Whoah, BABY!

Here it is ladies and gents,  The Bump.  I apologize for the shotty photography- I will never master the art of the iPhone self portrait, so I'll have to make due with what I've got.  I'm just about 26 weeks in and I'm certainly starting to feel it.  Nothing terrible, thankfully, it's just getting harder to get up and I'm starting to slow down from my usual quick pace.  Some women are graceful when they're pregnant- they thoroughly enjoy their expanding bellies and feel beautiful, and empowered, and dare I say, sexy.  I am not one of those people.  I think it's amazing that there's a little person in my belly, and I love feeling him, but I don't feel beautiful; I feel big, and clunky, and completely uncoordinated (I'm starting to get to that point where I'm constantly bumping my bump on things).  I try to cut myself some slack- after all I'm only 5 feet tall (yes, I'm THAT short!), and when you're pregnant  and short the only place for a growing baby to go is out- so I will never carry like Gisele Bunchden.  All that whining aside, we are unbelievably lucky that, thus far, the pregnancy has been extraordinarily easy and going very quickly.

A month or so ago, I posted some of my pregnancy raves (mostly stores and a few products).  Since then I've added a couple more to my repertoire, and decided to throw in a few things that aren't necessarily pregnancy related, but great nonetheless.

Old Navy maternity: I really need to give a second shout out to Old Navy maternity.  I've had a miserable time finding clothes I like that aren't super expensive.  Not to mention, most maternity clothes are sold online, and unfortunately, you end up losing the shipping costs if you need to return them.  Even if it's "free shipping" to you, when you return either you pay out of pocket or they send you a label and deduct shipping costs from your refund.  ON is amazing that they afford free returns by mail (they send the shipping label and all!).  Since they're reasonably priced, I don't feel so bad getting a funky piece that I can't use all the time; I don't know about you but when I'm spending $80-$100 on maternity pants, I want to be able to wear them often!

Special K- Red Berries: I don't really know why I feel a need to share, but I'm madly in love with Special K- red berries.  There are days when it's unbelievably hard to eat healthy in the face of pregnancy cravings and a constantly rumbling tummy.  When I start my day with a healthy bowl of cereal (and usually some pineapple or banana right after) I try to eat healthier through the day; and if I don't, I know the wee one has gotten a bit of vitamins and good nutrition from breakfast.  I've always liked cereal, but I've really never loved one, and certainly never ate a bowl thinking "Wow, this is REALLY good!" However, every bowl I've had I really enjoy, and look forward to every morning.

Hallmark.com: This one isn't really related to pregnancy, but I've used it quite a few times since we had the nug and I don't know why anyone wouldn't use it!  You can send Christmas cards, birth announcements, birthday invitations, thank you cards, almost anything you can think of without ever printing a label or sticking a stamp: Hallmark does ALL of the work for you!  All you do is create an address book, and when you make your card online, you select your recipients and Hallmark sends them (they will charge the cost of stamps, but they often run promotions where they will wave that and send them for free).  Even if you prefer to receive them yourself to preview before sending, Hallmark will address and stamp your envelopes free of charge before shipping them to you!  As for quality, it IS Hallmark and they've yet to disappoint us.

Last but not least:

Toodledo: I downloaded this app for my iPhone about 2 months ago.  We all know what a list maker I am, but how terrible I am at actually following the lists.  Toodledo not only helps me manage the things I have to get done, but sets reminders to my phone (which, lets face it, most of us have on us 24/7).  You can also sync it to their website to use on your computer/iPad.  With so much going on around here between now and August, I've really started to feel a bit overwhelmed (toss in some pregnancy brain forgetfulness and it's a hot mess).  Having this app is helping me keep my ducks in a row!

That's all the raves I've got for now.  The nug was sick the first half of the week -i.e. she spent two days on the couch with (on top of) me watching Mickey mouse and munching on crackers.  Now that she's feeling better and off to school for a couple of hours, I've got a TON to get done because the hubs and I are off to AC tomorrow (woohooooo!).  I hope everyone is having a great week so far!