19 Weeks, Nursery Update, Purchasing a Crib

Hey everyone, time for a baby update! I'm at 19 weeks now (almost halfway) and things are still going great. As you can see from my belly pics, this baby has been growing a lot in the past two weeks and even though I see my baby bump everyday, seeing these belly pics today, had me laughing at how big my tummy is getting...see the expression on the pic to the right?! Aside from the baby's growing size, I'm starting to feel a few little kicks and flutters every once in a while too which has been fun. It seems like they are more frequent and stronger right after I eat dinner and have my nightly tea. Right now they just feel like gas bubbles or my food just moving around, but I have a feeling it's something more!

19 weeks

Whoa! Pop!

Nursery Update:

So last week, we made an exciting purchase and got the baby crib! It looked all cute just sitting in the baby room (see more about it here), but once B got it all built, we realized that we were quickly running out of space in that room and all we had in there was the recliner/rocker and the crib! Yikes! So after thinking it over we decided to change the baby room to the second spare bedroom we have just down the hall (which was our office). I'm so glad we made this switch because there is so much more space in this room, so that will be very nice since we still have a lot more baby supplies/furniture to buy! There's a pic here below that shows the nice light that room will have, and I'm sure I will post many more photos as we add more to the room.

Here's the a bit more info about the crib we got: it's called DaVinci Kalani 4-in-1 crib with toddler rail. I liked this bed for a number of reasons, for starters...it's cute, on top of that, it's GREEN! The wood is made of New Zealand pine wood from sustainable forests, it's made with non-toxic finishes, and the company says it "ships smart" to reduce their carbon footprint. Granted, I'm sure there are plenty of "greener" options out there, but for our budget, this crib was a perfect fit. Here's where I bought it. Another reason I like this crib is that it will "grow" with the baby in how it can be four different beds in one: a crib, a toddler bed, a day bed, and a full size bed (though the bed rails are sold separately). It will be fun to get some bedding into the crib once we know the gender so it's not so plain and empty!

On the topic of finding out the gender...this is going to be one exciting week for us because we will be finding out the baby's gender this Friday! I know that some people like to wait and be surprised by the gender, but I am quite the planner and I would go a bit crazy if I had to wait 5 more months to find out whether the baby is a boy or a girl. So we have an ultrasound scheduled for this Friday to answer this question for us! I had planned on just finding out at the ultrasound, but after talking with a few colleagues at work, I learned of a fun new way that people are sharing the "gender news" and one is something called a, "Gender Reveal Party." Basically when you have your ultrasound, the technician writes down the baby's gender on a piece of paper and seals it in an envelope (and doesn't tell you...talk about building the anticipation!) and then you take that envelope to whoever is baking your cake. They then color your cake or the inner layer of icing to match the gender of the baby. Later that night you have a party with family and friends to "cut the cake" and find out the gender of the baby. I fell in love with this idea, and so did B and our families, so this Friday we will be having our very own "Gender Reveal Party"! I can't wait to post pictures for you all too see! Here's a website where I got lots of cool planning ideas for the party!

Also, since it's so close to finding out the gender B and I are getting very superstitious as to what we think the baby will be! We may hear a certain song or see a commercial and we're like...look it must be a boy...or a girl! One of my favorite ways to guess the gender is when I see our two favorite baby names in books, magazines, on TV, or just hear them in real life. By the way, here are our most favorite names...for a girl, we love Avery, and for a boy we really like Brody. So check out my latest sightings to the right, from a Pottery Barn kids catalog (just had to cut these two out!). Oh baby...what's it going to be?!

Granted seeing these names could just be the fact that I have these names so fresh in my mind that I happen to see them everywhere, but since I'm so close to finding out the gender, call me crazy...but I see them as signs! Anyone else had any signs or certain feelings before they found out their baby's gender?! Well, I can't wait to share the news next week once we know the gender and to share some pics from our Gender Reveal Party!