Our Newborn Cloth Diaper Stash!

I bought our cloth diapers for when Charley first comes home. It should last us until she's about 15lbs.And what do you do when you have an 8 lb dog and you get a stash of cloth diapers? Why diaper Gadget, of course!Thankfully she didn't give them the full test, but she did give us a little wink.She's really just glaring with one eye. As much as Gadget wants most of Charley's stuff to be for her...this is one thing she'll gladly let Charley keep for herself.

Nursery Furniture!

Today our nursery furniture was delivered. We decided on Munire Newport collection based on reviews from baby bargains and research on pregnancy/parenting forums. We had ordered Rubbed Black, but there was a problem with the shipment of that color and settled for Espresso, which would have been our second choice anyway.




Now to figure out the artwork, finish decorating and get the mattress, bedding, rocker and changing table. I'm hoping we'll be completely finished with it by the end of January.

Nursery art!

I found these on etsy.com and would like to try to recreate them for over the dresser. I LOVE them! I'm going to try with scrapbook paper and see how it looks.

I also found an example of how I'd like to do the wall letter from samandsophiebaby on etsy.com.We already bought the "C" and scrap paper to cover it, hopefully we'll be able to successfully make it the way I'm picturing it.

27 Weeks!

Lots going on this week. Last night was our hospital tour which was fun and informative, passing my glucose test which was AWESOME, painting and molding is done in the nursery, and nursery furniture is being delivered Monday. I promise this outfit looked much more flattering in the mirror this morning...

This week, your baby weighs over 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother her, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.
The light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter for both you and your baby. With only 13 weeks left (give or take a couple of days), it's time to enjoy the ride because it's getting shorter. As your baby bump expands, you may experience a few growing pains: Your skin may itch as it stretches. Meals may be smaller, but you may want to eat more often as your stomach has less room. Heartburn and indigestion can be frequent as your stomach is pushed up closer to your esophagus. And the added baby weight puts pressure on your bladder, meaning you're still visiting the bathroom often. If you're terrified by the idea of labor, you're not alone. Maybe you worry you won't know you're going into labor, that the pain will be too intense, or that you'll have an emergency C-section. Theses concerns are normal, but by learning more about what scares you, you'll feel better about delivery day.
Oh and my public apology to Shaun... I told him I would not buy baby clothes and guess what came in the mail last night... That's right, 8 beautiful tiny baby outfits from Gymboree. They were having a huge sale, plus I found a 30% off my entire order coupon, but I did feel bad for doing something we decided not to do. I ordered most in 6-12 months size, because I figured people would probably get us some newborn and 0-3 month outfits. I can't wait to see them on her.
Sorry I bought these beautiful outfits, honey :) I'll do better in the future.

Progress

1st Trimester-completed
Highs-finding out we were pregnant, giving Shaun his first Fathers Day card to tell him the news, telling close friends and family, catching a glimpse of our baby's beating heart at the ER, starting to learn about pregnancy.
Lows-seeing an empty sac at the first ultrasound, measuring 2 weeks behind what we calculated, worrying about miscarriage, morning sickness, fatigue, more worrying about miscarriage, trip to ER because of bleeding.
2nd Trimester-completed
Highs-no more morning sickness, more energy, feeling movement, 19 week ultrasound, finding out we were having a girl, feeling more movement, buying nursery furniture, Shaun feeling movement, hospital tour, starting to buy baby items, getting bigger.
Lows-comments on my GINORMOUS size (just because I'm pregnant and supposed to be getting bigger, doesn't make this nice or ok. No one wants to be called "ginormous" or "huge" or "big"), heartburn, back pain, sciatic nerve pain, hormones (sorry Shaun), getting bigger.
3rd trimester-in progress...

WOOHOOO! I PASSED!!

Thank the little baby jesus in his little bitty manger, I passed my 3 hour glucose test!!! I totally psyched myself out and was convinced I'd fail and I'm SO HAPPY I could jump up and down (which I would later regret since I'm wearing heels, so I'll refrain) :-D
The 3 hour test was BRUTAL, I got so sick later on in the day I thought I might puke poor Charley to death.
In other good news the nursery furniture will be delivered Monday so we'll have pictures of the nursery with the furniture all set up. Things are starting to come together :)
I'll be back to post my weekly post and belly pictures tomorrow. Time's a flyin'!

Baby room teaser....

Charlie (my dad) and I worked on Charley's (my baby) room this weekend. The effort involved two-tone paint divided by moulding and included two hand-framed moulding inserts with a third accent colour. I nailed/glued the last of the moulding late last night and will put the finishing paint touches on tonight. This picture shows the molding that lives over the imaginary crib.

Update: Target sucks, was:Baby deal-o-rama

Jess was browsing through the various baby forums this weekend and found out that the legendary Britax Marathon convertible car seat was heavily discounted on both Target and Amazon's website. These suckers are usually $270 but were on sale for $48 with free shipping. I haven't seen a drop like that since the government slashed our financial future! Baby stuff is rarely on sale so we have been very lucky with all of the baby deals we've scored recently. Jess gets to wear the Deal Jedi badge of honour this week.

EDIT: The "deal" was a misprint and target is not honoring the price. Scratch this deal, we'll have to rethink our carseat choice. LAME Target...LAME.

26 weeks

Which means I'm 1 week away from being in my 3rd trimester. Scaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaary how fast my 2nd trimester went. Charley is a little maniac. I swear she was hit by gamma rays and turns into hulkbaby every night. It's fun when I can put Shaun's hand on my belly and we can both feel all her jabs, kicks and flips. It's even fun when she wakes me up at 2am to start her next round which she usually does, but I'm not so happy when I can't go back to sleep or the next morning when I have to wake up after being up most of the night with her.

This week your baby-to-be opens her eyes for the first time. She'll open and shut her eyes as she gets used to her new ability. Your little one is still on the small side. Her body may look fully formed on the outside, but inside there's fine-tuning taking place, including her lungs and her brain. Your unborn baby still has some growing to do!This week your baby's weight hovers around two pounds and her length reaches about nine inches (crown to rump). While your baby-to-be's eyes are undergoing some changes, so are yours. Throughout your body you're retaining fluid—even in your corneas, the outer parts of the eyes. The Mayo Clinic reports that your corneas may be up to three percent thicker, but the fluid within your eyes decreases around 10 percent. With so many differences within your eyes it's not surprising you may experience blurred vision.
I took my 1 hour glucose test this week, which was not my favorite. They have you fast for 12 hours before and then you go in and drink this pure sugar drink that's supposed to taste like flat orange soda but it just tasted like orange crap and burned my throat. An hour later they take a couple of vials of blood and send you on your way. I've had blood drawn tons of times and it's always fine, but this time it hurt like a sonofabitch! I thought it was something to do with the pregnancy, or I was just turning into a pansy, but when I took my bandage off it looked like she had busted my vein. It looks a little better this morning, but I took a picture of my battlescar to share. Hopefully I pass this test and don't have to go back for the 3 hour glucose test and I don't end up having gestational diabetes. I'll find out next appointment.Edit: My OB just called and said I failed my test, which I honestly wasn't expecting at all. I have to go in for my 3 hour test now. I'm very upset about it...

Dear Charley,

Please stop kicking mommy in the bladder and cervix. As much fun as those things seem to be, it will not be so fun if mommy pee's her pants at the office. If you aim for mommy's tummy, mommy promises she will help you try to persuade daddy to buy you a pony, puppy, diamond pacifier or whatever you want when you are old enough to want these things. He will be putty in our hands, I promise. See you in about 14 weeks. Oh, and if you could try to be a little bit early, say 10-12 weeks, we can negotiate on other outlandish gifts.
Love,
Mommy

25 weeks!

Today we have another OB appointment. We've been going every 4 weeks, I think after this one we'll have one in 3 weeks and then start going every 2 weeks. I'm only 2 weeks away from the 3rd trimester, which is a little scary. I just don't feel prepared. I came to the realization a couple of days ago that Charley actually has to come out of me somehow. I think I was in a slight state of denial before. Oh man....labor and delivery. That I don't look forward to... Anyway, here is my 25 week pictureYour baby-to-be's lungs are developing rapidly, although she'd probably need a little help breathing if she were born at this point. Her respiratory system continues to develop, her nostrils are open, and she can breathe—but she won't take her first breath of air until delivery day. Her reproductive organs are formed (in boys, the testes have descended). Her skin is translucent and wrinkled, and he can hear your stomach when it gurgles nd your voice when you sing. Your baby is becoming more aware of how she can move—she's wiggling her fingers and toes! Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. She's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture. And here's my weekly censored naked lady :) I can't believe how big the baby is getting!

Baby stuff!

This was a great weekend for baby stuff. Jessey, a girl I work with, has an 8 month old niece, so I've been recently asking her questions to ask her sister. Her sister's advice has really helped us, and I was shocked and happy when Jessey told me her sister wanted to give me some of Mady's clothes that don't fit her anymore. I was not expecting the HUGE box of adorable clothes that she brought in on Friday. I only hung up the newborn and 0-3 month old items, the rest will go in the dresser once it's delivered (which should be any day now).We also made a couple of large baby item purchases. We bought the Fisher-Price Space Saver High Chair which will strap on to just about any chair and has 3 different positions so it will work as Charley gets bigger.We also bought the Fisher-Price Rainforest Open-Top Cradle Swing. We weren't crazy about the super bright colors, but it gets good reviews and we found it really cheap online. We haven't set it up yet, so here's the stock picture.Our biggest purchase this weekend was the Jeep Liberty Limited All Terrain 3 Wheel Stroller which we are so excited about. Who knew a stroller could be so exciting :P The infant carseat we want straps right in, so it can be used with a newborn through whenever kids stop using strollers... which I actually have no idea how old that is now that I think of it. Shaun can take it jogging, it goes from grass to pavement smoothly and it's very easy to maneuver. It is a little heavy at 35lbs, but I can lift it in and out of my car and it folds up fairly small.Sacrificing the pig to the stroller gods.All put together and ready to test out on Gadget.Gadget is going to be so pissed when Charley gets here and she realizes that all this stuff isn't really for her...