"Why couldn't they have come up with this sooner?"

We, in our humble home, have discovered a delightful new (to us) baby item. It's one of those things that I wish we had been able to get our exhausted parental hands on when the Bubs was a baby.

It's called a Bumbo Seat and the E-man loves it! We noticed that he loved to sit upright whenever he could, but we weren't always able to accomodate him...crying ensued. I happened to stumble across this infant seat in one of my online window shopping excursions and did some quick research to make sure it was worth the cashey-cash. Every review I read said to try it out in the store to make sure the legs fit.

Okay. Can do....and did. Everything was fine. We just have to make sure we don't put him in it too soon after he eats or else what went down would just come back up again. Ick.

The E-man LOVES his little blue chair and we love it right along with him! The Hubby and Bubs, true to form, got a little goofy with it. This time I have evidence!! See for yourself.

Gettin' ready for baby...

Between the few contractions I had the other day and the fact that every time I see a doc, my due date is bumped up by several weeks I'm feelin' the need to get my tush in gear and get ready for our baby's arrival (which is in around 3 months!). I'm nowhere near as frantic in my planning as I was when we were expecting the Bubs, but I know that some prep and pre-baby shopping will go a long way to cutting out some unneeded stress after our lil' love is here. Especially when the mom-in-law's here.....*ahem!*

Anyway...

I've looked at different articles and such and have picked up a few things. Most of them say the same things like taking help when it's offered, not stressing over housework, get as much ready ahead of time as possible, etc. I know for the first little while Hubby, Bubs and me will prob'ly forget the world around us and stare at our new bundle of joy. Not to mention, me and the Hubby will also be introducing the Bubs to his new role as big brother. So if the dishes don't get done right away, so be it. (My family's laughing at that last statement, by the way. They know I hate doing the dishes anyway!)

So far, I'm not that concerned about a nursery theme or a crib. Hubby and I have decided not to worry about getting a crib right now and, instead, get a co-sleeper to put in our room. We like the co-spleeper idea because it would put the baby within arm's reach and make those middle of the night eating and comforting sessions a lot easier. I found one that has storage underneath, too. Yay!

I may just be in a phase here, but for now I'm a little more concerned about making sure we have the essentials rather than the cutesy nursery stuff, etc. (Well, except for the clothes!) This could be because this is our second baby so we know what to look for, what items helped/didn't help, and a tiny bit about what to expect. So as Hubby and I work out what we really need and a few things that we want, I'm sure we're both thinking, "How long before we get our tax return money?"

Baby's first picture and due date news~

Yep, that's the first picture ever of our little Sweet Pea! Blurry though it may be, I've been showin' it off like it's a fancy portrait from a studio. On the left is a side view of the head and toward the right is its lil' tushy. The dotted line is where the doc had to do a crown to rump measurement to confirm my due date. The doc and her assisting med student got a kick out of trying to get this picture. Our Sweet Pea rolled, tumbled, hiccupped and practiced taekwondo on my bladder before finally settling down on its side and sucking its thumb. I could have layed there in all my inelegant dishabille and watched that child for another hour or two! I'm just sayin' is all.....

Anyway, the crown to rump measurement along with a physical exam revealed that I'm 4 weeks further along than we thought! My due date's been bumped up to early April instead of May. ~Note to self: Correct my baby ticker that's on my left sidebar.~ I think that puts me around 3 1/2 months along. I had been feeling the tiniest flutters, but I thought that was just wishful thinking.....or gas. From the way that child was movin' and groovin' yesterday, it's no wonder I had been feeling a tiny flutter every now and then!

To answer the question that I think most of you are yelling at your monitor....no, I didn't find out if it's a boy or a girl. However, I didn't notice any dangly boy bits. We'll just all have to wait and see what my next sonogram shows. The Hubs is downright certain that it's a girl because my pregnancy is so different from the Bubs's but won't be disappointed if it turns out to be another little boy. He just wants it to be healthy and I feel the same way.

Speaking of the Hubs, I was glad that he got to hear about the baby's antics and see the picture before he had to leave for another exercise. When I showed the picture to the Bubs, he didn't know how to react. I got a very quiet "uh-huh" and a sideways smile. *chuckles* In a way, he was almost embarrassed. He doesn't know what to think about the fact that the baby is in my tummy. That's okay, though. Maybe it will make more sense to him when my belly starts to get bigger. And won't that be fun? I can hear him right now, giggling over how big my tummy is! Oy.

Baby registries, showers and the loads of unwanted stuff that goes along with 'em...

Boondock Ramblings just did a post about going to a friend's baby shower. As the gifts were being ooohed and ahhed over, she mentally did a running commentary of the things the mommy-to-be won't really need....stuffed toys and such. As I was reading, I couldn't help but think back to the showers I had when I was prego with the Bubs. I had one at work and one that a couple of my aunts threw for me. While I appreciated both, I did get a few things that I didn't really need. There were the obligatory stuffed toys and extrememly bulky blankets that were far too heavy for where we live, but for the most part we were very blessed to get many of the things we needed. Like all first time parents, we needed everything!

Oh, and, mercy, did people take the opportunity of a new baby in the family to unload, er, I mean give gently used baby items to us. Or, at least some of it was gently used. It took me months to go through the lot of it! For heavens sake, there's not a thing wrong with handing down baby clothes and such, but PLEASE hand down in moderation and make sure it's usable. That way it's counted as a blessing and not a royal pain by the new parents.

Even though the Hubs and I aren't first time parents, we do still get a kick out of looking at all the baby sites online. Hubs is interested in the baby gear section and I'm usually interested in, well, everything. I'm still amazed at the sheer number of gadgets, toys, clothing lines and bedding designs that are available for babies. I go into overload if I'm not careful! However, I don't get sucked in by the diaper genies and wipe warmer type things. I didn't need 'em with our first baby and I doubt I'll need them with this one. Believe it or not, we still have a few things left over from when the Bubs was a baby so we don't need every little thing like we did before. (And the bank account breathes a sigh of relief!)

Some of my favorite things to use after I had the Bubs were my Boppy pillow, the silent mode on our home phone, one piece outfits, our tricked out pack-n-play (thanks Mom and Dad), burp cloths, the diswasher basket for bottle paraphanelia and, of course, the stroller/carseat travel system. Speaking of the carseat, the Hubs found a neat cover for it to keep the wind and cold out....you know, as opposed to bundling up the kid until he couldn't move. That was a great find and saved us a load of time and aggravation.

I think this time around I know what we can't do without and what isn't neccessary...at least not at first. For instance, I would love to have a co-sleeper to go next to our bed, a gentle noise maker to keep baby from waking up and a bottle warmer for those "holy cow what time is it?" feedings. On the flip side, I have no use for stuffed animals, no matter how precious, or a wipe warmer. My frivolous side isn't completely repressed, though. I'm in love with the little Trumpette socks that look like little shoes and the Babylegs products. I can't help myself, y'all!

And heaven forbid if you don't have a theme for your nursery! I didn't have a traditional theme for the Bubs like cars or frogs and it drove some people crazy. I made his quilt and the window treatments out of fabrics that I'd collected and had fun doing it. That was a memory that I wouldn't trade for anything. I just had an aversion to anything too cutesy or Winnie the Pooh. Sue me. Now I'm having a hard time coming up with things for this baby. I do like toile and vintagey kinda stuff, but that's kinda hard to come by (pre-made) on my budget. My Mom is prob'ly rolling her eyes and chuckling 'cause I've never had typical/easy tastes. I'll come up with somethin', don't you worry! For now I'm off to cruise the cyber aisles of babydom and get our registry goin'. You wouldn't believe how many people have already asked me where we're registered....