Baby Boy Ultrasound

I had my Ultrasound yesterday, marking the 'half-way' point in the pregnancy! Unreal. HERE HE IS:
Bascially think of the boy sitting on a glass table top. Do not ask for more of an explanation. You'll either see it, or you won't.

Another profile shot:

Mouth open, yawning in this one!

Pay it Forward

WANT TO WIN SOME FREE STUFF? Keep reading? I recently entered a "pay it forward" contest on my LLL friend, Kelly's blog site. And I was one of the winners! So the idea is to "pay it forward." Claire got a fun little package in the mail today with a few pieces of candy, a little dollar store Pooh Tea Set and Princess Wallet...she's in love! Along with several other little toys for her. And a book for the new baby. Thanks, Kelly! YAY! And what a great day for it to arrive! Claire went to the mail box with me and was all excited to carry in her package. Then she had some new stuff to play with while I made some phone calls to tell people we are having a boy in April! YAY!

OK, SO WANT TO WIN? Just enter by leaving a comment. If I know you, I will pick out some things age and gender appropriate for you kids. If I don't know you, make sure you leave the ages/genders of your kids. If you don't have kids...um...I'll get something for your pets...lol! I'll leave the contest open until midnight Sunday night the 30th. I know there's a lot going on with Thanksgiving, so if you only check in once a week or so, you can still enter. There will be 3 randomly selected winners. I put the numbers in a hat for Claire to pick or something. I will either mail you the package or give it to you depending on where you live. I will post a posting with the winners after the 30th. BY ENTERING, YOU AGREE TO PAY IT FORWARD AND HOST A GIVEAWAY ON YOUR BLOG SITE! (Or maybe Facebook/Myspace if you don't have a blog.)

This is the third time I've had a give-away. It's fun. I should do it more often.

Good luck!!!

My Readers are Rewarded

And you shall be among the first to know! IT IS A BOY! DUE APRIL 16! :)

Grocery Lists

How many times have you made a grocery list and then left it at home or in the car or misplaced it? Am I the only one? Surely not.

Anyways, I went to Kroger with these things on my list:

C BATTERIES (written huge like that because I always forget the batteries)

• oatmeal (Claire eats it every morning and demands it sometimes for other meals)
• diapers? (with a ? because I can't decide between them, pull-ups, or trying more potty-training)
• vodka
• eggnog (the last 2 for Josh)

Anyways, Josh saw my list later last night and thought it was hilarious. So that's all that was on my "list" because most of the stuff I just remember to buy anyways. And even if it's on the list I end up forgetting items because I missed the aisle or can't find toothpicks in Wal-Mart because they put them in the popcorn aisle or something insane.

So I end up spending exactly $208. ON THE NOSE. That's creepy. AND I saved over $22 in coupons. Kroger sends out coupons specific to what you buy. Plus you can layer coupons, as in no limit. So if you have a $3 Manufacturers off coupons for Huggies, plus they are on sale by at least $1, plus you have a $1.50 off coupon from Kroger, a $10 pack of about 30 diapers is pretty dang cheap in the end.

I stocked up on both diaper and pull-ups since we had a miserable time Monday and Tuesday trying to just wear panties. Some people say just deal with the messes for a few days. Well Monday, she peed her pants 5 times before I put a diaper on her. And then on Tuesday she had a poo accident. Yikes. And skip the rest of this paragraph if you don't want to hear about potty stuff...well...the poop was mushy. So when I pulled down her pants...it was everywhere. I had to rinse and rinse her in the bathtub before I could give her a regular bath. But there were also a few little "balls" that I had to scoop out into the toilet with wipes. I will stop writing about this now. Thank goodness I had wipes right by the bathtub. I so would not want to deal with a washcloth and having to rinse that out. I so could not be a nurse. I have enough of a time dealing with regular changes and trying not to hurl. I so can't handle this while my sense of smell is heightened while pregnant.

It seems that a lot of people seem to think she'll regret in 20 weeks when the baby 2 arrives, so I should just wait. I honestly don't care when she's potty trained. It seems like there is all this pressure in the US for kids to sleep through the night in their own crib, wean before they are ready, potty train before they are ready, etc. I may give it another go in a few weeks, but I'm done for awhile. I just don't want to be doing that much laundry. She does better asking when she's in a diaper/pull-up and wants to sit on the potty.

Ok, so then I bought milk that was not just expired, it smelled bad when I opened it, but I thought for sure I was imagining it or smelling something else since I had just bought it yesterday. Luckily I was standing by the sink and spit the mouthful of milk down the drain that I had taken. I'm so glad that I didn't give Claire cereal with that milk or a cup of milk to her. I wonder if she would've consumed it? I took it back today and they were super nice and apologetic. They said they do not normally sell milk that is past the date. It was an oversight. BUT I had gotten 2 of the half gallon jugs (they were 2 for $3 so cheaper than a whole gallon). And both expired on the 15th. I bought them on the 17th!!! So how many other expired ones were sold?

Well, this brings me back to my point...I had only written down 5 items to buy because they were the things I might forget, and I FORGOT THE DANG BATTERIES! So I had to go back today anyways to get batteries. The batteries were for a Christmas Train thingy that makes music...a former decoration that will now serve as a toy for Claire! :)

So remember to always check the dates on the milk at Kroger...esp. on the half gallon jugs! Maybe I'll try writing my grocery list on my arm in the future.

Piggies and Princesses

Transcript:
Me: Mr. Cow
Claire: OR PIGGY
me...
Claire: him have any bacon for me
...
Claire: Have any hamburgers for me? YAY!
me...
Ariel...ariel here
her have red hair. her have yellow crown or blue head crown...or...and belle have crown too...and snow white have a crown too...and and and daddy have a yellow crown too and belle have yellow crown too. them have 2 crowns.
...And you can get the rest!

Hey Piggy?

Last night, Claire was chatting on her toy cell phone. Daddy asked who she was talking to. She replied, "PIGGY!" "HEY PIGGY! YOU GOT BACON FOR ME?" It was pretty funny. Josh always tells her that piggies make bacon. So she started saying it again this morning. So I told her to ask Mr. Cow if he had Hamburgers for her...and she did.

Last night, Josh gave Claire a bath while I was at LLL. He fills the tub really full. Claire was telling me all about it this morning. "Daddy give me bath! Daddy make big water! I swim in bath ocean!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Apparently she is associating lots of water in the tub with an ocean. So cute.

It's raining this morning. We opened the blinds to see the sadly melted sidewalk drawings. This always upsets her. She goes, "Mommy, fix it." I said I couldn't because it was still raining and the ground was wet. Chalk can't stick when it's wet. Her solution? "Mommy, get big towel!!!"

Saturday morning, she was walking around the house with her belly sticking out, saying "Mommy, I pregnant. I got baby in my belly." Apparently, I am showing.

Along that same note, she also has told me "Mommy, You have big gut." Yes, indeed. And this was at the grocery store, too. She was poking me in the gut, and I told her to stop poking me. I'm sure it's very tempting...this pretty big baby belly right at her eye level when she sits in the shopping cart. Well, I'm halfway there. Last week I was measuring 19 weeks, so my 20 week ultrasound is on Thursday. I think my original due date might be "changed" but I do not want to let them induce me before the latest due date I've been given. Well at least Claire hasn't started calling me piggy. :)

Formula Fed America

The US has one of the worst breastfeeding rates. Only 2% of women truly can't breastfeed due to medical reasons. The rest "can't" due to a huge variety of issues: lack of support, education, maternity leave policies, etc. It's a deep societal issue. I also believe that formula is marketed very aggressively. Hospitals across the US violate the WHO (World Health Organization) code regarding artificial baby milk advertisers. I don't think it needs to be advertised. If there is a true medical need for formula, people will seek it out.

And, as my friend, Anja said, "You don't know you 'need' something, until you see it advertised." She is in marketing. And it's so true. Commericals and ads compel people to buy stuff that the "think" they "need."

Mother's Milk Banks are becoming more and more common for milk donation to preemies and other fragile newborns. Doctors have figured out that formula is not the same as breastmilk. Sure, babies will survive and perhaps even thrive on formula, but as this webpage states, "Formula feeding is the longest lasting uncontrolled experiment..."

There is a new documentary I can't wait to see called Formula Fed America. Watch the trailer here:

The Mommy Wars

Some stay at home Mommy Myths: http://www.mamapedia.com/voices/stay-dash-at-dash-home-mommy-myths Check it out!