Sixteen Months

Wow! Sixteen already! Lets just say that I am so happy that it is months and not years just yet...that will come all too soon! Abby's stats at this point go something like this: still waiting for her 1st tooth (any day now I think...), 17 lbs 8 to 15 ounces (depending on the day/time), wearing 9-12 month clothes (though some of her 6-9 still fit but I am sick of seeing them and am hoping for a growth spurt soon so I just buy 12 months for $ sake), not really a fan of sleeping (I chalk this up to teething...), loves to dip things in ranch dressing (or anything else for that matter), has mastered our iPhones, and talks nonstop (I will work on a list of words for next months post). Here is our Little Peanut with her buddy:

I don't think they are in the mood for this...

Abby's first candy cane--Yummy!

I bet Peanut would like some...

Time to share!

(I love her little tongue sticking out on this one)

Want some more?I'm gonna curl up and finish this, ok?

Headed home after a visit with Gramps and Grandma D

(munching on some goodies on our way out the door)

Nursing Bras for Women Like Me

Ok, to start I have had a hard, no--almost impossible-- time finding nursing bras in my size, let a lone finding one that does not look like a "grandma" bra. Being a 34G sucks! I did find a place on line back in November that carried some options. I ordered on 11/8 and got about half of my order and was told the others would ship in 3-4 days. Well 12/30 rolled around and still my order was not complete. I had to call and see what was up. Stephanie helped me out by letting me know that the bra was on back order and would be so for the next 2 or so weeks. I canceled that item and ordered 2 more in 34H and would be sending the rest back due to "muffin top". So I sent all the bras back in the box that I received it in. I also ordered two of the bras in a 34I to see if they fit any better than the 34H. Apparently upon packing my return, I made the FATAL mistake of placing another bra on top of the "molded cup" bra. Here is the e-mail I received regarding my return:

SCANNING DOCUMENT, WILL POST TOMORROW

So, because I placed another bra on top of this oh-so-special-molded-cup-bra I have damaged it beyond saleable condition??? Really?? What is best about this is that I got this e-mail on 1/12 and still have received the bra back nor have I received the two 34I bras that I ordered. Again, I had to call to see where they are and guess what....one is on back order (the other does not come in that size)! So, company that prides itself on customer service, where is the notice that I would yet again have to wait to receive my order???



At this point, I have canceled all orders, will be returning the 2 bras that I have (guess I will be eating the cost of a 34G that does not fit) and ordering from another company that appreciates its large chested, nursing customers.



In the end, I DO NOT SUGGEST ORDERING FROM Linda the Bra Lady!!!

Happy Halloween

Fall is here and so is Halloween! Abby had a great time showing off her wardrobe this week, take a look:

Sunday afternoon we headed to a pumpkin patch to pick up some pumpkins to carve. Unfortunately, they only had very small and very large pumpkins left. We'll try elsewhere, but we did get some great pictures:

Tuesday, we enjoyed the warm weather and took some pictures on the front porch. We're glad that Daddy picked up some mums, they made a great back drop :)

Wednesday:

Just chilling on the couch on this rainy afternoon. Abby loved the tiny pumpkin and her legwarmers!

Friday:
Play time! We had fun talking to out toys and each other:

Saturday:

Happy 1st Halloween

Here is our family photo

In the car seat before we head to Gramps and Grandma D's house.

LOVE the hat!

Trick-or-Treat!

This was Abby's fist ever "trick-or-treat"

Abby was their 1st trick-or-treater of the night too.

Here is the little monkey!

Next we headed to Paul and Aimee's house. Daddy passed out candy with Paul while the ladies hung out inside. Here is Abby at the end of the night. She was pretty tired and ready for bed.

All in all we had a great week and a super Halloween. Hope you did too!

Something a Pregnant Woman Should NEVER Have to Do

There are somethings women in general hate doing: going out in public w/o make-up, wearing flip-flops with chipped/yucky polish on, admitting our weight, sweating, trying on bathing suits, realizing it is time to move up to the next pant size, etc. I think that most of these are justified dislikes and should be avoided when ever possible.

Then there is the one thing a pregnant woman--make that a very pregnant woman-- should NEVER, I mean NEVER, have to do: give your measurements (more specifically measurements for a bridesmaid dress). I have always cringed at this task, not wanting to hear the numbers then being told what dress size you should order (Note to the men reading: dress sizes are ALWAYS bigger than our pants size and you know how much we hate that number...). This is a dreaded task non-preggers...imagine doing so at 40+ weeks.....yeah, feel my pain!

Now if that ain't love for a friend, I don't know what is!!!

Day 5 of Waiting

Today was a good day of waiting.

MJ and I started the day by cleaning the house in preparation of baby and a visit from my cousin Sara who is in from California. Then I showered and worked from home for a few hours until Sara and Shalin (her very cute and smart 1 1/2 yr.old son) showed up for their visit. I had a great time catching up with her--it has been over 8 years since we last saw each other. I am very thankful for the Internet/e-mail because without it I don't know that we keep in touch as much as we do. Sara, thanks for making time to visit during your trip home :) After my visit, it was time to get ready for Michael's cousin's wedding (we RSVPed "no" assuming that we would have Peanut by now or would not be in any condition to make it, but Auntie Jeannie refused to take no as an answer. She told us all along that she was saving a place for both of us and we were welcome to come if we felt up to it).

Yup, there I was at 40 weeks and 5 days pregnant getting all gussied-up for a wedding. All I have to say is THANK YOU pregnancy Spanks you saved my a*!, literally! With out this amazing little item I would have looked like I was smuggling a certain dairy product under my dress. Got to love what pregnancy does to a body.....All in all, I didn't look too bad for this stage in the game--and we had a lovely evening out to top it all off!

The wedding was nice and dinner was great. The Spanks did start to feel a bit too constricting at hour four and MJ does have class tomorrow, so we called it a night at about 9:30. Not bad, not bad!

So that was my day in a nut shell or should I say "as" a nut shell....

Round Out the Week

Well, here we are at the end of 35 weeks...less than a month to go!!!!!! Take a peek and enjoy the update :)

How far along: 35 weeks, 6 days

Sleep: Back to 8 :)

Best moment this week: Finishing the crib skirt!!

Movement: Slowing down a bit, but she has been kicking the top part of my belly!

Food cravings: Chocolate pudding

Labor Signs: Nothing new :) I plan on keeping it this way for 4 more weeks. Keep your fingers crossed too!

Belly Button in or out: Still in

What I am looking forward to: Holding Peanut for the first time!

What I miss: My shoe collection…hope it still fits when all is said and done.

Weekly Wisdom: To all you non-pregnant and newly pregnant women: lay on your belly as much as possible now because right about 30 weeks you WILL miss it even if you never lay on your belly. Promise!

Random Belly Touches: I must be giving off the don’t touch vibe, two weeks in a row touch free.

Shout outs to new followers: Hello Dana, thanks for checking us out. Enjoy!

Baby Brain Moment of the Week: It is getting hard to pronounce words correctly. It seems like I am putting the wrong letter first or smushing two together all the time.

Call Me Crazy...

I'm not sure how many of you realize that I am a tree hugger at heart; nor am I sue I knew just how much of a tree hugger I truly am before this journey started.

Sure, I have always recycled as much as possible and get upset when I see someone litter: Hey!! This is my Earth too...I don't come over to your house and throw my trash on your floor. So, why do you think it is ok to throw your trash around where I have to look at it and live with it??? And yes I tend to think of how I could re-purpose something verses throwing it in the trash, which I realize is not always the first thing on other people's minds when getting rid of things.

But, it is amazing how much more concerned I became about the impact we would have on the Earth and its resources once I realized Peanut was on the way. Immediately, I started to think of what I could do to lessen the effect our family would have on the current decay of our planet.

As you know, you can find and read all kind of things on the Internet regarding "becoming green/greener" and I think I have managed to spend hours upon hours doing so. In the end, I am happy to report that I think I have found a way to keep Peanut and Earth happy and clean: the "g diaper". Ok, I know you are asking "what the heck is the g diaper?' right about now. Let me tell you:

It is a cross between a traditional cloth diaper and the Oh-so-convenient disposable diaper. It consists of three parts:

The little g pants (washable outter shell, here are my favorites):

A non-plastic refillable liner:

And the flushable/compostable/disposable refill (40 pack):

Now, all of you experienced parents are probably thinking that it seems rather complicated...I get that. But, this is a pretty compelling video. Take a moment to watch it, please...

With that said, MJ and I have decided to use the g diaper!! Lucky for us, we are not "experienced" parents who are USED to the convenience of traditional disposable diapers and this will be able to st our definition of "normal" by way of the g diaper. Now, I am not saying that we won't ever use traditional disposables, I'm just saying that we are going to try to use the g as much as possible. When we do use "disposable" diapers (until poo becomes a little more predictable/normal, at night if the g is not serving us well, "oh crap, we're out of prepped g's", etc.) we hope to use Nature Babycare diapers, which are also made of more earth-friendly products than traditional, plastic disposable diapers:

Like I said, call me crazy....

Peanut's Wardrobe

Hello! Yes, I know it has been a while since my last post....what can I say? Not much has been happening, so I guess I will share some of the fun things we have purchased and received since finding out we are going to have a baby:

This was the very first baby thing I got! Michael purchased and wrapped it for my birthday :) When I opened it our friends found out we were expecting! Here is a close up:

Here are some of Daddy's other purchases:

This cute, little hat is from Grandma and Grandpa J:


These next few are from Aunt Stacey, Uncle Mark, Julia and Gracie:

Here is the first thing Auntie Emily bought for us:

Emily came over this past weekend and was also kind enough to bring with her three LARGE bags of cloths and baby items...Peanut loves having twins born in August "in the family"!! Lots of goodies in those bags, too many to share! Thanks Charlotte and Emerson! :)

Peanut's first Disney item was from Auntie Kelli! She was in Disney running a half-marathon when we made the announcement! She came home with Mickey:

This is what we purchased right after finding out we are having a girl!

It is an organic cotton gown, which makes changing Peanut in the middle of the night SO much easier. I just hope we don't have too many rolling poos, right Emily?

But my favorite item of all was purchased on day-two of our "We're having a Girl" shopping trip is this. I was hoping that this would be the outfit that we bring our little Peanut home in, but I am scared it will be too big...

YES...that is Peanut's first pair of shoes!! I just had to have them! They are just PERFECT!

Needless to say, we have TONS of other things--too many to post all of them. If I posted all of them, you would be here all night looking. Thank you so much for the love you have already shown this little girl. She is so lucky!