Nursery Progress

Friday we got our rocker:

It's from Target and I love it! It rocks and swivels. Super comfortable as you see here.

Today my parents and I (Jamie couldn't handle a long drive after his surgery) drove up to Savannah to pick up the furniture. Drove back and my dad so kindly put the crib together!! Of course after we put it together Oscar decided to check it out and SCRATCHED the brand new amazing furniture TWICE. I cried for about an hour :( I had worried the entire 2 and 1/2 hour drive that the furniture would get damaged not to mention the three flights of stairs it had to climb. And the countless hours I spent finding the furniture so for Oscar to scratch it NOT Jackson really upset me. At least wait until the baby gets here!  Plus now I have to keep the door shut at all times and worry that the cats will follow me in there. I am sure we are in for more scratches but I would like it to be a few months next time. I'm sure crying over it was unreasonable but give me a break I am pregnant and was exhausted! Blah blah anyways here it is!!

The awesome rocker :)

 Dresser with hutch. This will also be the changing table! 

The crib! LOVE! Obviously we need the main ingredient..a mattress. And we still have to make the dust ruffle. 

I tried to take a whole room picture.. it didn't work. 

Next on my list of room must haves: a nightstand (really a small table) to put next to the rocker, possibly a rug, a mobile, night light, and a ceiling fan. Make the curtains/dust ruffle. Eventually decorations! 

In the next 18.5 weeks

Big to dos:

1. Find a pediatrician

2. Tour hospital

3. Take a birth class

4. Baby shower

5. Decide about maternity photos

etc, etc, the list continues! :) I'm loving every minute of it! 

A/S Ultrasound

I think all ultrasounds are a little bit stressful but the A/S ultrasound they are actually measuring everything! This ultrasound they can tell if you if you baby has big developmental problems- Spina Bifida, Cleft Lip/Palate, etc.

I think we were both nervous going in.. and I felt like the tech wasn't talking much but he is PERFECT! That's exactly what the doctor said! He is measuring on time and he weighs 13 oz!  He should be 12.2 or less... hahah I would much rather he be big than small. His feet look huge!! Even the tech said they looked big to her too.. uh oh.

The doctor also measured my uterus and it is right on track whew! Overall a great appointment! It was exciting seeing Jackson again. He wasn't moving around as much but he looked a little cramped in there.. who knows. We got 4 or 5 pics but they are really hard to see and I couldn't take good pictures of them. So instead some pictures from our weekend in:

The bounty sure is soft!

Stella has decided to be Jamie's protector now. Poor Jamie.

She even sleeps by him. You can see one of Jamie's boo boos 

Really comfy now!

21 Weeks!

How far along? 21 weeks

Total weight gain:

 12 pounds 

Maternity clothes? 

Mix of both. 

Stretch marks? 

Nope

Sleep: 

For the most part great!

Best moment this week: 

 Feeling him move more and more! I swear he is doing flips in there sometimes. And seeing him again on the ultrasound! He is 13oz!! It says he should be 12.2... I hope this doesn’t mean he’s going to be a big baby.

Miss Anything? 

Not really. 

Movement: 

Bigger movements. Jamie still hasn’t felt him yet :( The doctor said he probably won’t until the baby is bigger.

Food cravings: 

Sweet tea. Fruit. Milk. Cheerios. And Oreos.. I have been eyeing them at the grocery store for weeks now and finally bought some um YUM. 

Anything making you queasy or sick: 

Lettuce, sprite, chicken, vomit, and cat poo

Gender: 

BOY!

Labor Signs:

No way!

Symptoms: 

Rib pain! Ouch! They are def. expanding but ow. 

Belly Button in or out? 

Looks the same as last week. Thank goodness.

Wedding rings on or off? 

On

Have you started to show yet?

Yes! More people are asking when I’m due. Still some hesitant questioners.  

Happy or Moody most of the time: 

HAPPY!!! :))) 

Looking forward to: 

Jamie feeling the baby kick! 

Books for Baby

I've read conflicting things about reading or playing music to your baby in utero but I thought hey why not? I also thought that just maybe the baby would kick Jamie if he read to him... nope! I LOVE baby books well really books in general. I also get to read tons of book in therapy so I have a pretty good idea of the books I love. And the ones I've read so many times I refuse to actually buy them....I'm sure Jackson will eventually have Brown Bear don't you worry. Here are the books we have so far:

1. Goodnight moon- classic
2. Guess how much I love you. I had never read this one and we both agreed the concept is good but the bunny's name is ridiculous you can't even read the book with out messing up the name.
3. Where is baby's belly button- learning body parts :) This book is so cute.
4. Moo, Baa, La La, La- learning animal sounds :) Also a very cute book in addition to the awesome early speech sounds you can learn.
5. How big is my Dinosaur- I only bought this because Jamie LOVES dinosaurs.

In my amazon shopping chart:

1. I do read this one to my speech kids but I still love this book. It's receptive and you can make lots of silly sounds and motions with it.

2. The big hungry bear. I just love this one no real reason!

3. Corduroy. I actually remember this one from when I was a kid! 

4. The Little Red Hen. No explanation needed!

5. Dear Zoo. Another classic

Can't wait to create Jackson's library! Hopefully he will love reading as much as we do!

Jamie's Surgery

This is a rare sight of him sleeping

Now that things have calmed down a bit, I thought I would update everyone on our past few days. Let's start with what I expected first. I was thinking oh we will be home Friday around 12 and then he will probably sleep most of the day so I made my list of things I was going to do: clean, organize, do some yoga, maybe watch some really girly movies on tv. I was looking forward to a relaxing weekend in. HA. What we didn't realize is that normal people are pretty much in a coma after all the drugs you have to take..Jamie wide awake. So here's how it really went.

Day 1:

5:00 am we wake up and get ready to go to the hospital. I demanded Jamie shower because I knew it would be days before he got one again. And let's face it boys are stinky and right now I have the nose of a  police dog.

6:00 we arrive at the hospital, they take Jamie back, we talk to the surgeon, then I get to say my goodbyes :( and then the most exciting part I get to worry, stress, worry and stress for the next 7 hours. They tell you  to go get somethings done while they are in surgery and they will call you when they are done. Sounds like a good idea in theory but not for me. I came home for maybe an hour- cleaned (because that's what I do when I'm stressed) and then went right back to the hospital even though they hadn't called me. I felt better being close by- not that I could save him or anything but still. Mine you I ate one snack from 6-2:30 so I was STARVING but too nervous to actually leave the waiting room, I didn't want to miss anything.

12:00 Finally the surgeon comes out. Good thing he said first Jamie is waking up. Whew. But pretty much everything that could have been wrong with his shoulder was wrong. Uh oh. Except his rotator cuff was fine and minimal arthritis. So the Dr. shows me 20 some pictures of white stuff and explains everything. And I have taken anatomy- mind you we didn't focus on the shoulder.. but I was understanding the views he kept taking about but I swear he wasn't naming the specific parts that were injured. I was also very overwhelmed so that could have been it. The jest of it was 5 anchors were put in, something was broken off and was now put back in it's place, and a tear was fixed as well. Really all I wanted to do was see Jamie. The most important part was he was ok and it was fixed.  Of course the doctor explained everything to Jamie too but.... he can't remember it. I had to explain it to him several times :) We will get all the details when we go back to see the doctor.

1:00 I finally get to see Jamie! He was very groggy and had a headache. Not to mention a huge knot and strap marks on his head...

2:00 We get to LEAVE!

2:30 We are finally in the house and got Jamie settled in his chair. I finally get to eat lunch :)

Then our day pretty much went like this: Jamie has to go to the bathroom- get him up and then settled back into his spot, then I go to the bathroom (hello pregnant here), then refill the ice machine, fix him something to eat, fix myself something to eat, feed the cats, Jamie pukes up everything, I gag while cleaning it up, then clean out litter box (in my full on prego cat cleaning garb), at some point we attempt drugs to help with pain (before, after during eating) and more puking, we experiment with all kinds of foods because Jamie can't figure out what sounds good, my kitchen is exploding with dishes, then the process starts all over. I did call the on call doctor to get different meds and he prescribed an anti nausea medicine and by the way walgreens closes in 15 minutes. I threw the smoothie in the frig and run out the door speeding like a maniac. I did make it! But of course he throws that medicine up too. Our night continued on this way until around 6am when he finally fell asleep. In the morning I said you have to eat something beside fruit, take the medicine with milk and eat again right after (I had mentioned this before but who listens to me). And it so far has worked!

Day 2: Not much sleeping but no puking!! I had to go to the grocery store for more ice, fruit, and bread since we are going through those three things like crazy. Last night we got 1, 5 hour stretch up sleeping yay!! And then Jamie was up and ready to go again! I'm still confused with how these drugs aren't knocking him out. I have taken all of these at one point and my life and I sleep the entire day away taking 1. Don't get me wrong he is really want to sleep as well. Me too I'm exhausted! So hopefully each day will get better!

My goals for the weekend have changed. If I can get the spilled milk cleaned off the floor I would be super happy.

Oscar has been very concerned about Jamie. He was running around crying the first day :( Stella just wants to drink out of the ice machine. They have loved the fact that I sleep on the couch! They both have cuddled up at night with me. They didn't like the every hour or 2 wake up calls. 

Nursery Before Pics

Last weekend we moved all the furniture out of Jackson's room and into other rooms around the house. We had to get everything moved before Jamie's surgery and before the furniture came. Here is what the room looks like empty!

Stella thought she was the star of this picture

Closet it does have some really cute clothes hanging in it!

Our furniture is coming in way earlier than excepted! Our rocker is coming next Friday morning. Then on Saturday we have to drive up to Savannah to get our furniture because the store we ordered the furniture from is going out of business. We got a big deal on the furniture and we get a hutch to put on top of the dresser. We also had to get a hitch put on my SUV so we can get a trailer for the furniture! It was a really crazy week.

Halfway There!!

Woah! I can't image what my belly will look like in 20 more weeks!

How far along? 20 weeks

Total weight gain:

 7 pounds+ Find out next week  

Maternity clothes? 

Mix of both. 

Stretch marks? 

No. I have veins instead. No joke. They are on my stomach! At least veins will go away.

Sleep: 

Most nights are great. Although I did wake up Saturday morning at 4 and was up until 6:30... this happens occasionally but it’s usually only an hour long

Best moment this week: 

 Feeling movement on the outside!! Jackson is a mover! Cleaning out his room so it’s ready for furniture!

Miss Anything? 

Not really. Sleeping on my back would be nice.

Movement: 

Feeling it on the outside! Jamie still hasn’t felt him move yet but I keep trying every night. 

Food cravings: 

Sweet tea. Fruit. Milk. CHEERIOS. Yum! 

Anything making you queasy or sick: 

Lettuce, sprite, chicken

Gender: 

BOY!

Labor Signs:

No way!

Symptoms: 

Back ache and some feet swelling if I’m standing a long time. Shortness of breath has started..especially when I climb our three flights of stairs. I do get tired easily.

Belly Button in or out? 

In but looking bigger and very shallow. Jackson has kicked it a couple times. And I have a weird vein or bruise on the side?!

Wedding rings on or off? 

On

Have you started to show yet?

Yes! He’s gotten a little higher and much rounder! 

Happy or Moody most of the time: 

HAPPY!!! :))) SO EXCITED! I feel very content!

Looking forward to: 

 Seeing Jackson next week! Jamie feeling the baby kick! No one is allowed to touch the belly until then. I want Jamie to be the first one to feel him kick. 

Workout:
Still the usual walking/yoga 3-5x's a week. I have officially given up on running. Jackson hates running. He decides that is the time he has to lay on my bladder with the warning of "if you take one more step you will pee your pants on the side of the road." Then I start cramping too so I've decided it's not worth the risk! Or the embarrassment of peeing on the side of the road :) So far my arms and legs look exactly the same as they did when I was running.. hopefully that continues!

Reading:

Just finished “Breast Feeding Made Simple” Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers. I learned ALOT. I really liked that it is written by two mothers and lactation consultants. There is a lot of research in the book to back up all the information which is nice too. I will have to reread it closer to the time. I won’t know how helpful it is until after the baby! 

1st Trimester Life Savers

Now that the first trimester is good and gone I was thinking of some things that really helped me during that time. Here are my thoughts/suggestions:

1. Lemonade. No one told me this helps nausea but I read it somewhere and it really helped! Sprite was ok for a while but lemonade worked every time.

2. Body Pillow. Buy one now! I love this thing! See previous posts about the pillow.

3. This books really made me feel so much better! And LOL all the time. See previous posts for more details.

4. St. Ives Apricot Scrub. It took me the entire 12 weeks to figure this one out. But I have gotten the worst acne being pregnant and this is the only face wash that seems to be helping.

5. Aveeno TINTED moisturizer helps cover up the acne before you put on the makeup. You might also need a pound of makeup to help the acne but maybe you will be one of those lucky ones who doesn't get pregnancy acne. 

6. Salt and Vinegar chips or chips in general. I bought the kettle chips because they are a bit healthier than regular but it helped solve the salt cravings!

7. A really good water bottle! You will (and are suppose to) drink tons and tons of water. Having a good water bottle to carry around really helps. 

8. A Neurologist!!!!!! Most important one! If you have headaches that do not get better by eating, sleeping or exercising see a neurologist. If you headaches get worse from the light, TV, computer, and loud noises see a neurologist! And don't wait because hahah they don't get better after the first trimester! 

I can only really think of 8 things! However, someone did tell me they didn't feel better until 16 or more weeks and I wish I would have kept that in mind. The day I turned 12 weeks I was waiting for the magic.. it took a few more but it happened! 

Registry Complete

The Registry

The registry is complete whew! I had already started the Pottery Barn Kids registry for the rest of the bedding we need. And for the cute stuff :) But the big registry is Babys R Us. Jamie decided that he would be no help and I should have my mom come instead- I actually agreed with that one. Ideally I would have liked both of them helping but after my mom and I went we both agreed he would have been miserable! Half way through we were wishing for wine! hahah I gave my mom a beer afterwards (I drank decaf tea yippee).

AHHHH!!!

Our mother/daughter day started out pretty typical- shopping and lunch and then we went in to Babys R Us. Initially we were pretty excited but that was quickly killed when we reached the diaper section (the first section in the store). Due to my research on chemicals (I won't even go into the details) I did want to cloth diaper. Jamie was totally against it. And after I figured out Jacksonville doesn't have a cleaning service I was against it too. So our compromise was organic or chemical free diapers BUT several people, who have boys, told me they use Pampers and Pampers doesn't have organic diapers. We were stumped and confused so I didn't register for any diapers. I figured I will try out any and all I get through the showers. The other issue was the store doesn't have everything in and all the different fabrics. And anything cute is not safe FYI. Well I still think we picked really cute stuff but still. AND baby world changes constantly so we were asking ladies with babies in the store what they thought because obviously 26 years ago things were a lot different. We spent hours going through the store and I had a very specific list! Finally I was exhausted, my back and feet hurt so we went home to sit on the porch and drink our drinks. I spent the rest of the night and this morning doing everything online! But it's done!! I will say even though it was overwhelming and tiring it was fun! Everything is so cute! And the best part was Jackson was moving and kicking around all day :) Of course anytime I try to get Jamie to feel his kicks Jackson decides to take a nap...

Here are some cute clothes my parents bought Jackson. When I laid them down fat man found a new sleeping place...

Hey lady look at me I'm cute too!

The little bear is on the butt!!! And the hood has little ears!!! The onsie has little trucks on it! So cute! Jackson is going to be decked out :)

10 Great things about being pregnant

I read a list recently about the top 10 great things about being pregnant. Of course I can't find it now so I'm making my own.

1. You don't have to change the litter box for 10 months!! Enough said.

2. Maternity clothes are super comfortable. I think bragging about not wearing them until X amount of months is __.... Once you put the maternity leggings or pants on you will never want to go back! And you will feel so much better and look cuter too :)

3. You don't have to suck in for 7 months. People love it when you have a bump and they expect to see one. Plus you can try to suck in but that bump isn't going anywhere!

4. You can eat a lot and no one can tell you not too! Well maybe really old mean people but for the most part no.

5. Your hair will look great! Mine has taken a long time to get to that point but recently it has been so easy to style. I have enjoyed doing my hair. I am growing new hair all around my face (it's about 2 inches long now and sticks straight up) which is really crazy.

6. You get to sleep  ALOT! The first trimester just stay in bed. And even now a nap after work should be expected because hello you are growing a BABY!

7. The shopping and planning are the best. Way better than planning a wedding. You get to keep the baby forever. The wedding you get to keep pictures forever. Plus the spending on a baby is drawn out where the wedding is a big lump some at once.

8. You get to cut in line at the bathroom. I have only gotten to do this once so far (probably because my belly just popped out) but I hope it continues!

9. After the first trimester.. you are NEVER hungover (I felt like the first trimester was always a hangover- nausea, tired, food aversions, headaches, etc) but now I can wake up Saturday and Sunday and get so much done!

10. There is a party going on in your stomach no one knows about! I love this! I can feel Jackson but unless I tell someone else no one knows!

11. You get a BABY after all this hard work!

There are a million more reasons but these are the ones I can think of after being up from 4-6:30 this morning being wide awake...

Happy (belated) Birthday Jamie!!

April 4th was Jamie's 29th birthday!! Originally I planned on taking Jamie to Ruth Chris but he came home on his birthday and said, "I want Sonny's BBQ and an XBox360." I said ok it's your birthday if that's what you want! hahahha We have been talking about getting the Wii or XBox for I don't know 3 years now but have never gotten one. We liked the fact that you can do workout games on them and it was something to do after work besides watch TV or play online. And Jamie LOVES Sonny's so this really shouldn't have surprised me. Saturday night I bought some of his favorite beer and invited a couple friend of ours to come with us. We went to Sonny's and then (they) drank beer and played some fun board games. Jamie won... he cheated but he won :) I didn't take any pictures :(

My dad's birthday is 5 days after Jamie's and since they were out of town the weekend before we all went out to dinner this week. We went to Meza Luna which is my parents favorite place and Jamie has never been there before. My dad bought Jamie a power drill! Which he really needed because he will drive to my parents house to borrow theirs but won't go buy one... We bought my dad champagne (he is really hard to buy for) and a couple cards. I did manage to take a couple pictures this time!

I didn't realize we all matched! 

His second round of birthday brownies! I made him some on his birthday too! Now we still have to buy the XBox.... I thought he would want to get it last weekend but he wanted to wait.. hopefully we get it soon!

19 weeks!

It looks like a real baby bump!

How far along? 19 weeks

Total weight gain:

 7 pounds 

Maternity clothes? 

Mix of both. My awesome wedding planner just gave me all of her maternity clothes! It filled up my closet. It’s much more fun getting dressed now.

Stretch marks? 

No

Sleep: 

Great!

Best moment this week: 

 Feeling great!

Miss Anything? 

Not really. 

Movement: 

I’m feeling more and more!

Food cravings: 

Sweet tea. Fruit. Milk. 

Anything making you queasy or sick: 

Lettuce, sprite, chicken

Gender: 

BOY!

Labor Signs:

No

Symptoms: 

No I think I’m officially in the honeymoon stage of pregnancy!

Belly Button in or out? 

In but looking bigger and very shallow

Wedding rings on or off? 

On

Have you started to show yet?

Yes! Hoping it has rounded out a little bit! 

Happy or Moody most of the time: 

HAPPY!!! :))) 

Looking forward to: 

A round belly! 

Random:

Having the most crazy dreams!! 

Furry Babies:

Stella decided to make me practice a middle of the night wake up call by throwing up on me and my precious body pillow. After cleaning everything up at 2:30 in the morning (and not being able to sleep with my pillow) I was wide a wake for another hour. At 7:00am fat man decided it was time to EAT. So I got up to find Stella had another accident on the floor! OK I’m ready :)

Rocker/glider

There are a few (well probably more) things we HAVE to have before the baby shower due to how long things take to be shipped (10 weeks for crib and dresser) and I might have a heart attack if for some reason they aren't in the room two months before Jackson makes his arrival (OCD I know). My list was the crib, dresser, rocker, and mattress. And that's not to say I won't have decorations too :) We have ordered the crib and dress so next was the rocker.

Now I have been searching for a rocker/glider (I can't figure out which name goes with which type) forever! The wooden ones I have read are troublesome because the baby/toddler can pinch their fingers in the ottoman and rocker. And once you look at them closely you can see that makes sense. I decided to go with the all cloth/comfortable looking rocker/glider. Finding one with good reviews and was a reasonable price was very challenging. Not to mention shipping was $$$. But I found one at Target!! I have never seen better reviews, the price was reasonable, and the shipping was cheap!! Here it is:

I LOVE IT! It's navy and white stripped which is perfect for Jackson's room!

Happy Easter!!

Our first married Easter baskets!! Since we were on vacation last week, we were off our usual holiday game this time.. we both bought our stuff last minute ekks! I'm not too sure Jamie has ever put anything in an Easter basket because he was doing all kinds of weird stuff to mine..but he bought all my favorite candy :) Jamie always knows the way to my heart chocolate. And I'm pretty sure I did a good job with his too all sweet/sour candy! We are already making plans for Jackson's first Easter! I can't wait!!

Babymoon- Savannah

After Hilton Head we headed to Savannah to stay for three days. When we got there we took a walk around to see the sites!

Down by the river.

Dinner at Vics on the River! Yum! We somehow got the best seat in the house. Right be the window surrounded by flowers.

Jamie sitting where Forest Gump was filmed.

This house has a very tragic story and was on our haunted ghost tour. 

Our hotel: The Mansion. We laid out by the pool, went to the park across the street, and got massages!

Time for the haunted ghost tour!

On the tour. This was by far our favorite part of Savannah. Our tour guide was awesome.

Our horses! 

A picture I took on the ghost tour.... I think this house the guy killed his wife's lover and hide his body in the wall. They actually found a body in the wall when they renovated it..

We were very busy eating, walking, and siting seeing!