25 weeks

This week was kind of an exciting week in terms of baby stuff! Brandon and I had a free evening together Wednesday so we spent the evening cooking dinner together and looking at baby bedding and cribs online. We know what we want the nursery to look like, now its just pulling everything- the right crib, the right bedding, the right glider, etc- together to create that look. We had found some bedding a while back that we keep coming back to, and of course after you have the bedding picked out, you can create the rest of the room around it. Then, we decided on the crib we wanted to get but we'd never seen it in person and we found a baby boutique nearby that sells that line of cribs so we decided Saturday we would go and look at the crib and then do our baby registry. We got up Saturday and went to this little baby boutique, which is so cute and has so many of the things we've been looking at online. Most of you probably know that our taste is very modern and contemporary so the bedding sets and decorations at Babies R Us just weren't tripping our triggers. This little store, however, had a lot of very modern cribs and decorations. We didn't see the crib we originally went to see but there was another there that we had been looking at and THEN the lady helping us (who we think was the owner) told us that she had another crib she thought we would like, it just wasn't in the store this week because a company had borrowed it for a tv commercial shoot. The crazy thing about this is that this crib is the EXACT SAME BRAND and almost the EXACT SAME CRIB that we picked out in the very beginning that is *coughcough* only the cost of a small car. Not really that expensive but WAY more than we could afford or could with good conscious spend that much money on. Now you might be thinking, well if it was that expensive before, why are we getting so excited about it? Well, BECAUSEEEE the lady told us that if we liked it, she would sell the floor model to us for OVER HALF PRICE!!! Oh my goodness, let me just tell you how giddy we are about this! I don't remember if I've written about this in previous posts but since Brittney and I started teaching coupon classes, I have been saving every penny that I earned (with the exception of 11 dollars that we needed cash for to get hot dogs at Jim's one day haha) to pay for the baby's furniture. Yes, it was hard to stock this money away, especially since Brittney has been able to buy half of Anthropologie's inventory over the past 5 months and has THE cutest wardrobe EVER, but I did it. Brandon and I weren't sure how we were going to pay for baby furniture, since just like you can't squeeze water from a rock, you can't really squeeze anything extra out of our current paychecks. We agreed early on that I would put this money away after each class and neither of us would touch it until time to buy the crib and bedding and glider, etc. Brandon and I are shoppers and trust me, we must already be in parenthood training because we could get some serious clothes and shoes out of the money we've saved but we haven't, we've had eyes only on the prize. The prize being the perfect nursery for our perfect little man. So back to the crib that she agreed to sell us for half price... Like I said a minute ago, this crib is almost identical to what we originally had our hearts set on, the only difference in the two cribs is the color (the one we are going to get is white and the original one we looked at had a very mod wood finish) and THIS crib actually has panels on the sides that you can change with different fabrics to match whatever bedding you have. You probably can't picture how cool this thing looks and I so want to give you a preview but I think I'm going to wait. At any rate, we are THRILLED about this crib and are so excited about possibly getting to bring it home next week (if its back in the store).

Another thing we did Saturday was register at Babies R Us. I have several observations from creating our baby registry:

1) First time parents should never go alone. Take someone who has recently had a baby with you. Otherwise you will never survive.
2) Babies R Us should employ workers to walk around with couples to tell them about certain products and their parts (just for example bottles and breast pumps) OR edit their "must have" list to say not just "bottles" but "bottles, nipples for each age and stage of the first year, nipples for thicker fluids and thinner fluids, a bottle drying rack, a bottle dishwasher cage, a bottle cleaning wire brush, and a formula holder thingy." Not to mention all of the OTHER bottle parts I forgot about! We scanned a package of bottles and started to walk away and THANK GOODNESS Brittney was with us because she pointed out all the other crap you have to get.
3) Each product should have a pro-con list taped next to the price. How the heck do I know if the Diaper Genie is better than the Arm n Hammer Diaper Pail?? Does twisting off the bag kill the smell more than baking soda? I dunno, I've never had a kid!!!
4) Have chairs, or better yet, sofas, stationed throughout the aisles because remember, PREGNANT WOMEN are involved here!! Do they not know that we are EXHAUSTED and CANNOT STAND/WALK for that long??? I'm sorry, but I was about to keel over and was dangerously close to sitting in a stroller and wheeling myself around. My back and my feet were screaming at me after carseats, and that was the second aisle we went down!!
5) Offer couples a snack before embarking on this journey or at least tell me where I can find a Twix and a smoothie since after all, I WILL be hungry in 20 minutes (no matter when I last ate). Why would you ever ship a pregnant woman off to wander 50+ aisles of foreign objects (that SHE MUST HAVE in order to be a good mother) with no survival pack or at least a granola bar? This seems so simple to me, yet why aren't they doing this?

Don't get me wrong, I had a ton of fun registering. However, I was completely and utterly overwhelmed. Not to mention exhausted and starving. Those are just some tips I have for Babies R Us. I thought that when we went in and sat down and the nice lady started talking that she certainly was going to go around with us to explain things. Oh no. "Here's the scanner gun and your list, have fun!" Um, ok? Did I mention I'm a first time parent? Did I mention that I have no idea what to get or how many? Did I mention that I'm scared to death I'll pick the wrong carseat and will end up killing my child? Did I mention that I'm completely in awe of those little machines that are gonna squeeze milk out of my boobs (excuse my frankness) and have no idea which one to pick? DID I MENTION THAT THIS IS TERRIFYING??? HELLO! Has no one at Babies R Us ever had kids?? What the heck? Plus, I haven't even mentioned the fact that all other parents we know keep telling us "Oh, you'll never use or need half the stuff you register for." Ok then, WHICH HALF??? I know this is dangerous but all you parents out there, I'm inviting you to go look at our registry online (I think you just go to Babies R Us and then search our names) and let us know what stuff we really will need and what stuff we won't. Then tell me in the most loving way possible, because remember, I spent 3 hours in that store agonizing over each and every product we scanned... tired, hungry, and overwhelmed. So be gentle.

One more thing... to all of you who have told me I look like I swallowed a basketball or a volleyball. THANK YOU. Even though this is not true -well obviously I didn't swallow a basketball- I'm guessing you can't see past my belly to look at these thunder thighs or are just too kind to tell me how fat my cheeks have gotten. But thank you. You have no idea what this does to a pregnant girl's self esteem. I honestly feel a little buoyed each time someone tells me this (even though I know the truth!) and it means so much that you would tell me I look great even when I feel oh so fat. So thank you to all you kind, kind people. I sincerely mean that.

Survey...

How far along? 25 weeks 2 days

Weight gain? I'm choosing to ignore this until my doctor's appointment. In the beginning I only wanted to gain 25, now I'm just praying that I don't gain more than 40 pounds!!

maternity clothes? Yes and no. I'm still wearing my regular jeans and tops and then also wearing some maternity tops and pants. Its hard putting cute outfits together when you just aren't shaped the same anymore...

Sleep? Some good, some bad. Saturday night was roooouuugh. I woke up every hour or two hours and just could not get comfortable. I've started sleeping with my maternity pillow and another pillow to try to cope.

stretch marks? Not yet but my tummy sure does feel tight some days =/

belly button in or out? This question wasn't on my survey but I've seen it on some of my other friends' surveys so I decided to add it. Belly button is definitely half in, half out. Its been this way for about 3 or 4 weeks now and I'm just waiting for any day now to look down and see an outie.

Best moment this week? Spending all day Saturday with my best friend doing stuff for our baby =)

movement? More and more every day it seems! There's just nothing like feeling my little baby squirm and kick and tap dance on my ribs. Some days if he kicks in the same spot a few times, I'll gently poke my stomach in the same area and he'll kick back! Its a little game we play =)

food cravings? No strong cravings this week really...

Food aversions? coffee

what I'm looking forward to... hopefully bringing my baby boy's crib home sometime this week!

milestones... Ok, this week BabyCenter.com says he weighs a pound and a half! I guess that's why his kicks have felt so much stronger!!