So much to buy!

AJ and I haven't bought anything yet, but once we find out what sex this little booger is we'll be on one big shopping spree. There is so much information out there and it tends to get very overwhelming. I love sites like Pinterest because tons of moms pin great advice, products, ideas and all sorts of cuteness. Today, during my very busy work day, I found a pin that actually provided a link to the right website. This is one of those pins that says "Pin now, read later...trust me you won't regret it." So that's exactly what I did. Again, during my exhausting work schedule I found the time to "read later". This pin led me to the most amazing site I've come across so far. Lucie's List is a survival guide for new moms. I'm so happy I stumbled across it prior to registering because her first page is designated to Baby Registry Essentials. Lucie's List is written by Lucie's mom, Meg and she's honest and real. I love the way she writes it like it is. She's provided excellent reviews on her top choices for things like strollers, bouncers, bath time, etc. She actually tries out each of her products by owning them or using them a Baby Expos. Her reviews include the price of each item, her advice from personal experience and a lot of links for instructional videos. I've known that there was so much we were going to need, but now I feel a bit more confident that we'll be able to handle it and make good purchases. The best part about her site is when you sign up she sends you her personal baby registry for our future baby shower.

Another site I've been obsessed with since we first found out is Little Baby Garvin's blog. I can't say enough about how obsessed I am! This is the site that all of those amazing chalkboard weekly bump updates are pinned from. That's how I originally came across the site and was hooked ever since. She's another one who's just down to earth and real. I don't want to hear all the medical stuff sometimes. Yes, I need to read about all of that, but I also want the perspective from a real mom and not just a book written by a Dr. This is the actual blog that inspired me to start a blog for my friends and family to follow. I'm not as cleaver, but at least you're getting me.

So there's a supersitition I've heard that you can't buy for the baby (either the parent's or friends and family) until at least 14-15 weeks. This blows!! This Christmas will be interesting because I can't really ask for clothes because I'm inbetween everything right now. Also, not sure if my parents or friends feel comfortable already buying things for the baby. BUT while searching for items to add to my Christmas list I came across this bad boy and REALLY REALLY hope that someone bought for us, or it will be the first thing I purchase on the 26th! This is just perfect for our A's season tickets!  


An A's Moby!!

Alright, see you all next week!!! Can't wait for Christmas!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The month of December is ALWAYS busy with my family, but add AJ's crazy bunch and we've got something going on every weekend! I can't complain because this is my favorite time of the year! I love being with our friends and family and this year it's so much more fun because we are telling everyone we see!

We started off our Christmas festivities with an Ugly Christmas Bunko party. I posted a pic of us in our 7 weeks, but here are a few more from the night. Oh what a night! 

The following weekend was our annual Steal-A-Gift party with my mom's side of the family. When my grandpa was alive he would buy a gift for all the kids until they turned 18. Once we were adults, he took us all out to dinner and afterwards we headed back to some one's house for a wholesome game of Steal-A-Gift (by wholesome I mean cussing, pushing, and shoving!) After he passed we kept the tradition going, but now we do a potluck before the gifts. This year was extra exciting because we were telling the whole family our little secret. My mom was dying for this night to happen-she's been holding it in since Nov 11th and it about killed her. I had a few different ideas of how to do our big reveal, but eventually settled with this amazing shirt I found on Etsy.com (my favorite obsession). I walked in with my jacket closed and the first thing my cousin asked me was what my shirt said. So I walked into the other room, undid my jacket and walked back out. My cousin and aunt went nuts! Then everyone picked up on my shirt and gave us lots of love! It's so nice to finally be able to share with everyone!

AJ and my cousin, his BFF

UGH I can't get the picture to rotate!

Last weekend was AJ's work party and in the same night our friends were having a Redneck Christmas party at their house. I promised I'd make both events, but didn't realize what type of energy that was going to require from me. We started off the afternoon by shopping for three hours-the malls are just insane right now. Of course nothing I tried on fit right, which led to a minor crybaby moment. I didn't want to be the only girl not wearing a dress, but I quickly got over it because I had no other options. AJ helped by reassuring me that I looked good.  After the mall we headed to the work party. It was such a nice experience to be taken care if by your employer. We have a full turkey and prime rib dinner with drinks all paid for by his company. There was an amazing raffle with prizes like iPads and $500 gift cards, but of course the two people next to me one something, but not us. We danced a little and then decided to head to the Redneck party. By this time it was 10:30 and I was already feeling exhausted, but I wanted to stop by for a least a little bit. We changed out of our fancy clothes and got down and dirty in our flannels. I'm so happy we stopped by because there were some amazing white trash outfits. We only stayed for an hour, but so glad we got to see everyone. Staying out until midnight really reminded me that I was pregnant; I was down for the count the next day.

Look at my handsome husband!



Yee Haw!


We had full intentions of finally getting our Christmas tree on Sunday, but I was too wiped out. This was also the reason I've had for every other day we should have gotten our tree. We spent all Sunday at my parent's house watching our Raiders win, taking a nap, and being the best taste testers for my mom's annual Christmas baking day. It was nice just to relax and be with the family all day. Since we didn't make it out for our tree on Sunday, we forced ourselves to pick one up on Monday night. It was so nice pulling up to Home Depot and smelling the magical smell of Christmas trees! We stuffed our 7 foot tree into my small SUV and my car smelled wonderful-a real life car freshener! Of course AJ had to jump into the picture and do something crazy.  

By the way-it's now Wed and we still haven't decorated the tree....

We have a ton of shopping left because, you guessed it, I have been too tired. That's what's on the agenda Friday and Saturday. Sunday will be spent watching Christmas movies and wrapping ALL DAY! I am so excited for Christmas when we get to tell the rest of our family about Baby J! Plus, I've bought the best gift for AJ and I can't wait for him to open it! He's going to be one happy daddy! Talk to you next week!



8 & 9 weeks

So I'm extremely behind, but the last few weeks I've lost ALL my energy. Now that I'm actually feeling better, I have no energy to do anything. Two weeks ago was pretty rough, had the stomach flu for two days. The night before my 8 week mark I started feeling really nauseous. I just assumed that I was finally getting my morning, noon, or night sickness that I've been so lucky to avoid thus far. The nausea started around 6pm and NEVER stopped. I was absolutely miserable. I couldn't get my body to relax enough to sleep and when it did I would dream about throwing up and wake right back up. Both times that I had to get up and pee, I ended up throwing up. It was just the worst. When my alarm went off I got up and made my way into the shower. Before the water could even get hot, I had to jump out and throw up again. That's when I threw in the towel and called in sick. I had a minor melt down thinking that this was what I was going to have to deal with for at least another 4-5 weeks. When I finally had the courage to move more than 5 feet from the bathroom, I made my way to the couch. Sometime in hour 15 of straight nausea I started to get the chills. I took my temp and realized I had a fever. I've never been so happy to know I had a stomach flu and not just pregnancy sickness. I popped a couple of Tylenol (my ONLY lifesaver) and passed out. When I woke I was fever free and semi less nauseous. I was finally able to keep food down late afternoon. Saltines were my best friend that day. The hubby continued to check on me all day and asked what he could bring me. I'd spent all morning looking up relief for morning sickness only later to realize it was a flu and only time was going to help me. To be cautious I asked AJ to bring home some ginger ale and these preggie pops I'd read about online, apparently they work wonders. After searching a few different stores AJ came home with my ginger ale, more Saltines, motion sickness bands called Sea Bands, and some ginger gum. He is the best! I chewed that gum all night long and felt 100% better, it's my new favorite flavor! For anyone dealing with nausea from either motion sickness or morning sickness, I hear the Sea Bands work pretty great, but since my sickness was unavoidable, I didn't feel the benefits from these bands. Actually pretty happy that I don't have to use them...yet, fingers crossed I won't ever need them!

I know all I've done is complain so far, but really the last two weeks have been AMAZING!! We had our first prenatal visit! I've had Kaiser with my work and really wanted to switch back to Blue Cross to have my baby. One of the perks of being married is having options with your insurance! AJ added me to his plan and we switched to Blue Cross. Our insurance took effect in just enough time for my 1st scheduled visit to the OB. I'm so happy and relieved to know I'll be spending my pregnancy, labor, and all things after with my favorite Dr's at Sutter!!  

AJ originally wasn't going to be able to make our appointment because it was during the morning, but I pulled the pregnancy card and told him he has to come to the first one. AJ took the day off and I couldn't be more grateful. I had no idea what to expect at our first appointment because the info Kaiser originally gave me sounded like blood tests and some pamphlets, but no ultrasound. Again, another reason I'm happy to have moved on. My old OBGYN was no longer accepting OB patients, but the Dr we ended up with was just as great and they work in the same office so I got to say hi. AJ got to see what women have to go through once a year and all the awkwardness that comes with it and then we were surprised with our very first ultrasound. It was so amazing to finally see the baby growing inside of me. I can feel the effects, but it's so real now that we've seen our baby. It was just breathtaking and gave me the most indescribable, overwhelming sense of love. Our Dr. showed us the tiny flutter of the heartbeat and then wowed us with the actual heartbeat. Our little baby is one strong little bean and his or her heart is working perfectly! This was the most incredible experience and I'm so happy AJ was there holding my hand the entire time. 

The last couple of weeks I've been completely drained of all energy so you're only getting my 8 weeks picture, sorry. But here's a couple of extra pictures of me wearing a 7 month belly at Motherhood Maternity and our first picture of BABY J!! Crazy how real it's getting!

Only 31 weeks left!


 

How Far Along: 9 Weeks

Total weight gain: Officially 5 lbs according to the Dr-better slow down!

Maternity clothes? Yes, I'm loving maternity leggings!

Stretch marks? None

Sleep: I've been exhausted the last two weeks but when I'm actually trying to sleep my mind starts wandering and every little noise wakes me up. I'm still peeing a couple of times a night, which means I'm also letting the dogs out a couple of times. This is not a great schedule for the dogs to get used to.
Best Moment of the Week: Seeing our baby and hearing his/her heartbeat! AMAZING
Miss Anything? Diet Coke and Sushi
Movement: None
Food cravings: Anything and everything sweet! Gushers are my favorite snack.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Peanut butter crackers-the site of them make my stomach turn. Also if I let myself get hungry I feel like I'm going to be sick.
Gender: Still waiting to find out!
Labor Signs: None
Symptoms: Bloat and BIG BOOBS (AJ isn't minding the boobs thing one bit-too bad he's not allowed to touch because they hurt!)
Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and sleepy

Looking Forward To: Being DOUBLE DIGITS and all the Christmas festivities!


  

7 Weeks!

These weeks are just creeping by. Being sick with a cold is not helping things move any faster. This is my short week at work, I only work four days. I missed the first two days from this nasty cold and now I have loads of work to cram into two days. With pregnancy brain in full effect now, work is a little difficult to get through without losing my concentration. 

I had big plans to buy some pregnancy books this week when our dearest friend surprised us with a bag of goodies from her pregnancy. She gave me some super cute maternity shirts, a pair of jeans, handful of books, and some do-dads for when the baby is born. We officially have something to keep in the baby's room. Now we just need to start hunting for the perfect pieces of furniture that need a little TLC and DIY work to be beautiful in our room. We know we already have the perfect dresser that's a hand-me-down from when I was a baby. My cousin has it currently and actually sent me a picture of it to let me know it was mine when we were ready for it. Little does she know we'll be taking it off her hands very shortly! Here's the before-no idea when you'll be seeing the after.

 

 

We can't wait to find out what this little baby is going to be because we're going to need lots of time to work on our projects for the nursery. I love doing crafts, mainly paper crafts. I got a CriCut from my mommy dearest last Christmas and haven't stopped using it since! Our baby's nursery is going to have so many fun DIY crafts! Oh, and it will be stocked full of the magical wonders I'll find on my favorite site, Etsy.com! 

 

The best part of this week was the official start to Christmas!! My two favorite holidays are St. Patrick's Day and CHRISTMAS! This week we got all the decorations down and decked our halls! I made two Christmas light bulb garlands to add to our great collection of decor! We still need to get our tree, but it's been raining and all the trees are too wet to bring inside the house. Hoping to get our tree next weekend. 

 

We also kicked off the season with an Ugly Christmas Sweater party thrown by a couple of our good friends. We went on the hunt for the ugliest, but cheapest sweaters we could find and we found nada. At Goodwill I settled for an ugly Christmas denim button up shirt. AJ called his mom who said she only had pretty sweaters, but he could take a look through her closet. She didn't have any Christmas sweaters, but she did have an old white DKNY sweater. We made a trip to Michael's and AJ bought all sorts of goodies to decorate it. We did all this in the few hours before the party. Needless to say this pregnant lady was pretty tired by the time we got home. I told AJ I needed a nap and an hour later he woke me up with this fine creation (sorry for the bad pic quality):

 

This was my first party since being pregnant and it wasn't too bad. Other than really really wanting a beer, being the only sober one wasn't that awful. It was a Bunko party and with 23 crazy drunks, I must say I was highly impressed that we were able to finish four rounds. The night was crazy and so much fun!

 

Only 33 more weeks! 







 

 

How Far Along: 7 Weeks
Total weight gain: +/- 3 lbs
Maternity clothes? I spend a ton at Motherhood Maternity this weekend. None of my clothes fit comfortably anymore so now I'm rocking oversized clothes until my belly starts growing.

Stretch marks? Nope
Sleep: Can't get enough of it when I'm at work, but when it's actually time to sleep my mind is wondering and my bladder is screaming.
Best Moment of the Week: Decorating the house! 
Miss Anything? Still missing my diet coke.
Movement: None
Food cravings: Just started craving Cheerios for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! 
Anything making you queasy or sick: Uh, I'm getting extreme waves of nausea, but I've only thrown up once. Most things don't sound good anymore, except my Cheerios.
Gender: No idea, but taking bets!
Labor Signs: None
Symptoms: So bloated and lots of nausea
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking Forward To: Our first dr. appointment! I'm so excited to for all the information!