Notes to Baby

What's in a Name?

So far this pregnancy has been pretty easy.
Getting pregnant was easy.
Pregnancy itself is fairly easy (minus the first 12 weeks or so).
Decorating the nursery was easy once we got a theme/colors
Baby registry was easy.

There is one thing, however, that has not come easy to us. And that is picking her name. I've known forever that her middle name will be Lucille. It's a family name and she'll be the 5th generation of the 1st born daughter in the family with that middle name. Lucille is my middle name, as well at my mom's, grandma's and great grandma's. Hopefully our daughter will name her 1st born daughter Lucille and the tradition will carry on.

When we found out I was growing a girl, I came up with a running list of names I liked. Names that I had liked before I was pregnant and names that I added as I heard/saw them. The ones is bold are the ones we've narrowed it down to.

Grace Lucille<---I like Grace more as a middle name

Mary Lucille<---Mary was my dad's mom's name. It's an old name and a classic. No one else likes this name which makes me like it a little more. Jordan's family doesn't like it at all. I think because it's a very Catholic name. I'm Catholic and he's not. I think his family might fear I'm trying to push my religious values on him. Which I'm not. I'm not very religious at all. It doesn't have a nickname, but we could call her Mary Lu.

Olivia Lucille<---LOVE this name. However, it's the #2 name in our state right now. I don't want her to be one of 2-4 Olivia's in her class. Because the name is so popular I don't want her to be referred to as "adjective" Olivia. Brown haired Olivia? Tall Olivia? Olivia with the big eyes? We like the name Ollie and Olive for nicknames but HATE Liv and Livvie.

Emilia Lucille<---I just like the sound of it. Other than that it holds no special meaning to me. I would choose this spelling over Amelia because I wouldn't want her to be called Amy for short. Emmy is better.

Hannah Lucille<---It's an older name. Jordan doesn't like the whole "Hannah Montana" thing but I told him that that's not really relevant anymore.

Evelyn Lucille<---Same feeling towards this name as Emelia

Alice Lucille<---Not sure if I like this one as much as I did.

Marian Lucille<---I go from loving this name to not liking it at all. Red flag? If we named her this then we'd call her Mary for short. Also might get his family to like this better than Mary.

Madeleine Lucille<---Starting to grow on me. Jordan and I were going to try out baby names on a week to week basis. This one wasn't even on the list and he called her this and I loved it. Fate? Our friends have a dog named Maddie so that might make us cut this name as the nickname would be Maddie. I'm sure our child will out live the dog though. (Sorry Shley)

I also love LOVE the names Fiona and Emma. Sadly I named my dogs Fiona and Emma when I was SURE that I wasn't going to have children.

I'm so envious of parents that just pick a name. Or the ones that have had a name picked forever. I so want to have that kind of, what, luck? Assurance? A love for a name so much that I KNOW deep in my soul that I want to call my child it for the rest of their life?

With less than 12 weeks left I'm really starting to get worried that we won't have a name before she arrives. Jordan's in no hurry to name her though. He's even suggested we wait to see her before we name her. I'm fine with this, but I'm scared that I'll name her one of the names I like on a whim (Like Evelyn or Alice) and then she'll be stuck with a name that means nothing and I hate.

A name is forever. I feel like it could make or break a child. It could set her up for success or failure. She could have a miserable time in school and get picked on or made fun of because what we choose to call her. This is totally stressing me out. I told Jordan that we need to pick a name and stick to it and that will be that. Until I hear something better and start questioning myself all over again.

The Cleaning Bug

I used to be able to live in clutter up to a point where was no spot to set something. Our house wasn't dirty, just messy. The kind that only takes 10-15 minuets to put away. The kind of messy you can quickly clean if guests are coming over. Jordan and I would normally wake up on Saturdays and, after having breakfast, de-clutter, pick up, and vacuum.

For the past 2-3 months this has been totally unacceptable to me. I feel like if there is one or 2 things out of place then all chaos will break out. I have found that by getting rid of the clutter, my mind is more at peace. I feel more relaxed and not so tightly wound. I pick less fights with my husband and am less likely to emotionally erupt if my house is tidy.

On Friday I woke up with SO much energy which is super rare for me. I'm not sure if it's the extra iron pill or HUGE cutback on sweets (both recommended by my Dr. when I complained about serious exhaustion). Anyways....I woke up and went down stairs to notice that my house was in a complete state of disarray. Actually, it was pretty decent, however my brain freaked and I had to clean.

I walked around the whole house gathering things that were out of place and putting them away.

I deep cleaned all the bathrooms.

I deep cleaned the kitchen, including: bleaching the sinks (they're white and get REALLY stained and gross) I removed all the stove burner things and washed them by hand then put them in the dishwasher. I cleaned all the stainless steel.

I took up all the rugs in the house and washed them. MISTAKE! One green rug bled all over my white ones so I later ran to the store to replace the stained ones.

I vacuumed the floors and stairs. Polished the wood floors.

-----Side Note-----
We sold the bedroom set from the guest room. We then used the cash we got from that to buy a carpet steam cleaner!!!

I steam cleaned all the carpets down stairs. I was going to do the up stairs, but at that point I was too tired and scared to carry that huge thing up the stairs.

I dusted and polished all the wood furniture.

Then....THEN.....I took a shower, put on jammies, and basked in my clean house. It was so nice. So fresh. So spotlessly clean!


After a weekend of errands, having friends over, and other household projects and general laziness, my house is once again messy. The wood is still shiny and the carpets cleaned. But the clutter. THE CLUTTER.

25 Weeks

Just a quick 25 week update

How far along: 25 weeks

Weight Gained: 4 pounds

Cravings: Sweets--Cookies, brownies, cake, sweet tea

Aversions: Nothing really. Still can't be around grocery store rotisserie chicken.

About Baby: Kicking stronger. She's most active in the morning and in the evenings before bed. She's very active after I eat, especially if I eat sweets. Jordan can feel her more and more and we can see her movement on my belly. It's so neat but equally creepy to think that there's a person in there moving around.

Doctor Says: Everything is looking good and measuring great!

What I Miss: Energy. And sleep. Because I'm not sleeping well I often feel run down during the day. I often have nightmares and wake up multiple times throughout the night. Last week I woke up around 4:15am one morning and 5:30am the other in the morning and couldn't get back to sleep. So I got up and started my day. I would pay high sums of money for 2 nights of sleep without waking up or having nightmares.

Jordan: I think I am overwhelming Jordan with things to do around the house. He works hard all week and I know he just wants one day on the weekend to relax. I have him painting, putting things together, installing shelves, etc. I try to leave him alone. There's just so much I feel that needs to be done. So much that I can't do on my own. So much I need his help with.

Things I'm Worried About: The nursery is almost done. It's still February. I'm going to have 2 showers in April. What am I going to do in March??? I'm not going to have the nursery to work on. I'm not going to have new gifts to put together or wash or find a home for. I'm scared for March. I have a feeling that the family room might get painted or the kitchen cabinets refinished.

I haven't taken my 25 week pictures yet so no belly photo. Instead here is a photo of my dogs.

Burning the Candle at Both Ends

This past week was full of frustrations for me.

When we took out the furniture of the guest room we had planned on selling all the pieces (bed, dresser, and night stand) on CraigsList. We registered for all new furniture for the nursery including crib, dresser/changing table combo, and tall 5 drawer dresser. The crib was mid-priced. The dresser and changing dresser were pricey.

In order to save some money we decided to take the tall dresser off the registry and paint our old tall dresser white, since that’s what the other nursery furniture was. I took apart the dresser, sanded it, primed it, and gave it 4 coats of white paint. When we went to put the crib together I noticed the whites didn’t match. The crib was called “Classic White” and was a little on the antique side. When placed next to the dresser the difference was very noticeable to me. So we had to go and get more swatches and match the whites. I repainted the chair rail. I took the dresser apart again, painted it, and now it won’t go back together. It’s a piece from Ikea so it’s not the best quality. I’m now waiting for Jordan to get home to fix it.

I’ve been lacking so much sleep that it’s been very hard for me to function. Sunday I woke up at 5:30am and couldn’t get back to sleep. So I got up and got to work around the house. Against my better judgment I decided to go to Ikea alone for a few things for the nursery. I needed curtains, curtain rods, and some closet storage items. It was rough getting through the store with my cart. The curtain rods were long and kept falling out. They stuck out of the cart and kept hitting things and people in the store. I knew I had too much for to handle alone but I didn’t want to come back.

The thing about Ikea is that you cannot take your cart to your car. I was struggling to get my things to my car and kept dropping the rods. The nicest Indian lady came up and offered her help. This is the 1^st time that someone has offered help to my pregnant self. I was SO grateful for her help because I KNEW I couldn’t do it on my own.

Burning the candle at both ends. I'm physically and mentally drained.

Nursery

This weekend we finally painted the nursery. The colors are "poetic princess" (a light pink) and "silver drop" (a light gray/silver). Since we didn't want the room to be too pink we put the pink on the bottom of the chair rail and the gray on the top. And, since most of our art pieces have pink in them, the gray on top will look much better.

Jordan rolling on the pink.


This is a boring picture but it shows the colors the best.

I've also been thinking about things to put on the wall. I've got this frame from Ikea. I plan on putting ultrasound pictures in it from 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 17 weeks, 20 weeks and then a picture of her as a newborn.

I've also been working on making a custom art piece. This has taken me 2 full days of non-stop Photoshop to complete this. It's a high resolution print so all I have to do is print it out and frame it. I think we're going to have it printed at 16"x20" and then mat it. It should take up a good portion of the wall.

We also have a very large antique gold frame that I picked up for free at a garage sale. We're either going to put a mirror in it or use it to "frame" my future belly cast.

Though we've gotten a lot done, there's still a long list of baby things to do:

• Figure out a closet system for the nursery
• Have maternity pictures taken
• Do a belly cast. Jordan is SO excited about this!
• Attend 2 baby showers: Jordan's family in Illinois and my family in Indiana.
  
• Wash all clothing items we get as gifts
• Put together all baby items we get as gifts
• Buy things we need but don't get for showers
• Make mobile for crib
• Install shelving on the nursery walls
• Celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary
• Get a prenatal massage

Here are some recent belly pictures:

21 weeks


24 weeks

Not too much of a difference.

Home Improvements and Other Things

My dad came to visit last week to help out with some things around the house. He used to work in construction so he has an enormous collection of tools. Jordan also took a day off work to help out, which was awesome because I ended up not being much help.

My dad replaced a faucet in the downstairs bathroom. It ended up taking him over 4 hours to do.

We installed a chair rail in the nursery. It looks nice and will look even better once we get the room painted.



When we moved into our house it was covered in wainscoting and excessive trim. We ripped a lot of it out because the owners did a bad job installing it. After we removed the wainscoting in the staircase we were left with gaps between the stairs and the wall. All we needed was to install quarter round and it would be fixed. However, we didn't have a nail gun or the saw needed to complete the task ourselves. My dad and Jordan were able to get it finished in a few hours. It looks SO much better. No longer will I feel embarrassed of my staircase!!!

We also celebrated my dad's birthday.


Jordan and I have been talking a lot about the upcoming baby and how we can prepare for it. I have more of a mindset of getting things ready around the house. He is more financially focused. I've been able to work around the house and fulfill my nesting instinct. In an effort to fulfill his craving to save money we've been able to make some cutbacks:

Cancel our premium cable: $40/month
Cancel our gym membership: $35/month
Payed off student loans: $55/month
Cancel un-needed option on our gas bill: $7/month
Total savings: $1,644/year!!!

Now, I'll admit that I have a bit of a shopping habit. I spend a mostly on craft things and things for the house. So, in effort to try and bank even more money before the baby, I'm proud to announce

FEBRUARY SPENDING FREEZE!!!!

Rules:
1) Absolutely no money on crafts. I have to use what I have and finish projects I've started
2) No extras for the house. My trips to Home Goods will have to stop. The clearance "must haves" will have to stay on the shelves.
---Exception: I can buy things for the nursery
3) No new clothes!!!
---Exception: I can buy secondhand. I wonder if Goodwill has a maternity section...
4) I can only spend money on needed items: food, toiletries, dog food, etc.

This is really going to be a HUGE challenge for me. We'll see how I do. I'm interested in how our bank account will reflect my progress.