This is silly, but funny: go to the google search engine and type
in your name and then ‘needs’ after it. Ex: “John needs” and write down the first line of the description of the first website that appears, (it should say something like: “John needs a shave”)
My great need:
“Oprah says, Jen needs a break”
LOL! Yup- a break in the form of a girl!
“Right now, Brendan needs confidence, security and love. … What Brendan is getting is exactly what he needs.”
Heh! **Puffs up chest** 😉
*****
13w6d. OB appt tomorrow! Never know what’ll happen at those! I had 2 days where I lost about 1/2 a pinkie tip’s worth of (ewww- green!) mucus plug so I want to ask about that. Also, I want to see if I can go in for the genetic testing stuff (like the quad screen) before my next appt & U/S. I want any potential bad news BEFORE I bond any more with my baby and know its gender.
And I lost a bit more weight… wonder if it’s enough for her to say something. Scale this morning says I am down 4 pounds for the pregnancy. I just look at most foods and gag! You CAN be hungry and not want to eat!
I did something wonderful though! I have been so tired lately that I added 1/2 of a bottle of starbuck’s mocha frappuccino + 2-3 oz chocolate milk to my breakfast routine. The caffeine is helping to combat my constant tiredness and I am getting almost a glass of milk’s worth of calcium in. Can’t tolerate straight milk (even flavored) or soda or coffee but this combo seems to work.
As for Brendan- nothing really new to report. We are working on his late night wildness. :/ But mostly he is loving and fun. With me being so tired, he is definitely watching too many cartoons though. I hope being up at the in-laws will get him more outdoors but it looks like it is going to be very cold up there. He will be thrilled with the train ride though!

I’ve been looking at girl’s crib bedding sets and I finally found one I love. It’s called “Koko” by Kidsline. I love how Baby Depot even sells the butterfly and solid pink fabrics and someone on ebay makes custom basket liners too!






Are you guys thinking pink?? Just a little over a month until we will know!

13w0d. Yes, I am wearing a better bra but in comaparing these 2 photos, doesn’t my belly size look similar? Last pregnancy on left, this one on right. Hit the extended entry link for how far along I was in the first picture.

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Darrell sat down with Brendan at the kitchen table this morning with some paint daubers and a big piece of cardboard. Together they worked on a little mural. DH and Bren both put a lot of colorful dots on the board. Then Bren drew a round shape and called it a ghost! With the exception of circles this is the first time he has drawn something and called it a name! Here is his little ghost:

12w0d. Last night I think I felt the baby move! In fact, I am pretty positive it was the baby even though it is very early for it. Incredibly early since I know it was at least another month with Brendan that I felt a curious flutter and wondered. But last night I was in the car and had the seatbelt on a smidge too tight. I was just thinking that I ought to adjust it when low down on my left side I felt a sudden flurry of movement, right up underneath the seatbelt. It only happened once and was only for a second but it was definitely not gas!! The baby must have gotten itself in a position it didn’t like and used its arms AND legs to make me feel that! It was a flurry of movement not just a whispery flutter! Really quite magical! There’s a baby in there!
This pregnancy is 30% complete now!

Last night was horrible. I got woken up every hour from midnight til 7 am!! First I had to pee. Then Bren came in our room. I had him go get his pillow and blanket and sleep on the carpet beside me. An hour later, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I open my eyes and Brendan is standing by the bed with his nose about 3 mm from my own. I manage not to squeal and have to admit he is cute when he says, “Hi Mama! It’s me, Brendan!” I sit up and he quickly claims my spot in the bed. Scamp. I figure out he’s wet so I change him. He looks like he’s comfy so I cover him with his blanket, tell him to go night-night with Daddy and head for the guest room. Just as I am dozing off, I hear him playing with the bedroom door. I scuffle down the hall only to discover he has locked me out of my own room. I ask him through the door several times to “move the button on the door.” He tries several times but can’t manage. I find the little key we have taped to the wall in the medicine chest and open it myself. It’s about 5:00 in the morning and I have had enough. I yell at him that if he won’t sleep beside me and he won’t sleep with Daddy that he has to go back to his own bed. I take him straight there and put him to bed, telling him firmly to go to sleep. A few minutes later he starts crying and saying he’s scared. I go in there and he tells me, “Scared! Birds!” and looks at the window. I know exactly where this comes form- a mixture of a snippet from starfall.com where a boy talks about being afraid of the dark and DH’s X-box game, Half-Life 2, where there is an intro scene of a massive number of black birds. Ugh! I am not at my finest and tell him he is not scared. I show him out the window that there aren’t any birds, all the birds have gone night-night. I cover him up again, tell him good night and leave. He cries a little again. I ignore him. As I get into bed, I notice the baby monitor is sputtering. It sounds like rapid hand-clapping. After 15 minutes of listening to it I turn it off. About an hour later I wake up to the sounds of DH in the shower. I wonder what woke me up. Then I hear Brendan, seemingly far off, crying for Daddy. I remember the monitor is off and get up and go to his room. He’s not there. I hear him in the front room and he is looking out the front window, crying and saying “Daddy!” over and over. I have him crawl into DH’s spot in the bed with me and FINALLY he falls asleep.
*****
11w6d. It’s “Weigh In Wednesday” on one of my boards and I was very surprised to see what the scale offered up to me this morning. I lost another 1.5 pounds! In a week!
I have really been concentrating on eating healthier foods. Still have my food aversions of nuts, chicken, beans & sausage. I am eating well but my appetite is low. Still, I eat 3 meals a day and often a snack or two. And I ate at two chinese buffets and a mexican restaurant this week since company was in town. I managed to cut out my juice intake for fresh fruit but that hardly takes away many calories. I am very glad that cheese and cottage cheese have protein and that I still enjoy beef and eggs! I am definitely having trouble getting in the protein. Hmm, maybe I am losing the beginning-of-pregnancy bloating. Anyway, I’ve lost a total of 3.5 pounds this pregnancy and that is loads better than the 7 pounds last time.

Ack! 199 days to go!!! 😀
11w4d. My in-laws just left from a visit here. It sure is nice not to be the ones traveling this time. But Bren and I are going to take the train up there mid-February. While here, FIL went to Sam’s and bought us giant bags of apples, oranges and bananas, a large container of the best strawberries, plus an entire watermelon and a huge block of cheese. Cool. We always eat at these great buffets while they are here so I was scared to weigh myself. But I did and I think I lost another pound or so. ??? Can’t figure that one out at all.
Nothing much going on with me. The past few days I have had only minimal m/s so I will probably be sickish for a couple days. It tends to run that way. I turn 12 weeks on Thursday! The first of many days considered to be the beginning of the 2nd trimester. YAY!
Bren is great. He loves his grandparents and especially his uncle Anthony. We watched a movie last night and when it was over he said, “That was a great story!” and he turned away from the tv and towards us on the couch and bowed! Hahahaha.
The big gender ultrasound is in about 6 1/2 weeks!! Can’t wait but am also sort of dreading it. 😉 It’s one of those moments where your life will be altered and there is nothing you can do but watch it happen. Then Bren’s 3rd birthday is just a couple days after it.

Bren says many positive words now including:
okay
all right
uh huh
yes
yup
yay
wahoo
heard once: yeah
heard once: of course
and his latest fave- great
*****
10w6d. Still having on and off again days. Today seems pretty good so far. Home scale says I lost 1/2 a pound this week. Don’t worry, the Ben & Jerry’s (absolutely divine) Caramel Sutra ice cream will nip that in the bud. Down 2 for the pregnancy.
I am trying to add more whole grains, protein, calcium & vegetables to my diet while getting ready to lower my sugar intake as well as soon as my m/s disappears. Hard to do when I can’t stand to look at poultry, nuts, sausage or beans. Vegetables have no appeal either. I am going to have to find a whole grain bread I like. I love Jason’s Deli’s Branola bread so I know there has to be another out there. Eggs have started to appeal to me again so I bought some of the Omega 3 eggs. Going to have poached eggs on toast for lunch. I also bought Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal on the advice of one of my August boards. Healthy and is supposed to taste good as well. One definite winner meal this week was spaghetti. I used whole grain angel hair pasta and a can of Hunt’s traditional sauce. It was divine! I slurped it up and claimed the leftovers. Oddly enough- it had to be plain. No meat, no cheese, no diced tomato or peppers.
In the next couple of weeks I am going to try and give up my juice and dessert consumption. I need to keep this baby in the 7 pound range. I really believe Bren disengaged himself from my pelvis as he hit the 8 pound mark. If I can keep this one slightly smaller, just maybe I can have that natural birth.
Also on the agenda- walking. I have to exercise!

Who would’ve known I’d be watching Mia this afternoon?! Apparently she is going to have a new cousin any minute now and her daddy really wanted to be there. We had plans to meet at Chuck E. Cheese’s tonight anyway so the kiddos could get together. It has been several months since their first post living together meeting at McDonalds.
So far so good. Bren doesn’t quite know what to do with her. They converse pretty well and that is very cool to see. I can totally understand why toddlers with siblings learn to talk faster. They talk to each other CONSTANTLY. Their vocabulary seems similar (she didn’t know what a dinosaur is but Brendan wouldn’t know what a doll is) but her completeness and sentence structure is better. Anyway, Mia will get out a toy and and soon as she stops playing with it for the tiniest microsecond, Bren will take it and put it away. Haha. He has no idea how to share.
Now they are chasing each other around the living room. Each has a sippy cup. Bren keeps saying “cheers!” but Mia has no clue what he wants. Heh.
Brendan wants to watch Diego on tv and Mia wants to play with the dozens of new toys she sees. But Mia wants Bren to play with her. I am trying not to interfere much with their interactions. It is hard to do. Both want what they want only.

Well my OB just called. One thing about my OB’s office, if the doctor herself calls, it’s not news you want to hear.
She says she consulted a very high perinatologist in the city about the Metformin. Both agree that it’s just not supported at this time. She went on to talk about another similar drug, Glipizide. A few years back everyone thought it was safe to give to pregnant diabetic women and now long term studies have come out showing a 50% rise in babies going to the NICU after birth. So I guess I end it after 14 weeks.