Nursery decorating...

We have made a ton of progress the past two weeks with the new baby's nursery. Travis had to move our spare bedroom furniture out of the new nursery (which involved taking apart the daybed that was in there), he moved that furniture into a smaller spare bedroom on the side of the house. He then had to pick up the new furniture, put the crib together, and get the neighbor's help to carry the dresser up the stairs -- I obviously am in no condition to be carrying heavy dressers :)

Trav's mom has been hard at work again making bedding, window treatments, etc for the new baby's room. She is such a sewing/quilting queen -- she is very talented! The bedskirt and window treatments are complete -- and she is still working on a quilt/wall hanging, small pillow, and also a throw blanket.

Tonight Travis had the job of hanging the window treatments. The window is huge (94" wide) -- so it wasn't a simple task. He did a great job though!!

Here is a picture of the tab curtains Sally made:

New crib:

Closer detail of the crib skirt:Travis hard at work... He thought it was silly that I was taking pictures of him hanging the curtains, so he wasn't being very camera-friendly :)Finished product:The room still has work left to do -- but it is starting to come together. I am getting more and more anxious to meet our little guy every day!! It is hard to imagine that in less than 6 weeks we will have a newborn in our house again!

Bigger than little peanut was -- already!

I went to my perinatologist on Monday for another growth ultrasound. They are tracking the little guy's progress to make sure he keeps growing and my placenta is working properly until I deliver.

Well -- everything seems to be working great! They estimated his weight to be 5 lbs 1 oz already. Hard to believe he is already bigger than Evelyn was when she was born (4 lbs 13 oz). If this growth/weight gain continues, he should be around an 8 lb baby.

I guess the shots/medication that I am taking is working. I hate giving the injections -- but it if means a big, healthy baby, then that is fine with me :) I have another growth ultrasound in a few weeks, and then we will begin the non-stress tests also -- to watch & make sure the little guy stays happy until April 9th.

Here are a couple of pictures taken yesterday during the ultrasound:
Travis is already worried that this boy will have "second child syndrome". He says that there are twice as many baby pictures of his older brother Chuck than there are of him. I don't think he really cares -- but he likes to say it to rile his mom up a little bit -- and it works :)

TV & Radio Exposure?

So... I am interested in hearing from other moms out there... how much time per day do you have the tv and/or radio on with your child around? Does your child pay attention to either?

Evelyn pays absolutely NO attention to the tv. It is probably because it is located up above our fireplace and she would have a hard time watching it since she plays on the floor usually right in front of the fireplace. After work, Travis typically turns on the tv and watches whatever sports game is on that night... I don't really care to have the tv on until after she goes to bed (I prefer more of the primetime shows). If the television isn't on, I will turn on some music -- nothing loud, just kinda in the background. I find it relaxing to have on light music -- as opposed to complete silence.

Here is the reason I am asking... I know that children watching endless hours of tv is bad for them. I recently read something that said that having tv noise in the background is possibly even worse than having your infant/toddler watching it. The article said that the children will have a hard time distinguishing words -- the words being spoken on tv and the words we are saying to them. Supposedly the children that were exposed to tv noise in the background talked later... and they also played with toys differently (not sure how that is related to the tv) -- but they would go from toy to toy, instead of focusing and playing with one toy for a little while.

The article didn't say anything about the radio, but I am assuming that if the tv noise in the background is bad that the radio would be bad also. It seems like it would still interfere with the child being able to just hear one voice at a time.

What do you guys think? I hate reading articles like that --- it makes me start to question my parenting abilities. We all want smart kids --- but I sometimes wonder if these "studies" are making a big deal out of nothing?

new milestone for Evelyn...

So -- this week Evelyn passed a new milestone. She officially outgrew her old carseat (the Graco carrier). She is long (maybe going to be tall like her daddy?), but she is such a skinny-minny -- we couldn't put her in the new seat until she reached 20 lbs. Wednesday night we tried out her new carseat in the family room before putting it in the car. Evelyn seemed to really like it. We were saying "yay -- you are such a big girl!" -- and she would get the biggest smile and start clapping her hands... it was adorable!!
Here are a few pics:

Here are a couple more pictures of Evelyn. The first one shows her with her Disney Princess rider. She loves to walk behind it and push it around. But I think her favorite thing to do is to open the "trunk" (seat), put toys in there, close the seat, open the seat, take the toys out, and repeat the process over and over again. It cracks me up!I included this picture because it shows that Evelyn is growing hair -- it is starting to fill in more and more -- but she is such a light blonde that her hair doesn't show up much in pictures. Her hair is growing so slow though... at this rate, she is going to be 4 years old before she gets her first ponytail! Oh well...

The countdown begins...

Well -- I had an appointment yesterday with my ob/gyn. We now have a delivery date set for our little guy. Pending any early labor, I will deliver on April 9th at 12:30PM. Less than two months away!!

I would have tried for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) delivery -- but my doctor mentioned some possible complications (including uterine rupture) -- and since the deliveries are less than 2 years apart, he doesn't recommend a VBAC.

Part of me would have liked to have tried to deliver naturally, -- but part of me (my wimpy side) likes the idea of no contractions, pushing, etc... I am just praying for another easy recovery after this C-section, like last time.

Crazy April birthdays though --- a TON of people have birthdays in April (Travis and I included). I am just glad we didn't have to schedule our son's delivery on Trav's birthday -- April 11th. It is nice that they will each have their own special day :)

No name yet...

So -- Travis and I are having a hard time deciding on a name for our little guy. We had a pretty easy time deciding on Evelyn -- we actually have a couple more favorite girls names left over that we would have used if this baby was going to be a girl. Boy names are much harder!!

Travis dislikes any boy name that is too trendy. He is even more traditional with boy names than he was with girl names... I like old and new boy names -- just depends on the name.

We spent some time before Christmas coming up with lists of our favorite boy names. I made a list of around 12 names and Travis did the same -- we were hoping to find a match between the two lists. No such luck. I didn't really like any of the names he listed, and he didn't particularly like any of my names either.

It is now February and we aren't any closer to coming to an agreement -- UGH!! I was trying to explain to Travis last night that I want to decide on a name soon. I don't want to broadcast the name (we kept Evelyn's name a secret until she was born). I just want to have a name for the little guy that is growing inside of me. With Evelyn I felt like it helped me bond with her before she was born -- I know it sounds silly -- but I swear it helped.

Also, I don't want to wait until we are at the hospital or after he is born to decide. There are way too many hormones and emotions at that point in time to make that big of a decision. I am too much of a planner to allow that to happen :)

If you have any boy names that you like, send them my way... I am open to any and all suggestions.

Exercising and Belly Support?

Does anyone out there know anything or have experience with something for belly support to use during exercise? I have been doing a good job of getting to the gym regularly -- my goal is still a minimum of 4 days/week. I am hoping that by staying active I will have a quick recovery from my c-section again this time -- (and meet my weight goal/fitting in my "wedding" jeans goal by my 30th birthday -- April 2009)

However, I delivered Evelyn when I was not much bigger than I am now... And recently when I have been exercising, I have been feeling increased pressure from my belly. I get that constant "have to go to the bathroom" feeling. My belly also feels about twice as heavy when exercising than it does when I am just going about my daily activities. I'm not doing anything high-impact or jarring... I have just been doing the elliptical, stair climber, fast-walking on the treadmill, etc -- but the only thing that doesn't give me that "heavy belly" feeling is the stationary bike (my least favorite). I don't even get that feeling as much when Travis and I go for a walk together at night... probably because we are walking at a little slower pace.

I am wondering if I should look into one of those belly support bands? I know some people that carry multiple babies wear them a lot to help with the added weight of their belly... and I have heard that the marthon runner mom wore one when she would run while pregnant... I just don't want to spend the money and deal with the hassle if it isn't going to help. And I only have 2 months left -- is it worth it? Has anyone used one? Seen one? Heard of anyone that used one?

Crawling up the stairs

Evelyn has been climbing up the stairs recently when it is time to go to bed. She is becoming such a big girl!!