Once-a-month blog updates seem to be the trend now, I guess. Has it really been five weeks already? I guess now I can say that no matter how you slice it, we're more than halfway along. Baby's movements are more frequent and stronger, and he/she has a tendency to startle me with sudden kicks. I can also feel some of the smaller movements, where something just starts to put weird little pressure on my insides. (It happens to be doing this right now, as a matter of fact.) Baby *can* be felt from the outside now, though in practice the way it works out is I say to Joe, "The baby is moving!", he puts a hand on the belly, and the little goober holds still until he gives up. Supposedly baby's ears are developed enough to hear sounds from the outside now, which is pretty cool. Last night there was a reaction when Joe put on some music, so we'll have to experiment with that some more. :)
Baby's room is taking shape now. The crib is up and we finally got the mattress to put in it (and some sheets and pads). We've got a "crib set" which in retrospect was kind of a pointless purchase: you're not allowed to put the crib bumpers, quilt, or pillow into the crib (suffocation hazard); and the diaper stacker is something I don't see myself getting much use out of either, since the diapers can just get put in the dresser (which will be the changing table). That leaves the curtains and the dust ruffle for color, and a plain white crib sheet. So in my next life, I think I'll just buy a dust ruffle and curtains, and some sheets. Ah well. Anyway, the furniture is mostly arranged in there, but there's still some cleaning to be done; need to get more crap out of the closet so we can start storing baby crap in there.
Choosing and purchasing baby gear is a pain in the butt. Everything costs a fortune and I'm constantly second-guessing all my decisions. I have this feeling I'm going to spend hundreds of dollars on all the wrong stuff, and then have to go out and spend hundreds more trying to find things that work better. Especially with strollers. (And everyone has an opinion, usually that whatever I'm considering is silly.) But I guess we'll just cross that bridge when we come to it. Then the other problem is, now that we've picked a car seat model, trying to find a nice fabric for it. As it turns out, not all the car seats come in all the fabrics, and not all the fabrics are sold at all the stores. And THEN, when you find a fabric you like that comes on the car seat you want and at a store you trust, THEN if you wanted to get other things in the same pattern to match, well, you better like the ONE model stroller and ONE model playpen that happen to come in that pattern, or you better not care that nothing is going to match. It's completely ridiculous. (And do I even bother to point out that these patterns don't match any of the "crib sets" you can buy anyway?) You know what? I think we'll just get the ugly brown car seat and be done with it.
Also? I hate the newfangled PC term "play yard". It's a playpen. You put the kid in it to pen them up so they don't get into stuff they shouldn't be into. What's wrong with calling it what it is?
Goodness, I'm in a mood today. :) Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm wearing jeans that don't fit. Time for another new pair of the big and baggy sort. Sweatpants are my friend... too bad they're really not appropriate for work. Just another thing to add to my continually-growing shopping list.
Anyhow, until next month, unless I decide to write something about the upcoming holiday. Merry Christmas!