Baby Registry #1- CHECK!

My BFF (since 7th grade!) Shanna joined me today in getting my Babies'R'Us registry done, and I am so thankful to have such a great friend and future auntie! We spent almost 4 hours there, scanner in hand and my poor little feet look like sausages after walking around that superstore! The good news is, I feel like I registered for some great things and Paul was all smiles when we came home and Shanna presented him with two onesies for our baby girl! She is going to be such a little rockstar, with an auntie that has such great taste! Here is a pic of me and Shanna in my backyard (I'm 2 days shy of 21 weeks), then me taking full advantage of the expectant mother parking, and finally the two outfits she picked out!

Step away, Wendy, before you get yourself into trouble!

Now that we know we're having a baby girl, it is becoming impossible (almost) to stop looking online at different sites for all things baby girl. Bedding. Nursery furniture. Adorable(!) clothing that quite honestly, I hadn't really spent that much time looking at prior to finding out we're having a girl. As I mentioned, between the 2 vivid dreams, and everyone I know predicting a boy, it didn't really even cross my mind that it could be a girl (I know, how naive!) I am loving the Old Navy baby website- the prices are so great, and they have some really CUTE outfits! Considering all of the things we are going to need to buy in the next few months, I've had to force myself to step away from the computer at times, but I couldn't pass up my first purchase to celebrate the great news that we're having a baby girl. Check it out!

Our sweet baby girl in 4D!

It is amazing to see her lips, her little hands and fingers, and though she will still be growing and fattening up, you can begin to get a glimpse of how baby will look when she greets us all in this world! Amazing technology, these days! (PS when it goes back to the black and white 3D, check out her tiny beating heart, too cute!)

It's a....GIRL!!

Who knew!?!?!?!?!? Well, no one, other than my sister practically! She was convinced that it was a girl, but other than her (and a few others with random guesses, like a stranger in the elevator), everyone else predicted a boy! It's funny how your heart melts so quickly the moment you hear that you're having a baby girl. Paul and I cried, laughed, and hugged for a very, very long time. It's a moment I will never forget. She's going to be a heartbreaker!

Crib Decisions!

I am so lucky to have such a great husband. Upon hours of Internet research for different crib and nursery furniture options, I sat down with Paul last night to discuss my findings. I expected him to have a strong opinion about what he wanted to see for our first child's nursery. You know what his opinion was? That if Mommy's happy, he's happy, and he wanted to make sure that I was able to design the nursery of my dreams (on a reasonable budget, of course). Of course, he'll travel around town with me so I don't have to go at it alone, but his main goal (he said) is to ensure we get good quality furniture, and that I find just what I am looking for. What a great husband :)

Anyhow, that leaves me with some tough decisions! I wish I could design 3 baby nurseries, so I didn't have to narrow my choices down to just one! I thought I would enlist others who view this blog (the few of you! Ha) and ask for help in making my decision! Here are 2 of my top choices right now, each in 2 different finishes that I love. Tell me what you think!

Monterey Chestnut Crib:


Monterey Cherry Crib:


Carved Cherry Crib:


Carved Espresso Crib:

Produce, anyone?

It's everywhere- news about organics, local farming, living as naturally as one can, etc. It seems to be a topic of daily conversation, almost, between friends, coworkers, and articles in magazines. I don't pretend that I've been a naturalist all along, but I figure this is a boat I'm willing to jump on, even if I'm late. I don't want to preach to others, nor do I think there is a right or wrong for everyone, I just know that I have the ability and willingness to make these choices, and I'd rather not ingest pesticides and weeks old produce, if I don't have to.

That said, I found a really cool website, in case others are interested, that has compiled local farms where you can go and pick your own produce. There are so many reasons I am excited about this- first, it reduces the carbon footprint of semi-trucks needing to deliver my apples from Washington, my oranges from Florida, etc. Second, the produce will be the freshest available- sometimes produce can take 1-2 weeks or more to get to the grocery store! Third, it help to support my local communities and supports local farmers.

If your interested, check out http://www.pickyourown.org. You can search by state and county, and I can't wait to select my first farm I'm going to visit (you can even find local farms to pick your own Halloween pumpkins and Christmas trees!). I'll try to post about my first visit.

The Bun in the Oven Costume

I love Halloween-I love to decorate, I love to celebrate, and I love to dress up with Paul. One year, Paul and I were Dorothy and the Scarecrow (Wizard of Oz) and another, Fred and Wilma (Flinstones). These past 2 years, Paul has had to attend the SEMA convention in Las Vegas for work, which always falls on Halloween. I've spent the spooky night trick-or-treating with my nieces one year, and then my friends Shanna and Randy another year (and Woody, my doggie of course).

It looks like this year, I may just be in luck. The SEMA convention isn't at the top of Paul's priority list, as he usually designs and paints several projects for the event, and this year, he'll only have 1 on display. He mentioned that he may not end up going at all, if his work will let him out of it. That said, I was checking out what, if any, maternity costumes would be available online. I had to post the funniest one here- I've seen angels, witches, and all of the usual suspects, but this one tells the story for us. I was cracking up!

Memories from my past...

On of the earliest memories I have from childhood is going to the public library with my brother, and my mom. She would take us often, where we would enjoy story time in a group, and also we would just spend time in the library reading, and checking out/returning books. From an early age, I enjoyed reading, and I'm sure it was because of my mom's influence and commitment to spending time with books.

In looking forward to raising our own children, I get excited about recreating some of the memories I've grown up with from my own childhood. When I think about the first set of books that really captured my attention, it would be "The Berenstain Bears" collection. I learned about strangers ("Berenstain Bears Learn About Strangers"), bullies ("Berenstain Bears & the Bully"), manners ("Berenstain Bears Forget their Manners") and many other important lessons. At the time, I didn't realize that this book series explored a whole range of important issues, but looking back, I can't wait to own this set and read them to my children at night. I hope they enjoy Papa Bear, Mama Bear, Brother Bear, and Sister Bear, and I hope they dream about living in a tree house with the Bearenstain Bears, just like I did.

UPDATE: Well, after this post, I just couldn't resist the 4-for-3 promotion on Amazon for the Berenstain Bear books (for every 3 purchased, get the 4th one free, all with free PRIME shipping) so, well, I picked up a set of 24. Yes, I know, baby G won't even be able to enjoy these for at least a year or more, but hey- they are books, so at least I'm not blowing money on completely frivolous stuff (yet)!

UPDATE #2: UGH! Why didn't I think about Ebay before I went to Amazon?!? I just did a quick scan and could have gotten a much BIGGER lot of books (albeit used, but that's not critical to me) for a much better price. :( Ahhh, the saga of a new mom begin- the "must haves" prevent me from thinking before buying!

My new favorite thing!

This post really has nothing to do with being a mommy-in-training, but I had to share my new favorite thing! The other day I was at Nordy's getting my Lancome foundation and powder, and if I bought one more item, not only would I get the free gift with purchase, but I would also get a whole goody bag with free samples of different products that I would love to try. So, it wasn't too difficult to find a great face lotion, in order to get all of the free stuff.

In this goody bag, I received a sample of the new Ed Hardy women's perfume, and I ADORE it. It smells SO delicious, I had to tell you all about it. PLEASE, the next time you are out shopping, you have to stop by and see if they'll give you a sample. It is a perfect mix of "vintage floral" with a light fruitness. And, it still maintains an adult smell, vs. a teen fragrance. I LOVE IT!!

Crochet Weekend!

Good friendships are like great wine- they get even better with age. (Speaking of which, I miss wine, but that is a whole other post!) My good friend Lindsay came up to stay the weekend, leaving beautiful coastal San Diego, to hang out in the A/C here in the Inland Empire. I am so thankful that we have maintained a great friendship despite living 90 minutes apart, we had a lot of fun together this weekend and I even have a new project to show for it!

Linds has always been known to give scarves and blankets for Christmas/birthdays/etc, and I've always wanted to learn how to make a few scarves of my own. Now that I'm pregnant, I REALLY wanted to learn so I could start a baby blanket project. I've found myself a bit restless these days, with at least 4+ months to go.

So, Linds and I made our way to Michael's, where we picked up some yarn, crochet hooks, and a "dummy" book for me, in case I forgot what she taught me. We came home and had some din-din, then sat down to learn the fine art of crochet.

I have to admit, within the first 15 minutes, I was about to throw in the towel. We didn't realize it, but the yarn and the crochet hook we picked out for my project was the exact same color, making it hard for me to tell what was hook and what was yarn. Linds was a great teacher, letting me take a break to make some snickerdoodle cookies while she finished a row for me. Once that row was in place, I seemed to pick it up, and I've been crocheting every since.

Here are a few pics of my work in progress- although we don't know the gender yet of the baby, I really liked this deep blue color, and thought it could be neutral even if we have a girl- I just wasn't into the pastels (rarely do I ever like pastel ANYTHING) and I'm pretty pleased with how it's turning out so far. Of course, I'm about 1/10th of the way done, but I have 4 more months to pass the time. :)

Belly Shot!

This was taken at 17 weeks, 4 days, right after a tri-tip and smashed potato dinner :)

17 week ultrasound...

I am now beginning to understand the impact of going to a OB/GYN who does not have onsite ultrasound. Initially, I didn't see it as a big problem, he was such a great doctor that it didn't seem important to me. Well, it's beginning to bother me...

Yesterday, I went for a standard visit to Dr. Marcus, and during the visit both the nurse and the Dr. could not find the baby's heartbeat. Again. Now, online there are a lot of posts from women who say the same thing- that even at 17 weeks the heartbeat couldn't be identified with the Doppler alone. If my doctor had onsite ultrasound, it would have been just a quick minute to get it set up, and all of our worries would have been put to ease. But instead, he needed to set up an emergency ultrasound with the lab, and I forced them to make it for that afternoon. I could not wait!

I called Paul, crying of course, and took a sick day from work. Paul joined me for the ultrasound appointment- we knew in both of our hearts that everything was fine, but my doctor wasn't willing to give me any sense of confidence (he is definitely a cautious doctor). Anyhow, the ultrasound tech at the lab wasn't supposed to talk to us and show us what they were identifying (another seriously WRONG part of this whole process- they really expect you to wait for your follow up appointment with your doctor to hear the results?!?!)

The good thing is, at our last emergency ultrasound 4 weeks ago, we had a really sweet and nice ultrasound tech lady, and I requested her again because she was willing to tell us and show us (behind closed doors) anything we wanted to see. She was a blessing, and was available again yesterday for us.

Everything is fine. Baby is healthy, we saw things like the heart, kidney, brain, fingers, toes, spine, facial development, everything. We heard the heartbeat and it was glorious.

So, after all was said and done, I am now re-evaluating my doctor selection, as nice and great as he is, because I just don't know if I can keep going through this (unnecessary) trauma. Stay tuned....

Testing, Testing...1, 2, 3.....

Yeah, so you really shouldn't try to take a bunch of tests while you're pregnant. I can't exactly explain why I needed to today, but I spent a few hours taking a few different aptitude and psychological tests (more on why later). Anyhow, I felt, for the first time, what it must be like to have ADD, dyslexia, and complete memory failure simultaneously...I am an achiever, usually the one to finish a test first and still get the "A", while spending minimal time studying (trust me, I've always, ALWAYS felt blessed about this).

However, today was a different story. I felt what it must be like to be a poor student, not because I wasn't prepared, but because my brain just didn't want to work with me today. I couldn't even absorb a question unless I read it out loud- it was like if I didn't hear the question, the words just went into a black hole...Ugh.

Shrek feet....already??!?!

I just came home from trying to find a new pair of cute shoes (dressy enough for work) for my ever expanding feet, and I was utterly unsuccessful. I've heard from some of my friends that they never had the problem when pregnant, and a few that have. I know it's not the sexiest of topics, but come on, I'm barely 4 and 1/2 months pregnant, and I've already grown almost a whole shoe size! Plus, my feet were never narrow to begin with, and now I feel like they're as wide as they are long! Well, not really, but the only thing I find myself wearing are flip flops, no matter the occasion. The other night, I was complaining to Paul and he playfully replied that he loves my Shrek feet, not matter what the size. Thanks a lot honey- sarcasm is JUST what a pregnant woman needs! Now get on that foot rub- PRONTO!