Glowstick Bathtime Fun

Sunday night when Daddy is home is typically the night Shane has the most fun in the bath. He just has so much fun when Nathan gives him his bath and I adore the giggles and screams of laughter I hear coming from the bathroom. This Sunday I decided to kick it up a notch by adding some glowsticks to his bath! I got the idea from one of my favorite activity blogs, Play at Home Mom. This blog has SO many great ideas!

FYI, you can freeze the glowsticks after the fun is over and it will keep them bright.

24 Weeks {1 Day} Viability!

How Far Along: 24 Weeks, 1 day.

Total Weight Gain: 10 lbs
Maternity Clothes: Always, and I feel like I'm growing out of them faster than I did with Shane. 
Stretch Marks: A bazillion. But no new ones.
Sleep: Terrible this week. Between Shane waking up crying a dozen times, bad dreams, and a rib out of place, sleep  had been elusive!
Best Moment of the Week: Viability! At 24 weeks, Azaria were (God forbid) to come early the doctors at this point would make an effort to save her life. A friend also made me some super cute newborn size cloth diapers in fun girl fabrics. 
Worst Moment of the Week: My car broke down yesterday. The good news is, Nathan came and rescued me!
Movement: What, you didn't get the dance party in my womb memo? Haha. She is very active and she likes to hang out on my right side. It's really neat that she is big enough that I can palpate exactly where she is now.
Food Cravings: None
Gender: Girl!
Labor Signs: I started having Braxton Hicks around 14 weeks. They are getting a lot more frequent now, and stronger, especially when I'm doing a lot.
Belly Button: Getting shallower.
Wedding Rings on or Off: On.
What I miss: Well, I miss being able to sit on the floor for long periods of time and playing and wrestling Shane. I managed somehow to put a rib out of place so between that and the SPD/hip misalignment I'm moving pretty gingerly. But the good news is, a few trips to the chiropractor should put me right again!
What am I looking forward to: Finding out when we move--c'mon Navy, I need some answers!
Weekly Wisdom: Be careful how you are sitting when you sneeze when there is a lot of relaxin in your joints! lol. 
Milestones: Hitting Viability. Only three weeks until 3rd trimester! 
Weekly Verse: Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?

23 Weeks {6 Days}

Baby girl is getting big. One day early this week I woke up and just felt like I had popped! One thing that is really neat about this pregnancy is that I'm better at palpating my uterus and baby girl as well.  She likes to hang out on my right side and I'm feeling her kicks from above my belly button to my cervix. Yeah, that's an awkward feeling. But cool too! Sometimes I feel her spin around, and sometimes it feels like she has her back facing out and is pressing out with her feet against my back, so she makes the right side where she is laying really hard. It's so fun to be able to interact with her by poking and feeling her kick me back.

Pregnancy has brought me vivid dreams both times, but this week I've had some humdingers. A few days ago I had a terrible terrible dream that was so bad I don't even want to think/talk about it. Then last night I dreamed all night about trying to escape and save myself from zombies. I woke up a bunch of times and tried to change the dream but went right back to it every time I went back to sleep. I hate zombies. I hate zombie movies. I hate anything zombie. But, Nathan insists on watching zombie movies occasionally and sometimes I've been around for them.  So I blame him for a horrible night's sleep!

Sometimes I tell Shane that baby sister is in Mommy's belly and he pulls my shirt up and gives her kisses. It melts my heart!

The strangest thing that happened this week was that I sneezed a rib out of position. For real! I was sitting kind of crooked on the couch and I sneezed really hard and felt something pop on my left side. It ranges from being uncomfortable to really hurting, depending on what I'm trying to do. When I told Nathan he got this horrified look on his face and wanted to know how that could even happen! I told him it's probably because of all the relaxin in your body while you are pregnant. I can't wait to go to the chiropractor!

One of the sweetest things I've noticed lately is that sometimes when Azaria is sleeping in there and Shane comes near my belly and is talking loudly she'll wake up and kick at him. How cool is that, that she already knows his voice! She should, since he talks a lot. ;)

22 Weeks {Belated}

Very belated, since I'm 23 weeks today! Haha.

I just wanted to note that on my 22 weeks email I was told that the baby is estimated to be 1 lb now. All of her eggs and ovaries are formed as well.

Isn't that a neat thought? She has all the eggs she will be born with! That means that not only am I carrying my daughter but I am also carrying my grandchildren. Just as my mom carried me, as well as Shane and Azaria. And my grandmother carried not only my mom and aunt, but my siblings and two cousins. How cool is that!

I also wanted to share this picture. I'm not sure how many weeks this fetus is but I learned in Anatomy and Physiology this past semester about how our bones actually begin as cartilage and then ossify. I found this neat picture of it happening! The purple is bone, and the pink is still cartilage. This is also a good way to visualize the bones of the skull that form into a cone as baby is born.

They Don't Even Know Her...

Last Friday, I went to a baby shower. It was held in our youth center, and it was for a girl who goes to our youth group. I didn't know her, because she doesn't go to church and I'm obviously too old for youth group, but I went to her shower because, well, I like baby showers and I was invited and she is having a girl too. And because a friend of mine gave me a GINORMOUS tote full of baby girl clothes in NB and 0-3 Months, and since there's no way Azaria would ever wear that many clothes I split them up and had several gift bags full of clothes and other things to give someone in need who was having a girl. Voila, a baby shower for a teen mom!

I got to the shower around 15 minutes late and I actually almost just drove on by because there was only one car in the parking lot and I thought maybe it had gotten moved to another date and I didn't get the memo. But I stopped and went in anyway, and my heart sank. There was no one there. Well, the youth pastor's wife, Cora was there. She was hostessing the shower. And then Ashley, the pregnant girl was there, and her mom. And her mom must've been babysitting because she had brought her two grandsons (older boys who spend the evening stealing Shane's toys) but they don't count.

That was it. The four of us ladies. We laughed and joked and tried our best to have a good time, but after they left I told Cora that if that had been my shower I would've gone home and bawled and felt like no one cared about me. She agreed, and told me that Ashley's relatives and friends, along with the youth group and church ladies had all been invited and no one went. In fact, the girl who was supposed to host the baby shower cancelled just a few hours before the shower.  I can sort of understand why church ladies didn't go; we were only told about the shower the Sunday before and nobody knew who she was. But why didn't her friends or family come?! It was heartbreaking.

So I went home and vented to a group of women that I only know virtually; women in a private Facebook group who are all due in May 2012 along with me. These women started by expressing sympathy for Ashley, and moved on to asking how they could help. These women, who don't know her and don't know me other than online bought Ashley gifts off of her registry or elsewhere online and had them shipped to her home. They did it out of the goodness out of their heart. I was incredibly touched--that these women would go to such lengths to help a total stranger! It restored some of my faith in humanity. I hope Ashley feels loved!

Homemade Christmas Ornaments

We made homemade ornaments for our tree this year. This was actually by Nathan's request, but I'd seen something on a blog I follow that I wanted to try with Shane so we went for it! We made homemade puffy paint ornaments.

As you can see, I had glitter and construction paper as well but I decided to leave those for another, older year! The puffy paint is flour, salt, water, and food coloring. After it's painted on you microwave it for 30 seconds or so.

Shane really enjoyed his art project! I can't wait to do some more fun ones with him. After I let the papers dry overnight (or for a few days, ahem, slacker!) I cut them into circles and hot glued green ribbon onto them. Shane wasn't allowed to help with this step. 

Then is was up to Shane and Daddy to decorate the tree!

They did a great job. We gave each of his grandparents an ornament from him and kept one as well. If you make homemade ornaments with your kids, be sure to write their age and the year on them!

Homemade Yogurt

I made a batch of homemade yogurt a week or two ago, and it was a total flop. So I tried again, and it turned out great! I think the difference was that this time I used a thermometer so I know the temps were right. If you are interested, here's what I did. I made an entire gallon because we eat a LOT of yogurt, but if you only wanted to make a half gallon you would just halve everything.

In a large pan, heat a gallon of milk to between 160 and 180 degrees.

Allow it to cool to 110. While it is cooling, whisk together 1 cup of yogurt and 1 cup of powdered milk. When the milk has cooled add some to the bowl and whisk, then add back to the pot of milk and whisk again. Pour into pre-warmed crockpot, cover and wrap in towels, and put in slightly warmed oven for 8-12 hours. Then refrigerate to set.

Ta-da! Yummy yogurt! For mine, I used 2% milk and plain yogurt. Make sure that your yogurt has active cultures in it or it won't work!

After I made the yogurt I thought I'd make some go-gurt treats for my little man and some frozen yogurt for me. I got the go-gurt idea off a blog somewhere a long time ago, but I can't remember where!

Some of the yogurt I mixed with chocolate pudding mix.

For the rest, I pureed strawberries.

The two blue lidded containers are my strawberry and chocolate frozen yogurt. The orange lidded container is 1 cup of plain yogurt for starter in the next batch. Plain yogurt is also a healthy substitute for sour cream in recipes!

Finally, a pan of chocolate and strawberry gogurts! Just measure about a half cup into little snack ziplocks, fold over, tape, and freeze. Shane really likes them but they start to hurt his teeth after a minute, so I might wait to do these again until he is older. Or until the summer!

Finally a big container of strawberry yogurt for us to eat for breakfast pretty much every day!

And here is the little dude who "helped" with a lot of it.

20 Weeks {Belated}

This past week was a week that we had been looking forward to for a long time--the week we got to have our ultrasound! We had it at 9AM on Thursday morning and the office was an hour from our house so we were up bright and early.  We got there a little bit early so Shane ran laps around the outer hallways.

The machine they used looked pretty old so while they were able to get the measurements they needed to tell us that Baby was healthy and a GIRL, it's pretty hard to see anything but blurs in the pictures they gave me. That's ok though, we saw that she is developed and healthy. She was also being stubborn and didn't want to give us a profile shot.

This is the only ultrasound I will be having, Lord willing. As much as the curious, technology loving part of me would love to go for an elective 3D/4D sono (Have you seen those things? They are creepy/cool.), the conservative, natural side of me won't allow it. Much as I'd love to see her pretty face again I don't care to subject her to another ultrasound.

After our ultrasound we stopped at Kid 2 Kid, which is a local kid stuff resale store where I had some store credit from selling a few things of Shane's. I used my store credit to buy a cute little outfit (right) and a stool for Shane's table.  The outfit on the left I bought months ago on a whim. It was only 2 bucks and both grandpas predicted girl so I got it just in case.

And, we decided on her name! Azaria Natalie V----! Azaria means "helped by God". Natalie is both my middle name and my mom's name. Originally I had wanted Jeanette for a middle name, after a beloved Great great Aunt, but Natalie won out.

How Far Along: This is my 20 week post, but I am actually 21 weeks today.
Total Weight Gain: 7 lbs
Maternity Clothes: Yup. 
Stretch Marks: A bazillion. But no new ones.
Sleep: Pretty good this week!
Best Moment of the Week: Seeing our baby and finding out that she is a GIRL!
Worst Moment of the Week: Almost leaving my wallet at Walmart--oops! And only getting three hours of sleep on New Years Eve. That was not fun.
Movement: She's really strong now, and I can feel her from the outside all the time! Nathan even got to feel her when we went on our date a few weeks ago.
Food Cravings: None
Gender: Girl!
Labor Signs: I started having Braxton Hicks around 14 weeks. They are getting a lot more frequent now, and stronger.
Belly Button: No change really.
Wedding Rings on or Off: On.
What I miss: A good night's sleep. But I've been missing that for a long time now, and I expect to continue to miss it for as long as I have little kids or am pregnant! It's a privilege of motherhood, right? If you'd like to wake up early to feed my eternally starving son so I can sleep in, let me know. I'll take you up on it.
What am I looking forward to: Finding out when we move--c'mon Navy, I need some answers!
Weekly Wisdom:I got a chance to talk to Emily about the trouble I've been having standing without passing out and she said it's because of low blood pressure. Huh.
Milestones: Seeing Baby and finding out her gender.
Weekly Verse: Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future.