Burp cloth hang-ups

I need your recommendations on burp cloths.

Our good friend Heather uses Circo-brand burp cloths for her baby boy. You can buy these burp cloths at T*rget. And they work really well - super absorbent. It's freaky how well these suckers work.

However, the cloths are sold as a two-pack. One burp cloth has "I love Mommy" written on it and the other has "I love Daddy". I like these cloths so much that I've bought several packs and have given Heather the "I love Daddy" cloths. I know I'm being stubborn about not wanting "Daddy" burp cloths in the house, but then again, you already know that I'm stubborn.

I watched Heather's little boy today and went through several burp cloths. Which hammered home the point that I'm going to need many, many, many burp cloths.

But I'm so hung up on the Circo brand that the other brands pale in comparison.

So I need your help. If you use burp cloths, what is your favorite kind? Thank you!

(PS - Just so you know how completely hung up I can get about things.... I just spent one hour trying to find the "Mommy" ones sold online, on Ebay, etc. I also looked for burp cloth reviews online and didn't find anything either. Dang! I'm used to finding anything I want on the Internet. However, the exasperation I'm feeling gives me an excellent excuse to curl up with a Hershey bar! You know chocolate makes everything better. Even stifled Internet buying.)

-Wendy
[18,1d]

Flutterings & giggles

I seem to feel the baby flutter mostly when I'm hungry. Almost as if the Biscuit was jiggling or kicking around saying, "Feed Me!" Is this true for anyone else?

On another note, I don't believe I've written about the joys of our zero-gravity recliner. Well.... it is bliss! We are so fortunate to have this sucker. When you sit in it, it feels as if you are floating. And I've found that it really helps alleviate my back or neck pain. I may end up spending every waking moment in this recliner before too long.

However, it can be a bit tricky to get in and out of this chair. Especially when you are 4 months pregnant and your girlfriend wants to take your picture and you get tickled and you realize suddenly that you need to pee....NOW!

I've got a few pictures on our Flickr site of me struggling to get out of the chair while laughing raucously. I thought I'd share them with you so you can have a laugh along with me.


-Wendy
[18w,0d]

One

You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.
No.
Explanations.

1. Yourself: pregnant
2. Your partner: sherpa
3. Your hair: thicker
4. Your mother: seeker
5. Your father: dependable
6. Your Favorite Item: movie
7. Your dream last night: hair
8. Your Favorite drink: dietcoke
9. Your Dream Car: RV
10. The room you are in: office
11. Your Ex: martyr
12. Your fear: depression
13. What you want to be in 10 years? mommy
14. Who you hung out with last night? Karen
15. What you are not? employed
16. Muffins: lemon
17. One of Your Wish List Items: furniture
18. Time: inconsistent
19. The Last Thing You Did: cleaned
20. What You Are Wearing: sweats
21. Your Favorite Weather: Spring
22. Your Favorite Book: King
23. The Last Thing You Ate: cereal
24. Your Life: incredible
25. Your Mood: happy
26. Your best friend: Karen
27. What are you thinking about right now? food
28. Your car: Luna
29. What are you doing at the moment? blogging
30. Your summer: surprising
31. Your relationship status: married
32. What is on your TV? Matrix
33. What is the weather like? rainy
34. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday

-Wendy
[18w,0d]

Freedom...thy name is new pj's

Ain't she just cute?! After finding this wonderful nightgown, I surprised Wendy by catching her with my camera in hand as she came forth wearing her new PJ's. She got so tickled! Isn't it priceless? And you know...she's doing it Scottish-style....nothing on underneath! And that makes the ever expanding belly feel w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l!

- Karen
[17w,6d]

Observations from the sherpa

Today has been one laugh after another. Wendy is obviously experiencing the euphoria of the 2nd trimester "honeymoon". She just finished a laughing fit where she laughed hysterically for several minutes all the while snorting out something about her belly and gas and something else of which I'm still not quite sure.

Earlier, we braved the crazy day after Thanksgiving world and went out. While I had a hair cut, Wendy sat at Starbucks and knitted and I met her there after I was done. She had planted herself next to the sunny windows and smiled brightly as I entered with my newly coifed do. She finished a very wonderful scarf while I read and had a cuppa and then we decided to truly be brave and go to a couple of stores. We successfully navigated the traffic and the crowds and obtained the couple of items we wanted and then decided to go for an early supper. We went to Chevy's, a mexican place that we hadn't been to in a while. Wendy's had Taco Bell on her brain for a couple of days (we even went so far as to go out yesterday - on the holiday - looking to see if a Taco Bell was open!) so we decided on Chevy's as a bit more upscale alternative. Well, her meal wasn't exactly what she wanted. As it turns out, we'd have been better off to have just gone to Taco Bell to start with, but alas - we did not. So, to help soothe her I offered to take her to Cold Stone Creamery for her favorite ice cream delight - Peanut Butter Cup Perfection (chocoloate ice cream, fudge sauce, peanut butter, Reese's Peanut Butter cups and a brownie all mixed together). As we pulled out from Chevy's on our way to Cold Stone, Wendy glanced across the street and noticed the Deseret Book store. "Hmph" she says. "A whole book store with dessert books? How do they ever sell enough to stay in business?". While smothering a laugh (since I have learned that it is not a good idea to laugh hysterically at the pregnant woman), I say "....um..that's Des-er-et...not dessert". She cracked up! She laughed and laughed and laughed...and I laughed with her.

Now, this little word faux paux is only the most recent in a long series of word oddities that my sweet one has proclaimed. First, there was the word pseudo. The official pronounciation is like "sue dough" but my Wendy says "sway dough". Then later today, "summarily" became "summer-air-alee". The funniest part is how hard she laughs when these little pronounciation slips happen. I suppose you just have to be there to get the full effect, but dang it's cute!

She's fascinated with her growing belly and the flutters she's feeling from the baby. She just giggles with delight when they start. Tonight after the ice cream splurge, the baby was really getting jiggy with it in there and Wendy just starts laughing and saying how the baby must be on a sugar high. I think mommy was on a sugar high too!

We're having alot of fun these days. Our big ultrasound is just a little over a week away and we'll soon know if the biscuit is a boy or a girl. There's so much to look forward to and yet each passing day is so very precious. Each moment is an adventure and this journey is just so miraculous that I find myself in awe over and over again.

We've been thinking alot of our many blogger friends who are sharing this adventure with us. We feel we have lots of friends out there and everytime we check your blogs and read your comments here, it's as if we're sitting down with our dear friends over coffee and catching up on the day and enjoying each other's company. It's pretty cool to find that in this great big world, there are so many ways to connect to those who share similar journeys. We're so grateful to be on this path and to have found this community to share it with. Thanks everyone!

Happy weekend everyone!

- Karen
[17w,4d]

Time is speeding up

In our first trimester, time slowed down to a snail's pace. Each day seemed interminably long. Now it seems that days are back to their normal pace.

I'm writing all of this as my little excuse for not posting since last Sunday. So here's what's happened over the past few days:

Hospital tour:
Last Sunday, we toured the hospital where I will deliver. There were seven other couples present and I had the smallest belly there. The other couples were in their 30+ weeks. When asked how far along I was, I meekly answered, "four months". I have to hand it to the tour guide-- she smiled at us and said that it was always nice to be well prepared. I was grateful that the guide used the term "partner" and "spouse" instead of husband. And she made great eye contact with Karen and I. We didn't feel at all out of place. I love living in this "friendly" city.

The hospital rooms are beautiful and spacious and filled with lovely amenities like a mini-fridge, DVD player and TV, and jetted tub. The room was so large... there was room for all 16 people to fit comfortably. Someone commented that the room felt more like a hotel suite than a hospital room; the guide smiled and said that was their intention. The nurses were very friendly and spoke at length on the family bonding that takes place the first hour after the baby's birth. We are very pleased with our choice of hospital.

Landscaping:
We had the waterfall in our backyard taken out. Before you gasp too loudly, you should know that the waterfall-while beautiful--was a royal pain in the rear. It clogged a lot and we could never get the water clear-even with lots of effort and maintenance. So three burly men came and dug up all the huge rocks and filled in all the holes with smaller rocks and dirt and mulch. Now we have a 12 x 16 patch of mulch in our backyard.

And I'm itching for the Spring so that I can landscape it. April and May are my favorite months to work on landscaping. I could spend all day with my knees in mulch, planting perennials and flowers. Since I'm due in May, I'm already lamenting the loss of gardening time. Karen assures me that I can pick out the plants and arrange them and she will plant them for me. Perhaps I'll be able to help a little bit??? We'll wait and see.

Congestion:
I don't know if I'm experiencing pregnancy congestion or a slight cold. I sniffle and snort and blow and talk funny thru my nose all day. Just lovely.

Other baby stuff:
We got our baby monitor and a fun, baby massage book. We are at 21 Babies R Us visits to date. We don't buy anything. We just walk around and point and discuss. It's a sickness really.

Happy Feet:
Just saw this movie tonight and we loved it. It's delightful. Go see it.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

-Wendy
[17w, 2d]
[21 Babies R Us visits]

What I have lived for

I really liked this when I read it, so I thought I'd share.

- Karen
[16w,6d]


What I Have Lived For
(The Prologue to Bertrand Russell's Autobiography)

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a great ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy - ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness--that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what--at last--I have found.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate this evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.

This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.

---

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) won the Nobel prize for literature for his History of Western Philosophy and was the co-author of Principia Mathematica.

Everything's Fine

We're thrilled! We heard from our doctor. Our quad screen tests for the Biscuit came back normal. No additional tests will be needed. I'm so relieved and happy. Whew! Hurray!

I've also started to feel the baby. The little flutterings are amazing!

Here's a picture of me at 6 weeks and at 16 weeks:


PS - Does pregnancy make you shorter? This picture makes me look like I've shrunk.

-Wendy
[16w,4d]

Reading Aloud

How often do you read aloud? I'm reading aloud more and more.

Karen and I go to Starbucks to read several times a week. This is when I'll do my "homework" or non-fiction reading. Many times, I'll want to share something I've read with Karen. As I begin to read aloud from my book, I'll sometimes stumble over the words. I think this is due to the fact that I'm a fast reader. I think my eyes are jumping ahead in the material or skimming over the words rather than really reading them. Here: let me show you what I mean. This is a test from author Harlan Coben.

Read this sentence:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.

Now count the F"s in that sentence.



I did it and ended up with four. The real answer is six. My eyes just skip over some of those ofs.

Reading aloud slows me down so that I can really see what I'm saying. These days, I'm enjoying reading aloud to our neighbors' 4 month-old boy, Ethan. I'll read his board books to him slowly with lots of enthusiasm in my voice and I'll pause to gauge his reaction. Reading aloud and smiling with him is such fun.

I'm really looking forward to reading aloud to our own child. Karen and I have such a love for reading; we hope our child will too. We're already collecting books for the Biscuit's library.

By the way, I'm currently reading "The Read-Aloud Handbook" by Jim Trelease. I heartily recommend it. This book has an inspiring message and wonderful anecdotes as well as the latest research on reading aloud to your children and which books to choose.

-Wendy
[16,4d]

Email from heaven!

I opened my work email yesterday morning and found this at the top of my Inbox:
Now...tell me...if you saw an email from "christ" with a subject of "its time", what would you think?! I was amused and while having a pretty good idea this was a creative spammer's work, I have to admit to just a moment of pause as I considered the possibility that a divine being was attempting to communicate with me via email. What, my mind pondered, would I need to be told "its time" for? Time to become a mom, time to win the lottery, time to pull a muscle in Jazzercise class that morning...or something so unthinkable as time to depart this world for the next?

So, after a brief pause to ponder the possibilities of if I was being communicated with from on high, I double-clicked the email to open it and see what it held. And....

...there it was! A lowest price guarantee on the drug of my choice should I require pharmaceutical assistance with sexual dysfunction, if I'm over-anxious, can't sleep, am depressed or otherwise in need of a little pick-me-up!

I do believe that G*d works in mysterious ways, but I don't think direct marketing spam is one of those ways! Well, at least I had a good laugh.

- Karen
[16w,3d]

Fertile Myrtle

Online shopping can be scary fun. I found this fabulous shirt at www.belly9.com.

This shirt is wonderful for several reasons. Karen has been calling me Fertile Myrtle since before I got pregnant. AND the shirt has a great illustration. AND the illustration has a pregnant knitter. Ha-Ha!!

It will take around 2 weeks to get here. I can't wait to wear it.

-Wendy
[16w, 2d]

10 Questions

I stole this meme from Calliope at the Erstellen Mutterschaft blog.

1) If someone said you were like a breakfast cereal, which one would you be and why?
Wendy: Fruit Loops because I'm colorful and loopy.
Karen: Special K because...well, you can figure it out, right?

2) How do you take your coffee/tea?
Wendy: Black coffee at home. Coffee all kinds of ways at Starbucks.
Karen: With 1 Splenda or Sweet-n-Low and cream. Starbucks Cafe Mocha.

3) Your bedroom is on fire. You can only reach in & grab ONE thing. Do you grab your photo album or your journals?
Wendy: Photos
Karen: Photos

4) When I see ______ I wish I could ______ so that everyone else would know that _______.
Wendy: When I see war protestors I wish I could jump out and join them so that everyone else would know that lots of people think this war should end.
Karen: When I see weddings in progress I wish I could legally get married so that everyone else would know that marriage is about love and commitment not about sex (gender).

5) Got porn?
No comment.

6) If I could meet _______ and explain why I _______ I would never ______ again.
Wendy: If I could meet Brad B. (president of a company I worked for) and explain why I quit the way I did, I would never have that conversation with him in my head again.
Karen: If I could meet Martin Luther King or Ghandi and explain why I don't always speak out for causes I'm passionate about, I would never remain on the sidelines of activism again.

7) What is the worst pet name in the history of your family?
Wendy: This one's embarrassing. My parents had a black cat named Sambo.
Karen: Muffet

8) I would eat a bowl of _____ for free, but if you want me to eat a bowl of ______ you'd have to pay me $_____.
Wendy: I would eat a bowl of ice cream for free, but if you want me to eat a bowl of beets, you'd have to pay me $5,000.
Karen: I would eat a bowl of chili for free, but if you want me to eat a bowl of black-eyed peas, you'd have to pay me $500 (and pray I don't throw up).

9) What 80's tv star would make you giggle like a school girl?
Wendy: Any character from The Muppet Show
Karen: Tom Selleck (I so had a crush on this guy)

10) What age was your best and why?
Wendy: Now. I have an incredible life.
Karen: Agreed on now but also had a great year at 30. Getting out of my twenties brought alot of ease about who I am and where my life was going.

- Karen and Wendy
[16w, 1d]

Random list

Part of me wants to write an interesting post about.... well, anything. But all I can come up with is a list of stuff.

Sleeping exclusively on one's side hurts. During sleep, my hands go numb and my shoulders scream. Moving from side to side rocks our entire bed and every time I rock the bed I worry that it's only going to get worse as I get bigger. I now realize how much I LOVE sleeping on my back. But now I can't do it too much because it's not good for the baby.

My nose is no longer 100% clear. Seems like I'm sniffing and blowing a lot. I've read that pregnancy can cause congested nasal passages. But does anyone else feel like their nose is growing WIDER?

We can consistently hear Biscuit's heart beating on our doppler (the heart rate is around 160 - 179). Thank heavens we bought that little machine.

Karen vacuumed the house this weekend. I was caught between being very grateful and wanting to scream, "Stop it! This is my turf. My turf!

The author of "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" was obviously never pregnant.

We bought a rocking moses basket holder (to go with our beautiful moses basket). This will be our crib for our bedroom and it is the perfect height for the bed. I'm so pleased with it.

There's been a power shift between our two cats. Our older cat, Phoebe, has let the younger cat, Chloe, be the alpha cat. Chloe just turned a year old. She has new side whiskers on her face. My fictitous (but fun!) theory is that Phoebe let Chloe work on her attack sequences and let her think she was winning. But once Chloe grew her side whiskers, Phoebe said, "Your kitten days are over my little friend. Time for you to learn who is boss. I'm going to kick your but". All I know is that Phoebe is Alpha cat again.

I'm knitting my mom what may be the ugliest shawl ever knitted in history. When I started it, I thought it was going to be beautiful. I had such delusions of grandeur for this shawl. Now I worry that it's just gaudy and ugly. I just want to finish it and get it out of my house. I'm sorry Mom for your ugly Christmas present. I asked Karen what she thought of it. She replied, "It's highly unique". I forget sometimes just how SMART Karen is.

We have two vials of paid-for semen. Our reproductive clinic will not buy it back. We don't want to pay for storing it since storage is so expensive. We could sell it but are afraid of the legal ramifications (even with contracts involved) and we don't want to know about any potential half-siblings. We paid a fortune for it and we have no idea what our clinic will actually do with the stuff. If you told me a year ago that I would be thinking about issues like this, I would have said you were crazy.

Thanks for your guesses on the baby's sex. We love reading your comments.

- Wendy
[16w,0d]
[18 Babies R Us visits]


UPDATE from Karen (added after Wendy's original post)

I thought I'd add a few items to Wendy's list from the sherpa's side of life.

Sleeping with a pregnant woman trying to get used to sleeping on her side with a large 6 foot pillow is an interesting challenge. Wendy hasn't quite worked out the particulars of the extra large pillow (lent to us on trial by Heather ... thanks!) and my experience of it is well...odd. The first test run felt like I was sleeping with a large catepillar smooshed up against me all night. Fun. :)

Pregnant women make unusual noises they didn't make pre-pregnancy (well at least one pregnant woman in particular does). Wendy makes these little breathy grunts and moans quite frequently and doesn't even realize she's doing it. Well...she realizes it after I start laughing.

When your dear one asks if her nose looks big, the appropriate response is NOT to laugh hysterically.

It is a daunting challenge to do household chores while under the gaze of the usual "owner" of those chores. When she mentioned that the stairs were the dirtiest part of the house, I took that to mean that I should be particularly diligent in my efforts. So, I spent an inordinate amount of time going stair by stair making sure every little cat hair and dust bunny were eliminated. Dang...that's hard work! I won't miss handing that little fun chore back over to Ms. Clean. :)

The shawl Wendy is knitting is certainly highly unique, but in it's current form with several loose ends hanging off, it looks more like Zsa Zsa Gabor tried to glam up a bear hide. Uh....no really...it's cool...really.

Blogger says the new version is ready. Does that mean they've gotten rid of all the Blogger Beta troubles some of you mentioned running into? Should we change over now or what?

I have a Babies R Us store floorplan permanently locked into my brain. While in Dallas on business last week, a co-worker and I went to B-R-U to buy a gift for a guy in our office whose wife is expecting at the end of the month. We got the registry print out and my friend looked at me in complete confusion as to where to go. I simply asked her what she wanted off the list and then proceeded to take her straight there. I found my items and we were outta there in 5 minutes. She just shook her head and told me I needed to get out more (and not to Babies R Us)!

Life is good. The baby is doing well. Wendy is doing well (except for a few minor things like sleeping on her side and having that weird rib/side pain). I'm home for a month before I travel again. The holidays are coming. We find out the biscuit's gender in 3 weeks. Yes...life is good.

- Karen

16 week appointment

Today we had our 16 week appointment. I had my blood pressure taken (104/60), belly measured (14.5 inches), and we got to hear the Biscuit's heart beating which is always a joy.

I usually get nervous before going to our doctor's appointment. And now that I'm pregnant, when I get nervous, I get nauseous. Karen was a sweetheart hugging and reassuring me and putting a cool cloth on my neck. I've always thought that I was a nerves-of-steel, burly kind of girl but I've found that parts of being pregnant just rattle me!

I've been having a consistent pain in my left upper abdomen. It extends from my ribs all the way back to my spine. I've had this pain off and on for two years now. It pretty much subsided when I lost 20 pounds, but now it's back. Some days, it hurts so much that I have to lay down to get some relief. And one day we wrapped my ribs with ace bandages! I was pleased when our OB agreed to help us diagnose this. I had a full blood work drawn today (CBC, thyroid, and complete metabolic panel). And I'm having an upper abdominal ultrasound on Wednesday. Karen and I joked afterwards about offering to tip the ultrasound tech some bucks to also give us a baby ultrasound picture (we're so anxious to find out the baby's sex!). But I guess we will have to wait until our baby's diagnostic ultrasound on December 4th.

By the way, feel free to comment with your guess of the baby's sex!

We finished up the appointment with a flu shot and a talk about the joys of round ligament pain. We went to PF Changs to celebrate with some amazing lo mien.

-Wendy
[15w, 4d]

Appetite changes

I'm so pleased that week 14 brought an end to the nausea (hurray!). However, I've found that the foods that sustained me during my first trimester are repulsive to me now. I can no longer eat (or even look at) Ritz crackers, sugar honeycomb cereal, oatmeal cream pies, nilla wafers, and Eggo waffles. I've had to hide them all out of sight. Just thinking about them puts an unattractive "Eeewww" look on my face.

This reminds me of the time when I went away to Girl Scout camp only to experience torrential rains for 7 days straight. We lived on boiled hotdogs for lunch and dinner over a wet campfire for several days. It was years before I could look at a hotdog without gagging.

I don't know about any of you other people who are currently or who have been pregnant, but I've found that my water consumption has gone way down. I used to drink at least 10 glasses of water a day with no problems. I keep reading (and people keep telling me) to drink lots of fluids. How can I? I take three sips and it seems that my stomach is full of water and is sloshing around and the water backs up into my esophagus. It seems like forever before water "goes down". Do you know what I mean? I think that I'm getting enough to not get dehyrdrated but I'm still not drinking nearly enough.

In non-bodily news, I had a lovely birthday filled with wonderful gifts. Thank you to everyone for your well-wishes. And as a special treat I got to visit with Lisa O who is visiting her friend Heather. Lisa enjoys reading our blog from her home in California. She gave us this wonderful present of these two "family-friendly" onesies and another shirt. Aren't these fabulous! I just love how the blog creates connections with people all of the world.


-Wendy
[15w,0d]

Falling back - the time change

I really don't like the fall time change...really. It's totally dark by 5pm (actually it's almost all the way dark by 4:30pm) and I find myself wanting to just curl up and go to bed. What is it about that one hour that shuts my body down and starts sending signals that I should put on my pj's and go to bed? I mean, it's just one hour different!

Right now it's just a bit before 7pm and I'm yawning and nodding like it's 10 or 11pm. Wendy's nausea seems to have past but she gets the sleepies in the afternoon and will often take a nap before supper. I'm afraid if I ever nap with her, I'll end up sleeping right on through till morning. Sigh...it's gonna be a long winter!



- Karen

[14w,6d]

Happy Birthday Wendy!

I wanted to wish my sweet Wendy a public Happy Birthday today. She's my best friend and my partner and I can't imagine my life without her in it. She makes my days brighter and sweeter and every day I find I love her more than the day before. I love you my Wendy...you are my sunshine!

And...I think she can even eat some birthday cake since her pregnancy nausea seems to have subsided...yea!

- Karen

[14w,4d]