Babymoon

Sorry for the delay in getting these pictures uploaded.  I feel like it has been a whirlwind since we got back from vacation and I can't seem to catch my breath.  As a brief update, we did find a washer and dryer late last week and it was delivered on Saturday.  YAY......except for the fact that the existing plug was a 120 V and the new dryer requires 220 V (Lesson learned: double check these little details before you have someone come to install something).  So needless to say, we have a beautiful set sitting in our basement at the moment, but no clean clothes in our closets.  B thinks that he can tackle the electrical update (which I will definitely write about whether he is successful or not), but he won't be able to get to it until Saturday morning.  EEK!!  Thank goodness we both own an ungodly amount of underwear, otherwise I would have to run out and buy some to get us through the week.  And just in case anyone is confused.......yes, we could definitely wash our clothes, but I don't like the feeling of rack-dried clothes (and since it has been raining for the last 12 days and hanging them outside to dry isn't an option).  Maybe I'm being picky, but I feel like the clothes are really stiff if you dry them inside.  Not my favorite.....but if this goes on longer than Saturday, I'm going to have to bite the bullet and do a few loads. 

And in other house-related news, our upstairs bathroom (which I don't think I've ever shown here on the blog....brace yourself) is causing us some problems as well. 

Lovely, right?  It's actually an old picture.  We have since painted the white door black, replaced the toilet with a white one (shame to see old blue go though) and removed the curtains, but overall it still looks pretty awful.  Enough reminiscing though, onto the story of the day.  So......during a routine lather-fest, the soap dish broke off and left us with a gaping 8x10" hole that goes through to the studs.  It would have been easily fixable with some grout and caulking except for the fact that it smashed into 1000 pieces when it hit the tub floor and is far from usable at this point.  I did find a replacement one at HD (they didn't seem to carry the same blue tile from the 60's anymore, but I settled for a white one instead), but its a little bit bigger than the hole, so we are going to have to chisel off a 1/16 of an inch to make it fit.  More on that later though....

But I digress.  Let's get to the pictures.....

It was paradise.  As I said before, we would have been really happy anywhere in the world (as long as it wasn't at work or at home), but this was definitely an amazing destination.  I would highly recommend Grand Cayman to anyone (with one small caveat....the exchange rate is 1.25 to 1, so the food is pretty expensive, but as long as you know that going in and budget for it, it should be fine!!!). 

And here are some shots of the happy couple....

And finally, on to the highly requested belly shots........duh duh duh....

I was 27 weeks when these pictures were taken, so just shy of the third trimester mark.  I'm finally feeling good, but the whole scale tipping thing is still a little hard for me to swallow.  The doc says that we are "on track" as far as the weight gaining goes, but it's still hard to see the numbers go up every week....eek!  We had an appointment yesterday in fact, (we are 28.5 weeks at this point) and I've gained 22 lbs since we conceived.  Ultimately everything looks good though and he is doing really well, so that's all that really matters.  My original goal at the beginning of this pregnancy was to stay in the lower part of the 25-35 lb. recommended weight gain parameter, but it's looking like I'm going to be closer to 35 when all is said and done.  I hear that breastfeeding helps a little to get rid of the weight gain, so I'm just going to hope for that and see how it goes.  I definitely don't expect to be back in my pre-pregnancy clothes for the trip home from the hospital, but I would also like to avoid wearing maternity clothes for too long after little B arrives...here's hoping!  Any tips on how to shed the post-pregnancy weight are welcomed!

I'll be back soon with details on the washer and dryer decision...stay tuned!

Attention Moms-to-be: AMAZING DEAL!!!!!

I was casually checking emails the other night (10:30 pm to be specific) and came across a daily update from babycenter.com (through one of their partners diapers.com).  If any of you moms-to-be aren't signed up for this yet, I highly recommend it.  Not only do you get information on promotions and sales, but you get weekly updates on the growth of you and your baby.  It's pretty cool. 

This specific email was offering an AMAZING deal though (click here to check it out).  Like, pinch yourself, to-good-to-be-true, deal!!  Prepare yourselves, people. Ok, here goes....if you buy a Britax B-Ready Stroller (which is $499.99.....yes, definitely expensive, but it can hold an infant carseat and then later convert to accommodate a second child....so you can use it for years and years) you get a Britax Chaperone infant car seat for FREE!!!!  The infant car seat goes for $229.99, so you are saving a TON of money!!!  Just enter BRITAXGIFT as the promo code at checkout and you are good to go!!

We definitely needed both of these items for Little B's arrival in August so it was a no brainer for us to jump on the deal.  And coincidentally enough, these two items were already listed on my registry.  I read countless reviews and safety reports on car seats and strollers over the last few weeks, and ultimately decided that Britax was right for our family.  For one, Britax has AMAZING safety ratings, and secondly, I have had a bunch of friends own them and rave about how easy they are to use.  If you are in the market for a stroller and an infant car seat, I HIGHLY recommend this deal!!!!  I can't provide a personal recommendation for the use of the product just yet, but I will DEFINITELY report back to you when we start using it in a few months.  I buy almost everything based on user reviews and recommendations.  A personal testimony of a product is so much more reassuring to me when I can't try it out for myself.   

Oh, and I almost forgot to share with you the best part......the fabric!!  I know all of you design-savvy people out there can appreciate this portion of the deal, even if you aren't expecting a child at the moment.  The stroller comes in a few standard colors....green, red, silver and black.  And although the car seats come in coordinating colors to match, they also offer a fabric called "cowmooflage".  Now, I'm definitely not normally an animal print fan, but for this....I couldn't resist!!!! 

How cute is that???  We got it in the mail yesterday (oh, and did I mention that the offer includes FREE SHIPPING as well!!!!  We ordered on Tuesday night and got it on Thursday!!!  Honestly, can it get any better than that??).

Ok, enough of  my ranting.  If you are in the market for these items, go check it out!!  If not, I apologize for the random product-related post but I couldn't resist sharing the deal with you!!

Happy Friday everyone!!