Baby #2 is a .....

BOY!

Justin and I were so excited to find out at my 19 week anatomy scan that baby Culotta #2 is officially a little boy! Around 14 weeks we visited our friends at the pregnancy resource center and they checked out everything going on inside due to a loss this past fall. Not only did they tell us everything was perfectly fine at the time, but that they saw some prominent "features" ;)

From the start of this pregnancy everything mirrored pregnancy with Harper so I was certain we had another girl on the way. Due to Harper being born early <36 weeks my new OB in Hermitage started me on weekly progesterone injections to help keep the little guy in until closer to my due date. As it turns out, I'm pretty allergic to the injections and deal with a lumpy, swollen back covered in hives for quite a few days after the injection. On top of that at the anatomy scan they diagnosed Placenta Previa. That means instead of being tucked away where babies normally are, he's basically sitting on the exit. Knock on wood I've been lucky enough to not experience any bleeding that is commonly associated with Previa. As a precaution my OB has me on strict "light duty" and pelvic rest. Right now I'm pushing 22 weeks, at week 28 I'll go back in for a repeat scan in hopes that the placenta has moved to where it should be. 

In the mean time we've been trying to prep Harper for her little brother. To be honest, I think we have a lot of work to do until she's ready as she's currently body slamming baby dolls.

As always, thank you to those friends & family who have been thinking of and praying for little baby L and the complications that have come along. Hopefully we will have some GOOD news in the next couple of months. Until then we're enjoying every healthy minute with him because we know things don't always go according to our plans.

Happy weekend!

Love,

J, A, H, L, & (bad)Kitty

Home Sweet Hermitage

Ironically enough my last post was following our house purchase and here we are moving again! I think I also said something along the lines of "and I'll be back to posting"....last September. But Life with a toddler. 

Not long after we bought our house we transitioned to fall and got lost in the Hallo-giving-mas-years rush and before we knew it January was here, I was newly pregnant with our second child, and Justin was job hunting. He was accepted into Sherwin William's training program and started in March. After a month and a half they called with an assistant manger offer and relocation package. We went crazy getting our house listed, packing, and setting up showings. For some reason I thought our house would just be really clean all the time and we would go out on adventures while a happy buyer visited our home. Right.

We ended up finding a townhouse to rent in Hermitage that is significantly larger than our house in Pittsburgh was. All of the rooms are huge with lots of space for Harper and the cat to destroy play in. We finally have somewhat of a backyard surrounded by tall pines and a magical little forest underneath. We are dying for it to hit 70 degrees here so we can hang lights and maybe a hammock! Our new community also has a pool within walking distance will be so nice during the hot summer days when I'm a pregnant blimp again.

As soon as we moved our first truck load into the house we quickly found our new favorite burrito shop (RIP Chipotle) and the local park. Within 24 hours of moving in a huge storm hit the area and we spent the whole second day without any electricity loading coolers full of food. We finally settled in just in time to celebrate Mother's Day weekend with Justin's PA side of the family on Saturday and mine on Sunday. One of the best parts of venturing out into new areas is getting to show the ones back home all of the places you've found on your own :)

Probably the best part of Justin's new job oppourtunity is that I can stay home with Harper now, something we didn't think would work out for a few years and we are so grateful! As usual that means there's other things in the works that I am so so excited to share. And no, I'm not selling lipstick or leggings with galaxy cats on them :)

Until next time,

xoxo 

Goodbye 205, Hello 1204!

We BOUGHT a house!

Justin and I rented in a 600 sq. foot apartment for 15 months. It was a 2 bedroom, one big square type layout place. The bathroom was basically in the living room with the couch about 8 feet away. It was more than enough for the short time that it was just us, but as soon as Harper and all of her paraphernalia came along we had already outgrown it. Sometime in the end of July we called our good friends (who also happen to be the best realtors!) and we started our search. 

After looking at a few places in the area we stumbled across our new home. It was significantly less expensive than the other places as it was an estate that had been heavily smoked in and empty for quite some time. We knew the furnace was old, carpet would need replaced, and everything that had paint would need to be redone as well as some of the electrical outlets. We low balled our offer and received a counter of exactly what we wanted to pay. Because it was an estate we had a quick 45 day closing, packed up our shoe box apartment, and started the weeks of projects.

When we first talked about getting new carpet and painting it seemed like an easy task. Wrong! We quickly found out that in addition to painting we had to hand wash, prime, and then double to triple coat everything. We had a deadline to get everything done as our carpet was set to be installed 3 days before move in day. In addition, every single surface including floors, windows, lights, doors, and closet organizers all had to be washed. We crammed our schedule so full. As soon as work was done for the day one of us would stay home with Harper while the other was at the new place. She was less than thrilled to be caged in a play pen watching me paint but with the help of great family and friends we were able to reach our deadline with all but a couple of window ledges painted.

Moving day was a gigantic blur. Justin and his buddy started moving furniture and boxes while I stayed back at the old place with Harper and packed all of the boxes for them to take. It took from early morning until after dinner to get it finished. Our lease wasn't up at the apartment for another 3 weeks so we were able to leave some of the less important items there as we unpacked at the house. We're fortunate enough to have awesome friends and family who helped us move, paint, redo electrical work and get the apartment back in mint condition. 

On Halloween day Harper and I had to go sweep the floor one last time and drop off our apartment keys. I quickly realized that we would never again go inside our first place. The place we went after we were married, the place we shared all of our first memories living together and then later brought our first baby home to. The place we spent countless hours trying to get her to stop crying & and even more hours laughing with her. 

For about a week we had the hardest time making our new place feel like home. But since then Harper has taken her first steps here, adopted the role of neighborhood watch, and learned more than one way to crawl up/down steps even with a baby gate. While we still have a list of renovations to tackle, this is our home & we couldn't be happier. 

1204, we love you!

(insert shameless amount of baby pictures)

HARPER AT 11 MONTHS

Where oh where has my baby gone. With every day that passes she looks less chubby & more grown up. 

The only way we can get her to lay next to her board without rolling on top of it, eating it, or crawling away is to have Justin (see knee and toes to the right) tickling her and ready stop any nonsense. In short, bad cop. We know our roles ;) For the past week and a half she's been sticking her finger in her ear, running a low grade temp, not eating as much and sleeping poorly so we took a trip to the pediatrician. Luckily her ears came back clear but lady is working on some big molars. This poor girl has never gotten a single tooth in, only in pairs of 2 or 4 so it was no surprise to hear the top two were working their way down. Between that and the lovely cold/stomach bug her and I are currently battling we're completely miserable over this way. Pro: We found out her exact height and weight. Chunky lady is actually 24lbs 3oz. Sorry board, you stand corrected.

Harper's newest talents include furniture creeping, peek a boo, climbing, and getting into the dishwasher the second you open it. She's still obsessed with anything daddy and is developing an intense separation thing with both of us. Together, things have made Justin's workouts at home quite interesting. At least rack em' for him, kid. 

My best friend and I tried to take Harper to the pool for the first time this month (the pool we met at 19 years ago!) and she hated, no.....DESPISED it. I'm not sure if it was the number of people, the size of the pool, or the fact that it was about a million degrees. But something set her off and she was that kid screaming as if we were taking her into a pool full of acid. The second the water touched her she lost her shat. The little baby pool at Nana's however is still great fun. Unrelated, here's a cute picture of the man and the baby in the green boots (or lack there of).

TGIF, even if we are still 20 minutes away.

1ST BIRTHDAY INSPIRATION

How we are already less than one month away from Harper's 1st birthday.....I have no idea. Somewhere between leaving the hospital with our teeny (& very jaundice) newborn and changing her 13 million blowouts she grew up into a toddler. 

With about a month left to plan we've decided on a woodlands theme party full of flower chains, mushrooms, and bambi!

Thanks to pinterest & some fellow bloggers like Jessica with little baby garvin and Amy Cavs, I threw together a little woodlands cheat sheet. The mushroom cupcakes and perfect braided pie are a must. As a housewife, I'm ashamed to say I've never made a pie by myself. I need recipes! For now we're sticking with a late brunch/lunchtime party. Of course I already have the dessert table stocked. For lunch I want everything to have a light summer taste. Chicken salad croissants with fruity chicken salad and side salad with peaches & pecans. Relying on replies and comments for the rest :)

On a trip to our local Target I passed up these fill-in invitations and decided handmade invites would happen next year. I also scored these balloons from the dollar section as well as the cute little wood rounds from the craft aisle. As for the birthday girl, I found this shimmery little number at baby gap last week. Between in-store sales and coupons I only ended up paying a little over 5 bucks for it. Momma loves a sale. 

Today, Justin and I tried to get Harper's 11 month picture with her chalkboard but girlfriend was not having any of it. My recent photos consist of 2 crying, 1 looking at her dad, 1 at the tv, and approximately 900 crawling away. More on that later in the week. Lastly, are first birthday traditions a thing? If so, what are they? We're new to the kid party game :)

Happy day before the day before the weekend! 

WILD & WONDERFUL. ARE WE MOVING?!

Rewind to the beginning of April. 

Justin got the news at work that we would be transferred to South Charleston, West Virginia almost immediately. We had already started packing to move in somewhere else in Pittsburgh on May 1st. So we cancelled that and continued to pack up. We found a beautiful townhouse down south that had everything we wanted as well as a big pool for Harper and wooded trails for us. Someone higher up in the company gave us a timeline and we continued to plan. 

After months of waiting when we got word that we actually wouldn't be going and the people who had arranged the move were no longer with the company. We also got some insider information that the branch we would move to wasn't one with had low numbers and high turn over. Now that we're only tied to a temporary lease, we have started our home search. By home I mean actual home! We're saying adios to renting and are excited to start the journey towards owning. More to come as we move forward with that :)

While we're excited to stay in Pittsburgh with friends and family, we constantly talk about how the mountains will someday be our forever home. With both of us working, Harper, starting up new business ventures (online based), and now house hunting we are constantly plugged in. By the end of summer I want to have 5 more full days spent outside. A lot of other bloggers have started doing social media free weekends as a way to turn off their phones & spend time with their family. We want to follow their lead and spend more time together, outside, offline. Including GPS. We have 1 trip to Big Bear WV planned in September with just the two of us. Otherwise, the rest of our excursions will be documented afterwards both on this blog and on instagram with #culottaventure. That is, if we can get where we're going with a regular old map...

Happy Monday, friends! :)

MONTHS 8, 9, & 10

Or the alternate title, hey I heard you were a wild one. My oh my, how our sweet, innocent 7 month old in the last post has changed in just a few short months. Kenny Chesney's Wild child is officially our theme song.

Harper started to crawl at exactly 8 months but was stuck in reverse for a solid month. As soon as girlfriend figured it out she was unstoppable. Most of the time she can be found waiving the laptop charger or pulling herself up on the toilet with her mouth firmly planted on the seat....In only a couple of months she went from 2 to 8 teeth, 3 of which came in all at once at 10 months. So for now, we'll blame the toilet licking on that. Since our last visit on here she has totally outlawed all baby food. French toast is her jam and she will make a piece disappear faster than you can cut it. She also loves chicken, carrots, bananas and anything beef. For us and for her, a Baby Led Weaning approach worked much better than trying to force cereals and purees on her that she hated. So far it has worked like a charm and we strongly stand behind it!

Developmentally she took her sweet time doing just about everything. At 10.5 months she's a strong crawler, says mama and dada, feeds herself, pulls up to her knees and almost her feet. It seems like everyday she starts doing something new. This past week she introduced us to her yoga skills with some downward facing dog, planks, and headstands (ehem, aunt Elise). She has also become quite the acrobat whether that means using dad as her own personal jungle gym or trying to escape the shopping cart at target. Anything is fair game for her. 

If you stuck around our way long enough growing up, you could hear my aunt sigh "child!" as my high energy cousin narrowly avoided death multiple times a day. Since Harper become mobile I've found myself doing the same thing and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Harper finally hit the age a couple of months ago where she's content to just hang out and it. is. wonderful. I'm not sure if it was early teething, bad sleep (which she CAN do through the night but  still chooses not to), or we just got a disgruntled baby. Although we're starting to experience some separation anxiety, she is the happiest little lady. We've started taking her out on little adventures where she can see new things and watch the big kids play which is hilarious to her right now. It took a couple of tries but as long as she's fed, napped, and has her tunes (homegirl has needs) she'll sit in her Thule bike trailer for ten or more miles. It may not be the mountain trails that we were used to before we were momma and dada, but it's a new kind of fun watching her love bikes & the experiences they bring.

Hours adventuring usually results in a nice, tongue out kind of nap. For her, I mean :)