Jim Breuer on "Why Mothers Need Their Sleep"

I'm going to sleep 8 hours when I'm a mom or so help me, God.

So I have my biggest regret ever at this point in my pregnancy. It's when I told my husband that "I need my sleep, I need a good 8 hours or I can't function". Dave has been bringing up this quote a lot throughout my pregnancy. He feels its unrealistic and he says he brings up this quote with friends/coworkers/family and they all agree with Dave that "just wait, just wait! she'll never get 8 hours again!"

The sad thing is, I mean it. I really do love my good night's sleep and I need 8 hours. I'm a bitch on wheels if I don't get my sleep. Pardon my french. I typically go to bed around 9:30-11:30 and wake up at 7:00 a.m. and head on over to work in Naperville for my 8 am start. So I don't see why 8 am is not do-able? I don't see why I can't get 8 hours of sleep when I have my husband to help share in the duties of nightly feedings, right?

And here is where I remembered a classic Jim Breuer stand up routine, do yourself a favor, and watch this clip. It's worth the 3 minutes 41 seconds. Thank God Jim Breuer can hopefully, hopefully put into words what will happen to me if I get sleep deprived and Dave decides NOT TO HELP ME OUT WITH NIGHTLY FEEDINGS! I'll become the devil. LOL.


Here's to me and my 8 hours of sleep! Cheers!

20 weeks

• Georgie is a banana! Next time you look at one you'll think of Georgie, right? haha!
• 6.5 inches long
• 10.6 oz or as my doctor says just under a pound!
• My doctor said the uterus has reached the top of my belly button! it's true! I can feel it the hard uterus underneath my skin!
• Increased blood flow is going on allegedly.. but I'm proud to announce, no new stretch marks!
• Georgie is gulping down several ounces of amniotic fluid every day, both for nutrition and to practice swallowing and digesting. I love learning this stuff. Meaning, these days, Georgie's taste buds actually work!
• Georgie is producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his/her bowels, and I'll see it in his/her first soiled diaper (although some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).
• I think I need to eat more iron as my babycenter.com announcement said as that mineral is used primarily to make hemoglobin (the part of your red blood cells that carries oxygen) My body needs more iron  to keep up with the expanding blood volume, as well as for your growing baby and the placenta.
• Spinach, raisins, red meat, and poultry (especially the dark meat).

On Monday, at 11:50 a.m., we had the 20 week appointment for Georgie at Edwards Hospital. My blood pressure and weight are good. I'm up +2.9 pounds from last visit. Phew.. Thanksgiving didn't do as much damage as I thought it would. :) My urine analysis came back negative. And, Georgie's heartrate is 156! This time, Georgie was active (again!) and the heart rate was hard to find. But, we got it! 156 bpm!

On Saturday, I ordered the furniture. Crib, crib railing, and extension for full size bed, and 5 chest drawer ordered! The crib will be here in January and the chest and maybe other crib accessories will show up in February or March.

On Saturday, after I went to Cribs to College I then went to the Chevy dealership. I've been eyeing getting a new SUV. Nothing is set in stone and I highly doubt we'll be buying one before Georgie arrives in May 2011. We have to see how the Honda Accord, we own, will handle Bert, Ernie, Georgie, mom, dad, a stroller, diaper bag.. and say some other stuff if we are out and about running errands or going up north to Grandma's in Rolling Meadows. We don't have a lot of car space so if we need to constantly bring a 'pack&play' for example, may be challenging the cubic feet of my accord. We'll see.

Here's the Traverse we like. My friends Amanda and Caitlin drive one! Some coworkers wives, Micki and Kathy, also drive a traverse and only have the best to say. I've only owned an Accord or Camry so this will be my first DOMESTIC! SUV. Yikes! I'm really going to research before I leave the thought of Honda Pilot for Traverse.  2011, new models, baseline trim of LT start at $26,995+! Here's the catch, I want a rear entertainment package/videos and a navigation system.. so we need to up the trim to LTZ trim.. so we probably will haggle with certified/pre-owned. I want a payment of $250 and I'm not planning on dropping a lot of mula down on a down payment as my Honda Accord is only 5 years old with 72k miles and it holds its value well.

3 rows. I like the 2 bucket seats instead of a bench in the middle.

Interior.

Movies for the kid(s) for road trips!

In other news, we installed 2 ceiling fans today! One in the nursery, and one in our downstairs living room/dining room! :) So that's our big 'home improvement' for 2010! Here are some pix of the nursery...

new fan in the living room!

no flash perspective of our living room :)

closeup of the fan!

nursery as it is today (aka wrapping central) with NEW FAN! and dimmer switch on wall!

lots to do still... painting and putting everything into storage before the baby stuff comes!

t-3 days until Christmas!

organization and vaccination & nursery decisions

Happy 27th Birthday, Alexis!  Also, in other good news.. happy birthday, Meridith Blue Folmar. It was really exciting to hear that my good girlfriend, Lauren had her second daughter via ceserean section yesterday morning. :) To my knowlege, all is well and mommy and baby are doing great. Here's Meridith. I love the name. I've always liked it.. Mere/ Mer.. such a cute nickname! Love it!



First off an update! My back is feeling excellent! I'm on a 6 week, 2x/week treatment with my chiropractor. Last night I got adjusted again and went on the traction table. There were a lot of cracks at last night's adjustment! haha. I'm sleeping better and waking up only 1 time a night now to pee. So it's worth it! Next week I start massage therapy.. which is covered! 1 hour massage for like $14 after insurance. Not bad! Thank you BCBS PPO.  I'm half way through treatment so I'll receive a 1 hour therapy massage on December 23rd, December 29th, and January 3rd. Heaven! Then Dr. B will evaluate where I'm at and what she recommends for the rest of my pregancy. Tomorrow I'm at week 20!

Last night I finally did it! I went through all my clothes and seriously lost 3/4 of my wardrobe! I'm proud of myself. I'm donating a bunch to Good Will, right down the street, and put all my size M/L, 8-10-12 clothes aside and ready for storage in hopes to wear it again after hard work and losing baby weight! I'm merging my bedroom closet and bedroom drawers with everything in Georgie's room.  Y-i-k-e-s! In our townhouse, we have 2 bedrooms with 2 large closets/bedroom. It's not very organized right now! Yet!  I'm doing my part and merging my 2 closets into 1. I have a lot of stuff for scrapbooking, quilting, wrapping presents, and so much stuff from our wedding! What to do what to do! Dave will have to do the same as I insist on Georgie's room being Georgie's room. I snicker and snear at the thought of it. LOL. It's a lot of work and Dave just has so many clothes and not enough time to do it all but I don't know what he wants to keep and lose.  One closet is full of his suits/professional gear/supplies for his PrePaid Legal business and the other one is full of Gym teacher apparel and his everyday clothes.  He's got his work cut out for him! I'll hope to help him out and not piss him off. I'm hoping he donates a lot it if he is unsuccessful at a garage sale in the spring. We'll see. :/

So this week I was able to reach out to some loved ones for assistance on pediatricians. My mother in law recommended 2 pediatricians, my husband's aunt recommended one in Naperville, and another friend on facebook recommended one on Martin's Avenue in Naperville. So that's 4 to interview! I did some research on thebump.com about newborns 0-6 to see what vaccinations they would need. I printed off a vaccination schedule and description , side effects, prevent descriptions of all shots, and at what ages Georgie will receive it.  I also printed off 'what questions to ask when interviewing a pediatrician'. I can now compare my insurance coverage vs. Dave's to see which one Georgie will be on. Even though we both have BCBS PPO.. apparently it may be better to go on Dave's policy. My HR manager said something like when his daughter, Rainn got all her inoculations that it cost like $6k out of pocket because it wasn't covered. It made me worried so I need to prepare myself for the financial cost and budget what Georgie will need. Another blogger on thebump.com said she added up her 1st year expenses and said it costs $6,100 to have a baby and get the nursery ready. I think that's really light! We're budgeting $10,000 for Georgie for 2010! aka  No vacation for 2011 and probably 2012!

All vaccinations I researched look good to me and sound familiar to those I received as a child so I'm all for it. I've never broken a bone and I've never had the chicken pox and I've never been in a hospital! I consider myself to be really lucky and I had all vaccinations! I think there's debates and many novels to read for the pros/cons of vaccinations. At this point in my life, I figure I'll be a sheep and follow the masses and go with vaccinations. I may not be knowledgeable about it but I certainly will not blame autism on vaccinations. I think you get what you get in life and you really can't help it. I just hope Dave and I have healthy babies.

Our nursery room is 11x14 so we are only going to purchase 2 pieces of furniture. This is our nursery set we are going with: http://babysdream.com/ViewCollection.aspx?cid=10 I viewed our crib and 37"wide dresser we will purchase at Cribs to College, in Naperville. They have a promo this month for $100 off $1,000 purchase and a free mattress. Woo hoo! We should anticipate receiving the convertible crib, crib rails, and 5 drawer dresser in 8-10 weeks which will bring us to March and 2 months before Georgie comes. We are deciding on Paprika (like a cherry color) or Caramel (like a honey color). Both colors look nice and rich and the quality of the furniture is solid wood. I hope this furniture lasts a very long time for Georgie. I'm hoping the bedroom is big enough for Georgie to play in as that will be her/his primary, dog-free, gated kid-friendly area. Besides, it's MUCH warmer upstairs and the downstairs is awfully cold for a crawling Georgie in winter 2011. Haha! Georgie will have his/her own bathroom and in that bathroom we'll put the changing, countour pad and keep all the goodies like diapers, wipes, & medicine!

Here's the nursery set we've registered, at BuyBuyBaby, to go along with our furniture!

We'll have to have a garage sale over Dave's spring break, in March.. and open up the windows and start painting or decide what to do. I've always thought yellow and white stripes in a nursery! We'll see though. I may want to keep it more neutral for our 2nd attempt at the real estate marker in Spring 2012!

We bought the ceiling fan for the nursery and one for the living room. We are in negotiation and receiving bids for installation. Thank you http://www.servicemagic.com/. We'll see. We figure it'll upgrade our townhouse a little bit while providing much needed overhead light and circulation! I'm hoping to get both fans installed in 2010 as we did 0 upgrading to our townhouse this year and I prefer spreading the home improvements out each year.

We also are receiving bids for upgrading our kitchen sink (double basin) into a single basin sink! We don't know any plumbers and we have to re-do plumbing for the 2 to 1 switch because of the dishwasher and code reasons of not being able to have a garbage disposal if you have a single basin sink. I think having an 18 gauge, stainless steel, single basin Moen sink is 1.) an upgrade to our townhouse, 2.) will make bathing an infant easier, and 3.) bathing Bert and Ernie a hell-of-a-lot-EASIER! I can't wait for a hose! We currently don't have one and I think it'll be such a time saver and a lot easier on my back. We probably won't do this until closer to May as the sink will be a home improvement and we may re-carpet Georgie's bedroom as well.

I think in 2012 we for sure are re-carpeting the rest of the townhouse before we re-list it. It stinks how the single-family-house market is kind of flatlining (in price) but the condo/townhouse market for sure continues to decrease. This week I spoke to my financial advisor and realtor, I bought my townhouse when I was 24 in 2007 for $197,500 and someone has their end-unit (same model) currently on sale for $152,500 and it has a ton of upgrades that Dave & I don't have. OK I'll stop stressing... and digressing from Georgie to the economy.

I'm lucky to have what I have!



19 weeks

This week I got my 19 week alert for Georgie! Georgie is the size of a mango! Vernix caseosa, a greasy white substance made of lanugo, oil, and dead skin cells now coats baby's skin, shielding it from the amniotic fluid. That sounds really nasty to be quite honest... but nature has a way of protecting Georgie.  Georgie allegedly weighs about 8 1/2 ounces & is measuring 6 inches, head to bottom.

Here are some 19 week pix:

Me & Georgie in front of the tree 12.11.10

Closeup of my bumperoo

Also, Georgie's hair on his/her scalp is sprouting. This is a crucial time for sensory development. Georgie's brain is designating specialized areas for smell, tasted, hearing, vision, and touch. They say Georgie can hear my voice now... which is good because Dave and I try to talk to Georgie. I think after Christmas we'll begin to read at night aloud together a book or so.. or maybe I'll just read a catalog/magazine in a soothing voice. Haha. In the 19 week alert it said to register for baby classes so we registered for these 3 classes:

• Prepared Childbirth - topics include what to expect during labor and delivery, comfort measures to help you through each stage, admission to the hospital, epidurals & pain medications, vaginal and C/S birth, and much more. A tour of the maternity unit is included unless otherwise noted.  Fee $90/couple. We'll take this class on Thursdays starting on 3/3- 3/24/11 from 6:30-9:30 p.m.
• Babycare PLUS - Topics include cord care, circumcision care, jaundice, basic babycare skills such as holding a newborn, bathing & diapering a newborn, and special techniques for comforting a fussy baby. This class includes a Pediatrician guest speaker who will be available to answer your questions about baby care.  Also included is car seat safety for your newborn and infant CPR (this is not a certification class). If you have already purchased a carseat, you are encouraged to bring it to the last portion of class for car seat practice. Dads are encouraged to attend.  Class meets on a weeknight x 3 wks or on a Saturday 9 am - 4:00 pm (lunch break provided).  Fee $75/couple. We'll take this 1 day class on Saturday, March 19th from 9-4:00!
• Breastfeeding - taught by an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) or a Certified Lactation Counselor.  Learn the basics of breastfeeding to help you get off to a good start! Dads are encouraged to attend! This 3 hour class meets on a weeknight or Saturday morning.  Fee $30/couple. Since we are doing the Babycare PLUS  class, this class is free. So we are taking this 1 day class on Thursday, April 14th from 6:30-9:30

Since I finished everything with Christmas I can now kick things into full gear for the baby!

Our Christmas tree and gifts underneath :) :)

Things I did this week:

1. Filled out all my FMLA paperwork for work so I'm good to go for 12 weeks.
2. Finished writing my 1st draft of my will! I just have to finish some loose ends with my car title and getting a security box at a bank to put our will, our passports, our car titles in there, valuables, etc. I think it's a smart idea. 
3. Confirmed our term life insurance policy and got blood work done last Saturday the 4th so that is in underwriting now
4. Registered for my baby classes at Edwards Hospital so Dave and I can be better prepared for Georgie's arrival
5. Booked my maternity photography shoot with Amy for Sunday, March 27th at 10:00 a.m.!
6. took measurements of our nursery and window and looked at ebay, amazon, and Cribs to College at some furniture for the nursery to narrow down which styles have a dresser <37" wide.

Things to do:

1. find a good pediatrician in Naperville!
2. confirm if Georgie will go on mom's insurance or dad's insurance... we have to look into it. I heard from my HR manager, on Tuesday,  that inoculations were not covered on my BCBS PPO.. so I'm really confused and I know Georgie will get a million + 1 vaccinations come his/her first year.
3. order the crib and the dresser!! 8-10 weeks is what we were quoted for delivery and I really want the furniture here by March
4. go to Ikea to look at storage and bookshelves for the nursery
5. find a glider that is reasonably priced or find one used and get it re-upholstered
6. and... CLEAN OUT the nursery and get organized with a storage unit. Dave and I have a lot of furniture, clothes, games, odds/ends in our 2nd bedroom that will have to be donated, sold, or stored as that room will be completely emptied in order to BABY-FY it! :) This will take me probably 3 weeks to do :(

If the weather stays as it has been... aka single digits and windy and cold... it'll be easy to hibernate and organize!

Here's some really adorable pix of our dogs, Bert & Ernie staying warm today 12.12.10

Ernie... and Bert

Just noses. :) :P

busting the bank on clothes and stretch mark therapy

So I broke down... I went shopping for me and my growing body. No longer would the safety pin hold up my pants and something needs to stop these stretch marks. :(

 

 

 

$290 later...  yikes

 

I wanted to wait until Christmas but I fear I have nothing else to wear to work these next 10 business days. The safety pin method failed. Target really is the STORE of stores in my opinion FYI. :)

•  I bought 3 tank tops from Target at $9/each (1 purple, 1 gray, 1 white)
• I bought 1 pair black pants and 1 pair of gray pants for work $29.99/ea
• I bought 1 purple sweater, 1 pink sweater, 1 off white sweater at $29/each
• I bought 1 gray hoodie, 1 gray long sleeved shirt, and 1 black top that are more casual/work appropriate to wear as well. 

My solution. I'm hoping to switch it up with boots & scarves and wearing my glasses some days and contacts the next day so I'm not looking like I'm wearing the same thing 4 business days of the week. :) Haha. Thank god for casual Friday to confuse my coworkers and break out sweats here and there. LOL.

 

On a side note, I also bought a heating pad for my back per my chiropractor, a large bottle of Suave Vitamin E lotion, and Palmer's Cocoa Butter skin therapy for stretch mark OIL. I'm hoping to address current stretch marks and CEASE THE ATTACK OF MORE. Did I mention I have 4 new stretch marks 4 inches below my belly button and they are totally ASSYMETRICAL and centered. It's odd. They are mirrored. It's odd. The bottle of oil says 3x a day. So my trick is after I shower, when I'm home to walk Bert and Ernie I'll reapply, and before bed I'll baste myself with oil and lotion like a Thanksgiving Turkey. LOL!
We'll see...  that's why tummy tucks in your early 40s were invented right? :) :) :) :P

 

Names... again

I decided to post another blog about Names.. I've been thinking about Names a lot lately. I want your vote and/or suggestions! Last week, Dave and I went to Sweet Tomatoes to discuss Georgie some more... and we looked at one of the articles on top 100 names in 2010 and of the decade on http://www.babycenter.com/

For a girl, we love Grace as a middle name or Mae... both are family names. For a boy, we are definitely using Alan or James as the middle name. Again, both are family names.  (p.s. i won't use J-middle names if the first letter of the first name is B) for example! LOL.

What do you thing sounds good? I desperately want your opinion as I probably want to go into the delivery room with like 10 names choices for a boy and a girl as what if my top 2 names look nothing like the baby. :)

1. <Name> Alan Nash
2. <Name> James Nash
3. <Name> Grace Nash
4. <Name> Mae Nash 

To recap from my October 2010 blog:

Baby Boy Nash Names: Brady Alan Nash

2. Andrew Theodore Nash
3. Micah James/Theodore Nash <-- Dave likes the meaning of Micah as it means to be one like God.
4. James Alan/Theodre Nash

Baby Girl Nash Names:

1.  Ellie Grace Nash.. on the birth certificate it'll read Elisabeth Grace Nash but we'll call her Ellie and all monograming/announcements will be Ellie as to not get people into the Beth/Liz/Lizzie nickname habits
2. Avery Grace Nash
   1. we also like Mary/Claire/Mae as a middle name

We definitely are talking more and more about Georgie's official name everyday nowadays.

Do you have any suggestions???

December snow

Baby it's cold outside!!! Happy 26th birthday to Brandon Nash today! Dave and I were walking Bert & Ernie earlier today and we couldn't believe how cold it was.... even with wearing a hat, scarf, boots, gloves, and long coat it's really really cold. :P  

Speaking of cold outside... earlier this week I went to the Fox Valley mall and toys'r'us to finish up Christmas shopping. I noticed how miserable and uncomfortable and hard it was being 4 1/2 months pregnant and holding a heavy purse and bags. I then thought "quit complaining... this time next year I'll have a 7 month old and trying to do this crap". So I decided right then and there that I will NOT BE BRINGING Georgie out and about Christmas shopping in the cold. It's no place for a child anyway and I don't see why I can't go shopping and leave Georgie behind. 

So I decided to actually buy something for Georgie. I went to Macy's and looked into the baby department. My friend, Kristen, recommended if I buy a winter coat to buy either 6-9 months or 9-12 months for the 'whole winter season 2012'. 

So here's some pictures of Georgie's gifts that are wrapped under the tree. Everything was on clearance or 50% off.

sleeper, tee shirt, pants, and bib

close up of neutral-colored clothes

Thanksgiving bibs... 50% off now :)

I even found a halloween bib.. 50% off :) :)

I won't post pictures up of the 2 other outfits I bought... a coat & hat in addition to a Thanksgiving outfit for next year. I'm afraid it'll tell you that Georgie's a girl or a boy. :P

Georgie is 18 weeks old:

• Georgie is the size of a sweet potato
• Georgie is becoming mobile and passing the hours yawning, hiccupping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking, and swallowing. 
• Baby is finally big enough that soon I'll be able to feel his/her movements. 
• As my growing uterus starts shifting my center of gravity, hormones are causing my ligaments to relax and joints to loosen. the result? back pain and soreness. 
• TOTALLY!! On Monday of this week I went to the chiropractor, she and I discussed my treatment plan and she re-aligned my back in addition to putting me on this rolling pin/table for physical therapy.
• On Thursday, I went back and got re-aligned again and the same table. I'm on a 6 week (2/wk) plan. My BCBS PPO plan has it covered! I've already met my deductible for the year so I only have to pay 20% of the left over bills. I even get massages ! I made 8 more appointments to conclude 2010 and I'll make some 2011 appointments soon. :) :)
• Hopefully my chiropractor, Jessica Barbian, will fix my soreness and aching back over these next few weeks.

In other news.. Friday night, Georgie and I relaxed as soon we came back from my Eby Brown holiday work party. Sadly, I didn't win any door prizes or raffle. Nuts! I'd love to have won Georgie a TV for his/her room. OH well. :) LOL. Everyone at work now knows I'm knocked up. They were all shocked to not have known. Some people had their suspicions as I've put on weight. Another person said it was obvious I was pregnant as my face was very puffy compared to some pictures at work. :) I can't help it. I'm happy to say I'm not pregnorexic. I eat, and I eat!

In other news, Saturday it snowed for Georgie! We woke up at 6:30 a.m. and shoveled! :) :) It was easy and a lot of fun. I love shoveling. Dave & I got our blood drawn/physical done at 7:00 a.m. for our term life insurance policy too. We then went out to Omega's for breakfast and went to Target to finish up Christmas shopping. I then finished wrapping Christmas presents on Saturday while Dave did homework.  I made cheesey potatoes too! Georgie & I went to Friendsgiving at Megan/Chris' townhouse in Gilberts at 4:00-7:30. Dave was going to go with but he's really burnt out with school, grad school, and outback... he had so much homework to catch up on.  OH well. I went and had fun.  It was fun to see Becca in person amongst other friends, Lauren, Adam, and Martine :) :) We had some good laughs. :) :) :) I'll post some pix when I see Megan post them. I didn't bring my camera with. 

Bert's first snow of 2010-2011 winter

Ernie playing ball while it snows

 Ernie in foreground... snow in background

Ernie sleeping on top of Georgie who is 18 weeks today

Saying cheese with Bert & Ernie

My boys always find a spot on/near me!

Ernie getting sleepy on Saturday

On Sunday, we went to Church and relaxed. Here are some pictures of cuddling, keeping warm, snow, and the Bears. Bears won today! 5 wins in a row.  We just relaxed today!

Bears Sunday and watching the Bears play Lions

Bears W