18 Weeks!!

•How far along:  18 weeks 

•Current Weight: 170 again 

•Total weight gain: down 4

•How big is baby?: The size of a sweet potato

•Maternity clothes?: Yes. I still like wearing regular shirts since the make the belly pop a little more!

•Movement: I think I am feeling Baby L more and more - more like kicks now then flutters

•Stretch marks?: Not yet...

•Sleep?: My sleep pattern has been weird lately. I have been tried during the day but at night I can't can't seem to be ready for bed.

•Symptoms?: M/S, Nausea, terrible headaches, sore breasts, growing belly :)

•Food aversions?: Nothing really at the moment.

•Food cravings?: Grease!!

•Labor signs?: Nope.

•Belly button in or out?: I noticed it's not as deep as it used to be.

•What I miss:  My old jeans or having more than 2 pairs!

•What I'm looking forward to: U/S in less then 3 weeks!

•Best Moment this week: Getting Baby L's cloth diapers in the mail and of course feel more kicks!

•Milestone: Felt actual kicking!!



18 Week Bump!!!  - getting big in my opinion!

First Big Purchase - Cloth Diapers



I finally did it!  I broke down and bought the first part of my newborn stash!  I purchased 36 Diaper Rite newborn sized prefolds, 2 Thirsties Duo Wrap Covers and 1 Snappi.  I spent $1.99 on each prefold, $12.50 on a solid colored cover, $13.50 on the cover shown above and $3.95 on the Snappi.  I purchased all of these from Diaper Junction and if you spent more than $49 you got free shipping.  Total cost for all items $101.59.   

I am planning on at least another Snappi and at least 4-6 more covers.  I more than likely will get more Thirsties and a couple Bummis but I will probably wait until we the know the sex on these.  Once these are purchase my newborn diaper stash will be complete and then all that is left is a sprayer, diaper pail and a couple wet bags. 

This weekends project while Scott is in class is make some fleece/flannel inserts and cloth wipes.  I know this is early but I figured why not to do it now while I have the time!

17 weeks and still growing!

Baby L is the size of an Onion!!!


How far along?: 17 weeks (it's starting to go fast!)

•Current Weight: 170 this week when I stepped on the scale. 

•Total weight gain: down 4

•How big is baby?: The size of an onion

•Maternity clothes?: Yes.  I still like wearing regular shirts since the make the belly pop a little more!

•Movement: Still feeling some flutters on the left side of my belly

•Stretch marks?: Not yet... 

•Sleep?: My sleep pattern has been weird lately.  I have been tried during the day but at night I can't can't seem to be ready for bed. 

•Symptoms?: M/S, Nausea, terrible headaches, sore breasts, growing belly :)

•Food aversions?:  Nothing really at the moment. 

•Food cravings?: Grease!!

•Labor signs?: Nope.

•Belly button in or out?: I noticed it's not as deep as it used to be.

•What I miss:  not puking in the morning! :)

•What I'm looking forward to:  U/S in 3.5 weeks!

•Best Moment this week: Scott reading the first book to the baby!

•Milestone: 16 week check up went well! :)

I think I have made up my mind! Newborn CD!

So I think I have decided.  After hours (and I mean hours) or research I think I know what we will be doing as far as cloth diapering goes at least when LO is still a newborn.  With all of the different options that come with cloth diapering I am beginning to understand there are only certain ways that work with newborns.  Prefolds and covers or fitteds and covers.  Pockets and AIOs don't normally work as well because they are larger and don't fit as tightly causing those wonderful leaks I do not want to deal with!

I think for our family and budget I am going to go with the prefolds and covers.  I was torn on which prefold brand to go with, Green Mountain Diapers or Diaper Rite Prefolds.  As of right now I am looking at the Diaper Rite Prefolds in the Newborn size.  To start my stash I am going to get 24 but I may bump this up to 36 as time goes on as we all know I love to do laundry! ha ha

The newborn prefolds should last until the LO is about 3 months old (unless we have a chunker) and after that we will decide where to go from there.  They great thing about prefolds is not only can you resale them once they are outgrown but you can also use them as burp rags or as inserts in cloth diapers later on.

One thing you have to have with prefolds, since they are not waterproof, is a cover.  There are 2 different brands I have heard great things about on the waterproof side Thirsties Duo Wraps or Bummis Super Lite Wraps.  Right now I am leaning towards 4 covers, 3 of the Thirsties and 1 of the Bummis.  One of the main differences between the 2 are the length of time they will fit the LO.  The Thirsties grow with the baby from 6 lbs to 18 lbs.  The Bummis come in newborn, small, medium and large.  For the 3 month time I will start out with 1 newborn size that is up to 10 lbs and then 1 size small that will work until little one reaches about 17 lbs.

Now lets talk price!  I priced 24 Diaper Rite Prefolds, 3 Thirsties Duo Wraps, 1 Bummis Super Lite, 1 Bummis Fabulous Wet Bag size small, and 1 Snappi Diaper Fastener.  The total for this whole system which I will be able to use most of the items past 3 months or sell costs $109.95 at The Diaper Junction website.  To see how much this was going to cost in disposables "they" say that you can have up to 12 diaper changes a day with a newborn.  To make it easy I took 12 changes times 90 days.  This equals 1080 diaper changes or 1080 disposable diapers.  On WalMart.com you can buy a box of 192 size 1 diapers for $34.00.  1080 divided by 192 equals 5.6 boxes at $34.00 equals $191.25.  Sooooo $191.25 minus $109.95 equals a difference of $81.30!!  Now I could also turn around and after 3 months sell all of these online and get about 60% of retail cost or $65.97.  To do the final math actual cost of CD for the first 3 months if I sold my diapers is $43.98.  Savings over disposable $191.25 minus $43.98 equals $147.27!!!  Plus these items I can buy now and build my stash as LO grows instead of buying once LO is here. 

That of course is only if I buy new!  I am going to be hunting Diaper Swappers and Spot's Corner to look for great used prefolds and covers to cut my costs even more!

Buying for Baby

So today I began looking at everything baby.  What baby needs for sleeping, eating, playing, etc.  There are so many things out there I didn't really know where to start.  Since I live in Iowa I am very limited on the stores that I can purchase baby items from and not have to be online. 

I decided to start with Babies R Us since that is probably the only baby related "store" we have here in town.  I found quite a few items and was very pleased with the selection.  I then decided to look online at Target to see if they had some of the same items I had found on BRU.  To my wonderful surprise they had almost all of the items and for cheaper.  One more place I thought I would look was Wal Mart.  Oh my goodness!  The swing I wanted was about $25 less and the travel system was $50 less!  Same brand, same quality!

I now think I can check a few things off the need to register for list.  Now back to researching cloth diapers!

Daddy goes shopping!

During the last week of March Scott was on Spring Break.  Grandma L had told him about a Mom's of Multiples sale that was going on up the road from us at a church.  All on his own Scott decided to go and check out the sale.  He called as he pulled into the parking lot and told me it was sooo packed!  I spoke to him after he had left the sale and he said it was so overwhelming.  I was so proud of him for this.  Scott has never been a garage sale, let alone on his own!  I thought he was done with his shopping experience since he did pick up a couple things, some bibs and some waterproof pads.  He got some other items too but I can't remember. 

Later he called to tell me he had just gone to the Planned Parenthood book sale.  This was not surprising as he goes to these all the time.  What was surprising was when he called he had to read off every book he purchased.  He was so happy and it just made me smile.  My favorite was that he got a couple Donald Duck books since he can do Donald's voice.  I can not wait to listen to him read these books to our LO!  He makes me melt! :)

16 weeks!

  or as I love them  (but no I am not eating them!)


How far along?: 16 weeks

•Current Weight: 169.  Still down about 5 pounds. 

•Total weight gain: down 5

•How big is baby?: The size of an avocado

•Maternity clothes?: Yes.  I still like wearing regular shirts since the make the belly pop a little more!

•Movement: I really think I felt the first flutters this week!!

•Stretch marks?: Not yet... 

•Sleep?: We are still good friends!

•Symptoms?: M/S, Nausea, terrible headaches, itchy skin, sore breasts, growing belly :)

•Food aversions?:  Nothing really at the moment. 

•Food cravings?: Big Macs, Oranges, mint shakes (although I haven't had one in a while)

•Labor signs?: Nope.

•Belly button in or out?: I noticed it's not as deep as it used to be.

•What I miss:  Wine, Summer Shandy, Milo's, Salmon Avocado rolls

•What I'm looking forward to:  Seeing Baby L on the u/s.  I am ready to start calling it by name already!

•Best Moment this week: Feeling the flutters

•Milestone: Feeling the flutters.

Bump pictures are not happening like I want.  So I am going to have to live with the bathroom pics for now!

And so the Research Begins... Cloth Diapering

With Scott being really busy on the weekends and at night it gives me plenty of time to research what is going to be the best way/products for our family to use.  Since we just purchased our AWESOME washer and dryer I can see this actually being feasible for us.  The one thing that makes me nervous is how often we are going to have to do laundry!  But still I would rather do some laundry then spend the money on disposables.

   

Since Scott will still be in medical school for the first 2 years of this LO's life we have decided to cloth diaper.  Disposable diapers are expensive and are such a waste so I thought this would be a great idea for us to save some money. 

I have a very good friend who cloth diapers her boys who I got my inspiration from.  She recently showed me her "stash" of diapers and explained all of the different types.  (I don't remember much but am very grateful for the information I did retain!) 

I mean come on how cute are these?!?!  So much for comfortable and better looking.  Oh and did I mention cheaper?  I think cloth diapering is the way to go for us, at the moment! :)  More to come! 

15 Weeks!

  I thought this week was very fitting!  At 15 weeks Baby L is the size of an orange!!  One of my favorite foods at the moment!! :) I have gone to the grocery store a couple times and walked by the oranges and just can't believe that my LO is that big right now!!

How far along?: 15 weeks

•Current Weight: 168.  Still down about 6 pounds.  I think my 162 weight was a little bit of a fluke after some serious m/s.

•Total weight gain: down 6

•How big is baby?: The size of a orange! :)

•Maternity clothes?: Yes.  I still like wearing regular shirts since the make the belly pop a little more!

•Movement: I thought maybe I felt a little flutter earlier this week but I'm not counting it.

•Stretch marks?: Not yet... 

•Sleep?: Still ok.  Last night was rough but I will take a bad night when the others are pretty good!

•Symptoms?: The headaches have gone away for the most part but have been replaced my awful sciatic pain.  Last night was the worst yet.  I looked like I was about 95 years old trying to hobble around the house.  Not to mention I couldn't find a spot to get comfortable at all.  Morning sickness and nausea are still buds.  I just hope they don't decide to hang around to see this baby born!

•Food aversions?:  Nothing really at the moment. 

•Food cravings?: Big Macs, Oranges, diet mt. dew - still all the same from last week

•Labor signs?: Nope.

•Belly button in or out?: I noticed it's not as deep as it used to be.

•What I miss:  I can say one thing I don't miss.  Getting told to do the laundry and dishes all the time.  Scott has been great in keeping up with ALL of the household chores with no complaining at me.  I LOVE THIS MAN!

•What I'm looking forward to:  Seeing Baby L on the u/s.  I am ready to start calling it by name already!

•Best Moment this week: Laying on the couch with Scott while he talks right into my belly to the baby.  This man is going to be the best dad in the entire world!

•Milestone: 37 days until we see Baby L and learn what we will call s/he.  39 days until Scott is done with his second year of med school and 44 days until our 3 year wedding anniversary!  That is some awesomeness happening in 7 days!!!!!

I am going to start weekly bump pictures but I have to wait until Scott gets home from school.  Can't wait to see how this belly grows until September!

Starting a new thing... 14 weeks!

I saw on another blog of a soon to be mom posting weekly progress of her pregnancy and the LO's growth.  I thought that was an amazing idea and so I begin at 14 weeks!

•How far along?: 14 weeks

•Current Weight: 162.   This is about 12.5 lbs down from my pre-pregnancy weight.

•Total weight gain: down 12.5

•How big is baby?: The size of a lemon!!  I had lemonade on Thursday to celebrate!

•Maternity clothes?: Yep!  I have been in maternity pants for about 3 weeks and tops about a week.  Loving the pants!!!

•Movement: Nope

•Stretch marks?: Not yet... 

•Sleep?: This has gotten a little better.  I am only waking up once at night to use the bathroom.  I actually got away twice I think in the last week sleeping all the way through.  I'm still sleeping until 9 or 10 on the weekends.

•Symptoms?: Up until a couple days ago the nausea was getting worse even on Zofran.  As I type this I am not feeling so hot.  Breast tenderness is still pretty bad.  Heartburn, headaches, itchy legs and of course NO ENERGY!

•Food aversions?: keep me away from raw beef and the smell of cooking beef.  I can eat it just fine though. 

•Food cravings?: Big Macs, Oranges, diet mt. dew

•Labor signs?: Nope.

•Belly button in or out?: Still way in

•What I miss: Baths (but I started taking a couple cooler ones lately), wine, sleeping all night with the dogs, raw sushi

•What I'm looking forward to: Finding out what we are having and starting to shop!

•Best Moment this week: Umm other then the constipation going away, haha, I would say spending more time discussing more things baby related with Scott!

•Milestone: I am finally a member of the 2nd trimester!

BABY BUMPS!

 

Baby bump at 9 weeks

 Baby bump at 12 weeks

NT Scan and Pictures!

Last time I wrote I wasn't even 8 weeks yet.  Today I am happy to say I am half way through week 14!!!

So much has happened in the last 6 weeks!  We had our NT scan and got to see Baby L for the first time!  It was so amazing!  It wasn't nothing like I had expected.  We went on 3/16/11 for the scan.  I was so glad that Scott was able to come because I was pretty nervous.  I thought it was weird that up until that point the only thing that had confirmed my pregnancy were the 6 pregnancy tests I took at home and the one urine test I did at the dr.  Other then that no blood test at all. 

Anyways... work had been bugging the crap out of me about how I was having twins.  They all knew I was getting the scan done on the 16th so that morning I send an email out to the 2 main people who had been bugging me (boss was one of them) that they were in so much trouble and that I needed a raise.  Right underneath that I copied a wonderful picture I had found on google of an u/s picture for someone who was in fact having twins.  Both guys that were copied on the email freaked and then it got sent all around the company.  I even had the President/CEO convinced I was having twins.

Good thing I hadn't jinxed myself.  When we actually made it in and she put it up to my stomach there popped up the most gorgeous picture I have ever seen in my life.  Baby L was just hanging out in there.  S/he's heart was beating so fast (172) and oh my goodness I couldn't get over at 12 weeks how much the little stinker looked like a baby!  At that point in time it was about 2.5 inches long and the size of a plum.  Scott was pretty much in shock just staring at the screen.  She printed out 8 pictures for us to take home.  In different ones you can see toes and fingers and the nose and jaw line.  It was amazing!