Let There Be Artwork!

The nursery madness has continued, if not gotten completely out of control. I've been able to keep myself from actually buying anything major until the furniture arrives, but that doesn't mean my mind has stopped from thinking about all the possibilities!

Ok, so maybe that "not buying anything" isn't entirely true. In addition the the bedding set, and some adorable stuffed animals I also found the most perfect set of artwork on Etsy, my new favorite site. It's like the woman who made these pictures knew exactly what I was looking for, color scheme and all.

I found the Elephant picture in the middle first, and after further exploration stumbled acorss the Giraffe (one which was originally pink, but the artist customized to match) and little lion cub. I'm not sure where we're going to put these yet, I'm thinking right above the crib - but won't know for sure until we have the room set up in a couple of weeks.

I'll be 27 weeks on Friday, and heading into the final trimester. I can't believe how time seems to be taking forever yet flying by at the same time. On one hand I feel like I've been pregnant for 2 years, and on the other can't believe our little guy will be here in just 13 weeks! And the more I think about that 13 week countdown, the more my mind starts spinning about all the fun things I can do in his room. The artwork is just the beginning : )

To Shag, Or Not to Shag.

So I've been looking at shag carpets (betcha thought this was going to be about something else) and can't seem to get Drew on the same page.

I've done a lot of shopping for the Nursery online, which means I now how to wait for everything to come in to see if it all matches. The last real item I need is an area rug, and while I'm 99% sure a soft shag carpet in a light cream color would be perfect (I'm talking Martha Stewart does baby kind of perfect here) - Drew totally disagrees. His two main arguments are as follows.

#1) "It will get caught in the vacuum cleaner". My response, "No it won't, Stef has a similar carpet and a dison vacuum and she never has an problem."  - I don't even know if this is true, but it just came out.

#2) "The baby's spit up will get all over it." - My Response, "Baby's spit up is the color of milk, so it will match." I failed to bring up the color of stuff that comes from the other end, but if Drew didn't go there I wasn't going to mention it.

So back to my question, to Shag or not to Shag. I've found two other carpets that I like at pottery barn, one a soft blue and another a light green, but I've still got my sights set on the shag carpet.

We've got another 14 weeks ahead of us before our little guy arrives, so really there is on rush to decide on this RIGHT now. But once I get something stuck in my head I don't stop thinking about it until I've acted on that thought (so in this case, bought a rug).

For now I'm going to stick to some online browsing and hope that the furniture arrives in over the next few weeks so I can see what would work best in the room... and then I'll go out and buy the ivory shag carpet that I want : )

What to Expect: by Drew

There are about 5-7 baby books floating around our house, but until now I thought I was the only one reading them. And while I've been busy with "What to Expect When You're Expecting" Drew has moved right ahead to "What to Expect The First Year" and for the past week I've been getting nightly recaps of what he's learned.

So far he's told me about feeding techniques, eating patterns of infants, the best time for one on one bonding verses playtime and the correct way to wake a sleeping baby. Let me tell you, I can't get enough of our nightly tutorials.

To be honest I've been feeling the need to put my book down and pick up one of the many that deal with what the hell to do when the baby gets here. But something inside of me keep saying "relax, you've got plenty of time" - which after careful calculation turns out to be 15 weeks and not as much time as I had originally thought.

While it seems unreal to me that in 3 months we could be on our way to the hospital and coming home with our own living baby doll, Drew is as cool as a cucumber (at least on the outside). Each time I ask him if he's freaked out that this is actually happening and we are going to be parents, he looks at me like the thought has never passed his mind.

I feel like I've seen a whole new side of Drew while watching him deal with this pregnancy. At first he was cautiously excited - which I understood. But as things progress I can see how excited he is getting. From clearing out the office and shopping for strollers, to educating himself on what's to come next I can already tell what a wonderful Dad he is going to be (as if it wasn't already apparent from his relationship with Maggie).

So for now I'm going to let our Dad-to-be to continue with his reading and update me on what we can expect. But I think it won't be too long before I start picking up these books myself to make sure he's not getting too far ahead of me : )

It's All Happening

This weekend was a big one in the "this baby is really coming" department.

It started with some construction in the basement. After looking at our options (and the only other bedrooms in the house) we decided to leave the guest room as is, and turn the office into a nursery. Since moving into the house two years ago the office has always been Drew's room, as I tend to sit in front of the TV with my laptop (and Bravo in the background) to do all my online activities.

Even though it's not a room that is used often I didn't want to loose the space, so we decided to build a small room off the the finished part of the basement that Drew could turn into an office once the baby came.

Drew's Dad arrived early Sunday morning and the two of them immediately got to work laying out the room and figuring out what supplies they needed from Home Depot. Once they got started and the noise became too much I dismissed myself for a day of beauty and got my nails and hair done (what I'm pregnant, I'm technically not allowed to help).

By the time I came back home around 5:30 the room and been framed out, and the Sheetrock was up. It's not big, but it's prefect for what he needs right now. I'm a bit scared that I'll never see him again. Between his big TV, the Wii, a pantry full of potato chips and cookies and now his computer - he got everything he needs in the basement (at least the bathroom is still upstairs so I know he will have to come up occasionally).

After a quick dinner of Crabs and Shrimp the two Szczuka men finished the day by emptying out the office and moving all the furniture to the new room in the basement, where it will stay until Drew puts in the finishing touches. This is when the fact that we are actually having a baby became more real than it has been in the past 5 and half months.

Seeing the office empty, and knowing that it would soon be filled with baby furniture (which I just ordered today!!!!!) was incredible. I can't help myself from peeking into the room every time I walk by, imagining what it will look like in a couple of months when we're (I'm) done decorating.

Knowing how much of a planner I am, I'd make a bet that the Nursery will be done well in advance of December and our little guys arrival. But I'm having waaaaay too much fun to try and be patient!


5 1/2 month belly shot below, not sure if this is a real baby bump or all the less than healthy food I had over the weekend. Baby wanted it?

First Timers

You know when you're someplace and can tell that you stick out like a soar thumb? That's exactly how I felt at when shopping for strollers at Babies R Us over the weekend. First of all - who invented these things, and when did they become so damn complicated?

Between Drew and I it took a solid 20 minutes to learn what buttons did what, and how to get the car seat to detach from the rest of the stroller. They seriously make this look way easier in the movies.

I couldn't help but notice the more seasoned parents walking past us with huge smiles on their faces - clearly remember a time when they too had no clue what they were doing. I almost wanted to walk over and say "Hi, you look like you know how these things work - can you help us?"

It was honestly hysterical, I wish I could have video tapped it. I'm lucky that Drew has a sense of humor, because the majority of the time I sat there laughing watching him struggle with all the random levers that seem to be a part of today's strollers.

In the end (after testing about 10) we found one that we both loved. According to Drew it "drove nicely" and was a bit lighter than some of the others. For me the big selling point was it came in red, I love me some red.

Here is what we picked out, along with the pictures I grabbed of Drew wrestling with a stroller. Note the three others we have pulled out to test drive in the background.

Just Keep Swimming...

Despite things moving along at an almost text-book pace (I know because I’ve read just about everything I can get my hands on) I still can’t seam to shake the fear that something will go wrong.

I thought I would feel better once I started to feel some movement, if nothing else than to reassure me that he is still there inside of me. This held true for the past couple of weeks, but there are times when he’s not as active as he was the day before – or his kicks aren’t as hard that I immediately start to panic.

I will be 23 weeks on Friday, and after 2 days of almost nothing am feeling better after some strong kicks today. I know that it’s normal at this point not to feel him move every day, but I still don’t like it (who said normal was great anyway).

I really am enjoying being pregnant right now. I feel great, am not the size of a house and my energy level is pretty normal (can’t blame going to bed at 9:00 on being pregnant because that was always my bed time). I just hope that I’ll soon be able to rest assured and stop this daily worry, although I have a feeling this is just the start of years of worrying that come with being a parent.

So just keep swimming little guy, Mama like the daily reminders of what’s going on inside my belly <3

Nursery Madness!

Have I mentioned I'm a planner? Needless to say I've spent hundreds of hours scouring the web looking at anything baby related. Between setting up our registry, getting inspiration for the nursery and shopping for furniture I've probably wasted a solid week online.

My baby obsession has only gotten worse since we've found out it's a boy. Now I can REALLY plan! Clearly the first place to start was the nursery. I have such a clear vision for what I want, a classic nursery that welcomes you in and makes it hard to leave. The perfect little haven for our little guy on the way.

The room is already a pale grey/blue that I love, enough blue to be appropriate for a boy without being in your face. Next came the bedding. But where to begin!? Again I didn't want anything that was too over the top (aka bats, trucks or anything sports related) - but didn't want to go so neutral that you couldn't tell what we were having.

Weeks into my online hunt I stumbled across a set from Pottery Barn, and fell in love. It was perfect. Just enough blue to say "I'm a boy", with that classic Pottery Barn finish. I simply couldn't wait any longer, I had to have it right now (patience is not my thing). Not able to wait a day longer (I mean they could all sell out overnight) I called my mom up and told her I found the set I wanted, and was going to go buy it.

A week later a huge Pottery Barn package arrived at my office. I immediately opened it up, ripped through the bubble wrap and pulled out the most beautiful quilt I have seen. It was exactly what I wanted. Absolutely perfect.

Here is a snap shot of the set from Pottery Barn, along with some other ideas I have for the room. Ohh what fun I'm having <3