Feathering the Nest

22 weeks and DH felt baby move for the first time last week!! The look of surprise and awe on his face, and the magical moment of a father connecting with his baby for the first time, brought tears to my eyes. Not only have I felt the baby move, but last week I also saw her move for the first time. It's freaky to see something moving in your belly that you know you are not doing, or even capable of doing. But rest assured, I am not freaked out by my baby. Seeing and feeling her move is the sweetest part of pregnancy, it is fun, bonding, and endearing. However, shoe shopping when pregnant is not cool. My feet and ankles are swollen, they look like boats and are up at least half a size, and the bending over to put shoes on is a little awkward.

We are definitely nesting; cleaning out closets, organizing, and trying to get things in order before baby comes. We are literally and figuratively "making room" for baby. I guess we also instinctively know that we won't have time for those other things with baby here. And being in the 2nd trimester honeymoon period is the perfect time to do these things, I am still feeling great!

We've been researching and visiting daycares. Arranging childcare has got to be one of the most stressful aspects about having a baby. As my husband said, "we're turning over the life of our child into the hands of a stranger." And it's not like we want to do this anyway. And the monthly cost is in the ballpark of the monthly cost of our mortgage. Ugh, ugh, ugh. The only fun part is when we tour the facility and see all the babies sitting in a circle, staring up at us with their big round eyes in their big round heads, or the toddlers who just toddle haphazardly around the room and stare up at us. So precious!

We began our registry at Babies 'R Us this week. If you know our personal info, then you can Find our Registry. I had been SOOO excited about doing this, but when we were there I felt overwhelmed, and stressed. It's not like registering for your wedding, which was fun because you get to pick things that you want and like, but you really don't need them. Registering for baby worried me. What does she need, and how do I know, will everything be ready when she comes, how do I select the safest and best quality, there are way too many choices, they have gadgets for everything and we can't buy the whole store ... Word to the wise: do not try to register for everything in one day. Another word to the wise: bring husband only to register for big ticket items, then do the rest yourself later. DH and I tried to do everything in one day, and he asked me of every single item, "why do we need that? what's that for?" I love him, but he was slowing me down. We were there 4-5 hours.

So, check out our registry at Babies 'R Us. A couple more words to the wise: the JJ Cole Original Bundle Me is HALF OFF right now through August, after that time it may double in price for cooler weather. Also, a lot of the moderate to big items you may want to price shop on the internet, (just make sure you type in the exact name of the item because there are so many similar ones) you can often save $10 or more by shopping at Amazon.com (example, Baby Bjorn carrier).

And if anyone has any hand-me-downs, items to loan us, or items we can purchase second-hand, we are ALL ABOUT being economical. Or coupons for Babies R Us to give. I plan to do a lot of consignment shopping for anything left that we need, such as clothes and baby gear like swings, bouncers, bathtub, etc. And some items I may not get until after she is born such as a breast pump, baby monitor, and safety devices to babyproof the house.