Babymoon: Great idea, terrible name

I get weekly emails from babycenter.com that remind me how far along I am (which is actually quite helpful…I tend to forget), what size fruit/veggie my baby is comparable to and provide other articles related to pregnancy. Some of these articles are good and give me great information or drive me to do further research. Others are scary or dumb. Dumb would be the ten essential maternity clothing items I need or something like that. Nearly every example was from a high-end store that cost $70-$200. Liz Lange has a great line at Target that I highly recommend, and I didn’t pay more than $20 for any single piece of clothing. (Thrift stores are also encouraged.)

Many of these emails had links to articles about what is known is a “babymoon.” I Googled the term and found this information on Wikipedia to share with you:

Babymoon has several meanings. The original meaning is a period of time that parents spend bonding with a recently-born baby.

More recently the term has come to be used to describe a vacation taken by a couple that is expecting a baby in order to allow the couple to enjoy a final trip together before the many sleepless nights that usually accompany a newborn baby. Babymoons usually take place at a resort that offers appropriate services like prenatal massage.

Babymoon can also be used for a trip taken by a couple even before they get pregnant. As long as the trip is intended to be a final romantic fling before venturing into parenthood, the term babymoon applies.

Before my search I never knew the first definition. That doesn’t really matter as none of the famed baby sites use it that way. Even before reading these articles, Andrew and I decided we would go somewhere for a few days to have one final vacation sans baby. Not that we won’t take a trip ever again without children—we will, and if you play your cards right, you might be able to baby-sit for us!

Anyway, we sort of pushed the envelope and went when I was 30-31 weeks pregnant. Ideally, you take this trip in the second trimester: no more sickness, more energy and no huge belly. We didn’t have the money at that point or the time (plus I didn’t regain energy until really close to my third trimester, only to find it disappearing once again). And while I would’ve loved to go somewhere warm, the budget dictated we could take three nights away somewhere nearby.

We headed to Vermont for a long weekend, which worked out just fine. We stayed in Huntington at a place called Windekind Farms in a studio apartment above a barn. The place was great, the owners extremely helpful and we had time to rest. We did some hiking (not enough snow this winter to snowshoe…even in Vermont), lots of being lazy and Andrew skied at Sugarbush one day. We visited one of our fave towns—Burlington—where we ate at the Skinny Pancake (yummy crepes!) and hit up some other favorite places in the small towns of Warren and Waitsfield.

So while I think the term “babymoon” is a little dumb, I definitely support taking one if you have the time/money. We even took an extra day and just stayed home with no agenda. 

Andrew enjoys seeing what objects will fit on my belly shelf...sometimes I humor him :)

some of our studio apartment: the closet on the left made me feel like I was in 

Alice in Wonderland!

It's the baby's room...not a nursery

We do not have a nursery in our home. Not according to Andrew. We have a baby’s room. Apparently the term “nursery” upsets him. Or it at least doesn’t sit well. So I have to remember to call what used to be our guest room the baby’s room instead of referring to it as the nursery, even though he did use that word once. It was only the one time though, and I made sure to call him out on it!

People ask me all the time…well, not all the time. It’s not like being 34 weeks pregnant means everyone and their mom talks to me. I do live in the North where it can take some people two years to strike up a random passerby convo with another human—no offense to my close Northern friends, y’all are definitely exceptions! Anyway, people ask me occasionally if I’m ready for this baby to come out. And the answer is no. Nope, it can stay in there awhile! That’s because we still have a little ways to go before we have things ready for this child.

I posted earlier about my baby shower in Alabama. Because it was so far away, we set it up as a gift card shower, so I came home with lots of checks, cash and gift cards to different stores. Andrew and I have begun using our stash to slowly gather things we need for the room, but we’re waiting to do the majority of it in April after my shower in Massachusetts.

We have bought a few things, but our first day of shopping was not entirely what we expected. We found a glider and ottoman at Target, bought it and headed to Home Depot. Easy enough? Not quite, but that comes later. At Home Depot we were looking for an area rug for our living room. We wanted to put the current rug that is a 5’x7’ in the baby’s room (it doesn’t completely coordinate, eh, details), and get a new, larger rug for our living room. This way the baby has more comfortable floor space, and I just wanted a larger rug. Also—we decided we’d extend Sherpa’s boundary into the living room. We don’t want him feeling even more left out when the baby gets here, and this way there’s less hardwood floor for him to potentially scratch.

At HD we found the perfect rug—really a bound carpet scrap—that was less than $100. That’s fantastic considering most rugs in large sizes start around $400. We decided we’d come back for it on our way north. We then headed to IKEA to scope out some furniture.

Once there, we moved quickly. I’ll admit there are some great finds there, and it’s nice to study each space to dream of what could work for you; however, we’ve also had some nightmare experiences with their larger furniture (large piece + particle board = DO NOT BUY). When I go with friends we generally spend hours there, but with Andrew or alone, we're in and out as quickly as if it were Wal Mart. We hit up the dresser area to look for something that could work as a combo dresser/changing table. We found two options that unfortunately did not hold up to Andrew’s shimmy and shake test. We also found two options for storage but decided to just keep those in mind. After a quick walk through the marketplace for some glass jars, we were outta there in well under an hour! Oh, and we got cinnamon rolls. Those or ice cream are an IKEA requirement.

Here’s where the problems began:

a) I was slightly disappointed we didn’t buy the storage bookcase with baskets. It would have been great.

b) The awesome rug at HD had a grease stain. We then checked two other HDs and a Lowe’s. Nothing similar.

c) After Andrew put together the rocker (while I was napping), we realized it was the wrong one. The price should’ve been our first clue, but since we paid with gift cards we didn’t notice.

Needless to say I was definitely disappointed now and frustrated. However, we rallied and the following actions were taken to solve our problems:

a) I returned to IKEA about three weeks later and bought the bookcase and baskets. By then we determined it would fit just fine in the baby’s room and was a needed item.

b) I returned to the initial Home Depot where I rechecked the stain—it was pretty tiny—and found an associate to inquire about a discount. If this was a no go, we did have a second choice of rugs at the same store; however, he gave me 25% off! And I got the stain out, no problem.

c) I returned to Target with my disassembled rocker, returned it, purchased the correct one AND it happened to not be on sale but was marked down for some strange reason! Wahoo!

Then last week at the Trading Post (used/vintage furniture, often at great prices) I scored a dresser for only $45 that will be perfect for a changing table. I need to repaint it and do a little work on the drawers, but it's gonna be great!

Now we need a crib, some organization and motivation for me to finish the crafty touches on my ridiculously long list!

 

 Current pic: the changing area will be where the rocker is now. 

The floor is covered with gifts and borrowed items.

 The bookcase and baskets from IKEA!

The dresser/changing table. I plan to paint it a tan color.

(The items on top are living room/kitchen crafts I have going on.)

And just for fun, a picture of Andrew the night we inventoried all the cloth diaper stuff our friends the Olbrychs loaned us:

He's super excited about cloth diapering!!

Scenes from Baby Floyd’s first shower

Over President’s Day weekend in February I flew back to Bama to help host a baby shower for my sister-in-law Brandy and for my first shower in Fort Payne.  Here are a few pics Brandy took at my shower:

Me with several of the hostesses

 My mother-in-law, niece and sister-in-law came up from Birmingham

Delicious and super cute cookies!!

Some of the shower decor

The shower was held at the church I grew up in, and 14 women signed on to help host the event. Many of them worked with my mom, and I’m so thankful her friends continue to check in on the family and care for us seven years after mom passed away.

Anyway, in the South it’s traditional to give hostess gifts, but what do you get 14 women that won’t break the bank AND will be compact enough to travel from Mass to Bama? Coasters! I posted a few weeks ago about the Christmas gifts I made, and one of them was coasters. While I made four sets at Christmas, I made 14 sets for this shower! It was a bit crazy at the house for two days while I set up my assembly line.

It was also heavy. I didn’t realize how much 14 sets of coasters would weigh (though I should have—I did buy them and carry them to the car), and I knew I needed to carry them on so they wouldn’t break. Thank goodness for small, rolling, carry-on suitcases and really nice TSA agents who compliment you on your crafting ability while checking said suitcase for suspicious activity! Here are a few pictures of the process:

TONS of scrapbook paper needed for this undertaking...

Six sets complete!

And the other eight!

 The day before we had Brandy’s shower in Birmingham. I spent the weeks leading up to the shower crafting for my nephew who should arrive any day now! These are pictures of some of the gifts I made for baby Collier:

Applique onesies

Collier's rag quilt

Burp cloths

I got these from Etsy. Brandy can stick them on Collier's outfit and take monthly pictures.

My friend's mom made an owl rattle, and I included a candle. I also made a book through Shutterfly telling Collier about his grandmother Charlotte.

Preggo sisters-in-law!

Some of you know I started a temp job in January that was supposed to be for about a month. It actually lasted until March 2, which was really helpful financially and as a distraction to entering my third trimester. Even though I only worked there for two months, the women in my department were super sweet and threw me a surprise baby shower on my last day at work. I don’t have pictures from the party, but they gave us a laundry basket full of toys, books and other cute baby items. Such a fun way to end my time at Yankee Candle Corporate!

Pregnancy Observations

Just wanted to share a few random observations/anecdotes I’ve stored up over the last few weeks.

#1. Waddling: Lots of people describe pregnant women in their last few months as waddling, rather than walking. I think the general assumption is that it’s easiest to walk this way due to the size of a pregnant belly being in the way. However, now that I’ve experienced this, I have other causes waddling could be attributed to. (Granted, size is a factor, I just think there are other reasons people should also consider.)

Like back pain. Especially lower back pain. Now, one could say that lower back pain is being caused by the excess weight so we’re back at waddling due to weight. I beg to differ. You could just be me and decide against your better judgment to help move some furniture/other items and strain your back a bit. Don’t worry, it wasn’t too bad, and I learned my lesson. I think.

Leg cramps or stiffness can also create the need for waddling, although if I get a bad enough cramp behind my knee I tend to writhe around or imitate dance styles of the 80s.

#2. Enjoy any public education classes you attend: Andrew and I decided to do private childbirth education. A friend of mine suggested it since I want to try to deliver naturally with the fewest medical interventions possible. Instead of going to the hospital for classes with tons of people where we quite possibly won’t get through all the material while also listening to those who maybe should have chosen a later date to reproduce ask very, how should I put it, “interesting” questions, we do them at home. Our doula teaches classes at one of the local hospitals, but she also does private classes, and we have really benefited from the extra time. We’re able to cover everything at our own pace, and spend more/less time on what matters most/least to us.

Anywho, if you do attend a class at a local hospital or something similar, pay attention to others so you can be sure to leave the class with at least one good anecdote for the water cooler. We did go to “Keeping Baby Safe” last week, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that every couple in the room was genuinely interested in learning infant CPR and First Aid.

Or so I thought.

After we got through the first hour and a half of videos (that’s another plus to private classes—more discussion, less videos) about fire safety, childproofing, etc., we moved on to the CPR stuff. Toward the end, we had the opportunity to practice on dummies. This was when I realized there was one poor soul in the class who just did not want to be there. Or maybe his wife was the poor soul for bringing him against his will. Either way, he was annoying and distracting during our CPR practice, which at least gave us a good topic of conversation for the ride home.

When giving CPR to an infant, you’re supposed to give 30 chest compressions with two fingers, then two breaths. You continue with this 30:2 pattern. The instructor asked us to count out loud as we did the compressions to ensure that we were doing everything correctly. Most of us were mature enough to count out loud but at a quiet enough volume so as not to distract others. Not Poor Soul.

He not only counted loudly; he counted out of order. And he wasn’t counting as he did the compressions; he was counting while his wife did them to try and throw her off. Brilliant.

#3. Others’ comments: I don’t really get a lot of unsolicited advice or strange/humorous comments regarding my pregnancy, but I got one earlier this week that I thought was pretty good. I was at the bank trying to leave, and a little boy was in the way. His (probably) grandfather asked him to move for the “nice lady.” He then saw I was pregnant, laughed at said, “one and a half ladies!”

I laughed and said something in agreement. I truly wasn’t offended, though, as I’ve said similar things before, too. When I have friends with kids who are also pregnant, I generally tell people they have one and a half kids or two and half, etc. However, I could see how that might offend someone. He was older though, so you gotta go with it!