Baby's Black Friday "Best Buy"s

Given I have my Christmas shopping done, we didn't have a lot planned for Black Friday. We have been budgeting for a new computer and possibly a camcorder. These were two BIG purchases we thought would be nice with the new baby on the way. Our current desktop computer is over 8 years old and very out of date. Given we will have lots of pictures (and possibly video) of Little Bean, we wanted something with more memory. So on Black Friday, we took advantage of the deals at Best Buy and got a new computer and a nice new camcorder. The computer was under what we had budgeted (and came with a free printer), so we had the extra available to pay for the camcorder. Now we just need Little Bean to come and be our little model ;o)

She knows me well...

Liz got me some Thank You cards to use for my shower. She said she picked them because she thought I would like them. The week before, I had bought some Thank You cards of my own to send for the gifts we were getting in the mail. When Liz gave me the box she picked out, I had to smile. Here are the two sets of Thank You cards....I bought the ones on the left and the ones Liz gave me are on the right. Do they seem similar to you? ;o) I just have to smile, she knows me well. I have the Thank Yous from the Normal shower done and they will be going in the mail tomorrow. Then I can bust into the other pack as needed.

Shower Slideshow

I wanted to put together a short slideshow to show more pictures from the shower and highlight all of the great goodies that Little Bean got. We are truly blessed and I want to THANK everyone who came to celebrate with me and thank Liz and Mel for hosting, so THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!

Some of the great things we got for Little Bean included:
-wipe warmer
-bottle warmer
- receiving blankets
- cute baby blanket
- crib aquarium
- diaper depot
- diapers
- a cute "expecting parents" Christmas tree ornament
- monster bibs
- handmade bibs
- "hooter hider" (aka a nursing cover)
- handmade burp rag
- CD player/clock
- washcloths and a hooded towel
- rocker/vibrating chair
- Miracle blanket
- highchair
- baby monitor
- numerous toys
- lots and LOTS of books (including some with a main character named Little Bean. Too cute!)

Now I want to read all of the great books and I need to figure out where all the goodies go in Little Bean's room.

32 week belly pics...where am I?

Today we are 32 weeks pregnant. Hitting the final stretch ;o) It was time for belly pics, but where am I? If you notice the background has changed. We aren't home. We are in TX visiting my SIL, BIL, and baby niece ;o) We took our original belly pics this morning outside at the hotel in the bright sunshine next to a nice tropical plant, but thought it would be funny to take another with the backdrop Valie used during her pregnancy to take all of her belly pics. I also faced a clothing dilemma this morning. I was trying not to repeat any shirts for my belly pics but my clothing options are limited. I do have a few long sleeve shirts that haven't been photographed yet but it's much too warm here for long sleeves (Yes Melissa- today its almost 70 again and super sunny...ha!) So I repeated this shirt which is one of my favorites and I haven't used since 20 weeks. Quite a noticeable change these past 12 weeks ;o) So we thought it would be fun to post a comparison of Val and I at 32 weeks.

And because I have the other pics... here is a comparison of me at 28 (TOP) weeks and now at 32 (BOTTOM).

And as always I will update the slideshow later. Stay tuned!

Saturday's Super Shower Part 1

This past Saturday was my first baby shower and it was SUPER. It was hosted by my great friends Liz and Mel.

We had lots of food and lots of cake. There was a lovely "theme" cake handmade by Liz. It was my "Ace of Cakes Cake" made with fondant and all with the "Alphabet Soup" theme. It was also funfetti cake (which happens to be my favorite). It was super cute and super colorful (right up my alley.) Then there were monkey chocolate cupcakes.

And to top it off there was a wonderful diaper cake (this one you don't eat. HA!)

Quite a few people showed up to help celebrate. Most were ladies that I used to work with or still work with and a few were family. Two family members there were my mom and my Aunt Rachel. (More family will be at the shower in 2 weeks in Decatur.)

Given I LOVE LOVE LOVE games, Mel had 4 baby shower games lined up. The first was a crossword puzzle with very unique clues. My Aunt Rachel flew through the crossword and I had to cheat to get a few. My favorite clue was "milk extractor" for breastpump. There were a few other funny ones too. The second game was a big hit too. A few weeks ago, I had to pick from a list of "traits" (you know...eyes, nose, skin tone, temper, personality, etc) as to whether I wanted the baby to have Clay's trait or mine. Of course it wasn't so easy for me to just pick one or the other. Most of the responses had some type of explanation or "bargaining" involved, so when I had to remember what I had picked weeks ago, the ladies got a big kick out of my explanations.
The remaining two games were the string game (where you cut a piece of string for how big you think the mom's belly is)... and I won ;o) and then a cute note card game with funny questions.
After the games, we did presents. It's weird being the only one in the room opening up gifts with everyone watching you. Hadn't done it since the bridal shower over 6 years ago.
Here is a picture of the gifts and wonderful things Little Bean was given before opening.....

and after opening and home... Clay even said "someone needed to pick up his/her room"

I want to do a "Part 2" for the shower with more pictures of the wonderful things in detail, so stay tuned......

Finally fruit

Today marks 31 weeks and our "fruit or veggie of the week" is FINALLY a fruit again ;o) This week Little Bean measures about 16 inches long and weighs about 3.3 lbs, which is like carrying four large navel oranges.

We are headed toward our major growth spurt as we race to the finish. Little Bean's arms, legs, and body should be beginning to plump out as needed fat is accumulating under his/her skin.

As for me, I am almost in shock. I can't believe we are in the single digit week countdown. 9 weeks from today is my due date of Jan 20th. 9 weeks!!! If Little Bean comes early then he/she will be here in even less time. Clay and I were talking about how fast everything has gone last night. (Add in the fact that Christmas is 5 weeks from tomorrow and we just can't figure out where the time has gone.) WOW!! I've been very slowly recovering from this cold/sinus infection/ breathing thing... not quite sure I was ever diagnosed. I've been sick now for 9 days and it's no fun when you can't breathe and you pull a muscle in your side from coughing so much with the weight of your belly. The doctor finally gave me prescriptions on Monday for an antibiotic and a cough suppressant, so I think I am on the road to recovery. I have missed FitMommy for the last week and a half and prob the rest of the month too. I want to be 100% by the weekend. I have my first baby shower this weekend ;o) and we leave for TX on Sunday to see the Lokkers.

In other related baby news, we have started the hunt for a babysitter. We had our first "interview" on Monday and have another tonight. Then I need to call more names from our lists and get more set up for after Thanksgiving. December is going to be a very busy month so hopefully I can hold on to my sanity ;o) However, we are both looking forward to December as we will have our baby classes. We are taking 4 total. It sounds like a lot but if you know us, we like lots of information. I am taking a Mommy & me class and then both of us will be doing the Childbirth class, car seat safety class, and the breastfeeding class. It's really only like 7 nights over the month but seems like a lot when you see it out on the calendar.

All in all, we are full steam ahead on this pregnancy bus and enjoying the ride.