Naked Baby Theory

I've been thinking about the baby's arrival and baby clothes a lot lately. Maybe it's because we find out the sex (hopefully) on Wednesday, and I'm contemplating the evil conspiracy that declared that all girls must wear pink!

Anyway, when the baby arrives, it will be the middle of summer here. For those of you who have never experienced the joy of a Tennessee August, let me tell you that it is HOT! It's the kind of heat that has you running from your air conditioned car into the air conditioned grocery store so that you don't wind up with pit stains from the heat and humidity outside. Now, I'm typically a very cold person, so I can tolerate the heat for longer periods than the average person, but it's not particularly pleasant. That's why I think that the baby will probably spend a lot of it's first few weeks on earth mostly naked (with a diaper, of course). I know that air conditioning is a problem with a naked baby, but I don't like to keep the house too cold. So, I'm thinking that I don't need a lot of newborn clothes because BH will probably grow out of them before it's cool enough to wear them. I've already invested in some newborn onsies, and those will probably be the bulk of my newborn wardrobe. I don't really know if this theory is correct or not. I guess I better ask some people who have had babies in the heat of the summer. In the meantime, it's just something to think about when you get lured into the baby section at Target, as I find I frequently do.

There it is in all of its glory...the belly!!! Ok. It doesn't look like much, but it is at 33". Plus, the belly button is getting all hard and shallow. BH is now 5.5" long and has all of his/her little organs. Today is the first day of Week 19. Apparently, in the next month the baby will grow 2 more inches. Yikes! There will definitely be some serious belly expansion then.

The Underground World of Consignment Shopping

This weekend I discovered the secret holy land of baby crap, the underground paradise of bargain shoppers, the mecca of all used baby things…the consignment sale. A friend of mine, who is expecting her first child in March, first mentioned this amazing institution to me on Saturday. I subsequently had to register online by verifying that I was indeed a first time mother. I’m not sure what would happen if you lied about said motherhood stage, but I’m guessing that you risk being banned from the holy land forever. Luckily for me, I was among the select few who could gain early entrance. After registering, I had my golden ticket, which came in the slightly less exciting form of a black and white printout of an invitation.

Late on Sunday night (and by late I mean 7:00pm because that’s late when you’re busy growing another human) we arrived at this huge, inconspicuous warehouse. Well, it wasn’t as inconspicuous when we drove up and saw the droves of SUVs and minivans, but whatever. I felt like I was going to a secret rave for bargain hunting mommies. The website promised 30,000 sq ft of mint condition used baby supplies, 16 checkout lines, maps of the facility, etc. It warned shoppers to tell husbands and babysitters that they would be out late.

Well, what we found inside was a little less dramatic than what was advertised. For example, 30,000 sq ft might have been the size of the entire space, but about half was completely empty. And, the 16 checkout lines were really just 16 people waiting to count and pull the tags off your crap with only 3 actual computers to do the “checking out.” So, the line took approximately 30 minutes to get through.

Still, you can see from the picture above that I did pretty well for BH on my little shopping extravaganza. Yet, I only spent $79.I even got the exact bouncy seat that I had picked out! I also got a bunch of stuff that I didn't even know I needed, but according to my friend Katie, I definitely have to have. So, there you have it. The whole event was a complete success, except that I was so wired from my bargain hunting that I had a hard time going to sleep and even after I fell asleep, I dreamed of more sales! I'm certainly turning into my mother's daughter.

Buffalo Trip

Thanks for all of the comments on the Name Game. We haven't played in a few days since I went home for my grandfather's surgery.

My grandfather (my mother's father) was diagnosed with bile duct cancer over a month ago. On Monday, he had surgery to remove a golf ball size tumor. I flew up to Buffalo on Saturday and attended the surgery on Monday. It was a very complicated 9 hour surgery that involved removing organs and parts of organs. He did great in the surgery and was only minorly cranky when I saw him the next day (completely understandable if you ask me!). He's since been moved out of the ICU and is terrorizing the nurses on other floors. Today they tried to walk him half way down the hall, and he insisted on walking all the way to the end. Sounds like he's up to his old tricks!

The Name Game

Naming a baby is difficult, stressful work. There are so many factors to consider. Luckily, we've had a girl's name picked out for years. Because of that, I'm pretty sure that BH is going to be a boy, just to cause me as much stress as possible. So, we've begun the name game at our house. It goes a little something like this. Me or Luke, "What about [insert boy's name here]?" The respondent "No, I don't like that because [insert any number of lame excuses here]." This game might begin at any moment and might take place via email, phone or smoke signal. It doesn't really matter how it's played because the result is always the same.

The excuses for why a name isn't right are where the real entertainment and creativity come in. A name might be rejected because it's shared by a famous (not so good) actor, a friend's dog, a serial killer, a cousin twice removed that lives in a different country, etc, etc. Those can be predictable, and we've both learned how to avoid most of those basic name pitfalls. It's the excuses like "I knew a boy named [Nathan in this case] who put gum in my hair in second grade. He was a jerk." Ok. I really liked the name Nathan, and this was vaguely like Luke's excuse for not liking it (I may have embellished slightly). So, let me recap. He doesn't like the name Nathan because he's harboring a grudge against a kid from the second grade!!!! Now, if he had said that he didn't like Nathan Lane, that would almost be more acceptable. Still, Nathan is out.

In Luke's defense, I have had some serious naming missteps. For example, yesterday I came up with a girl's name of "Hiatha." I'm putting that in quotes because after further research, I realized that it's not a real name. I thought it was interesting, but Luke said that it sounded like something that a ninja yells as he's breaking a board with his head. Fair enough. That's a perfectly good excuse for why you don't like my made up name. It's not like I was going to use it or anything! I was just trying to be creative!

In closing, I would like to point out that after weeks of playing the name game we still have no firm boys name. At least we've found a few that we can agree on. Nathan, of course, not being one of them!

Week 17

Today is the first day of Week 17. BH is now approximately 4 5/8" long and weighs less than 5 ounces. I still have no sensation of movement in there, but that should happen in the next few weeks. The baby is now growing toenails, and its head is no longer pointed down towards its chest. In fact, BH can now make some basic facial expressions! 21 days till the ultrasound!!!!

Belly Button Meter

I had (and I stress had) a very deep belly button my whole life. All of a sudden, I've realized that my belly button has become a great gauge for the growth of my baby bulge. Each day it feels just a little more shallow and just a little more firm. I'm guessing that it's slowly turning from an in-y to an out-y. I don't know why I thought that would happen all at once, but it appears to be a slower process. Hopefully, I can get some pictures up soon!

Midwife Appointment Update

I had another appointment with the midwives today. Mom was in town so we both went, and we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat. It was clear, strong, and fast. How exciting!!!! I've been waiting and waiting for today just to hear the heartbeat and get confirmation that everything was okay still. It's weird when you can't feel it moving yet so you just have to go on faith that it's still happy in there. I'm really looking forward to being able to feel it moving (which I should be able to feel in the next 2-4 weeks). Not so much looking forward to the point where the baby starts karate chopping my vital organs in the middle of the night, but a little flutter of movement here or there would be reassuring. We find out the sex on March 1st at 8:30am...only 27 days and counting!