This week on Cribs...

Alison's parents got us the crib for the baby's room and we picked it up the other day. We just got it put together and it looks really nice in the room. It definitely looks like a baby's room now. We also have the dresser that Bobbie and Grandpa Jeff & Eileen got us... it's in the garage for now until I can get some help bringing it upstairs. I will get a picture of that once it's up there.

a great ride...

One of my friends had a birthday the other day, I sent him an email saying Happy Birthday and asked how things were going etc. He knew about our baby on the way and in his reply he said something that was another eye opener / reality check for me...

...after hearing my little one sing Happy Birthday, I know I never had it so good. You are in for a great ride.

I have been thinking about how much I love my baby and all these things I will do for her and take care of her etc, but I haven't really thought about stuff like that. I mean, how great will it be to have a little toddler run up to me when I come home? My birthday is coming up in a few weeks and it will be the last one without my daughter. For my next birthday I will have a 9+ month old. That will be the best gift yet. I am looking forward to all of those little smiles and hugs from my daughter. Things are going to change... a lot and I am going to completely welcome it.

Is it too early to pick our a Halloween Costume for our Baby... for next year?

I try to imagine how different everything will be once our baby gets here and as much as I prepare myself, I know it is going to blow me away. It's almost like I am boarding up the windows to a tent and there is a Category 5 Baby headed directly at me. Alison and I were talking about holidays the other day. This will be our last Thanksgiving and Christmas with out a child. We started going through the holidays and thinking how old our daughter will be at 4th of July and what we can dress her up for at Halloween and how old she will be at her first Christmas. Last year was the first Christmas in our own home which was really exciting... next Christmas we will have a little girl that is almost 1 year old. I think Halloween will be a lot of fun. The little kids costumes are always really cute. It's scary, I can remember when I used to get excited for Halloween to dress up and go out Trick or Treating and now I am talking about dressing up my own child. I feel like I am getting old, but at the same time I think having a baby will also make me feel young too. I think having the baby will change our holidays in a good way. It will be fun to get to play with my daughter and let her keep me young. I hope that our baby will grow up liking Duplo and Legos. Playing with that kind of stuff never gets old, it just becomes socially unacceptable to keep playing with them. That's probably one of the reasons people have kids, so they can play with toys again :).

Lights (chandelier), camera (took a picture), action (I put it up)

I just finished putting up the light in the baby's room. It looks really nice, I can't wait to see it tonight with the dimmer. It hangs a little low so I will bump my head on it if I walk in the middle of the room, but I think it will work out fine. I will probably be so sleep deprived I won't even realize that I hit my head on it.

She shoots, she scores.... GOAL!!!

I felt our baby kick the other day for the first time. I had my hand on Alison's stomach not really expecting to be able to feel anything and then all of a sudden I felt a little tap on my hand. Alison said that my eye's got really wide and I just said "Woah!" It is safe to say that I was completely taken off guard and didn't expect that to happen. She is now about 11 inches long from head to toe and she weighs about a pound. I think that it will be weird when we will be able to see her move from side to side.

Alison and I went out to lunch today at some restaurant that made salads and grilled sandwiches etc. It was right next to Babies R Us so we decided to go in and take a look around. We were walking by a clearance table and I saw a really cute chandelier for the baby's room. I had remembered seeing it online and the reviews said that it was misleading in the pictures since it was actually yellow with sprays of white instead of all white. It gave it a textured look. We ended up getting it since it was a really good deal and I just got a can of white spray paint and now its hanging in the garage drying, just waiting to go up into her room. The picture here is what it looked like on the website (it looked more yellow than that picture, but now it will be completely white). I will be sure to post a picture when I have the light up in the room.

Baby's Room.... TADA!!!

Here is a picture of the baby's room. The colors don't show up quite right on the camera, but you can get the overall idea. The difference in this room is drastic. Before it was dark blue walls with a faux finish... now its light greens and white with woodwork. I am happy with the way it came together. It seemed to take forever, but I think it was worth it. I know our daughter will not notice it when she first gets here, but I hope she will have some good memories of this room when she gets older.

Ok, room is done...only took two tries.

Well, in my last post I said that we had painted the room Tinkerbell green and Pooh's Corner on the ceiling... well, things change. We decided that the colors were a little too bright, so we toned it down a bit and went with Christopher Robin's Swing on the walls and Skipping Stones on the ceiling (the room isn't Winnie the Pooh themed, just like the colors :) ). We used the Behr Disney colors again. They all seem to go well together and its pretty easy to pick out the colors that match. The colors we picked are a pair of pastel greens. I think it looks really nice for a baby girls room. The crown molding and chair rail is up and painted, blinds, new outlets, switches, dimmer, new door knobs/hinges... yea its been a busy weekend. The only thing left to do in the room (construction/renovating-wise) is putting up a light. We saw a really nice light at Pottery Barn, but we haven't picked it up yet. My crazy expectant father list is getting shorter... I guess I should start adding more things on to it. ;)

Something else happened this weekend, we decided on the name for our beautiful baby girl. It is ________. (Not going to tell you that easily ;) ). It is nice knowing the name of the baby for sure. It makes it even more real. The other night, after Alison had fallen asleep, I had a talk with my daughter... it was nice being able to say her name. I am looking forward to meeting her.

Half way there....AHHHHHHHHHH

Well, this week we are at the half way point. I can go into the whole glass half full or half empty thing, but it still means there is a baby on the way and she is not slowing down at all. I put up crown molding and a chair rail in the baby's room this weekend. We used Disney colors for the paint. The colors we used are "Tinkerbell Green" on the top half of the room and "Pooh's Corner" on the ceiling. The bottom half of the wall and all of the molding will be white. Once it is all done, I will be sure to take some pictures. It looks pretty green in there right now, but once we get some pink curtains and girly decorations up, it will look more like a baby's room.

I put some shelves up in the closet for the obscene amount of baby things we will eventually be storing in there. We put an outfit on a little kids hanger and hung it up in the closet. It's funny to see tiny clothes hanging up, altough I am not sure why. It is probably because I am used to seeing my huge clothes.

We decided to go with the darker wood baby furniture. I think it will look really nice, and it will go well with the light colors on the wall. After we get the furniture in there, I am going to mount some bookshelves to the wall. I can't wait to read stories to my daughter. I guess I won't have to wait much longer, huh? We have our next appointment on Friday, and hopefully everything will continue to go smoothly. We have been very fortunate so far.

Registering for baby stuff is serious business...

Alison and I went to register at a few places this past weekend and I am still recovering from it. Target and Pottery barn Kids wasn't that bad but BabiesRUs was terrifying. There are so many things in there we didn't even know where to start. We got a little trigger happy on some stuff, but I think we got most everything we needed. Alison's sister, Lauren, and Alison's best friend Tina are throwing a baby shower for her in Florida in October. They seem really excited about getting all the little girly stuff together and I am sure Alison will have a blast.

My brother and sister-in-law were nice enough to let us use some of the stuff they had so we will have to take those off of the registry. It's nice being able to talk to people who have went though this already so they can let you know what worked, what didn't work etc. There are tons of things that I have no idea about. If you can think of anything that you would have loved to know when you had your first, please post a comment.

Thanks.

Ultrasound pictures

I am attaching one the 18 week ultrasound pictures. She's beautiful, isn't she?

Houston, we have girl parts...

Well, its 99% official now. We are having a girl! The ultrasound seemed like it took forever, the technician did a full scan of the baby to see how she (it’s weird to say that) was growing and then right at the end she says, “…and there are the girl parts.” It was so nonchalant that it kind of took me by surprise. I think that OB/GYN offices should have a game show announcer or something… at least a drum roll. We have been waiting like 4 months to find out, how about a little build up? :) It was amazing though. Our daughter is beautiful and I can’t wait to see her.

Now we are on to figuring out names, colors, curfews, no boys in the house after dark and everything else that comes with having a baby girl. For being as scary as it is, I honestly have never been more excited.

T-Minus 210 minutes and counting...

Today is our ultrasound appointment to determine the sex of the baby. It's kind of nerve racking. Pretty soon it will be even more of a reality than it was before. Before we were having a baby... now we will be having our son or daughter. Alison had a dream last night about us having a baby boy; she has seemed to think it was going to be a boy from pretty early on. I have been on the fence though.

This weekend will be fun either way for sure. We will probably start some of the decorating in the office and start registering for all kinds of baby stuff. It's a very exciting time. I will be sure to post again in a few hours to let you know the sex.

Brother Cody, Sister Haley...

I had trouble sleeping last night, and I started thinking about our dog, Cody, will feel being a big brother when we have our baby. I know he will not receive the same amount of attention he does now, but Alison and I are both going to try to keep giving him as much attention as we can afford. Cody is a real gentle giant, he is a little over 90 lbs., and I have a feeling he will fall in love with our baby. I can easily picture him sleeping by the crib or sleeping by the baby's door. I think our cat, Haley, will be good around the baby, and if not, that is another story. However, I don't picture her spending too much time near the baby. I see her as the hiding under the bed until the little human leaves type of animal. She will probably not be as accepting of the new addition to our family as Cody will be, but you never know; only time will tell.

One thing we will teach Cody is that just because something is brightly colored and on the floor, doesn't necessarily mean that its a toy for him to destroy. He is very good about only chewing only on his own toys now. However, I'm not sure how we can get him to understand that not all toys are his anymore. He will probably be able to distinguish the smell of baby drool versus his own. I guess a trip to the store to pick up a few inexpensive baby toys wouldn't hurt to see if he can resist the temptation of a shiny new toy. I feel bad for those toys; they don't know what's coming.

You're gonna miss this...

We had another visit with Dr. Sidel yesterday. We were able to hear the heart beat for real this time. Previously we have only heard a fake heart sound based off of the speed of the hearts movement, but this time we got to hear the actual heart (and Alison laughing which was pretty funny ;) ). I know I have said this before and I am sure this will not be the last time, but it was pretty incredible.

We have another two weeks until we find out if we are having a boy or a girl. I am really excited about that visit. I have been wanting to know since day one. It must have been really hard to be pregnant 50 years ago when you weren't able to find out the gender of the baby until the doctor said "Congratulations, it's a _____". Hooray for modern medicine.

There is a song by Trace Adkins called "You're gonna miss this" that I can easily relate to right now. The song pretty much tells of people's situations where they can't wait for something to happen and then he goes on to say that they will miss this when it's gone. When I was thinking about it, that really is true. People end up always waiting for the next big thing (graduating school, getting a job, moving into a house, getting married, having kids etc) and don't sit back and enjoy what is going on right then. I know Alison and I are really excited about the baby coming, but it is also really nice to just take it all in now because we too will probably miss this time when it's gone. We are very fortunate to have each other, I love each and every moment that I am able to spend with Alison and our little growing family.

I guess for the time being, I am going to try to enjoy this time and the excitement leading up to finding out if we will have a bouncing baby boy or girl... (Hopefully we won't find out if they REALLY bounce though).

Once upon a time...

I have started reading to the belly. I know that sounds kind of funny, but I have seen a few sites that recommend reading to the baby while they are still in the womb. Most of them say that by about 18 weeks the baby will be able to recognize your voice; I am starting a little early mainly because I found a book I wanted to read. As our pregnancy progresses I plan to continue reading out loud for about 15-20 minutes a night. I start off the story telling with a few taps on the belly to let the baby know what’s going on. I like doing this so the baby can get used to my voice as well and I think it is good practice.

I don’t really remember many books from when I was younger other than the Golden Books and the Shel Silverstein books (Light in the Attic, Where the Sidewalk Ends etc). Alison and I were at Barnes and Nobel the other day waiting for the rain to let up a bit before we headed out to our car and we looked around in the kid’s book section. I didn’t see any Golden Books though. I hope they still make them, if not eBay is a pretty useful tool. I am really looking forward to reading to our baby. All the parenting sites and books say that it is really good for the child’s development and helps with their attention span and learning ability for the rest of their lives. It’s pretty cool that something so simple (and fun) would have such a wonderful effect on our baby.

And on that farm he had a... umm cucumber?

A while ago, Alison and I had made a trip to the local Farmer’s Market and we picked up a bunch of young vegetable plants. We got tomatoes, green peppers (Alison’s favorite) and cucumbers. Other than a few cherry tomatoes, we haven’t gotten all that much from it. I went out today to water our little garden and I went over by the cucumbers and saw that there were about six really good size cucumbers, so I was pretty excited about that.

Over the past few years we have been trying to eat healthier foods, buying some things organic and when possible buying local fruits and vegetables. We were considering joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program this year, but I think we will for sure next year. It is a pretty cool idea and it is good for a few different reasons. You basically buy “shares” in the farm and you get a portion of the crop every week. It ends up being a box of fruit and veggies that you would go and pick up all season long. It would be nice to get a locally grown product as well as get something that doesn’t have to be processed and shipped half way across the country before it gets to the store.

When we have our baby, I think we are going to attempt to make at least some of our own baby food. I say attempt because I have no idea how tired and exhausted we will be, but it’s a nice thought. I feel that using locally grown produce will be a nice alternative to getting processed jars of food; it will also reduce the amount of waste and garbage etc. Now that I have a baby on the way, I want to try to do my part so that the world he/she inherits is a healthy place for their family. I am not going to stop driving and only eat what I grow, but a few little things here and there can go a long way.

Well, it's for sure now... we must be having a baby.

Today I had one of those "oh wow, we really are having a baby" moments. I cleared out the office baby's room and painted it with some primer. Now it is officially a blank canvas, ready to be covered with pastel colors and little cute baby things.

The walls were a dark blue so I had to put two coats of primer to try to block it out. Right now it is just white, we will paint it after we find out the sex of the baby. Alison and I were talking about what colors we would like to paint, what kind of decorations to use, what color furniture to get etc. There are so many options to pick from, it will be a tough decision. We talked about the layout of the room and where we would put the crib, I think that we decided that it would go where my old desk used to sit. I have had this huge corner desk for a few years and it was starting to fall apart (after a bunch of moves), so it went to the dump today. Now there is plenty of room for the crib (that was the moment I had today). It felt good to start working on the baby's room.

Having a child is really exciting, every day it is becoming more and more "real". I can't wait to find out if we are going to be having a boy or a girl. It is really hard now to picture our baby since it goes back and forth from a little boy to a little girl. Either way, I know we will love our baby and that's what really matters.

Kindermusik Demo Class

There will be Kindermusik demo classes at most Babies R Us stores on Saturday. Since I have never actually seen a class, (even though I have worked for the company for well over a year now) we will probably go.

I have a feeling that our baby will get a few Kindermusik toys and probably go to some of the classes since I get a pretty good discount and from reading the response from parents, the classes seem to help their children a lot with learning to share, pay attention, communicate and socialize etc.

Babies need instruction manuals

This weekend Alison and I went out to see a movie with Jeff, Jenn, Anna, Audrey and Sue (Jenn's mom). We all went to a second run theater that served lunch during the movie. The movie was "Horton hears a Who". It was actually really good and I enjoyed it quite a bit. After the movie Alison and I decided that since we were down in Raleigh and pretty close to a Babies R Us it would be fun to stop in and take a look around at some stuff. I did get one thing out of the trip...babies require a lot of stuff.

Just walking up and down the isles at the store you see all these things. I am sure you don't really need them and you could raise a perfectly happy, healthy, normal baby without a nursery monitor / night vision camera but I still want one. :)

It is kind of overwhelming to think about all the things we will need. Car seats, strollers, pack and play, swings, bouncy seats, high chair, diaper bags, toys, dressers, changing tables, cribs, clothes etc etc... When we registered for our wedding we had someone go around with us and told us what people normally register for... hopefully we will have that this time around too... if not, we are in trouble.

Second ultrasound and our baby was doing jumping jacks.

We had our second ultrasound yesterday and it was pretty amazing again. The first time I was floored by seeing the little heart beating but this time it was like watching a gymnastics meet. The baby was rolling around moving his/her arms all over the place. It was crazy. I had read that the baby would be moving by this time, but I was not expecting that. The purpose of the ultrasound this time was to measure the skin on the back of the neck covering the spinal cord and also check for the nasal bone. Anything under 4mm is good and our baby was at 1.23. That along with a blood test determines if the baby will be susceptible to about 95% of known birth defects. The spinal cord and nasal bone accounts for about 85% and our doctor said it looked great. Our next ultrasound will be in 6 weeks and we will be able to determine the sex of the baby. Almost everyone seems to be sure it's a boy. The most important thing is that our baby will be healthy.

In two days we will be in our second trimester. This weekend is 4th of July and I think that we might start working on the baby's room a little bit. I have been ready to put up the wainscoting and paint since the pregnancy test read "Pregnant" but we decided it would be best to wait until we knew everything was ok with the baby. I attached one of the pictures from the ultrasound. I labeled some of the features so its easier to make out. (You can click on it to make it bigger)