20 Weeks

Baby's size: One site says a cantaloupe. One says a banana. Those are very different shapes, but I think the point is the length. About 6 1/2 inches long, from head to bottom, and 10.6 ounces.

Belly size: About 36" around my belly.

Cravings: I've been eating lots of strawberries this week, but that's probably because they were on sale and were really good. I always like those though. I also went on a late night craving trip to get magic shell and ice cream the other night. I actually went in my pajama pants and slippers even.

Mood: Pretty good. After my initial pity party on Thursday, I've been feeling good. I've had lots of time to myself this week. At first it was really nice, but now it's kinda lonely.

Symptoms: My back has been bothering me more and more. I've definitely got the waddle going, which is silly because it's not because of my big belly, like most pregnant people, but because my back is in pain. I've noticed my acid reflux acting up at night too, but it's nothing a couple Tums can't get rid of.

Go to clothing: I had my Gap and Old Navy "give and get" 30% off coupon this weekend, so I thought I'd give The Gap maternity section a try for some jeans. I was almost in tears by the time I left. First of all, I was hungry, which never helps my mood. Second of all, there was no one there to help me. Usually when I get there, I'm accosted by employees shoving clothes down my throat. But apparently in the maternity section it's every woman for herself, because no one even came back there the whole time. I found a couple pairs to try on and they were still too big in the hips. I gave up and went to a local specialty maternity shop. They were putting me in $200 jeans THAT STILL DIDN'T FIT! No thanks. Even if they fit perfectly, I'm not spending that kind of money on pants I'll wear for a few more months. I went home defeated. The next day, while my coupon was still good, I went across the city to an Old Navy with a maternity section. I was able to find a pair of jeans that are better than any other ones I've tried on. So I bought them. After wearing them for a couple hours, they stretched out pretty good and are already saggy, but I guess they are better than nothing.

Sleep: I've been sleeping fine. I've been staying up really late every night finishing up projects for a craft show this weekend, so I'm usually so exhausted by the time it's time for bed, falling asleep isn't an issue.

Baby movement: Lots of little kicks now. Especially after I eat. Sometimes I get some pretty hard kicks, which is always weird feeling.

It's a......

BOY!

A big boy too! He is measuring over a week big, but they aren't changing my due date. He isn't developing faster, he's just bigger. I don't even know what to do with a big boy. Jackson was always so tiny! Other than being big, everything looked totally normal and healthy, which is, of course, the most important thing. (BTW, What you see in this picture is mostly umbilical cord, not junk) When she told us it was a boy, Eric and I just kinda looked at each other and shrugged. Yes, we are a little bit disappointed, but just to be clear, that in no way has anything to do with our love for our baby boy. We are just disappointed that we will never get to experience what it's like to raise a girl. And I'm thrilled for Jackson. I think there is a very special bond between same sex siblings that you can't get with opposite sex sibs. And seriously. Little boys love their mamas like no one else can. When we got home from our appointment I sat down on the couch and had myself a little pity party. Jackson went into the kitchen, got some Froot Loops, and came over to me and started feeding me Froot Loops. It feels good to know that my boys will always take care of me :)

Oh, and here's the limerick:
There once was a family of Best
Growing their brood was their quest
Adding one more
To make a family of four
A baby BOY will fill up their nest!

Girl or Boy?

On the eve of the big reveal, I thought it would be fun to steal a post from a fellow blogger and talk about all of the old wives tales about gender prediction. I'd like to say that I really do think it's all a load of crap, but it's fun. I'll compare my pregnancy with Jackson with this one as I go. (in italics underneath)

High or Low Belly: I'm carrying high this time = Girl

I carried low with Jackson

Morning Sickness: Definitely reared it's ugly head = Girl
No morning sickness with Jackson

Pendulum Test: Round and round = Girl
I never did this test with Jackson

Baby's Heart rate: It was166 at my doctor's appointment and has been over 155 every appointment before = Girl
It was always in the 130s and 140s with Jackson

Chinese Gender Predictor: Every site I've been to about this has led me to saying = Girl

It always said girl with Jackson too

Adult Acne: It's SOOOOO bad and SOOOOO gross. It's on my face a little but really bad on my arms, chest and back. = Girl

I was really broken out with Jackson too, but it stayed away from my face

Sweets vs. Salts: Mostly salty cravings = Boy
I craved sweets with Jackson

Soft or Dry Hands: They are dry right now. They are always dry. = Boy

Again, my hands are always dry, and they were with Jackson

Penny test: It didn't stick to the wall for even a second = Boy
I didn't do this test with Jackson

Face Weight Gain: not yet = Boy

I eventually gained some face weight with Jackson at the very end.

Graceful or Clumsy: I would never call myself graceful, but I'm no clumsier than before so = Girl

I wasn't clumsy with Jackson either

Mood Changes: Big time = Girl

Other than an occasional freak out, I wasn't very moody with Jackson

Mayan Numbers: I had to Google this one to find out how I stood. = Boy
It said boy with Jackson too

Dreams: No dreams about gender yet
I don't remember any gender dreams with Jackson

Mother's Intuition: Girl

Father's Intuition: He won't answer this, but he's hoping for a girl

Jackson's intuition: Sometimes he says girl, sometimes he says boy, but he mostly "NO!" when asked what the baby is!

So, if all of these old wives tales are true, the score is
Girl = 9
Boy = 5

In 12 hours there won't be any more guesses!

19 Weeks

Baby's size: An heirloom tomato. Weighs 8 1/2 ounces and is 6 inches long, from head to bottom.

Belly size: About 35" around my belly. Not much growth from last week.

Cravings: I've actually been pretty good about that this week. No cravings. I finished my marshmallows last week and haven't had any more.

Mood: Good. Just really nervous about the anatomy scan tomorrow.

Symptoms: Some back pain if I stand, walk, or sit in one position for too long, but I'm feeling pretty good.

Go to clothing: So, I've decided that it's not so much the clothes that I hate, it's this giant stomach. It doesn't look good in anything! I'm glad that the weather is picking up, though and I can wear dresses and skirts. This one here isn't maternity, but it definitely works like it is. For now anyway. Hey, quick question. Does my bulky jewelry and big boots distract you from looking at my growing belly? No? Crap.....

Sleep: Once I fall asleep, I've been good. I'm not really having trouble sleeping because of any physical issues I'm having, it's more that I'm super nervous/anxious about the ultrasound tomorrow.

Baby movement: Still feeling movement, but I think the baby got in a funny position for a few days in a row this past week and I had a hard time feeling the kicks so much.

***Jackson wanted to participate in the picture taking this time. Here's his "bump" picture. He also wanted to be the one to take pictures of Mommy, so here's those....

Today was a good day

Today is a good day. 1) Eric got a raise 2) Jackson got into the preschool that was our first choice 3) I got a job and 4) We are having scalloped potatoes for dinner!

#1 Eric's raise. Okay, in all fairness, he knew it was coming and the whole company got raises. But still. A raise is a good thing, no matter how you look at it. Right?

#2 Jackson's preschool. We knew we wanted to get him into preschool starting in the fall. Given that I taught kindergarten really close by, I was pretty familiar with which ones were considered the "best". I looked into a few of them. There was one that stood out for many reasons. 1) the price was reasonable 2) it has GREAT reviews, both from parents I know and from the community in general 3) the hours were longer and 4) it's the school most of our friends applied to. This last one might not be a huge deal, except that I'll have a newborn baby right when he starts school, so it would be really nice to have some sort of "backup" to help with pick up and drop off. And it will also be nice for him to have some of his little buddies there that he already knows, given how shy he is.

#3 I got a job! Kinda. I used to watch kiddos out of the house up until about 7 months ago. It was a full time job for sure. From about 7:45 - 5:00 Monday-Friday. It really wasn't the healthiest situation for me. It left me unable to leave my house most days. I'm a very social creature and to be stuck in a house all day everyday made me rather depressed. I needed to stop doing this, for my sanity and the sanity of my family. Well, after 7 months of virtually NO income, it's clear that I need to do something to bring money in. It doesn't have to be a boat load of money. I still have my real estate career that brings in the bulk of the money, I just need something that is regular. I need to be able to put gas in my car each week and buy Jackson new shoes when he grows out of his. We looked into lots of options for me. Working weekends or nights was one, but that left Eric alone with Jackson and the three of us having absolutely NO family time. That's not great. All the other part time jobs didn't pay enough for me to put Jackson into daycare (especially with another one on the way). Childcare really is the most logical choice, as long as it's not the kind of hours it used to be. I don't have to put my kid(s) in daycare to do it, I have my degree in it, and I'm experienced. Through a string of people I don't really know, I came across a family that was looking for child care for their 4 month old little girl, two days per week. Perfect! We chatted on the phone a few times, they came over here to meet us and see the house last weekend, and then I got a call today that they'd like me to be the one to watch their little girl. Hooray!

#4 Who doesn't like scalloped potatoes? Seriously?!

Let's have a string of "good days", shall we?

Up The Pole

Apparently, an Irish slang term for being pregnant is "Up The Pole". That makes sense. I think the American term for this is "Up a Shit Creek" (pronounced crick). I find out on Thursday, St. Patrick's Day, if I'm having a boy or girl. I didn't schedule my appointment on St. Patty's Day on purpose, but I'm looking at it as an opportunity to be cute/clever with how I tell everyone what I'm having. (A limerick, maybe?) The only problem is that I'm so completely preoccupied with finding out that I can't concentrate on anything cute/clever. I'm rather annoyed with how preoccupied I am, actually. It's stupid. It doesn't matter what I'm having. The sex has already been determined, and I had nothing to do with it. Whatever I have, is what I'm supposed to have. This isn't any sort of religious thing for me. I'm not really a religious person, in the traditional sense. Spiritual, maybe, but not religious. One of the first times I held Jackson, in a room all by myself, in the middle of the night, he looked into my eyes and I got an overwhelming feeling of "it's okay Mommy, I picked you because you are the best Mommy for me" from him. I have a hard time explaining this without sounding like a crazy person, but it was a completely peaceful feeling. Like he was trying to tell me that everything was going to be okay. No matter what. Like, he had a wisdom about him. A calmness. We would have these little middle-of-the-night-bonding-moments quite often at first, and then less often after a while. And now any middle of the night moments with him are filled with a toddler chatting up a storm and mommy begging him to go back to sleep. Anyway, my point being, it doesn't matter if this is a baby boy or a baby girl. As a friend of mine often says "it is what it is". But that doesn't help me from having an overwhelming nervousness about finding out. I'm almost to the point of wanting to wait until the baby is here to find out. But that's not going to happen.

It also doesn't help that I'm not the only one that is excited at the possibility of having a girl. Eric has randomly been making "girl" comments like "I do think it would be really exciting to have a girl" or "I'd love to have one of each". And is being totally understanding about how I might feel to find out we are having another boy, which is kind of a big deal. I feared that he would think I'm being unreasonable or ungrateful if I feel any disappointment, but that's not the case at all. In fact, I think he will feel some disappointment as well.

I tend to write a lot when my mind is whirling, as it is now. So be on the look out for an exponential increase in blogs from me!

Cloth Diapers

I made my first big purchase for new baby yesterday, and I'm disproportionately excited about it! After lots, I mean LOTS, of research on the subject, I've decided I'm going to cloth diaper! At this point, you are probably thinking one of two things: 1) She's lost her mind! What is this, 1935? OR 2) Cloth diapering is no big deal! If you are of the #1 mind frame, there is a chance I won't be changing your mind about the issue. You can continue to read on as to why I decided to go this route, or you can go back to what you were doing before this. If you are of the #2 mind frame (no pun intended) then you are probably already a cloth diaperer, or have at least considered it. The biggest reason I've decided to go with CD (cloth diapering) is for financial reasons.

I'll do the math for you. I just bought 30 Kawaii bamboo minky pocket diapers with 2 bamboo inserts for each diaper, and 4 heavy wetter/overnight diapers for $250. (Thanks to all of Eric's hard work, working overtime and a huge sale going on with Kawaii diapers!) This is a huge investment, and anyone who knows us, knows that we don't just throw that kind of money around. But we've done the math and understand that it's worth it. That's about $7 a diaper. We spent about $50 a month on diapers for Jackson. Jackson was in diapers for about 31 months (and still wears them for nap and bed time). That's about $1550 we've spent, so far, on diapering him. The 30 CDs we just bought are an adjustable "one size" kind of diaper that is made for babies 8-36 pounds, so, in theory, these should fit this new baby until it's potty trained. Chances are, there will be a gap in size from when the baby is first born, until they will fit into these new diapers. We haven't decided yet, but we will either use disposables until they are 8 pounds, or we will invest in the most adorable cloth diapers I have ever seen! They are called "Lil' Joey's" and they fit babies 4-12 pounds. If this new baby is anything like it's older brother, they will be able to wear them until about 5 months old. They are expensive little buggers though (about $15 a diaper, compared to $7 a diaper for the bigger size ones we just bought). It's something to think about. Since the baby won't be wearing them forever and ever, they will probably stay in pretty decent shape and I could sell them on a used CD forum. (Apparently CDs hold their value pretty well, and you can get a fair amount of money back for ones you no longer use). So, that's the financial reasons we've decided to go this way.

The environment is another reason. We certainly aren't overly eco-friendly, tree huggers, but it's something that we both think about. It's estimated that it takes anywhere from 250-500 YEARS for a diaper to decompose in a landfill. That's pretty insane....really. Every time I would take a huge bag of trash out to the curb, filled with Jackson's crap and pee, I would think "well, this certainly isn't helping the environment".

Another reason is that I've heard (and can't speak for the facts on this one) that CD babies get less diaper rash than disposable diaper babies. This wasn't a huge issue for Jackson, but he got his share of them, and when it was bad, it made diaper changes pretty terrible.

The last reason is a fickle one, but they are so darn cute. I mean, seriously! Stinking. Cute.
I've thought about all of the bad parts of CDing too. Mostly, the laundry aspect of it. And I truly suck at keeping up on laundry. But, here's my thought on that. I suck at doing laundry, mostly because it's just not a priority to me. We have plenty of clothes in this house for the laundry to pile up for an obscene amount of time, and we all still have stuff to wear. If there are no clean diapers, I will have no choice but to wash them. I mean, I'm not going to just let my baby crap everywhere. And I'm not going to put a dirty diaper back on my baby! (EWWWWW!) And I'm quite sure that if I'm caught buying or using a disposable, Eric will divorce me on the spot! (okay, there's a chance he might not divorce me, because then he'd have to clean up after himself and stuff, but we've talking about this a lot and decided that, if we are going to go the CD route, we can't change our mind about it later. We've invested too much to half-ass it. We also decided that when we travel, we will use disposables.) But we bought enough that I will probably only have to wash them up every 3 or 4 days. That's not so bad. It's one load, and there isn't even any folding that needs to happen. (that's usually where the laundry gets "stuck" for me)

The process will look something like this: (this might get a little graphic, for the queasy, you might want to skip this part) If the diaper is wet, you simply change the baby the way you would with a disposable, and put the old CD into a special-for-cloth-diapering-bag. (like this Planet-Wise Wet/Dry Bag) I'll pull the bamboo insert out before putting it in there. If it's poopy, and the poop is solid, I'll just dump the poop in the toilet first, then put the diaper in the bag. (Did you know that you are supposed to do that with disposable diapers too? It's true! Read the diaper package!) If it's....ummmmm....mushy, then I'll use a diaper sprayer to spray the poop into the toilet, or use some sort of poop spoon or something to scrape it off, then put the diaper in the bag. No, not the most glamorous thing to do, and I'll probably hate it, but I'm trying to look at the big picture here. And in all honesty, as a Mommy (or Daddy), you deal with poop all the time. This is nothing new. And it's not like the diaper has to be clean going into the laundry, it should just be free from big chunks. As a matter of fact, some people don't even do the dump in the toilet part. They insist that it all gets taken care of during that initial rinse in the washer. We'll see about that....Okay, the gross part is over. So, on wash day, I simply take the entire bag and dump the contents into the washing machine, along with the bag that will get washed each time. I'll do an extra rinse on cold first, then a "sanitize" wash cycle. Some people hang dry their diapers. I probably won't. I'll just throw them in the dryer.

My other trepidation is that I've put all of my eggs in one kind of diaper. Most people recommend that you get several different kinds of diapers to see what works and what doesn't. That was originally my plan. Until Kawaii had this huge sale. I looked at tons and tons of reviews of these and other kinds of diapers, and I'm pretty confident that I'm getting a good diaper, and for the price, I'm willing to risk it. The other ones that I was interested in run about $15 per diaper. These are half that price. I'm also planning on leaving a lot of them in their new packaging until trying a few of them out. That way, if they are totally terrible, I can sell them for the "new" price and try a different brand. These really did get great reviews though, so, fingers crossed, they will work.

So, that's my plan. I'm actually really excited about this. I know it will sometimes be a pain in the butt, but, hey, so is constantly going to the store to buy diapers! Wish me luck! **I'd like to add that I really dislike calling the baby "it" and "they" throughout my post. One more week and I can say he or she!**

18 weeks

Baby's size: A Bell Pepper. Weighs almost 7 ounces and is about 5 1/2 inches from head to bottom.

Belly size: About 35" around my belly. Yep, I got almost 2 inches bigger this past week. And I feel at least that much bigger.

Cravings: As stated in last week's update, chocolate covered marshmallows continue to reign! I found this new kind that I'm totally loving! I haven't had much of an appetite still, and have found myself being pretty picky about what sounds good. (unless it's a marshmallow dipped in chocolate)

Mood: Eh, as far as my "mood" I guess I've been in a really good mood, most of the time. But I've definitely had my moments. Like Saturday night, for example. I was already upset about having to cancel my gender reveal party (for a total legit reason...Eric and Jackson are going to visit family in Ohio, which really needs to happen right now. I was just upset about having to cancel it and wasn't crazy about how everything was shaking down, and was uber hormonal to boot) and Jackson was being super whiney at the dinner table. So I just sat there and cried during dinner. And then went downstairs for a few minutes to gather myself again. After a good night's sleep, I was better.

Symptoms: Lots of Braxton Hicks still. Sometimes they are borderline painful, so I will probably mention it at my next doctor's visit, although I don't think it's anything to be concerned about. They tend to happen when I sit down, which is weird, because usually sitting or laying down is what makes most people's go away. I've noticed that my ability to do certain physical things is lacking. Like hands and knees mopping the floor. I mopped our entire first floor Sunday (including wiping down the base boards). That will probably be the last time those base boards see a rag until after this baby is born! I'm still sore!

Go to clothing: Okay, I broke down and bought a pair of maternity jeans at Target today. I haven't been able to button my non-maternity jeans for a few days now :( I have some from my previous pregnancy, but 1) I wasn't crazy about them the first time around. They were too short and baggy in the butt then, so they still are now. And 2) I'm even smaller this time around (as far as weight...not belly size) so they really are too big in the butt, and just generally not cute. The ones I got from Target today will work and are decent, but I'm certainly not in love with them. They are still a little baggy and short, so I really can only wear flats or flip flops with them. A friend of mine is lending me her maternity clothes, most of which are from The Gap. There were a couple pairs of jeans in there, and they fit great, except that they are about 3 inches too short. The ones in this picture are a pair from The Gap that are her's, so I just rolled them up and called them capris today. This is the best fitting pair of maternity jeans I have, and, as you can see, they are still huge in the butt. I don't know, I guess I'm supposed to get a huge ass when pregnant, but that just doesn't happen to me. (not that I'm complaining, it just makes finding cute pants difficult) I can't wait for nice weather, and then I'll switch to dresses and skirts! I have lots of those and they don't even have to be maternity!

Sleep: It's okay. I've actually found myself waking up on my stomach, which is crazy, cause that would make me like, a teeter-totter, but I still manage to wind up that way. Usually I wake up in pain, and realize it's because I'm laying on my stomach.

Baby movement: Lots of movement this week. Eric even felt a really hard kick at one point this weekend. At night I just sit in the recliner, with my legs up, a bag of chocolate covered marshmallows at my side, and my shirt pulled up and feel the baby all over the place. Kicking and squirming. It's pretty sweet, and super cute, as I'm sure you are imagining ;)

My Son: Part 2

My son is passionate. That's a nice way of saying that he is obsessive. First of all, he has a memory of an elephant. And it's always the most random things he remembers. Stuff that I would never have remembered, if he wouldn't have brought it up. Here's an example: Back in October we went to a Champps restaurant to see a friend's band play, and took Jackson with us. We frequent Champps often, but usually go to a different one, a little closer to home. Since it was near Halloween, there were two fake spiders on the wall near the entrance. Well, last week, we went back to that same Champps to go to a retirement party. Jackson recognized it as the Champps with the two spiders and the entire party he was asking about them. (I mean the ENTIRE party!) Also, regarding this party and obsessing, when we were leaving the house to go to the party, I told him that we were going to go see some of Daddy's rocket ship friends. (since it was a work party) Well, the entire way there he talked about going to see a rocket ship. He was counting down to blastoff and telling me all about how it flies in the air and goes into space. He had to bring his play rocket ship with us. I kept telling him that we were going to see his rocket ship friends, and not an actual rocket ship, but with his obsessive ways, he just didn't hear me. Needless to say, he was very disappointed when we got there, only to find a bunch of people....and no rocket ships in sight.

His passion certainly isn't limited to restaurants though. It creeps in every aspect of his life. He is either super passionate about not doing something, like eating and sleeping. Or super passionate about doing something, like playing basketball or playing with airplanes. I read an article recently about toddlers and tantrums. About the science behind a toddler's tantrums, and why, it's physically impossible for them to rationalize things. The article said that the typical toddler tantrum will last about 3 minutes, if left alone. (i.e. not interrogating them and making it worse or giving in to their wants) My son's tantrums typically last anywhere from 30-45 minutes. No joke. That's 30 minutes of me completely ignoring his behavior and him still screaming, crying and throwing himself on the floor. I'm certain his last so much longer because of his "passion" and incredibly strong will. I'm also certain that his passion will serve him well in life, as an adult. Anyone who knows his dad, knows where he gets this passionate side from. And anyone who knows me, knows that it's not from me! I can be passionate about certain things, usually pertaining to some sort of creative or artistic things, but for the most part, I let stuff go easily and don't dwell on the small (and sometimes big) things. I'll bitch or write about it, sometimes even cry about it, and then I'm over it.

I have to say, though, a passionate two year old, and a hormonally charged pregnant mommy can be a bad combination. That has, by far, been the most challenging part of this pregnancy. Not the nausea, acne, growing belly, or random body pains, but managing my passionate toddler, while, myself, feeling like a passionate toddler. When he breaks down, I want to break down right next to him. Throw myself on the floor and kick and scream and cry! Some days I really wonder how I will make it until tomorrow. But sleep almost always does wonders for me, and I wake up the next day somehow ready to start all over again.

An update on my updates

You know, earlier today, when I posted about being a cleaning slacker, grounding myself from sewing until I cleaned my kitchen? Well, I'm proud to update everyone that my kitchen now looks like this:
Therefore, my pile of squares went from this:
To this: (See the "X"s on them?)
They are all arranged and now I have the fun part of sewing them together and the not-so-fun-but-ends-up-looking-cute-part of snipping all of the seams to give it that "ragged" look.


And you know when I said that I'm not having any cravings right now? Well that was before these bunnies came into my life. They called my name at the grocery store around 5:00 this afternoon and as of 10:55 p.m. I've eaten all but 3 2 of them.....


And finally, you know how I've been spending my time lately? Screening maternity shirts for an internet birth board? Well, a lot of the ladies received their shirts today and they absolutely LOVE them! That makes me really happy. For one, I always want people to love what I make. They work hard for their money, and buy my stuff, and I work hard to make quality stuff for them. But also, they are totally bragging about them to the entire birth board (6 thousand some members) and that's bringing me even more orders!

All in all, it's been a good day!

17 Weeks

Baby's size: A turnip. Weighs about 5 ounces, and is about 5 inches from head to bottom

Belly size: Still about 33" at my widest, which really surprises me because I really felt like I was getting much bigger by the end of last week. (perhaps the rest of me is getting smaller?)

Cravings: I honestly haven't had many cravings this week. I haven't been very hungry even....

Mood: Pretty good. Although I still get choked up at stupid things. I feel good and even tempered most days. It's interesting how I'm evolving in my desire to know the sex of the baby. At first I was dying to know, and was bummed when I didn't find out at 13 weeks. But the closer it gets to the day I'm supposed to find out (2 weeks from tomorrow) the more I'm chickening out about wanting to know. I guess because this is my last. And I really don't want to feel disappointed. I honestly don't know how I'll feel if I find out I'm having another boy, and I'd like to think I'll feel sheer happiness, but what if I do feel disappointed? The honest truth is that I would prefer a girl, but I certainly won't feel any less love for a boy. The practical side of me would be grateful for a boy too. For Jackson's sake and for money savings (since we already have boy stuff). I just can't say for sure how I'll react when I find out, either way, which is making me nervous.

Symptoms: Apparently being pregnant is a pain in the neck! I've been waking up with a stiff neck a lot lately, and this past Saturday it was really bad. I really couldn't move my neck at all until Monday morning, when I woke up with a headache (which I've had ever since) :( I'm sure that drinking a bunch of water would help a little, but I'm kinda crappy at that. And I miss my Advil. I've also had lots and lots of Braxton Hicks. I forgot how frequently I tend to get them. It's several every hour and sometimes are uncomfortable. When I went to the doctor a couple weeks ago, I told her that my arrhythmia seemed to be worse than normal. (It's something that I found out I had after I had Jackson) She gave me an EKG and agreed that it was worse and sent me to see a Cardiologist. I went to that appointment on Monday, and they gave me yet another EKG, only to find it identical to the one I just got the week before, (duh!) and scheduled me for an echo next week. (It's just another way for them to make more money off of me, in my opinion.) I'm quite sure, and the doctor agrees, that it's probably still harmless, but there is a small chance that it could be some sort of condition where pregnancy makes my heart weaker (I forget what he called it) so that's the purpose of the echo on Monday. To rule that condition out. Other than the neck pain, headache, arrhythmia and contractions, I'm feeling pretty good. (And I really don't mean that sarcastically!) I feel better than I've felt in months! I haven't been nauseous and have a little more energy than usual. (Although you wouldn't know it by looking at my dirty house)

Go to clothing: Same as last week. I'm still in my pre-pregnancy pants, with a belly band, and some of my looser ones I can still button. Also in bigger non-maternity shirts sometimes, but I've been sticking to maternity tees for the most part with non-maternity cardigans or sweaters. Yoga pants are awesome too!

Sleep: Meh, this has gotten quite a bit more uncomfortable this week. It seems that every time I wake up, some part of me is asleep. Usually an arm or hand or foot or something. I'm not great at sleeping on my side, and tend to wake up on my back a lot. That puts a lot of pressure on my insides (with my big uterus and all) and tends to make my lower half go to sleep. When I sleep on my sides, I tend to have my arm in an uncomfortable position and it goes to sleep. Last night when Jackson woke up and wanted a drink of milk at 4 in the morning, trying to get the cup, pour the milk, and put the sippy lid on was quite comical with one arm asleep! I also got my first charlie horse while sleeping last night. Those were pretty common last time around, and they hurt like a bitch!

Baby movement: I've felt a ton of movement this week. I have even been able to feel it from the outside (with my hand) a bunch. Eric has tried to catch it too, but he's not sure if he felt it or not. Last night I had a dream that the baby was moving a ton and I woke up to some pretty serious kicks!

I'd rather be....

I don't like to clean. Not at all. I like to have a clean house, so I do it. Usually. But I hate it. And lately, I haven't really had the motivation to clean. I'd rather be writing, or sewing, or socializing, or playing outside in this nice weather, or running errands, or just about anything other than cleaning. And my house is a mess, especially my kitchen. So I'm grounding myself. I have this stack of perfectly perfect squares that I cut and assembled last night, just waiting to have perfect little "X"s sewn across them and made into an adorably perfect little baby quilt. And I'm grounding myself from it, until my kitchen is clean. This includes the floors, which are even grosser than the dirty dishes piled in the sink and surrounding counter top. Ready? Go!

Shipped!

When I was pregnant with Jackson, I read tons of books and had a good friend who was about the same amount of pregnant as me that I saw on a regular basis. I got most of my information from those books and got my "is this happening to you too" fix from my friend. This time around, I stumbled on a website that has birth boards. You sign up to be on any variety of boards, but most specifically, one that has pregnant women due the same month as you. It's been a fun distraction for me. I've met some "friends" on there already, and have a pretty good idea who the crazies are. For the most part, I find it highly entertaining and take it for what it really is: A group of thousands of hormonal pregnant ladies who all have a different idea for what the "right" pregnancy should be. There have been heartbreaking stories of women losing their babies already, or finding out they have cancer. And heartwarming stories of women trying to conceive for years and it finally happens, or unexpected twins. As crazy at it can be at times, I still go back almost every day and check to see what the ladies are up to.

Well, back in the beginning of January, I came across a post of ladies looking for fun novelty maternity tees. Given that screening shirts is one of my crafts on my etsy site, I piped in. About a month later, I had an order for over 50 maternity shirts. I've been busy working on them ever since. I had to collect the orders, order the blank shirts from various places (because, or course, not one place had all of the shirts I needed), make the screens, screen the shirts, heat set the shirts, make brochures for my site, then package up all of the shirts and ship them out. I finally got them all shipped out yesterday! It was a long process, where I barely made any money at all, but I did make a little bit. Enough that I could make a couple shirts for myself (I'm wearing one of them in this post), put gas in my car, and go to Starbucks once or twice. And hopefully I can get some return customers to my site, once these thousands of babies are born! And, let's be honest. It's not like I'm overly busy doing other things right now!