23w5d- Growth U/S

Today was our follow up appointment with a growth ultrasound to see how big our biggin'

 really is.

He's still head down and doing great! He weighs in at 1 lb 9oz already putting him in the 56th percentile which is great. He still measuring about a week ahead but no big deal. My blood work came back fine and our chance for chromosomal abnormalities was at 1 in 5,000. 

The genetic counselor did come in to talk to us about the pinky thing. She said that if this was her grand child she wouldn't be worried. Basically because of my age and egg quality, our blood results, and the fact that I too have crooked pinkies she's not concerned. 

Awesome, right? haha. 

Anyway, I leave you with this work bathroom photo of me at 23w5d! 

The bump is gettin' pretty serious! 

xo

22w3d

I know I've been quiet lately but I don't feel like I have much to update about! Baby boy is kicking up a storm lately and can easily be felt form the outside now. My hips must be spreading because I have so much lower back pain it's crazy. Chad did say he thinks they've definitely spread recently so I'm guessing that's why I hurt. Other than that and my feet hurting at the end of the day I'm feeling great!

Well the nursery has at least started. Before it was the guest bedroom with construction white paint with scratches and marks on them, one brown accent wall, and nasty stained carpet. This was the last room in our house with actual carpet we just kept putting it off until we could make it a nursery.. which is.. ya know.. now =)

We decided to go with a neutral cream color for the walls. I will probably eventually do a one foot yellow stripe 3/4s the way up the wall... kind of like an abstract horizon sun if you will. The floors were ripped up and the wood put down. The crib is assembled and much bigger than you would think! 

We did make our first decorative purchase which is a 5 ft tall giraffe stuffed animal. I have yet to name him but am thinking Jeffrey after my late Uncle. It works. 

 Those curtains were left over from the guest room and will be changed as soon as I figure out what I'm doing with my life. 

This is the best photo to get an idea of the color.. the walls all look very yellow in these pics but it's not. 

 This weekend Chad decided to put in shelving on either side of the closet to help make the space more useful and we moved a dresser into the closet as well. Progress I suppose! 

Another thing we started on was my old wooden rocking horse from when I was a tot. I wish I had taken a before pic but Chad whacked it's hair off before I knew he was going in for the demo. So Imagine this... minus the blue painters tape over his eyes, plus leather reins and a poofy tan colored mane and tail. 

We are making him into a rocking Zebra! 

We painted him off white and once he dried the ever so talented Chad the artist started sketching on his stripes that we will later paint in. 

And just for the hell of it, Tinks say hi!

XO

Score!

So I'd had this Coach purse that was given to me as a gift that I didn't like or want. (After re-reading this I sound like a total ungrateful bia lol) I'm just not a purse person to begin with.

I decided to put it on craigslist to try and sell it. This retailed at $350 but since it's now considered an older style would normally sell on ebay for about $120. I put it on Craigslist for $100 and started lowering the price. I had it set at $80 and was about to give up and just sell it for $30 if I could. Finally on Saturday morning I got an email asking about it. The lady said if I would take $60 she would have her brother come pick it up from me.

 She then explained that she would do so herself but just had surgery to remove an ovary and was recovering. I told her that I was sorry she had to have that done and I hope she heals quickly. She told me it was okay because she already had her 3 babies and to never get a IUD. Yikes. So Since she was being so candid I told her that I was finally pregnant after 2 years of IF and would probably never go back on BC anyway. She then proceeded to offer me a like new "Sweet Pea" edition (how ironic?) Graco's Pack 'n Play - Play yard with canopy and changing table.. SAY WHAT?! She said it had just been in her closet for a while now and her youngest barely ever used it. 

Sho' nuff her brother rolled up with $60 cash and a freaking Pack n Play that looks about brand new! 

Holla for $FREE.99!!

Anatomy Scan 19w2d

We had our Anatomy Scan this morning and I am glad to say we are still team blue! I know it's pretty uncommon for them to be wrong, but I feel more comfortable now knowing that two different people have told me.. not to mention we got the $money$ shot this time ; ).

Sweet P is measuring about a week and a half ahead so I have a growth ultrasound in another 4 weeks... I ain't mad about that! He was sleeping the whole time with his fists in front of his face.. which is how I have always slept. 

All of his measurements were great and within normal range and there were not any markers for chromosomal abnormalities.. BUT this poor little dude has his mommy's pinkies.. crooked as a ding dang politician.

They said they were going to have their geneticist take a look and call me to have a possible fetal ECHO just to double check every thing, but at this point they are pretty sure it's just a not-so-cute trait passed down by me. They would be more concerned if anything else had been off but everything seems perfect. 

I did have more blood work to see if my platelets were still low.  I'm really hoping they came up. I've also gained 13 lbs. Yikes. However they say that's absolutely fine and on track with where I should be. Sweet P is moving a lot more now and I love feeling him! I guess I should take another attractive work-bathroom shot for all of my creepers!

Pimp My Crib

We got the crib! 

As in the baby crib.. not a house since we obviously already have one of those. Ever since we bought the crib I keep thinking of the two old MTV shows: MTV Cribs and Pimp My Ride: and my mind is combining them.. I'm weird. 

Anyway, I fell in love with the Pottery Barn Larkin Sleigh Crib (naturally)...

but personally would never be okay with spending $1100 on a crib... that's just not how I roll... more like $110 but would make it look like it was $1100, if you know what I mean. 

I was trying to explain to Chad how I would probably look for nursery furniture on craigslist and hope we get lucky and maybe fix it up. He didn't understand how we would do such a thing or why people would put nursery furniture on craigslist. I then had to explain how most of it is gently used, or how some people tragically never get to bring home their baby, or adoptions fall through. 

Well later that evening we happened to be watching the episode of Parenthood on Netflix where *spoiler alert* Julia and Joel thought they would be adopting a baby boy and had the whole nursery set up and ready to go. Sure enough after the birth mom held her baby she changed her mind. I turned to Chad and said, "See!!! All of that nice freaking nursery furniture is about to go on craigslist!" He told me to open up my laptop check for it lol. 

So for fun I typed in Pottery Barn Nursery and wouldn't you know it there was our crib... used but in excellent condition aside from one small scratch on it for $475. Oh there's a scratch on it? No worries, I'll take that scratch off of your hands. I talked them down to $425 and picked it up Monday! It even comes with the toddler conversion kit which is normally an extra $100. Holla! 

Wipes and Sick

This is going to be a super exciting update. I'm sick with who knows what and miserable.

On a cooler note (still not exciting) I got 3,456 Pampers Wipes for $28! Thanks to some awesome friends for pointing out the deal that only lasted a couple of hours on Amazon.com. This should have been about $120 normally. Holla! Too bad this is only thing I've even bought for my child thus far aside from a nursing pillow hah.

I'm pretty positive that I'm feeling him move now. I know eventually it will be way more obvious to tell and more consistent. We have started going through nursery ideas and names. This could take a while! We like uncommon old names with meaning. Good luck, right? As far as the nursery goes I want it to be modern and masculine but still baby-like. Chad is really into African animals for the nursery... Insert eye roll here.. So cliche but I think I can work with it. We'll see!

It's a...

...

We had our elective gender ultrasound on Friday and then our reveal party on Saturday. It all went great! Here are the u/s pics of our Sweet P. For the record I saw what it was before she told me, but unfortunately we weren't able to get the best angle for pictures. Can you tell what it is?

Totally my kid.. and Chad's too of course.. we are both fitness freaks.. look at these crunches! HAH

Profile 

The goods..  

If you still can't tell the gender here are a few pictures from the reveal party! 

The set up:

Now for the actual reveal! Sorry these pics are all so crappy.. I just had to ask people who took cell phone pics to send them to me.

 

'

It's a BOY!!!! and someone is very happy about that! Love him. 

Out of the Closet!

We finally came out on FB! I decided last night to download a self timer app on my iphone5 to do a mini shoot. I propped my phone up using a beer bottle on the coffee table and got these.. I threw them in an album titled "The Inside Story" with a description that said "Oh Baby.."I was super nervous to do it but what's done is done! 

Let There Be Light!

I know this isn't directly baby related but...

We have a few house projects we want to finish up before we start working on the nursery. Finding a new dining room light has been at the top of the list. We have had company over to dine in the dark (true story) twice in the last 4 months without a light fixture in there. Every time I started to look for one I would get overwhelmed, not like anything I saw, and couldn't quite put my finger on what style I wanted in there.

A few months ago while in Lowes I came across this little light. I really liked it because it was about the right size, put off enough light, and was different. I moved on once again because I was being so picky about it.

 Well about a week ago my mom was inspired by a TV show she was watching and decided to send me an email with a bunch of lights she liked form different sites. The second one on her list was the same little light above that I had already considered. That made me look into it a little more and finally decided this past weekend that I was just going to go for it. I think it really is perfect. The fixture metal is the right tone, it has bling which offsets the horns on the dining room wall, and it's bright enough. Done. Decision made. How about this.. two days later it happens to go on sale for $30 cheaper! 

 Thank you, Lowes! We picked it up last night, and after the two hour TRAGEDY of Chad actually installing it I think it's perfect! 

I suck as a photorapher and these were taken early this morning so they are dim.. 

 You get the point though. 

Now if only I could get some crown molding up there.. and a new table.. and..