23 weeks and getting no love.

I'm 5 days away from being 6 months pregnant. 6 MONTHS PREGNANT! I've gained 17lbs. My tailbone feels like my son hammers it on a daily basis. My hip joints are shifting so much that it's impossible to get a comfortable nights sleep. I have wonderful bouts of heartburn that come on at the most random times. And I have to let out the air in my lungs so I can bend over to put my shoes on. Those are all very legit pregnancy symptoms, but do people ask if I'm pregnant??? NO! Yesterday I went into a gas station to buy my usual craving...a carbonated beverage, and the lady behind the counter said, "Oh, how far along are you?". I said, "you are the first brave soul to ask me that!" And she says, "Well, I only asked because you were touching your belly with such love." SERIOUSLY!? The giant growth in front of me wasn't a dead give away? I mean...Yeah, I was a little overweight before I got pregnant, but not big enough not to notice a 17lb protruding growth out my midsection. Puh-leeese! I know soon enough I'll be saying, "I AM SO FAT AND NO ONE WILL LEAVE MY STOMACH ALONE!" But until that day, I'm ready for some recognition!
                                         
Since I'm ranting, let's talk about what I refuse to skimp on at the grocery store. (Pre-pregnancy and especially now) My Husband and I are trying to cut corners to save as much cash as possible. So we went grocery shopping the other day and bought some off-brand stuff, which quickly reminded me why I never skimp on certain brands. Let me share my must have's:
-Skippy Creamy peanut butter. (off brand peanut butter taste like stale oil and now we have a gallon of the nasty stuff I will never eat. Bought some Skippy yesterday.)
-Charmin Extra soft double rolls (my husband buys tp at the dollar store and I swear 1 trip to the bathroom equals 1 roll of that cheap stuff for a pregnant chick. Doesnt end up saving us anything!)
-Kraft Mac and cheese (Not the off stuff. BUT, WARNING: it expires. I made some expired mac and cheese last week. It tastes like cardboard box)
-Philly Cream cheese- (The other stuff is WEIRD! Why did Starbucks take the good stuff away and replace it with that rubbery goo?)
-Cheetos brand anything (preferably flamin' hot with lime)- "cheese puffs" are so disgusting!
-Cheez It's- Cheese Nips dont cut it.
-Diet Pepsi- None of this Diet Cola crap!!
-Hunts Ketchup- Fancy tomato topping is NOT GOOD!
I'm not apposed to buying off brands at all. There are just some things I just cant sacrifice to save 50 cents.


On to exciting news: In 2 weeks I will be heading to California for my first baby shower! I'm so excited to see my family and great friends who I've stayed in touch with through the years. And Jack is really excited to get some cool stuff. Hopefully I will look like a frickin pregnant person at my shower. This is so depressing. haha

It's a boy!

It's official. At 16 weeks they saw a package. We got a BOY! Jack Danger Jamison has no choice but to be hardcore. :) I'm 21 weeks today. Half way through my pregnancy, and feeling great. What freaks me out is I haven't really felt any significant kicks or punches yet. All my "mom" friends tell me to enjoy this while it lasts, because soon I'll be wishing he'd STOP. But seriously, I'm ready to know he's there by feeling him rather than just an ultrasound picture. 


Once we found out the gender, my husband and I decided to go register at Babies R Us. We went to the registry dept and got signed up. But once they gave us the zapper and set us free, I truly almost had a panic attack. It took everything within me not to cry. This was NOT like our wedding registry. THAT was fun...THIS was pure panic. They told us to start at bedding.....so we walked through the cribs finding no black furniture. (which is what we want) so we decided to skip the crib and go to mattresses. Why are there 3 isles of mattresses? Can't they just have one standard mattress for all cribs? New parents don't know what the heck they need. And their handy dandy 2 page booklet of all the babies necessities was not handy at all. There was stuff on there I had never heard of and walking the isles became so overwhelming we just had to leave. Knowing we had barely scratched the surface, I knew I had to go back and attempt this again at some point, but the next time I went in, I came prepared. I brought a "mom" friend with me. Her son isn't quite one yet, so she knew exactly what I needed and didn't need. We whipped through all the isles and even hit Target too. We got everything done in less than 2 hours and I know I couldn't have done it without her. 


Work is going great. I can still stand for hours at the salon, but I will admit I have to bring a lint roller to de-hair my maternity pants from the loose hairs that poke me throughout the day. It's really annoying. Little hairs get stuck in the banding around my belly and itch the heck outta me. My poor fellow employees have to watch me constantly lint roll my gut in the back room. I'm sure they love it. I've gained 12lbs. Clearly I'm bigger than I was, and the protruding belly in front of me proves it, but people STILL won't dare ask me when I'm due. I've had several guests this passed week who I haven't seen in a few months ask me what's new in my life and I just stand in front of them like, "REALLY!!?? WHAT'S NEW WITH ME!?". I really hope I didn't look this big before I was pregnant. And I pray within this next month that Jack helps me out a little and makes me unmistakably pregnant looking. I still have to get the door for myself and lift hefty trash bags because no one around me thinks I'm brewing a baby. But when that day comes, best believe I'm going to milk it for all it's worth. 


After 5 months of pregnancy, I can honestly say I love being pregnant. If my 2nd pregnancy is worse, at least Jack tricked me into wanting more kids. Heck, at this rate, I'm down to be the next Dugger.(minus 17) 

What to do and what not to do when pregnant.

What to do: Eat what you crave...even if it's pepperoni subs with avocado, tons of McDonalds Cheese burgers, spaghetti noodles with olive oil and garlic salt, SHIRLEY TEMPLES, sour licorice ropes, popcorn or chef boyaredee raviolis.


What not to do: Do NOT, under any circumstances, get a quad screen blood test to check for downs syndrome because you will most likely get a false positive and stress out FAR too much for no reason!


What to do: Tell everyone your pregnant. Everyone wants to talk about it and feels like they can relate, even if they've never been pregnant. It's fun.


What not to do: After you tell people, and they respond with, "I could tell your face was swollen like mine gets when I'm pregnant" or "I totally knew way before you announced it" or "yeah, you've got that glow", or "You aren't showing but your hormones are"....DON'T PUNCH THEM. I know it's hard. But even though I don't glow, my face is the only thing NOT swollen and you did NOT know I was pregnant before I told you, its probably not safe for the child to be getting into fist fights at this point.


What to do: Find out the sex in a creative way. Today we had an ultra sound and our tech saw the gender and we had him write it in an envelope, I sealed it up, and we took it to a bakery to have a special baby cake made. We gave the baker the results without us knowing. She's going to put blue or pink frosting INSIDE the cake, so when we cut into it on Friday at our reveal party...everyone will find out the gender together. It was really hard to pass off the results, but I'm SOOOO excited for Friday.

What not to do: Don't eat a huge bowl of taco soup right before bed because you will wake up in the middle of the night with horrible heart burn and throw it all up.

What to do: Tell people close to you what you need from them. I've discovered through this process, my needs are always changing. Probably because of all the hormones pumping through my blood, but I noticed when my mom wasn't checking in on me as much as I liked, or my husband wasn't hugging me on the rare occasions I wanted affection, or I really wanted icecream but there was nothing in the house, I had to voice what I needed or I just got frustrated at people without communicating what the issues were. Cut yourself some slack. Allow yourself to feel whatever your feeling, just don't expect everyone around you to get it unless you speak up.

What not to do: Don't forget this process. Write down what your going through so you wont forget the little things. This blog is my pregnancy journal. I'm going to try to write down little details so I can look back and remember Shirley temples were the best thing ever.

Even though being pregnant is stressful at times, it is such a gift. This is my first baby, so I'm learning what to do and what not to do in my next pregnancy. But all in all, I'm so thankful for this opportunity and we love this baby so much already. I can't wait for Friday so I can finally start buying stuff for the nursery. Stay tuned for baby Jamison's name and gender! Life is good. We are so blessed.

My first pregnancy

Today is the day. I'm actually doing it. I'm writing my first blog. My friends would probably say I'm one of those people who say things others hold inside. Or at least write things others wouldn't dare to. But that's what makes me Tasha. I'm not afraid to speak my mind "in font", so this blog thing is going to be a blast!

So I'm 14 weeks pregnant and I feel like an alien has taken over my body. I have weird things changing that are not so sexy. I mean, for one, Babycenter.com says I might be looking like a Victoria Secret Model in the upper region of my body these days. Wouldn't that be nice? Sure, I look different, but Victoria and model are not the 2 first words you'd think of if you saw this. Don't get me wrong, I've wanted to be a mother since I got my first cabbage patch kid at 4 years old. I know all these weird changes will be well worth it, but in the mean time I will allow myself to freak out. My stomach is at that weird stage where I just look fat instead of pregnant. And every week it's sticking out more and more, so I look like those girls that you pass by at a club and lean into your girlfriend and say, "Look at that broad...you think she could have worn clothes her size?". Just this morning I was frying some eggs, and I leaned up to grab the salt in the cupboard above me, and burned my belly on the skillet. My depth perception is all off now. How was I suppose to know I was sticking out 2 inches farther than normal? And I hear it only gets worse.

On a positive note, I feel great. I only had minor "all day" sickness the first couple of weeks and now I feel like an extremely bloated, normal chick. I've gotten to see my baby moving around in ultrasounds. That has been the coolest thing ever. It's amazing that your body completely takes over. I'm creating this little human and all I have to do is sit back and watch. There is absolutely no way to look at an ultrasound, see that little creation growing inside of you, and not know we have a God of the Universe, who has every single little detail covered. I'm so thankful for that, and the opportunity to carry His creation and call it my own. In the midst of my complaining, I am truly grateful.