Movements

I am sure a lot of you have been waiting for this. I mean 'babies first kick' is one of those huge moments you are supposed to remember and journal about. Well, I guess it is not nearly has glorious, in reality. Mostly because us 'first timers' don't realize for several weeks that we are actually being kicked. Sorry for the let down. But, I am hoping the first time that Keith feels him move with will one of those momentous occasion.

I will go ahead and put in the record books that Eli's first kick, was actually a 'first punch'. I mentioned the story in a previous post about the ultrasound. We had gone in for our 16 week follow-up ultrasound. In addition to his hic-cups, Eli was moving all around. All of a sudden he just straight arm punched me! It was the funniest thing...he looked like a puppet. I do remember feeling the 'slightest' little tap, and I realized it was him. So, with the sense of sight, I was able to hone in on my sense of touch. It was a hilarious moment that I really wish we had on camera...maybe next ultrasound we will video!

After that ultrasound I have noticed little bitty movements or taps. Sometimes it feels like rain drops, and sometimes it feels like gas (sorry if that is too much information). I have tried to get Keith to see if he can feel, but Eli is still being pretty exclusive to me. I suspect it will be another few weeks before Keith gets to join in the fun. (Too much information warning) The doctor said that the placenta is actually in the front of my abdomen. Therefore, Eli could be doing jumping jacks behind it, but the placenta is acting like a barrier. So, it may have taken longer to feel him, or his kicks/punches are not quite as pronounced. (A lot of mommy friends have told me there will be a day it is 'not so cute anymore' and down right painful. Hopefully the handy-dandy placenta will help shield some of the discomfort).

There have been a few cool moments, oh, and a 'bad mother moment' (which I can't believe I am being so candid) :). I'll start with the bad. I have been waking up at 4am and not sleeping well. So, yesterday while at IHOP I treated myself to an iced coffee (For the record, I drink caffeine about a few times a month in very limited amounts). Well, I asked the server for some water which she never brought me...so before long I was downing my coffee as a 'thirst quencher'. Before I knew it I nearly drank the whole thing. Yikes! I felt awful all day, and started researching caffeine/pregnancy intake levels. The conclusion is that Eli will be fine, however he was seeming to move around A LOT more yesterday than usual. Poor kid is probably coming down from his caffeine high today.

So, for the cool moments. They usually come at night or in the morning when I lay on my back and pay real close attention to him to see what I can feel. One morning I swore he kicked so hard that my fingers moved (but that could be in my head). However, yesterday it was really neat. I was feeling around my belly when I discovered a hardness towards the top of the uterus. I thought to myself "man, my stomach is really getting hard"....suddenly, at that moment the hard-mass moved! It was Eli! I just thought that was so cool, because I had 'touched' him! It had to have been his little head or back that I touched. It was one of the first times that I realized he was REALLY inside, it was almost like getting to meet him.

From this experience, I have had an Epiphany (if you want to call it that). Keith ultimately describes my thought best with the phrase "big fish in a small pond vs. small fish in a big pond". Forgive me if I have a hard time explaining. Basically, I have given Eli a personality already. Just his little movement yesterday of 'Get off me!' made me realize that he is inside 'ruling the roost'. I have turned him into a little man with a big attitude, 'doing his thing' inside my belly. But, once he actually gets here and is in the real world...suddenly he becomes this helpless, innocent little newborn baby. You follow what I mean? :) I just thought that was neat though to make the comparison of perception vs. reality. Granted, it won't be long before he gets back to a sassy or funny attitude, but I was just entertained with comparisons.

Updates (names, cravings, shopping)

Ok, so I totally need to type about Eli's movements and stuff, but I also have some other 'odd assortment' updates to fill you in on. I don't know if any are worthy of their own thread, so let's throw them all together.

Names:

Well, we are still sticking with Eli (so no changes there). However, a few new discussions have come up regarding the middle name and the 'proper' first name. Technically, Eli is short for 'Elijah'. While we first fell in love with 'just Eli'...the name Elijah is pretty cool, as well. So, it is something that we are at least considering. I think it is pretty and looks really cool. However, Eli was the original name of choice, so we might just stick with that.

Also, the middle name 'Grey' is back in the running, yay! I really have loved that name from the beginning, and I think it works great with Eli (or Elijah). I kind of kicked it out of the 'name pool' when we realized his initials would be E.G.G. Keith said that he didn't care about those initials, and I didn't either...so 'game on'. I actually think it is kind of cute! Keith and I also laughed about how technically Eli started out as an 'egg', so why not stay one (ok, lame joke...).

Eating/Cravings:

Well, I have officially resorted to the appetite of a 5 year old. Throw class and sophistication out the window, and bring on the mac and cheese! Seriously, that is how I eat now a days. For instance, my meals usually consist hot dogs, mac and cheese, pickles, chicken fingers, or chips.

Yesterday morning I was craving pancakes from IHOP, and this morning I ate grapes and goldfish (I'm not joking people). I even went so far as to hunt down the ice cream man in my neighborhood. I am not exaggerating when I use the word 'hunt'.

Keith and I were getting out of the car and I saw the neighborhood kids munching on their new ice cream treats from the ice cream truck, when I couldn't stand it any longer (ice cream truck ice cream is a delicacy..not to be found just anywhere). Keith went in the house and I jumped back in the car and took off. I stopped on corners with kids eating ice cream and asked them 'where did he go?' They simply pointed in a direction and made a few of their favorite recommendations (snow cone was the most popular). Finally, with my windows rolled down I hear the sweet cry of the ice cream song, turned a corner and found him. After tailing him and flashing my lights...he pulled over. Of course, I went with the kids recommendation of snow cone and threw in a Pink Panther pop for the extra hard work.

Shopping/Registry:

So, after Keith gave into my desire to go to IHOP and eat a wonderful breakfast, we were headed home. We had a little extra time and decided to stop at a baby store I had heard good things about. Keep in mind Keith and I had not been to one of these store before. After we walked in I realized how difficult crutches can be with a shopping experience.

We breezed through the isles quickly, and were projected to be out of there in about 5-10 minutes....when we ran into our friends. The thing that is so funny about this, is their frequency in baby store shopping trips. Keith and I pretty much assumed they spent all of their free time in baby stores, and this 'chance run in' just helped to conclude our reasoning.

Well, once we ran into them the trip took on a whole new light. Suddenly we were testing mattresses together, looking at strollers, travel systems, highchairs, ect, ect. It was surprisingly really fun. I will also add that Keith seemed to be enjoying himself too! He really liked the strollers and things! So, we are excited to get stuff picked out for the registry and 'test drive it'. :)

The one down side to this, is my obsession. I have probably already logged about 3-5 hours of computer time since our baby store trip researching brands, prices, locations, ect...ect. I have a very nice 'handy-dandy' spreadsheet that is helping me to keep my thoughs organized. But, needless to say it has become a 'fun' new obsession. I will be sure to update you on the items that I select later on, if you are interested.

Nursery:

No 'big update' for now. Except that we have chair rail up and paint colors picked out. We were originally going to be 'do it yourselfers', but then Keith had his ankle surgery. That put a small dent in the plan. So, we have a paint crew that is coming to paint the nursery this Wednesday! I will post pictures after it is done. When they came to give us a quote, they recommended a 'chair rail' guy. He arrived at our house a few days later at 1:30 to give us a quote, and by 2:30 he was packing up his truck with the job completed! Woo hoo, gotta love that!

Sleeping:

This is brief, because I can't sleep. Well, I take that back. I can sleep until about 4-5am, and then wake up. After that, I lay in bed for an hour or except my fate to just wake up. So, this has become a new problem that I am hoping will go away. Otherwise, I am going to be a very cranky individual. (I know, I know...you are all thinking "Well, when the baby gets here you won't be sleeping at all". I know, that is exactly why it is so important for me to sleep now. :) )

Coming soon...Movements!

Yep, I think little Eli has been making his presence known a little bit more lately through subtle movements, while not via a belly bump.

I will be sure to share some of those moments and my thoughts on the issue. :)

The Bump has arrived...well, kinda.

Ok, so for those of you that haven't seen me recently, I am guessing you might notice some small changes.  Yep, I have the slightest little bump.  To be honest, it is not really noticeable to 'the public', but only to the people that are close to me.  I have held off with posting pictures, because there hasn't been a lot to report.  But, for those of you that are getting anxious, I will go ahead and show you some 'progression pictures' so you can see for yourself.  By no means, have I 'popped'....but I am starting to notice the presence of something there.  I am guessing in the next 3-5 weeks I will start to have a much more noticeable belly to show off. :) 

7 weeks

14 weeks

18 weeks

The Nursery!

Well, we finally did it!  Keith and I started making preparations around the house for Lil' Eli's bedroom.  We live in a spacious house, but it only has 3 actual bedrooms...of which two have been occupied as a guest bedroom and office.  Hmmm....how do we make this work?  We need a guest bedroom (just in case), not to mention we have a queen bed that we can't exactly put in the closet.  Additionally, I work from the house, so nixing the office isn't exactly possible either.  So, we had to figure out how to make this whole thing work, so that Eli wasn't going to sleep in the bathroom. :) 

Thank God for Ikea!  Yes, Ikea ultimately helped us bring our problem to a quick resolution.  We needed to combine our guestroom and office into one.  Well, thanks to Ikea we were able to get matching furniture that combines all of the rooms!  Our original apartment furniture (now guest bedroom furniture) is from Ikea, and comes in birch.  Well, they also make a small desk in birch, as well.   In addition to this, Ikea also makes a baby crib in the same material.  (Don't worry...!  This crib got an 'A' in consumer ratings for baby cribs).  So, now we have managed to combine the office and guest bedroom, and done so with matching furniture!  Additionally, we also have a fully furnished nursery with crib and dressers (the dressers used to be our 'guest bedroom' dressers).  We are pleased with the way everything turned out.  This worked out exceptionally well for two reasons A) a huge cost saver B) helps us avoid having to find storage for a bed and two dressers!

So, what does it look  like?  (The first photo is before, and the second is after)

What does Eli's room look like?  Well, so far, this......

So, we have to have an 'ultimate vision' for this room.  Don't worry, it won't stay white and birch.  My mom has been very excited to help with the nursery bedding.  Our hope is to have some really neat custom bedding that she will sew together.  She and I spent an entire day (in the rain) running from fabric store to fabric store to find 'the ultimate' bedding for Eli. 

Can I just point out how few options there are for little boys!  If I was having a girl, I would be running through miles of fabrics and options trying desperately to pick 'the perfect ones'.  On the other hand, mom and I drove miles and miles just to find a few good options.  We would find great fabrics that had pinks in them or stuff like that.  Or, we would find beautiful fabrics in blues, greens, and browns...but the pattern was flowers...(Argh, the frustration).  Of course, we could always fall back on 'airplanes', 'trucks', or 'clowns', but that is not our style.  So, after a full day we found the perfect fabric that lends itself to plenty of options.  

Here is the picture....you will have to imagine the rest.  Also, the wall color will be a two-tone version of the blue green that you seen in the dots and solid fabric.  We will be doing a lighter blue green on top, an antique white chair rail, and a darker blue green on bottom.  

FYI...this is going to take awhile to piece together, so be patient with us.  But, I will have pictures as the project progresses.

Enjoy!

Coming Soon....The Belly Bump!

I will be updating photos soon of 'this bump'. :)  Keep an eye out for it this week.

IT'S A BOY!

Well, it's official, Baby G is in fact a Baby B....boy, that is! :)  

Keith and I were preparing for what we expected to be two normal (and uneventful) appointments yesterday. Howeve

r, I started to call around to my offices to see what the appointments included, as I had growing concern about the 

fibroid I was told that exists on my uterus.  I was seeing if we were planning to monitor it or look into it further.  Come to find out the office that did the NT Scan 4 weeks ago, had us down for an ultrasound to 'check it out'.

So, our first appointment was with the midwife.  We got to hear the heartbeat, ask a ton of questions, and measured my stomach (really just made sure the 

uterus was where it was supposed to be.....it was).  After one successful appointment, we anxiously waited for our ultrasound at 2:30.....

We got to the office, had some blood drawn, and were escorted to the back room.  We were told that 'Valerie' would be in shortly.  When Valerie got there, she was a rock star!  She immediately got to work and showed us Baby G.  She ask

ed us ahead of time if we wanted to find out the sex, and we told her yes.  (Yes, we know that it was 

originally suppose to come in the form of a surprise party.  But, our nerves and excitement got the best of us, and we ditched that idea.  Not to mention, we really wanted to see the 'evidence' for ourselves'.)

There was Baby G!  Bigger than last time, and

 perfect! :)  Valerie started 

snapping pictures right away, arms, legs, profile, and 'the money shot'.  There was no denying it... Baby G, was in fact a boy.  He had no problem showing off the goods.  He was very uncooperative with Valerie, though.  He was moving a lot, had the hic-cups (again), turning over, and doing a lot of crazy stuff.  Keith looked at me at one point and said, "you don't feel that"?  I laughed, and said, "no".  Valerie did explain that based on where the placenta is located (in the front of my abdomen), it was actually acting like a buffer...so it might take me a bit longer to feel stuff.  However, ther

e was a point that he wailed out and threw a bunch.  It looked like one of those 'sock it bop ems'...or better yet, the old time fights from the old 'picture shows' with no sound.  Baby G, just straight arm punched me.  I was pretty positive that I certainly felt that!  I think seeing it on the monitor helped 

put the sensation into perspective fo

r me.  So, after that I could swear I felt other little hits throughout the day.  I can only describe them as a pin ball machine, or better yet..like rain drops.  Just random little 'pings' all around my stomach, with no rhyme or reason.  They hap

pen so quickly that I have to think twice about if I actually felt anything.  ha ha...I'm getting a kick out if.  But, I am yet to report the big 'first kick' post...or I guess in his case 'first punch'. 

So, Valerie's job came to an end, and she left us with a handful of photos!  Seriously, she was a rock star.  Then, the doctor sat down, and s

tarted doing a very thorough examination.  He checked EVERYTHING out (brain, spine, face, heart, ect..ect).  Baby G got a clean bill of health, so we are very excited!

Now that we had all of this amazing information, how were we going to share it with the world?!?  Well, first off, it appears that we pissed off a lot of people with our decision.  I guess it wasn't a good idea to tell everyone we knew, but weren't telling them.  We were just trying to buy time to come up with some creative.  

At the end of the day, I didn't give myself enough time to do anything over the top, so I fell back on the 'cake re

veal'.  It was still cute and fun, though.  Around 4:45 I decided to do the cake, so quickly baked it...dyed it blue, and let it cool.  Then around 6:00 I was quickly throwing icing on it, and trying my hardest to cover up every stinking' little blue crumb that I could find.  I was meticulously checking for any blue specks that I left on the counter, in the sink, ect...  

Due to the last minute nature of our 'reveal', we weren't able to have everyone over that we would have liked for the 'cake cutting', but it still became a fun event.  Also,  it became more interactive in the facebook world, than I would have imagined.  With the simple white cake on display for everyone to see, I think it was driving people crazy.  Finally, we cut, and our secret was out.....'it's a boy!"

Baby Bargains

Praise the Lord! I read on my pregnancy forums that there is a miracle book on the market called 'Baby Bargains'. This book combines consumer reports, consumer feedback, and cost saving measures to make recommendations.

I have owned this book for only a few days now, and I feel 10 x's more knowledgeable and prepared than I was. Don't worry...I still have a long way to go. I also bought the 'Baby 411 - For your baby's first year' book, as well...which got equally awesome ratings on Amazon.com.

From Baby Bargains..

'The Four Truths That No One Tells You About Buying Baby Stuff for Baby'

1) Babies don't care if they're wearing designer clothes or sleeping on designer sheets.

2) Your baby's safety is much more important than your convenience.

3) Murphy's Law of baby toys says your baby's happiness with a toy is inversely related to the toy's price.

4) It's going to cost more than you think....first year of a baby's life --> $7,040!!!

"7 Commandments of Baby Bargains"

1) Safety is job one.

2) Focus on the basics.

3) Weed out the fluff.

4) Two words. Free money.

5) More freebies.

6) Shop at stores that do NOT have 'baby' in their name.

7) Online shipping savvy.

http://www.windsorpeak.com/babybargains/default.html

http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Bargains-8th-Furniture-Maternity/dp/1889392332/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252342640&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Bargains-8th-Furniture-Maternity/dp/1889392332/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252342640&sr=8-1