The Baby Belly

Several of you have asked to see photos of me as I've grown throughout the pregnancy. I finally convinced D to take some photos and I have FINALLY uploaded the photos.

Here I am at 14 weeks:

I started showing a lot after 20 weeks. Here are two 24 week photos:




Here are two 25 week photos:


Some of the critters wanted to be in the photos!
Can't wait to see the reactions after little M arrives...

First Baby Shower (D's Family & Friends)

Over the extended weekend, I flew to NJ to see the in-laws. Dino's cousin-in-law 'Mrs. J' and my mother-in-law 'Mom-Mom' organized a baby shower for us. It was phenomenal! Not only did I get to meet some family and friends of my hubby, but was also showered with numerous great gifts for little M!

Baby showers in NJ are a little different from Southern baby showers (from my experiences, anyway). The baby was held at a restaurant instead of a house (no preference, just a different setting and tone). The food was all prepared by the restaurant and was more formal--good food by the way, yummy Italian!

There was a diaper cake and diaper favors on the table--so cute--and I can use the diapers later!

Thanks so much, Mrs. J!

Auntie J was conscious of my latex allergy and ordered Mylar balloons. The kids enjoyed these so much that they all took home a set...in addition to Cocie (she's a kid at heart)!


Auntie J & Mom-Mom thought of everything. There was even an activity table for the kids. The girls were very busy and so good during the shower! They really seemed to enjoy themselves!



They even made goodies for little M!

There were two cakes (the hostesses had individual favorites so they incorporated both of their tastes). A cake from Sweet Eats Bakey was my cake of choice; it was filled with caramel creme and covered with white chocolate shavings--yummy!




If the girls weren't cute enough, they even offered to be helpers with the gifts!
Too Cute!

The favors for guests were beautiful and very thoughtful. Auntie N knows how much I love coffee, so she placed a biscotti and a single serving of coffee in a glass coffee mug!
Caption: A Baby is Brewing!
K's Baby Shower
July 5, 2008
...Thanks so much, Auntie N & Uncle N!

All of the guests shared advice for the expectant mother (much needed, I might add). Thanks for all of the advice; it'll come in handy when little M arrives!

Here is a photo of Mom-Mom with all of her daughter-in-laws:
Mom-Mom with all her Grand-Baby Mamas

Another shower tradition is the bow hat. Regardless of my reluctance, I had to put on the bow hat:

There were others who seemed to enjoy the bow hat a bit more than me. There was even one who made her own bow hat...
What cute little cheesers they were; very much enjoying the hat!

On top of a great shower, I was surprised with my Mom in attendance. She and her hubby chose to drive to NJ and then vacation for the next few weeks on the East Coast. They love lighthouses, wine, and seafood--so they are all set. They are also getting in to cycling and have rented bike to ride while on vacay.

Mom-Mom (D's Mom), Me, & Oma (My Mom)

Since I flew, I was only able to return home with baby clothes and stuffed animals (all the light stuff). When I returned home, I showed D all the cutie outfits and shared with him who it was from. I don't think he was as excited as me...silly guys. ;-D Mom-Mom is shipping some of the big stuff to us. My Mom took some of the stuff with her...unfortunately, daddy D won't get to see it for a few weeks.

Thanks Auntie J for letting me crash at your house. In addition to co-hostessing a shower, she helped decorate a float for the Cub Scouts (which won first place), and looked after her two kids, three pups, and hubby. She is amazing! She even showed me how to swaddle by demonstrating with her puppy, Sammie!
Sammie was a good sport

Thanks Mom-Mom for toting me around NJ and PA and for spoiling your unborn grandson SO MUCH; you'll have to stop before you go bankrupt!

Thanks again to all of our NJ family and friends for baby M's great gifts!

Weird Dreams and Acid Reflux

Well it's the middle of week 23 and I have been experiencing acid reflux for over a week now. I cannot really complain since I didn't experience morning sickness, but it is burdensome. Others have (unheededly) suggested ways to to prevent reflux, but it hasn't really worked. I experience acid reflux from drinking water!

Weird dreams have plagued me since the beginning of M's conception. Bizarre dreams are nothing new to me. I should journal about my dreams and sell the ideas to Hollywood for horror films. I had not been surprised by these dreams in the past because I have been watching horror and thriller movies since age seven (shh, don't tell the 'rents). Since the dreams now occur more recently, they tend to stand out more. In addition to freaky, scary dreams, I have had a few pregnancy-related dreams. Nothing really out of the ordinary I suppose for pregnant women, but not right in terms of our stage and the actual status of pregnancy.

Has any one of my fellow preggers experienced either of these occurrences during pregnancy? I would love to hear about your experiences, as there is power in numbers!

The newest development around the house includes washing all of M's new clothes from newborn to six months that Mom-Mom J gave us. Thanks Mom-Mom--baby M will be a well dressed baby.

She is so generous! Gotta love that baby detergent smell! I then proceeded to hang all of the clean clothes in M's closet and categorize by size, of course...shocker.

Next came washing all of the stuffed animals I had collected over the years. Not really sure why I had purchased the critters at the time, but it now makes sense as I plan to accent M's room with animals.

This is daddy D's idea of prepping the nursery

and the rest of the house. One can never be too safe, I suppose!

Can't wait to get the current spare bedroom furniture moved downstairs and start decorating the nursery! Alas, the excitement must ensue until we actually have things to put in the nursery.
  ;-)

Registries Complete...

D and I underwent the excitement of the baby registry while in NJ a few weeks ago. All of the research I did was helpful--excluding the nursery bedding. Thanks everyone for providing your input with the bedding, although we chose to go another direction. D must have felt a little left out with the pregnancy, so he got a little power hungry with the registry. Frustrations aside, we decided on bedding at Babies R Us:

Of course, this was not on the list of bedding I had previously selected, but it is something we both agreed on for M's room.

The nursery furniture was another ordeal. The crib we had originally chosen had been discontinued due to product recall--yikes! We were stuck choosing new furniture in the store. It was a challenge for us to find something that we both liked. We ended up agreeing on some Mahogany pieces. Ask Mom-Mom J for more details; she helped us with the registry and got a kick out of D's reaction to the entire event.

If you'd like to view some of our picks for the baby, go here for Babies R Us or Target. We hope all is well with everyone!

20 Weeks: Finally at the Halfway Point

We are finally at the halfway point in our pregnancy. I thought we'd never make it! We had our 20-week ultrasound last Tuesday. Yes, it's still a boy (see the proof below).

Spine: M always shows off his beautiful spinal cord. He had been back-side up for both ultrasounds.Genitalia: M's testicles have begun to descend from his abdomen. What a difference four weeks make! From his femurs, I think M may be tall...
Face: The ultrasound tech threw in a 3D photo of the face for us. M sure does have full lips--just like both of his parents. I think he may favor his father (similar eyelids), although D thinks it's too soon to tell. M is resting his right cheek on me (yes, that's my insides) like a pillow.
That's all I have to share for now. I'll update you on our most recent trip to NJ and the baby registry soon. Bye for now.

Nursery Ideas--Bedding

I have slowly, but surely been choosing a design for little M's room.
A while back I chose the colors (brown, blue, & green) and the design (animals--safari, zoo, jungle, etc.). The difficult part will be coordinating the two.
Babies R Us has some of the bedding that I have in mind,


Babies R Us
but Target





and JC Penney have more choices that I like.




JC Penney
I would get D's input, but he thinks it is too soon to decide on the nursery--too cute!...No offense, but I don't plan to decorate the nursery when I am eight months pregnant!
I am thinking about going with a neutral bedding in the colors that I like and then accenting the room with animals. Let me know what you think!

18 Weeks and Beating

We are at the end of the 18th week and all is well. Little M keeps my body temperature elevated, especially when I sleep. I woke up this morning and was burning up, then I realized that I had a furry heating pad on each side of me. I guess Lucky and Riley are trying to absorb my extra heat!

Yesterday and today I have experienced some heart palpitations, but am not sure if I should worry. I am aware that blood volume and heart rate both increase during pregnancy to assist in blood flow to the fetus. I was diagnosed with a heart murmur prior to pregnancy and was told by my doctor to alert future physicians of my murmur. Any who, I will alert my physician at our next appointment of the previous murmur and the recent palpitations and keep an eye out until then. If anyone else experienced this during pregnancy, please let me know for reassurance sake.