SUCCESS!!

No Girl Scouts were hurt in the obtaining of these cookies! Thanks Rain, I seriously love you.

30 Weeks

This might not be the best week for updates. This week I have wanted to strangle a couple customer service reps with phone cords and yesterday I threatened to kill a Girl Scout if they discontinued Lemonades. There is no coincidence that my Baby Center 30 week update today told me not to be surprised if my emotional instability has returned. Oh really..you think? The baby weighs roughly 3lbs now, about that of a head of cabbage. Doesn't that seem confusing? I always thought a butternut would weigh more than cabbage, but I guess they know more than I do.

How far along: 30 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 9lbs, you'll get another update on this one after my next appt. I just don't like weighing at home.

Stretch marks: Nope, just the same few.

Sleep: Of course this week it sucks. Perhaps that is why I have felt the need to kill people. I'm waking up alot and not falling right back asleep. When I wake up something is either hurting or tingling from numbness. It's getting increasingly harder to roll out of bed, I'm sure the hubby is really thankful right now that we don't have a waterbed cause he'd be dealing with nightly tsunamis.

Movement: I've started doing the kick counting. The baby does move more in the morning but it still pretty irregular. I still seem to manage to get the 10 kicks in two hours so I guess that means we're all good. Earlier this week the baby positioned in my crotch again and tried to find it's way out. That my friends, is not comfortable.

Food cravings: I just want to eat. If I'm hungry and there is not anything to eat then watch out because I tend to get grouchy. So I try to have snacks with me. I also really want some Lemonade Girl Scout cookies right now!!! I'm sure I will drive around the entire city of Sacramento buying every box that I find.

Frustrations: Rude customer service reps, customer service being outsourced to India and ending up with someone that barely speaks English but keeps telling ME to get off speaker phone, discontinued cookies, the shooting pain that is in my left ass cheek right now.

What I miss: Feeling emotionally stable.

Weekly Wisdom: When pregnant you will be thankful at times that you are not licensed to carry a weapon.

Milestones: Finally getting stuff done in the babies room!!!

One question....

Being pregnant I have come to realize a funny thing. There is one question that as a woman can either make you glow brightly or make you want to maul someone with your bare hands. That question....."When are you due?"

Ok, it doesn't have to be worded exactly like that but I think you get where I'm going here. As a plus size woman I have one time been asked that question when it wasn't good timing. Actually, I think the person just patted my belly and said "So, you have news?" Oh my god I was devastated. I had never been made so insecure in just one simple statement. What made it even worse was I was rocking a new outfit and felt SOOO good that day.

While I'm plus, I have never thought I looked pregnant. I'm not a belly plus, just a general larger all over plus. Especially now that I'm pregnant I definitely know what pregnant looks like on me now. It took forever though for someone to say something to me though. I kept wondering, "Do people just think I'm fat?" Now I get asked a couple times a week and I love it. I don't know what it is about it, but all it takes is a complete stranger to ask "When are you due?" and I want to give them a hug and let them feel the baby. I know not all pregnant women are like this, but I enjoy any belly touch I get and will relish it until it becomes taboo again.

Happy Birthday!

Today my sweet little baby turns 2 years old. Boy do they grow up fast. Happy 2nd Birthday Whisky!

Finally some progress!

Each weekend resumes with me feeling a bit of a panic attack because no progress is being made on our babies room. I decided this weekend to turn it all around and get stuff done!! I started cleaning out closets, moving craft supplies to under the bed boxes and taking stuff out of the room that didn't need to be there.

Then it was time to move onto the dressers. I purchased a dresser set on Craigslist for $80 that was in decent shape, but needed new hardware, drawer liners and touch up paint. It was quite a project but I am soo happy with how they look now...and what a deal they were! The smaller one actually has a bookshelf that goes on top of it, but we weren't quite ready to move it into the room yet as the dresser will be in a different place once the rest of the room falls together.Two more big steps were going to be getting the queen bed out of the room and moving the desk and computer out into our main living area. The queen bed couldn't be moved this weekend because of threatening rain that never came. We decided to get the desk out though and my husband went to work trying to figure out how to get the cable connected in it's new location vs the bedroom. This way we wouldn't have to get a wireless card for the computer. Let me tell you the man is a genius because he figured it out and now the office is set up in it's new space.

I feel so much better now that we got a bunch of stuff accomplished! Now we just have to get the queen bed out and have the room painted. It's going to be painted the same color but once the other pieces come in the room it will liven the place up a bit. While this is the babies room it is also still our guest room so I'm trying not to go too overboard!

Groundbreaking Technology!!!

The iShelf. Eat your heart out Steve Jobs!

Remember This?

Some of you may remember last year when I found this gem at a thrift store for $9....It was love at first site and while at the time I didn't have kids, or any kids on the horizon I decided to purchase it anyway. I mean, it was $9!!! The first time my nephew Ethan saw the desk he fell in love. He would play school whenever he came to the house using the desk and my chalkboard. I knew right away that Ethan should own the desk, but I didn't think it should be pink and green. So I asked him what his favorite color was and he answered, "Lellow and Black."

The goal was to get this desk made over by Christmas, but that obviously didn't happen. With the help of my hubby and some good weather we were finally able to finish the project and I must say that I am impressed. This just goes to show how you can turn something that was only $9 into something that is priceless!A big thanks to the hubby who helped me finish this. There is no better planning then wanting to redo something that involves spray paint when you are pregnant!

29 Weeks

What is becoming apparent doing these weekly updates is how little I am getting done week to week! There is still a ton to do and apparently less and less time to do it. I know it will get done though, I just have to keep reminding myself. The baby is now the size of a butternut squash, another vegetable I don't really care for. I feel at times like that baby is already the size of a watermelon.

How far along: 29 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: One pound! One pound in 4 weeks. Brings me to a total of 9lbs...yippee!

Stretch marks: Nope, just the same few.

Sleep: Sleeping pretty good. Wake up to pee every two hours like clockwork. Even have let the dog snuggle on the bed a time or two and still sleeping ok. Dreams are getting weirder and weirder although most of them are just snippets and not long stories.

Movement: Let me start by saying that I love the movement. I also find it to be one of the most frustrating things. In the beginning the baby did nothing but kick me in the crotch. Like seriously between my legs as if it was looking for an exit. Now the movement is higher, but this is still a very low baby. It definitely knows where my bladder is and uses this as it's own personal gym bag. At 28 weeks I was supposed to start kick counting. The rules were you pick a two hour window and the baby should kick/move 10 times in that window. It is recommended that you pick a window where the baby typically moves. Problem is...my baby has no window!! Sometimes it's in the morning, sometimes afternoon, evening and sometimes I even wake up and there is a rodeo going on in there. Then there are days when it barely moves. Just a kick or two here or there. It's made it impossible to kick count. I'll be chatting with the doc about this today.

Food cravings: I really wanted a bagel sandwich yesterday morning. Definitely in a stage where i feel hungry much more frequently.

Frustrations: See movement. Also just feel like I'm not getting prepared as much as I should be. I kind of think you feel this though no matter how prepared you are.

What I miss: Not having to worry about every sneeze and cough.

Weekly Wisdom: Do things sooner than you think they need to be done.

Milestones: Stocking up on diapers.

Glued to the set!

He was really rooting for the Whippet.

Ode to Whisky

Through my friend Jaymi's blog I learned about a woman named Silje that was doing dog portraits. I've wanted to have something done of Whisky for sometime and after contacting her knew that this was the route I was going to take. I thought it would be perfect hanging in the babies room. I sent her the link to Flickr and told her to use any photo for inspiration. I'm so in love with how it came out!

It's Incredible!

I had the luxury of spending another fun filled day with my niece and nephew from Washington. They were in town visiting and after our last good adventure I figured this nice day off would be the perfect day to hang out. We decided to go back to John's Incredible Pizza. Such a fun place for kids and definitely takes me back to my time as a kid at Chuck E Cheese. This time the kids knew that tickets meant buying prizes so there was a bigger focus on tickets. The best part about the tickets though is seeing what the kids got and seeing them put to use!We also met up with some friends so the kids didn't have to ride the rides by themselves. Their first ride was a spinning one and my friend Victoria made sure that their car spun around the entire time. The kids were soo excited and it was such fun to see them on the ride.
Andrea (on left) laughed and threw her hands up on occasion. Hayden (on right) had a huge grin on his face while he kept a death grip on his seat and looked straight ahead...loving every minute of it!

True Love

Today is the day of true romance. The day of roses, heart shaped boxes, chocolates, romantic cards and......Isn't this how everyone celebrates Valentines?

Clip Clip

I feel like I should start by saying, I've never liked coupons. My mom was a BIG coupon user. Sorry mom, I have to drag you in here! There was just something about getting to the store and riffling through that coupon book that drove me bonkers. I ended up with this overall feeling as an adult that you end up buying things you don't need just because you have a coupon. On the other hand, as I've gotten older I have found many a savings website where I am amazed by how much money people save using coupons. Then arose the other problem that there was no way I could see myself spending the time comparing the coupons that I have to the ads.

Then I found Saving with Amy. This is seriously a great site. Partner it up with Coupon Saving Game and you can save a bundle. Why is it easy? Well, because they are doing all the ad browsing for you and creating a nice little list of where you can go with your coupon to save the most dollars. I made a firm decision that I would start my coupon venture with diapers.

Today, I officially became a mom. I walked into a Walgreens, where diapers were on sale for $8.99. I then handed them my $2 off coupon making them $6.99. I then handed them my 15% of friend and family discount coupon making them $5.94. Then I got $3 in register rewards...making a pack of diapers only $2.94. Score! It was exciting, it was exhilarating and it really made me feel like a mom. Not only was I using coupons, but I was also buying my first pack of diapers. Holy shit!

28 Weeks

And just like that we are in the third trimester! What that means is...the baby is seriously coming sooner than later. Incredible. What is also incredible is that there is sooo much to do still...eek! Soon I hope to have some photos of the room, but seeing how it looks like a spare room/office/laundry facility right now it wouldn't be too exciting to show you that. The baby is now the size of a Chinese Cabbage.

How far along: 28 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: We'll know next week.

Stretch marks: Nope, just the same few.

Sleep: Actually since I got my nice body pillow from Target we are doing much better. I wake up to pee every 2-3 hours which is the perfect amount of time because at that point I'm ready to roll over.

Movement: Definitely movement going on in there. In fact when I do use the heart rate monitor you can hear the movement as well. I'm also starting to get pressure in certain places and when you touch the belly in those places there is a hard lump. Can't tell what appendage you are feeling, but it's definitely the baby pushing against the stomach wall.

Food cravings: Here's the thing. I don't feel like I have ever really woken up and thought "Eureka..I really want..." On the other hand I will see things and the need to have them is immediate. Last night someone on tv was getting a Slurpee and by golly I will be getting one of those as soon as possible!!

Frustrations: Colds. I'm finally kicking the one I have but I think I did some damage and pulled something cause I'm having some chest pain.

What I miss: Not waddling.

Weekly Wisdom: The Safeway delivery guy may just be the ticket to gender prediction.

Milestones: Umm, making it to the third trimester of course and losing site of my toes.
They are down there somewhere! Just for more belly viewing pleasure, here is a new side shot for you!

Sick......again!

I'm wondering if there is a Guinness Record for how many times a women can contract a cold during her pregnancy? I'm now going on my third cold. The first was the worse, the second was a stuffy head and the third is somewhere in between. I started feeling stuffy on Friday and by Saturday it set up a nice little home in my chest. By Saturday Hack Fest 2010 was on! Coughing and pregnancy don't mix. For one it is uncomfortable and for two you have to pee alot and I'll just let you do the math on that one. Add to that the fact that I think I have torn some sort of muscle in my chest and you can just imagine what a good time I am having! Thankfully, after three days of lying around I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel!!

Puppy Breath!!

Last week Whisky's dad became the proud poppa of 9 new puppies! Oh my heavens if I didn't have a baby on the way I would be snatching one of these dogs up so fast. The breeders, Ken and Diane are two of the nicest people I have ever met. Whisky will be two soon and we have still kept in touch with them over the years. Plus, Whisky is a great example of how wonderful these dogs are. If you are interested in a puppy, and live in the greater Sacramento area, send Diane an email and tell her Stacey sent you!

kdalliance(at)innercite(dot)com

Super Bowl Sunday

Some people just don't care that the Super Bowl is on.....even if you are switching back and forth from the Puppy Bowl!

What goes with pancakes????

Beer! I know, you are reading that and thinking that I've just about lost my mind. In the most recent Rachel Ray Magazine they recommended that the next time you make pancakes you substitute half of the liquid with beer. Something about the yeast and fluffiness and whatever. So, I tried it and the verdict is DELICIOUS! You can't taste the beer, but it definitely adds something to the pancakes. Next time I'm going to use some of our holiday home brew that has a little spice to it.

On a side note, Rachel Ray drives me bonkers. I used to watch her 30 minute meals, but then she got all popular and then got that talk show and then got a little bit crazier and I gave up. What I did not give up on though is her magazine and her recipes in general. This woman knows how to cook. The recipes are easy and they are delicious, and you can pull them off quickly...though I don't really think 30 minutes is always enough time. I suggest checking this magazine out!

When life hands you lemons....

make lemonade! Especially if they are Meyer lemons and are growing in your backyard! We have both an orange tree and a lemon tree in our yard and this year the citrus crop has been amazing. I actually had someone tell me that they think our orange tree was planted by Jesus, but that's a whole other funny story in itself. I wanted to make sure that our lemons didn't go to waste so I've been making lemonade. Oh my heavens it is delicious and has put the Hot Dogs on a Stick lemonade to shame.

If you have a lemon tree, try out this recipe:

2 cups of lemon juice
2 cups of water
1.5 cups of sugar (more or less to taste)

Dissolve sugar in water over low heat. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Add an additional 5-6 cups of water to taste and enjoy over ice. Ahhhh, cool and refreshing!

27 Weeks

Well, we're chugging right along. I'm feeling pretty good right now and have to say that since about week 16 I am enjoying being pregnant. There are aches, there are pains, there are weird things happening...but it's all very interesting and fun. The baby is now the size of a cauliflower, about 14 inches long (although I'm going to guess this one is longer) and weighs roughly 2 pounds.

How far along: 27 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Details to come.

Stretch marks: Same ones. I am starting to get the linea nigra below my belly button. There is no big explanation for why this line happens other than of course hormones. It's really faint on me, but for some it gets really dark and goes along the whole belly.

Sleep: I got a new body pillow. Just a standard shaped one with a really soft cover and things are looking up. I wake up at 1am and 3am to pee. Sometimes more, never less. Overall sleeping better though.

Movement: Getting better. Everyday there is activity, but it still doesn't happen at the same times so I don't feel like the baby has a routine. There is a funny thing with the movement, you know from the beginning that you are having a baby. Then it really starts to move and to be honest it is wonderful and freaky at the same time. I mean..there is something alive in there! Also, this baby does not like to move for the hubby. It will kick like crazy and as soon as I put his hand on my belly it stops. Maybe this means he'll be the one to sooth the baby when it's fussy?

Food cravings: Nothing still. I do like to drink lemonade and milk...not together though! Ewww. I still crave sweets more than usual, or different kinds like chocolate instead of gummies.

Frustrations: That I think I am getting a cold....again!

What I miss: The ability to put together thoughts. Sometimes things are just short circuiting up there.

Weekly Wisdom: Always check the direction of your underwear. I can't tell you how many times I've put it on inside out and have almost put it on backwards. Maternity panties are bigger in the front, and typically underwear is bigger in the back so it takes some getting used to. The inside out is just another example of the brain miss-firing.

Milestones: I passed my glucose test!!

Rapunzel

Most of my life I have had shorter hair. I had it long as a kid, then went with my dad to chop it all off. Then I grew it out again and then my senior year of highschool I cut it chin length and never looked back. From that point on I would try to grow it out and as soon as it hit my shoulders I would hate it and hack it all off. Sometimes to the chin, sometimes even boy short.

Then there was the color. I started playing around with coloring my hair at 17 and in the next 15 years I would go from blond to red to black to calico. Then I got old. I really don't know what changed, but I just started wanting my hair to be close to what my natural color used to look like. Coloring it was a pain in the ass and was getting more and more expensive by the day. Same with cutting. I decided that I just wanted it to be long. Actually, I want it to be really long, like past my breasts, but above my waist. Just for once I have to see what it's like to have hair like that. Of course, I chose the time to do it when there will be a child that will want to tug on it, but timing isn't everything. Cause what I can tell you with my timing...is there has never been a more right time to grow it out. It's growing thick and it's growing fast. Whenever I would brush my hair after a shower before I would lose a small animal each time. Now, only 2-3 hairs. The color is probably the most natural looking it has been since I was 17 as well. The rumors are definitely true, pregnancy hair is kick ass!

Milk Slingers

The time had come. Time for me to come to terms with the fact that after 26 weeks of pregnancy I might need a new bra. Bras are a pain in my ass. We'll just be honest here and say that I don't have the smallest breasts so finding bras that fit, are comfortable and still are somewhat sexy is a task much like finding the holy grail. Typically I can find them at Nordstrom, but man the price is enough to start promising them my first children in exchange for a nice bra. So, being this far into things I decided that I'd just go ahead and get nursing bras. That way, as long as the girls don't get to out of control, I can wear them later...you know, when I'm nursing. What an experience that was. I love the bras I got, and trust me...they feel so much better than what I was cramming myself into. On they other hand, oh heavens are they not attractive. Let's be honest, those of us without children have spent most of their lives seeing their breasts as something sexy, something attractive to the opposite and maybe same sex. Wow, does that perspective change once you sling on a nursing bra. You then instantly realize that you are a milk factory. Your breasts are there for substance and you now must hold them up and be able to pop them out at a moments notice. It's a weird concept to grasp hold of, but I will say that I feel better with them supported in milk slingers than I did in my fancy bras of late.

The Big Project

Since November I have been working on a project. It was something I thought would be super simple and well, it didn't turn out that way. There was some disassembling involved, some spray paint involved and a few more items. Let me recommend not coming up with spray paint projects when pregnant because.....YOU AREN'T SUPPOSED TO USE SPRAY PAINT! So this was a project that I designed and handed off to the hubby for completion. This weekend the project was finally about 80% complete and oh my goodness if it isn't turning out fantastic!! I'd love to show it to you, but it's a gift. Keep your eyes peeled though cause it's going to be a good one!