Baby Awseome Powers Rocks Out So Hard!

20 wks ultrasound slide show!


Love the song, love the two different hand gestures she showed us, loved seeing her kicking and flailing and streeeee-ee-e-e-etching out in there!!

Thank you to TomorrowToday for another WONDERFUL ultrasound! Caley really went above and beyond for us (odd hours scheduling and she showed us the 3d views too!)! I can't thank them enough!

Baby Clothes!!!

This is from my wonderful Godmother Nadine... I freaking LOVE this shirt!!! (Close up of the graphics just below)


These are from David's parents. I didn't know Mickey was a Longhorns fan! :]


Some more cute clothes they sent. I LOVE the purple outfit. The little jeans came with a pink dress... I like the jeans. Not the pink.


This is Penelope, and she CRINKLES!!! Also, the ribbon loop will allow us to clip her onto a baby carrier, etc. for travel and play!


Daddy stopped at the NEX (Navy Exchange) on the way home from work, and came home with a 6-pack and this adorable purple sleep set! (I think he's excited to be having a daughter...)


I FINALLY found a GRUMPY BEAR!!! I have been looking for one for YEARS, and I think they're pretty rare, because they're stupid-expensive online and I've NEVER seen one in a store. He was only $6 at a local baby stuff consignment shop!!!!


This is the stuff I got on my Goodwill Adventure last week.
All of the following pieces I got for $1.99/item! :]

ADORABLE alligator shirt, and three supercute onesies!! All newborn or 0-3 month sized.


Here's the detail on the white onesie from the pic above, and a 6month sizes purple onesie. :]


Cutesy wootsey onesies! Check out the WHALE detail on the striped one!!



Just a shirt, and a little polka dot skirt, and I simply couldn't resist the blue eyed girl shirt, even though it'll be waaaaay too big for a long time! She's going to have the prettiest, bluest eyes, I just know it. (Genetically speaking, she can't have anything else, really...)


And here's Daddy's favorites, of all the stuff we've got so far...


I'm sure I'm not going to post pics of EVERYTHING we buy, but as long as I'm home and bored, I might as well, haha.

P.S. I'm going to a sale tomorrow too, that friend of a friend is having, so there'll probably be a Baby Clothes!!! Part 2. next week.

Till then, Peace, Love and Cuppy-cakes,
Mama Powers

GroBaby Diapers!

Here's some pics for those of you who might be wondering what the deal is with the cloth diapers, and how do they actually work. The ones that are here are the GroBaby One Size Shell(which means that it's adjustable, so One Size [Fits All]). I'm still figuring out some of the lingo. It's a lot easier to figure out how to use the diapers than it is to figure out the correct terms to use that describe them! The other part to the diaper is the "BioSoakers" which are the biodegradable pad that goes into the diaper to soak up and catch the reason we use diapers.

So here's the pics I took of the ones I got:

These are the shells. All of them look like the one on the far right when fully unsnapped, and as you can see, the top row of snaps can be snapped to either of the bottom two rows to make the same diaper smaller, for a younger/smaller baby. The smallest size would be for about an 8lb baby. The largest is for up to a 35lb baby, I think? Internet says yes.




Here's a pic of the open diaper (smallest snap setting), the Biosoaker pad, and an unfolded pad.



Fasten around baby, with the Velcro tabs, and you're set! (In retrospect, I probably should have used a stuffed animal or something for a mock baby, but I didn't think about that until just now.


Top view, fastened diaper with Biosoaker pad.



TA-DA!!!

The Road to Hell Is Paved With What?

This post is not directed at any one person or based on any one event. It is simply something I feel I need to say.

For those of you who want to make comments, suggestions, give advice, or tell me what I should do, this is the way I feel about the information you offer:

• I'm not adverse to listening to advice/suggestions, but the advice giver needs to realize I'm going to make my OWN decisions, even if I patiently listened to what they had to say. I appreciate the good intentions behind your suggestions. I hope that you will not be offended if I do not follow your advice.
  

::smile and nod::

I Think I Sprained My Cleaning Muscles... And Other Adventures.

So yesterday (Tuesday) was a FULL day. I woke up, and found out that the tie-dying party that had been postponed on Monday night had been rescheduled for that day at NOON. So I eat some breakfast, shuffle around the house waking up, eat some lunch, and head over to Ashley's. I arrive and she's freaking out. Total freakout mode, because her husband is coming home from Deployment in a few days and she wasn't ready (the house wasn't ready, she's not ready mentally, etc.). So, I decided that we were going to forget the tie-dye project and would help our friend. We cleaned and tidied and wiped and vacuumed and vinegar-sprayed all afternoon. We got a LOT done.

And then David called, and was home from work, so I left to prepare for our ultrasound (shower, because it's a friendly thing to do, change into a two piece outfit, call and schedule a little bit earlier than our appointment was originally for). He and I wooshed to TomorrowToday, and we went, and we saw our little girl again. It was really neat to see her kicking and stre-e-e-e-tchiiiing out in there!! I think the frosty I had on the way to the appt really jazzed her up! We got lots of good shots, and even though they don't *usually* do the 3D view on the package we chose, but drinking all that water that I do really paid off, because the u/s tech said I had GREAT fluid, and that it was really helping baby girl to have room to move around in there so we could get good images! They office is having a little bit of trouble writing the images to discs right now, so I'll leave the descriptions of some of the funny things she did until I can show y'all the great pictures. :]

After the ultrasound we ran an errand or two, and my hips started bothering me. Not quite sure what the deal is there. Mostly just the left one, twinging HARD at random intervals when walking, shifting in my seat, etc. My back was sore too, probably from the standing and cleaning. Sleeping last night was REALLY rough. I woke up 5 times, 3 of those to pee, all of them had heartburn, and a couple of them also had uncomfy back pain/tightness. It sucked. A LOT. I felt dead when I woke up today and limped down stairs. As today progresses though, I'm feeling a little better in the back, and the hips aren't bothering me as much as last night, for SURE. I haven't attempted the treadmill today (I took yesterday off because of busy-ness) but I might. I know it's been helping with the REST of my non-feeling-goods. I might take a test-toddle to the mailbox to see how the hips'll hold up on the treadmill.

Anyhoo, that was yesterday, and a bit of today. I would definitely say that I generally feel better than I did in the first trimester. And that's a good thing. :]

I Know It'll Get Worse Before It Gets Better, But...

I really miss wearing my regular clothes. I miss my jeans. I miss my shirts not creeping back up over my tummy. I miss my awesome shirts and comfy panties and my bathing suits.

I don't just want to buy maternity stuff that will fit, I want to wear MY clothes, the ones I already have and LOVE. And I want to be comfortable in them. >:(

Today is feeling like a denial day. That's when I'm having a "fat day" and I'm in denial about it. Bleh.

Two More Articles That Make Me Feel Good About My Decision To Cloth Diaper. Or: I'm Not Just Doing It For The Planet Anymore.

Tell Me Lies, Tell Me Sweet Little Lies


How Can I Convince My Husband To Cloth Diaper (turns into a good Q & A about cloth diapering)



I am going to do my damnedest to cloth diaper our baby. I love almost everything I've read about cloth diapering; good for the planet (my initial reason for researching CDing) and good for the baby. I'm feeling better and better about this decision with every article I read, with every CD product that I buy.

For tomorrow: I'm hoping to post some pictures of my GroBaby diapers that arrived today! They're PURPLE and FABULOUS!!! (And of other stuff we've procured) :]

Also, we're having another ultrasound tomorrow, just to squeeze in one more before d-d-d-Deployment. I waited too long to schedule my 20 week u/s with Tripler hospital, so I'm going to be having that one on the 22nd of June... You know, right around 24wks. : / Anyhoo, here's hoping they find the same bits this time as they did last time!!!

Last Night, at about 1:30am...

From my FB status:

She's either doing somersaults, or "the wave", stadium-style... My insides are NOT spacious enough for loop-de-loops. Weirdest. Feeling. Ever. #heebeejeebees


:]

I Wonder...

...if putting deodorant on the undersides of my "huge tracts of land" would prevent the outpouring of sweat that occurs with even a bare minimum of physical activity. Yuck.

-posted mobily by KissMeSailor, probably feeling icky somewhere. :P

Feel Like ICK Today. Not An Acronym.

I don't think it's one of the bugs going around, I just feel a bit nauseous and my pulse is too fast. It happened last night too when I was lying in bed, but it was stronger then... full on gagging. Took my pulse about 3 times over about 30 minutes and it was above 120 each time. That's ridiculously fast for a resting heart rate! I manged to get to sleep and felt ok when I woke up this morning. Then it happened again around 11ish this morning. It was feeling a little scary, so I called the hospital's advice line and they told me to have something to eat and just keep track of when it happens, and if it seems to be happening a lot that I can come in and they'll check me out. Bleh. I feel a bit better since I ate a baked potato for lunch. And some Instant Breakfast. I'm going to walk on the treadmill in a bit and hopefully that'll cure what's ailing me. Except for the pulse thing. I dunno.

I'm also tired of feeling like my pulse is too strong. Seriously, if I sit still and listen for it, I can hear/feel it. It's kinda driving me crazy. I know that my circulation has increased, along with my blood volume, but womp-womp-womp-womp-womp when I'm trying to be still and quiet is getting on my nerves.

Oh Yeah, Other Stuff We've Done.

Have begun shopping/collecting baby clothes. :]

I posted some pics of the first couple things we bought for Baby Awesome Powers to wear (yes, we're still arguing over the name), but we've (read: I've) been collecting others. We got a couple more things at the Navy Exchange, and then yesterday I went to Goodwill, and boy, did little girl make out well there! LOTS of name brand stuff (mostly Carters, and there is a Carters Outlet store here, but when I can get the same supercutes for $1.99/item, why pay more for brand new?) couple of Baby Gap things. I had so many picked out at first that I did a double take at my cart and then sorted half of the "maybes" back onto the rack. We've still got 21 weeks to go, no need to go TOTALLY crazy... :]

I think I mentioned that we got our crib last week. I think the bigger expense things we have left to get are:

• Dresser type thing (Maybe.)
  
• Mattress
• Carseat
• Stroller
• Pack & Play
• Glider (David wants to relocate his GIANT recliner into baby's room, but I'm not sure I want to deal with that.)
• More Cloth Diapers

Smaller/less expensive things that we want/will need:

• Mei Tai Carrier
• Nursery Decorations (including mobile, wall hangings, crib sheets, etc.)
• Bottles, plushy toys etc.
• Childproofing stuff (though we don't really believe in 100% childproofing... It's something we both agree on, but of course, we'll see how it goes when baby gets mobile!)
• The Little Baby Care Stuff: washcloths, snot sucker, burp cloths, wipes, etc.
• Bins/baskets to organize baby clothes/diaper change needs
  

Things we've already procured:

• Crib
• Changing table
• Swing
• Some clothes (need to sort them by sizes, we've got some new born stuff, but mostly it's 3-6 months or 6-9 months)
• Some Cloth Diapers, we have about 6 gDiapers, and have some GroBaby ones on the way
• Lots and Lots and Lots of pamphlets, handouts, business cards etc. about baby stuff. It really makes me feel sorry for the trees.

Anyway, I realy don't think we're doing too badly. I know some people already have all their big purchase stuff and have had it for months now, but I really don't care. It's not a race, this isn't something you can WIN. After all, it was the tortise that won the fabled race.

Bleh.

19wks

Feeling pretty bleh today. Not particularly terrible, but definitely not very good either. Slightly headachey, my tummy is grumbly, but doesn't hurt or quite feel upset. I think I slept on my shoulder wrong, and I'm kinda tired, but not tired enough to actually nap.

Bleh.

Aditional grumbles: I need to go grocery shopping REALLY BADLY. I'm waiting on a new debit card to our joint account before I go. Cereal, V8 and other random foragebles from the frige and freezer have been filling my tummy the last couple of days. I know I need to just suck it up and GO, but I fucking HATE the grocery store/commissary. HATE. HATE. HATE.

::sigh:: Bleh.

I Wanna Do This!!

Henna tattoos on preggo bellies!! I've linked to a few of my favorites, but there are TONS on this website!

http://www.skhenna.com/molly

http://www.skhenna.com/susan

http://www.skhenna.com/suzanne-16

Lovely!!

How We Prepare for Babies at Our House.

Frizzle's Wild Ride


Bonzai Takes Her Turn

We Now Resume Our Regularly Scheduled Misery.

Things have been really great in the Powershaus the last few days, with finding out what-all is in there, and feeling what-all go TAP-TAP! However, that hasn't stopped the heartburn, peeing and intermittent insomnia from ruining perfectly good nights of sleep. Several nights in a row now...

Tums are my friends. I love them so. I need to get some more,and this time, I'll even BUY them from Target, instead of accidentally walking out with the bottle tucked into my hand along with my phone... Oops. I just hope that legitimately paid for ones don't work any less surely than the illegally, accidentally, pilfered ones...

Why Cloth? Or: Because I Don't Hate The Planet.

Here's a great post from The Cloth Diaper Whisperer that lists some of the reasons I want to use cloth diapers.


Peace, Love and Cuppycakes,
L. Pow.

Happy Mother's Day Part II.

17wks4ds

So we (David, me, and belly makes three) are sitting in bed and I'm playing some music to bebe (via a pair of flat ear clip headphones) and I was pressing my hand into the center of baby's habitat (firmly but not *too* hard) and DEFINITELY felt a strong TAP-TAP on my fingers!!!

I told David "OMG, I really just felt it kick!!" And I grabbed his hand and pushed his fingers like I'd done with mine and the look of surprise and joy on his face when he felt his daughter kick is something I want to remember forever. I am SO grateful to baby and the stars above that he got to feel the baby move before he deploys. Which is coming up FAST. I am already worried and rather sad about how much he's going to miss while he's gone, but I am glad he's been able to SEE and FEEL our baby girl before he has to leave. That's a huge relief for me.


The strangest thing/interesting coincidence about baby's kicks tonight? The song that was playing on my Mother's Day iPod: Jessica by The Allman Brothers Band. That's the song that was playing when *I* was born (my mom had a really cool OB). I think that's kinda cool...

This weekend, especially today have been AMAZING.

:]

Current Facebook Status:

Current Facebook Status:

David gave me the sweetest Mother's Day Present and he didn't even spend a dime. This morning he put his hand on my tummy and said, "I already love our little girl." I may doubt myself sometimes, but I will NEVER doubt that he will be an amazing daddy. Happy Mother's Day to anyone who is, who will, or who has ever been a mother. :]

O. M. -WANT THIS!

This one, at the VERY least, MUST be mine. Er-I mean for the baby.

The Nausea Chronicles, THE BIG REVEAL.

17wks3ds

Well, we had our first ultrasound today and found out we're having a....







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........





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GIRL!!!!!

We are in for a WORLD of trouble, hahahaha I guess it's true what they say about Karma...

David is THRILLED and has already called all his closest relatives.

I'm still pissed that he had the nerve to say in the ultrasound room, "Huh. I guess you weren't making it all up." ::rolls eyes::


So to those of you who guessed one girl, y'all get a big fat thumbs up. Congrats, you're a good guesser. :]







Or as the Ultrasound Technician said, "Well, we don't see any 'pokey-up bits' so, congratulations, you're having a GIRL!"

The Shopping Begins! Woo!!

Yes, I know we won't actually find out what-all is in THERE till tomorrow's ultrasound appointment, but in an attempt to really get into this whole "baby-thing" I've begun to collect some absolutely FABULOUS and/or freaking ADORABLE baby clothes! I've included some picky-pics.

Ok, these first things are GENIUS, and I can't wait to use them on Baby Awesome Powers. They're legwarmers for bebes, which means you can pop 'em on with a onesie and baby will stay warm, and be easy to change! You don't have to wrangle with PANTS. My longtime friends/acquaintances are well aware by this point of how we feel about PANTS here at the Powershaus. To sum up: They suck.

So without further ado:

BabyLegs
On Earth Day (April 22nd), the BabyLegs website ran a fabulous sale, which I learned about as a "fan" of BLs on Facebook. The sale was on certain patterns of BabyLegs, which were selling for $2 that day! Their minimum order is $6 (I *think*), and I'd picked two pairs of the $2 patterns, and then chose a pair at regular price. They have great sales ALL THE TIME though... For instance, today just happens to be Military Spouse Appreciation Day, and a Facebook follower suggested that BabyLegs run a sale on their camouflage leg warmers, AND THEY DID!!! Also, if you sign up for the monthly newsletter, you get 10% off your first order! Seriously, if you follow them on Facebook and Twitter, You'll see that they constantly run sales and give discounts. Our baby isn't even due till October, and I'm already in love. With the BabyLegs, hahaha! Check it out! Free Shipping today!!

I also found, via the BabyLegs Facebook fan page, a fellow blogger who is having a giveaway of BabyLegs on her blog! Her blog inspired me to write about how freaking FABULOUS I think these things are. Have I mentioned I think they're fabulous?

Here are the ones I bought:

The Earth Day sale ones are the two pairs on the left, and the regular ones I bought are on the right. I love that it doesn't matter how big or small your baby is, you can just scrunch 'em down, or stretch 'em out. I'm so looking forward to putting these on our baby. Especially our little Halloween baby!

Here are some pics of the other clothes I've bought this week. It's hard to "shop neutral" when there's SO MUCH cute/fabulous stuff that's got pink on it. And I don't know why I wouldn't put the cute pants with the teeny weensy brown elephants on a (potential) boy, but they just didn't look "boyish." I think this is a rant for another time. I will just say that I hate pink on either gender baby. Or on a cat, or on pretty much anything. I hate pink. Here's the rest of the clothes I bought:



We're going to tie-dye the Tiny Tiger with orange and purple so it will be Clemson colors!! And the 3 onesies in the pack with writing say "I love Mommy", "I love Daddy" and "Cute as can be". They were on SALE! Daddy Powers really likes the Born in 2010 one. :]

Here's the last and in my opinion, MOST AWESOMEST of yesterday's purchases:


I have no idea how to turn this in Blogger, nor the time to fiddle with it.

So that's that. I'm excited about shopping. We find out the sex/quantity tomorrow. Twins run on both sides of my family, so it's something else to worry about. We're excited and I'm a bit nervous. To me, the baby is still very abstract. Tomorrow, when we get to SEE it, it'll all get REAL and we can REALLY start playing "the name game." And our CRIB is ready to pick up at the Navy Exchange! Eek!

Peace, love and Cuppycakes,
Mumsy Pow.

Things I Can't/Shouldn't Do Now That I'm Pregnant That I REALLY REALLY WANT TO

This is a list I've been compiling over a few days now.

1. Drink beer/liquor/wine. I don't even LIKE wine, and I'm grumbly that I can't drink any.

2. Play Roller Derby! I found a friend that's really interested in playing it with me, and I have to wait till I'm recovered from having the baby, THEN I get to worry about separation anxiety and finding good/trust-worthy/reliable CHILDCARE. No wonder they say "Better to get knocked DOWN than Knocked UP."

3. SLEEP ON MY BACK. Apparently, there are arteries and veins in your abdomen that can get squished when you're 16+ weeks pregnant and will cut off circulation mumble-blah-blah-you'll-kill-deform-delay-your-baby. Seriously, I wake up at least once a night (separately from the 2-3 times I wake up JUST to pee), having shifted onto my back, in a panic because I'm killing the baby by sleeping comfortably. ::sigh::

4. Have tuna melts every day for a week. They're SO freaking TASTY! I just don't think that SALMON melts would be quite the same. Le sigh.

5. uuum... roller coasters.

6. Drink Mt. Dew. Well, I could have ONE per day, but then I couldn't have my morning tea, which is a very important part of my stumble around waking up ritual.

7. uuum... Oh you know... the general, irresponsible, selfish, self-centered, willfully ignoring the "healthy choices" behavior that I knew, loved and practiced before we knew baby was in there. The baby can't yell at me that I'm fritzing it's weensy nervous system because I decided to have a second cola in the afternoon. The baby can't choose NOT to be affected by my choices. Though, some of the "you can't do's" really make me wonder how the human race has managed to survive for thousands of years before they banned things like Advil and swordfish and horsebackriding, and SLEEPING ON YOUR BACK.

love and grumbles,
L. Pow!

UPDATE:
I can't BELIEVE I forgot Piercings and Tattoos!!!

8. Piercings:Three, read it: THREE. of my friends went last Monday to my favorite piercing parlor to get piercings and I couldn't get any. I was so sad. They all looked so... shiny with their piercings.

9. Tattoos. I've pretty much decided what I want my next tattoo to be (even if I'm not 100% on it's designated location)and another of my friends (actually the friend I got matching tattoos with back in August) was talking about getting HER next tat, and I had the brief, fleeting thought that "Hey! I can hop a MAC Flight," (Military space available flights, for those of you who may be non-military readers) "and we can visit and I'll get my next tattoo TOO!" ::sigh::


Basically the potential danger of piercings and/or tattoos is not the modification itself, but the idea that *if* the needles used aren't as sterile as they're already supposed to be, then *if* your modification got infected, the infection *could* hurt the baby.

If. If. If. If. Could. Might. Potentially. These are all words that are swiftly beginning to annoy me.

Current Pregnancy-Related Complaint

16wks6d

My tummy hurts and I don't want to turn my heating pad up all the way on my stomach and I dunno... cook the baby? If I can't go in hot tubs, I probably can't use the highest setting to soothe my tummyache. Le sigh. Silly baby. Quit being small.


In related preggo-complaint news, that Metamucil fiber powder that dissolves into beverages and stuff is one on my new best inanimate friends. The rest of my best friends are QUITE animated!!! hahahah