Bringing baby home

I had to run out and buy some warm weather maternity clothing today and decided to check out gender-specific baby clothes. I had been thinking that I'd like to buy the baby his/her take home outfit so that I could pick it out, even though we don't know the gender. So, I bought one of each and will return the outfit we don't need. Here are pictures:
Above is a girl outfit from the Lemon Tree collection. We would pair that with the cute yellow sweater that Markus' mom knitted for the baby. On the right is the Scoot, Scoot outfit, which I thought was very fun especially since Markus likes scooters and earth tone colors. They also had a scooter hat at Gymboree, but I figurd the sweatshirt, onesie, cargo pants, and socks were enough. The best part is that I found all of this on the sale rack. :-)

We had a really busy last few days; both of us were working a lot and then we were in Boston this weekend for Markus' cousin's wedding. It was a classy, elegant, beautiful wedding that I'll detail in a separate post. The wedding also provided us with an opportunity to see Markus' father, who flew in for the celebration. Stay tuned for the wedding recap post...

Markus is in Knoxville tonight so I'm going to do some cleaning. I have my first "turn this baby around" acupuncture treatment tomorrow morning. Acupuncture has an approximate 73% effective rate in getting breech babies to flip into the head-down position; the version procedure performed in hospitals only has a 50-60% effective rate, so I'm going to start with the acupuncture. Plus, the version procedure wouldn't be attempted until after my 36-week ultrasound, so I'm trying to be proactive in getting this baby to do a somersault! I've had acupuncture before and found it to be a helpful method of treatment so I'm willing to try it again for this. And, if baby doesn't flip before my ultrasound on May 8, then we can head into the hospital for the version. What a little stinker...

Turn, Baby, Turn!

I just returned from my 32-week checkup. Little Levi is still in the breech position - frank breech to be exact, which is illustrated to the left.

There are some tilt exercises I can do to encourage the baby to flip, and there's still a few weeks for baby to turn. But, as baby (and I) grow, there's less space for him/her to move around and do a somersault. So, here's hoping that Little Levi attempts the first somersault very soon! Aside from the breech position, Little Levi is in good health with a strong heart rate. Today it was in the high 140s/low 150s.

On a totally different subject, I ordered one of the coolest onesies ever from Etsy (link on right). Etsy is the site with hundreds of independent craftspeople who sell their products. I found this seller who makes some onesies with really funny messages; I ordered this one because it was too fun to pass up:



I don't often get into politics here, but this was just too funny to pass up.

Markus didn't have to go to Knoxville today so I actually get to see my husband for seven days in a row! We have big plans to work on some house mini-projects like installing a banister, finishing some trim work, and all those other little types of things that add up fast and you never seem to get around to. We know that if we don't do them now, they'll still be on our list two years from now!

I think we're also going to run to Babies R Us to get most of the rest of our baby supplies. May is looking to be a busy month - Markus has a couple more trips and I make my final trip to Indy, so we want to be in good shape before then in case Little Levi makes an early appearance.

We're also making progress on names. That's been high on our list recently, too. We decided to try to find a name that will reflect our German heritage, especially since our last name is German and somewhat unique in the US. It's been more of a struggle for me because German names are unusual here and I hadn't imagined calling our baby one of these names when I started thinking of baby names. We were always fine with girl names, but boy names were the challenge. This baby naming issue has been the one thing that has almost made me have a pregnancy/hormonal meltdown. But, I re-read our baby name book and think I found some names that I'm comfortable with and that are German.

We've revamped our boy name list and I think there are a few that we can both agree on. Some of the names on our list are probably names you've heard before, but most will probably be new or definitely different to your ear. Consider yourself warned! If Little Levi is a boy, it will definitely not be the next little Tyler or Zachary or Michael. As long as Markus agrees, I'll post some of our top names in the coming weeks, after we've narrowed down the list.

That's it for now. I've gotta go start my tilting exercises! :-)

Nursery Pictures

The first pictures of the nursery are posted on the right side in the Photos section. I didn't take the best photos, but you get the idea. Since I took those, we put together a few more baby things like the Pack and Play and the Papasan seat. We thought it would help prepare the cats for the new arrival. They've been curiously sniffing, pawing, rubbing and watching as we do this.

There's a bin with receiving blankets on the floor. I stuck all of the booties in there, including foot rattles given to Baby by cousin Emma and Nan (My mom - I don't know if that's her official grandmother name or not, but that's what we'll call her here). Camper loves those foot rattles! Twice now I've found her playing with them - she's so good she even gets them out of the bin and takes them into the office.

As you'll see in the pictures, the cats got in the Papasan baby seat. Rest assured, we will clean and launder everything before Baby arrives. I've arranged clothing, onesies, and blankets, but when it gets closer to delivery time, I'll wash it so that it's nice and fresh for Little Levi. No, we don't know if it's a boy or girl, but Markus' Mom (Grammy, aka Danny if the children have a hard time saying Grammy) coined the term. Levi is Markus' middle name and we like the alliteration in Little Levi. Anyway, we'll freshen everything up before Little Levi comes home, but for now, it's kind of fun to watch the cats investigate all of this stuff.

The Pack and Play is set up in our bedroom - a good thing, because it's been able to air out and no longer has that plastic-y small that new things often have. The cats like the mobile on there, too...who knew that baby toys would be the best cat toys ever? We just have to make sure that BABY doesn't make a good cat toy, or we're in trouble! :-)

So let's see, the nursery is pretty much done. Curtains arrived last week so we'll be hanging those soon. The chest in the pictures is what we'll use initially for clothing storage. We have diapers, burp cloths, lots of onesies, sleeper gowns, etc. I have a list of a few more supplies we need, but it's just a few and we're planning on taking care of those things this weekend or next. The nice thing is that they're smallish (breast-feeding pillow, for example); all the big ticket items are here. And I have the breast pump, and well, my breasts (the only thing related to this child that will be free of charge, I'm sure!) so we're good in the feeding department, too.

We started our childbirth classes last week; they continue each week in April. One of the things that surprised both of us is how many people are curious about our plans for childbirth (i.e., first question asked - are you going to have an epidural? My first thought - how the hell should I know, I've never done this before...).

Here you go, in case you're interested: we will try to have a natural childbirth. We know labor and birth can be extremely painful and tiring, though, so if it becomes too much for me or the professionals suggest an epidural or other type of pain medication, we'll use it. I'm not opposed to medication one bit, but it's worth a shot at natural birth. You don't know until you try, right? The other thing I've read is that many women are 100% set on natural childbirth and then end up having pain relief medication for one reason or another and the women feel like they failed or they don't look back on their birth experience as fondly. I don't want to set myself up for that kind of feeling, which is why we're taking the wait and see attitude and remaining open-minded about the potential need to use meds for pain relief.

Oh, we ordered our diaper bag last weekend, so that should be finished the first week of May. We got the "European Stripe" fabric (brown with wavy stripes; the stripes are blues and oranges and yellows) with a soft blue waterproof lining on the inside. We'll take pictures when we receive it.

That's about it from babyland. We're both reading The Baby Book by Dr. Sears and really enjoying it. I think my favorite part (and Markus') from our reading thus far is about the advice you receive from others - everyone tries to give you advice, but when it comes down to it, you know your child the best. Nod and smile when people give you advice, and then do what you think is best for your child, since he/she is yours. :-) Anyway, it's been informative and helpful to both of us. Thanks to our friend Justina, who recommended the book. She's a great mom, her husband is a super father, and their son is adorable and one of the most pleasant children I've met. Clearly they're doing something right, so hopefully we'll be as fortunate in using some of what we learn in The Baby Book. Here's hoping Little Levi is a content, happy baby. Enjoy the pictures.

Sorry for the boring post. I've spent much of the night reviewing our "Payee List" in MS Money and consolidating Payees (I finished consolidating the Categories last night). Mind-numbingly dreadful, but it'll make our Payee dropdown much shorter when I'm finished. My creative juices just aren't flowing. Oh, yes, Markus is away tonight. Why on earth would I be doing the Payee List if he were at home?! He's in Andover, Mass. tonight and tomorrow and then off to Knoxville Thursday and Friday. Perhaps I'll post another, more exciting update later in the week.