He did what!?!

So unless you've been living under a rock you've probably heard the accusation that Justin Bieber is gonna be a daddy and the momma ain't Selena Gomez. It doesn't really bother me if he is a daddy or not a daddy what makes me laugh is how the entire nation is talking about it....AND they are like "It's IMPOSSIBLE" "He's suing her" etc.

I'm gonna laugh my ass when it turns out that he is that baby\s daddy. I get it, he's young, he's rich and famous. Stranger things have happened right!?

Baby List

So I kind of stole this from Future Mamma's blog.

It's so hard to stay organized while you are pregnant and the amount of things a newborn baby needs is completely overwhelming. Not only that but apparently a side effect of being pregnant is that you completely forget everything. I honestly find myself having to write things down instead of depending on my amazing memory. Very craptastic for me!



So Future Momma put together a list of things she needs, thinks she'll need, knows she doesn't need, or already has. I figured I'd do this as well to track my progress!


NURSERY
Crib and/or bassinet Thanks Mom and Dad!
Crib bedding Thanks Mom and Dad...and George!
Crib mattress Parents again..
Mattress pad
Waterproof crib liner
Fitted sheets (2-3)
Sleep Positioner
Receiving blankets (4-5)
Changing tableParents again...
Changing pad
Changing pad covers
Dresser Parents
Rocker/gliderbought
Hamper nursery
Nursery monitor
Mobile
Night Light

Feeding Supplies
Bottles been bought off my registry even though I haven't sent out invites
Bottle Sterilizer
Bottle brush
Bottle warmer
Bottle drying rack
Nursing pillow
Breast pump
Nursing pads
Nursing cream
Breast shields
Nursing bras
Nursing gown
Milk storage bags
Travel formula dispenser
Pacifiers
Pacifier clips
gas relief drops
High chair Also bought from my registry
Meal mat
Infant spoons
Sippy cups
Teethers

Bathing
Bathtub
Washcloths (5-10) Mom's random shopping I have like 20 already
Baby wash pruchased
Baby shampoo from
Baby lotionregistry
Bath toys
Tub toy pouch
Hooded towels (2-4)

ACTIVITY

Toys and More
Swing Purchased from registry
Bouncer seat Purchased from registry
Play gym
Crib mirror
Jumper
Rattles
Walker
Toy Chest

Books and Music
Preggo Planner Don't believe this is necessary
Pregnancy books
Childbirth books
Breastfeeding books
Parenting books
Baby book
Journal
Educational music
Lullybuy music

NEWBORN ESSENTIALS

Diapering
Diapers (disposable or cloth)-- Too early to buy because baby might be allergic
Wipes
Wipes warmer
Travel pack for wipes
Diaper bag (Afraid to cross this off because I THINK I found my dream bag!)
Diaper pail and refills
Rash ointment
Diaper sacks for travel
Disposable changing pads

Clothing
Homecoming outfit Sister in law bought
T-shirts mom, sister in law, best fright bought
Onesies mom, sister in law, best fright bought
Sleepwear mom, sister in law, best fright bought
Bibs (5-10)mom & best friend bought
Burp cloths Best friend bought
Booties and socks
Hats (2-4)
Mittens
Footed rompers
Sweaters
Swaddle blanket
Baby laundry detergent
Stain remover
Baby clothes hangers

BABY CARE

Health -- All items removed came in a kit that was purchased from my registry
First aid supplies
Thermometer
Medicine dispenser
Baby fever reducer
Nasal aspirator
Humidifier/Vaporizer
Baby brush and comb
Nail clippers

Safety
Safety gate
Corner guards
Outlet covers
Drawer latches
Cabinet locks
Toilet locks
Fireplace bumpers
Fire alarm
Carbon monoxide detector

TRAVEL
Rear-facing infant car seat Sister in law bought from my registry
Car seat base for 2nd car
Full-size stroller
Lightweight stroller
Stroller rain shield
Stroller toys
Infant car mirror
Pack and play
Soft carrier

MISCELLANEOUS
Birth announcements - Already have a designer in mind
Thank you cards - see above
Stamps
Camera
Camcorder
Picture frames
Growth chart
Batteries
Baby calendar
Personalized items



OPTIONAL STUFF I'D LIKE
Baby sling - Still debating on if I'm a baby wearer or not
Baby Wrap
Diaper stacker Came with my bedding set
Nursery curtainsCame with my bedding set
Pregnancy pillow A life send!

So far it looks like I have a lot crossed off my list. Other things that aren't crossed off are on my registry but only like 5 people know of my registry so it's not shocking that a lot of things haven't been bought. My mom goes nuts everytime she goes out shopping she has to pick something up for Demi.

Demi already has mounds and mounds of clothes just waiting for the nursery to be put together, washed, dried, and put away. I already have my bag for the hospital (obviously not packed yet)and I'm waiting to find my perfect dream diaper bag. Demi and Mommy are going to be styling the entire way!

So what do you guys think of my progress? What do you guys think of my registry? Too much? Not enough? Useless things on there or not?

I know that people don't recommend wipe warmers but its something that I want for Demi so damnit I'll get it for her! I have a bunch of little things on the registry because between my mom, sister, sister in law, best friend, and best friends mom/sister, all the large "Bulk" items have already been purchased. My parents bought the entire nursery for me (crib, crib mattress, bedding set, changing table, dresser, night stand, bassinet, and glider). My best friends mom and sister have bought me the bouncer, the high chair, the play pen, a bathtime set, some bottles etc! My sister in law got me a boat load of clothes (that she won't let me see) and Demi's stage two car chair (infant over 20lbs). My sister hasn't bought it yet but shes getting me the travel system which is the stroller and car seat. Nicole (best friend) has bought me a bunch of clothes (she also won't let me see) and some random small things for Demi.


So yeah, thats my list and I'm kind of proud of the progress made. I'll probably be updating this post as the months pass by (sheesh I'm already 6 months along) and again after my baby shower!

By the way what do you guys think of my sample invite? It's the first shot only and we are making some changes to it.

Oh so tired.

I think I'm going to make this my theme song. I'm so tired. Sheesh I'm tired. Damn I'm exhausted. Wow, I'm beat. Yep pretty much sounds like things I can be heard saying over the last FOREVER. I'm just sooooo tired all the time.

You know how Sundays are meant to be the relaxing days? Yeah, not so much. It seems like Saturday is the running around day and Sunday is the do home errands day. Well today consisted of baking and I can honestly say I'm tired from doing that. I made two batches of fudge, 2 batches of greek shortbread cookies, and 2 batches of chocolate chip cookies. Oh word of advice, if you are baking be sure that you don't have people over because they tend to eat a lot of cookies and then it doesn't even look like you made that many because so many are chilling in their tummies...I'm just saying.

So after baking all day we decided to order dinner. Well that was a crappy idea. I called to place the order at 6:15 and was sold that the food would arrive between 30 and 45 minutes. Yeah, dinner got here at 8pm. You'd think there was a blizzard or something outside but it was just normal snow fall. Like 1 to 3 cm. We got the food for 50% off but seriously, it wasn't worth it. By the time the food got to us what was meant to be hot was cold, what was meant to be cold was hot, the pitas were soggy because the tomatoes had been left cut on the sandwich for too long. All in all, I would have rather eaten fudge for dinner but my husband doesn't seem to think that its healthy for me or Demi. I can tell you that Demi liked the sliver of fudge a lot more than then food she ate. Oh, maybe thats me talking and not Demi.

So I've been reading people's blogs and following them on twitter and I think to myself "These people are freaking crazy!" What people? The pregnant ones. The ones who ask 80 million questions about their pregnancy, the ones who I am CONVINCED are only having "phantom" symptoms of various things. Ones who want to feel something because they think they should or because everyone else is. Yeah it bothers me. Like sure, I have pregnancy questions too but I don't bother the whole net with them. Either I troll the internet for medical journals to answer my questions or I call my OBGYN who is not only amazing but her assistant knows SOOOOO much. I always get an answer right away. If the assistant doesn't know then the doctor personally calls me back before the end of the day.

On Friday I kind of avoided blogging and being on the internet because in all honesty I started to get paranoid. Normally Demi kicks me a lot but on Friday she was rather still. I started to wonder a million things, mainly "Is something wrong". Instead of posting it on FB, my blog, and twitter I sat online and did some research. Turns out that for as far long as I am its very normal for Demi not to always be active. It's after 28 weeks that I should be concerned if I don't feel her move too much. I read on the internet but I was still a bit freaked out so I called our Info Sante number (Health Info) and spoke to a live nurse who told me its very normal. If I was really freaked out I could try to push on various places on my tummy to try to get a reaction out of her. I did that and I laid on the couch on my side and suddenly my little soccer player was on fire.

I guess my point is that while although Twitter, Facebook, and blogs are meant to be an outlet and a good place to get advice, I wouldn't trust my babies health or life to it. Sure a lady in North Carolina might have experienced something similar and thinks its normal while a lady in Texas never did and thinks its horrible and I should rush to the hospital. Social networking sites and blogs really shouldn't take the place of a health care professional.

Okay enough ranting. I'm going to lay down because very soon I'm going to fall asleep at the computer. Part 2 of baking commences tomorrow.

NaBloPoMo: 11/31

NaBloPoMo - A day late

So I don't know if you guys have heard of this or not but there is a thingie going around that bloggers call NaBloPoMo where bloggers will post one blog a day for an entire month. It's usually done in November but some are doing it in December. Some including me. Ari who is the most active blogger I know, Heather who has taken a long hiatus, and Ashley who was a bit spotty with her postings. So thats basically my ENTIRE blogging circle. I read a lot of blogs, have some followers but those are the bloggers I keep in touch with the most. Hopefully doing this together will help us all stay motivated. I've been so busy lately and just always feel that I never have any time for myself that hopefully NaBloPoMo will help me set aside some much needed me time!

So enough of NaBloPoMo. I did something very very interesting today. Interesting in an eerie way. Today my husband and I, along with his brother and sister in law, went to Mont Royal Cemetery (MRC) to reserve our plots. Yes, you read that right. We reserved our graves. Interesting right? Kind of freaky too? Why in the heck would I do that if I'm only 28 years old?

Well, George's mother died unexpectedly a bit under two years ago. We were all emotional and shaken up and then struggling to find a nice place to lay her to rest. On top of that, when you go to make funeral arrangements they want to charge you an arm and a leg for their services. The funeral home charges you for the wake, the flowers, the hearse, and of course the casket and of course they are going to charge you premium rates. I can honestly tell you that we paid over $30,000 to bury my mother in law because the funeral home takes advantage of you when you are in need.

Last week George's partner buried his father. They were a bit smarter about it. The father was ill and they had been expecting this for quite some time so the went to the funeral complex AHEAD of time and booked a package. They pre-paid for everything and the only arrangements they had to make for the wake and the funeral were actual small details like, "what type of floral arrangements do you want? What time do you want the funeral to be."

Of course being curious we had found a nice way to ask about how much they paid vs how much we paid and we found out that it was a lot cheaper. My sister in law called the MRC to find out if there were any graves available close to where our mother in law is buried. It turns out that they are making another circle and that there is a waiting list. When we told them that we were looking into purchasing 10 side by side double plots they bumped us on the waiting list and gave us an appointment for today. The cost of a double plot (27 sq ft) is $7,500. When we buried my mother in law it was $5,000 so basically its increasing at about $1,250 a year. Let's just do some math shall we? I'm 28 years old and plan on living until at least 80...can you imagine how much a plot would cost in 52 years? $72,500 IF there are spaces available. Okay so maybe I'm over doing it. At the meeting today we had said that in about 20 years from now these plots would be going for about $30,000. Could you imagine leaving your spouse or children with that kind of expense? George and I put 20% down on our plot and signed an interest free contract to pay it off over the next 5 years. I think its a great investment because you won't be burdening your family with these kind of decisions when you pass away.


My parents don't live in Montreal right now but they do plan on moving back here eventually. I discussed this with them and also discussed with them how the other family did an entire package and my parents were completely on board. For the time being I just put their 20% down and gave some post dated checks and when they get here in the winter they can decide on what kind of package they'd like as far as a 1 or 2 day wake, type of casket, and tomb stone they want.

I know it sounds eerie, creepy, and a bit sad but we look at it like planning for our future. Let's be honest shall we, we will all die one day. Why not be prepared? You can get taken advantage of when you are feeling extremely emotional or you can have everything prepared and you can just mourn without having all these big decisions to make.

What I found the creepiest is that one of George's cousins bought a plot for his mother, a plot for him and his wife, and one for his kids. Um your KIDS? You have two young and healthy kids. Two kids that will probably grow up and get married. Get married to people who might not want to be buried with their inlaws. Let's be honest, most times the women go get buried where their husbands are. He has one boy and one girl. Does he plan on them sharing? Give it to just one of the kids? Sell it to someone else at a later date? I dunno, I found that part really weird.

Oh lets talk about something a bit more cheerful. I went to my OBGYN today. I lost a pound (I still weigh less than when I joined Weight Watchers)but the baby is growing just fine. She kind of freaked on me (OBGYN) she was like, "I can't yell at you for not gaining weight because your stomach is growing fine, your uterus has expanded properly and your daughter is growing at a great rate (length/weight)."

1/31 NaBloPoMo

Gosh I'm Bad at this Blogging Thing

Seriously, how bad can I possibly be at this entire blogging thing? I keep on telling myself that I'm going to blog and I never get around to it. Mainly because I just don't feel like I ever have time anymore. It seems that for the last three weeks every single day I am rushing home from work only to have to go somewhere else, do something, pick up something. GAAAAAH! Does it ever end? I'm actually looking forward to the snow so I have an excuse for not being able to do anything else... "Oh sorry I'm pregnant and its slippery outside..." "Oh I'm sorry, my husband took the SUV and I'm not going to take the convertible out in this weather..." Yep, being pregnant has more perks then just bringing a little person into the world!

So before I get to the actual subject of this blog I thought I'd share some news with you all. I went for my ultra sound on Nov. 11th and everything is great. My baby is developing perfectly and I no longer have to call the baby "it" "lil person" or any other cute nicknames, its a GIRL! Oddly enough EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE thought I was going to have a boy but like I said, my baby just to spite everyone would come out a girl! At first I was shocked and maybe a little disappointed. I really wanted a boy first. We want 3 kids and I've always wanted the boy to be first so he could be the protective big brother but I'm very happy with my little girl. Her name is Demitra Hope Ourlastnamehere. But we will call her Demi for short.

I did a 3D ultra sound and we were able to see soooo many wonderful details from the baby. Like, I can tell you that she has my lips and she has big eyes like me. She opened her eyes for a spilt second and all 3 of us were like WOAH! Big eyes! My husband has small eyes so we knew she was looking like me! I'm totally down with that. I think I'm pretty freaking cute and apparently my baby is on the right track.

Things with work are going pretty okay as well. I still hate my co-worker and think shes a lying sack of shit but I am working well with her. I figure if my boss wants to ignore all the signs then its just not my place to step in and say something. I mean, this girl is in the early to mid 30's and constantly needs emails or telephone calls to remind her to send in expense reports, she wants to go against everything our head office says...she's just a huge pain in the ass but the way I see it...I'm going to be on mat leave by Feb 2010 and I won't have to deal with her for another 14 months. What do I care if she pisses off my replacement? Good luck to them!


Now onto the subject of this blog post: MONEY!!!

Now I totally get that times are tougher this year than other years. Our economy is in the crapper, people are losing their jobs left right and center and of course to even out the playing field everything is more expensive but is that any excuse to be living paycheck to paycheck?

I've been reading things on Facebook and other friends blogs where all the do is complain about the lack of money. It's like, "If I buy shoes that I really NEED, I won't be able to eat lunch for the next week". Um excuse me? Most people whose blogs I read and who I friend on Facebook are people who are employed full time and have been for some time now and in their mid 20's to early 30's. Didn't we already pass that paycheck to paycheck time in our lives? The times that we just made the minimum payment on our credit cards and immediately spent it after the transaction went through?

For those people who do live paycheck to paycheck, how do you handle an unexpected expense like your car breaking down, getting into a car accident and not being able to work for a few days/weeks? What if you need to take time off of work to help a sick parent? How do you handle that loss of income?

Now I'm no money guru and I'm horrible with saving money but I do it because I'd hate to be in a position where I had to choose between putting gas in my car and eating dinner. (And no I'm not being extreme in my examples, this is shit I've read!) How can you be so tight for money? How can you live in such a bind? So restricted, so...not living?

I'm 28 years old, married, and expecting my first child. I'm a homeowner, a pet owner, and we have two cars. Unexpected expenses ALWAYS happen. A trip to the vet, a car in the shop, something at the house not working 100%, renovating the basement, business expenses (husband owns his own companies) and I'm just thinking if we spent every single penny we made before we even made it how in the heck could we afford anything else? We like to shop and buy new clothes (hey I AM gaining weight slowly here), we like to buy our dog new treats and toys, we like to eat out every now and then, of course we are getting Demi's room ready and planning her baby shower...and I just couldn't imagine being happy if every penny I had was allotted somewhere. I don't think I'd be very happy if I always had to tell myself if I do one thing then I can't do another. And I'm not talking big things either here folks, its not like I'm debating between a 7 day trip to a 5 star resort or a 5 day trip to Vegas. I'm talking about either a new pair of winter boots not having lunch money for a week. Ummm? Kinda hard to decide and be happy about the decision right?


I dunno, maybe I'm crazy but I don't think that anyone in our age bracket that is employed full time should ever be in these positions!

What makes me laugh a lot is that one of the main reasons that our high school reunion turn out was so low is because people complained about the cost of the ticket. The tickets were between 64$ to 75$ depending on how early you purchased your ticket. You KNEW for 10 years that you'd have a 10 year reunion...Although we hadn't given the location to our classmates in advance we did give them an estimated price range (between 50$ to 80$ per person) and people were fine with it...or so they said. Our reunion website had like over 100 people as "attending reunion" and the actual turn out was kinda blah. When asking classmates why they didn't come their first response was "money." Wow. Oddly enough, people didn't want to pay 70$ a person for a reunion but now they want to do a 15 year reunion on a CRUISE! Yeah okay folks. You didn't want to pay less than a 100$ per person but you are going to pay upwards of 1000$ per person to be on a cruise ship for 5 to 7 days with a bunch of people you barely want to see for a few hours every 10 years? Okay.. you plan that and let me know how the turn out is okay?