Baby Bump Update - July 30

Here's a "baby bump" update as of this morning. She's growing!

Nervous Nellie, that's me!

Last night, I woke up at 2:45am feeling unusual pain around my belly - right where the baby is residing. I got up, moved around, but when after 10 minutes or so the pain didn't go away, I woke up Dan and we called the doctor. They had me come into the hospital just to be safe, and sure enough, as soon as we got in the car to drive up to Evanston, I felt fine. At the hospital they checked the baby's heart rate and did an ultrasound. She was very active! I felt a little silly (and very much like a "nervous Nellie"). Since this is our first baby, it's hard to know exactly what's normal and what's not, but I'm learning and am trying not to be too much of a "Nellie"! At the hospital we went to the Labor and Delivery area where they have specialized care for pregnant ladies. I was impressed with the care and the facilities. Everyone was so nice.

It's almost as if our baby knows I was worried about her because today she has been kicking up a storm. "Hey mom, I'm okay - don't worry!"

My new pre-natal fitness class

Today I met with a personal trainer who specializes in pre-natal and post-natal exercises. It was really interesting. She showed me some exercises (mostly pilates) that strengthen your core, back, arms and legs to help reduce pain later in pregnancy and make labor a little easier. A few were things I had never done before, so it was great to learn especially since pilates is pretty easy to do at home, too. Starting next Monday, I'll be doing a weekly pre-natal group exercise class taught by one of her instructors. I'm really looking forward to it. In addition to the exercise benefits, it will be fun to meet other pregnant ladies who live near us. This group of trainers also have post-natal group classes that I'll be able to do about 6 weeks after birth.

Our little baby continues to move around. I am feeling her more and more frequently! I can't wait until she kicks hard enough for Dan to feel her too. So far, he's been unable to feel her movement. I'm sure that in a few weeks she'll be big enough to deliver a strong punch or kick.

Baby girl clothes

Tonight I swung by Marshall's to take advantage of their baby clearance sale and stock up on some stuff for our little girl! I noticed that Marshall's was having a great clearance sale last week, but we didn't know the gender of our baby yet, so I was hoping that good stuff would remain on the racks until today. I was in luck!

 

We're having a girl!

Today Dan and I visited Dr. Miller's office for an ultrasound. The best news is that our baby looks healthy! The other exciting news is that we're having a little girl! The sonographer asked if we wanted to capture part of our appointment on video, so I got out my Blackberry and recorded the moment when we found out the gender of our baby. It was so fun. Dan is such a jokester. A couple weeks ago I told him about a new test you can take at-home to find out the gender of your baby. It claims to be accurate as early as 6 weeks into pregnancy. But when we found the test at the drugstore, there were no accuracy claims on the box (not a good sign), so we didn't buy it given that we knew our ultrasound appointment was fairly soon. Later that night, Dan said he'd tell me the gender of our baby and he flipped a coin, declaring "we're having a girl." So today, he wore a pink shirt to the appointment and kept telling the sonographer "we already know what we're having - it's a girl." She got a real kick out of Dan's method for determining gender. You can hear her teasing him on the video. But he was right! We are so excited!

Bookcase inspiration for the baby's room

I've been thinking about how to furnish the baby's room and for the most part have a vision of how I'd like everything to look and function. Our baby's room won't be very "baby-ish." I want his/her room to look like it fits in with the rest of the house with some whimsical/kid touches, of course.

So far, we have a mahogany daybed in the space (which will stay), a cherry crib, a Tibetan rug with tan/gold/purple/green-ish brown colors in it, and an ivory glider and ottoman. The walls are a tan color in the same family as the wall colors in the main part of the house. I still need to find a dresser and I'd like to find two tall bookcases to flank the daybed. I also need to figure out what to do about artwork.

I've been searching for a pair of tall bookcases that will fit well in the space. I love this idea - of painting the back of the bookcase a bold color to bring some pizzazz into the space.

The creative couple who blog at Cape27 custom finished this $120 bookcase from Target. They had a sheet of plywood cut to fit the back, painted it, and used that vs. the original two back pieces that came with the piece. I'm wondering if it would be fun to get the bookcase in espresso (would sort of match our dark mahogany daybed color) and put a back piece on painted in ivory. That would be a bold contrast to the dark colors in the room and I'd love to lighten things up in there. I will talk about it with my design advisor (Mom!) this week after her house guests leave. Mom always gives the best decorating advice.

Our "hotel"

A few weeks ago, Dan's parents as well as his brother's family stayed with us for a weekend. It was great fun. We visited the aquarium, took the kids to the playground near our home, enjoyed gelato at Paciugo, and visited a few fun restaurants, including our favorite BBQ place, Q.

One afternoon we were walking home and were just a few buildings away from where we live. Our niece Olivia asked me "are we almost to your hotel?" It was so funny! I just responded with "we're almost home" but it did make me stop to think about her comment. Most children do not grow up in an urban environment where people live in mid- or high-rise buildings. Houses with a yard are the standard childhood experience. That was the experience Dan and I had as children, too. I suppose for her buildings are associated with offices or hotels, not homes. But as I thought more about her comment, I realize (and am grateful!) that we do have some hotel-like amenities in our building. Our trash is picked up daily from our back hallway. Our mail and packages are delivered to our front door. The grounds, building maintenance, and common area issues are handled for us. If the basement floods, or when it snows, our on-site engineers take care of everything. Of course, we pay for it with our monthly assessment, but still, overall, it's a nice way to live. I never thought that I would one day be a "condo person". I always envisioned myself living in a cute house with a big backyard, and someday I'm sure we'll move to a house with a yard, but for now, I couldn't be happier.

There was an article in today's Chicago Tribune about how increasingly homeowners don't want to deal with the hassle of yard work, shoveling snow, etc and that developers are starting to build communities of single family homes that offer condo-like amenities to take care of the grounds, paid through an association fee. I think it's an idea that will only grow in popularity.

Weekend Updates & A New Glider!

Dan and I enjoyed a relaxing weekend. On Saturday we went to Babies R Us and looked at baby gear, picking out a stroller, car seat and a few other "bigger" items. Then we headed over to look at a glider I found on Craigslist. I've been watching Craigslist since early May and I almost never see really nice, upholstered gliders. I see a ton of the wood gliders with padded cushions tied on them, which I think are really ugly. So I was thrilled on Saturday to see a listing for a beautiful Monte glider that fits our color scheme perfectly. It was meant to be! I tried my best to negotiate down the price, but the sellers held firm at half off the retail price. We bought it. Even at half price, it was definitely a splurge, but I feel like we've saved so much on other things that it all evens out. I'll take a photo of it in our home soon (the baby room is kind of a mess right now because Dan scotchguarded the 6 cushions to our black chairs over the weekend and they're still in there). So for now, here's the photo from the Craigslist posting:

On Saturday night, we went to see the new movie Horrible Bosses, which was really funny, and then Sunday was mostly a work day. We hung out together at Dan's office. I brought my laptop to do my stuff and Dan got about 5 hours of his work done. We were really exciting! :)

Baby Bump Update - July 15

My bump is growing! I keep forgetting to ask Dan to take photos of me on the weekends, so today I attempted to photograph myself using the timer on our camera. Here's the result:

I rescheduled my next ultrasound to July 25 to make sure Dan can be there. We'll have to wait a few extra days to find out the baby's gender.

Walking by the Lake

I love living so close to Lake Michigan and feel really fortunate that the stretch of lakefront near us has so much green space. In some parts of Chicago, you cross Lakeshore Drive and you're immediately on the beach. Here, we cross Lakeshore Drive through a tunnel and enter a huge park - with lots of grassy areas, playgrounds, tennis courts, a basefield field and even a golf course that sit along the lakefront. We also have Belmont Harbor right here where you can take sailing lessons, or dock your own boat if you have one. There are also several great walking/jogging and bike paths. When the weather is nice out, Dan and I try to enjoy the lakefront as much as possible. Today, I went on a long walk and happened to run into the Babies, Buggies and Biceps class. I've been reading about all the group exercise classes available for new moms in our area and this one looks really fun. Moms with babies 3 months to 1 year get together (with an instructor) to do exercises in the park while their kids are there in their strollers. I think they incorporate the stroller into some of the exercises.

This week I sent in my paperwork to join the Active Moms Club prenatal exercise class. You do two private sessions first and then join a small class with other pregnant women for group exercises twice a week. I'm looking forward to adding that to my schedule. I think it will be fun to get to know some other pregnant ladies and I know it will be good for my body to incorporate some new activities into my routine.

Here's a photo of Belmont Harbor I took today on my walk. Belmont Harbor is directly across the street from where we live. When you cross the underground tunnel to enter the park, this is the first thing we see.

18 weeks, "fluttering, & reading to the baby

I'm officially 18 weeks along today. In the past two days, I've started to feel the baby! On Sunday night I felt something fluttering in my tummy, but I wasn't sure yet if it was the baby. But when the fluttering became more constant yesterday and today, I'm pretty sure it's the little him or her. Very exciting!

I've been trying to make time every night to read to our baby. I have a book of popular nursery rhymes, and a few weeks ago, Grammar sent me some of mom's books from when she was little. I have added those to the rotation. A few of them are very worn and I need to mend the binding. I think it's so special to have them.

 

Our next ultrasound appointment is on July 20 - next Wednesday - and I'm hopeful that we'll be able to find out the baby's gender then. It will be so fun to call our baby "him" or "her" instead of "it" and "the baby." We are very excited to become parents!

Welcome Baby Greta!

Whitney and Corey welcomed Greta Nell last Thursday. She was 8lb and 11oz. Mom is in Austin this week helping Whitney. She posted this photo today on her blog. So cute!

A Little Baby Bump

I am now 17 weeks along and I feel like I'm starting to move out of the "I look like I ate a huge dinner" phase and into the "I'm pregnant and people can tell!" phase. My belly is definitely growing and it's really popped out in the past week or so. In the week and a half I was in Arizona, I could tell a difference in how visible my bump is. My mom took this photo of Dan and me about a week and a half ago at the ranch. What makes my baby bump a little less noticeable is the fact that my boobs are enormous. I didn't realize they grew so much when you are pregnant! I am trying to eat extremely healthfully so that our baby gets all the vitamins and nutrients it needs and so that I don't become a boat.

Pottery

This weekend I stopped by my pottery studio and picked up the pieces I made during my class this past spring. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. I really love the turquoise pieces (second photo below). The glaze is even more beautiful than I expected. My only disappointment is that about half of my pieces weren't at the studio when I stopped by this weekend. I have no idea where they went. Someone else may have accidentally taken them, or maybe they broke or blew up in the kiln. I have no clue. I guess that's the disadvantage of taking a class at a larger studio. There is just so much pottery that it's easy for things to get lost. But I had a great time doing the class and I have a few things to show for it!

I also have two pieces of pottery that I made at Mom's pottery class in Willcox earlier this year. They are glazed in a dark blue. I am already using them in my closet as jewelry holders.