Random thoughts

Babysteals.com featured the little squeaker shoes today. Have you seen them? The cutest shoes but the squeaks are SO annoying! Most people think they are adorable, but not me. Jose wants Aubriella to have some, but the squeaker will have to go. I think most people disagree with me because they sold out faster than anything I've seen on babysteals. I hope I don't eat my words, but Ellie will not wear those.



So even if I give in to the squeakers, I want it on the record that my children will never wear a leash! I don't care if it is attached to a cute little stuffed animal backpack, it's a leash. I won't change my mind on this. My grandma Maria who is deceased also hated these.



I know there are things that I think I will never do as a parent, and then I'll be surprised when I find myself doing them. I've already realized that my view of those obnoxious flower headbands has started changing. I thought they were so ugly a couple of months ago, but we saw a little girl wearing one and I have to admit it was kind of cute. But everyone around me was muttering jokes about it, and I realize the style hasn't caught on.

This past week since our first birthing class, I have caught myself feeling excited for labor. I know, crazy huh?? I started reading a natural birth book, and a friend shared her awesome birth story with me, and I'm starting to really believe I can do it, and enjoy it! WEIRD, but exciting that I'm not dreading labor or filled with fear.

Yesterday during lunch, Jose and I ran in to Lompoc Walmart for deodorant and lotion. We walked out a couple hundred poorer. But I'm so excited! They just remodeled and had a large baby section. I hadn't thought to look through Walmart's baby section, but we found the perfect glider/ottoman set! It is the same brand and style as our crib set, cheaper than the one we had planned on getting, and is so comfy! Jose put it together last night and I loved rocking in it! Ellie had been kicking me, and I sat down to rock and enjoy her kicks. I think I rocked her to sleep because she stopped kicking!

This morning I tried on a non-maternity shirt that I was considering wearing. I wasn't sure if it looked a little short so I asked Jose for his opinion. His response? "It looks like we can't afford to buy you clothes that fit." Hahaha! The shirt promptly went into the pile of non-wearables.


Final random thought... Jose's family is exploding with babies! Every cousin who is of child bearing age (Emma is exempt due to having kids in high school!) and in a relationship is having a baby! Jose's cousin Jacob and Leah just welcomed baby Adam this week! Next month we'll welcome Veronica's baby. January is Aubriella, and Gizelle is due in May! So exciting that Ellie will have lots of cousins her age! Now if we could only convince Jose's grandparents to expand their house so we can all fit for Thursday dinners..

23 Weeks!

Another week has gone by! Work was so busy that the days sped by. This week was the start of our birthing classes. I know it seems early to start but it is a 12 week course and ends in January a few weeks before we are due! I'm really excited to do these Bradley method classes, aka "husband coached birthing", and am especially looking forward to the foot and hand massage week! For those who have known me any amount of time, you know that I'm the farthest thing away from athletic. I have never and will never be an athlete. So when our lesson stresses that "labor is an athletic event", I get a little nervous. Good thing I will be depending on my coach (Jose) who is an athlete.

By now my belly is obvious to strangers, and it has been fun having random people ask how far I am or mention the baby. I know compared to 9 months, I'm still small, but it is already weighing me down. I am getting tired on our walks and going up stairs. By the end of the day I feel like I'm moving like an old lady!

A humbling thought hit me this week... I am over half way through this pregnancy and Aubriella is only about a pound. That means over the remainder of my pregnancy she will grow fast! 6-7 more pounds. Wow... a pound over 23 weeks, and now 6-7 lbs over 17 weeks- how is that gonna happen?? I'm pretty sure I'll be doing the pregnancy waddle before I know it!

22 weeks!

To sum up this week: BUSY! Both me and the baby! I finally started feeling more than flutters, and Aubriella has started kicking! I've felt a couple of kicks over the past few weeks, but now it is more consistent. Wednesday she would not stop moving, and it was strong enough to feel with my hand. I LOVE it! Almost any time I bend forward, she kicks me as if to say "You are squishing me!" I hate to admit, but sometimes I "squish" her a little longer so I can feel an extra kick. Somehow every time she is moving a lot, Jose is not with me and hasn't been able to feel her.

Jose and I have had commitments every single night, and I'm starting to feel like I'm running on empty- and we don't even get a break this weekend!

Yesterday our nursery furniture arrived and we stayed up until 11:30 putting the crib together and setting up the bedding. It seemed like a good idea last night, but today I'm tired!

I continue to have an easy pregnancy, but my tailbone and hips have started hurting more. At our last doctors appointment, the midwife told me that I can't be sleeping on my back anymore. I didn't think that was a problem because I'm a side sleeper. Wrong! Jose is taking this doctors advice very seriously and wakes me up several times a night when he finds that I have rolled to my back. I apparently move to my back a lot more than I thought! He's told me that he feels my shoulders when I'm sleeping to make sure I'm on my side! I appreciate his concern, but my sleep has not been so great. I've been propping myself up with a body pillow, but when I decide to switch sides it takes a lot of readjusting. Oh well, small price to pay to make sure the weight of my uterus does not block the flow of blood through my arteries restricting oxygen to baby and me!

Great husband!

I got treated especially nice this morning! I plugged in the iron, and by the time I went back to iron my pants Jose had already done it for me! AND made the bed, AND made breakfast sandwiches, AND packed us a lunch. I'd say I'm pretty lucky!

21 weeks

This week was an exciting and busy week! I continue to feel good, but have noticed I get winded much easier.

The week began with an out of town trip for my Tio Pilo's 80th birthday party! It was a lot of fun to see my extended family, and to see my Tio so happy and excited!

On our way home, my dad and Jose were kind enough to agree to a stop at Destination Maternity. I felt bad that they would be bored while I shopped, but that was farthest from the truth. The store has wisely created a "dad-to-be" section complete with a large TV, snacks, drinks and football! It is the first time they have said to take our time when we are shopping!

This week was also our first official appointment with the midwife! It was a great appointment, and we had fun hearing the baby's heartbeat and getting questions answered.

The biggest news of the week was that Jose's brother Edu surprised Jose with a call asking if he could come up to Santa Maria for the week. He took the bus and stayed with us. Jose was able to take the week off (and work from home) and spend a lot of time with Edu. We both enjoyed having him as a house guest. We were impressed with his willingness to help out and make amazing breakfast!

I don't think I blogged about Aubriella's bedding "being stolen." UPS said they delivered the bedding, but we never got it. The UPS website said it was delivered to our front gate. Um, I'm sorry, since when did we get a front gate?? You must be confused with the neighbors across the street who are the only house with a front gate, and their address happens to be one number off of ours(926 instead of 929), and it looks like they are out of town. Nope, the only thing UPS would consider is that it was stolen. This made me sick, because the thought of someone walking up to our not visible from the street front door, and walking down our walkway with a huge box was scary! The UPS guy came to our house and did not remember being on our porch, but said he doesn't remember every home he goes to. Then he proceeded to show us "proof" that he had delivered to our door by showing us a GPS satellite image that showed our street as the location of his truck at the time of our delivery. We signed the forms agreeing that it had been stolen (we had no other choice) and had been waiting for the investigation to be completed and new bedding (and lamp, pictures, blanket, and curtain) to be reshipped.
Well there is a happy ending. Wouldn't you know it, the neighbor with the front gate and one number off address came over last week with our large box of bedding! He said he had been out of town (we knew it! You can call me nosy, I call myself observant) and came home to find the big box. He said he knew we always enter our house through the garage (he's the nosy one!) and didn't want to leave it on our doorstep, so he waited 4 days until he saw Jose. So our neighborhood is free from thieves, and our beautiful bedding has arrived.

That afternoon I teased Jose and Edu that if they wanted a bonding project they could paint Aubriella's room. Within 15 minutes we were at Home Depot buying paint! I can't wait for the furniture to arrive and we can really get working on making it beautiful!

Half way there!

We have hit the milestone I've been waiting for! 20 weeks= half way there! Since the beginning of the pregnancy, for some reason I've just been thinking that I can't wait to be able to say I was 20 weeks. Maybe because that is when you for sure find out the baby's sex (even though we cheated and went extra early). So now that the big milestone has hit (and pretty quickly I might add), I get to set my sights on the end!

This past week went well. I have started getting pretty bad tail bone pain by the end of the day. I'm trying to get up and walk around more at work to take the pressure off. It isn't pleasant, but definitely not unbearable. Still, I feel great and love being pregnant!

A big change this week was that we switched doctors. Since the beginning I haven't loved the OB I choose. We would wait 30-45 minutes to be called, and the visit would last 5 minutes! She was really quiet and I never felt like we could ask questions. We switched to the midwives at Creating Harmony, and after our first consultation we made our decision. The midwife Lisa gave us so much info, and in that one appointment she spent more time with us than all our past visits combined! I'm really excited for this change and excited that the midwives are on board with my desire to attempt to have a natural birth.

This week I also sent our deposit in for our Bradley birthing classes. We will be doing 12 weeks of classes! Yikes!

Jose beat me to posting, but I am really excited that I felt a kick last night! I was starting to doubt if I knew what flutters really felt like, but yesterday before Ladies Night Out (more about that later!) I felt definite taps. Then as Jose explains a much stronger kick! Yeah!

I got kicked in the head!

Last night we were lying in bed and I had my head on Marlene's stomach. I was talking to Aubriella and all of a sudden Marlene says, "Did you feel that!? She just kicked you!" I was pretty bummed that I didn't feel it, but very excited that she responded to my voice! I can't wait to be able to feel her little kicks and punches! Marlene has been able to feel little "flutters" here and there for a couple weeks now, but has been doubting that it was really Aubrie that she was feeling. She thought "maybe it's just gas." But after the roundhouse kick to the head last night, she is positive that it is our little princess she has been feeling!