Jellybean Poll

This past week Daddy started to share the news about Jellybean at work. Since Daddy works part time at in the tech department with mostly other men after the congratulations went around they did what they always do, set up a contest about Jellybean's birth. Mommy has seen this site before many times on her mommy forum and now she can finally set up her own game.

Lastly someone posted this on the mommy forum Mommy belongs to and she thought it was adorable and funny so here it is.

In Jellybean's case I guess it would be him as Mommy is still convinced Jellybean is a boy. Only 27 more weeks to find out. Get your guesses in!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Jellybean and Gus had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend. Normally for Thanksgiving the family goes to Grandma's brother's house in upstate NY to celebrate with the extended family but due to a illness this year we spent the holiday at home just Mommy, Daddy, Jellybean, Grandma, and of course Gus. Because of the small amount of people the food wasn't traditional Thanksgiving fare but nevertheless it was yummy.

This soup was the best. King Crab corn soup. Delicious!

After dinner we watched UP one of Mommy's favorite movies and one she will be adding to Jellybean's movie library. If you haven't seen it see it its wonderful.



Sadly Mommy was so consumed with the movie she forgot to take a picture with dessert. (chocolate cake, strawberry ice cream, and chocolate covered pomegranates)

Jellybean, Gus, and Grandma



Mommy decided to skip out this year on Black Friday shopping (the first for her in several years) as Mommy is extra tired these days and didn't want to get up early and fight the crowds. She hopes that there will be good online deals to be had the next few weeks.

On Saturday Jellybean and Gus got to attend their first wedding finally. Mommy's childhood friend Dora got married to her sweetheart Josh. The wedding was lovely and a wonderful collection of old and new friends. The highlight of the evening had to be the chocolate fountain which Mommy and Jellybean enjoyed thoroughly. There were so many lovely people Mommy wishes she took pictures with but alas in the hustle and bustle Mommy forgot. These are the pictures she managed to take.

The beautiful centerpiece. Mommy and Daddy actually won the honor of taking this baby home but forgot to take it on the way out.

With the beautiful bride, Dora


Aunt Stacey, Aunt Emily, Aunt Dora, Mommy, Jellybean, and Gus
Uncle Jared with Jellybean and Gus


Family portrait! Only 27 more weeks!



Belly shot at 13 weeks and 1 day


Mommy recently discovered that she is starting to develop linea nigra a pigmentation line that runs down the abdomen in pregnant woman. Its not extremely dark at this time but Mommy and Daddy can both see it. I guess we will see what happens as the pregnancy moves on.

Im not sure if these pictures show it well

Bottles

Since Mommy and Daddy's trip to Babies R Us last week Mommy has been looking at all the items on the recommended checklist and doing research on them. The first items Mommy decided to look into were bottles. Mommy is planning on breastfeeding but still she felt that having some bottles in the house before Jellybean arrived would still be a good idea. For one thing Mommy herself was formula fed because her own mommy couldn't breastfeed her so Mommy is aware that the possibility of breastfeeding might be hereditary and she simply might not be able to. Another reason Mommy wanted to buy bottles is so that Daddy could assist with feeding Jellybean as well as bond with him. Lastly obviously if Mommy is out and another person is watching Jellybean then they would obviously need bottles to feed Jellybean as well as if Mommy is out and breastfeeding isn't convenient at the time. In short there are numerous reasons having a few bottles around the house is a good idea for first time parents.

So Mommy started to do some research and wow are there a lot of different kinds of bottles. DISCLAIMER: All of this is independant research done by one consumer who has not yet even tested out any of these products so take what you will from this.

Mommy immediately ruled out any kind of drop in liner bottles because while convenient she hates the idea of creating more unnecessary waste for the planet.

Next was the plastic vs glass issue. Mommy has been reading up a lot in the past few years about plastic studies and the more she reads about it the less inclined to plastic use she has become. In her own life Mommy has been slowly trying to phase out the use of plastic and replace it with glass (ie food storage) as it has been shown that plastic, especially under heat sources, has been known to leech. Overtime as the plastic is used more it leeches more and more and all of that seeps into your food, skin, etc. There was a big controversy recently over this discovery and the affects on baby bottles which are often used in microwaves or warmed milk is placed within. There was a bog recall and change in the industry and now most bottles advertise that they are BPA free which is the harmful toxin within plastic. While Mommy knows that its impossible to have a plastic free life (especially when children are involved) she wants to limit to use of plastic as much as she can so she decided to only look into glass bottles for Jellybean.

Mommy found a few brands namely Evenflo, Born Free, and Dr Brown which she considered for Jellybean.

Evenflo is a company that has always stuck with glass bottles. Even when other companies started to move toward plastic bottles Evenflo stuck with glass production. They also made plastic ones I believe but they have always had glass as an alternative. Their glasses are also significantly cheaper then most other brands. Also Evenflo makes grips for some of their bottles helping with the slipping issue of glass.

Evenflo bottles with cozies 3 pack of 4 oz bottles- $7.98 at Babies R Us

Evenflo pack of 6 4 oz bottles- $11.99 at Amazon.com

Born Free bottles advertise a wider neck bottle creating a more breast-like feeding experience for the baby which they say is best for parents who plan on switching between breast and bottle as the transition isn't as stark for the baby. They also created a air vent system within the bottles which they claim helps eliminate colic issues as well as gas ones. There are also a wide variety of nipple choices that come with the wide neck bottles. Born Free bottles however cost quite a bit more then say the Evenflo bottles.

Born Free pack has 3 5 oz glasses, 2 9 oz glasses, and 2 level 2 nipples- $44.99 at Babies R Us

Dr Brown Natural Flow bottles advertise that with their internal vent system babies have an easier time nursing and experience less adverse affects such as colic, gas, and spitting up. The venting system helps create a vacuum inside the bottle trapping air and now allowing it to reach your babies's milk. This system is achieved through an extra straw piece inside the bottle which they supply a special cleaning tool for as well. Dr Brown bottles are on the more expensive side as well.

Dr Brown's 2 pack of 3.5 oz bottles- $12.99 at Babies R Us

After much thought and consideration Mommy decided to go with both Evenflo and Born Free bottles. They say with babies that bottles are often a trial and error has each baby has their own preferences (just like the rest of us) and Mommy decided that out of the three glass bottle choices she was debating on these two fit her needs better. She liked that Evenflo bottles were cheaper then their competitors and even created a slip grip for their bottles to help prevent breaking (please note that all reviews Mommy has read about all three bottle brands have stated that the glass is sturdy and often times people have dropped them or the bottles have been thrown by children and stayed in tact). She also read specifically that Evenflo bottles work perfectly with the Medela breast pump machines (more on that later). Mommy also choose Born Free because of its wonderful reputation (a lot of mothers swear by these bottles) and the fact that it advertises to help relieve gas and colic as well as the best bottles for transitions. Also Mommy would like to see what if there is any real difference between the cheaper Evenflo bottles and the more advanced venting system and multiple nipple stages of the Born Free bottles. The reason Mommy did not choose Dr Brown's bottles (even though they also have a large following with mother's) is for a few reasons. The first one simply being with the extra venting system it creates one more piece to clean. Dr Brown does provide you with a special tool to assit with the cleaning but Mommy saw online that replacements are avaialble for this tool probbaly meaning that it is small and easily lost which can be another pain on top of the additional cleaning. Also Mommy read from other mother's online that because the system is somewhat straw like its harder to place inside the dishwasher because it can get lost or break. Also you have to check rountinely that the straw does not break because if it does parts can fall into the bottle itself possibly causing problems with your baby. Also Mommy was disheartened a bit to read that before the big BPA industry change all of Dr Brown's products were found to be high on polycarbonate a component of the BPA recall. Even though we are talking about glass in this case with the Dr Brown's bottles which of course wouldn't be affected by BPA it still leaves a bad taste in Mommy's mind and therefore that along with the added cleaning made Mommy decide to not go with that brand. This is of course a personal decision and not one Mommy is saying is for everyone.

Mommy knows that these are her current plans before Jellybean is born and naturally things can change once Jellybean arrives and some flexibility is required in all of this.

If you are still interested in plastic bottles, glass does have it drawbacks being heavier, more breakable, as well as hotter to hold at first touch, most brands including the ones we mentioned today all carry BPA free plastic bottles as well. Just make sure to look for BPA free written on them. If Mommy were to buy plastic the one brand she wouldn't be hesitent about buying from are both Born Free and Medela. Both of these brands have been BPA free even before the industry change and Mommy would feel confident using either of those brands.

Medela BPA-Free 3 5 oz bottles- $16.99 at Babies R Us


As Mommy mentioned before about Medela and Evenflo. Mommy admits while she did all this research on bottles she did very little when it came to the breastpump brand she wanted, Medela. Medela is not only the brand Mommy's hospital rents out but it is well touted all over the Internet by mother's. Mommy is still decideding which set she wants to use but she knows that this is the brand for her. She liked the fact that not only is the breast pump well touted but medlea bottles ahve always been BPA free and thus the storage bottles that came with the set which are plastic are and have always been BPA free. Also like she previously said Evenflo bottles have been said to work very well with this system so Mommy figures if Jellybean doesn't care for the Evenflo bottles she can always use the extra ones as storage.

If you want to read more about BPA and bottles this is an article Mommy found talking about the different bottle brands before the industry change.

2nd Trimester

We made it to the second trimester!! Mommy is so happy!!!! After a long month long wait, in which Mommy pondered several times about making up an excuse to go back to the Dr sooner to get everything checked on, Mommy and Daddy finally went back to the Dr's office this past Friday. Though a month might not seem long normally in baby world it can be excruciating as you can't see or feel baby and thus you just need to trust that everything is going as it should. Mommy had to fully rely on her faith in God and was not disappointed at all. At the Dr's office Mommy and Daddy got to see Jellybean again and wow has he grown in a month. The Dr said he was measuring slightly larger (yay!) and moved Mommy's due date up to June 5th from June 10th. Mommy was expecting to be 11 weeks 4 days at the appointment and instead was told she was 11 weeks 6 days so Mommy is now officially 12 weeks and into her 2nd trimester yay!!! Jellybean was laying on his side and not on his back so when the ultrasound turned on he was looking right at us. The Dr moved the probe around a few times and pushed down trying to get Jellybean to turn over (its easier to measure them when they are on their backs) but alas Jellybean stayed put. Mommy and Daddy got to hear Jellybean's heartbeat again and wow was it strong and loud. Mommy now knows that despite her reliance on her home doppler set during this past month the noises she was listening to were certainly not Jellybean's heartbeat as the sound at the Dr's office was loud and clear like a horse clop while the doppler noise is more like air whooshing around. Still a good strong heartbeat of 160 and higher was recorded and thats all that matters.

Here is Jellybean at 11 weeks 6 days! At the dr's office we got to see his arms move a little.

Since we are now in the 2nd trimester and with Christmas coming Daddy and Mommy decided it would be a good time to go to Babies R Us to start looking at items. Of course this meant that Gus had to come as well to test out items.


He was excited to get there!



Mommy and Daddy were a bit overwhelmed once they got to Babies R Us. Babies need A LOT of stuff or so it seems at least. Surprisingly after we got our little checklist book not one employee tried to come help the 2 bewildered 1st time parents as they navigated through a sea of breast pumps, car seats, and cribs. Mommy had some ideas of items she wanted after reading some product reviews, speaking to other moms online, and info given to her from the Dr.

Here are some highlights from the trip

Mommy and Daddy have decided they want a travel system since it comes with both the infant car seat as well as a stroller that can covert from infant hood to toddler hood. No one was around to help Mommy and Daddy so the trial and error period took a bit longer then it probably should have (infant things have a definite learning curve to them) but they were able to successful assemble and disassemble the multiple parts of the Graco travel system. Daddy was very proud of himself once it was all done. Mommy and Daddy like this pattern called Catalina but believe it is being discontinued so Mommy has found a back up pattern at Target they liked called Townsend.

Infant carrier


Stroller





After strollers it was on to baby swings

As soon as Mommy saw this one it was almost a done deal. Is it not perfect????


Daddy thought this one was a bit better price wise though so we shall see I guess


Jumperoos! Mommy and Daddy couldn't decide



Pack and Play. Mommy and Daddy later found one at Target online they liked more

High chair. Daddy picked this one out because it was "cute" he said!

Cribs. Mommy and Daddy liked this color but wasn't sure which was best.


This was Mommy's way of letting Daddy know a glider is a must!

Mommy saw this and knew no matter what she would be registering for one of these...maybe two so she can have one too lol!

As Mommy and Daddy were walking out they saw this. Mommy knew she would have to come back and buy this at some point simply for the fact that Bear and Bunny are Daddy & Mommy's nicknames for each other. Plus its gender neutral and therefore perfect!


After Babies R Us Daddy said he spent too much time in a girly environment all day and needed to be in a more man sensitive place. Where did we go?

Home Depot

Gus with Daddy's purchases



After coming home Mommy started to do some research on products and items they saw during the day. While Mommy does think you need to make a trip to your local baby store to try out big items like the stroller other things Mommy feels need more research and time before settling on one specific item. Mommy and Daddy are planning on going back to babies R US in a few weeks to try to car test the travel system simply because they didn't get to last time with no employee help.

Visitors

Last night we had dinner with our newly returned newlywed friends Dave and Jamie. Since we only got to talk to them briefly at their wedding and tell them over the phone upon their arrival of our little Jellybean we decided a get together was in order to catch up on wedding news for them and baby news with us. After dinner they came over for a bit and so we squeezed in a few photos together with Gus. Gus apparently wasn't the only one eager for his picture as some of the pets decided this was their time to debut in Jellybean's journal as well.


Mommy is anxious this week because Friday we finally go back to the Dr to check up on everything. Its been a long 4 weeks and at times Mommy was very anxious and trying to think up of excuses to go to the Dr's office earlier just to make sure everything was ok but she held strong and held on to her faith that God is taking care of everything and we have finally arrived at the week. Only 4 more days and hopefully we will see a beautiful little growing bean in there doing well. Mommy will be 11 weeks as of tomorrow so slowly approaching the 2nd trimester. At times it feels like its been so slow to get here and other times the idea that soon a baby will be in this house is shocking. Mommy still has a lot she wants to get down before Jellybean's big arrival including finishing the nursery and her projects for it, going to Babies R Us and trying out items, staring Jellybean's library, signing up for pre-birth classes, learning more about cloth diapering, and finding mother's groups in the area as well as other things Im sure Mommy is forgetting at this moment. Not sure if all of it will be done in just 7 short months (eek!!) but we'll see.

10 weeks

Jellybean is 10 weeks 2 days of today. Only one more week till we go back to the Dr to check up on everything. This is the longest Mommy has been without seeing the Dr (last appointment was October 23rd when Jellybean was 7 weeks 4 days) Its been a long few weeks and Mommy and Daddy still have another week to go. At times Mommy gets anxious and worried that something is going wrong with Jellybean and she won't know for another week but so far everything seems to be ok. All the symptoms still remain, peeing a lot, gas, moodiness, growth, and vivid dreams. Mommy bought a home doppler recently and it came in last week. Mommy and Daddy have tested it twice now and we believe we found Jellybean both times. Though the counter wasn't working properly, and Mommy was told it might be too early for the counter to really read anything, Mommy and Daddy did hear something that they felt sounded like what they heard at the Dr's office. Even though its not much Mommy does feel more reassured by it just simply because something is making noise down there and that seems reassuring. Mommy is counting down the days till the Dr appointment and hopes that everything will be well then with a healthy growing Jellybean right on schedule.

In the meantime Mommy was thinking about what Jellybean would be like after he was born. What traits from Mommy and Daddy will he take, what traits will he inherit from other family members, or even traits he has all to his own. So far Mommy has compiled this small list which will probably be added to as Jellybean grows

Jellybean I hope you inherit from Mommy
- her love of God, animals, sleep (this one would be great especially those first few months), & reading
-friendliness
-memory (if Mommy's ever returns)


I hope you inherit from Daddy
-his easy going nature and patience
-his appetite
-his math and science abilities


I do hope you inherit spelling abilities that are better then both your parents or there will be a lot of late night spelling crams in the future.

I also hope that you don't inherit Mommy's ADHD because even though Mommy is fine with it and feels it is an integral part of herself it does make life a bit harder at times and I'd rather your life be easier then mine was in the school department.

Also Mommy hopes that you develop confidence in yourself and your abilities at an earlier age then Mommy did. Though we all go through our own personal experiences and struggles to make us we are and Mommy's experiences have certainly helped shape the person she is today it wasn't always fun and easy and Mommy hopes that her struggles can help you have a happier life sooner.

Chaannges

When Mommy got pregnant she expected to go through some changes, in many ways those changes are signs that everything is working as it should inside. Still those changes at times can be somewhat of a double edged sword. Mommy's best friend is also pregnat and due 3 months ahead of her. She read a book on pregnancy that mentioned the idea of greiving, greiving the loss of your former self. While Mommy had never considered that concept before pregnancy now after being pregnant for a bit she understands that idea a little more. For starters when you are pregnant you gain weight, thats a given and you want to gain weight because it means your baby is growing and you are providing for it as you should but its still hard on the psyche at times when you step on the scale and see that weight escalate. Mommy has always been blessed in the weight department. She has never worried about what she ate or the amount and in many ways this was a small pride point for her. Since September 28th Mommy has steadily put on weight and as of today, November 8th she has put on 10lbs, 2lbs in just the last week. While naturally Mommy wants to gain weight for Jellybean its also hard at times for her to realize that putting on weight is a lot easier now then it has been in the past. Also many things that happen during pregnancy don't necessarily change back after the baby is born so in the back of her mind Mommy doe selfishly worry at times that weight, a non issue before, might become one afterwards. Another aspect of pregnancy that has affected Mommy is her memory. Mommy never heard of the term "pregnancy brain" before becoming pregnant but even in ten short weeks Mommy has learned that this is indeed a factor. For Mommy this is a sour spot as she use to have a wonderful memory which she prided herself on and relied on greatly. Since becoming pregnant Mommy is super forgetful, so much so that Daddy who has a lousy memory , as commented on Mommy's forgetfulness. It got so bad that one day Mommy lost her purse at work 4 different times and when she left she didn't even remember that she had forgotten it until someone came out with it. That was a rare case naturally but now because of this anytime Daddy wants Mommy to do something he also texts her a reminder. Mommy does miss her memory though and realizes it a small sacrafice for a healthy happy Jellybean but it doesn't mean she doesn't miss it from time to time.
Overall this post is not about sadness rather instead its the idea that small sacrifices are sometimes a prt of life and the reward for them can be worth anything in the end.

Sharing

This was a busy sharing weekend as Mommy and Daddy decided to share the good news about Jellybean with their close friends and family. It started at a Halloween party with many of Mommy and Daddy's close college friends in attendance. Originally Mommy and Daddy were just planning on doing a Facebook blast at 12 weeks to let everyone know but the more Mommy thought about it the more she felt that it was impersonal and unfair to their close friends who played such a significant part in their engagement and marriage and decided it was better to share the news in person. Mommy ironically dressed up as a pregnant Catholic school girl =P.

Here is Jellybean and Gus with Aunt Stacey, Aunt Stephanie, and Aunt Emily. Jellybean Im sure you'll be seeing a lot of these three your whole life.

Mommy, Daddy, and Jellybean! Notice the bowl of chips Mommy is hoarding in her lap ;)




Mommy also told her own Mommy (Grandma) on Sunday in a bizarre non-planned manner. Daddy couldn't make it dinner that night so it was just Mommy and Grandma. Dinner plans were made at a local Chinese restaurant that they often ate at. Dinner wasn't very good as the restaurant seemed to be out of everything that Mommy loved to eat so Grandma finally ordered this rice dish that was very tasty. While Mommy was eating Grandma mentioned this dish had fish in it, specifically "swordfish". This made Mommy freak out as swordfish is high on the list of do not eat fish due to high mercury content. After some back and forth where Mommy said she couldn't eat swordfish because she was pregnant it was discovered that Grandma's poor pronunciation of salt fish sounded a heck of a lot like swordfish. In the end even though this wasn't how Mommy wanted to tell Grandma of her first grandchild it actually turned out to be a nice evening as Mommy shared with Grandma about the stresses that occurred this past month as well as her previous miscarriage which Grandma did not know about. Grandma is still relatively nervous about Jellybean and while is excited is showing considerable reserve as well. I think everyone will breathe a bit easier at 12 weeks.

Mommy is officially nine weeks this week. At Grandma's house Mommy the scale read 95lbs so Mommy has officially gained 7lbs already in these 9 weeks of pregnancy. Grandma didn't seem more excited as when she that 95 flash on the scale.

And here are some belly shots from today at 9 weeks1 day.


And while this picture is fuzzy can you see what I see at the bottom of the picture? He seems to think Gus is a chew toy Mommy is keeping from him.