21 Weeks, and more baby goodies!

21 Weeks today!!!  I realised that I haven't gotten a picture in this blouse.  It's one of the first maternity pieces I bought for this pregnancy, and I love it!  Don't think I'll be able to wear it too much longer though.  Zachariah is just getting too big!  ;)

Tatiana was a terrible sleeper.  Seriously.  She didn't sleep for more than a couple of hours at a stretch for literally months.  The first time she slept for five hours straight we thought she had died.  I'm not kidding.  I think she was about 8 months old at the time.  When we started thinking about another baby, I began researching alternative sleeping methods for coliky babies, and discovered the Happy Hangup.  Baby hammocks have been used for centuries throughout the world to help soothe colicky babies, and babies with reflux (which was Tatiana's problem).  The way a hammock cradles a baby is reminiscent of the womb and the gentle rocking helps baby to fall asleep.  The elevation of baby's head also helps with any digestion issues.  The widespread recall of all drop-side cribs further cemented this purchase for us.  I was barely able to get my little ones in and out of the drop side crib without climbing on a ladder as it was, and often bruised myself trying.  How in the world could I possibly hope to get a baby out of a fixed side crib?
So, here is my beautiful Happy Hangup, imported from Australia.  I'm getting more excited by the moment for my little Zachariah to be here so I can put him in it!  :)

Dallas Museum of Nature and Science

On Tuesday, the girls and I met my bestest-best friend and her kiddos at Fair Park to go to the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science.  We actually got there before Jamie, so went down to the little lake behind the museum to do some turtle watching.

The main exhibit right now is all about water.  I have to admit though, that we didn't spend much time there due to the number of kiddos on field trip.

Celestia and Tatiana were great helpers with Jamie's kiddos!

Instead of battling the crowds, we headed downstairs so the younger kids could play.

You're never too old to play dress up!

Alas, my camera was not fully charged, and died after just a little while, so I don't have very many pictures.  Regardless, we had a great time getting together with friends.  We should definitely do that more often!!!

20 weeks

Halfway there!!!

First baby gifts

Thursday, we got our very first baby gifts!  My mother crochets, and as soon as she found out we were expecting, she got to work on a gift for the baby.  She didn't even know that we were going with an animal theme, but lookie what she made...

I love turtles!!!  :)
She also bought Zachariah a cute little outfit with a turtle on it, once she found out we're having a boy!

Love it!!!

But wait, there's more!  This afternoon, while the girls were out playing they told a lady they've befriended in the neighbourhood that I'm having a boy.  Turns out that she just had a garage sale a couple of weeks ago, and had a box full of baby boy clothes that didn't sell, AND some maternity clothes that she brought over to give me!  Woohoo!  It's like Christmas in May!  :)

Madame Butterfly

Yesterday saw several firsts for our family...  First baby gifts (which I will post about later), first formal dress for Celestia, and also her first opera!  We arrived at the opera house a bit early, so had plenty of time to look around and take pictures of my beautiful big girl in her beautiful new dress.

She was excited to be really dressed up for the first time, and posed away.  Then, it was off to the concession stand to buy our snacks for intermission.  We made it to our aisle just in time for a lady a few seats over to ask Celestia to take her picture, and for her to get one of us!

Enjoying our snacks at intermission.

 Madame Butterfly is an amazing opera, and this performance was no exception.  Celestia really enjoyed going to see her very first opera.  I always love doing things with just one of my girls.  It's so fun to see what sweet individuals they are!

Nature baby

Even before we knew we were having a boy, we had planned on a nature theme for our accessories.  I actually even bought some green baskets for storing things a couple of weeks ago, because I was lucky enough to run across them on clearance.  Last weekend, I went to various fabric and craft stores looking for rainforest inspired fabric to make a diaper bag, and just wasn't happy with what I was finding.  I had hoped for something with parrots, monkeys, lizards, and frogs.  No luck.  All these things, I found individually, but none together.  Interestingly enough, the cutest fabric I found was at Wal-Mart of all places.  It's not exactly rainforest inspired, but it does have lizards and frogs!  :)

You may also notice that there's matching yarn, which Celestia is going to make a baby blanket with.  Nana taught her how to crochet, and she's a champ at it!

What's in a name?

After finding out what we were having yesterday, we stopped at the grocery store to buy a treat for the girls.  We felt sure that most bakeries would keep on hand something pink and something blue, and that was how we had planned on telling them.  Turns out that the only distinctly boy cake to be had was Thomas the Tank Engine, so that's what we got!  We had an evening of celebration including sparkling grape juice with dinner, a game of Clue afterward and blue cake for dessert!

 

Names for both a boy and a girl have been picked for a while now.  We actually had the most trouble with boy names, just because our household is so girly.  After many suggestions (some of the more interesting ones coming from my co-workers, thanks, but Megatron just didn't make the cut) We settled on Zachariah David. And yes, we plan on calling him Zachariah.  Not Zach.  Not Zachary.  Zachariah.  Realistically, I know that at some point, his friends will probably call him a shorter version thereof, and if that's what he prefers, then we'll get used to it.  For now, however, we'll be going with the full deal.  Time to get cracking on a personalised diaper bag!  :)

It's a...

Today, I am 19 weeks pregnant.  Officially, we'll be halfway through the pregnancy a week from now.

We had a great day today!  It's always nice for Jonathan to be home, and he took the whole day off because my doctor appointment wasn't until 3:00 in the afternoon.  We all slept in, some more than most (um, me?) and had brunch together when I finally stumbled out of the bedroom.  It was mostly a lazy day, which saw us playing a little, running errands a little and of course going to the doctor.  I've picked out our curriculum for next school year and we dropped by Half Price Books to try and mark some of the necessary books off of our list.  I'm hoping to find as many as possible there, so we don't have to order them all online.  Jonathan was looking for a new guitar cable, so we went by Guitar Center, and we had some books to take back to the library, so that was a necessary trip as well.
Our doctor appointment went well.  I'm measuring right on target for our due date, and the baby is measuring 3 days ahead and weighed about 11 oz., which falls within a normal range.  I've gained 6 pounds since my last visit which my doctor was happy with, because I didn't gain anything between my first and second appointment.  My blood pressure is still looking good, too.  We're keeping a close eye on that, as I had high blood pressure when I was pregnant with Tatiana.  Baby's heart rate was at 146 BPM, and everything looked well formed.  We did get a 3D shot of the face, but it wasn't terribly good because the baby is still so small.  The sonogram tech said that babies look better a little farther on when there's a little more fat on them.

BOY!!!

Moby Dick

Last night, Jonathan and I went to see the world premier run of a new opera based on Moby Dick.  To be honest, I wasn't sure what to think.  It got wonderful reviews, but something about a bunch of men singing about a whale left me thinking "I don't know about this".  We were definitely pleasantly surprised.  Visually, it was absolutely amazing!  The set was very unique, and included a projection system which projected waves, boats, and sky directly on the stage.
Of course the evening would not be complete without a bit of teasing from Jonathan.  Sometime during the second act, he leans over and whispers "Do you have any make up we could put on me to make me look like I have a black eye?  I think I'm going to tell Chris (his boss) that I suggested you for the part of the white whale!"  It took me a good five minutes to quell the resulting giggling fit from that statement.  I love my silly man!
We always enjoy getting out and spending some time together just the two of us.  I guess we should do that as much as possible in the next few months while we still can!  :)

Momma posing on the balcony at the Winspear before the opera

Daddy lovin' on his babies.  :)

18 weeks

One day late.  OOPS!

This is it!

Bags are packed.

Shelves are stocked.

Toys are stowed.

Rocking chair is ready.

Car seat is installed.

And we’re off to the hospital!

This is it!

Bags are packed.

Shelves are stocked.

Rocking chair is ready.

Car seat is installed.

And we're off to the hospital!

Old Faithful

Say what you will about Ford, but I love our truck!

A monkey and her glasses

Sweet Tatiana has glasses for so long, I can't even remember if she was four or five when she got them.  Good thing she's so adorable in them!  :)  This past Sunday, one of the ear pieces got caught in the collar of her shirt as she was pulling it over her head, and broke.  She was due for a new pair anyway, so we went to the doctor Wednesday and got an updated prescription.  She wanted me to take a picture of the frames she picked and immediately flinched because the flash went off and her pupils were dilated.  Oops!!!  She's glad to have a picture to look at though, because it will probably be a month before they're back.  Aren't they cute???

Baby's first fluff!

Are these the cutest cloth diapers, or what?!  Now, I know what most of you probably envision when you hear the phrase "cloth diapers".  You're thinking of Gerber prefolds and ugly white plastic pants that are impossible to get on a squirmy baby.  Let me assure you that unless you're a glutton for punishment, today's cloth is nothing like the cloth your grandmother used.  This particular diapering system is GroBaby brand.  They're a one size, hybrid cloth diaper.  What does that mean?  The waterproof shell is only changed if you have an extra messy diaper.  What you change every time, are the inserts.  I chose these because they dry faster than an all-in-one diaper, and also because you can fold a standard prefold (but not a Gerber!  They're filled with polyester and don't absorb well.) in thirds and use as an insert in addition to buying the GroBaby inserts.  The snaps are what makes them one size.  Snap them all the way up for a little baby.

Let them out a row for a bigger infant.

And let them out all the way for a toddler.

 Now, realistically, "one size" diapers aren't really.  Depending on how long it takes to potty train, we may need to purchase larger toddler diapers, and newborns still need prefolds and covers, but the covers are much like these diapers in that they come multi-sized and have velcro closures just like disposables.  You can choose to wrap your prefold diaper around the baby and use a snappi to fasten it, you can fold the prefold in thirds and put in in the cover just like in these diapers, or you can even wrap it around the baby and leave it unfastened, letting the cover do the work!
The best part?  Well, there's several really.  First, you can know you're doing something good for the planet.  The amount of disposable diapers that get sent to a landfill each year is astounding, and they take over 500 years to decompose!  Whew!  I had never thought of it before, but once I did, the tree-hugger in me couldn't stand it!  I also really like to try to keep as many unnatural chemicals out of our house as possible.  All the stuff that's in those disposable diapers is pretty yucky.  Believe me, I had one bust open once (forgot a swim diaper at the lake.  What's a girl to do?) and it was NASTY!!!  If I had really thought hard about it, I would have realised that the chemicals were probably what caused poor Celestia to get such horrible diaper rashes.  Of course, realistically, I know that not everyone is a tree-hugger or a naturalist, but everyone loves to save money, right?  Disposable diapers cost (based on conservative estimates) around $60 a month.  Assuming your baby is potty trained by age two, that's almost $1500 in diapers alone!  Cloth may be more expensive up front (why do you think I'm starting to build my stash now?) but even considering a few extra loads of laundry a week, it will never add up to that much.
So that, my friends, is why I'm choosing to cloth diaper.  I know it's not for everyone.  You can take it or leave it.  I'll love you either way.  People are going to call me crazy, and I know that.  If I'm not used to that by now, there's a problem!  ;)  If, however, you are interested in trying cloth, GroBaby diapers are all on clearance right now for 25% off from pampered buns, and Megan is AWESOME to work with!!!  I'm definitely going to order as much of my stash as possible from her just because she's super sweet and absolutely bends over backwards to get you what you need!  :)

17 weeks

Ah, the joys of being pregnant.  Some days you feel like a million bucks.  Others, not so much.  Today was definitely a not so much kind of day, which is ironic because I love this dress.  It's silk and flowy and feminine and purple and the only non-maternity thing I can still wear.  What's not to like?  Nonetheless, I felt huge (and I haven't gained any weight in 2 weeks at least) and I'm not loving the angle of this shot.  But it was the best I was going to get with the girls snapping the camera, so here it is!

On a different note, I got the diapers today, and will try to get some pics of them to post tomorrow.  They're so cute!!!