Rock out, baby.

When I was pregnant with Danny, I loved feeling him move around, it is something that I REALLY missed after he was born. He moved a lot, but not constantly, but man he was a big kicker! Especially during hockey playoffs, he would go nuts, probably because my heart rate would speed up, but man, that kid was routing for the Caps right along with me.

(It is worth noting that Danny was born during a Detroit Redwings playoff game. I would update my husband on the score between pushing, and they ended up coming back to win the game 7-4 or something).

Anyway, baby girl is not nearly as strong of a kicker as Danny was, but she is constantly moving! I love it. She even has certain times of day where she is always super active, the same time every day. She is my little rock and roller, I think. Although I am secretly hoping that she is a little more calm when she is on the outside than Danny (he hasn't fallen asleep in my arms since he was two months old, kid is always on the move), at least I know if she is as hyper as her brother they will keep each other in line.

Cloth Wipes

Why spend a ton of money on fancy cloth wipes when you can spend a little bit of money on this:

Washcloths from Target

Instead of spending over $10.00 for a pack of cloth wipes I took the advice of another tree hugging mom friend and decided to try "cheap washcloths instead." Not only did I get six for less than $5, but they are cute and not white, which will hopefully mean they wont look yucky very fast. There are lots of sites that give recipes for cloth wipe solutions, but yet another mom friend told me that she simply wets the wipes before use and boom they work like a charm.

I am so excited to try these, and the cloth diapers I have bought. I love that I am sparing my baby from all the chemicals in disposable diapers and saving money at the same time. The fact that cloth diapers are so stinking cute is just icing on the cake!

Happy 4th!!

Other than the fact that we couldn't see fireworks today (the worst thing that has happened since becoming a one car family), it was a perfect, and super fun 4th of July for the Rice family.

After a shaky start to the day; Stephen got off early, I thought someone broke in and almost knocked him out via baseball bat we got on with our big 4th of July plans. I, still celebrating the fact that I DON'T have Gestational Diabetes started off our day by making red, white and blue pancakes for Danny. Strawberries and blueberries mixed in the pancake mix. I stand by my belief that dads always make pankcakes better than moms, but they turned out pretty nicely. After breakfast Danny and I played, and then packed a box of stuff from his room. He seemed really confused at first about what I was doing, but once I explained to him that we had to pack his things to take to the new house he was on board. He keeps calling the new house "home," and he brought me things to put in the box and kept saying "home, home." He wanted me to put all of his Mickey Mouse stuffed animals in the box, I think he is afraid we are gong to leave some of his stuff behind.

After giving Stephen several hours of sleep, he is still on midnight shift, we went to a parade in a small town outside of Annapolis. Danny was in heaven, with the fire trucks, horses and old cars, I don't think we could have done anything that would have made him more happy!

It was the first real 4th of July event we've done since having Danny. We haven't yet made fireworks since having Danny around, and it never occurred to me to take him to a parade until this year. We had a great time, then did our usual holiday/Sunday routine, which is a cookout and swimming at my Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We have a certified water rat on our hands. If Stephen and I ever wanted to sit around, snack and chat with the adults, forget it! Danny is in the pool from the time we get there until the time we leave. It takes some coaxing to get him to take a break from swimming to eat, even if we are offering cake! One of us is always in the pool with Danny. Today he experienced his first "pool toe," but that didn't stop him from wanting to swim. I'm not sure what I am going to do with this kid once the weather turns and the pools close. I am screwed. . .

4th of July is always one of my favorite holidays. Not only do I LOVE Summertime, but my husband is a Marine, I come from a big military family, we all consider ourselves patriots. I love the patriotism that comes out around the 4th of July. I love how people talk about how great the US is, instead of fighting about it. I love the American Flag cake that my Grandma makes each year.

I hope everyone had a very happy 4th, and remember, freedom isn't free!!

Baby belly

She sure is growing!

27 Weeks

A few weeks ago I started to really feel pregnant, but I wasn't feeling like a super wide load.

28 Weeks--please forgive the PJs.

Then I started to feel like a wide load, everything is suddenly hard to do, even bending over to pick up something is difficult. Welcome to the 3rd trimester!! I will tell you, anyone in their first pregnancy, enjoy it!! There is nothing harder than being big, pregnant and uncomfortable, while also chasing around a two-year-old!! I can't really complain much, I am feeling good, but some days are definitely a challenge!!

29 Weeks.

Now I am definitely a super wide load! This isn't the most flattering picture taken of me today, but it certainly gives a good, real version of my belly. Every time we get out the camera Danny comes running. He stand there to take the picture, then goes about his own business. It is so funny to see. We went to a wedding about a month ago, when we were leaving we had my dad, baby sitter extraordinaire, to take a picture of just Stephen and I. Danny flipped, he was so sad to not be asked to be in the picture. We haven't excluded him since :).

While I am hoping to go into labor a bit early, we still have many weeks to go before we meet our baby girl. I love being pregnant, after the first trimester I started feeling great, so I am in no hurry to "get this baby out," like many women are, but I am very excited to meet her!

Big Storm

A huge storm came out of nowhere Friday night, here in Maryland we got hit pretty hard. The last I read about 1.8 million people are still without power, that includes my elderly Grandparents. They are troopers, even though they have an older house with a well, meaning they can't get water when the power is out, they are taking care of it all. Between cleaning up their yard and prepping for their week long vacation on Saturday they are non-stop. I sure hope that I can keep up like they do when I am in my 80's!

We are just about the only people in my family, who live close by, who have power. Unfortunately we live in a small condo, so I can't invite the whole brood over for dinner each night, but I have offered showers and AC, and internet access.

Not many people have taken me up on my offer, but I hope they know that if I am ever without electricity, AC and showers in the middle of July, that I will be pounding on their doors looking for them to pay it forward :)

Glucose Test

I passed!!!!

I don't think I have ever been so happy as I was yesterday when one of my midwives told me that I do NOT have Gestational Diabetes. I was in tears as she went over the results, explaining that not only do I not GD, but my numbers were nowhere close to the magical diabetes number. I am thrilled. Not only does this mean that I am healthy, baby girl is healthy, and I don't have to prick my fingers every day and get on a super controlled diet, but it also means that as long as things continue to go well in this pregnancy I can deliver this baby in the birthing center like I have been hoping to do.

I have been so worried about going through another induction that I have actually had nightmares about it. I am on cloud nine.

I know inductions aren't always bad, but my experience was bad. My hospital experience was terrible with Danny, I try to be positive when I look back at it, but at the end of the day there is no denying that poor choices were made in order to accommodate the hospital staff, not what was best for my baby and me. We are in a different area now, the hospital here is very good, especially the labor and delivery staff, but I am still very happy that I might actually get the experience I am looking for.

I have been on cloud nine since yesterday morning over my news. My husband even brought home a piece of birthday cake for me to enjoy later today in celebration :)

I had psyched myself up at the beginning of this pregnancy to not get GD, but as I progressed the midwives kept trying to convince me that I might just be prone to it, and to not beat myself up if I get it again, even after following a pretty strict diet. Well the last few weeks I have been pretty sure I was going to fail the test, I even went as far as to look up the high risk doctor the midwives would have sent me to, do find out what hours they are open.

I am doing  happy dance, please join me :)

Hats

My friend, Melissa, is a very talented crochet-er (that probably isn't a word). Per my request, she custom made three adorable hats for baby girl to wear this fall/winter. This made me super excited because not only did Danny not wear a hat as a newborn more than once or twice (it was springtime in Yuma), but also, girl stuff is just so cute!!

All I had to do was show Melissa a picture of what I had in mind, and she made them, without a pattern. She is SO SO SO talented. Even my husband, who looks at a building and says "I could have build that," said that it takes real talent to do what she did.

Aren't they adorable???

Smitty's Itty Bitties

So to shamelessly plug my friends business, you can find more information about her adorable hats on her facebook page at Smitty's Itty Bitties.