Longest Nine Months EVER!

So, here we are 6 months in, still chugging along. Well, in fairness, Jodi's still chugging along. She's doing all of the gestating and all of the worrying, but none of the sleeping.

For my part, I'm mostly just watching. And I'm getting very impatient about it. We went to a breastfeeding class last week. I never thought I'd see a video with so many boobs in a room with so many random strangers, but more to the point, the video was about how infants act in the first days and weeks of life. The video really cranked up my excitement for getting to actually hold and interact with my son. The scenes of parents getting really engaged with their newborns-- making faces that the baby imitated, dancing around with them-- made me downright jealous that these people already had their babies, and I was still waiting for mine!

Jodi somewhat agrees, but she thinks she's going to miss having him physically connected to her. I just have to remind her of the side effects of the same, and she concedes that it'll be better to have him out.

But, alas, three more months to go. I guess I'll have to keep my mind occupied with room preparation, baby showers (invitations are going out soon) and the escalating task of keeping Jodes comfortable.

Shop 'Till You Cry

So the baby shopping has begun. Well not so much the actual purchasing of items, but more like the planning to purchase items. I never thought that a retail store could reduce me to tears, but Babies R Us has succeeded. I don't know if it was the pregnancy hormones, my low blood sugar at the time, or the daunting selection, but I just stood in the stroller section crying. There are so many choices, and it seems like a rather large and important decision to make. Not to mention there is picking out the crib, and the swing, and the pack and play, and all those other things.

Now there are some things that Jeff and I have down pat. We have had no problem picking out all the things that will not effect Atticus' well being. So baby clothes, not a problem. Nursery decor, that was a breeze. Maternity clothes for me, no worries. But anything that might be a safety concern for our baby...tears. After awhile all the strollers look alike, and the only thing I can use to distinguish one from another is the fabric. And the only thing more daunting than trying to shop for a stroller, is sorting through all the advice on strollers. Which brings me to my piece of pregnancy advice for all first time parents: Small doses. Do your registry and shopping in small doses. Make multiple trips and focus on something different each time. Breaking it up into smaller trips makes it seem a little less intimidating, and maybe even a little less scary.

It's An Atticus!

This is our baby-to-be and it's a boy! Today we went for our second ultrasound, and everything went fabulously. He has two of everything that comes in pairs and 10 of everything that comes in, um, tens.

It took a while to get all the shots they needed because he was very fidgety. But that was fine, because it gave us more time to watch and marvel! We saw him opening and closing his hands and mouth and lots and lots of rolling around. I couldn't really tell for sure, but I think he looks a little like Jodi : )

So let the shopping begin! Jodi's already picked out a little baby guayabera so he can match his daddy (and hopefully his granddaddies). We're a little relieved, actually, about the shopping implications of this news- we're just not that into pink.

Besides, a faux-hawk looks much better on a boy : )

The Big News

One of the best parts of pregnancy so far was getting to tell our parents. Although there was crying (my mom) and the screaming (Jodi's mom, right), it was all out of excitement.

We had long discussed how we would tell our parents the news that they were going to be grandparents. We talked about telling them with humor or with an over-the-top display (like making T-shirts). In the end, though, we decided to tell them symbolically.

The weekend before we were planning on going to see Jodi's parents, we invited my family over for dinner at our place. They had no indication that we were about to let them in on our little secret even though all the signs had been present. Jodi had been sick to her stomach every time we saw them, but they were none the wiser. Once everyone was there (not an easy feat in and of itself), we sat them down and gave my mom a gift bag. Everyone was a bit confused, and even more so when my mom opened the bag, looked in and started sobbing! As everyone soon found out, in the bottom of the bag was a pair of Buckeye baby booties.

The next weekend in Melbourne went pretty similarly. There was a gift bag, Jodi's parents were confused, but when Mitzie opened her bag to find Gator booties, there was less crying and more of a earth-shattering squeal of delight. As per usual, the weekend was filled with lists and laughs- but this time, they were lists of baby needs and laughs about pregnancy!

Both sets of parents have been very helpful (sometimes a little too helpful), and we are so lucky that our little smudge will have such loving grandparents!

Keeping a Secret

Our adventure began in earnest on Thanksgiving weekend. Jodi was a couple of weeks late and getting really nauseated by just about everything. We had been trying to get pregnant for about six months, and we were cautiously hopeful that this was finally it. Jodi went and did her thing on this little stick and, lo and behold, that second pink line showed up almost immediately. We were going to have a baby!

In very early pregnancy, one of the toughest things is trying to keep it a secret. Since we were going by just the home test, we didn't want to get anyone's hopes up until we got doctor confirmation. And to make it even tougher, the day we did the test (Saturday, post-Thanksgiving) was the same day as the wedding of a family friend. Which meant we spent the whole evening hanging out with my family- and keeping our secret.

By Monday, we had our doctor confirmation, but we had another factor to consider: fairness among the in-laws. We wanted to tell our parents in person, but Jodi's 'rents are across the state, and we weren't planning on seeing them for a few weeks. And in fairness, we couldn't tell my parents too far ahead of Jodi's. So we had to keep our secret even longer.

But, when we finally told them, it was worth the wait. Check back later for more on that story : )

Welcome to The Smudgie Chronicles

This is our little smudgie. It just looked like a little smudge then (hence the name), but that was a month and a half ago, and it's much bigger now (we're told). Check back here for updates on our miraculous journey towards parenthood!