1st Ultrasound

So this little baby was flailing all around in its cozy little home and I swear I didn't have an energy drink before my appointment today.

I get to go back for another ultrasound next week because the baby is a bit small for 15 weeks, so they want to double check my due date. I’m all for more pictures! I am also not too worried; I mean how big could the baby be? Have you seen the sizes of the mommy and daddy?

4th Grade Parenting Advice: “Don’t give the baby 20 balloons.” (I swear I am not making these up!)

"I Can Feel Your Heartbeat"

On Wednesday I went to UNC for my first appointment with the OB-GYN. I met with a nurse who I LOVED! She was so nice and listened carefully to everything I had to say. I gave them more blood (what are they doing with all of this blood? I think my doctors may really be Cullens in disguise...) and got a tour of the facilities. I was able to see where my doctor appointments would be and where I would be actually having this baby. It was great.

Just as I was leaving, the nurse asked if I had a few minutes. She said that although I was only there for an introductory visit, she had time to take a listen for the baby's heartbeat, if I wanted. At that moment, I may or may not have told her that I loved her. I hopped up on the table, she put some goop on my belly, and we listened.... and listened.... and listened. All we could hear was my stupid heartbeat at 75 beats per minute. We couldn't hear the baby. She told me not to freak out. She said that at 14 weeks, my uterus is huge and the baby is small. She said sometimes the baby is in a position that makes the heartbeat hard to find.

I smiled, nodded, and thanked her for trying. Internally, I was absolutely freaking out. I was wishing she hadn't offered to let me hear the heartbeat. Ugh. It was a bad feeling.

I was able to keep it together because I had a secret. I knew that in just a few days I would be receiving my very own “Elite HearTones Baby Doppler w/ Digital Display” delivered right to my door. This little device is designed to allow parents-to-be to listen to their baby’s heartbeat in the comfort of their own home. We got ours on Friday:

It didn’t take long to find our little baby’s heartbeat (all 12 times we have done it...). I can't describe the piece of mind that this little investment has given me. It is so cool to hear that heart beating. It is so fast! 160 BPM. I have heard that there is an old wives’ tale that a faster beat means it’s a girl. I’ll go with that.

4th grade parenting advice of the day: “Block off corners (but not with bubble wrap because it’s fun to pop, and once it is popped, it is not so helpful).”

Here is the cheesy Partridge Family song for which this particular blog post was named:

13 weeks 5 days

Our baby is currently the size of an average peach, according to some random baby website. So far, the little peach has been kind to me. I haven't felt sick at all. I have some of the regular pregnancy symptoms. One example is that I love sleep. I haven’t slept this much since high school. In 1995 I could sleep 15 hours a day. I would sleep at night, take naps after school, and sleep most of the day on the weekends. Pregnancy is a lot like that.

I go upstairs at 9:00 most nights. Andrew has a whole life without me at night. Since he gets to have full control of the TV after I go to bed, he has been feeding his documentary habit. He is now an expert on dolphin cruelty, steroid use in sports, communism in North Korea, prison systems, methamphetamines, anorexia in modeling, monopolies in the beer industry, drug trafficking, childhood obesity and parking lots in Charlottesville Virginia. So, if you have questions about any of these topics, he is your man.

I have an appointment tomorrow to give some blood for more tests. I have switched doctors to UNC-OBGYN. I am hoping that I am not too far away from my first ultrasound. I can’t wait to see this baby!

4th grade parenting tip #5: "If your kid is under 4, keep glass, plastic, sharp stuff, and electronics upstairs."

Our First Baby: Chumlee

Before Andrew and I had a dog, we didn't understand the kind of love that Chumlee would bring into our home. When we first got her, we talked about how we were never going to be those "crazy dog people" who treat their dog like a person. Now I would categorize us in the top 10% of annoying dog people. The thing is: We don't care what other people think about how we feel about Chumlee.

We know how it feels to come home after a long day at work (or a short walk to the mailbox)and be greeted by Chumlee like it is the best part of her day. She wiggles her lil' tail and without being asked, goes through all of the commands she knows just to impress us (sit, give me your paw, lay down, roll over). We know how awesome it is when she keeps our feet warm at night, or cuddles as close as possible to us on the couch. We love to buy her new toys and see her play with them. Taking her for a walk is so much fun, because she loves to be out-and-about and as a bonus, we get more exercise. Chumlee's fur is so soft and shiny after a bath that it is worth the hard work to get her in the tub. For these reasons (and so many more) we don't mind if people think of us as the crazy dog people.

I think that having a child has a lot of similarities to having a dog. Andrew and I had to agree on how to train and discipline Chumlee, what her diet would be, which behaviors might be beyond our control, who picks up the poop (we have had a lot of talks about poop in general... from what I hear that won't change), and we have tons of silly nicknames for her. Of course I realize that there will be major differences. For example, we can't just leave the kid at home when we want to go out to dinner (right?) and of course the kid won’t sleep 75% of the time like Chumlee does. Our child will speak English eventually and we are hoping he/she will be better at sharing with other kids than Chumlee is at sharing with other dogs.


I have sworn that having a kid will not change the non-mom parts of me. I want to maintain who I am as Chrissy, Mrs. S., or Cee-cee. I also realize that like when we got Chumlee, having a baby will change me. I also know that the feelings that I have for Chum will be much more intense and meaningful with a human baby, although that is hard to imagine. I believe that Andrew and I will work hard to keep our other identities beyond being Mommy and Daddy, but I also hope that the love that this baby brings into our home will make me care about that a little less.


Chumlee gets along well with kids, so I can’t wait to see her with our little one. Here is a super-cute video that shows a dog that is the same breed as Chumlee with a little baby:




4th grader parenting tip of the day: “You will have to put up with tantrums, fussing, and diapers, but so what? Kids are great and you’ll be glad you had them.”

Baby's First Gifts

Thank you Shelley for the baby's first blanket! It is so soft!! I had to teach Chumlee that it wasn't hers. I guess I will be doing that a lot soon.

Also thank you to Jenny for the cutest first baby toy (or tool?). It is a turtle that projects stars and constellations onto the ceiling for the baby while he/ she sleeps.

This baby stuff is making this all seem a lot more real!!

Mrs. S's class' parenting advice of the day: "Be firm but gentle."

I Am Having a Baby with Jewel

Just when the world thought that famed pop-singer, Jewel Kilcher, and I couldn’t get any tighter, I am happy to announce that we are HAVING A BABY TOGETHER!!

Well, we are having our own separate babies within months of each other, but it’s still pretty cool.

My history with Jewel goes back to the mid-nineties. I remember seeing her in concert at the Beacon Theater in NY for the first time. I was enamored by Jewel’s witty banter with the crowd, her lyrics, and of course that voice. After that show, I discovered an online community of fans. They called themselves the ‘Everyday Angels’ or EDA’s (from the song I’m Sensitive).

That is when my relationship with Jewel’s music really began to blossom. I traded live shows and rare recordings with other Jewel nerds. It turned out that Jewel had 100’s of songs that were never recorded that I LOVED!

The next time I went to a Jewel concert I requested one of her more obscure songs by screaming it from the top of my lungs in between songs. She looked right at me and said, “I don’t remember that one anymore, sorry!” I thought that was awesome because she talked to me.

I attended an exclusive free fan concert in Nashville in 2001. Jewel’s boyfriend Ty, surprised her by showing up during her set list. I yelled that he should go on stage and give her a kiss. She replied to me by saying, “Don’t tell us what to do!” I loved it, because, again, she talked to me.

After a show, all of the EDA’s always hang around trying to take pictures or chat with Jewel. On one of these occasions Jewel asked us all if we saw she and Ty in Vanity Fair magazine. I immediately let her know that, “Yes! I saw you guys and Ty was drinking a Heineken!” I thought that would prove that I really saw them.

She quipped back that, “Yeah and he eats red meat too…” Which meant that she was not only sarcastic (love it!) but also that she talked to me for a third time.

My best moment with Jewel was in 2010 at her album release party. It was an interactive digital concert that was broadcast in lots of cities all around. The interactive part meant that we were able to vote on things like songs that she would sing and what she would wear. We also had the opportunity to compete in a Jewel trivia contest. The questions were pretty difficult (i.e. where is Jewel’s grandmother from?) but I answered them all correctly and quite quickly. I found out within a moment of winning that I would be chatting with Jewel on the phone (and the big screen) immediately. Of course I was a total dork! I mean, what could you say in that situation that doesn’t sound dorky? Oh yeah, I also won an ipad that she signed on screen for me (notice the angel she sketched ☺):

Now that you have some background of my relationship with Jewel, here are a few quotes from family and friends who had just realized that Jewel and I were “having a baby together”:

-- "This obsession of yours is going to far now..." (For the record, I wouldn’t call it an obsession.”)

-- "Jewel is having a boy! You should totally have a girl so that your kid and jewel's kid can fall in love and get married one day!" (Ha-ha good plan, we could be grandmas together!)

-- "I would say that you did this on purpose to be pregnant at the same time as Jewel, but then you would need to know her cycle... um... is that something that is discussed among EDA's? Never mind I bet it is." (Eww… no and no. Not planned and we are NOT THAT creepy.)

--"Well I guess you and Jewel really are kindred spirits." (Yep.)

I am going to see Jewel in Dallas in April for another free fan event (because she is awesome, and loves us ☺) I am making it my mission to get a picture with our two baby-bumps side by side. (Is it possible to get that in a non-creepy way?).

Another piece of advice from one of my students on the art of parenting:

“Watch everything your child does, then watch Oprah to find out what it means.”

I am a copycat

I am a HUGE copycat.  I am copying this baby blog idea from my friends Shelley and Aaron who started blogging when they started their family a few years ago.  I also copied the name of this blog "The New Life of the Slavinskys" from another couple I know who had an adorable baby boy in September.  They are not bloggers, but that is the title of their baby’s album on Facebook.  Actually their title is, "The New Life of the Sheltons" because it would be really strange if their title had our last name in it.

I have lots of family and friends who live all over the country, so I am going to try to keep y'all up to date with this here blog.  Today I am officially 11 weeks and 5 days pregnant.  I read that the baby is currently the size of a fig.  That is much easier to visualize than a kumquat, which was last week's baby-to-fruit comparison.  My friend Jess suggested that I buy the fruit each week and take a picture.  I liked that idea, and then Shelley suggested that I eat the fruit too, which seems a bit cannibalistic, so we'll see.

On Friday, Andrew and I went to the doctor and got to hear the baby's lil' heartbeat.  It sounded very strong and quick which I am told is great.  Maybe this baby will grow up to be a marathoner like his/her daddy.  Perhaps the steady beat means that it will grow up to be a musician like her Pop-pop (my daddy).  I am just excited that the baby is healthy regardless of what interests it has.  I used to roll my eyes a bit when mothers-to-be would say, "Oh I don't care if I have a boy or a girl, I just want a healthy baby".  Now I totally get it.

Before I end my first blog, I would like to copy one last thing from someone else.  I know a girl who blogged about living in Egypt.  She ended each of her blogs the same way, with an Egyptian phrase.  While I have no intention on attempting to be as witty as she was in all of her blogs, I have decided to end each of mine the same way.  Yesterday, I asked the kids in my class to write down the attributes of good parenting.  I will end each blog with one of their words of wisdom.

Mrs. S’s class’ parenting rule #1:
"When your kid is bad, only threaten to take something away, don’t actually do it.”