My Latest Obsession..

So my newest obsession has been cloth diapers! Yep, I said it...cloth diapers. I know, you are probably thinking she has lost her mind. BUT, I've been doing a lot of research on cloth diapers and the consensus is that they aren't that bad. They are better for the environment, better for your baby's bum, cheaper on the wallet and did I mention they are adorable? I know not many people will support my choice to try cloth diapers, I've already mentioned it to a few people and they look at me like I'm from another planet. I don't think you should judge a book by its cover though, and don't knock it until 1) you try it or 2) you do your homework and have some facts to back up your reasons for not going the cloth diaper route. Don't shame me for wanting to be the best mother I can be. It may or may not work out for us, but you know what? I'm going to give it a fair shot, so wish me luck!!

I made my first cloth diaper purchase today (whoo hoo!) and I am so excited! I went with Smartipants one size all in one cloth diapers. Since we don't know what we are having yet I bought the neutral color pack. Even when we do know what we are having I think I will only buy a few gender specific diapers so that we can reuse for the second child (if we decide to do so). Anyway, I got one white, one yellow and one green. The reviews are great and they are made in the USA. What's not to love? They should fit from newborn to potty training, between 7 to 35 pounds. How versatile! They allow your baby to breathe and the word on the street from other cloth diaper moms is that your baby will have less diaper rash! And we all know that a sore bum makes for a cranky baby.

Just a fun fact that I bet you didn't know about disposable diapers...Did you know that you are not supposed to just fold those dirty diapers up and toss them in the trash? You are actually supposed to dump any solids in the toilet and flush it down just like you would a cloth diaper (it even says this on the disposable diaper box). Can you believe that? Who knew? I know that no one who uses disposable diapers actually does this, but it is unsanitary for human feces to end up in the land fill. Did you know that it can seep into the ground and get into your water supply causing disease? Okay, so maybe that's a little extreme, but it could happen! AND it takes up to 200 years for a disposable diaper to decompose in the landfill. When you consider up to 7,000 diapers per child from new born to potty training, that's A LOT of diapers. I told you....I'm obsessed!

It's so fun (and a little overwhelming) researching cloth diapers but I've learned a lot so far and I'm excited to see where this road takes us. :)

12 Weeks Today!

Today I am 12 weeks along. :) Which means I am one week and one day closer to our next appointment! I have been feeling a little bit better as far as the exhaustion goes. I seriously get winded just walking up the stairs, but I have had more energy to do house work and be productive. Not that I really have done much with all this snow but hey, at least I feel up to it if I want to do something. We've been snowed in since Friday and I've stayed in PJs since then. Ahh, the good life! I've been having mild to severe headaches lately. Just another pregnancy symptom. For the most part they are bearable, but at times they get so bad that I just have to go lie down with the lights off. Milk is my new best friend. Did you see that super bowl commercial? Ha, ha...I'm a "milkaholic." Before I got pregnant I would have a glass of milk maybe once every 6 months. Now I have at least one glass a day and I actually crave it which is so weird for me. We use to buy a half a gallon of milk and we would usually end up dumping it before we could drink it all. Now we buy a gallon of milk and it's gone within a week. Sometimes Danny doesn't even get the first glass before I finish it off. Oops!

My belly is starting to grow a little bit, for the most part it has just been bloat but it should be bump soon! I haven't had much else going on with the whole pregnancy thing. I did get a little emotional last night after the super bowl. Seeing Drew Brees hold his son with tears rolling down his cheeks made me well up a bit. I felt like a complete weird-o for getting emotional, I even felt like I could cry just watching the confetti fall from the sky. Holy hormones!! I cried twice last week while watching TV when Danny was in New York. Luckily he wasn't here to give me that look of, okay, she has lost it! I really can't help it though and it's not like I'm bursting out with uncontrollable tears, it's just a few. Okay, so the whole hormonal thing is a little new to me. I'm just hoping that all these symptoms mean mommy and baby are healthy. :)

The weatherman is calling for another 6-10" of snow tomorrow through Wednesday. My car hasn't moved since Friday and it doesn't look like it will be moving anytime soon. This has to be some sort of a record breaking winter for our area. I just know I will be glad when it is over!

Well, time to wrap it up and head to bed so I can get to work for a little bit tomorrow before this next storm hits. Here's my 12 week belly...it's only going to get bigger from here so I guess I might as well get used to it. I'll save the bare belly pics for Danny and I. I don't think you want to see all that! :-D

This angle makes me look H-U-G-E! Oh my!!

Snow, Snow and More Snow...

Guess what!? I'm snowed in for another whole weekend. This is becoming quite the routine these days.

Danny came home from New York on Friday. He had to get an earlier flight to avoid delays and cancellations at the airport due to the storm. I didn't care what time he had to get a flight, as long as he got home safety to me. It was so nice to have him back home!

We have been complete couch potatoes today. You would think I would have some motivation to clean the house or be productive, but there is something about the snow that just makes me lazy.

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl, Saints versus the Colts. We obviously don't have any plans with this much snow, not that we had any plans otherwise. I plan on making some hot wings and a few finger foods for the game. The only thing that will be missing from the menu is beer (well for me at least)! Currently our satellite is out so we've been watching Netflix. If it doesn't return by tomorrow I guess we will be heading outside to throw snowballs at the satellite dish until we knock all the snow off. Talk about Redneck! Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

I will be 12 weeks on Monday (pictures to come soon)! Which means only a week and a day until our next appointment and only a week and 4 days until I am out of the first trimester!! Crazy! We're still just continuing to pray that everything is okay and I think I ask Danny at least once a day if he thinks I'm really pregnant. Lol, I guess it just hasn't really sunk in since I don't feel pregnant. Just hoping we hear that swoosh, swoosh at our next appointment.

Saturday Snow Storm...

I've been sitting here watching it snow pretty much all day. I think we have about 7" of snow, give or take. Lets just say I'm not going out to measure! Danny made me breakfast in bed and I actually enjoyed a cup of coffee this morning. I haven't had much of a desire to drink coffee but this morning it was pretty good. Now that I've had my cup of caffeine for the day I'll be sticking to water, juice and milk the rest of the day.

Though it is still a little early, and I'm skeptical of posting (hence the reason I have not posted anything real public on Facebook in fear that something could go wrong before we are out of the first trimester), I thought I would go ahead and share my belly pics. I only know of maybe one or two people who check my blog anyway, so what can it hurt? We're going to be taking pictures every two weeks starting with week 8. So here's my week 8 and week 10 pictures.

8 Weeks

10 Weeks

I know, there's not much to see (other than bloat, oh joy!) but one day I will look back on these and say, wow, where did my body go? We have a little over 2 weeks until my next appointment and I am getting a little impatient. I just want to hear the heartbeat and know that everything is progressing as it should. I thought pregnancy would be so different, but in all reality, I don't feel that pregnant. I'm sure I will be kicking myself in the butt a few months from now when the weather is heating up and I am feeling like a cow! :)

Geez, it's already 3:00 and I haven't done anything today. Maybe I will go scrapbook for a little bit and then I'm going to make some homemade lasagna for dinner. Yum~o!!

Patiently Waiting for February 16th...

Not much has been going on lately. Just waiting, praying, watching my pants not be able to button and feeling sleepy all the time! Speaking of pants not being able to button, the baby is the size of a grape; my pants should not be this tight! I will be 10 weeks on Monday and I'm excited that I am nearing the end of the first trimester. I go back to the doctor on February 16th and I will be 13 weeks along. In one way I feel like it has been an eternity (mostly just waiting to see the doctor is what makes time feel so long), but really, it doesn't feel like it has been that long and I'm already getting ready to start my second trimester soon! Wow, time is going to slip through my fingers before I know it.

I have been feeling much better over the past week or two and sometimes I almost forget that I'm pregnant. From about weeks 6 to 8 I felt like I had a constant 24/7 hangover! Seriously!? I quit drinking so that I wouldn't feel like that. Oh, the joys of being pregnant. I'm not complaining though. I'm ready for this journey and all the ups and downs that come with it. I haven't really had any food cravings or aversions yet. There's been a few things that really "hit the spot" (Danny brought me a hot fudge Sunday home one night, that was pretty tasty, of course I always eat lots of pickles but I've noticed I'm buying them more frequently, oh and grilled cheese sandwich with a side of pickles is to die for!) but other than that I'm sticking to my normal diet, minus wine, rare steak, sushi etc. The one aversion I guess I have had is I no longer have my morning cup of coffee with french vanilla creamer. It was always my favorite part of the morning to have a nice hot cup of coffee but for some reason it just isn't doing it for me anymore. When I went through my two week period of feeling like I had a constant hangover I don't think I drank coffee once. It had no appeal and while I've had a few small cups since I've been feeling better, I've actually been omitting the creamer and substituting with milk and sugar. I have been eating lots of fresh fruits and veggies though! I don’t normally get enough calcium in my diet but I have been making an effort to drink milk each day and eat foods high in calcium.

So, my life is pretty boring at this point. I come home, feel exhausted though I’ve done nothing all day, eat, watch TV and go to bed. Okay, I clean and cook still but it’s definitely not what I want to be doing. Even walking up the stairs can make me winded sometimes! I’m tellin’ ya, making a baby takes A LOT out of you. You have no idea!

On a different subject I’m getting geared up for my annual scrapbook retreat in VA Beach that is coming up at the end of February. I have a few gift cards to Michael’s that I need to spend so I’m planning on going up there this weekend to stock up on supplies. I have so much to do! I really better get the ball rolling before this baby comes though because I will never EVER catch up when the little one arrives. :)

Debut of Our Little Peanut!

Danny and I went to the doctor's yesterday and I had my first sonogram. I was 8 weeks and 1 day along. We got to see the heartbeat which was really neat. Though our little one resembles more of a peanut right now, it will soon be growing arms, legs and a button nose! We are continuing to pray that everything goes smoothly this first trimester. We cannot pray enough to have a happy and healthy baby. I go back in 5 weeks for my 13 week check up. They will hook me up to the doppler machine and I will actually get to hear the baby's heart this time. So exciting! Our next appointment we will be out of the first trimester and hopefully smoothly sailing into the second.

Danny is going to continue traveling every other week to New York until June. The only good outcome is that he will get to take some extra time off in August when the baby comes. I've been doing some research online to find meals that I can make a few weeks before the baby comes and freeze them. I don't know what to expect when we bring that little bundle of joy home but I know that I probably won't feel up to slaving over a hot stove after giving birth! A few weeks before the baby is due I am going to try and make as many meals as I can and freeze them so that all I have to do it reheat them or bake them in the oven. I think it will help out a lot. Any recipe ideas would be greatly appreciated! :)

I'm looking forward to several things in February. My dad's birthday, my grandma's birthday, Eli, our chocolate lab turns 3, Valentine's Day, the Super Bowl, our 13 week check up on the 16th and I am going to VA Beach the last weekend in February for a scrapbook retreat. My friend and I have been going for the past 2 years and it is a lot of fun. We basically eat, sleep and scrapbook the whole weekend! It is so nice because I don't have to worry about house work, laundry, the dogs, fixing dinner, nothing!! All I have to do is get up, make sure I have comfy PJs on, eat and scrapbook. This year I am going to work on our Anniversary Cruise album and finish up our Honeymoon album. I know that once the baby comes I will never get to catch up!

Please continue to pray that our little one is growing healthy and strong. There won't be much to update you on over the next few weeks, except for maybe my growing belly. It makes me nervous that I won't have another check up for 5 weeks but all I can do is take care of myself and the baby and hope for the best.

Breaking the News!

...I've waited to share this news, but I think it's time...

Okay, so Danny and I had an early Christmas present arrive on December 17th. We found out we are expecting our first child in August 2010! I said stay tuned, big things were coming this year, didn't I? :) I had been feeling really hungry all day and a little tired. Danny says I'm always tired, but I felt that something was different, plus I was two days late. So it was 10 o'clock Thursday night and Danny is in the basement playing WoW, I was sitting watching TV and decided that I would take a test. I knew that I would be utterly disappointed if the results came back negative, but I figured I would take that chance. A few minutes later I carry the test down to Danny, a little in denial of what I had seen. I showed him the two lines and asked "is there really two lines there?!" He said, yeah, what does that mean? I said, well, that means I'm pregnant! He was apparently in denial too because he asked me to bring him the box the test came in so he could take a scientific look at the instructions. Sure enough, it passed his test and we stood there in shock for a few minutes of the news. He asked me if I was happy and gave me a big hug. Are you kidding? Of course I was happy, I was ecstatic, speechless and in a complete awe of what my husband and I have created.

Once we celebrated for a few minutes I decided it was time for bed. HA! That was a joke! Seriously, who decides to take a pregnancy test at 10 o'clock at night and expect to sleep afterwards? So I tossed and turned and thought of all the changes that are ahead of us. The next morning I decided I better take one more test just to make sure that the night before wasn't a dream. Low and behold, I got another big fat positive!

I called my doctor Friday morning to set up an appointment to confirm the at home test. We went Monday afternoon and the doctor confirmed that I was exactly 5 weeks along. I had already calculated my due date, but they confirmed that as well. August 23rd, 2010! At this point it still doesn't feel 100% real. We scheduled my first sonogram/ultrasound for January 12th. I will be 8 weeks and 1 day along when we go to our appointment. It's so scary because I have friends who have gone through a miscarriage and that is the scariest thing to think of. We've been cautious on who we tell and I always sum the conversation up with "it's still really early; we are just praying everything turns out okay." Most miscarriages occur within the first 6 weeks but you can still miscarry up to the 12th week. I have prayed every night that we are blessed with a healthy and happy 10 months. I hope to hear the "swoosh, swoosh" to confirm the heartbeat at our first appointment. But, if God forbid something should happen, I hope he at least gives Danny and I the strength to move on and accept what has happened.

So, I mentioned before that we found out on December 17th, a week before Christmas! Danny and I wanted to surprise our families with the big news. Christmas is kind of our thing, we got engaged on Christmas so we thought it would be perfect to announce we are having a little one on Christmas. We picked out a Christmas ornament for each of our families that you are supposed to put a picture in. Since we didn't have an ultrasound picture yet I put "Baby Mudd Coming this August!" The look on our families faces was priceless! All my mom could say was "OH MY GOD, NUH UH!"

We are excited and nervous for the journey ahead of us. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!