Category Archives: Monthly Updates

This post is sponsored by CBR®

I am 18 weeks pregnant with baby #2 and SO excited! This pregnancy has been a lot different than Gracie’s. When I was pregnant with Gracie I was OBSESSED with every step of pregnancy. I had 5 different apps that told me the different sizes she was- a pea, a grape, a plum. I read blog posts after blog posts from other moms pregnant with their babies at the same time. I was obsessed LOL. With baby #2, it’s different. I honestly do not have the time or energy to look at those apps.

Don’t get me wrong, I am SO excited for baby #2. WAY EXCITED. I just find myself dreaming about the future, rather than focusing on the day-to-day of the pregnancy. This pregnancy is flying by. I’m more excited about when baby comes, than what fruit baby is. Ya know? Anyways, what I have been thinking about is labor with this baby. With Gracie, I had an all natural labor- which was awesome. I find myself thinking about my birth plan this time around. Will I try it all natural again (I think so!), will baby #2 come faster?! (Gracie came fast!), will I have back pain like I did with Gracie? All these things are what I like to think about.

And one thing that keeps coming up is cord blood banking. When I had Gracie, I only heard about cord blood banking one time- at the doctors. This pregnancy, I’m hearing about it all over the place and it’s really made me sit down and consider it! It’s actually Cord Blood Awareness month so I thought I’d share a bit about what I’m learning in my research!

So what is cord blood banking?

When a baby is born, they have a small amount of blood leftover in their umbilical cord. This blood + tissue contains very powerful stem cells. These stem cells are currently  used to transplant medicine to regenerate deathly blood + immune systems. These stem cels can actually be used to help treat 80 known diseases + disorders including various cancers, and blood, immune, and metabolic disorders

It’s like a body’s personal repair kit.

One crazy thing I’ve learned in my research is that while baby’s cord blood cells are a perfect match for baby, it can actually be used to help other member of the family like siblings or parents! That’s super neat.

Every parent wants to make the world a better place for their children and CBR is here to help make that happen. CBR is dedicated to advancing the real life clinical applications of newborn stem cells. CBR’s commitment to parents and their babies is to provide the best service and quality in the collection, processing, and storage of newborn stem cells, so that families are confident entrusting their precious cells to our care. CBR represents a window into the future, through which families can see the amazing potential of these cells to promote healthier lives.

July is Cord Blood Awareness Month + after reading and seeing things about cord blood banking over + over, I am really considering this for baby #2. This is such an important decision, not one to be taken lightly. If you did Cord Blood Banking with your newborn, I’d love to hear about it!

If you are pregnant and want to register online – go with CBR at cordblood.com. A collection kit will be sent to you or in some cases, can be picked up from your doctor’s office.

Happy New Year! It’s also a special day because Gracie turns 18 months old today! Time flies, and Gracie is growing so much. I wanted to share a bit of an update with you :).

Talking

Oh my goodness, Gracie talks A LOT. And I love it. I would give you a list of words she says, but I would run out of space. She says everything now. She can almost form sentences too, but they are short. Like “all done, mommy” or “bye bye bath time”. She loves to say hi and bye to everything. She tells you what she wants whether its milk, or crackers, or peas, or oatmeal, or her blanket. She will let you know LOL. I love hearing her voice. It’s probably my favorite thing about her at this age. I love when I ask her a question and she actually answers me. So funny! I’m going to try to make a video soon of her talking so you can hear all the crazy things she says.

Gracie also sings songs now, too. It’s adorable.

Eating 

Gracie is a great eater. She eats mostly everything you put in front of her. She’s not the biggest fan of meat, but if its ground turkey or chicken, she MIGHT like it. She loves grilled cheese, oatmeal, yogurt, strawberries and watermelon, cherrios, black beans, Jimmy Johns sandwiches LOL, eggs, okay… see she likes everything. When she’s all done eating she says “all done” and then will throw every piece on the floor.

Sleeping 

Gracie has been doing much better with sleeping. She takes one nap a day around 11-1. And then goes to bed around 8:30-9:00pm. She usually wakes up around 8 in the morning. When we were in New York she stayed up until like midnight and then got up around 10:30am. She is so flexible with her schedule. She kinda just goes with the flow. We received an amazing mattress from Washabelle. It’s a washable twin size mattress. It’s on the floor in her room and she LOVESSSSSS it. She calls it her “big girl bed”. And she sleeps awesome on it. She does roll off it sometimes, but we have some floor pillows and rugs all around it so she just either keeps sleeping or will find her way back to her bed. It’s been a lifesaver for us because it was getting hard to sleep with her in our bed. And she hated the crib. So it’s a win-win!

Playing

Gracie got tons of new toys for Christmas. Her favorites right now are her new baby doll with the stroller, her tiny little ponies, this popper walker-thingy, and her new books. She does have an imagination and I watch her as she talks with her toys and makes up games with them. It’s fun to watch! She also loves having her friends come over to play. We love playdates! We also love walking across the street to the big park. And she loves playing with mommy’s swiffer!

I love being Gracie’s mommy! Every day is so fun with our little girl. It has been amazing to watch her grow and change and learn new things every day.