now, where to begin

5 months later I finally decided to sit behind my keyboard and restart my blog. It's been quite a journey with little Miss E, the first 3 months were ridiculously hard and of course that would be the case for me. As a first time mom but nanny to 4, I thought having my own child would be a breeze - and of course that wasn't the case. Eden loved to cry. Plain and simple. She would cry waking up, cry going to sleep, cry anytime in between. For 3 months, could you imagine the only sound being cries? It was pretty horrendous but finally we are out of the "colic" stage and now into a much more lovely, active stage.

Miss E is 5 months old and hardly rolling over. At first I was worried that she was hitting her milestone but the DR basically said that she's on the heavier side so there's more weight to move around which could be hard. From what she has seen, heavier babies tend to roll over later than those that are light... well isn't that great, her weight already is holding her back! kidding, of course. I"m so glad she's a healthy, happy baby now.

This is my hello back to the blogging life.. and with that, I leave you with these pictures that tell more than 1000 words.

6/26/11 changed my life

8:30am - woke up and took the dogs out for a mile walk

9:30am - woke Eugene up to take a shower and got ready for church

10:00am - about to walk out the door to church, I start getting a little cramp and decide to sit on the couch for a second to make sure it wasn't something more. 10 minutes later I realize that this may be the infamous contractions everyone was telling me about. I decide to time them, why not! Well 30 minutes later I realize that yes, these were most likely contractions and they're 5 minutes apart (I mean what the hell do I know, I've never felt a contraction!). My doctor on Thursday said there were three things that might happen for me to go to the hospital: 1. I would have a bloody show, 2. My water would break, 3. I would feel contractions 5 minutes apart.

Well, my contractions were 5 minutes apart so I decided that I might just have to go to the hospital to figure all this out. Well since I was up since 8:30 I decided I would eat something before I go in, just in case I do deliver and I can't eat anything for the day. Eugene and I ate some breakfast.

11:45am - I called my doctor to tell them I think I'm in labor (OMG I'M IN LABOR?, LABOR what a huge word that I thought I wouldn't have to use for another week or so)

12:00pm - Eugene and I put our bags, pillows, blankets, and most importantly the baby seat into the car and headed over to Labor&Delivery at Northwest Community Hospital.

12:30pm - We got to the hospital and they took all my information and checked me in. They started timing my contractions, I was excited to see if these were real contractions or if this was just cramps that I was feeling (they felt like period cramps by this time). Well lo and behold, they were real contractions so they decided to check my cervix. They checked and I was still just about 4 cm, which means no change from Thursday's doctor appointment. Well they decided to call the doctor and let him know and see what he had to say.

Doctor said that since I have no change that they can observe me for about 2 hours and if there is still no change that I'll have to go home. If there is a change, they'd figure out what they would do. Yes, you read that right.. even if I was to get dilated, if there wasn't that big of a change I would have to go home (WHAT A BUMMER).

Here is the problem behind everything. On Sunday, I was 38 weeks and 3 days. The hospital doesn't do any type of intervention until 39 weeks because from their experience if they do intervention before 39 weeks it usually concludes in a c-section. Because of this they wouldn't break my bag of water that was bulging and ready to pop, they couldn't give me any type of pain medication to ease the labor pains and they couldn't emit me until they were 100% sure I would have the baby without interventions.

2:30pm - They did a cervical check on me to see if there were any changes, turns out I was 5 cm dilated so just a little bit of change but a change nonetheless. By this time, my contractions were pretty painful so I told them there was no way I was going home and that I wouldn't even be able to make it out the door with how much pain I was in. The nurse told me they would call the doctor and see what he wanted to do.

Oh by the way, the doctor was not even a doctor I've ever met. There are two different practices that go through the hospital and take shifts during the weekend. Well of course the weekend I'm went was a weekend that the other practice covers.

3:30pm - Word from the doctor is that I didn't change that much so that they would be able to give me some nubain which would take the "bite" out of the contractions and make me feel tired and "drunk". They then would see if my water would break on its own.

Doctor was finally on his way in and I was now going to be admitted to the hospital.

4:00pm - Now that I was finally admitted and the news of me having a baby on the way settled in just a little bit, I was able to relax and finally text my family that I was officially in labor.

4:30pm - The nubain wasn't doing too much for me so I asked them if I could have the epidural, especially since I was going into full on labor and I didn't know how I would be able to handle it.

5:00pm - Got my epidural and a nurse came in to break my water. They checked my cervix and I was at about 6-7 cm dilated and labor was about to really hit hard since my bag of water was now broken. Thank goodness my epidural was in and I wouldn't have to feel much pain.

5:30pm - My mom and brother made it to the hospital and kept me company while I tried to "relax" and get myself prepared for the pushing that was going to come in the future (near future if I had any clue).

6:20pm - Doctor finally comes in and introduces himself to us. He checks my cervix and says that it's time to push. I hit 10 cm dilated and 100% effaced in just a little over an hour. Doctor said he would be back since he needed to change. The doctor reminded me that I needed to be ready to push for about 1-3 hours on average for a first time mom and if I pushed hard, I would be able to hopefully push for just an hour.

6:30pm - I started to push with my nurse and she said that they would get another nurse to also be in the delivery room with us. Pushing was HARD and I had no clue if I was doing it correctly or if I wasn't really pushing anything at all. Eden started sorta high so I had to push a little more than usual since I had to push her down. The nurse said I was doing it correctly (even though I kept doubting myself) so I kept pushing. Now pushing is 3 sets of 10 second pushes during each contraction. Between contractions is about 2 minutes which means you get to rest for 2 minutes and then push for 30 seconds. I was exhausted after 5 pushes so I definitely didn't know how I would be able to push for 3 hours if I had to.

7:00pm - The doctor came in and checked to see how things were progressing. You know when you look at someone and can kind of tell if they have "gentle hands" or more of the "rough and tough"? Well when you look at my doctor, you can tell he's not gentle and more rough and tough, let's get things on the road type of guy. Well great, he came in and looked at the progress and started stretching and moving things around down there to really get the show on the road. It was PAINFUL. Okay so I couldn't feel pain but the pressure was so intense I could feel how painful it was. The doctor as rough as he was though, was a pretty great motivator. Throughout the next 2 pushes he motivated me to push as hard as I could and gave me so much encouragement that I was doing it right. By the 3rd push he said that I was there and I just needed to push one more time and I'd have a baby. I couldn't believe it and I didn't. I gave my last push as much as I had and well he was right, I had a baby by 7:05pm.

Now for the nitty, gritty, dirty details. At the end of pushing Eden out and having a baby, I wasn't able to hold Eden because when they broke my water they saw some meconium (baby poop) in the bag of fluid and they wanted to make sure that she didn't swallow any and there was nothing in her lungs. They said that if she cried that there was no way she swallowed it and that she would be fine. But either way they would test her and make sure everything was okay. Well she cried when she came, but they still took her away and while they took her away...

I was stitched up. And I was, what you call "man-handled" to get my placenta out and to make sure I don't hemmorhage. Now when I say man-handled, I mean the doctor was totally pushing down on my stomach with all four fingers with all his might for about 5 minutes. It would have been nice if I couldn't feel it but I felt every bit of it and it was probably more painful than the contractions I was feeling before my epi. Both of these two things, the stitching and the man-handling to get the placenta out, was painful but I got through it thankfully.

So at the end of my delivery, the status is that I have stitches, they didn't tell me how many but he showed me how long of a cut he made (he didn't even tell me he cut me and I had no clue he did) and I have swelling in my bottom area (some nurses say swelling, some will say I have minor hemmroids). Monday was a painful one. I couldn't sleep very well because I was in pretty much a whole lot of pain and it was hard to just lay down without feeling pressure and pain all throughout my bottom region.

Through it all though, Eden is in this world and I would do it all over again in a second if I had to. Ever wonder how it feels like to fall in love at first sight? Have a baby.

38 week appointment update

Got back from my 38 week appointment, was kind of excited for it since it was my first internal and I wanted to see what was happening inside of my body.

Got my weight checked, blood pressure, talked to the nurse if there is any way to go through lightening since it doesn't seem like Baby Chon has moved down at all, and then waited for the doctor to come in.

Once the doctor came in, we checked the heart beat and then went into the cervical check. Well as my Dr was checking, she goes "oh wow, omg" and I'm thinking uh oh what is going on and she says that I am 3-4 cm dilated and that my water is bulging and ready to pop. She then said that she didn't know what to do with me and that she was going to call Dr. Goldin who is on call at the hospital to see if I should go to the hospital right away or what we should do. After she talked to Dr. Goldin, she came back and told me to hang out, relax, and wait for my water to break and once it does to call in. She then said that if that happens to go to the hospital or if my contractions get to be 5 minutes apart. I've been seeing my Dr. every week since 37 weeks and she said that we can set an appointment for next week but she highly doubts that I'll be seeing her for my next appointment and will be highly shocked if I do keep it.

Basically, Baby Chon is coming pretty soon.. we don't know how soon but soon enough. I'm finally slowly getting ready for this.

terrified

I am absolutely terrified for what's about to happen. I know that you need to come out some way or the other but I'm completely scared of labor and delivery. I'm scared, REALLY scared and I can't get over this fear. I'd love for you to come out for me to hold you, see you, love you but I am truly terrified. Watching all these shows with labor and delivery doesn't help my fear either. I can't imagine the pain and just everything that is about to happen in the next 2 weeks.

expecting the unexpected

Expecting the unexpected is probably the hardest thing one can do.. I'm sitting here wondering and thinking about the unknown. It drives me insane that someone can't just give me a date and time for me to go into the hospital and check in to have Baby Chon. Sitting here, waiting for her to make her appearance is more brutal than actually going into labor (for what I know at least).

Waiting for the unknown.

Someone said that they think I'll be going a week late, great. That's exactly what I want to hear. I know a lot of first time moms go late with their first, but I was just hoping I'd go on time or even earlier. I'm going to try and do some Old Wives Tales to see if it results in labor. Eugene and I have been walking more often, up and down our street which is about 2 miles total which is said to help with labor. I'm also going to try and eat some eggplant parmesan. I'm not really sure what else I'll try as of now but we'll see what happens, either way my body won't be ready till its ready so I'm sure there's not much I can really do. Either way,

the wait is the kill.

marks of love

Oh the joy of looking into the mirror and seeing tiger stripes also known as stretch marks. I am now officially a mother and can embrace my body. I find it amusing that I thought I was in the clear and right when I hit the 36 mark I get these love stripes. I'm not complaining though, I'm embracing my ever changing body and this is just part of the bigger plan. I love my body and know how important it is for me to have a perfect body for baby, perfect in its own way. Not perfect to anyone else's standard but perfect enough that I can create a living, loving being that will appreciate what I've done for her when she grows up and matures into a woman.

ready.. set... GO!

I'm finally updating. I don't know what I've been doing for the past few weeks that I haven't updated but I guess there just wasn't a lot going on. For the past week though, Eugene and I have been in nesting mode, really more me and him doing everything because I'm asking (ordering) him to do them. Here is a picture update of what's been going on.

On Saturday, 6/4, Eugene and I went to BuyBuyBaby and used our 20% off our entire order coupon to buy the rest of Baby Chon's things. We bought her bath tub, shampoo, lotions, diaper rash creams, baby bottle cleaner, toys, and just about everything you can imagine. Mind you, we don't need half the things until she's at least 6+ months but knowing me and how much I like to stock up, I just had to get everything I knew I would use. 

After we got home, I just had to organize and get things ready so we cleaned the house, set up her pack n play, brought her swing downstairs from her room, and moved the bassinet into our room so the dogs would get used to something else being in the room with them. 

Here's her pack n play, Graco Dempsey, and her swing - all ready for her to use.

Here is her bassinet in our room, all we need is Little Miss to fill her clothes.

This is my glider that is finally finished. I wasn't able to post a picture of it before so I'm finally updating. My mom took the original covers of the glider and sewed new covers for so that the glider accents the room perfectly. I <3 my glider print, my mom did a fantastic job and it works in the room so well!

We're just on a roll with getting things ready for Baby Chon's arrival. We finally got her infant car seat from my nanny family (they donated theirs to us) and it is now installed in my car and the seat is ready to go!

All these things we've done for Baby Chon are just making it more real that she will be here in a mere 4.5 weeks (tentatively of course). Can't wait for all these things to be used and filled with love. 

Hello HONEYdew

How Far Along: 33 Weeks

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a HONEYdew

Other things baby is up to: Baby's senses are continuing to improve -- when light peeks in through your (extremely) stretched belly, those tiny eyelids and irises blink and dilate. And, baby can now recognize and react to simple songs... time to start practicing your lullabies! Growth (at least inside your womb) is starting to slow, and you may notice baby descend into your pelvis at the end of this month.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 20 lbs at my 32 week appointment, which is great so far. Hoping I gain just 10 more lbs but we'll see what ends up happening! 

Movement: She is just a mellow fellow. She doesn't move very often, no hard kicks but I do feel her all the time. She is definitely laying on the right side with her head down - perfect for delivery. 

Sleep: I won't jinx myself but I'm still getting very good sleep and I am thanking God every night that I do get sleep. 

Symptoms: Acid Reflux, having a sweet tooth (which hasn't changed since the BFP), and a lot of weight on my stomach (I can tell she's gaining weight).

Belly Button: Can you believe it, I'm still an inny!!! My belly button is probably the size that a normal person's belly button is when not pregnant. I tell you, I had the black hole as my belly button!

Milestones: Next week I have my 34 week appointment and then appointments every week afterwards. I just hit 50 more days, can you believe 50 more days? I can't wait to meet this baby girl!!

Looking forward to: How about what am I not looking forward to? Eugene is going on a bachelor party next weekend and I'm not looking forward to being home alone for the weekend -=( 

Next appointment: May 26, 2011

Other: I'm spending some time with some of my sisters this weekend which I'm super excited about. I haven't seen some of these sisters for 2 years or more so it will be a great reunion! <3

my UPS guy stinks

#beginVENT

Here is the list of just some of the things I cannot stand about this guy:

#1 Since I've moved I've been so unhappy with the UPS guy. I used to get things shipped all the time with no problem and the UPS guy would just drop my package off at the door. I know a lot of people might not like the idea of having things just dropped off at the door but its the convenience factor. I was thrown off by this in the beginning too but with so much being shipped to the house, I'd rather him drop things off then having to pick it up at the UPS station  (which is 15 minutes away from the house without traffic) every time something is shipped (and some weeks I get things shipped daily - like this one).

#2 He doesn't come at a certain time slot - alright, that's understandable; sometimes you might have 100 packages and sometimes you might have 50. But I'm talking he comes at 9am, 1pm, 5pm, or 8pm. There is NO set time AT ALL and it drives me up the wall. Especially when the slip says he'll be at my house for the second attempt at 1-3pm and I schedule around it to make sure I'm there and he comes at 9am instead.

#3 Now going back to #1, he doesn't leave anything at the door BUT the one time he does decide to leave something at the door its diapers and wipes that are VISIBLE to the public of what they are. I've gotten TONS of packages in brown boxes that nobody would know what the heck it was inside that I have to pick up at the UPS station, but the one time you can actually tell what the heck is inside the box, he leaves it at the door. Where is the common sense in that? Not only that but of course the one day he decides to leave things at the door it RAINS. The irony in that one boggles my mind.

I just had to vent, I can't stand this guy and I hope I don't have anymore horrible run ins with him or else UPS will be getting a second phone call (yes I've already called them because of his stupidity but that's a whole different story). What Eugene likes to call this is - BULLDOGGING.

definition of BULLDOGGING - someone getting a piece of my mind when they do something idiotic.

#endVENT

showered with love

Happy Mother's Day to all the amazing moms out there. Today is a day to acknowledge all that mother's sacrifice and do for their loved ones.

Yesterday was Baby Chon's shower of love. Thank you to Linda and Christina for putting together an amazing shower. I appreciate each of you in my life and I can't imagine having anyone else be better aunties than you two.

I don't have too many pictures just yet since my brother has yet to upload and edit. For now, I'll just put the most important pictures up - the FOOD!

This is a picture of the food table - brats and cheeseburgers/hamburgers, chips, potato salad, coleslaw, the fix ins for the cheeseburger including pickles (which everyone laughed at.. why? I guess pickles aren't that common to put out at a BBQ, I sure thought it was! Everyone just made fun of me for being pregnant), fruits (watermelon, strawberries, pineapple, canteloupe), and a veggie platter. 

More pictures will come with the cupcake reveal but this is a picture of the cupcakes that were created by Gen (and Dee). Gen has some amazing talent and did a great job with these cupcakes! Can you believe she doesn't do this for a living but just a hobby? She really should think about opening up her own business, she is so talented!

This was the mini cake that was created for us, goes with our baby shower theme "What's the Baby going to BEE?" I haven't cut into the cake yet but I'm sure I'll be cutting into it pretty soon, it's too pretty to cut into but I definitely want to try it (the bees are edible)!!

With the baby shower, we had a gender reveal. We asked everyone who was invited to wear either blue or pink, color coordinating what their guess of Baby Chon's gender.

Here is TEAM BLUE (other than Stella - who wore blue but really thinks we're having a girl), everyone here guessed we were having a BOY

And here is TEAM PINK, (other than Dee who knew we were having a girl but said she guessed girl from the beginning), everyone thought we were having a GIRL

Sadly I don't have pictures of the cupcake reveal as of now, BUT what I can say is that everyone was super excited and shocked. Wouldn't you be when more than half the group thought we were having a boy?

Here is a picture of Mom and Dad  -to be with our reveal t-shirts. 

Yes, we are HAVING A GIRL!

________________________________________________

Along with the shower on Saturday, we had our 3d/4d ultrasound. I'm so glad we got to experience it for FREE especially because I definitely don't think it's worth it to pay for it, I just didn't think it was that necessary and I think there is just too much hype. Either way we got a $99 3d/4d package absolutely free so I'm not complaining! 

To end today's blog post, I just wanted everyone to please check out Yippy Momma, a Mommy Blogger from New York who featured Baby Chon's nursery!! Definitely a very cool experience and I'm so glad they chose Baby Chon's room to feature for their very first Friday Feature, PLEASE check them out!

you will be outted

Baby Chon,

Today is the day, the day that you are outted to the world if you are a boy or girl. Can't wait for everyone to find out so that I can stop hiding and watching what I say to people. It's been 11 weeks since we found out if you were a s/he and not a day has gone by where it gets easier to talk about you using "the baby" instead of just saying he or she. 

Not only is today the day you are outted, but today is spoilage day for you. Your Godmother Linda and Auntie Christina have put together a shower to celebrate your life (that will soon be) and I can't wait to see all my friends! There are friends I haven't seen since the wedding and friends I haven't seen in a couple days, but either way I'm excited to see everyone. 

But wait, there is still more happening today. Today we get to see you in 3d/4d, we're getting a complimentary 3d/4d ultrasound from Stork Vision Chicago and I get to finally see your mommy cheeks and really see if you have daddy's nose or you've got mine. I had this image of you looking just like me, a mini me, and I can't wait to see what features you have that are mommy's and what you have that are daddy's. Updates will come shortly, I promise!

.. iSLACK

I've been slacking, a whole lot. I haven't been on here for about a good week and a half and I always see the tab to update and just never do. This is a true reality of how third trimester has been for me. I am EXHAUSTED and have no energy to do anything. I've gone to work, come home and relaxed on the couch instead of doing my usual work that I do at home (getting tshirt orders prepped and completed, cutting baby blankets fit to size, etc). I got my embroidery machine and want to sell some baby blankets off of ETSY.COM but I can't even get the motivation to get onto the site to see what it entails and what I need to get done, along with taking pictures of everything so that I can post them up to the site. One day, hopefully soon I'll get it done, I promise I will.

As of now, I'll just update (I didn't even do my 30 week update). I don't really have the energy to do a 30 week update NOW since I'm almost at 31 weeks but I'll definitely put up some pictures.

Here are my pictures from 30 weeks. We went the doctors and was also able to see Baby Chon again for his/her growth ultrasound. S/he is looking great and growing on average, about 3 lbs and 8 oz and looking beautiful. We're actually getting a 3D/4D ultrasound on Saturday, May 7th so I can't wait to see how s/he really looks. I would love to be surprised BUT the ultrasound was free due to a raffle I won so I definitely will take advantage.

This is a picture of Baby Chon, look at the top right and you can see his/her nose, cheeks, and mouth; the big round circle on top is baby's fist.

The ultrasound tech immediately said "Baby has mommy's cheek" and I cringed. Out of everything s/he could have, she got my cheeks! The one thing I've hated throughout childhood and even more throughout my adult life. Great, I hope s/he embraces them and doesn't hate them the way I have. I've learned to embrace them as well, and hopefully even more now that my child has the same trait as I do. Definitely think s/he has Eugene's nose, we'll have to see on the 3d/4d ultrasound because its hard to see in 2d what shape it really is. 

Our baby shower is also on Saturday, can't wait! I'm so excited to see all my friends again, never seems like there is time to see everyone and there's some friends that I haven't even seen throughout my whole pregnancy! I'm really hoping for some great weather since we SHOULD be having a BBQ, please please do not rain! 

11 weeks to go...

How Far Along: 29 Weeks

Size of Baby: Baby Chon is the size of a SQUASH

Other things baby is up to: Baby's energy is surging, thanks to the formation of white fat deposits beneath the skin. Baby is also setting into sleep and waking cycles, though -- as you've also probably noticed -- they don't necessarily coincide with your own. Also this month, all five senses are finally functional, and the brain and nervous system are going through major developments.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 20 pounds, with 11 more weeks to go at about 1 pound a week, I hope I only gain 30 pounds this whole pregnancy which would be AWESOME! I'm not really tracking weight but it seems that for now I can eat what I want and I'm not gaining as much weight as I would not being pregnant, so I'm taking full advantage! For example, this morning's breakfast consisted of rice and soup and then a piece of tres leches cake, definitely not holding back. 

Movement: Not so much movement this week, just the occasional toss and turn here and there, no hard jabs to the rib which I'm thankful for but I'd like to feel some more kicks. 

Sleep: Sleep has been pretty great still, nothing to complain about!

Symptoms: Does feeling fat count? I'm feeling like a huge tub of lard right now and just not happy with how anything fits me. I've tried on dress after dress and they all either don't fit or make me feel like I'm wearing a tent.. I think I had my first pregnancy breakdown. 

Belly Button: I'm still an inny, but a shallow one at best. I'm sure this thing will either get shallower or pop any week now.  

Milestones: I passed the glucose test which is a great milestone since I thought I was in trouble with all the sweets and junk I've been eating throughout this pregnancy!

Looking forward to: This weekend is Easter which is a grand celebration for us since this is the basis of our religion and beliefs. I'm also looking forward to our next U/S where we get to see you, in just one more week!

Next appointment: April 28, 2011 - We won't have a real appointment, just a 30 week growth ultrasound to make sure that you are growing at the rate you should and to see how you're doing. 

Other: Dad finally said yes to getting me an embroidery machine so I finally have it getting shipped to me and I should have it by tomorrow! I cannot wait to make some really cute stuff for you -=) I'm so excited to get started on embroidering and making new things custom made just for you. Grandma also helped me pick out glider fabric and fabric for your curtains so everything will most likely be done within the next couple weeks and I'll finally be able to sit in your room on the glider and relax when I want to.

art projects to keep mommy busy

I've been busy "nesting" as some people would call it, I say that I'm bored and need something to keep me busy. To each their own, I've been working on a couple projects while daddy is playing Halo and yelling at the TV for most the night. One of my projects that I worked on was closet dividers so that I know which clothes go for which month of age. I've gotten tons of great reviews so I decided I would post up exactly how I created them.

Supplies (these are the supplies I used but of course you can use what you would like to create your own look):

• hot glue gun (Michaels, a cheap one will run you about $10)
• acrylic paint (You can buy this at Michaels, Walmart, any place that has an arts and crafts section. Each paint color will run you about $0.65)
• sharpie marker (Walmart for about $1.00)
• wooden door hangers (Michaels, $0.79 each)
• shower curtain hooks (Walmart, $1.50)
• ready made wooden animals (Michaels, $0.59 each)
• ABC stencil with numbers (Michasels, $2.00)

I don't have the supplies before I created them (I obviously wasn't prepared to share all of this) so I'll only be able to show you the final product. 

Steps that I took to accomplish the final product:

1. I painted each door hanger a color that would look nice with the animals I selected (animals were ready made so they were already colored and finished).
2. Glue the animal onto the door hanger. You can put it anywhere really, you could even try to cover the hole since you don't need the hole to hang the finished product.
3. Using a stencil, I traced the numbers for each divider and then used a sharpie to create a bolder look.
4. Using a hot glue gun (carefully of course), glue the back of your divider and press the shower curtain hook. Add extra glue on top of the hook to make sure that it is secure.

This is the final product without the shower curtain hooks. I created one for each size that most companies use to break down their infant sizing.  

A close up view of the 3-6 months divider. 

The final product hanging in Baby Chon's closet. 

Hope you enjoy and have fun creating your own homemade closet dividers -=) 

am I having a boy or girl?

Here are some old wives tales that help you predict gender of the baby*.

Highs and Lows

This one you can do just by looking south: if you're carrying high, break out the pink. If your bump is low, you're carrying a boy.
GIRL

Be Still My Beating Heart

Next time your OB pulls out the Doppler to listen to baby's heartbeat, ask her to tell you what the heart rate is. According to legend, 140+ beats per minute indicates a girl, and below 140 a boy.
GIRL

Sweet and Sour

Craving ice cream every single day? Some people believe this means it's a girl. If you have to have salty or sour stuff, then it's a boy.
GIRL

Chinese Birth Chart

This ancient method uses your age at conception and the month you did the deed to determine gender. try it here.
BOY

Even and Odd

Legend has it that the Mayans determined a baby's sex by looking at the mother's age at conception and the year of conception. If both are even or odd, it's a girl. If one's even and one's odd, it's a boy.
GIRL

Unlocking the Mystery

This is one for a friend to try. Place a key in front of your preggo friend and ask her to pick it up. If she grabs it by the narrow part, she's in for sugar and spice and all that. If she picks it up by the round part, it's snips and snails.
GIRL

Spot On

If you're breaking out like crazy, blame it on your girl babe. The belief goes that girls steal their mother's beauty, hence, those annoying zits.
BOY

Nice Ring to It

Pop off your wedding ring -- if you still can! -- and tie it to a string. Hang it over your belly. If it swings in a circle, a little guy's in your future. If it goes back and forth, you've got a girl.
I've tried this but really have no clue how this works, so I can't say boy or girl

Queasy Does It

Sick as a dog during the first trimester -- or still? Signs indicate you're having a girl. Little or no morning sickness points to a boy.
BOY


Now that I've done all the tests and told you exactly what I am having, it is your turn to take a poll on the right hand side and tell me if you think I'm having a boy or a girl

*taken from parenting.com

happy third trimester.. 27 weeks

Congratulations on cooking for 27 weeks, we are finally at the home stretch. I can't believe how fast the road has been traveled but then again, it isn't finishing fast enough.

How Far Along: 27 Weeks

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of an eggplant - 13.6 to 4.8 inch, and 1.5 to 2.2 lbs, you're getting BIG! 

Other things baby is up to: Baby's lungs are going through some major developments these days, which (combined with the opening of previously plugged nostrils) means he's now able to practice inhaling or exhaling. The lack of air in your womb means every "breath" is filled with amniotic fluids, but hey -- its progress.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 17 pounds, I believe but I'll know for sure when I go in for my appointment next week.

Movement: You're not as strong as I thought you'd be, I'm feeling you a ton as I write this but for this week I haven't really felt you as much as I think I should have. But I'm not complaining as long as you're happy in there. 

Sleep: Sleep is great except that I need to wake up to roll over since I can't roll over comfortably anymore. Last Saturday I got one of those cramps in my calf and I wanted to die. I was yelling and screaming at dad to wake up so that he could ease the pain. For 3 days afterwards, it was still tender and sore. I'm eating more bananas now so that I hopefully do not have this happen to me again this pregnancy. 

Symptoms: Not being able to breathe, you are right on my lungs and making it quite hard for me to breathe comfortably. Please move down just a bit so that we can both be comfortable. 

Maternity Clothes: All my tops are now not fitting correctly and bump is getting in the way of covering my whole belly. Please let the warm weather come faster so I can wear dresses!!

Belly Button: still an inny!! but one of these days, I'm sure it will pop. 

Milestones: 3rd trimester is a HUGE milestone, I can't believe its already been 2/3s of the way through pregnancy.

Looking forward to: Today Dad and I are going to the hospital that we will deliver you so that we can see exactly what we're in for. We've both never been to the hospital or have any clue where it is so it'll be nice to see where we will deliver you and also where we will spend our first couple nights as a family.

Next appointment: April 13, 2011 - and I get to take that nasty orange liquid to see if I have gestational diabetes, yippeeee (not). What I'm really looking forward to is that 2 weeks afterwards I'll be able to see you again through an ultrasound which is always an exciting visit. 

Other: The fur babies are driving me crazy! Walnut decided to somehow jump his way onto the counter and eat some bagels, obviously sharing with his brother Pistachio. I can't believe how athletic he is and we still don't know how he even managed to get the bagels off the counter. He might have used the chair to help him somehow but I'm thinking he just jumped and jumped until he got the bag of bagels in his mouth just enough for him to bring the whole thing down. Either way, I can't believe they do these things while we're gone and from now on they are in our room until they grow up some more. Walnut is usually the culprit so I let Pistachio out and the bathroom garbage was ransacked and torn apart, I tell you bones are not enough and they obviously need to keep themselves busy with something else -- maybe if I turn on the TV it'll help them concentrate on something other than tearing the house apart. 

kids say the darnest things

Today, just like most Wednesdays, I went to pick up my little girl S from school. This was our conversation:

S: Lois, do you have any snacks in your car?

Me: Nope. What kind of snacks are you talking about anyways?

S: You know, like those cookies with chocolate or mints.

Me: Nope, I ate all the cookies with you last time and I have no other snacks in my car.

S: You usually always have snacks in your car, you must have been hungry to finish everything.

Me: Yup, or baby must have been really hungry.

S: (giving me a blank stare) Baby must have been hungry? The baby can't eat.

Me: Well the baby gets the food that I eat so when I eat something, the baby also gets to eat.

S: Well how can the baby eat if the baby doesn't even have teeth?

Me: Well, the baby gets the nutrition, not the real food.

S: (completely ignoring my last comment) Well the baby can eat pancakes because pancakes are soft and they don't really need to chew it.

By now I'm cracking up and thinking about how cute she is to really think the baby in my belly is chewing and eating the food that I eat.

S: Well, you shouldn't be eating cookies then because cookies aren't healthy for the baby to eat.

Can you say cute? I really just had to mark this down in my blog so that I always remember the innocence of the youth.

98 days and counting

I'm not going to do my weekly survey since for the most everything is the same from last week. I'm almost the exact same other than the fact that I'm feeling you a lot more than before. One thing though, I would really like to ask you to stop kicking my rib.
Milestone: I am now pregnant and not just fat, I don't get weird stares anymore from spectators wondering if I'm just really big or if I'm indeed pregnant. Glad that one is out the way and I can finally sport the bump.

Tomorrow I am meeting with a family doctor that was referred to me through a member from our church. I'm pretty excited to meet her and see if we like her. If we do, we'll have a doctor for you to meet when you get here! Things are slowly all coming together, I can't believe we only have 98 more days to prepare for your arrival. 

100 days and counting down

Yesterday was my birthday and I had work like usual. My kids made me a peanut butter pie and it was DELICIOUS, even if I don't like peanut butter really. But we all know I like anything sweet right now so it HIT THE SPOT.

I ended work early to take my dogs out for a walk, hang out with them for a little bit before heading to the bulls game. My kids and the dad wanted to take me to the bulls game for my birthday since they were playing.

One man's mistake is another man's gain - Steve (the dad) accidently gave the games tickets away to a business friend instead of keeping them since they never go to the weekday games. What he forgot was that it was my birthday, but more importantly that the kids were on spring break. He just assumed he had the tickets all along and on the way home got a phone call from the wife asking if he had the tickets since the tickets weren't in the book. Well, he didn't have the tickets and that's when it hit him that he gave them away and didn't have tickets to the game. As the 4 year old Shyanne is screaming "daddy forgot about us" and 7 year old Justin is upset that both himself and I cannot go to the game, Steve decided he would look for tickets. Usually it's not a hard thing to look for tickets for weekday games but since its spring break for half of the schools in Chicagoland area, all tickets were sold out at ticketmaster and will call. His last resort was to go to Stub Hub and look for tickets, which he lucked out by finding 4 tickets. The only thing is, instead of using his season tickets, he now had to probably pay anywhere from $75-100 per ticket. Nonetheless, we got to sit in awesome seats right behind one of the hoops in the 100 level. Probably the best seats both Eugene and I have ever sat in for a bulls game. Definitely a WIN for us.

Here is what our view looked like, we were close enough that I could actually see D.Rose' facial expressions.

We didn't win, which was a stinker but it was nice to see the game from somewhere we never have before. Justin cried, he wasn't too happy that the bulls lost and well he's never been to a game where they've lost before. He was yelling "that's unfair, unfair, unfair" and it made Eugene and I realize the fanship in Justin. He is a true, loyal fan and he's probably more true to his Bulls than half the people on the stands, and he's only 7 years old. It also helps that he actually understands how to play basketball and is really quite good at playing as well.

______________________________________________

Onto the real great exciting news, today March 29 marks 100 more days left till your expected arrival. I'm hoping and praying that you do come somewhere near the date, please don't take an extra week or 2. I'd really like you to come out on time but if not don't wait too long. I can't believe earlier on in the pregnancy I was counting down for 200+ days and now we're only at 100 days left. Time sure is flying and I can't believe how close we are to the final stretch, this calls for a celebration! 

we're tired of papayas, good thing you've graduated to an eggplant

How Far Along: 25 Weeks

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of an eggplant - 13.6 to 4.8 inch, and 1.5 to 2.2 lbs, you're getting BIG! 

Other things baby is up to: You may not hear baby's heartbeat by just putting ear to belly (no stethoscope required). Inside the womb, the formation of the tiny capillaries is giving baby a healthy pink glow. Baby's also soaking up your antibodies, getting the immune system ready for life outside of the womb. Eyes are forming, and baby will soon perfect the blink -- perfect for batting those freshly grown lashes. 

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I'll go off the scale that I have at work, if that's the case I've gained 16 pounds throughout the pregnancy.

Movement: Getting tons of action from the little one. A little bit more than usual so that definitely brightens my day when I feel baby kicking and squirming inside. Nobody will understand the feeling of movement unless you are a mother or pregnant -- it's the most indescribable, amazing feeling. 

Sleep: I've been getting great sleep, probably thanks to the new place. I'm no longer really stressed about the move and can finally sleep and not worry about much. 

Symptoms: Nope, still lucking out with this one. Wait, I take that back, I get acid reflex which REALLY sucks. 

Maternity Clothes: Yep, just a few tops here and there, I'm still in my stretchy pants. Thank goodness I don't have to wear nice clothes to work. 

Belly Button: still an inny and looking the same. 

Milestones: I am finally in my 6th month of pregnancy! 

Looking forward to: I can't say I'm really looking forward to it, but my birthday is on Monday so I guess I'm looking forward to spending time with my friends and Eugene. On Saturday I'm having a birthday dinner/open house at my house with my family and Eugene's family and my little kid is having his 7th birthday party at his house so we might stop by for a little bit. On Sunday my church is having a bowling tournament. And then on my actual birthday, my kids are taking me to the Bulls game since they're playing on my birthday. Tuesday I'm having my small group from church come over for dinner/open house so that they can see the new place and I can cook them yummy Korean food. 

Next appointment: April 13, 2011 - and I get to take that nasty orange liquid to see if I have gestational diabetes, yippeeee (not). What I'm really looking forward to is that 2 weeks afterwards I'm having another ultrasound which will be exciting!

Other: I'm meeting my mom to get the curtain fabric and fabric for the glider so I'm pretty excited to how that's all going to come out. It'll be nice to have a print that is unique and special just for you.