Shopping for Baby!

We're going to back track a little bit here and do all of our shopping excursions in one neat little post.

On Saturday, Feb 11 KJ and I took a drive to my favorite store in the world, Ikea! I love Ikea. They have the coolest things at affordable prices. And thanks to our tax return, we were there to buy, not brows like usual. Before we found out our little girl was a girl, KJ had me talked out of the white Hensvik crib I loved, and into the Gulliver in the natural wood. He convinced me the natural wood would go better with the nursery in the green and yellow that we already had. Well, then we found out LO is a LG (little girl) and all the plans changed! DH finished painting the other day and the bright yellow has been replaced with a nice blue toned purple.

The nursery so far:

Anyways, because of the color switch, we went back to the original plan of white furniture, and I got my pretty Hensvik after all. Squee!

We also bought the Vyssa Sloa crib mattress and the Koppang dresser. I was really surprised I liked the Sloa mattress so much. When I was checking them out on line I was leaning more towards the Vyssa Vackert. It's one of the only ones made with springs and it sounded like it would be a nice firm mattress that would hold up through the years. The Sola didn't sound like there was much too it, being all foam. When we actually saw them in the store, though, the Vackert turned out to be supper soft and squishy, not really something I want my fragile newborn laying on. The Sola, on the other hand, was nice and firm on one side, and then a bit softer with an egg crate on the other side. Out of the ones they had available, I felt it was really the best one. For the dresser, originally I was looking at the Hemnes line. Being that our space is so limited in the nursery, though, we really needed to find something small. The Koppang is a good 6" shorter than the smallest Hemnes, and it comes in white. So, I was sold.

We also picked up some teething rails, a few white picture frames, and of corse, a nice big green leaf. So, after our Ikea trip, we have two of our main nursery pieces!

Sunday Feb 19 KJ and I went registering! So much fun! I actually started catching a cold that day, so I wasn't feeling very well, but it was still a good time. First we registered at Babies R Us (duh! Where else would you register!). I have to admit, it was a little overwhelming. There are just sooo many things you can get and you have to sort out what you actually need from the things that would just be nice. Before we went, I read Lucie's List and that was a really helpful guide for the big things, but there's still so much stuff out there.

We also registered at Target. Not everyone has a BRU by them, but most people can get to a Target. Between the two places I think we have our bases pretty covered. I also made a registry on Amazon. They have a lot of the same things as BRU and Target, but for lower prices. I also registered for all of our cloth diapers on there. I really, really want to CD and I hope people buy us at least a few. CDing isn't a big thing around where we live and I've gotten a lot of weird looks when I've mentioned it to people. I'm really worried I'm going to get all clothes and blankets at my shower. I really hope people are considerate enough to include gift receipts!

Lots of love,
KJsbabe


P.S. Here's our five month pic from Sunday. We're half baked!! 20w down, 20ish weeks to go!

Pregnant at a Hanson Concert - Dream Come True!

On Wednesday I got to see Hanson at the Carnegie Music Library in Pittsburgh!! Woo hoo! This was one of the shows they had to cancel in the fall due to them being sick. The funny thing is, I wasn't pg yet when they were originally supposed to do the show (Oct 13), but I got to be 19w3d at the make up show. Seeing them again was such a thrill!

The set list was to. die. for.!! They played a nice mix of songs, but it was the random ones that made it the best ever. They played "Sunny Day" off of their 2011 member's EP with a mix of "Cecelia" by Simon and Garfunke which sounded really cool together. I love it when they do covers! Ike sang "River" for his solo, not a song you hear very often. Taylor shocked everyone in the audience and sang "Never Let Go" for his solo. It's off of their 2005 member's EP and it's one of those songs everyone loves, but they've only played it a hand full of times (at least that's what it seems like). It's such a beautiful and heart wrenching song.

And then, as if it couldn't get any better, Zac sang "Oh Darlin" by the Beatles.... My heart about stopped!! My two favorite bands mashed together... Hanson doing a Beatles cover!!! OMG I could have died happy right there. Best. Set list. Ever.!!

They also played "Penny and Me". KJ and I are pretty set on what we're going to name our little girl, but we're still tossing some names around. Penny is one of them. I thought how cool would that be if I got to take my little girl to a Hanson concert to hear the song she was named after before she was born. It would certainly make a nice story!

Lots of Love,
KJsbabe

Anatomy Scan and Other Adventures!

This past Monday (2/6) we went in for our anatomy scan. The day we've been waiting for! Normally I see the doctor first, but this time we had the u/s first. Right away we saw our little munchkin bouncing around on the screen. The tech was able to get all of the measurements she needed without too much trouble. She said the heart, brain, spine, kidneys, upper lip, limbs, and everything else looked perfect! What a relief! I feel like this was the last big hurdle to get over before I could really relax and enjoy this pregnancy, and we cleared it with flying colors! As the tech was checking out the legs we were also able to get a peak at the goods...

We are having a GIRL!! I'm so stinking excited! I have to admit, this whole time I thought for sure we'd have a boy. KJ has all boys on his dad's side of the family (SIL was from MIL's second marriage), so I figured there was a good chance genetics would win and we'd be destined to have all boys. Boy, was I wrong! As you can see there's nothing even close to a boy there. We are girl all the way! I'm thrilled!

The goods



Since little girl was bouncing around so much, we didn't get a good profile shot. We did get a pretty cute one, though, of her all curled up with her feet by her head. I call this the sandwich pose:



A sweet little foot!



The rest of the app went well, except for a brief almost fainting spell. While I was still on the u/s table I started to feel really warm and dizzy. It felt like a panic attack, but I wasn't panicking about anything, so I'm not sure what to call it. I felt nauseous, had ringing in my ear, and black spots in my vision. After about five minuets I was fine again, though. The tech said I wasn't the first one that that had happened to that day, so maybe it wasn't me.

Moving on to Tuesday (2/7) we told the family the good news by sending pink flowers to the grandmas-to-be. Everyone loved them and thought it was a really special way to share the news.



Wednesday (2/8) DH and I got our tax refund! Woo hoo! We went out and bought a nice area rug for the nursery. It was our first big purchase for little girl, so that was exciting! Right now the nursery is yellow and green. I painted it right after we started trying the first time around. I figured I wouldn't want to paint once I was pg, and green and yellow would work well for Either a boy or girl. Well, now DH feels the yellow is too bright and wants to pain the top a different color. I told him, as long as he's the one painting, it's fine. I think we're going to go with a nice light purple to go with the green.

The nursery as it stands now



Thursday (2/9) while DH and I were eating dinner I got the thrill of a lifetime. I got kicked in the stomach! By my baby! It took me a minuet to realize what it was, but it was an honest to goodness kick. She kicked about five or six times.

I took a drive to a near by Walmart that actually still carries fabric and picked out some really cute prints for the nursery. I came across the perfect material! I had a general idea of what I was looking for, but once I saw it I knew it was it. I'm so in love with this print! And of coarse, there was a coordinating fabric and a quilt panel that matched, so I had to get those, too. I may have splurged just a tiny bit! $120 later (yikes!) I have all the fabric I need... for now.



That's all for now. There may be an Ikea trip in our near future... So stay tuned!

Lots of Love,
KJsbabe


PS Here's a bonus pic! My first BPF from last Friday at 17w5d.

A Song for my Angels

Today is one year since my first EDD. I'm so incredibly grateful for the LO growing inside of me, but I will anyways love and miss my angels. This is for you, sweet little ones. Mommy loves you.


Never Let Go 
Hanson

Just lay down, and let your worry sleep
Don't think now, of waters dark and deep

Cuz you know that I love you and never let go
And you know that I love you forever
Love you and never let go

Just cry out, yeah I've cried those tears before
Well I can feel it now, as your tear drops hit the floor

'Cus you know that I love you and never let go
And you know that I love you forever
Love you and never let go
Yes I love you and never let go

You don't have to ask me do I love you
As I hold you it says how much I do
I'm yours until forever is though
Every time I stand before you
I know I'd lay my life down for you
I'll never let, I'd never let go

Just lay down, put your worry thoughts to bed
As slumber pulls you down, let my shoulder rest your head

'Cus you know that I love you and never let go
Yeah you know that I love you forever
Love you and never go
Yes I love you and never let go

Never let go...
I'll never let go...


Lots of Love,
KJsbabe

Four Months

I am four months pg!! Woo hoo! We hit 16 weeks on Sunday (1-22). I definitely think I popped over the weekend. There's no more hiding this belly! I'm officially in maternity clothes, which is exciting. I feel like this means I'm REALLY pg now.

I'm having some jeans issues, though. I bought one pair of the secret panel jeans in a medium from Motherhood. The panel part fits well and I like it because it smooths everything out, but the bottom part tends to sag. They're like stretchy jeans that rely on your thighs to keep them up, which I didn't realize. I don't like tight things on my thighs, so I purposely bought them a size bigger to be more loose and comfortable in that area. So, while they're comfortable to sit in, they sag when I stand and walk around. To fix this problem, I thought I'd get a pair of the under-the-belly jeans. So, I went back to Motherhood and got a small pair. These ones fit really well in the legs, not tight on my thighs, my but looks good, and they don't sag. However, the elastic band part is really tight. Like super uncomfortable, hello-muffin-top-I-haven't-seen-you-in-five-years tight. They were a little tight in the store when I tried them on, but I thought they'd stretch out like the other pair did. I can't win! I'm sitting here, frustrated and uncomfortable, and I can't wait to get home and take these damn things off. I almost want to take the two pairs apart and put the panel part on the small legs. They only thing that's stopping me though, is if it doesn't work the way I want it to, I don't want to ruin $60 worth of jeans (that I paid full price for!). I just want to be comfortable and look good. Is that too much to ask?? Enough about my clothing problems.

Two weekends ago we "came out" and it was the scariest thing I've ever done in my life. It went well and I wasn't expecting a bad reaction, but I was so scared that we'd tell and then something would go wrong. I've definitely gotten my money's worth out of the doppler! I used it every day for a week after we told everyone. So nerve wracking! We gave each of the grandmas-to-be a picture and a count down calendar.

We told my parents first and both my mom and dad were very happy for us. This will be the first grandchild on this side. Next we told FIL and KJ's step mom and we got the best reaction from her. She was over the moon thrilled! They were just so happy for us and it made me feel great! This will be the first grandchild on this side, too. Step mom said she's already stared on a baby quilt. Last we told MIL and KJ's step dad. Now, if you remember from previous posts, step dad is a real douchcanoe. MIL opened up the picture first and didn't really get it so she showed it to step dad. The first thing that came out of he mouth was, "Well that can't be (SIL) because she's not married." Ok, #1 what does being married have to do with having a baby? And #2 why the hell would we be giving them a picture of SIL????? He's such an idiot! Anyways, once MIL understood what we were telling her she was very happy. I wish we could have just told her by herself, but what's done is done. Everyone knows now, we even came out on FB, and LO still has a HB, so things are going well.

Here's our four month bump picture. First we tried going with snowflakes for January, and even though Colby-Jack made it a pretty cute picture, it looked silly. KJ suggested a scarf instead, and I thought that looked much better.

Lots of Love,
KJsbabe

Good Day Sunshine

We had our NT scan this afternoon and things could not have gone better! We got to see our little munchkin swimming around in there, which was just awesome. S/he is really starting to look like a baby rather than a cute little blob. Our u/s tech was very nice and she pointed out a bunch of things. We got to see the spine, heart, brain, little footsies and hands. LO was kicking away in there, so that should be fun in a few more weeks! Before we started the scan, the tech was a little worried because we were going in so late. My doctor is going by my LMP which makes me 13w5d instead of going by my O date which makes me 13w3d. The tech said if LO measured too big they wouldn't be able to get an accurate reading for the NT. S/he was actually measuring ahead at 14w, but going by length we were still ok for the test. I'm still not sure how that worked out, but I'll take it. She also wasn't allowed to tell us the measurement, so we'll get those results with the b/w back in a week or so. When she took neck measurement I saw on the screen .7something, but that just seemed too small. I've read anything under 3 is good, but that the bigger they grow the bigger the measurment is. So, we'll just have to wait and see. For now, I'm just happy we got to see LO growing and kicking away! I'm so incredible grateful!

I guess I can't officially call myself in the 2nd tri now!

Here's our little munchkin!!

After our scan KJ and I went out to dinner to celebrate. We went to Olive Garden and had an amazing dinner. After Christmas KJ was on the search for a tablet and the one he wanted everyone was out of. Thanks to Google shopping, though, we found out Toys R Us sold it and still had some in stock (who knew they sold electronics like that??). When we went to but it we also found out they were running a special, buy any tablet over $250 and get a $50 gift card back. Awesome deal! So KJ got his tablet and I got $50 free! Anyways, after dinner we went to Toys R Us to use my gift card. So fun! I found a nice diaper bag, a towl and washcloth set, and a rattle. It felt so good to buy things and know that I'll actually get to use them in the near future. It was a wonderful day!

Oh and we also stopped at Old Navy and found another cute Christmas out fit on clearance.

Good day sunshine!

Lots of Love,
KJsbabe


PS. We have out anatomy scan scheduled for February 6!! It's hard to believe in a months time we'll be able to find out if LO is a boy or girl!

Merry Christmas to Me!

On Christmas day we hit 12 weeks! I can't believe I've made it this far! The best present I received this year was hearing LO's HB on the doppler Christmas morning. I'm getting so excited about this baby! It's getting more and more real with each passing week. We might actually have a baby July!

Here is my three month bump picture from Sunday. (We're obviously holiday themed!)

I'm starring to get a tiny bump. I know it isn't all bloat because it hasn't gone away since about week 7. KJ says it's most obvious when I'm laying down.

KJ and I went out after Christmas shopping today. We got about 10 rolls of wrapping paper, 10 packs of holiday paper plates, napkins, cards, and gift tags all for 1/2 price. I love a good sale! We also found some other things on sale: My very first purchase for LO!

We went to Target and I tried on some maternity jeans. They were still pretty big on me so I think I'm going to wait another month and revisit them. I picked up a BeBand instead. My regular jeans are getting tight, but I'm not sure how much I'm going to like it. I bought the small/medium size because by the sizing chart that's what I should be. I tried it on tonight, though, and it seems really tight. I guess I'll just have to wear it around and see how I like it.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Lots of Love,
KJsbabe