I said I wasn't going to....

I've been saying all along that I wasn't going to buy anything for the baby until we have had all of the showers. Well......I broke down last week and bought 4 outfits. I was in Myrtle Beach for a real estate conference and on my way home I stopped at an outlet center. Everything was on sale!! I couldn't resist! I saw this cute little outfit to the left and just had to have it. The material is a soft corduroy and I bought it for when she is 12 months old. The original cost for this outfit was about $30 and I got it for $11!! I did buy three other outfits at a children's store that was going out of business. I think each outfit was about $2 or $3. Click here to see them.

I tried to stay away from pink & purple outfits. We have quite a few of those already. Jordan is afraid that I am going to condition her to like pink. I tried to tell him that she's not going to know what color she is wearing at 3 months old - but he sees all that pink & purple and gets a bit nervous. So for now I will try to buy outfits that are not pink and purple.

For now. :)

83 days left...but who's counting!?

I have my next doctors appointment next week. I have to drink this orange drink and go in so they can test for gestational diabetes. I think after next week I have to start going in every two weeks instead of once a month. Pregnancy is still going smooth. My mid to lower back on the sides of my spine have been bothering me a bit. I have some yoga & pilates stretches that I try to do everyday and that seems to help.

Almost everyone comments on how small I am for being almost 7 months. I've gained 20 pounds, I can't be that small!! Jordan an I were trying to figure out where the weight has gone. We think it's all in my stomach - which probably explains the backaches!

I finally had to take out my navel ring as it was starting to hurt a bit. It was a sad day for me. I've had that piercing for 10 years!! I guess I can always go get it pierced again but I'm not sure I have the courage that I did when I was 19. Although, after child birth I might think getting a piercing is a piece of cake!!

I broke down and had a cleaning service come in a few weeks ago. There were just certain things that I physically couldn't do and the rest of it I was just too tired to get to. Let me tell you, it was the best thing I have done in 7 months!! We are going to have them come in once a month to do a nice deep clean and I'll take care of it the other weeks. The night before I had Jordan help me pick up so they could clean.

His comment, "Why do we have to clean the house for the cleaners to come?" My comment, "Honey, this isn't cleaning, this is called picking up!"

:)

Pregnancy Pictures

I had Jordan take a few pictures of me over the weekend so you can see how pregnant I am. :) These were taken over the weekend of September 8th so I would have been 26 weeks.

The Nursery

We've been working on the nursery for the past week. We've removed all the furniture that was in the bedroom & are working on doing some painting. I painted the trim white & did some touch up paint on the walls. Looks like I am going to have to put a whole coat on the walls as you can see where I touched up compared to the rest of the walls.

So before anyone yells that I shouldn't be painting.....my doctor said it was fine for me to paint as long as I use latex paint (which I am), have the room well ventilated (windows open & fans are on) and take a break if the fumes bother me. The problem with pregnant women & painting used to be that before 1978 paint contained lead - which of course it does not now. :)

I had picked out a crib & dresser that I liked from Target online - they said they didn't have the crib to show in the store. The crib had received great reviews but the dresser not so much. Well our Target in Cary had the crib & dresser set up in the store. I brought Jordan there on Saturday to see if it met his standards. The crib did - the dresser failed miserably. :)

We went to Child's Space to see if they had anything that we liked. We found a set that we liked & that met Jordan's level of quality expectations. Here's the link if you'd like to look at it. We have ordered the crib & dresser that has the hutch on but didn't order the hutch. It looks nice but isn't very practical. She wouldn't be able to reach anything on the shelves until she was 8. So we are looking for a little bookshelf instead. Here's the link if you'd like to see it - we ordered it in the Chestnut color. http://www.babysdream.com/Products/Infinity/

The sales lady also sold me on a mattress. I couldn't resist the sales pitch. I don't know a whole lot about baby mattresses but she told me that foam mattresses are recommended but that they only hold up to 25 pounds. Once the baby reaches 25 pounds you need to buy another mattress. Well, they have a mattress that one side is foam and the other side has springs - so you just flip over the mattress when the baby gets to 25 pounds. The crib converts to a toddler bed then a full sized bed - the mattress will fit the toddler bed as well. Sounds great doesn't it? I thought so too. Well, there's another feature this mattress has. It has a button you can push to have the mattress vibrate for 10 minutes giving the baby the same feeling as riding in a car. Well, isn't that just the best thing you have ever heard of!! Of course the baby will probably hate it and we'll never use it but it's there just in case!

The only downfall to ordering this furniture is that it can take up to 8-12 weeks to come in (Target's was 7 days). My due date is in 14 weeks. :) I had to smother that little nesting voice in my head that was freaking out and remind myself that the baby will not care if her room is set up or not when she comes home. I have also reminded myself that we do have a pack-n-play already so if she comes early we can always have her sleep in that. Crisis resolved.

On our trip to Target I also wanted to get a CD player for the baby's room. I was just going to get a basic little CD player that I could plug head phones into so I could play music for her now - and I figured it would be nice to have it in her room for when she is actually here. I had one all picked out and then Jordan came over. He sees one that you can put an ipod in. Why buy some little piece of junk when we can buy one that has a hook up for an ipod?? I know the baby would have been very disappointed if we didn't get her a CD player that she could hook an ipod up to. So we go to Best Buy and purchase a very nice CD player that you can hook an ipod up to & a remote to control it - tons of bells and whistles. I have to admit it is very nice & as long as she doesn't drop it on the floor at some point & break it - it will be a very nice little player for her in the future.

I have had a few people ask for pictures of pregnant me - I will try to get Jordan to take a few tonight so I can post them for you.

Hope everyone had a nice long weekend!
Stefanie

Baby Names

So Jordan an I have one name right now that we both like. Not sure it's going to be the name we end up going with as we both think we need to keep looking in case we find something better we like.

I found this really interesting site while looking for baby names. Social Security Administration! What a great place to look and see what names are popular right now. You can also go as far back as 1879 to see the top 1000 names for that birth year. You can also type in a name and it will tell you how it ranked and in what year. Here is the link: http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/index.html

The name that Jordan & I like has not been in the top 1000 in the past 15 years. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. :)

The baby likes the sound of Jordan's voice. We were trying to get her to move the other day and she was quite willing to move all around when he was talking to her. He leaves the room and she won't budge when I talk to her. Guess she hears my voice all day. So I'm hoping this behavior of not listening when mommy talks doesn't continue once she's actually here. :)

So, I'm 23 weeks along and have gained 15 pounds. My doctor said 15 is right on target for where I am considering my height & build. I've been holding steady at 15 pounds for about a month. He figures I'll gain a pound a week from here on out - putting me at about gaining 30 pounds total. Well, I haven't gained anything since I last saw him and my eating habits certainly haven't changed......

With one exception. When we were in NY my mom made egg salad sandwiches for us to take with us on the ride back to NC. Let's just say they are my new favorite thing to eat. I have at least two a week. Actually, I just finished cooking a few eggs and will be having one for lunch today!

My favorite foods right now are cereal, fruit, peanut butter & jelly & egg salad sandwiches, & peppridge farm oatmeal cookies. :) I honestly could care less if I ate anything else. Jordan on the other hand isn't so happy with those selections for dinner so I try to cook other food for him. It's kind of hard coming up with ideas for dinner when you really don't want to eat it. I try to have a few things he will like i.e. some sort of meat, starch & vegetable - then I've been sneaking in a fruit salad for me - and for dessert a peppridge farm cookie, with a glass of milk of course!!!

That's all for now, hope you all enjoy the rest of the summer!

NY Baby Shower

I've had my first baby shower. My mom and friend Krystal were so nice to have a shower for me in NY when I wasn't so big it would be uncomfortable to travel. They had it at my parents house in their side yard. They had put up a large white tent with tables and chairs decorated with balloons. We couldn't have asked for better weather. The sun was shining & it wasn't too hot. We did have a little bit of wind which tried to knock over a few umbrellas & peoples plates though. :) We managed just fine.

The men (just a few) cooked hot dogs & hamburgers for us and we had tons of sides & appetizers to go with it. There was a diaper cake, a real cake & baby bottles filled with candy. We received a lot of great items for the baby. If you'd like to see pictures from the shower click here. The 4Runner was quite full on the way back home! All an all a perfect day!

I'm still trying to find a place for everything. Right now most of what we received will have to stay put in our family room b/c the nursery is just not ready yet.

The baby & I are doing just fine. She moves all the time now. Her favorite time seems to be between 7:00 & 10:00 at night. She must be getting bigger b/c we are starting to see my stomach move with some of her more forceful movements. I've gained about 12-14 pounds at this point and I am 22 weeks along. I feel great with no real changes except I now have a belly. :) So far this pregnancy has been a breeze - I hope it continues to be that way!

Movement

I've had several people ask me in the past few weeks if I have felt any movement yet. Until Monday the answer was no. I felt her move for the first time Monday at 5:22. I was sitting at my desk working on my laptop when I felt it - very subtle, if I wasn't sitting still I probably woulndn't have noticed it. Kind of felt like a bubble moving around. I felt her move two other times that night. Since then I've felt her move about 3-5 times a day.

Jordan has been trying to feel her by putting his hand where I felt the movement. He thought I was just teasing him by saying she was moving or that maybe I was wrong and what I was feeling was not her. I believe he thought I was just having gas. I told him that I've never felt anything like this before so I was pretty sure it wasn't gas. :)

We were watching t.v. last night and she was moving around quite a bit. So he put his hand where I had felt her move last and I told him to be patient and just keep his hand there for a while. Well, low and behold after a few minutes she moved (it was a big move) and he felt her, twice actually!

We have not decided on a name yet. We throw a few out every now and then but nothing that we both like so far. We have a few middle names we like, but nothing for the first name. I should tell you now - when we have decided on a name we are keeping it a secret until she is born. So you'll have to wait until December to find out!!

Have a great weekend!!