Nursery Registry Nightmare

Oh registering - I had been putting it off until R and I could tackle it together on a weekend, but it seems that every weekend lately has been busy with something. I put it on the calendar and we went this past Saturday.

The minute we got inside the store and sat down, R looked at me and groaned, "I hate shopping." I immediately gave him the stink eye, T mama style. I told him it should only take a couple of hours and that he could go outside and take breaks if need be. He countered with an hour and a half, but I held firm with two hours. Try THREE hours later and we had finally conquered every nook and cranny of that baby superstore. R was a trooper and quickly decided he wanted full control of the scanner gun. We scanned our little hearts out, and I tried my best to keep him from scanning things that were ridiculous (My Baby Can Read, flashcards for kids ages 4 and up, etc.). The only heated battles we had were on things that he deemed "red" when they were clearly pink! Man needs his eyes checked! :)

We sauntered with the scanner ceremoniously back to the registry counter like two successful conquistadors only to be asked, "Ummmm, what was the last thing you guys scanned?" When we told the saleswoman, she reluctantly told us that the scanner, for whatever reason, had STOPPED WORKING. Not only that, but we didn't get over 2/3 of the items we scanned in the system!!! O - M - G! Now imagine the look on R's face. Yeah, not so bueno.

Of course, I tried to put a positive spin on it and gave the following reasons why it wasn't SO terrible:
- we now had time to research items that we weren't 100% sure of which brand to get or if it was even worth getting
- we needed to go back anyway to pick up the another piece of the nursery furniture that we had just purchased (only one piece will fit in the car at a time)

Okay, so really, there were only 2 reasons, but it's better than zero!

Soooo we ended going back the following morning the minute that they opened, scrapped our previous registry, and started anew. Round dos only took us an hour and a half - ha, R's original time allotment. We were determined to get it done this weekend and we did. Mission accomplished.

We registered for lots of fabulous things (R got really excited in the book/toy section), AND we purchased the baby room furniture... shown below, minus the hutch.





As I have been perusing the web for cute nursery décor, I stumbled upon another cute safari look. Now I feel like I am in a conundrum. Which look should I go for???

Option A:

The custom bedding - I like this crib bumper, but would opt for a different crib skirt/sheet:





The bedding would be complimented by these wall murals:







And, now option B:

The bedding - I like the colors and animals but would probably opt for a sold crib sheet:





The bedding would be complimented by these wall murals:






Two completely different looks and two completely different color palettes. Option A would be mostly blues, oranges, and browns; Option B would be mostly greens, blues, and yellows.

What do you think???

Happy Birthday Lucy!

My niece turned the big 2 last Friday. We had a busy weekend with the crawfish boil, family coming in town, etc., so we postponed her celebration until today and combined it with Mother's Day with the extended family.

I had to work at the hospital, unfortunately, and was too pooped when I got off to make it over for the after party - sorry fam! But I thought I would make a blog dedication to our sweet little Lucy in honor of her birthday.

Lucy (aka Chubs*, Lou Lou, Luce) is very cuddly but can also be very dramatic and demanding - she has been called Lucifer on more than one occasion. She is about to become a true middle child once her baby brother gets here in August. We are all curious how she will react to no longer being the baby of the family.

Happy birthday Lucy! Tía loves you!


*I started calling her Chubs when she was a baby for obvious reasons, but not anymore now that she is getting older and losing her baby fat. I also don't want to give her a complex. :)

Feliz Cinco de Mayo

¡Hola amigos! I should be winding down and going to bed, but thanks to my late nap, I am about to head out for a walk... at this hour, I'm sure it will just be me and the deer strolling around the 'hood. Getting up tomorrow morning should be fun!

The past several weeks I have been feeling Baby G's movements more and more as he gets bigger. R has been able to feel him move, too, and thus the father/son games have already begun. R pokes at my tummy and Baby G immediately responds with a kick. Sometimes he doesn't even have to poke - just the sound of daddy's voice gets him going. R loves it, and I don't mind it since it's their bonding time - just as long as it's not when I'm tired or sleeping.

This morning, Baby G decided to wake me up at 5:00 a.m. 5:00! I almost couldn't get back to sleep because of all of his kicking. Don't get me wrong, I love to feel him moving around, but not at such ungodly hour. I figure I'll have plenty of that for a long, long time in 4 months when he makes his arrival. Right now, I want my sleep!

I found a really cute diaper bag/backpack today that I could not resist getting. One more thing to cross of my list! It's a Timi and Leslie brand (I had never heard of it but they got rave reviews online), and I scored it for $40 brand new at a resale shop! Sweet! It's über girly, which means that unless R is in a big time jam, he probably won't be taking this bag with him. We've already decided to have separate diaper bags, and I know he's going for the more "manly" look.

The Sixth Month

I have officially made it to month seis! My current weight gain at week 24 ... 14 pounds. Blood pressure is good and baby's measurements/heartbeat look good.

Between now and my next appointment at 28 weeks I have to take my glucose screening for gestational diabetes. For anyone who has never been pregnant or heard of this, I have to drink 50 mg of dextrose in 10 minutes or less and then hurry over to my dr.'s office for a blood draw within the hour. I have to fast for an hour beforehand and cannot eat or drink anything until after my blood draw. If I pass this first test successfully then all is good. If not, I have to go through a 3 hour screening which is supposed to be awful.

I'm starting a prenatal yoga class this week. Let's hope I stick to this better than I have with my cooking attempts!

I decided to wash and organize Baby G's clothes sizes 0-12 months the past couple of nights. We haven't purchased any nursery furniture yet, so I am putting everything temporarily into storage bins. He has quite the wardrobe already, but I can't help it if I want my little man to look good!

This past weekend we had our annual family crawfish boil. We all agreed it was the best one yet, and I can't wait until next year when there are 3 new babies in attendance! As you can see from the picture, although my due date is 2 weeks later than the other two lovely ladies, my belly is FAR bigger than the others. What's up with that?!?








Now that August is looming closer, we are starting to think more about how we are going to put together the nursery. As of now, we are leaning towards an "African safari" look since we both love Africa. I have found inspiration from two different nursery designs online.

In the first one, I really like the custom made bedding:




And in the second one, I really like the wall murals:

More than halfway there!

I am officially approaching the 22 week mark - eeeeeek! Exciting and scary (albeit in a good way) all at the same time.

We had our 20 week anatomy ultrasound over a week ago. The first thing the sonographer asks is, "Do you want to know the sex of the baby?" R immediately replies, "Yes!" Well she then proceeds to go over all of the body parts ... the brain, the heart chambers, the fingers, arms, toes, kidneys, and then finally gets to what we REALLY want to see. Of course we want to know that our Little Bean is healthy in every way, but we really got excited to see that it's a boy! R could barely contain himself and was already getting his texts prepared to send out before we left the office. I still think of him as my Little Bean, although now that we know "who" he is, I can fondly call him my Little G.

R is ready to get him into some athletic training ...




My kids at school were also excited to find out. We made a graph to see if more people thought it would be a boy or a girl. Not surprisingly, it was pretty much divided among gender: the boys thought it would be a boy and vice versa, except for myself and one of my girls. I told them that I would come to school the next day in a blue shirt if it's a boy and a pink shirt if it's a girl. Needless to say, they were all giddy to see my color choice (with the boys doing most of the celebrating). While we were doing the graph, one of my students asked me, "Do we get a prize if we're right?" Haha, nice try. :)









After leaving school before my appointment, I headed over to my bff's school to have lunch, see her new school, and meet her little ones. When I arrived, they presented me with the cutest little book that they had made. It is definitely something I will keep with Little G's other cards/momentos. :)





She has been my awesome photographer, helping me document my pregnancy and will also be taking pics of Little G once he makes his appearance. She did my 20 week portrait a couple of weeks ago...



The belly is definitely growing - as are other body parts! I found out at my last appointment that I've gained 10 pounds so far (although it feels/looks like more!), and my doctor then said that she wants me to gain 20-25 more pounds by the end. Ummmm, no gracias. Gross - I know 30-35 pounds is a normal pregnancy gain, but I just cannot imagine putting that much more weight on my frame. I already feel so huge as it is, and I really don't like the idea of weighing more than R. I won't do anything ridiculous to avoid gaining weight, but I am not going to TRY to gain 25 more pounds.

I had dinner with one of my best friends tonight and she commented several times on another part of my body that has definitely expanded. Her exact words were, "I can't stop looking at them!" Hahahaha. Then she asked me if I had knocked anything over with them yet? That would be a negative, although I guess there's a first time for anything.

Besides finding out about the baby's gender, I have also been feeling Little G move SO much! I'm looking forward to the day that R can feel him kick. It seems that we may have a soccer player in the making ... at least I hope so. :)

Less than 48 hours!

In less than 48 hours we will find out whether Little Bean is "hamburger" or "hotdog," as my brother-in-law so eloquently said today. :) I have been waiting SOOO long for this appointment to finally get here!

Although it was hard to go back to work after Spring Break, it was an easy transition having Friday off for the Easter weekend. We took my niece to see "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3-D yesterday and spent some good time with the fam and friends today. Life is good!

I'm officially a mom

Well, it's "official." Besides my ever expanding belly, I moved over to the mom side this past week when I got a new car! My mazda has been good to me, albeit my bad luck with flat tires, but R wants me in something bigger with Little Bean.

Sooooo after test driving a handful of cars, I found the one I liked and R went in with his checkbook. Thanks babe!

Now I just need to sell my Mazda...

The 2006 Mazda3



And my new 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe (mine's in silver)



Given the fact that my car has been hit while parked FIVE times (and only 2 of the offenders left notes), I have promised R to park as far away as possible. I can only hope that my car karma will change.

In more exciting news, my sister found out she is having a BOY!!! They already have two little girls, so we are all excited they are adding a boy to the mix. I'll have to say that as more time has passed, I get just as excited about the idea of having a girl. I know I've been saying all along that I would prefer a boy, but I really just can't wait to find out. Either way, I know Little Bean is perfect in every way. We find out in less than two weeks if it is going to be a Mama's Boy or a Daddy's Girl. Our names have been picked out for many weeks - that was the easy part.

P.S. My goal of making a home cooked meal once a week has been more of a meal every other week. Over spring break I made chicken marsala with couscous and green beans. Another success!



P.P.S. I was grading homework papers the other night and just couldn't resist. Directions: Write a word with short o. The result? Fockse = foxy. Haha!