Saturday, June 30, 2012

Baby White Week 20- It's a ...

So this weekend we had our Gender Reveal Party! I'll start off by getting some of the basics out of the way first though...

This is me going to work. Sorry that we had to use a cell phone pic. Terrible quality.
But as you can see, most people at work would not know I'm pregnant unless I told them.
Scrubs hide a lot :)

Also, Baby White got another yard sale find this week- $8!

A basically new Diaper Champ. I wanted this kind since it uses regular trash bags.
My belly is getting cumbersome for bending and squatting. I've needed to do a lot of that this week. The work on the house was close to grueling, combined with the heat. It was an all-day frenzy Friday and Saturday, but with the help of good friends and family, we did get the party done!

We had about 10 people over. Our AC froze up right before the party was about to start. So fun. Thankfully it came back on. But it still doesn't seem to be getting as cool as what we set it to. We may need to have it checked.

Everyone visiting

Daddy and his kids. We each wore pink and blue, so as not to give it away

More socializing

My lovely Pastor's wife and my best friend

Lauren loves to be in photos

Wish I had taken a better shot of the cake. But it read "Pink or Blue we can't wait to meet YOU!

Team Blue- 6 votes

Team Pink- 4 votes

We wore both ribbons- to keep them guessing!

Food!

Baby Sarah was loved by everyone!

Dusty took some time holding her

Time to cut the cake and see what color it is!

It's pink!

Strawberry and chocolate!

We're going to have a little girl!


And now you know!
I was pretty surprised to find out it was a girl. I think I had myself psyched-out that it was a boy. I knew that's what John really wanted and I think I was hoping it for him too. But, the good Lord above knew from the start we'd have a daughter first. And it will be so much fun to dress her and decorate the room and such! I also think it will be very sweet to see the daddy daughter relationship develop.

So, you can see some of the house renovations in the photos. But I'm going to take a few more photos tomorrow and then do a separate post for that.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

And the beat goes on

Ok so I feel bad that I've been posting only once a week. But guys- it has been so busy around here!

The floors are coming along. I can't believe my father in law says he actually "likes" laying tile. It looks like horrendous tedious work to me.

My schedule this week is- work, go to house and paint, eat, sleep, repeat. I'm painting the front door red, and so far it has taken 4 coats. Four. Using a paint that's supposed to be "2 in 1" with primer mixed in. And it's thick like molasses. But I think coat 5 should make it even.

Tonight my hubby moved the bed to the middle of our room so he could rip out the carpet along the edges, so I could paint the baseboards, so we can be ready for the new carpet coming Thursday morning. This left about 1-2 feet of clearance along the walls for me to fit my large self into to both tape off and paint. All while avoiding the tack strips of death. I've found my belly is starting to impede me more this past week. So getting the painting accomplished has been no small feat. Especially when the house is like 82 degrees from all the open and closing of doors to haul in tile.

Needless to say- I will be SO glad when it's all over. I'm not looking forward to all the things that need to be done Friday and Saturday before the reveal party. I had planned on the flooring being finished yesterday so that I would have the evenings this week to clean and organize a little at a time. Instead between Friday and Saturday I need to shop for party food and decorations, do a little crafting for the party, wet vac the floors (probably twice) dust (tile cut in the house = dust of nightmar-ish proportions again), have the furniture put back into three bedrooms, vacuum, clean 2 toilets and sinks, clean off the back porch (and hopefully lay out new carpet), clean the glass doors (our screen doors are a mess of grout and cement prints), cook party food, and somewhat setup the nursery.

Now I feel bad for making you all read my to-do list.

So needless to say, I will be busy. I've asked a friend to come Friday and help I felt so overwhelmed. Oh- and we still have like 20 electrical outlets that need changing, a dishwasher that needs bracing and two towel rings and two TP holders need mounting.

There I go again- making you read my to-do list.

On a funny note- I asked John how we should dress for the party. If we should wear pink and blue and not just the color of the gender- so everyone is still guessing. John told me he wants to wear yellow- because he wants the baby to be Asian. So we can have a genius kid who wins a Nobel prize. He's got such a snarky sense of humor! :)

John is watching me type this blog and asked what snarky meant. So I googled the definition for him. As he was reading aloud he came across "testy". And then said, huh huh, testes, huh huh. So he also has the sense of humor of an 8 year old boy :) He tells me every man has this sense of humor.

Well, it's late and I have way less energy than my pre-prego self, so I better hit the hay.

I hope to have some pictures of the house and the party for ya'll by Monday. I'll add it to my to-do list :)


Friday, June 22, 2012

Baby White Week 19

Today I had my "fetal anatomy scan" aka, ultrasound. It was really cool to have the technician pointing out all the parts to us. And lucky she could, cause a lot of it we would not have been able to identify :) It took a little while for us to get a clear shot of "the goods" but we did get one. Soon you all shall know too what we saw :) But here's a sneak peek:


I'm feeling more "tubby" each week. Found another yoga move I can't do this week :) I also felt more pressure on my bladder for a few days. Like use the bathroom and still feel like your bladder is full the minute you leave the restroom. On the ultrasound, it was pretty clear why this was, as the baby was right on top of my bladder. It's weird to think something that's less than 6 inches long and only weighs 11 ounces can make such an impression. It's also weird to see all the movement on the ultrasound but not be able to feel it at all yourself.

Even though my appetite is pretty back to baseline, I still have a super sensitive gag reflex. Like, I used to brush my tongue pretty far back. Now I have to be really careful. I've made myself vomit a few times. No bueno.

The heartburn has been back a few times this week. I usually try to eat some dairy or something to calm it down.

Today is the start of the flooring project. The tile is going down and then the carpet installers come Thursday. Pray for the hubs and his dad, as I am sure laying tile is no fun! My plan is to stay away as much as possible. Haha.

So, here I am right before the ultrasound this week. And baby's weight is approximately the 50th percentile, so we are right on track for growth.


Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Baby White Week 18

Hi all!

So sorry this is so late. This weekend was so very busy. We are in the final push to get some things finished on the house before flooring goes in starting Friday. To say the least- I am very tired of painting. And John is very tired of scraping paint. I am tired of wearing a respirator to paint. I am tired of having dusty concrete floors.

But, this too shall pass. In hopefully a week or so!

This week I scored some pretty good yard sale deals. I got 13 complete Dr. Brown's bottles for $5. It even had a few extra bottles, but just not enough of all the parts for the extras. There were 7 4oz and 6 8oz ones. I thought it was quite the steal! I also got the bottle drying rack for $1. We got a car bottle warmer for $2. I'm not really sure we'll use this, but John thinks it will be good when he is out and about with the bambino alone. I also got a yellow hooded towel and two towels for a little later down the road- hooded towels decorated like a frog and a lady bug. I know I would have loved that as a kid! The towels were like 50 cents each.

I also went a little crazy on Amazon. I needed to get something on there that the shipping was as much as the item, so I opted for the 30-day trial of Prime to get free shipping. Then I decided to see what baby deals I could find. I ended up with 264 Luvs Size 1 diapers, a sage green Summer infant Swaddleme blanket and 6 storage caps for the Dr. Browns bottles. All for $46!

Think I'll have enough diapers to get me through a little? Lol
$36 with free Prime shipping
I originally had a lot more stuff in my cart, but then I found out a lot the items were not eligible for Prime free shipping. I had $30 worth of stuff and $60 worth of shipping charges! Lol

I also started the baby registry this week. I know it will change a lot before we actually share it, but I just could not help looking at some stuff. I found that I'm all about used, pre-owned, substitutions etc. But I also found that I think I may be a diaper bag snob. The cheapest one I found that I like is $50. The most expensive one I like is $80. I have like 6 on there right now :) I figure after we find out the gender I can narrow my choices down some. But, I want something kind of gender neutral. Since both John and I will carry it. But I don't want the solid color ones. So yeah, a little picky. Afraid of it being too big or too small, too heavy, falling over when you set it down. So much to consider.

I think my weight gain is pretty stable this week. Per the scale anyway. I still have a stuffy nose some days. Occasional heartburn. And I sneeze all the time. It's so random.
I still have not felt any movement. At night before bed I try and pay special attention, but still nothing.

It's hard to believe I'm only 10 days away from the halfway mark! I'm really excited to find out the gender Friday! But you all will have to wait until July to hear:) We are going to have a reveal party on the 30th.

So here I am in all my glory this week, lol.

Maybe when we get to week 20 I'll put all the pics so far together to see if the difference is that noticeable.
Have a great rest of your week!

Monday, June 11, 2012

Weekend Update 06-09-12

Well hello there everyone. Today is a good day for writing- since it's been raining for hours here.
In fact, my weekend was pretty low-key thanks to a never ending downpour in our area. You may have even seen us on the news!

Friday was our doctor's appointment. You saw that post already since you spend your days just waiting for my updates. Lol.

That evening we ate dinner out at Chili's. They had a facebook promo for a free queso appetizer with the purchase of an entree. So we split that and a baby back ribs dinner. It was one of the best experiences we've had there in a long time. Everything was tasty, hot and served quickly. We followed that up with an exciting trip to WalMart. We live on the edge people, I tell ya.

Friday evening the rain started. By Saturday morning it was in full force. Like hurricane force, wind and rain. In fact, Saturday went down as the wettest day in our town since 1936. That means more rainfall in a 24 hour period than any hurricanes since then, too.

I had a baby shower to attend that morning. I was really glad I put the gift in the car the day before- as I had a feeling I might be traveling in the rain. It was so nice that when I got to the shower they had impromptu valet parking so we could pull up under the awning and not get soaked. Although the poor "valets" were soaked clean through.

The shower for baby Lily and her momma Katie was very nice. She got a lot of really cute clothes and some practical things too. Despite the rain there were quite a few people there. After we finished watching her open up all her goods and closed, we turned around to see several ladies using tablecloths and industrial brooms to push water out the back door. The back half of the room had flooded about an inch! Thankfully it's tile. Not so great is that the back door opens to a low lying area, hence the water coming in in the first place. It was a hot mess inside and out. Sideways-blowing rain, thunder and flooding. We were told the road going west from the church was flooded over due to the drainage pond overflowing. My quickest route home. Bummer.

Two preggos :)

Three friends :)

I decided to go ahead and brave the conditions to run an errand downtown since I was already out. The city was basically a shallow pond downtown. I did manage to get where I was going (after backing out of an intersection in a panic when I was sure I was about to flood my car) and that poor business was sucking water out of their carpets. They said cars driving down the street were causing waves that were lapping into their doors. ServPro was already on their way out. They made a killing this week I'm certain.

Well, I decided to take the interstate home, hoping to stay high and dry. Unfortunately once I got off I had to cross an intersection that was flooded out. This lead to my trip home taking an hour when it usually only takes 15-20 minutes. I tried about 5-6 different ways but I kept coming to flooded intersections and low lying areas. I got within 5 minutes of my house twice, only to be stopped by water. I was beginning to think I was going to have to wait it out (and pee at a gas station since my bladder was about to explode). But, I finally made it home with dry carpet and dry pants :)

That evening our news website had lots of photos of the flooding, including several washed out roads and small bridges. This photo is in the downtown area. You can see why I had a hard time finding a clear path home:
Thankfully I have not head of any fatalities. Just a lot of property damage. I was also thankful to be in an SUV. I probably would have to have waited it out for several hours if not. I still had to drive through 2-3 foot water at times.

So once I got home, we stayed put for the rest of the weekend. We tackled straightening the garage and office. I did laundry. We watched movies. I actually cooked! I woke up Sunday morning hungry- and since we need to go grocery shopping there's not much left in the house that ready-to-eat. I opted for homemade biscuits, scrambled eggs and cheese grits. I was reminiscing about the times (not too long ago) that I actually enjoyed cooking. I'm hoping that becomes my normal again soon. And to add: I made dinner too! Spaghetti. I sure hope I'm on the upswing of these 9 months.

So even though we lost valuable painting time to the weather (it's not recommended to try and have oil based paint dry while it's a monsoon outside) and the fact that I couldn't stay out of the house (those fumes are bad for prego mommas) due to the weather, it was still a nice weekend. We were forced to slow down a bit, and even though that pains me at times I feel there's so much to do, I'm sure I needed it.

Oh, and no damage to our house. We are at the top of an incline. Thank goodness.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Baby White 17 weeks

Today we had an appoint with our midwife. No real news- she listened to heart beat with a doppler and said "that's a very happy baby in there". :) The rate was 147 which she says is "on the fence" for gender. According to her boys are usually around 140 or less.

But in two weeks we shall find out! June 22nd at 11am!!! I'm very anxious to know so I can start more planning and purchasing.

I continue to feel better each week. Very much a bonus. Our midwife said "I told you you'd be feeling human again by your next appointment".

I've put back on the weight I lost. So now I'm back at "even" I guess. I can see with my appetite returning how things could get out of control. Gonna have to watch that. My blood pressure continue to be great. We decided not to have the quad screen which would have been done at this visit.

Through a blessing, we are going to be able to take the Bradley classes! They start the first week in July and run for 9-10 weeks and are 2 hours each with 2 books! So we should be well educated. We also signed up for the hospital's intro class where you get the tour and do paperwork.

My help in the house has come to a bit of a standstill. Right now the major things left are painting trim and doors and laying floor. We are having to use oil based paint, so I have to leave the house while it's being done. And I'll be leaving the house completely for several days while John and his dad lay floors.

I still don't think I've had any real pregnancy cravings, just fluctuating taste. No other symptoms this week. One of my books said NO laying flat on your back after 16 weeks. I thought it was a little premature and my midwife confirmed it. She said I could continue to do yoga but if I became dizzy after lying flat on my back then just use something small to give even a tiny tilt to my torso. 

So without further ado, here's me after my appointment this morning. I wore something fitted to show off the belly, since hubby pointed out that's what "you're supposed to do in these kind of pictures". :)

Boy when I'm doing the "pregnant pose" it really does emphasize the bump. Without it I think I still just look pudgy.




Saturday, June 2, 2012

Baby White Week 16

So I made it through another week! This one went by pretty quick.

This week I took a photo in normal clothes so you can see no one knows I'm prego unless I tell :) But I don't know if they are wondering...

I'm still doing about the same with nausea. Last night for dinner John made pork chops. I tried so hard to have an appetite for them, but I just didn't. I forced myself  to eat a small amount, but when I tried a bite of the apples that got cooked with the porkchops, it sent me running to the porcelain throne. :(

But tonight I went to a baby shower and ate just fine! I love party food. It was really yummy.

I'm telling you- it's stuff that's cooked in our house that I have the hardest time eating. It just seems anything cooked on our stove or in our oven permeates every nook and cranny with this strong odor that just makes me feel yucky! If only all our meals could come to us already cooked.

That is one of the things I am looking forward to the most once my pregnancy is over- a normal sense of smell!

I don't think I've done anything to prepare for the baby this week. Unless you count that I went back to yoga class for the first time in two months... :) For now, I was able to do all the positions except plow (and I can't always do it even when I'm not pregnant). I did get winded more easily than before and I can tell "cobra" position is not going to be an option very much longer. But overall, I was glad to be back.

I did do some research for the baby this week. I looked over the hospital paperwork my midwife gave me. We are going to have to see if I'll have to add the baby to my plan in order for them to cover all the baby's hospital bills (retroactively). The thing is, the monthly premium for family coverage is a little more than double the payment for individual coverage (which I am already paying through the nose for since COBRA continuation of coverage was my only option). We plan on purchasing family coverage once the baby gets here (no one would write me a policy while I was pregnant), so it's not like we are keeping the insurance. So many things to consider.

One of the next things I need to do is schedule the free class the hospital offers where you kind of just get an intro, tour and fill out pre-admission paperwork. And if the baby is a boy, it's possible we'll have to pay for the circumcision out of pocket. Seems a lot of plans no longer cover this since the AAP deems it unnecessary. 

I also looked into Bradley classes. This is what I really wanted to do and I've heard great things about one of our local instructors. She teaches a 12 week course, but unfortunately to the tune of $250. I just don't think we are in a position to incur that expense right now. John says we should be able to get the basics through a book. Let's hope so.

So this week I took a photo in more "regular" clothes. Let me tell you, if I didn't put my hands under my belly, you wouldn't know anything was there :) I think I still just look a little more chubby than normal. Great.



I go next Friday for my appointment and to schedule our sonogram!!!!