A Moment of Reflection

It is absolutely amazing how much one learns in 9 months.

9 months ago, Mitch and I were pretty clueless when it came to pregnancy, babies, and everything else that comes with when you are expecting. We thought we knew what we were getting into, but now I know that we really didn't.

I remember back in June when we first walked into Babies-R-Us to start our baby registry. We had no idea what we needed... or what some of the things in there were for! From bedding to furniture and monitors to feeding supplies, we quickly realized that we were in over our heads and didn't have a clue about any of this stuff. I remember at one point I looked over at Mitch and told him that I was amazed that people were able to have babies and know how to take care of them. We quickly found ourselves to be very intimidated by the sheer amount of items in that store that I told Mitch that we needed to just go home and come back with our moms because I didn't know what to do in the store. (Yes, this would qualify for a mini-breakdown.) We went back to Babies-R-Us the very next weekend with both of our moms and they were our guiding light and helped us with our registry. I will never forget asking what a receiving blanket was... and then 5 seconds later asking what a flannel blanket was. (Word to the wise? They are the same darn thing.)

Last weekend, we finished up our registries and finished buying everything that we may want/need right away to help make life a bit easier for our new arrival. We didn't need the assistance of our moms and we actually knew what we were doing. It's truly amazing how much changes and how many things you learn throughout these 9 months of pregnancy.

The truly scary thought is if we've learned this much within the last 9 months... I can't imagine how much we still don't know and will need to learn.

Colds and pregnancy do not mix well together.

After 8 months of pregnancy, the inevitable happened. I became victim to a runny nose, sore throat, sinus pressure, crummy feeling... common cold. I quickly came to the realization that a cold is the last thing that you want in the last month of pregnancy considering that you have limited options in what you can take for relief, you already can't sleep well, and you feel a bit uncomfortable all of the time anyway as is.

Thankfully I am just about over the cold. It really only flares up at night now (surprise, surprise), but during the day I am pretty good now. The cold had a long 4 day run, but somehow my immune system fought back and won.

In other news, I know I still have 4 weeks... but I am fairly convinced he has officially run out of room in there. The past 2 days have been rather painful with his movements and while I am thankful for the constant reassurance that all is well with him, I do believe that he could be a bit gentler. Just sayin'.

We still have quite a bit left to do before his arrival. We need to get the car seat bases installed into our vehicles, get them inspected at the fire department, pack the hospital bag, pack the diaper bag, finish purchasing baby items, and wash all of his clothes and blankets. And clean. And start packing up the house in boxes. And, of course, remembering how to breathe. Oh my.

Announcement: I have a GLIDER!

Alright, so back in June when my grandpa (Da-Da) had his health scare and we all rushed down to Tennessee, I discovered a new item of furniture at his house. A glider. Now, I had wanted a glider for the nursery before this point, but holy buckets did this seal the deal. I was absolutely in love and heaven help anyone that sat in my glider while I was at Da-Da's house in Tennessee. (My cousin Katie has a story about this...).

Fast forward to yesterday. Yesterday my mom called me wanting the garage door code because she had to drop off a delivery. A BIG box of a delivery.

My wonderful, loving... and very astute Da-Da and mother got me a glider for the nursery. How wonderful is that? Mitch put it together for me last night and I am currently gliding away in the glider as I write this. To say that I love it would be an understatement.

So, in honor of my newly acquired glider... I present a picture of the nursery thus far. The walls are painted (moonlit yellow), the carpet has been steamcleaned, and we have a dresser and a glider at the moment. And of course Brady, the dog, who looks a bit less than thrilled that mom made him sit there for the picture. The nursery is definitely starting to come together... and I couldn't be more thrilled.

Sailboats and Rabbits

Yesterday, Mitch and I went to Babies 'R' Us just to look around and get some ideas for what we might want or not want. We don't necessarily want to start a registry yet as we feel it is a bit too early for that. Probably in about a month we will start putting our registry together (around the 20 week mark). We want to have both of our moms go with us and with Mitch's mom's recent surgery, it makes even more sense to wait. Besides, I'm sure the shower(s) will not be until mid to late September so we have plenty of time.

So we checked out practically everything in that darn store. We checked out baby monitors, breast pumps, bathtubs, cribs, bassinets, travel cribs, travel systems, entertainers, so on and so on. It was a great experience though! We were able to play around with the Chicco Keyfit 30 Cortina travel system in Miro and guess what. We love it. So that one is pretty much decided on... as is the swing and bassinet for that matter.

We also have decided on gender specific nursery themes for our little one and they fit perfectly with us. And even better? They both work with my pale yellow painted nursery walls. For a boy? Blue/sailboats. For a girl? Pink/rabbits. And I'm thinking white furniture for both with the pale yellow walls.

Can you tell I'm just a little bit excited for all of this?

Travel Systems and More Updates.

I have found a travel system (so stroller and car seat) that I absolutely adore. The safety ratings are fantastic and for icing? It has yellow in it (to follow my "I want a happy baby" theme of crazyness). Mitch and I both agree that this one looks to be a good fit based off of the demos that we watched online and from review after review after review that we have read. Next thing to do is to go to a store that has this travel system and push it around and play with it to make sure it is the one for us.

This is exciting news because I was feeling overwhelmed from all of the car seat and stroller options there were out there and I feel as though some weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. We researched like crazy and feel confident that we can make informed decisions on car seats/strollers at this point which is a complete relief!

In other news, Mitch's mom had surgery yesterday to take out a cancerous tumor and remove possibly infected areas for further safety. They took out a bit of her stomach, pancreas, small intestine, and the tumor on the bile duct which meant that they had to completely reconstruct her bile duct. Major surgery, but she got through it just fine and we are hoping for a speedy and safe recovery. This is a huge relief for all, but especially for Mitch. I only wish I could have been there more for him yesterday (instead I was writing a research paper and then taking my second to last final before graduation). I did manage to make it up to the hospital and see Becky post-operation and she looked good.

As for the pregnancy, things are going pretty well. We are 2 weeks away from our 16 week appointment today which is amazing to think about. The time seems to be going so slowly, yet incredibly fast all at the same time.

With that said, I will go ahead and post a picture from April 25, 2010 that is my belly picture at 12 weeks, 3 days according to the new due date of November 4, 2010. It's weird to think that this picture is almost 2 weeks old at this point... guess that means it is about time to take a new picture as we continue to document this journey.