Michael and Terri (and Kira)

 

My cousin Michael (who is my favorite baby that I ever babysat) and his wife sent us this and another sleeper and a sleep sack for the baby. They have a little girl named Kira who was born this year. Mike and I met her on July 4 in NJ, when she was just weeks old. Anyway, it was very nice of Terri, she wrote a note and said that she had been getting winter clothes for Kira and figured we might need stuff for a winter baby since we both had summer babies. She and I had the same due date, June 14, for our kids. Terri said she thinks we are having a girl and she is very intuitive about me because she knew the day Anthony was born that he was born before anyone told her. It's as reasonable as any other guess about this baby's sex, I guess.

Baby Legs

These are cute right? I might get some of these after the baby is born.

GD

Here's my blood sugar monitor for the gestational diabetes I have. It's a drag to test but I haven't had any bad results yet. I saw the doctor yesterday and he said if it stays good for another week I can go to just testing in the morning, instead of four times a day.

...and this is where the baby will sleep...

 

...hopefully. Anthony would never lay his sweet head down in this thing for a second. Marita borrowed it and used it when Cooper was tiny, so so far he's the only baby I've ever seen sleep in it. It's in the guest room/new nursery right now but we're going to have it in our room for the first several weeks, while Mike's off of work. It's so nice, it plays music and it can either rock or be locked into position.

Belly - 32 weeks

 

Mike pointed out to me this morning that although we tracked Anthony's progress with belly shots, we have practically none of my belly this time. So in the interest of not playing favorites, here's a shot. I had an ultrasound last week because I was measuring 35 cm when I should have been measuring 30. There was a regular ultrasound tech and a student and they were both like "holy crap! this is a big baby!" The head size is measuring almost full term. I don't care as much this time because I'm having a c-section anyway and as my doctor said "we'll just make the incision bigger".

31 weeks

 

These are my normal pajamas and they're big, so they cover this 31 week belly. But just barely!

I forgot

I took this May 17 of this year - almost six months ago! I promptly threw the test away, I'm not a person who is sentimental about things that I've peed on. I have friends that keep all their pregnancy tests but just ... I am not one of them. But I did take a picture. And I wanted to post it, because we were so, so excited and surprised and happy. And just in case over the next several months, when we haven't slept or whatever, I feel not so surprised and happy and grateful, I want to look at this picture and remember how great it was to find out that we were expecting this baby.

 

New Clothes

 

These are from Mike's mom, they are the softest sweetest little sleep sacks. We are getting the baby's room ready, washing clothes, etc. We moved the changing table dresser into the baby's room, although we still get Anthony ready for bed in there. I was going to buy a crib mattress from someone this week but it wasn't working out, time wise, so I figure I'll just buy one new. They're not that expensive and this way we'll have a new one.

Only 12 weeks until the baby is born, probably less. We are going to do a scheduled c-section so I'll probably go at more like 38/39 weeks than 40. So maybe the second week in January? My cousin Lisa is due in 2.5 weeks but she is having a C on Friday, her baby is breech. So we're praying for her this Friday!

From Laura

My sister got this for the baby, on a most excellent sale from .. I wanted to say Eddie Bauer, but maybe it's Land's End? Anyway, it's super soft and warm. It's going to be so different having a baby in the winter, I have no idea about everything we'll need. My friend Katie has two girls born in January so I am going to hit her up for her car seat cover. I only need one for a few months anyway. I'm borrowing a car seat from my friend Marita. We only had Anthony in his carry around car seat for like four months because then he got too heavy to carry him and the seat. So after four or five months we're going to put this baby in Anthony's old Britax. I hate to buy stuff for just a few months, but the carry around car seat we used with Anthony is expired and we can't use it anymore, which is too bad as it snaps into the stroller. I'm not getting a double stroller, I think they're kind of dumb, for now. I'm hoping to carry the baby in a carrier for a while and then I'm hoping Anthony will be old enough to walk and not be a complete misery. I'm probably setting myself up for failure there!

 

Soother

I am going to get one of these for this new baby. I never had one with Anthony and I don't know if it would have helped but I'd like to find out. I gave one to my cousin Michael and his wife Teri for their new baby Kira and I think they like it.

Girl Name

Our girl name is Maria Kathleen. Maria is for Mary, referenced here. Long ago, when Mike and I were dating, we talked about baby names that we liked and I liked Marie but he liked Maria and then I liked it too. I guess I'm easily led, but it seems like with our one syllable last name, it's no problem to front load the syllables. Kathleen is for my sweet friend Kathy, who died three years ago this month. I talked about her here. This was our girl name for Anthony too. We didn't see any reason to change, and since we didn't use it yet, it's back on the table, as it were.

Boy Name

If we have a boy, we're going to name him Augustine Thomas, for St. Augustine and St. Thomas. Mike's confirmation name is Thomas too, for St. Thomas More. It's a Catholic convention (long forgotten by some, which is too bad, imho) to name children for Saints and I love it. It makes it very easy to pick names and then they really mean something to us. Here is the Wikipedia entry for St. Augustine (which Mike looked up for me, so thanks Mike) and here is the info on St. Thomas More. He's the patron saint of Lawyers. We're going to call the baby boy Gus.

Moby Wrap

I am thinking of getting one of these to carry this baby around. I have read some good reviews on it. We have one of these, we got it from Mike's people at work, but I don't think it will be good until the baby can hold his head up, at least pretty well. Maybe like 8 or 10 weeks? Anyway, I do have another sling, like this, but I think I want to try that Moby Wrap. I have a friend that's done with hers and I might wait and try it out once I have an actual baby to put it in.

Mattress

Here's the new mattress we need to get. If anyone sees it cheaper anywhere, let me know. We won't need to get it for a while, as our guest room is going to be the new baby's room and my Mom will be staying in there for a while after LNT is born. We are going to try to keep this baby in the bassinet in our room for the six weeks that Mike is home from work. We'll see how it works. We honestly have no idea how to work with a normal baby. I hope we get to find out!

Clothes

Here's a picture of some clothes we bought yesterday. Because LNT is coming in the winter and Anthony came at the beginning of the summer, we have hardly any newborn wintry clothes. Mike and Anthony and I walked to the mall yesterday and got sleepers at the Children's Place and also at the Colts Pro Shop. They're so super cute and soft. I have to go through Anthony's stuff and see what newborn stuff we have - I think the baby will be okay in short sleeved stuff in the house right? We'll have the heat on. Mike was saying today maybe these sleepers will be enough, along with the IU sleeper he bought the baby (not pictured, it's upstairs and I'm too lazy to go get it). But I think we're both forgetting how many clothes a newborn requires. I remember days with Anthony where he was in his third outfit by noon!

I am thinking of cloth diapering this one. I have a lot of friends on the internet that do it, and they seem to have great success. I haven't decided yet but I should, soon. I love the idea of not making all that garbage.

First Post

I started this blog to record stuff about the last 100 or so days of my pregnancy with Baby Number Two. I'm going to record some information about doctor visits, how we're feeling, how Anthony (this baby's older brother) feels about the new baby, stuff we need to get, etc. etc. I talked to my sister Laura tonight about the new babe and what I need to get done in the next few months and I decided on a blog. It's been great for documenting Anthony's first 2.25 years (anthonyjoseph2005.blogspot.com) so I'm hoping it will be for our Lucky Number Two.

The baby is due January 15, 2008 but I tell everyone I'm due at 'the end of the year' so that it seems sooner and if the baby is listening, perhaps he or she will cooperate and come early. As my Uncle Leo said, it's just stupid to have a baby in January if you could have one in December. So we'll see!