@alm52386 we send birth announcements for our kids, but our family doesn't assume or do gifts for them. It's more of a "hey! Here I am world!" We also hand write notes on the back to thank anyone again who gave gifts (we do that with a thank you card immediately, but this feels more "from the baby").
I finally posted our baby announcement on FB. I had a completely different plan but I was tired of waiting so I took a pic of DD and DS with dirty faces and sweaty hair, with my US.
My mom just came over. I had just got out of the shower and had no makeup on. They live nearby and I saw her on Saturday. She told me that I seemed bigger than last time she saw me. I agreed that my belly does seem to be growing fast, but she went on to tell me my face was bigger too. This is my first pregnancy and it is difficult enough to deal with all this weight gain. I hadn't noticed that my face was bigger but I'm sure I will now. Not nice mom.
@alm52386 we did an announcement for our twins but I never thought it was a gift thing... we get them all the time and don't send gifts... some I've been to a shower but others not... I think of it more like a Christmas card. If it helps, no one sent us a gift following our announcement cards and we sent it to our entire Christmas card list.
Wait, announcements are for gifts??? I did them with both our kids, but never knew this!! I have never received a gift nor sent a gift for the hundreds that I receive.
My MIL doesn't know what she's talking about. I'm going to tell her (or have DH tell her) there will be no announcements sent out in the mail. She can call/text/email her friends when the baby is born. I don't think it's her place to mail out announcements. That's for DH and I to do if we decide to do it. Ugh she's annoying. I feel like people sometimes bring gifts when they come see the baby. Not when they get an announcement! I've never mailed a gift after receiving an announcement. Not even every time I go see a new baby!
We did an announcement and definitly did not get gifts. I have never seen announcements from anyone but the parents and I have never sent a gift when I received an announcement.
@alm52386 I think birth announcements definitely come from the parents, not the grandparents. But maybe she can "help" you come up with a list. Including the random people she wants on that list might give you more cards to play in keeping them off the shower list. I don't think of birth announcements as calls for gifts, but I wouldn't bung that up to her. Who cares if she thinks people will send you gifts and then they don't? Better than her inviting them to your shower and then they really do have to get you gifts. She seems weirdly fixated on forcing her friends to buy you presents... but if she can think she is succeeding by adding a couple people to your announcement list, that seems like a small price to pay for avoiding the drama. I don't know her though. Maybe that kind of compromise would just open the door for more negotiations.
@ellie111227 thanks for the idea! I honestly don't even know if we are going to do announcements at all! I hadn't thought about it! I have a feeling DH will say no to that and I don't really care one way or the other. We already told her she needs to keep her list to a minimum for the shower because it's at my mom's friends house and we don't want more than 20 people there. And yes, she thinks everyone wants to buy us shit. She even said the more people I invite to the shower, the more gifts I get!! That's not the point of a shower! Now I just don't want a shower at all!
We send send a postcard announcement to friends and family...we've gotten dozens and they never seemed like like gift grab to me. I've never sent a gift because of them. MIL also submitted an announcement to DHs hometown newspaper.
@Stankonia2014 thanks! Me too. My mom gut just tells me we're missing something, but I also don't want to be that crazy mom either. The balance and guessing game with kids is exhausting!
Vince actually worked with DH at Sid Dillon in the summer back when I was pregnant with DS. He came over one night when we were watching some fights and he came up to me all awkward and shy and then asked if he could touch my very pregnant belly. I laughed so hard because he's such a big dude and yet he was so curious about what that felt like! He was always so nice and fun to hang around.
@alm52386 It sounds like your MIL needs to respect what you and your H want to do, regardless of what she wants. I had something similar happen with my MIL. I think some people get so excited about being grandparents that they forget that it's not about them, and that unfortunately their excitement won't always be placated. It seems like you have a legitimate reason to limit your invitation list already that your MIL needs to respect. Is this an issue your H can address with her so you're out of the middle? A thought may be that this might be an issue he needs to work out with her, and set some limits.
Complete randomness. Anyone else notice the bigger their bump gets, the smaller their love handles look? I'm pretty sure it's just pulling the fat forward. But I like it! Especially because anytime I gain weight it goes right to my hips, so I'll take any help I can get!
And as for the announcement talk, I know I did some for my first and never got gifts. I honestly don't remember if I did them for my second. Whoops!
Mom to Madison- 5 and Lillian 2....and now surprise baby #3!
We did not send announcements but our parents probably texted photos to everyone they know. I just always make sure to text "appropriate" photos only since I know they'll be sent to others. We did get a lot of gifts through our parents, like neighbors and friends would just give gifts to them which they'd give to us. I just made sure to write thank you cards and give them back to our parents, who'd either address and mail them or hand them directly to the person. This was my happy medium and it worked well. My MIL was just saying how many gifts we'll receive for this second baby and I'm like please spread the word that we need nothing, I have no room, and I don't want people to waste their money. As it is, I've been sorting and donating some of DD's clothes because we just have too much. It's lovely that people are so generous and excited but also completely overwhelming.
On the subject of announcements...I do feel like they're a nice thing to send, especially photo ones, to the people who attended the baby shower(s) at least. A lot of the people at our shower were extended relatives that we only see over the holidays (if that) and they were kind and generous enough to get us a gift before DD was born, so it seemed appropriate to inform them of her safe arrival and send them a picture. We didn't send them to everyone we knew or anything...just family and close friends and our parents' friends that attended the shower. I always like to receive pictures of my friends' new babies, and a lot of them don't post to social media, so I enjoy getting them.
Agree with @delujm0 overall. We don't live close to lots of family and friends, and everyone said how much they appreciated the pics (and we hear the same thing with holiday cards). We were also surprised to receive a decent number of gifts for DD - but I hadn't had a baby shower, so perhaps people felt more inclined to send something than if they'd already given a gift prior to her arrival.
I view announcements as Christmas card-esque, not gift grabby. I sent them out with DS1 and DS2, especially since all of my side of the family and friends growing up lived 7+ hours away. I receive announcements all the time and don't send anything simply because I received an announcement.
I view announcements as Christmas card-esque, not gift grabby. I sent them out with DS1 and DS2, especially since all of my side of the family and friends growing up lived 7+ hours away. I receive announcements all the time and don't send anything simply because I received an announcement.
I agree. I didn't send with 1 & 2 and I wish I had. I would like to do it this time but now I feel a little weird about it since I didn't do it with the others.
Me: 36; DH: 38 DD: 7; DS1: 4; DS2 due 6-21-17! **TW** MMC & D&C Aug 2016
We followed up with the pedi today on DS's leg and they're sending us on to an orthopedist. Our pedi is thinking a possible meniscus tear or some other sort of tear in the knee. There just seems to be a lot of instability in his knee and not much improvement being made. Our pedi didn't want to order an MRI without an orthopedist's opinion, though. Thankfully we got in on Friday so not too long of a wait!
Complete randomness. Anyone else notice the bigger their bump gets, the smaller their love handles look? I'm pretty sure it's just pulling the fat forward. But I like it! Especially because anytime I gain weight it goes right to my hips, so I'll take any help I can get!
And as for the announcement talk, I know I did some for my first and never got gifts. I honestly don't remember if I did them for my second. Whoops!
Yes! It was as if pregnancy rebooted my metabolism. Aside from normal trying to eat healthyish, I wasn't very careful with what I ate while pregnant last time, and walked out of the hospital 10lbs lighter than my pre pregnancy weight. Hopefully I won't puff up like a hot marshmallow this time.
@awoodruff27 ugh, definitely not in the same boat. My love handles grow with my bump, I don't wear tight shirts because of it. In fact my first pregnancy my sides were the first place my stretch marks showed up on.
I have fat rolls on my back now.... never had that before. I also had to give up wearing my skimpy pretty little panties in favor of larger tent like undies. My hubs laughs at me when I try to wear my pretty under things.... he's like I don't even know why you're trying.
@Wearmi1 That reminds me of my husband's weird opinion of literally all my panties. He says he doesn't understand how they stay up because they don't come up all the way to my waist. He says he likes how mine look, but he "feels bad" for me because he thinks they must be falling down all the time.
Complete randomness. Anyone else notice the bigger their bump gets, the smaller their love handles look? I'm pretty sure it's just pulling the fat forward. But I like it! Especially because anytime I gain weight it goes right to my hips, so I'll take any help I can get!
And as for the announcement talk, I know I did some for my first and never got gifts. I honestly don't remember if I did them for my second. Whoops!
Yes! It was as if pregnancy rebooted my metabolism. Aside from normal trying to eat healthyish, I wasn't very careful with what I ate while pregnant last time, and walked out of the hospital 10lbs lighter than my pre pregnancy weight. Hopefully I won't puff up like a hot marshmallow this time.
Same, I feel like I can't put weight on even with MS being a somewhat faint memory. I will start watching it though, sometimes weight just comes on in a spurt!
@shmarpler with my last pregnancy I gained a good 35lbs, but most of it came in the last few weeks as water weight thanks to pre-e. Within 3 weeks I was back to my normal clothes.
So far this pregnancy, I'm still down 4 lbs from where I started, and I'm almost 18 weeks. But the bump is definitely there, so clearly my weight has just redistributed to my belly (and my boobs, which were plenty big enough to begin with). If I stay on the same tragectory, I'm on track to be below my prepregnancy weight after I give birth. But who knows what will happen if Pre-e decides to come out to play again.
I am so sick of this winter. I feel like I haven sick basically since Thanksiving. I had a nasty chest cold that week that kept me up coughing at night, I've had the stomach bug (twice), and now I have awful conjestion/head cold giving me horrible sinus pressure and making it difficult to breath. I still have 2 more months of this crap (at least!).
@awillis13 Love It for solidarity. I feel like I've been sick forever... exaggerating, I know... but I'm feeling run down again today and the sinus pressure/face pain is back. So I must be getting sick again.
I am am sick and tired of being sick and tired... and I don't have time for this shit!!
@silliegirlie143 omg the sinus/face pain! I also am getting achy in my lower back, that sick/flu-like ache, I'm just waiting for it to finally hit its peak....
I know I'm a little late but I still wanted to send my Ts&Ps to you @Wino0920 ! I'm so sorry for your loss and I hope you can somehow find peace at this very difficult time!
Today is my Friday and I couldn't be more excited. I took tomorrow off for my anatomy scan, because the only available time was smack in the middle of the day.
So last pregnancy I judged how close my EDD was by the expiration of my dairy products and today I noticed that my cheese expires after our EDDs. It's getting closer!
I'm weird, I know. I get super geeked when my sour cream (my love of sour cream is insane) and milk expires after my EDD.
I did the same thing when I was getting married! When my creamer expired after our wedding date I was all 'It's getting clooooosssseeee!'
Re: Weekly Randoms 1/23
Vince actually worked with DH at Sid Dillon in the summer back when I was pregnant with DS. He came over one night when we were watching some fights and he came up to me all awkward and shy and then asked if he could touch my very pregnant belly. I laughed so hard because he's such a big dude and yet he was so curious about what that felt like! He was always so nice and fun to hang around.
Is this an issue your H can address with her so you're out of the middle? A thought may be that this might be an issue he needs to work out with her, and set some limits.
And as for the announcement talk, I know I did some for my first and never got gifts. I honestly don't remember if I did them for my second. Whoops!
Mom to Madison- 5 and Lillian 2....and now surprise baby #3!
BFP #1 6/13 DD 3/14
Mirena 10/14-5/16
BFP #2 9/2/16, CP confirmed 9/8/16
BFP #3 10/10/16 EDD 6/22/17
for those that get it...
Me: 36; DH: 38
DD: 7; DS1: 4; DS2 due 6-21-17!
**TW**
MMC & D&C Aug 2016
Yes! It was as if pregnancy rebooted my metabolism. Aside from normal trying to eat healthyish, I wasn't very careful with what I ate while pregnant last time, and walked out of the hospital 10lbs lighter than my pre pregnancy weight. Hopefully I won't puff up like a hot marshmallow this time.
K born 8/31/12
C born 1/11/14
BFP #3 Nov 2014: D&C January 2015
BFP #4 Sept 2016: Due May 31 2017
BFP #1 6/13 DD 3/14
Mirena 10/14-5/16
BFP #2 9/2/16, CP confirmed 9/8/16
BFP #3 10/10/16 EDD 6/22/17
So far this pregnancy, I'm still down 4 lbs from where I started, and I'm almost 18 weeks. But the bump is definitely there, so clearly my weight has just redistributed to my belly (and my boobs, which were plenty big enough to begin with). If I stay on the same tragectory, I'm on track to be below my prepregnancy weight after I give birth. But who knows what will happen if Pre-e decides to come out to play again.
I am am sick and tired of being sick and tired... and I don't have time for this shit!!
DH: 35 | Me: 29
BFP #1- 07.25.12, EDD: 03.24.13, DD born 03.26.13
Surprised BFP #2- 02.25.15, EDD: 10/29/15 |*m/c 7w4d, D&C 04.02.2015
BFP #3- 01.21.16, EDD: 09.29.26 |*m/c-blighted ovum 2.19.16 8w1d, D&C 03.04.16
BFP #4- 05.24.16, EDD: 02.04.17 |*natural m/c- 07.08.16, 9w1d
BFP #5- 09/25/16, EDD: 06.07.17 GROW, BABY, GROW!
Mom to Madison- 5 and Lillian 2....and now surprise baby #3!