13

Welp, we're now 13 weeks into our journey with Baby Us! Our little bit is the size of a lime (about 3 inches) now. We had a busy week this week signing our contract with our doula and meeting our new OB and midwife, whom we absolutely love :) Friday we had just a quick appointment where we were able to hear the heartbeat again, but not able to view the baby this week. Normally we wouldn't have appointments so close together, but since we switched doctors we had a meet and greet appointment with them. I have a short video here where you can hear the heartbeat. It's not as excting as seeing our precious soul, but a wonderful reassurance that he or she is still partying it up in there :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5bkkkX3BB0&feature=youtube_gdata_player


I don't have a pic of my belly, as I didn't gain any weight this week; my belly didn't really change enough to constitute another pic of it. Anyway, my handsome photographer is in the Grand Canyon with his brother :)

The highlight of this week was just getting our ducks in a row for our support team. Our new OB is a HUGE supporter of natural birth, and our doula is just a blessing with all the support she's already provided through education. I've been scared that I'm not tough enough to climb this mountain, so to speak, but with these amazing women and my greatest supporter ever, my husband, behind me I just feel overwhelmed with encouragement and love that I can do this the way that God created me to.

The tough spot this week has been emotions. I feel like a nutcase on a rollercoaster, for real!! So far I haven't had the easiest pregnancy, although it could certainly be worse! I do thank God for the troubles that I've had, knowing that they are really blessings. However, sometimes I feel guilty when women talk about how awesome pregnancy is and I want to punch them in the throat ;)

I've had awesome help from friends and family this week. Hubz, as always, has been so tremendously amazing! He found our doula and new OB, made all the appointments, and has done all the work of scheduling, listing and asking questions, and praying for us to find the right "team". My friends Michi and Caroline helped me work on the (overwhelming!!) registry. And my future sis-in-law sent me some great info on baby dental care! I feel exceptionally blessed to have such amazing, supportive people in my life!

Baby us!!!

I guess if you're reading this you probably already know that we are going to have a mini-us or baby-us at the end of Sept.!!

I wanted to start using my blog as a place for updates so I'm not bombarding people on facebook with info, and so I don't leave anyone that wants to know about us out of the loop.

So here goes!



This is the latest pic of baby us :) It was taken last Thursday (March 8). It was so cool because little bit just starting dancing and kicking its little feet while we were watching!! It was amazing!! The doc said everything looks PERFECT with me and the baby! That was a HUGE load off! He actually said that I was made to have this baby. I thought that was pretty funny, since I feel the same way :) And ironically, that's what the doctor told my mom when she was pregnant with me!!

Today I'm am 12 weeks preggo. So the baby is the size of a peach!! Isn't that a peach? (hehe). This week my biggest challenge has been weight. I'm very thankful that I'm no longer sick all day everyday or sleeping my life away, but I am having a big issue with my belly. I never thought I'd be that way. I mean, I think pregnant women look adorable!! But so far I've gained 4 lbs. (This is a feat that previously took me about 10 years to do). All four of those pounds are in my belly, I swear, It's SO big! I knew it was coming, but I guess I didn't expect it so soon! Starting this week I'm supposed to gain a pound a week! EEk!



In other news, we met with a prospective doula this week and have an appointment with our new hippie-and-more-natural-birth-friendly OB and midwife next week :)

...Oh, and here are some tidbits to answer some of the most common questions we've been getting:
1. No, we don't plan to find out what we're having. We'd like to be surprised :)
2. The only names we are sure of are the boy's first name, after his daddy :), and if it's a girl, the middle name will be Marie, after both our grandmothers.
3. We have started registering, but since I'm a researching eco-nut it's taking me a while to research each product so if you want to check it out it's at myregistry.com. And we're hoping for most things to be used (bought off ebay or whatever) or organic to allow our baby to have the smallest eco-footprint possible.
4. And we did get our extension to stay in California until December so we won't be moving and having a baby in the same week (yaay!)

If you have any more questions, please feel free to email me. I feel like it's pretty hard to keep people in the loop when you live on the other side of the country :/

Last Minute Tax Deductions!!

…or an even better title would be “Your last chances to save the world in 2011” ☺

This week I began printing out all the receipts from charities we’ve given to this year and ya know, it really starts to add up! All those donations can also equal a lot of deductions, and tax time is just around the corner! Here are some really great charities you may not have heard of that you can give to online. I found them on the Daily Grommet website. As with any online giving site, they will email you a receipt, which you can save to hand over to your accountant for some deductions, and more importantly, to make a difference!!

Containers to clinics: I recently heard of this project that repurposes large shipping containers into small clinics for those in areas without medical services!! Watch the video and then try to tell me you don’t want to give to this!! It will definitely pull at your heart-strings (and hopefully your purse strings ☺)
http://bcove.me/wszryt5d

Wine into water: This guy, Doc Hendley, just heard about how unclean “water kills more children than HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Every 15 seconds a child dies because of unclean drinking water.” And he decided to do something about it. Talk about inspiration!! I love it!!! Check him out, and check out this awesome cause! !http://bcove.me/jo6lsgbl


Need an added bonus? How about airline miles?! When you give to these organizations through the American Airlines shopping portal you are rewarded with points for each dollar you donate!

Use this site: http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/earnMiles/beyondTravel/charities/main.jsp to get miles for donating to:
• The National Foundation for Cancer Research,
• Susan G. Komen for the cure to breast cancer
• USO
• Unicef

If you don’t care at all about a tax deduction, but want to help others, please check out http://www.kiva.org/ This site allows you to give a small ($25) loan to someone around the world just trying to make it. The loan gets repaid to you over time and you can then cash out or donate your $25 to someone else in need!

40 days and 40 Ways ...(to help) #40..finally

PRAYER.

There is no other single greater way to help someone than prayer. We can help, but God works miracles. I know. It is an absolute miracle that I:.....

have eternal life
am alive today
had the opportunity to go to college
am a teacher
have an amazing group of friends
am married to, no contest, the greatest man on Earth...and that he chose me
have the most loyal and supportive baby sister in the world


and there is so, so very much more, but I wanted to point out these things specifically because they are the things that I prayed fervently for in my life. And that after I realized what I had in these gifts, I have thanked God for them profusely. These are opportunities that so many people don't get in this lifetime. A second chance at life, a relationship with our Savior, a beautiful marriage and life-long friendships, a profession that I love. These are gifts that I have prayed and wept and begged and prayed and wept for. And they are gifts that I received. Simply because I love an awesome God and He says that what we ask for we receive and what we seek we will find. I did. And He hath provided.

For when you follow Him, He will give you the desires of your heart~ Psalm 37:4.

So pray without ceasing. For change in yourself, and change in the world.

40 days and 40 Ways ...(to help) #39 Boycott

I'm freaking out right now. No kidding. Okay, so I know I've already posted about how important it is to choose wisely where you shop and what you buy. My handy-dandy book that tells of socially responsible stores/products helps with that. But today was an epic FAIL.

Tomorrow we leave for our trip to Europe. As we're packing John realizes he only has like one pair of shorts and it's gonna be like 87 degrees in Italy. So we head out to pick up another pair. First, we go to REI, as they sell Patagonia, the MOST responsible clothing company on the planet. But I say (yes, me) that we should just grab something cheap at Old Navy. Despite my eco-ness, I still LOVE cheap clothes, and the Gap was listed as like a "B" in the socially responsible book. Not too bad. Apparently, Old Navy does NOT fall in the same category.

After we successfully find some reasonably cheap shorts, we head to the checkout. We're just casually making conversation with the check-out girl and she asks if we want our hanger. We say, "no" and ask her what they do with the hangers if people don't want them. I'm assuming she'll say they reuse them or send them back to the company to be reused. NOPE. They THROW THEM AWAY!!! Not recycle, not donate to goodwill or something, or logically, reuse them. They trash them. Can you IMAGINE?!?!!?! I bet they go through 300 hangers a day! I can't even fathom what Christmas or big sales are like!!

Needless to say, we returned the shorts and went next door to Kohl's, where they reuse their hangers, and told the girl (nicely, I really was super nice- it's not her fault) that we would no longer be shopping at Old Navy because of their throw-away policy with the hangers. She kinda smirked and didn't seem to care at all, so I'm probably going to have to email Old Navy so that they will know that they are losing customers due to their laziness and unethical practices. sigh. And they make such cute stuff.

Anyway, there's my story. And I had to share it because if we all just keep supporting companies that do that crap then we'll never make a difference. And that's what we're here for, the reason we are put on this planet, to make a difference!

40 Days and 40 Ways ...(to help) #38 TerraCycle

http://terracycle.net/ is a company that turns your trash (like CapriSun pouches and Snickers bar wrappers) into cool, reusable stuff like backpacks, toys, office supplies, etc. And the proceeds go to the non-profit organization that you choose! You can just set up a collection box around your office or school for people to dump their dead bic pens or crayola markers in. Once it's full, ship them to TerraCycle to be made into cool stuff and your school (or chosen non-profit) racks up!

I LOVE LOVE LOOOOOOOOOVE this idea! I want to do it so badly at my preschool, but we aren't a non-profit. Please let me know if you start a brigade and I'll send you stuff I collect for your non-profit, for sure!!!

40 days and 40 Ways ...(to help) #37 WWII vets

This organization is working to get all WWII vets to see their memorial before they die. They send veterans, free of charge to D.C. to see what has been established in their honor. My great-uncle Wilburn K. Ross won the Congressional Medal of Honor in WWII. He is, by God's grace, still living and able to visit this memorial. I wonder how many people can say the same of the veteran in their life.

http://media.causes.com/1060527?p_id=175378540

Check out the video, spread the word.