A steal!

Woohoo! We got our first real item for a song and dance...well, really $100 but that's almost the same thing.
A guy in our neighborhood posted to the local listserve that he was selling it and Christi sent me the post.
I had been eyeing the cheapest crib at Babies r Us in white for $129 and then had desired to get an organic mattress (so he/she wouldn't be breathing in plastic fumes 16 hours a day) which the least expensive was $180...but this solves both problems as this one is obviously white (with a few special bite marks just to add some authenticity), has a storage drawer underneath (yay!), and came with a 2 1/2 year old mattress which means that it has been around long enough that all the fumes and gases have pretty much been released.
Tim had been a bit hesitant about using a used mattress but decided when we picked it up we would be better able to see what state it is in- and honestly, it basically hermetically sealed- a dozen babies could have spit-up and peed on it at the same time and nothing would get through. So I will just buy on organic mattress pad and call it a day.
Currently it is waiting in the spare bedroom corner for the shed to be built out back to make room for it in the nursery.

Soon to be lamp...

You might not know this but I used to work in an lampshade factory during the summers in high school and college...sort of a strange job but I got some great lamps out of it and also MANY shades (which Tim has threatened to discard the next time we move because I haven't used too many of them and they just get shifted along with us, still neatly wrapped in their plastic). Two shades I specifically had made were for a someday nursery...the first is a small pale green toile print which will go great with our green nursery, and the second is made from some white eyelet fabric I bought.
I'll find them in the attic and post pictures at some point.
The only thing missing is the lamp base...and last week's beach mojitos (none enjoyed by me....sigh) provided the perfect bottle. I'll be making this cute, squat vessel into a great lamp that will go perfectly with is twin being currently used as a coin jar/door stop to keep the nursery door open.

Nursery before

We have a 3 bedroom house- our MA bedroom, a spare/guest room, and the third is used for Tim's woodworking, extra twin bed, and my home office.
This is the room that will be turned into the nursery- but many things must happen before that can be. We are going to build a workshop/shed in the backyard to Tim's new woodworking hub and there he will build a new desk for the computer which will be moved into the spare room.
The only things left in the green bedroom (little did we know when we painted it that it would be the perfect gender-neutral shade for a nursery) will be the twin bed and the storage bench (which I will empty of tools and fishing supplies and use for toys and books).
I am hoping to get a rocking chair of some sort and we will move the dresser (once belonged to our dear friend from college, John, who lived with Tim after college before heading off to China when he sold it to Christi and Jarrett- who when Tim and I moved back to Atlanta from VA traded our huge dresser for John's slightly smaller dresser) into the space where Tim's work bench had been and we'll use it for our changing table and, well, a dresser.

The beach

So Tim and I went to the beach last week with Christi, Jarrett and Elsa- down to St. George Island and it was wonderful. The house had a pool and the beach was just a short walk away. Christi was great about taking photos and I bummed a couple from her to post. Not the best to show how big my belly is getting (19weeks in the pictures) but at least the bikini one shows that something indeed is happening.
The one above shows me ignoring the rule about lying on your back after 4months- but since the baby is still kicking (feel him...or her...every day now- more active from 7-8pm) I suppose I didn't do any permanent damage.
Christi has offered to take a proper belly shot of me so I will soon have that posted.

16th week appointment

Not a very exciting appointment- the standard peeing in a cup, blood pressure (100/60), weight (141 lbs. Yeah! Didn't gain anything officially, however, unofficially I stepped on my home scale this morning and thought I had gained about 2.5 lbs since this last appointment morning when I also stepped on the scale at home), and the heartbeat. This time the instant the doppler touched my belly the heartbeat could be heard loud and clear- so reassuring! The midwife wasn't officially timing it for rate, but guessed that is was in the 140s- so I said "that means is more likely to be a girl, right?" to which she replied "that's an old wives' tale". Bummer, I really want a girl!
My next appointment is at 20 weeks and will include the standard above procedures plus Tim will come with me because they will do the ultrasound...and we can finally decide for sure if we will find out the sex.
At first we thought not, keep it a surprise. Then as we "discuss names" (discussing names with Tim usually has him suggesting names of things we are passing while driving in the car, like "what about Parkway, or Yield?" Not very helpful.) we just can't agree, so we figure that having to decide on one gender will be easier than two. Plus, I really like the idea of anticipating the person we are anxiously awaiting- I think it will help us both bond more quickly to the baby. And selfishly, I've always wanted girls and imagined myself with girls- so if this little guy is indeed a guy, I would like to know ahead of time so I can get used to the idea.
The midwife said "you probably haven't felt the baby yet" but I told her that I think I did the night before last. I was laying on my stomach concentrating on where my uterus is and I felt something like little feet running- it made me intake my breath pretty sharply and gave me goosebumps and my eyes even started tear up. So dramatic, though probably just dramatic gas.
The other dramatic change has been...chest size. I finally caved and bought some new bras- the last two I bought was back in 2006...and they were a disgrace. I went to the same store to get fitted- last time 30C, this time 30E. My belly needs to get bigger so that people don't think I've gotten a boob job.
Other than that, nothing much has transpired. My friend Val has requested that I put up some belly shots, so I will try to do that soon.

12 week appointment

Not my baby, but probably what he/she looks like at this point.

Today I am officially finished with the 12th week- tomorrow entering into the 13th week. I think this means I am done with the first trimester and onto the second, but it's a bit confusing because I won't offically be done with my third month until May 6th...
Today's appointment consisted of peeing in a cup, getting weighed, having my blood pressure taken and ... getting the hear the heartbeat!
Now- I must say I like my home digital scale a heck of a lot better than the scale at the doctors office. When I got pregnant I KNOW I weighed 132 according to my scale at home (since I stepped on it that morning) and when I stepped on it this morning I clocked in at 137... they say 2-5 lbs is typical weight gain during the first trimester so I'm normal. However, the scale at the office said a much heftier weight of 141! Perhaps some of this disparity is due to being weighed at home naked, pre-breakfast and at the office fully clothed and having had a good high-fiber meal...I'll blame it on that at least for now.
Apparently the baby is good for my blood pressure as it was down to 96/50- seems low to me but they said it looked great. All my blood work from the first visit came back perfectly healthy.
The heartbeat was wonderful to hear- it took a few minutes to find as Jill started "looking" on my right side but eventually found the baby on the left...heartbeat was in the 160s and we even got to hear two kicks! Strange to think a little 2-inch baby (crown to rump, about the size of a lime) is in there and actually capable of kicking. I could even feel the top if my uterus for the first time through my belly- I'm going to have Tim prod me tonight :)
I also asked out of curiosity what the c-section rate is for the practice and was told it's about 12%- so about a third of the national average.
Next appointment is May 20th with the head midwife again.

Bella Band benefits come early!

If you've never used or heard of the Bella Band it is simply a band of stretchy material you wear over your normal pants once you can't button them anymore so that they don't fall down, or over your maternity pants that you don't quite fit into to keep them snug up against you.

Now other women I hear don't need this fabulous invention until close to 16 weeks when their growing mid-sections get a bit too thick with their 4inch plus baby. I, however, found an earlier use for my newly purchased black bella band.

I can now wear my too small pants! And pants that have been sitting around waiting for me to sew back on their missing buttons! Woohoo! My wardrobe just dramatically increased. So pants that fit in length, and thighs but didn't quite get around my middle I can now wear! Like my cute olive green pants (that I bought last year when Tim and I went to Montana and I visited the Patagonia outlet while Tim fished in the SNOW) can now be worn button undone. And my black pants that I bought back in Africa in 2000 and lost their button 4 months ago, are now currently and happily residing on my legs.

Once this baby does grow big enough that I really do need maternity clothes Christi just let me go thru her stash and it's pretty well filled out. I did order one more pair of shorts and a t-shirt, but I don't think I will need to get very much- especially if we have a warmer fall since Christi was pregnant during the hot summer so her clothes are geared towards that season.