Baby (Hunt) Stuff - or 'The No-stroller experiment'

I am sure I've admitted here that I am a horrible person. I am going to do it again. I have, in the past, at times, had a bad attitude when it comes to families in 'crowded' situations. It annoys me when mothers or fathers park their bulky strollers in aisles while looking around at a store, or when two parents walk side by side down an aisle taking over the entire space. I believe having a baby does not entitle a parent to be rude, and that the cuteness of a baby does not atone for the grievance. Seriously, the baby could be the spitting image of Colin Firth and I would still only sort-of-weakly smile at it. Because of this, I have serious feelings about strollers. I said that I was not going to be one of those moms with the entirely-too-large-for-the-baby stroller (no, this has nothing to do with the fact that I am weak and not toned and lifting one of those things would be a pain), and I will not be. Travel systems have been refused, and we are going to attempt not having a stroller until the spring. We know, we know - moms and dads everywhere are laughing at us. We could not think of many times when we would need an infant to be in a stroller. We do not plan on taking Baby Hunt out much when he is really little, nor for walks outside during the winter. The only times we could think of would be when shopping - and we figure the carseat should fit into the bottom of a basket in some instances. And for the few times when that is unacceptable - enter Baby Bjorn. (oh yes, yes, we're going to be Baby wearers - feel free to laugh at us again). We are hoping to last until the spring when Baby Hunt is old enough to use a smaller stroller, and until we know what we will 'need' in a stroller - i.e. a jogging stroller, an umbrella stroller, etc. (we do reserve the right to completely eat our words later :) ).

In other news, babies come with a lot of stuff. A LOT of stuff. After the initial 'honeymoon phase' of learning I was pregnant (though much of that feeling is still around), we started to look into what we needed to purchase for Baby Hunt's arrival. We knew of the major things - crib, carseat, clothes, diapers, etc. - but what we were unaware of was the amount of products that are pushed on parents, especially first-timers such as us, as 'necessary', 'life-savers', or 'not needed, but nice'. I asked a few friends with young children what they thought were really life-savers, and what was a waste of money. On the top of the waste list - wipe warmers. This one made me go - seriously? Heaven help me if I ever raise a child that needs his poop-rags to be heated to touch his skin.

We used that, and our own lifestyle evaluation - which we found to be mostly lazy, moderate, and relaxed - to come up with a list. Once the list was made, I officially became crazy safety-mama, and husband-annoyer, looking up product recalls, brand recommendations, parent reviews, safety requirements and ratings to narrow down specific items. We've been whittling away at the list over the past few months. I have to admit - everytime a baby item appears on our doorstep I get a little more giddy, and Baby Daddy gets a little more relaxed as I freak out less.

Since everyone loves miniature things, especially anything made for a baby, here's a peek into Baby Hunt's stash.

Izzers models our carseat of choice, and Baby Hunt's diaper bag - our newest purchase. Sadly, Miss KateSpade disappointed me (but not Baby Daddy or our checkbook) on our trip to Chicago. Enter PotteryBarnKids tote, complete with monogrammed 'H' - the only letter we chose since a name will not be picked until Baby Hunt arrives.

Baby clothes are probably the most fun items in the entire world to shop for (okay, besides diamonds, chocolate, and wine). Here's a peak into Baby Hunt's wardrobe.

I am in love with baby clothes.

Third Trimester Update

I officially entered the third trimester a week and a half ago, and for the first time in my pregnancy, I am beginning to feel a little uncomfortable. (This is where I hide from every pregnant woman who experienced morning sickness shooting me dirty looks) No, I am not waddling. Nor am I exhausted by 8 pm or experiencing swelling (yet). Nor has my center of balance shifted so that heels are a problem to walk in (I actually wore them this weekend!). It's little things I am noticing. For instance, I spend thirty seconds deciding whether it is worth the effort to pick up something from the floor. Putting on socks is an issue unless I am sitting down, and painting my toenails has become a trial, with an ottoman necessary for balance (Baby Daddy thought that was hilarious). I would say the biggest change has been in my sleeping patterns. Ask my husband, or parents, or friends, or anyone who knows my well, and they'll tell you that I like to sleep, and can do so very deeply. Before I became pregnant, it was not uncommon for me to sleep until 11 on the weekends. Now, I rarely sleep past 8:30. I usually wake up a couple times in the middle of the night to switch sides - which is quite an experience as Baby Hunt settles to the lower side, and it takes a little while for him to switch to the other side. Either way, I have now discovered that weekend mornings are wonderful! You can accomplish so much more with those extra hours, even if all that is 'accomplished' is lying on the couch with a cute puppy watching television.

In other news, the glucose test for gestational diabetes went wonderfully. I was told that 'no news is good news', and as I have yet to hear anything, I assume I passed. Baby Hunt is as active as ever, and Baby Daddy has been able to feel him, and see him, move for a few weeks now. My tummy is definitely growing, but has yet to get any stares or awkward comments/tummy touches (Thank God).

I have been trying to think lately of changes that pregnancy has brought to myself, and our little family. In terms of personal habits, or the 'shouldn'ts' of pregnancy, not much has changed for me. I have cut back on my sugar intake, and try to eat less artificial foods. Despite what Baby Daddy will make you think, giving up the two glasses of wine I had a week has not been a problem. I think before I take a medication, which has been quite rare in the past seven months. I did not smoke, or drink pop before becoming pregnant, but I did have the occasional latte, and that consumption has been greatly reduced.

In terms of other habits, I have noticed that our perceptions on nearly everything have changed. From looking at the safety/storage capabilities of nearly everything we purchase, to the things we 'should have done' awhile ago - finding a family doctor in the area, choosing/attending/registering with a church, etc. - being done, we have kept ourselves quite busy in the past few months.

This week marks week 30 of Baby Hunt's uterine stay, and we're excited to have only 10 weeks left (please God, ten weeks - only ten weeks). I can't say that I 'feel like a mom' yet - I know it happens to many women as soon as they become pregnant, others not until after the baby is a couple months old. It still seems a bit foreign to me, but I am sure that his arrival will make it all real, if not before then. We start preparation classes at the hospital this week. And I'll get an updated picture soon for all you tummy watchers. . .

Back to reality . . .

Long time, no post. This is going to be a random post about this weekend's events, or as we were lovingly calling it, Babypalooza 2010. While there is no A list headliner at Babypalooza (Lady Gaga didn't return our calls. . . ) we still have quite the set list. So sit back, and enjoy. There are even a few pictures . . .

Thursday

We left on Thursday for Chicago, dropping Izzers off at the grandparents for the weekend. At home, Izzers will bark at every little noise she hears - and doesn't hear - and we were worried that every time Baby Hunt cries she would be set off (I do hear babies cry often). However, she passed the test as she hardly made a noise when 3-week old Annabanana stirred. We stopped in Dubuque at the Gap, hoping there would be some semblance of maternity clothing - nope, nada, none - only an empire dress with a neckline that would make a prostitute blush. Off we went to Chicago, with me taking only a short, hour-long nap on the way (this is really an improvement). After checking into our hotel and seeing our tiny room, we had dinner with a friend and retired for the evening.

Friday

Friday's agenda had three major items: Field Museum, Cubs game, and dinner with two of Baby Momma's sorority sisters and their gentlemen.

Here's our little family in front of the Field Museum.

In the spirit of having a child, let's play 'One of these things is not like the other' - the Field Museum was exactly as we expected - nerdy, and dinner was fabulous. The Cubs game, however, left much to be desired. Don't get me wrong - the atmosphere of Wrigleyville was lovely, and who doesn't love watching a baseball game (Baby Daddy even tried to teach me how to work a score card) - but two things made the afternoon not so pleasant. The first - the Cubs lost. Big Z gave up a three-run homer to lose the game and we have yet to see the Cubs win at Wrigley. The other - well, actually it was two other- things, were two of the most obnoxious, annoying, juvenile twenty-something twats (pardon my word choice, but it really is appropriate) I have sat near at a sporting event. They sat right in front of us, were wearing tank tops and jeans that did not provide adequate coverage of their behinds when standing up* (which they did more than was necessary), yelled at every little thing, swore often, and sang 'Go Cubs Go' in the fifth inning (which is obviously why the Cubs lost). Oh, and did I mention that one was wearing a tiara? A freaking tiara in Wrigley Field - I'm pretty sure Harry Caray rolled over in his grave. Between them and the ladies sitting to my left who felt the need to get up five times - yes, FIVE TIMES - during the game - I nearly lost it. I am seven months pregnant and I didn't need to get up during the game. And seriously, let's be honest here - I now look quite pregnant, no longer just pudgy, no longer questionably pregnant, now obviously pregnant. Instead of making the pregnant lady get out of her chair FIVE TIMES, perhaps exit the other side, which was the same length as the exit they chose right in front of me. Here's my impression of them all:

Saturday

We awoke early on Saturday, returned our suitcase to our car, and headed to Michigan Avenue for some shopping. Let me tell you how amazing it is to find a store, besides Target and Old Navy, that actually carries maternity clothes. I was able to find a few pieces to get me through the summer, and we may have found a few items for Baby Hunt as well . . . maybe ;) We did a little searching for a handbag/diaper bag, but I was not impressed with anything I saw - Macy's and Nordstrom were highly disappointing. Off to IKEA we went - more on this later - then a stop at Giordano's for some fabulous Chicago Style pizza on the way home.

Sunday/Monday

We both took Monday off as we each had an appointment - Baby Daddy with a physician who is now our family physician, and Baby Hunt's doctor (one more thing to cross off the list), and my 28 week appointment with my OB. My appointment went wonderfully, considering how nervous I was to complete the Glucose Challenge Test. The drink was not bad, and I felt completely normal after drinking it. Honey is sooooo much worse. I am measuring right at 28 weeks, my bloodpressure is 110/60, and Baby Hunt's heartbeat is 148bpm. I have now graduated to biweekly appointments. The doctor thinks he is already in position for delivery, which explains why I've been feeling the little ninja move like crazy this past week. He is either practicing karate or breakdancing, I cannot discern. All in all, everything continues to go perfectly well, and we're increasingly thankful for that as the waiting time gets shorter - only 11.5 more weeks!

As mentioned earlier, we did a little other shopping this weekend. Baby Hunt got his first Cubs' onesie, and Izzers her first Cubs bandana. In addition to a few items of clothing for each of us, we picked up a new end table from IKEA and an ottoman from Target. It doesn't seem like much, but it is fun to see 'our' purchases slowly transform where we live into more of a home. Before Christmas, all of the furniture we had was old, and we were very grateful that we were able to borrow it all until we could get our own. Each little piece we get contributes to our 'home' (even though we don't own it), and subsequently to our little family. Even though it is not elegant, it works fabulously for us. More is still needed, but we'll fill in when we can.

Izzers showing off her vocal cords for you all.

That was very long winded and random. We both head back to work tomorrow, and neither of us is particularly looking forward to it. We hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

* Let's just say the dime slots could handle silver dollars. . . (Baby Daddy)

Our New Baby

It's a . . . Canon!

After two weeks of debate and watching prices online, we finally made a decision on a paparazzi-worthy camera for Baby Hunt. Of course, the day we made a decision on a camera, it went out of stock everywhere. Apparently the camera we had chosen had been discontinued at Christmas and stores had been trying to sell out their remaining kits for months, which must have happened the very day we decided to buy it. Literally it was there at night, gone the next day. So plan B - we went to Porter's, the camera store, and played with the two other entry level cameras, and took over one hour of some poor man's time asking question after question, going back and forth.

So far, we're very happy with the purchase, though learning what in the hell aperture, ISO, and exposure are and what they can do for pictures has consumed many hours in our past week. As I am sure you can guess, Izzers has been the subject of most of our shots, but hey - she is small, moves a lot, and doesn't listen very well sometimes - so she is a great learning tool for photographing a child on the go. Here's a few favorites so far - we've yet to receive our editing software, so these are all straight out of the camera.

Remember what I said about her not listening well? This one is a little yellow . . .

Awwwwwwwww . . . Color is better

Baby Daddy wants everyone to know that he took this picture, so please give him a cookie and help him feel awesome about it

Our first human subject . . . the adorable Annabanana. Doesn't she just make you melt? Also, doesn't the rocking horse in the background just look like a fight waiting to happen?

And a cute one to end the post!

Ain't my baby . . .Name . . .Update

Since we found out the gender of Baby Hunt (Holy Crap, we've known the gender for damn near six weeks already. . . ), Bonnie and I have been looking at the list of boy's names we've put together, and have started to cut some out*.

The first name to get cut was Garrett, and you can thank me for that. While the other names I've revealed have had a smart-ass reason for not making it this far, I don't have anything that entertaining. I just don't like it. I even spent about 10 minutes trying to think of some snide or sarcastic comment to tie to it, but I've got nothing.

The second name to be cut was Evan. This was a mutual (No, it really was) decision. Bonnie and I weren't really a fan of how 'Evan Hunt' sounded, and Bonnie thought it was 'too short.' Besides, if we were to go with Evan, he wouldn't be able to enjoy a brew after an Iowa game, for fear of making all Hawkeye fans liars (In Evan There is No Beer. . . ;))**


*For you that learn visually, I have found this handy image from my childhood to better explain what we did to each name:



**Yes, I did just do that. It's my post, and I'll make an ass out of myself if I want to.

Our Crib

This afternoon Baby Daddy got to demonstrate his man skills once again by putting together Baby Hunt's crib (and by man skills I mean using a screwdriver). It arrived last Sunday and had been sitting unopened in our living room for a week. Baby Daddy drug it upstairs, we did some rearranging - which was all planned out to scale on grid paper (if you didn't believe me last time when I told you how nerdy we were, you now will)

- and dug everything out of the box. I took up my position of instruction-reader and we were off.

Step One: Remove crib from box

It was much easier than I was expecting, even though we covered up the letters identifying some pieces early on. Here's a few man-skills action shots:

Less than an hour later, we had a place for Baby Hunt to sleep, and slightly less room to move around. Here is where Baby Hunt will be lying his cute little diapered hiney in August:

We're down to 14 weeks until his due date, and his arrival is becoming more real and tangible each day. His carseat is sitting in our living room along with a tub of small items I've slowly picked up over the past few months - seriously, who could say no to tiny hats and hippo socks? . . . not this Baby Mamma.

Now I just hope it fits through the door when we move next year.