Cloth Diaper Obsession

Hey everyone I realize it has been forever since I have written anything, esp since the arrival of Miss Lacy Rose Burris.  We are completely in love with her :) I have also become obsessed with my gDiapers.  I love them and established quite the stash :)  I have started to fall in love with ruffles now so I believe that I will be ruffling a bunch of my solids :) I have found a great person that does the ruffling and her store is  LoveyDoodle Designs ruffles and you should check out her work on both pinterest and facebook :)  Well I am off to go wash inserts :)

38 weeks

Went to the doctor on Monday and there has not been much change as far as getting closer to delivery.  I asked if they could do something to help, but there is a new rule in place as far as induction.  Now they will not do anything that would potentially start labor until 39 weeks, unless it is medically necessary.  I am not a happy camper.  They did tell me if things looked better on Monday we could discuss an induction on May 3.  I am seriously praying.  Anyways baby girl is doing great :) She is as happy as a clam.  Since this is the last blog for the class I will let you know her name.  Her name is going to be Lacy Rose Burris!!!!

37 Week Visit

Well not much change this week only another cm dilated.  I think baby girl was just teasing me last week.  I am hoping she stays in till May 3 so I get the doctor I want to deliver her.  I am sure now that I have said that she may come but there is no telling.  Sleeping is impossible these days.  I just lie there and let my mind run wild with what has to be done.  I am not napping in the afternoon but still find myself awake at midnight or later.  She is also moving like crazy.  She cannot really kick at this point for lack of room but she is strong and there are times I think she may break my ribs.  15 more days till my due date and then the fun begins with a 2 year old and a newborn.

Yesterday was my last day of nannying.  It was a bitter sweet day.  I am very glad to be at home now so I can tie up all of my loose ends and work on making burp cloths.  Ever since I decided to go with cloth diapers I have found myself finding other ways to save money.  With Alexis we just used plain jane burp cloths that were not really worth much as far as absorbency, so I decided to make my own that are not only more absorbent but super cute in the process.  Yes it is taking up a bit more time but in the long run they will be totally worth it. 

I have also started a collection of the gDiaper cloth diapers.  They are just too cute and I cannot wait to put them on baby girl.  Hopefully I will learn quickly as to how to put them on correctly to avoid leaks. I am up to the challenge.  Hubby is not looking forward to them but he is excited because I am excited.

Small gDiapers

                                                                  Medium gDiapers

CRAZY Week

WOW this week has been nuts.  I had my 36 week routine prenatal visit and was told to not do anything to put my self in labor.  My doctor told me this because my body is officially starting to prepare its self for delivery.  I know that this may not make sense to some of you but I am 50% effaced (meaning my cervix has gone from about 4 inches thick to 2 inches) and I am 1 cm dilated.  Effacement normally takes longer than dilation.  So I was like super she will be here early.
Well Tuesday night while in class I started having contractions (not Braxton hicks) these things hurt.  They started to come in regular intervals and I thought she may arrive that night or the next morning.  Let me say this before I go any further, I still have yet to get everything ready for Alexis to stay with my parents while I am in the hospital and pack my bag for the hospital.  Needless to say I need to get that done ASAP.  Thankfully the contractions slowed and finally stopped.  Thank God :)
So yesterday I was just walking around with Alexis and her friend Clara around the block and the contractions started up yet again so  thankfully this time they were erratic and stopped after 45 minutes. I have discovered that if I truly want her here soon I can just start walking a a good pace for a while and most likely put myself into labor.  I am trying to stay away form bed rest.  I go back to the doctor on Tuesday so we shall see how much I have progressed :).
I have also started craving strawberry shortcake like crazy and steak.  It sure makes for an expensive craving but it is SOOOOOO Good.  On the plus side in two weeks I have only gained 1 pound :)

36 Weeks :)

Nursery is put together!!!!

Since I finally got to take a break form the doctor's office this week there has been major progress made in Baby Girl's nursery.  I got home today and Hubby surprised me with the wall decals being up and the crib and night stand put together.  It makes me so happy to finally see my vision coming into a reality.

Baby girl is growing like crazy.  I am down to 30 days till my due date. Yikes where has the time gone?  I am starting to get uncomfortable and I know it is only get more uncomfortable till she arrives.  I am still treasuring every movement since I know this is or last.

Not the best picture but here is the belly at 36 weeks!!!

34 Week Doctor's Visit

I am so glad that this week I am feeling much better.  After the three visits last week I am hoping to stay away from the doctors office for the next two weeks, but now the girl I nanny is sick again.  Fingers crossed I do not get it this go around.

Baby Girl is measuring right on target and is nice and happy.  She has her own new tricks that she likes to do now.  If her feet are out of my ribs she has all of her weight on my pelvis.  It sometimes feels like she gets as high up as she can and then some how forces all of her weight down in one quick motion.  She has also found a new never to aggravate.  I forgot to find out its specific name but when she finds it I lose my balance and strength in whichever leg she hits the nerve.  I am hoping that she never hits both sides at the same time.  I know for sure I will fall.  So on top of finding that nerve she has gotten back into the position that aggravates my sacral iliac joint yet again.  Needless to say I am starting to get uncomfortable but she is totally worth it.  38 days or less, But who is counting?  

I am also starting to feel huge and I know that I am only going to get bigger and everyday tasks are going to continue to become even more difficult to do.  Getting in and out of the car has become its own special exercise and event.  I contribute this to weight gain.  My weight gain is creeping up on me too fast it seems.  I have gained 18 pounds.  I am still hoping to keep it under 25 pounds.  Looks like I should try and avoid sweet treats :).  I do have to say though I am expected to gain at least half of a pound to a pound a week from here on out.

Hospital Visit

I have learned a very good lesson lately.  If you get the stomach bug even if it impossible to keep water down drink like there is no tomorrow.  On Sunday I was really sick and it landed me in the hospital on Monday night.  After two bags of fluid and some potassium I was released with a prescription of potassium chloride horse pills, NO LIE (they were huge).  Happy to report that Baby Girl is doing well.  I am just now recovering, I had been prescribed some potassium chloride pills to take to help balance my levels out, which did more harm than good.  Honestly those were worse than being sick in the first place.  I lost 6 pounds.  I can say if you want the doctor to change the treatment plan, complain enough and they will listen.  Now all I have to do is eat two bananas a day.  I wonder why I was told to take pills instead of eating the bananas in the first place.  I digress, at least I can stomach food as of this evening.  Here is hoping the rest of this pregnancy goes smoothly.

3D ultrasound,crib bedding and nursery

Wow this past week has been pretty eventful.  Baby girls crib, dresser and nigh stand arrived!!!  Yay I finally pick one out.  I am still waiting on Nathan to finish painting the nursery before assembly, he should have it finished today.  I cannot afford paint on the new furniture.  I will definitely post pictures once it is assembled.  Another thing that arrived this week was the huge wall decal that will become the accent wall in the nursery.  I have forgotten to tell you that the nursery is a forest theme.  So the decal is white birch trees that have no leaves with some birds and two big bucks(male deer). It is impressive in size.  There are 8 or nine trees that are 8 feet tall and then the birds and the deer.  I do believe it will take Nathan and his dad over 2 hours to place.  Before they can place the decals they have to wait two weeks for the paint to cure and set.  The paint for the room is called antique.  It is a grey blue color.  We did one wall darker than the rest since there is going to be so much white with the decal so it should hopefully not make the room feel too small.  Then we lightened the paint by 50% for the other three walls.  I really wish I could paint but the fumes are not good for pregnant women.

Before 

After

I did clean out the office as well. Obviously with the help of Nathan.






Also over the weekend I successfully made the crib bumper for her bed.  It took a long time to sew and I was very nervous because the fabric was special ordered.  I had to be very carful while cutting because I could not run to the fabric store to get more if I messed up.  I did mess up on one panel while cutting it out, thankfully I was able to use that fabric for one side of the crib ties.  Thankfully I had only cut two out.  After I realized the measurements were off i then had to measure 10 times before cutting so there would be no wasted fabric.  I did make an error when I bought the accent fabric.  Being the blond that I am I did not read as to how much I would need for the crib ties and did not get enough.  Thankfully between the leftover snow camo and the accent fabric I had enough to make the ties.

Here is an up close picture of the fabric.  It is Realtree Snow Camo.

Here is the bumper folded up.

Here is the bumper stretched out. 

 Lastly this weekend I got to watch baby girl move around on a 3D-4D ultrasound.  I one needed the extra conformation she was and is a girl.  I don't do well with surprises, and I really wanted to see her.  I had a 3D done with Alexis and loved it so now the wait is on.  58 days and counting!!!!

Baby girl sticking her tung out.

P.S. I do believe this is called nesting :)

30 Week Doctor visit and Alexis' Birthday

Well the appointments are becoming more frequent now.  I have 6 more to go until baby girl is due.  I cannot believe how fast the time is going.  There really is nothing to report from this visit.  All is well.  I gained 3 more pounds but I attribute that to eating too much at Alexis' party.

Alexis had a fantastic birthday and was throughly spoiled.  I was successful in making her cake but did end up having hubby help.  Those stars become quite tedious and painful to make.  I could not close my hand for about 30 minutes after finishing the icing.  I did learn to not play with constancy too much with the icing because we make the black too thick and it was very hard to use.  In the end it tasted great and Alexis loved her cake.  Her favorite part about the party was all of the balloons.  She is the only child I know that can pop 3 mylar balloons in less than 12 hours.

As far as Baby girls room.  That is a task for this weekend.  We have the paint and the wall decal is on the way as well as the furniture :)  I am so relieved that I finally decided on a bedroom set and got a great price for the furniture as well as free shipping.  So my chore for the weekend is clearing out my office so the Hubby can paint.  I should have some pictures next week.

Reminiscing

Today marks the eve of the birth of my daughter Alexis.  Two years ago today I was running around like a mad woman getting ready to go to the hospital in the morning to deliver Alexis.  I was so nervous,  excited, scared and uncomfortable to be able to rest.  I was told to get a "good nights sleep."  If you know anything about me you will understand how difficult of a task that proved to be.  I am a planner and love to know exactly what was going to happen and how and when.  Well when it comes to having your first child, there is no knowing.  Needless to say it was a very restless night, between my brain going non stop and having to pee every 15 minutes it seemed.
Finally the morning came and we went to the hospital.  The drive could not go fast enough.  In the end after 13 hours Alexis arrived.

She was and still is the most beautiful baby girl!!!

You know the saying, "time flies, when you are having fun?"  It is totally true.  Tomorrow my sweet baby girl will be 2 years old.  I am having a hard time grasping how fast the time has gone and all that we have gone through in the past two years.

My advice to all new parents is, don't blink.  You never want to miss a moment with your children.  I am so grateful that I get to spend everyday all day with this angel and have gotten to experience all of her firsts.  I am looking forward to seeing and meeting her sister here in hopefully 70 days or less :)

This weekend we are going to celebrate with close friends and family with a Mickey Mouse birthday party.  Have a fantastic weekend!!!

28 Week Doctor Visit

Well today I had my 28 week check up.  I received the royal treatment today.  Not really.

At the 28 week visit you get to do the glorified glucose drink to test for gestational diabetes.  Honestly I don't think it tastes that bad.  If you remember the drink Surge, that is pretty close to what the orange drink tastes like.  You do not have to fast before this one hour test, but if you fail you get to do the 3 hour test where you do have to fast.  For the one hour test, you drink the sugary drink within 5 minutes.  Then they set an alarm for one hour.  At the hour mark they draw your blood and test.  If I fail this test then I have to do the three hour test and with that you get to drink the drink 3 times.  I am glad my appointment was early so I did fast before the test.  The problem is with all of the sugar in the drink it made me a little sick to my stomach.  If you get sick in that hour, then you have to start the test all over. I am thankful I kept it down.  I will know the results of the glucose test later this week.  Fingers crossed I pass. I really do not want to fail and possibly have gestational diabetes.  I have sensitive fingers and do not want to prick them for 11 weeks.  Also if I am free of gestational diabetes I can continue eating whatever I want :)

So while I was waiting my hour I saw the doctor.  I am measuring at 26 weeks gestation but I am 28 weeks.  I have felt like I have been leaking fluid, but was not sure if it was from sneezing, laughing and what not or if it was amniotic fluid.  So they did perform an ultra sound to make sure there was enough amniotic fluid around little girl.  Her fluid level is great and on the plus side I got a really cute profile picture of little one.  She seems to be a bit on the smaller side.  I will not complain because she can grow very quickly in the next 11 weeks or so.  he smaller her head is the easier to get her out.

The next joy I was so gracious to experience was receiving a shot in the bottom for the rH factor.  My blood type is O- and hubby's blood type is O+.  With that being said my body could potentially attack baby girl like she is a virus and terminate the pregnancy.  They gave me a shot to essentially distract my body form the baby.  If her blood type is O- then there is no risk but the risk comes with her possibly being O+ so the shot is a precaution.  I will know what her blood type is once she is born.  If she is O+ I get another shot.

Consignment

Well the nesting phase has begun to some degree.  I have started going through all of Alexis' old clothes and sorting through the keeps and sells.  I have so many clothes that Alexis did not even wear all of the outfits because of the fact that I had that many clothes.  Also I found that I had my favorites and would just dress her in those rather than her wear every single outfit.  Needless to say I started with 6 storage totes crammed so full they barely closed.  I have decreased my volume of clothes by 50% by selecting clothes to sell in an upcoming consignment sale, over 300 items by the way.  Point of advice to any first time moms, Only get about 10 outfits for each clothing size.  For example 3-6 months.  You will just use your favorites and all others just take up space.  I am having someone else to do tagging and pricing of the items since I have never consigned anything and with working as a nanny and going to school and taking care of my family, I have no time.  As long as I get some money I will be happy :)  

With the money that I will earn from the sale I will reinvest it in more clothes for the girls as Alexis is growing like a weed and baby girl is just stuck with the hand-me-downs for now.  All of the clothes Baby girl will have are in amazing shape and super cute.  I will however invest in some matching outfits.  Hubby says that is ok as long as all of their clothes do not match, as they are not twins.

12 weeks and counting till she arrives!!!!

Oh on another note I did sell the 125 gallon salt water fish tank in the background on Craigslist in 6 hours of listing!!!  Now I have room to clean out the office to make it into baby girls room!!!

To funny not to share

Registering for baby showers and Craving

Today Alexis and I went to Babies R Us and Target to register for the items we will need for baby girl. It is so much fun looking for the items you would like and need.  I did find a crib and dresser I LOVE, but it is expensive. Boo!!!  Who knows what will happen with the showers.  I love having a baby shower but I am not a huge fan of being the center of attention. I know shocking right :)

I am changing the way I do diapering this time around as I will not have my secondary income from nannying this time around.  For the first year Alexis was in diapers I spent around $800.00 on diapers for the year. OMG that is a lot of money.  So I have decided to do cloth diapering.  I am going to use the gDiapers one because they are super cute and two I will spend about $400.00 and that will last me for two years!!! Talk about savings.  Since I will be home I can wash the inserts every other day or as necessary and there is the added plus of not having a stinky diaper pail.  Trust me I have tried three brands of pails and they all smell.  Hopefully I will find another mom that would bring their child to my house for me to watch.

I have also had a major craving as of late.  Cupcakes and strawberries.  It is better than the pickles and ice cream.  I will never have that craving as cannot stand pickles.  I am still in love with chicken and homemade pizza and calzones :) It is an added plus that I make my own sauce from scratch and I will never get jared sauce again.

 Here are the goodies that I received from Babies RUs.  A onesie with a 20% off coupon for a Carters clothing purchase of $25.00 or more.  Big plus since I wil want to match the girls clothes for pictures and just because I can. 2 Magazines, 2 more coupons, Huggies diapers, Nursing pads, milk storage bags and wipes. Quite a stash :)

 The best craving yet :) Strawberries and cupcakes!!!! The best part about being pregnant is I can eat pretty much whatever I want within reason.  I try and avoid the sweets as my Hubby is trying to lose weight.  Go figure I am getting bigger while he is trying to get smaller.  It does hinder some of the cravings but in a good way!!!

The Target stash: Nursing pads, milk bags, two Huggies diapers, lots of coupons, $20.00 Shutterfly gift card, Tommy Tippy Bottle and aquaphore lotion sample.  The great thing about the Shutterfly card is great.  I use that web-sight to make all of my photo books and never have to worry about pictures falling out!!!

Homemade Pepperoni and Cheese Calzone.  If you would like to make this here is the recipe:

1. Pizza dough ball from Harris Teeter

2. Whole Milk Mozzarella Cheese

3. Pepperoni 

4. Sauce

Heat your oven to 425

While you wait for the oven to heat roll out your dough as best as possible to a large rectangle.  I found that if you let the dough set out for about 30 minutes to warm up.  I also let the cheese warm up for the 30 minutes as well.  It is best to put a bit of flour down to roll the dough out.  If you do not use flour it will stick like nobodies business.

Place the dough on a pizza stone or cookie sheet.  

On half of the dough put a tiny bit of sauce and the layer your cheese and pepperoni and any other toppings you would like in your calzone.  Nathan is not a huge veggie lover so that is why it is so basic.

Fold the other half of the dough over the toppings and fold the edges under. Then make a few slits in the top to allow the heat to get in the middle of the calzone to allow maximum cheese melting :)

Bake for 20 Minutes or until the calzone is nice and golden brown.

Let cool for 5 Minutes. Heat your sauce up at this point.

ENJOY!!!! This easily fed my husband and me for half the cost of going out.  Plus I think it tasted so much better. 

A Change of Pace

Well on tuesday, I had a chiropractic appointment for the Sacroiliac Joint in my back that has been very painful.  I thought oh yes I will feel so much better after getting an adjustment. WRONG. Since my back has been so out of whack and the muscles strained for so long it hurt worse.  Even taking a turn in the car I was holding my breath.  I am thankful for Tylenol and that I can take 1000 mg of that.  I felt a bit better today.  I need to start limiting how much I pick up my daughter for it aggravates my back all over again.
Anyways this blog is supposed to be about a change of pace.  So for that change of pace I now have a huge exercise ball to sit and roll around on throughout the day.  Alexis thinks that it is great fun to play with.  Life is no longer about running around and getting as much physical labor done throughout the day.  I am focusing on resting and relaxing.  I believe Alexis has already adapted to this new pace.  I am not sure if she senses baby coming or change but  she has become very snuggly.  I will never complain about getting her snuggles, she holds on to me with all the strength she can and just nuzzles her nose into my neck.  I know that all to quickly this phase too will pass.  So with that my life has had a change of pace!!!

I cannot keep quiet about this

It has been nearly 40 years since the Roe v Wade decision to legalize abortion.  I am going to apologize if you find this post offensive, but as I am 6 months pregnant it is safe to say that I am PRO-LIFE.  There is no justification for taking a life.  We put murders behind bars, we execute murders, but why is is we let mothers take the lives of their unborn children.  There is no right reasoning for abortion.  I realize that the pregnancy may not be convenient, it came about because of a crime (rape) or one was not careful.  In China women abort little girls because they are girls.  I know too many families that are unable to have their own natural children and adopt.  Babies are highly sought after for adoption because parents want children from birth.  Rape sucks, I know from personal experience and if a child had resulted because of tho crime against me, I would have carried the child to term and put them up for adoption if I felt I was unable to care for the child.  Babies are miracles!!!!
Before the birth of our first daughter Alexis, my husband and I tried unsuccessfully for 1 year to even have a baby.  Come to find out I have Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome commonly referred to as PCOS.  The causes of PCOS are still unknown.  PCOS is linked to problems with ovulation.  Once I was diagnosed with PCOS the doctors were able to put me on a fertility track.  I had to take the medication Metformin ER for a few months to stabilize hormone levels and then I was given Clomid to stimulate ovulation.  It took 6 months of experimenting with the appropriate level of Clomid to take and 5 months of disappointment for lack of a successful implantation of an embryo.  We were finally blessed on the 6 round with the confirmed pregnancy of our daughter Alexis.  I was offered tests for genetic problems.  To see if I wanted to continue the pregnancy.  I declined because this pregnancy was God's gift to my husband and me.  God made this miracle and my job as a mother is to protect my children and provide and care for them to the best of my ability.
Earlier in 2012 my husband and I embarked on the fertility process once again.  We got pregnant on the first round of fertility.  We were elated.  I found out Easter morning that we were pregnant once again.  It was about a week later that I just did not feel pregnant anymore and on Wednesday April 18 at about 8 pm, I lost the baby.  We rushed to the ER and it was confirmed that I had lost the baby.  We were devastated.  I had already told some family and friends that I was pregnant and now I had to let them know I lost the baby.
We waited the three months and with great hesitation tried again.  This time it took 2 rounds before success.  I want you to know that this pregnancy has been filled with concern.  I emailed my doctor daily and was petrified until about the 20 week mark when I could finally feel her move.  I still worry especially if I do not feel her move for awhile.   When they brought me in a 6 weeks for an ultrasound, we were not able to see the heart beat at that time.  STRESSFUL!!!  I had to come back in tow weeks.  Sure enough there she was, our gift from God with a strong Heartbeat in the 140 range.  The growth that had happened in just two weeks was astounding.  At first all we could really see was the Yolk sack and at 8 weeks, her body with arm and leg buds and her head. You cannot tell me that a baby at 6 even 8 weeks is not a person.  Apparently this little girl is going to have a bit of a stubborn streak in her because at 12 weeks she decided to hid for the fetal doppler under my pelvic bone, forcing another ultrasound for her heart beat, which was 178!!!   I have my own personal fetal doppler and could not find her till about 14 weeks. Finally at 18 weeks we found out Alexis was going to have a sister.
Please protect babies and give them a chance at a normal, exciting future.  If the time is not right for you let them live and become apart of a family that will give them world.

 6 week ultrasound.  Here you can see the yolk sack.

 8 week ultrasound. Here you can see arm and leg buds, head and heart beat.

 12 week ultrasound.

 18 week ultrasound.

24 Week Doctors Visit

Yay the 6 month mark :)  Well I actually hit that on Friday but the doctors visit was not until today.  There really is not that much to report.  I have gained 8 pounds total with this pregnancy.  It is more than I would have liked to gain at this point since the further I progress in the pregnancy the more weight I will accumulate.  I should probably say good bye to my weakness of swiss cake rolls.  They are so yummy but they are starting to put on the pounds.  Although the doctor did not say anything about my weight I feel it is too much gain.  SO now instead of reaching for the sweets I will reach for carrots or fruit. 
There is some good news.  Baby girl is measuring right on target for size and is nice and active.  She really does not care to have her heart rate checked and I honestly think she finds it fun to annoy the sweet nurse trying to do her job.  Baby girl like to kick the doppler and as soon as you are able to find her heart beat she moves before you can get a reading.  After a bit of hide and go seek, her heart rate came in at 145.  Nice and strong :)
I was also finally able to diagnose why I have been having a very sharp and almost paralyzing pain in my lower back at this appointment. Originally I thought that it may be sciatic pain, but then this pain did not go down my leg.  I called the doctor and they thought muscle pain and said take Tylenol.  I am sorry but Tylenol did not phase this pain.  So finally today I asked and showed the doctor where exactly the pain is.  He said it is the Sacroiliac Joint.  It is from my my ligaments relaxing and stretching to prepare for birth, which had since allowed my bones to meet causing this terrible pain.  Needless to say they cannot help.  So I am going to my Chiropractor next week to get an alignment, which should alleviate this pain.
I hope you have a Fantastic Tuesday.

Hello

Hello Friends and Family,

I am going to try my hand at blogging.  When I was assigned this as a class project, I was a bit excited as I have never blogged before. I have decided to share the story of my second pregnancy. 

During the course of this blog I will walk you through the beginning of my pregnancy. I will also keep you posted through the rest of my pregnancy as you are joining me in my 6th month.  I will keep you posted in the following areas:

1. Doctors appointments, 
2. Preparation for the arrival of our second daughter
3. Weekly updates on how I am feeling
4. Cravings: pros and cons
5. Pictures

I will continue to keep you posted all the way up to the arrival and first weeks of Baby Burris' life.

I hope that you will enjoy taking this journey with me as it has not been a simple one :) 

Until next time,
Katie