Little man has a name!

Well Mike and I have named our son... Aiden Eli Shaw will be joining us sometime this September!

I couldn't be happier about the name, and we both love it. I wanted an Irish name, and Aiden just popped out at me. As far as the Eli it's after my grandfather, whose middle name was actually Elias, but I shortened it.

Mike has heard so many stories about my grandpa Finn, and I couldn't think of a better way to show how much he meant to me. Aiden will get to learn all about his great grandfather, and thanks to my wonderful parents who saved everything, my son will get to swing in the swing that my grandpa made, and use the rocking horse he made for me as a little girl, as well as play with all the wonderful wooden train sets and toys that my grandpa made for me by hand..

There isn't enough things I can say to explain how talented my grandpa was, those of you that knew him, or have seen his work, you know exactly what I mean... It was very important for me to keep some part of my family in Aidens name. And I'm already ordering my dad around telling him he better do things for Aiden like my grandpa did for me..

And Yes this means having an Elf rock at the end of the driveway.. (This probably requires some explaining)
There was a rock at the end of my grandparents drive way. It was there for all of us grand-kids, the corner of the rock could be picked up and lifted off, and it had a little cave in it. My grandpa told us this story about how there were little elves that lived in the ditch, and when kids came over to visit, if we were good, the elves knew it and would put money in the rock for us. So EVERY TIME we came to visit, my sister and I would race to the end of the driveway, and sure enough there was change left for us by "the elves" aka grandpa.. It is one of my favorite memories..

 Aiden is going to have a wonderful childhood.. and I cannot wait for him to get here.

It's a weird kinda happy....

Well folks It's a boy!! It's so strange, I felt in ever bone in my body like it was going to be a girl.. .It's almost as if I already knew it was, but alas I was wrong.. . I'm not really upset, and I'm soooooo Happy that he's healthy and strong, but I almost feel however like I miss my little girl, even though I never really had one.

 This is probably because I've been wanting to be a mom since I was a little girl, and I have Never once pictured myself without a daughter... I guess I just didn't think I'd ever have a son. And I did the horrible thing to myself by getting my hopes so high up...

I thought though that I would be more upset than I am, but really I'm already starting to come to grips with the fact that it's a little man in there... I keep looking at his ultrasound pictures, and I love him already. Hes a cutie (even if he only is 11 oz and the size of a grapefruit)

I do know one thing, this boy is blessed, because I am going to be the best mother that I possibly can be. and he is going to be surrounded with nothing but love...

Still haven't been able to pin down a name.. I've been trying to think about it since I left the Dr's today. I had to stop thinking because I was getting frustrated by it.. When I thought it was a girl, the name came so easy to me.

I know I'll think of something just perfect... but until then, I love my little no-name.

How far along am I really??

Why is it so confusing to know how far along I am in my pregnancy? (sounds dumb) but I keep confusing myself..

Here's how.. I know that I am 18 weeks and 6 days exactly today.. I have this book called the pregnancy journal, according to my book you are 6 months pregnant at 21 weeks, so I would basically be 2 weeks away from 6 months. EXCEPT that this doesn't make since according to the actual calendar..

So then I begin looking and I notice my book is going by something called Lunar months. (HUH??) Technically your due date is 9 months and 7 days or 40 weeks away from the last normal menstrual period.  And it's split into 3 trimesters. Apparently (and this is the internet talking) it can also be split evenly in 10 lunar months, because it is 280 days long...

Why on earth make it so confusing to explain to people?? I have to laugh because I always wondered why when you asked a pregnant woman how far along she was the answer always came in weeks.. Well now I know!! Because they don't have a freaking clue what month they are in.. hahaha All I know is that in 2 weeks I'm going to be 21weeks along, which is either 5 months and a handful of days, or 6 months if we are talking Lunar.. You figure it out.

Just thought I'd share, since I posted onto my Facebook that I was almost 6 months and then it didn't make sense in my head how that could be true.. haha well in any case in 20 weeks and 1 day or less, theres going to be a new baby in this world :)

P.S. I GET TO FIND OUT WHAT BABY IS IN THE MORNING, AND I'LL BE BLOGGING ABOUT IT!!

Feeling like Steve Urkel and I don't give a damn!

If I knew wearing my pants hiked up like an old man was this comfy I would have started doing it ages ago!!

Just thinking about how ridiculous I probably look makes me smile...

The last couple of days I've noticed a significant difference in my stomach, and my clothes are becoming more and more uncomfortable to wear (even though the majority of them still fit).

I've been hanging out around the house in my most comfy YOGA pants, or a pair of sweats... While sitting in front of the computer the waist band was driving me nuts, so I yanked it up over my belly button, damn near to right under my bra line... OMG it feels soooo comfortable to wear my pants like this.. Needless to say I've pretty much been walking around with my pants hiked up ever since... (As long as I wear a longer shirt no one can tell)

Here's the kicker, I'm am thanking my lucky stars that I am short, (5'3) because all of pants pants are always way to long for me anyways (I swear they think every woman is 5'7 or something) with them hiked up suddenly all of my pants are normal length.. (Bonus)

I don't think I could handle walking around in flood pants..

Just thought I'd share since I've been laughing at myself for it today..

Other than that lets see.... I am now in week 17, The only thing I can really complain about is some major headaches.. The most current has been pounding in my head for the last three days straight.. Tylenol helps for like 20 mins and then it comes right back again.
 I've been getting restless twitchy legs when I'm trying to sleep, but a little adjusting of my position and kicking my legs around and it is manageable.
I've got 9 more days until my ultrasound reveling the sex, and man I cannot wait! originally I was supposed to find out tomorrow (which would have been great) but I had to reschedule. I want to start getting things ready, and shopping.. And for those of you that know me well, with all my "itineraries", and planning binders and OCD tendencies, it's a wonder I haven't gone crazy yet trying to plan every little detail out... LOL Like I said 9 more days!!
Although If I'm going to be honest my shower isn't until August, but I already have a planning binder, with a complete guest list, some sample games, a food list, a "mock" table setting sketch. I've got all my invites personalized and saved into my online shopping cart just waiting to be ordered, as well as all of my games for the shower ready to order at the click of a button. I've also got boxes of jars and other things that are going to be turning into DIY candle holders and things for the tables (just waiting on the sex for the color of deco). and a complete list of prize baskets and what the contents will be.. LMAO Like I said for those of you that know me, that hasn't even scratched the surface on my regular "over preparedness"



P.S. I learned a great piece of information today that I don't want to forget.. A woman should re-measure her breast size and buy a new size bra every 6 months, because breast sizes change so often. The true way to measure is to get a tape measure. Measure your bra line. (so where the band around the bottom goes) then measure the largest part of your breast. For example My bra line was 40 and the largest part of my breast is 45. Now take your bra line number (40) and subtract it from your other number (45). the number your left with is your cup size. 1=A 2=B 3=C 4=D 5=DD and so on...  Pregnancy is sure doing wonders, because I sure as heck was not a DD before...

Cocoa butter and Baby Einstein!!

      For as long as I can remember I thought it had been a well known fact that women put cocoa butter on their stomachs during pregnancy to help reduce the appearance of stretch marks.. I'm not crazy right? this is a real thing... Because now that I'm starting to show I don't want to get anymore stretchmarks on my belly so I would start using it... EXCEPT my doctor told me to avoid cocoa butter because it contains crazy amounts of caffeine and when soaked into the blood stream will be bad!! Has anyone else heard of this???
      According to the forum section on google, one woman reported being admitted into the hospital because her baby had a very erratic and sped up heartbeat, turns out the cause was slathering cocoa butter on her belly... But other people disputed and claimed this to be UN-true... My question is, if women have been doing this for Eons why now are we supposed to avoid it?? and if I can't use cocoa butter, what can I use to improve my skin elasticity? Who knew being pregnant came with so many rules...


     Next on my "What the hell" list is Baby Einstein DVD's..  My sister and I were shopping around in our local salvation army; when I ran across a collection of Baby Einstein DVD's. now my thinking was that these would be great mind stimulating things for baby to watch from his/ or her swing while mommy is busy, instead of the mind numbing junk that's on TV today... So we check some discs for scratches, and I left the store with 3 of the for 2.99, (which I thought was a great deal.) I got Baby Newton - discovering shapes, Baby Mozart- music festival, and World Animals..
        When I returned home I showed them to my mom who said "those are bad for babies" Apparently a teacher at my moms school said that something in the way the movies are played prohibits babies from learning.. She couldn't really remember what she said exactly. 

Now I defiantly don't want to do anything that is not the best for my baby, so again I did some research.. I came across an article called AFTER CONTROVERSY DISNEY ISSUES BABY EINSTEIN RECALL. intriguing right? Well the jest of the article is basically different organizations were pressuring Disney to stop marketing these products as educational as they aim to set children in front of the television set. certain people were even going as far as saying that these DVD stop children's ability to use their imagination and play. (It is kind of obvious that a child isn't necessarily "playing" if they are stuck in front of a TV) I couldn't find any evidence that these specific DVD's were harmful. If you'd like to check the article out it's http://www.businesspundit.com/after-controversy-dinsey-issues-baby-einstein-recall/ I personally would never set my child in front of a TV for hours anyways. So if they are going to watch a 1/2 hour program I would definitely rather have it be a Baby Einstein DVD than some of these horrible kids shows that are on now-a-days.

What happened to the good old days, when the only time kids watched hours of television was for Saturday morning cartoons (which are now non-existent) When if we wanted to play cops and robbers, we ran around the yard like maniacs with kids from the neighborhood instead of putting a video game in. When not playing outside on a nice day was "Punishment"... We could eat veggies straight from the garden without the fear of some chemical. Licking the spoon and bowl after making a cake was a must (that me and my sister fought over!) So many things are "hazardous" these days. I just want to raise my child to know the fun that I had... Build a fort out of sheets, pretend that the floor is made of lava, imagine that your bed is a boat and save your stuffed animals from the sharks in the water. make believe there's a "twister" on a windy day.. run around the yard barefoot after a summer rain.  Lets not fall asleep to a movie in their bedroom at night, but to a bedtime story read by me. This is the type of mother that I want to be.


P.S. I'm in week 16.... my nausea has been returning a little, and my belly is getting bigger...I've been burping alot, and getting what I think might be heartburn..  I read somewhere that my baby is the size of a light bulb.. My appointment to find out the sex has been rescheduled AGAIN.. now I'll be waiting until the 19th. I bought the baby a hat, and a shirt this week...

Fun in week 14......

Week fourteen has been pretty uneventful.. I think at this point I'm going to switch from weekly posts to every other week or so until I've got some major changes going on...

        I've been feeling pretty good, and I've been getting out of the house to do things a little more often (which has been nice)
Mike and I have went for dinner a couple of times, My mom and I went to see and movie, We all went garage saleing as a family, and I got to go out with some friends over the weekend..

       It's been really nice that some of our friends from Warren have been able to come up here and visit.. (and I love them for it) Also I ran into some good friends from around here as well, and it was great to get to see them!

       My stomach (as appears to me) is looking a little fuller, but I'm still in all of the same clothes.. (some of them are starting to get a little uncomfortable)  I've been getting this bloating (I guess you would call it) when I eat. To the point where my upper stomach gets hard as a rock, and sticks out really far, then my clothes feel tight, and its hard to breath a little.. This has been stopping me from finishing meals, and is something I will be asking my doctor about.. It was even so bad the other night while out with my mom, we had to go to the store and buy workout pants to put on instead of my jeans so I could sit through the movie.. It will last sometimes the rest of the day or night, and sometimes only a few hours and them my stomach will return to normal...
   
        Other than that there have really been no new developments... Dr's appt is being rescheduled to find out the sex of the baby... guess my doc is no longer going to be in the office that day, NICE!

Well I'm bored... Let's get crafty!!

            I've been going stir crazy lately... I really wish I had a car to go get a job... Just something part time, to keep my mind occupied... (Soon enough hopefully) Until then I've thought of a few projects I could do to keep me a little busier during the day.

            I, like many other people am addicted to pinterest.com (follow my pins) There are so many great ideas on there that I would love to make happen, the problem has always been, where am I going to find the materials?? (I hit sort of a mini jackpot here)  My area of MI is full of OLD falling down barns, rarely however do you get the opportunity to get into them and dig around.. but I found one!!

What started out to be just following the signs for a moving sale, turned into (and I wish I hadn't dressed so nice) digging through an old barn and some out buildings.. As soon as I saw the old broken things in the barn my head thought PINTEREST!! I know what I can make out of all this old stuff..

           There was A LOT of things that I wanted to take, but we were offered the opportunity to go back after the people moved out and take more (double score) so I just took a few things: - An old barn ladder, an old metal rake and bucket, some small metal parts and pieces from an old tractor (which are really heavy)...

Here's my loot !!

(PIC TO COME, it's cold today.)


Let's see what I cam make.. I have a few things in mind that I want to try, hopefully they will turn out, and I will post the results, when I'm finished!!

           Also with the turn in the weather we've had today from 80 degrees last week, to 47 degrees! (gotta love Michigan weather..) I've found a little indoor project as well... Which will allow me to get out the sketch pad again!! (I haven't drawn in forever)

 

30 days worth of "Something to do's"  

I think I'll get started on that today :) and again I will post the results!