Buying for Baby

As this amazing pregnancy has just flown by, I just realized that I haven't bought ANYTHING except diapers for baby Charlie.  How very different than my spending habits while pregnant with Carter, when I pretty much bought every adorable baby item I could find.  Since I'm approaching 35 weeks pregnant, I figured that now would be a good time to buy a couple of fun things for my newest little guy.

I have been hearing rave reviews from many, many moms for Sophie, a cute little giraffe teether.  Now, I have my doubts about how life-changing this toy will be, but I have seriously never heard moms get so excited about a toy before.  Worth a shot!

Since receiving blankets were incredibly well-loved by Carter and he was happily swaddled for months, our selection of blankets is pretty pathetic.  I have a bunch, but they are all shrunken and pilly from so much washing and use.  I found some super-soft and cozy, oversized swaddling blankets that I think will be just perfect for Charlie.  

I can't wait to bundle him up! 

Such a BOY!

Carter, the child who has refused to sit through an entire movie at the theatre, and rarely can be convinced to watch one at home, suddenly has an increased attention span - for sports games.  Much to this Food-Network-HGTV-loving-momma's dismay, the other members of my family have a huge preference for basketball, soccer, and football games.  It's not basketball season, you say?  Oh, well, (sadly) there are still games on - 24 hours a day, thanks to the wonders of cable tv.  All of this game watching is also accompanied by thousands of questions.  What is his name? What is a backcourt violation? Why did they blow the whistle?  Do you like this team better than that team?  ... and on and on...  The funniest part so far?  Carter watching the NBA draft with Chris yesterday.  There was a rapid-fire series of about 150 questions in the first 5 minutes that Chris had to endure.  Thank goodness he has the patience of a saint.  He has come to love basketball so much, that now he is pretending to be the players when he is outside shooting hoops - the other day, he was "Bosh Chris Nowitsky" and he was playing against "The Lebron James".  Hehehehe :-)

Happy Father's Day

It is so hard to believe that we are celebrating Chris's sixth Father's Day.  From the very first day of being Carter's dad, he has been so incredibly loving, kind and patient (definitely more than I am!).  Every year has brought new celebrations and new challenges as parents, and I have always been so proud of the choices Chris makes as he guides Carter through these tricky early years.   What a gift it is to be so close to seeing him with a newborn again.  Carter and I (and soon, Charlie) are so blessed to have this guy - what an AMAZING dad.

The Bump - 32 weeks

32 weeks tomorrow! I was able to get to yoga twice this week, so I'm feeling pretty proud of myself.  My sciatic is not agreeing with me (or the weight of a baby pressing on it), so the extra stretching has been so helpful.  I'm so lucky to have a husband that not only provides for me to stay at home, but doesn't mind that I have to hire a babysitter to get myself out of the house a couple times a week.  Lucky me! 

31 Weeks!

With all of the distraction from the big move and the end of the school year, my pregnancy seems to be progressing so fast! I am amazed that I've already passed the 31 week mark. I am still feeling great, especially now that we are in this gorgeous weather and I'm trying to finish things up in the nursery. Baby Charlie has officially started the alien-movement stage, and I just love watching him lazily roll around and stretch my stomach into interesting shapes.

Obviously, because of the move, I had to find a new hospital and doctor. Thanks to the recommendations of Internet strangers and their blogs, I chose a midwifery practice that delivers babies at a hospital in Portland (about 30 min from us). This hospital offers water births, which sounded like the perfect option for me. I had my first appointment with the midwives this week, and I LOVED them! I am so happy to get to experience this kind of care. I also liked my ob, but my appointments barely lasted 5 minutes. This appointment was 45 minutes long - the midwife spent so much time just getting to know me and talking about all of the aspects of my pregnancy, thus far. I left feeling like I had made a new friend :-) She even sent me off with some restaurant recommendations to try and get to before baby Charlie joins us. I'll be seeing a lot of them, since my appointments are now every 2 weeks. The end is certainly creeping up! Hope we are ready for what is soon to come!

We Made It!

It is hard to believe all that has transpired in the last two weeks.  Carter and I wrapped up the end up the school year - he had a fun water day and pizza party with his class to celebrate his "graduation" from pre-K, and I spent lots of time packing up odds and ends in my classroom, readying it for the next teacher.  It was bittersweet... I LOVED teaching at Camelview (for a 3rd time!) and I will really miss the friends I have made there over the past 7 years, but I am filled with excitement over my next job... just being MOM.  I am so glad to be able to devote more time to Carter, without lesson planning and work stress nagging at me.  Today, we made a big list of everything we could think of that we could do to keep busy at home this summer, and we spent the afternoon racing cars around the kitchen floor.  Fun stuff!

I was so proud of how well he did on the drive up to Vancouver.  We managed to get here a day ahead of schedule... with only a couple meltdowns (to be expected on such a long journey!).  We were both so happy to be able to spend that time with Grandma.  It is going to be hard not seeing her everyday, after staying with her and Granddad for the past 8 weeks.  Every new adventure has drawbacks, and missing them is a big one.

Once we got to our new home, we were greeted by Daddy and Nana.  We are so blessed to have Chris's mom be so thoughtful that she came ahead of Carter and I to help Chris unpack boxes and start setting up the house.  By the time we arrived, pictures had been hung, furniture had been assembled, and there was minimal work for this big, pregnant momma to continue!  Thank goodness!

So far, the drizzly rain and on-and-off grey skies have been lovely and refreshing.  My ankles are SO thankful for this cooler weather... they are back to normal size now!  Carter is learning how to time his outside play around the weather, and has had a blast playing basketball with his new big-boy hoop.  He even has a new best-bud down the street to hang out with.  Life is good - and I'm certain it'll only get better :)