Simply Amazing

This morning Ib and I went for our first ultrasound. The doctor moved our due date out a few weeks and it's now September 29th. She measured the image and said the baby is 9 weeks (but I'm still technically "11 weeks pregnant"). See, I knew math never made sense.

We could see the umbilical cord. We also heard the baby's heartbeat. It was the most amazing thing I've ever heard. I could have sat there and listened to it all day.

This shows the perfect circle of the amnio sac surrounding the baby. Pretty impressive stuff, this pro-creation business. We have another ultrasound scheduled for April 22nd, and should be able to find out then if it's a boy or a girl.

The perfect ending to our great day: The giraffe crib set arrived this afternoon and it is CUUUUTE!

I Rest My Case...

For the duration of this pregnancy, I will not entertain one complaint about the amount of baby stuff I buy, or how much it cost.

As I was minding my own business, snoozing on the couch last night, Ib excitedly wakes me up to show me his first purchase for the baby:

Lucky for us, there is an entire website devoted to infant & toddler skater clothes: www.littleruler.com. I am chuckling to myself as he's browsing through the onesies and hoodies this morning, saying "Look how cute this is!" and "It's a beanie with matching shoes!" He is also giggling. I love my husband!

Pint-sized Santa Cruz and Independent gear are at the top of his list, though he's refusing to create a registry. Just sayin'....

The Madness Begins

After days of stalking Craigslist, I found what I was looking for. A beautiful cherry wood crib, with a price that couldn't be beat. I emailed the seller and bit my nails waiting for a response. Unfortunately, someone had already moved in for the kill. I was bummed, but figured we still have 7 months to shop around. Something would come up.

Thursday afternoon I got an email from the seller. Her buyer had gone MIA and she wondered if we were still interested. YA-HOOOO! We made arrangements to meet and went to pick it up after work. It's exactly what I wanted and I couldn't be happier with our first baby purchase. (Excuse the pink...this was the ad photo!)

We also got a nice mattress, so as soon as I make that ebay purchase for the giraffe bedding set, we'll be ready to rock! An exciting note on that: the seller keeps dropping the price because no one is buying...patience IS a virtue!

This was waiting in the mailbox when we got home yesterday. Auntie Nini sent some great pregnancy books, Analise made some fridge-art and we got our first onesie. It's so tiny and cute! I'm hooked. (Hooray for giraffes! This will be one of Grandma's favorites, I'm sure!)

Next mission: Get out the paint brushes and rollers again!

Catching Up

Every year, during the first two weeks of February, Tucson hosts the largest Gem & Mineral Show in the country. Hotels are booked up a year in advance. Traffic quadruples (no thanks to the I-10 construction). It's something to see, for sure.

Of course, I especially look forward to the arrival of the gem show because Rohana, Reef and Tawnisha always come out for a week or so. This year was no exception. With Apollo in tow, Reef and Tawnisha made the drive from Colorado. In keeping with tradition, we went straight to Takamatsu for dinner.


Tawnisha and I spent the week exchanging pregnancy symptoms, while Reef entertained himself playing dress-up with Vinnie and Cooper. He's going to be a great dad!


Vinnie was not amused, as usual, but Cooper was a surprisingly good sport. He looked pretty tough in that surfer-dog muscle shirt.


Ro flew in from Florida, and Hass and Farlan came down from Phoenix to join us for a BBQ. Unfortunately, Amy and Shanika couldn't make it. But we did get the cutest card for the baby...even Jayden signed it. Pete and Little Pete stopped by and we all enjoyed some good grub and fun.

Everyone got in some good shopping and we spent quality family time together. The house seems so empty now that everybody has gone home. We're already looking forward to next year! We miss and love you guys!

9 Weeks and Counting

To be honest, I'm suprised it took me this long. Afterall, I did find myself in the clearance aisle at Target scarfing up toys like they were going out of style just after Christmas. I've got baby and toddler toys stashed away in the closet. And that was before we even knew we were pregnant. Unless I was getting telepathic communication from the womb..."MOM! CAN I HAVE THAT PLEEEEEESE?!" Uh-oh. It's starting already.

One nice thing about having a baby is that so many people are more than happy to buy baby things. Like my sister-in-law put it, "Who would have thought people would give you presents, just for having sex?!" Of course, for a shop-a-holic like myself, it can be downright torture. Last night Ib reminded me that many of our friends are also saving up their no-longer-needed baby items and just to "settle down" on my shopping urges. And just when I thought I'd found a new hobby... Who does he think he is, anyway?

I've been scouring Craigslist and think I found a pretty sweet deal on a crib. Just waiting to find out if it's the convertible type. Yeah...2 weeks ago, I wouldn't have even known what a convertible crib was. Talk about getting an education!

My next appointment is February 19th. We'll be able to hear the heartbeat then. But we've still got a while to wait before we find out if it's a girl or a boy. Either way, I've pretty much made up my mind on the color of the room already. I've been on a strange aqua kick as of late. I never cared much for shades of aqua...except in about 1987 when "teal" first appeared in my Crayola 64 Box. But I think aqua is the ticket. If it's a boy, we can accent more with greens. If it's a girl, we can add some purples. I can't wait to go buy paint!

So since I thought I might have the crib taken care of, it led me to bedding. Let the fun begin! Again, I was schooled in a hurry when I realized baby bedding can be more expensive than a queen size comforter set. I'm in the wrong business! Babies and weddings: That's where the money is, folks. Honestly! People are buying these "designer" $500+ crib sets...WHAT IN THE WORLD FOR?! Oh, maybe they have the non-pooping, non-puking type of babies. Obviously, I'll need to do a little more research that one.

And then, I found it. Ebay never lets me down! I hope Ib likes it. I'll have to run it by him when he wakes up. Then I can start saving pennies.