Creativity or lack there of .......

I unlike my mother do not have the crafty gene.  I can not draw or color let alone design a room.  I remember all these years ago when my mom made my sisters room so unique and different.  B and I decided on a dresser, changing table and rocker.  Thanks to a dear friend we got them for an absolute steal!!! My dilemma is that we still don't know if bean is a bull or a heifer, making it difficult to finish the nursery.

The pieces we have chosen are cream and perfect for gender neutral themes.  I already feel bad if bean is a girl, there will be no princess pink themed garb here.  Ultimately I have to find a way to tie in cream, brown, light oak, white and green.  Fortunately for me the perfect solution is a cow skin rug under the crib.

See how wonderful it is????? If you don't its fine I won't take offense because it is not a typical nursery theme.  I personally just have a love for cows, and I have always wanted an awesome rug.   Another piece of info that might be helpful in visualizing the space, there are currently two large bass, a set of horns, a HUGE tackle box and fishing rods in the room.  My goal is for bean to be a boy and to have an awesome Bass Pro Shop type room!  I'm excited just thinking about it.


I have the idea, however putting it all together is not my forte.  Meaning that one lucky family member will be assisting in production while I eat cupcakes.  See picture to the right -------->
That would just be so awesome, no boy would be ashamed of that room.  Bean if you are a girl, the room idea will most likely be the same.

Off topic I would like to publicly apologize to B for suffering through two hours of Pregnant in America.  While it was informative, it was boring and way too long.  Because said boring movie was so long we didn't even watch Hart of Dixie last night, that is B's favorite show, do not judge!  Continuing off topic, I feel great, no more sickness.  Still slightly tired and no appetite but I will take that over all day sickness.  Enjoy the week everyone......

Black Friday

My original plan was to attempt the crowds and get some baby stuff.  My actually plan ended up being sleep.  I woke up at nine and my first thought was " oh shit I missed black friday" my second thought " I guess I can go back to sleep".  So once again black friday wins and I loose.

Thanksgiving is over and now the countdown to Christmas begins.  I will not be making turkey, maybe a ham or pizza? Something I will actually eat.  After spending countless hours pre-planning thanksgiving I managed to forget to bake the rolls, over cook the turkey( partially because B insisted there was crispy skin), and only offer myself dessert.  Even with the mishaps we had a wonderful day.  Next year the boys are requesting more liquor, that should be interesting.  I managed to send most of my left-overs out the door, no turkey hash here!

We have 26 days until we find out what kind of bean is growing, I get more impatient every day.  Bean is now slightly bigger than a lime.  Our next appointment isn't for two more weeks :(  My newest obsession is cloth diapers, I am constantly biding on them, buying them or attempting to get them from other moms.  Also on my to do list is furniture and other storage for Beans things.  Even though I have time it seems like June will be here before I know it.

Still no weight gain even with the cookies and cakes! Pre-prego jeans fit somedays still.  Craving sweets and more sweets.

Parenting102

Earlier this week I posted about parenting, actually I believe it was yesterday but anywho.  On our way home from dinner I asked B if he had given any more thought as to how he would like to parent.  Typical male response " no I haven't thought about it".  I calmly replied with " ok, let me give you an example"...( honest I did respond like that, no bitchy mean dig either).  My example went like this " a mom is having trouble with her son who keeps biting.  He bites for fun and when reprimanded he laughs and bites more.  This said mom can not stop her son from biting, she has tried every approach in the book.  Said mom walks in on son and dad playing, dad is biting son.   Whether it is in play or the dads idea of showing the kid I'm not sure, but the message is clear: One parent is the rule breaker and one is the rule setter." After the brief story B somewhat understood what point I was trying to make and agreed to go to the nice mommy school if I liked it.

I think that is one of my biggest fears about parenting.  I want to be the cool mom but have the Bean understand that I am a parent too.  These days it seems like one parent tries to keep order and the other is just another rule breaking kid.  Is it too much to ask for the parents to be on the same page? I can already see the Bean being grounded me saying no to an activity and B saying sure go ahead and go.  His discipline or lack there of works well for him but not for structuring a home.  This is something we must work on.

On a lighter note, Thanksgiving is tomorrow and everything is made but the stinkin turkey! I thought that being pregnant on thanksgiving was going to be awesome and I would actually eat.  I was wrong, I feel like I have been eating it though osmosis.  I just want sweets.  Every night I complain that I want a cake. B does not give into these preggo rants and says too bad.  I ate a sleeve of cookies yesterday! I also have more desserts for tomorrow than sides.  Awesome for me, sucks for the boys.  Everyone have a safe and happy holiday.

Parenting 101

So since joining the Crunchy Moms Group, I have been invited to parenting seminars.  One I think this is awesome, two I will be honest and say I need it.  For those that know me in a day to day setting I do not have a role model mouth.  Dear Aunt Nancy has never heard so many fowl words before.  While I don't try to be be down right nasty, I have a habit of speaking my mind.  For everyones sake hopefully this class will teach me to be nice. 


As so as I became pregnant I started thinking about parenting and how I was going to go about being strict with boundaries yet have a home full of love.  B is the care free relaxed one who never gets upset.  He never yells and has more patience than anyone I know.  To this day I have only heard him say the F word a handful of times.  I on the other hand would have already said F*** before thinking of a word to replace it.  I have an awful mouth, a temper and little to zero patience even when I'm really trying.  I'm really not the soft and fuzzy mom that I want to be, so time to go to mommy school.  


B and I were generally raised the same.  We both have work ethic, responsible, contributing members to society ect.  So the foundation of what we want our child to be is the same, the way we get there is different.  Back to the differences of the first and second child for a moment.  As the first child I was independent, focused on excelling, I wanted to do it right the first time every time.  Leading to frustration because not everything is perfect the first time around... I get it now! B on the other hand had no rules, was loved and encouraged to have fun as a kid. So even in relaxed parenting, successful children are raised.  Two people, two paths, same outcome.  I want the second path for Bean. 


As I mentioned before I am the mom who would use the phrase " what the F happened" before I could calmly ask Bean why something happened.  For B and the Bean, I want to be better.  I want to change my mean judging side into a calm understanding one.  In mommy school I will be learning attachment parenting.....The essence of Attachment Parenting is about forming and nurturing strong connections between parents and their children. Attachment Parenting challenges us as parents to treat our children with kindness, respect and dignity, and to model in our interactions with them the way we'd like them to interact with others.


Hopefully this will help and I will learn some great things.  The more I read and the more I learn I really want to parent with love rather than authority and anger.  Granted Bean is not here yet and I have no idea what my job entails and Mom.  Check back when Bean is here I know myself and I'm sure that the F word will always be handy.  I do apologize in advance Bean, I do want to be nice and gentle, and I am working on it.  Be patient and I promise I will be the best mommy I can be. 

Belly Flips

Call me crazy but I think I felt Bean last night.  All the critics will say there is no way and it was gas.  I know my body and I know what gas pains are, not what I felt.  If I wasn't driving it would have stopped me in my tracks.  It felt like I went up a big hill and came back down real quick.  Right below my belly-button there was this quick somersault feeling and then it was over.  I felt it once more and then it was gone.  It was the most surreal feeling.  I wish there was a way to describe it better, to emphasize how unique and special of a feeling it was.  I can't wait to feel it more often.  

Results of the baking soda test came back girl.  While the test means nothing and is merely a wives tale it was a fun experiment to try.  I am so impatient to find out what we are having.  I have been dreaming that Bean is a girl as well.  Less than month until we find out! 

Happy early Thanksgiving to everyone. I have tons of prep work to do here at our house as well as cooking, cleaning, and storing my own energy.  Technically its already Bean's second holiday.  This week I am also meeting up with another mommy, building my cloth diaper empire as well as celebrating my little sisters 18th birthday.  What a busy busy week, and then black friday! 

Kumquat

So baby is now the size of one of these, which seems so big compared to the ultrasound picture but who am I to judge. The good news is that he/she keeps growing! 

How far along? Depending on what app I use I am between 10 and 11 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: maybe gained 1/2 a pound but its hard to say

Maternity clothes?: wore pre-preg clothes all this week!

Stretch marks? none

Sleep: very difficult, my right arm has been going numb easily making sleeping on my side difficult 

Best moment this week: going to mommy group

Miss Anything?: my old boobs, these new ones are heavy 

Movement: to early still, although my lower belly gets tight in certain spots 

Food cravings: carbs, sugar, salt 

Anything making you queasy or sick: most things 

Gender: not yet

Labor Signs: Negative

Symptoms: nauseous, sore boobs, rounding belly 

Belly Button in or out? in!

Wedding rings on or off?: none

Happy or Moody most of the time: happier this week 

Looking forward to: being able to want to eat again, second trimester, gender scan( far away still) 

Mommy Group

So after five weeks of trying I finally made it to a mommy meeting.  I am so glad I went! It was so nice to be able to talk freely about home birth, cloth diapering and getting our significant others on board.  I met a young mom who brought her 5 week old son, he was so adorable and didn't make a peep the whole six hours we stayed.  Yes, I said six hours! Its supposed to be from 10am to noon, I arrived home at almost 4pm.  I forgot how much I missed being able to converse with other women.

 I was able to see first hand how the cloth diapers work, see the different types in person and hear feed back about what works best.   I am so excited to start getting them! To all baby shower participants we will not be having diapers unless they are cloth and from specific retailers.  Sorry to be a B but its a special bum we are talking about and cancer filled gels will be no where Bean.  Instead of eating dinner I watched an hour of cloth diapering videos on youtube, boring to some fascinating to others.  For less than $500 we could diaper our baby until preschool with the same set of diapers, no size n to 3 here!  Studies also show that cloth diapered babies potty train faster, yes a perk that is awesome.

The uproar in vaccinating kids was more intense than I expected.  Granted there are benefits to vaccinating, breast fed babies get all the protectants they need straight from the boob.  While I still have plenty of time to research all infant vaccines I will strongly decline any that contain aborted fetal cells.  Most vaccines have other baby cells in them, to host the strain of virus.  The medical society if benefiting from the loss of these children, its disgusting.

I also need to start looking for a pediatrician because most refuse to take home birth babies.  Really????? What is different about my baby than a hospital baby? It's still a baby is it not?  Ridiculous, I know I could never give birth in a hospital, I am entirely too combative and would call them on there money hungry ways.  I get fired up just thinking about insurance and hospitals taking advantage of women and using the line " its best for you baby" to get a pay out.

Gender update: Yes we have it scheduled for December 20th.  Yes you all will have to wait until Christmas morning to find out! Sorry loves its just the way it has to be.  Baby Girl you still don't have a name :( hopefully you have boy parts instead.

Picture Time: Before anyone laughs, yes I have ballooned this week, and yes I say the every week but check out my new and improved speed-hill.