It's oh so quiet,

So my fledgling baby blog has been super quiet because there has not been much to report.

I suppose that is solely from my perspective though. This period of pregnancy seems largely like a waiting game. Sure, Krissi is going through some changes, and I'm not trying to say that the changes don't affect me, but I'm somehow somewhat removed from them.

She's showing, but only a little. She's a few days shy of 20 weeks along, so now in the second trimester. The morning sickness is a thing of the past. Lately its complaints about odd aches and pains and weird feelings, all associated with growing, and things moving, we assume. She's waiting to feel the baby for the first time. She felt something the other day, but is not sure if it was a baby, or just a stomach gurgle.

So its been a waiting game. I think that I'm still working on accepting it as reality, not because I don't want to, but because thusfar, my life has not changed significantly. The visible signs are small. I think of it as driving to Denver, but still being far enough away that the Rocky Mountains are just a line on the horizon.

We went to Babies R Us last night, and man oh man.

I try to be a conscientious consumer. That's polite talk for saying that I try not to buy every piece of overpriced useless garbage that is marketed to me. Walking into a store that sells baby products makes me feel as though unless I spend a million dollars, my baby will not be safe, fed, rested, smart, or possibly alive. I'm working to arm myself though. We bought a couple of books to help us, they are:

The Baby Gizmo Buying Guide Because, despite that I just said that I do not want to buy tons of stupid crap, I love stupid crap, and I love to buy it.

I'm Pregnant! Which has been a good book for information on the pregnancy, and fetus development.

What to Expect the First Year Which seems to be a goldmine of information on month by month baby development.

I've also started going around and checking with people at work, asking moms what kind of things they could not have lived without, or what kind of things they never expected to need. I'm getting some good advice.

Here's some of my thoughts, in braindump fashion, so in no certain order, or claim to sense.

We're hoping to do cloth diapers, but we are aware that they can be challenging. Everyone that I've talked to face to face so far has pretty much said "Oh! Fun! You'll use disposable."

I want to be a non-spanking household. This is old and well-worn stuff for parents, I'm sure. But I've never raised a kid. I got spankings, and turned out relatively okay. But I can't help but play amateur psychology, and equate any kind of physical violence to, well, making physical violence okay.

We want to do breastfeeding until at least a year old. Pumping and trying to keep up is a little scary, even for me.

We're looking at cosleeping gear. Either a bedside bassinet, or a little sleeper with sides that goes right into the bed with you.

We hope to find out the sex at our next Doctors visit.

Names.... we've been batting around a few. We came up with a boy name and a girl name right away, and thought that the matter was settled, but we've since talked about a dozen or so names, and have not settled.



So.... the Rocky Mountains are getting closer. Denver ain't so far away.

Its anxiety causing... it makes me slightly terrified. Excited too, sure. I've got all of the questions that I assume most first time parents have. "Am I ready for this?", "Will I be a good parent?", "How much will my life change?" (answer: completely. And that's super scary too. I'm a creature of habit.)

I anticipate that I'll be posting here with more and more frequency as time goes on. I did separate this from my 'regular' blog, since I intend for this to be focused in scope.

It bears mentioning that I'm totally open to folks posting comments here. I'm happy to take advice, suggestions, criticism, etc. If you're reading this, and you want to share with me, please don't hesitate to comment, email, call, whatever.