Fruits Basket

Congratulations are in order for my cousin Mike and his wife Jackie who just had their twins Nicolas & Mila! So excited that our baby will have same age cousins to play with!

4 WEEKS UNTIL MY GENDER ULTRASOUND!!!

The results of the poll I posted are: GIRL!!!! BY 25%! You can still vote if  you click HERE and scroll down to the bottom of that page! Remember, this is just a fun exercise for your psychic powers, nothing more.
 

 

Progress:

  Week 12: Lime-baby!   vs      Week 15: Apple-baby!

A WHOLE 4 INCHES LONG!!

Likewise, there hasn't been much outside growth.

Last weekend we did a little preliminary baby shopping at Babies-R-Us just to try out strollers. With our small cars, we are somewhat limited in what models we can have. Let me tell you, don't try or buy a stroller unless you bring an engineer with you! We finally decided (but haven't purchased yet) on the Britax B-safe B-agile travel system. Other shopping has resulted in the minimal acquisition of maternity clothes. Good thing they're so @#*&^%!# ugly, otherwise I'd probably have too many for being as small as I am still. Better to wait 'til the warm weather clothes come out since that's when I'll be the largest. Until then, I have taken to cutting up old large t-shirts and making neat-o tops with them.

Good Reads

• Immaculate Deception: Myth, Magic & Birth
• *Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering
• *Elevating Child Care
• Gentle Birth Choices <-- good water birth section
• Your Baby Week By Week  <-- there's an app for that
• *Elimination Communication
• Authentic Parent
• Peaceful Parenting 
• Baby Bargains

A lot of these books/blogs challenge conventional wisdom and that's what I love about them. In fact, a lot of these concepts are a throw back to traditional knowledge that is no longer the wisdom of convention thanks to modern medical practice. If you want a mediocre birth experience, just let your OBGYN run the show. If not, check out my reading list. 

I still have a stack of books to get through and I'm finding new blog resources every day. Books are great in theory but these blogs are the real life experiences! Proof that these ideas (no matter how crazy YOU might think they are) actually do work in practice. 

The post after next will probably be the most important post I make until after our baby is born! SO EXCITED!