My schedule is a little different these days. At 35 weeks pregnant this week, I don’t tend to get much done, since sitting at the computer is not that comfortable and staring at the screen makes me feel a little sick to my stomach.

Nevertheless, here is my daily schedule:

7:30am – the alarm clock goes off. I really like to get up earlier than Zachary so I can make coffee and get a head start, but I’ve just been WAY too tired lately.

8am – Zachary wakes up and wanders into my room. He either tells me to get up because he’s hungry, or he crawls into bed for an extra 5 minutes of snuggle time. I definitely prefer the snuggle time. :)

8:15am – At this point Zachary has been given food, so I get to work making lunch for my two boys. Adrian gets a peanut butter sandwich, but Zachary’s lunch is a bit more varied. This usually takes me about 15 minutes to finish.

8:30am – I check on Adrian to see if he’s almost ready to take Zachary to school and then I get Z’s things together and get him dressed.

8:45am – I send the boys off for the day. Adrian takes Zachary to school every morning. I usually make my coffee right when they are getting ready to leave, so I can enjoy my first cup of the day in peace and quiet. :)

9am – I sit down at my computer with some coffee and food and start reading email and replying back to messages. I check in on FB and see what my friends are up to. Sometimes I start a blog post, other times that waits until later in the day.

9:30am – if I’m going to do any work for the day, I get started early. Sitting at the computer is tough, so I don’t usually get more than a couple hours in before I’m done.

12pm – I stop working at this point to eat lunch. If I feel good after lunch, I’ll put in an extra hour of work. Otherwise I retreat to my bedroom and watch Netflix or take a nap.

3:30pm – I drag myself out of bed and get a snack and water bottle ready for Zachary and get in the car. Zachary is done with school at 4pm, and they always play on the playground from 3:30-4, so I bring a big water bottle and snack as he’s always hungry and thirsty after all that play time. My parents have been helping out by picking Zachary up sometimes and bringing him home, so I don’t have to drive. In that case, I rest a little longer. :)

4:30-5:30pm – We get home by 4:30 and spend about an hour playing – either coloring, toys, trains, or on his iPad – before I have to figure out what to make Z for dinner.

5:30-6pm – I try to give Z dinner around this time, and I like to eat at this time, too. It leaves enough room in the schedule for more playing, a bath if he needs one, and keeps him occupied.

6-8pm – General night time activities. We play some more, have a bath, do some laundry or another activity where he gets to “help” me, etc. Adrian is usually at home by this point, and he eats his dinner and does some more work. He owns a company of his own as well and has been pretty busy lately getting things done before the baby comes (so he can take some time off).

8-9pm – Zachary spends some time with me and his Daddy before bed time, and then we start getting ready for bed. He loves to cuddle in my bed before going in his room, so I get everything ready and give him some milk to drink while we lay in my bed — either watching something on Netflix or playing on the iPad. After he’s done with his milk, he has to brush his teeth and we go into his room.

9pm – Zachary gets a story before going to sleep, and then the lights turn off. He doesn’t like to fall asleep by himself, so I sit in the chair in his room and play on my phone until he’s sleeping.

9:30pm-12am – Adrian and I have the rest of the night to ourselves! Lately this usually means that Adrian does more work while I go back into my room to watch Netflix until I’m too tired to stay awake. I usually fall asleep by midnight or a little earlier. Sometimes Adrian stays up later to work more, but I try to get him to go to bed at the same time as I do, since he needs his sleep, too!

My five senses right now:

SEE:

Zachary is playing Angry Birds on the iPad and keeps asking me to help him with various levels that are a little too tough for him. They are sometimes a little too tough for me, too. ;) I also am editing some of the photos that I took last night. Zachary was playing with his Legos and I had to capture the moment!

HEAR:

Since Zachary just put the iPad down to do something else, it’s now quiet again – for the moment. I’m listening to the soft hum of my computer and the distant sounds of birds singing outside.

TASTE:

I’m drinking some yummy coffee. Every fall/winter I buy extra of whatever my favorite pumpkin coffee is, so that I can save it for summertime. This time it was the pumpkin coffee from Fresh Market. It’s sooooo good, and I’m so happy I saved some of it again to enjoy right now. It is my special treat!

SMELL:

Definitely smelling the aforementioned coffee. It’s soooo yummy smelling!

TOUCH:

Touching the keyboard. LOL. But, I did just give Zachary a hug and stroked his soft hair and skin.

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Here’s one of the photos I took last night, to make this post extra-cute! ;)

Now that I’ve had a child and am expecting another one very soon, there is not too much in the world that scares me more than the thought of something happening to one of my kids. Sure, I’m also afraid of spiders, scary noises in a dark house, and losing my iPhone (that is a scary thought, wouldn’t you think?!)… but the scariest thing I can think of is of one of my kids getting hurt, sick, etc. Since Zachary was born, it has been hard to imagine life before him, and I just know I’ll feel the same way after our second child is born, too. He has been sick a few times and sometimes it’s been a little scary to deal with, especially when you have no idea what to do to make your baby feel better.

When Zachary was a newborn, we had to bring him back to the hospital due to jaundice — probably the most common newborn ailment — not resolving itself. I remember feeling incredibly sick to my stomach with worry, even though I’m sure the doctors and nurses deal with that kind of thing constantly in new babies! Then, when Zachary was about 20 months old, he spiked a temperature of over 104 degrees, and we had to go to the hospital for some shots of medication to quickly fight whatever was making him sick, along with a few different tests and an X-ray. That was another super scary moment for me… though I am pretty sure Zachary handled it a lot better than I did! :)

Thankfully, aside from those, we haven’t had many other serious medical dramas with our little guy… no other hospital visits, thank goodness! However, we will be starting with a whole new baby in just a few weeks, and I fully admit that I dread some of the things that I know will happen! Even though I’ve been through it once, it’s still super scary to think about your baby getting sick, hurt, etc. When you have active little boys, you know that something is bound to happen at some point in time. I think that after having kids, there is almost always something new to worry about or be afraid of since your child is an extension of your own heart and soul making decisions and choices on his or her own, completely without regard to what you have suggested they do, as the parent.

Day 1 of the challenge asks for an introduction and a recent photo.

Well, here I am, about five minutes ago! The image was taken with my newest favorite camera app — Tadaa. Best of all, I’m pretty sure it was free, or close to it!

As you’ve probably gathered, I’m Karen, the author of this blog. My husband Adrian and I live in South Florida with our dachshund, Maya, and our 3.5 year old son, Zachary. We’re expecting our second baby next month (another boy), and I’m going to turn 30 in July! We live close to my parents, which is a huge benefit, as they are incredibly helpful with Zachary, not to mention they enrich our lives in lots of other ways. Almost every year we drive to eastern Tennessee to visit my husband’s parents for the holidays. Back in 2010 we got very lucky and experienced our first snow there. Last year, my in-laws visited us, so we didn’t travel, but we plan to make the trip this year. It’ll be our first trip with the baby, and we are really hoping for snow again!

As a photographer, I obviously love capturing moments for my family, friends, and clients. I wish I was a little better at printing my images and putting them in albums, but I’m trying hard to do that more often! I’m a little obsessed with my iPhone camera and I am constantly shooting snaps with my phone! I also love reading, watching tv and movies, trying new restaurants, relaxing, and taking fun adventures with my family. I’ve been blogging since I was a teenager and hope to continue over the years as a way to record my thoughts and current life events. I rarely do blog challenges like this one, but I think it’s a fun way to share with my friends and make my blog more interesting.

I mentioned a while back that we have been doing some work on the house. Most of that work will be completed by FRIDAY!! Since the bedroom that Zachary is in right now is too small for two little boys, and my home office is much bigger, I am swapping rooms with the kids and taking the smaller room for my office. We chose paint colors and carpet styles a few weeks ago, and this week everything is being painted in both rooms (as well as a revamp of our Florida Room/patio) and the new carpeting is finally being installed!

All of Zachary’s current furniture is going in his new room, along with Zachary’s old crib, which will now belong to the baby. I’m looking forward to the extra storage space we’ll have in that room, since his old bedroom does not have a closet and the new one does! Finally, a place to put all of the toys and extra clothing! Adrian and I planned the room layout and I’m really excited to get everything set up this weekend. For now, the entire contents of my office are now living in the dining room, as will Zachary’s furniture for a couple of days until the carpet is installed at the end of the week.

As far as a theme for the bedroom, I originally wanted to do a fun vintage travel theme. But… then I realized that would work much better if it was solely a nursery. Since a baby will sharing a room with an almost-four-year-old… well, the room is just going to be a combination of whatever things my kids are into! I allowed Zachary to choose the paint colors (celadon green and a darker olive green), but other than that, I am not going with a solid theme.  Zachary already has Thomas, Toy Story, and Angry Birds sheets for his bed, which constantly get alternated out. Once the baby is big enough to enjoy the same things, I’m sure we’ll have lots of posters and other memorabilia relating to whatever the kids like the best at that moment. At the moment, I’m on a hunt for a small Angry Birds poster, since we absolutely love those games.

Here are the paint colors that Zachary chose. The colors are from the National Trust for Historic Preservation collection with Valspar at Lowe’s. The artist in me is very proud of him for selecting such a great color combination! Now that the room is painted, I’m even more excited – it looks fabulous!

Zachary is very excited to move into his new bedroom this week after the carpet is installed, and understands that he will be sharing it with the baby after he arrives. I’m looking forward to putting the crib back together (it’s still in toddler bed mode and currently used as seating in the play room), and putting it in the new room. Of course that means I’ll be replacing the seating in the playroom with a new loveseat! I just love the yellow KLIPPAN sofa from IKEA, though I don’t think the yellow will really match the walls. :) Thankfully it comes in other colors – like black – which probably will be more stain-resistant. The other sofa, the SOLSTA, would go great in my new office. We had an old loveseat in my office for years, and when I needed to take a break or plop Zachary down with the iPad, I really enjoyed having some plush seating. The SOLSTA has an added advantage of being a sofabed in case we ever need space for a guest, so hopefully both of these are as cute in person as they are online!

In addition to Zachary and the baby’s room, I also get to design my new office! All of the office furniture we had here in the house was pointless after Adrian got his office space, as the office he’s in is furnished. Our office furniture was many years old and starting to fall apart anyway, so we opted to just get rid of it, and I’ve been scouring the IKEA website looking for a desk I like, among other items. I found these desks online on IKEA and like both of them. The MALM desk on the right, though, is half the price of the first one, the HEMNES desk. So, we’ll see which one I like better when we go to the store!

I also need a new storage cabinet for my dining room. Our home is a bit older and is short on storage, so finding different storage options has been a little bit of a challenge over the years. A few months ago it became apparent that I would need additional storage in my dining room. I’m torn between these two HEMNES cabinets from IKEA. Love the color and style, but can’t decide between full cabinet or cabinets with drawers. I’m leaning towards the drawers, but hoping they have some samples already built in the store so that I can see both!

So far those are all of the ideas I have, and I am really excited to implement everything before the baby gets here. I guess I am nesting in full-force now!! :) After a few more things are done, my mom has volunteered to help me with decorating – something she’s much better at than I am. Things are really getting exciting and soon we will be fully prepared for the arrival of Baby #2!

In a mere 3 months, our lives will be changing with the addition of our new baby… and I relish the time I get to spend with Zachary, just the two of us. Being pregnant AND spending a whole day with a preschooler can be exhausting at times, but I love doing things with him and having awesome experiences together.

At three years old, he’s definitely still a baby in so many ways, but he’s growing up so fast too. Doing things with Zachary is more like spending time with a little friend, rather than the tiny infant he was not so long ago. I can’t believe we’ll have that infant phase in our lives again in just a couple months. Zachary already adores the baby and is so looking forward to being a big brother. I can’t wait to see what life is like when the new baby is here and plan wonderful times for our family of four!

Until then, I’m trying to fit in as many great experiences with my little boy as I can, just having as much fun as we can while we’re still a family of three.

The weather has been pretty great this week, not too hot yet, so we’ve had time to play outside. Zachary loves his playhouse, and thanks to Daylight Savings, it’s much brighter later in the day, so we play outside late in the day until the sun sinks to the horizon.

Both images captured on iPhone 4s, Instagram

For Zachary, though, it was a totally different experience from the regular haircut place to see all of the barbers at work, and Zachary loved sitting in the special barber’s chair. He was so good during the cut and was very proud to get his lollipop at the end and liked sitting outside on the bench when we were done. I think I’ll take him to the same place again when he’s due for another haircut.

Where do you take your kids for a haircut? A kids place, or a grown up place? What do you like about it?

I’ve been working on this list for a while, as I’ll be turning 30 this year… but I haven’t posted it yet. Some of the items I’ve already completed (though I haven’t blogged about them) and some are in progress! I decided to finish my list and blog it because a) I’ll be thirty in four frickin’ months! and b) It’s a good way to keep my blog updated — as I complete these items, I’ll definitely share them on my blog.

I really like Life Lists because writing down and sharing a goal makes it real — and will surely put together a 40 before 40 list at some point (though I have absolutely zero desire to ever think about myself turning 40, lol. Thirty is much easier to handle)!

Do you like using lists to express your goals and plans for the future? Do you find it easier to complete items on your list when you share them with the world?

Here’s my list! If you have ever posted one of your own, I’d love to see it!

1. Visit a U-Pick and pick berries with my family. (COMPLETED – we visited VT this past summer and went to a berry farm!)
2. Plan our first vacation as a family of four. (COMPLETED! Planned for February 2013, we’re going to the Gulf Coast!)
3. Make a photo book of our honeymoon pictures. (COMPLETED! Did this at the beginning of May.)
4. Print out family photos and organize them into albums. (IN PROGRESS — definitely nowhere near where I want to be, but I started making prints for albums.)
5. Stay at the Cheeca Lodge. (COMPLETED!)
6. Have a picnic in the park with Zachary. (COMPLETED – we did this as a family on our Vermont trip! Would love to do it again though!)
7. Make a concerted effort to learn to cook better and spend less money on groceries & processed foods. (IN PROGRESS – you can check out some of what I’ve been cooking in on my Pinterest board)
8. Find five healthy go-to recipes that the whole family likes. (IN PROGRESS – I have a couple recipes I like so far, but want to work on healthy and not just what I like)
9. Donate another bag of clothes that I know I’ll never wear again, but am still hanging on to. (IN PROGRESS)
10. Use up all of my groupons – including the ones that have already expired. :(
11. Make a new friend and reconnect with an old friend.
12. See The Hunger Games in the movie theater. (COMPLETED on opening day, March 23rd!)
13. Watch all of Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice on Netflix. (IN PROGRESS)
14. Watch 15 movies from IMDB’s top 250 list (http://www.imdb.com/chart/top).
15. Get to the half-way point in my Reading Challenge for the year (I’m supposed to read 75 books in 2012, so I need to read 38 books by my birthday). (IN PROGRESS)
16. Listen to more music. Blog about the music I’m into.
17. Update my blog design. (FINALLY!!!! COMPLETED!)
18. Reduce my business credit debt by about 50%
19. Buy a new camera. (COMPLETED! I bought a Canon 5D Mark III!)
20. Blog at least 3x a week, every week. Doing really great about blogging more frequently, so I am going to say that this one is COMPLETED!
21. Keep my desk clean for at least two months straight.
22. Blog old personal photos and vacations that I never had a chance to blog before. COMPLETED! I blogged about our vacations last year and a few other things.
23. Take at least one day a month to myself to work on personal photography and/or personal photo projects. COMPLETED! I am doing great about this. It helps that I’m on maternity leave, so I’m not working as much, but I hope to keep it up!
24. Create an inspiring art room/office space at home. (COMPLETED)
25. Design an awesome bedroom for Zachary and baby #2. (COMPLETED)
26. Hire a cleaning person on a semi-regular basis (COMPLETED)
27. Plant a new garden with Zachary.
28. Finally feel like our house is organized.
29. Hang shelves in the living room to display photos/art.
30. Have what my mom would consider a completely clean and spotless house.

I posted the rest of my favorites on my photography blog!