Woznation

Since phil and I will be moving to baltimore a few months after the baby is born, we didnt want to spend a whole lot of time or energy (or money) on a nursery here in new jersey.  But I still wanted to revamp the spare room into a baby friendly place.  I decided a ‘Tree’ motif with green and brown colors would be a good compromise for our spare room/nursery combo.  It seemed whimsical enough without being too over the top.  Plus, phil and I had our first kiss in a tree about 8 years ago.  So I thought it was kind of romantic, too.

Since we are renting, we arent allowed to paint the walls and the removable wall decals I was seeing online were quite pricey.  So I decided to take matters into my own hands and create a paper mural that I could put up with some wall safe ticky tack.  Problem was – I have ZERO artistic vision.  So I decided to find a sample of a tree online:

And do this to it:

I even tried to find a protractor so I could get the angles right, but couldnt find one.  But I assure you, I was very scientific in those calculations as well.  So once all those measurements were done – I measured my space in the spare room and found that a scale of 8 seemed appropriate.  I had bought my brown and green paper and started to ‘sketch’ my tree (I put ‘sketch’ in airquotes, because I think that term is reserved for free hand designs and this clearly was not freehand.  But instead meticulously calculated lines drawn on paper.)  So by multiplying everything by 8, I got started:

The leaves were much easier:

Two unforseen problems were that (1) I ran out of green paper and had to go buy a bit more and could not find an exact match.  But the two were really close but just different enough that I actually think it helped give a little dimension to the tree.  So it turned out to be a good thing. And (2) all my pen markings from drawing the tree were on the ‘outside’ of original plan, so I had to flip the design over and the final product is a mirror image of the original image.

Here is the final product:

Im pretty happy with it!  I mean, its not perfect, but for my skill level and less than $10, Ill take it.

We cant decide if we are going to buy all our nursery furniture ahead of time and set it up in this room for a few months.  Or try to get by with just a bassinet in our bedroom while we are in new jersey then buy the nursery furniture once we get to baltimore.  Regardless, we will probably set up a small basket/bassinet/crib in this little nook, under our tree, as a secondary sleeping location.  Along with a dresser/changing table on the other wall.  I will do a full before and after post on the nursery once we have finished it up!

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Self portrait on my way to prenatal yoga.  All the girls in the class say that I look so small.  Of course its all relative – Im sure looking back on this picture in another 19 – 20 weeks Ill agree.  But I feel huge right now.

I really love going to this yoga class.  Its nice to focus on my body for a full hour and I really enjoy being around other pregnant women.  I get so much attention now that I am pregnant.   It can be really overwhelming.  I get that ‘everyone loves a pregnant woman’ but I wish I had a penny for every time someone asks me how I am feeling.  No one asked me this before I was pregnant!  But its like 10 times a day at work, sometimes by people I dont think I have even been introduced to.  People are constantly asking questions about names and the nursery and want updates on me and the baby.  Sometimes I feel a bit like a walking circus.  Thank goodness no one has tried to rub my belly yet! I dont know how Im going to handle that, but my sister warns me – people will come up and touch me without my permission, so I better get used to it. (Arent there laws against this sort of thing?)  Anyway, the whole point of that rant was to say that this yoga class is the one place I can blend in.  I am no one special.  Im just another pregnant lady in a sea of pregnant ladies.  And, ironically, I feel like its the one place I can focus on my own personal connection with this baby.

A special thank you to my mom who is my sponsor for this class.   I wouldnt be able to afford it every week, but she bought me some passes for my birthday.  So I will enjoy going more often 🙂 Thanks Mom!

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We are so so so pleased to announce that we are expecting a little BOY in early July.  I can hardly believe it.

I have a little penis inside of me.

Phil and I both took the day off yesterday and had our appointment in the afternoon.  Everything was measuring absolutely perfect, we are so relieved and excited.  I honestly can say that neither of us cared whether it was a girl or a boy, but knowing the gender makes everything much more real.  I feel like I can start to envision it now.

Plus, at all the previous ultrasounds there wasnt too much to see.  But at this one, we saw the whole skeleton, all 4 chambers of the heart pumping, two hemispheres of the brain, and of course, ‘the goods’.  It was very cool.  Of the ten thousand pictures they took yesterday, they gave us 2. (cheap asses.)  I dont think everyone needs to see my sons penis, so all you get is this:

[Sorry – there was a string on the scanner.  We didnt feel like scanning it again. ] Tell me that isnt a wozniak nose?  Im just so excited to meet this little guy.  Here is me on the way to the appointment:

We also had my regular check-up on Thursday night where we are able to get a recording of the heartbeat:

Im chatting with the doctor in the background, but you get the idea.

We do not have any name ideas yet.  We didnt play the name game early on since we were waiting to find out the gender.  But so far we have had the stellar recommendations of ‘Daniel Russell’ or ‘Russell Daniel’.  (Thanks Dan and Rusty!)  We have 20 more weeks to think about it!

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Little kicks, anyone?

Yeah – thats way too long of a clip.  But Elaine’s dance is what I picture the baby doing now when I feel anything.

And Phil felt the baby kick for the first time last night, too!!  We have been trying for a few days but it had never panned out.  Phil will try putting his hand on my stomach in the evening when the baby is active, but the kicks havent been strong enough or will stop as soon as phil tries to feel anything.  But last night the baby gave us a big ol’ jab right at the right time.  It was really exciting!

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Here’s what Im working with these days:

Still rockin’ my bella band!  Pardon the messy kitchen 🙂

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Ive been hesitant to show pictures of my ‘bump’, because im not really sure when it qualifies as a bump vs. me looking like a fatty.  Can you carry a baby in your love handles? Im pretty sure thats what I did for the first 15 weeks.  Im around 16 weeks now and think maybe i look more pregnant than fat?

Phil captured this beauty after we got back from the grocery store.  That is a non-alcoholic beer.  He thinks its funny to send pictures like this to his friends claiming im drunk.  Anyway – not the most flattering picture to post on the internet – but I’m 99% sure all people care about is how big my belly is.  There it is.

I also *think* I’m starting to feel the baby move?  Maybe?  I’ve been told its hard to distinguish between baby movement and gas in these early weeks, and there have definitely been a few false alarms.  But, again, I *think* Im starting to be able to tell a difference.  Itll probably be a few more weeks until Im really feeling kicks, and few more weeks after that until phil is able to feel anything from the outside.

Ill start posting pictures more often now.  Next time, I might even put on some make-up.

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Phil’s job will relocate us to Maryland ‘sometime between March and September’.  Seriously.  Thats what they told him.  Soooo, we are a little hesitant to start painting the nursery, to say the least.  We arent worried though.  I mean – look at all the stuff we have:

This adorable item is currently the most terrifying thing that I own.  This is a newborn outfit, meaning something that size will be living inside of me in 6 short months.  (O_o)  But look at those little chick-a-dee footies!!!!  Itll be totally worth it (right?).

This was from my bestie,  Celia.  Im glad to have some black and gold in the mix, figuring I will get a lot of cream and crimson over the years.  Cel – you’ll have to teach the baby the fight song though, I only know ‘Indiana, Our Indiana’.

I had to run into the other room and look at what this thing was called.  Its a Boppy.  My sister says its essential and the babies on the package look very happy with it.  We also have a packet of swaddling blankets.  Those are the only things phil and I have actually purchased, and more because we felt like we should buy something for the baby since other people were buying things and we hadnt yet.  Now that I look online, there seems to be much better swaddling blankets out there.

So yeah.  Boppy. Blankets. and 2 onsies.  We’re totally prepared.  In case this wont do,  we are starting to look at reviews for other items online.  Its sooooo overwhelming though!  Our plan is to focus on one item a weekend and go from there.  This weekend is ‘strollers/car seat’.  Woooo.

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We have seen the heart beating before on ultrasounds, but it had always been too early to actually hear it.  It’s a really creepy thing to hear the heartbeat of another being inside of your belly.  But a relief as well.  Good work baby – keep it up.

On a completely different note.  My sister sent me the following link:

http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/you/the-exhibit/your-beginning/make-room-for-baby/interactive

With it she said ‘This is neat, kinda makes it look like you poop out the baby which is not the case.’  Any link with ‘interactive’ in it followed by that statement is instantly intriguing.  But seriously watch this thing.  Where do my intestines go?!

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Casper is looking much more baby like now.  We went in for our 12 week ultrasound while we were in Indiana.  Everything is looking great so far!

We were able to tell most friends and family over Christmas but have asked people to hold off on telling the world until our next ultrasound in Februray.  So if you’re reading this before then – you are probably in the cirlce of trust – and keep those traps shut for awhile!  Thanks 🙂

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