The Crib Conundrum

We are ready to buy a crib for our sweet little gray nursery, but alas, are having a hard time with it.  The problem is that we are cheap.  If we were willing to spend $400-$500 on a crib, well we would be set.  But we don’t want to spend a ton of money on a crib, so that limits things. 

I’ve been looking online at pretty much every store available and reading reviews and what not and just can’t decide what is best.  My MIL had the suggestion of looking on Craig’s List, which I really hadn’t considered because of changing safety regulations, but she didn’t think that having the most up to date crib was that important and somehow convinced me.  So I found a few things that I liked and even emailed a guy about a pretty white crib.  But it turned out to have drop sides.  The guy was an idiot and told me that the sides aren’t drop sides, but one side can be dropped down lower to pick the baby up and such.  Well buddy, hate to break it to you, but that is a drop side.  

So after looking into it more and reading up on what exactly has changed with crib safety and why, I definitely disagree with her on getting a used crib and want to buy a new one.  I don’t mind getting a used changing table or a used glider or any of the rest of it, but the crib is the one place that I should be confidant that my baby will be totally safe, especially seeing as how I won’t be watching the baby sleep every second of the night.  

I think now we have the crib we want pretty much narrowed down to the Graco Lauren Crib, which is what the picture here is.  But we are going to make a trip down to Ikea next week once we get back from Mexico to look at their cribs before we fully decide.  It makes me crazy though that you can’t look at their cribs online at their website.  How silly, everything else at Ikea is on their website.  Erg. 

So my questions for you all: anything you really love/hate about your current crib?  Anything suggestions on cribs in general for people looking to spend less than $200?

-Liz

15th Week Belly Shot!

I’m in love with S’s beautiful baby belly, which is totally not shrinking by the way, that is all in her head.  It’s getting bigger everyday and I can’t wait until she is just popping out of her clothes, though I’m sure she isn’t looking forward to that with the same zest that I am.  Here is her 15^th week belly.  I couldn’t decide which picture I liked best, so you get both today J.  

Later this week I think that we are going to buy a crib!  It looks like unless you buy an expensive crib that you can’t really just go out and buy one, all of the stores around here seem to just sell them online and ship to the store or your house.  And it also looks like at least on the lower end, which is what we are looking for, Target, Walmart, and Babies-R-Us all carry about the same stuff for about the same price.  So I guess we are going to go to Babies-R-Us to look them over and then compare prices at home and pick one out.  I’m really excited for this!  Having a crib in the room is going to make this all seem very real.  I’ve been looking at bedding and have a few things picked out that I like, but I don’t think that we are going to buy really much of anything else (other than the crib) until after the baby showers and after all of the hand me downs come in from friends and family.  It’s really hard to resist though, it’s all so dang cute!

Next week is Mexico time, and it just can’t come soon enough.  I want to be sitting on the beach or in the water, sipping a tropical drink while the sunsets over head.  It’s going to be wonderful.  And I’m really looking forward to spending some quality time with both S and my darling family.  We leave Saturday morning, at the crack of dawn, literally, and then are in Mexico till Wednesday night.  Yay!

-Liz

shrinking bump

I feel like my bump is shrinking!  I was not showing that much and I feel like I am showing less and less!  I was hoping to actually look preggie for our Mexico trip starting on Saturday, but I don’t think I will.  I see everyone else's bumps and I feel inadequate!:)  Oh well, all in good time.  I have noticed that if I sleep a lot, it shrinks and as I eat it grows.  I have been sleeping and not eating a ton, so I think that is it.  I am sad to not even hear the heartbeat for another 2 weeks.  It  seems like a long time to trust everything is progressing well, but I guess it is what everyone does.

On another note, I feel better quite a bit of the time.  I am currently a little sick to my stomach, and I threw up last night, but overall, I am feeling better.  It is a welcome change.  I no longer freak out when I feel better, just enjoy it for the little spurts it is there.  I was really nervous to go to Mexico, but I think I can survive that plane ride and rides from the airport now.  Good thing, because I am so excited to go!!  I have 4 days of work and then am Mexico bound!  We did it last year too.  We are going with Liz’s mom and step-dad, both her brother’s and her one brother’s wife.  It is always so relaxing and so much fun.  Liz and I are pasty enough that we are packing about 6 bottles of sunscreen because last time we had to buy some and it was outrageously prices on the resort.  The resort is all you can eat and drink, so I plan to partake in quite a bit of the first while I am there!  Other than that, we will just bob in water, switching between the pool and the ocean.

I guess we are doing the big rage… the “baby moon”.  I have read about it in quite a few places.  Since this is the last few months I will feel better and can travel and the last few months without a baby, it is hyped as the last great vaca:)  Personally I am still excited to one day take our kiddo to Disney world, but I understand what they mean.

Alright, off to work I go!
-S

14 Week Bump Pic

Here it is, this week’s bump!  I think that S is really starting to show!  It looks rounder in person and feels different than a non pregnant stomach feels.  I love it!

Also, very exciting news.   S made the doctor’s appointment yesterday where if the baby cooperates, we will found out if it is a boy or a girl!  The appointment is for August 25th!  I can’t believe we will know so soon!  It STILL all feels like a dream.  I’m sure S is tired of me saying that, and I’ll probably still feel that way until the baby is 3 years old!  Or 22!  Hard to tell.  But it really does still feel just unbelievable that we are really doing this.  I just couldn’t be happier at this point.

One more pic to share with you all.  I’ve been working hard on my letters for the alphabet wall in the nursery.  I finished the W the other day, it is so cute and wrapped in yarn, pictures soon to come, I just haven’t taken any yet.  And one of our dear friends came over the other day and made her & sign (‘cause you know, x, y & z!) and it is yellow and covered in different colored buttons.  I will post some pictures of that one too.  And other people have finished theirs, I’m so excited to get them all done and hung up together!  Anyway, here is the picture of my H, isn’t it cute?  It’s made with mega blocks, which are the big size of Lego's for little kids.  I got them along with a bunch more (with a farm theme, random) at a second hand store here for $10.  I still need to glue them all together (the ones that arn’t snapped on), but I just love it.  It’s about 10-12 inches tall and 7-9 or so inches wide, so it is a pretty good size.  Next I need to start thinking about how to make the K, our last name starts with a K, so I want the K to be really big and really cool.
-Liz

Coming out of the closet #2!

I told work yesterday that I’m pregnant.  I was so, so very nervous!  I was dropping stuff at the front desk while I waited for someone to finish talking to my boss so I could go in and shut the door.  I took a deep breath and told her.  She was great about it!  She congratulated me and told me about her being pregnant and other people she knows who are trying.  It went way better than expected.  I then told a few of the supervisors who work for me and they were excited.  One of my estheticians almost fell over she was so shocked and excited!  People are so shocked.  I am unsure if they are shocked because I am a lesbian, shocked because I am one of the top managers at the spa, or shocked I kept it a secret for the first 13 weeks.  Either way, I must say, it was fun to shock people.  I told about 6 different people and then ran out to go see the new Harry Potter (which was great!!) and then had today off, so I am guessing everyone knows by now and I won’t have to tell anyone else.  I feel so relieved to not keep it a secret anymore!!  Me and my baby bump are out to the world and it feels great!  I am feeling better today, which is really nice.  Still gagged a few times, but overall, I feel better than I have since morning sickness set in.  I am hoping it keeps up, but not betting on it:)

In other news, I got a really cute preggie shirt and bathing suite from Old Navy.com  There should be another shirt coming.  I also bought a book and a rattle today.  I have been anti buying anything for the baby, but went for it today.  Liz got off work early and we went and got manis and pedis and shopped a little.  All in all a very nice and relaxing day off for me.  Back to work tomorrow, so I am very excited to come out with bump a blazing tomorrow.  I have been wearing ridiculous clothes to hide it for so long, it is going to be a shock to everyone.  I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and not very pukey…good day!
-S

3 Coats of Paint Later...

Last night, my BFF Brandon and I finally finished painting the nursery.  We ended up painting it a Valspar color called Elephant Gray.  What a royal pain painting this nursery has been.  When I went to go buy the paint at Lowes I knew that because the color was so dark that I would need a primer or possibly have to paint it many times to get the color even.  But it isn’t a really big room and I figured two gallons of paint would be enough to coat it twice.  So we got one gallon of the Valspar paint plus primer and one gallon regular paint, both matched to the Elephant Gray color.  In retrospect I should have gotten both gallons of the paint plus primer, but at an $8 price difference, the cheap part of me won out.  So about two weeks ago we put up the first coat of paint, using the primer.  I couldn’t believe how well it covered, one coat looked pretty much perfect, there were only two or three tiny spots that needed touch up.  But the next day once it was dry, I figured, well, I’ve already got the second gallon and there are a few spots that need another coat, might as well roll a second coat on the whole thing.  And so I did.  Much to my total horror, the next day I discovered that the primer coat was just a hair lighter than the non primer coat.  Meaning that you could see  that all of the edges all around the whole room needed to be redone to match.  Also, it was streaky in many many places.  Ugh!  I didn’t know what to do because we didn’t have much more than 1/4 of a gallon of paint left.  So yesterday I went and got a THIRD gallon, mixed it with the paint I had left (because I’d go crazy if this new gallon didn’t match), and put a third coat of paint on the whole room, edges and all, with the amazing help of my dearest friend Brandon.  Needless to say, it was annoying.  This morning looking at the room, it still isn’t perfect, but after three coats, it’s as close to perfect as its going to get.  Now all I have to do it paint all of the trim (erg that is going to suck), put up the new ceiling fan, paint the dresser and side table, get all of the stuff we still need, and yeah ok we still have a lot to do.   But, progress has been made!  Even though this isn’t the chair that will go in the room, and I’m going to paint the side table, I took a picture to share with you all of the progress so far.

I really like how the color turned out.  It’s a nice gray and looks sort of blue depending on the lighting.  You might be wondering about the cute stuffed animals and the amazing baby blanket.  You are?  Good, here are the details:

The green doll is an ugly doll I got for my birthday a few years back.  Never really had a use for it till now.

The other doll is a stuff animal snow monster my little brother made for me.  It’s really really cute and pretty amazing considering he doesn’t make stuff like this and he did it all by hand.  The really cool part about it is that he told me he put a felt heart inside of it that has a secret message on it for me, but I can only find out what it is if I basically kill him.  Funny and cute, I think.  Here is a close up of him:

And the baby blanket is a gift from one of S’s coworkers.  She took us to the store to pick out all of the fabric for it and she just finished it earlier this week.  We are totally in love with it, it is so much cuter than the pictures really show.  Here is a close up shot of it:

 So those are our nursery updates so far.  Isn’t is well on it’s way to being the cutest nursery ever?  I certainly think so!  Well, time to go to the store and get stuff for dinner, we are having a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 dinner and movie night with some friends in preparation for going and seeing the new movie all together tomorrow night.  Should be really fun, I’m making Butter Beer!
-Liz

12 week wrap up

So I am going to write a 12 week wrap up of how it was the first trimester for me.  Future S is bound to be  preggie in the future going, “I don’t think I was this sick the first time”(with Liz rolling her eyes), so I better remind myself of how it actually was , so I better document!  Here are some facts!

1. Threw up 18 times in the past 6 weeks.(yes, I counted)  Threw up 2 times a day twice, threw up at work probably 5 times, but mostly threw up at home.  Threw up my thyroid pill once and had to take it again, but other than that, I kept pills down.

2. Took tons of pills.  2 nausea pills, one hormone pill (that was inserted, not swallowed), and a prenatal, DHA, and thyroid pill.  sheesh!  I took all of the pills except the thyroid pill in the evening with dinner since you can’t take your prenatal with the thyroid pill.

3. Tums and ginger ale is a girls best friend!  If you are preggie, forget about diamonds, Tums and ginger ale help more.

4. Even on the days I did not throw up, I gaged at least 5 times daily.  Fortunately, I have an office where I could do this at work.  I did once in front of guests in the locker room, but kept my head down and ran out.  I could just smell something, even purfume and feel sick and gag.

5. Getting up and down=gagging.  This sux because I pee at least 200 times a day and getting down to the toilet and getting up from the toilet=gag.  Getting in and out of the car= gag.  Walking into 100 degree weather (which it has been for months)= gag.

6. Not many cravings, mostly aversions, but the one thing I always want and has always sat well in my stomach is pasta with meat sauce.  I am crazy for Italian food.  I want bread with a little bit of meat.  I just woke up from a nap where I dreamt I was eating tons and tons of Italian food.  Pasta and pizza and bread and so preggie and happy:)  (I figured I better get up and eat something if my dream was all about eating!)

7. Fruits are still easier to eat than veggies at this point.  I eat a piece or 2 of fruit, but only really get a salad from work down on a regular basis.  Cooked into things and I might be able to eat it, but my usual veggie eating has not yet returned.

8. Lots of things came up even in the first trimester.  What kind of mom am I going to be?  How involved do I want my parents?  My mom and I had a few all out wars.  Turns out I found my voice now that I am with child.  Not sure if that is a good or bad thing.  How is my relationship with Liz going to change?  Will I be able to juggle career and baby?  So many questions.  It is funny with the hormones that some days, I feel overwhelmed by it all and then other days I am so euphoric that I am crying with joy….um okay preggie hormonal girl:)

9. We have the most supportive group of friends.  People are so supportive and encouraging and just loving.  They all want to already hold the baby, or make things for the baby or just be excited for us.  It has been amazing and I am only 12 weeks!:)

10.  Sleep, sleep and more sleep.  Some days I go to bed at 6pm and get up at 6am and still could go back to bed.  It’s crazy.  I read somewhere that you are doing more in your sleep that you usually do awake internally, so it makes sense, but jeez, I slept and napped and laid around as much as is humanly possible to do and still work 45 hours a week an hour away!

11.  Work has no idea.  I am so miserably sick, but I have a new boss who doesn’t know that me eating 4 tiny meals a day is not normal.  Plus it is slow right now, so when I feel miserable, I sit at my desk for a few.  I think now I am going to tell them on Sunday when my new boss gets back from California.

12.  I still feel sick.  Still gagged a few times today, but not as sick feeling as before, so I am hoping to be on the up and up soon!

13.  Honey nut Cheerios and pretzels saved my life!  I ate those things when nothing else would stay down.  I keep a bag of pretzels in my car and a bag of honey nut Cheerios at work.  Life saving.

14.  Baby brain!!  I was about to dial a number I dial at least 5 times a day from work.  I could not think of the number for the life of me.  I am constantly loosing things.  I am also very clumsy.  I am not at all a clumsy person, but I drop things, bump or run into things, ALL THE TIME.  It drove me nuts for a while to forget things and run into things, two traits I never had before.  I am also dizzy a lot.  That is also strange.

15. This is the weirdest thing I have ever done.  Something has totally taken over my body, my reason for doing everything, and my heart.  I am so very sick that I feel like this was the worse idea I have had, but at the same time, I have wanted to experience it since I was 15 years old.  Here’s hoping that it gets better.  I cannot explain what being preggie is like.  The way your body changes almost right away.  The way I look at food differently.  The way the hormones feel.  How it feels to have tons of blood flowing thru you.  How it messes with your whole being.  It’s crazy and amazing and just plain strange and cool.

That’s all I can thing of right now!  Here is to the first trimester and the next 2!!
-S

The Jerk and the Fortune Cookie

Yesterday I was really excited about getting to see the baby on the ultra sound.  I texted a few of the pictures to my mom, my brother, my dad, and one of my best friends, Brandon.  Everyone was really excited and happy to see the little one.  When I sent the picture to Brandon he was in a meeting at work, but had his phone with them.  Right after I sent the picture he asked me if we had found out if it was a boy or a girl yet, as he knows that I was hoping to find out at the appointment.  I texted him, “It’s a boy!” and followed it up 20 seconds later with, “Just kidding, they couldn’t tell.”  I thought that this was hilarious (I’m mean like that) but what I didn’t know was that in the meeting Brandon got that text and shouted a big yes, because he really wants us to have a boy.  Then he had to explain to everyone why he had shouted.  Then, he got my text that I was just kidding and cursed aloud and again, had to explain.  So now not only does he think I’m a jerk, so do all of his co-workers.  L  Then last night, S’s dad is in town and he took us out to P.F. Chang’s for dinner and towards the end of the night I told them both this story.  S’s dad afterwards asks us, well, do you want a boy or a girl?  I of course respond that I want a girl, and as S is opening her fortune cookie, she says that she doesn’t care either way.  But at that moment she opens up the cookie, and this is what she sees:

Crazy, right!?  It has to be a sign.  I’m taking it as a sign.  And the fortune wasn’t too bad for a pregnant lady to get, here is it in case you were wondering:

So needless to say, I kept the fortune and if the baby ends up being a girl, you can bet that this little slip of paper is going to end up getting framed and put up in the nursery J.  

-Liz

12 Week Ultra Sound Pictures!

This morning S and I went in for her 12 week NT scan, where they do an ultra sound to check for a few disorders and take a few drops of blood.  Everything so far is within the normal range but we should know more in 7-10 days.  It was so exciting to do this ultra sound, the little bean actually looks like a baby now!  It was pretty amazing to see it move it's little arms and legs around and twist and just jump about!  I could hardly believe it.  I can't wait till we can do our next one, but I'm sure that won't be for another month or two.  I tried to get the tech to make a guess of boy vs. girl, but she said that she couldn't even begin to make a guess for our baby because of the quality of the picture and the position and what not.  So, sigh, I will have to wait some more.  In the meantime though, I've made a poll that's on the right side of the blog, so be sure to vote if you think boy or girl!  I'll leave you with a few pictures:

Here is the baby's profile and that thing sticking up is an arm with a wee little hand.

Here is another profile shot.

Here is a little hand and arm waving hello at you!

And then this one is my favorite, it is the little legs and feet! 

In other news, S has reached that magical 13th week and still feels crappy.  She has been going longer and longer feeling better but the last two days have been puke city for the poor thing.  She has an appointment this afternoon with the doctor and we are really hoping that they will tell her that she can stop taking the progesterone, as we think that this extra boost of hormones is what is keeping her feeling so sick.  We will see.
-Liz

Madame Zaritska's Prediction

As of today, there are only 199 days until our baby’s due date!  It seems crazy to be under 200 days.  I’m so excited to meet the little bean.  Next week S has her NT scan and 1^st appointment with the new doctor.  I’m really excited for NT scan, just because it is another chance to see the little bean.  I’m hoping that the tech will be able to tell us a possible guess about boy vs. girl.  That’s what I’m the most excited about finding out.  I really want a girl, but everything seems to be pointing towards boy.  Or at least the mystical signs are- the Chinese gender predictor chart said boy and then yesterday I went on Madame Zaritska’s baby gender predictor and it guessed that we would have a boy with black curly hair- but that doesn’t even seem possible considering that no one in either S’s family or our donors family has either black hair or curls.  So I was thinking that maybe some of my guess answer’s for S were wrong, so I redid it with more accurate answers and here is what the Madame says: The day you deliver, outside will be dark. Your baby will arrive in the early evening. After a labor lasting approximately 19 hours, your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 13 pounds, 11 ounces, and will be 22-1/2 inches long. This child will have light brown eyes and barely there blonde hair.

And I think that all sounds pretty good, other than the 13 lb baby.  That is one big ass baby!  So maybe we are having a girl.  Maybe we are having a boy.  Chances are good that we are having one or the other!  

In other pregnancy news, S is still feeling sick just about all of the time.  She is getting worried at this point I think that it won’t go away ever and is getting worried that she will be too sick to go to Mexico at the end of the month.  I hope that because the trip is still another 3 weeks away that she will have plenty of time to get to feeling normal because if she stays as sick as she is, there is no way I’m going to be able to get her on a plane!  Fingers crossed that this morning sickness stuff goes away soon!

-Liz

C’mon 12 weeks!

I will officially be 12 weeks on Sunday.  That means I no longer have to take the hormone pills, (yeah!!), I will be out of the “danger zone”, and hopefully, fingers crossed, will start to feel better.  I am still very nauseous and threw up not once, but twice yesterday.  The mornings are really hard…I feel so sick to my stomach, but the afternoons, I tend to feel fine.  I am guessing this is a good sign that maybe I will feel like a human again in the next few weeks.  It is strange.  I am either sick to my stomach forcing food down so I have something in there to throw up or I am ravenous, starving and eating like crazy.  I am hoping once I keep food down on a regular basis, my appetite will even out.  I hope I don’t feel fine and ravenous all the time because I really don’t want to put on any more weight than necessary.  Currently, I weighed myself and have lost a pound.  I am showing now, so I have to wear baggy clothes to work.  I am rotating thru 5 different outfits, but am going to tell work on the 14th, so I only have 4 more days of hiding.  I work the next 4 days and then have 4 days off!!!  My dad is coming to visit and I am excited, but hope I feel better for his visit.  I am not a very fun person to visit right now;)

On another awesome note, the guys just came and delivered our new KING SIZE BED!!!  I randomly decided I needed one stat, so we went bargain shopping on the 4th of July weekend and scored an amazing bed!  I am laying on it right now and it is so soft and amazing.  It is huge, but I am sure with us and animals and eventually a toddler jumping into it on Sunday mornings, it is just right.  I am so excited to sleep in it tonight.  I think I may take a nap right now in it actually.  In case you were wondering, pregnant women are allowed to take naps during the day…actually I took naps when I was not preggie too:)  All in all, I am feeling optimistic that 12 weeks will bring my energy and steady stomach back to me.  If not, I at least have a big cozy bed to take my naps in:)
-S