Review of my week and Baby To-Do List

9 weeks are left. I said I would start freaking after it got to single digits, but this week was kind of another dud in the "getting ready for the baby" department. Otherwise my week was jammed packed full of events and drama. It went a little like this:

Last Thursday - Went to my gestational diabetes class and learned all sorts of things about the things we eat and how to manage my blood sugar during pregnancy.

Friday - Joe and I had a date night at Bengies Drive-In. Thanks to my parents volunteering to watch Elijah and put him to bed that night (which is no easy task). The main reason we went was to see the new Pirates movie, but before that African Cats was playing, so we had to sit through that. It was pretty good, but it was LONG for the type of movie/documentary it was. Thor was playing last, but we were exhausted, so we headed home before it started.

Saturday - In the morning we went to Walmart to buy Charlotte's birthday presents (this is a perfect example of how much of a procrastinator I am). While there, I happen to come across some neat little presents to get for Elijah. We will still need to buy some more, but that is partially crossed off the list. In the afternoon/evening we went to Charlotte's birthday party and had a really good time. Elijah enjoyed himself immensely, especially playing with the pirate Legos.

Sunday - We went to church, then went to Walmart (another Walmart) to buy groceries for the week and also to buy some stuff for me to eat at work to keep my blood sugar leveled off throughout the day.

Monday - Drama with trying to get ahold of my nutritionist/dietician all day. Turns out they were calling Joe's phone back when I gave them my work number to call...

Tuesday - Elijah woke up at 5am, then there was drama at work. That night we celebrated my dad's birthday. I was tired as anything, however Elijah was cute that morning, before I left for work he brought me  the "I'm a Big Brother" book for me to read to him. I had a few minutes, so I said I would. I sat down with him and he exclaims "Wook, that's my baby!" as he pointed to the baby in the book. It was the first sign of him actually being excited about a baby. He also indicated that he understood the big brother was him. His excitement makes me excited. :0)

Wednesday - Went to my follow up nutritionist/dietician appointment that morning. I passed my "test" of eating and blood sugar levels with flying colors. Finally there was no drama during work hours and last night I wanted to revel in that fact by enjoying my evening. Elijah got a haircut and then we went home and chilled.

So, as you can tell, a lot was accomplished this week, however pretty much nothing from this list was. Such is life.

Need to (in no particular order):

• Decide on co-sleeper or bassinet  
• Find and buy a bassinet
• Pick a name... First and middle  
• Go through, organize and wash baby clothes  
• Buy Diapers  
• Buy double stroller (unless there is a wonderful sale, this won't be done before the baby is born)
• Buy a wipe warmer
• Pack hospital bag
• Install infant car seat
• Buy small toys/gifts for Elijah to receive when the baby gets presents
• Wrap the small toys for Elijah
• Buy the big present for Elijah  

Progress this week:

• Bought a few small items for Elijah to open after the baby is born.

Until next week... Let's hope for more progress this week...

Baby To-Do List - 10 Weeks Left

10 weeks... time is flying. This week went fairly well and I actually feel somewhat accomplished.

Need to (in no particular order):

• Decide on co-sleeper or bassinet  
• Find and buy a bassinet
• Pick a name... First and middle  
• Go through, organize and wash baby clothes  
• Buy Diapers  
• Buy double stroller (this probably isn't getting crossed off before the baby is born)
• Buy a wipe warmer
• Pack hospital bag
• Install infant car seat
• Buy small toys/gifts for Elijah to receive when the baby gets presents
• Wrap the small toys for Elijah
• Buy the big present for Elijah  

Progress this week:

• Cut the tree down - See previous to-do list (not on the list, but it was preventing progress of the things on the list)
• I think maybe, possibly that we have decided on the bassinet we want. Now I just need to find the best price and buy it
• I actually touched and sorted the Newborn baby clothes that were left over from Elijah. They need to be washed and put away still... and I need to go through the 0-3 month clothes also, but progress is progress.

Apparently, I'm told, slow and steady wins the race, so that is what I will do.

BTW, this is a scheduled post. Right now I'm in a lovely little class where I will be learning how to test my blood sugar level and also what I can and can't eat. It's a 3-hour class, so I guess we'll see how it will go... Until next week...

Baby To-Do List - 11 Weeks Left

***Blogger unpublished my entry from Thursday, so I'm publishing it again.***

There are 11 weeks left... If Mr. Mr. decides not to come early. Since I am a true procrastinator, in every sense of the word (especially during this pregnancy), I am not freaking out just yet. When my countdown hits 9 weeks (single digits) I feel like I will be getting my tail in gear more.

Need to (in no particular order):

• Decide on co-sleeper or bassinet  
• Find and buy a bassinet
• Pick a name... First and middle  
• Go through, organize and wash baby clothes  
• Buy Diapers  
• Buy double stroller
• Buy a wipe warmer
• Pack hospital bag
• Install infant car seat
• Buy small toys/gifts for Elijah to receive when the baby gets presents
• Wrap the presents for Elijah
• Buy the big present for Elijah  
• Buy Dreft

Progress this week:

• Added more things to the list of things to do
• Narrowed it down to a few bassinets to choose between

This week was kind of a dud. I did plan on going through the clothes, but before I can do that and really start getting our room ready for the baby, we need to cut down a tree near our house. (Don't ask how that correlates, it just does, haha) That is planned for Saturday, then I can really start going full steam ahead on our bedroom.

Mother's Day...

My Mother's Day was pretty nice. We did some things that were ordinary, like grocery shopping and going to church, but there were also some special things we did and something special that was given to me. So, my Mother's Day went a little like this:

We went to church that morning, to the late service, so I could sleep in (a little). While there, Elijah made this for me in Sunday School:

He was very proud of what he made. He kept saying "That's Elijah's hand!" and he insisted that it was done in crayon, even when I said it was paint, he said, "NO, Crayon..." Ok, it's crayon then... Either way, I love it and will treasure it forever.

The poem made me weepy because of how big he's getting and I would def have baby fever right now if I wasn't pregnant. I can remember like it was yesterday when we were heading to the hospital to have him... Then I look at him and realize he is coming into his own and really is a little boy.
He:

• Talks in pretty much full sentences
• Helps with things around the house like straightening up and helping take care of Azalea
• Listens well, for the most part, when we are out somewhere. It was so nice not to have to worry too too much when we went to the Zoo. When we go to the mall he stays by our side... unless something catches his eye inside a store...
• (We) can go out to eat without worrying if he's going to act up or not
• Is starting to examine things Joe and his Pop-Pop (my dad) do, like cutting down a tree, fixing the gutters and shaving. He will actually sit there and watch, with furrowed brow, taking in every step of the process and probably saving it in his mind for use at a later date.
• Roots for the Orioles (sometimes without coaching)
• Takes pretty good pictures with my camera
• Asks hard hitting questions like "What happened to the lights?" when it's dark out and "What is hungry?" When someone said they were hungry on TV. I'm waiting for the harder questions like "Where does the sun go when it's not in the sky?" I'm sure that one is coming sooner than I think

But yeah, so back to what we did on Mother's Day, haha. After church we headed to McD's to pick Elijah up some lunch. While we were in the drive-thru line I smelled the best smell... Grilling meat. Specifically hamburgers. So I decided that I wanted a cheeseburger for lunch (which only happens about once every 10 years). A legit cheeseburger, not a McDonald's one. So we headed across the street to:

YUM!

Elijah was well behaved for the most part. The O's game was on the TV closest to us, to which he proceeded to yell at the top of his lungs "GO ORIOLES!". It was a pretty laid back lunch, which was nice for an old pregnant woman like myself.

After lunch we went grocery shopping (woopie...) then home. A little while later Elijah requested that we go to the playground, so we did for a little bit. After we went home Joe made me dinner - Fettucini with Asparagus and chicken in a lemon-butter sauce:

(not a picture of the actual dish)

It was pretty good. I think next time he makes it, he should make more sauce and it will taste really good. But it's the thought that counts, in my book, and I appreciate that he would take out the time to make it for me.

After dinner we watched the Amazing Race finale and then it was bedtime for all. Overall a good Mother's Day. I hope yours was good too.

Baby To-Do List - 12 Weeks Left

With less than 12 weeks left until Baby Raymond is born I thought this would be a pretty good time to publish a list of things I need to get done before the baby is born. This list has been going on for a while... I just now decided to publish it, since I don't feel like doing anything else on it, but I feel like if I have accountability to update about the progress (Every Thursday), the things will get done faster. In theory this will work. In reality, I have no idea if this will motivate me or not... Hence the horrible job I did updating about the Easter projects.

So here is the list of stuff that needs to be done before the baby makes his arrival:

Need to (in no particular order):

• Decide on co-sleeper or bassinet
• Find and buy a bassinet
• Pick a name... First and middle
• Go through, organize and wash baby clothes
• Buy Diapers
• Buy double stroller
• Buy a wipe warmer
• Pack hospital bag
• Install infant car seat

This is actual a very small list compared to the one I had made before Elijah was born. We still have pretty much everything from when he was a baby, so a lot of the things we had to decide on and buy, we already have and can use again.

As I said, this list has been going on for a while, so here is the progress we've been making, so far.

Progress:

• Our friends Steve and Brie gave us a wipe warmer they weren't using
• Have narrowed down the list of first names, from the entire Bible, to a small list of names we somewhat agree on. I know I said it would either be Caleb or Matthew, but Joe and I aren't loving the name Caleb anymore... Matthew is still on my list though, so we will see.
• We bought his coming home outfit and Steve and Brie gave us some short sleeve onesies. Now I just need to wash them.
• We have picked a middle name.
• Changed middle name and have come up with two full names we are going to choose from once the baby is born.

I'm sure I'll remember more things that we need to do and buy, but for now this list is more than overwhelming enough... But, on that note, can you think of anything I'm forgetting?

Egg Dying Videos

While we were doing the egg dying I took some video. There are 3 (actually there are 6 total on youtube if you wanted to watch the other more boring ones) because I'm spastic and don't like to have videos much longer than 1 minute.

So without further ado:




http://youtu.be/zLUmEYZ01DI



http://youtu.be/JjDGkIpAGUY



http://youtu.be/e6c7NFLYy_M

I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into the fun we had dying eggs.

Progress... With Easter Projects

Here it is. The post that was suppose to be four different posts. Because of this fact, this is very picture heavy post, so beware. :-]

We ended up doing everything except for the pom-pom sheep. I bought the stuff for it though, so when we get a free stretch of time that Elijah seems to be in a good mood we'll do that one.

First up is the "Cross on a Hill". When I went to the store and saw how small the 2" styrofoam balls were, I opted to buy a 5" one instead, so the proportions would kind of match.

I cut it in half with a knife, cause I had no idea how else to cut it... seeing as I don't work with styrofoam much. Then Elijah got to painting...

He only painted the top part, which is fine with me, cause it's his craft.

I let it dry overnight, cause he was bored with the project after he painted it. The next day I let him put on the flowers...

I got flower shaped confetti instead of using stickers, but if I ever do this in the future I will def be using stickers instead. These are the only two pictures that exist for this part, because of the ruckus that was going on... Elijah decided that throwing the confetti all over the floor and dumping it from cup to cup sounded more fun than actually placing the flowers onto the ball.

I have no finished picture because I didn't put the cross together and push it in yet, but you can imagine it'll look pretty cool once it gets to that point.

The next "project" we did was face/body painting. Elijah didn't want the paint anywhere near him, for some reason. I asked if I could draw a heart on his hand and he was like, "OK!" but still just stood half way across the room. When I approached him with the paint crayon to draw it on there, he ran away. So I gave up and just painted my belly like I was planning.

It didn't turn out as good as I had planned, but if you tilt your head, close one eye and squint the other one you can kind tell that it's an egg.

Speaking of eggs... We also dyed some eggs on Friday night. It's an annual tradition at our house to do it that day.

First we put in the tablets. I let Elijah help put them in, since I knew he could be trusted not to put them in his mouth. The measuring cup was his idea...

Next it was time to pick a color. If I had read the box correctly we would have had more eggs, but it turns out there was one egg per color, this year. Not that that bothered Elijah at all.

Then it was "egg toss" time. As Elijah put it. We went through all the colors that way.

This is what we ended up with, afterward. The crack in the one (turned out to be 2 actually) egg was the result of the boiling, not the "tossing".

Then it was sticker time.

He also placed one sticker on each egg. So we have one color and one sticker per egg. That's how he wanted it.

This one is my favorite.

He sat there and played with the eggs for a good hour... admiring his work, naming the colors and counting them as he moved them back and forth between the drying tray and the egg carton.

He only played for an hour because it was bedtime and he needed to get settled down and ready for bed. Here are the eggs all tucked away. I like that you can see a peek of color through the holes in the top. Looks very festive.

That is all I have for now. I will update about the Easter Egg hunt and Easter very soon. Hope everyone had as much fun as we did this Easter. :-)

Progress... *Not Easter Project Related*

**We did get through a few projects, but I still have to compile the post. Look for that this coming week. But anyway, onto the subject of this post.**


Well, it looks like we are making progress with Elijah's attitude about the baby that's on the way.

When we found out I was pregnant, we told Elijah about the baby right away, but he wasn't too thrilled about the idea:

He didn't even like to talk about it, in general. When we would bring up the baby he would get upset and throw a fit. He wouldn't even tell us if he wanted a brother or a sister... whenever we would ask he would say the last thing we said "Do you want a brother or a sister?" "Sister" "Do you want a sister or a brother?" "Brudder". (I must say I do love the way he says brother, so I'm glad we're having a boy, haha.)

The next phase to go through was complete denial... Apparently instead of a baby growing inside of me, Elijah decided I was just getting fat and making excuses not to play certain things with him. Mostly they were things that involved sliding down slides and sitting on the ground.

One day we had a conversation that went a little like this:

*Elijah was rubbing my belly

Jo: There's a baby in there

Elijah: No no no no, Dop (stop) it!

Jo: Yes, there is. Isn't right in there.

Elijah: No! Dop it!!

After a while things started to get better. As my belly was getting bigger, Joe would request that Elijah give the baby a hug or a kiss and he would run over, lift up the bottom of my shirt and do whichever. It was nice to see that Elijah was at least acknowledging that something was in there. That was good enough for me. I figured we would just work out the rest after the baby was born.

However, to prepare for that event Joe and I decided we were going to get Elijah a book about what to expect after the baby is born, so he's not shocked and appalled, all the while wondering why the baby isn't leaving. So we searched high and low and at every bookstore to find the perfect book. All the books we found were entirely too detailed for a little 3-year-old mind. I mean what 3-year-old wants to know what a uterus looks like?

We happen to stumble upon the perfect book (for a sister) at a Borders that was closing, so Joe ordered the boy version from Barnes and Noble the next day:

It is a pretty awesome book. Just the right amount of information and nothing too grown up. It says how there's a new baby and it can't eat things like pizza and ice cream and it can't walk or talk. But it says how the big brother is special because he can do all those things. It also says a little bit about why babies cry... which will be helpful to prep him that there will be crying going on.

We gave him the book and, at first, he didn't want to read it. Then one day I found him in a good mood, so he let me read it to him. Then about a week later he let me read it again. That leads us to earlier this week. We hadn't read it in a few weeks, so he was like, "How 'bout that one?" pointing to the big brother book. He actually requested to read/look at it. Turns out he didn't want me to read it, but he wanted to flip through it and look at the pictures while he was eating dinner. He is a very picky and slow eater, so usually I don't let him do anything that will distract him from eating, during meal times, but this time I let him, since, after all, it was a very special request.

With three months left, I think we are making good progress with the whole thing. I'm sure it will be a big adjustment when the baby actually gets here, but for now he seems to be coping well with the idea. Afterward we plan on letting him help with the baby, if he wants to. For instance getting diapers and wipes or anything else we might need that's across the room. He also likes to "read", so I'm going to see if he would like to read to the baby. We will think of more along the way, but that's a good start.

I know he'll be a wonderful big brother. I just hope everything goes smoothly for the most part.

Easter Update

Well... life has been interesting these past couple weeks. I didn't realize that even though every Saturday was pretty much booked that that meant that Thursday and Friday would be booked to prepare for Saturday. So as it is with all my excuses of being pregnant and working full time, we started on the first project (the cross on the hill). I cut the ball in half and Elijah painted it. There are pictures... I remembered to do that at least. However there are is still no cross or flowers on it, so we might do that tonight... if the little boy who decided to wake up way early the past 3 days decides he wants to be in a good mood to do the project. If he's not, whatever, we have until the 24th or later...

I promise to have finished projects and pictures up, soon, though. If you are doing any projects I hope they are coming along better than ours. :-)

Easter Excitement

Seeing as Easter is my favorite holiday, as I might have mentioned a few dozen times in the past... This year I'm totally excited about it because Elijah has reached that wonderful age where he wants to do crafty things. We usually do a few of the usuals, dying eggs and an Easter egg hunt, but this year I thought we could do a few extras, as well. I was surfing around the web for some ideas and I found one that I really liked, then I came up with two of my own.

I thought, since I am somewhat ahead of the game thinking up ideas, I would tell you all, in case you would like to join along. My plan is to do a craft/activity each week, up until Easter. So here's the layout:

April 2 or 3 - Cross on a hill - From Danielle's Place

You Need:

Two popsicle sticks hot glued into a cross
A 2-inch styrofoam ball, cut in half
Glue Gun with hot glue
Green paint
Paintbrush
Flower stickers
Optional 1" x 6" purple cloth

Have the child paint the half of the styrofoam ball green (like grass) and put flower stickers on it. I think I will have Elijah paint the half a ball green earlier in the day, then set it aside to dry, then that evening let him put the flower stickers on it... That's the plan anyway. Afterward I'm going to glue the popsicle sticks together, push the cross into the half a ball and glue it in place.The optional purple cloth should be draped over the cross and glued in place.

April 9 or 10 - Cottonball Sheep

You Need:

Sheep outline printed out on or cut out of heavy white cardstock
Optional die cutting machine
Cottonballs or pom poms (depending on if you want an all white or multicolored sheep)
Glue - either Elmers or glue stick
Black marker or pen to draw in eyes/nose/ears, etc. If it wasn't already printed out.

Because I don't have a die cutting machine with a sheep shape that I like, I am going to use this sheep shape and print it out on heavy white cardstock. I'm going to cut it out and I plan on squeezing some glue onto the main portion of the sheep, all over, and letting Elijah go to town on putting down cotton balls.

Afterward, which is completely optional, I plan on gluing it to a piece of cardstock (8.5 x 11) and writing a verse or saying about sheep underneath... Like "Jesus is the shepherd and we are the sheep" or something along those lines.

April 16 or 17 - Painted faces, bellies and other extremities

You Need:

Face/body paint
Paintbrushes
Body parts to paint on

This is more of a fun thing to do as opposed to a project. Things are kind of up in the air about how this will go, but all I know at this point is that I am going to paint my pregnant belly like an Easter egg with a crack in it. We might paint Elijah's face like a bunny, cause we have play bunny ears to accessorize it. Otherwise I might just ask what he would like to have painted on him and see if Joe or I can work it out.

April 22 - Easter Egg dying (even though I'm pretty sure everyone knows how to do this, I'll lay it out anyway)

You Need:

Hard boiled white eggs (cooled)
A dying kit
Plastic cups (clear, if possible)
Vinegar
Water

Mix up the different colors in different cups as directed on the back of the dying kit. If the kit comes with the wax crayons, then let you child (if he or she wants to) scribble or draw on the egg. I'm guessing if it doesn't come with it you could use a white candle to draw on it. Anyway, then stick the eggs, one at a time in the dye of choice. If you choose to use more than one color, make sure the egg is somewhat dry before you put it in the second dye and so on. After it is dyed to your satisfaction, put it on the drying tray. Continue until you run out of eggs.

April 23 or 24 - Easter Egg Hunt

I'm pretty positive that everyone knows how to do an Easter egg hunt. We don't use the ones we dye... those are for eating or playing with. I buy the cheap-o plastic Easter eggs from the dollar store or Walmart. The first year we did this I filled them with animal crackers, since Elijah was only about 14 months old. Last year we didn't do one, but if we did, I wasn't going to put anything in the eggs. This year I don't think I am either. Elijah just enjoys finding the eggs, for right now.

So that's the plan. Sorry this is such short notice, seeing as I plan to start tomorrow or Sunday, but that doesn't mean you have to do yours on the weekend (if you choose to join along), these are so simple they can be done anytime. I will be posting pictures of our projects and activities as they are completed, so stay tuned. :-)