Baby room theme: woodlands

It was between a rockets-and-robots theme and forest animals, and forest animals won out! We’re going to save rockets and robots for when he’s older.

Here are some pics and links to items we’ll be decorating with. (I have to admit, that I am thinking about putting a couple robots in the background of the woodland scene—‘cause I can.)
 •http://www.whatisblik.com/shop/wee-gallery-woodlands
 •Interesting research behind the design: http://weegallery.com/what-babies-see/
 •A piece of framed art to match: http://www.art.com/products/gt–wl/gid–683dce4713a11cf0/p12278832-sa/posters.htm?isV=Y&RFID=&PODConfigID=&ui=71B4B1A00995419AA8A756AFCE500626

 

 

Update: Right before the baby was born, and after several long, analytical conversations, hubby and I changed the theme to pirates. We debated going with the nice sophistication and furriness of forest animals and a world we both grew up in (the mountains of Colorado) with the adventure and fun and more varied theme of pirates!

With pirates, you can do so many more animals -- from the ocean world to the tropics not to mention boats, and the kicker for me was being able to decorate with anything you could call a treasure. For example, the baby's room now has several pieces of art, including specials valentines and cards and paintings on the wall we've received from friends over many years. Things that are special to us, which brighten his room, from people we can't wait for him to meet. And well, he'll fit right into the theme, because he'll be the biggest treasure of all. So last minute change to the nursery theme: PIRATES! ARG BABY!

 



Pregnancy brain

I swore I’d never use pregnancy brain as an excuse, but I have to admit, it sometimes comes in handy. (And um, it’s sorta real, especially in the third trimester.)

Kid saves husband from wife’s wrath, and he’s not even born yet

Aaron doesn’t know, but I was mad at him tonight. He’s not here; he’s out playing trivia with a group of nerds. (Lucky I love nerds, or that might have not sounded like an endearing comment.)

Anyway, I was mad, because I had to ask him to do something I think he should have done without me asking. That happens sometimes. I think people should just be on top of stuff, and instead of being okay making requests, I get annoyed and make them wrong. Sometimes I know better and let it go, and sometimes, I cause trouble and do a little of what you call, nagging.

Well tonight, I was feeling annoyed—like why should I have to ask for a bike to be moved from the middle of the living room to the garage, how long would it have taken if I said nothing. Then, as I have been doing lately, I thought about being a mom, and I thought about having two boys around, and I saw that a lot more of my life is probably going to be asking boys to do things, especially when it comes to putting things away—and I envisioned my choices: I could be miserable feeling like I should not have to make requests, or I could just plan on making requests—perhaps all of the time—for a long time as long as I can see into the future.

I didn’t get resigned about it; I just chose that that’s probably going to be part of being a mom, as it is a wife, lol, and I’d rather just ask then be miserable and make others miserable too.

Win for husband. And he can thank in unborn child, lol.

Listen up kid…

…if you ever read this, your mom is listening to a Stanton Warriors station on Pandora that your dad created for her and just got done listening to a kick-butt Crystal Method song, Uberzone, Timo Mass, and now Paul Van Dyk, and expects you to have just as good taste in music if not better. Feel those vibrations, and don’t disappoint! Love you already.

Hello third trimester!

What a ride being pregnant has been. They aren’t kidding when they say each trimester is unique.

The second trimester was a breeze, to say the least. Emotions—although high—evened out. The cute baby bump arrived, and no more feeling exhausted and nauseous.

Awe, the glorious second trimester, without warning, with no sweet good-byes—is now gone.

And right on schedule—realized within days by checking the calendar to investigate what the hell hit me—welcome the third trimester.

The wild-chipmunk emotions I know so well from the beginning of second trimester are back (at least I don’t have to get to know them again; just have to adjust to them again), a sudden “large-ness” feeling has arrived (insert sarcastic yay), and a tiredness has come upon me again—like wham!

Good news is, no nausea like the first trimester (so already, third is waaaay better than the first); the kid is growing rapidly, and I am starting to feel his true form, which is fun; and we’re well on our way to meet the little guy!

PS  The wild chipmunk is a single-car roller coaster at Lakeside Amusement Park in Denver that takes lots of tight turns and bunny hops, obscured upon approach, switching between high lateral g-forces and abrupt negative vertical g-forces—thanks Wikipedia—that was a perfect description for describing the emotions!

From OB to nurse-midwife

Aaron and I switched prenatal care providers this week. We were working with a traditional OB/GYN. Perfectly capable and nice, but she spent 15 minutes with us at a time and was short in describing only a few possible ways birth could go.

We didn’t feel right for a while, and it’s not because we were working with a doctor or have to have a natural birth. It was because she wouldn’t freely discuss options with us.

So, we searched and searched the OB pool for someone who would be our partner throughout the process—someone who would contribute their invaluable background and experience to our ability to learn and make choices. And although I’m sure there are some OBs out there who would have worked ok for us, given the variables—hospital, insurance, and just plain timing—we just didn’t find one.

In the back of my mind, I was always fascinated by the idea of Mountain Midwifery, Colorado’s only birth center. Not because I was out to have a natural birth, but because of how clear they were in discussing all the possible options and outcomes around having a baby, and that’s why we switch to them.

Other reasons we feel really great about the choice is that they allow you total freedom of movement during labor, (the Children’s hospital in Aurora has similar options, but they are too far away). They have also created a community that Aaron and I both feel really comfortable with—where education, conversation, and mindfulness is present—and where we’re meeting others who were looking for the same thing.

Mountain Midwifery offers totally natural birth, to alternative medicines and herbs, to traditional medicine and techniques. And they are very specific about who they take—you have to be healthy with no issues that would categorize you as high risk. And if an issue comes up before birth, you can tap into their pool of traditional OBs who understand the birth center model, and therefore a model of thinking that works for us. And if something comes up during birth, it’s just a 3-minute ride to Swedish on the same block, and your midwife take you over.

So, that’s our current path. More to come. We start our first baby classes end of month!

Fish Bowl Belly

Our little daredevil is approximately 1 foot long now. We were watching a comedy show a few nights ago, and I was laughing hysterically, and all of the sudden, I felt his full body squirm inside me. That was probably the weirdest feeling yet. I was laying there explaining it to Aaron. It felt like a squirmy fish or eel was moving all around and my belly was the fish bowl. Very strange and different than the feeling of kicking. The experiences continue.

Kicking (but not screaming, at least yet)

I started feeling kicks, which felt like a fluttery butterfly in my tummy, about a month ago, right when we were at our first music concert since I was pregnant. It was very cool. (See more about that in my “concert-going” post.)

A couple weeks ago, I started feeling real kicks on the inside that couldn’t be mistaken for a real being inside my tummy. Second best experience I’ve had since seeing the first ultrasound.

Since then, I’ve kept my hand on my tummy as much as possible looking forward to feeling the kicks on my hand, so that Aaron could experience them. (His reaction when I first started really showing about 4.5 months was, “wow, you’re really pregnant,” and I replied, “yes, thanks for catching up!” That was fun to see it become more real for him.

Well last night, in the middle of the night, Aaron had his arm up against me laying half-awake in bed, and he got kicked. He woke me up to tell me. It was so cool. Their first moment was alone together. (And Aaron got to feel a kick on the outside before I did!)

Boy!!

Both of us were excited to know the sex but not attached one way or the other. I think you can’t help but immediately think about the sex you’re not going to have right when you learn—but then you quickly just think about what you are having.

I was partial to a boy and Aaron to a girl. He helped raise his little brother and felt like a girl would be fun and new. He also thought having another me in the house would be fun, and I too thought having another him in the house would be fun thinking about a boy.

We also talked about the feeling of babies being little, cute, and cuddly—things that generally resembled girls not necessarily boys. Yet I’ve been confronted by the idea of raising a princess that required a lot of pink and frilly stuff. Just seems like raising a boy would have less societal pressure for some reason.

Plus, I just love boys. Most of them seem to love their moms, and as a mom, you get to remain queen of the household when you have boys. Hehe. It’s a boy!

A girl?

According to this Ancient Chinese Birth Gender Chart, given to me by a co-worker, per my age and the month we conceived, we are having a girl. It’s supposedly 99% accurate. We shall see this Thursday!