I know, it has already been a month since Thanksgiving and I have already posted about this, but we have so much to be thankful for at Christmas this year, that I must label this post as being thankful yet again.

As I have mentioned, we decided to stay in the Twin Cities for Thanksgiving so that we could have more time off to visit friends and family at Christmas, and actually enjoy being "back home" instead of simply being caught up in the rush of last minute holiday preparations and events-- which we still managed to do somewhat. Our first major blessing came in the way of the weather for our drives, both to MI and back to MN. We were so worried and hearing about storms across the country-- including co-workers of Jim's who were stuck in Chicago and had to drive back to The Cities because all of their flights had been cancelled because of the ice storm. Indeed, we saw ample evidence of the ice as we circumvented Chicago, but drove the whole 2 day trip (we have begun to take 2 days because it is so much less stressful and is easier on my preggo back) in between two severe storms. We arrived on Saturday and that night the snow began.

Unfortunately we had to miss church at The River and various other plans were cancelled on Sunday, but it turned out to be exactly what we needed as we finished up most of our Christmas shopping and got to spend some time with my parents.

It was so wonderful over the next few days to have weekdays free of work, and for Jim to see daylight, and for me to see my woman friends that I have missed greatly. It has been difficult at times to be pregnant so far from a support netowork that has taken years to develop, and it was great to simply BE around women that know me and have seen so much of my life and journey up until now. I got to have coffee and snacks with Melissa and with Val, who was visiting from Alaska. Of course, talk ranged from babies to how cold it is in both of our new homes, and we caught up on how big both of Melissa's kids are getting. Jim and I were also able to have dinner and talk with Melissa and Paul, which is something we had just started to do as couples before we were offered the promotion out here.

We were also blessed to spend a lot of time with Jim's mom while we were back. She is such an amazing cook and taught us how to roll Filippino egg rolls and make the filling. We joked that she could roll cigars with how fast and tight she creates them. We are going to try our own soon, and although I am sure that ours won't be the same, it is going to be so soothing to have Connie's egg rolls here in MN. They have sustained us through 2 trips home from MI, and are actually perfect car food with how self-contained they are.

Speaking of cars, a few days before the holiday, my parents decided to surprise Jim with his biggest gift-- a present that he has said, "If I had gotten just this and that was all, I would have still said that Christmas was amazing." They decided to gift him (Well both of us) with a remote starter for our car, so that when the wind is howling and the official temperature is -20 or so, before work he can start our car warming up from our dining room. This has already been such a blessing, and is something that Jim uses even if we have only run into a store for 10 minutes and the car is still warm. It also proved very useful in the Mall of America parking garage today when we were looking for our car. Another great feature we use on a daily basis is the remote lock. This will become even more important once we are laden with a car seat and diaper bag for our little one, so it will serve a purpose even in the warmer months.

Even aside from this gift we were abundantly blessed by our family for the Christmas holiday. Gifts included a video game chair, a sewing machine from Honey for me (I'm learning to make baby clothes) a handmade pipe from Andy for Jim, a monopod and new strap for my camera, computer software and a webcam so my family can keep abreast of the changes in my baby bump and say hi to their grandchild by using Skype, baby pants made by Jess (my sister in law) which are so cute and are helping me learn to make baby pants, a wok and tools for Jim, and a clothing steamer. I had actually bought him one, so that he could steam instead of lugging out our ancient ironing board and iron every morning, but then his mom already had one that she could give him. We decided to simply return the one I'd bought and save the money or judiciously use it for baby stuff.

We were also blessed financially, which helps to defray the eekish cost of 2 nights in hotels and the cost of gas to and from MI. My grandma sent us money that we used on a trip to IKEA today. We decided to buy new silverware we have been longing after; we were embarrassed when our small group visited that we ran out of nice utensils. At $7.99 for a 20 piece set, we decided to get 2 and when our turn to host group rolls around again we may get another. We also got some baby storage because "Junior" as Jim has taken to calling him in a way that reminds me of my cousin Eric, has begun to gather a small collection of clothes. It is kind of funny that he has 2 pairs of shoes, a baseball cap, books, washcloths and a BRIO train set, but no place to sleep yet, but all of that will come in time.

Looking at cribs and bedding and curtains made me even more longing for a house, but that is going to have to wait too. Jim and I were convicted by the wisdom of some conversations when we were back home that we need to become even more diligent with our savings if we want to buy a house out here. It is too easy to rationalize small purchases when a house seems far away because housing costs are so crazy out here, but it is increasingly important to us to have a yard for our little one, and we recently discovered that costs are going down (thank you crappy economy I guess) and once we save a down payment we might actually be saving money when we buy a house. There are homes that are now-- gasp!--just less than $100k out here that aren't condemned or filled with toxic mold, or in a location that would make my former law-enforcement officer father abduct me and carry me back to MI.

Our purchasing pursuit is also assisted by the fact that just before the holidays Jim recieved a very good review and even a raise. (He may make me delete that because he hates to tell this stuff online, but I just have to share a bit of my pride in him for all of his hard work.) It feels so great to have everything that he has done and all of the extra work he has taken on be recognized and acknowledged in a time where the economy is struggling so badly. His work also gave everyone a gift card to the MOA that we spent today on a membvership at "Underwater Adventures," the world's largest underground shark tank. We can visit for a year for free and touch sharks and watch them swim overhead. Our little one will get to come for free and will be about 7 months olf before our membership expires. This also gets us half odd anyone else that wants to visit. However, that is a topic for another post.

Blessings to you all!

Warning: This post is only for you if you seriously care about our future nursery plans. It has ended up being a good way for me to compare things that are on our official registry and their cheaper counterparts that I really want as well as a gripe against BRU. So read on if you dare!

After we found out that we are having a boy we were so excited that we decided to go to Babies R' Us to do some registering. I know that it is common to wait until a little bit later to do registering, but we wanted to do it before Christmas because I think my brother and possibly my mom will want to get us some "Baby Crap," (as my brother Andy calls it) for Christmas in lieu of presents strictly for us. Also, we need to begin looking for things and budgeting for our little bundle of joy's arrival, which should be accompanied by the arrival of some bills.

When we got there, they were ready and waiting with an eager look in their eyes. First Time parents! The look said. Easy marks. We can get them to buy whatever we tell them that they "need." We were given a scanning gun a large booklet and a list with hundreds of items that we needed to register for. Thankfully both Jim and I were wise to the fact that a retail outlet might have a conflict of interest when it came to advising new parents on necessary baby items. We also knew that this was just a preliminary trip, and as we looked at parent reviews and made other decisions we could easily alter our list online.

After we were done with what ended up being over an hour worth of scanning we came back and received, "Forget Me Not," cards cutely displaying babies and commonly forgotten items that we could scan right then and there. After our list was printed, we also got a sheet of "Missing Items" that the computer was sure we needed to put on our list, posthaste. But really, a play yard? A-- we don't have a yard. B-- the baby can't move very fast. In fact, he will be pretty stationary for perhaps even the next year (including gestation and early life) and then it will be snowing again. :( They even indicated that we needed play yard sheets. Whatever happened to an old quilt that grandma made or a sheet that isn't used on a bed anymore?

There are a few items that I am giving in and joining the crowd and registering for-- such as The Boppy. It is basically a moon-shaped pillow, but it is specifically shaped to cradle the sitting baby, help with tummy time and curve around mom's abdomen as she breast feeds. And it has washable slipcovers that are really cute. I know, I really caved. However, if someone wanted to make me a Boppy- either by cannibalizing a regular pillow or by making one, I'm sure it would cost less than the $29.99 Boppy and I'd be just as happy. We also indulged in something called a Weeblock which covers a little baby boy like a cup and prevents accidents while being changed. One even says, "Tinkle, Tinkle, Little Star." Necessary item-- of course not, but awfully funny and there is a serious lack of cute boy items in babyland.

Another thing that we noticed was the price disparity of items at BRU. Why would we pay $400 for a crib? Some of those don't even convert to a toddler bed or twin bed later on. We didn't even pay that much for our bed, which will be in use for many more years than the crib will be. How we wish IKEA had a registry, where the Hensvik is $139 and can turn into a toddler bed later on. Other deals--

Crib mattress-- $49.99-$59.99 instead of $100
Crib sheets-- $8.99 for a set of 2 instead of the same price for 1 (and on sale.)
Changing Table Pad- $8.99 for an inflatable one that can be easily taken on trips instead of $22 for a foam one that is said to scar the dresser we're thinking of setting it on.
Changing Table Pad Cover-- the Gullunge cover is $5.99 for 2 instead of $12.99 at cheapest for 1
Crib Bedding-- $14.99 for a crib duvet cover and pillowcase instead of $179.00 for a 4 piece set which includes a bumper pad, which you are not supposed to use because it increases the incidence of SIDS. Yes, we still have to buy the duvet to go inside (14.99), but at these prices we can afford to get a couple spares and change out the room when we want to. Like I also like the Barnsling Dans set, and it matches a lot of the cute stuffed animals that we like.

We also like the baby bath, Lattsam changing table baskets, and the Sniglar changing table, but I am undecided if it will be strong enough for our rambunctious baby boy. Since we are planning on having our little boy sleep in the same room with us for a while, what we may do is buy an extra dresser that matches the ones we are planning on buying in the near future for us and using the top of one for a changing table until our little boy gets his own room and needs a separate table. Mmm-- 2 or 3 Malm dressers all lined up. However, if we do that we may need more storage and I'm unsure what putting shelves into our wall will do to our deposit. We can always put some baby stuff in here and keep the crib in our room.

This whole post is proving very useful for me to really look at what we need and what we want and what we will actually need. It is tempting to turn the office (which I am currently in) into a deluxe baby room, but we really need the office space and the guest room and the truth is, a newborn baby just doesn't need an entire room of his or her own. What, is he going to have friends over to play video games? As long as he has a place to sleep, poop and eat, he should be a happy little boy. But they do make baby rooms look so cute online with all of the storage and matching switch plate covers and curtains.

Our new apartment has been a blessing in many ways-- it is so much more spacious than our last place, it is in a beautiful location where we overlook a nature center, but also have a Sam's Club, Bachman's Wal-Mart within walking distance (if it wasn't 2 degrees and I wasn't pregnant) and a mall, Target, restaurants and several grocery stores within a 5 minute drive. There is even a Little Caesar's nearby, which is a rarity up here. There is a pool and workout room one building over, and it is only 5 minutes more drive than our last place to Jim's work.

One further way it has been a blessing has been for our utilities. We were afraid that with the increased space, and a few more utilities we were responsible for, that it would be a lot more expensive for us. However, our location in the building (almost on top of the boiler room-- kind of kitty- corner) and next to the 2nd floor laundry room, we have access to a great deal of free heat. If you feel our wall that we share with the laundry and someone has the dryer's going, you can feel ambient heat coming through, and for some reason our hall closet floor is always warm-- we think because of duct work or hot water pipes. we'll take whatever we can get.


However, just recently with the wind chill in the -30s and lower lately, especially at night, things have gotten colder and we are finally feeling the need to use at least some our heat, some of the time. I also recently noticed a phenomenon from our last place that I was hoping we could avoid-- the snow and ice are following us indoors. Pictured is Honey trying to close the second door of our apartment last year in February (Don't you love the outfit), which had been left ajar and let in some of the bitterly cold air. eventually we resorted to using the hair dryer to thaw out the doors enough to close them, but it was still like a fridge over on that side of the apartment.





This year it hasn't been as bad so far, probably because of the way our doors close in this home, and because we haven't hit the really cold portion of the winter yet, but we have had some ice build up, even on the side of our French doors that don't open, which is really strange. Our windows have had some of this as well. We're debating getting some of those clear plastic protectors (never thought I'd use those) and insulate the windows that way, but we don't want to cause damage that will impact our deposit. However, we also don't want the window frames to suffer damage from the water seeping in and expanding and contracting as things melt.





What we really want is to be in a house of our own where we are free to insulate and repair and do whatever we want, but that is still a ways away. House prices here are going down, a house in Kalamazoo that would go for $50,000 now only costs about $120,000 here! The good thing is that it is a great time to be thinking of buying and looking and saving because the market is so poor and the Fed. just lowered rates. Also, Honey got word that he is getting a raise next year, which is such a welcome blessing.

I have a theory, and it is probably one of the those first time pregnancy fantasies and sound totally irrational to anyone who is not going through the same feelings and sensations that I am. I really know that it probably has no foundation in reality.

This morning during church I was fretting that the baby had been really still during that morning's service, and when I had been updating our newly-formed baby registry online that he hadn't been hitting me, spinning, mowing the lawn, swimming, or doing baby yoga as he usually does when I am sitting at that time of day at the computer and typing. However, this morning was different from typical weekday because Honey was at home and I didn't have on the radio like I normally would.

During church I was distracted from my unreasonable worry (I know perfectly well that it is entirely normal for me to not feel the baby for days after feeling him) by the baptism of two little babies. Faith does something that I really enjoy when babies are added to our bunch-- during offering they play a slideshow of the lives of the new little ones. Suddenly, as the music began playing I felt a small punch, just below my belly button. As the song progressed our little baby boy hit and kicked regularly and generally seemed to really be enjoying himself.

The odd thing was that after the song concluded he stopped moving and was silent until the end of the service. This was rather striking and made me wonder-- could he really love music and be doing some sort of baby dancing inside of me when he hears a song that he likes? I know this is all a fantasy, and that according to my logic he might just as well hate music and be punching me to let me know of his disdain for the stuff, but I prefer my way.

He was moving after church as we were eating lunch, and just now as I have been sitting at my computer once again, but that could be due to the root beer (no caff.) that I am drinking, rather than the Christmas music playing on the radio.

Out of everything I found-- all of the stuff I thought of that my Jimmy would want, I completely forgot the thing that he has been looking at every time we are in Target. He would LOVE to have a waffle iron-- one of those that rotates while it cooks-- like the have in hotels with Continental breakfasts.

Whoops!

I have removed this post becasue leaving it up is self-indulgent and we were so blessed by things that people have given us for the holidays this year that were far beyond what we could have ever expected.

I hope that you had a wonderful and blessed anniversary of the birth of our Savior.

Blessings!

Due to something important going on at Jim's work on the date that we were originally going to have our "Big Ultrasound" where we find out that everything is proceeding as planned and hopefully find out the sex of the baby-- instead it is happening TOMORROW!

December 11 at 8:15 in the morning we will be bright-eyed and big-bellied waiting at the doctor's office and will get to see our little one. Any last minute bets on the sex of The Bean? I'm still not sure how we'll go about the telling of everyone, and maybe we will wait until we are back in MI if we decide to be really mean about it, but I don't know if I'll be able to wait that long.

I think that the moving up of the ultrasound has made things a lot more real to me. I have always held up this date as a very important one in the course of other pregnancies I've known of friends and relatives, and this combined with the fact that the baby is turning into quite the little swimmer in there (those kick turns are quite the feeling) it is really becoming real. Just the fact that it IS a boy or a girl already is shocking. I have been looking at the ultrasound pics of women on my "May '09" mom's board at Whattoexpect.com and it is amazing to see the detail and the every finger and arm and little leg. And now its our turn in less than 24 hours. Wow. I still kind of wish we could get a 4d ultrasound, where you can really see what the baby looks like down to whose nose he or she has, but that is typically an extra expense that the insurance won't cover. Some doctors do 4D just as a rule for this ultrasound, but I don't think that will be us.

Because it is getting so much more real, Jim and I made another trip out to Babies 'R Us to look at strollers and other items we may want. We really like one in particular, which is a convertible stroller/jogging stroller combo that has a single front wheel which can be locked or move depending upon what you are using it for. From my nannying days, I know that I really prefer the single front wheel, even just for walking on sidewalks and trails, so it really makes sense to us to get one with this feature. We also like the ease of the car seat to attach to the stroller and seat apparatus, how snug the baby would be on rainy days with the car seat hood up, and the stroller hood up (a lot of them let in a lot of air and possibly rain) We enjoy the adjustable handle to the stroller-- for mom and dad, that it has a cup holder (another nannying bit of knowledge) the handle of the car seat, how easy it is to fold down and even the colors.

The car seat looks snug as a bug, but when you get to the stroller, that is where we have our one dislike. Jim is really the one who this bothers the most I think. The backrest of the stroller is not very cozy looking at all. It would be more like the baby would be resting against a hammock than a mattress. So my question is this to you experienced parents out there-- how important is this? If we like everything else about the travel system, do you think the baby will somehow hate the feeling of riding in the stroller? And can't we just get an extra pad to make the experience more pleasurable?

I just don't want to have a 1 year old someday who screams every time I say we need to go on a walk because it is so uncomfortable.

Okay, I was re-reading a couple of my previous posts and realized that I needed to update you on a couple things:

1-- Jim did win the award for the most orders written in Las Vegas! It is a small monetary award that we are intending to use on something really celebratory. We thought of buying a small deep freeze now that we are members of, and practically right next to a Sam's Club, but what may win out is going to some sort of holiday play in the Hennepin Theater District in downtown Minneapolis. We talked about a small "Babymoon" vacation for us, but we kind of want something that will last. We have also discussed getting the boxed set of MASH, but we'd still have to shell out a chunk of our own change, which we are trying to save right now. I just think that it is cool that he won. He found out on the day that he got a really good yearly performance review. In a year where everyone is tightening budgets and removing staff that are under-performing, all of these things mean a lot to us.

2-- I have definitely felt the baby move now. I didn't think that I would this soon, but I feel him or her swimming or punching pretty much every day. It is the oddest feeling, and one that I have tried to get Jim to feel, but it just isn't strong enough or regular enough yet. Soon enough it will be really apparent. The baby seems to move more when I am at the computer typing in the mornings. I don't know if this means that the baby likes or dislikes my writing, or if it is trying to tell me that when I sit up I squish its soft watery home and it wants more space, or maybe it is just that the baby is moving more often, but sitting up puts it in the proper position for me to feel.

This Thanksgiving was our first major holiday since we moved to MN that we have not made the journey back to Michigan to be with friends and family. We have stayed for holidays like Independence Day, Memorial Day and such, but for Easter and Christmas last year we made the trip back to see people. However, this year it simply didn't make financial or time sense for us to make 2 trips of this length in the car within a month. Also, with the baby on its way sitting for long periods of time in the car makes me uncomfortable. I am already dreading the inevitability of having to pee horribly somewhere between Eau Claire and The Wisconsin Dells and having no where to go. Would I still get charged with indecent exposure if I explained to the officer that I was going to the bathroom beside the car because I am pregnant?