Oh the joys of being pregnant.  The constant need to pee, the weight gain and the BACK PAIN!  My goodness I knew it wasn't going to be smooth sailing but really.  Now I'm only 22 weeks (well 22 weeks tomorrow) and already I envy jellyfish.  They have no spine, no back aches.  It must be nice.

At least I have a great husband who constantly rubs my back.  Oh and I bought this brace thing that you wrap around your waist.  It's a miracle worker for when you have alot of walking or standing while you're pregnant.  It worked so well that not only did my back feel better just about as soon as I put it on, but I could finally tell that my feet were actually killing me.  You can buy them at any maternity store and I highly recommend this pregnancy purchase!

In all seriousness, if this is the worst problem I have during my pregnancy then I consider myself extremely lucky.  I'm still excited about having my baby girl and I can't wait for her to get here.  Now if only I could go lay on the couch comfortably :-)

We can't be more excited.  We're having a little baby girl in April (possibly May depending on her cooperation level).  It was so cool.  I don't know if I'm more excited about it being a girl or just to see her finally moving around, and see her little hands and little feet and long legs (which she gets from her mama).  

I cannot describe the overwhelming sense of joy and pride both my husband and I have right now.  It so hard to tell you how you'll feel when you get to see this little baby moving around inside your stomach.  I'm not going to lie, I teared up while I was watching her move around.  She was actually standing on her head, then she was stretching her legs out, then of course she was playing with her feet next.  Just seeing all that made this so real.

Are we terrified to become parents?  YES!  Especially my husband now that he knows it's a girl.  Dear Lord he already claims he's getting a pistol.  It's cute :-)  I think he'll make an excellent father and of course she'll be Daddy's little girl.

So everyone's been asking us on a name and we have officially decided Fionna Grace.  No not after Shrek.  Actually after the Fionna from Burn Notice on USA.  She's so cool :-)  We love the name but it seems there are quite a few out there who aren't big fans.  So tell us what you think?  Baby Fi not a good name or it's a great name?  We think it's awesome but we always like to see the reactions of others.

I can't believe how excited I am to go see my OBGYN.  I think this is the first time in history I wished my appointment was sooner.  Why?  Well I'm glad you asked.  On Saturday, yes this Saturday, we'll finally find out if Baby D is a girl or boy.  Or at least I hope we find out assuming the baby cooperates and decides to flash the ultrasound :-)

Of course besides wanting this child to be completely healthy, I want it to be a girl and my husband wants a boy.  I'm sure he'll get his wish.  With the way I'm carrying this child and where the pounds have landed on this one time reasonably decent body it just has to be a boy.

Either way I can't wait to find out so we can finish up the nursery and the registry.  And I can't believe it's already been 19 weeks.  Only 21 more to go :-)

OK so let me let you in on a little secret . . . I don't care if you have the highest IQ in the world, your intelligence will suddenly become challenged.  And I don't mean like a quiz or a test from an instructor.  Oh no ladies, things you do every day, you won't remember how to do them, why you do them or even what the heck it is you're doing.  I now officially have pregnancy logic.  That's right . . . pregnancy logic.

For instance, I'm at the AT&T store because our phone bill has been out of whack since January.  I sit down at this very computer first before I get there to make sure I have all my ducks in a row.  Phone bill, check.  Average minutes, check.  Original contract, check.  So I gather all my info and head over to the store.  Now let me tell you I hate going to this store because I feel so dirty when I leave.  Cell salespeople are way more "smarmier" than used car salesmen.  So I give them my theory of why my bill is all jacked up and they tell me I'm wrong, of course.  We finally get it all sorted out and I decide to ask a question about my rollover minutes.  I swear I never use these darn things, even if I do go over my minutes.  So I ask if there's a special time that they kick in.  He essentially tells me the first time that they kick in when I go over my plan minutes.  I swear it was like I was Charlie Brown sitting in the classroom and the teacher was talking.  I know I asked a question, I know he's answering it, but I totally just tuned him out.  I then have to ask again and he looks at me and says, well you really wouldn't use your roll over minutes during nights and weekends since those are free.  I finally had to look at him, ask for forgiveness and blame it on the kid.  I walked out of the store feeling like the biggest idiot especially when I realized that I know I saved us money, but can't remember how much!  I wanted to sit there and cry.  No this wasn't the first time I felt like an idiot that week.  There had been plenty more instances of it trust me.

So please, be patient with us pregnant women.  I graduated with honors from college with two degrees, was in the top 10% of my high school graduating class of 69 people yet I can't figure out how roll over minutes work or half the time what I was going to do in the first place.  It happens to all of us and there's just no stopping it.

If there's anything I've learned about this pregnancy it's that everyone wants to give you samples and wants you to be their loyal customer.  I LOVE IT!  I have so many coupons and samples that it's almost to the point of obscene.  And they all have websites where you can sign up for more free stuff.

Well I was sifting through my Huggies free stuff when I came across this www.enjoytheriderewards.com from Huggies.  You collect points by purchasing participating Huggies items or getting free codes from your free stuff.  You simply sign up, enter the codes in and you can start using these points to enter sweepstakes, get free diaper coupons, crayons, and more.  But what I thought was really, really cool was that you could donate your points back to this charity called KaBOOM!  KaBoom! is a charity that wants to build playgrounds close to every child. 

As soon as I learned about this program I jumped up and started ripping open the only 3 packages of Huggies I have so far, and searching for the codes.  Yes, my husband and I buy diapers and/or wipes every time we do our big grocery shopping so we have a considerable inventory once baby d gets here.  OK so the codes, I find codes in 2 out of the 3 packages I have and immediately put them in.  Then I type in the codes from my free stuff.  I now have 40 points!  So I'm going to start donating them to KaBOOM! in hopes of bettering children's lives in communities across the country.  I hope you do as well!