Baby registry

This subject is a tricky one for me.  I like to think of myself as gracious and humble, so making a big giant list of things I want, that I am implying others should buy for me, is a struggle.  For my wedding registry I pushed these feelings aside and told myself that others appreciated knowing what to get me and would be able to choose from a variety of items, all at different prices, and that no guilt was necessary.  I thought I was being fun and light hearted about it when I would post things on social media about receiving/not receiving things from it, but I was bluntly (and anonymously) informed by someone that I came off as ungrateful and entitled.  Thus I am shy about referencing it at all. 

However, a good friend asked me yesterday where I was registered, and if I have a top ten most wanted items from that list.  To answer those questions, I am registered at Target, and I definitely do.  If you would be offended by me talking about wanting people to buy me specific things, please stop reading here.  If you would appreciate some guidance or more information, feel free to proceed.  Please note that we need everything on the list I made and therefore we would appreciate anything someone is nice enough to spend time and money on. 

I also understand that people often just buy what they think is cute instead of something from the registry that is boring but infinitely useful, such as plain burp cloths or bottles.  (One woman in my prenatal yoga class regaled us with the tale of 4 baby bathing suits and 6 pairs of jellies, with barely anything that was actually needed being gifted).  So after making this list I will just let go of all expectations and look forward to spending time with people that love us and are looking forward to meeting our little girl.

With all of that in mind, here is our top ten.

We are registered at Target

1.  Little Castle Glider in Blue Stripes - I absolutely love sitting in the one my niece, Lark, has and can imagine I will be spending lots of time in this one, either nursing or napping.
2.  Little Castle Ottoman Blue Stripes - Because the the only way the glider can be better is if I can put my feet up!
3.  Graco DuetConnect LX Swing + Bouncer - I love that this is in two items in one, and I know I will use both items extensively, the swing when she is sleeping and the vibrating bouncy chair when she is awake.  I even have the spot for it picked out in the living room so that I can see her from the kitchen/laundry area if I'm doing housework.  This is something we will definitely buy if we don't receive it.
4. Graco Lauren Convertible Crib - I know that she won't use this too much for the first six months or so, but this is something that she will sleep in as she grows and we should get lots of good use of it after those first six months.
5.  Sealy Crib Mattress - Because she would be a little uncomfortable in the crib without it, and it came most highly recommended in Baby Bargains.
6.  Serta Changing Pad - We will definitely use this!!
7.  Philips Avent Audio Monitor - With this I can be working on a different floor than the one where she is sleeping, and I know I will appreciate the freedom!
8.  Health and Safety Kit - All of the items on my lists to get for her grooming routine in one spot, how can you go wrong!
9.  Philips Avent 4 ounce bottles - I already have the corresponding breast pump, and I hear you go through quite a few of these if you share feeding responsibilities, which I will definitely do :-)
10.  Hooded Towel and Washcloth Set - Katie and Sahil were nice enough to share their baby tub with us, so to successfully complete bathtime, all we need are these items, thanks, guys!


I hope this is helpful to anyone who wants to be kind enough to gift our family with something that will make the first year more manageable for us. 

Thanks to anyone interested enough to read it!

Acceptance is the final stage

I must accept it - I can no longer fit into clothes like I used to.


I went shopping for my Florida baby shower dress today, and of course my first stop was the regular dress rack.  I have been doing well finding clothes in non-maternity stores since my belly has been fairly manageable, and lots of clothes have a decent amount of stretch. Today I was bold and grabbed a cute cap sleeve dress with a little belt in a washable material that was heavy like brocade.

Yeah, it was a poor choice.  First, I struggled to get it on (always a bad idea to proceed when this happens).  I did manage to get it on, and with the help of a friend zipped it up and fastened the belt, but man, did it look bad.  I need to remember that my waist is not where it used to be.  It might not exist any more at all.  It had no stretch and made me look frumpy. Sad face.

Luckily there was a jersey dress with an interesting side detail that looked very cute, which I wound up taking home. I don't think it'll work much longer into the pregnancy, but the shower is only five weeks away, so I'll be good.  I even stuffed my shirt under the dress to make sure it had some stretch in it, and it totally does!

We'll see how much longer non-maternity clothing will last, but for now the acceptance process has started, and I'm sure it'll keep going for a while after she's here!

Watching the ocean waves

The most amazing thing happened yesterday.

I was sitting on the couch in my usual reclined position, enjoying feeling her move as she usually does.  All of a sudden I noticed that she was getting stronger, and remembering that Audrey said that she could start to see little "pops" on the outside shortly after feeling her move for the first time, I decided to take a closer look.  Not five seconds after I moved my shirt, I saw a quick rolling motion from my belly button to the left side of my belly.  I was so excited!!!  I called Jeremy down and he stared with me for a while, and sure enough there were a couple more pops!  I'm so glad she is getting bigger and stronger, it's such a relief as a worrisome mom-to-be.

Something else fun that I noticed, she's already a lot like her daddy!  Right before falling asleep the other night, she kicked in this little pattern of three kicks that was the exact same rhythm and timing as Jeremy as he fell asleep next to me!  Literally, the covers moved in time with my belly.  I was so thrilled that I woke him up to share the news, and to his credit he said positive things before passing back out again, even though he was super groggy!

I am finding new things to enjoy about this little one every day :-).

Getting loose

Today I attended my first prenatal yoga class. I gotta say, my hips have never felt better!  I hear nothing but positive things from friends that have taken regular yoga classes during pregnancy, and since I loved taking them even without childbirth looming in my future, I decided to start ASAP.

I was surprised by how much I can still use my ab muscles, since I have been terrified to do so since getting pregnant (seriously, I struggle with guilt when sitting up from a fully laid out position), and it felt very reassuring that the teacher is a former labor and delivery nurse.  I have definitely lost a lot of flexibility in the year and a half since my last class, but I love being back on track.  I wasn't even the least pregnant person there, so I didn't feel silly about coming so early.

In addition to extra strength and flexibility, I am hoping to be able to make some connections with other moms in the area.  Today I feel like I made a fool of myself talking too much since I was nervous, and there were only four other women in there who already knew each other well, so maybe there aren't any potential BFFs in this group, but I'm hoping that as time goes by and people join it's still a possibility.

So now I get to sail through the day with limber hips and no leg cramps to slow me down, and I'm seriously looking forward to Monday's class :-).

Telling clients

As a general rule I don't like to share personal information with my clients.  I don't even keep family photos on my desk (other than a picture of Roxy) to keep my boundaries with them.  So when something so obviously personal like pregnancy comes up, it becomes a little awkward in the therapeutic relationship.  The most important feature of one's relationship with the therapist is that it is completely one-sided.  We are here to talk about you, not me.  But when there is a pregnancy in the room, it becomes very interesting and what people want to talk about.  And it becomes a lot of work to get them to focus on their own stuff.  When you work with kids you also get to deal with weird questions and even weirder name suggestions (one kid believes "Dinosaur" is the best name option).

What's funny to me is that despite the fact that I haven't been working to hide my belly, clients have only recently started to notice.  The reaction has been varied, from a 6 year old girl pretending to faint to an adult bluntly asking me if this was planned or not.  I have a book called "My Teacher is Having a Baby" that I found one day thrifting that has helped me to talk to my kids about it, but I always forget to leave out the part at the end when the teacher brings the baby in to visit.  I'm not sure I want the kids I work with to be around my baby, as I had to tell at least one of them what was happening so that she would be more gentle with me in her play and stop barreling into my legs.  Another one insisted that he would be able to take my baby home after he met it.  Soooo, yeah.  Maybe just a quick picture?

Overall the biggest question is always, "what's going to happen to me?," wondering if I'm going to quit the biz and reassign them to a new therapist.  My answer is always, you will do without me for six weeks, then I'll be back.  It's a little flattering to hear that none of them so far have wanted a new therapist, and that they are all relieved that I will be back.  I just hope I can keep my promise and come back after only six weeks like I plan to do!

And in the morning, I'm making WAFFLES

One of the more popular questions for pregnant ladies is, "having any strange cravings?"  In my opinion, "strange" is a tough word to define, since anything out of the ordinary can be considered strange, but I have not had any of the pickles and ice cream or peanut butter and squid type cravings.  I have eaten things that wouldn't be eaten together in close succession, such as having grapes right after eating a bunch of pickles along side a handful of Cheez-Its, but I've always randomly grazed like that.  I have, however, been having some cravings for specific foods.

The first one that I noticed was my craving for waffles.  It started innocently enough, with breakfast for dinner one night.  Two nights later, I suggested to Jeremy that we eat at Dame's Chicken and Waffles, a restaurant downtown to which I had been once with a coworker, so Jeremy never got to try it.  Nothing too odd, but I didn't get chicken, just the waffles (and turkey bacon, yummm).  Right after that, Jeremy was out of town on business for a couple of nights and I made waffles twice in three days.  And then once after he got home.  That last time, I started eating them fresh off the iron and didn't pay too much attention to how many I was eating until Jeremy came in hungry for dinner and noticed that there weren't any to be had, other than the ones currently being made.  I started counting and realized I had eaten 8.  EIGHT!!  Whoops.  Since then it has slowed down a little, but my boss hooked me up with Carbon's Malted waffle mix, which is divine but much more filling, so I'm down to 3 or 4 per sitting.  Still nothing to sneeze at, but not strange, right?

The rest of my cravings have been largely for sweets and starches as well.  Mostly crusty loaves of bread or ice cream, particularly DQ soft serve.  We don't really have one here in Greensboro, so I have gone without for a long time.  However, on my way to Charlottesville to visit Sandi and her family I noticed that there was one just off an exit of a state road.  And I had two dollars in my wallet that needed spending.
Yeah, I totally pulled over.

Insert shame face here.

When I was in Charlottesville I also had uncontrollable thoughts of Bodo's breakfast sandwiches, so of course I had to have one.  What was weird was that one usually filled me up for most of the day, but immediately after finishing it, I realized I could eat at least one more.  It was full of protein so I guess it wouldn't have been that bad, but it is also full of fat.  Delicious, delicious fat.

Awlllawwwllawwllll (That's Homer for yum!)

Other than that I have been eating as normal, although meals have gotten smaller and more frequent.  I always keep almonds, dried fruit, and sunflower seeds in my work bag to snack throughout the day and Jeremy has been great about making sure that I get at least one tall glass of milk and veggies every day.  Can't wait to see what happens through the rest of this pregnancy!

Helloooo in there

Being a psychology undergrad I got to take quite a few child and developmental psychology courses in my youth.  One of the most fascinating things I learned in one of them was that babies can hear from the time their ears develop at 16 weeks, and studies have shown that they can actually remember repetitive things that they heard in utero, such as a bedtime story read every night by a parent, or a particular song that was played very often.  Of course, when I found out I was pregnant I started planning what to read and to play when our little one got to the 16 week milestone, if only to arm ourselves with something that was scientifically proven to be soothing.  After a lot of thought I settled on "Goodnight Moon" for the book (it was one of my favorites and nice and short) and "Rainbow Connection" as covered by Jason Mraz for the song (I wanted to pick something I wouldn't mind listening to over and over).  I posted the youtube version of "Rainbow Connection" below in case any one wants to listen along with her.  It's very dreamy, and I think it helped Sandi's son fall asleep once!

I have been reading to her every night since she hit 16 weeks, except for nights when I was traveling, or when it was Jeremy's turn.  I think he is still considering reading something different to her, probably something by Dr. Seuss, but on his first night he chose Fox in Sox (one of the only Seusses we have right now), which is a very long tongue twister book.  To his credit he got through it, and she was moving around a lot while he did it, but it was a little too challenging to do every other day.  Actually, I think she likes it better when he reads since she moves a lot more while he's doing it, perhaps because of his nice, deep voice :-).  Since then he has stuck with "Goodnight Moon" too, at least until I can find our own copy of Green Eggs and Ham on my thrifty travels.

Side note: has any one else read "Goodnight Moon" closely lately?  It's a little strange, in that the random old lady appears out of thin air, hushes the kid, can only be seen by the kittens, then disappears again.  She has no name.  No one else sees her.  I think she's a ghost.  End of aside.

We have been having lots of fun with this whole process, prepping ourselves for when we have a family bedtime routine with a little girl instead of a little bump.  It is so sweet to spend time all together, to hear Jeremy read and to feel her roll around, then to play her music until it's time to sleep.  May we remember these times when we are seriously considering reading her "Go the F*** to Sleep!" and praying for her to finally zonk out!