Pre-Baby Checklist

It's the last week in May which means in just a little over 3 month, Baby will be here! This is OH-SO-EXCITING and also total overwhelming at the same time. It feels like my pregnancy has flown by, so it's time to get my rear in gear and start taking care of all those little tasks that need to be completed before he arrives.

I'm a big fan of the Wunderlist app, so I've been compiling a list of things I'd like to have done before Baby gets here and keeping the list on my phone. However, I thought I'd add them here as well as both a glimpse into what we're working on around here, as well as a way to hold me accountable and actually get them done. I plan to keep this list dynamic, so I will be adding to and checking off as we go.

Our Pre-Baby Checklist

1. Sign up for a birthing class Ordered the Hypnobabies home study course. May take an additional in-person class as well, but will figure out if we need it once we dive into the HB Home Course
2. Sign up for a breastfeeding class Took one online, looking forward to in-person instruction once baby arrives
3. Create a baby registry Started one using Babylist
4. Create a birth plan Created with some help from our doula!
5. Find a pediatrician
6. Wash all baby clothes, toys, and hand-me-downs Thanks, Mom!
7. Prep and freeze meals to eat the first few weeks that baby is here Made and froze vegetable soup, chili, baked penne, and creamy chicken casserole 
8. Call insurance company about breast pump options Have it narrowed down to two options. Will decide which we like best after our breastfeeding course
9. Research, buy, and install carseat
10. Create hospital "go bags" Husband was in charge of this, being prepared is his specialty!
11. Arrange dog care while we're at the hospital
12. Husband, schedule "paternity leave" with work
13. Find great baby-related apps
14. Give parents our garage code for access while we are at hospital
15. Create a list of meals and tasks that family and friends can reference when they offer to pitch in
16. Give house and car a good deep-cleaning Car needed it like "whoa!" 
17. Collect stamps and stationery for quick thank-you note writing Created my own thank-you cards and stocked up on stamps
18. Stockpile home essentials (toilet paper, detergent, etc.) Spent a pretty penny at Sam's Club but feel pretty set for at least a while
19. Look into various store loyalty and savings programs (Target Red Card? Amazon Mom? etc.) signed up for both!
20. Create self-care baskets for post-delivery and place in bathrooms
21. Husband to get TDAP
22. Order breast pump through insurance
23. Take hospital tour
24. Pre-pay delivery bill

Do you have any advice or recommendations for any of the above item? Anything you suggest we add to our list? Leave them in the comments!

Kid's Room Inspiration: Wall Color and Decor

We're finally in the beginning stages of planning what Baby Smartypants' room will look like and the possibilities are endless! So, in search of some inspiration, we start where we always start-- Pinterest!

I plan to make this an ongoing series here on the blog filled with awesome Pinterest finds of some of my favorite kids' rooms and nurseries (yay!) so be sure to check back for all of the fun.

Up first... we've gotta get some paint on these walls! From solid traditional colors, to funky and modern patterns, the walls set the tone for the entire feel of the room.

Here are some of my faves:

1. Soft Gray with Pops of Color

Ugh! I'm OBSESSED with this room from The B-Line! It's totally gender-neutral while remaining bright, vibrant, and festive enough for any kiddo. There's a fabulous mix of colors and textures, and the bright yellow valances offer a cheerful detail without being overwhelming. Love.

2. Soothing, Harmonious Blue

Seriously, how relaxing is the soft blueish color of these walls?! Kelli from Purple Tree Photography chose Sherwin-Williams' Zero VOC paint in "Harmony" and it's clear why those paint-namers picked that moniker. Even with the pops of bright, saturated orange, the softness of the blue sets a calming tone over the whole room which is so lovely.

3. Not Afraid of the Dark

I've never been one to shy away from bold color. From a Mountain Dew-green living room in my old apartment, to a dark, almost-black Navy bedroom in our current house, I'm willing to try anything once. However, I do know that going to the dark side can be pretty daunting. It's also not something you might immediately think of when you think of a baby's room. Well, Maeve Rosalind's deep, charcoal gray nursery (featured on Apartment Therapy) proves that dark can still be playful.

4. Half and Half Walls

First, let me start by saying that I absolutely love everything about Hillary Barney's house. Literally, everything! It's all so comfortable, and eclectic, and fun and charming! You can find the whole tour over at the Design Mom Blog. Now, when it comes to her little one's room, I'm totally loving the half painted plum-colored walls. Not only does the bright white on top make the room appear more open and spacious, but the dark color at the bottom seems to highlight the smaller, kiddo-sized furniture and decor making it truly a space for the child. So clever!

5. Feminine Floral

Well hellooo, girly girl! If you are leaning toward a gender-neutral room, this option is definitely not for you. However, if you are game for unabashedly embracing all the girliness that comes with having a daughter, then the floral-patterned wall of Hannah's nursery (featured on Apartment Therapy) packs quite a gorgeous, feminine punch! She didn't overdo it by drowning the whole room in florals; that one, fabulous wall makes a gorgeous statement while being perfectly balanced by the solid pink walls of the rest of the room. Bravo!

6. Now I know my ABC's

As soon as people found out I was pregnant, and especially after they found out we would be having a boy, the question that seemed to come up the most was "What is your nursery theme going to be?"

Animals, nautical, sports, dinosaurs.... there are so many adorable possibilities! However, the thing that kept popping into my head over and over was "I want it to look like a preschool classroom!" Not necessarily a super bright rainbow of colors or anything like that, I just knew I wanted most things in the room to have a function. I wanted the environment to be cheerful and interactive, with a focus on learning as opposed to being full of cute things, simply for the sake of being cute.

So, what better place to start than with the alphabet!? The colorful, jumbo-sized letters are very kid-friendly while the Helvetica typeface keeps it looking modern and chic. Angela and Rich, featured on Apartment Therapy) did a great job!

Values and Goals: Our Intentions for Baby Smartypants

Although we like to joke that our child is going to be the smartest, most creative, independent kid in the world or -- in other words-- perfect (don't all parents think their babies are perfect?), we aren't really so naive to think that our child will be without flaws or that it would be so easy to raise a perfect angel child. More importantly, that's not at all what we would want for our kiddo.

Instead, we have strong values and beliefs that are the foundation of our household, and the starting point for how we intend to raise our little one. We absolutely do not expect perfection, but rather we want our child to be the best little human that he can be. 

We also do not intend to keep our child in a bubble and we know that life happens, we make mistakes as parents, and sometimes we go off track. We hope, however, that having this set of values as the core of our family life will help us to more easily get back to what's important and not let the negative aspects of this world around us outweigh the good.

So, without further ado! Here are our core values and how we intend to incorporate them into our daily life and the raising of our child:

Why it's important to us:

• We want our child to genuinely love learning
• We believe that people learn best through hands-on and engaging activities
• Encouraging children to explore things they're interested in on their own leads to more self-starter and motivated adults

How we'll execute it:

• Create an engaging, child-centered learning environment at home with focus on the Montessori style of learning and development
• Actively observe our child to recognize his strengths and interests and focus on developing those areas further. 
• Family "field trips" like the library, museums, zoos, and learning centers
• Allowing uninterrupted, unguided "free time" during the day

Why it's important to us: 

• Children are smarter and more capable than many adults give them credit for
• Instilling self-confidence through independent tasks is linked to more stable adults
• The sooner kids are able to do things on their own, the sooner they are able to pitch in around the house, contribute to the family as a whole, and not rely so heavily on parents. I'm not saying this as a way to shove our kids into early child labor. It's all about independence which means less stress on parents to feel obligated to do everything. Happier parents = happier household.

How we'll execute it:

• No "helicopter parenting"! Unless he's doing something overly dangerous or putting himself or others in harm's way, step back and let him do his thing.
• Creating child-level activity areas for things like cooking and self-care.
• Letting our child engage in an age-appropriate level of "dangerous" activities (climbing, jumping, using tools) that promote critical thinking skills and self-confidence
• Trying hard not to jump in and do things for him for the sake of convenience or rushing; instead, being patient and let him work through things himself

Why it's important to us:

• Encouraging a child to use his imagination strengthens his critical thinking skills
• Imagination sparks passion which leads to innovation. Innovative adults = productive adults

How we'll execute it:

• Passive toys create active minds! We intend to minimize toys with lots of bells and whistles, electronics, noises, etc. that involve the child simply sitting and observing. Instead, we gravitate towards simple toys like wooden blocks, stacking cups, and puzzles that require the child to actively work with the toys.
• Hands-on arts and crafts! This artsy momma is not afraid to get messy with paint, crayons, play dough, and paper, so bring it all on! In this area, I'm hoping to focus more on simply letting little mister experiment and play and not focus too much on doing it "right"/ being perfect.
• Verbal story time, acting things out, puppet shows, oh my!

Why it's important to us:

• Oh, where to begin?? Being active and eating right is vitally important for a healthy body and active mind.
• The focus is not on weight, dieting, or even "exercise". It's about being active and fit, energized and motivated, being kind to our bodies.
• A child's relationship with food often follows him throughout adulthood. Food is fuel, energy, health, and nourishment. It is not for covering up feelings, to be used as a reward for good behavior, or for curing boredom. This one is so ingrained that I anticipate it will be difficult not to pass that mentality of "You were a good boy so you get a cookie" without some conscious effort on our end. 

How we'll execute it:

• Living a healthy lifestyle as a norm, not as the occasional exercise-binge. In other words, lots of family hikes, playtime like sports and bike rides at the park, being active outside as much as possible.
• Eating a diet filled with whole, unprocessed foods, fruits and veggies, no pop, and limited sugar.
• Watching how we talk about food and exercise around our kids. Venting out loud about feeling "fat" or "I can't eat that because I'm on a diet" is damaging.
• Encouraging our son to try a wide variety of foods and, once he's old enough, to eat what we're eating.
• Get him involved in the entire process of preparing a meal. We keep a family garden, so having him help with that, seeing exactly where some of his food comes from. Also, creating a small space for him in the kitchen to help prepare the meal itself.

Why it's important to us:

• Entitlement is an epidemic with kids these days. We want our child to be grateful for what he has, to know that things are earned in life, and to treat others with kindness and compassion. The world owes him nothing, as harsh as that sounds. 
• Manners, manners, manners! This not only means saying "please" and "thank you", but taking turns, using respectful language, sharing, and being a "good loser". No one likes an obnoxious kid.

How we'll execute it:

• Modeling the use of manners and respectful language in everyday life. (Better clean up that potty mouth, hubs!)
• Not letting our child win every game just so his feelings don't get hurt. Sometimes you lose, and that's ok. 
• Teaching him about respect for himself, his peers, elders, the law, our country/veterans/servicemen and women, the environment, people's personal space, etc. It all falls under this umbrella and it's all important to becoming a decent human being.

I'm thinking I'll probably print these categories out and hang them in our home somewhere, just as   little reminder of how we intend to live our best lives and raise our child in a way that aligns with our core values. We plan to be dynamic in our methods, however, and go with the flow as our child grows and develops. Either way, we look forward to the adventure.

Dear Baby…

Dear Baby,

I can't believe how quickly time is passing and that in just a little over 3 months we'll get to meet you! 

You've spent the last 24 weeks hanging out in my belly. For a long time you were still so small that I would sometimes forget that you were in there, growing and developing. I would get a little worried that I didn't feel you bouncing around, but when we went to the doctor and saw pictures of you moving, stretching, and kicking inside me, it made me so happy! 

That was the same day that we found out you were a boy. I wasn't sure who you were in there, but Daddy was pretty certain from the beginning that you were a boy. He was so excited to hear the news (he got teary-eyed with we saw your pictures, but shh…don't tell him I told you that!). I just know he has big plans for all the fun things you guys will do together. 

These days, I feel you moving all the time now. It's so fun to know you're doing flips and punches in there, all while safe and sound in my belly. It kind of feels like little bubbles popping in my tummy, or like I swallowed a little goldfish that's swimming around in there. Your kicks and movements aren't quite strong enough yet to feel from the outside, but I can't wait until the day that Daddy can put his hand on my tummy and feel you moving too! I think he'll think it's really cool. 

We're just now starting to get things ready for your arrival. We're brainstorming all the fun activities we'll do together, making a wish list of the toys and gear we think you'll like, and trying to plan what your bedroom will look like. We're also trying to come up with the perfect name for you. It's a little overwhelming to think about everything that needs to be done, but we are lucky that we get to have lots of friends and family that are happy to help us get ready. They are so excited to meet you too! Brace yourself, there's a lot of them!

In the meantime, I promise to try to continue to take good care of you in there. We go for walks a lot now that the weather's nice, and I've been eating extra healthy food to help you grow big and strong. We also take lots of snoozes together, which I know we're both a big fan of, but I can't wait to snuggle with you in person when you arrive!

Love,

Mommy

That One Time I Found Out I Was Pregnant and How We Told Everyone the News

Whether it's an "Oops! Surprise! I'm preggers!" situation, an adventure planned down to a science with ovulation tracking, fertility supplements, and months of trying, or somewhere in between, everyone's pregnancy story is different. Here's ours…

After much discussion (and years of pressure from our moms to "get crackin' on the babies already!", haha) my husband and I decided in October of 2014 that we would start trying to have a family at the end of the year, or early the next year. We decided that we would keep it completely under wraps and not tell a single soul we were even thinking about kids both to make it an even bigger surprise when we did conceive, as well as to avoid any pressure or unwanted questions if we had any fertility trouble or difficulty.

I had been on birth control pills for many years for health reasons, so I was terrified (TER. RI. FIED.) of the side effects that might come along with detoxing off of them. Hair loss, and weight gain, and acne-- oh my! I was also worried that, because all those hormones had been in my system for so long consistently and my body didn't really have to ever worry about making them itself, that it would take a long time for me to conceive. In preparation, I stocked up on reproductive support supplements including a maca root herbal supplement, multivitamin, and folic acid. I also cleaned up my diet and focused on eating clean, whole foods. Then at the end of November, I stopped taking the pill.

The month of Decemeber was, well…weird. I was having some side effects including nausea, fatigue, and holy sore boobs, Batman! The problem was, every time I would look my symptoms up to see what could be the cause the same two things popped up: It could be detoxing from the pill -OR- it could be pregnancy. Welp, great. That's no help at all. So I sat tight, remained patient, and tried not to get my hopes up (whilst still spending a small fortune on home pregnancy tests, juuuuust in case!)

The side effects/symptoms persisted and on Christmas morning 2014 I took another home pregnancy test. It came back positive! My husband was working that day and most places were closed for the holiday, so I freaked out with excitement solo at home then rushed out to Walgreens (the only place open) to get another test for confirmation and a little ornament gift that I could use to tell my husband.

The second test, a digital one, also came back positive! It clearly said "PREGNANT", which is pretty hard to deny. I used a sharpie to write a little note to my husband on the ornament and I wrapped that, along with the positive tests, and put the package under the Christmas tree.

We didn't open presents between the two of us until the next morning and the waiting was KILLING ME, but I played it cool until it was present time. We opened all of our gifts to each other, leaving the big surprise until last. There were some shrieks of excitement, some hugs, and some happy tears. It was perfect.

L- Me freaking out alone on Christmas R- The ornament I made to share the news with Husband

We used different ways to reveal the news to the rest of our friends and family. We went out the day after Christmas and bought frames for our parents. It was a frame typically used to hold a sonogram picture and it said "Coming Soon…" on it, but since we didn't have a sonogram picture yet we just framed a picture of the positive pregnancy test. No one aside from my husband and I knew we were even thinking about kids, which was intentional (we love a good surprise!). So our parents FREAKED. OUT. when they opened their gifts.
My older sister lives out of town in Arkansas, and while I really wanted to make a trip down to tell her in person, it just wasn't going to work out. So, I wrapped some flavored coffee with a note that said, "Something Sweet is Brewing…", then I separately wrapped two mugs that said, "Aunt Jennifer" and "Uncle Jarrod". I shipped their gift down posing as a belated Christmas present, and we got to FaceTime with them as they opened it. So fun!

L- Gift we made for our parents R- Gift we made for my sister

For most of our other local friends and family, announcing our news lined up perfectly with the fact that we just bought a new house. We invited them over to get a little tour of our new place, saving one room for last. When we walked in, we had it modestly decorated in baby stuff, showing that it would be the future nursery.

L- Our makeshift baby nursery set-up R- A close-up of our table including the first picture of our blurry jellybean

For some of my out of town friends, I sent a "life update" email around Valentine's Day along with this picture that I bought as a downloadable from Orange Elephant Designs on Etsy. You can find it here.

L- Downloadable by Orange Elephant Designs R- Custom Wine Labels by Ten Twelve Designs

I also used this custom wine bottle label from Ten Twelve Designs (found here) to announce the big news at a girl's night. Gotta love Etsy and being able to find fun, unique ways to share the news!

Lastly, we used the doodle above to text to some of our friends and to announce on Facebook. I already had the family portrait done because we used it as our Christmas card last year, so I just had to make some edits, change our outfits, add a few words and a baby bump, and I recycled it to use as a baby announcement! Easy peasy!

L- Family Portrait Illustration I created for last year's Christmas card R- Made-over portrait we used for our baby announcement