Petit four....mmmm!!

Heaven help me...I am developing a sweet tooth! And, I can usually fight off those cravings by simply drinking a glass of milk, but not tonight. 9:00 p.m. and I could hear the petit fours from Central Market calling my name. Am I ashamed? Oh no...definitely not. Am I worried about my weigh-in tomorrow at my doctor's appointment? Ummmm....maybe. But again, it was totally worth it! :) And just in case my craving hits again tomorrow night, I bought a second one (that is if the poor piece of cake survives the next 24 hours....I cannot be held responsible at the moment). Hee hee! Yum!

Starting on the nursery

We made a ton of progress in the nursery over the weekend, setting up the furniture and looking at bedding.

My parents made it in to Dallas on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday, my mom and I ran around looking at bedding options and basic registry ideas. That can still be overwhelming! :) (am still avoiding Babies R Us because it scares me...Buy Buy Baby seems to be the less stressful option at the moment).

I already have an adorable Peter Rabbit toile bed skirt that my dear friend Julia passed on to me three years ago. It is this sweet, soft colored, very traditional, custom-made bed skirt with a yellow cotton border and ties. This has been the nursery starting point. However, the conundrum has been finding other pieces to go with it. There are a million different baby bedding sets and patterns, but when you try to buy things a la carte like baby bumpers and fitted sheets, there seems to be a lot of either blue or pink or white....not yellow.

Anyway, our last stop before lunch was at a wonderful little store in Snider Plaza called Night and Day. If you are familiar with Hip Hip Hooray (very, very traditional baby boutique where everything is smocked, gingham, seersucker, or pique), this is the baby bedding sister store. It has some of the most exquisite baby bedding that I have seen, and it was hard to not fall in love with everything in the store! But, thankfully, I had a mission to focus on - to find something that would work with the toile crib skirt. I came across this gingham baby bumper that has smocking on it and a stripe that lines the inside and looks like seersucker...three of my favorite baby fabrics! Oh my gosh! It was so perfect! Now....the store displayed it in blue, and the question was 'could they get it in yellow??' (which, of course, means a custom piece....Adam and I can hear the cha-ching, cha-ching already!) But, we figure we can look at this as an investment.....? And if it is in yellow, then it will be good for a son or a possible future daughter, right??? Regardless, it will be darling!

Then, my mom, dad, and I ran around to Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn looking for little crystal knobs to add some personal touches. While we ended up ordering little blue acrylic knobs from Target at the end of the day, we did come across a white cotton pique bassinet bed skirt and bumper. We didn't purchase it initially thinking that it wasn't necessary, but still super cute! After washing the 32 year old bassinet bumper and lining pads (the ones that my older brother, Will, myself, and my younger brother, Jon Michael, all used) that disintegrated in the washing machine, the PB Kids bassinet bedding turned out to be the perfect solution! My mom and I spent Friday night sewing on little blue ribbons, and our little white wicker bassinet looks precious! (even Hayley got to try it out!...ya know...our first born...hee hee!)

Saturday was soooooo fun! After putting together the crib that Adam and his sister, Amanda, used when they were babies, Mama, Daddy, Mark, PJ, Adam, and I (plus Hayley, Heine, and Tucker...our dogs!) arranged and rearranged the baby room several times until we got a system that we think will work best. It was great having all eyes to come up with a layout that worked for the space, and it will be perfect!

Adam and I spent a while in the nursery last night after everyone had gone home or gone to bed just looking and imagining what life will be like in four and a half months. Will he be a crier? Whose eyes, hair, nose, ears, etc. will he have? What will we name him? Will we ever be able to get anything done again or will be just sit and stare at him all of the time? (hee hee! we will probably be guilty of staring for a lot of the time!)

Regardless, it was such a special weekend to have our parents in to share in these special moments. We can't imagine doing this without you and love you so very much! Thank you!

Half way there!

Tomorrow begins our 20th week which means we are half way to meeting Baby Boy Bronson!

Everything is going well...feeling great, eating healthily, exercising (some), and having fun decorating the nursery.

Last week, my mother, maternal grandmother, aunt, and cousin came into town to spend a few days while Adam was out of town on business....ya know...to babysit me! My grandmother is 97 years old and has never been to our home, so it was a real treat!

They brought out a changing table that was the one used for my mother. It is a sweet, soft white (creamy) color, and it is just perfect! They also brought a headboard for a twin bed that will remain in the nursery.

We spent the week visiting and reviewing family trees because Adam and I want to choose a family name for our little boy. PJ, Adam's mom, joined us for lunch and a visit mid-week, and she brought out Adam's grandfather's christening gown. It is beautiful, and it is the same gown that Adam, his mother, and a few cousins were baptized in when they were babies.

It is so wonderful to be able to use these family heirlooms and pass on the stories that come with them. Our little baby boy has no clue how blessed he is!

It was also a big week because while we were sitting at lunch one day B³ decided to try to push on my stomach. Not a kick, but more of a "look how strong I am, Mama!" kind of a push. I was so shocked to feel this huge knot, and I had my mom run over and feel it, too! It was a little alien-like, but it was still neat. Of course when we both put our hands on him, he moved away.

I was so excited for Adam to get home to feel this little guy moving! B³ has not made quite as grand of an appearance since his big push, but you can definitely feel when he is nestled into one side of my abdomen versus the other. One side feels soft and squishy, and the other side is hard as a rock. Plus, this weekend, I felt my first "kicks!" He has been moving for over a month now, but the kicks feel like little thumps from inside my abdomen.

After company went home, Adam and I spent the weekend prepping the nursery in preparation for the rest of the furniture to arrive. We pulled out my college bedding which we will use on the twin bed (couldn't believe I would ever find another use for it!), and we placed a white dresser/night stand and the changing table. We also have a sweet, little pastel green chair that was made by Adam's Nanna (paternal grandmother). She is Swedish, and it is painted in the traditional rosemaling design with the perfect colors for the nursery! These few pieces have already transformed the feeling of the room. Makes me anxious for the next months to pass quickly!

This coming weekend my parents will bring out the bassinet that my two brothers and I used as babies, and Adam's parents are bringing out Adam and his sister's baby crib that they used as infants. Then, all we have left to supply is a rocking chair, a rug, and some fun accessories.

It is coming together so quickly!

It's a Boy!

Boy-oh-boy!....Blueberry Bronson is a boy! My friend Leslie lovingly named him B³ this weekend for Baby Boy Bronson.

No more blueberries here as he is now the size of a sweet potato and growing rapidly. Over the next three weeks, B³ will double in size going from 5-5.5" to 10-11"! No wonder I am starving all of the time. :)

B³ was on his best behavior at Friday's sonogram. When the technician started moving the wand over my abdomen, he rolled right over and said, "I'm a boy!" And just to make sure we had seen correctly, he proudly posed two to three more times. I had tears streaming down my face, so proud and satisfied to realize that even before I saw the proof, I knew that it would be a little boy....thanks to the baby bonding in prenatal yoga. But, Adam, was hysterical!! He didn't cry or get overly emotional, but that didn't matter. I could just feel the BEAMING coming from up by my head when he heard it was a boy. I suppose that deep down it is every girl's dream to have a sweet, little girl and every boy's dream to have a strapping son (and don't get me wrong...I am sooooo excited for a boy!!), but I can't stop teasing him about it....he is so cute!

We signed up for the 30 minute sonogram session so we could spend a lot of time peeking in on the baby. Our package didn't include 3-D, and truthfully, we weren't sure how we felt about the 3-D sonos because the baby can really look alien-like. But, every time the tech would roll the wand over his face, he would turn and look...almost like he was posing for a picture. So, the technician was really sweet, and showed us some 3-D images and provided some short videos, also. Such a treat! He smiled, he sucked his thumb, he rolled, and rolled, and rolled, and then he even yawned for us.

It was a wonderful doctor's visit! The baby looked good...four sound heart chambers and a solid, beautiful spine, and I was told that I have gained between 4-5 pounds so that was comforting to hear...feels like so much more than that! We walked away feeling very elated!

In the meantime B³ keeps flipping in my stomach, which I LOVE to feel! I keep thinking that any day Adam will be able to feel his son, too. My friend Lenda told me she almost felt the sensation of motion-sickness from all of her daughter Grace's flipping, and I think that is a pretty accurate description for it. Not so much the sickness part, but there is the constant feeling of going over the top of a roller coaster peak and losing your stomach. So fun!!!