Silly pregnancy info and Baby Names

So you find out your pregnant and the first thing you think you need is the What to Expect When Expecting book. Well in this day and age you can just sign up for their website which has all the same information as well as forums to discuss different things. They also have an app for your phone and they will send you emails with different information.

So I did this when I found out we were having a little one. I also got a few other free apps and signed up on thebump.com and other pregnancy websites. This means I get about 2-3 emails a day with pregnancy information. Sounds great right? Not really. One the info is VERY redundant. The information you receive is supposed to correspond to the part of pregnancy you are in. About 95% of the emails I received were links to articles about one of the following:
- Its ok to gain weight when you are pregnant
- Your weight gain is normal.
- It is ok to have sex while pregnant
- How to not gain to much weight
- How to reduce morning sickness. (none of these solutions worked for me)

Anyway, you can see how I just stopped reading the emails all together and they immediately were deleted. It has gotten a little better because I am almost done and some of the articles are starting to get interesting. But I am still getting about 3 emails a week about names. The name emails started coming around 24 weeks and at one point I was getting about 2 a day.

One of the things I don't understand about the name info they continually mention is how parents do not want to pick names in the top ten most popular. Tons of the articles are about alternative names if you like one of these. Maybe I don't get it because in 1987 (the year I was born) Amanda was number 3 on the list. James has been in the top ten until 1993. We both grew up with other kids in our class with our names. And while we both did not like being Amanda B. or James B. the main reason was that the other kid got to be only Amanda or James with out a last initial. I would have been totally fine if Amanda Thomas was called Amanda T. but she was just called Amanda (we were in the same class 3 years in a row). Boys are a little different and when they get older they just go by last names. Now that I am older I have run into less Amandas, probably because it was only in the top for a few years.

With the increasing popularity of "unique" names and spellings the names in the top ten have less kids with that actual name than there was 20 years ago. James and I have no problem with the fact that the name we picked (Emily) is #6. Example: Emily was #6 in 2011 with 7,375 babies with this name out of 1,000,000 where when Amanda was #6 in 1978 there was 12,488 babies with that name out of 1,000,000. That means that less than 1% is named Emily even though it is ranked 6th.

Maybe I have a weird opinion but I looked at those alternatives because I was curious. I hated all of them.

Does anyone else have a popular name and found it to be horrible? Not that we plan on changing our name choice I am just curious.

Tornados and Football

So we have had a few storms the last 2 days. Yesterday I heard my first tornado siren. VA did not get many tornados so we did not have sirens. I was hanging out talking to my mother in law on the phone when I heard this siren noise. I did not think much of it at first because we have ambulances passing our house often. When the siren did not go away I decided to investigate. I hung up with my mother in law and checked my phone. Sure enough tornado watch and warning in effect and a touch down. So I decided it was best to go to the basement. The dog did not agree. He thought it was amazingly fun to run away and evade the 38 week pregnant girl. Eventually I caught him and we worked our way downstairs to the laundry room. All was well but I thought it was pretty cool that we have sirens. I had no idea we had those. But they are not very loud so if I had the TV on I probably would not have heard it.


Football starts this weekend! I am so excited. Tech plays on Monday vs. Georgia Tech and the game is on ESPN so we get it out here. So far only about 5 games are scheduled on channels we will get for the season. This could change depending on rankings but I am going to soak up as much Tech football as I can. We started watching a few games that were on today but it is not as fun when you have no care for the outcome or about either of the teams. I am really excited that E has her football game outfit ready already. I posted a pic on facebook a few days ago but I thought I would post about where I got the items. This is the same outfit she is going to come home from the hospital in. We want to keep it and have all our children come home in this outfit. Kind of silly but I think its cute.

VT coming home outfit. She will be ready for some football!

I found the most of it on Etsy. The bodysuit also came with an embroidered hat. I got it from Addie Kakes Kreations she sells tons of cute embroidered items, mostly baby stuff. She also has lots school logos so you can get whatever you want. She works with whatever you want so you can pick long sleeve or short sleeve body suit in several colors and the hat can have anything too. The one I ordered says Future Hokie but is in Maroon.  She was really fast and I can defiantly see ordering from her again in the future. 

Etsy order pic from Addie Kakes Kreations

The hat is probably the cutest thing ever. In the picture above you see an orange hat with a maroon flower clipped on. The order I made at etsy for this came with 2 hats one orange and one maroon, 2 flowers one orange and one maroon (both on clips so they can be moved around), and 3 headbands one orange, one maroon and one white. I ordered them from Stylin N Profilin. This order took a little longer to come but it was a mix up at the post office and the seller was very helpful. This seller makes lots of bows but also makes some really cool wipes cases and just added travel changing pads. She has a Facebook page you can order from too with all of her fabric options and she posts clearance items as well. She has VT fabric and I would love to order a cute wipes case. Maybe something for Christmas. 

Etsy order pic from Stylin N Profliin

I was going to make a tutu that was orange and maroon but did not get around to it. I also don't think she needs it for the coming home so I think I will wait until next football season to make it. I finished off the outfit with a pair of jeans. I got them for $2 at Once Upon a Child. I love that place. All in all I am really excited about the cuteness. Now if she will only get here :)

Baby Countdown!

So I am now 37 weeks meaning she could come anytime.
James says she is coming on Monday August 27th. I don't know why and he has been saying that for the last 4-5 months.

She already has my heart :)

I think she is going to be late, like a week late.

But we are preparing for her either way.

Here is what we have accomplished:

They took this while we were being silly. But my belly looks huge from the side

- Room Painted
- Linens and clothes cleaned and put away
- hospital bag packed
- We know what floor to got to at the hospital :)

To be done still:
- Vacuum E's room (i need James to carry it up the stairs)
- Hang wall decorations
- clean dog hair out of car (looks like a gerbil exploded in there)
- re install car seat and show James how to do it


We also figured out what to do with Slider. The Petsmart here has a Pet Hotel which is amazing. You walk in and it looks like a spa. We took slider to doggy day camp a few weeks ago and he did alright so we have decided to use them. Because of his size they said they will always be able to accommodate him and that I wont even have to call ahead and I can just bring him and drop him off. The only problem with this plan is if she decides to come at night. But he is sleeping then so I guess I will just have James drive back after E is born and take him. (Also best part is that they will bathe him right before pick up)

I am waiting for my pre-registration for Cord Blood Donation to come in the mail. Should get here Monday or Tuesday. I did the different research and private banking is a little out of our budget at the moment so we decided to go with donation. If you don't donate the cord blood just gets thrown away. We are donating to St. Louis Cord Blood Bank. There are stem cells in the cord blood (blood from umbilical cord and placenta) that can currently be used to treat 80 different diseases including leukemia and lymphoma. Also, unlike other transplants cord blood does not have to be an exact match. Research is also being done to see if it can be used to treat many other diseases such as Alzheimers, type 1 diabetes and Parkinsons. What is great about the St. Louis Cord Blood Bank is that if the cord blood is not found to be good enough for transplant it wont be wasted and will be used in this research. They also do not participate in any cloning research. It is great to think that our daughter can save lives just by being born :)


On a funnier note. I had a horrible nightmare. On Sunday I become a member of Manchester United Methodist Church. During the service I will go up front with a bunch of other new members to be introduced. I had a nightmare that during this my water broke and went everywhere in the front of the beautiful sanctuary. My husband does not help with these fears as every time we go somewhere now he says "wouldn't it be funny if your water broke in the _____".

Oops!

So I have totally been failing at this whole blog thing, but lots has been happening so let me catch you up.

Papa, Me, and Grammie

My Grandmother, Grandfather, Aunt and 2 cousins came to visit 2 weeks ago. We had tons of fun. It was the first time we had visitors here. Its nice having a full house. We did lots of exploring of St. Louis and thankfully the hot weather broke that week so we did not die while doing it.

Right before they came there was a groupon for the Museum of Transportation. I thought it looked good so I went ahead and got it. It was a fun little adventure. The groupon included admission to the museum and a mini train ride. We started off with the museum where we looked at old cars. They had a few hands on activities and then you could walk through some different trains in the train yard. I don't think I will be going again unless we have another groupon and someone really interested in transportation. The stuff is fun but the normal pricing is a little high. I do think they had another groupon yesterday if you are interested.

I love the Elephants

We also went to the St. Louis Zoo. This was more fun, except we did not pick our day correctly. Unfortunately on top of it being the first day in 2 months under 90 degrees it was the last Saturday before school started. (I did not know school started so early here). So the Zoo was packed. They have some great exhibits but due to crowding we did not get to see the sea lions which is the new exhibit I really wanted to check out. Now I have an excuse to go back.

Before

While they were here they painted the baby's room. It was originally this pale yellow with white wainscoting. We picked the color "lime sherbet". It is a great color. Here are some before and after picks. We also found a really cute curtain rod, which is not in the pictures because James hung it later. It has big pink jewels on the ends. Very girly :) We still have a few things to hang up but we are almost done.

James got in on the painting for a bit too.

After

The last day they were here we went to the Arch. We had a bit of an adventure on the way and learned that no matter what Papa will try to navigate from the back seat. I did not go up but everyone else said it was really pretty up there. They have 2 gift shops and one of them is set up like a 1870's general store. I really liked it. We got some old fashioned candy and bread for snacks, which we ate sitting on the steps looking at the Mississippi. They also have a little museum that I was impressed with.


So that is the update for now. Tomorrow I am 37 weeks so officially full term. Update for baby prep to come this weekend.

Slider's 2nd Birthday

I have been the very dedicated mother to one corgi puppy for almost 2 years now. Slider (our little BERGER...hehe) turned 2 years old on July 5th. I decided I needed to make this a special birthday for him. Yes, I know he is a dog. But he has been through a lot. He was stressed the month leading up to the move (lost excess hair and gave himself hot spots). Then we everything in "his" house disappeared. He got loaded up in a cramped car and we drove for 2 1/2 days to arrive at a huge empty house. Then we had service people show up every day for almost 2 weeks. So it has been just a little crazy for him.

My snuggle puppy :)

So to start off the day we snuggled up on the floor while I drank my coffee. Normally I would have taken him to a park or for an extra long walk but it was 105 degrees so staying inside was our only option. Slider loves to snuggle on the floor. I then looked up some recopies for doggy cakes and here is what I found.
A peanut butter cake at http://allrecipes.com/recipe/doggie-birthday-cake/
and a cream cheese icing at http://www.dogtreatkitchen.com/dog-treat-frosting.html They also have comments and other options for the recipies. Here is what I did:


Peanut Butter Cake:
ingredients:
1 egg
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup honey (optional- i did not add this because I didn't have it)
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup whole wheat or white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350. Combine the egg, peanut butter, oil, vanilla and honey in large bowl; blend well. Stir in the carrots and mix thoroughly. Sift together the flour and baking soda and fold into the carrot mixture. Spoon into greased pan. Bake for 40 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out to cool completely

I could not find my muffin tin or any of my small pans ( I think they are still packed somewhere) so I used as small casserole dish. The cake is very dry so it crumbled as I removed it from the pan. I think that honey might help hold it together. I just placed the pieces together, because Slider does not mind. If doing again, I would make in a muffin tin (even a mini muffin tin) and defiantly make sure I wait the 10 minutes (I got impatient)

Cream Cheese Icing: 
Ingredients:
8 ounces of cream cheese (low or fat free)
2 Tbsp. Honey
2 Tbsp. plain yogurt (low or fat free)
3 Tbsp. Flour (approx. amount, you might need a little more)

Mix first 3 ingredients in a bowl until smooth. Mix in one tablespoon of flour at a time until you have a good consistency for spreading.

I did not use the honey because I did not have any. Instead I used peanut butter. I also used a little more than 2 Tbsp. of yogurt. I would defiantly suggest letting the cream cheese get to room temp before making.

I then spread over my crumbled up cake and decorated with carrots and treats.

my attempt :)

Slider going to town on his treat

Slider really liked the icing and ate all of that off the top first. After a few bites of the cake we took it away so he would not get sick. I then broke up the cake and used them as treats for the next few days. This is why I suggest the mini-muffin size. He got this cake instead of dinner that night because we did not want a sick corgi. If I had smaller sizes I would have just supplemented his dinner with it.

Slider also got a new nylabone. His favorite. Lots of belly rubs and a few dropped carrots while I was baking. We also played his favorite games. It was a long day so he ended up falling asleep in Daddy's lap :)

Here are a few of the pictures of slider over the past 22 months that he has been a part of our family :)

The day he came home

what a cute face:)

he crawled right up next to me and fell asleep

He falls asleep in the funniest positions

he likes to sneak up on the couch

It was so sad after his surgery but he still smiled at everything !

Slider likes to play games with daddy on the computer

See he still sleeps funny :)

Meal Plan/ Coupon Binder

I have decided to start couponing. Don't worry you will not see me on any tv shows. But now that I have more time I am planning ahead with my meals and if I am going to do that might as well use some coupons. Every little bit counts right?

So, to keep everything organized I made a binder for it all. This was a cheap little project because we save all our office/school supplies and re-use them. I used dividers and page protectors and organized as follows:
1. Grocery list: I formatted and printed off a grocery list outline. I like printed lists but that would be crazy so the outline should keep everything organized before I go to the store and should limit last minute runs to pick up one thing. This is at the front of the binder so when I think of something needed I can write it down real fast.
2. Meal plan list: The best way to save money at the store is to plan your meals a head of time, other wise you just buy junk. This also will help to you make healthy meals. So this page has 7 spots for 7 days. I put the date of the meal, what it is, and what is needed (this will help make the grocery list after the planning). Plus with this planning if you have 2 meals that need the same ingredient you can cut down on prep time. example: grilled chicken- you can plan ahead and grill enough for both nights and then freeze the extra or have the meals one day after the other.
3. Recipe pages: I like to look up new recipes online but now that my computer is on a different floor than my kitchen it makes it hard to run back and forth. We have an ipad but usually I have to fight my husband for it and it always goes missing halfway through my cooking. So, to make life easier any meals that are new or that I can never remember the ingredient amounts for I will write on the recipe outlines. I made it really simple: Name of meal, ingredient list, directions. I have 2 recipes per page.

I printed extras of these pages but also saved them on my computer under their own file for easy find and print later

Next for coupons:

I broke my coupons into 3 groups: Food, non-food, store specific
Each group has its own page protector- I tried writing on the outside of the protectors with dry erase markers but it just wipes off, so I will use a permanent marker once I can find mine :)

Now when writing my grocery list I will pull out the coupons and star the items I have a coupon for.

Yay! I feel so productive. Now to write my meal plan and then off to the Gym!

Last week: Birthdays, DMVs and pregnancy dreams

So all my fun crafty projects have been put on the back burner due to the need to accomplish things related to our move. You know important things like getting MO drivers licences and voter registration, inspecting the cars, titling the cars, all that stuff. But lots has happened in the last week so here is a peak into the happenings.

So far we have MO drivers licences and are registered to vote. That was the shortest time I have spent at a DMV ever. We were there for a total of 10 minutes and it only cost us $40. Today I am going to title the cars (we had to wait to get them inspected) but before I do that I have to go to a different office and prove I did not have to pay property tax on them in the state of MO for last year, that is what I get for having an awesome time at the DMV earlier :(

Wednesday was my 25th birthday. Hello mid twenties. I remember when I thought 25 was so old, I don't feel old. It is funny how perceptions of age change. I received my birthday present from my husband about 3 months ago (a coach diaper bag) but we celebrated with dinner at the Boathouse in Forest Park. We sat outside and watched the sun set. It was a nice evening even if it was a little hot. James bought me a chocolate cake with cream cheese icing, it was amazing ;) I treated myself to the new Jeaniene Frost book, Once Burned. Which was awesome of her to release for my birthday :). This book is a spin off of her very popular Night Huntress series and I was not disappointed. You can find it here if you are interested in finding out more it is on Amazon or on Jeaniene Frost's website . Charlaine Harris recommended it on the Today show earlier this week as well. Check it out she has published a part of the book on her website and you can find out more about all of her other books.

I have been having weird dreams lately. But the weirdest one was where I was married to a sock puppet (you know that monkey looking one that is everywhere) and I gave birth to a sock puppet baby. I think the problem is that my husband often says horrible things right before I go to bed. Example: Last night he asked what we would do if our daughter did not have earlobes. I was like WHAT! he does this just to torture me

My dog does not know how to be a dog. We bought a house with a nice back yard and a fence just for him (you would think he would be a little more appreciative) and he does not know how to use it. So I have to walk him on a leash in the fenced back yard so that he knows how to go to the bathroom out there. Weirdest part is that he has no problem in the back yard at my parents house. Also, our deck gets really hot and we found it burns his feet (really horrible screaming one day followed by me saving him, burning my own feet and then placing cold compresses on his feet for 10 minutes) so I have to carry him outside to the yard. Yes, I know he is spoiled but what can I do?

We have been watching the Olympic Trials in our house and my husband makes the best comments. Here are some examples:

• Floor routines would be so much better if they had light sabers. 
• Oh look at all the fishies! (watching butterfly race)
• Hey the flying squirrel monkey is on now! (whenever Gabby Douglas had a routine)

He wont be too happy I posted those. I do have to give him credit. He took me to see Magic Mike on Saturday. Yes, he is a good husband :)