I was Highlighted!

Krissi over at Stress Free Infertility has a great blog where she provides tools and information for woman struggling with infertility. Every weekend she highlights a success story. This weekend, it was me! You can check it out here! Thanks Krissi!

Tiffany

SPECIAL OFFER ONLY FOR YOU!

Everyone has been wondering where I bought my crib for such a low price. I bought it from the great people at Diapers.com. They are allowing me to extend the savings to you! Whether you're shopping for furniture, or just diapers and wipes this website is the best. If you order your diapers by 5pm, they will be on your doorstep the next day! Plus, if you spend at least $50 your order always ships free! What about furniture you ask? Well I ordered my crib on a Tuesday, and it was on my doorstep Friday morning by 10am!
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Use the coupon at the top of my blog, or the sidebar to help get you started!
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Tiffany

Love My In-Laws!

My Brother and Sister-in-law that is! I came home yesterday from the office and there was a package on the door step....a GRACO package. Santa? Was it you? No! It was our car seat sent to us all the way from DC by my hubs bro and his wife, my best friend. So sweet! My shower isn't until September but who doesn't love an early present?? The pic came out very blurry, damn blackberry. But here it is, along with Lacy.


Now, who is going to help me figure out this "latch system" that the directions keep talking about?
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Tiffany

25 weeks

25 weeks preggo (as of yesterday) and feeling bigger by the moment. I'm still so thrilled that I passed my GD test. I truly thought I was going to fail it. I'm still so happy. In other big news we ordered our crib!! We've had our eye on one we really liked for a while and have just been waiting for the right time to order it. Basically we were waiting until we won the lottery or it was marked down to free! Well, neither or those two things happened but it did get marked down yesterday to the lowest price we had ever seen it. So we jumped on it. I am pumped. It should be here in a few weeks and then hubs get's to have more fun with his tools when he get's to put it together. It is DaVinci Emily 4-in-1 crib in Ebony. If you're curious what we paid: It's original price is 399. It has been marked down for a while to 229. We found it yesterday for 199 and got it with free shipping and no tax. I thought it was a pretty good deal for a crib that will eventually turn into a bed!


Also for an update: Here's the belly!

Tiffany

Cake For Dinner!!!

My GD test came back NORMAL!! Huge sigh of relief! I'm feeling extremely lucky. Thanks for the prayers!

How It Went Down

First off...NO...I don't have results yet.



Reason?



What they don't tell you about the 3Hour GD test is that they don't just do finger pricks to where you can see your blood glucose reading instantly...THEY DO FULL BLOOD DRAWS. OUCH!



Also what they don't tell you is that it really takes 4 HOURS not 3. LIARS!


The run down: I get there promptly at 8:15am after not having eaten in 12 hours. They take the first vial of blood. (I will also mention the needle they used was HUGE. I've had lots of blood taken. I'm talking vials and vials throughout infertility and pcos and my stupid liver function testing, so I'm an old pro at giving blood. But this needle hurt!)


Then they make you wait until that blood gets sent back from the lab and you have a basal blood reading. (Which they still don't tell you what it is)



Then you drink the sludge


Wait an hour.


Have another blood draw


Wait an hour.


Have another blood draw


Wait an hour.


Have another blood draw.


Then you are released.


So today I'm left with 4 needle welts, 2 on each arm. Plus, I've also decided for women who may have GD this is the most horrible thing to put your baby through. First you starve it. Then you slam it with sugar. Then you starve it again, all while removing some of it's blood supply little by little. What idiot decided that was a good idea?


Tiffany

3 Hour GD Test

My test is today. I'm up, I'm not eating, I'm packing my SWEATSHIRT, I'm trying to get out the door early enough to stop and buy a magazine or two, then I'm off. Wish me luck.

On a brighter note I'm working on starting a new blogspot for a more "family atmosphere" journal of our lives as we become new parents. Don't worry...I will definitely continue blogging here!! This is my blog that I allow myself to express all that I'm feeling about nipples, cervical mucous, annoying/funny things family members say, and I would never let most of my family/friends know about this blog. So my other one will be more of a portal for all my family to keep in touch with our lives and our son without having to feel like I have to call them every week. (I'm not much of a phone talker.) So anyway...here was a fun collage that I made for the homepage of my new blog which is still under construction.

Isn't this fun?!?!

Tiffany

FAIL!

I hate to say I knew it....but I knew it. I knew I would fail the one hour glucose test. Still, it hurts and makes me feel bad, and feel scared, and feel like now there's just one more thing to worry about.
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The threshold to pass the test is 130 or lower. I was at 160.
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What next? The dreaded 3 hour test. The nurse explaining the test did not do a very good job of not making it sound horrible like I will be stuck in gestational diabetes prison for three hours. She must have told me at least three times to, "Bring a sweat shirt because it's freezing in there, and you can't leave, you have to stay there, you're stuck there for three hours, you'll be freezing, you'll be so hungry so bring something to eat after, you can't leave for 3 hours, you have to stay in the room, remember a sweat shirt, you will freeze." Well, thank you Nurse Bit*h.
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Protocol for this test is not eat anything after midnight and show up 15 minutes early for a basal blood reading. Then I get to drink the glucose which will now be a 100mg bottle (instead of the 50mg that is used for the one hour.) They draw your blood on the hour for 3 hours. At that point they say they will have to send the results to your doctor but if I can see what my readings are I'll pretty much now if I'm diagnosed with GD (gestational diabetes) or not.
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I know this is something that I just HAVE, and that I'm just born with. I know it's something I've had for a while because of my failure of this test in college. I know that no matter how much I exercise or eat healthy, this is me and I have PCOS and obviously I have sensitivity to glucose...it still just hurts and makes me feel like I've done something wrong.
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I don't want to give birth to a 14lb baby, and I don't want a baby who has to be insulin dependant, and I don't want to have to get all paranoid over just having a glass of fruit juice either. It just sucks. My test is on Friday so I'll have more then...
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On a lighter note today is 24 weeks!! Wow! What a milestone. Technically most Ob's would say that 24 weeks is the first stages of viability. Wow. It is amazing to know that God forbid anything were to happen, and I'd have to have this baby early, there is at least a chance that he could live outside my body from now on. That is pretty incredible.
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Tiffany

Glucose Test

Happy Tuesday! This might be a two post kinda day for me. We'll see how things go.
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It's now about 6:45am (eastern standard time, so my newsman is telling me) and I am up and preparing myself for my Glucose Tolerance Test which will be used to detect beginning stages of gestational diabetes.
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I.AM.SCARED.
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My Concerns: First off, having PCOS puts me at a higher risk of developing diabetes. There is a huge link between the two and Dr.'s aren't sure if it's PCOS that causes diabetes, or diabetes that causes PCOS, but nonetheless there is a link. Secondly, I have done this one hour test before (which is the test I'm doing today) and failed. I was an exercises physiology major in college. In one of my ex phys labs, or human phys labs, or biology lab, or....well in one of my classes, we performed this test on ourselves. Obviously back in the day I was in the prime shape of my life. I would have never thought I would have failed a simple one hour glucose test. But sure enough at the end of the class when we were all testing our glucose levels in our blood, mine was still too high. That meant my pancreas was slow acting to release insulin to get my glucose levels back down to normal. That also meant that I had to stay after class for an hour or so until my prof felt comfortable letting me go home which is a whole other annoying story in itself. Anyway, little did I know that that test right there was probably a HUGE foreshadowing event into my future of having PCOS. But I was on the pill then and never would have known.
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So anyway my test is today. We will see. The format goes: Drink the orange glucose drink 30 minutes before my scheduled appointment. Tell the nurse right when I get there exactly what time I finished the drink. Then they will take my blood exactly an hour past the time I finished the drink.
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If my number is higher than normal I will then have to go forward with the 3 hour glucose test, which is long, annoying, and just plain sucks.
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My biggest fear is that I will develop gestational diabetes. I've been researching it and there just seems like so many unpleasant things that go along with it. I'm not even talking about unpleasant for me...I could care less...but for the baby. Some side effects are extra large babies (because they are receiving higher than normal amounts of sugar in the blood.) Babies that go into shock directly after being born because they have been use to living in a high glucose environment and as soon as they get detached from the mother their body goes into like a glucose shock. Worse yet, giving birth to an insulin dependant baby.
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Uhg, hopefully these are all fears unnecessary to have. Wish me luck.
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Tiffany

Nursery Face-Lift!

Yay, it's done!! Plus my husband is a stud. There's something about watching your man build something with power tools.
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Here is our small nursery reno, or face-lift as I like to call it. I mentioned a few weeks back that we were starting on it. We decided to keep the original color of the room, but add a chair rail and wainscoting. The color is a sage green. To me it was the perfect green color because it wasn't a blue-green, which is hard to match. It's not a yellow-green which can look too much like a lime color. It's the perfect gray-green which is a warm color and easy to go with everything. The wainscoting is actually a faux wainscoting or what they call wall frames. It gives the same illusion of wainscoting but much easier to do.
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So here is from start to finish. You can see we originally had a twin bed in this room and nothing else.


The beginning primer. I did that!

Chair rail up. Lacy trying to help. She did get some white paint on her "whip" oh I mean tail.

Please excuse me in my pj's. A.k.a hubs tee and shorts.

Frames are up!

Finished product!

Now....who wants to help me furnish it??

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Tiffany

Awareness

I would like to bring awareness to a topic that many do not know much about unless you've dealt with it first hand.
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Food Allergies
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I have a dear friend who was two sweet little boys and they both have life threatening food allergies. She has started a blog to provide insight on what it is like to be the mother of children with food allergies. If you would like to follow her story go here.
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Or copy and paste: http://foodallergymother.blogspot.com/ Living With Food Allergies: A Mother's Perspective
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Tiffany

My Theory: Get As Big As You Want

I've been thinking, and I have a completely new perspective on pregnancy weight. I have invented my own THEORY!
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For your first pregnancy: GET AS BIG AS YOU WANT!
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Justifications: Ok so why have I been thinking about this? Well most likely it is because I used to workout everyday, pretty hard core. It was my job. Also I, for many years, had been very disciplined on what I hate...very disciplined. Well....as soon as I found out I was pregnant all of that went out the window. It started first with the exercise, which I cut way back on during our time of ttc, and then went the food. First it was just because of the cravings to help me get through morning sickness, then the excuse was it was "just because" I wanted it.
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So I have came to a theory. (Or some people might call it me just trying to justify myself...who cares)
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If it's your first pregnancy : Get as big as you want!! Reasons: You're hubby really has no idea what to expect his wife will look like 9 months pregnant. Therefore live it up, and maybe gain more than your doctor would like you too...who cares...your hubby won't know if it's too much or not right? Plus he's still going to be in awe that he's finally becoming a dad, and with the overwhelming emotions he will have seeing his baby grow in your belly, he won't notice the extra 20lbs on your thighs right?
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Ok, ok,....I can tell you've not bought into this theory yet....here's the kicker and why it really works. At that point it will obviously be the biggest he's ever seen you. So then if/when your blessed to become pregnant again with your second child, you don't gain nearly as much weight. Then he is absolutely amazed with you and says "honey, you've never looked this good pregnant ever! You look like you haven't gained a thing!" Get it? You set yourself up to never look that big again in your hubby's eyes, so you can never go wrong. haha. Brilliant plan right?
To me the reverse factor would be the worst. Not gaining a lot with your first pregnancy, and then going balls to the wall on your next. See then, your hubby already has this cute small little vision of what you should look like pregnant, and if you bust through that, he will notice.
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So, have fun. Eat whole chickens that you can convienently find near the self check out of any grocery store, and boxes of mac n' cheese. Splurge on that pint of ice cream. If it's your first, you deserve it!
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I know this post probably sounds so vein but it's really meant to be funny. I mean who even sits around and thinks of how to trick your hubby into not thinking about how much pregnancy weight you've gained?? Well, I do.
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Tiffany

Per Your Request: Registry

After last weeks post I had quit a few requests for me to share my registry items I had chosen. I would love to! But before I start, there's just one

Disclaimer: Obviously, I have not yet first hand tested any of these items with baby. Therefore all of these opinions of that of my dear mommy friends, and those of my own brain making decisions off reviews. So you may have your own completely different train of thought about these items, and that is perfectly ok with me!



First off I have to admit how lucky I am. I have a cousin who had a baby boy last year and has provided me with so many hand-me-downs that I'm not having to register for. These items include 1) A Bumpo Seat (I hear it is a must) 2) A Boppy (I hear it is not that necessary. You can just use a pillow. If you are looking for a great nursing pillow I recommend the Brest Friend, although it's expensive.) 3) A Floor Play Mat 4) An Infant Travel Bed that folds up to look like a brief case. Very cool if you will be traveling 5)A Baby Bath (look for the kind that have more than one function: there is one that starts out as an infant bath, then to a bath tub you put in your regular bath tub, and the base then flips over to a step stool, or a seat for you to sit on when your washing your kid in the regular tub. 6) A bottle warmer



Items carefully chosen:



Car Seat: Graco Snug Ride. This style of car seat is extremely safe and also is adaptable to sooooo many other things. I will get to those in a minute. Originally my hubs and I were going to go with the Graco Up To 35lbs car seat until we realized 3 things 1)Unless your infant has a thyroid problem they will not reach 35lbs until they are ready for a regular booster seat. 2) It is more expensive and 3) It does not adapt to anything else.



Stroller: BOB Revolution Stroller. THIS STROLLER IS AMAZING. Originally we had registered for the whole Graco travel system with stroller and all. Thankfully my sister in law introduced me to the BOB. It is perfect for any mom who eventually wants to have a jogging/running stroller, yet it is still adaptable to an infant car seat when you buy the extra BOB Trailer Infant Car Seat Adapter for an extra 60 bucks. Now yes, the BOB is expensive but in the long run you are saving yourself from ever having to buy an exercise stroller. The wheels are bigger and smoother and they last longer than the travel system. It is so light weight and easy to fold and put in your car. My girlfriend has one and when I visited her a few weeks ago she let me play around with it. It is amazing. It has this shock system on it which makes you feel like your kid is riding on the most comfortable bike ever. It also has other adaptable features you can buy to turn it into a two kid stroller. Best yet...IT IS COMPATIBLE WITH THE GRACO SNUG RIDE CAR SEAT!



Umbrella Stroller: You always need that smaller, more compact stroller for quick trips to the mall or when you are at a very crowded event like a festival. After reading tons of reviews I picked the Chicco Capri Stroller. It is very reasonably priced and all the reviews stated they have used it from as early as 4months to as late as 4 years old and it has held up great. Other ones that were smaller had reviews that their kid grew out of it too early, or it broke.



Sleeping: Summer Infant SwaddleMe Microflece. I know there are debates on whether or not to swaddle your infant anymore but I hear it is a must to keep your baby sleeping longer, and more comfortable. Without the swaddleme your baby will flinch and things during it's sleep and hit itself in the head and wake up. You can always swaddle with a regular blanket but I've seen these things in action and with a couple of velcros your baby is swaddled in no time. Also I went with the fleece just because my baby will be an infant in winter so I thought it would be warmer. I know there are cottons ones out there that are great too.



Diaper Rash: Boudrauex's Butt Paste. I have no idea, just heard it works like a charm and is a must have.



High Chair: Now I went back and forth on this one a few times. My decision was between the Graco High Chair or the Fisher-Price Space Saver High Chair. I went with the Fisher-Price Space Saver High Chair. My reasons: 1) It was about 80 dollars cheaper 2) I saw it being used first hand at my friends, it can sit anywhere and tilt back for an infant feeder, 3) Can be strapped to your regular dining chair for a toddler and 4) It can be used as a booster seat. Plus 5) my kitchen table is a pub style table and is taller than a regular high chair. I didn't want to feel like I was feeding down toward my kid. Now I can just strap this seat to our tall pub chairs and he can be our height and lastly 6) When company is coming over you can easily unstrap it and put in in a closet. I LOVE THAT because I hate having things just sit out. You can't do that with a regular high chair.



Baby Carrier: Originally I though for sure I would get the Baby Bjorn just because of the name brand. I mean, you have to have the Bjorn right? Well, no, I decided against it. When I started doing my research I found that first off the Bjorn was way more expensive than any other brand. So I started looking for a similar style baby carrier that most importantly had the cris-cross straps in the back which gives you the ability to easily slide it on over your head with only one hand! That's huge if you're holding your baby in the other hand. I decided on the Jeep 2-in-1 Baby Carrier. Reasons I love this 1) IT HAS A ZIPPER POUCH for passi's and such. The Bjorn has no pockets. 2) It's less expensive 3)still has the cris-cross strap design for easy wearing. 4) plus it got all great reviews from both moms and dads.



Trash can: I'm going with the Diaper Champ. Main reason, I hear it works great, plus it takes regular size bags. You don't have to spend extra money on special refills like you have to with other brands.



Feeding: Ok this one is huge! Obviously I really have no idea what I'm talking about yet but I've gotten so much great advice. First off I'm going with the Medela Pump In Style Advanced Breast Pump. I hear the best thing for this is to go ahead and buy yourself an extra set of parts just in case you don't get to cleaning it right away. Also buy a few extra storage bags but not many is necessary if your going to be home with your baby. Plus, your breast milk changes as the baby changes. I.e. some weeks it might have more carbohydrates in it, and the next few weeks it might have more protein in it depending on what the baby needs. Therefore, it's not that healthy to store your milk for too long and give your baby month old milk. Also, if you're planning on being home with your baby in the first few months you really don't need many small bottles, because at that point they will be eating right from the boob. Stock up on 8oz and 9oz bottles as that is what you'll be using most. Also, don't stock up on too many bottles just because you don't know your baby yet. For example, you don't want to have 10 medela bottles only to find out your baby will only eat from a BornFree bottle or an Avent bottle or something. Same goes for passi's, don't get a whole lot until you know which nipple your baby likes best.



Cleaning: Medela Quick-Clean Micro Steam Bags. A must. A few minutes in the microwave and your boob pump is ready to go. Just don't over heat, they do melt. Plus any type of bottle brush and drying rack will do the trick.



Swing: Again I went with the Graco swing but I hear the swings that go side to side as well as front to back are awesome. Then, I also hear that some babies just never like the swing. Up to you.



Seat: Many moms like to get a bouncer seat to put their baby in. I think those are fine. I however chose the Fisher-Price My Little Lamb Infant Seat because it is sturdy enough to put on any surface and know your baby will be safe. I saw it in action at my sister in law's. Up on the table, on the bed, it works. Plus it's soft, vibrates, and plays music.



Pack n play: Graco Pack n Play with Newborn Napper: Honestly, I don't think I will be using the napper that much on this pack and play but I love it because it also comes with a changer station which is so convenient. I'm planning on having my baby sleep in this pack n play for the first few weeks in our bedroom. Having the changer right there will be so convenient at night!



Sippy Cup: Finally, what you've all been waiting for right? I'm going to go with the Tommee Tippee Closer To Nature Weaning Cup. All the reviews say it really is leak proof and the mouth piece is soft like a nipple so they don't choke on too much liquid coming out. Plus, I love this one because it has two handles on it which I think will be better for a baby to hold on to a handle than having to put both hands around a plain cup.
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All the rest is fluff!!!!! The towels, the teethers, hangers, clothes, wipes, EXTRA SHEETS, blah blah blah. You know the essentials! Hope this helps!

What the Heck?

Umm...what the heck?
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1) I have registered. It took weeks to complete just because I asked all my mommy friends their opinions and took any feedback they would give me. I was also obsessed with reading all the item reviews online....needless to say I was on the babies.r.us site for hours. So obviously, everything on my list was carefully chosen, and I really want/need it. The problem...there is this damn sippy cup that I put on my registry. I know, I know...Bradley won't need a sippy cup for a long time to come but it seemed to be one of the best weaning cups out there to go between a bottle and a regular sippy. So anyway, I registered for the blue one. Well there must be a glitch in the system or something because every morning I go back online to my registry and it switches itself to the PINK one. What? So I take the pink one off and put the blue one back up. Next day, PINK!! What the heck? It's so annoying and it's getting me so frustrated.....why do I even need to keep it on there? Why do I even care? It's like a $5 item so why don't I just go and buy the blue one for myself?? I DON'T KNOW BUT IT'S GETTING TO BE AN ANNOYING GAME THAT I'M PLAYING WITH THE COMPUTER...LIKE "SEE, YOU CAN'T BREAK ME". lol, It's ridiculous. I finally gave in and just took it off my registry for good. I broke.
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2) This morning my loving hubs gave me a big hug when I woke up and came downstairs. How sweet right? Well he hugged me kind of high, around my shoulder blades. First thing out of his mouth, "Wow, you feel skinny up here!" hahaha WHAT?? WHAT THE HECK!! lol, I know in the boy world that was a sweet compliment. To me, it meant, "well you feel fat when I try to hug you around your stomach." Gotta laugh. "Well good morning to you too, and I'm glad I'm not carrying baby weight around my shoulders!"
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Have a great weekend!
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Tiffany

Small Update

I really don't have much news but I feel like my blog needed an update of the latest and greatest.
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Over the July 4th weekend we had a huge family get together. Cookout, swimming, the works. Baby Bradley was kicking so strong that Grandma (my mom) felt him for the first time! He also kicked again for my 9 year old cousin Steph who is very excited that we're having a boy. According to her, "Girls are boring!" lol.
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I have been much more moody. Believe me, If I can tell I'm being more moody, then I'm DEFINITELY being more moody. I don't know if it's the heat or the hormones or the sleep, but I've found myself being more cranky. I have noticed that I've been creeping back into the "tired" phase and needing to take a nap every day. I'm 22.5 weeks so I don't know if there is some major growth thing going on, or if I'm tired just because. I did find myself trying to take a nap over the weekend and I couldn't get to sleep because the baby kept kicking and kicking. So of course I had to yell at hubs (jokingly) but in the most whiny voice you imagine, "Bradley won't stop kicking me!" He smiled and came over and put his head by my belly and said, "Now Bradley, we do not kick our family members." It was cute.
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At another 4th get together at our friends house, we experienced a parenting joy first hand. Our friends 2 year old daughter who is in the middle of potty training had a blow out...major blow out. She was playing on the swing set, and poor thing I think she just didn't want to leave the fun to go use the potty. So there she was, laying face down in the grass because her back side was unbelievable full and dripping. Her friend, a fellow 3 year old was trying to drag her to the house by her arm yelling, "Her can't walk!" We thought she had passed out from dehydration. Once we figured the whole situation out, we couldn't stop laughing. The poor kid needed a head to toe bath at that point.
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In other updates Hubs is starting on the chair rail/wainscoting in the nursery so I should have before and after pics in a few weeks.
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That's all for now!
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Tiffany

WARNING! Lot's of Baby stuff and my first Belly Picture

I am currently at 21.5weeks and apparently all you have to do is bi*ch and complain about not feeling your baby kick to get things moving. It's true! It wasn't but a few days after my post about not feeling much movement that Bradley started kicking all the time! Plus, he's even kicking strong enough that Daddy can feel it! It's so amazing!
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So I thought I'd post some of my favorite (ok, ONLY) baby stuff I have. Also, I figured it's time to let my belly hang out in all it's glory for my bloggy friends to see.
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Here is a pic of the Father's Day gift I got hubs and it's laying on our nursery bedding.

Here's a close up of the bib that actually matches the bedding.

My saving grace with buying boy clothes is the doggy theme. I love it. Here's a newborn set we're thinking of bringing Bradley home from the hospital in.

Who doesn't love mommy?

Woof! I love a zip up hoody!

Dino-mite!

Baby's first velour!!!

This one also has a tiger on it's butt!

Bradley's first play set. $7 bucks at a garage sale. Kilo is investigating.

Graco pack 'n play with napper and changer. Why is this my favorite? Because it's the first thing we've received off our registry. Wahoo!

There she is in all her glory.

Just in case you wanted a front view.

Tiffany