We’re Back! With a Polka Dot Closet

We arrived home from California on Tuesday, the 13th, and after a brief battle with a cold and flu for the both of us we’re finally feeling back on track. During our vacation we were able to see the majority of both sides of extended family which is so rare for us with limited trips home, tight schedules, and relatives dotted throughout the golden state. Thanks to my sister’s wedding I was able to see many aunts, uncles, cousins, and family friends; some of whom I hadn’t seen in years! We also were lucky enough to spend time with Michael’s immediate and extended family and see our nieces who are growing up so quickly. On the last day of our trip we were able to squeeze in a day with some old friends, too. It was probably the most successful trip home we’ve had in terms of faces seen. Thanks to Michael’s brother lending us his pickup truck we were able to travel between Sebastapol (wine country), Monterey (central coast), Gilroy and Walnut Creek (SF Bay Area) throughout the course of a week.

My Family (minus one): Me, Dad, sister Nicole, Mom, brother Mario

Friends who made the trip all the way to Monterey! LeeAnn, Me, Michael (husband), Ashley, Michael C.

As I mentioned earlier, after our California trip I wanted to get into full-fledge baby mode. We buttoned up our registry before the trip and now that we are back it’s nursery time! The purchase of our first house gave me the opportunity to discover my personal decorating style which involved a lot of returns to Home Goods and gawking on Pinterest. Now that I am better at making a cohesive looking space, coming up with a nursery design has been much less of a guessing game and way more exciting! In no way does this mean that I have abandoned Pinterest. I am still majorly addicted to pinning DIY projects and ingenious thrift store hacks.

Most recently I found a tutorial for DIY polka dot curtains via Remodelaholic that I absolutely loved. But after having nightmarish visions of a curious baby/toddler pulling down the curtains and thus being smacked in the head with a curtain rod I decided against adding long, beautiful curtains to the baby room design. Before we left for CA I cleaned out the nursery closet which was quite literally filled to the brim with Michael’s military uniforms, no seriously the french-style closet doors would bust open on their own because that thing was so packed. After hauling out SDB’s, khakis, mess dress and luggage, I was faced with the interior of a very tired looking closet covered in black scuff marks. I thought about getting taking a magic eraser to it, then thought to give it a fresh coat of white paint; but THEN I thought, if I’m going to take the time to make the closet look clean why not really make it pop? With POLKA DOTS! This brings us back to the tutorial at Remodelaholic. The genius behind that blog post, Cassity, used a cup as a stencil for her dots and created a “confetti” look by placing the bottom dots densely and gradually spacing them out as the eye moves up.

The main color of our baby girl’s room is purple and luckily we had two shades of purple leftover from painting our main bathroom and shower room. I used the lighter shade of purple for the background and the dark purple for each dot. Again referencing the polka dot curtain tutorial I used a cup as a stencil for each dot, but I chose to use the top rim of the cup (drinking part) versus the bottom of the cup as seen on Remodelaholic. You can see the stencil the cup rim creates below.

I felt the top part of the cup created a more clean looking stencil than using the bottom of the cup. After lightly dipping the cup in paint (I did it straight into the paint can but you can also pour a bit into a paper plate), gently and evenly press it onto the wall. Make sure you don’t get too much paint onto the cup to prevent globs or drips and an uneven stencil. I could get about three dots with one dip of paint before ending up with a partial circle due to lack of paint. After stenciling I simply filled in the circle with a small paintbrush.

Below you can see the small amount of paint covering the cup’s rim and a filled in stenciled circle.

I started out doing an evenly spaced out polka dot design, but Michael liked the idea of having the dots more dense on the bottom and spaced out towards the top, so that’s what we went with! You can see my progress below.

And the finished product!

Maddie was feeling really generous today and helped out by taking a nap in the closet while the first coat of light purple paint was drying. She left her personal signature on the room in the form of tiny black hairs stuck on the wall.

There is so much more going on with the baby room and I’ll follow up soon with detailed posts! As for my pregnancy things are still going smoothly. Here’s a quick rundown on my stats for the week.

How far along? 21 weeks
How big is baby? 10.5 inches long from head to toe, about the size of a big carrot.
Total weight gain/loss: +11 pounds, yikes!
Maternity clothes? I bought my first pair of maternity jeans and HATE them, I’ll continue with the rubberband + belly band trick. Did get a maternity shirt & leggings that are awesome though!
Sleep: Still waking up at 5:30am every morning, sleeping better unless my back starts aching.
Best moment this week: Feeling baby’s kicks get stronger and more frequent.
Movement: Sometimes it feels like there is a baby ninja in my belly.
Food cravings: Cherry Crisp or Strawberry Tart, so I guess craving tart & sweet things!
Food Aversions: None this week!
Gender: GIRL
Labor Signs: None
Pregnancy Symptoms: Been sleepy again this week, but I am attributing it to my body fighting a cold in addition to building a human.
Belly Button in or out: In
What I miss: Sad that I couldn’t go ride roller coasters with Michael at Six Flags.
What I am looking forward to: Completing the baby’s room!
Upcoming appointments/events: 8/27: 22 week checkup, 8/29: echocardiogram

It’s A Girl!

We had our ultrasound on Thursday and as we suspected, our baby is a girl! Sadly I don’t have the pretty much indecipherable sonogram with “ITS A GIRL” printed on it because Michael set them down on a chair while he helped me wipe blue, ultrasound goop off my belly and then we both forgot them, oops! The ultrasound tech actually suspected we had a baby girl at just 12.5 weeks. We had the same tech this time and she was right! The appointment ended up being a full anatomy scan instead of the echocardiogram I thought it was. Baby was completely uncooperative the entire time and both the doctor and ultrasound tech really had to work hard to get each picture they needed. They need pictures of finger bones, organs, skull, brain, leg bones, arm bones, spine, etc. it really is in depth! They were not able to get the profile view of her face because she refused to turn into the right position. We kept seeing her face straight on which actually looked really creepy since the ultrasound was showing the skeleton which resulted in looking her like a tarsier monkey (seen below). I’m sure she’s pretty in real life though….

The entire sonogram baby was laying with legs completely stretched out and switched between having one arm behind her head or both fists under her chin. She really was lounging in there. She is really active which the doctors were happy about, even though it made their job more difficult. Everything looks beautiful and “normal” so far even though they were unable to get the profile view of the head, my doctor (and we) were comfortable enough waiting a few weeks to get that picture during my echocardiogram. Baby is also a little bigger than average, in the 77th percentile so my due date went from 12/31 to 12/26. She already weighs half a pound!

I am so excited to shop! I actually dragged Michael to Target after work on Thursday and said “wouldn’t if be funny if we came for baby stuff and just left with food.” We may or may not have left with only bagel bites, mint chip ice cream and mascara. We were really on the ball that day. But really, our Target has a pitiful baby department. I really wanted to get a baby blanket to somehow solidify more that we are having a girl, but like I said, no cute baby stuff! Did see some cute lamps in the home section though.

Yesterday, I had a girl’s day with a few girlfriends, two of whom are also pregnant; it’s seriously like a hungry, hot (the sweaty kind), hormonal pack of women walking around and it can get really dangerous for bystanders. We ended up going to Babies ‘R Us after our pedicure date and man that store has EVERYTHING! I ended up buying a little hippo blankie/snuggle toy thing but I’m going to return it because guess who changed their mind on colors yet again? I might be the most indecisive person in the world. It’s more the shade of hippo purple that is wrong, because I am really particular about colors, seriously. Today Michael and I are going back to Babies ‘R Us today to nail down our registry items, especially our carseat and stroller combination. On Thursday, Michael decided to test drive some strollers at Target by literally driving them like the baby aisle had just turned into a life or death situation. He deemed them to be cheap and not sturdy enough, so we’ve got our work cut out for us today.

I have a ton of baby projects in mind for the upcoming weeks including: polka dot painted closet, DIY mobile, hand-painted cardboard letters and more wall art. The best part is all of these projects are going to be super cheap which I’m always a fan of.

As usual, I’ll leave you with my weekly update!

How far along? 19 weeks
How big is baby? A mango! Approximately 6 inches long.
Total weight gain/loss: Gained about 7 pounds.
Maternity clothes? Belly band and pant buttons held together with a hair band.
Sleep: Sleep is hit or miss. I wake up at 5:30am every day and usually force myself to go back to sleep. Not today though!
Best moment this week: Finding out baby is a girl!
Movement: A lot more movement these days! I’m pretty sure I felt her do a complete rollover yesterday.
Food cravings: Fruit! Oranges, nectarines, strawberries, and grapes.
Food Aversions: None this week!
Gender: GIRL 🙂
Labor Signs: None
Pregnancy Symptoms: Backaches that come out of nowhere and are horrendous.
Belly Button in or out: In
What I miss: Sushi, really, really miss sushi.
What I am looking forward to: Going home to CA!
Upcoming appointments/events: 8/27: 22 week checkup, 8/29: echocardiogram (for real this time)

Anxious and Excited!

As we enter into the 17th week of pregnancy I am absolutely dying to find out the gender. I have been slowly building a baby registry, that for now has items for both genders but I plan on making the proper adjustments once we find out if we are having a boy or a girl. There are still nine days until our ultrasound appointment which is primarily an echocardiogram to make certain the baby’s heart is developing normally. A few days ago I seriously looked into going to one of those stand alone ultrasound facilities that charge you about $50 for a 10-minute gender reveal ultrasound because I just couldn’t stand waiting another whole two weeks. Luckily, Michael talked some sense into me and I’m sticking to my original appointment. This upcoming visit will be the first time Michael will see the baby dancing around on the screen. Because of work, he has only been able to attend my first doctor’s appointment which was actually quite boring and consisted of obtaining a medical history and peeing in a cup. Needless to say, his second time should be way more exciting.

We’re also anxiously looking forward to our upcoming trip home to California! There are so many reasons to get excited: my sister’s wedding, seeing family, no humidity, mexican food, sourdough bread, in ‘n out, garlic fries… Ok it’s obvious that we get really excited about eating when we go home but we are SO deprived over here! I mean Connecticut has some goods things to eat, like lobster and, okay that’s the only thing I can think of so I just proved my point. But really the most important part of going home is seeing family and friends. I feel so lucky to see our families multiple times this year! Michael usually doesn’t get the luxury of that happening with his schedule but this year we’re really getting spoiled.

My pregnancy is still going really smoothly and dare I say, easy. My appetite has decreased recently and is pretty much back to pre-pregnancy status. Which is nice because I don’t wake up starving in the middle of the night. I can get by with three meals a day again! The only new symptom is stretching and pulling in my belly as it grows. Sometimes it gets uncomfortable but the pain is more annoying than seriously painful. Usually lying on the floor and doing a good belly massage helps. I didn’t think this was possible but I have to get a bigger bra, again. Thank goodness I didn’t stock up (I only bought two) on what I thought was my new permanent bra size because my body apparently has other plans. I also am the new owner of a belly band. They are so comfy and soft! I’m happy I can wear my old shorts again with the addition of the band. In other belly size news I am happy to say that as of today, I fit into my Maid of Honor dress for my sister’s wedding. I bought it in February (pre-pregnancy) so I have been waiting as long as possible to try it on to properly gauge belly size while still having enough time for alterations if needed.

Once we get back from California in mid-August we plan on getting into full fledge baby mode. I gave us the completion date of my birthday, October 6th, to have everything we need for baby and the room finished. This might seem early but I want to get everything done before Michael starts going out to sea again in the fall. I also want everything prepared in case of an early delivery, and even worse the possibility that Michael wouldn’t be present in that case.

I’ll leave you with a belly pic and my baby stats for the week!

How far along? 17 weeks
How big is baby? Quite a few comparisons this week including: sweet potato, onion or a pear; roughly 5 inches long
Total weight gain/loss: Gained 5 pounds
Maternity clothes? Just a belly band
Sleep: Sleeping okay as long as I have my “pillow fort” consisting of pillows under the belly, wedged behind the back and under the head.
Best moment this week: Brain storming baby names with Michael
Movement: A few very light flutters here and there
Food cravings: Horseradish which was satisfied with cocktail sauce and shrimp. Also mustard and pickles which came in the form of a double cheeseburger from Burger King 🙂
Food Aversions: Watching the hosts eating hot dogs on The Chew today was disgusting to me.
Gender: Hope to find out in 9 days!
Labor Signs: None
Pregnancy Symptoms: Belly expansion pains; if I get up too quickly or make sudden movements it really strains my belly and feels like I pulled or even tore a muscle.
Belly Button in or out: In, but looking really tight as my belly swells.
What I miss: Still beer. Also really sad I can’t drink mimosas with my sister while getting ready for her wedding
What I am looking forward to: The first time Michael sees the baby on August 1 at our ultrasound appointment.
Upcoming appointments/events: 7/30- 18 week appointment, 8/1- Echocardiogram and Ultrasound

Ramblings Before The 4 Month Mark

Something happened mid-week; my belly started popping out! Before now I felt like I had a bloated mid-section and felt generally discouraged about how I looked. Now, it finally feels like I’m getting a real pregnant belly! And it’s only gonna get bigger from here. I officially can’t fit into any of my denim or khaki shorts. I have one pair of denim shorts that are equivalent to a size 8/10 that I can still wear (I’m usually a 6) but who knows how long that will last. I tried using a rubberband to ghetto rig my other shorts to fit by looping the band around the button and through the button hole but I was pretty sure it would either snap in half or the button would rip off because of the strain, and it would probably happen in the middle of a store and then my pants would fall to my ankles. But that’s just another one of my irrational fears, similar to the fear that when I hop off of a counter (which I often sit on) my tailbone will catch the counter’s edge and my entire spine will rip out of my body. I secretly hope I instilled that extremely irrational fear into you too just now.

Some of you may be wondering why I don’t just go out and buy some maternity shorts or a belly band instead of trying to MacGyver some bottoms that will fit. I’ve had this mindset that I want to avoid maternity stores as long as possible and I also can’t get over the idea of spending money on clothes that I will wear so temporarily. For now I plan on wearing a lot of dresses, and come fall I am ecstatic about having the excuse to wear spandex leggings with way too big sweaters over top. I’m sure once people begin noticing that my single pair of denim shorts are beginning to develop holes, I’ll buy a belly band. 

I’ve had more energy lately which has resulted in me going to sleep in the 10 o’clock hour, an hour which these eyes haven’t seen for a long, long time. At the beginning of pregnancy I was often asleep by 9pm, and when Michael was on duty I would crawl into bed at 8pm because he wasn’t there to judge me. There have been more nights lately where I lie awake for one or two hours at a time for no apparent reason. I’ve also been awoken by extreme hunger pangs a few times but that only happens if I eat dinner too early (which I just realized I did today and I will be woken up tonight). When this happens I sometimes fight the hunger until I fall back asleep or I’ll reluctantly make the trek downstairs to eat cereal. There was one time where I actually ate a subway sandwich and some chips (in bed, I’ll be honest) but I justify it because I was awake for almost three hours and ended up watching TV and doing other really productive things.

This week I started on an art piece for the baby’s room which falls in line perfectly with the color scheme. I plan to hang it above the blue dresser where it will really pop. The picture below is still in progress, I obviously have to finish the body and I am going to add a backdrop of color too.

If you didn’t guess the lovely model for this painting is none other than our pup, Maddie! I used a photo that I took of her while she was begging. This is my first painting of an animal and it took some trial and error to develop the different colors in her fur. I’ve seen these sort of pop art style pet portraits before and it’s a look I really admire.

Just two more weeks until we find out the baby’s gender. Michael and I did have a conversation last night, and we both think it’s a girl. We’ll see! We are off to Annapolis tomorrow and so looking forward to our friend’s wedding, seeing old friends, and of course crab dip! Miss Maddie is coming along with us so it should be an exciting trip.

xoxo

Almost 15 Week Update

It’s been a busy past two weeks. Michael’s dad and brother arrived on June 22nd for a Warrior Dash build in Massachusetts. That night we went to Foxwoods casino for a high roller bowling session which was awesome despite the fact that my score fell in the 60’s (I’m better on the Wii). The boys left for MA the next day, and I had my last day of work on Monday. On Wednesday (26th) morning, I picked up my mom-in-law and niece from the airport and on Thursday we headed to NYC for a girl’s trip! We were lucky enough to see a real broadway show while we were there, Annie, and it was awesome. The actors, and especially such young actors were so talented I really was blown away. Plus, Jane Lynch plays the character Miss Hannigan and she is always hilarious. We spent most of our time walking the city, popping in and out of toy stores and even enjoyed a tour of Central Park via bicycle! We arrived back in CT on Friday for some relaxation and on Saturday I headed to Pennsylvania with some girlfriends to attend a wedding. Arriving back on Sunday I was greeted with all the boys who had finished up the build and subsequent tear down of the Warrior Dash race which was held on the 29th (Saturday). After a few more days of catching up with family, we once again had an empty house as of Wednesday (July 3rd). But don’t worry we filled it up again the next day with a 4th of July BBQ! All of us girls stayed inside out of the heat while the boys braved the sun while playing beer pong and corn hole in the yard. On Friday I dragged Michael and a few hungover boys to the beach where we escaped the heat with dips in the icy cold Atlantic. Which brings us to today, phew! I was going to stay inside and get some laundry and other chores done around the house, but I couldn’t resist the invitation to join some friends at a local Lobster Fest. We braved the 90+ temperatures for some fresh seafood, luckily there was a Dairy Queen in walking distance as we left the festival and you better believe we made the trek.

This week will be a bit more routine, until Friday when we make the trip to Annapolis, Maryland for the second wedding of the season plus a long anticipated reunion with some old friends. We’re even bringing Maddie along with us!

As for the pregnancy, everything is going really smoothly. I feel quite normal and I am really happy that I haven’t gained too much weight yet and my doctor is equally as pleased. This past week’s appointment was standard: pee in a cup, get weighed, listen to heartbeat, say your goodbyes! Easy. In a few weeks on August 1st we have a fetal echocardiogram/ultrasound. I’m hoping they reveal the gender at that appointment since the nurse said it will be a very in depth ultrasound. Even though the first look at the baby’s heart looked normal my doctor wants to take a second look at the more developed baby just to be sure. My belly picture this week had to be headless because the humidity had really taken a toll on my hair, you should really thank me for sparing you.

How far along? 15 weeks on Monday
How big is baby? Almost the size of an apple, about 4 inches long
Total weight gain/loss: Gained 1.5 pounds
Maternity clothes? None yet, but only a select few pairs of pants fit me.
Sleep: I’m sleeping about the same as the first trimester; peeing a few times a night, and sometimes just lying awake for an hour or two. But, I’ve adjusted to it so I’m not as tired the next day.
Best moment this week: Hearing the heartbeat with grandma-to-be, Linda, on the doppler during my 14 week appointment
Movement: None yet!
Food cravings: Nothing specific; I can’t skip breakfast in the morning or else I feel absolutely starving like I haven’t eaten in days
Food Aversions: Nope
Gender: Hope to find out in the next few weeks!
Labor Signs: None
Pregnancy Symptoms: More thirsty than I normally would be, and I get tired earlier in the evening. Other than that, nothing major!
Belly Button in or out: In!
What I miss: beer, tuna rolls 😦
What I am looking forward to: The first time Michael sees the baby on August 1 at our ultrasound appointment.
Upcoming appointments/events: 7/30- 18 week appointment, 8/1- Echocardiogram and Ultrasound

Baby Room Inspiration

Since the day I found  out I was pregnant I have been looking at baby rooms all over the internet. We have already painted the room a light grey [Woodsmoke by Eddie Bauer]. I wanted a light, airy backdrop for the bright colors that I am always drawn to. The blue dresser we got pops perfectly against the grey. Since we only have the dresser/changing table in the room so far I have been looking at inspiration for how to dress that area up.

One of my favorite ideas is this pegboard, it’s totally functional with the use of “S” hooks to hang small baskets holding diapers, creams, etc. Plus I love the sort of industrial look it brings to the room. I think I would only use this idea if the room turns out to be a boy’s room though. (Notice the beautiful light grey paint in this example, nice choice!).

Source

I love the next storage idea mostly because I already have a shelving unit nearly identical to the one shown. It is raw wood and just needs to be primed and painted white [courtesy of the husband]. I will probably use this storage piece in the room anyway, even if it’s not above the changing table.

Source

Tomorrow my MIL, Linda and niece, Elise fly into Connecticut! We are planning a girls’ trip to NYC on Thursday complete with a broadway show. On Sunday my father-in-law and brother-in-law will be here, too. It’s the first time they have all been here while Michael is home. Can’t wait!

xoxo

3 Month Update + Our First Baby Room Buy

Little Blue Dresser’s Craigslist Ad

This weekend Michael and I made an hour trip to get a dresser that I fell in love with on Craigslist. Most people that witnessed me decorate our first home know that I am a Craigslist junkie. I try my hardest to always buy things cheap, but of good quality. I saw these dressers originally posted at $295, then $245 and finally at $195 I contacted them. I asked if they were willing to sell the dressers separately since we just wanted the short one to double as a changing table. The nice woman offered it to me for only $75, score!

The dresser was located a bit out of the way, about 55 miles. I was originally looking for a dresser to refinish but this one was the color I would have used anyway, so it was worth the trip to me. Unfortunately, our one hour drive to the destination turned into almost two hours one way because I accidentally punched the wrong city into the GPS, at least I got the street address right! Once we finally arrived the little blue dresser was waiting for us outside and it is the exact swatch of blue I had pulled at Home Depot a few weeks ago. It is newly refinished and heavy duty wood, no laminate or particle board here!

3 Month Update

This week also marks the last week of my first trimester! Which means I am out of the woods and am finally comfortable announcing the pregnancy to the world. So far I have only gotten sick in the morning one time, let’s hope it stays that way. I have felt pretty normal for the most part, after reading about so many pregnancy symptoms online I imagined myself crying hysterically while doing laundry or vomiting violently everyday. The worst I have had is taking naps and eating a lot, and I find both of those quite enjoyable.

Today I had an ultrasound done with a specialist in fetal medicine. My OB wanted to make sure that our baby’s heart was developing normally due to my medical history. This is done by looking at a little sac of fluid sitting on the back of baby’s neck; if more fluid than normal is present it may mean that the baby is developing with a heart defect or other abnormality such as Down Syndrome. Luckily, everything looks perfectly normal and our baby was squirming around happily the entire time. The ultrasound was pleasantly long so my friend Stephanie and I were able to watch the baby move for about 15 or 20 minutes total. Michael was on duty at work today so he was unable to come to my appointment. Luckily I’ve got a great support network of friends who are more than happy to accompany me. Here are some pics from today:

Baby Profile View

Baby Waving to the Camera

How far along? 12 weeks

How big is baby? Baby is the size of a plum

Total weight gain/loss: No loss here! +1 pound

Maternity clothes? No official maternity clothes, but I am sticking to empire waist and flowing tops to hide my stomach which looks more like a beer gut right now than a baby bump.

Sleep: Wake up at least three times a night, including a trip to the bathroom.

Best moment this week: Buying a bigger bra that is actually comfortable!

Movement: No feeling of movement, but I did see the little one swimming around in the ultrasound 🙂

Food cravings: Oranges

Food Aversions: No specific aversions, more of a general “nothing sounds good” attitude.

Gender: Had two dreams so far that it’s a boy.

Labor Signs: None

Pregnancy Symptoms: When I’m tired it hits me like a ton of bricks and I must nap. I’m also STARVING every two to three hours. I threw up for the first time on 6/8 and thankfully haven’t had that experience since. I have to pee a lot more than normal including every night which I’ve never done before.

Belly Button in or out: In!

What I miss: sushi and beer, two of my favorite things.

What I am looking forward to: Finding out the sex and decorating the nursery!

Upcoming appointments/events: 7/2, 14 week checkup

Weekly Wisdom: ALWAYS go pee before you leave the house, and bring snacks in your purse.

Milestones: First ultrasound at 10.5 weeks and everything looks great! Officially the owner of a “C” cup bra, woo!

SURPRISE!

First ultrasound on June 6, 2013

On April 20th, 2013, I found out I am pregnant. I took the test after a romantic date of a free movie followed by dinner at Taco Bell, *swoon*. Michael was convinced it was just a “food baby” because of our aforementioned fourth meal. Being the cheapskate I am, I had bought CVS brand pregnancy tests after having a feeling I might be pregnant. Here is some advice: BUY DIGITAL TESTS! The coveted second line appeared so faint it was hard to convince Michael (and myself) that the pregnancy was a reality. I ended up taking two additional tests in the following three days, and finally had a confirmed test at a doctor’s office at the end of the week.

I thought I might be pregnant actually a full week before my period was due. I woke up feeling nauseous the morning of the Navy Birthday Ball on April 13th, and the sickness continued into the night forcing us to leave the ball early. My friend Amber said she just knew I was pregnant. Because I was feeling sick, I took my temperature to make sure I didn’t have a fever and it registered at 98.1, my body usually runs fairly low right below 97 degrees. For those of you that don’t know, your body temperature elevates after conception and stays that way if you are pregnant. This is what made me buy the cheap pack of tests. I’ve peed on a stick before, but this time I was actually really nervous, I couldn’t even bring myself to look at the results. My heart almost jumped out of my chest when it came up + !

Our baby is due December 31st, 2013. Here’s to hoping we have the first baby of the year so we can win free diapers and other awesome things!! Seriously though.