Baby Shower!

Saturday we had our baby shower! It was really, really, really great. The only thing I would have changed would be to have someone taking more photos - below is one of the only photos of the guests! The rest are of me opening presents, and if I'm not holding something directly in front of my face then I either have red eye, a strange expression, or am super blurry - it is so hard to look good in action shots. We got a lot of baby clothes and linens, a lot of the decorations for the nursery, and almost all of the big items we registered for like the stroller and high chair. We also got some great handmade itms - a super adorable quilt from one grandmother and a knit blanket and crocheted hat and sweater from my other grandmother. Overall I don't think I was surprised by any one item, but I was certainly surprised at the volume of presents compared to how many people were there. We are so lucky to have such generous friends and family!

We didn't have any games but we did have a bunch of plain white onesies and bibs along with fabric markers for people to decorate and I think it was a big hit. At first I was just thinking that this was something that would be fun for the guests to do and practical for us since we'll get to keep them. It wasn't until we started looking through all of them after the shower that I realized how special it will be to put our baby in all these things made by the people closest to us.

Here we are with the cake. I didn't get to have any but I thought it looked great! It matched the decorations, which of course we don't have any photos of. I also got lots of compliments on the dress and I have to say I think I rocked it pretty well. It is one of the many clothes I have borrowed and I felt great in it.

As promised

As promised, here is a timely follow up to my last post.  In fact, I have two very exciting things to post about today!

The first is to share Threads of Compassion New Britain which is a local chapter of a charity that I have been working on opening for the last couple months.  Our website and facebook page just went public last week.  The staff at SACS were all very supportive of the idea when I proposed it, and since everything went public I have gotten even more positive feedback which is encouraging.  We already have a couple scarves (thanks mom!) and I am so excited to see how this goes.  I am hoping that by January we will have enough people interested to do a monthly knitting/scarf packing night.

The second is to share some photos of our nursery!  We've gotten a lot of the work done but we still have some finishing touches left - we have a dresser we want to paint, the hutch needs different knobs, we have some things to hang on the walls, some furniture still needs to be moved around - but it feels really good that we've gotten so much done already, and the room has a really good vibe so far.  Almost as good is the dining room and upstairs hallway are finally without lots of random furniture!

The crib we bought new, but on sale with reduced shipping and a free mattress.  So far we are really happy with it and there isn't too much else to say about it...  

The changing table/hutch we bought used on Craigslist and I absolutely love it.  A lot of people just put changing pads on top of dressers but we will be using a tall dresser so that wasn't the best option, and buying a new table seems silly when you'll only use it for two years.  What I love about the hutch is I think it'll still be a great piece of furniture even when we're no longer changing diapers.  I also like that the shelves on top will be easier to reach mid-changing than the shelves below the changing station on most changing tables, and there is a spot we can put a diaper pail so its not just out in the open.  Really, everything about this piece of furniture is perfect (or will be, once we buy new knobs).  Next to the hutch is a quilt rack we also bought used ($10!) with the first quilt my grandmother every made.  I think we may end up moving the hutch fully in the corner and putting the quilt rack on the other side.  

The dresser, once painted, will go where these two rockers are and the rockers will go on the wall with the windows, but there is still one last piece of craft room furniture there right now.  Paul-John's meme (whose middle name will be baby's middle name) made the mini rocker and it says "Paul" across the top.  The glider we bought with the hutch, we got both pieces for $125.  I kind of want to get a new slipcover for the glider, but I have no idea what brand it is.  Slipcovers are also much more expensive than I anticipated, so we'll probably keep the blue for now, I don't mind it.  The footstool does sag in the middle - it turns out it is cracked and so Paul-John just needs to get some wood glue and hopefully it will be as good as new.  The bookcase we had already but we painted, doesn't it look great?  

So I've gotten some flak for not updating this nearly as often as I should be, so get ready for a long post!

The biggest pregnancy-related news is that I have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes about three weeks ago.  I am now testing my blood sugar four times a day and I have to be very mindful of what I'm eating - in addition to being low in sugar, it is also low in carbs.  I also have to eat smaller meals with snacks in between, which also took some getting used to.  The first week was very challenging, but now I've mostly figured out what works and what doesn't, and so it is getting much easier to manage.  And there are two pieces of good news - at my last appointment we went over my numbers, and my doctor thinks I am doing a good job of managing my sugar levels.  Otherwise I would need to go on medicine and go in to see the doctor every week!  So I am really glad I don't have to do that.  I also had an ultrasound, and so far the baby is still measuring within a normal range, so as long as I continue to manage this well she shouldn't get too big.  I have another ultrasound coming up in a few more weeks to once again check on her size.

The only bad news, which really isn't bad, I guess, is that they now want me to deliver between 39 and 40 weeks and if I get to my due date then they will induce.  So we'll see what happens!

Lots of other baby stuff has been happening as well.  We have started on getting the nursery ready and over the next couple weeks we are hoping to get everything done in there.  We painted it this weekend, and all it needs is some touch-ups which hopefully Paul-John will finish tonight.  We also have to paint a couple pieces of furniture, and move a ton of stuff around.  Right now the glider and changing table/hutch we got off Craigslist are hanging out in our living room, and the crib should be arriving either at the end of this week or early next week.

We have already had our childbirth preparation class, which turned out to be a total letdown and as soon as I work up the courage I'm going to be calling to ask for our money back.  That's a long story that I've already told most people, but if you want to know, just ask.  This weekend we have a cloth diaper class and then on Monday we have our infant care class.  I'm really hoping these next two classes are a lot better, we are both really looking forward to both of them.  The diaper class was free to sign up for and we'll be leaving with a coupon, so even if its not informative at least it won't be a waste of money.  While there is a lot of information about cloth diapering online, there aren't any local stores to go and see anything in person, so I am really looking forward to this.

In non-pregnancy news, I got laid off from one of my three jobs.  It sucks to be making less money, but I think we can manage.  One job had just started to pick up around the time I got laid off (from 3hrs/wk - 6hrs/wk, but still) and now that school is back in session I should be seeing more hours doing prevention ed, so I'm staying optimistic.  I also cut off all my hair and am opening a local chapter of a charity, so I've managed to stay busy.  You'll be hearing more about that last one soon.

Bump!

Today was the first time a person I didn't know asked if I was pregnant, so I decided it was finally time to take one of those iconic profile bump photos.  As of my last appointment, which was about two and a half weeks ago, I hadn't gained any weight.  It really has only been in the past week that I think I've had any noticeable bump.  It seemed normal that people who see me on a regular basis would notice, I was really surprised someone I didn't know noticed it.

Weekends!

We have been very busy here the past couple of weekends.  Two weekends ago, I went to New York to see my cousin Sara on Saturday and my friend Danielle on Sunday.  I didn't take any photos on Saturday but we went shopping, walked through Central Park, and ate at an excellent Italian Restaurant on the Upper West Side.  I also finally got to meet her boyfriend (he's great!) and hang out in her apartment. The only thing I didn't get to do was see her yarn bombs since they were gone but we did a lot of knitting talk.  

Sunday Danielle and I went to Coney Island for a couple hours which was great.  We walked along the boardwalk, listened to some awesomely bad karaoke, ate a lot of food, and went on two rides.  Luckily we didn't go on the roller coasters, because I was unaware that they are one of the many things pregnant ladies are supposed to abstain from.  The ferris wheel was definitely safe, and the second ride was ok, but I probably wouldn't go on it again pregnant.  Here are some photos from the Wonder Wheel:

This past weekend we painted our bedroom and the den and probably some time next week we'll start painting the nursery.  Friday we did the ceilings and primer in both rooms.  Saturday we finished the bedroom completely and just had to do the second coat of cutting in on the den.  Sunday Paul-John had a shooting match in the morning and afternoon, and I wanted him to do the final touch-ups on the edges just because he is so much better at it than I am.  By Sunday night he was able to do the touch-ups in the den and we put the bedroom back together, but the den is still a little crazy looking.  

Photo below is more color accurate than photo above.  

In baby news, I had my follow-up ultrasound today and they were able to get the view of the heart they needed.  I also found out that my placenta is anterior, which explains why I have been feeling some movement but not a lot.

Halfway

So today I am 20 weeks, or halfway through pregnancy!  In the first couple weeks of my pregnancy, we both definitely felt a sense of urgency of needing to get stuff done, which dwindled once we realized how long nine months really is and because I was a lot more tired during those first three months.  Now that I am in the easy trimester, with more energy and no baby belly yet, I am once again feeling that sense of urgency which I think is slowly starting to rub off on Paul-John.

Over the next three weeks or so we hope to get the majority of the work done upstairs that we will need to do, at least before we start getting baby stuff.  Since we will be combining the den and craft room into one room, we need to figure out what will be staying upstairs and what will be going into the basement.  Next weekend, we will be putting a bunch of stuff from both our bedroom and the den into the craft room so we can paint both rooms.  The following weekend, once everything is put back into their respective rooms and the now nursery will be practically empty, we will paint that room.

I was telling Paul-John that I keep feeling conflicted about doing this.  One of the reasons I think I have put it off until now was definitely because of cost - we will be painting all the trim and ceilings along with the walls because we know if we don't do it now, we never will and we want to do this right.  We both use Mint on our phone to keep track of our bank accounts and it also keeps track of how much you earn and spend in a single month.  While this is helpful because of course it is important to usually earn more than you spend, it can sometimes be misleading because one month is such a small timeframe.  Several months ago we made a list of the major extra expenses we would have throughout the pregnancy and have been specifically setting aside money in savings in order to use it for these expenses, with painting the upstairs being one of them.  So its funny, on the one hand I feel very anxious about making sure we get everything done in time, and on the other hand I want to wait until I feel we can afford it, which probably would be never.

I've also signed up for a childbirth preparation class, infant care class, and breastfeeding class at UCHC and have started to look into getting a doula.  I also finally told another job, which honestly I was kind of nervous about.  I had told SACS a while ago, which was easy, but I was a little more nervous since I was just hired at Lincoln.  However, it doesn't seem to be a big deal so that is one less thing to worry about.

Baby Names

On Monday we had our anatomy ultrasound and we found out that we will be having a baby girl!  Of course, we are both very excited.  Everything else looked good and we got to hear the heartbeat again (153) but there was one view of the heart they needed and weren't able to get, so I'll be going back in three weeks.

Interestingly enough, before the scan we were nearly 100% on the name we had picked out for a girl and had no ideas for a boy.  That has since changed dramatically.  The first possible name was Sophia Theresa.   Theresa after Paul-John's grandmother, or meme, who died last year and to whom he was close.  Personally I didn't actually like the name Theresa (and it turns out neither did Paul-John) but I liked why we chose it.  Then Monday night, when we were driving to our celebratory dinner, Paul-John mentioned that his mom and had suggested Meme's middle name, Adrian.

Paul-John was first hesitant about Adrian because he didn't want everyone to pronounce it like Rocky when they said it.  But considering that it is only a middle name, not to mention the age of her peers, this seems unlikely outside of situations of older adults.  We both like the way Sophia Adrian sounds, and her initials would be SAM which we both like as well.  So once again, we were nearly 100% on a name.

And then today I was reading through a forum on Rav for people due in Nov, and two other people had mentioned using the name Sophia.  That in and of itself wouldn't bother me, but it made me curious so I decided to search how popular a name it is.

It turns out in 2010, Sophia was the 2nd most popular baby name, with Sofia at 26 and Sophie at 59.  This was very unexpected.  We like Sophia mostly for the meaning but also because we thought it was slightly unique.  If not unique, maybe common, but certainly not the second most popular name given to baby girls last year.  So now we are reconsidering the first name.  At this point I have no idea if we'll keep it or change it, but luckily we have some time to figure it out!

If you have a lot of time you feel like wasting on the internet, I highly recommend looking stuff up here.  For instance, it is interesting that the number of babies with the most common names have been decreasing.  For example, in 1950 the most popular female baby name was Linda with 80,408 babies.  In 2010, the number of Sophia, Sofia, and Sophie combined was only 31,139.