Category: baby

Pregnancy Update – Test Results

Yesterday I got my long awaited test results for the gestational diabetes 3 hour glucose tolerance test. Ok, I really only had to wait over the weekend,but it seemed like an eternity. My results came back totally normal for the whole test! I am so thankful and praising God for the wake up call to eat healthier. We needed it desperately, and had become really lazy about our eating and exercise. Type 2 diabetes runs in both of our families, so we are now on a mission to fight those genetics. This whole ordeal has put Jed and I on the same page nutritionally, which is huge for us. And hopefully will prevent us from being huge in the future. 🙂 Thanks so much to everyone who prayed for Bun and me.

We are praising God for so much today- spring and spring break, good test results, loving family and friends who are kind enough to throw us baby showers, our fabulous and affordable rent house, great jobs that we love, great friends, our neighborhood lake, and so much more.

For what are you thankful today?

**UPDATE** Our Homemade Baby Book – With Free Printables

freeprintablegenderneutralbabybook

**Update** I’ve added a free printables tab to the top menu of the blog (under crafts/diy).  Click there to find all the baby book pages to print for free in either PDF or Publisher (so you can edit) files!  Enjoy. They are free for personal use only.  I just ask that you share the love on Pinterest and follow my blog through Bloglovin’ or social media.

My quest for the perfect baby book began back in the fall when we first discovered that I was pregnant.  I found so many cute ones for boys and for girls, but NOTHING cute for those of us who don’t find out the gender until the birth.  I did find one gender neutral book at a boutique here in town, but it was $70.  Are you kidding me?  For a baby book?  Come on now, people.

So, I decided the search was over and I would create my own.  I found a couple of great coupons for Hobby Lobby and bought an 8 1/2×11 chocolate brown scrapbook and a big package of bright primary colored cardstock.  You can also find a great deal on 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock and scrapbook albums on Amazon. I decided to go with the primary and bright colors instead of traditional pastels, because they seemed more fun.
I found a great gender neutral and baby book appropriate font called Drummon here.  It reminds me of printed handwriting with cute dots on each letter.  I love the simplicity of it.
I printed out each page on a different bright color of scrapbook quality paper.  The pages are red, blue, orange, yellow, and green.  Hopefully using the high quality paper will prevent fading or bleeding over time.
I’ve already filled out all of the pages that I can, and will continue as the baby is born and begins to grow.  Now I’m adding some fun stickers and more personal touches.  So far, this project has cost me about $17.  I probably could have found a lame baby book for less than that, but I love how personal this one is, and how I can continue to make it more so.
There is a page for my side of the family, too.
Please feel free to download them for any time from my “free printables” page.  They are for personal use only.  I just ask that you share the love by pinning this page and following my blog through Bloglovin or social media.  Thanks! I’d love some feed back about what pages I should add.  The problem with not having an actual baby book to work from is that I don’t know what I’m missing.
What pages should I add?

Things Are Swell(ing) Around Here.

Everyone’s favorite 3rd trimester pregnancy symptom, swelling (or edema if you want to get technical) has reared its ugly head at my house.  Or more specifically on my feet.  I’m basically down to flip flops at this point, which is fine because I love them and it’s warm outside.  On our babymoon we did a little hiking at Dinosaur Valley State Park, so I wore athletic socks and my hiking shoes.  As you can see above, my tootsies did a little swelling during the hike and the socks had a pattern.  That pattern became magically indented into my feet.  Awesome.  I had never experienced anything like this before, so I felt the need to document the occasion for your enjoyment.  I’m sure you have many more puffy feet and cankle pics to look forward to.  Get excited, people.  Please know that I’m not really complaining, but more laughing at myself and my puffy feet.  A girl has to keep herself entertained somehow.

Pregnancy Update – 28 Weeks and Complications

I am now 28 weeks along in my pregnancy, which means I have about 12 weeks to go.  I went to the lab yesterday for my 1 hour glucose tolerance test, and I tested very high.  I had an appointment with my OB today, and she ordered a 3 hour glucose test for later on this week.  She thinks that I have gestational diabetes because of the high test result and my massive weight gain during the last month.  I will not be at all surprised if the test show that I do have GD.  I’ve felt that something wasn’t right with my body, and that I was gaining too much weight despite trying to eat healthy and walking more.  After the test yesterday I felt like I’d been run over by a truck, and couldn’t get out of bed the rest of the day.  I am so not looking forward to the longer test on Friday.  My doctor told me to go ahead and start eating like I do have it, until we can get the test results and know for sure.  She instructed me to cut out carbs and concentrate on lean protein, fresh vegetables, and fruit.  Hopefully I can regulate my diet and exercise more and get this thing under control.

I hate having complications with this pregnancy.  Worry can consume me so easily.  I’ve had a few other complications so far, as I’m Rh Negative and have a fast growing fibroid tumor on my left ovary.  The good news is that my body hasn’t started producing antibodies towards a Rh positive baby.  I was able to get the shot today to prevent any issues arising there.  I’ll just have to get one more shot after the birth, no big deal.

The fibroid tumor is fast growing, but isn’t causing any issues right now.  Its placement is such that it is out of the way for the delivery and not causing problems with the uterus.  It is growing rapidly.  At 12 weeks it was the size of a plum, and by 20 weeks it had reached the size of a grapefruit.  We will see how much it has grown again at 32 weeks.      

On a more positive note, Jed took these pictures of me and Baby Bun at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose.  I don’t love them, but I don’t completely hate them either.  Which effect do you like best?  We had a lovely baby moon in Glen Rose that I’ll tell you about later.  I hope that I’ll have good news to tell you next week about the 3 hour glucose tolerance test.  Please pray with me that the test will come back negative for gestational diabetes, and that I can be diligent about controlling my diet and exercise.    

Pregnancy Update – 22 Weeks



Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 22 Weeks
Our little Bun is the size of a papaya and weighs over 1 pound.
Maternity Clothes: I’m completely done with regular clothes now. I just had to order some plain long sleeved shirts from the Gap because they are having a major maternity sale. I’ve been wearing regular shirts, but they’ve just reached the point when they won’t cover the whole belly. I have 2 pairs of maternity jeans and 2 pairs of maternity cargo pants that will roll up into capri pants when it gets warmer. My awesome friend Crystal hooked me up with a ton of her old maternity clothes, including a rockin’ vintage coat. She saved me a fortune with her generosity. Thanks Crystal!

Gender: It’s a surprise! We’ve narrowed down the name options to one boy name and two girl names. You can vote in the gender poll in the top right hand corner of the blog. I think it is a boy, but the rest of my family is convinced it is a girl. Jed refuses to guess.
Movement: The Bun is moving around like crazy. I love it, but I’m the only one who can feel it so far. I can’t wait for Jed to be able to feel the kicking.
Sleep: Sleep is a struggle. I have a giant preggo body pillow that has become a necessity. The real problem is the waking up 3-4 times a night to use the bathroom.
Symptoms: I’ve had some back pain, but nothing too major. I feel like I’m about the size of a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

What I Miss: Multiple cups of coffee, Diet Coke, red wine and real sushi ( I can still eat the veggie stuff.)
Cravings: Nutella with Granny Smith Apples all day long; salty, buttery popcorn, garlic bread, hardboiled eggs

Emotions: I’m so excited and a little overwhelmed. I can’t wait to meet our baby and find out the gender and who he/she is and what he/she is like.

Pregnancy Update – Our Ultrasound Photos and Not Finding Out

Isn’t that little hand amazing?! We were blown away at our 20 week ultrasound on Tuesday. Our little Bun was moving around like crazy, waving to us and yawning.
Here you can see the profile. Look at that belly! The doctor said the baby weighs 13 oz, so almost a pound. Bun looks perfect and everything measured just as it should. Woohoo!
These little feet made me melt. I’m not sure why, but I just love them. I can’t wait to see them in person and 20 more weeks (ish). The photo below is of Bun’s face. It is a little harder to decipher, but still cool.
We could have found out Bun’s gender at our appointment, but we have decided to wait. This was a decision we did not arrive at easily. I wanted to find out and Jed did not. There were many negotiations and a list of pros and cons was made. The planner in me is having a hard time with it, just a little bit. We have to call our baby “Bun” instead of his or her name. I worried that I might have trouble bonding. Those fears are gone as I now get to feel Bun moving around on a regular basis. On the other hand, there are a lot of great things about the big surprise. We can get all gender neutral baby stuff so it can be used for future wee ones. We get an amazing surprise, and really how many big surprises are there in life? Come late May or June, we will have a sweet surprise on our hands.

If you’ve had babies, did you find out the gender?
Tell me why or why not.
Please vote on the gender poll (upper right column).

Pregnancy Limbo – 16 weeks and counting

Pregnancy Limbo feels like this.
I am living in pregnancy limbo, that stage in between looking like a normal person and actually looking pregnant. Even though I haven’t gained much weight, I feel like everything is becoming rounded, much like my friend the manatee in the photo above. My bump is starting to show, but mostly I just feel large. I’m sure strangers wonder if it is a beer belly or a baby belly. My pre-pregnancy pants don’t fit even with a band or the hair band trick. My friend Crystal taught me the hair band trick, and it saved my waist for weeks. You just put a pony tail holder through your button hole and around the button. Genius. I bought 2 Bella Bands at Target and barely used them because the hair band worked so well.

I finally gave in and bought maternity clothes, and they are such a relief. I bought them on the larger side so they will fit later on, and they are so deliciously comfy right now. So far Kohls and Target have been good to me, but I’d love to hear your go-to places for affordable maternity clothes. Bring on the stretchy pants!
I reached 16 weeks/4 months on Saturday, and had my monthly check up today. Everything went well and looks great. It is so fun to hear the heartbeat of my little Bun and know that he or she is cooking perfectly. We can’t wait to see Bun at our next appointment. By the way, we have decided not to find out the gender of our baby before the birth. I’ll share more about that decision later.

Moving While Pregnant

You might think that moving while pregnant would be a terrible ordeal. Turns out it isn’t so bad. I’ve felt so crummy the last few weeks that I really escaped all manual labor involved in the move and mostly just directed traffic. Jed did all the work and was such a trooper. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband. Some of his Young Life guys came to help him, and they knocked it out. We are officially in our new house (YAY!) even though we had to pay rent on the old one for an extra 2 weeks (BOO!). Thanks jerkface landlady.

This has been the most drawn out move I’ve ever experienced. We moved .9 miles away from our old house, and our new (awesome) landlord let us move in for 3 weeks that weren’t paying rent. How generous is that?! I think the time frame made us a little lazy and disorganized, but we still made it happen. There are a few things left at the old house, but all the big stuff is here. Most of my clothes are still in the old closet, but they don’t exactly fit right now so it doesn’t really matter. I guess the good thing about paying rent through the end of the month is that we have a long time to clean up so we can hopefully get our deposit back. Oh, the joys of renting!
Our living room is set up for the most part, so I have a place to sit/blog, and we are slowly working through the rest of it. My goal tomorrow is to get my craft table set up. I haven’t been able to make anything for over a month, and I have so many ideas in my head. I’m so ready to have a space to create that doesn’t make my living room look like a hoarder house. We now have have a great back bedroom that will double as a guest room and baby’s room. The guest room part is all set up, and I can’t wait to get the baby’s room set up. I don’t really have anything yet, just a few cloth diapers and a bouncer I’ve won through other blogs. I’m sure I will start buying/making things soon. I have to get that craft table set up…
I was thinking about how many times I’ve moved over the years, and am a little shocked by the numbers. I moved once as a child, but since age 18 I have moved 14 times, 3 times since I married Jed (2.7 years ago). Yikes. That is out of control. Hopefully we can stay settled here for a while.
How many times have you moved over the years?

Adventures in Baby Growing – The First Weeks

I’m pregnant, and I couldn’t be happier. We were trying for 3 months, and are so thrilled that it didn’t take very long. We’re having a baby in May or early June! During my pregnancy, I’ll be blogging about my adventures in baby growing. Join the adventure!
These first weeks have been crazy and difficult. I can’t believe how quickly my body started acting differently. Almost immediately my stomach rebelled against me, and continues to stage a rebellion. I haven’t been throwing up, but am nauseous ALL DAY LONG. The whole “morning sickness” description is a total misnomer. After 5 or 6 weeks of nausea, I finally had my first doctor’s appointment and was given a prescription for Zofran. It has been a miracle drug. I feel like I have my life back for the most part.
My other major symptom has been tiredness. I feel like I’m in a waking coma. At the same time, I have trouble sleeping. What the what?! It makes no sense at all. I won a $70 giftcard from CSN from Candace Rose. She has another CSN giveaway running right now, so go enter! Anyway, I used the giftcard to buy a super awesome Snoozer Body Pillow that was $71.99 with free shipping. I got it in the mail last week and it is helping me sleep more comfortably. I love free stuff!
People keep asking if I’ve had any cravings yet, and I don’t really think I have. My sister-in-law is convinced that if I crave sweet, it is a girl, if salty, a boy. Who knows? If a craving comes along, maybe we’ll start the guessing.
These first weeks have been exciting, keeping our secret from the world and slowly telling family and friends before announcing it last week. I love that as each weeks passes, my baby is growing and is more secure in my womb. I feel more pregnant as each week passes. It feels a little like an alien has taken over my body, but at least it is a cute little alien.
What were your early pregnancy symptoms? How did you deal with them?
Come back next week for an awesome giveaway – a 9 month supply of Nature Made Prenatal vitamins with DHA (worth $144)!

Frugal Friday – Pregnancy Tips Part I


This whole pregnancy thing is so new to me, and I have been getting tons of great advice from friends, online friends, and total strangers. I’m a member of the Frugal Living community on Blog Frog, so asked those fun folks for their best frugal pregnancy tips to share with y’all. They came up with some great stuff! I’ll share all of the tips with you over the next few weeks.

Frugal Pregnancy tips:

“Borrow.

Have a friend who was just pregnant? Talk to them about maternity clothes. Maybe they’ll let you borrow some shirts.

You don’t have to have every cool thing they make for babies. I’d splurge on a cradle swing even before a crib.

Talk to friends and neighbors who are all done having kids – esp if they just had their last kid. They’re dying to get rid of their old stuff. Check for safety issues.

Make sure your car seat is less than 3 yrs old.

Don’t pay any medical bill that hasn’t been through your insurance. I overpaid the doctor’s office because they insisted on a certain amount that *they* expected. It took a WHOLE YEAR to get my refund check.”

– from Heart Baby Home

“This may sound silly to you but I just had a baby and this my personal experience. With my first, I craved taco bell like no tomorrow. And I ate it all the time. And whatever else I craved. With the baby I just had I craved pizza all the time. Instead of ordering out for it, we did homemade pizza and almost always had some in the fridge. When I was hungry but didn’t know what I wanted I would eat cereal. I had a ton in my stockpile and after awhile that’s what I craved. Those two things helped me save money on my cravings while pregnant!”

– from Fabulessly Frugal

“Always try the cheaper brands first. My babies all did fine with the off brand diapers and I saved nearly $10 on a big box (buy the big box) each time. This is the same for wipes, food, bottles, etc.

Breastfeeding isn’t for everyone, but if you can, it’s the way to go. There are so many benefits for mom and baby, but it is a big money saver. Formula is about $22 a box and will probably get you through a week. Do that for a year and then move into sippy cups when baby can have cow’s milk.

Also, get items that grow with the baby: a crib that turns into a twin bed, a car seat that grows with baby,

And, don’t buy what the baby doesn’t absolutely need. Unless the baby really needs it, don’t introduce the pacifier, or the bottle, etc. Once you buy one of those, you will buy 40!

Our baby started eating the same things we were eating as soon as he could have solid foods. A $6 mini food processor makes your meal edible for the baby. Since we get vegetables from the garden and meat from the farm, we know the baby isn’t getting overly-processed foods either.”

– from Keeping Up with the Joneses

“These are all great ideas. “Don’t buy what you don’t need”…I agree. I never had a changing table and I never missed out. I know several of my friends that said that was a useless item. If you feel you must have one buy one that grows with them like Kimberly said. In this case get a dresser with a changing pad on top.

I would not forget about thrift stores and yard sales too. You can find really awesome clothes for you and your baby all up until they are about 3-4 years old. Most people have too much stuff for their baby that is never used or maybe used only once and that includes clothes, and bedding.”

– from Saving Your Green

“And all you need is sleepers and onesies for the first few months. Nothing fancy, nothing expensive.

Somewhere for them to sleep, if even a pack&play next to your bed or cradle/basinet/baby moses basket for first couple of months too.”

– from 3 Boys and Adoption ?!?

I would love to hear all of your Frugal Pregnancy tips as well. Share them with me in the comment section!