IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

Casey and I are excited to announce that we will be having a little girl in September. 
Little Miss Rylee Morgan Jewell.

We're going I have quite the pink show going on over here. That's what little girls are for, am I right!?? I can't wait to stock up on trumpette tights, headbands, and sparkly baby girl things. I have already blown up etsy looking for the perfect designers for what I have in mind. 

19 weeks

How Far Along: 19 weeks 
Weight Gain: 6.5 pounds
Gender Prediction: boy
Maternity Clothes: not really, wearing a lot of maxi dresses and skirts.  
Stretch Marks: no
Belly Button In or Out: In 
Sleep: getting better
Best moment this week: easter!  It's getting me excited to share holidays with or little one and make an Easter basket. 
Worst Moment This Week: having a harder time breathing now that baby is moving up.
Miss anything: not really,  I love being pregnant.  
Movement: yes

Cravings: lots of fruit and with spring and summer on its way, it will be the perfect season for fresh fruit. 
Looking Forward To: Our big ultrasound on Thursday.  We'll also get to find out if baby is a he or she. I'm excited to see our little one on the monitor see how it's growing. 

Happy or moody most the time: happy! Pregnancy has surprisingly made me be in a constantly happy mood. My darling husbands loving that! I'm hardly ever mad exept when my hormones are on a rampage. 

Wedding rings on or off: on

17 week bump update!!

How Far Along: 17 weeks, 3 days

Weight Gain: 6.5 pounds
Gender Prediction: boy
Maternity Clothes: not yet, squeezing into my jeans and starting to wear maxi skirts and dresses since it's finally warming up outside after this Elsa winter.
Stretch Marks: no
Belly Button In or Out: In, looking somewhat shallower than normal. 
Sleep: not great, but getting better. I usually can't sleep from 10-6 and then I'm out from 6:30-12pm. Once my husbands leaves for work.
Best Moment This Week: Finalized the banquet hall for the baby shower. 
Worst Moment This Week: Lots of stretching and cramping. It makes me freak out a little. 
Miss Anything: Not really. 

Movement: yes!! Lots one day and then none the next. Baby usually wakes up when I sit down for a minute. Daddy can feel a little movement too. Can't wait till it's sharper jabs and kicks. 

Cravings: lots of fruit and with spring and summer on its way, it will be the perfect season for fresh fruit. 
Queasy or Sick: Not anymore!! :)
Looking Forward To: Our big gender ultrasound on April 24th and my 31 party/gender reveal on the 25th.

Happy or moody most the time: happy! Pregnancy has surprisingly made me be in a constantly happy mood. My darling husbands loving that! I'm hardly ever mad exept when my hormones are on a rampage. 

Wedding rings on or off: on and feeling lose?? 

14 week bump!! (Or lack thereof)

Sorry for the lack of creativity on this. I have bigger plans of documenting my bump, I just haven't gotten them together yet and I feel like this week is the beginning to my showing so I wanted to document it to see the difference.

How Far Along: 14 weeks 
Weight Gain: 2lbs as of my 13 wk apt.
Gender Prediction: girl
Maternity Clothes: not yet 
Stretch Marks: no
Belly Button In or Out: In 
Sleep: not great, but getting better. I usually can't sleep from 10-6 and then I'm out from 6:30-12pm. Once my husbands leaves for work.
Best Moment This Week: baby shower planning with my mom and nana. 
Worst Moment This Week: gas pains and my hormones have been making me a little bitchy.
Miss Anything: Red sauce pasta and welches sparkling grape juice. Apparently they doesn't sit well with my stomach anymore. Boo!! I also don't like meat anymore. I eat it once or twice a week just so I can get some protein.
Movement: nothing yet, but I sometimes I think I feel a little something. 

Cravings: lots of fruit and with spring and summer on its way, it will be the perfect season for fresh fruit. 
Queasy or Sick: Not anymore!! :)
Looking Forward To: Our big ultrasound on April 24th. We'll also get to find out if Mico is a he or she. 

Happy or moody most the time: happy! Pregnancy has surprisingly made me be in a constantly happy mood. My darling husbands loving that! I'm hardly ever mad exept when my hormones are on a rampage. 

Wedding rings on or off: on

Nursery Plans

As you may know, I like to have a plan for everything. I already have game plans for our hospital bags, nursery themes and ideas, best route to the hospital and I am barely into my second trimester. We also have names planned out, although were not planning on telling anyone what they are until D day.

Here we will start with the basic concepts of nursery planning. These are things we will use for a boy or girl. We wont officially know what were having for about 8 more weeks, but we  I have a feeling of what it may be. Anyway, we already have dressers from when I was little and they are in still pretty good shape. We are going to have to refinish them because lets face it, 21 years of wear and tear is a lot no matter how well kept.

The plan with these dressers is to strip, sand and repaint them white with a chalkboard front on the drawers.  That was actually my husbands idea. We can use them to write what is on the drawers and then when our little one is older is will allow them some drawing space that isn't on the walls. Were also going to update the hardware for a whole new look.

The crib is a Jenny Lind crib and I couldn't be more obsessed with it. The only downside is my husband hates this crib, he says it reminds him of the cribs that are in orphanages. Boo! I am trying my best to convince him to get this one. I might just have a hormonal fit if i don't get my way. Or even pull the I carried this baby for 10 months card.

Since this rocker has been discontinued, we probably wont be able to find it. So I am going to have do some looking around. I love the color and style of this one though. I hope we can find something similar. 

Obviously we are going to need a changing pad and cover. This is a given on this list. Does it really matter what time you get though?? Leave a comment with your suggestions, I would love to hear your input. 

We My dad is painting the nursery for us. We decided to go with a slate gray of either lighter or medium proportions for either a boy or girl. It is versatile and neutral. It will also make it easier to accent it with whatever themes we decide. Speaking of nursery themes, there isn't going to be an exact theme. I don't like super baby looking nurseries. I like a more modern look. I'm hoping to stick with that. 

I also think we are going to need this humidifier. Not only is it the cutest one around, its super functional. We are planning on getting the same one for our room since pregnancy has me so stuffed up and congested. I swear the stuff that comes out of my nose is totally national geographic. 

I am sure this list will grow larger and larger the more I think about stuff. I have already scouted out this ikea cart to add to the nursery next to one of the dressers. Since my changing table is shorter, I am not sure it will fit diaper changing necessities on with it. This cart would be perfect to have stand next to it. I'm even considering getting two and keeping one in the living room. 

I really cant wait to find out what we are having because then I can start to collect decor items. Depending on the gender it will reflect the color options and help move the nursery planning along.

I will do an updated nursery plan when we find out what Our Precious Jewell will be. Did any of you give your babies a name while in utero to call it before finding out what it is?? 

xoxo

Shelbie

Cravings

I consider myself rather lucky because I wasn't horribly sick. I did have some harsh nausea from week  8 through week 10, but I know a lot of women who have had it way worse. .

I haven't gained much weight because of my lack of appetite. Its slowly coming back, but its still pretty slim pickings for me. I hate red pasta sauce. So that cuts out any pasta. I can only eat mac n cheese or Alfredo. Another thing I cant stomach the smell or taste of is meat. Any meat- fish, chicken, pork, beef...its horrible. I used to love meat.

My diet is mainly vegetarian these days. I eat lots of fruits and vegetables and cereal. Because I have been eating so much cereal my milk allergy has reared it ugly head. I can only drink lactose free. I have to buy lactose free anyway since my husband is lactose free too.

Vegetarian and lactose intolerant?? Pretty awesome huh??

Suggestions, remedies, donuts??? 

Xoxo 

Shelbie  

Going Green??

Im not sure if this is considered green, but I do know it's being 100% thrifty. I have always been one for saving money and with a baby on the way-it's even more crucial that we save as much as we can. Which is why I have decided to make my own laundry detergent and cleaning products. 

I can't believe how expensive cleaning supplies have become. $3.49 for a bottle of surface cleaner and atleast $9.00 for a bottle of laundry soap that does 60 loads-if that. 

I just made myself a year supply (based on 2 people) of laundry detergent for under $20! 

It's works great and smells amazing!! 

The above ingredients may be hard to see in pink.  

1 box of Borax (4 lb)

1 box of Arm & Hammer super washing soda (3 lb 7 oz) 

1 container oxyclean (3 lb) 

2 bars of Zote soap (14 oz) I could only find this at walmart. You can also use fels-napa. In prefer the smell of Zote and it makes the detergent pretty. 

2 boxes of baking soda (2 lb boxes) 

1-2 bottles of Purex crystals. I used the blue and only needed one bottle. 

Mix all together and you have yourself a years supply of laundry detergent. 

 

The container on the left is the laundry detergent and the three spray bottles on the right are my homemade cleaning products. 

Bleach cleaner- 2 oz bleach, 1 oz of laundry detergent, fill the rest with water.

Multipurpose cleaner- 5 oz rubbing alcohol, 3 oz white vinegar, 1 tsp of white ammonia, 2 drops essential oil, fill the rest with water. I didn't have any essential oils on hand so I used a smidgen of fabric softener. 

Kitchen/bathroom cleaner- 10 oz blue dawn dish soap, 10 oz white vinegar, fill rest with water. 

These are all for 24 oz bottles. Enjoy!! 

Xoxo

Shelbie 

Baby's first pictures

We had our first ultrasound where we got to meet and see what our little sea otter looks like. 

I was really hoping for the tummy ultrasound, that didn't happen. I got the other one. Yay!! 

Doctor says the baby's heart looks good and is beating fast. She also said that baby looks perfectly healthy. Oh! And there is only one in there. Yes, we're sure. 

We were also told I'm 2 days farther along than we originally had thought. So my new weekly day is Sundays. 

Without furthera due Our Precious Jewell 

So It Begins....

Ladies, when did your morning sickness kick in?? I will be 8 weeks on Tuesday. So it's about the right timing. 

I had a horrible night with it. I was so close to actually vomiting that it hurt. It didn't help that we were in the car and the bumps made it worse. 

This morning was even worse and unpredictable. I felt good for the most part and then BAM! I leaped out of bed and the only thing I could reach in time was an empty laundry basket. Thank goodness it was empty. I ended up skinning my poor knee. 

I haven't thrown up in a good ten years. I can't believe how strenuous it is on your body. Literally like a scene from Being Human where Josh turns into a wolf. Painful!! 

But it did make me feel much better to throw up. I'm hoping it doesn't last to long, but I heard morning sickness indicates a girl!! :) 

Morning sickness remedies are very welcome. Iv already tried ginger and it helps a little bit, but sometimes makes it worse. 

Xoxo

Shelbie 

Stress Levels

Did any of you other moms out there feel like as soon as you found out you were pregnant every thing started going ary? Since Iv been pregnant, so far we have had to move, our good car went to shit and now we find ourselves looking for not one, but two reliable vehicles and my job is hanging by a thread because I don't have reliable transportation. 

The move I'm actually very happy about. We were living with my in-laws for far to long-like two and a half years to long. We now have our own 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house that we enjoy being just us two(for now) in. 

Sorry for the vent session, I'm sure you moms can relate?? 

Xoxo

Shelbie 

First baby appointment

Twins!! Haha just kidding! Wouldn't that be something though?? I have always wanted twins. My brain is at full capacity after today's appointment. I received so much literature about what to expect over the next 9 months. I have been on information overload non stop since I got home. It's all very interesting though. 

Worst part about today-blood drawn. I swear the tech used the largest needle possible. She needed like 10 gallons of blood. Not really, it looked like it though as she was filling up vile after vile. She said it was the equivalent to a tablespoon. Lies!! 

Xoxo

Shelbie

Baby Do List

Since I have found out I'm pregnant, I've been making lists like crazy. Nursery themes lists. Baby registry list. Things to get done around the house lists. Honey do lists. Baby names list.

I also picked up a copy of "Your Pregnancy Week By Week" and "The Girlfriends Guide To Pregnancy". Both are excellent books. However I keep finding myself looking ahead to see what's going on next with my baby.  Ever looking for the week where "she" stops looking like a sea monkey and more like a baby.

I have my first nurses appointment tomorrow, January 19. I've been told this is the longer appointment. Where we go over family history, vitals, possible due date, and all the info Casey and I will need on the hospital and pregnancy. How exciting!!

Another thing I am excited to start doing is weekly bump updates. A picture of me and my bump, my bump, my lovely lady bump and some facts of the week.

 I also look forward to show casing my ideas for the nursery-both genders, maternity wear, surviving the summer heat at my biggest, and a few other things that I find along the way.

Xoxo
Shelbie

And Baby Makes 3

Surprise!! I am pregnant! Casey and I are excited to share the news with all our family and friends. 

With barely any symptoms and the one I did have being falling asleep before 5, I decided to take a pregnancy test the next morning. It was 4 days before my expected period. I always hate testing before a missed period but I had a test on me. So I figured why not?? 

I was expecting to see only one line so I went about my business for a few minutes. I came back to check the test and there was 2 lines. 

I had always pictured my reaction I would probably cry and laugh because I was so happy. I actually did neither. I was like, "really?? Sweet!" 

I ran upstairs jumped on my husband and said, "Look!!" He was barely awake. But he pulled me in close and hugged me. He said I was shaking.  I couldn't believe I was actually pregnant. 

We decided not to tell anyone right away. We wanted to have this secret between us for a little while. Something we could cherish together as new parents to be. 

I hope you will enjoy this journey with us. 

Xoxo

Shelbie