It's a baby girl!

To accommodate our news, I've adjusted the blog to be a bit more girly! 

I'm honestly so excited and so relieved to finally know that we're expecting a little girl. I was so sick of calling the baby "it" and wondering who in the world is in there. Now, I can say, "She's laying weird," or "Derek, can you feel her moving?" It's such a relief! 

Ever since the ultrasound tech said, "It's a girl!" I've been in absolute disbelief. I was 200% convinced it was a boy. I had already been looking at boy clothes at Gap.com earlier in the day. There was no convincing me otherwise. I hate to say it, but I actually really wanted a girl and admit that it was for all the reasons anyone wants a girl. I imagine putting her pretty dresses, doing her hair, painting her nails, and having her be a little princess. 

If she's anything like I was, and God help us, she'll be a huge girly-girl. I refused to wear pants until I was five because "little girls wear dresses." I wore old furs that my grandmother Kat would buy for me at Saint Monica's in New Boston. I would have to have everything pink and girly. When I was 8, my dad had hot pink carpet installed in my bedroom just to suit me, and I was a complete prissy girl. Who knows, though? She may be a total tomboy! I'm not exactly super girly anymore! 

I've been in absolute disbelief about the whole thing. I've even double checked the ultrasound anatomy picture with others on the internet. Derek keeps saying that he didn't pay 75 dollars for me to keep wondering what we're having, and I mean, I understand his point. I even asked the ultrasound tech, "Are you sure?" She seemed a little offended. She said, "I've been doing this for thirty years." I was like, "I don't mean anything. I'm just a little shocked." I hope I didn't piss her off.

So here are the shots for all of you to see:

That's the first shot of her lady parts... 

I think that one is a little more convincing.

 I kept thinking that in the other one, it looked a lot like something else... 

Here's a picture of her face

And a few more...

This is a profile shot. 

And so is this one

I think you can really see how much she's grown in just three weeks. Her kicks are really getting strong, so I can tell she's getting very big in there. Based on typical estimates, most babies are around a pound at this point and measure about 11 inches long. A papaya is not a small fruit!

I guess her size could also play into the fact that I weighed myself this morning, and it said I'm up seven pounds since my weigh in last month. That puts me at 14 pounds total - which I wasn't very happy about. I'm going to weigh myself again in a couple days and see if it's still accurate. 7 pounds is a little too much! I didn't think I ate THAT much at Thanksgiving...

I'll have to take another belly shot soon. When I laid down on the ultrasound table/chair/recliner/thing today, my stomach made the weirdest shape. I was all lopsided, and it was clear where Miss Stella was resting. I had never really seen my belly do that before, so it was amazing to see how she can morph my stomach into crazy shapes! Last night, she leaned into my stomach wall and you could feel her sitting there. It was just crazy!

Things are going well, though. Most of my cravings have included: gravy; pizza; burgers; hot dogs. Nothing good for you. Oh, and I think I pretty much cleaned out Publix's pudding section the last time I was there. There's just something so delicious about sugar free pudding... Most of my symptoms are pretty chill right now. I'm mostly dealing with heartburn, but that's to be expected. I'm sleeping okay, other than those nights when little miss decides to do jazzercise in my stomach at 3am. 

Anyway, I need to get to grading! I'm super relieved! Now, I just can't wait to meet Stella in 18 weeks! :) 

Movement and more movement and other baby news

I figured I should go ahead and write another post since yesterday's was so short. It had to be since Derek and I didn't get home until nearly 9 last night! It was fun helping at the swim meet, and we got free t-shirts! Oh, and the Men's team A won in the 400 medley finals, so that was awesome! :) 

Anyway, we actually had a first last night: the baby woke me up because of its movements. The movements right now aren't painful or anything (as I'm sure they'll be in a few weeks), but they are enough that I'll be dreaming about something and then all of sudden the baby's movements appear in my dream. The next thing I know, I wake up and the baby is going bonkers. 

Last night, I dreamed I was talking to someone (I have no idea who now) and I said, "Hey, the baby is moving! Do you want to feel it?" And then, I woke up to the baby having a party down there. It was 3 am. I laid there for a minute, and it kept the antics up. I decided to use the opportunity for a nighttime restroom break. By the time I got settled back in bed, I was hungry. I was like, "This is hopeless." I got up and made a bowl of cereal and ate on the couch. 

I laid back down, and then I had a hard time falling asleep. It was around 4:45am before I was snoozing again. 

I'm fully expecting this sort of thing to get much more intense in the coming weeks. The baby is getting so much bigger and these movements are really getting crazy. Derek has seen the baby make my stomach bounce! In fact, the baby has been all jazzed up while I've been typing this. 

I honestly love it because it reminds me that the baby is there and everything seems to be okay. However, a couple times the baby has ended up on my bladder somehow and decided to repeatedly stomp. It was like, "Oh, I gotta pee. No, I don't. Oh, I gotta pee. No, I don't." It was bizarre!

In unrelated news, we received our travel system yesterday! Yay! I put it together this morning while Derek worked on homework. It's fantastic. I'm really pleased with how it looks and how it works. It's very light and easy to pop open with one hand. I looked for that function thanks to my super savvy coworker, Christine. I am extremely pleased with it so far, but we'll see once the baby gets here since that's when it really matters. 

What we have left to buy at this point:

1) Pack and Play

2) Jogger

3) Highchair

4) Glider

5) Lots of cloth diapers (we have 0 at this point! yikes!) 

6) A light for the nursery 

Now, that's the big stuff. I never dreamed we'd have to buy so much stuff for the arrival of someone who plans to eat my from my boob and weigh under 10 lbs. Hilarious way of thinking about it, huh? 

I think the next purchase will be either the glider or the pack and play since those are more immediate. Then, we'll do the diapers. I figure we can even buy the jogger and highchair after the baby arrives, so I'm less worried about those. The light seems silly, but there's no overhead light in the nursery. We'll need a good floor lamp for plenty of light, and I hope to find a solid one with a dimmer function - also per Christine's handy recommendations! 

I think things are coming along well. I'm ready for Monday to be here! I cannot wait to find out who this is kicking around :) I'm thinking that if it's a boy - Harry - then we'll need to add some more boyish stuff to the nursery to man it up for him. Maybe add some soccer balls or something. If it's a little lady - Stella - then we'll need to get some bright colors in there. 

Regardless, I think I would like to paint a picture to hang in the baby's room so he/she will have it and know that I painted it for him/her. I'd like to start on this after we have a better idea of our needed colors and content. I plan for it to be abstract, and I'd like to buy a large canvas for it. I'd like to add some words - maybe - but we'll see. 

Anyway, I'm so excited for Monday!! I know Derek's office is wishing a big jinx upon us, "I hope the baby's legs are closed and they can't tell!!" As for us, we're hoping this baby isn't modest at all and shows us the goods :) I'll post after we know! I can't wait! 

Super Fun Etsy Purchase!

I had to take a second to share this super fun nursery purchase before I log off my computer for the day:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62937517/true-love-collage-eco-friendly-by-maple

I saw it and I thought it was too cute! I've been so excited to share it! Derek and I are getting ready to go help with a SCAD Men's Swimming meet, so I wanted to get this in since we'll be getting in so late! Oh, I love shopping online over my lunch! I can't wait to get it!!! :) 

Switching Up the Game Plan

This post must be quick since I have a ton of grading to finish tonight, but I had to take a second to update everyone on something.


Well, you remember how I said we wouldn't find out the gender of the baby... ?


The other day I was talking to Derek, and I told him how upset I've been since I haven't had any idea of what to expect. I told him I really wanted to know, and I even went to so far to call the doctor's office about finding out. I thought maybe they had it documented, and when the assistant said it was only documented that the baby's gender is "normal," I started crying out of frustration.


She said I could do a gender scan, and that would be the only way I could find out before my next ultrasound at 36 weeks. So in an act of desperation, I scheduled a gender scan for Monday at 11:30 am. 


I know, I know... I've been so worried that everyone will judge me for not having a stronger will. If you know me at all, you know I'm impulsive and capricious, and that's just the problem here. I've been shopping for gender neutral clothing, and I can't find anything that isn't covered in puke yellow ducks. I have some OSU stuff, but like I told Derek, I can't have our baby wearing pukey ducks and OSU stuff for the first 3 months of his or her life. 


So my impatience has gotten the best of me. I had really wanted for it to be a surprise, but I can't do this for another 18 weeks. It's driving me crazy, and I have to know. 


I think that since Derek and I finalized our names (around 19 weeks), I've wanted to know: are you Harry or Stella? Every time the baby moves (which is a lot anymore), I just wonder who this is moving around. Maybe I'm weak willed. Maybe I'm being a total princess about shopping. Maybe I'm just impatient. Whatever it is, I need to know. It's driving me absolutely insane, and I can't take it anymore. 


Derek is totally fine with finding out. I think because I've been crying and bitching and complaining since our 19 week ultrasound. I imagine he's sick of the drama. Regardless, I need to get to grading, but I figured this needed to be out there.


You can leave your judgments here. I know - I'm a big drama queen and I have to know what's going on. You can say whatever you want. 

Names

I'm debating blogging about this, but I guess I'll go ahead and do it anyway. 


While my mom was here at Thanksgiving, she asked me repeatedly what our baby name choices are. We insisted on keeping it secret for the sake of fairness and we wanted to share our names on the blog. We figured that this way all family and friends would know equally. 


I sat down to blog about our baby being the size of a banana (yay!), and I asked Derek, "Do you think I should go ahead and share our names?" His reply was a short, "Nah." I asked him why he felt that way, and he said he had no basis for his feelings and he merely picked something. He then said, "Go ahead and tell everyone." As I sit here typing, I feel insanely guilty and like I'm doing something he doesn't want me to do be doing. 


I guess I think keeping the baby names a secret for the next 19 weeks or so is just weird. 


I figure I may as well share our name choices because I don't think they're changing. Let me preface them with this: we found these names and immediately agreed. We wanted to go ahead and go with something before we drove ourselves mad. 


Here goes nothing...


For a girl, we have chosen Stella Mae Ratcliff. (Remember the SMR?) I came up with Stella based on an Interpol song - "Stella was a diver and she was always down." The link will take you to one of those Youtube videos that plays music. Now, don't go talking to me about the meaning of the song because I don't really care about that. I have loved that song since I first heard Turn on the Bright Lights by Interpol, and I think it will forever remind me of Columbus, Ohio - one of my favorite cities. I know the lyrics are a little dicey, but I think the associations I have with the song - cold Columbus air, Ohio State's SEL library at 5am, and working at the main library - all make up my warm, fuzzy feeling for it. The middle name came because I wanted something simple that would go with the first name, and it wouldn't spell something ridiculous like SAR or SIR. 


For a boy, we have chosen Harry (Harold) James Ratcliff. Obviously, his birth certificate will say Harold, but who calls a toddler Harold? I was content with naming him just plain Harry, but Derek wanted him to have a formal name for job applications and the like. Harold also reminds both Derek and me of being in Physics class at Ohio State and hearing Prof. Klaus Honschied say "Hayold" to his TA, Harold. We still say that from time to time. This particular name came to us just randomly one day. Derek messaged me at work and said, "What about Harry?" and I was like, "Oh, man. I love it." I said, "What do you think?" He said, "I think it's awesome." From then on, we loved Harry. We knew people would immediately think of Harry Potter, and that's fine with us. We didn't come up with it from that, but we don't mind the association. I guess when I think of a little boy named Harry, I imagine him being mischievous and hyper - like his father. The middle name came from a variety of places. We like James for the sake of its timeless quality and, yes, I'll admit it, James Joyce. I couldn't help myself... 


Above all, we wanted names that 1) had no family connection and 2) went well with our last name. Obviously, I love all sorts of crazy names of Spanish and Indian origin, but our last name is Ratcliff. I mean, it's English, so we have to work with that. 


The family connection thing comes from us not wanting to hurt any one particular family member's feelings for not having chosen his or her name. We love our family equally, and we thought it best to leave the baby's name out of it. 


So there you have it :) 


In other news, Thanksgiving was great. I think my mom had a great time, and we enjoyed having her here. She brought us some OSU booties and an adorable OSU onesie and hat set from her friend, Jackie. Just before Thanksgiving, Derek's mother sent us a beautifully crocheted blanket for the baby and a Christmas ornament. It's an angel, and she said in her note that Baby Ratcliff "is an angel." We thought that was too sweet!


Things are going well. We have LOTS of movement now. My mom and Derek both felt some vigorous kicks over the weekend, and the baby was loving the pecan pie we made! 


We'll keep you posted as more updates come! :) 

Nursery Pictures

Finally! We have our nursery together enough to not be completely embarrassed of our progress! We have this leaf thing that goes over the crib (the one from Ikea), and Derek had a heck of a time getting it up on the wall. We had to buy special screws from Lowe's to get it up there!


So here are some pictures:

This is a shot of our crib. We wanted to see if we liked the bedding. We're really happy with it so far. 

Here's a picture (albeit fuzzy) of the changing table. I put that together! Go me! :D Let's just hope it doesn't fall apart when we're changing the baby one day... yikes! 

Here's the dresser. You can see the curtains we have up in there for now. We're planning to get some green curtains that are thicker. 

Here's Maggie. She thinks this her room... 

I said I'd post a picture of me after I didn't look so dead tired. Well, I still look tired, but I'm wearing tighter clothes. Usually, I'll take pictures after work or something so I don't look slouchy. On most weekends, I wear  yoga pants and t shirts. I've been getting really hot lately, so tank tops have been my friend. 

As far as symptoms go, I feel okay. I have heartburn (typical) and I get tired. Last night, I didn't sleep well at all. I went and ran at the fitness center last night while Derek was watching football, and I woke up around 2 whining and complaining that my entire body hurt. I hadn't been running on a treadmill, or regularly for that matter, so I think my body wasn't ready for it. I had to take a Tylenol. That really sucked. I'm going to stick with the elliptical from here on out. 

I haven't said much about cravings lately. Mostly, I've craved cranberries. Maybe it's because it's Thanksgiving and one of my favorite things to eat - cranberry relish - is loaded with cranberries. I eat Craisins, and I even eat jellied cranberry sauce (usually, I hate this stuff, but it's a good quick fix). Right now, I'm craving eggs, and I think that's what I'll have for lunch - perhaps an egg sandwich or hard-boiled eggs. 

My face has cleared up a lot with this topical stuff my doctor gave me. It's made a huge difference. It's not perfect, but I'm not embarrassed of my face anymore. I actually feel okay not wearing make up out in public which is something I REALLY missed. I hate make up. I always feel so gaudy wearing it.

One new symptom: This morning at Mass, I felt terrible. It was really warm in the Church, and I was having trouble kneeling and standing up. I told Derek that I thought I was going to pass out. It was awful. As soon as I got outside, I felt better. This happened another time, too. The other day I was driving home from work, and all of a sudden, I had to stop the car because I told Derek I was seeing stars and I was convinced I was going to pass out driving. I felt better once I got in the passenger seat, but man, that was scary. I'm not that worried about it because on both of these occasions, I've either felt really, really hot or was wearing constricting clothing - or both. I wore tights that day, and I've decided to not do that anymore unless absolutely necessary. I think my belly has become too big to be comfortable in anything tight. So, sorry, BellaBand, you're now being relegated to depths of my closet. :(

And speaking of large bellies, I think it's amazing that Baby Ratcliff is the size of a cantaloupe! I believe it by the looks of my tummy!  :) 

Welp, I better get back to helping Derek with the household prep for Thanksgiving! We're trying to get our house in order before Mom gets here!! :)

A Veritable Potpourri of Topics...

Where to start?! I have so much to blog about!


Nursery and Baby Gear 


Welp, our mattress and nursery bedding came on Thursday. We're very happy with both. I plan to get the whole nursery together this weekend so it looks all cute for while my mom is here. She's coming to visit for Thanksgiving, so this will be the first time she's seen me since I've been pregnant and our house. I'm very excited for her visit. As for the nursery, there's still so much to get, but this way, it looks like an actual nursery and not just a room with a bunch of crap in it. We're very, very happy with the bedding choice. It's super gender neutral, and it looks great with our paint. As soon as I have it together, I'll take pictures and post them. I'm looking forward to actually having it look like a nursery. Our next purchases will likely include the jogger and the car seat. I'm a little confused about car seats. Do I have to buy the base separately, or is that just if I want another base for another car? It's confusing!




Movement


The baby has been going crazy lately. Last night, my stomach literally bounced when the baby was all jazzed up after I ate some pizza. On Wednesday night, Derek was actually able to feel the baby move, and that was super exciting! I was like, "Did you feel it?" and he says, "It's like someone's touching me through a balloon." Last night, Derek felt the baby again. I'm sure it will get stronger with time, and I know it will lose some of its cuteness and turn into actual pain, but for now, it's so fun when the baby starts going crazy. I just imagine it's in there flipping around and being silly - like us. :)




Names


So we have a big announcement about our baby name choices. :D :D We've made decisions on our names, and we're sticking to them. We don't exactly want to reveal the names just yet since we're just at the halfway point, so we're going to keep them to ourselves for a little longer. We're both VERY happy with our decisions. Let me give you this much information: they were not on the lists from a couple weeks ago. I'll also give you the initials so you know I'm not bluffing. Boy - HJR. Girl - SMR. We're very excited about them. I had always said I wanted to wait until I saw the baby, but my mom made a good point. She said, "The baby ends up looking like what you call it." I started thinking about it, and it's a lot like how we named our dogs. We chose names beforehand, and then, the dogs were just called that. I know, I know... a baby isn't a dog, but it's the idea of giving a living creature a name. I guess.


Overall, things are going well, and we're happy to be moving closer to April. I'm already ready for it to be here since it's killing me that I don't know what the sex of the baby is. And, I'll post some pictures in the next couple days. 

Yay! Halfway There Appointment!

Today's appointment was great! I'll write more after I post the pictures since I'm sure that's what most of you want to see. Baby Ratcliff was very active, and the ultrasound was absolutely amazing! We didn't see the plumbing, but that's the way we asked for it :)


Here you can see the baby's profile:

The baby had been moving its mouth around a lot! It was so cute to watch! 

Here is the baby's nose:

If you look closely near that black blob, you'll see a teeny little nose and mouth. 

Here is a shot of the baby's fingers. It's reaching over its head and you can see the little fingers just poking out:

Here you can see the baby's foot really clearly:

and again:

Here is the baby's arm. The baby kinda waved at us during the ultrasound!

Here is another shot of the baby's face:

It was so hilarious to see the baby moving its mouth around and flinging its arms. When I feel the baby move (which is a lot any more!), I always wonder what in the world he/she could be doing. I read that when you feel movement at this stage, it's the baby flipping around. I think our baby loves hopping around in there!


As for the rest of the appointment, everything went great. I got some topical medication for my face and she said everything is good. Here's the kicker: I have actually lost a couple pounds since my last appointment! I'm up by 7 pounds! I'm very happy about that. Derek and I went and celebrated with some super fattening Mexican food afterward! 


Here's how I'm looking these days:

Plump, yes. I would say I look particularly tired today because I worked until midnight last night, so I didn't sleep much. Maybe I'll take another in a couple days when I don't look so exhausted.


As he already said in his latest blog posting, Derek doesn't look any worse for the wear:

He's all jazzed up here since he's getting ready to go play for Team Zissou. You'll notice he's got an effed up eye - that's from getting hit with a ball in the face! I keep telling him it looks like he's wearing guyliner on one eye :)


Overall, everything is good! The baby is healthy - the heart, spine, brain, major bones, kidneys - all checked out. I go back on December 13 for my next appointment! Yay! We're cruising along! 

Fun Baby Find :)

I know I said I'd post tomorrow, and I plan to post after the ultrasound with some pictures. I had to take a second, though, to share these adorable little things:

So cute!

I know, I know... I'm getting a little weird with the owl thing. Maybe I'll move on to possums or something next. Derek and I were shopping in Old Navy, and they had these for a steal. I couldn't pass them up. They also had some cute gender neutral stuff with polar bears, but since Baby Ratcliff will arrive in April, we thought polar bears might be a little out of season. 

I promise to share more tomorrow! :) Oh, and our nursery furniture is complete! Derek delivered on his promise, and it looks great! 

Appointment on Monday

Well, we're almost at 19 weeks, and my next appointment is on Monday at 3. 

We'll get to do our half-way ultrasound, and we're really excited :D We haven't seen our baby since our 7 weeks appointment back in August. Back then, Baby Ratcliff was a little gummy bear-looking guy. I'm sure a lot has changed, and I can't wait to see him/her. I hope everything is okay and all the parts check out. I'm very nervous about the baby, and Derek says I'm being too worrisome. It's hard when I worry that everything I do may harm the baby or somehow negatively affect the baby's development. Just please pray for a healthy Baby Ratcliff on Monday :) 

That brings me to my next topic. In some secret way, I keep hoping that the ultrasound will start and Baby Ratcliff will be waiting on us with his/her legs wide open and there won't be any way to hide it. I know, I know... I brought this on myself, but for some reason, I keep wishing I hadn't. My lack of patience is really rearing its ugly head. 

Maybe it's because I've realized how little gender neutral baby gear there really is out there. I've been looking at baby clothes, and everywhere I've looked  - Carter's, Baby Gap, Gymboree, The Children's Place, Macy's - all pretty much have a couple gender neutral outfits. Mostly, gender neutral stuff is covered in these less than fantastic ducks, and it really pisses me off. Who says parents want to cover their babies in ducks for the first three months of their lives? I sure as hell don't.... We may opt for the Wu-Tang onesie since it's technically gender neutral! 

We've also decided to make a final decision and order bedding. We were going to go with the Carter's Forest Friends bedding I found on Diapers.com. Remember that post? Well, we're honestly very worried that it may end up being too boyish. We want something that we can easily add pink to but also easily be able to add darker shades of blue as well. I still plan to get that adorable owl wall hanging and pillow, but I think we may go for something simpler, less matchy-matchy. We found something we like on Overstock.com, and it's much cheaper than the Forest Friends set. It's all light blue and brown, and it's covered in geometric shapes. We thought that might go better with the rest of our house and the whole gender neutral thing. Any ideas?

I've also spent a good bit of time looking for other gender neutral bedding options, and there are so few - wait, so few that aren't a JUNGLE theme, bleck! - that I could scream. My friend Kerry found an awesome one on Diapers.com that she sent me and it had birds on it. The only problem is that it doesn't really go with our paint choice, and I kept worrying that a boy probably doesn't want to have a bunch of birdies all over his bed. Such a hard decision!

We're planning to do a little shopping today but mostly for holiday things. I'm going to look around and see if I find anything. We've decided upon a mattress, and I plan to order that right away. I haven't had a lot of free time lately with TAing for Ashford, the University of Phoenix hiring process, and work at SCAD. I have to go in tomorrow for our finals Midnight Breakfast. I love my job and everything, so don't think that. I just haven't had much time (even for online shopping) in the evenings when I come home and fall asleep at 8pm.

That brings me to my next topic. I've been so stinking tired lately. On Thursday night, I fell asleep at 8, tried to wake up at 8:45 to watch The Office at 9, and I ended up crying and just falling asleep. If you know me, you know I'd never fall asleep during The Office. I'm going to talk to my doctor about it since I'm concerned I may have low iron or something. As you all know (since I'm constantly reminding you), I don't really eat meat, and last week, I started craving roast beef for some reason. After I had it for lunch, I felt a bit better. We had vegetarian chili for dinner last night, and the before that, I made spinach lasagna. I guess the point is: there's my evidence for low iron. If I eat the meat, I feel better, but how do I stomach eating meat every day? We'll see. 

The heartburn has been pretty intense, too. I may ask about taking Prevacid or something like that. One of my coworkers is pregnant and she started taking that recently. I also want to ask about this pregnancy acne. It's so terrible :( I thought it would clear up, and I've been using this all natural, moisturizing soap to clean my face. Nothing I do fixes it. I've heard you can take some medication for it, so I plan to ask the doctor about that as well. I know all of this is for the baby and it's worth it, but, man, it sucks. 

Well, I suppose I should get to cleaning our house and these errands! I'll update on Monday with pictures from our ultrasound! Yay! :)

I'm still here!

I think it's been about three months since I've posted anything here, but I haven't disappeared completely. I think Mindy takes it personally that I don't post more often, and I'm sure once our baby grows up and learns how to read, it probably will too. So here's my message to both of them: it's not personal. I'm not a good writer, and I'm even worse at coming up with things to say.

Here's one baby-related thing I can commit to jotting down: I'm going to finish putting together our nursery furniture this weekend. All that's left is a dresser, so it shouldn't be too bad. I also need to put up some curtains in the nursery, so I'll probably work on that too. It's really starting to look like a nursery, but we're still missing a mattress, and bedding, and decorations, and really just accessories in general. But there's still plenty of time.

Only there isn't. Mindy's pregnancy is halfway over, by all accounts. I don't want to say I don't notice it, but I still get to wear my old pants and go for long runs and drink (terrible) beer and sleep through the night. By and large, my emotions and hormones are pretty much in the same condition they've always been. Sometimes I wish I were the pregnant one so I could say "hey, take a break, I'll be the miserable one for a while." But I don't think I could handle it. Honestly. And if I did, it wouldn't be graceful.

We're still throwing around baby names, and I honestly don't think we'll pick... well, let me rephrase. Obviously, since we aren't finding out the sex of the baby until it's born, we won't pick a name until we've got a newborn on our hands. But I don't even think we'll have it narrowed down to one boy name and one girl name. If we do, it will be a miracle. I'm really good at liking a lot of different names, and Mindy's really good at generating alternatives. Instead of narrowing our options, we keep widening and opening them up.

I don't think I'm imaginative enough to be as nervous as I probably ought to be about what's about to happen in our lives. I'm certainly, absolutely terrible at conveying how excited I am. But I am, and you should be too, because I've got a good feeling about this.

Names! Ahh, they're making me crazy!

When I was growing up and even as recently as a year or two ago, I thought choosing a baby name would be easy. Weew, I was wrong.


Derek and I have gone through so many possibilities, and it's so hard to find something that's just right. Since we're not finding out the baby's gender, it makes things even more complicated. We've tried to manage the madness by keeping a shared Google document that we both can edit. 


Personally, I think it's a pretty hilarious document. We started it off with:

Derek Alexander Ratcliff
Mindy Jo Ratcliff
beget:?

Derek may disagree with this, but I think he's been much more opinionated about boy names. We've agreed very quickly on girl names, but the boy names all either end up being something I don't like or he doesn't like. Better yet, I'll LOVE a name, and he'll respond with something like, "Eh, makes a good middle name, I guess." For example, I absolutely adore the name Sebastian, and Derek says he has "no problem" with it. When I throw it around with a middle name, he swaps them and says, "I think it's better that way." Argh! So frustrating! I had always imagined we'd just be like, "This is it! So easy!" 


Well, we've narrowed our list of about twenty name possibilities down to 5 for a boy and 5 for a girl. We're not finalizing anything until we see the baby since we want to be sure the name suits him or her.


Drum roll please...


For a boy:


Paul; Gregory; Gabriel; Samuel; John. We're thinking Sebastian or Alexander for middle names, or some combination of the first names. Derek's madly in love with Gregory, but I'm not sure. I really like Gabriel, personally, and we do agree on it. 


For a girl:


Edith; Judith; Sarah; Mary-Catherine; Muriel. I really like Rosemary, too. I don't think it makes a good first name because our last name starts with an R. We may go with Louise for the middle name since that was my grandmother Kat's middle name, and I can't think of anyone better to name our baby after. I absolutely adored that woman. However, we'd want it to be right for the first name, too, since it's going to be something she'll have to live with for the rest of her life. 


It changes a lot, and I've tried to consult a lot baby name sites and baby books. The problem with those is that they try to get you to pick popular names, like Aiden. Popular names make me want to puke. Now, you'll see John on the top 20 list and our short list, and that's Derek's doing. He thinks a common name for a boy is a good thing since you want him to have something that's timeless.

On a slightly related note: we had a discussion about whether or not John and Jonathan are related, and it turns out that they aren't at all. Jonathan is really a form of Nathan. Derek jokingly said, "It wasn't St. Jonathan that wrote one of the Gospels." I think John is so common that it's best reserved for a middle name, but Derek doesn't think it makes a good middle name. Any suggestions? 


So, now you've seen what we've been dealing with now for the past couple months. I really thought this would be easy, but weew, buddy, it isn't. 


We're happy to receive input, but remember, Derek and I are both some of the most stubborn people in the world :) 

Buying Baby Gear

I've been researching strollers and car seats, and I never realized how hard this could be! Who would've ever guessed how much thought really goes into a stroller or a car seat?


Last weekend, Derek and I went to Babies R Us, and we found a stroller we love. It was a jogger and a travel system in one, and it was a super affordable price. We were stoked. Well, I was ready to buy it right there, but Derek (being the logical one) said let's research it first.


Well, thank God we did. It has terrible reviews, such as "the wheels fall off." Yikes! That really scared the crap out of me, so I went on a crazy hunt. After researching on Parents.com, Amazon, Google, and Consumer Reports, I feel much more informed. 


Number one priority is a safe car seat. According to Consumer Reports, that's the Chicco KeyFit. The best jogger I could find that doesn't have that pesky fixed front wheel is InStep Safari. However, I want something that will work with the baby's car seat, and the third best jogger is Jeep Liberty All Terrain. It has extremely high safety ratings, and that makes me very happy! :D I'm thinking that's what I'll go with since it does fit the preferred Chicco car seat. Ultimately, it's more expensive than our original awesome find at Babies R Us, but to know that I have something that I can actually run with and will keep the baby super safe makes me feel better. 


My super runner coworker says she has a Bob Revolution, but I'm trying to be cost friendly here. On Consumer Reports, the Bob doesn't do that well, so that makes me feel better about my thriftiness. 


And note: I really hate those fixed wheel joggers. One of my neighbors at Fort Stewart had one, and I ran with her son when I was babysitting once. I couldn't stand how you have to stop to turn the darn thing. Complete crap! 


All of this research has me reconsidering some of my other choices already, but I think the pack and play will be fine. The Graco pack and plays get really good reviews, so I'm satisfied with that. 


As far as carriers go (other than car seats), I'm planning to get a Balboa Sling per my neighbor's recommendation. She absolutely loves hers, and I'd like to try the Moby Wrap  since one of my former Fort Stewart neighbors swore by hers. I like the way the Moby looks, but that's no guarantee that it's going to be the right thing for Baby Ratcliff. I've heard the ol' Baby Bjorn really pisses them off since you have to kind of stuff them into it and separate their legs. I really dig some of their other products, like their bouncer, though. 


Aside from my non-stop search for the perfect baby gear, I'm feeling pretty good. I've been hitting the Wii Fit, and my symptoms are okay. I've had a lot of heartburn, but I think I'm going to talk to my doctor about it at my next appointment. I'm at the max dosage for tums, and I think I need something more serious. It's getting unbearable.


Big news: I am so positive the baby is moving around. It happens almost daily and it's so exciting. I just feel a little nudging and poking. It usually happens when I'm sitting, so I get really excited. :) I hope Derek can feel the baby soon :) Overall, things are going well, and I can't wait for next appointment on Nov. 15. The name list is getting more interesting by the day, and I promise I'll show our name choices soon! 


We're almost half way there! Yay! 

Nursery Furniture and other rantings

So, we finally have exciting news! 


Derek and I ordered our nursery furniture the other day, and I hope it will be here very soon. We decided to go with a dark brown. I think it was described as "coffee." We ordered the crib, changing table, and a chest of drawers for the baby's things. 


The crib is convertible, and it will eventually make a larger bed for Little Kid Ratcliff. That makes us very happy because it saves us money in the long run. 


I'm very excited! After we put everything together, we'll take pictures and post them :) 


Things are going well otherwise. I'm almost 90% sure we're in the midst of a growth spurt right now. I've had a lot of stretching pain, and sometimes, it's so intense I double over for a second. Lots of stretching and lots of pain that shoots down my hips. I guess this is that new fangled "round ligament pain" I heard so much about.  My weight has been pretty stable, and I think I've gained about a pound this week. I've been weighing myself every day to try and stay on top of it. Overall, I've gained about 10 lbs - that includes the pre-weigh in, lack of running weight gain, too. 10 lbs isn't that bad. 


Another indicator that we're in the middle of a growth spurt is that last Saturday I was bragging about how great I felt and I ran for forty minutes. I tried running on Tuesday, and that failed miserably. I thought, "Maybe I'm just tired." Well, I tried again on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and all of those days ended in about 10 minutes of running and walking for the remainder of the workout. All of this round ligament pain makes it very hard to run. I had read on Runner's World that it's a good idea to get a Bella Band or a support band to wear when you run so the pain doesn't stop you. I think I'm going to try and pick one of those up today. 


I've been hitting the Wii Fit a lot. Makes me feel like a total weenie. I always just did the balance games for fun, but now, I'm actually doing the little lame workouts just to keep myself from blimping up. And I'm sorry, but that yoga is not yoga. Just for the record. 


Other symptoms have included more pregnancy acne. One of my coworkers recommended seeing a dermatologist since there are things you can take. I've seriously been considering it. I'm able to cover it up, but it just makes me feel mega ugly. Derek says it's not that bad and he doesn't even notice it. That's all that really matters :)


I've had a  few more suspect moments when I thought I could feel the baby move. I'm not sure, though. Apparently, you can have twinges in your stomach when your uterus is growing, so I'm not quite calling it movement yet. It could be a number of things: gas; uterus twinges; food digesting. In about 2 more weeks, I'll be 100% sure.


And speaking of being mega ugly, I'm going to a hair appointment today. That may sound like, "What? that's not a big deal." I do not cut my hair. Ever. For any reason. After the fiasco of April 2008 when that skank heifer cut all of my hair off at Fort Stewart, I've been skiddish of salons since. Today, I've decided that I will go and let someone trim my hair and possibly add "shape" to it. Whatever that means. I just want to wear it in a ponytail. I can't stand having a bunch of hair bouncing all over the place when I'm trying to run, or do anything constructive for that matter. I guess how this relates to Baby Ratcliff is that I'm really worried about having hair that will not be easy to wear after he/she gets here. I sound like my hair is low maintenance, but I spend a lot of time straightening it. I'm hoping that maybe the trim/shaping b-s they do will cut some of the nappy out and I won't have to devote so much time to flat ironing it. 


I'm definitely wearing a lot of maternity clothes at this point. It's not entirely maternity, but I'm sticking to either maternity pants or stretchy skirts I had before I got pregnant. I wear a lot of dresses because they're most comfortable. It hasn't been cool enough for tights yet, but I'm looking forward to that. I'd like to find some good boots, but I can't find any that I like for less than 300 dollars. With all this I hear about feet growing (and God forbid that happens to me with my size ten Fred Flintstone feet), I'm not paying a lot of money for boots and then not have them fit. 


Anyway, this is turning into something about me, and I don't want it to be. We'll post pictures of snazzy nursery furniture when we (I mean Derek) get it together. We're going to shop a little in Savannah today after my hair appointment, so we may pick up a few more things for Baby Ratcliff while we're out. I can't believe tomorrow is week 17! :) We're almost half way there!! 

Redo Again and other complaints

After a couple days of thinking, I decided to go for something maybe a little more baby-ish. I was worried that the robot look was too "Mindy" and less "Baby Ratcliff." I figure this is good since it has birds, and I love birds and there will be birds in Baby Ratcliff's room.


Anyway, things are going pretty well. I've had a heck of a time sleeping :(


I know I shouldn't be having problems like this already, but I have to sleep on my left side. Apparently, it's the best way to be sure our baby gets the best blood flow from my heart. I had surgery on my ears twice, and now, if I lay on one side of my head (which is why I typically sleep on my stomach), I end up with terrible pain in my ears. Every night, I wake up with a horrible ache, and I have to lay on my right side until it calms down. 


I talked to my nurse practitioner about it, and she recommended one of those doughnut-shaped pillows that people use when they're traveling. That way, my ear would be where the hole is and I wouldn't have to worry about my ear hurting. I plan to invest in one of these very soon.


Already, we have added a body pillow and 2 more pillows to our bed. Four of them are for my use, and one is for Derek. :( I'm honestly very worried what the third trimester is going to look like for me. 


One big symptom I'm already having that's new is my feet have already started swelling. It's way too soon for this! I mean, I thought people didn't swell until their eighth and ninth months, but apparently, I'm already getting it. It's very mild, but I do notice it. Today, I had to swap out my shoes for flip flops because my shoes had become uncomfortable. I honestly think it has something to do with my water intake. Registration walk-ins make it very hard to find time to drink enough water, and I end up way dehydrated. 


Aside from that, I honestly feel alright. I looked in the mirror today, and I swear I think my belly is getting bigger daily. Still no definitive movement yet, although I've had a couple suspect moments. It all could've been tummy issues, so I'm still waiting.


If we had stuck to the original plan, we would've found out on Monday what we're having. For a few seconds, I really do wish I knew, but I know I'll be happy I did this at the end. We're still working on names, and we have a good list so far. Like I said before, we plan to make short lists for both genders and just pick one of the names when finally see the baby. Once we finalize the lists, we'll share them. :)

Fancy Update

Well, not really that fancy. 

I just got sick of the same background. I picked it pretty quickly when we first decided to do a "baby blog," and about 10 weeks later, I thought it was time to change things up. 

The background is one of those quick and dirty provided ones, but I dig robots and went for it. I welcome the feedback. I think it's a bit more Ratcliff-y.

And, I had originally considered doing the entire nursery in robots, and shoot, may still at this point. It's hard to find something gender neutral with robots on it, though. 

The next big improvement to come to the blog will be an updated picture of Derek and me. That picture was taken during the summer of 2009, so it's pretty old. We never really take pictures together - well, decent ones anyway. Usually, I'm just farting off over lunch and taking pictures with my phone and usually one of our heads is cut off completely. 

Either way, Derek and I dig the new background, and we hope Baby Ratcliff does, too. Oh, and you. :D