Check In w/o 12/12

iiirene

FTM/STM/TTM+: 
EDD/Weeks+Days: 
Baby is the size of: 
Team blue/pink/green:
Upcoming Appointments: 
How are you feeling?: 
Rants/Raves:

GTKY: FTM what holiday traditions are you excited to start with your baby? STM+ What is your favorite holiday tradition with your kid(s)?

etnyah

FTM/STM/TTM+: STM

EDD/Weeks+Days: 4/5, 23+5

Baby is the size of: 

Team blue/pink/green: pink!

Upcoming Appointments: 24 week appt Thursday 

How are you feeling?: a few aches and pains, but overall good!

Rants/Raves: We finally got our tree up last night! Starting to look a little more festive here.

GTKY: FTM what holiday traditions are you excited to start with your baby? STM+ What is your favorite holiday tradition with your kid(s)? Hmm. Is it bad that we don’t really have any? He hasn’t been into holidays of any kind so we kind of just go through the motions. We have traditions, but yesterday was the first time he showed any interest in the tree (he helped decorate a little!) so that was cute. 

scaredunprepared

@etnyah my husband isn't into decorating, so most of that falls on me. He helps if he sees I'm doing it, but will ask "are we done now?" after like 1/4 of the ornaments are on the tree. It's kind of annoying, but I know I'm way more into it, and find joy in it, while he thinks it's a chore. I think as the kids get more into it, so will he as he sees the joy it brings them.  

etnyah

@scaredunprepared oh my H is the same, he doesn’t really participate in decorating but that’s fine with me because I’m very opinionated about where the decorations go. I have more patience for little kids putting decorations in a clump at the bottom, but I don’t accept it from an adult lol. As long as H bring the tree inside and set it up, we’re good! 

Also I think I should have clarified, by “he” I meant my son. He’s only been around for three (now almost four) Christmases and there’s a limit to how much babies and tiny toddlers can do and understand, so it’s early days for forming traditions for us. Now that he’s bigger I should probably come up with more things though, making decorations and baking or something! As usual, the holidays snuck up on me too quickly. Next year I’ll set a reminder to start earlier!

scaredunprepared

@etnyah lol whoops! 😆 Definitely thought you meant your husband. Do you have traditions from your childhood to want to continue?

etnyah

@scaredunprepared I do, but it’s all too labor intensive for me lol. My mom was a SAHM and I’m not, so I don’t have the time or energy to do all the elaborate things she did. Maybe I’ll figure out some less labor intensive versions. I am not designing and creating a new gingerbread castle from scratch every year, for example

iiirene

FTM/STM/TTM+: STM
EDD/Weeks+Days: 23 weeks/ April 10
Baby is the size of: a burrito 
Team blue/pink/green: blue
Upcoming Appointments: next week for check up/covid booster
How are you feeling?: tired and ready for winter break. It overall really good
Rants/Raves: rave- I finished up all my Christmas shopping this weekend. Rant- my husband is a notoriously bad last minute shopper. Most times he just goes to the mall and picks out some random stuff. It drives me nuts. He’s not shopping until next Friday. 

GTKY: STM+ What is your favorite holiday tradition with your kid(s)? It’s really simple but I love that we have made an effort to spend Christmas morning just my husband, me, and our children. My mom would probably prefer we spend the whole day with her but I love our slow, easy Christmas mornings opening presents and eating cinnamon rolls. We let the craziness ensue after

scaredunprepared

@etnyah yeah that's nuts. That's what pre-made gingerbread house kits are for!

iiirene

@etnyah I’ve also realized I’m not super into any of the traditions from my childhood. I think it’s because I grew up in a very small town so the traditions are different from what’s offered here. Being pregnant has been just what I needed to say no to the things I don’t want to do though. We had a nice relaxing weekend at home for the first time in a long time and it was so wonderful. 

acleverusername

@etnyah hopefully your son will get even more into Christmas / decorating as he gets older. 
@scaredunprepared my H is also not into decorating (but mostly because he doesn't like to complicate / add to our list of chores). He does actually love it when everything is nice and decorated. His (late) Mom really loved Christmas though, so I know it's inside him somewhere. I personally love decorating, but have had to scale back in the last few years given all the moving we've done. When I relocated from Canada > US, most of the belongings I stored at my sister's place were Christmas decorations. She... erm... didn't really appreciate that. 
@iiirene I love the simplicity of just spending a lazy morning with your immediate family. 

I didn't get a chance to post my update last week because of work being insane (3 days I worked until 8pm!) but I ended up doing really great work on a mega-important initiative and I'm getting lots of kudos for that now. Alas, I was an absentee member of the board last week. 

FTM/STM/TTM+: FTM

EDD/Weeks+Days: 24+1/April 2

Baby is the size of: nope

Team blue/pink/green: green-like

Upcoming Appointments: Jan 6 for my 28 week appointment

How are you feeling?: Oh man, I'm sure this is going to bite me on the behind, but I'm having one of those "excellent" 2nd trimester experiences. I mean really the only complaints I have is the sleeping discomfort, but it's getting better with all the hacks I'm employing. I just hope that it doesn't get much worse heading into 3rd trimester. 

Rants/Raves: My biggest rave is that only have 3 more working days this year! Hooray! I'm taking a week off next week, and then our company shuts down between Christmas and NY. Plus, because xmas eve and NYD fall on a weekend, we get an extra day off on the other side. We were looking at having a pretty quiet holiday, but then my in-laws decided they will come visit us after all (we're delighted since we don't know when we'll see them next, and traveling to see them is just out of the question (their guest beds are SUPER uncomfortable; lol). So, they'll be here here for 7 days. Then a friend (she's my sister-from-a-different-ma'am-and-mister; her parents were my landlords for like 10 years, and they call me their 3rd daughter, so she's basically family) is going to come visit from LA for a few days after. She's at travel nurse from Canada and is going through a separation so I think she's really craving some family-like time, and her parents spend the winter in Florida so it's too far to travel esp with 2 big dogs. 

GTKY: FTM what holiday traditions are you excited to start with your baby? STM+ What is your favorite holiday tradition with your kid(s)? Not too sure yet, but it'll probably something decorating related. For one of our earlier dates, H and I went glass blowing, and he subsequently had an idea to make a glass-blowing ornament each year. Well, COVID kind of kiboshed those plans, but we're hoping to eventually get into that. I think we'll definitely keep up the tradition of buying a "real" tree. 

nsk489

FTM/STM/TTM+: STM
EDD/Weeks+Days: 4/19, 21w5d
Baby is the size of: as long as a toothbrush
Team blue/pink/green: green
Upcoming Appointments: Jan 5 I think?
How are you feeling?: Omg like absolute garbage. I've been fighting off a head cold or sinus infection or something for almost a week now. My head feels so foggy and I am drained
Rants/Raves: not really a rant or rave--just can't believe how fast Christmas is approaching. Starting to feel overwhelmed like I do every year when I know we are traveling soon and there is so much to do beforehand

GTKY: FTM what holiday traditions are you excited to start with your baby? STM+ What is your favorite holiday tradition with your kid(s)? My son is only 1.5 so this is his 2nd Christmas, so we don't really have much in the way of holiday traditions yet. We have cut down our own tree every year in the forest for 3 years in a row now, so we plan on making that an annual tradition. Also last year during gift opening, DH and I spiked our coffee with eggnog that our friend made/gifted us. We both joked that maybe that could be our annual tradition (although I guess this year mine will be non-boozy!!) 

returning_bump_member

FTM/STM/TTM+: STM
EDD/Weeks+Days: 24ish 4/1
Baby is the size of: 🚫
Team blue/pink/green: pink
Upcoming Appointments: GD test near NYE, office visit 1/5 (I think)
How are you feeling?: typical aches and pains, prenatal yoga helps
Rants/Raves: Rant: I hate wrapping presents and have yet to start! And our Christmas cards are supposed to arrive tomorrow and they haven't been shipped yet! 
Rave: baby kicks all the time 💗

GTKY: FTM what holiday traditions are you excited to start with your baby? STM+ What is your favorite holiday tradition with your kid(s)? No real traditions, but we enjoy driving around for Christmas lights and there are a lot where we live. Santa pictures was always a fun one but my 10 y.o asked to stop that years ago. 

trubaby411

FTM/STM/TTM+: FTM

EDD/Weeks+Days: 4/12; 22&5

Baby is the size of: dunno

Team blue/pink/green: pink

Upcoming Appointments: 12/19 for 4 week checkup

How are you feeling?: mostly pretty good. I have aches and pains, but acupuncture is helping. Hoping this wave sticks around for a while longer. I'm not ready for the backwards slide yet. 

Rants/Raves: feeling baby throughout the day instead of mostly just at night now. She's been doing barrel rolls lately, and it makes me laugh every time. 

GTKY: FTM what holiday traditions are you excited to start with your baby? STM+ What is your favorite holiday tradition with your kid(s)? I'm not sure. I love putting the tree up every year, and I hope we will drive around and check out the lights, but otherwise I don't have any big plans in mind. 

enw1028

FTM/STM/TTM+: STM

EDD/Weeks+Days: 21w6d, due April 19

Team blue/pink/green: pink 💗

Upcoming Appointments: 12/20 heartbeat check

How are you feeling?: Overall pretty good still! Feeling lots of movement lately! 

Rants/Raves: Really looking forward to the upcoming holiday with my son! He’s 2.5 and really understands it more and is getting excited this year! 

GTKY: FTM what holiday traditions are you excited to start with your baby? STM+ What is your favorite holiday tradition with your kid(s)? — on his first Christmas we purchased Christmas related books and wrote a letter to him on the inside cover about why we liked it & Christmas memories we made that year. We have continued that one - it’ll be really special to read those as he gets older. We also make special ornaments every year (he was super into it this year!) and then bake cookies to leave out for Santa! There are a few events we go to each year that our town holds that are really great for kids! 🎄

v_flowers

FTM/STM/TTM+: FTM

EDD/Weeks+Days: 23 weeks, due 4/11

Baby is the size of: nope

Team blue/pink/green: Pink

Upcoming Appointments: 1/12 for GD test & 28 week appointment.

How are you feeling?: I’m feeling great. I’ve somehow managed to teach an entire semester without getting a cold, Covid, or the flu. I’m almost afraid to even type that. I do get a little achey at night, but I can deal with that as long as I don’t  any more middle of the night leg cramps. 

Rants/Raves:
A rave: We had our follow-up anatomy scan and everything looked great! She did not want to move around a ton, but they finally got to see everything that she was hiding the first time! 

A rant: The bathroom renovation at our house is taking longer than expected due to the holidays. It appears that I will be living in construction chaos until the first week of January. 

GTKY: FTM what holiday traditions are you excited to start with your baby? STM+ What is your favorite holiday tradition with your kid(s)? 

FTM- I want to do it all! I plan on continuing to pick out a live tree, baking cookies, and reading a new holiday book each night before bed. There are also several fun events nearby, including a Polar Express train ride that I would love to make into a tradition. 

allykat92

FTM
EDD/Weeks+Days: 21w+2d die April 24
Baby is the size of: an endive
Team blue/pink/green: pink
Upcoming Appointments: 12/21 AS!

How are you feeling?: Pretty ok. I'm not super uncomfortable and have absolutely no sickness to speak of. Last week I had a 3 day tension headache that was a doozy! But since then I have been alright!

Rants/Raves: My niece is coming in this weekend for the holidays! Itnis my brother's turn for Christmas this year and we are so excited to see her. He has 2 more daughters that live with him, but she was my first niece and I miss seeing her often. She is so excited to come to our house and spend time with us, it is such a special feeling. 

GTKY: FTM what holiday traditions are you excited to start with your baby? STM+ What is your favorite holiday tradition with your kid(s)?
My husband and I are both really excited about Christmas each year. I think we both want to do traditions of baking cookies (I have vintage cookie cutters from my grandma) and setting them out for Santa. I think we would like to try to create something together each year, either food or decorations so we can have a bonding experience for Christmas. We are both artists in our ways so creating things is something we really want to encourage for our kids.

mcmanda4321

FTM/STM/TTM+: FTM
EDD/Weeks+Days: 24w2d due April 4th
Baby is the size of: a waffle iron?
Team blue/pink/green: blue! 💙
Upcoming Appointments: the 22nd then I think we start appointments every two weeks rather than every 4! 😮

How are you feeling?: Pretty good all things considered! *TW: fall and hospital visit*

I actually had a scary fall on Monday. I accidentally dropped my (extremely anxious) dog's leash and she freaked out. She started running around the neighborhood in the dark, so naturally I tried to catch her. I grabbed the leash at one point but she was running so fast she pulled me forward onto my hands and then my belly. 
I got so nervous I called my midwife who told me to go to the hospital. I was hooked up to the monitor for 4.5 hours and got an ultrasound, but everything looked perfectly normal still. So thankful for that! Needless to say, my husband will be walking the dogs or at least coming with me from now on. 
Rants/Raves: only raves this week since I am feeling so thankful to be healthy and safe after that scare. Also the bright side of all of this was that while I was hooked up to the monitor, I started to pair all of the movement sounds with the feeling, and I'm finally starting to feel him move around a lot! So relieved for that!

GTKY: FTM what holiday traditions are you excited to start with your baby? STM+ What is your favorite holiday tradition with your kid(s)?
My husband and I both have divorced and re-married parents, so we essentially have 4 sides of the family to see every holiday. It can get exhausting and chaotic and make it hard to have traditions. We have been talking though that we want to try to "claim" a holiday tradition and invite any family members who care to come to our house. We're considering trying to plan this for Christmas Eve. We'll see how it goes next year!

etnyah

@mcmanda4321 oh my gosh that is so scary! Falling is such a huge fear. I’m so glad both you and baby are okay!

nsk489

@mcmanda4321 so glad you and baby are ok!!

When I was growing up, my mom got tired of dragging us away from our presents on Christmas morning to lug us around to grandparents, aunts/uncles houses, etc.  So she decided that we would be staying home on Christmas day and would go to whoever was hosting Christmas that year for dessert only (so not that crazy early dinner). It was really nice, took a lot of stress off of her, and we still got to see all family and exchange gifts with them. Both sets of grandparents would come see us during the daytime for a little and drop off presents. Not sure how close by all of your family lives but if they live somewhat nearby, maybe something like that (where they come to YOU) would work!

scaredunprepared

@mcmanda4321 definitely scary. So glad you and baby are both OK. I had a similar experience with my first ****TW I was rear ended and went to the hospital for monitoring **** It made me so cautious and anxious!

FTM/STM/TTM+: TTM

EDD/Weeks+Days: 4/4, 24+2 I think

Baby is the size of: canteloupe

Team blue/pink/green: greennnnn!

Upcoming Appointments: just had a cervical check and FFN test yesterday, looks good, cervix is long and closed

How are you feeling?: good! Tues I was nauseous randomly, abs yesterday I had strange cramping immediately after my appointment, but thankfully it went away after resting. 

Rant: hubby was home yesterday to watch the kids while i went to my appointment. He had the nerve to get mad at me for taking too long because he was getting frustrated watching our son. Our 

daughter wasn't even home, I took her to school. He was only home with him for 2.5 hours and was so pissed. Like what the actual fuck? That's the whole reason he took off from work! Does he not realize I deal with this all day, every day???

GTKY: STM+ What is your favorite holiday tradition with your kid(s)? We celebrate Christmas Eve (wigilia) with my family and extended family. It's a big deal, we fast all day until the first star is visible, then we feast on lots of fish and seafood, and kids open presents, and adults do a white elephant exchange. It's my favorite holiday!!! Christmas morning we have done lots of different things. Some years we stay over my sister's and open presents and have breakfast together and go to church. Then we either go to to hubby's side of the family or stay at my sister's. Or years we have Cinnamon rolls at home and open presents at our leisure. Honestly, Christmas has been kind of weird and different since having kids because covid and having newborns aroind Christmas, but I'm excited about it going back to normal hopefully. As for ways we celebrate winter/pre Christmas, we decorate together listening to Christmas music, and this year we started a tradition of a drive through light show and hay ride!

trubaby411

@mcmanda4321 falls are so scary! I'm glad everything is ok with you and baby, and I hope the rest of the way is smooth sailing!

@scaredunprepared I would be so pissed if H was irritated after a couple of hours. Parenting is not just about living in the good moments. We all have to take our turns here, and you need to be able to go to your appointment without worrying about taking care of your son at the same time. Especially if he can take the day off to step in. Boo. 

maggied26

FTM/STM/TTM+: stm

EDD/Weeks+Days: 23 weeks 3 day, due April 12th

Baby is the size of: 

Team blue/pink/green: pink

Upcoming Appointments: sometime in the first week of January for a check up and 1 hour gtt

How are you feeling?: so far pretty good, still tired a lot but I think that's more because I have a hard time sleeping at night most nights. Other than that I've been feeling pretty good

Rants/Raves: so glad I have been feeling the baby kick more frequently, usually every day now! It's definitely a relief since I feel like I've been so anxious this entire time lol. Really no rants, everything has been pretty great lately!

GTKY: FTM what holiday traditions are you excited to start with your baby? STM+ What is your favorite holiday tradition with your kid(s)?
Growing up, we always put up christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving and we listened to Christmas music and drank hot chocolate while we did it. My dad would always add a little extra chocolate and whipped cream on top to make it special haha. So I like to do those things with my daughter who is almost 2 and a half. She had a blast helping me decorate this year and actually did a really good job! As for the actual day of, we always have stuff planned on christmas eve and day. Normally we go to my in laws on christmas eve and my family christmas day but this year it's flipped since my brother in law and his wife are in town on Christmas day. Usually I cook a big breakfast on christmas morning (my mom always referred to it as hillbilly breakfast lol. But it's bacon, eggs, and biscuits and gravy from scratch) but I don't think I'll have time this year. I would like to make it our christmas morning tradition though

iiirene

@scaredunprepared my husband and I actually had a fight about this same thing last week. Even though he isn’t working right now he wanted me to take the day off to stay home with our sick son. The fight ended me me yelling about how frustrating it is that he can’t hand our our son when he is sick. 

scaredunprepared

@iiirene I'm so sorry. It is incredibly frustrating, because are they not also parents??? 😤 

ladyofarlington

I think I missed last week while on our babymoon so catching up now. 😊

FTM/STM/TTM+: STM
EDD/Weeks+Days: 23 weeks last week
Baby is the size of: 🤷‍♀️
Team blue/pink/green: Having another girl!
Upcoming Appointments: glucose test 12/21
How are you feeling?: great! 
Rants/Raves: Our babymoon was fabulous. ❤️

GTKY: FTM what holiday traditions are you excited to start with your baby? STM+ What is your favorite holiday tradition with your kid(s)? We need to make more. I love that we have decided to stay home for Christmas every year and will be spending it at home. After literally traveling back to our hometown every year for over a decade we put a hard boundary in place that we will no longer travel for Christmas. Our family traditions on 12/23, 12/24, and 12/25 will carry on in our memories but we will be starting new ones with our own kids, without the stress of traveling and shuffling between houses. 

nsk489

@ladyofarlington glad you had a great time on your babymoon! Where did you go?

ladyofarlington

nsk489 said:

@ladyofarlington glad you had a great time on your babymoon! Where did you go?

We went to Hawaii!! 😊

scaredunprepared

@ladyofarlington nice! I'm so jealous, never been to Hawaii!