24 weeks

24 weeks, 4 days

This week was a big one in the movement category. He has been very active which I love. The thought of someone kicking at your stomach from the inside may be very weird and creepy to some people, but it's actually one of the coolest things. The more he does it, the more I love it. I'm sure once he gets full size and causing me pain, I won't love it so much but at this point, keep em coming. A few days ago, Joe and I just sat on the couch watching him. Joe still loves to talk to my stomach and baby boy gave him a swift kick to the mouth the other day. I think he is starting to really recognized dad's voice.



I've noticed this week, that my hair is growing like crazy, even more than usual. My stomach and arms are especially noticeable which is gross. Granted, it's pretty fine and white and probably no one but me notices but whatever.

I forgot to mention in my doctor appointment that my bump size is measuring exactly on schedule. What that size is exactly? I'm not sure. But it's good so I guess that's all that matters.

Cravings are still in the sweets category. Cake! Ice Cream! Cupcakes! Pie! Chocolate! If I fail the glucose test, I'm gonna be screeeewed.




My snoogle has been the best investment yet. That thing is amazeballs and I'm afraid I'm hooked forever. Our crib has arrived, but we have yet to pick it up so the jury is still out. I imagine it will be a while before we assemble it anyways but it's still exciting that it has arrived. We also received our video monitor in the mail. I found a crazy awesome deal on the exact one I wanted so I pulled the trigger a little early. Joe is obsessed and already using it to increase his laziness to check on food cooking in the kitchen while he lays on the couch. He would put one of them in every room if it wasn't so ridiculous.




Still going strong with Mr. Papaya for one more week. He should be fairly lean and skinny but will now be packing on the pounds to get that cute baby chub. The skin is still very thin and translucent but is getting wrinkly and will start to change soon. His unique hand and foot prints are starting to form.

24 week doctor appointment

24 weeks

My visit today was pretty similar to the others previously, although a bit busier. Luckily, I was called back almost immediately to get my sonogram. If you remember from my last ultrasound, a few of the measurements we got for baby boy were not ideal...shall we say. It wasn't something to be alarmed about but the kidney's were a bit dialated and the stomach was not full enough for the doctors liking. This just meant that I would get a bonus ultrasound at 24 weeks.

So, I was called back and got another view of the babe. The best part of this ultrasound was that I was able to get confirmation on baby boy. The tech said there was no doubt, baby was a boy! She quickly checked out his profile, face, diaphragm, kidneys, stomach and my placenta. All looking good. She spent a good time watching his diaphragm move up and down which meant that baby was practicing his breathing techniques. The stomach was nice and full and the kidneys were at a much more reasonable size. Placenta is still anterior. He also moved from breach (at last visit) to head down. Two thumbs up!

Profile


He is already much bigger than our pictures from 4 weeks ago.


A front view of his face. You can see the right eyesocket, nose and mouth. Shadows are covering the other eye. His hand is up by his chin as well.


I could not get over how big his legs look. The entire time he was kicking away and getting his knees way up to his chest and then pushing out.


Next up, they sent me to do labs and drink that much anticipated sugar drink to get tested for Gestational Diabetes. I was warned that it would be orange and taste like a really flat Crush. Well, mine was white and basically tasted like Sprite...to me anyways. Yeah, it maybe was a bit flat but I liked it. Easy peasy.

I was sent back out to a very busy waiting room but again, was shortly called back to a room for my checkup. I thought to myself that this was moving along pretty fast and I may get out of there earlier than I had thought.....oh, if only.

The nurse checked me out right away. Weight was taken. I'm up 3 pounds from my 20 week visit which means a total of 2 pounds for the entire pregnancy. I think I've passed that plateau in weight and I'm gonna start packing them on. Blood pressure was 120/75 which is right in my normal range. The babies heart rate was 151bpm.

It was here that my quick appointment took a nose dive. I sat in the room waiting for Dr. Bennett for easily 30 minutes. Luckily, I was interrupted by the lab tech who needed to stick me with more needles. My blood had to be taken exactly an hour after drinking the syrup stuff to determine my levels, so off I went. A few viles later and I was back to the room to see Dr. Bennett, who was waiting for me. We discussed the results of the ultrasound and she let me know that although things are looking good, they like to double check again at 32 weeks just to make sure. Um, okay? Two bonus ultrasounds? Suh-weet! My next doctor visit will be at 28 weeks and then after that we will move onto visits every 2 weeks!

I won't hear the results of my glucose test for a bit but hopefully I passed so that I don't have to take the 3 hour test. It was hard enough keeping away from the Reese's for the 1 hour test, I don't want to have to fast for the 3 hour one. Ick!

We're moving along here, folks!

Nursery ideas

23 weeks, 6 days

I, like a large majority of women, have had nursery ideas strolling through my head for many years. Long before kids were a blip on my radar screen. I guess it's almost like planning your wedding way before you are engaged. I knew I didn't want a room that was too themey or baby. Yeah, I want it to be comfortable for a kid but I also want it to be a room that I want to be in. Call me selfish.

The difficult part about planning for a nursery is having to plan for two possible rooms. When he first comes home from the hospital, he will come home to the lame spare room in our townhouse. Then hopefully by the time he's 3 months old, we will be moving to the new house. (We spent 2 hours with our cabinet supplier last night and finished kitchen and bath designs and finalized all our products! We're making progress!)

With the spare room, we will have to work with the white walls and crappy fixtures but I still plan to make it a fun space that can easily move to the new room. So onto the good stuff...Inspiration pictures!

As I was browsing nursery ideas, I came across this and knew that it was the direction I wanted to go for Baby Boy. Joe's only stipulation was green and that it was very boyish. That's easy! We will switch the wall color and use the green as the main color and have a navy stripe.


The colors will be green, navy, charcoal, white and a tourquoisey blue.


We are both fans of more modern and comtemporary design, and after what felt like months and months of searching, we found a crib that fit our requirements. No curved lines and white. It shouldn't be so hard to find but add in the safety ratings and price (all our other favorites were $500+) and it was very hard.

This is due to arrive any day now. Pink not included.


I had actually decided on our changing table way before babies came into the picture. This dresser is from IKEA and the same one that was in my bedroom at my parents while I was in college. It's super sturdy, the drawers are HUGE and very affordable. We will strap on a changing pad and it will do double duty as the dresser and changing table. There is plenty of space for diapers, clothes, blankets, whatever. And will easily be able to move with him as he grows.


We are also getting a glider and ottoman. This will not fit in our current spare room with the rest of the baby things so it will be housed in our living room. This works out great as we have plenty of space and will be perfect for extra seating. We found a great option at Babies R Us. It's sooo comfy and still pretty stylish which was important to us. I'm looking forward to having it even before the baby is here.

For some reason the website doesn't have the exact chair but this is pretty close. The color is slightly lighter.


The last bit of furniture is going to be a bookcase. I knew we would need to get one but when I came across this picture (the bottom portion), it was decided.




The room in the new house has a big window in the center of the smallest wall so we will be doing this set up exactly. It will work as a makeshift window bench as well as storage. Aunt Adelle has already started adding to baby boy's library so we are gonna need plenty of space to house all his books.

Another example of the horizontal bookcase placed under the window.


We don't have quite enough space in the spare room to lay the bench down so the bookcase will stand tall in there like this.



Moving on to the fun stuff.....Details!

I decided to skip the bedding sets that are usually found in most nurseries. I had a very specific idea in mind of what I wanted and none of the sets I could find really went with that. And honestly, the bedding sets seem to be a pretty big waste. They are $$$ and I wouldn't use half the pieces so really, why bother? We are steering clear from bumpers (increases babies risk of SIDS). Diaper stackers seem pretty useless to me. I preferred doing drapes rather than a valance so that would get tossed. The only pieces left are the sheet and crib skirt.

These sheets I found will work great with our color scheme. Don't pay attention to the ocean themed bumper. We're just doing the polka dot sheets.


Joe about peed his pants when he saw these sheets when we registered so these will also be in the rotation.



Since I can't paint in the spare room, I plan to bring in a bunch of accessories and color to make it feel a little less boring for baby boy. (Okay for me, since I know he could care less but I have his best interests at heart.)

Drapes will be long panels of this chevron pattern OR solid navy. I really wanted to bring in something with more pattern and color in the drapes but I've searched everywhere and the perfect set is not out there for a reasonable amount of money. I'm leaning towards the chevron because I like the pattern and I need to bring in more gray.



We will need pillows for the bench seat and glider.


And of course, we can't forget the art. Everything is from either Etsy or DIYed by me.




Lastly, we have random rooms that I like for various reasons.




That's most everything in a nutshell. Stay tuned as we make more progress!

Disney 2011: Magic Kingdom

23 weeks, 4 days

After an okay night of sleep, we were up early on Friday for our full day at Magic Kingdom. We were all a bit sore from two days of being on our feet and we knew that today was not going to be any different. We had a bunch of attractions to hit and no time to waste, so by 8am we were off to the bus stop (armed with the days touring plans) to visit our favorite park.



One of the unique features of Magic Kingdom is the opening ceremony that is performed each morning about 15 minutes before the gates open. We stood next to a woman who was there to watch her son perform in the show for the first time. (My mom is chatty so she learned this tidbit of info from her.) The opening ceremony is the only show in all of Disney World that has been performed every day since the opening of the parks in 1971. (Did you also know that it's celebrating it's 40th Anniversary in October?)



The performers do a song and dance number, the train rolls in with the Disney characters while the Mayor and Mickey open the park. They also honor the Family of the Day during the ceremony. Family of the Day is one lucky family that is picked out of the crowd that morning to open the park as well as lead the Celebrate Parade as grand marshals. It is said that if you want to be Family of the Day, you need to get there super early and stand by the entrance ropes and be extra nice to any Disney workers that you see. Matching shirts and a big smile will also help to get the coveted spot.




The fireworks signal the start of the day and off we went to catch our first glimpse of Main Street and that famous castle.



The feeling of walking down that street is unlike anything else. The cast members are all outside singing and dancing. Kids are staring up the street in awe. Main Street is Disney to me.




Our first plan of the day was to split up (like the day before) so that the others could ride Space Mountain in Tomorrowland. I was again restricted from riding it so I headed towards the back of the park to Fantasyland and grabbed a FP for Peter's Pan's Flight. This ride is notorious for hour long waits so we grabbed the passes to use for later that morning. As I put in our tickets, not only did we get Fastpasses for Peter Pan, we we also got bonus FPes for Mickey's Philharmagic. It's a good sign of the day when it's barely 10 minutes into our route and we have passes for 2 attractions!



I knew that it would be a bit of time before I would catch up to the others so I hung around Fantasyland taking pictures and people watching. One of the big things happening in Magic Kingdom right now is a very large addition being made to Fantasyland. There will be a handful of new attractions including Ariel's Grotto, the Beast's Castle, a coal mine ride with the Seven Dwarfs and a new circus section. It's estimated finish date is probably 2013.

Right beyond this wall is where the mine ride will be located.


It was getting close to 9:30, which was the time I was supposed to meet up with the others, so I headed to Mad Tea Party. As soon as we met up, we were able to walk right on the teacups. Unfortunately, just after we finished, Alice and the White Rabbit decided to jump on with some lucky guests. If you can, try to get to Tea Party about this time and you may be able to ride with them.



Next, we zipped along through the rest of Fantasyland, waiting about 5 minutes at Winnie the Pooh, It's a Small World, Peter Pan's Ride, and Snow White's Scary Adventure. Now, Snow White is a kiddie ride but it is still a bit creepy. (They were correct when they named it Scary.) We rode in a buggy with another family who had a cutie pie 3 year old girl. She was so well behaved and instead of freaking out about the scary witch, she would cover her eyes really quick when we got to a scary part. I could see her randomly open her fingers and peak through to see if it was safe to look again. It was A.dor.able. When the ride was over, she skipped off as if it was the best ever.



It was reaching about 11am and we knew we better head over to Frontierland to get a few Fastpasses for the other "mountain" rides. While Allyson and Rachel did that, I rested my feet and we quickly hopped on another one of my favorites, The Haunted Mansion. They had recently updated the ride a bit with new ghost features and it was really neat. Disney sure knows how to theme. They don't take the easy route, that's for sure.

We headed west, passing Tom Sawyer Island, and made our way to my very very favorite ride there, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. (Yeah, I know I have lots of favorites but this one is my most fav.)



The section of Frontierland that houses Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain was a madhouse. I snuck towards the back, while the others rode, and was able to find a shaddy spot with a great view right near the exit to Big Thunder. It was really fun to watch all the kids get off the ride with big smiles on their faces and asking to do it again. That was us only a few short years ago.






After Splash Mountain, we were all getting hungry for lunch so we headed over to Pecos Bills for some quick food. The cool air was the best part of this break. Onto adventureland, we headed for Pirates of the Caribbean (longest wait of the day so far at 15 minutes), Swiss Family Treehouse, Country Bear Jamboree and the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. The carpets are similar to Dumbo but I actually liked it a bit better than Dumbo. They tilt in weird directions and camels, situated around the outside, spit water at you. It was the first time we had been on it and I was pleasantly surprised.




It was nearing 2:45 and we decided to stake out a good spot for the Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade.












After the very warm parade, we took some much needed rest in the air conditioner at the Hall of Presidents. We get into the holding area and find a seat on the benches and rest our feet while waiting for the next show to start. A few minutes later, we were lucky enough to be graced with the overweight family from Wednesday! As soon as they walked in, the four of us looked at each other and just laughed because that was really all we could do. The door to the theatre opened shortly and we made sure to get a seat far far away from them.

Now, I'm a total history person so I was excited to check this out. It was crazy good, you guys. It incorporates film with animatronic figures of every president. (Did you all know that we've had 43 men named president but only 42 different ones? Can you guess who was named twice? It's not a part of the show but I thought I'd educate you a bit.) Moving on..... I loved it. Not only because we were off our feet and in super comfy chairs but because it was just plain awesome. A mom a few rows ahead of us was full on crying at parts, that's how powerful it was.

By now, we were actually running a bit ahead of schedule. We had changed up our plans a bit that day so that we could do the Jungle Cruise at night time because it was supposed to be a bit better in the dark. We headed over there to get fastpasses for later and then checked out the Dream Along with Mickey show in front of the castle. It only plays a handful of times throughout the day but I definitely recommend checking it out. Who doesn't love a show that features Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, the prince and princesses, Hook, Peter Pan, Wendy, the Evil Witch, and more?













After the show, we decided to hit up some of the shops on Main Street, where I purchased my first official baby item, and then we were on our way to Tomorrowland. Quick stop to the famous Partners statue to say hi to the thing that started it all....a mouse.



Our first stop in Tomorrowland was to pick up Fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear. Next, we visited my mom's favorite attraction, The Carousel of Progress, and while I hit the bathroom (2 different times I might add), the others checked out the very lame Stitch's Great Escape and very funny Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. Allyson said it was so funny that she was practically peeing her pants. We used up our Fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear and all four of us thought it was super fun that we picked up another set of FPes for later. The basic concept of Buzz Lightyear is an arcade game as you ride. There are laser guns in everyone's seat and as you ride along, there are bullseyes that you have to hit and it calculates your score. I hit the illustrious bonus bullseye which catapulted my score to the highest possible 999,999.



We decided to skip Astro Orbiter (our first ride skip of the day) because the 45 minute line was not gonna happen, so we grabbed dinner at Cosmic Rays. By now, we were able to use our other FPes for Buzz so we did that again and took our time back to Adventureland for Jungle Cruise. The best part about saving all your Fastpasses for the end of the day is that you don't have to stand in any lines, which after 12 hours in the park, we were all for that.

While we were in Adventureland, Allyson was insistant on stopping for a Dole Whip (the famous pinneapple flavored ice cream) so we took a great break on a bench and people watched before heading back to Main Street for the parade and fireworks. It was this point in the night, as we sat watching all these people pass us, that we determined that 95% of the wheelchair and scooter users are overweight. Now, I'm going into judgemental mode again but it was really frustrating to see. These people were, in general, capable walkers. ::steps off of soapbox::

We braved the crowds and headed towards Main Street to set up in a good spot for fireworks viewing. I may have been a bit pushy but we found a perfect spot dead center for me to set up my camera stuff. Then the magic began...






While all that was happening, Allyson, Rachel and Mom were subjected to the "Asian makeout couple." Luckily, I was oblivious to that.


It was here that a soccer mom wheezled her way in front of me and completely screwed up my compositions but what can you do...



Now, the bonus of this particular night was that Extra Magic Hours were going on. For any resort guests, Disney will schedule extra hours to keep the parks open just for these people. So if you are staying at a Disney hotel, you qualify to enjoy the parks later than others. We were some of those people.

As soon as the fireworks ended, a hoard of people rushed towards the gates to get on the busses. We sat our happy butts down and waited for the second viewing of Magic, Memories and You, with a smile on our face knowing that we did not have to deal with that madness.



The newest feature to Magic Kingdom is the Magic, Memories, and You picture show. It's hard to tell in the pictures, but each day, a new projection video is created using pictures that were captured by Disney photographers through the day. At any point during the show, you may see your face displayed against the castle facade. It's an extra special touch that really only Disney can master. The projections that reflect off the castle during this show are unbelievable. The pictures don't do it justice. It was flat out cool.





You can sorta see the pictures displayed on the castle in this one.





Luckily, we were also able to get a fantastic view of the Main Street Electrical Parade. All four of us were sitting on the curb waiting for it to begin when the sweetest English family comes and sits behind us. It looked to be a mom, dad, and 3 daughters ranging from age 10 to age 4, maybe. Now, let's not even talk about how cute they were. Let's talk about that adorable English accent of theirs! It was after 11pm and they were just so pleasant. We all squeezed in a bit and offered the 3 girls a seat in between us on the curb. (At this point, they had been sitting behind us.) They chatted away and talked about all the fun things they got to do that day. Rachel asked the littlest one if this was her first trip to Disney and she replied, "Well.... I haven't been yet." :) They were super cute!

Shortly after, the famous MSEP music started. (We listened to that track on our Disney CD all.the.time. so I super heart this parade.





Part way through the parade, Cinderella made her appearance on one of the floats. As she was approaching, the littlest English girl stood up very excited to see her. Just as she got in front of us, Cinderella looked the little girl in the eye, shook her skirt and mouthed "I love your dress" to the little girl. The little girl sat down, and gave a big sigh like it was the best thing that had ever happened to her. We all about died of cute.




At the end of the parade, we were still going strong and while a majority of the others left to go home, we headed back to Fantasyland to complete our final attractions. Mickey's Philharmagic is a 3D music show featuring Donald and very good. I'm glad we snuck this one in as it became another must do on my next trip. Great for kids as well as adults.

Our last stop on this adventure was to the ultimate Disney ride, Dumbo. It was past midnight at this point and the line was still 20 minutes which ended up being about the longest line that we stood in throughout our entire day. There, we determined that we completed every attraction but 4 (some things we did twice) and spent 15 hours in the park. Not too shabby!





We took our sweet time and was able to enjoy one last walk down Main Street before checking in for the night.



The walk back down Main Street is just as magical as the walk up it.

Then, let the Memories Begin.


The answer to the Presidents question is Grover Cleveland. He served one term, took a break for one term while Benjamin Harrison was President, and then served one more term. He is considered the 22nd and 24th President.