19 weeks and registered!

Gosh, time is flying by! Our good friends warned us that the first 20 weeks move slow, but the last 20 weeks FLY by! I'd have to say that's a fact and not just an opinion. The last two weeks have already started to speed right past me. There is sooooooo much to do in such little time! 

This week I started working on our registry. Thank goodness for the Internet because I registered for everything based on what NOT to get from all the blogs I've been reading. It's so nice to learn from other's mistakes instead of making them yourself. Granted, I know we'll make plenty of our own mistakes, but I'm not the first one to have a baby so why not benefit from what others have learned? I'm also taking any tips/suggestions/comments/advice from your experiences with all things baby. After using my online references, we decided to register with Babies-R-Us (duh) and Amazon and DANG babies are expensive! Babies-R-Us has a really helpful registry builder checklist with must haves and nice to have categories. Thank goodness for this checklist cause I would have left off so much. This experience was extremely different than registering for my wedding; I wanted to be in the store and see everything I was picking out for the house, but I would have LOST MY MIND trying to do a baby registry in-store. There is so much to choose from and it's already overwhelming going category-by-category online, having it all in front of me in a store would have been too crazy.

Over the weekend we prepped the room for priming-basically cleared out the rest of the clutter and making it a truly empty space. In my last post I showed you the HUGE pile of clothes that this baby has already acquired. Well I decided to take off all the tags and get ready to do our first load of baby laundry-it took half an hour to just pull all the plastic tabs off the clothes! This boy is beyond spoiled! Speaking of laundry-question to all you parents out there: I bought the Dreft (or Target brand) laundry detergent, but didn't know what to get for a fabric softener. Do you use softener on baby clothes? If not, don't they come out stiff? I happened to walk next to a lady with a baby in Target and asked her this question and she said she didn't use a softener and since she doesn't use a softener for her own clothes, she wouldn't know the difference. I've been there and done that and I'm not going back. I love the difference softener makes in my clothes so I just worry about the baby's clothes and blankets. 

So big news this week, the baby bedding is in!! I'm more in love than I was when I found it on Etsy. We plan to pick out colors this week and start priming and painting this weekend! I can't wait to see it start coming together. Thanks to mi madre, we have an awesome idea for painting the bottom half of the room (under the chair rail)-OMBRE CHEVRON!! Woohoo! Here's pics of the bedding and the site we're using to help us with the chevron painting. Oh, and my awesome sewing Aunt said she would make our crib skirt. Now I just need to find the perfect fabric and pattern!! Oh, and in other nursery news, AJ's decided he wants pops of lime green instead of yellow. Pretty sure this was my original idea, but I'll let him think it was his cause lime green is my favorite color!

Ombre Chevron Instructions

We are just getting so excited! It's all slowly coming together! Next week we have our mid-pregnancy ultrasound. I'm excited because it will be a longer ultrasound, but a little nervous because they're checking out the anatomy. Fingers crossed Baby J is one healthy BOY!

Only 21 more weeks!

 

How Far Along: 19 Weeks

Total weight gain: 16.4 lbs
Maternity clothes? Everything I'm wearing for winter is maternity, but hoping all my non-maternity maxi dresses fit for summer!
Stretch marks? Nope

Sleep: I'm only waking a couple times a night just to try and get comfortable. Thinking it's time for a pregnancy pillow!

Best Moment of the Week: Building our registries
Miss Anything? Still beer-I know, I know-what an alcoholic!
Movement?: Little bit more this week. According the books they should start getting strong in the next few weeks!

Food cravings: Grilled cheese, cereal, and french toast 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nada right now
Gender: Baby Boy
Labor Signs: None

Symptoms: Gas, constipation and lots of muscle pains in my lower belly.
Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy
Looking Forward To: Reaching the half-way point and seeing our baby again at the big anatomy ultrasound!

18 Weeks

Oh what a week! Between Cooper's eye fiasco and the spoiling of Baby J, I was smiling and shedding tears every other day. It all started about a month ago when Cooper woke up with his right eye swollen shut. My day off turned into a day at the vet. Cooper apparently had scratched his cornea doing who knows what. We were given ointment to put in his eye twice a day to prevent infection, but the Vet expected his eye to heal itself. Two weeks later we took him back for his follow-up and it hadn't healed at all. The vet had to put him under and literally scrape the dead skin off his eyeball to promote healing. Again, we did another two weeks of ointment and took him back. Once again his eye hadn't healed at all. The next option was sewing his eye shut. I guess dogs have a third eyelid that is behind their bottom lid. The vet sewed this lid to his upper lid to maintain a constant connection of good blood flow in the eyelid laying on his cornea. This was just an awful site. The best way to describe it is to remember when we all had that friend (or if you were that friend) who could flip their eyelids up. Poor Coop-a-Loop came home with stitches in his eye and the dreadful cone. Our poor, poor pup pup. This is what Cooper came home with on Monday night.  

I saved you the yuck factor and only showed a pic with his eyes closed.

If this last ditch effort doesn't work we are on our way to see a dog eye specialist, which only means $$$. At this point we've already spent $300 between the vet visits, medication, and surgery procedures. Fingers crossed!

Now on to the smiles! Baby J was spoiled this week! I made a few purchases, but the majority of the gifts came from Grandma and the lovely ladies of my Bunko group. Every month myself and 11 other wonderful women get together to gossip, eat, drink and play a little Bunko. It's always a great night, but this last night was especially great! My very talented Aunt came with a few of the things she's made for Baby J. For all those of you who know my husband, he's a bow tie kind of guy. Well now Baby J and Daddy will be matchy matchy!

 

She also made an "I Love Grandma" onesie and burp rag. I love having Aunts who are talented with sewing! She already gave me the okay to Pin all my sewing ideas at her and she'll try making what she can. Another great gift from Bunko night was formula! One of the ladies works in an OB office and brought me all their Similac and Enfamil samples that were due to expire. The best part was just the coupons were expiring, so we got a few cans of formula and some great bags!

 

This week was also Valentine's Day, our first Valentine's as a married couple. Since we have a lot of great things already happening to us this year, AJ and I decided to share a nice dinner together and skip the gifts. Good thing he only specified that "we" don't exchange gifts cause that means Baby J could still give his Daddy a V-Day gift! Here's what Baby J bought for his Daddy!

 



 

Baby J got his first Valentine's Day gift too; Auntie Birdy (BFF) bought him the cutest little outfit set!

Thanks Aunty Birdy

This was just the beginning of all the loot we got over the week. Here's a few pics of all his goodies.

 

More daddy-matching flannels for Baby J

He's already set for at least his first few games!

Look at his first pair of shoes!!!

Gus Gus checking out all the loot! Look at all those clothes!

The best part about getting all these gifts is that I don't feel guilty for being spoiled because it's all for him, not us! AJ and I appreciate every last gift, so thank you 1000x!

 

Only 22 more weeks!

 

How Far Along: 18 Weeks
Total weight gain: 16.4 lbs
Maternity clothes? Yep, only non-maternity items are my underwear. This has become a daily challenge, to find the right pair that still fit.
Stretch marks? Nope

Sleep: We have been working on getting the dogs to sleep all through the night so it's been rough. I've only had a couple of decent night's sleep.

Best Moment of the Week: Spending Valentine's Day with my Husband!
Miss Anything? Beer and more beer
Movement?: Very little

Food cravings: Grilled cheese, cereal, and french toast 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not much anymore
Gender: Baby Boy
Labor Signs: None

Symptoms: Gas and lots of muscle pains in my lower belly. Baby is stretching me out!
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy

Looking Forward To: More baby movements and waiting on our bedding to show up.  

17 weeks

Baby J is a blooming onion this week! My least favorite vegetable, but how can I not love my baby onion! I love that all the websites and books compare your growing human to fruits and vegetables.  It really helps me picture the size of our growing babe, but I still get confused because some of the food metaphors seem to be out of order. I swear a few weeks ago our baby was an orange and now he's an onion; maybe they need to be more specific and say a Large Red Onion and a Cutie-sized orange. I never cheat and look ahead in the weeks so every Tuesday I'm always excited to get my weekly email describing what fruit or veggie Baby J will be this week!

This week was all about the nursery! Friday was my day off and I had big plans for that little nursery. I typically have big plans for my days off, but tend to find myself moving from the bed to the couch, watching my shows, and folding laundry. This day was going to be different...and it was! I almost got discouraged because I started off wrong by watching my shows in bed and before I knew it, it was 10. I found some motivation and got my butt up and headed to the nursery. Like I said in my last post, AJ had emptied all the drawers onto the floor and I had to purge and organize. Another thing I mentioned was that our spare room was once our catch all room. We have a terrible habit of wanting to return things, but they never make it past our spare room. We had stuff from two Black Fridays in that room. So after I purged through all the crap and organized the rest of it in the new spare room I piled all our returns in my car and headed out. I had to go by the stupid DMV to renew my license, check. Needed to stop off at the Dr's for blood work, check. Then finally it was time to return some items, check. At the end of the day I came home with $100 to Costco, $118 back in the account, $65 to Target, $80 to Kohl's, and $75 in my pocket! All in all it was a successful day.

With some of the funds from our returned items, we (I mean me) did a little shopping for the nursery. Inspired by my fav blog, Little Baby Garvin, I picked out some wire baskets for the storage in the changing table. We also picked out a couple of frames and we bought Baby J his first stuffed animal, a blue Horton the Elephant. Of course I had to buy more A's onesies at Target! The best purchase of the weekend was our diaper bag, a steal of a deal! Came across a baby boutique in Lodi and they were discontinuing carrying diaper bags so all their bags were only $50! I bought a Ju Ju Be backpack diaper bag the was pre-approved by my dear mom friend! I looked up some videos on it and found even more reasons to love it. Best reason of all, it's machine washable! A few other things purchased through the week are still trickling in in the mail. When you go to your first Dr's appt they give you a bunch of coupons for free things, including an Udder Cover, Baby Sling, and Car Seat cover. So far I've received the baby sling and the hooter hider. Also took full advantage of Carters and Osh'Kosh's 40% off sale; can't wait for that shipment! Our final purchase of the week was a grey and white shag rug to cover the hard wood floors for Baby J's tummy time. Oh, I almost forgot, we were given a brand new crib mattress from AJ's best friend. They bought a new crib and already had a new mattress so they generously gave us their extra! Gotta love free stuff!! Here's some pics of our purchases!

Gus Gus enjoying the new mattress

New Frames and a peak at our new rug

There's Horton and the baskets, both from Kohl's

More pics of the frames and there's the great diaper bag

Free Baby Sling in A's green of course!

Free Udder Cover

More A's onesies!

Here are some shots of the EMPTY nursery before all the cosmetic changes.

Proving I can clean. Like my outfit?

Only 23 more weeks!

How Far Along: 17 Weeks
Total weight gain: 16.4 lbs
Maternity clothes? Basically all I wear now, except I did buy a non-maternity maxi dress that will fit me when I'm big!

Stretch marks? None yet 

Sleep: Still off and on all night longBest Moment of the Week: Completely emptying the nursery!
Miss Anything? Beer and spicy tuna sushi
Movement?: Yes, at night, but very very littleFood cravings: Grilled cheese, Baked Potato soup, and still cereal Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing this week
Gender: Baby Boy
Labor Signs: NoneSymptoms: Heartburn and gas.
Belly Button in or out? In

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

Looking Forward To: Stronger movements and ordering our baby bedding

Nursery Ideas

Figured my blog was looking too much like we were having a girl so I'm changing up the colors. We've been slowly transitioning our office into our new spare bedroom, but we hadn't done much with the existing spare room. This past weekend we finally started working on the spare room, slowly transitioning it to the nursery. We had a friend pick up our queen bed and frame and we had my parent's take our furniture set. I had already started emptying the drawers of our furniture, but didn't quite finish. AJ was at home when I called to let him know we had my parent's truck and were on our way to pick up the furniture. I came home to a garage full of furniture and an empty spare room full of the crap from the last few full drawers. Our spare room has always been our catch-all room. We are terrible about folding our laundry straight out of the dryer so it always ends up on the spare bed for at least a week. We also use the room for our extra crap that we just don't know what to do with, but yet we have to keep. I had already started purging the crap we kept in our office, but hadn't really made it to the spare room yet. Now that we know our baby is a he we have nothing stopping us from starting the nursery. This weekend I plan on purging and organizing the last bit of junk we have and really emptying that room. We also have to figure out what we're going to do with all of our stuff that's currently occupying the closet-sounds like we have another Goodwill trip to make! 

I know I've already made it clear that I have a true obsession with Etsy and Pinterest so of course all my nursery ideas are straight from these amazing sites! I've had baby boy nursery ideas pretty much locked down for the last couple of months, but still was unsure of what direction I was going in for a girl. It's really weird, I feel like my mind knew we were having a boy, but yet I was still shocked when we found out. 

Nothing is set in stone, but here are a few samples of what I'm loving for Baby J's nursery. The main color theme is teal, blue, white, and pops of yellow. The only other theme will be these cute little elephants.

Crib skirt and sheet

Changing pad cover

Name, maybe in yellow

Hope these come if different colors

I'm currently on the hunt for an old/antique chandelier to spray paint yellow for the lighting. Let me know if you know where I can find one or buy one for $50 or less!

Something along the lines of this style.

This the ultimate idea for the chandelier set up

Print Ideas

AJ and I both want a white crib that isn't too modern, but also not too Victorian. This is the crib we have as our top choice.

Babies R Us

I've already posted pics of our changing table. We are going to do a white wash or antique type of finish using a light teal paint color. I've also posted pics of the chifferobe that we're inheriting from the Kelley family. We'll probably keep it white and use yellow knobs.

There's so much to do and so little time. Well not too little, but if the weeks keep flying by like they have been we will be out of time in no time! Hopefully I can completely empty the spare room this Friday and have a fresh, clean slate to inspire the work to get started.

We are wanting to put down a large white rug so if anyone has an affordable recommendation, please let me know! We're also looking for a glider so if anyone would like to sell or donate their gently used glider, we'll take it! I've already found a tutorial for reupholstering gliders, so any color or fabric would be fine. 

Alright, now I need to actually start turning my ideas into reality!  

16 weeks, Drum roll please.......

I only gained 1.4 lbs over the last 4 weeks!!!! Well that was just one piece of great news from our very exciting 16 week Dr. appt, but the news you've all been waiting for is WE'RE HAVING A BOY! I know, I can't believe it either, never thought we could make a boy! AJ has eight other siblings and only two of them are brothers and it's just me and my sister so I thought our chances of making a boy were slim to none. 

We were told that the doc would do a gender ultrasound at the 16 week appt, but there were no guarantees that our baby would be cooperating. We went into the appointment with our hopes up, but we were also prepared for our little dancer (more to come on this news) to be sitting in the wrong position. Our Dr is not the most personable person and since he's done a gender reveal for hundreds of people he didn't show much enthusiasm for our reveal. He plopped me on the table, whipped out the ultrasound machine and goop and started showing us our baby. Of course we were in awe because the last time we say Baby J he was a little bean with no baby features. This time he actually looked like a baby! Our first view was of Baby J facing us and smiling; of course he'd be cheesing it up for the camera! He didn't dance around too much, but he did wave at us a few times. Then the Dr moved the wand and showed us the view from the glass ceiling. I only knew what this meant because a friend who's a few weeks further along explained it to me. Picture the baby sitting on a glass table and you looking up underneath it. I guess this is the best way to see the goods and sure enough there was our little man's ding dong! On the big screen it was clear as day, two little circles and a little stick. AJ would be mad if he heard I called it little, so it was just right! The Dr. had no doubts of Baby J being a boy so we feel confident to start decorating. We also heard his heart beat again and it's very strong! It gives me goosebumps every time we hear it! 

So back to our tiny dancer, I felt Baby J move!!! At 16 weeks they say your baby can start hearing so they encourage you to start talking to him and playing music. On Tuesday night, first night of 16 weeks, AJ and I laid in bed and he played some Motown music on his phone and put it against my growing bump. Instantly I felt a little pop. When AJ moved the phone to the other side of my belly I felt another pop. Finally, he changed the song and as soon as he put it back on my bump I felt another pop. Turns out I'd been feeling Baby J for the last week when I laid down, but just thought it was gas bubbles. Since the pops were a direct reaction to the music I know it was Baby J! I've felt him a few more times since then, but it's only when I'm laying down; guess this is a sign for what's to come when I'm trying to sleep. Now that we know Baby J is a music fan, we have been playing music for him before bed. I just hope those dance moves he's practicing are moves he's inherited from me and not his daddy.   

Last week I talked about our tentative gender reveal party, well once it was official the party was on! I knew it was going to be so hard to keep my mouth shut for 24 hours, but I made it! Luckily I was able to share the news to some of my co-workers, but kept it secret from my family and friends attending the party. I warned my mom that if she tried to call or text me anytime during the 24 hours I had to keep quiet, I would just ignore her. She did good, but I ended up having to call her for a couple of things. It was so hard to call him an it again when talking to her. I also had to suffer through all day instant messages and lunch with my BFF, but I stayed strong! Everyone was told to wear pink or blue to show their guess and we had a house full of pink with just few in blue. I actually had on pink pants because it was the only pair clean, but of course everyone took it as a sign we were having a girl. The original plan was to eat pizza and have a few drinks before our reveal, but of course no one got that memo. They all showed up asking for our reveal, which was in the dessert. I had just ordered two huge pizzas so I made everyone eat some slices before they could have dessert-look at me, already pulling the mom card! After a bunch of wining we passed out the cupcakes. I had the video camera going and AJ was ready with the camera so we told them to all bite into or open the cupcakes at once. Of course they found a BLUE center. It was so great capturing their reactions on video. Everyone was shocked, except for the few in blue, who were cheering their victory cheers! The bestie said she would have sworn everything on it being a girl. My mom cried of course, but always tears of joy! She is a little nervous because she's only dealt with baby girls; it'll be a learning experience for all of us! Here's the video and some pictures from the night.

That's Baby J looking at us!

All in all it has been one of the best weeks of our pregnancy! I can't believe we are 4 months along, almost half way there.

Only 24 more weeks!

How Far Along: 16 Weeks
Total weight gain: 16.4 lbs-such a huge sigh of relief! 

Maternity clothes? Yep, even my lounge around-the-house shorts are being eaten up by my growing body

Stretch marks? None yet and I'm hoping to avoid them all together. I've started a daily coco butter rub down regimen. I know they are hereditary, but let's hope it skips a generation! 

Sleep: Struggling to find my comfort zone. Thinking of starting to use one of those maternity pillows.
Best Moment of the Week: Feeling Baby J more, seeing him again, and finding out he was a BOY!
Miss Anything? Beer, beer, and more beer
Movement: YES! Just a little, but excited for more!
Food cravings: Grilled cheese, Baked Potato soup, and still cereal
Anything making you queasy or sick: Previously normal stinky smells are now ultra stinky and I have to evacuate the area ASAP!
Gender: BOY-still can't believe it, but so happy for this adventure!
Labor Signs: None
Symptoms: Lots and lots of heartburn and I'm already starting to get lower abdomen pains from my uterus stretching and pressure in my tail bone (checked with the Dr about this one and all is normal).
Belly Button in or out? In

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

Looking Forward To: More movements from our tiny dancer