Last year, I made my 1-year old daughter a homemade Baby Gaga costume for Halloween and it was a HUGE hit. I finally got around to posting the pictures and even made a funny Baby Gaga video (see below).

The costume was really fun to make and it was easier then it looks. I would say you would need intermediate sewing skills to make a DIY Baby Gaga costume, just because sewing spandex can be a little tricky. Or, you could find a baby leotard and go from there. The trick is the hood and attaching the wig to the hood, since most babies will wear hoods, but most will not wear a wig. Sydney actually really enjoyed wearing her Baby Gaga costume and kept the hood/wig on for the entire party. I was shocked!

Here is Sydney busting out her best Baby Gaga dance moves and more pictures of how the Baby Gaga costume was made:

If you are looking for a funny/hilarious costume for your baby or toddler, I highly recommend the Baby Gaga costume. It was really fun! I’ve been thinking long and hard about what I am going to make Sydney for Halloween 2012, so I’m hoping I can top the Baby Gaga costume!

More pictures of my homemade Baby Gaga toddler Halloween costume:

Well, what do you know…there really was a baby in there! On July 26th at 11:10pm, my daughter decided it was time to be born. Introducing Sydney James Rest!

I gave birth to this little cutie pie in a Puerto Rican hospital with NO pain medication. All I can say is WOW. There were no complications but that whole child birth thing is certainly an experience!! I will write more about that later …

Did you know that men are physically able to breast feed their children (or anyones child, really)? Men and women both have all the right equipment for breast feeding, which are: nipples, milk ducts, mammary tissue and hormones (specifically oxytocin and prolactin). So if a man wants to breast feed his kid, he simply needs to have the child suck on his nipple. The nipple stimulation will trigger the hormones to be releases, and like magic, Daddy is lactating…

Even weirder then the thought of men breast feeding their babies, is the total lack of studies on male lactation. It’s like there is a total cover up of the subject. Most of the information I have been able to find is “Yes, men can produce breast milk, but nothing else is known…” or “…no one knows if mens breast milk has the same nutritional value of womens…”, etc. So you’re telling me that we can grow human ears on the backs of lab rats, successfully transplant animal organs into humans, but we can’t find out the nutritional value of mens breast milk versus women? Come on…

Don’t get me wrong, I would be a little skeeved out if I saw a man breast feeding a child, but that’s just because we’ve all been taught that that is weird and unnatural. Nonetheless, I might have to try and milk Stefan with my breast pump…for the sake of science, of course!

On 3/24 I got a “level 2″ sonogram, which is able to see the baby and its developing organs much clearer. And no, Robin, I didn’t require a level 2 sonogram because of my advanced age…haha…that is just what they do nowadays to check that the fetus is developing normally.

Here are the results:

“There is an intrauterine pregnancy containing a single living fetus in cephalic presentation at the time of examination. The placenta is grade one located anteriorly. The amount of amniotic fluid is normal. AFI = 17cm

Estimate Due Date: 7/22/2009”

Okay, so I’ve never changed a diaper in my entire life (neither has Stefan). But, since I’m almost 6 months pregnant, I guess diapers are going to be part of my life for the next couple of years or so! I recently stumbled upon gDiapers and they sound like a fabulous alternative to the gross, plastic Pampers that are cluttering up the landfills of the world (on average, a baby goes through over 2,000 diapers per year and normal diapers are not bio-degradeable…ewww). gDiapers are a happy medium between Crazy Hippy (cloth diapers) and Average Ignorant American (Winnie the Pooh Pampers).

When I first started thinking about diapers, I knew that I didn’t want to use the standard plastic diapers, but I also didn’t think I could deal with the hassle (and grossness) of cloth diapers. Especially since we live in the tropics, I couldn’t imagine keeping my baby wrapped in plastic in this humidity. And, gDiapers seem to be the perfect solution!

gDiapers have a washable/reusable cotton outer cover, a snap in liner and a plastic-free diaper that fits into the liner. Once the diaper is used, you remove it from the liner and you can flush it, compost it (wet diapers, not the poopy ones) or throw them away! Since gDiapers are plastic-free, you don’t have to feel guilty about tossing them, if you choose not to flush or compost. The bottom line is that gDiapers are around the same price as regular plastic diapers, but they are better for the environment (they are bio-degradable) and better for your baby (they are breathable, which make babies far less susceptible to diaper rash).

I ordered our first round of gDiapers from gDiapers.com, since I highly doubt there are any retailers in Puerto Rico that carry them . I’ll be sure to write a review after we try them out!

As of today I am 14 weeks and 3 days pregnant (only 25 weeks and 4 days to go!). Stefan and I went to our 1st doctors appointment today and I got the basic physical stuff done. I got weighed, which I was interested in seeing how much weight I have gained so far, and to my surprise I havn’t gained any weight. I usually fluctuate between 118 and 122, and I weigh exactly 120lb right now. I was surprised because I definately feel bigger and I can see obvious changes in my body already. My waist is definately noticably thicker then it was pre-pregnancy and there is a mini baby bump .

We also got to see the baby for the first time on the sonogram machine. Although, in true Puerto Rico fashion, the sonogram’s print function was broken, so we had to take pictures of the sonograms screen with my camera:

And, here is a video of the fetal heart beat:

Although it is still too early to see the sex of the baby (that is usually done between 18 – 20 weeks), the doctor predicts that it is a boy by the sound of the heartbeat. Apparently girls heartbeats are slightly faster. Who knows how accurate that really is, but she’s got a 50/50 chance of being right .