Beyond Thankful

I have never felt so lucky and thankful as I do today. I try my hardest to be thankful for everything in my life, the good, the bad the ugly- everyday, not just on Thanksgiving. I try to see the upside in everything, the silver lining. So much that my co-workers probably hate me some days. The other day a girl in my office came in complaining that about the rain. "It could be worse" i told her. She shrugged and got her morning coffee.

A few days later we had our first 'snow'. This first 'snow' was about a month earlier than it was last year so everyone at work was talking about it. Everyone complained about how unprepared they were, and how much they were dreading the snow and the cold and blah blah blah. I told her- it could be worse. What if, for whatever reason, you were unable to see snow, or feel the breeze on your face? How easily we forget of all the blessings in our lives. We take so many things for granted now a days- its quite sad.

As i sit here, balancing my laptop on my belly, I am overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude. I can feel my baby kick as I type this. My heart flutters every time i think about the life that is growing inside of me. I still can't believe that soon I will have a baby in my arms. Sometime i am find myself speechless, dumbfounded. I try to comprehend and wrap my head around the miracle that is life. Seriously. I hate to gross anyone out- but seriously, a baby, a human life is developing from an egg and sperm. Ten little fingers and ten little toes. A beating heart. A personality.

Amazing.

And i am lucky enough to get to experience this. I am so lucky that this baby has chosen us to be his parents. I can't wait to meet my baby boy. Only a few weeks to go and i will get to hold him in my arms.

I am so thankful.

Time flies

As of today, I am only 92 days away from my due date. I was initially going to write 92 days away from meeting my sweet baby boy, or even better holding him- But chances of my baby boy being born on his due date are slim to none- and if he is anything like his mommy and daddy, he'll most likely be running late.

I'm a bit of a procrastinator, i can admit that. I haven't completely finished registering but im about 80% complete, at one location. =-/ trust me- its not that i dont want to finish, I just cant get Juju to take a break from all his studying. Thankfully his semester and my semester are both coming to an end- between his biology class and my 50+ page capstone paper our free time is usually split up between studying, writing, catching up on dishes, laundry, etc.

 I have yet to take another week of vacation at work, and i have to take it before Jan 31st. I plan to use a few days to bridge the upcoming holiday weekends and extend them to 3 separate 5 day off spans- did i lose you? That will leave me with 2 additional days to use in mid-to-end of January. I figured I could leave them unscheduled just case I feel the need to nest one morning as i get closer to my due date. 

I am anxiously counting down the days I have left of school. T minus.... 23 days until my last class, and 34 days until graduation. After that, well- really after my last day of class, Operation Baby Nest will be in full active mode. 

Baby Bucket List

I've read many people post about all the things they want to do before they have a baby. Some people want to travel, others want to pay down or off debt, others want to change careers or finish school.

While I do like to travel- I have to say that we did all the traveling our budget allowed us to. Sure, we didn't visit exotic places or stay at a Waldorf Astoria, but we did pretty much what we wanted to, when we wanted to.

Our finances- I don't think Suze Orman would approve the way we handle our finances but i'd like to think that we are in a good financial position. We deposit money in to our savings account every single week and we pay all of our bills on time.  We've paid off several outstanding debts and are on track to be debt free (with the exception of those pesky student loans) within the next year, give or take a month.

As far as school goes, I started my last class a few weeks ago. I have exactly 5 more nights of class and graduate on December 17th, only 7 weeks away. When we got married- I promised my mom that i would finish school, no matter what. And with that ladies and gentlemen will come a very much deserved promotion at work =-)

Juju and I will be married shy of three years when we bring our sweet baby boy into this world and I think the timing is perfect. Hell- if i found out I was pregnant 3 days after the wedding- the timing would have been perfect then too.

There is/was a few things that I would like to take care of  before the baby is born. There is a few things that we hope to have done before Dec 31st, 2012.

Household-

1. Purchase a washer and dryer 
• Must be high efficiency
• Must have Sanitize/Steam cycle
2. Redo flooring in Nursery
• Natural/Eco/Baby friendly
3. Redo our closet kitchen situation
• Minimum- new sink
• Add counter space

Personal-

1. Learn CPR and First Aid  (Newborn + Infant)
• Both Juju & I
2. Upgrade point and shoot to DSLR
3. Stop frivolous spending (ha!)
• limit take out/dining out 
4. Begin using coupons [before they expire]
5. Maternity leave stash
• Food (non-perishable; frozen)
• Household goods (toilet paper, detergent, face wash, etc)

Finances-

1. Pay off debt (goal date is Nov 2012) 
• Be halfway July 30th
2. Pay off Juju's car
• Before June 1st
3. Save 2 months worth of supplemental income
• maternity leave pay

Im sure there are tons of things that I am missing off this list. And yes- sure there will always be something that i could have done, or places i could have visited... but isn't that how life is? This isn't to bash people who want and actually do all those things- this is just one persons opinion of what I feel is important, again, to me. 

DIY Maternity Halloween Costume

Last friday I was honored with the most original costume ribbon at my friend Andrea's annual halloween party. Last year I won the sexiest costume ribbon - this year....not so much ;-)

Check it out.

I also took the opportunity to reveal the baby's gender. If you look closely, the baby is holding a blue rattle! Before I go on, I would like to point out that my eyeliner was not working for me that night. It was not even and was making my eyes look two completely different shapes/sizes. In real life they are relatively identical.

This was a DIY after I saw this shirt for sale here but I'm a bit of a procrastinator (found this on tuesday, party was on friday) and didn't want to spend 30 bucks on it either.

I saved the image and enlarged it.

I then put freezer paper over my scree and traced the skeleton.

I did the same for the baby skeleton 

 After carefully cutting the skeletons to create a stencil, I taped them onto a plain long sleeve maternity shirt. I then used fabric paint and sponged white paint into the stencil. I think i did 3 coats total. Once it was dry, I drew the rattle.

 Here is a picture of Andrea and I, proudly holding up my ribbon!

And here ais a picture of the girls - minus Erica... the little leopard hadn't arrived yet.

I have to say that I had as much fun this year as i did last year. While I didn't win round after round of beer pong I did learn to play flip cup and walked away on the winning side!

You'd be Amazed

at the number of posts that i have in my draft folder.

These days it seems like i start a post and get interrupted by the other 372 things that need my attention. Just wait till baby gets here. He'll probably do more blogging than i will.

Be patient and you will soon see:

DIY Maternity Costume
Baby Bucket List
Week 25 ( say what??) belly update
Random thoughts, but then again which of my thoughts aren't random?

Gender Reveal Party

Juju and I decided to host a gender reveal party for our family. I baked a gender reveal cake for my sister last October and she revealed my nephew gender during a family dinner. The beforehand mentioned nephews baptism was the following weekend after we found out so we decided to wait an additional week- you know, we didn’t want to steal his thunder.

We wanted to do something fun that would involve all of our family. We decided to have a barbecue, since it would possibly be the last one for the summer.

I hung baby shirts, socks, mittens and wash clothes on the clothesline, alternating between boy and girl colors. We hung plastic diaper pins along the fence. I covered the tables with white, pink and blue table covers.  I poured pink lemonade and blue raspberry drinks into clear pitcher, and used clear cups.

You can see where I was going with this.

To include everyone- We went around asking each person present what they thought Juju and I were having. Some people guessed based on intuition, others based on the fact that it was a “girl” year, or everyone they knew were having boys, and many had wives tales to help determine what we were having.

                                                                                                                          

According to a few common wives tale-

Cravings- sweet or salty? – Girl

Daintiness - Graceful or Clumsy?-  Boy

Skin- Acne or Glow? - Boy

Chinese gender calendar- Girl or Boy? - Girl

Dad’s weight Increase or No Increase? – Boy

Belly- High or Low? - Girl

Belly- Pointy or Wide? - Girl

Wives tale #1- Chain over hand or belly- Boy

Wives tale #2- Holding a baby of the opposite/same sex that you are carrying, apparently if it’s the same gender- baby is happy. If it’s the opposite gender- baby is not happy-  Boy

The consensus at the party was that I was having a baby girl.

13 votes for girl, 12 votes for boys – Girl

Tally:

Girl- 5

Boy- 5

We honored the grandparents to be by allowing them to bite into the gender revealing cake balls that we prepared (with the baby’s gender as the inside colors)

Here are a few shots of the party-

Sister in law + Nephews

Sister, Aunts, Cousins

Sister + current favorite nephew ( shhh- don't tell the others)

Brother, cousin, father in law + brother in law

(manning the rigged grill)

Sister in law, Brother in law + etc, etc

Family

Mo, Larry + Curly

Family

Me + My Daddy

Nats + Maria

Cwisty, Me, Maria + Nats

And finally the reveal- We lined them up (L ro R; FIL, MIL, my Daddy + my Mommy) gave them each a cake ball and told them to bite into it. Everyone watched in silence.

a closer look-

My Daddy, Me, My Son + His Daddy

Celebrating the reveal

Juju awkwardly grabbing my belly

And of course a celebration is not a celebration without the a shot of tequila.

To our sweet baby boy!

Cheers!

She accidentally told me

A few weeks ago, I had a routine doctors appointment back that quickly became one of the most exciting days of our lives, thus far- obvi. 

I had debated back and forth whether or not I wanted to find out the sex of the baby. I was leaning more towards not finding out, but Juju really really wanted to know. The odd thing is that I'm planner by nature. I like to know what we are doing, when and and with who. So you would assume that I would want to know for the baby planning right? 

Wrong. 

I thought it would be very exciting for us to find out if we were welcoming a baby boy or a baby girl in the delivery room. I was reluctant to 'give in' to finding out. Everyone was constantly asking what we were having and honestly I felt bad taking that away from Juju, as he was dying to know.

The day before my appointment my sister asked me whether or no we were going to find out the gender- my initial answer was no. One, I was only 16 weeks along- typically you find out at 20 weeks and secondly we hadn't come to a consensus as to whether we were going to find out or not. I was on the fence though- a part of me wanted to find out if i had a baby girl or a baby boy growing inside of me. Knowing his or her gender made it that much more real. I could stop saying it, or baby. I could call baby a him or her. 

I told Gaby- if baby shows him or self to us- seeing that it would be very early to tell anyway- it was God's will for us to find out.

And baby did. 

In an odd twist of events, i was asked to stay after my regular OB appointment to have an additional ultrasound. Unfortunately Juju had to go back to school, so i was on my own. A few minutes into the ultrasound, the sonographer proclaimed that baby was revealing itself to mommy- and spilled the beans.

I cried. I laughed- my belly shook. And sadly, Juju wasn't there. After that happened i decided to take the remainder of the day off from work so that I could surprise daddy in his own special way to tell him the baby's gender. We were able to keep it a secret for almost 2 weeks until our gender reveal party-which we had at 18 weeks.

Dont worry that'll post will come tomorrow ;-)

21 weeks

Please excuse the missing photo. Mr.Wonderful has misplaced our camera. I assure you my belly is getting big. I will post a picture this week.

Total Weight Gain: 15 (rough estimate since my scale tends to be moody)

Maternity Clothes: I did it. I officially bought maternity tops and bottoms. The small maternity "trousers" ( funny word right?- what am i 80?) fit a bit loose. 

Sleep:  Thank the lord Juju has an 8 a.m class monday through wednesday. Because of this class he now thinks that going to bed at 10 pm, instead of our usual midnight or later, is a fantastic idea. You know who benefits the most from this? right here. me. So i sleep a solid 7 hrs a night now. I sleep on either side with a body pillow support my belly and helping ease hip/back pain. 

Symptoms: This week i have been experiencing some lower right side rib cage pain. Mostly when i sit or sleep- but getting up to walk around every once and a while eases the pain. Nothing too bothersome though.

What I'm looking forward to: My next ultrasound in a few days!

Cravings: Fruit- anything citric. Chicken Nuggets. Chorizo con papas. Anything with cheese in it.

Aversions: Nothing currently.

Movement: Oh! So those weren't gas bubbles. I started to feel my sweet baby move in there about a month ago i would say. I just wasnt 100% sure if that was the baby or just my stomach. Baby has now progressed to kicks. and over the last few days they have become combination kicks and what i assume are punches.

  

Gender: I have a little secret!!

What I miss: Red Wine, Tequila.  I know this seems terrible- but i truly miss me a margarita, original- on the rocks

Milestone: I am noticeable pregnant. People can stop assuming i've just gained weight.

What no one tells you, but i will: Go ahead and put away those tiny lacy thongs, g-strings, tangas and everything in between. Hello Big Momma Drawes'. The last thing you will want up your rear is a dental floss. Trust me. This doesn't meant that you cant have sexy big momma drawes'. I stocked my underwear basket with lacy cheeky boy shorts, also one size larger than usual, in a variety of colors and animal prints. Rarrrr.

Halfway & Thankful

I am officially halfway through my pregnancy! I know- I cant believe it either ;-) I thank God that i have had a relatively smooth pregnancy thus far. When people ask me how I'm doing or how I'm feeling- I always say great, which isn't a lie.

I know a few other pregnant women who can't seem to stop complaining about every.single.thing. I can't speak for them- since I have yet to throw up, (stops typing...) and i haven't been nauseated by the sun, or by the stop and go traffic. But a enormous part of me feels guilty for even remotely complaining about back pain... or new this week... ribcage pain- Because i know that somewhere, out there, there is a woman yearning for a positive test result- who would gladly throw up 4 times a day, and sleep 4 hrs a night, and live with constant headaches, and get stretch marks in places you didn't event know existed- just to be lucky enough to call herself pregnant. 

And I am that lucky. God has chosen us as the parents of this sweet baby growing inside of me. Every ache, every tingle, every thing seems so minuscule in comparison of the great reward that awaits us in parenthood.

Lately I've been asked a lot if childbirth scares me. Sure it does. As any first time mother- I'm apprehensive. I've heard both horror stories and 'oh it isn't as bad as they say' stories. I try not to think about it so much ( as in the pain ) because really, at the end of the day- if that's the price one must pay to be called mommy, it seems all worth while. Don't get me wrong, I would like to try to prepare myself, mentally, physically & spiritually, as much as i can. I'll do everything that i can do in my power- and leave the rest in God's hands.

So thank you God- for my sore hips, my achy back, my heavy boobs. Thank you for giving us this opportunity. Thank you for entrusting us with your most precious gift. I promise we'll do the best we can.

It was all a dream

I cant count the number of nights that Juju has awakened me from a bad dream.... or is laughing his ass off because im talking in my sleep or I wake up and talk about my current dream- not knowing it was a dream.

Every since I got pregnant I have been having dreams- good, bad & ugly- just about every night. Ive read that you have very vivid dreams while pregnant. I've had all sorts of dreams. I have trouble sleeping through the night at this point in my pregnancy as it is... now throw in crazy dreams every night?!... that makes for a very sleepy pregnant woman the next day!

I once dreamt that juju was living 2 houses away from me, while being married. I woke up mid dream and told him that it would be a lot easier for us to cuddle if he moved closer.

The most recent dream included John Galliano, Yes. Galliano. He wanted me to join him as a groupie... of all women.  Go figure.

A few days ago I had one of the most beautiful dreams. EVER. I saw my baby in my dreams. The baby had a head full of hair and it was just perfect. It was so realistic. I woke up and told Juju that I saw the baby in my dreams- to which he responded... You know that doesn't count right?!?  I cant wait to meet my sweet sweet baby!

18 weeks

Total Weight Gain: 10 pounds [i blame the boobs and the baby ;-)]

Maternity Clothes: Stretchy bottoms and medium tops. I have yet to venture in to full blown maternity clothes, but i have a feeling it wont be very much longer.

Sleep:  I generally get about 5-6 hours of sleep a night. Not ideal i know- My body has this self timing self wake up at about 4 in the morning. Then i simply lay in bed just waiting to fall back asleep.

Symptoms: i find myself getting OUT. OF. BREATH. a lot easier than before. Since i've always generally stayed around the same weight... these extra few pounds have been making my back a little achy. But no big complaints here. 

What I'm looking forward to: Feeling my sweet baby move, punch, kick, somersault. DO SOMETHING.

Cravings: I have been very thirsty lately. thirsty for pineapple mango smoothies from McDonalds! yum. That and roast beef sandwiches. =-)

Aversions: Parmesan cheese. Just the smell of it turns me off. But i can still tear up some Fettucine Alfredo!

Movement: Nothing yet

  

Gender: Unknown

What I miss: Chai Latte, Red Wine

Milestone: I am noticeable pregnant. People can stop assuming i've just gained weight.

What no one tells you, but i will: Those cute 7.5 borderline 8 size shoes you used to wear? Kiss'em goodbye. Your feet are going to grow. And i'm not talking about swelling. I mean GROW. I've read that your bone structure in your feet changes to accommodate your weight gain. I have work heels in about 10 weeks. Do you know how hard that is for me? I am a slave to these cute (looks at shoes) black flats int size NINE & HALF. ( for the record i normally wear an 8.5/9)

Taking Care of My Baby

Cookie is my fur baby ya'll. She's the current boss at home, don't tell her, and I love her to death.  Last week I noticed an odd looking patch of hair on her back. After doing some research I self diagnosed her with ringworm. I went to petco/petsmart and purchase an anti-fungal shampoo and conditioner. In my research I read that it can be passed on to other dogs, i.e. Leche ( my in-laws dog) and humans!

I decided to take her in to the vet. We are still waiting for the ringworm test results to come back, but she did test positive for a bacterial skin infection. A couple hundred dollars later and a bag full of meds we are on day 4 of her antibiotics. 

The trick you see... is getting her to take it twice a day, for 14 days. 

So my brilliant husband decided to 'gut' a goldfish cracker and stuff her antibiotic in it. Clever eh? after the second dose he was a pro at carving out (not pulverizing like me) the outer layer of the cracker, as if he had done it a million times in the past. Kinda made me nervous- not gonna lie. 

But you know they say that behind a good man theres a great woman?  I opened a jar of skippy and slathered a healthy portion on top.

She loves the fished cuz' their so delicious, and nutritious.

Holy Belly!

How far along: 16 weeks

 "Hurry up babe i have to pee for the 67th time today!"

Total Weight Gain: 7 pounds

Maternity Clothes: For the past few weeks i have been living in dresses, Ponte pants and  loose, flowy (or medium sized) tops. I can still wear things with buttons... like jeans- but i cant come close to buttoning them. I do wear them unbuttoned with a belly band. Actually... now that i think about it- I haven't been able to button pants for a few weeks now. hmm. I DID buy 2 maternity dresses and a pair of maternity jeans because they were a good deal but the jeans are still too big. Although the dresses are maternity i would hardly consider them maternity, i mean they do have an elastic empire waist and all, but i think they mainly accommodate the girls. And don't event get me started on those- I had to go up 2 cup sizes already. ALREADY!!

Sleep:  My left side lower back/buttocks/aciatic nerve area have been bothering me, specially throughout the night. I have started to randomly wake up multiple times in the middle of the night, and not because i have to pee mind you, but just because. Matter of fact i have never been that person who wakes up just to pee. I usually pee right before bed and as soon as i wake up- move out the way...

Symptoms: Thankfully i have had a pretty smooth first trimester. I haven't experienced any morning sickness. I do begin to feel a little nauseous if i go too long between meals. There was a few days were it got really hot in these parts of town, that didnt make me feel so good either. Slight back discomfort mentioned above. 

What I'm looking forward to: Feeling my sweet baby move, punch, kick, somersault.

Cravings: When i first found out i pregnant i was craving hot dogs non-stop. I could seriously eat one everyday. I've read that you shouldn't have hotdogs but thankfully they were referring to uncooked hotdogs due to potential bacteria growth called Listeria monocytogene. Other than that i only crave something after someone mentions it, for example say you casually mention spaghetti and meatball. Lightbulb. All systems go on that craving until i actually eat it.

Aversions: Lunch time. I don't know what it is about the mere thought of lunch- but it makes me feel uneasy. I still eat and what not... but as soon as the clock hits noon i cant help but shutter.

Movement: Nothing yet

  

Gender: Unknown

What I miss: Chai Latte, Red Wine

Milestone: First trimester is over!

What no one tells you, but i will: You get gassy. I mean G.A.S.S.Y. and you know how sometimes you fart and your like sniff sniff. meh- no big deal. oh boy. yeah not these farts... Even you, yourself, will be shocked. Juju is. Every time.  Thankfully they occur in the evenings and during the night.

"Gas? What gas? that wasn't me!"