It's almost time!

We've had a difficult, crazy, super busy last couple of months, but we had our 38-week checkup today (everything looks good), and this weekend we're moving out of our house, and into a room in Brett's parents' house until our NEW house is finally ready. If you didn't know this was happening, here's the super short version of the story:

We found a house we LOVED in early April, made an offer on it, the owner (Freddie Mac) accepted our offer, we signed the mutual acceptance paperwork, and here it is the end of May and we're STILL WAITING for them to finish signing the docs themselves. They've been awful. Missed deadlines right and left, uncommunicative, uncooperative, unsympathetic, etc. They signed SOME of the docs last week, sent them all back to us as if they were complete, we sent them back asking for them to finish filling them out (seriously, how hard does it need to be?), and we're still waiting. We were supposed to close on the house on 05/26 (which was pushed out from 05/21 at THEIR request), our agent has been trying to contact them all week to find out whether or not that's still going to happen, and she finally got an email back this afternoon saying "that's so not going to happen," (their words), and asking for an extension to 06/05. Our loan lock lasts until 06/02. They said that's OUR problem. The house needs the hardwoods refinished, carpet installed, paint everywhere, and appliances before we move in. We can't even schedule that work let alone start it, because they won't give us a solid answer on when FOR SURE we'll be able to close. I hate them. Moving on.

So...in the middle of all this house craziness and Brett having some pretty important stuff going on at work, Arie has been happily kicking and squirming his way to full term. He could come any day now! He could come TODAY even!!! But let's hope not - we have a looot of packing/moving to do this weekend. My hips, thighs, crotch, abdomen, etc are killing me, Brett says my feet "look like elephant feet," my acid reflux could probably dissolve metal, and my belly is so huge that my pants and shirts no longer meet in the middle, despite the fact that everything in my current wardrobe sports the word "maternity" somewhere on the label. And I couldn't be happier. :) We're sooo excited to meet Arie. I'm starting to get a little scared of my impending "natural childbirth," and I'm worrying about how breastfeeding will go, how my recovery will work with all of the stuff we have going on, what Arie will be like, how healthy he'll be, and whether or not I'll be a good mom, at least at first.

Luckily Brett's been amazingly supportive and excited, and we have tons of wonderful friends and family around that have been willing to help with things. My shower was phenomenal - more people showed up than I thought could possibly fit in Brett's grandma's house (at least twice as many people came as I thought would!), and they all had wonderful gifts to give. Literally almost everything we needed or wanted was given to us. We couldn't have wished for a more generous crowd. And Brett had a shower at work where they gave us even MORE awesome stuff, and things have been coming in the mail from people out of town...it's actually been really moving. Yes, I have cried. :)

It feels really good to know that this kid will be so loved. Obviously by us, but also by all of you. When we decided to start "trying" last year, it was because WE felt ready, and we wanted to have children together, but so many things never occurred to us at that time - all the things about pregnancy/childcare we didn't know, how our lives would change, how our relationships with friends, family, and each other would change, how our priorities and views of the world would change. The fact that we have so many people out there giving us such great advice and support has helped us tremendously in our journey, and while I don't think any new parent ever feels 100% prepared (if they do, they're probably wrong), we both feel like we have a good solid start. We know we can handle this, and a large part of that confidence has come from help and advice that you all have given us. So thank you for that! :)

I have no idea when Arie will decide to blow this popsicle stand, but when he does we're still planning on posting Twitter updates, so subscribe to that if you're interested. Since we'll most likely be guests in someone else's house during the first week or so after he's born, frequent visitors might be even less of a good idea than they normally are during the first couple of weeks. If you're interested in stopping by, shoot us an email or vm after the birth, and we'll try to set something up. I warn you now that I will look hideous, and possibly breastfeed in front of you. I'm just sayin'.

Oh! Also...our phone number is changing. As of next week, if you call our old home number it will give you our new home number, but that's just a vm box until we get our phones set up at the new house. [Insert profanity-laced grumbles about Freddie Mac here.] I know that sucks, especially at Baby Time, but whaddayagonnado. Initially we weren't even going to re-sign up for a land line, but after haggling with Comcast I got them to agree to local phone, local cable (we weren't going to get cable, either), and interwebs for $4 more a month than interwebs alone. So thank Comcast that we even have a home phone at all! :) We also still have our cells of course. If you have one or both of those numbers, good for you.

Some other things I guess I should acknowledge - I'm turning 31 this weekend. On the day we relinquish possession of our house to the buyers. I will cry on my birthday, but it won't be an "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to" kind of thing, because I won't have a party to cry at. So boo for me. Don't feel too bad for me though - Brett turns ***30*** (the big three-oh!) a few weeks after Arie is born, so I'm pretty sure his birthday will go under-recognized as well, and it's a big one. For MY 30th we went to San Fransisco, and it was amazing. I feel pretty guilty that Brett's won't be comparable, but I guess he'll have a new baby to play with. And hopefully a new house. And a wife who no longer resembles an overweight, stretch mark-covered, hideously swollen, whiny, moody, sugar-craving, constantly sore, slow-as-a-snail, clumsy-as-an-ox, manatee. Instead he'll have a hormonally imbalanced milk cow with a deflated beach ball for an abdomen. So that's something, at least! :)

Stroller

While going through our wish list and registries this morning, I noticed that the stroller we registered for at Amazon (the Graco MetroLite in Soho) was no longer available. Boo! :(

I wrote Graco to find out if it's been discontinued or if it's just out of stock, but I also registered for another stroller (the Graco MetroLite in Sterling) just in case. The Soho was/is an Amazon exclusive, while the Sterling is at Babies"R"Us, so maybe the Soho being out of stock is actually a blessing in disguise since it will be easier to buy (it's available in-store!).

Also - only 58 more days until Arie's EDD!!! :D

EDIT:
That was fast - someone from Graco already wrote me back!

Cat,
Thank you for contacting Consumer Services. Unfortunately, we are showing that the Soho MetroLite was discontinued. However, we do have the inventory of the Soho stroller if you would like to purchase the stroller through us directly. The price of the stroller is $139.99 plus shipping which is $15.95. We accept Visa and MasterCard as forms of payment. We can place the order for you through e-mail or you can call our toll free customer service phone number. Our toll free customer service phone number is 1-800-345-4109. If you choose to call the order in place give the Graco rep the following reference number. The reference number is 8931469.

So now it looks like we can have our pick of the Sterling OR the Soho, but either would be fine, really. We're waiting until after the shower to do any more baby shopping ourselves (to avoid duplicates), but it's nice to know our options are still open! :)

I guess it's time for this...

According to my countdown ticker, we have about 75 days until Arie is born. Unless he comes late. Or early. Our baby shower is coming up soon, and people have started to ask if we have a baby blog, where we're registered, what we need, etc. So I figured I'd just make a one-stop-shop with all of that information right here, at crownrumpling.blogspot.com.

To the right of this column you will find:

Our Twitter feed for Arie
If you don't know what Twitter is, um...you can google it. We probably won't post many (if any) updates until The Big Day, but once I'm in labor Brett is planning on posting updates from his phone whenever he can. If you're superhardcore you can even sign up as one of our "followers" and subscribe to mobile updates, so that every time Brett posts an update you receive it as a text.

Links to helpful information
These are pretty self-explanatory.

Arie on Flickr
Photos of Arie in (and later out of) my belly. Basically anything from my photostream tagged "Arie."

An archive of this blog
Right now I've set things up so that only one post is visible on the main page at a time. This is mostly due to the fact that I'm not expecting to post here very often. If you're reading this post you should know that it is the first one actually intended to be a regular post - the others up to this point were all created to provide the information in the "Info & Links" section. From this point on though, if you're worried you've missed anything, just go to the archives section and click on the appropriate month or date to view posts published during that time.

Think something is missing?
Please let us know! Brett's mostly taking a backseat on this project, and due to my "preggie brain" I may have forgotten to add something here that you think is important. If you think of something that you'd like to see here (within reason), let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Wish List & Registries

This post was created to give you both a list of our registries, as well as a complete list of all the items we anticipate needing once Arie is born. Many of these things are not listed in our registries but, where applicable, we've provided a brief description of what we're looking for in each item. As we buy/receive items, this list will be updated with that information.

Please remember that any gift we receive, no matter how small or large, or whether it matches the descriptions below or not, will be greatly appreciated by all three of us. We know that your gifts are given out of love, and it is that love that we value most of all. The descriptions below are merely there to communicate our personal tastes.

Registries:

Babies"R"Us
Target

Wish List:

Clothes
We are more than happy to receive your gently used second-hand baby clothes for any stage! Plain or animal-themed are our favorites. You can never have too many baby clothes, but according to the newborn supply list provided to us by our hospital, we will need at least:

4-6 gowns or footed sleepers
1 outdoor body suit, with separated legs (to fit in car seat)
1-2 baby sweaters
5-6 swaddling or receiving blankets (36" square blankets of thin fabric)
6-8 t-shirts
7-10 stretch suits or "onesies"
2-4 simple, stretchy cotton hats
1 pair of mittens (to keep him from scratching himself)
3-5 bibs
3-5 socks/booties

Toys!
Baby toys are always fun to buy, but please keep our son's health in mind when selecting toys to give him. Some general information on toy safety can be found here, and a list of chemicals to watch out for can be found here. Just because a toy is new does not mean it is safe.

Diapering/Toiletries
We are choosing to use cloth diapers for Arie because they are better for his health, as well as for the planet. We will be using a local diaper service which will cost about $80/month. Any contributions toward this expense will be greatly appreciated! :)

good digital thermometer kit for babies
baby brush/comb
shampoo/soap (Brett and I both have very sensitive skin, so we'll probably end up using this)
baby washcloths and towels
baby wipes (alcohol & fragrance free)


Baby's Room
We'll have more descriptions for these items soon.

night light
5-6 pvc/vinyl-free waterproof sheets/pads (some lap-size, some larger to protect mattress)
diaper pail
mobile for crib
vaporizer or humidifier
baby monitor
activity mat
crib
lamp
crib mattress (free of chemical flame retardants)
1-2 fitted crib sheets (organic cotton)
baby bath/tub
changing table and pad
bouncer w/ vibrating feature

Miscellaneous Baby Supplies
More descriptions to come.

baby bottles (bpa-free with silicone nipples)
portable infant seat
car seat
stroller
bassinet or co-sleeper (free of chemical flame retardants)
diaper bag
front carry pack/sling

Breastfeeding Supplies
I'm not expecting to get many of these items as gifts, but since this is a comprehensive list of things we'll need after Arie is born, well...

2-3 nursing bras
nursing clothes
breast pump
breast shells
hydrogel pads
lanolin ointment
1-2 nursing covers
2 boxes nursing pads
1-2 boppy pillows! :)

If you're coming to the hospital...

There are some things you should know. Firstly, if all goes well (and we're hoping it does!) we'll most likely only be in the hospital for about 24 hours following delivery. Secondly, during that time we will be pretty busy recovering, getting to know our new son, and alternating frequent attempts at feeding him with frequent attempts at sleep.

If you still think you might want to visit us during our hospital stay, you're perfectly welcome to stop by. We're already heads-over-heels in love with this kid, and we're pretty excited about sharing him with the rest of our loved ones.

If you're like, craaazy excited about visiting and you think you may even want to show up while I'm still in labor, please let us know so we can figure out how/when to contact you. There's no guarantee that you'll get to see much of Brett (let alone me) that early on, but you're welcome to send us positive vibes from the waiting area. :)

Some helpful info for potential visitors:

Our labor and delivery will be guided by the Midwifery Care team at Providence Hospital, and will take place in the Family Maternity Center in Providence's Pavilion for Women and Children.

Directions from the South

Directions from the North

Parking

If there's any other information that you think we should include here, just let us know!

What's a crownrumpling?

At some point during the early part of my second trimester I was talking to my mom about the baby, and I mentioned that its crown-rump length was currently about [blah blah] inches. She then looked at me like I was crazy and asked, "What's a crown rumpling?"

To her credit, she DID know what crown-rump length was, she just thought I actually said crown rumpling. We had a good laugh about it, and later I shared the story with my mother-in-law because I thought it was so funny and cute. She also thought it was funny and cute, and from that point on, until she found out that we were naming our son Arie, she referred to him as our little "crown rumpling."

When we were trying to decide what title to give this blog, I came up with crown rumpling, and when I brought my idea to Brett he had only one request: that it be crownrumpling, with the explanation that as a misheard version of crown-rump length, crownrumpling as one word is just that much more confusing. So there you have it. :)