life with baby

Father’s Day: Brought to you by the letters D and A

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It’s already Thursday, but I thought I’d give you a recap of how Brian’s first Father’s Day went! And of course, show you the awesome project that Jameson and I did (if you haven’t seen it already– I talked about it on Twitter and displayed it on Flickr; you can follow me!). I was waiting with anticipation to show you the project, and wanted to show it off early, but Brian couldn’t (or wouldn’t!) promise me that he wouldn’t peek. In any case, if you love it, file it away for next year!

I was inspired by this find on Pinterest. Just before I started  the new job, I had a day without Brian or Jameson. Well, before Jameson went to daycare that morning, I put him in a fashion show photo shoot with letters D & A that I picked up for about $3 each at Jo-Ann. I edited the photos in 3 different styles of black and white, in a number of poses, and printed them all off.

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house, life with baby

My Favorite Non-Baby Baby Item

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My favorite non-baby baby item happens to be a little wall decor piece. It has four swinging swallows hanging from a black box. Doesn’t sound attractive? It actually is, and Jameson loved it. He still enjoys it, but now that he notices color he’s been more fascinated with the owl and tree wall decal right next to my nursing glider. But for a long time, that swinging bird piece would keep him from crying whenever he noticed it. He’d just stare forever. It runs on batteries, and is super quiet. It has been running now for about 6 months and one of the birds just finally stopped, needing some replacement batteries which are double AA’s.

So I bought it from one of those places that send you a thousand catalogs and has some fun random giftables. But really, I had a great experience and I’d buy from them again. And as far as I know, Signals is the only place you can get the Swallows Kinetic Wall Art. Bonus: It’s on sale. (Here’s some more about Jameson’s nursery, and the leaves for his mobile are Bazzil from Overstock).

Jameson lately has also been loving the large red plastic cup we use to rinse him off during bath time. Something about that running water that he loves. Makes me tempted to get one of these… last time I looked it wasn’t available via Amazon Prime but it is now. Soooo tempting…

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general life

Schedule Fail

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I don’t know if everyone does this, but typically Brian and I communicate via email and Google calendar. Occasionally I have invited him to things so he can also put it on his work calendar, but usually we just stick with our personal calendars which we share with each other. If we just say something about an upcoming event… we typically (I typically) forget about it.

Which I why I depend on that calendar for everything, and get angry at Brian if he forgets something. This time I forgot.

Last night, we intended to go order some furniture. We need new couches for our living/family room (we have just one room, but I don’t think I’d call it a great room, because it’s not very big). Right now we have been using my parents old furniture, which were and are still in pretty great shape but I basically just can’t handle vacuuming Sasha’s dog hair off it anymore (it’s like corduroy style, which just begs for dog hair to get stuck in it, and remember Sasha is like the size of 3 medium dogs or 6 small dogs). Anyway, we went out over the weekend and finally found leather ones we pretty much settled on (this has been a several month process as we are looking for a specific set: leather, reclining, and a loveseat that also rocks or glides) and they went on sale yesterday at La-Z-Boy at 15% off and free shipping/delivery with their Memorial Sale.

Anyway, I forgot I already had plans with my friend Teresa. Oops! Luckily this schedule fail still ended up well, even though I didn’t get to give Brian the final okay. Hopefully he ordered the right ones. Hopefully. Teresa and I still hung out (and yes, she knows I forgot about her 🙁 ) and we went out to eat. Jameson was a perfect angel the whole time, and I ate pretty unhealthy again. But it was so good. I tried these new Macaroni and Cheese bites, which were pretty much fried mac ‘n cheese and had a tomato soup dipping sauce. I’ve got to remember the “breastfeeding diet” isn’t really going to save me from all the fat I’ve been eating…

So in about 2-3 months (that’s only 1/3 the gestation of a baby, which isn’t that long at all, I have to remember), we will have some new couches. I’m already thinking about new pillow covers.

By the way, do you see that free weekend there? That free weekend is for finishing thank you notes from Jameson’s baptism over a month ago. Another fail.

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general life, life with baby

Spoon = Fun (+ Mess)

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On Wednesday, Jameson had his 4 month (2 weeks late) appointment. He is in perfect health, still a little peanut in the 10th percentile for weight. He weighed 13.4 pounds and is 24-1/2 inches long. He even showed off for us, rolling over! I finally got to see him do it, but alas he is still camera shy so I don’t have video of him rolling to share just yet.

Doc said he is gummy, so no teeth yet! And I could’ve sworn he really was actively teething… guess he was just being cranky. My baby is still toothless for sure.

The doctor gave us the go ahead to start feeding him cereal. We asked about what kinds of foods to give him since he has this odd habit of “holding it in” for days. Not regular at all. So she recommended some oatmeal or multi-grain with more fiber in it.

Though, really, we probably could’ve started sooner… but I kind of like my little sweet baby. I have mixed feelings across the board when it comes to Mr. Jameson getting bigger. I love seeing him do new things and become more active, but sometimes I miss him when he was wee little, sleepy all the time (particularly on mom) and I was home just drinking him in.

Anyway, he has been sticking his tongue out at us for about a week now and knowing he has more control over it, it seemed appropriate to start teaching him the spoon on Friday.

He liked it the oatmeal plus milk… up until the point where he decided that the spoon wasn’t fast enough dangit! But on Sunday for his second try, he got really good at it and ate more. He also tried to chomp and grab at the spoon himself, so I suppose it might become his new favorite toy.

Saturday, Brian and I celebrated my 26th birthday. I am on the later half of the twenties now, which I suppose makes me old awesome. Brian will always be older though, so I don’t mind. Jameson got me Pinocchio which we are going to watch together, and a digital picture frame. Funny that we had gotten one for every other member of the family but never had one ourselves! I already put some photos in it.

Speaking of picture frames, I have a small pile now of black frames which I want to put up in the entry way or stairway, I can’t decide, in a method similar to this:


Or these others.

On Friday, work had a huge sample sale, and I accumulated some more picture frames for this purpose, as well as some other giftable items and craft supplies. One of these days, I’ll get around to crafting again. Just have to find that time. My next project will be a table runner and/or placemats. And maybe some new pillow covers? And some pants for Jameson. I have lots of sewing books, and somewhere I have that DVD which will show me for the 20th time how to thread my sewing machine…

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general life, house

Thanksgiving

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This year was our first Thanksgiving in the new house. Brian and I were pretty excited to be hosting it as well! We used our dining room for the first time and had Brian’s family over. Brian made most of the meal and it turned out just perfect with no hiccups. It was our first time using the turkey oven bag, and it was great. We also made sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping, green bean casserole, stuffing with apples, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, and the cranberry sauce staple.

The day before, we took the day off and visited 5 daycares. We were finally able to decide on one, based primarily on gut feel and location and teacher to child ratio. All of them were around the same price, even with a corporate discount I received from a lot of them in the area. Then I got my hair cut, and spent the rest of the afternoon looking for a table runner and place mats. (That was all me — Brian worked on the shed)

The shed is getting it’s finishing touches over the next couple weekends as Brian has friends coming to help put in the siding. Then all it needs is a proper ramp, which is planned for spring! I can’t believe it actually is getting done, and just in time as the snow is starting to come down here and it’s staying cold.

I spent Thanksgiving day cleaning downstairs and putting finishing touches on Christmas decorations. We didn’t have our Christmas tree yet but all other decorations were out and inviting. This year, I got some inspiration from work where the corporate headquarters entryway had some big bulb ornaments hanging from ribbon down the glass panes. I did something similar, purchasing the bulbs of course during double discount, and hanging them from the railings on the second floor so they hang down into the entry way. They look great, I am very happy with how they turned out!

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house, preparing for baby

Nursery and Baby Shower

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This past weekend was my baby shower, and we go lots of great gifts. I feel almost prepared now! Just a couple more classes (like the Baby Care class this evening) and a few more items (like the baby monitor) and we will be set!

Here’s a few pictures of our Peapod’s nursery:

The baby shower was great; Brian’s mom did such a great job. It was catered by the same company that did our wedding food, so everything was excellent (I’m still eating the leftovers!). We had crescent sandwiches, vegetarian wraps, cheese and crackers, fruit, pasta salad, swedish meatballs and of course punch, cookies and a cake! I had a lot more people come than I expected. A good friend who I haven’t seen in over two years, Sasha, came to visit. Also some of my old Centerville friends and a lot of new friends! Most of Brian’s family came as well, and my aunt Carol and cousin Stacey.  Sadly my mom couldn’t make it, but she did give me a gift to make me cry in front of everyone (a bonnet made from a handkerchief when I was baptized). See some pictures from the baby shower.

Yesterday I had my first Non-Stress Test (NST) and an ultrasound. I am now going to the doctor once every week and getting a NST each week because of the gestational diabetes. Luckily I am managing just fine with diet and so I am type A1 diabetes and only need to go in once a week instead of twice! The diabetes is a pain, but I have only broken the diet a couple times. I haven’t gained any weight the past two weeks since my last appointment, but the doctor says that is good and okay that I have some fat stores that are probably being burned up.

The NST is the same type of monitor they will use when I deliver. It measures baby’s heart rate and contractions. I got to watch the graph change when baby moved — the heart rate would go up. I also had a mild contraction while I was there and baby’s heart rate goes up then too. It takes 20 minutes so that is kind of a pain, and I had to wait to get the monitor since they only had a couple. But otherwise it’s painless and relatively easy!

The ultrasound was great! Fluid around the baby is normal, and Peapod is head down! The tech was nice and told us again when to look away when she was looking at the pelvis area so we still have no idea what the baby is. Brian needs to get working on some baby name ideas!

In other news, recently I got a new china cabinet which I am displaying my grandma’s glassware in! I spent about 5 hours cleaning all the crystal and it just looks fantastic. Grandma would be happy to see her glasses all clean and shining in the beautiful china cabinet, I just wish she was still around to see it.

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preparing for baby

Baby is no longer see through

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My baby book says that this week, week 32 (I am 31 weeks and 4 days), my baby is no longer see through. I think Brian might’ve been a little disappointed 😉

We recently purchased a china cabinet; it was on our list of long term items we wanted, but with my grandma’s passing I have taken her glass dishes and silverware, and some other cut glass items. I really wanted to display these and even use them this Thanksgiving which we are having at our house with Brian’s family. China cabinets are expensive! But I think we got a great deal and it will nearly match our table and chairs we have right now. It gets delivered next week, in plenty of time to wash and put away the nice dishes for Thanksgiving.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I will have to be careful about what I eat 🙁 At least pumpkin pie is on the list of things I can eat! Even better if I don’t have the crust!

Life with gestational diabetes is okay. It’s not particularly fun, but I have managed to eat out a few times with no problems. I just have to be careful about what I eat and eliminate a lot of carbs. So no pasta when I eat out. The dietitian taught me carb counting in units of 15g each, and protein counting. At its fundamental, I need a lot more protein and less carbs.

I went back for a follow up on Friday to the dietitian who told me I was a doctor’s dream (because my blood sugar levels never went too far over or under). So when I visit the doctor today, hopefully they’ll say the same thing and I will not need to take medication. I’m excited to find out when I get my next ultrasound, which will hopefully be next time. We haven’t seen the baby for months! Though for sure I can feel it all the time. I also read in the book that the amniotic fluid has about reached its peak, and so there is less cushioning in there, I will feel the kicks more. The baby is very active in the mornings and evenings.

Brian and I looked at mattresses last night, so we’ll be purchasing that soon. The baby shower is the weekend of Nov. 7, so that is coming up very soon! I am so excited to get more baby things and start to really set up for Peapod’s arrival, which is only two short months away.

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