Shopping for Baby!

We're going to back track a little bit here and do all of our shopping excursions in one neat little post.

On Saturday, Feb 11 KJ and I took a drive to my favorite store in the world, Ikea! I love Ikea. They have the coolest things at affordable prices. And thanks to our tax return, we were there to buy, not brows like usual. Before we found out our little girl was a girl, KJ had me talked out of the white Hensvik crib I loved, and into the Gulliver in the natural wood. He convinced me the natural wood would go better with the nursery in the green and yellow that we already had. Well, then we found out LO is a LG (little girl) and all the plans changed! DH finished painting the other day and the bright yellow has been replaced with a nice blue toned purple.

The nursery so far:

Anyways, because of the color switch, we went back to the original plan of white furniture, and I got my pretty Hensvik after all. Squee!

We also bought the Vyssa Sloa crib mattress and the Koppang dresser. I was really surprised I liked the Sloa mattress so much. When I was checking them out on line I was leaning more towards the Vyssa Vackert. It's one of the only ones made with springs and it sounded like it would be a nice firm mattress that would hold up through the years. The Sola didn't sound like there was much too it, being all foam. When we actually saw them in the store, though, the Vackert turned out to be supper soft and squishy, not really something I want my fragile newborn laying on. The Sola, on the other hand, was nice and firm on one side, and then a bit softer with an egg crate on the other side. Out of the ones they had available, I felt it was really the best one. For the dresser, originally I was looking at the Hemnes line. Being that our space is so limited in the nursery, though, we really needed to find something small. The Koppang is a good 6" shorter than the smallest Hemnes, and it comes in white. So, I was sold.

We also picked up some teething rails, a few white picture frames, and of corse, a nice big green leaf. So, after our Ikea trip, we have two of our main nursery pieces!

Sunday Feb 19 KJ and I went registering! So much fun! I actually started catching a cold that day, so I wasn't feeling very well, but it was still a good time. First we registered at Babies R Us (duh! Where else would you register!). I have to admit, it was a little overwhelming. There are just sooo many things you can get and you have to sort out what you actually need from the things that would just be nice. Before we went, I read Lucie's List and that was a really helpful guide for the big things, but there's still so much stuff out there.

We also registered at Target. Not everyone has a BRU by them, but most people can get to a Target. Between the two places I think we have our bases pretty covered. I also made a registry on Amazon. They have a lot of the same things as BRU and Target, but for lower prices. I also registered for all of our cloth diapers on there. I really, really want to CD and I hope people buy us at least a few. CDing isn't a big thing around where we live and I've gotten a lot of weird looks when I've mentioned it to people. I'm really worried I'm going to get all clothes and blankets at my shower. I really hope people are considerate enough to include gift receipts!

Lots of love,
KJsbabe


P.S. Here's our five month pic from Sunday. We're half baked!! 20w down, 20ish weeks to go!

Pregnant at a Hanson Concert - Dream Come True!

On Wednesday I got to see Hanson at the Carnegie Music Library in Pittsburgh!! Woo hoo! This was one of the shows they had to cancel in the fall due to them being sick. The funny thing is, I wasn't pg yet when they were originally supposed to do the show (Oct 13), but I got to be 19w3d at the make up show. Seeing them again was such a thrill!

The set list was to. die. for.!! They played a nice mix of songs, but it was the random ones that made it the best ever. They played "Sunny Day" off of their 2011 member's EP with a mix of "Cecelia" by Simon and Garfunke which sounded really cool together. I love it when they do covers! Ike sang "River" for his solo, not a song you hear very often. Taylor shocked everyone in the audience and sang "Never Let Go" for his solo. It's off of their 2005 member's EP and it's one of those songs everyone loves, but they've only played it a hand full of times (at least that's what it seems like). It's such a beautiful and heart wrenching song.

And then, as if it couldn't get any better, Zac sang "Oh Darlin" by the Beatles.... My heart about stopped!! My two favorite bands mashed together... Hanson doing a Beatles cover!!! OMG I could have died happy right there. Best. Set list. Ever.!!

They also played "Penny and Me". KJ and I are pretty set on what we're going to name our little girl, but we're still tossing some names around. Penny is one of them. I thought how cool would that be if I got to take my little girl to a Hanson concert to hear the song she was named after before she was born. It would certainly make a nice story!

Lots of Love,
KJsbabe

Anatomy Scan and Other Adventures!

This past Monday (2/6) we went in for our anatomy scan. The day we've been waiting for! Normally I see the doctor first, but this time we had the u/s first. Right away we saw our little munchkin bouncing around on the screen. The tech was able to get all of the measurements she needed without too much trouble. She said the heart, brain, spine, kidneys, upper lip, limbs, and everything else looked perfect! What a relief! I feel like this was the last big hurdle to get over before I could really relax and enjoy this pregnancy, and we cleared it with flying colors! As the tech was checking out the legs we were also able to get a peak at the goods...

We are having a GIRL!! I'm so stinking excited! I have to admit, this whole time I thought for sure we'd have a boy. KJ has all boys on his dad's side of the family (SIL was from MIL's second marriage), so I figured there was a good chance genetics would win and we'd be destined to have all boys. Boy, was I wrong! As you can see there's nothing even close to a boy there. We are girl all the way! I'm thrilled!

The goods



Since little girl was bouncing around so much, we didn't get a good profile shot. We did get a pretty cute one, though, of her all curled up with her feet by her head. I call this the sandwich pose:



A sweet little foot!



The rest of the app went well, except for a brief almost fainting spell. While I was still on the u/s table I started to feel really warm and dizzy. It felt like a panic attack, but I wasn't panicking about anything, so I'm not sure what to call it. I felt nauseous, had ringing in my ear, and black spots in my vision. After about five minuets I was fine again, though. The tech said I wasn't the first one that that had happened to that day, so maybe it wasn't me.

Moving on to Tuesday (2/7) we told the family the good news by sending pink flowers to the grandmas-to-be. Everyone loved them and thought it was a really special way to share the news.



Wednesday (2/8) DH and I got our tax refund! Woo hoo! We went out and bought a nice area rug for the nursery. It was our first big purchase for little girl, so that was exciting! Right now the nursery is yellow and green. I painted it right after we started trying the first time around. I figured I wouldn't want to paint once I was pg, and green and yellow would work well for Either a boy or girl. Well, now DH feels the yellow is too bright and wants to pain the top a different color. I told him, as long as he's the one painting, it's fine. I think we're going to go with a nice light purple to go with the green.

The nursery as it stands now



Thursday (2/9) while DH and I were eating dinner I got the thrill of a lifetime. I got kicked in the stomach! By my baby! It took me a minuet to realize what it was, but it was an honest to goodness kick. She kicked about five or six times.

I took a drive to a near by Walmart that actually still carries fabric and picked out some really cute prints for the nursery. I came across the perfect material! I had a general idea of what I was looking for, but once I saw it I knew it was it. I'm so in love with this print! And of coarse, there was a coordinating fabric and a quilt panel that matched, so I had to get those, too. I may have splurged just a tiny bit! $120 later (yikes!) I have all the fabric I need... for now.



That's all for now. There may be an Ikea trip in our near future... So stay tuned!

Lots of Love,
KJsbabe


PS Here's a bonus pic! My first BPF from last Friday at 17w5d.