33 Weeks

Baby Shower #1

How far along? 33 Weeks 

Total weight gain? Up 30 lbs, will have another check up Week 34. Really trying to maintain a total weight gain no more than 30 lbs, but seeing how I am at 30 lbs already and Coraline still has big growth spurts ahead...my dream seems to be squashed. :-[

Maternity Clothes? ASOS is my top #1 choice! The tops/tunics run true to your pre-pregnancy size. (Given you didn't let yourself go and blow up like a balloon - boob growth is accommodated for). I found that the pants are true to your current pregnant size. So if you measure your hips properly, use their size chart to order the proper pregnancy size. Yes this means you may order a 10/12/14. Grieve for a bit, then get over it. My next choices are The Gap/Old Navy. I have really only ordered tank tops from there and again, true to pre-pregnancy size. However, for 3rd trimester I recommend going up one size, the belly region can get tight. :-)

Stretch Marks?  The red marks are still on my butt! Good news, the red marks on my boob have vanished! Gone! Not even a slight sign that they were once even there. WHOOP!

Sleep:  Sleeping is WAY off. By 4 pm I am exhausted! I want to take a nap, but always talk myself out of it. By nighttime I am exhausted and feel like I should be able to pass right out, but don't. Major insomnia. I should probably just start giving in to the 4 pm nap. :-/

Best moment this week: First baby shower!! 

Miss Anything? Alcohol. It is hot and I want to enjoy the fun fruity alcoholic beverages everyone else is getting to enjoy. Jealous. 

Movement: She LOVES to move!! What's new? ha!

Food cravings: Watermelon. Henry picks the best ones too. Each time before he leaves town I make sure he picks a watermelon first so I can snack on it while he is gone. :-)

Anything making you queasy or sick: Textures are still making me sick. 

Gender RESULTS: BABY GIRL!!! My gut feeling was right all along! I absolutely can't wait to meet her!

Labor Signs: More contractions this week! Happened at work while sitting at the desk - probably because I was stressed. I am on a roll. 

Symptoms: 
Exhaustion! Absolutely exhausted.
Braxton Hicks! Yay.
Learned I am allergic to cocoa butter.
Hips hurt. Especially my right hip.
If I don't take my prenatal vitamin at night, my legs get extremely antsy! It feels like I need to go running they get so antsy. However, if I take my pre-natal within 30 minutes they chill out. I read that it has to do with the iron. Either way, it works.
Movements have changed from individual movements to feeling simultaneous movements in two different spots. Like I will feel something toward my right side up by my ribs, and at the same time another movement on the left side of my belly button. It's the weirdest, yet most wonderful feeling in the world.
Disappearing belly button, baby bump, nails and hair growing like weeds, baby movements (the best!) and my boobs have drastically increased.
Frequent bathroom visits
Occasional swelling of my feet and hands. Especially my right foot. 

Belly Button in or out? My belly button is officially FLAT. No innie, no outtie. 

Wedding rings on or off? Both rings have moved to my pinkie fingers. I had a scare with my Aggie ring and just decided to keep them both there. Juuuust in case. 

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, Happy!

Looking forward to: Finishing out the nursery and getting back into our house from the tornado!

Baby Name? Coraline! I love the name!! See WEEK 21 for name details. <3

Thoughts: We had our first baby shower this week! It was great to have so many family members from each side of my family attend. Usually we get all my moms side or all my dads. We had a good combination from both. They didn't do any crazy games except Baby Bingo, which turned out to be fun for the guests and kept them engaged during the gift opening. Everyone got a Blank Bingo Card and filled in the squares with gifts they thought we may receive. If they got 5 in a row they got a bingo and a prize. The mini-liquor bottle prizes were a hit! There were also two Starbucks gift cards and a mystery prize. We got tons of adorable outfits, wipes, bottles, little baby knick knacks and Coraline's carseat and extra base for Daddy's truck. We are truly blessed with some amazing, generous family members. Not to mention, my sister made the CUTEST Coraline diaper cake!! I was truly shocked at her talent to make it. Although I am sure her boyfriend Brice had a helping hand. hehe Then my Aunt Robin had the genius idea of freezing watermelon slices on sticks to make "fruit pops". Watermelon has been my main crave lately, and to have it frozen, slushy like on a stick was awesome! Genius idea for future kid birthday parties. 

About the Board:

No board this week. :-[ I know, shame on me. With work and traveling to and from Houston I just didn't make time for one. Not to mention the exhaustion, remember?

Pregnancy/Maternity Fashion: 

Dress is from ASOS.
Belt from a local boutique.
Wedges are Gianni Bini - my absolute favorite shoe designer and he by far has the most comfortable heels/wedges, especially for 33 weeks preggo!

Check out this adorable video courtesy of my Uncle John

Photos courtesy of my Uncle Warren

Photos courtesy of my Uncle Warren

Prepping For Baby Coraline

Preparing for this baby has not been easy by any means. They say you will never be fully prepared for a baby, and that is no joke. What makes it harder for us is we have been temporarily displaced from the tornado that hit our home back on May 15th!! The insurance is just being so incredibly difficult.  National Lloyd is great when they are taking your money, but when it comes time for them to do their job and help you out, GOOD LUCK!!

Needless to say, we are slowly chipping away at all the items we need to do and trying to complete the nursery bit by bit in a house that can't get below 80 degrees. 

We had two fabulous baby showers back to back weekends,  detailed blog posts about those to come, so our house looks like Babies r Us threw up in it at this point.  My aunt warned me that baby items would take over your house, but this is a bit ridiculous.  Haha
Once we get the nursery in better shape I know we can get things in there better organized, but right now our living room is one giant storage room. 

We were blessed to get almost all our big ticket items from very generous family members and friends, such as our car seat, extra car seat base, pack & play,  baby bath tub, stroller, bouncer & breast pump. The only things remaining are the crib bedding, baby monitor and swing. 

The crib bedding is going to be a dual sided dedign which I absolutely can't wait to share! A friend recommended a local lady to sew it all for us and she really came up with a great idea.

Our to-do list still entails:
Getting our A/C repaired!! D*** insurance!
Packing hospital bag
Washing all baby items/clothes
Touching up nursery fishscale wall
Hanging nursery decor
Getting the remaining big ticket items
Cleaning my car out to put the carseat in for the hospital
Finalizing our birth plan
Registering with the hospital
Catching up on chalkboard pregnancy posts!

I think that covers it?

Feeling pretty overwhelmed.  Haha

Baby Shower Gift

So I recently attended a dear friend's baby shower. I must say, I am terrible at picking out gifts. You know everything they registered for is something they truly want, but you don't want to show up with just that one tiny gift, even if it did cost $70. I noticed she had registered for various bath items of different brands and decided I would make my own little "Baby Bath Basket".

I figured this way she could get all the brands, try them out, and then could buy more of the one she liked most later. With how messy baby's can get, I am sure she will use this up in no time.

Contents:

1) Two Burp Cloths

2) Hooded Disney Princess Bath Towel

3) Mustela No Rinse Cleansing Fluid (Rave reviews from moms! Diaper Bag must have)

4) BabyGanics Essential Kit - Hiney Helper Diaper Rash Cream, Healin Groovy Protective Ointment, Smooth Moves Fragrance Free Daily Lotion, Foamin Fun Shampoo & Body Wash, Thick N Kleen Newborn Baby Wipes, OXO Perfect Pull Wipes Dispenser

5) Johnson & Johnson On The Go Essentials Kit - Baby Bedtime Bath & Lotion, Desitin Diaper Rash Cream (which per a geriatrics nurse, Desitin BURNS, so I wouldn't recommend using it on your baby),  Baby shampoo, Baby Head-to-Toe Wash, Baby Bubble Bath & Wash, Baby Lotion

6) Baby Magic Rub A Dub Fun Tub - Gentle Baby lotion, Hair & Body wash, Calming baby bath, Rubber Duckie Bath Pouf 

7) $7 Walmart Basket

It turned out really cute and very handy. She has travel size items for the diaper bag, full size for the home and various brands for testing out to her (and baby's) liking. 

Everything was purchased through BabiesRUs and they were having a buy two bath products get the 3rd free, so #6 was free! Overall the total basket cost me around $65, with the burp cloths being the most expensive item. 

Alana

XoXo

Expanding Your Baby Registry To New Levels

Expanding your baby registry to new levels? What could this mean? 

It means something pretty freakin' fabulous if you ask me! Thanks to a friend of a friend (Taylor from Pink Heels Pink Truck's friend Lauren from Our Hiding Place) I learned how to expand our Amazon Baby Registry - Yes Amazon - to websites like Etsy, Aggieland Outfitters, and various other websites! For die-hard Aggies like myself this is TOO COOL! Because all those cute Aggie gifts I thought I couldn't register for because they were in Aggieland and no registries are offered at those stores, have now been made available!! All thanks to Amazon's button that is similar to the Pinterest "Pin It" button.

Let me explain.

Add items to your Registry or Wish List from any website using that link. It will add a little button with the Amazon symbol right next to your forward and backward browser buttons. Now while browsing various websites where maybe you want only one item, or where they don't offer a registry, you can add this to your Amazon wish list, baby registry or even wedding registry! 

Pretty fan-freakin-tastic isn't it? 

GENDER REVEAL PARTY & 20 WEEKS

A BIG thank you to all the friends and family who helped make this day so special! It means the world to us that you were able to join in such a wonderful celebration! <3
A BIG thank you to Marina and J.C. for hosting the shower and Danni for being such a wonderful helper to Marina.
We love you all!

How far along? 20 Weeks

Total weight gain? I have officially gained 10 lbs on the nose as of my appointment a week ago. 

Maternity Clothes? I am alternating between Motherhood Maternity tops and Target tanks. I did find this amazing website for maternity clothes in the UK! I ordered two dresses from there hoping they would arrive before the reveal party because all maternity clothing stores here SUCK. BIG. BALLS. I mean seriously, have you seen the things they are selling!?

Stretch Marks? None.

Sleep: Sleep was good, until halfway through the week. Our baby enjoys doing acrobats and tap dances all around my belly...particularly on my bladder. 

Best moment this week: Finding out the Baby's Gender!!!

Miss Anything? Missing alcohol, particularly rum, and sushi. However, we did stop at Naked Fish in College Station on the way home. I was able to order two rolls with cooked salmon, not the same as raw, but good enough!

Movement: YES!! Refer to Week 17 for my first experiences with movements. Then week 18 for Henry's. Also, our baby officially has a gender! Although, we don't find out until week 20 at the Gender Reveal Party! Whoop!

Food cravings: Fruit, Thai food and Kit-Kats! I have probably eaten 10 kit-kat bars this week. Don't judge. 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Textures of things are making me queasy. If they are too gummy or taffy, I can't eat it. Also, Orange Juice. I have had multiple episodes where I have thrown up rather soon after drinking orange juice. Too sugary?

Gender RESULTS: BABY GIRL!!! My gut feeling was right all along!

Labor Signs: Too soon

Symptoms: Decreasing belly button, baby bump, nails and hair growing like weeds, baby movements (the best!) and my boobs have drastically increased - oh and the lovely frequent bathroom breaks have begun!

Belly Button in or out? Innie - barely.

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Very happy! Especially because I know what to buy for now! 

Looking forward to: More baby movements and finally finishing out the nursery since we know it's a girl!

Baby Names? Well boy names are scratched. haha We are torn between Claire, Hayden and Coraline (Cora/Coral). Why do girl names have to be so cute and difficult?

Thoughts: I have to admit, I was upset when I saw those pink balloons peeking out of the reveal box. Now don't go judging and hating me - I am beyond excited to have a little girl - but I wanted so badly to give my Father-In-Law his first true grandson - since the other 3 are step-grandsons and the other 13-16 are girls. Not to mention, Henry insists we try until we have a son so he can have someone take over the family business like he did for his dad. However Henry really did want a little girl, and I am happy knowing that now I will have someone to take shopping and get pedicures with. I can buy all those adorable baby girl outfits and accessories, future ballet recitals or even barrel racing or track meets! I am terrified of meeting our little girl, yet overwhelmed with joy all at the same time. Wondering if she will have my nose or Henry's, hoping she gets Henry's lighter blue eyes and either way she will have rockin' hair because Henry has amazingly soft hair for a dude and my hair is perfect. HAHA

**NEW** About the Board: I wet the board down with a damp rag and then wrote with Walmart brand skinny chalk. 

I chose to alternate between blue and pink since it is Gender Reveal Week! I used our Gender Reveal Invitation as inspiration for the design. 

When editing I increase the "saturation" to make the colors even more bold.

The fonts this week is:  Harrington (my favorite)

I pull up word, type what I want in the fonts chosen, then eyeball it onto the chalkboard. :-)

**NEW** Pregnancy/Maternity Fashion: I am wearing a navy blue eyelet dress from Motherhood Maternity (there were absolutely no cute blue dresses ANYWHERE! The color of the season right now is Coral and I really wanted a blue dress). The wedges are Gianni Bini - Very comfy!

GENDER REVEAL PARTY PHOTOS

19 WEEK SONO

Week 19 began on Saturday/Sunday for me. On Monday we had our 2nd doctor sono, 3rd overall, to see the baby, get measurements and determine the gender!! Even though they would be finding the gender, Henry and I would not find out. Our Gender Reveal Party is scheduled for this Saturday, April 13, 2013, so the only person who would know would be the party host, Marina. :-)

Our sonographer did a great job in ensuring we did not find out. She referred to "the baby" the entire time. We got to see the skull, the four chambers of it's heart and the adorable face! When we went to look at the spine and legs she made sure to tell us to look away, even though we weren't looking she talked us through everything she was doing. "I am measuring the legs right now. Looking at the spine, everything looks great. 10 toes are present." She did a few more things where we could watch and at the perfect moment our baby from the profile did a slight karate chop/intense wave on the sono! It was hilarious. She snapped a few photos for us to keep, then told us to look away one last time so she could determine the gender. I really had to practice self control not to peek - I mean REALLY try! If Henry weren't there ensuring I didn't cheat I would've been telling her, "Just tell me, I promise I will act surprised!". HA! I even tried listening for her to type "B-O-Y" or "G-I-R-L" and she was so silent on the keyboard I baaaarely heard her hit one key. Hell, she probably just typed "B" or "G". LOL

Sweet baby yawn! What do you think? Boy or Girl?

When we went to the examining room to see Dr. English, she informed us that she would just talk more about it with us at our next visit. She told the sonographer not to enter it into our chart because she didn't want to slip up and ruin the surprise, so bring photos of the reveal and we would talk about it next time. haha

We left them Marina's phone number and waited until we had confirmation from Marina they had called. Sure enough, they called and Marina did not hesitate to post on FB: "I know something you don't know!" My sister - Stefanie - was cracking me up with her responses! Both her and my sister-in-law were having major jealously issues. At lunch my sister-in-law threw a joking, pity-party, "It's not fair that she gets to know before us! She isn't even family." I had to remind her that we didn't tell family, especially Henry's, because no one on that side knows how to keep a secret. If I would've told her, all of the world would know. Punk. :-P (Love you Audrey)

Love my edit job?

Needless to say, I am posting constant countdown updates and am beyond anxious! Marina has apparently phenomenally decorated a box which will be filled with pink or blue balloons. I haven't seen said box, but my girlfriend Danni has re-assured me that everything Marina has done is perfection. Which I don't doubt one bit. 

I really thought this week would have dragged on, but I can't believe that tomorrow is Friday and we will be on our way to Houston, one day closer to knowing if Baby J will be a boy or girl. I won't be able to sleep a wink Friday night, I just know it!

If you don't already follow me on Instagram, be sure to go check it out! The gender reveal announcement won't be posted on the blog for another week, but will be posted on Instagram this weekend. 

Which team are you? Team Beau or Team Bow?

Gender Reveal: How To Announce Baby J As A Boy Or Girl

If you ever browse Pinterest, then you will see the Gender Reveal Party ideas taking over people's baby boards. Some old fashion folks prefer the idea of waiting until the baby pop's out, but the latest generation trend is the Reveal Party/Shower. Henry and I have decided we would like to jump on this bandwagon, but don't know exactly which of the many fabulous ideas to use! That is why I have listed some of our favorite ideas. We need your help in voting, or suggesting alternatives, to help us decide how to reveal Baby J's gender to family and friends.

We find out the gender in just under 8 weeks, with the reveal shower to follow shortly after the doctor puts the gender in a sealed envelope where even we won't know until the shower.

This means we need to come up with an idea, so the shower planning and theme can begin!

Ideas:

1) Gender Reveal Scratch Off:

Etsy Source

If we chose this idea everyone would receive a scratch off, but only ONE would have 3 bows or 3 mustaches (or feet or anchors or bees, whatever the theme may be). This way everyone gets to be involved. We can either buy them pre-made off Etsy, or use one of the many How-Tos that can be found online.

2) Fizzy Drink Gender Reveal:

Pinterest Baby Board

The science nerd in me loves this idea!

Henry suggested as a way to prevent some party-pooper from spoiling the surprise before everyone is ready by being an eager beaver, was to get a pretty vase in the center of the room, fill it with water, and everyone toss the fizzy into the vase at once.

Wishing Well Style. 

We could opt to give everyone a fizzy or a select few. Or hell, just Henry and I could drop one in together in the front of the room.

3) Box of Balloons Gender Reveal:

Pinterest Baby Board

Etsy Source: Balloon Reveal Box Vinyl Decor

 This is a pretty common reveal along with the cake/baked good reveal.

You take a decorated box, have the balloon place fill the box with the correct color, then release the balloons in front of family and friends. Simple and sweet! You could opt to do regular latex balloons, get different shaped balloons in the correct color, have streamers attached to the balloons, etc. All different ways to dress it up!

4) Confetti Balloon Gender Reveal:

GreyLikesBaby Blog

 This idea could get messy, but I love it! I do not know exactly how this couple had the confetti release, but this is what I have pictured in my head.

You get some pink balloons, some blue balloons, then two black balloons.

Have the balloon store fill the two nice sized black balloons with the correct color confetti.

When it is time to reveal, you each pop the two black balloons and down rains beautiful gender colored confetti! Partay!

5) Bubble Gum Gender Reveal:

Frosted Petti Coat Blog

 For this one, the photographer was the only one who knew. Everyone closed their eyes, photographer placed the correct color gumball in the parents-to-be mouths, and then everyone opened their eyes.

My sister also had the idea of instead of revealing the gum-ball, you could blow a bubble. 

Super Cute! 

6) Cake/Cupcake/Cake Pop Gender Reveal:

Pinterest Baby Board

 This idea you could do one whole cake, where Henry and I would slice into the cake and the cake or filling would be pink or blue. You could do cupcakes, everyone bites into it to reveal pink or blue. You could do filled cupcakes, where the filling is pink or blue. Cake pops, cake balls, etc. Lots of yummy edible options here. This is also the most traditional way people have done it.

7) Party Popper Gender Reveal:

Pinterest Baby Board

This is a new idea I haven't seen used yet.

Everyone gets a party popper filled with the correct color, count 1,2,3 and POP!

Out comes pink or blue!

8) Gender Reveal Pinata:

Etsy Source

Who doesn't know how a Pinata works?

Hang piñata in a tree, everyone takes a whack at it, colored candy/confetti/glitter, etc. falls out!

Gender revealed! Voila!