October 13, 2009

• 20 weeks and we're halfway there!

  Today I'm officially halfway through my pregnancy. It's that old cliche: in a way, it feels like it has flown by, in other ways, I feel like I've been pregnant forever! It's like this little girl has just always been a part of our lives and consciousness. She's been waiting in the wings up in heaven all this time and now she's finally center stage! Everything is different now.

  My good friend Ariel came for a visit with her three kids this past weekend. She brought me a HUGE diaper cake full of little goodies! Mittens, outfits, shoes, baby shampoo and lotion, burp cloths, handmade hats, headbands with bows, a bib, etc. Just all kinds of cuteness, along with a few adorable outfits that her daughter had worn. After I was able to stop drooling at its beauty, I finally took it apart on Sunday. As I was unrolling diapers and stacking them on the changing table, it just kind of hit me. I don't know what it was, maybe the smell or texture of Pampers Swaddlers, but it suddenly felt real. Like a real baby was going to be living here. I love that she has her own space. She doesn't have a nursery of her own, but that changing table shelf is just full of baby things that make me so happy.

  She now has her own space in the closet as well. Right under daddy's clothes. The juxtaposition is just darling. There's all these tiny little feminine clothes in soft colors and fabrics hanging right under all these huge manly clothes. I love it. She has some clothes now because my friend Adrienne and I went shopping in Park City on Saturday. I did have a lot of back pain, but all the moving around and breaks in the car seemed to help. Definitely a lot better than trying to sit still through a class for an hour.

  Baby clothes are more expensive than I'd realized. You'd think their small size would come with a small price tag, but no. I really had to do some bargain hunting. And I did well! Everything I bought was a real necessity, and was at least 50% off (with the exception of one pack of socks that was only 25% off.) I didn't buy hardly anything in newborn size, as I assume that's what a lot of people will give me at my baby showers. And also, because if she's big, she won't wear newborn size very long at all. There were SO many cute things that I really wanted, but I just couldn't bring myself to pay $40 for a baby dress. Once she's here and I know for sure what size to buy, I might splurge on a few, but as much as I wish I could really spoil this kid, I just can't. She'll be spoiled with love though, and that's what kids really want and need anyway. We went by the Baby Expo in Sandy on the way home and that was really fun. I had to cut it short though because my back was KILLING ME. Ugh, it hurt so bad. I have a feeling I'm going to be spending most of my last trimester in bed.

  After I bought some baby hangers and got all her new clothes up in the closet, Jeremy comes waltzing into the room and jumps on to the bed on his belly with his chin in his hands and said, "Fashion Show!" It was pretty hilarious. He'd been watching football the whole time I was unpacking the baby clothes so I didn't think he was interested. However, he made me show him every new baby item I'd bought. He seemed to like the things I picked out. After I'd shown him everything he said, "Isn't it so hard to wait for her to get here and be wearing those?" Cute.

  Yesterday was really fun. Jeremy had a rough morning and missed work, and I wasn't able to get out of bed to do a full day of classes due to excruciating back pain. So we had a fun afternoon to make up for it. We went to several grocery stores looking for Kraft Dips! brand french onion dip. The Walmart out here used to carry it but not anymore. It's my favorite and the only kind of dip I really like. We went all over looking for it. Well, Jeremy did, and I stayed in the car reclined in the passenger seat. Haha, I'm kind of pathetic. After a fruitless effort to find dip, we went to Babies R' Us. I only wanted to run in long enough to try a few drop side cribs, but we ended up staying for hours. The dropside cribs were nice, and I was able to use them easily by using my wheelchair (instead of my knee) to push the bottom of the rail in. They seemed to work smoothly and easily. They were ugly though. Haha, I'm hoping to find a better one online because the ones at the store were plasticy feeling and not cute. But as Jeremy loves to say, "functionality trumps design." So if I have to get an ugly crib that is easier to use, so be it.

  After trying all the cribs, my back was hurting pretty bad so we were just going to take a quick look at strollers. However, we ended up trying every single stroller brand they had. I honestly don't know how I sat there so long. I think the excitement of trying all the strollers, and all the moving around I was doing made a difference. Jeremy was having a great time, folding and unfolding every stroller multiple times, trying every feature, etc. His enthusiasm was obvious. I think it's because this is something he can contribute to. I asked him once if he felt like an outsider since all this baby growing is happening in my body and not his. He said that yes, it was hard to feel involved, but that he felt involved when doing other things for the baby like putting together the changing table and stuff. I think that makes sense.

  I originally had my heart set on the Bertini travel system, but it was just too big for our car, and had a couple design flaws that were pretty annoying. So we ended up choosing a Chicco. It was lighter, fits in the car better, brilliantly designed, folded smoothly and easily, and had lots of nice extra features. Most importantly, it has the best safety standards on the car seat. American brands only have to pass safety tests at 45mph I think, while the Chicco is European, and is tested at 75mph. That made a big difference to me. I specifically want the KeyFit 30 so that it will last longer (30 lbs of baby vs. 22 lbs.) They didn't have any KeyFit 30s at the store so I'm going to get it from Amazon instead. It's on my registry on there, and it's cheaper than the KeyFit 22s at Babies R' Us. I want it in the bluish-greenish color they have, called Adventure. I'm pretty excited about it. Actually, the color I liked the best was pink, but Jeremy said I could only have that one if we knew the next baby was going to be a girl. And since we don't know that, no cute pink stroller and car seat for me.

  Well, I'm off to lay down for a while (dang anterior placenta!) and try to do some studying without falling asleep. I'll try to give another update after our big ultrasound this Friday. So excited to see Baby Girl Swafford again! (And hoping she's still a girl and the original ultrasound wasn't wrong because it would really be a pain to return all the girl stuff I bought...haha.) I have been feeling little nudges and bumps that I think are the baby moving. I'm hoping at the ultrasound I'll be able to tell for sure that it's her!

  • 1:22 pm
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