Miss Me Much?

Hello again!

Long time, no... see?

Anyways, yeah, I've been AWOL on the blog here for the past month or so... been a tad bit busy in RL, taking care of the little guy, plus one of our leads at work had a fulltime job offer literally fall into her lap and being the most experienced regular associate at work, my boss talked me into taking on the position temporarily through the holidays so she has adequate time to find someone for the position and get them trained when it's not quite so crazy. Can't say it's been too bad... having been there officially 2 years now (as of this week!) and management treating me as one of their own for quite some time now (and the fact they love how they never need to micro-manage me), it's been a pretty smooth transition. I closed with the other lead tonight and she told me our store manager was telling her how I'm doing just fine when it comes to closing. Opening is okay aside from certain parts of the paperwork (the parts that require annoying math) that I tend to have a little trouble with, but apparently everyone does at first. My next shift is my first time closing without another member of management working with me. If I wanted the position permenantly, it'd be mine, but honestly... I don't. The main reason I accepted it was because I know I'm the only qualified and most experienced person on our staff that could step up and do it, not to mention last year during the holidays my boss had me working 5 days and 30 hours a week, and I knew odds are it was going to happen once again so I figured I might as well get paid a little more for it this time around. I'd much rather work 3 days a week though and be home with Little Man the rest of the time. Especially since hubby works 2 jobs. I really don't want my child to grow up feeling like he was raised and disciplined by his grandparents because mommy and daddy were always working.

I'm getting a few posts lined up to get ya all caught up and things I wanted to "document" here on the blog, such as Halloween and the recent election among other things.

Some quick blurbs though...

My sister is now 5 months pregnant and just found out this week that they're having a little girl! I so knew it too, simply because I was hoping for a girl and got a boy and they were hoping for a boy and so of course they'd have a girl, lol...

One of our good friends from long, long ago (she was a bridesmaid in our wedding) just announced this week that her and her husband are expecting in May! So excited for them!

I'm hooked on Gossip Girl. I blame Tara (Fabulous But Evil) and the rest of you on Twitter. And of course now that I'm caught up via Netflix, it's in its final season. Cuz that always happens to me - I get hooked on a show and by the time I'm all caught up it's almost over for good. Booo... but I am soooo for Chuck and Blair and their relationship drama. It's soooo bad, but soooo good! And hubby's gotten into it with me too, as he kept coming home at 4am while I was in the middle or just starting an episode and we'd watch a few. He likes Chuck and Blair drama =) Like I told Tara, Chuck and Blair better end up together for good and there better be a Chuck and Blair wedding this season or I'm going to be sooooo upset! Those two are sooo right for each other! Yes, I'm gushing over a fictional TV character. But when it comes to Chuck and Blair, how can you not??? I'm so over Dan though... I liked him and Serena during the 1st season but after that... Dan got kinda annoying. Nate and Serena need to end up together and Dan can just be alone. I also would like to smack Lily upside the head for Rufus... wtf?! Rufus is such a good man... I really would LOVE to see a "When Rufus Met Lily" flashback episode done a la the Valley Girls episode - that'd be AWESOME!

Have any of you noticed an increase in spam comments lately? As you know, I haven't posted in like a month but I get almost daily spam comments on completely random old posts... You all complain about capcha's on blogs (which I hate too, especially now that they include numbers!) so I took em off and yeah... spam comments on a near daily basis!

Stay tuned for more!

Lucky Boy Lost- RIP Joe

At work last week, checking Facebook on my break while waiting for my dinner to microwave, I came across some sad news on my newsfeed - Joe Sell, guitarist for Lucky Boys Confusion, had passed away.

I don't know about your college town, but when I was in college, Lucky Boys were HUGE on the college circuit. All the schools within x-radius of Chicago knew who they were all. Like other college-town bands such as Mike and Joe and Evenflow, Lucky Boys Confusion made the rounds several times a year in DeKalb - I went to several of their super high energy shows (seriously, things got crazy!). They were also pretty big in Chicago too, having played regularly at the Metro for years. 2003 was when they got really big as they released a major-label record titled "Commitment" - you've probably heard their song "Hey Driver" in various movies and commercials. I also recall hearing it played during televised NFL football games in the background. "Killians (Do You Miss Me?)," "I'm Gonna Steal Your Girlfriend," and "Fred Astaire" were other popular songs from their indy debut.

Apparently Joe found dead in Chicago last Tuesday, and so far the cause is not 100% known. They said he had been battling pancreas problems in recent months, having been previously hospitalized for it and had also suffered drug and alcohol addiction in the past too.  No one knows for sure though what the cause of death was.

I didn't know Joe personally, but I did know a handful of people in college who did - a former roommate's then-boyfriend whom I hung around with for a few years had gone to school for years with some of the guys from Naperville (including Joe) and was part of their original street-team. And my ex... Joe grew up around the block from him and was even my ex's babysitter for a few years when they were younger (Joe was 4-6 years older than us) - I remember him taking me past the house just to prove it, as it was his little "claim to fame" that his former babysitter was part of a semi-famous band.

It's still pretty sad though - he wasn't that much older than most of us. I recall hearing Joe was one of the nicer guys in the band. I also think it was Joe who did an awesomely hilarious cover of "Part of Your World" from Disney's Little Mermaid!

RIP Joe - you'll be missed and remembered!

It's official - I own my car!!

I just checked the status of my recent car payment and it's finally been processed!

You know what that means?

I officially own my car! No more car payments on it! Yay!!!

My 1st ever car was an older one my parents gave me and bought outright when I was in high school (a '95 white Chevy Corsica). I drove that baby for almost 8 years straight.

By the time I graduated college (December 2007) it was starting to have one problem after another and knowing I might be commuting to work for awhile that summer I wanted to get something somewhat newer that got better gas mileage and was commuter friendly so after doing some number crunching that spring (March 2008 to be exact) and realizing that I could afford car payments with my budget, I decided to do some looking.

At the time, hubby had a Chevy Aveo hatchback and while I wasn't crazy about the hatchback, I was used to car - he had taught me how to drive stick on it. I looked at those as well as test drove a Mazda 3 or 6 (I don't remember) - the Mazda was nice and fully loaded, but it wasn't the one I had drove all the way out there to see (as it had been sold a few days prior) and there was no way they could crunch the numbers enough to get it into my allotted budget for car payments. Really wanting to buy a car on my own, I kept looking and came across a listing for a 2004 black Chevy Aveo sedan with manual transmission in the adjoining town to my college town. We went and looked at it, took it for a test drove and the next morning I traded in Cory (my Corsica) and drove Avy off the lot and to work.

The only downfall that the dealer failed to bring to my attention was that for whatever reason, only on the 2004 Aveos, Chevy didn't include air conditioning as a standard feature! This has really sucked in the summer when it's like a million degrees out and I have to pull my hair up, roll ALL the windows down and drive fast enough to circulate the air. That's part of the reason Jay and I hung out at home a lot during the day last summer - I hated driving an infant around like that in the heat anymore than I had to.

I'm excited though as this means that the money we were using on my monthly car payments can now go towards hubby's car payments and we can get his paid off sooner and I can get a newer car with air conditioning and more space (because a commuter car with 1 small child is okay for now, but we are planning on having at least 1 more kid sometime in the future). Truth is, I've already started looking and am interested in the Mazda 6 or a 2010/2011 Chevy Malibu (can ya tell I'm a Chevy gal?) in either black or silver. I want a mid-sized sedan with a little bit of a sporty look to it - I refuse to ever own a mini-van or SUV (no offense to those of you that do own those typical "mom" vehicles, but those just aren't me, I like sporty but practical).

I'm also excited though as this is the 1st car that *I* officially own! I'm looking forward to getting that title in the mail, and then taking it to *finally* get it changed to my married name (I was told by the bank that my loan was originally through that I couldn't do that until after it was paid off and I had it in my hands).

I'm seriously a bit giddy!

"Going to the chapel and we're...

...gonna get maaaaaaaaaarrrrried!"

Sorry for the brief hiatus from both here and on Twitter! Things have been a bit hectic this past week for my family.

Last Wednesday night my little sister got engaged. While it was a bit sooner than we had anticipated (last we all knew he was planning on doing it a week or so before he left for Basic in April, as he's going into the Navy), it wasn't really a shock - he had talked to my parents about it awhile ago and my mom knew he had purchased a ring, etc.

What was surprising is that the wedding was set for March 30th. Of this year!

Yes, 6 weeks.

And no, she's not pregnant (we've been assured that there will be no baby from them within the next 9 months!).

The J-man modeling his suit jacket

The reason being is that he's leaving for Basic on April 10th and I guess his mom was looking on some Navy

friends and family support site she's on (as 2 of her 3 sons are going in April) and learned that he could deployed as soon as 8 hours after graduation and that as far as getting a leave to come back for his wedding ceremony (they were originally planning on having it in November), there's been a lot of Navy brides who got screwed over and lost deposits as their beloved wasn't granted the expected leave or it had been revoked/canceled at the last minute. There was also the issue of them getting married military benefits and housing, as until they were married if she wanted to follow him to whatever base he was stationed everything involving her would be out of pocket until they were married and I guess getting married before he goes off just makes that whole process easier and less of a hassle.

So yeah.

Well... Thursday they went to book a chapel and reception hall... and they couldn't get the 30th.

So instead the wedding was bumped up a week, giving us 5 weeks to plan it!

So needless to say, it's been a bit crazy around here this past week!

They did get more done in 2 days than I know some have done in 2 months! They immediately got the chapel and reception hall book, secured a photographer, a DJ, my cake lady, got their wedding rings, tuxes picked out and bridesmaid dresses ordered, as well as invitations picked out.

This past weekend we got the guest list sorted out and invitations printed and put together. I got started on their programs as I'm designing that and I also planned the bachelorette party as well as secured a venue for her bridal shower that I'm throwing as I'm her Matron of Honor (which I also go into quite a fight with my aunt over, as she didn't even give me a chance to ask her if she wanted to help and when I did talk to her about it I specifically asked her to take charge of the food and instead she starts planning everything else when I asked her to wait... needless to say, I'm now planning the shower on my own as she decided to "bow out"). I also started putting together a "bridesmaid survival" kit with a bunch of random stuff to bring with the day of just in case someone needs or forgot something. I've gotten Jay's attire settled too as he's obviously the ring bearer. Today I mailed out the shower and bachelorette party invites as well.

Oh and our bridesmaid dresses already here (in which I'll be posting a David's Bridal rant in my next post!)

So yeah, as you can imagine - things have been a bit crazy around here!

As I mentioned, on top of Matron of Honor duties, I'm also doing quite a bit of design work for them too, including the programs, invitation inserts, eventually the place cards and they asked me to put together a photo slideshow for them to play at the reception as well.

I'm up for suggestions too as far as Bridal Shower games and favor ideas if you have any!

Fortunately I have 10 days off work as we're closing after Saturday for a nice, snazzy complete store remodel! I have to work Sunday and Monday as we're packing everything up that's out on the floor, then we come back 10 days later to unpack it all! But we get nice, new, shiny fixtures and hardware, new flooring, pre-assembled mannequins (one of the things I'm most excited about as I suck at building them the right heights!). So exciting!

Oh and let's not even talk about Valentine's Day... it was a pretty crappy one for me and yeah... I'd rather pretend the day never happened.

2 Become 1

I did it.

After some thought, I decided to merge my family/mommy/baby blog into this one.

As I'm sure you've noticed, it's gotten harder to keep all that separate when posting here my world pretty much revolves around Jay. So I decided to just merge my 2 blogs together and all posting will be done here from now on (aside from my movie reviews, which I haven't updated in forever, but can and will still be found on Movie Bits). Plus, half the time I was posting the same posts on both blogs.

While not every post will be baby/mommy/family related, I understand if you choose to no longer follow my blog (although I wish you would stick around and still be my friend!!!)

I apologize if your feeds got flooded with a bunch of "new" published posts as I imported and published many posts from my family/baby/mommy blog over to here so I wouldn't lose them completely.

And forgive the construction too - as you noticed (if you're not reading via a reader) I changed the color scheme here back to the original colors and I plan on creating another custom header like I had originally, so I apologize if things look a little plain around here!

Thanks for reading and I hope you stick around!

Huggies Update

Remember how last week I was complaining about the constant leaks we were having with these Huggies Snug & Dry diapers we decided to try out since they were cheaper and there were more in the box?

Well, like I said, I emailed them about it, stating I would like a refund and even offered to send them back as I'd rather not keep using these things.

On Friday I got an email back, apologizing for the issue however they weren't sure why we were having the leaks but said maybe to try the next size up if Jay was near the end of the weight limit on the diapers (which is 15lbs - uh, he's only around 12-13lbs!) or to try a different make of Huggies diapers instead of the Snug and Dry ones. They also said they'd be forwarding my info along and I would be receiving a check for the diapers in the next 4-8 weeks!

Yay! So relieved, but let's see if they actually pull through and deliver!

Also, I still have this box with at least 250 diapers in it that I have no idea what to do with - we already went and bought a box of the Pampers Swaddlers that we know work just fine for us!

Guess Who's Here!

Well, to say the least, last Thursday was quite eventful!

For those that don't follow my baby blog or my Twitter not only did we finally get pre-approved for a home loan, but I was also induced and delivered Baby Jay on Friday morning!

Jaydran Alexander was born at 726am on Friday, February 4, 2011 weighing 6lbs, 7oz and 19inches long with a full head of hair!

I'll spare you all the details on here, as you can read all about Jay's birth and delivery over on the baby blog, however despite all the stresses I've had in my last trimester, Jay seems to be perfectly healthy and "normal."

I apologize for the lack of posting lately - as you can imagine, life with a newborn is a bit hectic with the around the clock feedings and completely random sleep schedule! I went from having way too much freetime on my hands to having literally none!

Aside from the Flashback to First Kisses series, which is already written and scheduled to be posted weekly, there may be a lack of posting on here for a bit as we figure out a routine with Jay, which may take a few weeks!

37 weeks is finally here!!

Today I am 37weeks and 1 day.

And 37 weeks is technically considered to be full-term, so at this point, it's all just a waiting game, as Jay can make his arrival at anytime!

In other news, the baby shower was this past Saturday - I'll be making a separate post about that soon as I need to upload some of my photos I took.

We're also expecting a massive blizzard here in the next day or so (supposedly starting sometime tonight), giving some parts of northern Illinois up to 2 feet of snow! I hear my area is supposed to get 12-18 inches. One of the things they kept saying during our birthing classes at the hospital is that they often see a huge increase of women going into labor during bad weather and snowstorms and a few friends on Facebook have confirmed this as well, saying they went into labor during snowstorms or tornadoes and the L&D floor was PACKED with other pregnant women also going into labor! Not getting my hopes up too much, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't crossing my fingers or at least keeping the thought/idea/possibility of it happening in the back of my mind! lol...

Also, I am *still* waiting on the hospital to call and schedule me for the ultrasound my clinic wants me to have to look more closely at Jay's femur and kidneys.

My clinic called early on Wednesday saying that they talked to my insurance and it was good to go and that they sent my paperwork over to the hospital and that they would be calling me soon to get it scheduled. On Thursday at my follow-up my doctor asked if I had it scheduled yet and I told her I was still waiting to hear from the hospital, so she told me if I didn't hear anything Friday to call the clinic and let them know so they could look into it. Well, Friday came and went, as did the weekend, so I called as soon as I woke up this morning. They gave me the number for the Maternal Fetal Medicine ward at the hospital and I called explained the situation to them - the woman I spoke to pulled up my info and looked, as they have me on file from the last one we did at 30 weeks, and said it was showing they hadn't gotten any recent paperwork for me and requested I call my clinic and let them know so they can resend it and that they would call me shortly after they received it. So I did and spoke with the girl I talked to last Wednesday - she said that was strange as she has confirmation showing that the hospital received the paperwork they faxed over for me but said she was sending it over again and I should hear something soon.

So... I'm still waiting.

I'm starting to wonder if there's even a point now - I mean if it were earlier and we weren't at the point where we can expect him to arrive at any time I'd get it, but it seems like a waste as with my luck we'll schedule it and I'll go in labor before the appointment or we'll have the ultrasound and I'll go into labor like 2 days later. At this point too, since hubby kinda wants to be there for this one in the event that something is "wrong," the only good time this week that we could schedule for that works with both our schedules would be Thursday morning - otherwise we'd we have to wait until next week and I'll be even further along... and the further along I am the harder it's going to be to check his femur... ughhhhh

3rd Trimester and Glucose Testing

Well everyone, we've made it this far - as of yesturday we are 28 weeks along and according to most pregnancy sites and books, that marks the beginning of the third trimester! Yay!!

Size you're considered being full term at 37 weeks, this means only 9-12 more weeks and Jay should be here in the flesh!

Today I had the Glucose Challenge Test.

They had told me last time I was there not to eat anything sugary or sweet today prior to taking the test and recommended I stick to eggs and sausage for breakfast. We don't have sausage but I did make myself some eggs when I woke up. Gotta say though, for having low blood sugar, not being able to eat or drink anything sweet or sugary prior to my 145pm test really sucked! Fortunately I didn't feel my blood sugar levels begin to drop until we were almost there. I could feel my face start to get flushed and I was starting to get a little lightheaded with the feeling in my stomach that the worst was coming soon if I didn't get sugar in my system ASAP.

They took my weight and got me set up with the drink right away. They had orange and fruit punch available and of course I opted for the fruit punch as I like that flavor better and I've heard the orange version is just gross. I had 5 minutes to finish it finished it with about a minute and a half left - as soon as I started drinking it I felt A LOT better, it had a A LOT of sugar in it. It didn't taste horrible, but wasn't all that great and had a strange after taste while drinking it.

Since I had to wait an hour before they could draw blood I had my check up with the doctor.

Turns out, according to their scale, I lost a pound in the past 2 weeks - take that, Thanksgiving!

The doctor commented though that it seems the odds of me having the gestational diabetes is stacked against me, as my mom and her sister as well as their mom all had it while pregnant once they reached a certain weight (which I've already passed).

Also, she checked Jay's fundal height and... she said he's measuring big! Eeep! She said if he's still measuring big next time I come in they'll send me over to have an ultrasound to make sure he has enough room and get more exact measurements.

Other than that she said everything seems great - his heartbeat was in the 140s, a little lower than what it's been, but usually he's more active at the doctor too and since I hadn't eat much and didn't have any sugar this morning prior to the glucose drink, it doesn't surprise me.

They sent me to wait out in the waiting room until my hour was up (I had about 30 minutes left), and then drew some blood, which wasn't too bad this time. They said to consider no news to be good news, and that my results should be back by the end of the week. They said if I "fail" this version of the test then I have to come back next week for a 3 hour version. Hopefully I don't though, as I did the best I knew to prepare. They said if it comes back and I do have the gestational diabetes then they'll put me in touch with some women's center or whatever that can go over how to watch my diet and prick my finger, etc.

And... it's done.

So I know I said that our car wouldn't done til around the 15th... well hubby got a call today and it's done early!

Sweet, right?

Wrong.

We weren't expecting it to be done until at least Monday, so we're going to have to put the deductible on my lone credit card for now, although hubby said we can pay it back down ASAP since we'll have the money very soon.

Also, they're only extending our rental until 6pm tomorrow (Thursday) and hubby can't get off work which means I have to drive the 4-5hours one way to St. Louis to go drop it off and pick up our car (although my mom or someone is tagging along with so I'm not driving alone and can maybe do some of the driving on the way back). This sucks because Thursdays are the only day I'm working at my main job! Also, we have our 2nd childbirthing class tomorrow night too so I'll have to leave here at the crack of dawn to get down there and back here before 630pm.

Ugh...

While I am a little annoyed that I have yet to hear back from The Children's Place regarding when they want me to start, I guess it is a bit of a blessing as I can just check with my first job and see if I can come in Friday instead of Thursday and then tell The Children's Place I can't start until 430pm Friday. I figure, they said the manager that does the scheduling and all that was out on a mini-vacation until yesterday - I'm guessing (hoping) maybe she was just swamped with a lot to do when she got in and is planning on making the calls today. If I don't hear anything by the end of today I'll definitely call tomorrow and find out what's up.

Now I have a few phone calls to make, watch last night's episode of Glee, get cleaned up and meet hubby at the bank as we have another meeting there later today regarding trying to get pre-approved for a home loan - I really hope it goes well and we have good news this time... this whole thing is getting frustrating and I just want to get pre-approved so we can finally start looking for a house and hopefully get moved in (or at least be in the process of it all) by the time Jay is here.

And... it's done.

So I know I said a week and a half ago that our car wouldn't done til around the 15th... well hubby got a call today and it's done early!

Sweet, right?

Wrong.

We weren't expecting it to be done until at least Monday, so we're going to have to put the deductible on my lone credit card for now, although hubby said we can pay it back down ASAP since we'll have the money very soon.

Also, they're only extending our rental until 6pm tomorrow (Thursday) and hubby can't get off work which means I have to drive the 4-5hours one way to St. Louis to go drop it off and pick up our car (although my mom or someone is tagging along with so I'm not driving alone and can maybe do some of the driving on the way back). This sucks because Thursdays are the only day I'm working at my main job! Also, we have our 2nd childbirthing class tomorrow night too so I'll have to leave here at the crack of dawn to get down there and back here before 630pm.

Ugh...

While I am a little annoyed that I have yet to hear back from The Children's Place regarding when they want me to start, I guess it is a bit of a blessing as I can just check with my first job and see if I can come in Friday instead of Thursday and then tell The Children's Place I can't start until 430pm Friday. I figure, they said the manager that does the scheduling and all that was out on a mini-vacation until yesterday - I'm guessing (hoping) maybe she was just swamped with a lot to do when she got in and is planning on making the calls today. If I don't hear anything by the end of today I'll definitely call tomorrow and find out what's up.

Now I have a few phone calls to make, watch last night's episode of Glee, get cleaned up and meet hubby at the bank as we have another meeting there later today regarding trying to get pre-approved for a home loan - I really hope it goes well and we have good news this time... this whole thing is getting frustrating and I just want to get pre-approved so we can finally start looking for a house and hopefully get moved in (or at least be in the process of it all) by the time Jay is here.

I got the job!

Just thought I'd update you guys...

Yesterday I got a call from The Children's Place, saying they'd like to offer me a seasonal position! Yay!

I was half awake when they called in the morning (hubby and I decided to sleep in since he didn't have to go into Verizon until later in the day) so I called them back a few hours later and told them that I was definitely still interested! They said the 3rd manager (who seems to be the one in charge) is out til Tuesday but they would put me on her list of calls to make so that she could figure out what day this week I can come in and start training.

Yay!!

Like my friend that also works retail was saying, there really wasn't much she couldn't do while she was pregnant at work - the only thing I can think that might be a problem is if I need to lift/carry boxes. I can carry/lift some, but not a whole lot. Other than that though, I don't think there's much that should be an issue so I shouldn't have any problems.

I get a 25% employee discount there too, which is also good on sale and clearance items. I could see this being bad, especially since I started eying some cute little long sleeved polos while there the other day! Mom said though that if there's anything I want, to let her know and she'll give me the money for it so I can buy it and use my discount, even though it'll be from "Grandma" hehe... they'll start getting their spring stuff in come mid-December or so too and I'd like to get a cute little suit-type outfit for Jay for Easter, so I'm sure the discount will come in handy for that too!

I am excited though - I've been sitting home bored for far too long and I look forward to having something to do during the days!

Another new addition to the family!

Yesturday, hubby's 2nd cousin's wife gave birth to a baby girl!

Eliana Joy was born on November 1, 2010 at 2pm weighing 7lbs, 7oz and 19 inches long!

Momma went in to get induced as baby was about a week late, but turns out they didn't need to as the contractions had gotten worse and so they just broke her water - she was only in labor for 5 and a half hours too!

Gotta admit, while I'm NOT hoping for the next few months to fly by (which I know they will due to the holidays - December always seems to fly by!), I am a bit jealous as I can't wait for Jay to be here in the flesh too!

Hopefully Eliana and Jay will get to play together someday!

Leaving... on a jet plane!

Okay, not really since we're driving, but...

I just wanted to give you, my readers and Blogland friends, a heads up that I will be MIA for a bit starting tomorrow afternoon as hubby and I are going on vacation!

Don't worry though - I have a few posts scheduled to go up while I'm gone, so it will sorta seem like I'm here while I'm not. But I just wanted to let you know, as I most likely won't be responding to comments and such while I'm away.

We aren't bringing a laptop or anything like that with us, but we do have our Moto Droids, so I will probably be posting on Twitter (and Facebook for those of you friends and family who know me in real life), so if you'd like to hear about some of our vacation adventures as they happen, be sure to follow me on Twitter (which you can easily do by clicking the button sitting on top of the right-hand column).

I'll be back before you know it though and I'm sure I'll have plenty to share!

Baby Kicks are Amusing!

Since Jay started kicking the other day, he's been quite amusing!

He seems to really enjoy it when I eat fruit flavored things! The other day I ate a fruit juice popsicle and boy did he kick up a storm soon after! The yesterday I stopped by McDonald's after work and got a wild berry smoothie to enjoy while I was out running errands around town. As soon as I started drinking it, Jay began kicking up a storm again! lol...

Also, I think I "cramped" his space this morning when I first got up - I got up wrong and had a bit of a muscle spasm on my right side like I pulled something or moved too quickly. The pain went away after a few moments and I was fine, but then a few minutes later I felt little baby kicks right where the spasm was! It's like Jay was all "Hey! That's where I had my feet - that's my space! Quit cramping it!" LOL...

He's on a bit of strange schedule it seems - in the morning there's no activity (which started to scare me a little bit yesterday) but then about 1 or 2pm it's like he wakes up and kicks on and off throughout the afternoon, then he's pretty quiet for the first part of the evening and then the kicking starts again in the late evening and is off and on throughout the night until hubby gets home from work around 3:30am - then he seems to stop around the time we go to bed! LOL... he's such a night owl like us!

I noticed on days I don't work (when I tend to sleep in later) that if I don't eat by a certain time, he starts kicking once he's awake like "Hey! I'm hungry! Let's get some food down in here!" LOL

Also, just a few updates I should mention...

1. I heard back from the clinic regarding my test results last week - they said everything came back fine and normal, so who knows what was up...

2. Got an update on Baby Lucas (our new nephew) today - him and mommy are both doing fine and they're bringing him home today, however he did lose one of his testicles as the one was dead. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers though - seems like he'll be okay!

Welcome Lucas!

Well, it's Facebook official - I'm an aunt again!

We just found out that hubby's older brother and his wife gave birth to their 2nd son, Lucas, at 4:17 today. He weighs 7lbs, 2 oz and is 20 inches long.

Baby Lucas, several days old here, with the Pooh that hubby and I sent him.

They had to do an emergency C-section (after inducing labor yesturday afternoon), but mommy is doing just fine!

Please keep baby Lucas in your thoughts and prayers though - he had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and then I guess his testicle was wrapped around itself - they had to take him to Peoria from the Quad Cities to get fixed up! It doesn't seem life threatening though, but still - it's a bit scary!

A bit of baby news

Well, it's Facebook official - I'm an aunt again!

We just found out that hubby's older brother and his wife gave birth to their 2nd son, Lucas, at 4:17 today. He weighs 7lbs, 2 oz and is 20 inches long.

They had to do an emergency C-section (after inducing labor yesturday afternoon), but mommy is doing just fine!

Please keep baby Lucas in your thoughts and prayers though - he had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and then I guess his testicle was wrapped around itself - they had to take him to Peoria from the Quad Cities to get fixed up! It doesn't seem life threatening though, but still - it's a bit scary!

***

In other baby news, we felt Jay kick for the first time last night (er rather, early this morning, since it was right around 4am)!

Hubby got home from work and was lying in bed, watching TV with me before falling asleep and I started to feel a little "twinge" that felt more like a little kick. I had just noticed Jay "fluttering" around in there over the weekend and wasn't expecting him to start kicking so soon (from what I read it's usually a few weeks after the fluttering starts til they start kicking). I grabbed hubby's hand and placed on my lower abdomen to see if he could actually feel em too or if it was just internal like the fluttering, but nope! We waited a moment or so and there was another little kick!

Hubby said "that feels awesome!" and had a big grin on his face - it was really cute! We sat there for about 10 minutes with his hand on my lower abdomen, playing "follow the kicking" around, as it seemed Jay was moving around in there. He seemed to find a spot and stopped though so we went to sleep, but it was really neat! Hubby said it felt more like a little push than a full fledged kick, but still - it was Jay making his presence known to us!

I felt him kick a few more times as I dozed off, and then a little bit this morning. He's been kicking on and off throughout the day and seemed to enjoy the fruit juice popsicle I ate earlier. Fortunately it's not the painful kicks I've heard about, just smaller ones =)

Another "big" announcement!

Not to go all baby-heavy on this blog, since I have my baby blog for that, but I just thought I'd share...

We're having a boy!

We had our 18 week check-up today and while our anatomical survey isn't until our October appointment, the ultrasound tech asked us if we wanted to know in case baby was cooperating and she could tell what it is. Of course we said yes - the suspense was killing us and we couldn't stand to wait another 4 weeks if we could find out sooner.

He was being super active again today, all moving around and stuff. We got another picture of him waving hi like he does on these things, then when the tech moved the scanner to look for gender, well, he definitely wasn't shy about proudly showing off his package to us, as you can see in the photo! lol... even the tech commented on how not shy he was being about it! lol... after that though, the little stinker decided that was enough for today and rolled over, turning his back to us! lol... and then when the doctor tried to clock the heartbeat, he was too busy moving around and wouldn't stay still for second long enough for the doc to hear it on his handheld device, lol...

Anyways, we're naming him Jaydran Alexander, and calling him Jay for short. Jaydran also happens to be the name of one of hubby's favorite WoW characters, which turns out, he confessed, he stole the name from a real person, so it's not entirely a stretch of the "out there" names. I guess this boy he played baseball with in Jr High/High School had an older sister named Jaydra or some variation of that and he always liked the name, so in WoW, he used Jaydran as the male version of it. It works - I was against it at first but it grew on me and it's a little different given our last name is so common in this city. And figured Jay for short works as a nickname. Plus, our kid will have the same first and last initials as his daddy too, which is kinda cute =)

We're going to do a Mario themed nursery - mom's going to help me make a Mario/Mario Kart mobile and I want to paint the room to look like the first level of the original Super Mario Bros game with the blue sky, reddish bricks on the ground with the blocks, green tubes and castle and include various different characters from the series such as Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, Toad, Bowser, etc. Toys R Us Express out at the mall has some of the mini plushies too, so I might pick a few of those up, just to display around the nursery to go with the theme. If you guys come across any fun Mario stuff that would work in a nursery, plus send me links!

While I can't be super girly with a boy, we at least know he'll enjoy playing video games, watching football with daddy, rocking out to music with mommy, and we can take him to some of the more family friendly super hero movies (like Iron Man 2 and Spiderman). It'll be fun!

18week exam and we know the gender!

We had our 18week, 1 day appointment this morning and just got back a little bit ago.

I had another cervical ultrasound first before the ultrasound technician pulled out the belly scanner and got a better look at baby that way. The doctor said my cervix length is great - measuring at about 47mm - and he said 30-35 is the average so anything better than that is really good! He said it's safe to say that having had the LEEP done prior, it shouldn't have any affect or give us any problems. I also seemed to put on a good bit of my weight this time around, which the doctor said is normal - when we went in for our first appointment I had gained about 5lbs from where I was pre-pregnancy. The second appointment there wasn't any change - maybe a 1lb at most. This time though, I gained about 9-10lbs, so he said being that I'm about halfway now, the fact that I've gained around 15lbs so far is typical.

The technician also asked us, in the event that baby is cooperating and she could tell what the gender is, if we wanted to know.

We said of course - the suspense has been killing us and while our anatomical survey isn't until next month's appointment (on Oct 18), we were hoping she'd be able to tell us today as we can't stand to have to wait another 4 weeks, lol...

First she got a good profile:

Then she showed us the little arm:

And then we took a peek below...

It's a boy!!

He wasn't shy at all about showing off his package to us! lol...

He was pretty active again today, all moving around. The ultrasound technician clocked the heartbeat at about 170bpm. After we took a look at his package, he decided that was enough for us to see today and decided to roll over and turn his back to us - we got a pretty good view of his spine though! Jaydran's gonna be a little stinker though - the doctor was trying to hear the heartbeat and he wouldn't stay still enough. Our doctor was trying to find him and at first all we could hear was movement! lol... the doctor clocked the heartbeat at about 160bpm but before he could find it he commented that "Well, it's not like he's not alive - we can definitely hear movement, he just doesn't want to stay still for me to catch his heartbeat!"

Hubby's excited - he wanted a boy first because he's always said little girls need big brothers. I would have preferred a girl just so we had 1 and it didn't matter to me what the rest of our kids are, but I'm fine with it, so long as we hopefully have a girl someday =) I'm a little nervous though because I have NO experience with infant boys! My younger sibling is a girl as is my cousin that lives nearby that I helped out with a bit when she was born. All the kids I babysat for, while some were boys, most of them were already potty trained and the only boy that was still in diapers was nearly a toddler so it wasn't like he was pooping his diapers much in the few hours I was watching them.

I should point out - my "mommy instinct" was wrong. I had several dreams the past month where in them baby was a girl. It wasn't until the other night I had a dream where they said we were having twins, but they could only find a set of boy parts, and no girl.

For a boy we're doing a Mario Bros themed nursery - my mom's going to help me make a Mario Bros/Mario Kart mobile and once we move I want to paint the room to look like the first level of the original game, with the blue sky, the reddish brick ground with the boxes and green tubes and the castle... and then put in all different Mario characters like Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, Toad, Bowser, etc. It'll look awesome if I can do it! Also, out at the new Toys R Us Express shop they put in the mall, we found several different Mario plushies for $5. They were smaller ones and they had Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and one of the yellow turtle bad guys - I'll have to remember to pick those up!

Hubby said we can go on Sunday and put together our baby registry - we're probably going to do Target and Walmart and maybe stop by Babies R Us, although their prices are really high compared to Target and Walmart yet most of the items are the exact same! I'm excited - I love to shop!

Also, we're going to Dallas at the end of October and seeing a Cowboys game since hubby's a huge fan - I found a few baby items online we have to get while we're there! In addition to picking up a mini kids jersey (since they sell em at the Walmart down there like the stores up here have Bears stuff), I saw this really cute set of baby stuff:

 

It's a Cowboys baby bottle with a bib and pacifer for $19.99. Since we don't want to pay shipping we figured we'll probably just pick it up down there.

So much fun! While I can't be super girly with a boy, we at least know he'll enjoy playing video games, watching football with daddy, rocking out to music with mommy, and we can take him to some of the more family friendly super hero movies (like Iron Man 2 and Spiderman).

The return of I Love Money

It finally happened - VH1 has finally decided to air the "lost" season 4 of their hit reality competition series I Love Money.

The premise of the show is pretty simple - take cast members from the previous VH1 "of Love" shows, fly em down to Mexico, and have them compete in different challenges for a chance at $250,000. Alliances are formed, people are backstabbed, at the end of every episode someone's check gets voided, last man/woman standing gets the money... it's a dirty, dirty game filled with tons of crazy drama! Think Survivor done VH1 style!

This season, the cast consists of Cheezy and 20 Pack from I Love New York 2 (20 Pack is considered "the veteran" this time around he was also on season 2 of I Love Money); Marcia, Mindy and Brittanya from Rock of Love Bus; Corn Fed from season 1 of Real Chance of Love; Blonde Baller, Hot Wings, Mamacita, and Sassy from Real Chance of Love 2; Feisty from For the Love of Ray J; 6 Gauge, Brooklyn and Chi Chi from Daisy of Love; and Alex, Garth, Francisco and The Punisher from Megan Wants a Millionaire.

Season 3 and 4 were filmed back to back in summer 2009, but were promptly deemed canceled after Ryan Jenkins (who was on both Megan Wants a Millionaire and I Love Money 3) killed his model wife Jasmine Fiore in early August 2009, went missing as a manhunt formed for him, and was found dead almost a week later, having hung himself in his hotel room. Megan Wants a Millionaire was abruptly canceled after just 3 episodes, as Jenkins supposedly makes it to the final 3 at least, and it was rumored that he won I Love Money 3 after a report came out that right before his wife was found dead, he showed up at the VH1 offices, requesting an advance on his prize money (they hold the checks until after the season airs so that no one does crazy spending and it leaks out who the winner is).

Fans of the series were upset that the fate of I Love Money was now hanging, as they couldn't possibly air season 3 now, and supposedly some of the cast from season 3 was back in season 4, so there would be some continuity and drama that would need heavy editing.

In April, VH1 made a statement stating that both season 3 and 4 would not be airing at all, however news broke several weeks about that season 4 would premiering on September 16.

It is a bit strange though, as the first 2 seasons ran during VH1's prime viewing slots on either Sunday or Monday evenings, however this season is being aired at 11/10c pm on Thursday nights with reruns during the week well after midnight. Also, there has been NO advertising for the return of the show either, which is a bit shocking as fans of the channel have been asking for I Love Money and more of the "of Love" shows, as many don't like a lot of the reality shows that are currently being shown on VH1 - I Love Money has a huge following. It's like they're intentionally trying to make it so hardly anyone watches it, thus making the ratings suffer as an excuse to not make a 5th season... you can't even find anything about it on the official VH1 site, aside from when it airs on the TV schedule! As it is, being part of the VH1 VIPS, the only thing the moderators have been able to tell us regarding the show is confirming the premiere day and time, which they waited until 2 days before it premiered to do so (our discussion of the show returning had been going on for nearly 2 weeks).

So it looks like it's up to the fans to spread the word, since VH1 is not doing so.

For those that missed last night - there are some pretty funny moments as well as some drama filled ones (Marcia and Mamacita got into it quite a bit! And Blonde Baller has already proved you can't fully trust her as she's only looking out for her best interest). Next week looks awesome and drama filled too, as ChiChi and 20 Pack both learn that Brittanya hooked up with both them in the months prior! (They both consider her to be their "girl", although it looks like ChiChi catches her sleeping in 20 Pack's bed, all cozied up with him and calls her out that just 2 months ago she was doing the same with him... which throws 20 Pack for a loop as he thought they were kinda off and on for months!)

**edit** they have finally posted an entry on the VH1 blog regarding the return of the show, citing this to be the finale season - feel free to comment!