How would you use a 20′ x 20′ Bonus Room (with a closet)?
Common sense tells me it should be the kid’s room. Or eventually kids’. Here’s what it looks like now with the furniture I’ve picked out. LoL.
Bonus Room with crib, bookshelf, changing table, and Ikea kids’ wardrobe and drawers flocking a storage bench.
So much space. It’s a good problem to have, but it is a problem.
As of today, baby is a banana. It’s weird to go from mango to banana. One week, I think we go from, like, acorn squash to cucumber. The round plump to long and skinny transitions weird me out on the food chart. I imagine it being round and plump all the time.
Twenty weeks preggo and I’m still at the weight I was when I started. THANK GOD. I am obese, so I shouldn’t put on too much. I think the stats about diet soda are true. People who drink diet soda tend to weigh more than people who drink regular soda. It’s true with me. I know, I know… I am supposed to cut out caffeine. Actually, I can safely have up to 200 mg of caffeine per day. I tend to have two Dr. Peppers a day, which is about 70 mg. I’m sure there is some caffeine in the other stuff I’m taking in (chocolate?) but I think I am safely under the limit. So, yeah… 20 weeks, and no weight gain. Feelin’ good.
I am, however, starting to see a bit of a bump. My sisters tell me it looks WAY different than Mr. Nasty, way cuter. I got a lot of attention on Mother’s Day, and I don’t really know what to do with that. For example, the manager at Olive Garden gave all the moms at our table a $10 off coupon and told me to come back and tell her when I knew what we were having. I was so shy and awkward. She said,”is it your first?” I said, “Yes.” “How are you feeling?” “Terrified.”
I don’t know how to make myself happy and excited about it, but I suspect it has to do with shopping. I feel like if I could get a crib, and a dresser, and really start to set up for this kid, then I’d feel better about the whole deal. Right now I am just bringing another person into my mess. There’s no sense in buying a crib or assembling a dresser now, when we are moving in (hopefully less than) 2 months. I have a lot of anxiety about the kind of mom I’m going to be. Everyone thinks I’ll be awesome. Everyone but me. I’ve got a good thing going with my husband. We went to the Nationwide race last year just because we had the free tickets. How can we do that with a baby? We have to get a sitter… and blah, blah, blah. Our free tickets and night out costs us $30. We laugh and play and have so much fun when it’s just the two of us. I don’t want to give that up. On the other hand, I don’t know why I think things will change so drastically when we add a third to our party. It’ll just be one more really cool thing we’re experiencing together.
Plus, WE TRIED FOR SOOOOOO LOOOONG!!! So, what? Like, now that we’ve made it I’m not sure if I want to go through with it? Should have thought of that in January.
Ah, January. Mr. Nasty is GONE. That huge open cut down my gut is HEALED. All my parts WORK. Just thinking about that gets me excited about this whole baby deal. Three years, nothing. Cyst removed, FIRST TRY! In January, we wanted it so bad, and tried so hard. 🙂 Our families are THRILLED. It’s going to be born in the Year of the Dragon!
But yeah, I have mixed emotions.
***Just realized, thebump.com says cantaloupe, not banana.***
Here’s what’s going on for the baby’s room.
Everything is designed around this mobile… my mobile from when I was a baby. It plays “When You Wish Upon a Star.”
Although looking at it, mine is a little faded.
Alright, here… here’s what I’ve got so far.
The mobile:
The crib quilt: 
Yeah. Ya’ see what I did there? Here’s another shot of the blanket and some other things around the room. We’re going with primary colors and lots and lots of Disney characters.
This kite flew in my room for a really long time.
I found this at Ikea and bought two of them. We’ve got lots of stuff, so we’ll hide some of it under the crib. I like bright patterns with numbers and letters. Look! Not even born yet and we’re already prepped for a play date with Aunt Haley!
I sent Mom a picture of the crib quilts, and she said, “Wow! Should have known it would be perfect!” It doesn’t feel perfect. It feels very scattered and unorganized and mismatched. (So, please – if you think it’s perfect, stroke my ego. If not… I am open to suggestion.) There are so many things that I love at Babies R’ Us, but none of them match this mobile I’ve been holding onto for 28 years. The mobile, by the way, which will not function until I get a new hook to put it on. I could very easily ditch the mobile and go with the Noah’s Ark theme that I always imagined. Classic. Simple. Most likely well-executed… but noooo… I’m going with this obscure little thing from 1983.
Funny story about the crib quilt. I think I first saw it on Etsy. It’s actually made from a twin sheet and there are a bunch of them out there. I mean, I’ve seen them pop up a few times over the years. People just have one sheet, either flat or fitted, and that’s useless so they make cute vintagey looking blankets and quilts out of them. I saw this particular design, with all the characters in the air and fell head over heels in love with it because of the mobile. With no baby on board (this was YEARS and years and years ago… probably right after we got married) I watched the item and eventually someone bought it. Then, of course, it and everything like it dropped off the radar for a couple of years. When I saw it again (this time on ebay), I pounced on it. “Is that stupid,” I asked Tom, “$30 for a crib quilt when we don’t have a baby?” He said, “we’ll have one eventually.” So that blanket has been in the closet of the guest room for yeeeears. We moved to Charlotte and I put it in the closet of this guest room for a year.
Then, we went to Goodwill. Guess what I found? Same sheet-turned-crib-quilt. This one had a red border instead of yellow and the back has some needlework firetrucks or some nonsense… but that’s the back, and it was $5 or $7. SOLD – to the crazy lady with no baby… yet. WHAT ARE THE ODDS?!
***UPDATE*** Alright, I looked at the back and had to share it with y’all.
I know, right? Random. But I appreciate the craftsmanship anyway. It looks like a lot of hard work went into the random back of this $5 or $7 quilt.
You’re here. So, I reckon you’ve heard the good news. We’re knocked up! We’re going to be a bona-fide family come this October! I’m going to be somebody’s mama. How crazy is that?! Welcome! Thanks for stopping by! Take a look around!
Be sure to click the blue tabs over there ———————————————————————>
“Our Story” is really the beginning. It also has a ticker so you can track That La Kid’s progress. I’ve been working on a registry. (Too soon? Yeah, well, it was already a work in progress for about 9 months BEFORE we got pregnant.) And since everyone seems to have input on the name game, there’s a section for that, too. Finally, just because every other baby website seems to have one, there’s also a guest book. Sometimes it even writes back.
This here main page is the blog. Please visit often and comment frequently (and at length whenever possible). I’m selfish. I like the attention. It’s tough being 4 hours from the people who love you and who’ve got your back. I know a lot of you have been praying with us for a number of years and I hope the mileage won’t stop us from sharing this experience.
Some things are password protected, but that’s for your safety – generally to protect people who’re afraid of TMI (*cough* HALEY *cough*). If you’re interested in reading this blog with reckless abandon and you’re not afraid to hear about sex, drugs and rock and roll, the password is wushu. Let this be your warning: sometimes it’s gross.
The few folks who’ve already seen that tiny blurb of a kid thought it was just another picture of Mr. Nasty. It is not. Mr. Nasty was HUGE. The distance from yellow mark to yellow mark here is less than 5 cm (although this picture was taken 2 weeks ago). This thing has a head, arms, hands, legs and feet! Looky there! We replaced the tumor with a little parasite. AND we did it on the first try. (I’m really proud of that, so you may hear it a lot.)
As of today, I am 14 weeks – and finally out of my first trimester!
Kiddo is due on October 7, 2012 – the Year of the Dragon!!
I was just thinking about that little thing wiggling on the ultrasound and something occurred to me…
I’m having a baby.
Like, it might ACTUALLY pan out. Not might… it probably WILL pan out. More likely than not… unless something terrible happens… we’re really going to be parents by Halloween.
Generally, I am of the mindset that we could have this baby. Very seldom do I really feel like we will have this baby. But today, thinking about that ultrasound, I had a will moment.
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I can’t decide whether to register at Target or Babies R Us. Here’s the thing, we registered at Target when we got married. Since then, I’ve been on a crusade to save my cousins (and eventually sisters) from making the same mistake. If I had it to do over again, it would be Crate and Barrel all the way. So naturally, when it came to registering for this baby, I went to Land of Nod. But the funny thing is, if you aren’t interested in $700 cribs and you already have your crib bedding (vintage Mickey Mouse), they don’t offer much that I wasn’t able to find at, you guessed it, Target. The same Puj tub, the same BabyBjorn travel crib, the same Skip Hop Hare Comb and Brush Kit…
The stroller we like is at Target. I honestly don’t know of anything Babies R Us has that Target doesn’t, but it’d be fun to shop there. BUT – my main argument when I tell brides not to register at Bed, Bath and Beyond or Target is “don’t pick a place just because your guests like to shop there. Get what you love – from a store YOU like.”
So, I don’t know… I’m open to suggestion. I don’t really want to fool with a bunch of crap. I mostly want to register for the crucial items, and not fill the registry with a bunch of cutesy crap that will distract people from investing in what we really need.
I found a great deal on All-In-Two (I think) cloth diapers on Totsy today.
Mom said that I should try out the cloth diapers and see how I feel about them. I totally agree. 100%. But part of me also thinks I should buy two-dozen right now because it’s such an incredible deal.
So, I compromised. I bought 7 diapers and 6 extra liners (I’m hoping the 7 that I bought actually come with liners in them, but just in case they try to screw me, I have a back up plan. Plus, I hear extra liners are good for overnight.) The total retail price is about $100. Cheap by cloth diapering standards. These retail for $12.95 a piece, whereas the BumGenius AIOs (All-In-Ones) on my registry are about $20 a piece. Of course, Totsy is a sale website. They don’t sell at retail price. So, the diapers are $8.75 a piece, with the exception of white and off white which are only $7.50! (I spent the extra $1.25 for colors because they are so damn cute. In hindsight, I should have just stocked up on white/off white. It’s not like the kid’s not going to be wearing clothes over these adorable bright colors. And either way it’s a poop sack.)
SO… the order subtotal is $77.25.
Because I have about 30 different email addresses, I signed up for Totsy and sent myself an invitation. Once my second account made a purchase, the account that sent the invitation had a $15 credit. Woot! That took my diaper purchase from $77 to $62. Sweet!
I never buy anything online without first visiting RetailMeNot.com and searching for coupons. Wouldn’t you know it! Found a coupon for $15 off a $60 purchase at Totsy using coupon code VIPMOM. That’ll cover shipping and take my grand total down to $55. Schweeeeeeet!
Just thought I’d spell out that whole procedure in case some future aunt or grandma would like to grab a couple as shower gifts or something. They’re not as cute (or as high quality) as a BumGenius AIO, but they’re also less than half the price. We all know that I’m all about the Benjamins. (I guess if YOU buy them, I’m not spending the money anyway – so feel free to splurge on the diapers on my registry.)
If you sign up through http://www.totsy.com/join/woowedstiger, I think you get free shipping and I will get a $15 credit once your stuff ships. (At that point it’ll be too late to buy more diapers, but there’s always some awesome deal over there.) Don’t forget, promo code VIPMOM!
This whole thing has fired me up about the cloth diapers!
As of tomorrow, we’ll be 10 weeks pregnant. Geez, that really doesn’t feel like a lot of weeks. It’s interesting, because the last time I went this long without a period (September ’11), we scheduled a doctor’s appointment to officially confirm pregnancy and while I waited for Tom to come home from work and take me to the appointment, George showed up.
I remember thinking, “is this what a miscarriage feels like?” It didn’t feel like much of anything, just overwhelming sadness at losing the fantasy I had created in my mind. I laid on the couch with my legs up on the back cushions and just prayed and prayed for God to not take this away from me.
I know, right? Pathetic. Take what from you? Your hysterical pregnancy? Your delirium? YOUR GARGANTUAN CYST?! In hindsight, I was like a teenager who thinks her parents don’t know anything. God’s been around the block – he knows what he’s doing. I was NOT pregnant… but something needed to be done about that watermelon, Mr. Nasty Potroast McGrosserton.
Fast forward to last night.
I had a dream that I was bleeding. My reaction was just, “Oh, wonderful. Here we go again.” Why would I expect otherwise? Why did I think it would actually work out this time? In the dream, Dad and I were driving north on 29 through Ruckersville, and I remember debating whether or not to tell him what was happening. I was debating on whether or not to go to a doctor. It didn’t feel like I was losing a baby, it just felt like I had been wrong all along.
Then I woke up.
I was devastated. Because in THIS universe, I DO have a positive pregnancy test. In this world, a doctor told me, “Congratulations!” So for a second there, my dream overlapped with real life. For a second, I thought I lost a baby that I often forget I really am carrying.
I looked around the room and saw prenatal vitamins on the nightstand. The positive EPT is still on the bathroom counter. Wait. What? Where am I? I’m at home. Period? No. Baby? Yes!
Weeeeird, huh? Kind of an eerie anniversary. It’s almost like, “Remember? Last time you only made it this far.” This time we’re going all the way.
Looky what I got! Retail: $39.99, the awesomeness of me: $15.
Similar deal with Bumbo. Wow, we’re learning all kinds of new words today, huh?
That La Kid 