Mid Way Point!! (+ 1 week!)

21 weeks!!!

I meant to record my progress at the mid way point, but this week just got away from me! Which is not a bad thing. One less week till much less nausea and tons more baby cuddlin' :)

I had a dr. appointment this week, my 20(ish) week checkup and am happy to report that, for almost the first time, it was uneventful. I got in, weighed in with a weight gain (huzzah!), saw my doc quickly (didn't even need a cervical exam like i have every.other.time!), she answered my questions (reassured me I could, indeed, highlight my incredibly dull colored hair!), told us the ultrasound looked good (yay!), refilled my prescription (ugh stupid never ending nausea!), and sent us on our way.  A 25 minute from off to elevator to back to the elevator is a HUGE improvement for me :)

Annnd, I even bought snack food at the grocery store this week! Which means, there's an appetite a little bit! (Honestly, I feel nice and sick right now since eating said chips ahoy, but the fact that I ate them in the first place remains a small success.) 

And today Scott and I went to register at the last of the baby stores we wanted to do so at. 
*I gotta say, for those in the same place or will be someday, we are highly unimpressed with the selection and customer service at Babies R Us in comparison to Buy Buy Baby.  If you have the opportunity to choose between the two, we both highly recommend BBB. Though there were just a couple things I want to remember to get a BRU that BBB did not carry so we have a small registry there. And, after much much looking around, I also have to say, though the prices may be a tad higher, no bedding compares with the styles at Pottery Barn Kids. I love everything on our registry there more than anything else anywhere. :)*

Anywho, all of this adds up to a highly productive 20th week of pregnancy! (complete with a tiny vibrating soft baseball baby toy thanks to Auntie Gina for our future major leaguer!) 

And for my own personal records:
weight: up 8 lbs from 5 week appt (*starting point)
belly:  measuring in at .... (gulp) ... 36 in. (*starting point = 28 in)

And baby boy is becoming more active each day, with the bulk of his big kicks coming after I lay down for the night (of course haha).  Scott even got to feel a good one the other day! His reaction was priceless. Maize has even joined in on the fun, kissing my belly much more than usual.  Such a good big sister! :)

The luck of the Irish has blessed us with a Baby BOY!!! Slainte!

On St. Patricks Day, exactly 20 years ago, I was dubbed the school leprechaun by my 2nd grade teacher.  This essentially means I was dressed like a cute little leprechaun, pointy shoes and all, and got to deliver Irish Soda Bread to the teachers all over the school, which included Scott's 5th grade class.  He'll tell he doesn't remember this, but I'm pretty sure that day I jigged into his classroom, is the day he fell in love with me. (I mean, I was one cute 8 year old leprechaun!) Skip ahead to St. Patricks Day 5 years ago.  Scott got down on one knee and proposed.  And now, St. Patricks Day, 2011, we found out we're having our first SON :) The circle of life my friends ... (and a hit Irish Country Song, can't you feel it?) ;)

 (our little guy's little feet!)

We can't wait for you to be here, Baby Boy!! We've already notified the Chicago Cubs that you will be joining the team in 2033 (and we can't wait to cheer you on as you lead the team out of their, what will be, 125 year slump to a World Series Win!) *Judging by those arm movements you were showing Daddy, me, and Agnes (our ultrasound technician who mama may have scared into making absolutely sure you were a boy before telling us!), we're pretty certain you are going to be an All Star Pitcher!!*

Mommy and Daddy love you Baby Boy!!

and P.S. How thrilled is big sister Maizy that she is not loosing her status as #1 girl in the house! She totally loves her little brother though! The other day she couldn't stop giving him kisses :)

Baby, is that you kicking me??

I would like to go on record saying that I'm pretty sure I'm feeling the little miss or mr. moving around in there!! I've had a lot of "issues" going on inside the tummy and am still trying to decipher gas pain, gas movement, stretching, and baby kicks ... but after feeling something "different" a little bit last week, I'm pretty sure that feeling is not gas, but is said baby! I couldn't fall asleep the other night (ok any night) so I decided to play some recently uploaded to my iphone Baby Einstein to try and calm the tummy so I could fall asleep. But the munchkin took it as an opportunity to try out some dance moves and strange feelings were coming from my tum tum.  And then, ever so lightly, I felt what I can only classify as a baby kick! It was so quick and so light that I was like "oh was that it!" But I'm pretty sure it was ... i think ... well keep moving baby so we know how you're doing!

*And, lest we forget, the baby is already waking me up for 5am feedings. Without fail I am awoken well before my alarm with a nauseating rumbling in the tum and the only cure is for me to get out of bed, find a little food (graham cracker bunnies anyone?), and feed the tum till it is content so I can attempt to get some more sleep ... I was (mentally) prepared for all night feedings after the baby was born, but this whole 5 months early thing, not cool little one. :)*

Registering, Take One ...

A couple of days ago, we decided to start registering.  Not so everyone can shower us with gifts, but so I can start having a real list of things we need to acquire in the next 20.5 weeks! (Oh man, that sounds sooo soon).  I've been excited to baby shop for years now. But as we got our little clipboard/ checklist and little scan gun (guess who got to carry which), we quickly realized, we have no idea what we actually need.

We do not know the gender yet, so we decided we'd just start registering for "necessary" baby things -- bottles/toys/safety proof/ etc.  Things that we don't have to make a blue/pink decision on.  But as we perused through the "feeding" section, we were silent.  I asked "How many different kind of bottles do you think we need?" Scott answered "There's different kinds of bottles?" See here's the thing. When you register for your wedding, you kinda know what you're looking for and what you're not. Every couple is different, of course, but you all know if you want a blender or a coffee maker or new plates or pretty vases. But with a baby, it's a whole new foreign world. We're not worried or scared we won't figure it out. We just realized ugh we got some research to do before we can continue this fun adventure.

Now I've spend many hours on baby store websites designing nurseries, choosing the exact swings and bouncers we like, narrowing down stroller and car seats options ... but feeding/nursing? I don't even know where to begin. So we scanned a couple bottles and moved on.  We circled the store a couple times, toys and books were our strongest sections, scanned some diapers, and then I got too tired to look anymore so we applauded our effort and called it a day.

But we did make one BIG decision ... we decided on Nursery Furniture!!! Yay!! After seriously looking at, at least 10-15 different furniture sets, we have decided on not only a collection, but the color as well! And we're both super happy with the decision! We're going with the Hudson Lifestyle Crib and Dresser by Bonavita in White! Can't wait to have it and set it all up! We have 8-12 weeks (ahh! gotta get the room cleaned out and painted before furniture arrives!) 

Oh! I must also send a huge shoutout to my wonderful husband who has never, ever complained registering with me (not an easy task!). I'm pretty sure it's the ScanGun, and not shopping with me, that's he so into, but seriously, the minute you give this man the ScanGun, all complaints cease to exist! He's so awesome. :)

The nursery, phase one ...

Oh boy, oh boy. My most favorite part of being pregnant is getting to finally shop for a baby without Scott pulling me out of the store saying "no, we don't need any of this!" I'm sure if you ask him he probably still thinks we go baby browsing way too often, but I'm pretty fickle (did you not know?) so I must make sure I check all possible, affordable products before making my decisions on what nursery decor I want, what toys the baby should play with, what clothes the baby should wear ... well, you get the picture. I like to have all my options out there so I can make the best possible decision. And, I have to give myself ample time to set up the nursery as I have always imagined it.  Which brings us to ... now.

I am 18 weeks and 3 days into the 40 week period which means ... we only have 21 weeks and 4 days left! (Perhaps shorter if Grandma's premonitions prove accurate...) Soo. It is time to start dealing with la nursery. Why? Because, well, right now, it looks like ... this ...

and this ...

Now for the record, this is not how this room has looked for the last couple of years. We started out with a cute little office, a couple desks, a couple bookshelves, a dvd shelf, and a small table.  However, in two months we will celebrate 3 glorious years in the condo! Which means ... 3 years since we've last moved and purged all unnecessary junk.

This is not to say that everything in this room is junk. Of course not. But over the last couple of months, we have been redecorating the rest of the condo and everything that we no longer have immediate need for (see: empty vanity, random side tables, knicknacks galor) have gathered in this room.  As we both have been functioning on laptops (that tend to live in the living room at all times) for a while now, our desks have done little more than collect piles of paid bills, pictures, and dust.  Yes my beloved bookshelves are cramped to bits, but at least 3 shelves are completely filled with massive amounts of plays I have not had the need to open since college (and another shelf or two are filled with college textbooks and used scripts).  Thank God for the incoming baby, otherwise we may be headed for tv stardom on "Hoarders."

So now it's time to turn the office/storage/messofaroom into the room it was always destined to be ... baby's new nursery!! And in the process, may we please have the strength to get rid of all the unnecessary crap we do not need.

*Since these pictures were taken over the weekend, the dvd wall has already been dispersed.  We have a small pile of dvds we never watch to get rid of, and the rest of our beloved collection is neatly in its new homes throughout the condo.*

*Up next ... move out (to our glorious, free, long as we want it, storage space on Halsted) all furniture which is no longer in use.*

*Still to come ... time to clean out the bookshelves. Not every book I've ever read (or have not read but gotten on sale) needs to be kept in my possession. (We will still have two bookshelves here in our bedroom hallway, so it's not super dramatic but oh decisions decisions.)*

Stay tuned for updates on the transformation of my least favorite room in the condo into my new favorite room in the condo ....