Baby-related updates

I will add photos later, but we have been adding more stuff to the baby's stash this week. We couldn't resist getting this adorable teddy bear fleece one-piece zip-up when we were at Old Navy last week. We also lucked out in their clearance section, getting a bib with music notes on it, 2 pairs of maternity shorts, and 2 maternity shirts for less than $5 each. I have started actually showing in the last few weeks (I promise a photo later this weekend) and had to start making a pile of pre-pregnancy clothes that don't fit right now. I will probably box them up & put them in the basement until I can wear them again to make space for my maternity clothes.

In other bargain-hunting successes (and growing up with a Hudson's employee discount, it is against my nature & training not to shop for discounts!), I went to the local Just Between Friends consignment sale on Wednesday night. They had a pre-sale open to first-time moms and consignors and it was pretty busy and stuffy with all those people. They had racks & racks of baby clothes, a good maternity selection, several tables of toys & a decent selection of swings, bouncers, exersaucers, portable cribs, and a few furniture pieces. I went looking for an exersaucer and either a swing or a bouncer, since I think they're kind of overpriced in the stores. I ended up buying an exersaucer (that may not be the exact one, but it's similar), travel swing, stacker toy, 2 board books, and about 10 maternity clothes pieces (some nice work clothes & 2 prs of jeans) for $111! I was tired from shopping & standing in the long checkout line, but it was worth it.

We had our monthly OB appt. this morning. The baby is doing fine and has a strong heartbeat. While we were waiting to see the nurse practitioner, the baby finally decided to kick strongly enough that Dave could feel it. It was really neat. He has been pretty active this week, kicking up a storm, sometimes when I'm trying to get to sleep! We have one more monthly OB appt, which will also include the fun gestational diabetes test requiring me to drink a reportedly disgusting super-sugary drink and get blood drawn. Then in mid-October, we switch to biweekly visits until week 36, then it's weekly appts. The NP said that long-distance travel will be off-limits after about mid-October.

We will be trying to paint the nursery, guest room (AKA Eric's old room) and guest bathroom when my parents come out to visit in a few weeks, so we should probably pick out paint colors for those soon...And no, we still haven't decided on a name yet. We are working on it!

First big nursery purchase!

We found the first big piece for the baby's nursery today! We got a great deal on a beautiful Babi Italia dresser at one of the local places that deals in overstocks. It was top-rated for quality & value in the book Baby Bargains, which has been an invaluable resource. We were trying to decide between this color and the espresso (very dark brown), but I was afraid the espresso would make the small nursery look even smaller. The upside of our indecision was that one of the employees took pity on us (or was just desperate to make the sale) and offered to match the 25% off marked on the espresso finish for any of the other finishes. So we ended up getting the dresser for about $320 less than the list price at Babies 'R' Us! We will have to go back to the warehouse and pick it up with Dave's parents' van next weekend. Now that we have the dresser, we'll look for cribs in the same color. There are a couple from the same line, but the dresser's design is also simple enough that it should be easily matched with cribs in the same finish from other manufacturers.

For context, here it is in a set, with an added hutch. The changing rail also detaches so it can be used as a normal dresser when the baby gets too big for the changing table.

I don't think we'll do a "theme" in decorating the nursery. It will probably be done in blues & greens, but we're still working on finalizing a fabric to use for the valance/curtain & crib skirt. We will be trying to paint the nursery, guest room, and guest bathroom when my parents visit in a few weeks, so we'll have to decide on a color by then.

We are spending the rest of the long weekend vegging out and visiting with friends & family. Hiyam is also giving Katie, her roommate, and me a Lebanese cooking lesson on Monday, which should be fun.

Check me out! No, seriously, check me out!

A great surprise arrived in the mail yesterday. Well, it was only a surprise since I'd forgotten that we ordered it. We haven't really done much shopping for the baby yet, although we are starting to look at furniture & build our shopping lists, but this adorable onesie was one of the things we had on our "must buy" list as soon as we saw it on Homestar Runner. We know that Eric will approve!

The detail:


It's baby Trogdor!! For those of you unfamiliar with Trogdor or Strong Bad's e-mails at all, brush up here.

And while you're at it, waste some time playing the Trogdor game (made to look like one of the games Tony & I used to play on the Commodore) and watching our other favorite Strong Bad e-mail, Fhqwgads. Dave got me the DVDs of the SB e-mails a couple years ago, and I showed them to my mom when she was visiting me in Columbus. After I went upstairs, I could still hear her watching them and laughing like a nut :)

Other baby stuff photos to come, including the KC Royals onesies I found at Target and a hand-me-down blanket from my cousin Andi...or hand-me-back, as I guess the case would be, since I knitted it for her daughter Phoebe and she sweetly decided she wanted to pass it back so it can be a shared family blanket for our baby.

"Please stay on the line. Your half-baked ideas are all we've got."

One of the blogs that Dave reads brought this bizarre story to our attention:

Chuck Woolery to Host Cat Game Show

I just don't know what to say about that, or the people who green-lighted it.

Quick update

The baby has been kicking up a storm the last few days. I could feel a couple of gentle kicks late last week, but he has really gotten active since Sunday. The kicks are still too light for Dave to be able to feel them. I can't be sure, but I think the baby might like hummus, as he seems to be really kicking about a half-hour after I've eaten it. I could just be imagining the connection...although I'll probably still tell Mrs. Kennedy that I'm sure it's her hummus recipe that he likes so much! :)

We are starting to sort out the incredible variety of nursery furniture & baby stuff on the market. It is kind of overwhelming, and after the third crib or rocker, they really all start to blend together. We do have a great book called Baby Bargains that has a lot of product reviews and ratings which has been helpful in narrowing things down.

We have also been keeping busy working on the lawn now that it's cooled down a little. Dave noticed Monday that our side yard is looking a lot more filled in than it was at the beginning of the season. The grass seed we put there last fall didn't work fast, but it seems like it is working, so we are thrilled. Check out the degree to which the lawn has healed itself:

April '08

August '08

My dad gave us an extra set of electric hedge trimmers, so I attacked the front bushes the other day. It is so much easier than using the manual clippers! I may not have much advanced technique, but what I lack in finesse, I more than make up for in virulent animosity towards the insanely fast-growing bushes and enthusiasm for knocking them down to size!

A minor note: I fixed the blog's comment settings so anyone can comment. I didn't realize that we had them set to only allow Gmail users to post until my mom pointed it out . Sorry!

It's a boy!!

As most of you know, we are expecting a baby around December 22. I'm sure we will hear for many years to come how he got the short straw by having a birthday so close to Christmas. Em's grandma is rooting for the baby to share her December 23 birthday. Our little one will add to the overwhelming boy: girl ratio in the youngest generation on Dave's side and make it 9 boys to 1 girl.

We went to the doctor for our 19-week ultrasound today and although the baby was stubborn and overly modest, the ultrasound tech was able to tell that we're having a boy! Everything looks good, size is healthy, and we could actually see the spine, 4 heart chambers, and bones. It was really cool!

We're pretty sure this is the heart. The band below is the heartbeat tracker (136 bpm); all the little peaks are individual heartbeats.

Big giant foot:

Awesome pic of the legs:

And a front view of the legs:

We are super excited!

A Lawn Reborn

Loyal readers might recall that 2007 saw most of the back yard and portions of the side and front yards destroyed by grubs. The carnage wrought by those nasty little worms was enough to turn the stomach. Witness the following:

Emily and I had little choice but to rip up the dead turf, reseed, and hope for the best. It turned out to be a bigger job than we anticipated; we were only able to get to the worst portion of the back yard. Here's the area we worked on last October:

We weren't sure how it would turn out. Strong storms washed away our first attempt (the back yard is on a slight slope that the pictures don't reveal well), and it was early November by the time we were able to put down seed that had an opportunity to take root. But, on the whole, we're pleased with how it turned out. Here's the back yard as it currently looks:

I think you'd have to agree, that's a significant improvement. It's not great, but now it looks like your run-of-the-mill, poorly maintained lawn rather than a gasp-inducing wasteland that calls to mind nothing so much as military-grade defoliants. We're pretty happy with our handiwork.

But don't trouble yourself with thoughts that we might get cocky and rest on our lawn-growing laurels. There's still much work to be done, as a glance at the side lawn makes clear.