24 weeks

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
We are finally back home after a 9 day trip to OC. It was great seeing all of our family and friends!

Today was my 24 week appointment. I'm up another pound for a total of 11. Still cruising and enjoying my increased energy level. Jeremy gave me a fabulous diaper bag, a comfy body pillow (for my achey back), and amazing Venetian glass wine tumblers (for post-April) for Christmas. Very practical and appreciated gifts :)

We got our new car today- a 2010 Ford Edge which we LOVE! We said good-bye to our trusty Mini Cooper and now have a "family car" with ample room for Jer, Hazel, baby and me.

Also, we've begun to clear out the guest room to transform it into a nursery.
We sold our pull-out couch today and will be painting and adding a chair rail in the next week. We've also ordered our glider and are ready to pull the trigger on the crib and dresser/changing table! That will feel so good to have it all ordered!

As I said before, our boy name is SET! We are waiting to tell until baby is born.
We've narrowed down the girl names (from the list I posted in November) to Scarlett, Hallie, and Gemma. The middle name is set for Isabel. Now we are going to wait to choose until the baby is born. For some reason, we can't commit to a girl name. Maybe that means it's a boy?!

Tonight we are off to shop for a new couch as we are gifting our old living room set to my cousin and her fiance. Time to make room in the living room for our desk and baby stuff so we are downsizing....wish us luck!

Kicks! (and 21 week bump)

Finally! I can feel some baby kicks!

It began a few hours after our ultrasound. Baby King was positioned pretty oddly for the ultrasound, so the technician was PUSHING pretty hard trying to get some measurements and move the head around. (Not fun!)

Then, all of the sudden that night, I felt a little flutter. At first I second guessed myself, but then remembered that Dr. Voss told me, "If you think it's the baby kicking, it is!"

Ever since Tuesday, I feel them all the time (even right now while I'm writing!).

FINALLY!

PS- Up 3 more lbs for a total of 10. I am starting to fit into all of my adorable maternity clothes that I bought in October at Steph's store! :)

Ultrasound!

Today was an awesome day!
We saw our active little one finally! The baby was sucking his/her thumb, kicking like crazy, sticking out his/her tongue, throwing punches, and of course, sitting politely with his/her legs crossed :)
Jeremy and I loved watching the baby's every move. We had tons of questions, and were fortunate that our ultrasound tech spent 15 minutes with us explaining and showing us everything.
The baby weighs exactly 1 pound and is right on track.
We were in awe....take a look!

           Photo 1: Baby Sucking Thumb

Photo 2: Baby Profile

20 Week Appointment

Yesterday was my 20 wk checkup. It was awesome- baby is still a wild child, doing flips all over the place- heard that strong heartbeat again too. I mentioned that I hadn't felt the baby kick yet, and my Dr just reassured me that it should be any time in the next 4 weeks. Hurry up, kiddo! :)

I'm up another 3 lbs for a total of 7. It sounds small, but I sure don't feel small.
This bod is definitely in the process of some major changes!
She also gave me a referral for our pediatrician- guess I better get on some of these things! We did finally sign up for baby CPR, our hospital tour, Childbirth I-III, and breastfeeding classes. We are going to be busy come February!

Our big ultrasound is next Tuesday. It will be so hard to know that the technician will see if it's a boy or girl and for us NOT to find out! This is serious self control!!!

G Diapers?!

Well, it all started with a conversation with my sister-in-law, Taylor, and mother-in-law, Peg, about cloth diapers over the weekend. I swore I would never even consider it! What a pain! My mother-in-law did it for all FOUR of her children. Was she crazy?!
Then, my good friend Diana emailed me about the G Diapers.
I took an interest.
Their website is pretty incredible. When I watched the video of the break-down of the diapers over a 1 year period, I decided this was worth consideration.
Jeremy and I priced it out, and it doesn't seem too bad: About a $6 difference per 160 diaper case.
So, we are giving it a go. We are going to buy one month's worth of G Hybrid Diapers, which include cloth pants, with waterproof lining, and biodegradable/compostable inserts. Since we compost in our backyard anyways, it doesn't seem that incovenient...Yet.
No promises. We will just give it a TRY :)

Check it out the videos: http://www.gdiapers.com/gdiapers101/watch-the-videos

19 weeks!

Happy Thanksgiving!
We enjoyed a restful holiday with the Kings here in Petaluma. It's always fun seeing my niece and nephew, and now I'm paying even more attention to all the details as a parent-to-be.
Jeremy and I are continuing to "winter clean" and are off to get a Christmas tree this weekend.
I managed to hit Target and Costco today for some great baby deals too :)
Next week, I will have more to update on my 5 month appointment, followed by our big ultrasound!

Names, Names, Names: 11/18/09

So we've been tossing around names now pretty informally. It's a lot of pressure to name a child!

The boy name is set (hurray!) although we are not going to tell until the little guy arrives.

Girl names are a little more difficult to narrow down-- we are all over the place with ideas. Here are today's top ten....the list could change tomorrow, who knows?!
Hallie, Scarlett, Gemma, Avery, Savannah, Alexa (Lexi?), Alessandra (Ali?), Chiara (Italian- pronounced KEE-AR-UH), Farrah, and Caylie.

PS- Don't tell us if you don't like them! We don't want to know! :)

17 Weeks: 11/17/09

Well, we're almost to the big half-way mark! We are definitely getting excited for our ultrasound in December- we haven't seen the babe since it looked like a shrimp at 7 weeks!
My fatigue is better, but I'm still going to bed around 9pm. Poor Jeremy. He's stopped trying to get me to stay up.
I've gained 4 pounds in the past 17 weeks. I'm wondering when the big lbs are going to start creeping up on the scale :) So far, I'm feeling pretty good! The doctor said I should start to feel the baby kick in the next four weeks- that will be an exciting day!
This weekend we are "winter cleaning" to make room in our garage for all of the many, many items that we will be accumulating over the next few months. And, we are now on a diaper storage mission- buying a pack a diapers everytime we go to the store, so we have a few months stored up. Smart thinking, eh?!

16 Week Appointment: 11/12/09

Jeremy and I went to our 16 week appointment on Monday. It was Jeremy's first time meeting my doctor, Dr. Voss, who I LOVE! She is young, smart, attentive, and funny. She's a doll!
We chatted casually with her for awhile, asking questions. Then, we got to listen to the baby's heartbeat. It was Jeremy's first time hearing it, and he was so funny, not knowing what to listen for. At first, all we heard were whooshing noises and then Dr. Voss started laughing. She explained that those noises were from the baby literally doing flips and somersaults in the womb. It went on for about 2 minutes before our "wild child" calmed down enough for the doctor to get an accurate heartbeat! Haha!
This kid is DEFINITELY a product of King genes!! :)

Registering: 10/26/09 (15 weeks)

We were highly motivated this weekend- Jeremy finished painting our room blue-grey with white trim. Looks fabulous!
Then, we went car shopping again for our future child-friendly SUV.
The most adventurous thing we did was finally register at our favorite store, Giggle (http://www.giggle.com/). Giggle is a wonderful eco-friendly store that only sells products that pass specific qualifications. Check out their standards:

http://www.giggle.com/about_criteria.aspx

We chose some awesome items! Jeremy got a little restless after about an hour, so I finished off the registry online today. But all it all, it was a success! Jeremy kept his word, as I chose both girl and boy bedding. That was part of the deal of us not finding out the gender- that I wanted pick out both types of bedding and that we could return whatever one we don't use when the babe arrives. I uploaded photos of the two bedding options we chose, which are both beautiful!

We've added items on the Babies R Us online registry, and will go in person to confirm those things in the next few weeks.
Next project, paint the nursery!

Diaper Genie vs. Diaper Dekor: 10/26/09

I know that everyone swears by the Diaper Genie, but when I found out that their refill bags are non-biodegradable, I started to wonder. What's the point of buying biodegradable diapers if you don't put them in a biodegradable bag?!
I contacted Seventh Generation to see if they made a bag that would fit the Diaper Genie. Apparently they are in the works, but won't be available any time soon.
So, after researching online-- I came across their competitor, Diaper Dekor, who now makes biodegradable diaper bags to match! This contraption will store all of Baby King's stinky diapers and won't add to our growing landfills.

http://www.diapers.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?productId=6107

So, good-bye Diaper Genie, hello Diaper Dekor on our registry!
Problem solved!
:)

Eco Nursery Furniture: 10/16/09 (13 weeks)

My quest for affordable and healthy nursery furniture is a success! Dax Eco-Store
http://www.daxstores.com/
is the answer.
The DaVinci nursery furniture line is made from solid pine harvested from sustainably managed forests in New Zealand and are finished only with certified non-toxic finishes and paints. Quite amazing for the price. I love the Roxanne style crib and changing table in Espresso.
Crib: http://www.daxstores.com/mdb-m5921.html
Changing Table: http://www.daxstores.com/mdb-m5925.html
We are still on the hunt for our perfect organic cotton, chemical-free crib/changing table mattresses. These are important since most children's mattresses typically use materials such as vinyl/PVC and polyurethane foam (fire-retardant) which release questionable chemicals over time. A quality organic, chemical-free mattress should be unbleached, undyed, and grown without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers. I will post when I find the right one!

Baby's Heartbeat: 10/13/09

Friday was my official 12 week appointment. I was a little apprehensive since it had been 4 weeks since the last one. They measured my belly and listened for the heartbeat (which was strong and fast....a girl?!).
I also found out that I lost 6 pounds, which is probably from a combination of the flu that I had last week and from my constant nausea. So, I'm trying to eat more even when I don't feel like it! Oranges and string cheese are my safety foods.
The nausea has gotten a lot better along with my energy! No more 8pm bedtime. Now, it's more like 9:15! Haha.
I am determined that I'm having a boy. Girl names make me nauseous (weird, right?!) and I have some gut feeling that a mini-Jeremy is in there! We will see.....

Morning Sickness? Try ALL day sickness: 09/14/09

Oh boy....I know people have shared with me their morning sickness stories before, but I was not prepared! It's not that I didn't believe them, I just didn't realize how bad it could be!
Today's sickness has been with me for 72 hours- straight.
Nothing sounds good to eat. In fact, I feel like vomiting when I even think about food. Yet, I force something down the hatch 5 times a day, like a good mama-to-be.
I was on the phone with Michele last night complaining about my nausea. She said, "I forgot how bad it was! As soon as Lucy arrived, I forgot everything I went through to get her!"
THANK GOSH!!
:)

Our Beautiful Blob: 09/01/09

Well, it was just like that "Friends" episode when Rachel can't see the baby on the ultrasound machine! Our blob popped up on the screen, and the technician said, "There is your beautiful baby!" with intense eagerness.

Jeremy looked panicked. "Where?"

"There."

"Where?!!"

"Right here."

Blank stare.

"Right here sir," she said putting her finger directly on the screen.

"Oooooh! There!"

Relief! There is really a baby in there with a strong heartbeat! We took the photo of our beautiful blob, and now have it proudly displayed on our fridge :)

Seven Weeks and Counting: 08/31/09

We are so excited- our first doctor's appointment is tomorrow and we will finally have an ultrasound to see the babe! It feels like it hasn't been real, so I'm happy to have the Doc confirm for us :) Yay!

Other than that, we've been looking at names casually and reading our baby books. Jeremy went to a bachelor party over the weekend and had the hardest time not telling all of his friends! We are both ready for the secret to be out! Haha.We are painting the nursery this weekend so we can get it over with while the weather is warm. Debating between a bright yellow or a light, chartreuse green. Any thoughts? Since we're not finding out the gender, we are limited to the those two.

More soon!! -EK

PS- Nausea hit yesterday BIG TIME and has been with me for almost 24 hours straight! At all times, I will now be fully armed with fresh ginger, ginger drops, ginger ale, and saltines :)

It's Real: 08/19/09

It's a strange thing when you find out you're pregnant. And to top it all off, the doctor's office acts like your life-changing news is just regular.

Someone should have warned me....This is how the whole thing went down:


Appt Gal: How can I help you?

Me: I think I'm pregnant.

Appt Gal: Ok, Have you taken a pregnancy test?

Me: Yes, four.

Appt Gal: Wonderful. Let's get you an appointment for September for your ultrasound and blood work.

Me: Huh?

Appt Gal: Excuse me?

Me: How do you know I'm pregnant?

Appt Gal: Didn't you say that you took four tests?

Me: Yes, but they were the cheap generic tests from the drugstore. Don't you want me to come in?

Appt Gal: No ma'am (I hate being called ma'am). Those tests are accurate. If you came in, we would give you the same kind.

Me: Huh?

Appt Gal: You're pregnant.

Me: What?!

Appt Gal: You're pregnant.

Me: Oh. My. Gosh.

Appt Gal: Ma'am, can we make those appointments now?

Me: Yes. I'm pregnant? For real?

Appt Gal: Yes, ma'am. You're pregnant. For Real.