - plus I don’t want 3 in diapers!!

 

[Jules8]

She’s one of those all in kind of kids so I’ve been putting it off. Right now I’m not home enough to keep it consistent....my husband just doesn’t have patience with it so I know he’ll just put a diaper on and not want to deal with it. I can also foresee her waking up to pee every hour. Lol

 

[Sander]

It’s hard to have the time - we did the ‘3 day method’ (which I don’t really think is 3 days haha), but we just finished day 4 and Elias had only 1 accident first thing in the morning! He’s going unprompted too which is awesome. Tomorrow we’ll see how he does with pants cause he’s been naked up until now. We aren’t attempting nap/night training yet

Hit the 3rd trimester today, can’t believe it’s all going by so fast

 

[Jules8]

Sander- Yay for 3rd tri! So exciting! Time is flying. I have my 25 week ultrasound on Monday. I’m kind of in denial about how there really isn’t that much time left.

 

[lisaalove]

I cant believe you're already 3rd trimester! I know im not far behind you guys but man 17 and a half weeks just feels so far away still.

 

[Sander]

Ooh I’m so excited I won a free 3D scan from an ultrasound place! It’s funny - I actually won this same contest with my oldest too They allow you to enter every day and the contest runs for 2 months, so I set an alarm on my phone and plugged in my info every day and they drew my name!

Anyhow super excited as it’s $130 if you pay for it, so I’d much rather have it done free - and I have 3D scans for my other boys at around 25 weeks, so I’m happy we’ll get one for this baby too!

 

[lisaalove]

@Sander congratulations!! Thats so cool, free is always better

 

[Jules8]

Sanders- So awesome!!!

I had my 25 week scan yesterday at mfm. She said everything looks great and since my bp look good I don’t need to come back til the end of November. I’m praying so hard my bp behaves so I have a chance at things going on their own instead of being induced early. I know it’s mostly out of my hands, but I have hope!

 

[lisaalove]

@Jules8 look at that little face! Im glad your blood pressure has been behaving so far, I forget were you induced early with both your girls? I get the feeling of wanting one non induction birth if so. I was induced with both my boys. Id really appreciate it if I could experience "natural" labor at least once

Afm I have my GTT on Friday and this apt is with a NP I haven't met yet. So fingers crossed I like her, if not ill just have them put in my chart not to see her again.
Also, anyone else going back and forth on being stupid tired one day and lots of energy the next? Uhg its like I can conquer the world one day and the next (even with 8+ hours of sleep) I am dragging despite coffee.
Also, I think I'm finally starting to get in the holiday spirit. I may just do Halloween decorations this weekend.

 

[Jules8]

I was sort of induced with my first. I was 7cm when I got there. They were going to send me home, but my bp was a little elevated and I was already 7cm so they kept me. They broke my water and started pitocin. I was 39+6. With my 2nd I was induced at 36 weeks. My bp was fine 2 hours prior at my gp , but was high at my mfm ultrasound so he induced me. I had a lot of stressful things going on at that time which didn’t help.

 

[Sander]

I go back and forth with exhaustion too. Yesterday I took a 2 hour nap when my boys were napping and still felt tired

Jules that’s so crazy they wanted to send you home at 7cm!!! Fx for a natural start to labour for both of you! I had the prostaglandin gel with my first, so it was a type of induction since my water was broken for so long but no labour. Obviously second went the same way but we skipped right to a section, lol. I think it would be weird to get contractions first as my water always goes and then nothing happens!

 

[Jules8]

I wasn’t in full blown labor. I was sent for monitoring because I went to my OB and she thought I was having contractions, but not feeling them...which I now know I def. would have felt them if it was full blown. Lol I had been having strong Braxton Hicks for 2 weeks that would go for and hour or 2 then fizzle. They were actually mild contractions that were slowly dilating me.

Oh. I have def. been super tired, yet I also can’t sleep at the same time. I feel like all the first trimester symptoms are coming back. I’m super tired, smells are bothering me again, I can’t eat certain things again, reflux is back here and there. I’ve also been a hormonal wreck. Lol Ohhhh the pregnancy joys.