Baby Girl Checklist

I tend to be organized at times, and when I need to prepare for any event, I usually prepare something in Excel (one of my favorite tools in MS office I must say), as long as I'm in the mood. I made so many checklists already - for my wedding, vacations/outings, etc.. I must say, all have been helpful to me as I dont want to go on an outing/event and remember when I'm already at the place that I missed something. So I have a print-out of my checklist, and I just take 1 everytime I need it. Maybe I'll have it laminated later on.


With the expected arrival of our baby girl, I got excited again.. Searched for different sites for tips on what I need to have and buy for my baby, so expect that some of the items on my list are actually exaggerated.

If anyone wants a copy, just let me know, I can send you this checklist plus my Outing-Vacation Checklist. :D

Hand-me-downs

I for one, have nothing against hand-me-downs.. Ever since I was a child, I was already used to it, being the youngest daughter in a brood of 3, I have an older brother, and an older sister. So most of my things which came from my sister were hand-me-downs. Whatever fits me, then I can still use it, but when I started growing bigger than her (and I still am until now), then that was the time when I had to stop using her clothes, shoes, etc.

As for our expected baby, we really saved a lot with her clothes because most of it were just given to us.. whether its new or used, we really didn't care because I had heard lots of advices from mothers/parents that its really not a practical/wise decision to buy newborn clothes because babies grow big fast, as in FAST.. most of them even said that most of the clothes they bought were worn only once or twice, which I have observed based on the clothes I've received, some of them even looks new. And babies always smell good and are always clean, so I dont think its even an issue to use someone else's clothes (as long as you wash them first of course, plus iron just to be on the safe side). The only thing which cannot be shared from one baby to another I believe is a used diaper. haha! Im not ashamed to take any free stuff when anybody offers to give us their baby's old items, even if we don't use it, then we can also hand it over to others who will have a better need for it later on.

Mind you, we didn't receive just clothes, but everything else from friends and even those we really didn't know (thanks to a facebook group in Oman called Muscat Mums, because they would even advertise free items they would want to get rid of) - bathing items, new diapers, cots/cribs, playards, car seats, shoes, and lots more.

In short: Baby has so many nice and cute clothes already, plus mom & dad were able to put her money into a better use - buying her other necessities and furniture, and saving it for her diapers.

3D/4D

Yesterday, we went to the hospital for my scheduled 3D ultrasound (covered by my insurance, thanks God!), and since I was already there, might as well request for a 4D (wasn't covered by insurance, but I paid only 50% since insurance can pay the other half).


The only downside to having 4D is that if the baby is covering her face, maybe with her hand(s) or feet, then you won't get to clearly see the whole face, and it happened to us. Even if I tried moving my tummy just so she would move, but I guess our baby is really shy and very sleepy as I saw her yawn once from the monitor, haha.


I should've drank some juice or ate something sweet before having the ultrasound, unfortunately, I was already having a bad sore throat from the night before, so I didn't want to make it worse. But still, the experience of seeing your baby in 4D is worth it.. and since they'll be giving you a cd of the videos and captured screenshots.. still worth it!

And because mommy is too excited about the arrival of her lil' one, I also managed to make a quick and short video of her ultrasound videos (thanks to Macbook's easy to edit movie trailers from iMovie, haha). Here is the link of the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrTITah9ick&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Reese's 4D photo - showing her face with her hand covering her chin

Reese's 3D photo - showing her mouth and nose

Useful Pregnancy & Baby site and applications

Being an Apple user, I have some apps which I read daily and religiously (better than those big and thick books since I am not actually a bookworm, but I do love collecting books, haha). The apps which I always use are:

• Babycenter: My Pregnancy (If you're up for watching videos and having ideas on what to expect when you deliver (whether its normal delivery, c-section, water birth) or how procedures are done in providing epidural, or inducing labor, as well as helpful tips like breastfeeding, then you can also watch videos in this app, as long as you dont feel stressed afterwards, haha!)
• What to expect: Pregnancy (has weekly and daily articles and tips for you to read)

While some of the useful links I read whenever I'm on my computer are:

• What to expect's Week by week pregnancy calendar http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/week-by-week/landing.aspx
• What to expect's Eating well during pregnancy Week by week http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/Eating_Well/archive.aspx 
• Family education's pregnancy http://pregnancy.familyeducation.com/
• Babycenter http://www.babycenter.com/

I also have 1 (thick) book only which I borrowed from a friend and is worth reading:

• What to expect when you're expecting

Recently, I downloaded the movie, "What to expect when you're expecting". Still haven't watched it though, but will inform you if its helpful or not.