Baby Archives - Ashley Zin

Baby, Riley

Riley’s First Birthday + A Little Lake George Vacation

July 20, 2021

Hi friends! Long time no talk! Things got a little crazy around here and when that happens the blog is usually one of the first things to go. I want to write another post about what we’ve been up to the past two months but before I do that I want to recap Riley’s first birthday and party and a little vacation we went on.

July 13th

On July 13th it was Riley’s actual birthday and we got to celebrate together as a family of four. We baked Riley a cake and sang to him together. He enjoyed it thoroughly.

Our Birthday Boy!

July 15th

A few days after Riley’s birthday we drove up to Lake George for a little mini vacation. Tommy has been going up to the lake since he was a baby (and so has his dad). It’s really fun to pass the tradition down to our boys too. Fun fact: If you haven’t been around here for a while, Tommy actually lived up at Lake George for a bit while we were dating. Here’s a fun post from back then. 🙂

Tommy’s brother and parents were up at the lake too so the boys got to spend lots of time with their cousins. Tommy’s brother has two boys that are just about the same ages as our boys so its a lot of fun.

Trying to get pictures of these boys together is quite the feat now. 😅 This was the best I could do!

July 18th

We came home from the lake on Saturday afternoon and had Riley’s party on Sunday! It was a lot of fun and as you can see, Riley thoroughly enjoyed his cake!

I forgot to take more pictures but I did get this one. I did a safari animal theme and the decorations turned out so cute! We had a lion made out of peppers, carrots, and humus, ants on a log made out of celery, peanut butter, and raisins, animal crackers, “jungle juice” aka sangria, and bananas “money treats”. It turned out to be so cute and we had a great time!

Even Noelley made it into the picture!

So that’s a little bit about where we’ve been the past week or so. I will be writing a post soon about what we’ve been doing the rest of the time I’ve been off blogging. Hint: it’s quite a bit of home projects and also there was a big change to our work as well! Can’t wait to share more! Be back soon!

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Baby, Life

Currently, September 2020

September 3, 2020

appreciating: this season of life so much. Transitioning from 1-2 babies has been a million times easier than our transition of 0-1 and I am just so thankful for that. If you don’t know our story, after having Shaney I struggled immensely with breastfeeding which just completely shaped the first year of becoming a mom. I can look back now and realize I definitely had a touch of PPD because of it. We prayed so much for things to be different this time around and God showed up big time. I can’t wait to share Riley’s birth story soon. I seriously could not have asked for a better birth or postpartum experience this time so I am just appreciating this season to the best of my ability!

anticipating: our first vacation as a family of four! We are headed to the beach next week and we are all just so excited!

collecting: new (health-ish) recipes. I’m excited to try this one this week. During pregnancy I really didn’t care too much about eating health so now that I’m not pregnant anymore I’d like to at least start to change that ha! If you have any good ones, please send them my way. 🙂

starting: to think about taking the (very scary) leap of organizing my photos. Emily from Em for Marvelous just posted a three part series of how to organize your photos and I think I’m ready to attempt this. I have 4800 photos on my phone all the way back from 2012 to now and there really is no organization to them. I’d love to pick my favorite ones and have them printed into photo books. (This may take many years!)

finishing: not much in this season of nursing a newborn and having a very active two year old 🤣 but that’s okay! It’s all about appreciating the season I’m in right?!

linking up with anne. come join us.

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Life, Pregnancy

Pregnancy Update: Weeks 29-35

August 24, 2020

Okay, I may or may not have had Baby Zin 2 already. 😉 See this post if you want a sneak peak, but I want to share the end of my pregnancy before sharing my birth story. But spoiler alert, we are all doing so well!

I’m going to be sharing the end of my pregnancy updates today and tomorrow and then hopefully soon I will be able to get a post up of Riley’s birth story and an update on how we are all doing now.

30 weeks

Size of the baby: At 29 weeks baby was the size of an acorn squash – 2.5 pounds and 15.2 inches. And at 35 weeks baby was the size of a pineapple – 5.3 pounds and 18.2 inches.

Total weight gain: 29 pounds

Sleep: At week 30 I was having a hard time sleeping and waking up a lot during the night. I was needing to take a lot of naps that week to make up for lack of sleep at night. At 31 weeks I was starting to feel the toll of the extra weight and needed to take more breaks in between trying to get things done.

35 weeks

Best moment this month: Getting the house ready for the baby. We made a lot of progress this month and it feels so good. We took out an outside door that was in our bedroom and put in a window. We also opened up Shane’s closet to make room for a dresser in his room. Everything is really coming along!

Symptoms:

29 weeks: Started having some acid indigestion but it only last a day or two.

30 weeks: Started feeling really big, a little swollen, belly feels huge and up higher than it was with Shane. Belly makes it harder to breathe. Feeling so overwhelmed with how much we need to get done before the baby comes with no help because of the pandemic.

31 weeks: Feeling my belly is very big and heavy. Super emotional this week. Been resting a lot on the weekends in between getting things done. Basically been out of commission for one day a week or so.

33 weeks: Still feeling pretty big but am able to move around a bit more easily. Belly doesn’t feel quite as big and stretched (although it is still very big). Had a doctor’s appointment this week where they checked me for COVID antibodies but it came back negative.

34 weeks: Feeling kind of crampy and uncomfortable in the mornings. Feeling super tired towards the end of the week. Not really able to get stuff done too much.

Moral of this month: Feeling large, tired, and wanting to get things done despite those symptoms. 🤣

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Baby, Life, Pregnancy

Pregnancy Update: Weeks 19-28

June 5, 2020

Even though I turned 34 weeks this week I still wanted to update how my pregnancy was during the weeks that I missed writing about it here.

20 weeks

Size of the baby: At 19 weeks baby was the size of a mango – 5.98 inches and 8.5 ounces. at 28 weeks baby was the size of an eggplant – 14.8 inches and 2.2 pounds. Holy growing!

Total weight gain: 19 pounds.

Sleep: Around 25 weeks I was waking up around 4 or 5 most nights and not being able to fall back asleep. I remember this happening with Shane too. I think it’s a combination of pregnancy hormones and my brain not being able to relax about things that need to get done. At 27 weeks sleep started to get a little better but I was still waking up to flip over a lot.

24 weeks

Best moment this month: Finding out we are having another sweet boy! I’m so excited to meet him and learn his personality. I’m also so excited for Shane and this baby to have each other. They will be exactly 2.5 years apart so it will be really special to see them grow up together.

28 weeks

Symptoms:

19 weeks: Feeling extra tired this week. Acne seems to be clearing up a bit. Still craving sugar but not as bad.

21 weeks: I got super sick for three days. I had to take Tylenol basically around the clock to keep the fever down. I didn’t have much of an appetite, but I could feel baby moving around like crazy the whole time I was sick, which was very reassuring.

22 weeks: Really no symptoms which is such a blessing! I am so so thankful! Baby is moving around and its so much fun to feel! Gums are sensitive and swollen again.

25 weeks: Baby moves so much more than Shane did. (I also had an anterior placenta with Shane and don’t with this baby so that could be why.) Gums are still sensitive and swollen. (Comes and goes.) Having a hard time sleeping. Can’t get comfortable. Feel very sore. Wake up around 4-5 most nights and can’t fall back asleep. Trying to eat more greens. Back is killing me after working on Etsy all day.

26 weeks: Sharp pain under ribs a few times. Sides of abs feel really sore and like they’re stretching a lot for a day or two. Sleep is still hit or miss. Always waking up to flip over.

27 weeks: Feeling pretty big. Sleeping slightly better. Still waking up to flip over a bunch though.

28 weeks: Feeling very tired this week. My body especially legs and feet can really feel the extra weight. I had my first in person doctors appointment this week since the pandemic started. I got my Tdap shot, got checked for gestational diabetes (didn’t have it woohoo!), and found out I’m not anemic! It was weird being at the doctors with a mask on and being a little scared of getting sick.

And just for fun, here is my pregnancy updates with Shane during this time period: 19 weeks, 20 weeks, 21 weeks, 22 weeks, 23 + 24 weeks, 25 + 26 weeks, 27 + 28 weeks.

Things changed a lot these ten or so weeks. At the start of it, I wasn’t feeling too big but over the course of the weeks going by I started to really feel the extra weight. Also the pandemic started during this weeks, which was a little scary. I had one or two video appointments instead of going into the office. They just asked me to check my weight and blood pressure at home. This pregnancy has dragged on a lot because of being quarantined at home for so long. I will be back soon to update you on weeks 29-34 soon!

If you’re pregnant too let me know how you’ve been and how it’s been being pregnant during a pandemic. I’d love to hear from you!

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Coffee Dates, Pregnancy

Let’s Have Coffee | Vol. 19

March 10, 2020

If we were having coffee, I would most likely share with you why I’ve been MIA last week. Our house got hit with some nasty colds. On Thursday I was completely out of commission and had a fever all day. I decided to go to an urgent care and make sure it wasn’t the flu (which it wasn’t thankfully). I started to feel better on Friday and then woke up on Saturday with another fever and started feeling more and more sick as the day went on. Shane had also started a fever either Friday or Saturday (it’s really all a blur now) and was super sick with me all day Saturday and Sunday. I think the fact that the coronavirus is going around at the same time as all of this really didn’t help with moral and I was really scared with how sick we were. Fortunately our fevers finally broke on Monday and we are on the mend now and feeling much better!

If we were having coffee, I’d probably mention how scary it is to be sick while pregnant. I would feel bad about talking about being sick for so long, but would really want to process everything I felt with someone. I know that Tylenol is “technically” safe for pregnant women to take but I had to take it basically around the clock for three days to keep my fever down (plus when I was sick around 14 weeks for a day) and it does scare me a little bit. In the grand scheme of things I do realize though that everything will be okay and I am just so thankful that we are healthy now and not needing medicine anymore! 😅

If we were having coffee, I would likely want to change the subject to something much more positive! I’d share that another reason I’ve been a little less active on the blog is because our Etsy shop is doing so well right now! We are so excited and thankful because it really came at a time where the extra money is very helpful. It has been so fun and satisfying working on Etsy lately.

If we were having coffee, I would share about how I will be 22 weeks pregnant on Thursday and how I can’t believe how fast this pregnancy is going! It’s so true how they say it’s so different than your first. There is just so much less time to think about being pregnant because of taking care of your first baby and everything else in your life. I would share about how we are thinking about having Shane and the new baby share a room when the new baby is around 6-8 months old. Shane will have just turned 3 at that point. I would ask if you have any advice on room sharing with a baby and a toddler. I am hopeful but also a little nervous about it because Shane is a very light sleeper. We do have a third bedroom, but it is upstairs so we could move Shane up there if all else fails.

If we were having coffee, I would share that I am starting to feel a little bit overwhelmed with all the things I want to get done in the house before the baby arrives. I’m trying to remind myself that things don’t need to be perfect but it’s so difficult to really believe that!

If we were having coffee, I would ask how you’ve been this past month and apologize about how I’m sort of all over the place right now. That’s just how my brain is at the moment. I’d love to hear what is new with you though!

Linking up with Lecy. Join us every second Tuesday for a coffee date!

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Pregnancy

Pregnancy Update: Weeks 14-18

February 20, 2020

Hi friends. Today I’m sharing how weeks 14-18 went. If you’re pregnant too, leave a comment with how you’re feeling and how far along you are!

How far along? I turned 19 weeks today so this will be from 14 weeks to 18 weeks.

Size of the Baby: Today he/she is the size of a mango – about 6 inches and 8.5 ounces.

16 weeks

Total Weight Gain: 10 pounds so far.

Symptoms: Gum pain/swelling. Breaking out. Tummy issues. Pregnancy insomnia. Dry eyes. Really fun stuff lol. But other than that I had a lot more energy, especially in the beginning of the month. During weeks 14-15 I didn’t even feel pregnant because my belly was still small and I had so much more energy. As I’m progressing and my belly has definitely popped, I don’t have quite as much energy as I did, but still not too bad as long as I get a good nights sleep.

Missing: My favorite Italian takeout that closed down! I crave foods so much while pregnant and I so wish I could order their baked ziti or chicken parm.

Maternity clothes: I just ordered basically my first maternity clothes. I somehow made it through my pregnancy with Shane with none. The only thing I bought was two dresses with him. I ordered a pair of leggings, jeans, a cardigan, and two short sleeve tops. I’m expecting some of it not to fit though and that I’ll have to return some things. I’m so excited though because nothing fits right now. 😳

Sleep: It’s really hit or miss. Occasionally I’ll wake up to pee and not be able to fall back asleep. I’ve made it through the night without having to pee at all a few times. Most nights though I wake up once to pee and then am able to go back to sleep.

Best moment this month: Feeling the baby move for the first time! There was a few times around 15-16 weeks where I was pretty sure I felt the baby move but I wasn’t 100% sure. The night before I turned 17 weeks though I felt the baby move for sure and was able to poke back and the baby kept moving! It was so cool and I felt super connected to the baby.

18 weeks

Food cravings: Uh everything! Mostly carbs of course. Pasta. Pizza. Sugar. Nothing healthy lol. I’ve been eating something sweet after dinner every night. I was the same way when I was pregnant with Shane. I’m usually not really a sweats person but pregnancy really brings it out of me.

Looking forward to: Our anatomy scan is next Wednesday! We are definitely finding out if the baby is a boy or girl and we are so excited. I’m also excited to get the house more in order. I’ve been nesting like crazy, I’ll have to share what I’ve done so far. Yesterday I basically changed everything around in our house. I moved Shane upstairs to his new room and made him a little playroom. I can’t wait to keep working on the house and see the progress.

And just for fun, here are some of my pregnancy update with Shane: 14 weeks, 15 weeks, 16 weeks, 17 weeks, 18 weeks, + 19 weeks. My bump was so much smaller. I’ll share about baby’s gender next week for sure! I can’t wait!

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July 13th

July 15th

July 18th

Symptoms:

Symptoms: