Hairbows or Bowties?

Time is REALLY flying by, I cannot believe that tomorrow is the day that we find out our Little One's gender!  I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much just in case they cannot tell, or if baby is in a bad position.  We would be thrilled with either gender and are just hoping for a clean bill of health.  But it is super fun to wonder whether we will be buying hairbows or bowties.  (I really wanted to throw a gender reveal party with that as the theme but it was veto'd by hubs since our house is in a state of construction).

So, since my party was veto'd, I decided that we needed to make the reveal special in some other way.  Instead of having the ultrasound tech just announce the gender we decided that we would have her write it down and go out for a nice dinner and open it together there.  (We have heard really good things about 80 Thoreau if you are in the Boston area, and since its right up the road we figured it was a perfect candidate!)
If you know me at all, you know that having the tech scribble down the gender on a plain piece of white paper would just not cut it.  a) I would totally find a way to peek through the envelope and b) it wouldn't be a very cute addition to baby's memory book.  So, last weekend I whipped up these 'Gender Reveal' cards.  The size is about 5x5 (so they can include a photo of the 'distinguishing parts' if they can get one) and the envelope is a dark navy to prevent peeking :)

Since it is always fun to guess anyways, I found a few 'gender predictions' from Sara's blog and here is how they stack up for our Little One.

Chinese Calendar (based on mother’s age & month of conception) – GIRL (according to the bump calendar) / BOY (according to two other calendars)

Heartbeat (faster than 140bpm = girl; slower than 140bpm = boy) – GIRL (163bpm @ 12 weeks, high 150's @ 16 weeks)

Morning sickness (very sick = girl; not so sick = boy) – BOY

Skin (breakouts = girl; clear skin = boy) – GIRL

Leg hair growth (no more than usual = girl; lots of growth = boy) – GIRL

Cravings (sweet = girl; salty = boy) – GIRL

Feet (hot = girl; cold = boy) – BOY? I’m always cold though

Bump position (high & wide = girl; low & centered = boy) – I still have a rather small bump, so I figure that means it is evenly distributed and therefore think GIRL

Breast growth (lots of growth = girl, not much = boy) – BOY

Mayan calendar (if mother’s age at conception and year or conception are both even/odd = girl; if one is even and one is odd = boy) – GIRL (27 and 2011)

Sympathy weight (if your husband gains weight during pregnancy = girl; if he doesn’t = boy) – GIRL (sorry hun)

Ring test (ring swings back & forth = girl; ring swings in a circle = boy) – I forgot to do this one.

most unflattering and awkward photo of me ever, at 18 or 18.5 weeks

SO, what do you guys think?  Will we be buying hairbows or bowties?!

It's true - we're having a BABY!

If you missed it - we're having a baby!

How it all started :

We decided we would open the baby-making gates after our birthdays in the end of September. I turned 27 and my husband turned 29 which seemed like a good age to have our first child. We have been together since high school so we felt we knew each other pretty well, had just celebrated our 2^nd wedding anniversary in August, bought a house a year and a half ago and well, the timing just seemed right. We were very lucky to get our wish right away (I’m not a very patient person anyways) and on Halloween got the first inclination that we might be expecting. The line on the test was very faint and I couldn’t focus all day trying to decide whether it in fact was a ‘trick or a treat’ (pun intended, HA). I busted out the ‘it couldn’t be more obvious pregnant or not pregnant digital test’ and on 11.1.11 (which I figured was a perfect start) we found out that indeed we are going to have a baby!

 

 

Disclaimer: I fully admit that I kept peeing on sticks until our first doctor's appointment at 7 weeks, just to make sure that our little baby was still in there. Not every day, but definately every 2-3.

The 1st Trimester :

Thankfully I haven’t had the terrible morning sickness that everyone thinks about when you hear ‘pregnant’. I do get quite feisty when I get hungry and if you stand between me and food at this time, watch out. I feel like I eat a lot more often, but get full much faster.

On the other hand, I’ve been sleeping a lot – I think more than I’ve ever slept before. I can and will nap anywhere at any time; I fall asleep during 10 minute car rides or after 5 minutes of sitting on the couch. Seriously, I’ve never felt so drained in my entire life. I at 13 weeks I do feel a tiny bit of my energy coming back and I’m crossing my fingers for that 2^nd trimester energy burst everyone raves about.

I also have a bionic sense of smell right now, I swear I can smell delicous buttery popcorn from a mile away. This has been great for tracking down delicious food when hungry, but all the yucky smells are also greatly magnified.  This has unfortunately triggered an impressive gag reflex. Opening a dishwasher full of dirty dishes is my worst nightmare right now, it’s bad, really bad. But I also gag even when I *think* things smell bad even if they don’t. Our dog was spitting up water (no food, completely clear) the other day and I started gagging every time I tried to clean it up. Eventually I just threw a paper towel over it and waited for hubs to get home because I just couldn’t deal –

One Hormonal Rant :

Also, just as a heads up to others when someone tells you they are having a baby DO NOT ask if it was an ‘accident’, or if it was ‘intentional’. For starters, it is really none of your business and to top it off, it doesn’t really matter – we just told you we are having a baby, it’s happening whether it was an ‘accident’ or not.  If you are now wondering, this baby was absolutely NOT an accident, we had a plan and just because you weren’t aware of our plan doesn’t mean the plan didn’t exist. Lastly, we have been together for almost 12 years now – if an ‘accident’ was going to happen I’m sure it would’ve happened long before now. Don’t ask if the baby was an accident unless you want raging pregnancy hormones jumping down your throat.

The 'but I didn't think you wanted kids' comment is a close second. Just because I wasn't obviously baby obsessed in your presence and volunteer to hold your kid and change his diapers doesn't mean that we don't want kids. Once again, even if this was true it doesn't matter now because we just told you we are HAVING A BABY.   Keep your snarky comments to yourself please.

xo, the pregnant girl

HELLO 2012!

Everyone has been posting their New Years resolutions lately, most include loosing weight, eating better and excersizing more.  While I'm definately trying to eat healthier, this is the first year (in probably my whole life) that my goal has not been to loose weight, and it feels SO good.  While I'm not necessarily trying to gain weight, it is likely to be inevitable because....

We are absolutely thrilled and I can't wait to share our journey with you -
I haven't gotten over the 1st trimester exhaustion yet, but I promise to post more details tomorrow.

*And yes, our baby already owns boat shoes....

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Maddie

She opted to be a shark, based on her ability to eat anything and everything (including her costume 5 minutes later).  I made her costume with 3 pieces of gray felt (4 for $1), some leftover chipboard from a package and gray bias tape ($2.79).
This is her first Halloween and I'm betting she only tries to eat every 2 of 3 kids that rings our doorbell.  She LOVES when people come over, even more than she loves eating paper and baseboards.

Happy Birthday & A Gift Request

It's my birthday today.  I'm so very hopeful about what this year will bring (fingers crossed that includes a regularly updated blog).  I also have some very exciting things on the horizon that I cannot wait to share (!).  I feel so happy and fufilled with my life right now that I wanted to take a minute and ask for a favor for a friend who's life was upturned from her happy a few weeks ago.

The long-time boyfriend of one of my best friends was diagnosed with cancer on a few weeks ago. He went to get his wisdom teeth out and they realized his blood pressure was absurdly high and refused to do the wisdom teeth. So, he went to the ER. They were confused by it since he's young (27) and it was so high. He stayed overnight but was let out with an appointment to follow up with his regular doctor. His doctor received the results that showed he had high levels of the hormone a particular tumor expels. The doctor sent him for an ultrasound, they saw a softball size tumor on his adrenal gland, sent him for a CT scan to confirm mass and then sent him back to the ER.  He was admitted, they ran more and more tests, then it was confirmed that the tumor is in fact malignant and has spread to lungs.

It's a malignant Pheochromocytoma tumor, a one in a million chance. It is beyond rare, and unfortunately, that means there isn't a lot known about it.  The doctors have removed all of the tumor they could find, however James still has to undergo chemotherapy treatments. 

You can read more about the situation here: http://thejamesquigleyfund.org/ and make a donation if you like.  I would consider it a birthday gift, a really great birthday gift.  If you choose to make a donation, whether it be $1 or $10, shoot me and email at chelsey@fourthandfolded.com with your mailing address and I will personally send you a Thank You note.  A real one, on paper (nice paper), through the mail with a stamp and everything :)

Thank You!

Puppy Photos!

We have photo proof Maddie is the most awesome and snuggly little girl ever....

Go, as fast as you can, to my friend Meredith's blog [http://www.andunlimited.com/] for pictures of Maddie.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I was on PUP-ternity leave last week and it was awesome. So much bonding time with our little girl. She's growing up fast, and is so smart. She is house-broken already, we put bells on the door and she rings them when she needs to go out. She can 'come' and 'sit' and sometimes 'stay' if she's not too excited. We need to work on her focus level, she gets easily distracted by shiny things (shovels) or anything she can eat.

These were the Valentine's cards she sent out to her puppy pals (and her daddy).

Happy Valentine's Day from Me & Maddie!