Bedding for the Nursery

Jebo and I found this crib bedding set that is the same color as the walls. The walls in her room are painted a very light yellow called "touch of nectar." It is almost a cream color, with a hint of yellow.

We have collected a lot of pictures of bedding that we like, but I think we have decided on this one. We want the room to be pretty, but not girlie. We like pink, but were more of the hot-pink type, not the soft-pink type.

Our color scheme for the nursery is- light yellow/cream & white with hints of red and ladybugs. I already have plans to make wooden letters suspended from ribbon to place behind her crib. They will look something like this, but more modern, and I will add ladybugs to them and swarovski crystals on areas. I can't wait to start making them:


I feel like I'm planning a wedding with all the research I'm putting into designing the room for our princess!

Pre-Corinthia Art

I drew this in 2006 on a post-it and put it in Jebo's lunch.

He still has it under his mouse pad, and scanned it today to send it to me.

The dead sperm is an image of the "one who didn't make it".

On the other picture- the circle with the word "Corinthia" in it is the egg. The big black sperm is telling the other sperms to back off and he's holding them back so he can get the egg.

Though you would enjoy laughing at me.

I know, I'm strange.

I'm sure Corinthia will enjoy laughing at this when she sees it in one of her scrapbooks when she's older.

An ETSY Baby

Today as I was looking at Etsy.com, I typed in "ladybug" in the search field, and came across over 500 items having to do with ladybugs.

I decided to narrow it down and change my search to "Ladybug baby" and found all of these UBER cute lady bug items for little girls.

I'm SO excited and can't wait to buy it ALL!!!

16 weeks

When I woke up on Saturday morning and placed my hand on our baby bump it felt like it doubled in size overnight. Jebo was already awake so when I went downstairs to make him feel he was shocked and so happy. He thinks it's the cutest thing in the world and so do I.

He keeps asking me what it feels like for me, and I told him, "We'll right now it feels like a clenched hard butt cheek is sitting under my bellybutton that's only gonna get bigger, except it's not a butt cheek- its a baby and its alive." Haha!

The baby is almost 5 inches long this week, and the size of an avocado. There aren't any new changes in me, except this ever growing stomach and I find myself more tired these days. Usually around 3pm I'm ready for a nap, then I get a rush of energy when I pass the tired stage, but again by 9pm I'm ready to sleep for the night but I usually never crash until after 10:30pm.

Check out this link to see the growth of the baby/mommy from conception-birth. It's really cool. Just put your cursor over the grey box under the picture and slowly move to the right for week-by-week changes. Looks like I'm about to have an even bigger growth spurt in the next 2 weeks.
http://pennhealth.com/health_info/pregnancy/000088.htm

Big Brother

This picture is so sweet. It's a watercolor painting I found online of a sibling connecting with the baby in the womb.

It's nice that Gab will be a TWEENAGER (10 1/2) when this baby is born. (TWEENAGER is defined as the double digit years prior to turning 13, so 10-12 are the Tweenager years. A tween is between 8 and 12 years old, and a tweenager is 10 to 12 years old.)

At least he will be old enough to TRULY connect with the baby as a BIG BROTHER since they are so far apart in age. We won't have to worry about them fighting. He will officially be a 13 year old teenager, when his baby sister is 1 1/2 years old. Wow. When he is an adult-18-his baby sister will only be 7 1/2 years old. He'll be the super protective big brother for sure.

=)

As promised- the 4 month baby belly

This baby is growing fast, and so is my stomach. We're almost 1/2 way there! Only 5 months to go. I suppose after a couple more months my belly will just look like a huge round ball- so I'll try to post the growth progress while it's in the process of getting even bigger then it is already. The bump starts right under my belly button. The womb will slowly start creeping up the further along I get. Soon I'll be able to look forward to baby feet kicking my rib cage. Haha!

I officially cannot suck in anymore. Not possible. Enjoy!


I also emailed my belly pictures out, and Megan responded with "I love it, where's Jebos". He responded with this:

That IS NOT his belly. Don't worry. It might be that big, but it's NOT that hairy. Haha!

Baby Clothes Galore!!!

Corinthia's closet is PACKED!
As you know- we've been collecting ladybug clothing, among other really cute garments, so I wanted to post them for your viewing pleasure so you can see what a cute little ladybug she will be! My mom has bought pretty much everything that you see in the closet, minus a few ladybug & other adorable things I have found on my own.
Tutu found at Old Navy. I LOVE this! :
Assorted ladybug clothes found at Target and BJ's:
Ladybug dress w/ matching bloomers found at TJ Maxx:
Ladybug sandals found at target:
New dress my mom found at a Thrift store- still complete with tags:

We can't wait for our baby to come so we can play with her and dress her up and treat her like a little princess. She almost has as many clothes as me! Now Spring is coming up- which means new ladybug garments hit the shelves and I'm sure the clothing collecting wont be dwindling down anytime soon!

Yey!

15 weeks

I am amazed at how much our baby is growing, and that in one week she is 4 months old in the womb.

Every morning when I wake up, I touch my stomach to feel how much bigger it is. As of about 3 weeks ago, I could start feeling my womb by touching my stomach when laying down. I could feel it very well while standing for a little over a month now, but when you lay down, everything sinks in. Normal. Not anymore. Now in the morning, I just place my hand there softly and I can feel the baby bump. It's amazing. It's big, and it's only going to get bigger.

Jebo thinks it the most beautiful thing. He smiles so big every time he looks at my stomach. He says, "She's beautiful already." Sweet. You can see the pride in his eyes already for his baby. I love it.

I've also been collecting anything and everything ladybug that I find. Outfits, socks, shoes, bibs, blankets, washcloths etc. There are SO many ladybug things out there and it's not even Spring. I'm a happy mommy! Jebo doesn't even gripe when I come home with bags of things. He just loves all of it and says he can't wait to smell the baby.

The baby is around 4 inches long now. I feel her move sometimes. Supposedly in 2 weeks I should be able to feel her all the time. I had a dream last night that she was kicking and I felt it big time, but as far as I know it was just a dream. But- who knows. Maybe she gave me a good kick in my sleep. Was I snoring? Haha!

Speaking of DREAMS. Wow. The pregnancy dreams have kicked in big-time! I have been having the most bizarre dreams for about 2 weeks now. I even had a dream I birthed a cat, but then it turned into a human. Haha! I might even start a pregnancy dream journal because the dreams are so nutty.

Jebo and I are looking into a heart rate monitor so we can listen to the baby's heartbeat from home. We've also started thinking about our baby shower guest list, and as of right now it has 70+ people on it! It's definitely going to be a ladybug themed shower. Probably held the first or second weekend in June.

Nothing has changed with me. I feel great. Recently I've been waking up with headaches, but I think that might be a combination of my pillow and my wacky dreams. I'm OK with almost all food now. Nothing really grosses me out, but I still don't care for garlic these days. I think I have a pinched nerve in my lower back, which I need to have my chiro work on before this baby gets bigger and my back gets more strain on it.

Jebo is good. He's been weird with food lately. We ordered dinner last night from a Chinese resto we order from a lot, and Jebo didn't like it all of a sudden. Tonight he craved for spaghetti, but when I made it and he was eating he said he didn't really like it b/c the noodles were too thin. I told him he better start cooking then, because it's not my food- it's him. I swear he's the pregnant one here. He even stole my pregnancy pillow- the snoogle, and won't give it back! Indian giver!!! Haha!

That's it for now. This week I'll take a picture of my baby belly for the blog, and pictures of some of the cute baby clothes I have. Stand-by for those!

13/14 Week Sonogram

(Pause the music at the bottom of the page first, because there are 3 videos on this post)

Baby Sucking thumb:

I say 13/14 week, because the baby is almost through it's 13 week of life, and onto the 14th week. This morning I woke up at 6:50am and could not fall back asleep. I guess I was excited for the sonogram and anxious to start drinking water, since the doc told me to drink a lot since we were doing a belly and internal exam.

I finally got out of bed at 7:45 and filled my fist cup up. 60+ ounces later, we were on our way to the doctors office. Our appointment was at 9:00am, but we didn't get called back until almost 10:15am. We were 15 minutes late, but STILL! That's a long waiting time when you have an appointment! I had to empty my bladder 3 times while we were waiting. They told me to try not to ,but I don't think ANYONE in their right mind wants to get in the way of a pregnant woman who has to pee! Ha!

Once we finally got called back, I was happy to see I had the same doctor as last time. She is super cool. We started off doing the belly exam and we were shocked to see how BIG the baby is now. It actually looks like a baby, and not a blob. You can see the face profile really good now, the legs, arms and fingers. So cute!

The baby was sleeping, so Kelly (the doc) kept poking at my stomach to wake the baby up. Poor little one isn't used to being up so early, and needed rest still! Haha! When she would jab at it it baby would move a little, but it was too tired to move around too much for us.

Jebo took a few videos, and at the end of this one you can see the baby move its arm around, and scratch it's face. Sweet huh?

(Pause the music at the bottom of this page)

13 weeks- SECOND Trimester!

The baby has changed SO MUCH in the womb the last 2 weeks. It has officially doubled in size (it's now 3 inches long), and is starting to look more like a human.

They say the baby's eyes and ears are moving to the place they are supposed to be now, and baby now has fingerprints.

We have a sonogram this Friday, and the baby will almost be 14 weeks old at that point. I can't believe how fast this is going. By 18 weeks you can find out the sex of the baby, so we'll know really soon. At 20 weeks we are half-way through our pregnancy! WOW!

For Christmas Jebo got me a Snoogle & a Belly Sonic for the baby. A Snoogle is a body pillow that will come in handy when this baby gets bigger and I can't sleep on my back anymore:


A Belly Sonic is a belt you wear on your stomach that you slip an ipod in, and the speakers in the inside send music to the baby. Jebo also downloaded every possible form of baby music you can find for our baby to listen to. Daddy is already spoiling his baby. Ha! www.bellysonic.com


On another note- it IS true when they say in your second trimester you start to feel more "normal". Things that made me nauseous before, don't bother me as much anymore. I'm not peeing as much as I was in the first trimester. I've had more energy, so I've been slowly cleaning out the baby's closet, and the closet it Gab's old room, which will be a play room until we have another baby down the road.

I've also realized that I am CRAVING Mexican food a LOT. I want nachos with beans and cheese and sour cream, burritos, and anything with Mexican flavors. This makes me think about one of my best friends- Megan- because she LOVES Mexican food. I used to LOVE Italian food, but now it doesn't appeal to me. I wonder if she will not like Mexican, but crave Italian when she's pregnant. Haha! That would be funny!

You can also FEEL the baby now when I'm standing. Jebo, Jody and her sister Kayla are the only ones that have touched the baby so far. It is beginning to be quite the hard little lump. Since the baby is now the size of a peach, I suppose that's normal.

I have felt the baby move 2 times. Once when I was laying in bed pressing on my stomach, and the second time was when I was sitting at work, and the seam of my maternity pants was pushing on the womb and I could feel the butterfly flutterings. I think I may have felt it a few other times, but I wasn't paying attention.

I hope this baby moves a lot for Daddy at our 13 (almost 14) week sonogram this Friday.

I'll post the pictures and video no later then Saturday, so keep a look out!

11 weeks

I had my appointment on Dec 19th, but did not get a sonogram. Instead they used a contraption to listen to the heartbeat from my stomach, which was pretty cool.

I got tested for everything in the book, and they had to take 6 viles of blood from me, which was not as painful as I thought it would be. The last time I gave blood in was in high school, and it took 3 grown men to hold me still.

I still think my fear of needles has something to do with my mom getting my ears pierced when I was a toddler. She said it took 5 grown men to hold me down and that afterwards I wouldn't look at her or let her touch me without screaming. Needless to say, my dad had to take over a lot of my care until I was "over" it. Haha!

This time, I closed my eyes RIGHT when I sat in the chair, so I couldn't see her getting things prepped, and I couldn't see the needle. When she pricked me with the needle it actually was only a small sting. The lady said to me, "Girl, you can't handle a needle? How are you gonna have a baby?" I answered with, "Good question. I have no clue." Ha!

It was over in 1 minute, which was a lot quicker then I expected.

Afterwards, I went to billing and we called our insurance company, to find out what was covered in our plan. 100% of everything is covered, which is a HUGE blessing. They also told me to have one of the doc's at this clinic deliver the baby, I have to give birth in Alexandria. My mom wanted Fairfax, because she read it was better, but- Oh well. I'm sticking to doctors I know, and that's that.

I will be setting an appointment in about 2 weeks for more tests and at that appointment, I will definitely have a sonogram.

My next appointment after that is 2 weeks later for a mom check-up, then at 18-20 weeks Jebo and I will go back for the BIG sonogram where we find out if this baby is a boy or girl. YEY!

I can't believe in about 7 weeks we'll know if it's a boy or girl!

Amazing!

10 weeks!

I was doing some research online today and got some fun facts on the baby:

• Baby is now a little over an inch long, and the complete body plan is laid down
• External Genitalia will begin to form next week
• Baby started growing fingernails and peach fuzz hair this week
• Baby will double in size in 2 weeks- to a little over 3 inches long
• Baby no longer has a tail (I'm glad I couldn't see that in the sonogram) Haha!
• Baby can taste, and has tooth buds. Cute!
• Baby's FINGERPRINTS will be complete in 2 weeks!

Changes for Mommy in the coming weeks:

• They say my uterus is now the size of a grapefruit, and it used to be the size of a pear.
• My emotions will start kicking in and I will become overly-sensitive. I plan to fight this!
• I will start to feel unattractive. Could the ZIT on my cheek be the reason for this?
• Weight gain should begin now since the uterus and baby are growing rapidly. Um-yey!?

Yesterday my mom brought me a pair fo the most COMFORTABLE black maternity work pants in the world! Seriously- I might wear these for the rest of my life. She also brought me a few tops, which fit EVERYWHERE EXCEPT the breast area. I literally had to force the top down over my breasts, and getting the shirt off again was quite tricky. My mom, of course, found this quite comical- but I can't say I was as amused as she was. This baby must have plans to eat ALOT!

On a DADDY note- Jebo falls more in love with this baby every day. Everytime I give him a fun fact about the baby, he says " I love our baby!" When we are in bed at night winding down, he always pretends the baby is there and squeezes it, and yells
"B-A-B-Y!" Haha!
His other new favorite thing to say is, "I love YOU, and BABY!"

It's awesome that we get to go through all of this together. As most of you know, this is Jebo's first time actually watching his child grow from the very start in the womb. He was in Melbourne (getting his MBA) when Gab was "baking" in a baby oven, and Jebo was not in a committed relationship with the "baby oven" Gab was being baked in at the time, so it's a whole new experience for Jebo this time around. This is all NEW and EXCITING for both of us, which is a wonderful thing to be able to share for the first time as Husband and Wife.

I'm still trying to prepare darling Jebo for seeing his child being born. That will be a first for him too! I told him I'm going to make him watch births over and over again on youtube so he gets used to seeing them. I was actually quite shocked watching births online at first, but now I'm getting more used to watching them and it's not as hard anymore. I may have to strap him to a chair with his eyes pryed open to get him to watch it. We'll see! He'll thank me later when he's crying like a girl and holding his baby for the first time minutes after it's born!

I'll update the blog after my doc appt. on Friday! I'm trying to reschedule the time, so I might have to switch the appointment day, but we shall see...

I'll keep you posted.

Second Sonogram- 9 weeks

Today was an exciting baby day.

I had another sonogram today to determine the due date, which is still July 14th. We are officially 9 weeks pregnant. Every Tuesday we increase a week.

In the sonogram today she looked at the womb, and my ovaries. She also was able to determine the egg ovulated from the left ovary! Wild huh?

This first video is of the heart beat: (Don't forget to go to the bottom of this page and pause my play list first, or else you wont be able to hear it!)



The below video is of the baby waving. If you have a lap top- turn it upside down so you can see better. The baby was laying upside down for this sonogram. Cute!



When the doc started the sonogram the baby was dancing. Both arms, both legs and the head was moving around. Active baby! OF COURSE when I started the video, monkey got still and stopped moving. I was happy to actually get ONE good video of baby waving and squirming a bit.

You can also see the yolk sac (what nourishes the baby) as well as the small placenta (that will be big one day).

We are so excited, and it was awesome to see the baby move!

It's still crazy to think there is a living moving child inside of me, and it makes it more real to be able to see it move around.

So sweet!

First Sonogram- Yey!

Baby's head is at the top right of the blob in the black banana shaped thing (where the + sign is):

When I went to the doctor today and they said I wasn't doing blood work I was so happy! I hate needles! My mom was happy too b/c she also hates needles. So does Jebo- but I guess we'll all have to get over that sooner or later.

The doc told me we were just going to confirm the pregnancy. My response was, "Oh, so I'm going to pee on a stick again?" She said, "No, were doing a sonogram."

Mom and I were super excited, and I was glad I brought my camera b/c their printer for the sonogram machine was not working.

I got a bit violated today but I guess that's something I'll have to get used to. They had to test me for Chlamydia/Gonorrhea (a standard test for a pregnant chick), which is just like getting a pap.

For the sonogram, they stuck a small wand-type device inside of me and found the baby, AKA Fishy/Sea Monkey. (That's what we call the baby.) Baby would most resemble #20 in the display below based on the first opinion as to how far along we are- but when I look at the sonogram the shape of the head at this stage already like baby #21 below. It looks more rounded. Cute!!!

Next Tuesday, December 9th @ 10am I have a 3D Sonogram appointment at another office to determine the actual size/due date of the baby. My doc says based on her calculations Monkey will come around July 14th.

December 19th @ 3:00pm I go back for another appointment with my doc for blood work and another sonogram.

Exciting!

10 weeks already?

10 week fetus (not ours):

Tomorrow we have an appointment to confirm the pregnancy (obviously we're preggo- but this is "protocol") and see how far along we are.

Based on pregnancy calculators, with my last period having been Sept, 20th- I am 10 weeks along. Time flies when your growing a baby and have no symptoms I suppose.

Aside from my daily enlarging breasts, I really have no other symptoms. I'm burping a lot more. I do get extreme hunger pains, and sometimes the thought of food, even something I just ate makes me grossed out, but I haven't had any morning/afternoon/evening sickness, and don't plan on it either.

A few days ago I was on a pizza kick, and now the thought of Pizza doesn't appeal to me, and I felt that way yesterday, even though I had a Tomato Basil Mozzarella sandwich from Cosi that is very similar to pizza. Go figure.

I guess food overall kind of turns me off, but these hunger pains I get cannot be ignored. They are the hunger pains you would get in the morning if you skipped dinner and lunch the day prior. They are horrible. Even when you eat, they come back in an hour or so. That's why I'm eating a lot of yogurt, fruit and nuts and I'm happy I don't have a specific craving that lasts too long.

My mom said she could only eat Tuna Fish sandwiches her whole pregnancy with my brother and I. Gross!

I'll update tomorrow, but for now I'll leave you with this photo that shows the size of a 10 week fetus' feet in comparison to Man hands.

Cute huh?