third trimester

we are in the home stretch, the third trimester. there are only 12 more weeks left until my due date.

baby O is weighing in at a whopping 2 pounds and 3 ounces today, measuring at the 31st percentile for his "age" group. he's a little small but as our midwife puts it, we are "small people" so baby shouldn't be expected to be huge.

we had another chance to see baby O in action this morning and he's a shy little guy. when we saw him at 20 weeks, he was covering his face with his little hands and trying to suck on his thumb. today at 28 weeks, he was covering his face again and trying to hide it in my uterine wall. i wonder if his behavior now will translate to his behavior in the future.

baby free weekends

our baby free weekends will soon be a thing of the past. 

two weekends ago, our friend from san diego, who now lives in asheville, nc, came down for the weekend. she brought along her newly rescued pup of ten months as well. it was a nice weekend spent at the beach and catching up.

this past weekend, we decided to cash in on some rewards points and flew out to chicago for a long weekend. not only did we get to catch up with a friend of mine from college but we also spent st. patrick's day with one of andy's best friends, and his lovely family.

26 weeks & 98 days left

i'm officially 26 weeks along with baby O. our estimated due date for baby O's arrival is June 18th, which is really just 98 days away from today! we've been preparing by reading books on natural deliveries, breast-feeding, and a book on raising baby from birth to age two. i try to tag what is important in each book for andy so he doesn't have to read about the intricacies of breastfeeding or whatnot. however, he is reading about how a husband can help with the birthing process. of course, everything that is written in books aren't 100 percent accurate or useful when the time comes around to actually use those techniques, it'll at least give us an idea of what will be facing in the months and years to come. we have so much to learn from our friends with children, many with multiple children now. we are so far behind.

i've been reading all about baby carriers this week. although we've already purchased our stroller, i want to be able to wear baby O from birth until he doesn't want to be worn anymore (which could be any time from birth until he's 5!). my brother and i were worn as children, and so were my parents. i find that La Leche League International has a ton of great information about baby wearing, and this site has a breakdown of the different types of baby wraps available. i've decided on the vatanai wrap. unfortunately there are only a couple of distributors in the us so i've had a hell of a time looking for the correct size in the print i want. i did find a distributor in canada that has a better stock than the american one, so looks like i'll be ordering from them. i can't wait to receive our woven wrap. here's a picture of the gorgeous wrap i'm ordering. it's the one on the top. 

oh yeah, and baby O kicked me in the ribs for the first time today! ouch.

crunchy mom

i guess with all the decisions A and i have been making regarding baby O, we will be considered "crunchy" parents. although we don't fall perfectly into the definition of one, we do plan on cloth diapering, baby wearing, co-sleeping, and making our own baby food. 

we received our first order of cloth diapers today! aren't they the cutest little things you've ever seen? although it's more expensive up front to pay for all the diapers we need from newborn to potty training, we will save money in the long run especially if we have multiple children (which we plan on having!). 

the average cost of disposable diapers for one child from newborn to potty training is about $2400. multiple that number with the number of children you plan on having. so if we plan on having two kids, we'd end up spending $4800 to diaper them!

whereas, the average cost of cloth diapers is approximately $800, which includes the cloth diapers itself, the inserts and the cost of washing the diapers. the cost of cloth diapering a second child is whatever the cost of washing the diapers would be, about $300 or so a year because you'll have all the cloth diapers you need already! the other bonus to this is that we'll be saving the environment at the same time. we won't be adding non-compostable disposable diapers to the landfill that will probably sit for thousands of years!

since finding out...

we found out we were pregnant in late october right after doing a two-week cross country road trip from san diego, california to charleston, south carolina. 

while on our road trip, we hiked zion national park as well as arches national park and several other places in utah. we spent some time in new mexico and texas. surprisingly we found good vietnamese food in oklahoma. then we made our way through arkansas and stopped in memphis, tennessee to visit "the king" as well as nashville and knoxville. our last stop was in asheville, north carolina to visit a friend before we finally made it to charleston.

since being in charleston, our lives have not slowed down one bit! A's mom came to visit for christmas and we headed back to vancouver, bc with her to celebrate new year's eve with her and A's family. i was about 16 weeks along with baby O at this point.

while in vancouver, we were lucky enough to be a part of a good friend's wedding too! here i am about 17 weeks along. obviously, this was not my best photo, but hey, the day wasn't about me!

although things have settled a bit more since january, i've been nesting. i know, it's a little early for that but a girl's gotta keep herself busy! baby O will either love or hate all the little crafts i've been making for him. i've spent way too much time on pinterest!

A and i haven't taken many photos since october. but here is one of me showing off my baby bump. it's not the nice perfectly round belly i had hoped for but baby O is healthy and his kicks are getting stronger and stronger by the day. so here i am at 24 weeks at ace basin, a natural estuarine research reserve. baby O really wanted some sun! oh, not only did we see an alligator that day but we also saw a bald eagle!

its a boy!

family and friends, it's official. andy and i are excited to be announcing that we are expecting a little man in our lives due mid-june 2013!

as andy and i are making a home for ourselves in charleston, south carolina, we have another little person to consider now. andy is busy building a lab and writing grants. i, on the other hand, am trying to adjust to being a stay-at-home-wife (and stay-at-home-mom, soon enough).

check back often as we will be updating this blog with our little man's progress!