Research

Google posted a Search Story that really hit home today... There's so much to research!

Big Brother Casey

Casey's going to be a big brother! Like, really big. Like, it will be years and years till this kid outweighs Casey. I keep getting the question, "So, how do you think Casey's going to adjust?"

Mostly, I think he's going to be fine. I don't worry that he'll be aggressive toward the baby. I don't worry that he'll chew up the baby's stuff or any toys. Babies have climbed in his crate, pulled his ears, taken his toys, and he takes it all in stride. He's an intensely curious dog, so he'll want to investigate everything (and everyone) new, but once these things and people become fixtures, he'll go back to being his old laid-back self. For those of you who have met Casey, I doubt you'd use the words 'laid back' to describe him, but, trust me, when things are 'normal' in the house, he's very laid-back.

He's big, and most of what I worry about is that he doesn't know his own size or strength. When a baby is sitting & patting him, he may lean into him (like he leans into us) and knock the baby over. Not much harm done. When toddlers get excited and squeal and run around, he gets excited too, and runs around and may knock over a kid. He'll get used to the noise and commotion, and eventually not get as excited by it.

Something I am adamant about, though, is teaching kids proper behavior around dogs. Even kids that grow up without dogs in the home should know obvious stuff: Always ask permission before petting a strange dog. Offer the back of your hand for it to sniff before petting it. Don't run away from a dog. Don't put your face in its face. Don't pull/pinch/hit dogs. Don't mess with a dog while it is eating. I'm amazed that even elementary-aged kids I've come across don't have these basic manners.

With any dog, no matter how much I trusted it, I'd watch the baby and the dog intently when they're together. We've already got a tall baby/pet gate that will come in handy with keeping them separated when needed. Josh has been working hard to get a fence put up in the backyard, so we can throw Casey out there to run off energy if he's underfoot too much. We'll keep him on a leash indoors more to be able to quickly pull him away from any bad situation. Mostly, I think he'll be like Nana in Peter Pan- watchful and protective and gentle. I'm looking forward to this baby having a big (furry) brother to grow up around!

Baby Stuff: The nursery, Before.

We have a 1200 square foot, 3-bedroom house. One bedroom is ours, obviously, with an attached bath. The other two bedrooms are very different- one is 10'x14' and has become the game room and guest room and toy room.

The other is tiny, measuring about 6.5'x10'. The 75 square foot difference between the two rooms is noticeable. Friends have been given a tour of our house and exclaimed when they saw this room, "It's like a closet!" Yes. It is. For a long time, it was the office and then the TV and computer were combined into one screen and moved out of the little room. Then, unfortunately, it became a hobby room/stuff room, with the piano, knitting stuff, sewing machine, and a pile of stuff that had no other home....



Yeah, whoops. Not the most effective use of space. You'll notice, to the bottom-right of the picture, the glider ($25 at Goodwill!)- we had a higher purpose for this room in mind, but have some work to do!

When we're determined to do some decluttering or redecorating, we do it! It didn't take long to move furniture around and make a plan. The recently-purchased dresser/changing table (craigslist score!) sitting in the middle of the living room was good motivation. This weekend, we were gifted a (really nice!) hand-me-down crib (Thanks Matt and Heather!) and, rather than having the pieces laying around to get lost or tripped over, Josh assembled it that night. The game/guest/toy room is now the game/guest/toy/office/music room. I kid you not.



Much better.


I figure, babies are small, so this little room will work- provided we don't collect too much Stuff. We obviously still have a ways to go before Baby lives here, but the big pieces are in place. We have lots of time, right? This little room is our "blank slate"! We probably won't make too many modifications to the room- no big projects requiring protective glasses or anything- but I do expect to paint and decorate a bit.


What nursery decor inspiration or storage tips do you guys have for me? 

"How are you feeling?"

Baby- and pregnancy-related xkcd comics will be a recurring theme.
There are a surprising number of them.

I get this question often. Every. Single. Day. And, so far, I haven't had any room to complain, so my answer has been "Pretty good!" But in case you're actually wondering...

My biggest complaint is the sinus stuffiness. There's even a name for it- rhinitis of pregnancy. Ugh. I'm used to dealing with seasonal allergies- usually forgoing any kind of drugs because I know the allergies will pass in a week or two, tops. Usually, that happens at the beginning of June. Here we are, mid-July, and I'm still awoken nightly unable to breathe through my nose. Also? The comment "Not sleeping now? Just wait until Baby comes!" doesn't help matters.

Other than that snotty detail, I am feeling pretty good. I have many friends who have had much harder pregnancies, so I know I'm extremely lucky. People keep asking if I've been sick (not at all), if my back hurts (not yet), or if I'm sleeping OK (just fine, except for the above) and I think I'm disappointing them!

From a slightly different angle, I feel better about myself than I have in my memory. I've always struggled, to different extents, with the typical body image stuff all girls/young women think about. Right now, though? I feel like my body's doing what it is supposed to. I have confidence in it. I feel like I'm the shape and weight I'm supposed to be. My skin's relatively clear. My hair looks great. My nails are actually growing faster than I can bite them. I have my energy back after having it totally zapped in the first trimester. I actually feel beautiful, after years of Josh telling me so. Maybe not glowing yet, but pretty. I'm amazed at the way my body's changing, and the way it just knows how to grow another human being inside it, even though it has never done it before. Truly a miracle.

And, by popular demand...

~6 weeks:


~12 weeks:


~16 weeks:


I need Josh to help me improve that last picture. Also, I need to pick one outfit and stick to it. I've got a belly, though! Not so much that someone on the street would notice I'm pregnant, but if you're looking for it, you don't need binoculars! I'm definitely finding my borrowed maternity pants more comfortable than my normal pants (but not 100% necessary). I'll need to go shopping pretty soon.

More later on why my generous friends and family are awesome.

Vacation part 3: Maine

Mostly, we saw lighthouses.

I mean we camped...


And explored rocky shores...





Despite the warnings...



But the people of Maine are proud of their lighthouses! When we first got into the state, we stopped at a Maine Welcome Center. Without any prompting, the woman behind the counter started telling us about lighthouses along our route we should stop to see, and the ones that weren't worth stopping for. We ended up with a much longer but more scenic trip to the campsite! And the pictures along the way? I can barely believe I took them.






Besides rock-hiking and lighthouse-hunting, we spent our time driving to see the beautiful sites of Acadia National Park and walking the shops and streets of Bar Harbor, watching the ships come in & go out. It was so beautiful, and so, so relaxing. Because we away from home for the 4th of July, we went to the small town parade, which, on the surface was just like an Indiana small town parade, but there were definite differences. That's a whole post of its own, though.

We were extra-patriotic, and spent the 4th and 5th (the day Independence Day was celebrated, since the 4th fell on a Sunday) driving through 8 of the 13 original colonies, and even over the George Washington Bridge and through the city where the Declaration of Independence was adopted. Alas, we didn't watch fireworks.

View all the pictures of Maine & our trip home:

Maine (vacation part 3)

Vacation part 2: New Hampshire

This post is brought to you by SIGNS. Looking over my pictures, I realized I really like taking pictures of signs. Perhaps because I feel it gives context to the trip, perhaps because I like words better than pictures. Anyway. Here is my story, part 2, told by signs.



This stop was another short one- 2 nights, with only 1 days for activities. We were staying in a state park that was beautiful and very wooded. Our site backed up to a creek and, thankfully, did not have the same mosquito problem the previous site had- the only wildlife I spotted was a brave squirrel and chipmunk, and a fox that was more skittish. There were warning signs posted for bigger pests to look out for, though: bears and moose.

  

We managed to not run into any moose (or even see any!), but we did see a black bear- thankfully nowhere near where we were sleeping. The black bear was along a route with a bigger threat than bears: gravity. We drove up Mt Washington, the highest peak in the Northeast.



We chose to take our chances and drive up the road ourselves. I say "we"- but Josh did all the driving. With a sign like that, though, it makes you want to check out term life rates before the trip! I can vouch, there were no guardrails or fences. Nothing to block the views!
We were up pretty high...



And ended up even higher!


At the top of Mt Washington, I was unprepared for how chilly it would be! Just as we got up there, a cloud rolled in, so we didn't get a shot of the view from the top. Thankfully, the cloud wasn't stormy, and it wasn't too windy. In the past, though, it's been pretty windy up there:


We made our way down the mountain and back to our campsite, and took it easy the rest of the evening. On the way out early the next morning, there was one more site I wanted to see: the Old Man of the Mountain, depicted on New Hampshire's quarter. I knew it was very nearby (turns out, within walking distance of our campsite!). We stopped at a viewing area, and saw... nothing. There were some articles posted in an informational park sign with an explanation. Apparently I missed the memo- although the viewing area still exists, there's nothing to view- Old Man of the Mountain collapsed in 2003! I did snap a picture of a sign and the mountain where I think it was. This goes to show I should do my homework before visiting!



So, that's the way our trip started on our way to our last stop, Maine, in part 3 of our vacation story! Stay tuned.

See all my (non-sign) pictures from New Hampshire:

New Hampshire (vacation part 2)

Baby Stuff: Changing table

We're planning on going to pick up a dresser with a changing table top tonight (Off craigslist! For cheap!), and I asked twitter what they thought of changing tables: Useful or not? We know we don't have room for a dedicated changing table in the tiny nursery we're planning, but a dresser combination seemed to make sense. Opinions on Twitter were mixed:

BabyEtteEtsy: never used them... always on the bed or floor through all 4 babies

that_girl_lola we bought one with our first daughter- maybe used it 3 times in all. When I was pg with our 2nd, we got rid of it to make space but, our nursery was on 2nd floor, and our room on 1st- which meant lots of changing on our bed- more convenient. ... maybe consider buying used at Once Upon a Child and then you can save $ and sell back if you don't use it.

thenaturalmommy we've never bought one. We use the toy storage thing j built

UntanglingTales useful inasmuch as it creates a one-stop-swap. If you're not doing cloth They're 100% optional. Once they reached the rolling stage I changed mine on the floor so I could immobilize them w/ my feet. ... We had shelves in a closet by a waist-high dresser we stapled a pad to. Covered the pad w/h2o-proof yardage we swapped to wash.

kt_writes I never used one--it was much easier to just put a changing pad on the floor or bed.

jkubecki Depends on if you like your OLD table. We changed when we wanted something bigger for dinner... Oh, wait... Seriously, they're very handy to have. Make sure u get 1 that's big enough 2 keep all supplies handy. And don't walk away ever.

KielEWyote Changing tables are pointless, just use the floor. Ha ha!

twentysixcats That changing table on CL looks like a great buy. I love having a place to change Savannah. To keep dipes, wipes, etc. It's not "necessary", but useful. We got a dining room sideboard/buffet. You could also use a pack & play w/ changing pad.

After getting these answers, I saw that commenters mostly defended the use of the "unitasker" changing table on Unclutterer. We aren't even considering a unitasker, and are insisting on a dresser with a changing table top. I hesitate to plan to change the baby on the floor, mostly because I think my curious, large dog will get in the way. I see the logic in keeping all the diapering supplies in one place, and, admittedly, we have a relatively small one-story house, so getting to them from anywhere in the house shouldn't be inconvenient. 

Did you use your changing table? Is it worth having around?