Tribute to Disney

I want to start off by saying that I love Disney. Always have, always will. Aside from the few complaints I have about them (pleeeease! stop making sequels and prequels to everything!) I love their movies and Disneyland is my favorite place in the world. But as I was watching Enchanted last night, and something really caught my attention:



Do you see what I see? Then I noticed a pattern:



Society always blames models, actresses, and fashion magazines for the ever growing body image epidemic among women. But wouldn't you agree that perhaps the process starts at a much younger age? We've loved these characters since we were little, and always adored them because they were so pretty. But does pretty = anorexic-ly skinny?

Then I started to think about fuller figured characters. Only a few come to mind. Mrs. Potts, Mulan's grandma, Mim (the evil wizard from The Sword and the Stone) and of course, Ursula. Come on Disney, are you trying to tell us that if we are overweight we are old and evil?

Boy or Girl?

Although it's still way early to tell, I've been having some fun (and wasting a lot of time) doing research on gender predictions. I've taken just about every "test" on the internet, tried some old wives tricks, done some math, and this is my conclusion-- I don't think anyone really knows what they're talking about. Here are the results I have found:

Old wives tales:
I crave salty foods= boy
I haven't had any headaches= girl
I also crave meat and cheese= boy
I have acne= girl
I haven't had morning sickness= boy
I dream of having boys, so therefore I must be having a girl. (Does dreaming about having triplet boys triple my chances?)
My left breast is bigger than my right (a little too much info? yeah I thought so too when I read this one) =girl
I grip mugs by the body instead of the handle= girl
I show my hands palm down= boy
I carry my extra weight out front= boy
Dustin hasn't gained any sympathy weight (but does he ever?!?) =girl
The hair on my legs isn't growing any faster than before I was pregnant= girl
The maternal grandmother doesn't have gray hair- natural or dyed =girl
My feet are not colder than they were before pregnancy= girl.

Crazy right? Some of these make sense, but I just can't believe that because my mom colors her hair that means I'm having a girl.

String test:
I read about this once in a book called Mrs. Mike. It's how midwives used to predict gender before there were ultrasounds. And, it's all over the internet. You get a piece of thread, attach a light weight (i.e. a paper clip) and hold it over your belly. If the string moves from side to side like a pendulum- you've got a boy. If it moves in circles- you're having a girl.
I'm only 10 weeks now, so it might have been to early for this test- but it moved in circles.

Chinese Gender Prediction chart:
This one can be tricky. It's based on you lunar age and the lunar month in which you conceived. So you have to use conversion tools, which are all over the internet as well. Example: I'm 24 and I'm pretty sure I conceived in July. My lunar age is 25 and the lunar month is June. According to this chart I'm having a boy.


But--- I also took 2 gender prediction tests that are supposed to be based on this calender and they said I was having a girl.

Other Mathematical equations:
My age (24) and the year I conceived in (2008) are both even numbers= girl
The sum of my age (24) and the number of the month I conceived in (7) equals an odd number (31)= girl

Other "tests" I took:
Old Wives Tale Test (http://www.amazingpregnancy.com/oldwivestales/) =boy
Will you baby be a boy or girl? (http://www.childbirth.org/articles/boyorgirl.html) = girl
Gender Tool (http://www.babygendertool.com/baby-gender-test.aspx) =boy
The Gender Predictor Test (http://www.nerdtests.com/mq/take.php?id=7830) =girl
There was also this site called fortunebaby.com that wanted $19.95 to see your test results! What? Who is seriously that gullible?

It won't be another month or two until we actually find out. But now you have all of the information to make an educated guess :)

There's really something in there!

I had my very first ultrasound yesterday. Dustin came with me and together we got to hear our baby's heart beat for the first time. It was a wonderful experience (I teared up a little), and definitely made the whole pregnancy feel more real. I'm 7 weeks along now, and everything is looking pretty good!