The Crib and Nursery

Dan and I haven't had any terribly strong feelings about the crib for our nursery, aside from wanting something white, stable, and with a drop-side. I saw a Bassett Crib on Target.com that seemed great, until I realized that the cost of taxes/delivery made a ~$300 crib a nearly $450 crib!

I asked my mom and dad if they wouldn't mind visiting the Babies 'R Us near them to see if they had anything suitable, and my mom called from the store to report that they had this Babi Italia crib that fit all our requirements. And that it would fit in their car!

They brought it up to New York City yesterday, so now that's one thing we can cross off our to-do list (well, it's still got to be put together) and they were kind enough to have given it to us as an early baby shower gift, making it doubly exciting :)

My mom and I also picked out colors for the other furniture pieces and walls of the Babyzone. My mom is refinishing a dresser from her childhood furniture set for us and Dan's mom is going to be fixing up the rocking chair that she used when Dan was a baby. We decided that Benjamin Moore's "Shades of Spring" (green) would be a great color for the two pieces of furniture and we're going to use "Hawthorne Yellow" for the walls. It feels so good to have made some choices :)

Things Start Coming Together...

The thing with this whole preparation for baby is that it's *far* too easy to get obsessed with the details and fail to make decisions and take action. Dan and I realized last week that we have less than 3 months to go until our due date. Coupling that with the fact that my belly is starting to feel like an entity unto itself and the fact that we have tons of plans coming up, we realized we had to get a move on getting ready for the new family member's arrival.

Being the crazy person that I am, I put together a "Baby or Bust To Do List" just so that we could get a handle on what we needed to accomplish and when we were hoping to get things done by. It was very calming to have everything written down and to realize that things weren't nearly as out of control as it seemed.

Thursday, I managed to get a quote from a company to build the walls that will create the baby-zone in our apartment. I am still hoping to hear back from the second company I contacted, but we're targeting to get the walls up by early July.

Friday afternoon, Dan and I spent several hours (thank you early-closings every other Friday at Penton during the summer!) schlepping around the city trying to make decisions about things for the baby.

We checked out some more strollers (something I'm insanely obsessed with) and really liked the Quinny Buzz. It doesn't have a ton of storage space, but it's also not nearly as huge as some of the other strollers choices we were investigating (Zooper Boogie, Uppa Vista) and it has a reversible seat, which both Dan and I really like. We're going to hold off on purchasing it probably until after the baby arrives, since we won't be able to use it right away anyway, and a woman from the neighborhood is supposed to be giving us her hand-me-down Graco Snap-n-Go, which basically converts your car seat into a stroller and will be perfect for when the baby first arrives.

We finally settled on the new desks we want to order for our office and we're going to do some Elfa shelving above as well from The Container Store.

We also managed to get moving on our cleaning/organizing projects, which involve overhauling all five closets in our apartment, as well as our basement storage locker. Of course, now our apartment looks like a tornado has moved through, but it feels like we're getting something accomplished.

April Showers

We returned late Sunday night from a lovely weekend visit to O'Canada, where many of Betty's friends from Hamilton Meeting, as well as family members gathered to have a wedding/baby shower for Dan, Tim, Lucie and I. We got a lovely Graco Pack 'n Play, as well as two handmade blankets, receiving blankets and some gender-neutral baby clothes.

Despite our late return on Sunday night, I was back at NY Presbyterian on Monday morning for my follow-up ultrasound. Baby was super cooperative, so it only took a few minutes for the tech to get the heart pictures we had missed last week. She said everything looked good and that Baby was very cute. (Of course Baby is cute!) Dan had "warned" me several times to make sure I told her we didn't want to find out the gender -- I think he thought I might get sneaky on him and find out for myself, but I resisted.

Of course, you're really here for the pictures, so without further ado:


Here's one with Baby scratching his/her head (there must be a lot to think about in there):


The bump seems to be growing everyday, which I suppose is a good sign, though I wake up each morning shocked by it. I think I'm only a few weeks away from strangers thinking I'm pregnant rather than just fat. Maybe I'll even be able to score a seat on the subway once that happens.

Our Modest Baby

Yesterday we had the anatomy scan at the hospital. Dan and I have decided to keep the baby's gender a surprise until delivery (it is one of life's few real surprises), so we don't have any dirty details to share, but I thought I'd share the lastest pictures.



S/he wasn't fully cooperative, so I have to go back next week for another scan to get good pictures of his/her heart. Nothing is wrong (I got to hear the heartbeat again this week and the doctor said it sounded great), but my doc said they are very particular about the angles of the pictures at NY Presbyterian. We tried to get the baby to move around with some sugary juice and minty mentos, but nothing worked -- s/he would not be roused. That must be Dan's genes at play, because we all know that I can't sit still for even a moment.



I'm not really complaining though, because I always like the chance to get an inside view of how the baby is doing. I'm starting to show now (though the general public just thinks I'm chubby) and it's amazing how much the baby is growing. We got to feel a couple of good kicks on the night of my birthday after everyone had left, and that was pretty exciting for both of us. It's also pretty unbelievable that we've crossed the half-way mark. And Dan even acknowledged that I've been a pretty easy pregnant wife to deal with. Lucky him.

More Baby, Less Blob

I know it's been a while since the last time we updated, but there hasn't been too much to report. After enjoying our vacation in Barbados I discovered that my jeans were just a bit too snug to keep buttoned on the plane ride home. I blame it on baby, not on all the bad food that crossed my lips while I was away, but now, my pants seem to fit again, so perhaps baby cannot be blamed. In a panic, I did run out and buy a Bella Band, and was relieved to discover how cute the maternity clothes were at Baby Dance Maternity. I haven't tried out the Bella Band yet, but I'll report back once I do.

Anyhow, today Dan and I went in for another ultrasound -- this was for a nuchal test, which I guess is really common in New York City, and is something of a pre-screening for some different birth defects. Since it's just an ultrasound (& a few drops of blood), there's no risks associated with it, so they do it on everyone (even not-so-old pregnant ladies like me).

The good news is that it meant we got a better look at our ever-growing baby. This time, we could actually recognize the baby's head, arms, etc. rather than having them point and tell us and have us murmer in agreement. We're happy to report that everything looked good. (For the record, Dan claims the baby has his spine, and I believe it has my brain.)

Surprise, Surprise... More Pictures

I had my first appointment with my regular OB today, and I guess everyone likes to get a real-live peek at the wee one, because she did *another* ultrasound. Not really complaining (who doesn't like to see more pictures and know that the little heart is beating nice and strong?), I was just surprised. The good news is, no more doctor's appointments for almost a month! Whoohoo! They did take about a gallon of my blood (ok, maybe 6-8 vials, but *still*) and they'll be testing me for everything from here to the sun. At our next appointment in late February we get to go for a fancy sonogram, where we'll get a good view of the baby's arms and legs. Should be pretty exciting.

Baby Cross - Now With Arm and Leg Buds

Just returned from our second ultrasound. The doctor pointed out the leg buds and arm buds (she described them as looking like gummybears) and said the heartbeat looked good and strong. We've been released from the care of the RE and will now be seeing a regular OB. The ultrasound measured the baby at 7 weeks 6 days. (Clearly our baby is already ahead of schedule -- growing 9 days worth in just a week! ;))