Oh Baby! Now What?

Check out the eyes!

2010-04-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

Please, people, no pictures!

At 9 months, I took Lucky to see an optometrist. Why? Well, no reason, really. I had read that it was highly suggested that an infant's eyes are checked at around 6 months, but my pediatrician made no mention of this so I didn't really sweat it. And then one of the ladies at the parent education class I take mentioned that she was referred to a free program to have her child's eyes checked called InfantSEE. So I figured if it's free, why not?

I took him to see Dr. Wang at the South Pasadena Optometric Group, and she was amazing with him (and me). I found it extremely interesting how she examined his eyes -- baby versions of an adult eye exam. Lucky was really sweet through the entire thing and even let them dilate his eyes and put sunglasses on afterwards with no issue. And the exam really was free. I had an amazing experience. I would highly recommend all parents take advantage of this program, which is offered to infants from age 6 months to one year.

Revisiting Babywearing

2010-04-07T21:58:00.000-07:00

With the Infantino sling recall, I thought I would revisit the subject of babywearing. In the beginning we used a ring sling and the Moby Wrap, which cradled Lucky quite well and he really liked it, but the sling in particular didn't free my hands because I was always so worried that he would fall out. The Moby Wrap was awesome because I really felt that he was secure in there, but it took SO long to put it on, and then he got heavy fast so we stopped using it because we started wearing him the same way we did in the Belle Baby Carrier, and it was so much easier to put him in the Belle. I absolutely LOVE the Belle Baby Carrier. We got it for 50%, which was even sweeter. Here's a pic of the very one we bought (yes, we got the Cheetah):

There are two buckles and an adjustable ring belt, and that's it. We mostly wear Lucky facing out, but every now and then he gets tired and we can easily just turn him around in the Belle and have him face in. I do wish that I had gotten the organic version, which my friend has, as it seems softer and on the whole more breathable, but it wasn't 50%. I think since I started with the Belle that when I tried to put the Bjorn on it seemed counter-intuitive, but definitely Lucky loves it.

Oh my gosh it's been over a year?!!!

2010-04-07T21:53:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been a year since I visited this blog! Oh my gosh! Well, I blame him:

I'm going to try to get back to blogging, but Lucky Boy here is a little dynamo!

Training the Cats

2009-03-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

When my sister came over, I had her help me blow up some red latex balloons to put in the crib:

Now you might wonder why we did this. Here's the answer:

Our cats currently sleep on anything and everything they desire. And my husband and I have been of the idea that they should not be allowed to sleep in the baby's sleeping areas. At least for now. Orange and fluffy above especially loves to hug and groom things smaller than him, and while it's sweet, it worries us. Part of the reason we wanted to get the bassinet and crib set up so early was to train the cats to stay out of them.

I researched and researched and finally decided that latex balloons would be the best way to go. One, for whatever reason, my cats are scared of them. I brought them home once (the floaty kind) and they would not come anywhere near them. Two, if they were to try to jump into the crib, the balloons would either pop or hit them, neither of which they would enjoy. We learned the first night that we had the bassinet that the balloons were quite effective. In the middle of night, startling pops woke us up. Two balloons had burst, and while we don't know which cat was responsible, neither of them will go near the bassinet now. I've removed the balloons at this point from the bassinet, and so far, no cat sightings in the bassinet.

With the crib, you'll notice that there's now space for the cats to land and lay down should they desire. Our grand hope is that by the time the last balloon comes out, they won't have any desire to be in the crib at all.

DIY Project: Customizing a Bookcase

2009-03-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

I have loved the idea of customizing a bookcase by wallpapering the backs of the bookcase with pretty paper or fabric. Honestly, though, I don't have the time or inclination right now to deal with glue and lining things up properly. We need shelving in the baby room, though, and I wanted to do something besides putting another utilitarian bookcase up in another room. So I thought a coat of paint would just be the perfect way to perk up a standard bookcase. I bought a quart of semi-gloss paint and an Ikea Billy bookcase and went to work.

Here's a before pic of the bookcase from the Ikea website:It's okay, but blah...just a regular old bookcase. I painted the back of the bookcase with a gorgeous aqua color (Olympic Premium in Caruso), and here is the result:

I will say that this project did come with a slight snafu. I had perused the Internet and found instructions on Domino that confirmed what I wanted to do: prime the back piece, then paint it. I primed the white laminated side of the backboard (the side that would normally show), and immediately had an idea that it wasn't going to work out because the primer was beading and not really sticking to the laminate. I painted two coats of primer (exactly the kind Domino had mentioned) and two coats of paint and it did in fact cover just fine. I let it dry overnight and when I went to put it into the Ikea bookcase...

Disaster.

Utter disaster.

When sliding it into place, the paint and primer scraped and peeled away from the original white laminated side. Honestly, if I were just going to hammer it into place (with nothing around that could possibly scrape at the paint), this paint job would have worked just fine. But the Ikea Billy has you sliding the backboard into these vertical slits and then hammering the thing along the horizontal supports. Perhaps if I were to sand it well before priming it would have worked better (but honestly no set of directions mentioned sanding), or if I had not used water-based primer and paint, but I'm pregnant and not about to subject myself to higher VOC products.

I actually was able to scrape all bits of paint and primer off the laminated side of the backboard that I had painted. I went to Plan B, which I had immediately thought of right after I started priming. I flipped the backboard over to the unlaminated, cardboard-looking side and primed and painted that. The paint stuck, no problem. And now, if we're ever tired of the aqua, we can always flip the backboard over and revert back to the original white.

Here's a pic of the bookcase with a bunch of baby stuff we've been storing up all around:

I absolutely love the result!

The Chair Dilemma

2009-03-13T09:28:00.000-07:00

There's just one piece of major furniture left for us to get for the baby bedroom, and that's a chair. I was half hoping that the guest bed in there would serve double duty, but everyone who's been in the room has agreed with my assessment that there needs to be a chair of some sort in there. Unfortunately the room's not the biggest, and I don't want the room to start feeling cramped. Originally I had wanted to get this rocker combo from Babies R Us because eventually we may want to move the chair to another room in the house when the baby is done being a baby:
And who knows? We might yet still. I'm afraid, though, that the ottoman might stick out too much in the room, cutting all that nice open space we currently have in there. My friend suggested that we block the sliding glass door and just treat it like another wall, but I'm loathe to do that.

My sister and one of my best friends made mention that no matter what, it'd be really good to be able to put your feet up when you sit down. My sister suggested a recliner, which was what I was sort of debating. Best Chairs has a couple glider/recliners, and I could get it with the contrast piping if I wanted:
It would still rock and I'd still be able to put my feet up without having a bulky ottoman in the room. It seems like it would be the ideal choice except that it's a WAY pricier option that what I was originally thinking.

So then I was thinking, what if the chair either just rocked or just reclined? I mean, lots of people get just a standard rocking chair, something like this from Overstock:

And honestly, this Ikea recliner is pretty good looking and pretty darn comfortable, even if it doesn't rock:
(Ikea has a cheaper chair that rocks but unfortunately I couldn't get it to rock very much in store.)

Or I could just put a club chair or armchair of some sort in there and just call it a day. Who needs a chair to rock or recline anyway?

I see now why my friends had an office chair in their nursery.

The Look for Less: Baby Mod Olivia Crib v. Oeuf Classic Crib

2009-03-10T08:31:00.000-07:00

So I was trolling my design blogs, as I often do early in the morning, when I happened upon a crib from Walmart called the Olivia Crib by Baby Mod:

This sort of reminded me of that show The Look for Less that Elizabeth Hasselbeck used to host before she went to The View (stick with fashion, Mrs. Hasselbeck, I loved you on The Look for Less...not so much on The View). Gosh I used to love that show. Anyway, this crib looked A LOT like the Oeuf Classic Crib:

There are obvious design differences, of course, but all cribs sold in the USA have to pass the same safety requirements, and for a third of the price, one can get a very very similar nursery look for a lot less. There's even a post on ohdeedoh on how to customize the crib feet.

Glucose Screening Test

2009-03-09T10:03:00.000-07:00

At 27 weeks, I went in for a glucose screening test. I was told to go a week before my 28 week appointment so they would have the test results by my appointment. Needless to say, I was really freaked out over this whole ordeal. I mean, for one, since my 20 week appointment, I've been of the idea that I would in fact fail the glucose screening test, fail the glucose tolerance test, and then be diagnosed with gestational diabetes. This has been a great fear of mine because, really, there is nothing I fear more than not being able to have sugar.

Anyway, I had heard that for the glucose screening test, basically they give you orange syrup to suck down and then you have to sit there for an hour. To my surprise, I was given a glass bottle (10 oz) of orange soda (with 50g of dextrose) straight from a fridge to drink. No problem. I love my soda. Any kind of soda. There was a lady there who had failed the screen and was there for the 3-hour tolerance test. She kept saying dire things to me like, "You better hope you pass because the 3 hour test is horrible." But since it was just a 10 oz soda, I was feeling a little more confident that I wasn't going to fail the glucose screening test. Me and soda have always been great friends.

I did tell a couple people that I got soda to drink for the test, and they were surprised. More than one (my sister and others that work in the medical profession) said that the lab must care about their patients because that drink is more expensive than the syrup.

And yes, I passed the screening test, no problem. And the test showed that I'm not anemic, either, so double yay!

What a Croc!

2009-03-07T08:54:00.000-08:00

So I love my OB. I have referred two of my pregnant friends to my doctor, and they love her, too. She has a way about her to check on things without overly concerning her patients. I mean, let's be honest, she mentioned at 20 weeks that there was some sugar in my urine and even though she dismissed it as the 32 ounces of juice I had right before coming to the doctor's office, I freaked out because I thought for sure that meant I was going to be diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I noted at my 28 week appointment that she ever so slyly felt up my ankles. I'm pretty sure she was checking for edema without mentioning it, but who knows, maybe she was just giving my ankles a reassuring squeeze. No edema yet, thank goodness.

I have noted that some of my flats have gotten a little tight, though. It's probably the extra 20 pounds I'm lugging around right now and the 8 extra gallons I seem to be drinking every day. To compound matters, my everyday shoes, a pair of Skechers, have died after a long and fruitful life. I have been hinting and hinting and hinting for quite some time (like since way before pregnancy) that I would like some Crocs, but my husband has been very non-responsive to this. In fact, he's been downright against it, saying flat out that they look ugly. They look ultra comfortable, though, and there are days in which I'm printing where I'm on my feet for over 6 or 7 hours.

I went to Nordstrom Rack with my sister and saw classic Crocs (Crocs Beach, I believe) for $10 less than MSRP, but to my disappointment the small size was too small in length and the medium size was too big. I say that with the caveat that both were way too wide for me to be comfortable.

Yesterday, my sister and I went to the mall, and we stopped by the Crocs kiosk. My sister pointed out to me the Crocs that she had (Crocs Malindi), which had a slimmer fit, more exact sizing, and were OH SO COMFORTABLE. I got them in Berry:

I also got a pair of Crocs Olivia in Brown:

Aren't they adorable? And so comfortable! I especially like the rhinestone charm detail. The kiosk had them in red, brown, black (though none in my size), and new gold. I was going to get them in red, because, well, red is my favorite color and honestly they're Crocs and should be bought in fun colors, but my sister convinced me that since I was already buying the magenta Crocs, I should get a more practical color that would go with more of my clothing. I showed them to my husband last night, who didn't realize Crocs came in different styles, and said that they looked cute and ultra comfortable. The funny part is that I told him about the red-brown debate, and he said I should have gotten the red ones. Sigh. I am very happy with my Croc purchase, though. I'm going to take one of these pairs out today on the town. I have every confidence they'll be as comfortable as they were when I tried them on. I'm going to try printing in them this week and we'll see how that goes (I'm bringing my Nikes, just in case, though).

Baby Bedroom Complete!

2009-03-05T21:16:00.000-08:00

Today I am officially 28 weeks pregnant. This pregnancy seems to be going by so quickly! The last week of February was taken up by renovating a bedroom for baby. After attaining so much baby stuff and planning out what we wanted to do for the nursery, my husband and I decided to tackle the job before I got too unwieldy to help. We were using the small bedroom next to the master as my husband's office, guest room, and general catch-all room. It was a major project to clean out enough space in my own office for my husband's desk and office equipment, clean out all our extraneous stuff in the condo to create more space for the stuff that was in that room, and then renovate the room for baby.

Here's a before shot of the room after we removed all the furniture:

The room was a pink color, and you can't tell really from the picture, but there was acoustic popcorn on the ceiling that my husband and I scraped off. My husband took care of the ceiling, while I painted the walls. The crib was absurdly easy to put together -- it took us maybe 20 minutes all together to put it together. I am glad so far we chose the crib that we did. It is so so much sturdier than any of the ones we saw at Babies R Us, and I absolutely love the dark espresso color.

Here are some after shots after we were done scraping the ceilings, painting, and putting the furniture back in:

Romeo, my dog, is in the last picture. He and our cats love the new room -- they think that the animal theme should include them! We put in a couple different lamps from around our home in there for now. I love how our blue/green Disney lamp that is on the nightstand next to the bed and crib goes so well with the room's colors, so that will definitely stay in the bedroom. I also gave up my elephant humidifier to the cause -- it goes so well with the room's theme!

If I had to choose one single change I love the most (after the ceiling, which I am still so amazed at), I would have to say the curtains! They are so much softer looking than the vertical blinds, and they actually block out the same amount of light.

I just put the mobile together today, and it looks so adorable. My sister is staying in the room right now, and she even loves the new sheets and coverlet I got to coordinate with the room's new decor. We have yet to finish accessorizing the room (chair, shelving, wall art, lighting, knick knacks, etc.) and we're waiting for more baby items for the room (diaper pail, changing pad, etc.), but I absolutely love how the room has turned out!

Baby's Progression in Ultrasounds...

2009-01-29T16:39:00.001-08:00

I've had more ultrasounds than most, including a 5 week one that is not pictured below. At my doctor's office, it's better safe than sorry, so they like to check things out whenever there's a whisper of a concern. It's pretty cool to see how our baby is progressing, and so long as everything remains normal, it's going to be a long wait until our next ultrasound at 32 weeks. I thought I would share my baby's progression in ultrasounds!

Ultrasound, 6 weeks (10/3/2008)

Heartbeat: 113bpm. The pregnancy looks good, but not yet deemed viable by the doctor's office.

Ultrasound, 7 weeks (10/10/2008)

Heartbeat: 136bpm; head-to-rump: 0.945cm. The big circular thing on top is the yolk sac, the bean looking thing below that is the baby. At this point, it is deemed a viable pregnancy.

Ultrasound, 12 weeks (11/14/2008)

Heartbeat: 161bpm; head-to-rump: 6cm. Nuchal translucency testing looks great, ultrasound technician thinks she seems signs as to the sex of the baby, but the baby quickly crosses its ankles and refuses to let her confirm her suspicions.

Ultrasound, 16.5 weeks (12/15/2008)

Suspicions confirmed: it's a boy!

Ultrasound, 20 weeks (1/7/2009)

Heartbeat: 150bpm. Everything looks good with baby, who seemed annoyed at the intrusion during his anatomy scan! Estimated weight: 13oz, almost a pound!

On the Subject of Babywearing...

2009-01-25T09:27:00.000-08:00

So I've been researching a lot about babywearing and what the best mode of babywearing might be. In L.A., it seems very divided between the Bjorn folks and the sling folks, with little overlap. My husband and I have seen both types of baby-carrying devices severely misused. In fact, I think all members of my family have. My husband revised his sling opinion after seeing a father wear a Bjorn totally wrong at the airport -- the straps weren't tight enough and the baby was severely lopsided and dangling. My sister tried to make me swear not to use a sling after she saw a baby dangling and barely supported in one. As she said, "The baby's head was going everywhere!" Both instances, I think, are results of user error.

I just read an interesting article on babywearing that makes a lot of sense. It's from the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association. I'm a big fan of chiropractic, and it makes sense what they are saying -- that you should alternate the positioning of your baby by using a variety of carriers. It's an interesting position, acknowledging that different types of carriers have different benefits and drawbacks.

DIY Project: Baby Sling

2009-01-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

I have to admit that I'm still out to lunch about the whole how-to-carry-the-baby thing -- whether to use a sling, a wrap, or a carrier. It makes it a little easier that my friend offered to make me a sling yesterday. Maya Wrap Sling has sewing instructions on their website, which is super cool. You can make your own with the fabric of your choosing!

To buy or not to buy, that is the question...

2009-01-11T09:08:00.001-08:00

So I have a confession to make. I am a retail junkie. I love going shopping. Online, walking the malls, trolling through discount stores, digging through thrift stores. I've gotten to the point now that I generally don't buy things that I want immediately. And with my first baby, it has been really FREAKIN' hard not to just buy every cute thing that I come across. Especially now that we know that it's a boy. But my husband's in a two door sports coupe and he wants to trade in for a four door SUV-ish thing so he can drive around the baby, too. And cribs are pricey (especially when my husband's aesthetics come into play) and so are diapers. And, as my good friend keeps reminding me, the baby shower hasn't happened yet.

Plus, there are just some things that you don't need to buy. And it's super duper hard, with baby number one, which baby thing you actually need and which baby thing you don't.

Take the diaper bag for instance.

On the one hand, pretty much any shoulder bag or backpack will do for a diaper bag, because, let's be honest, it's a bag that holds diapers. It holds things that the baby will pee and poop in. Plus at the doctor's office, they are giving out Enfamil diaper bags for free. They're black and utilitarian, and since they are at the doctor's office, there's not even a need to get on any mailing list to get the free diaper bag. I've seen other parents use them and they look pretty much like a standard black shoulder bag.

On the other hand, a diaper bag is a glorified tote, one that will be with me a lot, and why not get something that is a little more chic? I've often thought, even before I got married and even considered having a baby, of buying a diaper bag because they are generally good looking tote bags with lots of useful compartments. Like this gorgeous Oi Oi Zebra Tote:
Or my personal favorite from Rowdy:So I'm twiddling my thumbs, trying to decide if I should buy something, when I should buy something, if what I'm getting is too extravagant for what it is or not, etc., etc., and so on and so forth. Compulsive shopping is so much easier.

DIY Project: Plush Animal Art

2009-01-04T12:00:00.000-08:00

I saw this project on Project Nursery:

Photo of inspiration:
Lombard St. Nursery by Steamed Artichoke Studio

I thought that it fit in exactly with our theme and decided to try it out. I went to Ikea to grab the shadowboxes and checked out their selection of tiny soft toys:

They didn't have the panda, they had a mouse which didn't fit the theme, and the crocodile's legs just looked a little bizarre from the side view. I actually grabbed a bunch of the very three in the inspiration picture. My good friend who was with me at Ikea, upon seeing the 50 cent tiny plushies, mentioned that we could just get some fishing line and make ourselves a mobile. I had checked the pet store for some alternate choices, and my husband had mentioned we could just buy a second mobile and cut the animals off of it to frame. That seemed an awful waste of a mobile, but if I see a cheap secondhand mobile, I might do just that. For now, though, we have the Ikea elephant, lion, and hippo framed up, and I have to say, it's super cute.

I used chocolate paper for the background so the animals would pop more, and I may add some aqua ribbon hangers to it later. Here is the completed project (unhung because the walls aren't painted yet) are in all its glory:

I saw this elephant...

2009-01-03T10:59:00.000-08:00

I saw this elephant (the blue one on the right) at a gift shop in Hollywood:

It's really cute, it's a piggy bank, and I love the saying emblazoned on it. (I also really love the teddy bear, which we did not see at the gift shop.) My husband and I debated buying the elephant. It wasn't terribly expensive ($21 and change), but my husband thought that we should look around some more and maybe see if we could get it cheaper online or find something better.

I looked and looked, and the closest thing to it is this from DwellStudio:

Now this little piggy bank has a WAY steeper price tag of anywhere from $78 up to over $100 online. Its color seems to fit our color scheme better than the other less expensive one, but I like the look of the original one we saw better.

So now I'm faced with the decision whether to go back to the gift store and hope that it's still there, or find it online somewhere. Or just to forget about it, because the elephant would be more of a decorative element more than anything else.

Fun Article on What NOT to Name Your Baby

2009-01-02T08:25:00.000-08:00

My husband and I found great enjoyment out of this article. We don't take it too seriously, but it does have its humorous moments. Especially since some of the names mentioned are names of some of our friends' babies. Check it out!

10 Ways to Avoid Hipster Baby Names

Nursery Design Board!

2008-12-31T09:38:00.000-08:00

I got inspired by all the awesome inspiration boards at Project Nursery and decided that I should put one together to see how all the pieces I am thinking of will pull together (or not). I must say that I love it so far.

COLORS
I told my husband that I wanted to paint the walls sage. We're indecisive right now about selling my condo and moving to a house or just staying put for another year or two, so in case we do sell, I want the walls to have universal appeal so it will show well, and really, what's more popular than a sage nursery? If that weren't a consideration, we would have probably painted the room an aqua blue, as I originally wanted a more modern aqua/cherry/burgundy color scheme, so we decided to use decorative accents in aquas and blues to complement the sage walls along with the ever popular chocolate brown.

THEME
There's a baby store not too far from my favorite lunch place, and they had giraffes everywhere. I originally wanted to do the whole nursery in a giraffe theme (yes, just giraffes), but my husband asked if I would compromise a little and let other animals play as well. He wanted elephants in the room as well, so we decided to do a safari/animal theme. I say safari-slash-animal because most bedding sets are more of a zoo theme than anything else, as in nature tigers and lions don't usually play on the same continent. So the theme is mostly African safari with a couple extra animals.

OVERALL LOOK
The room is going to primarily be a nursery, so I don't want the room to look too grown-up, but I don't want it to look too "baby" either since we're the ones that will have to look at the stuff. So the overall look we're going for is a playful yet contemporary with broad appeal.

DESIGN BOARD NOTES

1. Giraffe. This 5' giraffe is the starting point for our safari theme. It's gorgeous, and we have one, thanks to my awesome mother in law, that is similar at around 4 feet.

2. Cocalo Bali Lamp. I love this lamp because it incorporates all the design colors. It's also modern and chic, so at a later date I can move this to another part of our home and it won't look "baby." Not completely sold on the lamp, though, as we have chocolate lamps in our bedroom now that I'm thinking of moving into the nursery. Plus there are some turquoise Ikea lamp options that I'm considering.

3. amy coe Rocker Combo. I love the chocolate with white piping. We might not get this exact one (Babies R Us has another similarly colored one and we saw a rocker/recliner at another store also in chocolate with white piping).

4. Bonavita Peyton Crib. After much debate, pondering, and scouting, we've decided on the Bonavita Peyton Crib (the one without a dropside). I originally wanted the one with the dropside because I'm short, but we liked the look of the stationery crib better, plus my husband made the point that the Peyton crib had a low front, which was just as high as a lowered dropside. I originally wanted to do white so we could pick up a dresser at Ikea for half the price of a matching stained wood dresser, but the espresso finish is so gorgeous, who could resist?

5. Sweet Safari Mobile. My mother in law and I saw this mobile at Babies R Us and thought it would be perfect. It's colorful to help the baby see it, cute, and works with our theme.

6. Keeva Curtains. We have functional and not quite pretty vertical blinds in there now, and I'm thinking of putting these gorgeous curtains up either over the vertical blinds or instead of the vertical blinds. We'll just have to see how much light they block out.

7. DwellStudio for Target Zebra Rug. A whimsical yet modern zebra rug at an affordable price. Who could resist?

8. ShaNickers Animal Chalkies. I am not sure we'll do exact these wall decals (my husband has an idea to use Joie Studio baby safari design assets and create wall stickies with them), but I love that these wall decals are also chalkboards and easily removable.

And the stuff starts pouring in...

2008-12-30T09:58:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I'm officially at 18.5 weeks. I hit 19 weeks on January 1st. The ultrasound technician told us at 12 weeks that she thought the baby is a boy, and at 16 weeks, she confirmed that the baby is in fact a boy! We go back for another look at the baby at 20 weeks, which is a little more than a week away. It's the big anatomy scan ultrasound, so I am excited to see all the baby's parts and am hoping that everything looks normal and healthy.

Now that we know it's a boy, the stuff has started pouring in! Earlier we had decided that we wanted to go with a safari/animal theme for the nursery, and when we went to Babies R Us with my mother in law, she bought us this crib bedding set and mobile:

Then our dear friends Andy and Anna gave us this cool bassinet:

For Christmas, my mother-in-law gave us this awesome 4' giraffe, which I had been coveting. This is a picture of another giraffe (I think), but it looks awfully similar:

We've also received some baby clothes, baby towels, and other baby what-nots. We don't exactly have a place to put all this stuff yet as the room is still my husband's office/guest room/throw-it-in-there-and-we'll-figure-it-out-later room. But I did make my own first major purchase for the nursery:

I was going to wait to make this purchase either because: a) to see how the nursery looked before making the decision or b) to see if anyone was going to buy it as a shower gift. But Target had other ideas and it went on clearance. I didn't really want to wait for 3-4 months only to find out by then that it was sold out and discontinued, so I went ahead and used an online coupon, an old Target gift card I found, and some holiday cash to buy it. Hopefully when the rug comes in it will motivate us to start cleaning out the room!

We decided on a color scheme for the room, and now the next steps are to clean my office/studio to make room for my husband's office stuff and then start clearing out the room. We're leaving the guest bed in there for several reasons: 1) in the early months, the room can still be used as a guest room since the baby will be sleeping in the bassinet in our room; 2) one of us can use the other bed if the baby is being fussy in the early months; and 3) one of us can sleep in the other room with the baby after we start using the crib if the baby is having a bad night or if the baby is sick or something. I've heard stories of babies making so much racket that husbands sleep out on the couch to get some semblence of rest before going to work, so if we need to sleep in separate spaces, at least it will be more comfortable than the couch.

17 weeks and counting...my pregnancy experience thus far...

2008-12-22T08:59:00.000-08:00

It's starting to settle in now that I may actually be pregnant. You know, I'm not showing very much. Only close friends have noticed that I'm starting to show. I think perhaps there was this expectation that since I'm slim that I would start to show earlier, and that just hasn't been the case. Honestly, aside from being sleepy for the greater part of October and not getting my period, if I hadn't peed on five pregnancy test sticks, I really would not have known probably for quite some time.

Here are my experiences thus far:

- PEEING ON A STICK BECOMES A PASTTIME
I know those pregnancy test sticks are pretty darn accurate, but I had some measure (OK, a lot) of disbelief the first time the test came back positive. I mean, really. The first time the line was really very vaguely there, and I know they say a line is a line, but the first time I thought that perhaps I was making things up. And then obviously I was staring at it for too long, because you're not supposed to read those things after the alloted amount of time that it says on the instructions. So then I waited a day and peed on a second stick...and a third...and then the next day I peed on a couple more. Test, retest, right? Each more positive than the last.

- THANK YOU FOR A GOOD DOCTOR
I had some degree of issues right after I peed on the sticks. I started almost immediately spotting, and while I was concerned, I really doubted that if it was a miscarriage that there was anything my doctor could do about it. The spotting went on, on and off, for almost a week before red clots showed up along with the spotting. My doctor saw me the same day I called about the spots, and, after an ultrasound and exam, reassured me that everything looked normal and what I was experiencing was pretty normal. And while she was reassuring me, she had me scheduled to come in every week until the pregnancy was deemed viable. The concern was evident, as I felt really lucky to have such a knowledgeable doctor with good bedside manner.

- ULTRASOUNDS ARE COOL
We have had more than average amount of ultrasounds starting at 5 weeks when the clots showed up. We had one at 5, 6, and 7 weeks. Then we had one at 12 weeks with our nuchal translucency exam. Then we had one at 16.5 weeks because I think the receptionist messed up and scheduled us for one. Which was awesome because we were going out of our minds waiting to see if it was a boy or girl. Our ultrasound technician saw something at 12 weeks but the baby had crossed its legs and she couldn't go back in for a better shot. So at 16.5 weeks, we had this gratuitous appointment where our ultrasound technician showed us that it was going to be a boy! We have another one at 20 weeks which is the anatomy scan, and then the one in the last trimester, and I have to say that this really is the favorite part of the visits when they happen because we get to see what's going on inside the womb!

- HERE, HAVE MORE OF MY BLOOD
I have never had so much blood drawn in my life. The first was at 5 weeks to confirm the pregnancy and to get my hormone levels. Then I got the whole B-1 panel where they took vial upon vial of blood. Then they pricked a finger at 12 weeks and squeezed out way more blood than I thought they possibly could from a finger. Then at 16 weeks I had more blood drawn for more genetic screening. I believe I have to do another blood panel at 28 weeks or so, in which they'll probably take another half cup of blood (fun). Given, the one at 12 weeks and 16 weeks were elective screening tests, and since it's covered by insurance we figured, "Why not?" But dude, there's a lot of blood testing going on.

- LOTS OF ADVICE...AND UNWANTED OPINIONS...
Okay, so far, it's come mostly from family members. My sister worked for over a year in a women and children's hospital, so her advice was pretty solid. But I got into a heated discussion with one of my good friend's wives about drinking and smoking (I wasn't advocating either one, but she was being super intolerant), and my mom yelled at me for carrying my own groceries one day.

- EVERYONE IS VERY EXCITED!
You know, the best thing about this pregnancy is how wanted this baby is. Everyone around me is so so excited for this new baby. This will the first grandchild for both our parents, and he will be lucky enough to meet his two surviving great-grandmothers. Amongst my best friends, he will be our first baby. I am so lucky and glad that everyone is waiting with great expectations for the baby!