A fun week of new

Got some other stuff to share from this week.

Monday, the maternity belly button bar I ordered came in. A mutual friend I know mentioned this site to me on Facebook a few weeks back and since I'd hate to take out my navel ring I've had for 8 years and risk it closing up, we were thinking about just using fishing wire for it. But then I checked out this site and decided to get one of their maternity belly ring bars. It's basically just a flexible piece of plastic, but it's long enough so when your belly grows it will still fit and you don't have to worry about the hole closing up. It also came with a free titanium steel bar too so you can wear it after your go back to your normal size. I got the metallic blue colored one, as it comes in blue, pink or purple and well, I like the color blue.

On Tuesday I finally went out and bought a new bra - I had noticed the week before that my regular bra, despite being on the loosest hook, was just too tight, it was smashing and smothering my girls, no wonder wearing a bra for more than a few hours started to hurt! I ended up going from a 36B to a 38C - wow! And I think they're still growing too... but this one'll last me a little while... I think.

I also made the announcement to my bosses on Tuesday as well by showing them our ultrasound photos. I wanted to wait and tell them last, after we had our first doctor's appointment, just in case there was something majorly wrong with baby - no point in letting your bosses know you'll need time off in 6-7months if something ends up going wrong and well, you don't (for awhile, I was scared I was having an etopic pregnancy due to the strange abdominal cramping). I wanted to be completely sure before I told them. They were excited, my boss's wife (who I also consider one of my bosses) talked with me about pregnancy stuff for a bit too and showed me stuff online that she recommends I put on our registry, such as this huge swaddling blanket that a company on Amazon sells in different patterns - they're bit expense ($18 a piece) but she said they're huge and work great and even if you got 2, you'll be set. She also showed me this teether named Sophie the Giraffe - it's got long legs and a long neck and is made out of the soft plasticy material that all teethers are made out of. She said her daughter has one that her boys (one's right around 1 I think while the other is maybe 2 and a half), she said now that their mouth is bigger, they like to stick Sophie's head in their mouth and chew on her that way, lol... it's pretty cute though!

On Wednesday I attended my first ever Twitter Party, which was hosted by The Survival Guide for Rookie Moms. Rookie Mom found me on Twitter awhile back and invited me to enter in one of their Infantino baby playmat blog giveaways, and I learned about the Twitter Party through their website. The Infantino baby stuff is REALLY cute - if you're a new or expecting mommy, I definitely recommend checking out their site and enter to win some of it through the Rookie Mom blog. Anyways, at the Twitter Party, they were giving away 36 items total and it was a fun way to meet some moms of young ones as well as other expecting moms like myself. I was a little bummed when the party wrapped, as I hadn't won anything despite my participation, however they did have one last giveaway, but due to technical difficulties they had to announce the winners the next day. I woke up Thursday, checked my Twitter and sure enough - I had won something! I won one of these really neat EcoSash Baby Carrier by Infantino, so that's one less thing for us to put on our registry! Yay!

 

I was so excited! 

Friday was a fun day - my old friend Jackie from Jr/Sr High Youth Group was coming into town for the weekend for her brother's 21st birthday and we were getting together for lunch. We went to Chili's since the Noodles and Company they're building wasn't open yet and had this really good smoked turkey sandwich combo with a bowl of potato soup. It also came with fries. I had a strawberry lemonade to drink too - the whole thing was pretty good! She also gave me this neat Pregnancy Calendar that you can get at Hallmark and writing fun, memorable things about your pregnancy and there's stickers too! She said her mom had one for each of her pregnancies and she used to love looking back through hers and thought it would be fun - I already started filling it out when I got home =) After lunch we went over to my friend Erika's to spend some time with her since she couldn't make it to lunch with us since her husband wasn't home from work til 3 and she didn't have anyone to watch the kids. Her 3 yr old went over to the neighbors to play, while we had fun watching her 4 month old - she's definitely a cutie!

After I filled out some of my new pregnancy calender, I took a little nap while waiting for hubby to get home from work and we went out later that night for Buffalo Wild Wings as I had a craving for chicken wings. Usually I get the Caribbean Jerk ones, which are a bit hot and spicy, but I knew I wouldn't be handle them pregnant, so I opted for the the medium sauce on my boneless wings... however it was still really spicy! I think next time I'll just go with the most mild, the the sweet barbecue, although hubby's honey barbecue ones weren't bad, although I could taste the honey in them more than I normally can!

I'd say it was a pretty fun week!

Meet Jay or Alexi!

Today was our first OB appointment and ultrasound!

Here's one of our first ultrasound photos:

Meet Jaydran (Jay) Alexander if a boy or Alexandria (Alexi) Nicole if a girl!

The official estimated due date that the doctor's office is going by is Feb 20, 2011, but we all know how these things can go - the kiddo can be either late or early. I was 2 weeks late, hubby was a week or 2 early.


Baby is 3.49cm (~1.4inches) long and has a heartbeat of 180bpm - the doctor's office said everything is in the normal range, so that's good!


It was pretty amusing - the kiddo was wiggling around and moving A LOT, like it was having a little party in my uterus. It's like it was like "oh! Mommy and daddy are watching - I wanna make sure they see me so I'm going to dance around all crazy-like!" hehehehe... too cute!

After the ultrasound, they had me go pee in a cup and hubby went back out to the waiting room - by the time I got back out there he had already sent the photos they gave us via text to our families and posted em on facebook! lol...

We went back into one of the exam rooms and met with the lady in charge where she asked all kids of health related questions pertaining to family medical history and that sort of thing. They also gave us a bag of goodies which had a lot of info packets she quickly went over with us - I still have to look and see what all is in there - she mentioned journal or something... then I had a pap smear, which was about a few weeks early from my regular 6 months check up, but they said that counts for that and they'll do another post pregnancy and then I'll be back on the 1 year check ups (yay!).

Then they took my blood, which sucks as I always get faint and start feeling sick when I have blood drawn (which is why I can't donate plasma or blood), but after telling the girl that, she took us into one of the exam rooms so I could lie down while she did it, saying that lying down sometimes help, and it really did. I felt a little faint, but not as bad as I did the last time I had bloodwork done. I was able to walk out within a few minutes afterward - I was still feeling a little weak, but we were going to get lunch after and I knew getting something in me would make me feel a lot better and back to normal.

My next appointment is in 4 weeks - August 23 (right before my birthday!) and they'll be doing another ultrasound to check my cervix, as I had the LEEP procedure done back in December 2008 and they just want to check and make sure my cervix is open enough and isn't shortened or anything bad like that that could cause complications later on.

They said they do appointments every 4 weeks for the first 28 weeks, then they go to every 2 weeks until 36 weeks, and then once a week until labor.

20 Days!

20 days til our first ultrasound! I'm sooooooo excited!

I know I'll feel so much better and at ease once we can actually see that the kiddo is doing just fine =)


Also, my mom told me something interesting the other day...

I was on the phone with her and I asked her about something my dad posted on Facebook recently - one of my aunts posted about being baby crazy cuz of me and a friend of hers being pregnant and my dad mentioned my mom and him were talking recently about how funny it would if hubby and I had twins.

Mom confessed, apparently, on her side of the family there's a set of twins going back to just before my grandma's time, and there's also a set on my grandpa's side that far back too. So far, no other set of twins have showed up in the family, so mom and dad were saying it's gotta show up at some point, you would think!

I haven't mentioned this bit of info to hubby yet - last time I was all "hey, what if we have twins?" his response was that he didn't want to think about that yet, lol... we'll know in like 20 days though if there's an extra kiddo chillin' out in me. I wouldn't mind, especially if it's one of each, since that means we wouldn't have to worry about having anymore kids for awhile!

Shopping fun

Yesturday (Tuesday) I ran some errands after work as I ripped my jean capri's the other day and need another pair. I ended up all over the place trying to find a pair that didn't look like rats got ahold of em and gnawed em all up like this:

 

Why do designers keep making these?? Seriously, I found one where one of the pant legs was ripped/torn/shredded soooo bad the thing didn't even look wearable! Why would anyone in their right mind spend good money on a pair of bottoms like that when you can just take a knife or pair of scissors to em yourself at home? I don't get it... and I found it very annoying that finding a cute pair that wasn't purposely ripped, torn or shredded to death was rare and near impossible!

Anyways, one of the first places I stopped at was Kohl's and I found a few items there, including these 2 summer tanky halters that have built in boob support (right now, I LOVE these kind of tops, as my boobs are so sore and I can't comfortably wear a bra for more than a few hours)

 

As I approached the registers I noticed the stuffed animals for charity display were Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore. I paused and looked... they were too cute. And only $5. I figured for $5, with all proceeds going towards children's health and education it would be worth it.

I bought our baby its first stuffed animal:

 

He's super cute and super soft! I can't wait to give him to the kiddo! 

(And no, his eyes are not plastic, they're a fabric material attached to the rest of him)

I figure I might go back and get the Pooh at some point, but I have more than enough Tigger's so I doubt we need to get him, but maybe I will... as these guys are really soft - perfect for a baby - and only $5 for charity!

I'm thinking if we have a boy I'm going to do my Mario idea for the theme of the room and if we have a girl, maybe we can do Winnie the Pooh and I can paint the 100 Acre Woods on one of the walls. I think either would be cute and Eeyore can work with either - just cuz a boys room might be Mario themed, doesn't mean he can't have other stuffed animals laying around, and if we have a girl, well, this will be perfect for it!

Smell Aversions

Yesturday I discovered 2 smells that make me want to gag:

1. Fresh Cut Grass
2. Newly Paved Pavement

I went outside yesturday morning to go to work and got hit with the smell of fresh cut grass, as the lawn maintenance guy had been buy the day before. This smell was soooo disgusting! And on the way home I drove past a guy on a riding mower mowing his property and just the quick whiff of it made me want to gag.

Also, on my route to and from work there are several construction zones, one of which just recently laid new pavement down. I drove through this one and instantly started getting nauseous at the smell - gross!!

Considering my car doesn't have a/c and I have to drive with the windows down in the summer, well... this is going to be a fun summer!

1 more month!

Today is June 26.

Our first ultrasound is on July 26...

WE GET TO SEE OUR BABY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 1 MONTH!!!

I'm soooo excited - I can't wait for the ultrasound and to finally see our little kiddo!

Like I said elsewhere, I don't want to wish summer away, but I wouldn't mind this next month to just fly by!

Father's Day and Breaking the News to our Families

We told our families yesturday for Father's Day.

We had breakfast with my in-laws in the morning. We got my father-in-law a fun card that said "Grandpa" on it several times and signed it with our names and "and baby." He read it and then stopped and was like "Grandpa... Grandpa?? Really?!" as my mother-in-law's eyes got all huge, her face was all lit up as she exclaimed "Oh my gosh... OH MY GOSH!" She was thrilled! Granted this isn't her first grandchild - hubby's older brother has one that will be 3 in July and him and his wife are expecting their 2nd in late September/early October. The difference is though, they live several hours away near the Quad Cities, whereas me and hubby are about an hour away from my in-laws and my in-laws are in town at least once a week if not more, so this will be their first "accessible" grandchild that they'll get to see in person on a regular basis.

Since it was Father's Day, the place we ate breakfast at was giving the father's a free trip to the sundae station for dessert. They brought one cup for my father-in-law and jokingly hubby asked if he could have one, as he is technically a father, his kid is just still in its mommy's incubator, lol... the waitress thought it was cute and went ahead and gave him one too!

We went over to my parent's house for dinner to celebrate Father's Day with them.

Like my father-in-law, we gave my dad a "Grandpa" card, and since my mom's birthday was on Friday we gave her a "Grandma" card. We gave the cards to them after my dad opened his other presents first (saved the best for last!) and told my parents they had to open their cards at the same time. My dad finished reading his first and was like "Grandpa?" and my mom noticed hers said "Grandma" and they both were like "really??" with their faces all lit up. We confirmed and they were all excited. It took my sister a moment for it to register and then suddenly she exclaimed "OMG I'M GOING TO BE AN AUNT?! I CALL DIBBS ON BABYSITTING!!" lol... it was pretty funny!

Next, my dad called my grandparents (as we all still needed to wish him a happy Father's Day too) and I told my grandpa that he gets to be a great-grandpa again (one of my cousins has a step-daughter as well as an infant, so ours will be the third great-grandchild on dad's side, and the 2nd on my mom's side). Pap (my name for grandpa on dad's side) was excited and he put my grandma on the phone so I could tell her too - she was thrilled and asked all sorts of questions.

After we talked to them, my mom called her dad to wish him a happy Father's Day and to tell him the news too - he sounded excited. The last person to call was my aunt that I grew up around and her and her family live just down the street from my parents. Mom was like "So I finally got my birthday present" to which my aunt responded "what is it?" and my mom was all "A BABY!!" My aunt freaked out and said she'd be there in a matter of minutes, as she had to come see us, lol... lo and behold, she was there in about 3 minutes tops, with a gift in tow! (I guess she keeps presents on hand "just in case"). She gave us a baby blanket and a bunny head attached to a smaller blanket - they're more girly, but she said if we have a boy it could still work when he's little, as it doesn't hurt to have extra blankets. She was asking questions and started talking about how we can have the baby shower at her house, to which my mom was all "WHOA WHOA WHOA! You had the bridal shower! I want to do a shower!" and my aunt was all "well... traditionally the immediate family doesn't throw it..." and my mom was all "Screw tradition - I want to throw a shower!" lol... it was pretty funny! I told them the 2 of them they could duke it out as I don't really have a preference as to where it's at, lol...

So yeah... that was our excitement for today - we posted it on Facebook later this evening for the rest of our friends and extended family (aka cousins) to see.