Week 18

How far along? 18 Weeks! Where is time going, I feel like that writing this all down maybe making time go faster

How big is Nugget? Sweet Potato, yum I can't wait to cook this one.  Dufda hates sweet potatoes so I never buy them.

 

What did I do with last week's fruit?  That onion is still sitting on my dining room table, I have been far to lazy to clean the kitchen to actually cook. Update: I used this onion here.

Total weight gain? 14lbs

Maternity Clothes?  I am stuck on this black pair of "capris" I got from my facebook resale group.  They are my favortie because although they are capris, they look like perfectly tailored pants on me.

Best moment this week? Finding out Nugget's gender!

Miss Anything? The other day I had a total break down because I insisted that every glass in our house smelled, so I couldn't drink anything.  Then this lady walked in my office and I swear she smelled like Oxi clean for pets.  Walking down the street, this man smelled like he rolled in baby powder today.  This came out of no where and I want it to stop.  Moral of the rambling I want to miss my crazy pregnancy nose!

Food Cravings? Dijon Mustard?  I know, weird.

Anything making you queasy or sick?  I have been trying to play a game with myself called "How long can I go without taking my Zofran."  I don't get very far because I usually lose right around the time I go to brush my teeth.  I just want to be off of all these meds.  On another note, I swear pregnancy gives you amnesia.  Throwing up once a day seems really awful right now, I don't know how I was putting up with throwing up all day long before.  Like right now, I am so happy being pregnant.  I say right now, because in 10 seconds I can go bat shit cray and tell Dufda that he better rip this baby out of me now.  I think this has happen in our house...more then once.

Gender? See for yourself

Belly Button in our out? In

Movement?  Nugget's been shy this week, just a couple random taps.  He did kick the sonographer though and I actually felt it.

Wedding rings on or off?  I am in this constant battle against these beautiful rings that I had to have.  When I take them off, I literally feel like I just released all this stress off of me and my entire layer of skin starts singing bible hymns.  I guess in our family it would be Quran verses.  Let me tell you, if I started singing Quran verses, Dufda would probably rub feet without me asking, or maybe atleast do the dishes.  I don't think they actually sing Quran verses though, but I will ask Dufda. Side story:  So in my misguided education of the Islam religion I really wanted to make Eid al-Fitr a special day for Dufda.  I left work earlier and headed to the mall to go shopping for presents.  I thought it would be like our Christmas.  I got him little presents from the dogs: socks, underwear, undershirts, candy, Starbuck's gift card and food.  I got him bigger presents:  a whole workout outfit and some new cologne.  I was so excited!  I wrapped everything up and presented it to Dufda.  It was wrapped in super hero bags, which made it even cooler.  I found a card online and wrote, in arabic, Happy Eid! or something along those lines.  Dufda was definitely excited and it was a ton of fun.  He later told me that only children get presents for the Eid. Anyway back to the rings, it depends.

Looking forward to?  Setting up Nugget's nursery!

Dufda quote of the week?  Me: 'My head hurts really bad."  Dufda: "That is because it can't comprehend how beautiful you are being pregnant."  He could be full of crap but I love that he says these silly things to me all the time.

Nugget's a Boy!

If you have been reading along, you know that I have been waiting to find out the gender of Nugget since conception.  We went through all the old wives and they pretty much said boy.  Then the lovely people over at Intelligender provided me with a test and it said boy. Well, we went on Saturday and

We couldn't be more thrilled!  I originally really wanted a girl, but then the week before decided I really wanted a boy.  We decided to do an elective ultrasound at Insight Imaging in Monroeville.  I highly suggest you do the same if you are in the Pittsburgh area.  The experience was far better than anything I could imagine. 

Let's start by telling you about the day leading up to the ultrasound.  The night before I was a nervous wreck, completely worked up.  I was getting sick and thinking that this weekend is suppose to be special and I can't be sick and miserable for it.  Dufda and I stayed in and had hot dogs for dinner, which is pretty unusual because Friday is our date night.  After the hot dogs I felt better, so we went to go get coffee.  I went to go take a sneak peak at Baby Gap to pick out some options for Nugget's first outfit.  This was an event that I prefaced Dufda on the week preceding the ultrasound.  He didn't think it was the important, but I wanted Nugget's first real outfit to be bought the day we found out the sex.  So we go home and go to bed, even though I am so excited I almost can't sleep.

The next day I woke up around 7 am.  I had said to myself the night before that I didn't want to get out of bed till 10:30am to make things go faster.  I got up and got ready anyway.  I was trying really hard to not wake Dufda because this would just make him enjoy the day less.  I decided that this was a super special occasion and that I need to be dressed up for it.  Task in itself when you are pregnant.  I scour my closet and come up with this outfit:

I make Dufda take a picture any time I look more pregnant than fat.  Today I was very happy with my clothing choice and it made me forget about how sick I was.  So we leave to go to the ultrasound place around 11:30am to make sure we are there on time.  The actual office is very indiscreet.  You enter the building and then go into an even smaller office space.  At this time I am thinking we are going to be seeing Nugget on a tiny screen in a doctor exam room.  Boy was I wrong!  When we get taken back into the room it is enormous.  The technician says they are able to fit about 21 people in there.  There are couches and art work and something much similar to a bed for me to lay on.  The best part: Nugget is going to be displayed on a huge projection screen right in front of me.  Here is a picture to give you an idea of how big the screen is:

Those are Dufda's hands, so this screen was huge.  This moment is when the technician asked us if we knew what our little Nugget was.  We both said boy without any doubt.  She then pointed out all of Nugget's parts to us.  We saw Nugget suck his thumb, wave to us, moon us, and at times, freak the crap out of me because he looked like an alien.  The best part was that everything the technician was doing was placed on a dvd for us to take home.  Along with the dvd I got about 20-30 pictures of Nugget.  This is my favorite:

He looks like a little gremlin here!  The technician gave us a sneak peak of what our baby will look like 3D as well.  We are going back in December to have a 3D/4D ultrasound done and this made me very excited.  We couldn't see much, but enough to know Nugs looks like a baby and maybe has Dufda's nose...

I will keep you updated when I go back for the 3D/4D, but I bet my experience will be just as great, if not better.

So we went to Baby's R Us first to shop for Nugget.  I got him a little outfit that says Mommy's little monster.  Then at Baby Gap we got him a little brown plaid button down, that totally looks like something Dufda would wear.  I did not think I would enjoy shopping for baby boy clothes as much as baby girls, but it is definitely fun and everything is super adorable.  I really wanted to get him mini-me Dufda shoes

But let's be serious, what newborn needs $20 shoes?  Aren't they cute though?  Maybe when they go on sale.

We are having a...

 BOY!!!

Well at least that is what Intelligender says.  Intelligender is a fun pre-birth gender prediction test.  This urine based test is easy to use and can be preformed right in your own bathroom.  You are able to use this test as early as 10 weeks into your pregnancy!  Sure breaks up that wait till the 20 week ultrasound. Intelligender has a great Facebook page, you can "Like" them here.

Intelligender is super easy to use.  This is what you will get in the box:

Please ignore my bathroom in the background.  Intelligender needs to be used with the first morning urine,which this morning was around 5am and I was not going to clean.  So the contents of the box include the actual test, a syringe, and instructions.  You can see that the test is already filled with the testing powder.  This will determine the sex of your baby.  Wanna read more about Intelligender, they have an awesome blog!

In the first step, you must collect your first morning urine.  You will then suck that urine up in the provided syringe.  You need 20mL.  At first I was thinking 20 mL is a whole lot of pee, but who was I kidding, I am pregnant and can pee for days.  There is a seal on top of the actual test.  When you remove this seal, it reveals a plug that you insert the syringe into.  You will then fill the test with the 20 mL of your urine.  You swirl the test for 10 seconds, it specifies to not shake.  The test needs to then sit for 5 minutes on a white piece of paper (for easy reading).  I hopped in the shower and set my alarm, because for me 5 minutes would have taken forever if I wasn't occupied.  When I got out to take the pictures, there was no denying that Intelligender says we are having a boy!  Here is the test on the girl side:

The color matches the boy side much better.  All in all, this test is fun.  I was even slightly nervous waiting for the results.  We have not gone out and bought anything blue, though.  I do thank Intelligender for providing the test for a review, and giving Dufda even more reason to think that Nugs is a boy. 

I have said I felt like we are having a boy, more of the old wive tales say we are having a boy, now Intelligender is saying boy as well.  The other day I had even decided that I think I want a boy.  We will find out the real answer on Saturday, but for now I am thinking it is a boy.  In the mean time, follow Intelligender on Twitter and Pinterest to learn more about how Intelligender is proven right 87.6% of the time!  And I promise, the next post on gender won't be a tease, but the real results of the ultrasound.

Update:  Check here to see if Intelligender was correct.

Pregnancy Survival Kit Giveaway!

At 17 weeks pregnant, I am starting to experience the pains and discomfort that a pregnancy brings.  I am constantly looking for a new relief.  One of the greatest solutions I have found is using hot and cold to remedy my pains.  In my search for a product that would help with this, I came across HotColdComfort.com.  Not only do they offer several natural pain relief products, but they have a Pregnancy Survival Kit that fits all your pregnant, swollen, sore body needs.  

In this kit you are going to get a Microwave Neck Wrap, Medium Size Microwave Hot or Cold Pack, and my favorite the Footwarmer Heat Packs.  Everything that you receive in this kit is filled with flaxseed and rice for maximum heat and cold retention.  They can be warmed in the microwave or chilled in the freezer.  Along with a great selection of fabric options, you also get to choose from unscented, lavender or chamomile.  I think this kit makes a great gift to yourself or as a baby shower gift.  Why not stand out from the masses of onesies and wipes and give a unique gift to the mom-to-be.

I know another symptom that pregnancy has brought on are these awful migraines.  Being that Tylenol is our only pregnancy approved option for quick relief, I need another solution.  HotColdComfort.com offers options for migraine relief, too.  You can get a whole kit!  I also really like their eye pillows.  So what ever your ailment is, HotColdComfort.com has a natural, pregnancy safe solution just for you.

Wanna get your very own kit?  You can purchase one at HotColdComfort.com.  But first, "Like" their Facebook page for specials and discounts.  My Jordanian Nugget has also teamed with HotColdComfort.com to give away a Pregnancy Survival Kit to one lucky reader!  Just enter below, Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Whose "genes" will Nugs be wearing?

I am super excited to give birth to our little Nugget, mostly because I want to see what this little swirl baby looks like.  With Dufda being Jordanian and me being plain old American, I hope our child gets the best of both worlds. I don't find Dufda to be very Middle Eastern looking, but then again it could be because I look at him more than anyone, so he is my normal.

I remember being at Dave and Busters as a child playing with the baby morpher game they had.  It would spew out these crazy looking kids based on merging two peoples pictures together.  I thought this was awesome and a lot of fun, so I thought I would do that with our pictures.

First, I would like the baby to have my color of eye, my teeth and my nose.  Everything else can come from Dufda.  This is what my dream baby would look like : ):

Does this creep you out? Well, it should.  Hopefully our baby get's Dufda's skin, his thick hair and his eye shape.  Now The Bump has a real Baby Morpher where you plug in your pictures and what sex you are having and it creates a baby for you.  Wanna play, Go here! This is what it says our girl will look like.

I find this baby to be creepier than the picture I made.  Why are all of her feature squished to the center of her face?  Why does she look African?  And why was she born trying to imitate stupid girls on Facebook with her duck face?  So on to the boy and a new morpher:

This to me looks a lot like a girl, but more like what I could imagine our Nugget to look like.  This picture, although a lot like you are on some drugs, is far less creepy and more human like.  Both of these picture tell me that most likely the baby will have brown eyes, but it looks like I may get Dufda's locks.  Either way I hope I have a cute baby.  Is there really anything worse then a super ugly baby that everyone tells you is so cute because that is what they are suppose to say.

Week 17

How far along? 17 weeks

How big is Baby? Onion

 

What did I do with last week's fruit? That avocado was the best damn avocado I had in awhile.  Dufda doesn't like them, but every time I have one he wants to try it but then hates it.  He does this frequently and it makes me mad when I give him something I love and he just wastes it.

Total weight gain? 12 lbs eek!

Maternity Clothes?  I love anything stretchy because it makes me look pregnant.  When I try to convert my old clothes to fit I just look fat.

Best moment this week? We finally got rid of the pink wall and pink and green polka dots in our bedroom.  We now have a nice serene, adult room to sleep in.

Miss anything?  I have re-instituted my coffee everyday now that I am safely into my second trimester.  I could have lived without but I still have no energy so the coffee helps.  Any way so I longer have to miss coffee.  I don't think there was anything I was particular sad about not having this week.  I even started to pack myself some turkey sandwiches for lunch.

Food cravings? Popcorn and oranges and lots of fruit!

Anything making you queasy or sick?  I went a whole week without throwing up! Wahoo!!  The meat section is still hard for me and I haven't purchased meat in weeks.  Dufda has to go buy it seperately and cook it without me seeing it.

Gender?  The weekend is coming quickly.  I need to occupy the crap out of my days so that this week flies.  I am still not sure how we will tell everyone, but I am going to come up with something by then.

Belly Button in or out?  In, but I have a weird belly button.  It has a little outtie portion that I have had all my life that is filled with fluid.  This is now starting to migrate over to the one side making my belly button look even more odd than it already did.

Movement?  Felt my first kicked this week! A bunch of random flutters as well.

Wedding rings on or off? We are on while we are out and I look pregnant, off when you can't tell I am pregnant.

Looking forward to?  Finishing the baby's room.  Dufda picked out the color and I think it is going to turn out really cute.

Dufda quote of the week?  I don't have a specific quote but he did say something that I thought made a lot of sense.  I have a hard time because it is like people do not allow you to excited about being pregnant until you look like you are ready to pop and you no longer want to be excited any more.  Everyone has an opinion and especially since this is my first baby, people want to negate your excitement for what reason I will never know.  So Dufda told me one day that you have to understand that people aren't living this everyday like you are.  That they don't see the changes that you are going through.  He had said that he was just starting to get it.  This totally made sense to me, doesn't really make me understand why people can't just be happy for you and keep their stupid comments to themselves, but it makes sense.

We had a prenatal appointment this week.  Everything looked good, my uterus was where it is suppose to be and the heart beat was between 140-150 bpm.  I scheduled our anatomy scan for October 13 which I am super excited to have another chance to see Nugs!

We had a super fun bonfire this weekend with friends.  It is so hard for us all to get everyone together, but it was nice because all of our lives are going to be changing here very shortly.

These 3 girls belong to my very short list of friends that have been there through everything.  We have known each other since we were about 6!  Right now everyone has some big milestone that is happen: Lauren is moving to another state, starting a new job, and getting married next year; Bri is also getting married next year: I am having a baby, although in this picture it looks like I just need to lay off the potato chips; and Liz is moving cross the country to start her new job.  Any way it was great to have a night to hang out before everyone went their separate ways.

On another note, Dufda and I attempted our first house renovations together this weekend.  Details will come regarding the actual project later.  I have come to the conclusion that maybe you should try to paint a room before you get married to see if you can handle it.  Dufda and I are both know-it-alls, although Dufda seems to be an expert in more things than I am.  So the problem comes when we know everything but the everything that we know is not the same.  You are using too much paint!  You aren't using enough paint! Well I tried to make it work, but after it was all said and done I just had to have this project as my own.  Dufda please go sleep on the couch and I will let you hold the paint container when I do the ceiling : ).

Naming the Nugget

The countdown begins to the ultrasound to find out what our little nugget is...I really hope it isn't a dinosaur.  To kill time I figured I would write about all things we have been thinking about up to this event. First up is what is Nugget's name going to be!

When I knew that I would be having children with Dufda, a Jordanian Muslim, I knew that the name choices that I had dreamed about my whole life were about to be thrown out the window and I was totally o.k with this.  If my last name was Smith, maybe my choices would have worked out better, it isn't so back to the drawing board.  The name of our baby always had two requirements: 

1. I must be able to pronounce the name

2. My mother must be able to pronounce the name

This sounds easy, right?  Wrong!  Jordanians have a way of adding the GH to the beginning of their names that makes it near impossible for us westerns to pronounce.  Throw on top of that my mother's sheer inability to read or simply repeat after me, we have our choices cut down greatly.  I also wanted the baby to have some sort of Middle Eastern name.   I toyed with our American names a little and they don't have the same air about them that a good Middle Eastern name has. Although, we know that no child of mine will ever possess these names, let's check out what names are topping the charts right now:

Boys Names

1. Jacob

2. Mason

3. William

4. Jayden

5.Noah

6. Michael

7. Ethan

8. Alexander

9. Aiden

10. Daniel

Girl Names

1. Sophia

2. Isabella

3. Emma

4. Olivia

5. Ava

6. Emily

7. Abigail

8. Madison

9. Mia

10. Chloe

My child won't have a popular name, because I had a popular name and I know how much it sucks.   Samantha is the 49th most popular name over the last 100 years, with about 536,186 Samantha's in the U.S.  Way to be original Mom and Dad. Wanna see where you name falls?  Click Here   I manage student housing for people who are, well duh, students.  They are in the 19-24 year old range.  I get this phone call from parents all the time:

Me: Thank you for calling Mckee Place Apartments. This is Samantha.  How can I help you?

Annoying Check Writer Parent: Aww Samantha, I won't forget your name because that is my daughter's name too!

Really! I never heard that one before.  I would like to respond with you and the 6 other people on my block who all named their daughters Samantha, but I just tell them how fantastic that is.  So after all that rambling, my child will not have a popular name.  And no there weren't 6 Samantha's on my block, there were three.  My brother, he is Josh, let's not even begin to count how many Josh's were on his soccer team.  I think it was close to 5.  

I told Dufda when we got married that he was able to chose the boy's name, if it met my two requirements.  He picked Jad, it's like Chad with a "J".  It isn't that hard, but my mother seems to still mess it up.  The name Jad is of Arabic orgin and means Benevolent.  In America, it means curly and frizzled.  I like both, so if Nugs is a boy, Jad will be the name.

So you think that if Dufda gets to pick the boy's name, then I would get to pick the girl's name.  Well your wrong, apparently Dufda still gets to pick the girl's name.  I was dead set on naming this baby Rya Yasmine, but then I realized that Rya with our last name was quite the tongue twister.  This led me to downloading every baby naming app there was and coming up with this list:

Ara

Azizah

Amberlee

Amira

Caliana

Raniyah

Zara

Monroe

Finlee

Kinda

After presenting my list to Dufda, naming this baby got really frustrating, real quick.  He didn't like any of them.  Personally, my favorite was Caliana.  Kinda wasn't on the list when Dufda received it.  We were actually driving down the road daydreaming about our future family and Dufda goes, "What about Kinda for a girl?"  Naturally I wanted to hate it, just because he came up with it, but I didn't hate it, in fact I loved it.  I know most of you look at that name and think it kinda looks like kinda.  Kinda is pronounced K ih n d ah, it rhymes with Linda (my mom, Linda herself, should be able to master this one) and means state of Arabia.  So after a plea to Dufda to please let me choose the girl's name, I think he gave in.  I am thinking Kinda Ann.  Ann is my middle name, and although I never thought of using it, Dufda gets his name on the birth certificate so I think I should get part of mine too.  Not that it will change my mind but what girls name would you have chosen off the list?



There's an App for that

I have a smart phone, who doesn't now a days, well my mother doesn't but that is a whole other battle that you don't want to be at their house for.  It is probably the one thing that I have with me all the time.  So what better way to keep track of your pregnancy then with your phone.  Of course, I love the traditional books and calendars to write in.  If you are looking for those, check out the ones that I used here and here.

I started using pregnancy applications to first find out when I could get pregnant.  The first one I downloaded was the free version of My Days.  I love this app and have it on my phone and my tablet.

My Days gives your the ability to track your periods over time to come up with the most likely time for you to conceive.  I started using this well before we were TTC and I give it the credit for us getting pregnant so fast.  Along with your periods, you can also track when you had sex, if you took your birth control pill, your weight, basal body temperature, blood flow, cervical mucus and mood.  Over time it will produce charts for you on your menstrual cycles and ovulation dates.

You can see in this picture what the calendar looks like.  A long press on any day will give you the option to add in the information.  The dark red at the beginning of the month is when you start your period.  This application will predict when your period will end based on past periods, too.  The faint yellow squares are when you are most fertile and the darker yellow square is when you ovulate.  These are populated based on when you start your period.  The hearts are when you have sex and finally the baby shows when your pregnancy started.

This screen helped me out when I went to my first prenatal appointment.  These are all time periods that you will need to answer on your first questionnaire.  I was simply able to pull this up and have the information for over a year at my fingertips.

Now that you know how to use an application to help you get pregnant, the following applications are ones that I use now that I am pregnant.

I will start with my least favorite of them all.  Pregnancy Buzz is The Bump's smart phone application.  This is not linked to The Bump which I think it the worse part of the app.  Since it is not linked, you will not be able to see any tickers, which makes it hard to follow.   I usually use this if I am really bored and have nothing else to look at. 

There is a 411 section to this app that is similar to the community tab on the actual Bump.  The downfall here is that there are no categories.  You will have people TTC mixed in with people in their 3rd trimester who have had enough of reading about "My boobs hurt, do you think I am pregnant?".  Seems pretty minor to most, but when you follow these boards, the same questions come through time and time again.

The next two are my favorite.  They are used for actual tracking of your pregnancy.  I have two for no specific reason, but I like the second one better than the first.

Everyone who is alive has heard of What to Expect When You're Expecting.  Well they took that big encyclopedia of a book and turned it into a pretty good phone application.  When you download this, you enter your estimated due date and you are good to go.

This will keep track of how far along you are, what trimester you are in and how big the baby is.  I get particularly excited to see the next week's fruit/veggie  You can also see, at the bottom of this screen shot, that you have a button for the week, the day, photos and forums.  I will show you a couple of these buttons.

Everyday you will learn a new tidbit about your baby and body.  They have daddy tips as well.  These can be anything from what you should be eating, to the day baby first formed fingerprints to where to find the best maternity bathing suit.  There are some repeats but for the most part it is good information.

Each week you will get an in depth look at the current milestones and what to expect in the coming weeks.  There is a body and baby section that are both very informative.

This next application is my favorite.  I did pay for the upgraded version so all features may not be available if you get the free version.

This is the Baby Bump application.  It is very similar to the previous one, but has a nicer interface and couple more features.  The home screen will give you an overview of your pregnancy and contains the menu.

It has the same system for giving you information as What to Expect, but the information is usually different, that is why I have both.  As with the other, there is a day and week info button.  This application shows you what the baby looks like as well as it's most likely placement in your tummy.

This screen shot is for adding notes about the day, that will in turn create a journal for you.  You also have a kick counter, contraction counter, baby names dictionary, and birth button.  I have used the baby names the most so far.  Their lists are separated by different origins, sex and whatever other filter you would like to add.

Hope you enjoyed the breakdowns of the apps that I am using.  I really think they make pregnancy fun for you and your partner.  I always snap screen shots of the info I want Dufda to read and send it over.  I tried to get him Baby Bump for his phone but he said he was embarrassed to have such a girly app on his home screen, Really?! who would even see that!

What TTC/pregnancy apps are your favorite?

The Snoogle!

I started getting uncomfortable while sleeping very early on in my pregnancy.  There were a couple of days I could barely walk, my hips hurt so bad.  I knew I needed a good pillow, but I really didn't want to spend the money on one.  Every blog post that I read regarding pregnancy pillows said, get it earlier then you think you need it.  Finally while getting my daily dose of my March Moms Facebook group, someone mentioned a deal they found at Burlington Coat Factory.   Here is what you have to do:  Go here and register your email address.  This isn't the same as registering with the website.  You will then get a 20% off coupon.  You need to print this out and although it says you need an ID, I didn't have one and they still took it.  I found the Snoogle's back in the baby department, by the Boppies.  They have a base price of $39.99.  This is definitely the cheapest I have seen: Baby's R Us is at $64.00, Amazon has it for for $52.99, and Drugstore.com has it for $54.99, so this is a very good deal.  Add in your 20% off coupon and you just got a Snoogle for $32, well $34 something with tax. Enough with the pricing, on to whether or not this pillow is actually worth it...

What is the Snoogle?

On top of being the most awesome pillow ever, it is a full-body pillow that is in the shape of a "C".  It supports your back, goes in between your knees, cradles your tummy, and props your head up all at the same time.  You can use it in several different posistions depending on what works for you.

What are my thoughts on the Snoogle?

I thought this pillow was going to be so large that it would push Dufda out of the bed.  Not the case at all, I have the long end to the far side of the bed and it doesn't take up any additional space.  I was disappointed with the fabric used for the Snoogle, but I knew it was slightly scratchy from the beginning.  You do not receive a cover with the pillow, so you must purchase one on your own.  I would definitely get one because washing the whole pillow would probably be really hard.  I laid down with it as soon as I brought it home and it was magical.  You are elevated in all the right places.

Overall, I think this is a must have for anyone who is pregnant.  I wouldn't have bought it at full price, though.  I am currently having issues ordering a cover for the pillow.  Amazon has screwed up my order twice.  I think I will like this even more when I get the appropriate cover.

October Series Annoucement

I am starting my first series in October, which is hosted by The Nesters.  This is a 31 day challenge where you pick a topic and blog about it for 31 days.  Last year, nearly 700 bloggers took part.  Wanna join in?  After some brainstorming while I was trying to fall asleep/being woken up every other hour to pee, this is what I have come up with: 31 days to a more beautiful and useful home.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I need to do this, and I need to do it now.  My basement will hopefully be the grand finale at the end of October.  Wish me luck and tune in October 1st to follow me and all other bloggers taking on the challenge. Next step: Make a button! Here is what I came up with!

Week 16

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How far along? 16 weeks

How big is Baby? Avocado

What did I do with last week's fruit?  Typically I hate to eat oranges because I don't know how to peel them without making a mess.  To solve this I just hand it to Dufda who takes care of the dirty work.  That orange was the best that I have had in awhile.  I bought some more, well I thought I did, near the end of the week, handed it to Dufda, fruit aficionado, who immediately tells me that what I bought was not an orange.  Apparently, I purchased minneolas?  What ever the heck that is, didn't matter because they were delicious as well.


Really? I think it's an orange

Total weight gain? 8lbs

Maternity Clothes?  I am starting to clean out my closet.  Read why here.  So with that I am finding things that I could wear as maternity clothes that are just my normal clothes.  I have a feeling that winter is going to be hard though.

Best moment this week?  I love Dufda more this week than ever.  Dufda and I had a hard time at the beginning of this pregnancy.  He was trying to get use to having a sick wife and I wasn't making him any happier because I was in a bad mood over the fact that I didn't love being pregnant.  I thought being pregnant was going to be all glowing and empowering, but I was actually given the pukey and sweaty version.

Miss anything?  I still have no energy, the days that I feel best would have been considered bad days pre-pregnancy.

Food cravings?  Steak, tomatoes, cheese fries, and steak

Anything making you queasy or sick?  I have created this serious aversion to raw meat.  If someone cooks it for me and I do not see it I am good.  Dufda's favorite place to eat is BD's Mongolian grill.  I can't even think about going there because they have raw meat everywhere.  Poor Dufda has tried to cook chicken twice this week, and I couldn't eat it either time.

Gender?  People are starting to ask and I really think it is going to end up boy, but I still can't stop my Zofran and I have awful neck acne so I am hoping that means it is a girl.  13 days to go!

Belly Button in or out? In

Movement?  I think I felt Nugs move a couple of times, refer to below to hear Dufda's opinion.

Wedding rings on or off?  I decided that I should keep them on while out as long as I can. Now that I am starting to look pregnant, I don't want people to think I am knocked up and Dufda is my baby daddy.

Looking forward to?  I have a midwife appointment this week.  I think they will schedule their anatomy scan then.  So it will give us another chance to check out our Nugget.

Dufda quote of the week? Me: "I think I just felt the baby" Dufda: "No you didn't because it would have texted me first to let me know first"

My mom, my sister and I all hit up the Snuggle Bugs consignment sale that was taking place in the old Value City building.  It would have been nice if we knew the sex, so we could really shop but I still got some deals.  They had tons of items and if you have small children this is the place to go to purchase clothes and toys.  We got to go on the first day because I am pregnant.  The down fall was that there was no air conditioning and no bathrooms.  I thought I was going to pass out/ puke/pee my pants most of the time.  They have another one in March, so if Nugs comes on time, hopefully we will be able to have a more beneficial trip.  If you want to sign-up for when the sale occurs, click here.

I am pretty big into getting the most for my money.  I don't shop at the mall, and I rarely buy things full price.  I love thrift stores and second hand everything.  We purchased most of the big stuff the baby needs off craigslist when I was about 8 weeks pregnant.  Everything listed was $300 and all in very good condition.  The best part was that, I had already made my baby registry with these items on it, thinking to myself I must find these used.  Same pattern and everything.  The lady even threw in several pack n' play sheets, a infant car seat carrier cover for the winter, two more car seat bases, and a whole lot of receiving blankets.



This consignment sale trip yielded:

1 brand new carter sheet, 1 brand new carter blanket that matches all the stuff we bought above, 5 onesies, 2 steeler's outfits, a snowsuit, a Swaddle Me wrap, Snugli baby carrier, 6 bibs, 2 hats, and a sleeper.  My total = $42.00!  My view is this, baby's use this stuff for such a minimal amount of time, they might not even like it at all, why pay full price?

Tasha making an appearance, with Dolce interrupting

 

Nugget's Nursery- Built in Desk back to Closet

This weekend I really started to make room for Nugs.  I needed to clean our room anyway, so I just went all the way and started some remodeling.  We had a built in desk that used to be a closet in our bedroom.  We never used it as a closet because we have that huge room that is holding all of our clothes. 
 
Step 1: Clear out the desk.  I realized I should have taken a before picture, but just take my word for it, it was a disaster.

The wood along the bottom held the desk part.  That has now been recycled into a shelf to hold our extra pillows and blankets.  I tried to unscrew the boards, but when Bill installed them, he made it for life.  I then had to remove all those stickers that I thought were so cute when I put them up.  It was a pain in the butt, my shoulders are still sore this morning.
 
Step 2:  Hang clothes

 
I have lots of different closet pieces to steal from the other room, I just had to find the ones that fit.  I started to steal a rod and it ended up being to short, so I had to take the longest one we have.  We installed it, then added the shelf right above it.  This actually holds much more than I originally thought.  Now there is still a ton of wasted space.  With a two bedroom house, I am not allowing wasted space anymore.

Step 3: Add more storage

So we stole some shoe storage and shelves from next door and made our own little closet system.  I utilized all the space above to store the millions of blankets and pillows we have.  Now this is not any where near all of our clothes, but it sure took away a good portion of them.  The next step is to paint and then we are going to purchase a closet system to hold the rest.  Dufda was very surprised at how much we were able to fit and organize in this little space. 

After making this closet all day, I realized that I can no longer go like use to.  I could barely stand up my back hurt so bad.  I was getting out of a chair like I was 40 weeks pregnant instead of just 16.  A nursery should just be put into your house the second you are married, I bet it would be a lot more fun to make then.

Pregnancy Calendar Review

I first got the Belly Book to track my pregnancy, but there were some areas that I didn't really like, or that could have been improved upon.  My sister then called me from Hallmark to tell me that she had found a pregnancy calendar and she was buying it for me.  She has already been pregnant twice, and says that she liked the calendar because she would hang it up and when she walked by it, she would write in it.  So when I go it home I started to flip through it and, I too, loved it.  It works nicely with my Belly Book.  The calendar also has super fun stickers that you add when things happen: Start a registry, hear the heartbeat, have a doctor's appointment, you get the picture.

The calendar is seperated by month, and has more room for writing then the Belly Book, but fewer places for pictures.  It also has a place where you can list the notes from your doctor's appointments, or create a to-do list.  They have cute prompts throughout that ask you: Maternity clothes yet?, Belly Button in or out?, How is the morning sickness?.  All of these are coordinated with what month they should occur in.

Near the end, you will get to write about your baby shower and the baby's arrival.  They also have a calendar that matches for after the baby comes.  I feel like this would be much better than an actuall book, because I am pretty sure that after two kids my parents gave up on the baby book with me.  Just hang to your wall and make notes when you pass it.

 

I really like having both, but I am also very tedious about tracking every moment of this pregnancy so I can remember it.   If you would like to purchase your own, click the here!