Archive for August, 2009

Stroller Decisions

Friday, August 21st, 2009

I am the worst at making decisions. I waffle, back and forth, and back and forth. I just really don’t want to make the wrong choice. And what if I decide wrong and then the whole world comes crumbles all because I choose the WRONG STROLLER. NOOOOOOOO!

There are two strollers that I like, but cannot decide between the two. Here are some details.

The Micralite Toro

Micralite Toro

The Baby Gizmo review of it is great. It’s only 19 lbs, has a very easy fold, and is only 24″ wide. I think this stroller would be great for easily pulling in and out of the car, easy to travel with, and would probably be the only stroller we ever need. But as with everything there are some flaws. The storage is small and hard to get to. The seat is not reversible. The handle is hard to adjust. The napper bar doesn’t come off. Overall those flaws are not very big. I have not seen one of these in person. I really wish I could. I think I would know if this stroller was the one if only I could feel it push.

Maxi-Cosi Foray

Maxi-Cosi Foray

The Baby Gizmo review of the Foray is also very positive. This one has a smooth ride and is easy to push. It weighs 33 lbs. The width is 24″. I like how the handle can be easily adjusted and the break is very easy. The seat looks very nice, and it even has a cup holder. The storage is bigger and easier to get to. The seat can be reversed. Now for it’s flaws. The fold isn’t as easy as the Toro, and you have to remove the seat. Also the model I tried at the store seemed like the handle wasn’t very sturdy. It made me fear the stroller might easily break after long-term use. I also found some reviews online that said parts wore out fast. Although, most of the reviewers said Maxi-Cosi sent replacements for free. But there are A LOT of reviews of it, and almost all are very positive.

My bible, the Baby Bargain book, gives the Toro a C and the Foray a B-. Baby Bargains sites long term durability as a problem with the Foray and design flaws as a problem for the Toro.

In an effort to help me decide I have made a table of Cons for each. Now it’s just to decide which stroller’s Cons out-weight the others.

Toro Foray
Storage Smaller
Handle Adjustment
Napper Bar Design		 Durability Questionable
Folding Harder
Larger/Heavier

All this and I STILL haven’t decided…sigh.

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Gender Prediction

Friday, August 21st, 2009

I go September 15th for a gender determination ultrasound. It’ll only be week 17, but I am going to one of those 3D ultrasound places that allow you to go before 20 weeks for gender determination. It’s less than a month away so I thought I would take a look at some of the gender prediction “tools” out there. Of course they aren’t accurate, but this will be a form of research. After I know the gender I can compare to see which ones were correct.

Chinese Gender Chart Girl

Old Wives Tales Boy

Baby’s Heart Rate Girl (at 9w2d but boy at 6week ultrasound)

Wedding Ring Prediction Boy (maybe, sometimes it said girl)

Shettles Method Boy

tvoyBaby Gender Test Boy (73%)

My intuition: Boy

We’ll see on Sept 15th which are right…

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Foot in Mouth

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

So remember earlier when I said “If pregnancy made me turn purple and have hairy spots all over I would love it too, so long as it meant I was pregnant.” Yeah, somebody shoot me for saying things like this. No, I’m not purple…but I do have hair growing in weird place and at astronomical rate.  [cursing at sky] It was a hyperbole…not meant to be literal!

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The Crib Has Arrived

Monday, August 17th, 2009

We got our crib today! I didn’t plan on putting it together yet, but we wanted to check to make sure it wasn’t scratched or dented. When we opened the box to check it, we realized it would be impossible without taking out each piece from the 50 square feet of styrofoam and foam wrapping. So I ended up deciding we might as well put it together tonight to be sure everything was okay with it. We pulled everything out of the box and here is the heaping mound of packaging that packed 4 pieces of wood.

packaging

We got through step one with no problem. Then the fun began. I kept reading and re-reading the next page. I just didn’t get it. Then my father-in-law got his glasses out of the truck so he could read it. We looked over the instructions, re-read the first page and then the next page. It still didn’t make sense. They wanted you to take the mattress spring and attach it to the already assembled crib…but the crib was still just flat pieces of wood laying on the floor. Finally my father-in-law saw the obvious that had been staring me in the face for the past fifteen minutes. The instructions were missing a page. See for your self.

step1step3-1

step3-2step4

Notice anything funny? Step 1…Step 3…Step 3…Step 4. We had no instructions on actually putting together the CRIB. The meat of the instructions. I thought this was disasterous. I don’t do anything without the instructions. So I went searching the web for instructions but found none. I started desperately looking for a phone number to Baby Cache to frantically call demanding Step 2. While I was off searching and searching my husband and father-in-law had put together the crib sans instructions. And there were no parts left over, the crib was square, it stood on it’s own and was actually very sturdy. Amazing!

New Crib

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Dr Visit at 13 weeks

Monday, August 17th, 2009

I went to the doctor today for a regular monthly OB appointment. It took her what felt like an ETERNITY to find the heart beat and I thought I just might die right there if she didn’t find it soon. Alas, she did find it. And she said it sounded “perfect”. That’s my little fetus, practically perfect in every way!

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Baby Shopping

Monday, August 17th, 2009

Bassinet
I am so excited about my first baby purchase. I bought this bassinet at a garage sale last weekend for $20. The Bassinet looks new and very clean.

As you can see, Minnie is very interested in it. Both her and Chi Chi couldn’t stop smelling it when I brought it home. Then Minnie discovered the mobile. She wanted to pull the teddy bears off and keep them for herself. I can only imagine what these crazy dogs will do when we bring home an actual baby…

In other baby shopping news we bought a crib this weekend!!! My father-in-law is delivering it today and I cannot wait for it to get here. I don’t know why I can’t wait. It’s not like I’m going to take it out of the box yet. It’s not like I can actually use the thing yet. I guess I’ll just stare in amazement at it for the next few weeks. I find myself opening the door to the soon-to-be nursery a couple times a day just to look at the bassinet. Somehow baby stuff makes it feel real. There really is a baby on the way, it even has stuff accumulating in a room. Now that’s proof. Hard evidence.

Baby Cache Tampa Crib
The crib is made by Baby Cache, a subsidiary of Munire. It got an “A” from Baby Bargains. Baby Bargains is my new bible. I love it. The crib also got good reviews here. My mother hates the crib. She thinks its to cold or sterile or something along those lines. I think it’s the clean modern lines that bother her. But I love them. Apparently the crib is so exciting it makes me loose my ability to form complex sentences when talking about it… scary.

We haven’t bought a dresser to go with the crib yet. I just didn’t like the one that is sold with it. It has one of those side door cabinets that I find all together useless.
dresser-useless
So I think we are going with a desser from the Walmart Canopy line instead. I’ve read great reviews about the Canopy line. I think I’ll get it and check it out. The great thing is that if I don’t like it Walmart takes back anything.

dresser

I think the dresser balances out the mod style of the crib with a bit of classic and I like the fact that it isn’t matchy-matchy.

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The First Trimester

Saturday, August 1st, 2009

Where have I been?? The first trimester has gobbled up all my energy. I feel like all I do is work, eat, sleep. As soon as I am done working all I want to do it eat dinner then go to sleep. Or at least lay in bed and watch TV till I fall asleep.

The so-called morning sickness (better known as 24/7 feel like death sickness) lasted from about week 5 – week 8. Since then I have only had some off and on heart burn and nausea. But not nearly as bad as before. The tiredness isn’t quite as bad as it was before, but still prevalent.

The hunger, oh the hunger. It never ends. I don’t think I’ve felt full since… well, I don’t know when. It’s ridiculous how much I can eat. Unfathomable even. My stomach just feels like a bottomless pit. I keep putting things in but it never gets full. And I can eat an entire large meal then feel hunger pain 15 minutes later. Makes no sense. This scared the crap out of me at first. I thought for sure I would weigh 500 lbs by the end of this pregnancy, but the doctor told me not to worry and to keep eating when I was hungry. Although she did mention eating healthy food and not junk food. I’m trying, but healthy food just isn’t very filling. It’s like my stomach laughs when I feed it apples. Then it gets pissed off at me for only feeding it apples and increases the hunger pains ten fold, demanding an entire large pizza instead. My husband finds it amusing. He told me I look “sexy” eating like this. Surely he has lost his mind. I only hope he finds it before the baby arrives.

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