Baby Sign Language

I am so lucky to work at a school for children with learning differences because so many unique opportunities come up on a regular basis.  This lucky time happened to be a Baby Sign Language class!  This caught my attention for two main reasons.  One, I can't help myself, I love taking classes.  Mark has always joked that if the word class is in the description, I will take it (nerd alert!).  I love learning, love asking questions, and love taking notes - this is not new news!  Second, I have seen the benefits of signing just a few simple signs to babies first hand so I wanted to do this with our little one on a much greater level.  If I have learned nothing else from my job, children with oral language weaknesses really struggle to be understood so I want my baby to be able to communicate with us at an early age (hoping there will not be any oral language weaknesses, of course!).

My first class was Wednesday after school/work.  Two other girls in the class are my friends at work so it makes learning even more fun when we can laugh, joke, and talk to one another!  The class meets 12 weeks for 45 minutes and it looks like we will learn how to sign simple songs, food words, requests, among many other things.  I won't learn how to sign full sentences or anything, just words that will correspond with the spoken word so the baby will learn to "speak" before he/she actually can.  So cool!

We learned "The More We Get Together" last class along with the signs for grandmother/grandfather, crackers, fish crackers, milk, more, juice, cheese, you, me, happy, all done, friends, and I love you.  The time flew by!  Next week my Mom is going to join me since we are learning a variety of food words.

So, in a year when you see me at a restaurant with my hands flying while talking, I am not crazy (well, maybe just a little!), just signing!

14 weeks: A Week of Firsts

The baby celebrates his/her 14th week birthday this week!  According to my weekly baby e-mail, he/she is growing and developing and is now the size of a lemon.  The site said he/she is 3.5 inches long which is so tiny when looking at a ruler.  He/she can now squint, frown, grimace, pee and possibly suck his/her thumb.  Amazing!

I continue to feel great!  I am very happy to report the nausea is gone and I am a lot less tired at the end of the day though still enjoy my 9-10 hours of sleep at night.  I had my first craving this week.....oddly, for orange juice of all things!  I have been having a glass every morning with my breakfast and it tastes like candy to me.  I continue to want salty things like pretzels and the occasional tortilla chips.  I am starting to show.  I have a hard pooch that really just makes me look fat (hence the comic above).  I can still wear my work pants but my jeans are tight around the waist.  Still no weight gain which is great news!  I also had my first hormonal moment while watching one of my favorite shows, "Parenthood."  All of the sudden, unrelated to the television show, I just started bawling.  I really missed Mamaw (Mark's grandmother who I loved and respected a lot) and then I figured while I was crying I should cry about missing Bandera (our dog who died in May) too since I do still miss her a lot.  It all happened in a matter of minutes and I felt much better when it was all over.  A looney moment, for sure! 

I also received my first shipment of diapers from Amazon Mom.  My mom-friends weren't joking, that site is great!  I got an amazing deal on 300, size 1 Luvs diapers.  I think my stockpile is set for size 1 diapers for now!

It is crazy to think in just 5 weeks, we will find out the gender of our sweet baby!

Banana Crumb Muffins

The Texas weather teased me last week with the cool temperatures.  It made me want to bake!  Well, we returned to the hot, 90 degree weather all weekend so instead of starting on my favorite fall recipes, I decided to make some banana muffins instead (using the ripe bananas I got on the clearance shelf at Kroger, of course!). After discovering that I didn't have a go-to recipe, I jumped on Pintrest (love it there!) and searched "Banana Muffins."  Much to my delight, many recipes popped up!  I found this one and went with it - quite honestly it was the crumb topping that sold me on it!

They were so easy to make and smelled amazing baking in the oven.  I had one for breakfast this morning and it was DELICIOUS!  If you like banana bread, you will love this recipe!

First Trimester = DONE!

I am so happy to say I made it through my first trimester of pregnancy!  One down, two to go!  The time is flying by so I am hoping it continues to pass quickly so that, before we know it, our sweet baby will be here!  Can you tell I am just kinda excited?!?!?

People have been so kind and asked how I have been feeling.  Besides a bit of nausea throughout the day and feeling totally exhausted after a day at work (boy do I miss my summer time naps!), I feel just great!  I was lucky to never actually throw up thanks to lots of water and lots of saltine crackers.  I have been in bed and asleep by 8:30 most nights.  I am thankful for a full night sleep and know that this won't be the case for very much longer.  I have only gained one pound, after losing six over the summer and in early pregnancy, and am going to try my hardest to only gain the healthy amount of weight while carrying our baby (25-35 pounds). 

The deal finder side of me has reared its ugly (or beautiful, if you ask me!) head now that I know a baby is on the way!  Thanks to LOTS of great advice from friends and family, I am quickly learning how to save a buck or two while still getting quality baby related items.

I have already scored a few maternity clothing items for cheap!  Between Craigslist, the Target sale rack combined with a coupon, and consignment sales, I have purchased 3 pairs of pants, 1 dress, and 5 tops for a grand total of $58.  And, best of all, these are all name brand items (minus Target unless you say it with a French accent like I do to make it sound oh-so-fancy) so they should last.

I also bought our first box of diapers from CVS.  My sister-in-law gave me great advice and said to start collecting diapers of various sizes throughout the pregnancy so that, when the baby comes, we won't have to be spending a ton of money running back and forth to the store.  I am going to sign up for Amazon Mom because I hear they have the best deal but you can't beat free which is how I got the first box of 92 diapers!

Our baby is the size of a peach as I begin the 13th week of pregnancy.  I am looking forward to really starting to show and getting to wear my maternity clothing in the upcoming weeks.  Hey, this is my first, I can be excited about these things!

BABY!!!

We are going to be parents....ahhhhh!!!! Let me tell you, I am beyond excited to get to share this news after holding this secret for 11 weeks. We told our parents first, then close friends in Dallas who we saw on a regular basis (they noticed I wasn't drinking anymore), then finally work and everyone we know!

Mark and I were ready to start this adventure but didn't think it would happen as quickly as it did. We are beyond excited but a little scared at the same time. We understand this is a huge life event, having a baby can cost a lot of money, and we often wonder how we will be as parents. But, in the end, you never know unless you try, right? So, here we go!

We wanted to tell our family in a creative way. My brother was in town from San Diego so we figured it was the perfect time to tell my side of the family. We had dinner at my Mom's house and right before I suggested taking a family picture. Mark took the picture and instead of saying "cheese," he said, "Meghan's pregnant!" This is the picture from that moment....couldn't have been any better! Yep, my Mom was pretty excited!We told Mark's parents by showing them a picture of the sonogram on Mark's phone after Mark told them a story about a friend going alligator hunting and catching an 11 foot gator. His Dad couldn't find the alligator in the picture (since there wasn't one), then quickly caught on that it was a sonogram picture! It worked just as well with his Mom. They were thrilled!

Mark's sister doesn't live in Texas so I sent them a box with their birthday presents (since most everyone has a b-day in September in their family!) and one package that said, "open this today!" When Alicia opened it, this is what she saw..... a little onesie with a special message!I am so excited to be a Mom! I can't wait to experience everything I have heard about from friends, buy maternity clothing, decorate a nursery, learn about our baby, and grow a family with Mark. I can't wait to met our little baby on March 29th!

Bathroom Update

I know, it has been FOREVER since I have last blogged, but I am back!

Our bathroom is in the middle stages of being complete. We finally had tile installed, the tub set, and the walls painted this summer. The walls are a really light blue that seem to change color as the light of the day changes. I love the color! It took us awhile to save for this but we were happy to pay cash for everything and really like how it turned out.
The next step is getting a shower door installed, buying a vanity for our sinks, and installing a cabinet over the toilet since we don't have much storage in the bathroom. We are on the hunt for a good deal on all these items! The last step will be to get new carpet in the bedroom which I so desperately want!I decided to go ahead and put the new bedding on our bed even though the project isn't totally done. I have had this bedding sitting in my closet for 2 years so I thought, now is the time! I love how it looks! Of course, I got a deal on it all!