We Are Having a Boy!

My ultrasound was on Friday.  Since our immediate family was all coming over to watch the Alamo Bowl on Saturday, we decided it would be fun to include them in on the surprise.  The ultrasound technician was careful to make sure we didn't see anything that would clue us in on the gender.  She put the gender revealing photos in a sealed envelope for us to open on Saturday.

We waited until half time of the game to open the envelope.  Pearl was very interested in the envelope before hand and played with it a bit while we watched the game.

My sister took a few photos while we opened it up.

Jeremy and I both kind of expected it to be a girl so I was pretty shocked.  It took a while for it to soak in.  I saw the word "BOY" on the first photo, but before I could believe it, I had to look at the other photo to be sure.

right before we opened it, so nervous!

as we are figuring it out.

We are super excited!

-Kira

A New Cousin For Pearl!

Arianna Grace was born yesterday at 7:25 am to my sister-in-law Carolyn and her husband Ben.

She was born 12 days early, is in great health, and has a full head of hair.  Arianna is a tiny and beautiful little girl.

Jeremy and I are so happy that all of our sisters are having babies that will be close in age to Pearl.  My sister Kara had little Tucker on Labor Day and my sister Kacy is due in February as well.

Arianna's birth story was one of those amazing ones that pregnant women dream of having.  Carolyn spent a few hours at home with contractions, but wasn't sure for most of that time whether she was in actual labor or not because they weren't that painful.  She even sent her husband to work!  They eventually did get painful though so she called Ben and they headed to the hospital.  Her doctor walked in with coffee-in-hand expecting to be in for the long haul, but Carolyn was already dilated to 10 cm and fully effaced.  She started pushing right after they arrived at the hospital and Arianna was born an hour later.

What a blessing!

Arianna's stats:

5 lbs 4 oz

17.5 inches long

-Kira

Shopping for Baby

A fun floral exhibit at Pioneer Courthouse Square we saw over the weekend.

We headed downtown on Sunday because Jeremy had a group meeting for one of his classes at the PSU library.  We ate lunch together, then he headed to the library and I did some shopping.

I bought a dress at H&M. I actually have the exact same dress in three different prints now because it fits the belly really well.  Then I tried to shop for baby.  I have literally no idea what I am doing.  Clothes are easy because we obviously know the due date so we can buy items for that time of year.  Music is easy because we know what we like and have had fun buying lullaby versions of some of our favorites.

But, that is all we have purchased.  Music and clothes.  I know a baby needs the basic things like a car seat, bottles, diapers, a crib, and a stroller.  I just have no idea which types of those things would be best for us.  I have looked at the lists of "things to register for" and a lot of them seem completely excessive to me.  I honestly don't even know what half of the stuff is.

I never worked at a daycare, was not a nanny, and I did not have young siblings.  I have never changed a diaper before.  I need help, bad.  Leave a comment and tell me your favorite items for baby, what you think is completely unnecessary from the "registry lists," and things that you didn't think of before that were definitely needed. Also, if you know of any helpful resources I would love to hear about those as well.

We have to register relatively soon and the thought of doing that is starting to stress me out.

Thanks!
-Kira

Mama Knows Best #3 - Breastfeeding

Hi!  My name is Melissa and I am a mother of three (two of them I birthed, one came as a bonus with my husband!).  I write a blog over at www.pdxritchie.com and I was super excited when Kira asked me to be a guest blogger!  I just had a baby so timing was perfect!  One very important part of having a baby this time around was breastfeeding, and here is what I have to share about that.

When I was pregnant with my daughter, 13 years ago, I had all the best intentions of breastfeeding.  I had a long labor that ended in a cesarean delivery.  I did not get to hold her until I was done recovering, which to me felt like hours and I actually don’t know how long it really was.  I remember the nurses helping her to latch on when I was in the hospital and nursing her.  But the morning following our arrival home, she wasn’t staying latched on and kept crying and crying.  I was worried she wasn’t getting anything from me and so I gave her a bottle.  I was young and didn’t know what I was doing, and I was afraid she was starving.  After that she refused my nipple and became a formula fed baby.

Last June, my husband and I celebrated the news of becoming pregnant.  I immediately started reading everything I could get my hands on regarding breastfeeding, determined this time to be successful at it.  I was also fortunate to have several girlfriends that have had babies in the last couple years and were a wealth of knowledge on the breastfeeding front.  From my good friend Julie who nursed for 10 weeks, to my friend Sophia who is still nursing her two year old son.  I figured I could not go wrong this time with all the resources at my fingertips.

My beautiful son Enzo was born on Sunday February 20th.  It was very important to me that I hold him immediately after he was born and get that first skin-to-skin contact that I read about.  And to get him latched on as soon as I could.  I really felt that this was the key to being successful at it.  And while that may be part of it, I believe that my success so far has mostly been due to patience.  He is a whopping 16 pounds, 5 ounces and is only three months old!  I am very pleased to say that he is excellent at nursing and growing fast!  

Here is what I learned along the way, and what items helped me the most:

*  Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers (Book) 

This was invaluable information to me.  Not only did it prepare me for the first few days of nursing, explaining that the “cluster feeding” was what I had experienced with my daughter, when I thought she wasn’t getting any milk because she wouldn’t stay latched on and was fussy.  This is a transition time between your colostrum and when your milk comes in, usually happening on the third or fourth day. So on day three when Enzo was super fussy and wanting to nurse constantly for about 6 hours straight, I stayed patient and just listened to his cues.  And then my milk came in and he was a happy camper.  This book also helped to educate me on the importance of breastfeeding and how our society vews this issue.

*  Lansinoh Brand products

Lansinoh has a lot of things for the breastfeeding Mom.  I used their nipple crème for the first three weeks, to help with the soreness in the beginning.  And yes, you will experience this, but please trust that it goes away and it’s worth it if you can just keep going.  It’s painful at first, every nursing Mom will attest to that.  But it’s not unbearable, I mean come on, you just gave birth!  You can do anything!  The crème is totally safe for baby’s ingestion so you don’t have to worry about wiping it off before nursing.  This comes in handy because I swear, every time I remembered to put some on, five minutes later Enzo would decide he wanted to nurse again!  

I also used their disposable breast pads for leakage remedies.  One thing about breastfeeding that you can count on, are leaking breasts!  As soon as you feel your milk “drop”, it just starts to flow out.  And every woman is different, for me it was a steady drip.  For the first week I felt like a warrior preparing for battle with all the extra padding I had to put on.  Not only are you wearing grown up diapers (if you had a vaginal delivery), at least that’s what they felt like to me, but you are also having to wear pads in your bra so you don’t leak all over everything!  I remember one Monday a couple weeks in, our cloth diaper service showed up to pick up our first bag of dirty diapers and I had forgotten to put them out.  I answered the door with a baby in my arms and a very wet shirt, still in my jammies at noon.  Welcome to motherhood!  I’m sure the driver had seen it all before, he didn’t even flinch.  But it was embarrassing nonetheless.  I used the disposable pads until a month ago when I bought some reusable ones, they are cloth and you just throw them in the wash.  The good thing about these is that you don’t have to keep buying more.  But they are a little thicker than the disposables, so they do tend to show under your shirt.

Which is a good lead-in to my next item…

* Nursing bras & shirts

I bought a couple nursing tank tops from Target before I had my son, so that I would be prepared in the hospital.  I bought two different kinds.  And I quickly learned that the ease of which you can unclip something with one hand is very important to keep in mind.  

These tank tops are awesome, I own two and wear them several times a week.  They are pretty under a button up cardigan.  And nobody knows that they are nursing tanks, they just look like a nice layering tank anyone would wear.

This one was a good idea, looks pretty but totally annoying with the clasp system it has.  I could not get the darn thing undone with one hand, so I had to set baby down and undo it.  Annoying!  I think I have worn it maybe twice, and that was only because the others weren’t clean.

I was given the advice to not purchase a nursing bra until after the baby is born, because you never know what size you will need.  I, for some reason, did not listen to this advice.  So I ended up buying a bra that is too small in the cup area.  Lesson learned.  But I did buy one that was a sports bra style, with the easy to undo clasps, and I love it!  Highly recommend.  It is a nice layer underneath sweaters or t-shirts.  

It’s a  little frustrating that what top you wear every day has to be one you can pull down at the neck to have easy access, which eliminates anything that doesn’t have stretch and/or a button/zip front.  And if you look at tops that are specific for breastfeeding, they are cleverly done so you can have access but most are ridiculously expensive.  I recommend a couple button up cardigans, that you can wear over the nursing tanks.  And a few deep V-neck t-shirts that you can layer over the bra or tanks.  When I return to work in a few weeks I can start wearing all my clothes that I can’t right now, because for pumping purposes it doesn’t really matter.  

*  To cover or not to cover, that is the question

This is a hot topic in our society, and now that I am nursing Mom it really irritates me that it should even be an issue.  Some people think that breastfeeding in public is not okay and should be done in private only. But when you sit down to lunch with the girls (ask Kira, this has happened each time I've met her for lunch with Enzo) and just as your food arrives, baby decides he is hungry - what are you going to do?  Duck into the bathroom to nurse?  Or go to your car?  I say forget about what others think and do what feels right to you.  It’s a natural thing, and more accepted now than ever before.  I have no problem with nursing in public, but I do try to still be discreet.  I don’t just flop my breast out for all to see, but I also don’t hide my baby under a blanket.  I tried that at first, but it was really hot under there and it makes it really difficult to help him latch on when he let’s go accidentally.  I ended up scratching Enzo above the eye with my fingernail as I was blindly searching for his mouth.  That’s when I decided to just do what was best for me.  If you do decide to cover, I suggest the covers that have a opening at the neck that allows you to look down and still see baby.  There's boning around the neckline of it, so this is possible.  I have one, it works well.  Also, some nursing bras and tanks have a layer of fabric that covers that top half of your breast, so that you aren’t completely exposed.  There are options, find what you are comfortable with.

******

As I said before, I truly believe that patience is the key to successful breastfeeding.  Every baby is different and so is every woman.  You might try every trick in the book and still not be able to nurse.  Or you might just be one of the lucky ones and it comes easy for you.  Either way, your baby will still be beautiful and healthy!  And that’s what is most important!  My daughter didn’t have any extra illnesses or issues because she was formula-fed.  

Thank you Kira, for allowing me to share as a guest blogger.  Good luck!  I can’t wait to meet your sweet baby girl!

xoxo

 

**Thank you, Melissa! That information was so helpful and I'm definitely going to get that book.

Again, if anyone is interested in doing a guest mama blog post just shoot me an e-mail (kiralynnpdx@gmail.com).

-Kira

Mama Knows Best #1

Hi friends,

Today is the first guest post in my new "Mama Knows Best" series (thanks for the name suggestion, Lauren!).  Our guest blogger today is Becca from Life @ 1521.  She is a good friend of mine that I met while in college.  We lived in the same house for a year and our husbands actually lived together as well!  She has a super adorable son named Bennett, and based on her experiences with buying items for him, she wanted to share her thoughts on consignment shopping with us.  I will let Becca take over from here...

via

If you know me and have a child or are pregnant, chances are pretty darn high that I have given you the card to my favorite place to find cheap and unique things for my son Bennett. 

I keep a stack of these cards in my wallet because I love this little consignment shop so much and want to let people in on my best-kept secret.

 I started going to Piccolina after I found out I was having a boy. I had heard that they are picky in what they buy, which means that they only have the best of the best. 

I wasn't really sure what to expect on my first trip in, but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't the graveyard for bulky plastic toys that I had been imagining. 

I felt like I was walking into a little boutique filled with high end clothes (for both my baby and my expanding belly), lots of good quality books, toys and games, and all the baby gear you could ever want.

Fast forward two years.

I usually go to Piccolina once a month to sell a few things that I don't see us using in the future and to browse to see if there's anything new that I can't live without.

I have even featured a few of my favorite things from Piccolina on my blog:

the vintage Fisher Price puzzle seen here,

these vintage cowboy boots,

these wellies,

 3 pairs of Converse (that had never been worn!),

and a ton of other things that I absolutely love but just don't have pictures of.

sell/trade/consign.

One reason I love Piccolina is that yes, you can buy stuff for your kids for super cheap, but its also great knowing that you have somewhere to unload all your baby gear when you are done with it and make a couple extra bucks in the process!

They will give you cash or trade for kid's clothes (they buy high-end, like-new condition) and consign maternity clothes, toys, books and all other kid's products from boppy's (hello those are expensive!) to baby carriers to sets of blocks that your kids have grown out of.

Check out their policy on buying (incuding days they consign) here. 

It makes so much sense to buy from your local children's consignment shop!

Kid's only use/wear/play with things for such a limited amount of time that they barely have a chance to break it in before they are grown out of it.

shopping at piccolina.

Right when you pull up to Piccolina you will notice the huge selection of strollers, highchairs etc. out front of the store. I went on a rainy day so everything was covered in plastic.

the tour.

I went and took pictures in the store to give you a feel for what it's like and what they have...

(most of the things seen in the pictures are likely not there anymore, 

but they always have awesome things so it doesn't hurt to go look!)

 1. local, handmade clothing

2. bedding (including high end brands like Pottery Barn Kids and Serena and Lily)

 1. large toddler toys (usually walkers, wagons, activity centers, etc.)

2. hats (new, handmade, and gently used summer & winter hats)

3. shoes, boots, sandals, slippers, dance shoes

4. new, locally handmade children's clothes

5. books (mostly kids, but some parenting books as well)

6. Piccolina carries A LOT of girl clothes!

7. bigger items (baby gates, johnny jump ups, play yards, play tents, etc.)

1.baby carriers (baby bjorns, slings, mobys, ergos, mai tais, etc) and smaller maternity items like gently used or new nursing bras (those suckers are expensive!) and swim suits too!

2. in-season, name brand maternity clothes (if you're into designer maternity jeans they usually have a few pairs and are a lot cheaper than buying them new!)

3. Boppys, boppys, and more boppys (plus some pregnancy pillows too!)

4. Bennett

5. super cute/locally made baby blankets, bibs and burp cloths

6. electric breast pumps (buy new tubing, and going this route will save you so much $)(I will be getting one from Piccolina next time around, as they are one of the most expensive, yet invaluable things you need)

7. local/handmade diaper cases (I love mine because it's so easy to just pop into my purse instead of lugging around a diaper bag on quick trips)

1. bottles, sippy cups, water bottles (all in great condition) (they always have a plethora of my very favorite bottle!)

2. monitors

3. kitchen/ feeding items and safety products

4. splat mats, bibs, shopping cart covers, ect.

1. Sara the owner (she's so sweet and always remembers me!)

2. boys clothes (much smaller section than the girls, but mom's of boys are used to this)

3. diaper bags (totally makes sense to buy a used one since they only accept ones that are in great shape) (they buy/sell nicer bags like Petunia Pickle Bottom, Skip Hop, JJ Cole, Ju Ju Be, etc.)

4.  was confused as to why I was taking pictures. 

5. toys (all in great, like-new condition)

6. more girls clothes!

1.  sleep sacks, swaddling blankets, swaddlers, etc.

2. all sorts of cloth diaper covers and anything else you would need (inserts, cloth wipes-new only/handmade)

3. baby blankets and towels

4. bathing suits, tights, socks training pants, underwear, leg warmers

and more...

If my tour wasn't enough, here are some more pictures 

including some cute things I found along the way!

(I was really just wanting to have fun with Picnik, okay?)

Piccolia is pretty much amazing and you are missing out (and paying a lot more) if you decide to buy everything from that horribly overpriced baby store (where people don't actually know anything about the products they are selling, and it's impossible to track them down to help out anyways).

I'm sure Sara(the owner) would be more than happy to tell you the 

differencebetween an Ergo and a Mai Tai.

 Just ask her, cause she's a mama!

Piccolina has two Portland locations:

SE Clinton location:

(this is the one I was at)

2700 SE 26th 

Portland, OR 97202

(corner of 26th & Clinton)

503-963-8548

Mon thru Sat: 10am to 6pm

Sun: 11am to 4pm

SE Woodstock location:

via

4416 SE Woodstock Blvd.

Portland, OR 97206

503-505-5045

Tues thru Sat: 10am to 5pm

PS: if you're crafty and make cute stuff for the little ones, stop by and show them your product. 

They may just want to sell it at the store!

Thanks Becca, I'm super excited to stop by Piccolina now!  If you are interested in guest blogging for this series shoot me an e-mail: kiralynnpdx@gmail.com.  I'd love for you to write on any baby related topic you feel passionate about.  I'm really excited to see the other submissions trickling in!

-Kira

A Little Lady

Photo via weheartit.

It's a girl!

And we are pretty excited about that!
I hope your weekend starts off as well as mine did.
-Kira

*Also, I forgot to note on Friday...the technician counted 10 fingers so she probably doesn't have my awesome birth defect.

Baby Room Theme Idea

Ok, let me start this off by saying this is not the final room theme, just an idea...

I have loved these Berkley Illustration prints since I came across them last year.  I even have the Sea Otter print in my studio.  I love the whimsical quality and how each one comes with a story.  I think a few of them would look great on the wall of our baby's room.

Strelka The Space Dog.  My friend already bought me this one!

Kittens Print.  I really love a kitten in a t-shirt.

That got my brain going in the direction of actually having the theme of the room be "animals in people clothes."  Is that weird?  My friend Becca sent a photo of these cute stuffed animals to me via Pinterest.  There are also a few things at Ikea right now that would fall in line well with the theme.

Hand knit dolls.

Anyway, just some ideas.  I have a board on Pinterest with other baby room inspiration as well.

We have our ultrasound on Friday! I just really want that day to get here.
-Kira

*I'm reposting this since it was removed during the outage.  I am also currently bummed out because I had a draft post that is now missing.  Hopefully it all comes back!

Baby Shower Gift Wrap

My friend Julia and I have been buddies since 1st grade.  I love that we still keep in touch with each other.  She is truly one of my oldest friends (not by age...she is 27, but you know what I mean).  Julia is nearing the end of her fourth pregnancy.  Yes, she has been busy in her 20's!  I'm very excited to be attending her baby shower tomorrow.
One thing I hate about buying gifts is that you end up spending so much on gift wrap and cards that you can't afford as much gift as you would like.  I decided to forgo traditional baby shower gift wrap and come up with stuff around the house so I could spend a little more on the gifts.

 For Christmas we used brown craft paper and dressed it up in different ways.  I still had a roll of craft paper left so I decided to use that and a brown paper bag I had laying around.  I fancied it up with pom poms that I made.  I just happened to have yarn colors that would match the crochet booties I commissioned Melissa to make for the baby boy.  For the tag I used a cute little card that Becca had given me.  She gave me a whole stack of them around Christmas.  I have so many crafty friends!

It was a fun, quick project.  I knew how pom poms were made, but I had never made them myself.  It was really easy and I just love them.  I want to make them and put them on everything now.

I'm really excited to give these gifts!  In the past I would have just bought a giant baby shower themed gift bag.  I had a lot more fun with this and I know Julia will really love it.
-Kira

Joining the Prego Club

 Little Kira and Kara

I have some pretty giant news.

The husband just talked me into spilling the beans on Facebook.  I was a little bummed because I kind of wanted to do it here first, but the man is impatient...

We are going to have a baby!  I'm 11 weeks pregnant.  We had an ultrasound a couple of weeks ago and everything is going great so far.  Since I am from a long line of twins (and one myself) we made sure the doctor checked really well.  I'm happy to report, there is only one.

This is part of the reason I have been so tired lately and kind of stopped with the daily blogging.  I have been going to bed really early.  I nearly fell asleep at my desk today while at work.  Other than the constant fatigue, my symptoms are pretty minor.  Jeremy would tell you that I "eat everything." The good news is that I don't crave sweets at all anymore for some reason so even though I am eating a ton, it is much healthier food than my pre-pregnancy diet.  I have also not had any nausea, and thank the Lord for that because I don't know how I would manage my work if I was sick all of the time.

Now that the cat is out of the bag I will certainly post more regularly about this and I am thinking of starting a series on the blog with guest bloggers giving me advice on pregnancy and motherhood because I know nothing about these things.  If you would like to write a guest post please contact me!

We are so excited!
-Kira