BabySteals

My addiction to all things The Bump has introduced me to a wonderful world of moms-to-be, and some amazing resources. I swear, these ladies know everything! I've picked up so many little tips and tricks throughout my time on this site, I don't know how I ever survived without lol

Given that we're currently preparing for little Owen's arrival, one of my current favorite things about chatting with these ladies is getting the inside scoop on baby gear (reviews, safety ratings, deals, etc.). They've done all the research and so all I have to do is decide what gear we actually need/want!

One piece of equipment we've known all along that we will want, is some type of baby carrier. Of course we'll have our stroller, but sometimes a carrier is just more practical (crowded places, rough terrain, travel, etc.). And so we began looking into our options. One of the most highly recommend carriers is the Ergobaby, so I've have my eye on them for months now. It's also been sitting on our baby registry for a whopping $115 - although I am sure it would make a nice joint gift from a few people, I wasn't holding my breath that anyone would actually buy it for us.

Well today, I got an amazing little tip that these beauties were being featured on a website called BabySteals for half off!!! I was warned that they go quickly, so I rushed over to snag ours and got it!!! Woot woot!!!

After shipping, I paid only $70 for this great deal! After what would have been the tax on an in-store purchase, we ended up saving something like $55!!! More than well worth it, I'd say :o)

We do still need the infant insert for it (must be used with children until 4-5 months old), which remains on our registry but is only $25 and so the odds of someone actually purchasing that for us are much greater.

20 Weeks: Half Baked!

Wow - I cannot believe that we are halfway through the pregnancy already!

Where does the time go?!

But we are so excited to have reached this milestone, and continue to pray for an uneventful 20 more weeks!

Can't wait to meet you little man!

19w5d

How far along: 19w5d

This weeks' weight gain/loss: +1lbs

Total weight gain/loss: -10lbs

Symptoms: Lots and lots of lower back pain this week - I was actually told to sit down during Easter dinner clean up last night, because everyone could tell I was struggling. Hip and knee pain are also becoming more and more prominent at night, even with my full body maternity pillow.

Maternity clothes: All maternity pants and some shirts when I want to change up the wardrobe, but my regular shirts still fit for the most part and I still utilize them most of the time.

Stretch marks: yes :o( around the hips, lower abdomen and thighs *sigh*

Best moment this week: Feeling lots and lots of movement!!!

Movement: I can feel him pretty much everyday now :o)

Food cravings: My appetite has actually gone back down the tubes again this week - nothing sounds good and the nausea has actually rearing it's nasty head again :o(

Gender: it's a BOY!!! Owen Richard W*****

Any baby related purchased: More clothes (I swear, this kid has more clothes than me already lol) and the paper lanterns for the nursery. I love baby shopping, this could be a scary 20 more weeks lol

Milestones: We will officially be half baked this week!!!

The Plan

I have been itching to start working on Owen's nursery - it's killing me that we have to wait until our remodel is complete, before we can move our things out of the room and start working on it for Owen! I'm so impatient lol

In an attempt to ease my nursery and nesting itch, I've been slowly planning what we will do to the room once it officially becomes available. You'll recall from my previous Inspiration post, that I have a bunch of ideas already in mind. So I put them together in a (amateur) visualization, just so that we could get a better idea of what it would look like all put together.

the left side of the room, with accent wall

the right side of the room, by the closet and doorway

My apologies for my poor computer skills (I am sure there is a better program and way to have done this), but computer guru/CAD drawer/architect/engineer I am not lol So this is the best that I could come up with.

But I think it really helps to visualize what the room will look like.

We were having a difficult time deciding on colors, and these pictures really helped us put that debate to rest.

The room is currently a light baby blue color and once we found out that we were having a boy, the thought of keeping that blue on the walls crossed our minds. But if you'll recall from my other posts, I have always wanted a gender neutral nursery. My lifelong plan has always been to have a gender neutral nursery that all of our children could use - once the baby grows up s/he would move into their own big kid room and get to help decorate that space, while the new baby would take over the nursery. Logically and financially, this just always made the most sense to us and I am determined to stick with it at this point.

And now that I can see and visualize what the nursery will look like, I think it's a perfect balance of gender neutral that all of our children will get to enjoy for years to come :o)

18w4d

How far along: 18w4d

This weeks' weight gain/loss: +1lb

Total weight gain/loss: -11lbs

Symptoms: my stomach is feeling HUGE and heavy! Ugh, it's such a weird and strange feeling - like I am lugging around a brick down there haha Pants that sit on my abdomen there are very uncomfortable and bending over is getting more and more difficult because of it. Other than that, my appetite is slowly returning and the nausea has subsided. Heartburn comes and goes, but it is way more manageable these days. Sleep sucks, I toss and turn all night, but at least I'm not wide awake with full blown insomnia or anything.

Maternity clothes: maternity pants and some shirts, but I don't really need the shirts per say yet and am just wearing them for a little change in wardrobe if nothing else.

Stretch marks: yes :o( around the hips, lower abdomen and thighs *sigh*

Best moment this week: we had our Anatomy Scan on Friday!!! It was so cool to see Owen in such detail, he looks like such a little person in there! I love getting to see him on ultrasounds :o)

Movement: definite kicks now, just waiting for Bryan to be able to feel them from the outside.

Food cravings: lots of salty and sour stuff - sour patch kids and pickles lol

Gender: it's a BOY!!! Owen Richard W*****

Any baby related purchases: he has soooooooo many clothes already!!! Every time we see a grandparent, they have a new outfit for him - luckily they're buying in larger sizes (3+ months), because we all know that we'll be getting TONS of NB sized clothing for showers and what not. We also finished our registries, now we just have to keep em updated until the showers this summer. While we were at the store, they had their usual impulse buy products up by the register (you know, the cheap tacky items with baby names on them)... well they had sippy cups and they had Owen's name!!! I was so excited (they never had my name on anything growing up, not until after the hurricane at least lol) so we had to get it. I know it's corny, but it's the fist thing we've purchased with his name on it and so I was very excited :o)

Milestones: successful Anatomy Scan and almost half baked!

Anatomy

We had our 2nd trimester Anatomy Scan ultrasound yesterday!

I still cannot believe how big Owen is getting - it's still weird to see him like that on the screen, he's like a little person lol But he officially has 10 fingers and 10 toes, so I guess we're in pretty good shape :o)

And we have discovered that he is not a modest little man lol the tech confirmed for us that he is in fact a boy - the moment she put the prob down by his nether region, he flashed us something fierce!

We was, however, slightly uncooperative when it came time for her to get some measurements. But as a result we now get to go back again in a month, so that she can get the rest and hopefully he's more cooperative.

 

So on May 13th we get to go back for another look, which is actually really cool since we figured this was the last time we'd get to see him until we officially meet him in September! We're very excited!

Overall he's actually measuring a few days a head - his humerus and femur were measuring 18w4d and 18w5d, his torso was measuring around 18w5d, and his head was actually measuring like a week a head at around 19w5d.

Cold Front

So... you know how it's like "Murphy's Law" that when you're trying to save money, inevitably something will happen suddenly that causes you to need to spend an unplanned for large sum of money?

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Last week while I was out of town at my conference for work, the electrical company decided that they were going to do some work in our neighborhood - ok, no big deal. They came to the door and warned Bryan that they would be shutting off our power for about an hour, we went on with our lives.

Well... apparently when they flipped the power back on, it caused a significant surge and blew one of our circuit breakers. Usually no big deal, after all that's what circuit breakers are for - right? Apparently not when they're "protecting" your 10 year old refrigerator.

I am sad to report that our fridge bit the big one last week - it still runs, but the cooling system is shot.

Luckily we have an extra older fridge in the basement, which is currently acting as our primary food cooling unit. But it is becoming a pain to walk up and down the stairs for every little thing, especially when you're used to just being able to walk to the kitchen for it.

We got really lucky with our home and the people that we purchased it from left all of their appliances for us. Most of them were new or new enough and all were in really good shape, so we really lucked out in that aspect. So really this is our first official new appliance purchased, even though we've been in our house for over a year new. All-in-all, I guess I really can't complain too much because of that.

However, when you're planning for a baby and trying to save $$$ there is never a good time to need to make an unexpected large purchase. And yes, it could have been worse - a fridge is on a lighter side of the "big purchase" scale, so again I'm not complaining.

But we did go out this weekend, in search of a replacement fridge.

Somehow, we got really lucky again and were able to find a new fridge that is almost the exact same as the one that we lost AND it was among the cheapest that we saw - ScOrE!!!!

Our Maytag 22 cu. ft. side-by-side refrigerator, with in-door ice and water dispenser... will be delivered on Monday. We ordered it in white, to match the rest of the appliances - so s/he should fit right in with the gang.

It's actually kind of nice - our old fridge also had an in-door ice and water dispenser, but it didn't work for some unknown reason. Bryan and my father tried for hours to fix the damn thing, but they were never able to get it working. So now we will have one that finally works, which will be very nice to have.

It's obviously not my dream appliance, but it's perfect for our home and we're glad that we got so lucky as to find such a great deal on what we needed. Thank you Home Depot lol

17w4d

How far along: 17w4d

This weeks' weight gain/loss: 0lbs

Total weight gain/loss: -12lbs

Symptoms: lower back pain was awful this week - but I was out of town at a work conference for several days, on my feet and sleeping in a very uncomfortable bed, so I am thinking that attributed to a lot of it... heartburn was pretty bad too, but again I wasn't eating the world's greatest food and so I am blaming travel on that as well.

Maternity clothes: maternity pants and some shirts, but I don't really need the shirts per say yet and am just wearing them for a little change in wardrobe if nothing else.

Stretch marks: yes :o( around the hips, lower abdomen and thighs *sigh*

Best moment this week: finding out that we're having a little BOY!!!

Movement: more and more flutters every day!!!

Food cravings: lots of salty and sour stuff - sour patch kids and pickles lol

Gender: it's a BOY!!! Owen Richard W*****

Any baby related purchased: once we found out that we were having a little man, I just had to buy something gender specific - so I bought a couple outfits for little Owen and LoVe them!!!

Milestones: our little bean is a BOY and has a name!!!

Let the Shopping Commence!

Up until this point, we have slowly been making baby purchases that are either (1) gender neutral, or (2) larger items that are not gender specific. And I have been anxiously awaiting the time when we could start buying some gender specific items, especially for our little bean!

Well now that time has come and I am trying my hardest to control myself lol but it's soooooooo hard!

I feel like this little guy is officially a "real person" now - we know that he's a boy, he has a name, I've seen his face, I can feel him move... it's suddenly becoming more and more real, with each passing moment!

So I did make my first official boy purchase for Owen today...

Aren't these the cutest darn things you've ever seen?! And of course they're Winnie the Pooh :o)

One of these could possibly be little Owen's 'coming home outfit', but I am sure that will change multiple times over the course of the next 5 months. I just love love love baby clothes!!! They're all so darn cute and precious!

Bryan is telling me that he always thought a 'coming home outfit' was supposed to be more formal and special - I just want him to be comfortable and adorable lol I think that these two items fit the bill perfectly on my end!

It's a...

BOY!!!

We had our elective ultrasound gender determination this afternoon, and found out that we're having a little man!!! I still cannot believe it - apparently Bryan's "intuition" was right and so were the most of old wives tales lol

He didn't want to cooperate at first (luckily it was elective and the lady was going to let us come back for free next week to try again) but with the help of some apple juice, chocolate, and tummy jiggling she got him to show us the goods! The umbilical cord was between his legs too, but she was great and used the heat sensor to distinguish between the two and prove that we were in fact seeing his "manhood" lol.

Overall it was an absolutely amazing experience and we are soooooooo glad that we did it - worth every.single.penny! Both of our parents got to come and they LoVeD it!!! The place was fabulous - the lady was super nice, there was a gorgeous leather sofa for the grandparents/spectators to sit on, and a beautiful 62in hi-def TV for everyone to watch! We were there for half an hour, got several print outs, and a DVD set to lullaby music of the whole ultrasound. The tech was even nice enough to switch into 3D for us a couple of times (which usually costs extra) so that we could really see our little boy! It was just such a happy, exciting, wonderful experience - the atmosphere was perfect and it was so great to have everyone there with us! So highly recommended, I cannot even begin to tell you all how awesome it was!

So, without further ado I present to you Mr. Owen Richard W*****

16w4d

How far along: 16w4d

This weeks' weight gain/loss: +1lbs

Total weight gain/loss: -12lbs

Symptoms: my nausea and food aversions were back a little this week, but not nearly as bad as they were in the first tri. Lower back pain is starting to kick in, but luckily heartburn is subsiding!

Maternity clothes: officially in maternity pants and loving them!

Stretch marks: yes :o( around the hips, lower abdomen and thighs *sigh*

Best moment this week: finding out the gender today!!!

Movement: definitely felt some flutters this weekend!!!

Food cravings: lots of salty and sour stuff - sour patch kids and pickles lol

Gender: we find out on today Monday 4/4 at noon!!!

Any baby related purchased: we saw this super cute easter onsie and pant set - the top says Some Bunny Loves Me and there's a bunny face on the butt!!!! It made us think of our bunny and so we had to get it lol

Milestones: finding out the gender today!!!