The Big Reveal

So today was the day! I told my students that I'm having a baby.
I first started by asking them to predict what my surprise is- I got a bunch of responses that it would be about my cat (or a car or a puppy) and none of them said baby! The aid that works in my room came by to see their reaction, so she graphed their predictions.

Of course she didn't  write "It's a baby!!!" until after I read that part in my book. But the kids still yelled "I knew it!" and I showed them that- no, they didn't, they thought my surprise was my cat.
Anyway, they were really excited and asked a bunch of questions like I thought they would. There was no questions of "how do you get pregnant" or how do you have a baby" which I was very thankful for. But they did talk about how it would come out, and that it hurts, and having to go to the hospital.
One of my boys kept saying "I'm glad I'm not a girl"
Then that asked how i knew it would be born in April, and if it was a boy or a girl. So I explained that it takes 40 weeks for the baby to grow and the baby has been growing for 25 weeks already. Then we charted if we think the baby will be a boy or a girl.

Apparently baby Stybs is a boy because it kicks me- as one girl said "when my mom had me I didn't move, but with my little brother he moved and kicked a lot"

But the funniest comment by far was when they talked about the heartbeat. I said that the doctor had a machine that could let us hear the heartbeat, and they started asking about what would happen if the heart beats so fast... and then the baby comes out running... and then what if it comes out so fast it starts flying around the room like Superman...
I couldn't tell if the kids was serious or joking, but when he drew the picture I burst out laughing.

The best part of the day was at dismissal and all the girls were saying by to the baby and rubbing my belly, then as one girl left she yelled back to me "Take care of the baby!"

I love these kids. They are so funny sometimes.

22 Weeks

It feels like forever since I've posted. I can't believe I'm over half way through this pregnancy! I've been going to the Dr every 4 weeks. And was just told that after next month I'll start going every3 or 2 weeks. Because I'll be in the Third Trimester! What?! I feel like this whole pregnancy I've been trying to keep it secret and it has taken forever. Now that I'm half way, it's like hyper speed. I'm excited to have my baby, but it seems to be getting close to the due date at a much more rapid speed.

Baby Stybs is the size of a papaya

This month's updates:

Cravings: still hooked on salty and fried foods.
Aversions: no coffee still, but seems like I can manage everything else!
Weight: +14 overall. Holy Cow where did that come from?!
Morning Sickness: all good, just fighting a cold
Energy: same-old-same-old

(ugh, horrible pic- i was using the self timer since adam's not here)

Yup- that's a bump! It poked it's way out before Thanksgiving and I feel like there are days when I wake up and go 'Whoa! It grew overnight!' I want to wait until Christmas to tell my students, but I don't know if I can keep it a secret 3 more weeks.

Hand-Me-Downs

I love them! I am so thankful for a sister who is finished having children and is willing to pass on almost all of their baby items.

While we will be getting her crib, that will have to wait until my nephew is a little older. We will probably get it around the time baby Stybs is born, or soon after. Which is fine for me since baby will probably be in the pack-n-play for a while anyway.
We will be getting her glider soon. It is currently at her in-law's house right around the corner, so we are just waiting for a day when they are available to get it to us.

What we have received so far is a TON of blankets/swaddlers/towels/bibs; a baby bath; breast pump; doorway jumper; playmat; and a small and large boppy.

Everything is in the closet of the nursery for now. We haven't moved out the bed or large dresser yet, but we are still trying to keep Grover out as much as possible.

He can't figure out why the door is shut. He crouches and peeks under the door and pounces on the corner trying to get in. Poor little guy. maybe he'll give up on the nursery and go back into the office once the bed is moved in there.

While we still have some furniture re-arranging to do, it's nice to know that so much is taken care of already. My hope for the nursery was to have white furniture- to contrast with the grey walls and go with the dresser we already have. But how can I turn down free (expensive) furniture. It is dark wood stain, and I am a little hesitant about how it is going to work, but I think it'll be fine. And the baby isn't going to care either way.

Here's what we're working with so far:

It'll all come together in the end. And I can't say enough how thankful I am to my sister for passing down everything. It is so helpful.

18 Weeks

Baby Stybs has been on the move! For the past 2 weeks I have felt little flutters that have become increasingly frequent and stronger. It is so exciting to actually feel the baby move and know that things are going well in there.

Friday's doctor's visit was the one I have been looking forward to for the past 2 months. I finally got another ultrasound. We aren't planning to find out the sex of baby Stybs and funny enough, baby didn't show the goods.

I have to go back in about 2 weeks for another ultrasound (to get a better view of the heart and face). I'm excited because I get to see baby again!

This month's updates:

Cravings: Salt. I have re-discovered Triscuits and man are they salty and good!
Aversions: Still no coffee or ice cream for me (But I did cave to a decaf peppermint mocha- didn't taste like coffee at all, this is a good sign that I will one day like coffee again).  I'm better with veggies, but NO tomatoes (or sauce or soups). I have had salads a couple times and have felt no side effects, but there is so much acid in tomatoes that I get severe pain in my upper stomach- some would call this heartburn.
Weight: +2 lbs (+4 overall) The weight is creeping up and my pants do not button anymore.
Morning Sickness: still good :) and no heartburn (I haven't needed Tums since I stopped eating tomatoes)
Energy: Has been good, but I think I've caught a cold from my students so I've fallen asleep before 8 the past couple nights.

The bump is officially here. I can no longer button the pants that used to fit, and pants that were too big fit nicely around my belly. I wonder how long it will be until my students start to notice?

Nursery Art Finds a Home

Remember the prints I framed for the nursery?

I finally hung them in baby Stybs' room.

I actually don't mind that they are all looking in the same direction now that they are up on the wall.

I'm excited that I'm actually making progress on the nursery!

This One Too?

Yet another curtain has fallen down because the screws came out of the wall.

I am blaming this one on Grover. He loves this room and if those little scratches under the window tell me anything it's that he tries to get up into the window to stare/ chirp at birds and squirrels.

Well I needed to shorten those curtains anyway (floor length curtains and baby that will eventually crawl and inevitably grab those curtains is not safe). So after fixing the rod (by trying 2 sets of longer screws, anchors, and finally moving the bracket about a 1/2 inch to the right) I started working on hemming the curtains. I don't have a sewing machine, and I'm not that great at sewing anyway, so I got out the hemming tape that has been sitting in my closet for a while.

But before the hemming process started, I flipped the curtains upside-down, so they will no longer be tab-top curtains. I just opened up the seams from the hem at the bottom to create the new pocket for the rod to slide into.

I don't have a seam ripper in my little sewing kit, but an exacto-knife works well too!

Once they were hanging the correct way, I pinned where I wanted the bottom of the curtain to be.

Making sure they were even, I took the first set down. I followed the directions on the package for the hemming tape, and it's really easy to use. As long as you make sure you hem the correct side.
I forgot to check which part of the curtain I was cutting off, and of course, cut the wrong side! Ugh. One curtain ruined. Luckily one of the windows is narrow so it's not a huge deal, but I felt like an idiot!

On the correct panels, I started by ironing the bottom to get a good crease in the fabric. Then I cut about 3 inches from crease, folded that to make a hem, and ironed again. Once the fabric had nice crease lines, I knew where to put the hemming tape and just ironed away.

much safer for baby stybs

Again, it's very easy to use, as long as you are hemming the right side of the fabric!

I Finally Did It!

As we all know, Pinterest is highly addictive. I have been eying-up this mobile for a while, it was one of the first pins I made.

originally from here

And of course the millions of  pictures with how-to's that followed made me believe I could make one too.

originally from here

originally from here

But it was definitely this last picture that made me want SO BAD to make one for baby Stybs.

also originally from here

Not the normal circles! So cute! I have to keep it gender neutral (b/c we won't be finding out the sex of babyS) so those cute butterflies were out. But stars, now that could definitely work. So after many busy weekends where I never made it to the store to buy materials I finally did it.

I decided to use scrapbook paper instead of the paint chips that most of the tutorials used. While the paint chips are free, they are only one sided and I knew that you would see both sides of the stars once they were hanging. Card stock is heavy weight like paint chips, but it has color on both sides of the paper.

I picked up 4 sheets of solid colors, along with a cute little duck print paper that coordinated. I got a wooden embroidery hoop (to use the inside ring) and a star punch for under $20 total (gotta love bonus coupons!). I already had string, double sided tape, and ribbon at home.

It's hard to tell, but the solid colors have a sheen to them, so they reflect a lot of light

I began by punching out hundreds of stars. I don't actually know how many I punched, and I didn't use them all, but it felt like 100.

Then I needed to decide on the way the colors would hang. I could have gone with a random look like the star mobile above, but I really liked the gradation from that original mobile I pinned so I played around with how it could look.

When I finally settled on the pattern I got to taping the stars onto the string. I was happy with it.
until I held it up and saw that it twisted around and you could see the tape. How could I forget that you would see tape? So I pulled out the double sided tape and got to sticking the same colors on the back of each star.

Now when it hangs it can twist all it wants and still looks cute.

To shorten up the process that took me 2 hrs, I'll just jump to the after picture:

I love the way it reflects light. It almost sparkles!

I painted the hoop white, made 6 strings of the original pattern, and 4 more without ducks for the inside. I tied the ribbon onto 4 points and it's now ready for the nursery!

I'm so happy I finally made this mobile, now to tackle some more pinned ideas.

Free & Easy Art for the Nursery

It's been hard on me trying to think about what kind of artwork I will make for baby stybs. Since we won't be finding out the sex, I can't paint its name or even initial. I don't want to make anything too girly or masculine either. So while I contemplate what to make I put something together that should totally work for baby.

I started with three frames I had in the basement guestroom (which isn't used much, so they won't be missed).

And I selected some art from the book "Creature", which Adam was given a while back. It was just collecting dust under our coffee table, and I got the OK from Adam to cut out some of the pictures.

The book is filled with amazing photographs of various animals (and bugs- eww). Not all of them would be appropriate for a nursery:

Heelllloooooo Mr. Monkey!

And not all of the pictures were the right size for the frames:

cute tiger cub was just too big :(

But I selected three that all work together: zebra, lion, and giraffe.

I'm not too happy that the animals are all facing the same way. It's like they're in a Beyonce video (to the left, to the left...) but Adam thinks it'll be ok. Once we get them hung on the wall, with other art/ accessories in the room, I'm sure it won't bother me anymore.

Out of First-Tri

I'm posting my drafts that document my pregnancy so far. See part 1, Part 2 , Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

Friday October 7

Hello Second Trimester! I can't believe it's here. And baby Stybs is the size of a lemon! That's a long way from the poppy seeds when we first found out! I went in for a brief check-up today and was very disappointed to not get another sonogram, but I did hear the heartbeat and everything is looking/sounding good! And I will get to see the little one at my next appointment in a month.
Now that I'm in the 'safe zone' to tell people, I'm actually nervous about making it public.  It's ridiculous, I know, because the people close to us know already. But I'm still feeling a little weird about sharing it publicly.

Baby Stybs' Current Size: Lemon

And now for some updates:
Cravings: None really. The root beer cravings have eased and I only have about 1 a week.
Aversions: Still no coffee or ice cream for me.  I also can't stand the thought of ooey-gooey cheese smothered on anything. *gag* And, weirdly, vegetables. I know I need to eat healthfully but I just don't want veggies and dip or salad or a side of broccoli- plus it upsets my stomach and I burp them all back up.
Weight: +2 lbs. Most clothes still fit

Morning Sickness: still good :) though I've been using Tums to ease the extra acid building up in my stomach after I eat
Energy: Up a bit. I'm still tired in the morning, but as soon  as I get moving I don't lose much energy. I've thought about trying to start working out again, but haven't tried yet.

The baby bump is finally beginning to show- if ever so slightly.
Insert picture that should have been taken last week.  Adam was out of town then we have been so busy I still haven't takes the week 14 picture. Maybe I'll get one next week...

And this concludes the previously written posts. From here on out, monthly updates will be shared as they occur. This should give me some time to blog about non-pregnancy things. Oh, who am I kidding? I'll probably only post pregnancy and baby related posts... Here's hoping I have some sort of balance in my life.

Awkward...

I'm posting my drafts that document my pregnancy so far. See part 1, Part 2 , Part 3, and Part 4.

***

Friday September 9

Today was my first OB appointment. I was really looking forward to this appointment because the receptionist said to bring Adam and it would be the longest appointment. I was hoping to get another sonogram, but sadly it was basically just a physical. Bummer. Double bummer for Adam who sat through the exam and got to watch the doctor who delivered me 26 years ago 'grope me'. But the doctor says everything is looking good so that's all that matters.

Baby Stybs' current size: Prune

As for the body changes:
Cravings: Root beer. I never really liked it before (i would drink birch beer every now and then) but now I can't get enough. It's just so good!
Aversions: Coffee- walking into Starbucks makes me want to gag. Ice cream- Why, oh why, do I not want to eat ice cream? I thought I would get a 9 month pass to eat as much Ben&Jerry's as I wanted!
Weight: Considering the bloated belly I currently have I was surprised to see no change.
Morning Sickness: None. Thank God! I have learned to not have liquids first thing in the morning (b/c they will just come right back up) but I've been feeling good.
Energy: Soooo tired. Beyond my normal tired level. All I want to do is sleep.

And now for the (still invisible when clothed) bump:

(Not) Keeping it a Secret

I'm posting my drafts that document my pregnancy so far. See part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here.

***

Friday August 19

We told our parents last Friday. Adam called his mom on the way home from work, and we told my parents after dinner. Everyone is so excited. And while we were going to keep it just between us for now Adam's mom told one of her friends and my mom told a coworker because they are both so happy and excited. Adam and I talked tonight about when to tell other family members and close friends. I thought that since we had our next appointment a week from Tuesday (which I think I need to reschedule because it is the second day of school- oops) that I would be 9 weeks (or 10 if I reschedule for the following week) and that's not too far off from the end of the first trimester (when he wanted to tell people). Then we got into a discussion of 'why wait?' and 'it would be easier at work' and 'all different reasons for telling or not telling' etc...

We decided to go for it and tell family and close friends. The first call I made was to my sister. I asked her about the jewelry party coming up, then told her she could bring the glider down if she wanted (she had offered it a few weeks ago). All she said was "I don't think we're bringing the truck" and was completely oblivious to why I was asking her for it. I even said "you're not going to ask me why I'm asking about it?" Then she got it. She said she had a feeling but didn't want to text me or bother me. Which is funny because she texted me the day after I found out saying she had a dream I was pregnant with twins! So she is excited. And we plan on telling the rest of the family at my Grandmother's birthday party next Saturday. I'll also start telling friends this weekend and at school on Monday.

Baby Stybs' current size: Blueberry

There's Something in There

I'm posting my drafts that document my pregnancy so far. See part 1 here, and Part 2 here.

***

Thursday August 11

Today was my first ultrasound. I figured it would be transvaginal (sorry if TMI) so Adam decided to spare himself and not come. Well my experience was not what I expected. Why ask you to come 15 minutes early for your appointment (that was moved up to 1:50 from 3:40) and then make you wait an additional 20 minutes? And after waiting I was seen by the technician, who was not personable at all. She didn't explain what was going on, shoved the camera on up, click click click, still no explanation. All I saw on the screen was a black blob. I was kind of worried until she clicked on the sound and I could hear the heartbeat. If only for 30 seconds, it was completely worth it. Now it feels real. There is a little baby growing inside me.

Baby Stybs- 6 weeks, 1 day

Now we have to decide when to tell our parents. We are having dinner with my parents tomorrow, so I want to tell them. But Adam wants to tell the parents together, though he doesn't know when we can get together with his parents. I really want to start telling family/close friends because I just can't keep it in! We are going to talk more about it tomorrow. I hope Adam agrees that we can tell.

Baby Stybs' current size: Sweet Pea

Blogging Rewind

I'm posting my drafts that document my pregnancy so far. See part 1 here.

***

Tuesday August 2

I had my first Doctor's appointment today. I was surprised I got one so early/so soon. I heard about people having to wait until week 8, and I'm only in week 5. But I guess it was just to confirm the pregnancy, since I didn't go to my general doctor's office to get a confirmation. What surprised me even more was after I met with the doctor and she told me everything was looking normal as far as timing and symptoms and that I could come in next week for a sonogram of the heart beat! WHAT?! This is way sooner than I thought it would be. Adam was even surprised when I told him I scheduled the appointment (the last one in the day) for next Thursday.

Baby Stybs' current size: Poppyseed!

On a side note, I have put my weight loss on hold. I changed my goal from losing weight to maintaining it and I feel like I have an enormous amount of calories to eat now! I'm trying to eat as healthfully as possible, and know I will feel the sting when I start gaining weight, but it's all for the baby! I'm hoping to track my belly growth like this (which I found via pinterest).

(click to enlarge)

I'm hoping to wear the same dress in each picture, but may not take one every week. Most likely it will be once a month.