Thank you Aunt Tessa!

We just want to thank Tessa for giving us the first gift for our baby.  This child will be very lucky to have her in his/her life.

Baby's 1st book!

Baby's first item

So here is the first item that has entered our house for the baby...

I bought it for the cost of shipping only through a special that one of the many pregnancy newsletters had.  It is a sling for carrying baby (as shown in picture).  This thing seems quite confusing and I don't have a baby to practice it on.  I, briefly, thought of trying to get Gracie to comply but her puppy body just isn't the right shape.  Oh well, we will figure it out when the time comes.

Also, I had a doctor's visit on the 9th.  All looks well.  I always hold my breath while my doc is looking for the heartbeat.  It is just one of those things...I can't see, hear, or feel this baby yet, so I need the reassurance that he/she is still there.  The most exciting thing that I learned on this visit was that our next ultrasound will be on October 6th and that is the day we will know if we are having a boy or a girl.  I cannot wait!

Trip to Folly Beach!

Over Labor Day weekend, we traveled with three other couples to Folly Beach, SC.  This is our 2nd year returning to this area.  I love its local vibe and how everything is walking distance away.  This is the trip that Jonathan was referring to in an earlier post.  And even though we did not have a physical baby with us this year, it was quite surreal to think that next year the two of us would be three.  Craziness...

However, here are some highlights from the trip:

The beach chased us away each day.  It is crazy how high the tides get on this coast.  Much different than the gulf.

Jonathan, Ansley, & Dustin are playing in the sand.  Ansley LOVES the sand.  Soon, she will have a playmate when we go to the beach!

Jonathan & I

The Schularick family

TJ & Kathleen

Dave & Amanda

So next year's trip will be completely different, but I can't wait to experience it!

Trip to Babies R Us

Candi and I had some time to kill yesterday before trivia so we went to walk around Babies R Us and gather some ideas of things that we would like. We started by looking at baby monitors and of course I go straight for mac daddy one with the seven inch flat screen color TV to watch my babies every move. That was shortly followed by Candi shooting me down to a black and white tube TV ....I guess we will call that a compromise.

The next stop was bottles and food storage containers which seems like it would be pretty straight forward but was any but that. So that brings up the question of what types of bottles to use and how many do you need? Daddy likes a six pack so that should be good enough for baby right? I thought that but then I saw a bottle drying rack that has spots for eight bottles so maybe baby and I jump it to a twelve pack. This is by far the most complex and confusing riddle that I have tried to figure out in years.

If that wasn't hard enough then we looked at strollers, pack and plays, swings, rockers, bouncy chairs, diaper bags, carrying devices for Carlos and diapers. There are so many different things to look at and decide on and we have only made one decision and that was on the stroller. It was the one that I blogged about earlier.

My amazing sister has offered a car seat and stroller combination that way we will have one in each vehicle without have to deal with any crazy switching when we are in a hurry. My wonderful friend Mindy has also offered up a swing that my god son used so there is another decision made.

As for the rest of it I am at a loss and so thankful that we saw that they offer a class called Gearing Up For Baby. We will be attending this class about a week before we find out if our boys name is good or if I have to start deciding on a girls name.

Even though this may be the most confusing thing that we have been through we just cant wait for the endless rewards that we will receive once this bundle of joy joins us in February.

Dreams...

Okay so I know it is a symptom of pregnancy to dream more, due to more interrupted sleep.  However, if all of my dreams are going to be like my latest one, then I do not want to dream at all! 

I dreamed that I woke up to take care of my child, but had no idea how to feed him/her.  Somehow, I had missed all the assistance in the hospital.  In my dream, I just stood there looking kind of dumbfounded at my child.

My logical side knows that this cannot happen as I am already planning on attending 2 different breastfeeding classes and I know there is no way I could go through an entire hospital stay without feeding my baby a single time.  The irrational side of me is a bit freaked out.  I think it is my unconscious concerns coming out reminding me that I have no idea what I am getting myself into.  But all I can do is take in the knowledge, and try and learn from all of the mistakes that I am sure to make.

~Candi

Getting Ready For Our First Trip With Baby In Tow

Nobody is really counting ...but maybe I am. We have roughly twenty-nine hours until we hit the road towards Folly Beach in South Carolina for the holiday weekend. I know that Candi has already taken this child all over the southeast it seems, but I am looking forward to getting away from work for a few and spending some time with the two most important people in my life and some pretty amazing friends as well. There will be more to come from this much needed get away, I just need time to be nice to us so we can hurry up and hit the road.