Have you heard about Project Life? It's this very easy scrap-booking system that I found out about a while back, ordered stuff for and then never got around to doing (I think it was right around when I found out I was pregnant). While organizing this weekend, I found my PL stuff and thought about what a great baby book it would make. After searching Amazon, I found out they now have a baby set, which I ordered right away and can't wait to get!
I'm now trying to format all the letters I've written to the baby to fit into the 6x6 pockets. Going through these letters is just fantastic. I am so glad I started those the day I found out I was pregnant (I didn't start them on this blog until a month or so later). It is amazing to see what I was feeling each step of the way and I can only hope the baby likes reading them one day. I highly recommend you keep track of your pregnancy weekly if you can. Whether in letter form or lists or photos, it is so great to have to look back on.
Now I just need to keep up my excitement over the next year to actually complete his scrapbook. Maybe I'll try to post the layouts on here every week for some motivation...
(Note: I wasn't paid or anything by PL for this post; in fact they have no clue who I am. I'm just really excited about my new plan for a baby book and wanted to share :-) )
Monday, May 20, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
38 Weeks
Dear Baby,
It is hard for me to believe that when you arrive out here in the world it will have been over two years since your daddy and I first started hoping for you. As I sit here, anxiously awaiting your arrival, I am also trying very hard to enjoy and treasure these last moments with you inside me. There is a strong chance that you are going to be the only baby I ever have. Even if that is not the case, you are still my first. The one who made me a mommy. I want to imprint the feeling of you kicking and hiccuping and twisting all around in here. These last times when I have you all to myself, safe and protected, my constant companion.
But it is hard not to think of meeting you. I picture holding you and kissing you and seeing you with your daddy. I imagine you in the car seat that has been in our car for a month now, wearing the cute smiling crab hat your daddy picked out for you to go home in. And then we get to bring you home and show you around your room and the apartment. You can look at your books and toys and clothes. There are things here for you in nearly every room; the pack'n'play in the living rooms, the bottle brush on the kitchen sink, the clothesline for your diapers on the back porch. Everywhere I look now I see the evidence that you will be here so very soon. The impact of you on my life is already so huge and can only expand as the days and weeks and years go on.
Sunday was Mother's Day. I'm not sure if it counted as my first one or not. I feel like your mommy, but pregnancy is also this surreal experience, one that is impossible to describe. I have seen you and felt you but it still seems impossible that there is a baby inside me. Maybe I'll count this as my Mother's Day In Training.
38 weeks finds me popping Tums like candy and bouncing on the yoga ball to try to make my pelvis and hips hurt less. Daddy has taken a lot of books to the auction house to make more space for all the items that used to be in your nursery. I can promise you will never lack in reading material. Tomorrow I'm heading to another children's consignment sale in search of a jogging stroller. The apartment is almost perfectly set up and will be all done by the end of the weekend! We're now ready and waiting :-)
Love,
Mommy
It is hard for me to believe that when you arrive out here in the world it will have been over two years since your daddy and I first started hoping for you. As I sit here, anxiously awaiting your arrival, I am also trying very hard to enjoy and treasure these last moments with you inside me. There is a strong chance that you are going to be the only baby I ever have. Even if that is not the case, you are still my first. The one who made me a mommy. I want to imprint the feeling of you kicking and hiccuping and twisting all around in here. These last times when I have you all to myself, safe and protected, my constant companion.
But it is hard not to think of meeting you. I picture holding you and kissing you and seeing you with your daddy. I imagine you in the car seat that has been in our car for a month now, wearing the cute smiling crab hat your daddy picked out for you to go home in. And then we get to bring you home and show you around your room and the apartment. You can look at your books and toys and clothes. There are things here for you in nearly every room; the pack'n'play in the living rooms, the bottle brush on the kitchen sink, the clothesline for your diapers on the back porch. Everywhere I look now I see the evidence that you will be here so very soon. The impact of you on my life is already so huge and can only expand as the days and weeks and years go on.
Sunday was Mother's Day. I'm not sure if it counted as my first one or not. I feel like your mommy, but pregnancy is also this surreal experience, one that is impossible to describe. I have seen you and felt you but it still seems impossible that there is a baby inside me. Maybe I'll count this as my Mother's Day In Training.
38 weeks finds me popping Tums like candy and bouncing on the yoga ball to try to make my pelvis and hips hurt less. Daddy has taken a lot of books to the auction house to make more space for all the items that used to be in your nursery. I can promise you will never lack in reading material. Tomorrow I'm heading to another children's consignment sale in search of a jogging stroller. The apartment is almost perfectly set up and will be all done by the end of the weekend! We're now ready and waiting :-)
Love,
Mommy
Thursday, May 9, 2013
37 Weeks
Dear Baby,
We made it! 37 weeks - full term! Yay! According to the ultrasound today you're 6 pounds, 1 ounce, which is in the 27th percentile. You're still small, but you've been gaining weight appropriately, which is excellent. We also had our weekly non-stress test and you were really chill until about 5 minutes before it ended when you seemed to have a dance party, which was good since they like to see lots of movement.
On Saturday, your Daddy and I went to the couples yoga for birth class. Your dad got to see what I've learned in yoga and we practiced some positions for labor. On Sunday, J & C came over and helped us put together everything for the nursery. It's looking really good in there. I really hope you like it. We still have to hang up prints and whatnot, but I have to wait until everything has arrived and one of the wall decals is coming on a slow boat from China (literally).
We are pretty much ready for your arrival. You Daddy still needs to take a bunch of books to the auction house, but they won't accept them until early next week. We're still cleaning up the guest room, but it should be done this weekend. Mother's Day is on Sunday and I wouldn't mind if you arrived then, but if you want to get bigger first, that's okay, too, of course.
Love,
Mommy
We made it! 37 weeks - full term! Yay! According to the ultrasound today you're 6 pounds, 1 ounce, which is in the 27th percentile. You're still small, but you've been gaining weight appropriately, which is excellent. We also had our weekly non-stress test and you were really chill until about 5 minutes before it ended when you seemed to have a dance party, which was good since they like to see lots of movement.
On Saturday, your Daddy and I went to the couples yoga for birth class. Your dad got to see what I've learned in yoga and we practiced some positions for labor. On Sunday, J & C came over and helped us put together everything for the nursery. It's looking really good in there. I really hope you like it. We still have to hang up prints and whatnot, but I have to wait until everything has arrived and one of the wall decals is coming on a slow boat from China (literally).
We are pretty much ready for your arrival. You Daddy still needs to take a bunch of books to the auction house, but they won't accept them until early next week. We're still cleaning up the guest room, but it should be done this weekend. Mother's Day is on Sunday and I wouldn't mind if you arrived then, but if you want to get bigger first, that's okay, too, of course.
Love,
Mommy
Thursday, May 2, 2013
36 Weeks
Dear Baby,
On Tuesday we hit the one month until your due date mark. It's hard to believe there are only 4 more weeks left. According to my doctor, I probably won't go beyond that, so we are very, very close.
On Sunday we had our second baby shower. It was a small lunch with some of your dad's relatives who couldn't make the bigger shower. It was really nice and people were once again very generous. I just keep feeling more and more blessed by our family and friends.
I bought the rest of the items on the Amazon registry using gift cards and will finish up the Babies'R'Us registry in the next couple days. On Sunday C & J are going to come over to help us put everything together and then we will be set! Putting together baby items is much more difficult than one would guess.
We finished all out out prenatal classes yesterday. We're now ready for breastfeeding and infant care, so hopefully everything will go well once you come home. It's a little scary but the hospital spends the 48-ish hours we are there with you teaching us how to care for you. And we have a lot of family and friends who can help if needed.
I can't wait to meet you!
Love,
Mommy
On Tuesday we hit the one month until your due date mark. It's hard to believe there are only 4 more weeks left. According to my doctor, I probably won't go beyond that, so we are very, very close.
On Sunday we had our second baby shower. It was a small lunch with some of your dad's relatives who couldn't make the bigger shower. It was really nice and people were once again very generous. I just keep feeling more and more blessed by our family and friends.
I bought the rest of the items on the Amazon registry using gift cards and will finish up the Babies'R'Us registry in the next couple days. On Sunday C & J are going to come over to help us put everything together and then we will be set! Putting together baby items is much more difficult than one would guess.
We finished all out out prenatal classes yesterday. We're now ready for breastfeeding and infant care, so hopefully everything will go well once you come home. It's a little scary but the hospital spends the 48-ish hours we are there with you teaching us how to care for you. And we have a lot of family and friends who can help if needed.
I can't wait to meet you!
Love,
Mommy
Saturday, April 27, 2013
NIAW 2013
Today is the last day of National Infertility Awareness Week for 2013. At the beginning of the week I had a friend post something about NIAW and say that she was trying to beat infertility. I replied that I'm not sure you ever beat it, but I do hope she gets to become a mommy.
After reading that, I was talking to my husband about if you can beat infertility and how I don't think I have. I think he was rather surprised by what I told him. He didn't know that every time I go to the doctor I expect bad news, like that the baby has died. That this still doesn't seem real and probably won't until I'm holding him in my arms. That as I was opening all of the items we got from the shower I just kept wondering what I was going to do it I lost this little guy.
They say knowledge is power, but I'm not sure my knowing the awful things that have happened in this community is any good or provides any power other than fear. Does one ever beat infertility? Maybe parts. In the next month or so I'll have a baby. But what if we want to try for a second one? What about dealing with my PCOS until menopause? What about the crazy feeling that something could go wrong at any second?
That last question is probably more about parenthood than anything else, but all the same the memories I will always have about our fight to have a child will never go away. Infertility will always be a part of me and that is why I will always be a part of the movement to make others aware of it.
After reading that, I was talking to my husband about if you can beat infertility and how I don't think I have. I think he was rather surprised by what I told him. He didn't know that every time I go to the doctor I expect bad news, like that the baby has died. That this still doesn't seem real and probably won't until I'm holding him in my arms. That as I was opening all of the items we got from the shower I just kept wondering what I was going to do it I lost this little guy.
They say knowledge is power, but I'm not sure my knowing the awful things that have happened in this community is any good or provides any power other than fear. Does one ever beat infertility? Maybe parts. In the next month or so I'll have a baby. But what if we want to try for a second one? What about dealing with my PCOS until menopause? What about the crazy feeling that something could go wrong at any second?
That last question is probably more about parenthood than anything else, but all the same the memories I will always have about our fight to have a child will never go away. Infertility will always be a part of me and that is why I will always be a part of the movement to make others aware of it.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
35 Weeks
Dear Baby,
Numbers that end in 0s and 5s always seem so big. 35 weeks doesn't mean much on the official pregnancy count, but to me it sounds like a huge number.
We had our last labor and delivery class on Monday and are as ready as we can be for that. The car seat is in and our bags are (mostly) packed. This weekend we want to finish moving everything around so that we can set up your nursery. We have one more shower on Sunday, newborn care and breastfeeding classes Monday and Wednesday and then we're all ready for you!
This week you hiccups have been getting stronger and they make my whole belly bounce. Work is getting hard - my body aches after a busy shift, my feet are swollen and I groan and say ouch pretty frequently. I can't begin to tell you how much I look forward to having 3 whole months home with you without having to worry about anything else.
I wonder frequently what you'll look like. Since we had to do so many extra tests we chose not to have a 3-D ultrasound, so no fun photos of your face from that. I wonder if you'll get your dad's dark hair and my curls. His muscular legs and my whole-face smile. The same birthmark that both my mom and I have. Daddy and I both have blue eyes, so I imagine you'll keep those baby blues, though I recently read that you could get darker eyes from one of your grandparents.
Hang out another couple weeks and then we'll get to meet on the outside. I cannot wait.
Love you,
Mommy
Numbers that end in 0s and 5s always seem so big. 35 weeks doesn't mean much on the official pregnancy count, but to me it sounds like a huge number.
We had our last labor and delivery class on Monday and are as ready as we can be for that. The car seat is in and our bags are (mostly) packed. This weekend we want to finish moving everything around so that we can set up your nursery. We have one more shower on Sunday, newborn care and breastfeeding classes Monday and Wednesday and then we're all ready for you!
This week you hiccups have been getting stronger and they make my whole belly bounce. Work is getting hard - my body aches after a busy shift, my feet are swollen and I groan and say ouch pretty frequently. I can't begin to tell you how much I look forward to having 3 whole months home with you without having to worry about anything else.
I wonder frequently what you'll look like. Since we had to do so many extra tests we chose not to have a 3-D ultrasound, so no fun photos of your face from that. I wonder if you'll get your dad's dark hair and my curls. His muscular legs and my whole-face smile. The same birthmark that both my mom and I have. Daddy and I both have blue eyes, so I imagine you'll keep those baby blues, though I recently read that you could get darker eyes from one of your grandparents.
Hang out another couple weeks and then we'll get to meet on the outside. I cannot wait.
Love you,
Mommy
Thursday, April 18, 2013
34 Week
Dear Baby,
It is hard to believe that you could be here in less than a month. One of the girls who works in another store had her baby at 36 weeks. Most go at 37. It's still surreal that you're in my belly. I can't wait for you to be out here; to be a real person to me.
On Sunday we had my baby shower that your Aunt C put on. It was absolutely amazing. She is quite the event planner. There are so many people who are so excited to meet you and love you already. They were very generous and we're pretty much set for what we need for you. I can't wait to show you all of your things and introduce you to all of your family and friends.
There are a lot of guesses for your name, but no one has gotten it yet. I thought it would be an easy one, since you're going to be named for my mom. Lots of people asked at the shower, but we're keeping it a secret. It's kind of fun to have it as a secret. I have to admit, we don't tend to use it, we just call you baby or the baby. I wonder if we'll use your name a lot or find a nickname. Maybe a little of both.
Today we are leaving for Manchester, NH for a conference. You have traveled quite a bit inside of me and I hope you enjoy doing so once you're out here into the world. At the shower someone asked when you would get to go to Europe for the first time. Our plan is Paris for daddy's 40th birthday, so you'll be about a year and a half. We'll go back again some day when you can remember it.
Love you,
Mommy
It is hard to believe that you could be here in less than a month. One of the girls who works in another store had her baby at 36 weeks. Most go at 37. It's still surreal that you're in my belly. I can't wait for you to be out here; to be a real person to me.
On Sunday we had my baby shower that your Aunt C put on. It was absolutely amazing. She is quite the event planner. There are so many people who are so excited to meet you and love you already. They were very generous and we're pretty much set for what we need for you. I can't wait to show you all of your things and introduce you to all of your family and friends.
There are a lot of guesses for your name, but no one has gotten it yet. I thought it would be an easy one, since you're going to be named for my mom. Lots of people asked at the shower, but we're keeping it a secret. It's kind of fun to have it as a secret. I have to admit, we don't tend to use it, we just call you baby or the baby. I wonder if we'll use your name a lot or find a nickname. Maybe a little of both.
Today we are leaving for Manchester, NH for a conference. You have traveled quite a bit inside of me and I hope you enjoy doing so once you're out here into the world. At the shower someone asked when you would get to go to Europe for the first time. Our plan is Paris for daddy's 40th birthday, so you'll be about a year and a half. We'll go back again some day when you can remember it.
Love you,
Mommy
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