The PUSH

Yesterday at work, our cultural development and training executive showed this video at our officers' meeting. It's really great! Who pushes you? Who do you provide a push for, what is the greatest gift you can give your family, friends, players, students, coworkers? Something to think about....

Photo credit

Baby Registry

Our baby registry has been complete for a little while now, although I go online every once and while and tweek it. We are registered at Babies R Us and Wal Mart. I can't believe how much stuff one little person needs, or at least how much stuff we are lead to believe that they need. I tried not to put a lot of useless items on the list, if you see anything that's not necessary please tell me! Likewise, if you don't see something that seems essential let me know that too. I chose most of the items based on the book Baby Bargains, online reviews, my friends' registry choices, and the appearance/quality of the item in the store. A lot of our items are "online only," especially the larger items. I hope this isn't an inconvenience but BRU offers free shipping when purchasing a certain dollar amount and Wal Mart has free shipping to the store nearest you. Here's a few of our "big" item choices.

Stoller and Car Seat
I chose the Metrolite stroller by Graco and the Graco infant car seat. While models like the Chicco travel system are the most popular, I absolutely did not want something that bulky and heavy. With my back, it just didn't seem practical. Our neighborhood doesn't have sidewalks therefore the stroller will primarily be used when shopping and maybe if we drive to a park or something for a walk (and at the beach in Sept:)). The Graco car seat gets very high ratings for safety and it will snap right into the stroller.

Laguna Bay pattern, which will coordinate nicely with my diaper bag:)

Pack n Play
I chose the Graco Pack N Play with the newborn napper. Based on reviews and Baby Bargains, this seems to be "the" Pack N Play. The other great thing about Graco is that they offer a wide variety of patterns, the Inman Park pattern somewhat matches our house, so that's another plus. I'm thinking that we'll keep the pack n play down stairs for naps and we'll take it with us when traveling to use as a crib.
Swing/Bouncer
I chose this based on convience. I didn't want both a swing and a bouncer but everyone kept telling me that I needed both. This one serves both purposes. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's a good product because I've read mixed reviews.

High Chair
I didn't choose a normal high chair. It seems to me that full size one takes up a lot of room so we are going to try this space saver model by Fisher Price.
I think that covers most of the larger items on the registry. Of course we registered for a boppy and a bumbo, 2 things I see on almost every registry. We also registered for essentials like bottles (Dr. Browns which seem to be the "it" bottle right now), a baby monitor (Sony), blankets, bath items, thermometer, and of course diapers. I also included a few small toys and a play mat, which looks fun, as well as some play items that the baby won't use until later including a jumper and activity center. One item that is missing from our registry is a carrier. Prior to the sling recall, I thought I might want that type of carrier. Now I'm considering the Baby Bjorn although I'm not sure how I feel about wearing a harness like contraption. Anyway, there you have it....Baby Horton's wish list, sure seems like a lot stuff, not to mention all the things he already has (especially clothes because his Mommy and Grandma can't resist).

27 weeks

Nothing new this week, still feeling pretty good. I can see Baby Horton kicking in my belly from the outside now, that's pretty neat. He weighs about 2lbs and is over 14 inches long. His brain is very active as it continues to develop and his lungs are becoming functional. Not much to report this week...I'm getting a bit tired of being pregnant, maybe it's because I've known 5 babies born in the last couple weeks and I'm ready to meet our little guy too. 13 more weeks:)

Big Momma at 27 weeks

All Things at Once

I recently read the book All Things at Once by Mika Brzezinski. I mentioned this book in a prior post. A friend had shared the article about this book with me which is why I purchased it. I valued the insight provided by Mika in the article regarding balancing family and work and hoped to find more of this insight in the book. I enjoyed the book which was more of an autobiography than a book about "having it all."

Mika's childhood was different from most in that she grew up as part of the Carter administration since her Dad was a national security adviser. Due to her high profile father, she was afforded many opportunities such as meeting world leaders and extensive travel that most of us are not privy too. Her parents, however, worked hard to instill values in their children and teach them the meaning of hard work. Mike refers to her parents throughout the book, especially her mother, and the lessons learned from each. From an early age, Mika desired to have a successful career while also having a family. She didn't want to put one on hold for the other, rather she wanted to have it all at once. Mika experienced highs and lows in both her professional and personal life which she reflects on openly, while also giving insight and advice through her experiences. She makes no claims of being the world's greatest Mom, and writes about the help she hired to assist her and her husband in raising their children. She admits that she doesn't make it to all of her childrens' events and talks about how she tries to make up for this by doing other special things for them and having an open and honest relationship with her girls. I found her parenting style, interesting....although I'm not sure I would mimic it; I can't imagine missing an important event that my child was involved in (my Mom never did). If you are working in the television news industry you may find her career path inspiring, as she has certainly achieved a high level of success in her field.

I was a bit disappointed in the book in that it didn't provide as much insight on work life balance as I expected. I'm not saying this is a bad book, and I would still recommend it, but save yourself a few bucks and wait for it in paperback. If you are looking for insight on being a successful working Mom, then the article mentioned above is probably just as valuable as the book. The words in the article are directly from the book and I believe the excerpts in the article are the very best parts of the book.

Progress

This was a productive weekend for Nate and I. The downstairs bathroom is about 95% done, I love it! Nate is quite the handyman. We also touched up the paint job that the painter did the other week (it's hard to find good help) and cleared some additional brush. Check out our work.

Trying to show our light fixture.

Nate's still trying to figure out the electrical work, the on switches work but when you turn one off they both turn off right now.

We need to up the sink backsplash but I broke it. We are waiting on the replacement piece. Vanity and mirror are from Lowes.


Isn't this shower beautiful?! Tile in the shower is from Lowes too. We have to put up a door yet, the one we purchased is frosted glass and it will block the view of Nate's pretty tile work. We might have to purchase a different door.


Our basement family room.

3 years ago.

I'm not sure these 2 pictures really show how much brush we cleared over the years. Part of what you are seeing is a big pile of cut brush that we have to burn. I'll have to post another pic after that.
The big pile is in the middle of the pic.


Spring time pics, just for fun.

26 weeks

If you notice my ticker is down to double digit days, a little over 3 months and we'll meet our baby boy! This might be the last pic I can post, I feel like I'm blowing up, even my face. I don't even want to think about what I'm going to look like by the end. It's getting harder to do simple things like put on my socks and work in my flower beds, who knew bending would become difficult? The little guy is almost 2 pounds now, as he continues to put on fat. He is inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid which is good practice for breathing. His hearing continues to develop and he can now even hear conversations I have with others throughout the day. Good news, I passed the 3 hour glucose test last week so I don't have gestational diabetes:)

26 weeks....some people call me "Big Momma"

A Little Boy is going to Live Here!

We picked up the furniture on Friday and Nate and Eric put the crib together today. I adore the furniture with the bedding! Per Nate, the crib was easy to put together and it didn't take long at all. The furniture is made of solid wood and seems to be of very good quality, we are quite pleased. We ordered a chair while we were at Rock A Bye Baby, can't wait to get it and set it up in the room too. Check out a couple of pics....it's really starting to look like a little boy is going to live here:) So exciting!!

Changing table/dresser. The red thing is the changing pad cover. I don't have a changing pad yet. Look at his little sneakers:)

Still not sure if I'm keeping the rug. Loving the bedding and crib though...it looks really nice with the wall color too. Thanks Mom for our beautiful crib!

Chair that we ordered but in a solid bone colored micro-fiber fabric.

25 weeks

15 more weeks to go! This week I found out that I failed my one hour glucose test. On Thursday, I have to take the 3 hour test. I'm hoping for better results and trying not to worry about gestational diabetes, although the wealth of information on the Internet makes it hard not to worry. Recently, a few of my friends have failed the first one and then passed the second, hopefully I'll do the same. My belly is certainly growing...it seems like the baby should weigh more than a pound and a half but my online update says he's still under two pounds. The baby will start to gain a little fat in the upcoming weeks and his skin will begin to smooth. He is also growing hair and if we could see him it would have a distinct color (please, please, let it be blonde and stay blonde like his Daddy's). We still don't have any name possibilities for the little guy....for now it's still "The Boy", or "Little Buddy".

Terrible picture this week....but you get the idea.

Happy Easter

What a beautiful Easter! The thermometer read 77 degrees, certainly a perfect day for an Easter egg hunt. We had a good time spending the afternoon with both of our families at my Mom's house. Thanks for the goodies everyone:)

Next Easter we'll be a family of 3!

Easter baskets that I made for the ladies....

I made Cheesy Potatoes to go with our ham. Very easy. Here's the recipe:

• 1 package Oreida hashbrowns
• 12 ounces shredded sharp cheddar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup chopped onions (I used frozen and not quite an entire cup)
• 2 sticks butter
• 2 cups crushed corn flakes

Place potatoes in large rectangular baking dish. In sauce pan melt 1 stick of butter, add in onion, sour cream and soup. Next, stir in the cheddar cheese. Heat until cheese is melted then pour the sauce over potatoes and mix. Next melt the 2nd stick of butter and add the cornflakes to it. Top the potatoes with the cornflakes. Bake at 425 for 25 minutes.

And if you ever need an easy appetizer recipe, try this.
Baked Brie:

• 1 puff pastry
• 1 block of brie w/ rind
• apricot or raspberry preserves
• 1 egg yolk

Let puff pastry thaw, then roll it out, not too thin. Place the brie in the pastry and top with preserves. You can also add almonds on top of the preserves if you like. Fold the puff pastry around the brie and brush with egg to seal. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes. Serve with crackers.

Paint

The paint turned out pretty well. Check out the pics below with some items we have for the room and the paint. We don't have the furniture yet or even curtain rods so everything is just waiting to be set up.

Close up of quilt and curtains from PBK. Bins from Target.

Lamp, rug, and bin from Target. The red item is a changing pad cover from Rock A Bye Baby.