Party Time

NO - these still aren't my Florida photos - I'll get to them next time.

I just wanted to post that apparently it's party time in my stomach! Petunia is rockin out in there!

She had been kicking me...but it just felt like little nerve pinches. My doctor confirmed that, in fact, that was her. It was amazing to know that - but still didn't really feel like much to me yet. Plus Dain (and my mom on the plane) was frustrated that he couldn't feel what I felt. It was still too soft to feel from the outside.
This progressed to feeling her swish around in there - almost like she was doing somersaults in my belly. Again, amazing, but not the exact feeling of a baby that you see/hear about/feel on your sister's stomach.
THEN CAME THIS MORNING...I had picked up a bagel at Dunkin Donuts this morning as I was famished upon waking up, and washed it down with orange juice. (I normally can't drink orange juice because of my ulcer - but this kid LOVES fruit). About 5 minutes after finishing my last bite of my bagel - the party started! I felt her kicking (or punching) the top of my stomach. I would have thought it was just rumblings - except for the fact that my stomach was jumping - and I could feel the movement on the outside - finally! What an amazing experience. I can't explain how awesome it was to feel that for the first time.

This makes me want a bagel and orange juice every day. (Wow, I really AM my dad!)

Baby Room Planning

No - I haven't got the Florida info to post yet. I will do that tonight...

Now it's time to talk BABY ROOM.

I posted cribs a ways back, and got many opinions. I even wanted to paint a crib to make it my own and more colorful. Well, after looking into it - it's not really a good idea to paint cribs. Kids chew on them, and they flake, and blah blah blah. So, Dain and I decided to just get a new one. (See the "Scenes From A Babies R Us" blog). We're still deciding on a style. MUCHO compromise going on now. We're also still deciding on whether or not we're going to accommodate the old dresser or not. But, that's an argument we'll save for actually ordering the crib.

The "Alice" theme for my baby's room was shot down as I mentioned, so I was on the search for something else.
Once again, I am not satisfied with the selection of packaged baby bedding. I don't know - it's just not my style. Nothing really fit or looked like anything I really was interested in.
So, I headed to etsy.com to look at the handmade bedding. After searching through "baby afghans", "baby bedding" and "baby quilts" - I found a quilt I LOVED! It was juts a random assortment of retro/vinatge fabrics as strip pieces. PERFECT! Except....
It was only 24 x 32 - and that's too small for a crib blanket! SO, I e-mailed the quilt-maker and she agreed to make me a bigger one based on the smaller one, using some of the same and similar fabrics...she even let me pick a few I liked!

I've been getting progress photos from her...she is fantastic....this was all done within a week....she's willing to change any fabrics out if I'm not happy and we're collaborating on the backing materials!
Here's the latest progress photo:

It's not finished yet - but close. It may not fit your fancy, and you may think it's not baby enough - but I love it, and Dain even likes it. The random retro prints and colors are a perfect match to my style. Now we can do whatever we want on the walls, and we can have my mom make a bumper and skirt to match in whatever color we want. Plus this opens the doors to SO many paint colors!

And - here's a set from JC Penney - I don't like the crib one bit - but I LOVE the "organizer/hutch" piece, and the changer/dresser isn't bad either - plus it's all VERY affordable AND on sale. (Of course if we went this direction it means DAIN WINS and we remove the old dresser - so that's a negative). I'm still thinking about it...I really don't like the crib.

Yes, I'm Still With It

Unfortunately I haven't had time to post since last Wednesday it seems!
I've been super busy with my theater, my job, chopping off my hair!, and a quick trip to Florida with my mom for a wedding from Friday to Sunday night.

I will post about Florida hopefully tonight or tomorrow night...it was a quick trip like I said, but to a beautiful area, and to see my beautiful friend Sarah get married. Petunia and I survived the flight, that's the important part!

Hope everyone is doing well! Oh yeah, and a big PS to those of you asking...no we're NOT really naming the baby Petunia...it's just what she's referred to in the womb by my sister, and it rubbed off on me. (Dain's not thrilled).

I Love Books

I got to go to one of my favorite places tonight on my way home from work...the bookstore.
I don't know why I love going into bookstores so much...I was never a real page-turning crazy person. Don't get me wrong, I love to read, but it hasn't been one of my number one hobbies of all time. Something about bookstores always grabs me though. I think it's just being literally surrounded with so much creativity. There are books on everything and someone, somewhere sat down and wrote those books. Someone poured their heart and soul into writing those words. Someone else created cover artwork. Someone else compressed everything into a book format, and that's almost an art in itself to me.
I think it's a line from an under-appreciated movie, Mad Love, where he says "You love books, not necessarily reading books, but books themselves." I've always thought that line applied to me.

My reason for my venture today was to get a new book for my weekend trip to Florida to my friend's wedding. I was finishing up a book at home (just finished a minute ago), and wanted to have something fresh for the plane, B&B, down time, etc. I got a new book by Jodi Picoult, who has become my favorite author over the past few years. She writes amazing novels about touchy subjects. They are always hard to put down once I start them. Pick up anything by her. She's amazing.

I've been thinking about books lately because of Petunia. I really wanted to decorate the nursery for our girl after my favorite book of all time, Alice Through The Looking Glass. Yes - it's a real book together with Alice in Wonderland - their not just movies and a Disney cartoon. I had grand plans to use the Lewis Carroll's (the author, people) imagery and drawings to put on the walls, and create bedding based on the inspiration from the book (tea cup fabric, chess piece fabric, flower fabric, white rabbit fabric). Here's one of Lewis Carroll's illustrations, there are tons! This was all well and good - and then my total opposite husband stepped back in :) Dain hates the idea, as he thinks Alice's stories are "creepy" - and doesn't want our daughter to sleep in a room based on a drug-addicted pedophile's fantasies. Boo! Okay, so YES Lewis Carroll was obviously on some awesome drugs, and YES he did write the Alice stories based on his obsessions with a little girl named Alice and her sister...but COME ON. So, here we go...it's the crib saga again. I'm working on other ideas, and have actually found a few things that I like online...so he may get his way...but do YOU think Alice is out of the question??

On a final note (this is a LONG WORDY BLOG eh?) - I have also been compiling books for Petunia that were my childhood favorites. I have the following:
Dorie and The Blue Witch
Bad Friends, Good Friends
Little Rabbit's Loose Tooth
The Daddy Book
The Five Chinese Brothers
Bread and Jam for Frances
King of the Dollhouse
Chicken Trek

I have the rest in my sights - and plan to collect them all for my little one:
Miss Suzy
Miss Nelson Is Missing
Harry the Dirty Dog
We Help Mommy
We Help Daddy
The Lorax
The Giving Tree
Jellybeans for Breakfast
Gregory the Terrible Eater
Where the Wild Things Are
The Teeny Tiny Woman
In the Night Kitchen
Corduroy
Caps for Sale
Mr. Poppers Penguins
Harold and the Purple Crayon
ALL the rest of the Dorrie Books
ALL the Ramona Books
and more...

What were your favorite childhood books?

Our Weekend - Other Than the Big News

So - besides finding out that Petunia is, in fact, a GIRL (see my previous post)...we had a pretty eventful weekend!

It was the 4th of July on Friday - and this usually brings Dain & I's annual themed party on the 3rd. With the development of Petunia, we passed the torch to Dain's brother Evan and his 2 roommates. They hosted a Hawaiian/Tiki Party on Friday evening. Here's some classic photos from that evening:
Evan & his dog Reggie - 2 of the Hosts
Firework Wrappers, A Greasy Plate, and A Plastic Cup - Sums It Up Well
Marcy & I's Classic Pose (I'm Really Not Drunk, Though I Look It!)

Saturday Dain and I headed to the hospital for all the news of our girl...then were off to the Kane County Flea Market - one of my favorite activities! This once-a-month event is HUGE, overtaking the entire Kane County Fairgrounds. You can find everything from plants, to sunglasses, to antique jewelry and furniture. It's great...but a bit overwhelming. We were just keeping our eye out for any storage benches for our living/dining room - when we ran across it...a legged cedar chest - antique and in beautiful condition - that seemed to look like a match to my grandparents dining set that graces our living room. After discovering that the price was a steal - we took her home... AMAZING! And, it DOES match our set, almost like they were SUPPOSED to go together! Just look at our china cabinet...don't they look like a set?? I'm so proud of our purchase.
After that my sister, brother-in-law, niece, nephew and friend all came up to see us and have dinner. It was super nice to have a great meal out.

So - it was a pretty good weekend. I took another picture of my GROWING self. Here I am at 19 weeks. (I missed my 18 week deadline for a photo, sorry!)


Next post will probably be about bedding for Petunia's room!

WE FOUND OUT!

Ultrasound #2 was this morning...we went in with my full bladder (30 more ounces of water in the hour before I went in)...and we found out...



It's a GIRL!! (I used a baseball "it's a girl" sign I found online for Dain's comfort). We're thrilled! We got to see the coolest images of her bouncing around in there, and literally crossing her arms in front of her face while we were looking in!! Everything looks good - and now the shopping begins!

Here's her first profile pic - head to the right - you can see her nose, mouth and chin! And, look at that spine!! (You can click on the photo to make it bigger).

A few interesting tidbits from our ultrasound:

1. Apparently it's just a 75% shot that she's a girl. The tech said the sex organs aren't full developed until 20 weeks, so testicles maaaaay not have dropped yet...however he pointed out the girl parts to us which looked real obvious. Also he referred to her as a "her" the rest of the appointment. Dain left saying that if we can see the kidneys and the umbilical cord that clearly - we would have noted the boy parts...so we're going with G-I-R-L!

2. I was 18 weeks and 6 days at the appointment, but her head measured at 20 weeks and a few days. Umm...I hope that head growth slows down - I don't want to think about pushing out a huge noggin!!

3. She weighs about a pound. I read in my book today that at 19 weeks babies weigh about 8 oz. - so is my baby just HUGE or what??

Disturbia

This is something you can actually buy for your baby...I'm too disturbed for further comment