27 weeks and counting

Counting down weeks and days has become a favorite past time for me for a variety of reasons. First off, as each week passes I get closer and closer to meeting the little being that has been growing inside me for over 6 months now (and kicking me a little harder each week!). Second, each day that passes puts me closer and closer to being FINISHED with school forever! I have exactly 3 classes left and I tell you it cannot be over fast enough. It's been a heck of a year juggling school, work, clinicals, and pregnancy.... and I am looking forward to being done.

I'll graduate Friday May 2nd at 3:30pm, and it'll be a glorious day! Here's some belly pictures from today for your viewing pleasure

attractive isn't it.....

Our First Wrapped Baby Gift

Yesterday Mike came home from work with a wrapped baby gift from his coworker! It's the first wrapped present we've gotten and it looked so cute I had to take a picture of this momentous occasion...

We opened it up to find the bobblin bouncer that everyone tells me is a must have! So exciting...
Our little friend Quan came over last weekend as well to lend us clothes and toys that he can't fit in or use anymore. Thanks Quan! And thanks to his mom Lisa... our little Vince (that name is sticking for now) has a new friend waiting for him to play with. Quan also showed us about more things we need to make sure and baby proof, and we found out how much little boys are like motors.... running all over the house with no rest!

Demolition Day

Say goodbye to our old bathroom!


Last week Mike took a couple of days off work to start our bathroom project. Time to get rid of that nasty gray tile! We'll be putting in new tile, a new vanity and sink, some new lighting, and a new medicine chest. For now we have to use the bathroom downstairs for everything, but today the toilet is going back in so that's good... seeing as I have to get up about 3 times a night to pee now!
As usual, when there is a project going on in our house, the cats often feel like they need to help Mike out in some way.... whether it is helping to paint the walls with their tails, or just sitting there and supervising while Mike does his job. Inevitably I heard a few curses at Animal yesterday to get the hell out of the bathroom while Mike painted the walls. So far so good, no paint on their fur yet.

Here's a demo shot with the new tile in.

Lazy Weekend

Not much went on in our house this weekend, we all did some lounging around on the couch, I think Pootie was a little more comfortable than the rest of us though. I've been studying for a huge test that's coming on Tuesday, but I have exactly 5 weeks left of school and believe me I'm counting down the minutes!

We began our hypnobirthing class last Thursday, it's supposed to give me the tools I need to breeze right on through the birthing process. It was a good class and I think we'll learn at least some relaxation techniques during class time..... I think I heard Mike snoring through one of the relaxation exercises at one point, either that or it was someone else's husband!

Mike will begin his huge bathroom project this Thursday; we'll be getting new tile, vanity, medicine cabinet and light fixtures.... so check back for those pictures soon.

Baby Naming 101

So Mike and I are tossing around boy names (we are gambling that the first ultrasound technician really did see a third leg). The latest one we are trying out is Vince. We are sort of liking it right now... but has anyone noticed the more you say a name in your head the weirder it sounds? We have gone through many names because we've said it so many times it just messes it up.

This may end up not being a great idea, but I thought I'd ask anyone who is interested if they want to vote on these names... or feel free to comment any names you think of!

Nurses Night Out

Saturday I met up with Beth-Ann and Jill at the Other Side Cafe, haven't seen them in so long. It was good to catch up and just spend an evening away from the computer; not thinking about patients, papers, school work, or baby gear.

Building Up Our Load of...... Baby Stuff

Thanks to Mike's friend Dan... and these three little cuties... Mike and I got some terrific hand me downs this weekend to start building up our load of "essential baby stuff". Natalie, Megan, and Audrey (pictured from left to right) graciously gave up a few left over size one diapers, a baby bouncer, a baby bumbo chair, and a cool baby swing that Mike gets to put back together.
Our friends Marcus and Amy are expecting their first baby as well (a boy too!), exactly one month before us on May 24th! So they came to Dan's with us to peruse through the baby stuff. Together we did a pretty good job of helping to clear the Keating's House out of stuff they say they'll not need anymore. We let Dan and Denise know that if they happen to need the stuff back again that's no problem.... of which Dan quickly replied to Mike that he'd better get a huge raise before that happens!

Me at 23 weeks, and Amy at 29 weeks

Babies 'R Us and the Silvestro Scar

Last weekend Lisa and I went to the high temple of infant consumerism, Babies 'R Us. For those of you who have never laid eyes on this bastion of American culture, I will try to describe it for you. Imagine a huge box store chock full of all of the cutest baby stuff you can imagine. There are gadgets and contraptions for holding your baby safely in every position imaginable while he/she is sleeping, being cleaned, and listlessly carted from one place to another. There's baby exercise equipment, decorations, toys, and all the baby clothes you can imagine. It's meant to both get you to buy cute little things for your baby, while at the same time guilt-ing you into getting things that are, in my opinion, really unnecessary.

Our goal was to finalize the items on our baby registry, or at least figure out a few of the things we really need to have. So we went there armed with our inch thick Consumer Reports guide to baby stuff. When we got there we printed out the current sorry state of our baby registry, as well as the registry of our friends Marcus and Amy, who are expecting their first baby a month before we are. Marcus and Amy had recently gone to Babies 'R Us and spent many hours walking around with the consumer reports book, figuring out the best contraptions for their baby. I won't embarrass them by saying how long their registry is, but let's just say they were extremely thorough.....  

Lisa and I had a very different strategy. It was called "Let's see what Marcus and Amy have on their registry." We trust that they are intelligent people who did their homework, so we blatantly plagiarized from them. This technique saved both our time and our sanity. In fact, I don't think we opened the consumer reports book once while we were in the store.

I have a small scar on my upper lip that I got when I was a toddler. I've been told that I got this scar when my Mom went out for a little while, leaving me alone with my Dad. I don't know if he wasn't watching me closely, or if after 4 other kids was much more relaxed, but I ran into a table and cut myself. I don't think that my Mom was too happy when she got home that day, but Bill Cosby would have been proud at the "genius" of my Dad. Bill believes that fathers act incompetent so they are not asked to do things all the time. My Dad may have qualified in this case.

The funny thing is, my Dad has a nearly identical scar on his upper lip. While I'm not sure to this day if this scar is really due to an accident or a bizarre Silvestro male ritual, I can make the claim that I never would have received this scar if my parents had put baby bumpers on their furniture. Oh wait, they probably didn't have baby bumpers when I was a kid. How could I have even survived childhood without such a basic necessity? According to what Babies 'R Us would have you believe, I would be a delinquent parent if I didn't get such safety items for my child.

Now I know that technology has advanced, and things like car seats are much safer than when I was a child, but it seems to me that a lot of these items are meant to save us from a lack of intelligence and common sense as much as they are meant to save our babies from an accident. Do I think that I need all this stuff for my baby? No. But I'll probably buy it anyways.