My New Investment

So, my friend Paige, the one from Florida, reccommended to me that I buy a co-sleeper. She said she wished she had one when her daughter was a newborn. I took her advice and started looking for one. After checking all the reviews and different types of co-sleepers (in-bed or next to bed) I decided that I wanted an Arms Reach Mini Co-Sleeper and I had been looking for one on craigslist and in the baby resale stores around town, but apparently they are very hard to come by. A miracle happened last night and I saw one. It was posted for $60 which I thought was a fair price since they retail for about $140. I looked at the pictures and it looked really ugly, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to go and take a look at it. I am really glad I did because, the pictures don't do it any justice. It was really cute. It's blue and white checkered, but the pictures made it look grey. I bought it and I am really glad I did. It fits perfectly in my room and it folds up into a carrying case. I really like how it attaches to your bed to keep it from sliding away.

I think I need to buy the attachments for the feet to raise it up a little bit. It's just a tad bit too short for my bed.

Here's some pictures.

More Babywearing

So my best friend was here from Florida for two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, and it was wonderful to see her. We didn't get to spend a lot of time together because of work, school and other visiting commitments like her family and such, but we did get to talk and I got enough fix from her baby to last me until mine gets here.

My friend is the person who got me in to baby wearing and she made me a wrap so I had to try it out and work on learning some of the wraps.

I practiced first on one of the dolls that someone gave me for my daughter. But that wasn't entertaining enough for me, so I decided to use it on my cat.

Amazingly, she cooperated and she even liked it. I think I need to find a different way to wrap it for her though so that it doesn't spread her little legs. I was thinking more of a nursing wrap. She is so spoiled.

Our Celebration

So I am finally getting a chance to write about how we celebrated finding out that we were having a girl.

We went out and bought our first baby clothes.

We had been given tons already, and I was hoping she was a girl so that we could actually use them, but we decided not to buy any until we found out the gender of our baby. So after our ultrasound we headed out to buy her an outfit. We had a budget of $20. Our thoughts were that $20 would be just the right amount to buy her something really cute. So we went to target. I was a little disappointed with their selection of newborn and infant clothes. I thought they would have more, but we did end up finding some really cute clothes. We narrowed it down to two outfits and couldn't really decide, but luckily they both fit in to our $20 price range, so we just bought them both.

One is a green striped sleeper and it is so freaking cute. It says Mommy and Daddy heart Me on it and I love it.

The other outfit has a pink striped long sleeve onesie with a bear on it that says I love hugs, a maroon pair of stretch pants with hearts and a fuzzy sleeveless dress with one big and one little heart on it. The second outfit is my favorite and I am hoping she will wear it for her hospital pictures or to go home. We might find something cuter before she gets here though. You never know.

Ultrasound!

This week we had our ultrasound. It was so great to finally get to see our baby. It was wiggling and kicking. We were really glad to see that all the body parts were developing as they should be. We got to find out that our little it is a she. Yay. I was wanting a girl so much and I am so glad that I got one. I would have loved my boy too, but I just knew that she was a girl. I'm glad that now everyone else can know that she is a girl though. We still don't have a name picked out, but we are thinking about Lily or Minna. We went out and bought her some cutsie little girl clothes and I will put up some pictures of those next time. I am so glad that I actually get my girly. In some of the pictures you can see her big nose. Looks like she might take after her dad. Although she has really big feet too and that is a mom thing. Now if only the next 19 weeks would go by a little faster so she could just get here. I can't wait to hold my daughter.

Yay! Half Way!

So yesterday I was 20 weeks. Yay. That means I am finally half way through my pregnancy! I can't wait for my little baby to get here.

I was supposed to have an ultrasound today, but the ultrasound tech at my OB's office has H1N1 so they had to postpone it until Monday. I am really excited to find out the gender and see my little pumpkin growing!

My nipples started leaking today. The fact that it happened so early in my pregnancy is supposed to be a sign that I will be a good candidate for breast feeding. Happy Day!

Yay for new apartments!

I am moving tomorrow and I am so excited. There are so many things that are going to be better at my new place.

I am so not going to miss the flooded parking lot, where I have to try to avoid the puddles in order to not have my pants soaked up to my knees. Nor will I miss the walnut scattered parking lot, that wakes me up at night when people drive over them and they make dents in their cars.

I will not miss the tiny water heater that gets cold before I can finish my shower or the long rainy trek outside, down the stairs and around the corner to do laundry in a moldy old basement.

I will definitely not miss the constant parties or the constant flow of police breaking them up.

Come to think of it, there's not really anything I will miss about this apartment. Yay for moving.

The Doctor Called Today

She said all my blood work came back normal! Yay. I am growing a healthy baby!

Baby Wearing

Even through all the stress and changes that come when you are about to have a baby, there is always something to be excited about. I am getting really excited for my baby to be here. I am so into the baby wearing thing. Slings and wraps and packs. My baby is going to be like a tumor attached to me. I am so excited.

Paige made me a really cute wrap and she is making James one too. Here's a picture of the one she made me. She tested it out on her daughter. Aren't they adorable? Me and my baby are going to be just as ridiculously cute. Did I mention that I am excited to wear my baby?  I don't think that I am into wearing the baby on my back though. I wanna be able to see and love on my baby and I'm not very flexible. But I LOVE the front carries.

Go to http://www.wearyourbaby.com/ and see more about Babywearing. It's awesome.

So today we had our 16 week checkup. The doctor said that everything seemed fine. I got my H1N1 vaccination and got to listen to the baby's heartbeat. The doctor couldn't actually get the heart rate becuase the baby is moving way too much. She could get the heart beat for about 5 or 6 beats and then it was gone and she would have to search around a bit for it. That happened a few times before she just gave up. She said what matters was that it was there and she could at least get it for a second. I guess we have a hyperactive baby. LOL.

We did a blood test today to check for certain types of birth defects. The results will come back sometime next week, but I am not worried about it at all. We've already determined that our baby is ADHD cuz they won't even stay still for 30 seconds. LOL.

Anways, Everything is fine. We scheduled our gender ultrasound. YAY! It's on Thursday NOV 12th. So we get to find out a bit sooner than I thought we would, and that is awesome. I am ready to know now.

Gdiapers

http://www.gdiapers.com/

Check out this website and tell me what you think. I am pretty interested in this form of diapering. I think in the long run it will be pretty cost efficient and also really good for the environment.

Things I really like about it:

• They have disposable inserts inside a liner inside the pant, so you can just trash or flush the insert, hand wash the liner and reuse the pant. 
• You can use cloth inserts when you feel energetic or very green, and they're cost effective
  
• It's a bit less laundering than a conventional cloth diaper.
• 90 days in a landfill vs. 500 yrs in a landfill for conventional disposable diapers

Things I'm not really sure about it:

• The cost is a bit more than conventional disposables. About $.23 per disposable diaper vs. $.40 per disposable liner. Plus the extra money to get started.
• I couldn't find anywhere on the website how to determine which size was best for what stage your baby was at. They have sm, m, lg but how do you know what size. I mean you can assume your newborn wears a small, but what if they are bigger than your average little baby. Is there a weight that they recommend to switch to med or lg?
• Is it going to be something that I can stick with, or is it something that I am going to put a ton of money out to get started with and then just give up on because it is too much work or time consuming?

All right, well check it out and let me know what you think.

Apparently, I'm a Beautiful Pregnant Woman

I have always thought that women looked adorable when they are pregnant. They have "the glow" and are just generally more attractive. I would always go out to stores and see pregnant women and think about how cute they looked. And usually they just looked freakin happy. I totally get the looking happy thing now, but it's not something you can understand until you are pregnant.

Before I was pregnant I always wanted to lose some weight so I could look cute and prego like the other women I saw. I didn't want to just get fatter. I wanted to get prego cute. I wanted to be all cute and skinny with a round tummy and boobs. So, when I got pregnant on accident, before I lost the weight I wanted to lose, I was a bit disappointed. I guess I didn't need to be.

I felt like I was just looking drabbier because I was feeling sick and lazy and cared less about my appearance, but according to the men in my life that isn't the case. About a week ago, my bf took me out to the mall to get my hair done. He said he wanted me to look cute and prego. I got my hair cut into this little A-line and really short, which he doesn't like, but I also got some little highlights, which he loves. I love my hair cut because it is so easy to take care of, so when I am battling fatigue and just don't care, I don't have to look like I don't care. The only effort it requires is running a brush through it when I wake up. After we got home he told me how pretty I looked and took a picture of me with his camera phone.

Then, the other day my dad comes over to deliver some stuff from Cosco to me, and as he is leaving he tells me that I am such a beautiful pregnant woman. I would expect to hear something like that from my dad. He is just like that. He always says things like that to people.

The thing that got me was something that one of my clients said the other day. I was working at the house where I worked weekends for the last 5 months. Since I am working nights in another house, I haven't seen the clients that live there in a while. When I walked in everyone was excited to see me, just because I haven't been around for a while. I had been there for a while and we were just sitting around watching T.V. All the sudden one of the male clients in the house got up and said "all three of you girls are very pretty, and Tabitha is the prettiest." I was working with two other girls at the time and I was really embarrassed. I don't know what prompted him to say that. I wasn't dressed inappropriately and he doesn't usually make comments of that nature to his staff. He's a pretty high functioning client and it just made me feel awkward. I just thanked him for his complent and went to busy myself making dinner. After I got home I was thinking about what he said and I just felt flattered. I don't think I have ever been called the prettiest when compared to other pretty women.

I don't know if I am just looking hotter because I lost 30 lbs early in my pregnancy, or just because I am starting to really look pregnant. Maybe it has to do with that pregnant glow. Apparently, I am a very beautiful pregnant woman.

My Beautiful Surprise

So, in July I missed my period, which wasn't that unusual for me because I was on birth control and tended to mess it up often. My periods were normally irregular, so I didn't think anything of it, until it was 2 weeks late. I went to the store with my bf and we bought some pregnancy tests. He didn't really say anything about it. In fact, I'm not even sure that he noticed that I put them in the cart for him to buy. I went home and took one and it came back negative. So I just didn't worry about it at all and I went on living.

I still hadn't gotten my period a week later and I felt something nagging at me to take another test so, on July 20th I did. And there it was, the faint little line that said I was having a baby. I was a bit shocked, actually a lot. I was on birth control so I definitely wasn't expecting that one. I called up my best friend and my mom and they were both incredibly excited. I was in shock. I didn't really believe it and I was scared about what my bf's reaction would be.

Since I was so skeptical about the validity of the test results, I headed on down to the clinic to get a test, and it was positive too. There was no denying that I was pregnant. Based on the first day of my last period they said I was 6 weeks along. AHHH!!! I was really pregnant.

I went home and mustered up the courage to tell my bf. His reaction was not the one that I had expected. I think he was just in shock. He didn't really believe me at first. He just kept asking me if I was serious. Hell yes I was serious.

The excitement got to me fast. As soon as I told him and realized that he wasn't mad, I was excited I couldn't wait to put it all over facebook and myspace about how I was going to have a baby! Yay.

That same night I told my dad and stepmom, expecting them to be mad. They weren't. They were mostly just worried about how we would handle it, and over the last few months they have become really excited.

We set up our first prenatal appointment, and because we were on birth control an ultrasound to get an accurate due date. At the ultrasound we found out that we were 2 weeks behind where we thought we were, so we got to see our baby at 8 weeks and it still had a tail. (AWESOME!) So now the due date is March 31 and as of today we are 16 weeks along.

Here's the pics of our baby at 8 weeks.

Welcome to My Family

I've been wanting to write for a while, since I have been pregnant. Pregnancy is such a roller coaster ride of emotions and sometimes a bit of venting or gushing about my happiness is a necessity. But a little background is needed before one can make any sense of my ramblings.

I am Tabitha and I am a 20 year old student at the University of Oregon. I love school and I am a Spanish major. I am also a member of the UO Marching Band. I play clarinet in the band, but I love playing so many different instruments. I also work full time as a care provider for people who have developmental disabilities. Some days I love my job and some I hate it. I bet most people feel the same about their job. I have a really busy life, but I am learning to slow down and take some time for my self and my family.

 This is my boyfriend James. He's a pretty great guy. He's not perfect, but he's perfect for me. We do occasionally have our problems, but we always manage to work things out. We have been together since July of 2007 and we are still going strong. James is also a student at the UO. He is a business major and is expecting to graduate this coming up June.

"We" are about to be 16 weeks pregnant on Wednesday and becoming parents is a big adventure for us as it is a first child for us both. We're pretty excited, but still a little scared.

This blog is meant for me to be a way to talk endlessly about myself and my family and not feel like I am bragging or being overwhelmingly self centered. I have the need to express how important we all are.