Grilled PB&J?!

While I was perusing the bump, I came across a post that had something to do with "foods you can't get enough of".  I figured since I didn't have any cravings, I'd read what every one else was craving and see if anything sparked and interest. :)  Yep, still not craving anything.  BUT, someone did share the idea of a grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I thought it was worth checking out.  I love grilled cheese.  I usually have to be in the mood for a pb&j and the mood doesn't strike me often.  However, I thought grilling it would add an element of fun and make it yummy.  So... I tried it!

First, you just make your sandwich as usual.  I had actually made my the day before to take in my lunch.  I didn't eat it though.  I wouldn't recommend this.  Not that it was bad, but I don't think coming out of the fridge into the frying pan was a great idea.

Anyway, then you butter the bread like you normally would for a grilled cheese and grill it!

It is slightly messier, so be prepared with napkins.

I'm not going to say this sandwich changed my life or anything, but it was pretty tasty.  

Next time I want to change these things:

• Not use cold bread
• Use better bread (not the super healthy stuff!)
• Use different jelly (Michael and I have different opinions on this)
• Cook slower at a lower temperature
• Use more butter!  Because why not?! :)

I think a toasted peanut butter and honey sandwich would be pretty amazing too!

15 weeks

I apologize for the headless picture.  It was either that, or no bump picture.  (Michael was not thrilled!)  We ended up having a very lazy day yesterday and I did not take a shower.  While I tell everyone else "all pictures are blog worthy", the same is not true for me! :)  I was not going to put up a messy haired, no make up, full face of zits picture.  I'm sure you all understand! :)

How Far Along: 15 weeks

Size of baby: Baby is the size of a naval orange

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +6 total.  I gained back the 2 1/2 pounds I had lost last week.  I'm OK with that.  To me (in the privacy of my own bathroom!), I think my stomach has changed drastically within a week.  I'm thinking by the next week or two I will have "popped" and everyone else will see it as a bump and not fat! :)

 

Maternity Clothes: regular shirts and sweat pants, maternity pants

Gender: I am still thinking it's a boy. 

Movement: None yet

Sleep: It was not good this week.  It's been pretty good up to this point.  I don't know what happened.  I would wake up multiple times a night (and not just to pee)... be exhausted, but not be able to fall asleep... wake up at 3:30 in the morning and not be able to go back to sleep.  Ugh!  I got a few good nights sleeps in this weekend.  I hope it continues.

What I miss: Having more choices of clothing to wear

Cravings: Honestly, I'm a little upset that I have yet to have a craving.  I feel a little jipped.  I mean, that's all you hear about pregnancy.  Don't get me wrong, I am very happy that I have skipped out on some of the normal pregnancy symptoms--morning sickness, being an emotional wreck, acid reflux, etc.  But I wouldn't mind one normal symptom.  I think cravings sounds like a good one.  No.  I have absolutely NOTHING!

Food aversions: Nothing really 

Symptoms: acne, weird dreams, boobs growing!, always blowing my nose and usually it's bloody (is that TMI?)-  I am so thankful I read about that ahead of time.  It would have freaked me out a little.  I think I've had one bloody nose my whole life.  The books say bloody noses can be common.  I haven't had a full on bloody nose, but you get the picture.  Apparently it's because all of your membranes are changing and your nose is a membrane.  I talked with a few moms and they had no clue what I was talking about.  Of course I'd get the weirdo symptom!

Surprises: I am surprised I don't miss coffee.  Before I got pregnant, I anticipated having major caffeine withdrawals.  (Yes, I know caffeine is allowed.)  Before I saw my Dr. for the first time, I skipped caffeine all together just to be safe.  I honestly didn't miss coffee or soda.  I think I had like two decaf coffees in that time.  After seeing my Dr. I think I got two regular coffees (by regular, I mean my drink from Starbucks... not straight up coffee!)  I ended up dumping half of each one down the drain.  It just didn't taste good to me.  Or I'd get full fast.  Since then, I haven't had one and I don't even want one.  I use to drink at least one a week.

Best Moment This Week: Walking around Babies R Us with Michael.  We just sort of looked at what they had, talked about a few items, and picked up a few things out of the clearance bins.  We haven't done too many baby related things yet, so it was fun!

Fun purchases: A king sized bed!!  It's not necessarily baby related, but it sure is nice.  My very generous mother-in-law gave us money to get one.  We wanted one for a few reasons, a) MORE ROOM, b) more comfort and c) now we have a bed for people to sleep in when they come and visit.  (And we are expecting many visitors because of the baby!)

Milestones:  ??? making it another week?

Books, Books, We've Got Books!

Honestly, I love books.  I love getting information on things I that interest me.  But this baby book thing is getting a little out of control!  I have baby books coming out the wazoo!

The day I found out I was pregnant I went out and purchased two books.

We read our "new week" information every Sunday.  Since this is our first, it's nice to see what is happening to the baby and what could possibly be happening to my body.

I also thought this was a good buy.  Michael is all about researching things on Consumer Reports!

There is a lot I know about babies and kids.  I became an aunt at 10.  I taught two year old children's church every Sunday for 6 years.  I babysat.  I have a degree in elementary education.  Plus, being a nanny, I have learned even more.  But there are some things I don't know.  This book gave information and made me think about some things I hadn't thought about before.  Some things were obvious and some I already knew, but I'm glad I got it.

Then, my dear cousin Sonja loaned me some books.  She loaned me some that were already on my list of "to read books", so I am grateful.

She loaned me:

I've only read a few chapters, but I already love this concept.

I had intentions of buying this book and giving it to Michael as a gift to tell him we were pregnant.  Yeah, I couldn't wait so that didn't happen.  Instead we shall borrow it from John (Sonja's husband).  Michael has already read the first trimester part.  (He's pretty stinking excited about this whole baby thing if you didn't already know!!)

Ok, so she actually gave me the Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Twins, but it's basically the same idea.  I have yet to check it out, but will!

I also checked out some books from the library

As a first time mom, I loved this book!  It was small, easy to read, and packed with good information.  I even told Michael I might want to buy it.  I should have been taking notes!!

Oh yes I did.  She is a little crass sometimes, but I figured she'd tell it how she is.  Man, it sounds like she had it rough!  Michael and I actually listened to this on CD while driving to Indiana.  He kept saying, "That's not normal right?  I mean, she had it worse than normal woman right?"  I'm not so sure, but according to my experience so far--Yes!  Oh, and she gained 60 pounds!!  It was slightly informative though.

I also listened to this on CD

I'm not sure that was the best idea.  I was like 9 weeks along and it scared the crap out of me.  There were so many things I "should be doing" and eating and supplements I should be taking and on and on.  It sort of made me feel like a failure already!  I got over it though. :)  I did gain some new and helpful information, which is always good.

We had some money to spend on Amazon, so we also ordered this

It had overwhelmingly good reviews on amazon and some people on thebump.com recommended it as well.  It appears to be a sort of goofy guide, but it actually is very informative.  I think Michael has liked what he has read so far.  He's also learned a few things.  I even read a few chapters and thought it would be a good help for Michael.

On top of all of those--my boss gave me 5 huge books.  Some are for after the baby is born though.  (Like The Expectant Father: The Toddler Years, and What to Expect The First Year).  One of the books is all about attachment parenting, which I don't think I'm too keen on.  We'll see about the other two.  Two of them are like 700 pages long, so I'm doubting it! :)  Either way, I am thankful she thought of me.

That's 14 baby books!!  I'm hoping between this wide variety of books and the knowledge I already have that I'll be set.  Do you have any other recommendations that I've missed?

Thinking Ahead--Monthly Pics

Ok, so I'm sure you've seen the one month pictures moms take.  It's very popular.  I've seen it done in many ways.  Some of the ways are: hand writing a sign and putting it next to or in front of the baby, taking pictures in the same spot and/or next to the same stuffed animal to see growth, (birthday looking) hats with a number on it, blocks in front of the baby with "one month" or "two month" spelled out, and the ever popular onesie stickers.

I've been thinking I want to do something different.  I always want to do something different.  It's why I didn't do bubbles at my wedding... or anything else that was "normal".  I hate jumping on the trend bandwagon.  Sometimes, if I genuinely like something that's a trend, I may go along with it.  I'm just not one of those people that does things because "everybody is doing it".  I don't really care what everyone else is doing.

All that to say...I can't think of anything new or creative.  I could probably come up with something, but I also don't want to be "different" just for the sake of being "different" and losing it's cuteness.  Any one have any cute ideas?

Well, I saw yet another blogger posting about the onesie stickers from etsy.com, so I went on a checked them out.  Most of what I had seen used were pretty basic.  Like these:

(All pictures from this etsy seller)

To me, it was kind of boring.  I guess that's why I wasn't ready to jump on the sticker bandwagon.  However, after looking at just a few of the pictures, I'm pretty sure I'm sold.  

How cute are these!?!?!?!

or these?

LOVE!

Are you noticing a theme? :)

How about these?

Come on! A-dor-a-ble!

There are about 20 more that I like too!  What do you think?  Stickers?  Which ones?  I figure I better plan ahead.  I know I won't be thinking about it from the time the baby comes home until it's time for the first picture.  Of course, I'll have to wait to order until we find out if it's a boy or a girl.  All creative thoughts welcome!  I'm thinking maybe the onesie stickers next to a stuffed animal.  That way the number is captured on picture and the growth is documented by the baby vs. size of stuffed animal.

Baby Stuff!!

Thoughts of baby blogging were on my mind even before I became pregnant.  Would I put baby stuff on this blog?  Or start a new blog that was just about baby, baby stuff, family stuff, etc?  Would people get sick of hearing about baby stuff on here when it's been something totally different since it's origin?  Well, I had pretty much decided I was only going to have one blog.  Now, I'm convinced of it!  First, two blogs would be way too much work (sometimes one blog is way too much work!).  Second, there wouldn't be much for me to blog about on this blog.  I haven't been crafting or cooking fun recipes or doing art projects with Little Man.  Mainly because I'm tired and uninspired.  Also, because I lack space and creativity to do such things right now.  I'm hoping they will come back!  They might get thrown in here every now and then.  We'll see.  While I don't want to be "that mom" that can only talk about their kid (or future kid), that's about all I have going on right now.  The baby has sucked all creative juices right out of me.  So if this kind of thing will bore you... kindly check out for a year. :)

Today I'm going to share with you some super fun baby items that we have already received.  We have hardly bought anything baby related yet.  Mostly because I'm not really interested until I know what I'm having.  The gender neutral stuff out there doesn't excite me.  I have bought exactly 4 things for the baby.

1) The first day I found out I was pregnant, I went out searching for a cute outfit to commemorate the occasion.  There was nothing!  So I went for a stuffed animal.

2) An OSU outfit/pajama.  I saw it at Target, it was a good price, and I figured I'd pick it up.  It's actually 18 months.  The smallest they had was 12 months, but it will be the middle of the summer when our baby is 12 months, so the long sleeve thing wasn't going to work.

3 + 4) Two Christmas bibs that were on clearance.

We decided to combine our Christmas and birthday gifts together this year to get bigger ticket baby items.  There was really nothing we needed individually, and most of these items are too expensive to be purchased by the average baby shower attendee.  Thanks to my amazingly generous mother-in-law (and grandma-in-law) we already have these...

Little Hoot Pack and Play

Little Hoot Travel System Stroller

Little Hoot High Chair

I don't care if it's a boy or a girl, I LOVE these owls!!!!
(Sorry, I tried to get the picture of the pattern on here, but it wouldn't work. You can check out the Little Hoot collection at Target.com if you want to see it closer.)

This breast pump

This baby monitor (which we are SO excited about!)

(Little Man is about to turn 5 and we still use his video monitor during nap time.  It is so nice, because he has always napped upstairs with me downstairs.  I can tell when he falls asleep, if he's messing around in bed, or if he gets out of bed.  I realize some people don't think a video monitor is necessary.  That's fine.  But with using one for the last two and a half years and loving it, I knew it was for us!)

Lastly, this baby food maker

Yes, I plan on making my own baby food.  I have researched and talked to both moms who do make their own and moms who buy.  It's a personal preference, but I think I'd like to make it.  One reason is, then I know what's going in to it.  Two, I've heard that besides the cost of the maker (which was a gift), it's cheaper to make your own.  Lastly, I just think it sounds fun!  I realize I am making more work for myself, but I think I'm up for the challenge.  We'll see how it goes when the time comes! :)

Ramblings

It appears Natalie, Eden and Olivia were the favorites.  I would say those are actually our top three... and really, at this point, probably the only ones really in the running.  You guys didn't help at all! :P  Here's how it breaks down:

• Eden--I really like it.  It is growing on Michael.
• Natalie--We both like it, but are not ready to commit
• Olivia--This is probably Michael's favorite.  The only thing I don't like is how popular it is.  It's been in the top 10 for the last few years.  Although, so has our boys name, so I guess I broke my own rule anyway.

We'll probably wait until we find out what it is.  If we find out we are having a girl, then we'll probably get more serious about it.  Thanks for your input!

On another note, I know you all are anxious to see pictures of our new apartment.  I promise they are coming.  We are still in the process of getting things in order.  Everything is unpacked, but nothing is on the walls.  We just took storage items over to K and G's house yesterday.  That helped things out a little.  We have a few more items that need to find a home, and then pictures that need to go on walls.  (Although, I'm not going to put nearly as much on as I would if it was my house.  I don't want to deal with nail holes when moving out.)

Little Man started preschool this week and it is going great!  I was really concerned that he was going to cry or cling to me at drop off.  Nope.  He's loving it.  I guess he grew out of that stage, and wasn't even phased by it being a new school where he didn't know anyone.  It's actually in the gated community he lives in (although there is a street entrance for non residents).  I love that.  It literally takes two minutes to get to him to and from school.  He goes 8:45 to 11:45, so I get a nice break every morning.  Although every morning so far has been busy with errands.  I'm looking forward to the day I drop him off and actually have 3 hours to do nothing--or whatever I want.

We signed up for car and renters insurance.  We were pleased to find that it was cheaper here than Ohio, and we are getting WAY better coverage.  Score!

Girl Names

Like I said, we have had a boy name picked out for about two years now.  A girl name, on the other hand, is proving to be a little more challenging. (When we chose the boy name, we chose Natalie for a girls name, but now we are reviewing our choice.)  We are having a hard time agreeing.  Michael "likes" some of my name choices, but he's not "in love" with them.

We have pretty much decided that Grace will be the middle name.  I have loved Grace for years--looong before it became the "go to" middle name.  (I hate that it's the new Ann or Marie).  I had a little girl named Grace in my class about 6 years ago.  I remember standing at my desk one day and thinking "  I really like that.  Maybe I'll name my daughter Grace."   We have talked about Grace as a first name, but it's a little too "sss" sounding with Sellers.  Plus, it's incredibly hard to come up with a middle name for Grace.

Some names that I love but Michael vetoed are:  Harper, Hadley--I think there were more, but now I can't remember (pregnancy brain?)!

Some names I liked that Michael vetoed are: Jillian (says it's like Jillian Michaels), Lillian (too old sounding), Abrianna, McKenna

Some names Michael suggested (not sure he loved them) that I (immediately) vetoed are: Chloe, Paige, Monica

Here is where you come in........

You get to VOTE!

(You are welcome to vote on vetoed names if you'd like.  The name with the most votes may not end up being the name we name our child.  This is just for fun.)

Eden Grace Sellers

Natalie Grace Sellers

Olivia Grace Sellers

Paisley Grace Sellers

Lorelei Grace Sellers

Grace ??? Sellers  

Please leave your choice in the comment section.  Or, if you feel like you have an amazing name to add to the list... then feel free.  If you like more than one, by all means vote for all you like.  If you have only mean things to say about our choices then please just move on to another blog you follow and keep your comments to yourself! :)

These names have come from searching the internet.  I have yet to look through an actual baby name book.  If we find out we are having a girl, then I may do just that.