Thanks for all the well wishes, guys, you all mean so much to me!

So, I will admit to having a bit of obsessiveness to my personality. I will decide on a topic, subject, project, craft, whatever you want to put in this box, if I decide I want to do it, learn it, learn about it, etc; I will obsess until I know just about everything there is to know about it. I can pretty much tell you anything you would want to know about weight loss, diet, nutrition, exercise, etc. Not that I was able to actually put it to good use ;)

So, my newest interest, shall we say, is cloth diapering (CDing). I have decided that we are going to cloth diaper this baby. There are several reasons why we came to this decision; cost being the main one; second one being that it takes well over 150 years for 1 disposable diaper to decompose, and it is estimated a baby will have used 1000 in a year, and they are expected to be in diapers the first 2.5-3.5 years of their lives.

No, I didn't cloth diaper my other 2; probably because it wasn't ever presented as an option. In fact, if it weren't for the internet today, I probably wouldn't attempt to do this one this way; I didn't even OWN a computer, much less get on the internet, until Kathryn was about 6 months old. Anyway, you have a baby; you buy your diapers at the store. That's it, that's all. You don't see cloth diapers in the stores now. They do sell the prefolds and the flat cloth, which I bought, but used as burp rags. They don't, however, sell the plastic pants for the babies anymore; the only size I see now are for toddlers, for potty training. Therefore, with Kathryn, and with Jonathan, I wouldn't have known about CDing unless someone aproached me, suggested it, and showed me my options. And let me tell you, you would be amazed at the options there are available today. They have come a long way from the flat and prefolds and plastic pants of our mothers and grandmothers. They have so many different diapers out there, and there are several websites out there dedicated simply for the terminology used in the CDing world. I could bore you with the details, but I suppose I wont, unless you ask nicely ;). Basically, there are tons of companies out there making the diapers, which all have different options as to convenience, fabric choice, etc. And, on top of these companies, the cloth diapering world is apparently the newest WAHM/SAHM (work/stay at home mom) craze. Therefore, there are TONS of "homemade" companies making these and selling these, as well.

So, anyway, I'm stressing out because of all these different options. Obviously, I want to be prepared for the baby when it comes. But I don't know what to get, what to use, what to do. What works for one, or so many, so well, may not work for others as well. Some people SWEAR by a certain method, while others complete trash it. Therefore, it is considered a "trial and error process". It is suggested to buy several different brands/styles, try them all out, and then decide which way is better for you before you make your big investment. The problem is, it is, to me, quite a chunk of change to just buy a "sampler". So, therein lies my dilema.

Anyway, that's my current "obsession", in case anyone was wondering what was going on in the world of Amanda ;)

yes, I have a baby name picked out. Yes, I will tell you, if you ask nicely ;)

I FINALLY know what it is!!

Its a girl!! here are some sono pics.

So, I went to the doctor on Friday. I brought Kathryn with me; this was the visit she was going to listen to the heartbeat, and guess what she thought it was. I'm still torn as to what I think; I don't want to get my hopes up one way or the other; I kinda want a little girl, but I wouldn't be disappointed to have a boy. My sister just had a girl, so I can get my girl fix in ;). Anyway, before I went in, I was looking at my tracker; it says that I am 18 weeks (as of Thursday), so I was confused as to why my "19 week sonogram" was scheduled for another 3 weeks away. I had planned on asking them about that when I went into the office; the nurse caught it first, though, and changed it, so I go in on Tuesday for the sonogram!! Only 2 more days and I'll know what this little bit is!!

Anyway, back at the office, with the doctor; first of all, she couldn't get a read on the heartbeat, cause the baby wouldn't be still long enough; it kept moving. She finally got the monitor to read a heartbeat; 150. She said she wouldn't guess, lol. She says "140s, its a boy, 160s, its a girl; 150s, I don't guess". So, I don't have a clue yet, but I will know in TWO DAYS!!!

So, I finally did my yoga workout today.I don't know if its because I didn't have to work today, or because Jon wasn't home (he's working late), but I managed to squeeze it in. How. Very. Disappointing.

Ok, yes, I understand. I'm pregnant. I have to be careful. I will soon be overwhelmed with gravity, and actually not have full function or control of my body. Not to mention, somewhere during these 9 months, my body turns to fragile china, and I have to be oh so very careful with the way I carry, position and move my body from pose to pose. Also, I've probably never exercised a day in my life, so I need very detailed and explicit instructions for about 30 seconds before each pose is performed, oh so achingly slowly. Not to mention, we don't want to push ourselves too far during pregnancy, because pregnancy is a static time for our bodies, and we don't want to make any advancing movements.

What a crock of shit.

Ok, I get it. I probably got a bad DVD, right? I just need to keep on looking try again, etc etc. The thing is, I was very careful about the one I picked out; it had the best reviews, a lot of women raved about it, said they had done yoga before and this really gave them a workout, blah blah blah blah blah.

I've done yoga before. Its been about 6 months, but I've done yoga before. Therefore, I felt that this DVD was going to be the best one for me to get, since I can't really consider myself at an intermediate level, right? Guess not.

So, I'm not bragging or anything, but I'm really flexible. Like, really flexible. Like, right now, having not done anything in quite a while, I'm more flexible than some of the women doing yoga who have done it for a while. Which, actually, is a bad thing, in this case. It means that I have to really keep up with my stretching and flexibility, because if I don't, it causes all kinds of problems with pains in my hips and back. Another problem with this is, even though I'm technically a beginner at most of this yoga stuff, I am doing intermediate/advanced poses, simply because that is how flexible I am, and I have to do it that far/deep to get any sort of stretch.

There was another DVD that I was eyeballing, but I shied away from it; the reviews were from, for lack of a better term, hardcore yogis. I'm talking, women who TEACH yoga, talking about this is an awesome DVD, it really gave them a stretch, blah blah. Well, apparently, I'm going to have to go hardcore yoga, because Yoga Momma didn't cut it.

I hate clothes shopping. Well, for me, specifically. I could 'browse' and help someone else all day. But for me, its a different story. I can never find *EXACTLY* what I'm looking for; apparently, I just made it up. I guess I need to find a seamstress (or learn myself) and have all my clothes made for me.

Apparently, I am the tallest woman EVER to be pregnant. Ever. First of all, when I buy pants, regardless of if I'm pregnant or not, I'm either buying men's, so I can get the 34" inseam, or I am buying the "tall" size at the New York store. So, now that I'm pregnant, and getting bigger, and outgrowing all of my clothes, I obviously cannot wear them anymore. So, I'm looking for new clothes. I have one pair of jeans, my "fat" jeans, that I am still able to wear, if I pull the waistband below my belly paunch. But, they have giant holes in the inner thighs, so they aren't necessarily appropriate for public wear.

So, my sister just had her baby, and she tried to give me her maternity clothes. First of all, let me just start by saying, my sister is about a foot shorter than me, ok? But, when it comes to SIZE, we are about the same. She has all the same SIZE pants from the maternity store that I would buy. And the pants are capris on me.

So, I go and look it up online; the longest inseam I can find is 31.5 inches. Well, if I was really short, I could get the special short pants with a 29 inch inseam. WTF?? Like I said, I'm the tallest woman EVER to be pregnant. Oh, and on a budget, musn't forget that I absolutely refuse to pay $100 for a pair of pants that will last me 6 months, and I will NEVER wear again.

So, here are my options, apparently, since I can't buy "maternity" pants. 1) buy more 'fat' jeans (men's jeans with a higher number in the waist, like a 36, and still have the inseam appropriate for me), 2) wear sweats/yoga pants for the rest of my pregnancy. So tempting, I just can't decide.

UGGGH!!

Baby Blues

Ha ha. Not really. I do love that comic strip, though.

Seriously, this has been the easiest pregnancy I've ever had, and I can't even begin to explain the difference. People keep asking me what I think I'm having; you know, mother's instinct and all that. Well, considering I've already had a girl and a boy, and basing this pregnancy on those, I believe I'm having an alien. Or something to that effect. LOL. Pregnancy with Jonathan was hard; pregnancy with Kathryn was harder. Yeah, I'm tired a lot, and I have my days where I just don't feel like doing anything; but I didn't have any of the morning sickness. Yeah, I was nauseated, but I never once threw up; which, considering I LOST weight with my other 2, is a freaking miracle. I actually feel like doing stuff, too. Not much, but a little bit. I'm still working, which is more than I can say for the other 2. I'm actually going to start back up with my yoga this week; I have a yoga dvd and a pilates dvd that were geared especially for pregnant women.

As far as cravings go, so far its been very similar to Kathryn, in that I crave lots of fruit. For the most part, food doesn't appeal to me. I do believe this child wants me to be a vegetarian. What the hell do you eat, as a vegetarian, besides salad and fruit? I can feel it move now; its very active.

This pregnancy is going by so SLOW!! I wanted to know what it was the minute I found out I was pregnant. I feel like I can't do ANYTHING to prepare for this until I KNOW what it is!! And I'm not making guesses, so don't ask. I will not allow myself to hope, wish, or think it is one, just to be disappointed. That's ridiculous; you should not be disappointed.

I have a doc's appointment scheduled for next Friday, just a checkup, and she will listen to the heartbeat and guess what she thinks it is. I'm taking Kathryn with me; she's probably more excited about this baby than I am. All she wants to do is hold my sister's baby all the time; which, BTW, is the tiniest thing on the face of the planet you are allowed to go home from the hospital with. What cracks me up the most are the big, tough, strong men scared to hold the baby!! HA HA

So, Sept 11 is my sonogram to find out what I'm having. Of course, I will post updates then ;)

My new Neice

Here she is, in all her 6-lb, 8-oz, 18-in glory; Natalie Joan.







And of course, that's my girl Kathryn holding her. I don't know who was more anxious for that baby; me or her ;)

Finished the blanket

I finished the blanket for Sara's baby; I finished it a while ago, I just forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it to her. Here it is...



Here is my newest project (Well, I have several ongoing currently, but) I plan to have this one finished before baby Natalie makes it home from the hospital so she can wear them home...



BABY CROCS!! How cute are these? I can't wait; they should whip up super fast. As soon as I know what I'm having, you KNOW I'm making like 10 pair ;)