Little Man or Little Miss + All Things Baby Thoughts!

Well hello! I haven't blogged in a very long time! There's some thoughts that I wanted to get down and I thought this would be the best outlet so here it randomly goes.

 I am 16 weeks pregnant since Tuesday. I can't believe I'm already this far along. It's been a long journey getting here. When we found out we were expecting again, a couple of days before the due date of our angel baby, we were ecstatic and just knew it was meant to be. I was super excited at our appointment this Tuesday because my blood pressure actually wasn't through the roof for the first time. I never have high blood pressure but every time I went to the OB I was scared they would tell me my baby wasn't alive. So what up 120/70-that's more like it!!! I really think I'm starting to relax and not be so worried but worrying is in my genes (thanks mom & dad) so I doubt it'll ever go away. Also we scheduled our 20 weeks ultrasound which is so exciting! We haven't seen the little peanut since 9 weeks when he/she was forming arm and leg buds.

After we found out I joined a group on Facebook for mom's due in December and I quickly became sort of envious of the "naive" moms who hadn't lost a baby. They didn't have any worries or concerns that we had. They still had the "it won't happen to me" mantra playing in their heads and here I am like oh it definitely could! I prayed so much in the beginning (and still do) and every so often I would have a dream about being at the doctor where they found the heartbeat and everything was good. I think that was God's way of telling me everything was ok. It gave me peace when I would worry.

Ummm what's my next thoughts? Let's talk about gender! So since our previous loss was a sex chromosome abnormality (remember Turner's Syndrome is 1 X instead of the normal 2) we were able to get a newer noninvasive blood test called Informaseq. This tests for the likelihood of common chromosomal problems like Downs Syndrome and Trisomies. Plus since our problem last time was the sex chromosomes we'd got the added gender portion to our test which is why we get to find out 4 weeks sooner! So they took my blood (to separate the baby's DNA.. How cool?!) when I was 13w2d and I got the results when I was 14w6d. That's pretty neat and quick! They told me that the baby had no risk for any of the chromosomal problems that were tested and baby is perfect with either XX or XY!!! But I asked them not to tell me the gender because we wanted to be surprised at our party, so we got the results in an envelope that I will be giving to Kayte when she gets here tomorrow!

Now here is where the sort of sappy is going to come in. Now that it's real that we will know the gender of our rainbow baby in 53 hours, I've been thinking a lot about it. God has so many wonderful plans for this baby! There's a reason he/she was put into our lives at this time instead of before. This baby is going to impact our lives so much and I'm so excited about it. I like teaching but I really think I was born to be a mother and now I get my chance. The love that I already have for him/her is incredible and I know I can speak for Andrew and he agrees.  It's been a long journey getting here and we still have a ways to go but I'm going to enjoy every minute of it.

I think the baby is a boy but I want a girl. I sincerely would be happy either way!!! Andrew was such a cute little boy with curly brown hair I can only imagine our little boy would look the same way. Since my dad never had a boy I think it would be fun for him and Andrew to do all things sports with him. But a little girl would be so precious and cute. I also picture Andrew with a daughter having him wrapped around her little finger. He is going to be such a good dad I could gush over it all day. Plus cute girl outfits and bows she will be so spoiled!

So stay tuned for the gender announcement THIS SATURDAY and details/pictures of our BaByQ Gender Reveal!!!

21 Day Fix & Shakeology

For those of you who don't know, my hubs and I are starting the 21 Day Fix+Shakeology today! I'm actually really excited about this program because it seems very manageable. I have never been one to go on diets or workout programs but I need to make a change. The containers are perfect and it's actually fun coming up with ways to utilize the containers. I don't think I'll ever get bored with it. This weekend we went shopping for our first week and spent $100.27. That is higher than I would have liked to spend but not bad at all. We did all of our shopping at hy-vee. Next time we will probably try out Aldis (anyone close to me will tell you that I'm a huge advocate for Aldi and they actually have a decent produce selection). I told Andrew it was nice because when we were checking out we looked like people who cared about eating healthy! That's another nice thing about this program is it gives you a lot of ideas on what to buy. Usually I have to come up with these things on my own but I just went down the lists of foods they gave us and wrote ones we would eat on the grocery list.

Last night I spent a good chunk of time prepping for today. I don't think I will ever spend a great deal of time normally but I was excited to get our meals ready and start "measuring" out our portions. I don't know about you but I am a huge fan of ranch dressing. I dip almost everything in ranch and I knew it wouldn't be a healthy (or approved) food. So I jumped on pinterest and found a recipe for protein packed ranch! It's so simple, too. Cottage cheese, ranch seasoning packet, and vinegar. It's not Texas Roadhouse Ranch but it is actually pretty good. Now I can dip my veggies and salad without feeling guilty.  During the prep I also measured everything out and portioned all our meals/snacks for the day.

 The last update I have is I made and drank my first shakeo today! It was actually delicious. I thought that it wouldn't be very good but I liked it. We bought the vanilla flavor and I added peanut butter and banana. It was really filling. I was thinking this morning that I should have the shake in the evening to convince myself I'm having a "treat". I think the evening is when I will be more likely to cheat and that my curb any desire. Anyways, I am going to do my first workout after I get off. I decided not to do them in the morning because 1. I never like getting up early and 2. I wanted to workout at a time where I can make it a routine/more likely to do it. The mornings just isn't a possibility for me.

 

Family Organization

I don't know about your family but mine was struggling in the organization department. When my mother in law was throwing a Thirty-One party I knew this was my opportunity to tackle some organizing! I decided to purchase 2 Oh Snap Pockets in Black Playful Parade and then as a bonus I got the Zip-Top Organizing Utility Tote in Black Playful Parade for only $10 for spending over $35! I customized the Oh Snap Pockets with MAIL and ACTION. That way I could quickly through the mail in the "mail" one when I got home and then when I go through it, I can put important ones in the "action" one. Simple enough. Then on the bonus bag I put Anselmi Family. This one is a whole other post I will be putting up soon because it is going to be where I put all of our families important papers (like a family binder). Right now I have a hanging file sitting in and I will begin filling it shortly!

The Thirty-One items were the most pricey items but if you're doing this you could easily use alternatives like hanging baskets.
The cost: $65

Then came the fun part... trying to figure out how I wanted to do the layout on the wall. I took to pinterest and found these:

          

I used these as pinspiration and my starting point.  I knew that I didn't want to do chalkboards because I already have the chalk wall so I thought of ideas for whiteboards.  Then I came up with the a fun idea... did you know that picture frames can also double as a whiteboard!?  So I bought 7-4x6 picture frames for the weekly calendar, a 11x14 picture frame for the menu, and then a Quartet whiteboard calendar with corkboard.  These were all pretty cheap.

The cost: 

7-4x6 frames: $6.16

1-11x14 frame: $4.00

Quartet whiteboard calendar: $9.96

Next I bought wooden letters to paint and put in the corners of the picture frames.  The weekly frames got the first letter of the day of the week and then the large frame got menu.  While doing this I was torn between creating a menu board and a misc. board for anything.  I decided to do a menu and then if I need a misc. one I will do that later.

The cost:

Red Paint: $.50

Wood Letters: $2.97

The last of the items I needed to purchase was string and mini clothes pins to pin up pictures, invitations, gift certificates, etc.

The cost:

Red string: $.33

Mini clothespins: $2.48

Lastly the A sign and the love canvas were free because they were wedding gifts!  You could customize yours with any decor that you like.

TOTAL COST: $26.41!!!  This is of course before the Thirty-One but like I said you could substitute.