Baby Shower

Saturday was our Baby Shower. Our friends Andy and Nicole threw the shower for us - a "Teddy Bear Picnic". The food was great and we had a good time hanging out with our friends and family.

It was great that Angelique, Walter, Chris and Nichole came down from Albany - they got to see the house, Chrissy and the kids and come to the shower. They arrived on Thurs night and spent the night w/ us at the house and then we got to hang out on Fri. Like most of our out of town guests, they left early Sun morning - I hope they are able to visit longer next time!

My mom, Dan, and the girls came up from FL. Bridgie had 12 stitches in her forehead after a jet-ski mis-hap the previous weekend that had to be removed on Fri morning, so they didn't arrive until late Fri night (probably around 11pm). Erin flew in Fri morning (she had a much easier trip than the drivers, but had to get up at 3am to catch her flight!) - she hasn't seen my family since the wedding (5 yrs ago!) so she had a good time reminescing w/ them. Joel was really tired from all of the excitement, but we stayed up and hung out w/ the sisters for a while. Bridgie was the first one to feel the baby move, but Bern got to feel the baby Saturday night, so all was well in the end between the sisters :-) LOL Annie was much more interested in catching up w/ Graham, but I got in a few hugs and kisses!

Mom, Dad, and Baby Levy got lots of great stuff and look forward to putting it to use! :-) Erin and Nicole did such a great job on the favors, decorations, and food (and Chrissy brought a delicious cake). One of Erin's ideas was to make a Daddy Tool Belt for Joel - I helped her pick up the stuff and put it together - it came out really cute! It's hard to tell in the picture, but it says "Daddy on Duty" - to help him be prepared to take care of whatever baby dishes out (we even included a mask and goggles!)

I am 6 1/2 months pregnant - we would've liked to do the shower in another month or two, but between the holidays and our school schedule, this was the only weekend that we were off before graduation. As Nicole put it - no one will care when the shower is as long as you look pregnant - well I definitely have that one covered! We have a ton more pictures - thanks to Anna and Walter - so I created an album on Shutterfly - hopefully we'll get them all up before the end of the week. Something funny I noticed in looking at the pictures was that I am very expressive in my conversations - as I opened pictures and they shot picture after picture, I am making all sorts of faces (some good, some bad!) - unlike Joel who has about 3 different expressions - smiling, serious and thinking :-)

Anyway, we wanted to thank everyone for the baby gifts and hope everyone enjoyed meeting our mish-mash of friends, family, and co-workers! :-) And Thank you to Andy and Nicole for pulling everything together!

Stroller Shopping

Yesterday, I was trying to find something interesting to listen to while I was working, preferably something business oriented. I was really frustrated at the options available online (I wound up listening to the Today Show, which was neat, but more frilly). Anyway, when I went onto MSNBC, I saw the following link: "10 Tips: Stroller shopping? How to handle it". This definitely piqued my curiosity considering we just added a stroller to the registry a couple of weeks ago. The funniest part though was the sub-headline: "Who knew buying a stroller could be almost as complicated as buying a car?" OK, I definitely think the drama was a little exaggerated for the purpose of an interesting article (though I do know moms that probably spent more time picking out a stroller than a car....), but I still thought it was worth checking out.

So, what did I learn? Well, nothing actually. Most of the 10 tips I had already considered considering my past stroller experiences....really, I think buying a stroller is a lot about common sense. The things that I was concerned about were ease of opening / closing, security / stability of car seat in stroller base, maneuverability, height of handle, weight (to be able to lift into the car), a shade that covered the baby from all angles, and comfort. I think this is a pretty basic list. Some strollers have bells and whistles including secret compartments or extra tie-downs, but it's really about practicality first and once you find a practical stroller, then the extras are just a bonus. I've also learned throughout my life that an increase in price doesn't always equate to an increase in quality or usability. Sometimes you are just paying for the brand or the hype or some "new and improved" model (which isn't always improved, just new). With strollers, I think sometimes you are even paying more for the design of the fabric.

Anyway, the other important thing is that you need to see, handle, and maneuver the stroller, which is why I really like Babies R Us - you can take the stroller out, push it around, fold it up, etc. One recommendation I have for Target is to lower their strollers so people can actually "test" them - it will probably make people more likely to buy one (or less likely to injure themselves pulling them off that high shelf!) I liked the weight and design and stability of the stroller we chose, but we also decided to go with it for another reason. We are not necessarily huge fans of leopard print, but I do not dislike it either, and we thought it was a nice way to remember Joel's mom (and definitely think it would've been her first choice!!) :-) The brown suede is really nice and soft and according to the reviews doesn't fade and washes well. I am excited to put baby in it!

If you are buying a stroller for yourself or know someone who could use some guidance, send them the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26762419

Well, we picked out the stroller and added it to the registry, but in the process a funny thing happened - somehow I added 2 of the same stroller / car seat combo to the registry. I've been to the online registry for both Babies R Us and Target probably more than 20 times - and this never caught my eye. On Sunday, Joel got a call from his dad while we driving back from SC, who asked about the 2 strollers. Since we also registered for the Snap n Go, I figured this is what he was talking about when he said 2 strollers....but I said I would check it out later that afternoon when we got home. By the time we got home, I needed to run a few errands and figured I would check it out later that night.

In the meantime, I talked to MY dad, who said that they wouldn't be able to make it down to NC for the baby shower (hopefully we'll get to see them for Thanksgiving) but said that they wanted to get us the 2 car seats (the car seat comes w/ the stroller). I explained that there should only be 1 car seat - that was a mistake that we heard about earlier in the day and I hadn't had a chance to fix it yet! My dad was funny b/c he was like oh, we thought one for each car.....I had to remind him we only have ONE car - we had a good laugh over that! :-) I couldn't believe that this registry mistake was causing so much confusion!!

That night, when I went online to fix it, I realized why it was causing so much issue - it is (was) the FIRST thing on the registry, so it figures the first thing that people are going to look at! Anyway, it is fixed and I think the registry is just about complete. I want to go to Target and take a look at their baby section to see if I forgot anything and to look at a couple of things in person, but otherwise I think the registry is finally done....which is actually kind of sad, but I'm sure I'll figure out something else to devote my baby obsession to soon enough :-)

Baby Stuff - Updates and Registry

Each day I get an e-mail from whattoexpect.com detailing either something about me or baby that is related to this week in gestation. Some of them are kind of silly (like avoid Botox...) but others are really cute. Yesterday, I got the following e-mail:

Week 22: Hair Ye, Hair Ye
Guess what? Your baby has finally broken the one-pound mark. How heavy is that? Hold a one-pound box of sugar in your hand the next time you're in the grocery story (and expect people to ask you why you're grinning from ear to ear). Is the box eight inches long? That's about the length your baby is too!
This week, your sweetie is making more sense of the world as he or she develops the sense of touch. In fact, your little one's grip is quite developed by now — and since there's nothing else to grab in utero, he or she may sometimes hold on tight to that umbilical cord (don't worry — it's tough enough to handle it). The sense of sight is also getting more developed. Your fetus can now perceive light and dark much better than before (even with those fused eyelids). But remember — unless you're shining a flashlight over your belly (which you can do, by the way), it'll be mostly dark for your baby inside that cozy womb of yours.

Moving up from the eyes, the eyelashes and eyebrows are well formed now — and even more hair is sprouting atop that cute little head. You'd be quite surprised, though, if you could see your little one up close and in color. Hair at this stage has no pigment, so it's bright white.

Awwww, isn't that cute? These e-mails make me feel more connected to the baby, because I can envision him or her grabbing onto the umbilical cord and stretching and having white fuzzy hair. It makes the pregnancy that much more exciting!

In other baby news, Joel and I (mostly I) have been working on the Baby Registry. I started it a couple of months ago and am now in the process of refining it. I worked on it for ahwile the other day because I went through and read probably 50-100 reviews on baby bathtubs - who would've thought there was so much to consider. There was a really fancy "spa" tub that we thought was adorable, but the reviews were terrible - just teaches you that sometimes plain and simple is better :-) I've also been corresponding with Kathy to get her perspective on what's worked and what hasn't, especially since she went through this process not very long ago. Sometimes the reviews are frustrating because you have a bunch of good reviews and then a couple of terrible reviews - you wonder if they're talking about the same product. Then yesterday or the day before, I found out that the nursery set that we want is being discontinued, so we're probably going to go in and see if we can still get it in the store. I really didn't like any of the sets as much as this one - it figures! Although this one doesn't have a drop side (seems most of them don't these days) and so maybe the fact that it's being discontinued is telling me to look for a better alternative. I think we've covered most of the basics, but now it's just deciding on the brand and style of a few pieces and making sure we have all of the little stuff - like bottles, pacifiers, diaper bag, etc. I love the nursery bedding - shown in the second picture (it's organic cotton and super soft!) - I think we're going to leave the nursery painted the color it is because it will go so perfectly (it's a sage green similar to the picture!)

13 weeks.....look it's a baby

Today, I am officially 13 weeks pregnant. I still don't feel remarkably different than I did pre-pregnancy, but I am definitely getting a little belly (will upload pictures soon!) and I'm sure I'll start seeing a bigger difference in the weeks to come.

Here is the babycenter update: Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

Joel and I thought it was really cool that the baby has fingerprints and nails and hair follicles starting to grow - it's amazing how much is already formed! The majority of the pregnancy from this point is developing the baby's lungs and making baby into a marshmallow baby :-)

I will have an ultrasound at 18 weeks - I can't wait to see my belly at that point as well as the baby - I'm very excited.

So, in other baby news, I started looking at breast pumps. Exciting, huh? Well, when I set up the baby pool, there was a link to the baby registry (Target). I set up the registry a couple of weeks ago (registration info, mailing address, etc.), but was a little too superstitious to add any baby stuff yet. So, now that I have the baby pool set up and we're going to send out the blog link to everyone, I wanted there to be at least a couple of things on the registry. One of the biggest expenses (aside from the furniture) is likely going to be the breast pump. Although I would like to stay home full-time, it is not the best financial decision for us right now, so I will likely be going back to work when the baby is 8-12 weeks old. I think breastfeeding is one of the most important things you can do for a baby and am determined to continue to breastfeed for at least 8 months and transition right to milk. However, in order to do this and work, it means that I have to pump.....and Medela is THE pump (based on what I've read and my 2 years experience working in Postpartum at St. Peter's). However, it is electric and therefore has a motor and is like bringing a mini power station to work!! So, you have to consider the noise level and the style of bag you carry it in and the cooler capabilities and how long and how much, so forth and so on. What a big decision......and certainly an important one for baby. Anyway, I was looking at a couple of other brands, but ultimately came back to the Medela....it's probably the best equipped for the job :-) The way the Target registry is set up, it offers you the "Most Popular" or "Goes With..." items as soon as you add one item, so the registry started w/ a breast pump and now has about 10-15 items. It doesn't have any of the other important "big" purchases because I really want to go to the new Super Target (it is opening NEXT Sun!!!) with Joel to pick out some of that stuff. I know he really couldn't care less about which breast pump I picked as long as it did the job, so I figured this was a good place to start, but I know he wants to be part of picking out some of the other stuff, so we'll finish it together!

Not much else going on. Next week Joel is going to be working late because he has a number of important business dinners, so I'm going to go hang out w/ Nicole and help her finish some of her curtains before her friends come to town. It's fun to hang out w/ her and I plan to bring Grammy to hang out w/ Emma, so it'll be a great play date (too bad Joel can't go to hang out w/ Andy). It's also good practice as I prepare to make some more curtains for my house (I am going to go look at fabric next week for the living room, great room, and MBR). It definitely makes the house feel more like a home.