Share in the Blogging Goodness!

I’m not sure how many regular or occasional readers this blog was getting, so I thought I’d find out by asking. For those of you who are new to the blogging scene, let me show you the comment button. A little bit down, and to the right. In the corner of each post is a way for you to communicate back to us. Blogs don’t necessarily have to be a one-way communication path.
So I invite you to post a comment. If you have children, give us an anecdote about your experiences during pregnancy. If you don’t have any children (or any interesting stories about them), feel free to share some other sage-like advice. Apparently there are no official users manuals for babies.
If you have trouble posting, feel free to send me an email.

Pregnancy + Google Maps

It's more than just finding the fastest way to the hospital!

Here’s an interesting use of Google Maps technology… While browsing the forums at Pregnancy Weekly (bandwidth etiquette, ladies!!), I came across one user who started a map of all the March 2006 expectant mothers. So I added us. Here’s the link.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from Brian, Dani and Jeffrey. We’re spending the holiday in Perryopolis, PA with the soon-to-be grandparents. At 24 weeks now, the belly is getting more round as the days go on. It’s neat to feel the baby move – for both of us. He’s been kicking Dani a lot, but I can feel a kick or a head-butt every now and then.
Today we took a drive into downtown Pittsburgh to look through some baby stores. We went to USA Baby and Babyland to look at strollers, specifically the Zooper Swing and Waltz. We only found a Waltz, but that was good because we saw the Swing at Simon’s in Rochester. After seeing how the infant car seat works (poorly) with the Waltz, we decided that we liked the Swing better.
We also saw some really cute bedding sets. Dani has a giraffe thing going on. Leash, I hope you’re reading this!

It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Baby

I’m sitting here in my living room surrounded by baby items. I had fun setting up the car seat and the play pen (Thanks Bill!!) this afternoon. We visited friends over the weekend that sent us home with a beautiful baby crib (Thanks Angela!!). Now I just have to get over this cold so I can finish up the baby’s room!
The excitement began last week, when Dani first started feeling the baby moving around inside her. The doctor kept telling her that she’d feel him “any day”. That day was about a week ago. Then a few days later, before we went to sleep, I put my hand on her belly. Jeffrey let out a good wallop. We both looked at each other and said, “Did you feel that?”
So the boy is trying to talk to us. That means one thing: it’s time to start reading software manuals to him.

Baby shopping! Danielle and I went to Babies R Us this weekend. Contrary to thier name, they don't actually have any babies for sale. We did get some ideas for things to add to our baby registry. Dani and I decided on a infant car seat and a stroller. Considering safety ratings, weight, recommendations and our own tests, we opted for the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio car seat and the compatible stroller, the Aria MT. Unfortunately - they are $199 a piece.
Well, sleuth shopper to the rescue. I watched eBay and found alot of people reselling new Peg Perego items. I caught a car seat auction and swooped in at the last minute with a winning bid of $102.50. And then... I found a coupon for $15 off $100 or more on eBay. Total cost with shipping: $108.40 That's less than we would have paid if we'd bought the Graco SnugRideII at the store on Sunday.

So now Jeffrey has a ride home from the hospital. Now if I can only get my butt in gear and get his room finished...

Edit 11/16: We visited Simon's Baby Furniture this past Sunday and met with Joseph in the stroller & car seat department. He was very nice, and also let us know that they have free certified car seat installation. Anyway, he talked us out of the Aria MT stroller. It's overpriced for what it really offers and although it's very light - a 15lb stroller won't make that much of a difference. He showed us 2 by Zooper: the Waltz and the Swing. We're going to be in Pittsburgh next weekend and we'll stop by a baby store there to see if we can find one in stock that we like.

Well it's been a good week so far. I finally felt the baby move!! It feels like little bubbles in my stomach. It's so cool to be able to feel what he's doing in there.
I started my water aerobics class today and it was pretty fun. I met another woman who is also pregnant. We kinda hung out while the rest of the class did the abdominal workout. It was nice to talk to someone else whose at the same place as I am. It's funny how nothing about pregnancy is the way I expected it to be. I don't even know what I really expected, but it's been so foreign and really wonderful so far. I'm finally getting to the point where I'm not constantly surprised that we're pregnant.

"I'm ready for my close-up!"
Alas, the drama is now over, and we can enjoy a calm, normal pregnancy. So I thought I'd leave everyone with a picture from our last ultrasound (for a while, hopefully).
Now we can focus on the fun stuff, like decorating his room and filling out a baby registry! 

Good news continues this week. We had another ultrasound on Tuesday morning and all looked well. Peanut (now formally named Jeffrey), was all curled up sleepy-like. He finally woke up near the end and waved at us a bit and wiggled around. The technician said that the amniotic fluid is still low normal but that at this point, we should just realize that we're not 50th percentile people.
We saw Dr. Lim in the afternoon and she thinks that crisis mode has passed for the time being. She let us hear the heartbeat and answered the myriad of questions we kept forgetting to ask previously. She still wants to see us every two weeks, but just to make sure we don't miss anything. We have no more ultrasounds scheduled! Yeah! The staff on AC-5 was extremely nice, but I hope we don't have to see them anymore. We are going to try and take some time to enjoy being pregnant for a bit.