Confession:

I realized tonight that I really don't like being pregnant. I am very excited about having a baby, but the actual state of pregnancy does not thrill me. What makes matters worse-I have had a pretty easy pregnancy thus far. A little bit of nausea, a touch of gas, and a nasty looking face or the first half or so...I cannot complain at all about the physical side of things.

And yet, I'm not one of those super happy, glowing pregnant ladies. I look at my tummy and am weirded out, occasionally grossed out, by its size and shape. I do not look at it with awe and wonder as some do. And after working so hard to lose weight, I hate packing on the extra pounds. It's depressing, even though necessary. I try not to focus on it.

I'm also weirded out by the movements within my tummy. I'm glad they mean he's healthy and moving around, but they come at the most inconvenient times. And while they don't hurt, I don't exactly enjoy them either.

Of course, there are common pregnancy complaints everyone goes through. I hate peeing every 5 seconds. I hate people trying to touch my stomach. I hate all the advice and stories people are compelled to share.

In the end, I understand this too shall pass. I feel guilty feeling this way, and even guiltier for putting it down in words. There are so many women who have had much more difficult pregnancies that would love to have it this easy. There are women so would love to just be carrying a child. I feel for them, and am grateful I am where I am on this journey. I also have to remember, regardless of how I feel, this is just a means to an end, and come June, it'll all be worth it.

Week 25

How far along? 25 weeks...damn, they suddenly seem to be flying!

How big is baby? A cauliflower, eggplant,  or rutabaga, about 14 inches long and 1 1/2 lbs. 

Total weight gain/loss: +1.3 since last Monday morning, -3.7 since the Dr office Monday afternoon. (Of ourselves, I weigh naked at home.) I am going to do a better job of weighing myself again to keep accountable and not go crazy gaining a bnh more weight. 

Maternity clothes? Still not caving in completely. My wardrobe is a definite mash up of maternity and non-maternity items. I did purchase 4 tank tops (which will actually still be useable after this pregnancy-I love how long they are!), a 3/4 jersey shirt, ashore sleeve blouse, and 2 short sleeve tshirts yesterday for a whopping $50. I went through my closet last night and moved things I can't wear to the bottom row of hangers and things I can to the top. I tried on some spring dresses, and was pleasantly pleased with what I have. I think if I could find a pair or two of capris (maybe khaki and black), I'll be good o go for the rest of this pregnancy. (I had hoped to wear my normal ones, but alas, but butt and thighs say no. Another reason to get on the scale every week.)

Speaking of shopping...I got an awesome deal today. My sister and I were perusing Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I always check out the "AsIs" merchandise. I could not believe I found the universal car seat adapter or our Baby Jogger City Mini. It appeared it was purchased online at Buy Buy Baby,but since there is no local store, returned o Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Their loss, my gain as I paid $12 for it, compared the original price of $59! I felt like a rock star!

Sleep: I am having a lot of trouble ething a completely empty bladder before I go to bed (or as close to empty as possible). Baby boy is particularly active at that home, and my bladder is his toy of preference. 

Best moment this week: Watching What To Expect When You're Expecting, and having a character use one of my excuses ("I didn't fart-it was the baby."). There was a sense of validation. 

Movement: Like crazy, especially at night. I had my first painful blow, directly to the bladder this week. It made me sit up straight. 

Food Cravings: Alas, none this week. 

Food Aversions: People were eating bananas at lunch. The smell made me want to ralph. 

Gender: Boy. 

Labor Signs: Still having Braxton hicks....maybe 1or 2 every third or fourth day. 

Pregnancy Symptoms: None, really. I've been feeling pretty good. 

Belly Button in or out? In.

What I miss: I literally told the hubster that I missed being able to sit up normally this week. 

What I am looking forward to: Spring craft shows and looking at baby things!

Upcoming appointments/events: Glucose test and 28 week appointment is March 21. Then we start going every 2 weeks. 

Milestones: The hubs felt more movement this week! While he's felt it before, this was the most consistent and really strong. I think he got a kick out of it. (Pun fully intended.)

Oh my boobs look tiny compared to my very round belly. 

Week 24

How far along? 24 weeks (+1 day...didn't get to post yesterday. Oops)

How big is baby? Either a cantaloupe or an ear if corn. About a foot long and a little over a pound. 

Total weight gain/loss: I've been bad about getting on the scars every week between this appointment and the last. But, since I have n appointment this afternoon, I hopped on. Wow. I'm up 10 lbs between my last appointment and today. I guess I made up this month what I don't gain last month. So not thrilled about it, but I can't say I'm surprised. I haven't felt well and I've eaten waaaaay too much comfort food. Thus fat, I'm up. Grand total of about 30 lbs since getting pregnant. 

Maternity clothes? I've decided I really hate them, although, I'm in a dressing slump right now. I need to figure out how to dress my shaper a little cuter with hat I have. I don't want to buy anything else until its short sleeves (or a shower outfits). 

Sleep: Getting to sleep is harder-I'm having more difficulty getting comfortable-but I'm staying asleep pretty well. About half the nights in the week I wake up in the middle of the night to o to the bathroom, but it hasn't been too bad. The worst part is getting out from underneath the pillows and covers and then not tripping over a dog. (Whose idea was it anyway to get two clingy black dogs?)

Best moment this week: My showers are officially scheduled. One for some old friends April 7, Family April 14, and a work one May 8. I've been looking at the calendar and freaking out about time in general. I have a plan as to when we are taking our childbirth class, too. (May 5)

Movement: Very active! The boy likes music. When I teach, I don't feel him when I move with the girls, but when I'm still and the music is still on, he moves so much! And he definitely calms down when the music is not playing. 

Food Cravings: Meatballs and Marinara

Food Aversions: Still won't go near a banana. 

Gender: Boy

Labor Signs: None, although I still am having some Braxton Hicks from time to time. 

Pregnancy Symptoms: My eyesight...oh my contacts are driving me batty! I can't wait until either they go back to normal or I can get new contacts. 

Belly Button in or out? In. 

What I miss: Energy. I have wanted to get more things done, but I get exhausted o quickly. I think I'm getting sick again, which is probably more if a contributor to my fatigue, but it still sucks. 

What I am looking forward to: Buying more cloth diapers. It's seriously addicting. And right now we're just talking prefolds and covers. 

Upcoming appointments/events: 24 week appointment this afternoon, 2PM. 

Milestones: V Day! As much as Nick Jr needs to keep baking, it's exciting to know we've reached the point of viability. If something were to go wrong and he was born today, he would have a long, rough road, but he would be considered having a chance. 

Nursery Progress

I've mentioned a couple times my obsession with the bedding I picked out. When the bedding came in a few weeks ago, it was all I could do to not pull it all out. 2 weeks later, the crib came in. It stayed in the ox approximately 12 hours. Despite feeling craptastic that day, I ended up rearranging furniture between the nursery and the NASCAR room. By the time the crib mattress came later in the week, I has almost finished the nursery. You could say I'm nesting, but I think I has more to do with my obsessive personality. I get something on my mind and I want it done NOW. Isn't it better to stay up late putting furniture together than laying in bed, not sleeping and thinking about it? I  also love to decorate...with these three things against me, you shouldn't be surprised the nursery only has a few decor items left to complete.

So, without further ado, here's the nursery thus far. 

As you walk on the door...the walls are Spring Cactus by Behr. When I painted this room 3 1/2 years ago, I loved the green with my pink and green bedding, but I did pick a color that would work for a gender neutral nursery. I'm a sneaky one. 

The Crib: Delta Sedona in Cherry from Babies R Us. The ceiling tiles will come down, although I kinda like them there. The book basket will actually be a larger basket or tub for toys. 

The bedding: Mod Dot by Skip Hop. The stuffed animals are just temporary.

The twin bed,  and my polka dot inspired hanging lanterns. I'd like to get some brown shams for the euro shams. The shams at the front at actually a light blue, that goes well with the bedding. 

Rocker Recliner instead of glider and my new boppy pillow. That will eventually live downstairs. I plan on putting a shadow bow of hospital memorabilia on the wall with the itty bitty frame. and possibly some floating shelves on the wall behind the chair. 

Our old dresser, housed in the closet. While there is a crib and a twin bed in this room, it'll have to stay in here. The bins at the top of the closet came from Dollar Tree and will house blankets, extra bedding, etc. 2 will go downstairs eventually for bottles and bibs. 

The other side of the closet...this will eventually have a cubed shelf for toy storage. For now, my car seat, stroller, and box of too big outfits will have to stay here. 

So...what's left? A few things...

I love this tutorial on creating these, but substituting baby blue and crimson for the background colors. 

Or I could just get a custom one made by Chickadee Digital. Might be easier. 

I need two of these from Bed, Bath, and Beyond...one for dirty diapers and one for laundry. 

And I plan to do something similar to this from Design Sponge behind the door. 

I still need to find something to put over the twin bed, and some floating shelves that I like. I figure I have plenty of time to keep looking for those, though!

Cloth Diapering-The start

Flashback to Mother's Day 2012

Me:...if we ever have kids, you know I want to cloth diaper.
Hubster: Well, of course. (Pause) Maybe we should talk more about when rather than if we have kids.

And that was the last month of birth control... 



It's never been a question for us what kind of diapers we wanted to use; cloth always seemed to be the only option. And it makes sense. We're not the greenest people on the face of the earth, but we certainly try to make an conscientious effort. We drive fuel efficient cars, use reusable shopping bags, recycle...lots of small things, but we try to do what we can. Cloth diapers seemed to be the natural choice.

We had the pleasure of going to a cloth diapering class at Diaper Junction this past weekend. I had done a fair amount of online research, but I was very excited to actually get some hands on experience. First of all. I was upper impressed with their customer service. They gave me a call to let me know there was road work going on and gave me an alternative route to get into the shopping center. Awesomeness.

The class was helpful; I did find that through my online research I actually knew a lot more than I expected. It also solidified my idea about using primarily prefolds and covers, and then supplementing with some pockets or all in ones as Baby Boy gets a little older (and a little more chunk on him). Here's my plan (which, of course, may change)

For the newborn stage:

• 36 Diaper Rite Newborn Prefolds
• 6 covers (2 Thirsties Duo Wrap Size 1, 1Econobum Size 1 cover, 1 Romparooz Newborn Cover, 2 Bummis Super Whisper Wraps)
• 5 snappis

And then...

• 24 Diaper Rite Small Prefolds
• 24 Diaper Rite Medium Prefolds
• 6 Diaper Covers (2 Diaper Rite One Size Covers, 2 Thirsties Duo Wrap Covers Size 2, 2 Flip Covers)
• 6 One Size Pocket Diapers (2 Romparooz Pocket Diapers, 2 Thirsties Pocket Diapers, 2 Diaper Rite Pocket Diapers, 2 BumGenius 4.0s, 1 Kawaii Pocket Diaper-oops, that's actually 9...I guess I like pockets.)
• 6 One Size All in One Diapers (1BumGenius Freetime, 1 BumGenius Elemental, 2 Thirsties Duo All in One...we'll see about 2 more)

So...right now, our stash looks like this:

Top row: BumGenius 4.0 in  Clementine and Lovelace, BumGenius Elemental in Moonbeam
Second Row:Thirsties Duo Wrap in Hoot and Scottish Storm,  12 Unbleached Diaper Rite Newborn Prefolds, 2 Flip Covers in Noodle and Sweet
Bottom Row: More of the prefolds, 2 Snappis in Blue and White

Additionally, we've registered for 2 pail liners, 2 swim diapers, a small wet bag, a medium wet bag, and an Aquaus Diaper Sprayer. We have a lot to get still, obviously, but I'm excited about what we have thus far. 

Week 23

How far along? 23 weeks!

How big is baby? A grapefruit or large mango-11 inches and over a pound. It's exciting to me we're measuring in pounds now. 

Total weight gain/loss: I didn't weigh today. 

Maternity clothes? Today, none. It's hit or miss. My pants aren't staying buttoned, but I love my BellaBand. The maternity items I ordered from Old Navy didnot it ight, so they need to o back this week. 

Sleep: Good, except for the crazy dreams. I had one the other night so frightening I didn't want to go back to sleep. 

Best moment this week: We took a cloth diapering class yesterday. I found I knew a lot more than I had realized. It was kinda awesome. 

Movement: The other night, little boy kicked my iPad off my stomach. So yeah, he's pretty active.  

Food Cravings: None, they've calmed down a little. 

Food Aversions: Still bananas. I sampled a strawberry banana smoothie yesterday. The smell more than the taste drove me crazy. 

Gender: Boy

Labor Signs: A few more Braxton hicks contractions. 

Pregnancy Symptoms: Nothing big this week. 

Belly Button in or out? In!

What I miss: Being able to sit up from laying down without rolling to the side. 

What I am looking forward to: Getting to use all the stuff I know about cloth diapering!

Upcoming appointments/events: It's a quiet week. Next appointment is next Monday, 2/18. 

Milestones: I think I have finished our registries. After our CD class yesterday, I have a better understanding of at kind of diapers I want. I ended up moving my CD stuff from Amazon to Diaper Junction. It was so much more organized and clear. Considering I don't really expect many (if any) people to shop online, I figured that this would make sense. 

Also, the nursery is about 90% complete at this point! There are one decor type items I need to do still, but overall, it's coming together well. 

H decided to go close up on the bump today...now that it's really there. 

The Goods

I think we've had a baby explosion in our house. Seriously, the picture doesn't do it justice. Thus far we have purchased:

• Stroller (Baby Jogger City Mini)
• Car seat (Chicco Keyfit 30 Magic)
• Boppy Pillow
• Rock and Play
• Crib
• Crib Mattress
• 2 Bum Genius 4.0 pocket diapers
• 1 Bum Genius Elemental All-In-One Diaper
• 2 Flip Cloth Diaper Covers
• JJ Cole Bundle Me (for the stroller)
• Bedding (Skip Hop Mod Dot complete sheet set-2 sheets, bed skirt, blanket, wearable blanket)
• Seasonal onesie and sleepers
• Paper Lantern Lights

Additionally, our family has given us a few gifts:

• 2 changing pad covers
• 2 hanging organizers (intended to go over the changing table)
• Decorative Pillow
• A phone pod for the stroller. 
• A bath gift basket with 6 washcloths, 2 nightgowns, a hooded towel, a toiletry set, teething toy, book, yearly frame, and infant bath tub. 
• A couple of outfits

And my sister passed down:

• A pack n play
• Playmat (which I initially bought her as a shower gift)
• A swing
• Infant head rest/support
• Boppy Pillow (one for upstairs, one for down)
• More clothes!

Finally, I already had these from nannying:

• Moby Wrap
• Bouncy Seat

I can't believe we're halfway through this journey and have accumulated this much crap already!

Week 22

How far along? 22 weeks!

How big is baby? A papaya or spaghetti squash-11 inches long and almost 1 pound!

Total weight gain/loss: I didn't weigh this AM.

Maternity clothes? Not all the time. I decided I really hate my Gap jeans, so I ordered some cheaper ones from Old Navy. I hope these are better for me. 

Sleep: OK. Allergies have suuuuuuuuucked this week, so my sleeping issues have been attributed more to that. 

Best moment this week: The hubs felt baby kick! It was pretty awesome. 

Movement: A lot-he's a fidgeter like his father. 

Food Cravings: Damn, meatballs are good. And donuts. 

Food Aversions: B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Gender: Boy! 

Labor Signs: I've had a few more Braxton Hicks contractions. 

Pregnancy Symptoms: Gas has been bad. 

Belly Button in or out? In, but changing. 

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach. 

What I am looking forward to: Putting the nursery together. 

Upcoming appointments/events: We are taking a cloth diapering class next Saturday. I think I know what I want to do, but I'm anxious for the hubs to learn more about it. 

Milestones: Our crib came in! Because I'm crazy obsessive about things, I put the crib together this morning and rearranged furniture between the bedrooms ths afternoon. I'm pooped.  We were able to get 25% off thanks to the Babies R Us Trade In Event. We also purchased the car seat tonight with another old stroller. My sister brought over a ton of my nephew's old clothes...things are shaping up.