I LOVE MY WIFE! (that's all caps for you Shazam)

OK this is not news but I thought I should give her a bit of a shout out. She has been now officially laid off for a week and while things are not all roses and rainbows I must say with the exception of the money aspect I am loving having her home! I like the fact that she is home when I get home from school. It gives us so much more time to be together in the evenings. I know it must be hard on her not to know what is going to happen next but I am trying to see the silver lining in this. When I am out of school in a month Shazam and I can work on the nursery together and get all our nesting done side by side. It should be fun and that way she can keep me on task so we actually are ready for Baby G when he or she decides to make an appearance. Second to liking the fact that Shazam is around and I get to spend time with her I love that she is a kick ass house wife! I think it is her project management skills, she really rocks. The apartment has never been cleaner, the laundry is caught up and even put away in the drawers, there is no clutter about, dinner is planned and cooked. I could go on and on but our home is now running like a well oiled machine. It makes me relaxed and happy. If we could swing it financially and if Shazam wanted to I would be more than happy for her to stay home and be my happy house wife. I don't think that is in the cards but heck I am going to enjoy it while I can.

On the Baby G front I am over my crib trauma of last week. We ordered the Davinci crib I was talking about in the last post. I am excited about its arrival. Shazam has already warned me that we need to finish clearing out the nursery and paint before we can assemble it. This makes me sad. But I will try to stay strong and be patient. We didn't order the changer yet since we are not sure if we will be getting the matching dresser. Shazam and I are both concerned about the small amount of storage that is provides (only 3 drawers) and there doesn't seem to be any room on the top for anything other than the changing pad. The other set (the b.abi it.alia sca.ndi) came with a longer changer dresser combo which we really liked as it was longer and had more storage and surface area. This week there was a nursery featured on Ohdeedoh (a blog I read) that had the crib we are getting and a really cool ik.ea hacked dresser. Shazam and I are thinking about doing our own version for Baby G.

They started with this ik.ea dresser

Then painted the fronts, added white contact paper to the back of the frosted drawer fronts, and put on some vinyl wall decals to the drawers to make it look like this.

I don't know if we would go as far as painting the drawer fronts as that would really be a large project but I can totally see putting the white contact paper in and the decals. Shazam wants to put the decals in the center. I think we would try to get green elephants! I like the one that they used. Here is a larger view.

So that is it for now.

Annoyed

In an attempt to cheer Shazam and I up on Friday night we went to BRU to order our crib. It was not the uplifting experience we were hoping for. Online the crib is listed as in store only. Not a problem...or so we thought. The nice young man in the furniture department couldn't even find a item number to look it up. It seemed that there was no ba.bi it.ali s.candi to be found in the area. No problem we thought. A crib road trip could be fun plus Shazam has time to do it now. Alas my search this morning found that the crib can not be found from NJ to Maine. Of course the crib is exclusive to BRU so we can not get it anywhere else. It has even disappeared from the manufacturer's website. I am pretty sure it is going to be a no go with that crib so we are looking at some different options. It seems that all the cribs I like are either out of stock or discontinued. We are very frustrated. The front runner currently is the Da.vinci Baby Miro Mercer two tone. It is not drop sided but I think I am just going to have to let that go. The one thing that I am a little bummed about is that the dresser is not a long one. I think it will be fine and there is a tall dresser so if we find we need more storage we can buy that later. With the built in storage in the room I think we will be fine. Of course it is not available at BRU right now (surprise, surprise). It is also not in stock on several other sites. I think aAm.azon has it in stock so perhaps we will order it this week.

We are starting week 23 tomorrow and I am happy to be moving through the second trimester. In a few weeks we will be on the home stretch which is pretty surreal to me. Baby G is moving around more and more and there have been several alien moments where my belly is jumping all around. I am feeling good but very hungry this weekend. I need to slow down on my sweets. I have done such a good job with eating so far but I have fallen off the wagon a bit. I am cut off from excess sugar for the next week. I had a major cake craving today and my wonderful wife got me some. Now I am all sugared up and ready for my healthy lunches and dinners for the week. I promise Shazam I will be a good healthy pregnant lady!

In addition to my healthy eating I am happy to say that I will be able to get into prenatal yoga twice this week. I go to free classes at De.stination Ma.ternity and the Saturday class was always overbooked. I could only get in every other week. Now many of the woman in the class have delivered their babies so there are not as many ladies trying to get into class. They also added a class on Tuesday evenings. So I got to go twice last week and I will go twice this week. I really feel the difference when I get to go to yoga and I know from experience that going more than once a week really makes a difference in your practice. So if I can make time to also take a few long walks this week I should be feeling a bit more fit and healthy.

Here is the current crib of choice.

Finally

Yesterday was a pretty crappy day overall. But our art from Puerto Rico finally arrived so that was a nice thing. We were there almost a month ago but it took the gallery a while to ship it to us. Some problem with the frame and fed ex. Anyway it is here now and I like it even more than I did in PR. We had to move a piece from the living room to the dinning room but I think both rooms are better for it. We seem to have a little thing for wood blocks. Not sure why but they just catch my eye. The piece really is quite subtle in some ways and bold in others. So glad we have something to remember the babymoon with. The piece is called "Mar Ilegible" and is by the artist Yolanda Velázquez. It is hard to see in the picture but the background is wood block printed which makes me think of the patterns of the waves left in the sand on the beach. The shells are then wood block printed on top in gold and a blue green.

On a less happy note Shazam got laid off yesterday. This sucks. Enough said. Because of this I needed to get Shazam on my insurance so we went over yesterday with marriage certificate in hand. I must say that I really love HR for my district. They were so nice. Of course while I am very happy that we live in a state where we can get married and have the luxury of being able to get benefits for our spouse it still gets me mad that we really are not a family in the eyes of the Federal government as the benefits that Shazam receives will be taxed. So annoying. The odd thing I found out is that as soon as baby g arrives though we somehow transform into a family and the benefit is no longer taxed. It just seems so complicated and ridiculous. Anyway it is done and Shazam is covered we will get through this set back and a family we shall be.

All good on the Baby G front

So other than having to wait for a very long time to see the Dr. all news is good. My pee test was normal. My blood pressure is a low 98/64, I gained 1 pound, my belly measured 22 cm (which is perfect for 22 weeks pregnant) and the baby's heart rate was in the 140-150 range. Baby G was moving around quite a bit and made it a bit difficult to measure the the HR but she kept following the baby around with the Doppler and finally got it done. The Dr was really nice and I would feel great about delivering with her which is really comforting. My next appointment is in a month and I get to do the fun glucose test. I must say that they are really smart and they sent me home with the stuff to drink so that I can drink it before I go to the Dr's office next time. If I pass I will be all set and this should be my last blood draw. I also got the registration packet from the hospital that we need to send back in. It has a form for our birth plan. My current plan is to have a baby. I know that sounds flip but I want to have as few expectations going into the delivery. I just don't know what to expect. I mean the experiences of different women vary so much. If I go by my mother then natural childbirth is "fun". If I go by my dad (who I know has not had a baby) all I have to do is focus and get the job done (thanks dad...although his only experiences in childbirth is with my mom, the woman who says having a baby doesn't hurt and is fun). If I go by my cousin it is hell but worth it. I am hoping that I am more towards my mom but I am realistic that it is probably a little closer to my cousins impression. I am going to go for pain meds if I want them. If the Dr say c-section I will go with it. I just don't want to add to my stress about it.

On another note I keep seeing a person from Haverhill, MA keep coming up on the live feed and I wonder who that is. Since my parents and my best friend live there I am curious if it is one of them or another reader from Haverhill. I know my mother in law is a reader (Hi Cindy!) So if you are our Haverhill reader let me know who you are.

Doctor Today

I have my monthly appointment today. I am not expecting a very exciting appointment. My regular doctor is on vacation so I will see one of the other doctors. Everyone in the practice seems so nice so I am not concerned. I am trying to figure out what questions I should have. I really don't have any and I feel like a bad mommy. I think that because I was a developmental biology major in college I feel pretty well informed. I also have been having such a normal pregnancy that the books and the net pretty much go along with what I have been feeling. Any suggestions on questions for me?? I would love to hear them.

Our Mother's day weekend was very busy. We had a baby shower to attend on Sat in NH which was nice but very long. Shazam and I decided to divide and conquer this time so I left Shazam in NH with her folks and I went to see my parents in MA. I spent a nice night with my parents watching a movie and then went to church in the morning. It was a nice service of people sharing stories about their mothers and I got a rose for being a Mom. It was strange and I thought it was funny that even though I am not officially a mom yet they treated me as one. It was nice to see some people that have known me since I was a baby. Everyone is very excited and can't wait for the baby. Then I had to seem my sister. Yuck. Yet again not one mention of me being pregnant. When I said something about Shazam's car she looked at me and said, "Why would you need a bigger car?" Clearly she is not aware of the amount of baby gear involved, plus sometimes there will be a dog.  I shouldn't be surprised by her reaction but really she is such an ass. I should be over it but it hurts every time. Perhaps she will be better once the baby is here and the attention is not focused on me. I am not holding my breath though. After lunch I headed back to get Shazam at her parent's house and had dessert. Since my mom doesn't eat sugar (or flour or rice or potatoes) we didn't have dessert. It was yummy. I can always count on my MIL for a good sugar fix.

Hope everyone had a good Mother's Day!

Stroller Love

When I got home from work yesterday this was in the living room!

This is was my reaction!

I had to open it and try it out right away of course. This is what it looked like when it came out of the box.

Shazam got to work on putting it together. I helped by staying out of the way.

Here is the Quinny buzz all put together with a stuffed bear testing the 5 point harness. The seat can face either towards you or away. I love that when the baby is little we can keep him/her facing us and then transition to facing out to the world.

After I took the bear for a spin around the apartment we took the seat off to try out the bassinet attachment that we got on cra.igs list. Pretty sweet huh!

Now the stroller is living in a nice corner of the nursery. When the nursery is finished I will post the before and after pictures but for now you can see the very nice built in shelves that we have in there.

I know it may sound lame but having the stroller makes me feel like this is really happening. I mean you can have children's books and even some outfits in the house and not be having a baby anytime soon (I am proof of that). Having this stroller makes me realize I am going to be a mom! Shazam and I are going to be MOMS and I might add that we are going to look pretty hip pushing our son or daughter in our cute stroller!

Paint...Check!, Registry...Check!, Stroller...Check!

Our weekend was really nice. We saw several different friends and got several things checked off the baby list.

Friday night Shazam and I ate yummy burritos and then went to the Ba.by Depot to check out some paint colors against the bedding we have chosen for the nursery. We have decided that Benja.min Moo.re Wales Green is the best match to Eleph.ant Stitch. I think they are pretty close (as shown in pictures).

Today Shazam and I went to Babi.es r U.s to register. It was very fun and I think we are pretty well covered. Of course we had to change some things when we got home as some of the items we chose were rated very poorly. I am very excited and happy that we are done making some decisions. Now I can stop looking at baby stuff...oh really, that won't stop but I can pretend!

Finally, Shazam and I bought our stroller. As we have posted before we are going with the Quin.ny Buzz. We have been keeping track of the prices of the color combo that we like online and it hit an all time low so we bit the bullet and bought it. So the rest of the Qui.nny will soon be in the house soon! If you have not been to Al.beebaby.com you should check it out. The deals are great.

On the baby front. I am feeling Baby G moving around more and more. He/She seems to be very active between 4-6 pm every night. I don't know if this is because I am usually pretty quiet and lounging on the couch during this time or the baby is actually moving more. I guess we will see if the trend continues. Tomorrow marks 21 weeks (lenth of a carrot) so we are more than half way done. I must say that September is coming faster and faster these days. I am sure things will slow down in the heat of July as I sweat out the dog days of summer with a very big belly!