And So It Begins

Yes, I've waited until week 26 of the pregnancy to start a blog (pic is from week 24). I've been reading my friends' blogs much more often recently as I try to prepare myself for the birth of our daughter in June. Doing so made me realize how helpful (and entertaining) they are to prospective mothers, and so I decided to start one for our family. I hope I can keep it current, especially after the baby arrives!

Given we've had 26 weeks of exciting times, I have a lot to write about for this first post. The pregnancy has been going along fabulously. I had no morning sickness and very few other annoying symptoms, although I'm starting to get some back pains and have had indigestion problems off and on throughout. We found out in January that we're having a girl, which totally shocked us both. I'm an only child, but Lawrence has a brother, all male cousins, and a nephew. There are no girls in his generation of the family at all, although his mother comes from a family of all girls. I guess it was a 50/50 chance, but we had convinced ourselves it would be a boy. Over the past few weeks, we've slowly gotten used to the idea of raising a girl...or should I say I'm getting used to it. Lawrence is still holding out hope for a boy :)

I've been on a nesting rampage since the start of the year. I reorganized the hallway and kitchen cabinets to prepare for all the baby stuff we're soon to accumulate. I've been harassing Lawrence to clear out the baby's room so that I can start to envision what it will look like. I searched high and low for a bedding pattern that reflected our style without being too baby-ish or girly - couldn't find much that I was truly happy with. So, I turned to etsy.com to find a seamstress and fabric that was both affordable and perfect. I wish I was as gifted as my friend Nancy, or my mother, who are both very good seamstresses (although I don't think my mom has sewn in quite a few years). However, I found mellissasboutique who offers very reasonable prices and she has been extremely flexible with me so far as I try to figure out what fabric I want, and how I want her to pull it all together. There are a few more swatches coming later this week and then I think I'll finally be able to settle on the bedding pattern, which will determine the paint color(s) as well. I've already decided to go with a sheep theme for wall decor - we have to have something that babies it up, right? I ordered the pictures and wall hangings last week, so those should be here soon as well.

These are going to be wall decorations in the baby's room.


These are the front runners for bedding fabric





And here is the crib that is sitting in a box in the garage waiting for its home to clear out.

We've also been thinking about names. I have a favorite and Lawrence has a favorite, and we can only agree that we really don't like each others' favorites! There is one name that we both sort of like, but it hasn't completely grown on us yet. We'll probably take a few names into the delivery room and decide after we see what she looks like (and by then, my vote should count at least 100 times more than his, right?!)

Aside from having a baby, we have other changes in our lives, too. Lawrence started a new job today. He's working at Intel, same as me, just 2 buildings away. We'll have to see how that goes - it should be good, though! He's going to be a Project Analyst for product engineering, which means he's leaving IT behind - woohoo! And I started a new job about 2 months ago. It's a rotation program for MBAs, so I'll be changing jobs again when I get back from maternity leave (probably at the beginning of September). The new jobs should keep us both on our toes!

Well, I think that about does it for now. Hopefully I haven't lost you with the length of the first post - I promise to be more brief in the future!