Just Around the Corner

About a week from now, we'll have our baby here.



I went to the doctor for my weekly appointment this Tuesday and he said if we don't have a baby by my next appointment (Wednesday, 8/29) then we'll discuss inducing. Which we'll likely schedule for our due date, Friday, August 31st.



38 weeks [08.17.12]



So I imagine I'll be spending Labor Day weekend in the hospital for a couple days with a brand new little boy.



I'm trying to go into the entire process - labor and delivery, parenthood - as open and blank as possible. So many people are so very eager to toss their 2 coins into the fountain of advice surrounding all new parents. A fountain we most definitely did not build and did not ask to be filled with 2 cents after 2 cents worth of advice that perhaps worked for you.

There is so much information that is in conflict with a majority of the other sources of information out there that I would rather just have a basic understanding of what I've gotten myself into and then do it the way that works for me and for Kevin. I promise, we've done 99% of the grown up, adult stuff of life for the last 7 years entirely on our own. I'm sure we'll manage.



Dinner with Kevin, full term/37 weeks. [08.10.12]

 At the same time there is still a feeling of weightlessness as we dive slowly into the unknown territory of parenthood. No matter how many people think they are helping with their tips and tricks, we are still the ones who will be living the new reality of a tiny, new boy in our house who needs us for everything. And he is not your boy. You are not me. Our circumstance will be entirely different from all the new babies out there. It will be specific to us. There will always be an element of 'winging it'.





Pretty flannel blanket from Grandma H.

 Everything is as ready as it can be. I want to vacuum (again); finish the laundry (it's never finished!), wash some more dishes. The dog needs a bath and the guest room needs to be organized. I picture myself living in dusty, un-vacuumed squalor the first weeks of his life feeling, not only the weight of managing a new life but doing so with crumbs of cat litter underfoot, unwashed dishes in the sink. What an unpleasant thought!

But I know I have a handful of people who are genuinely willing to help. They don't proffer advice like a vending machine, like a broken record. They actually care about me and Kevin and our little boy. Those are the very select few people who will be a relief to have around as needed. To make a meal or wash a dish. Or sweep up cat litter.



For now we just wait! To see when this guy decides to come. Whether he comes this week or we induce, Kevin and I will have our little boy here by August 31st.

Eight. Days. Left.

A New Chair for Baby

On Wednesday evening I got a call from Daryl at R + L Carriers asking me to call back and reference such-and-such PRO #. I hadn't been expecting any large items shipped via freight carrier so I thought he must have the wrong number. I quickly looked up the pro # on their website but didn't find any info about the shipper or the contents of the container.

As soon as I left work I called him back and found out:

It was our new glider!! For Baby's room!

I was so so excited! The last large piece of furniture needed to complete his room was on its way to my house at that moment! We worked out the logistics for delivery the next morning. When I got home from work I asked Kevin if the chair had arrived. He said "What chair?" ... I was not surprised by this since he loves to tease, so I went into the baby's room and there it sat. =) He easily installed the back of the chair onto the base, since it had shipped in two pieces. We rearranged the room so we could place the chair where we thought would be best and ... now the room is done! I could not be more excited!!

I had to check the registry to see who gifted us this awesome chair since there wasn't any reference on the package - my sweet friend Jennifer was the gifter; I sent her a picture of the chair in the new room right away so she could see how great it looks. What a sweet and generous gift.

Now all we need is a little bit of artwork, a couple wood shelves and to hang the new quilt and curtains. I'm just so pleased to have all the big stuff out of the way - what a huge relief!!

Here's the room in its new layout with the new chair and its pretty chevron pillow. =) (ignore the tools and junk on the dresser!)

Happy Feet! Or elbows or knees.

Best feeling this month:

Feeling the fetus move.

A little bit crazy and a whole lot awesome.

He has been moving - ever so gently - for a few weeks.

Until this week. Apparently he has been taking his Flintstone's vitamins because he is totally stronger. I can tell.

Red letter day: I saw my belly move.

No lie.

I was in bed reading last night; he was moving a lot and I had my hand on my stomach so I could feel it. Then I saw it! A foot or an elbow or something. Totally sci-fi. Crazy!

And then Kevin came in and I tried to have him feel it but little man was done; no more movements. We've still got a few more months for Kevin to feel it though. I'm sure bebe won't be shy forever.

Yes, a little crazy.

But mostly awesome.

<3<3

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the day that determines the color of all the baby clothes we will be gifted by people who think baby girls have to wear pink and baby boys have to wear blue until they are old enough to have long hair that differentiates them from the opposite sex. Some people really are that old fashioned.

I'm not old-fashioned, really. I guess I'm not very traditional at all. I don't think that hair or activity or color of clothing - or even style of clothing - determines sex. I think that a child should be able to choose what they wear even if that sometimes means they look like an old bag lady or Hallowen costume gone very, very wrong.

I think when they are too young to chose for themselves, that parents could manage opening up their predispositions and allowing a little yellow, orange, green, red and black (gasp) into their child's wardrobe, whether boy or girl. I'm not sure who came up with the pink/girl, blue/boy themes but I'm over them. I want ALL colors and lots of them around my baby. I am pretty sure there is nothing wrong with exposing your child to all the options out there and allowing them to make their independent decision to wear blue or pink or orange or purple without swaying their choice. Check out this Smithsonian.com article for more.

So yeah, all that to say: tomorrow we find out if our little dragon is a boy or a girl.

We go in at 1:30pm to have our sonogram and find out if everyone and their dog has been right: My friend and I are the only ones who thing 'boy'; Kevin and everyone else think we're having a girl.

If the old wives tales hold any water, then I feel like it might be a boy based on my symptoms. But you never know. I have a 50% chance of being wrong! ...

I'm not sure how this might change my ideas of baby color coding. I tend to get a tiny bit nauseous when I see babies in pink and flowers and lady bugs or blue and trucks and bears and construction equipment. (Or worse yet: Dora! omg! Take your infant OUT of that branded polyester, please! Gap makes great cotton onesies. No logo or mascot required) No wonder your toddler loves those things; that's all you've exposed them to.

There is still so much gender expectation and inequality, however modern humanity likes to think we are 'advanced' and 'open-minded'. I'm not sure who or where these open-minded, free-thinking parents and citizens are but they certainly aren't in Texas (open-minded, free-thinking, non-traditional people of Texas please prove me wrong!)

I may find out we're having a girl and then go nuts for tutus and pink - paint and clothes and stuffed bears and shoes and socks blankets, and, and, and - but I really don't see that happening.

We'll know tomorrow! =)

Well this is just sad. ... And chocolate chip cookies. And babies!

Three months and no blog posts! Not like I have a flock of eager readers tracking my every post and life decision and meal and clothing purchase/recommendation and Hipstamatic photo. ;)

But still. I have such good intentions and then just ... abandon them instead for an hour of repinning on Pinterest, making dinner and eating it with my husband on the back patio and voraciously watching 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' like a proper Trekkie/nerd/pregnany lady on a mission. ... Oh yeah!

Since my last post, I am excited to share that my sweet husband and I are expecting our first child!

I'm 18 weeks and due 8/31/12. This week the fetus is the size of a bell pepper, my uterus is the size of a cantaloupe and my balance is officially non-existent!

I've worked in the same office for 5 years and have started bumping into walls that have never posed a problem before. I am clumsy - actually I have always been clumsy but this whole daily-shifting-center-of-gravity thing is NOT helping: I drop full glasses of water all over the kitchen and myself and trip over rugs. And my own bare feet. I am emotional: I have cried more in the last month than I have in the last 5 years all together. I don't have a love-hate relationship with food anymore, as I did in the first trimester. Actually it's all love now (yay! no more gagging! I have to be grateful that I was spared from some of the most horrific first trimester symptoms, thankfully)

Yes, now all foods are friends again. 

Especially chocolate chip cookies.

Speaking of which I have been on something of a quest recently to find the "right" CCC recipe. I wanted to say "perfect" but that is really relative to who is eating the cookies. Some people like crisp cookies (we don't); some like soft, Famous Amos cookies (I could take them or leave them unless they are oatmeal which must be soft); some people like cookies with crisp edges and chewy middles (yes please!!). Thankfully Kevin also likes the perfectly balanced crispy/chewy CCC so I am working on finding the right recipe for us. I typically just use the one on the package of Toll House or Ghirardelli chips, whichever one I have around. But surely there is a magic combination of ingredients I can use all the time to ensure we have the ideal cookie.

I just recently tried this recipe from Savory Sweet Life which is wonderful and maybe I did it wrong but as they cool they get a little TOO crispy - like, all-over crispy so the chewy part is all gone. Kevin is a dunker (not me) so this can work for him the next day but for me it's just like eating a cracker or something. Not preferred. They are SO GOOD fresh though: like 3-minutes-from-the-oven warm with ice cold milk. M-hmm.

I think these are up next. Don't they look divine?? And I'm loving the addition of the sea salt sprinkle on top. Just that little extra something. And the yummy toasted walnuts sounds AH-mazing.

Of course mine wouldn't come out looking quite this nice but it's worth a try!