Oh When the Saints....

It's March! Crazy wacky stuff...and the reason for the post title. I couldn't quickly think of anything else that had "march" somewhere within it phrase wise. I love that tune though, so it's workin' for me. Just like the song, I'm feeling kind of peppy (and yet still exhausted...not quite sure how that works, but I'll go with it)!

So it has been a bit since I made it over here to post...that means we have a lot of catching up to do! Shall we get started?

First up is a big shout out and congratulations to my buddy Christina who just had a bouncing baby boy of her own. Little baby Timothy is a doll folks...but then, I adore his mommy so I'm a wee bit predjudiced toward him. :) At any rate, I can tell those of you who are wondering, if you were...and as I was, that Christina's baby name is not the same as the one we picked out for the sprout. There I've narrowed it down for you - his name isn't Timothy and it isn't Aaron either (which is Master Tim's middle name just so you're not lost here).

With our congratulatory wishes out of the way, we now return to our regularly scheduled programming...

And, of course, we'll just go chronologically since it seems to be the easiest and most efficient way. Thus, we begin with a follow-up from my last post. I don't think I was having Braxton Hicks contractions. I'm not sure what I was having but the doctor said he wasn't worried and so I stopped worrying about them. I still have them periodically and I can't say that I'm terribly thrilled, but maybe they're helping me raise my pain threshhold so I guess we'll deal! I still plan to mention them again to the doctor cuz even though I say I'm not worried, I am a little....you knew that already, I'm sure. ;)

On the allergy front, we had some excitement this week. I had a bit of a rash for most of it. Actually, it's just finally seeming to clear today (finally!). We're not completely sure what caused it though we have our suspicions. Mark thinks it's the lotions his parents brought this Christmas for me to use because they have dyes in them and he's convinced I'm allergic to dyes. I'm not convinced of this at all but I did stop using them. I will probably try to use them again at some point to see if they were actually the cause. My theory is that it was due to the "voodoo" water.

I can't remember if I told you about the "voodoo" water or not. Basically it is distilled water that one of Mark's teachers jazzed up for me using a little Rife machine which puts electrical impulses into the water and has been known to help people conquer their allergies. Since it didn't cost anything, couldn't be harmful to baby and couldn't hurt we're giving it a try. My reasoning for why this might be the culprit is that the rash started a couple of days after I started drinking the water and I'm thinking maybe my body was going through a little bit of a detox process or something. We shall see. We haven't tried any allergy foods yet, but I'm hopeful that when I get the courage up to eat that potato that we bought last week you won't be hearing me gripe about how yet another attempt didn't work. Keep your fingers crossed. :)

Other than that, the majority of the interesting stuff I have to speak of here happened today (with the exception maybe of the Mr. Potato Head bunny that I bought the other day - too cute!). Today was eventful, I guess you could say. I didn't have to go to work....always a plus. Mark did have a seminar to go to for his extra neurology degree he's working toward (little overachiever that he is!), but I had nothing. And, so....I slept in until I couldn't any longer. I have found that about 9:30 a.m. is my absolute max regardless of how tired I am and regardless of when I went to bed because that is when my little body says "FEED ME NOW." Arguing and trying to ignore it doesn't seem to do much good so I give in. Pixie prefers this since it means she gets fed, too. :)

At any rate, after enjoying a few extra moments in the bed, I got up, made an extraordinarily gourmet breakfast of....wait for it....Cocoa Pebbles and decided to have a gander at the computer. I have finished the Baby Bargains book that Mark and I bought to help us with choosing baby gear and the like and just wanted to do a little surfing to see about diaper bags and a few other little choice items we want that the book gave some tips on. Ultimately, I decided that we're going to follow the book's advice and go with Lands End's diaper bag offerings...they have two - one's full size and one's smaller for everyday type trips out and I think we'll get one of each. Then I have to decide if I'm going to be silly and get a third one just because it has cute little jumping frogs on it. It looks like the perfect bag to go to the beach...to help me decide on my frivolous desire, I've ordered a swatch of the fabric (for free - love Lands End!) as well as swatches of the colors I'm contemplating for the "normal" diaper bags. It will be like Christmas finding such fun things in my mail box...okay, yeah, maybe this isn't exciting for you, but well, I've never been accused of being difficult to amuse/please. ;)

I also had a look at shopping cart cover options. The book basically said that it receives tons of "this thing is junk" regarding the shopping cart cover we were planning to get from Babies R Us. And, you know, I'm sooo glad that I went and looked at the other options it mentioned. There is one site which has the CUTEST (ever! really!) fabric with baby sea turtles on it. I am in love. And, the cost is only about $10 more than what we were going to spend at BRU....and it's hand made with lots of quilting and even a little pillow. Soooo cute. If you want to check it out, have a look here. I also love the turtles and starfish option on the "unisex" page. :)

My final little find was the Mother's Mate Milk storage system which the book mentioned and which you can see here. I think this is the way we're going to go if I ever need to pump milk for work or whatever. I really like the idea of just pumping into the bottles and then feeding from them....and it's so reasonable from a cost standpoint especially since it works with the two brands of pumps that I'm considering (Medela and Ameda - both highly recommended).

I think that is all of what I researched today....I looked at a ton of stuff. Oh, I guess I did look at our stroller and infant carrier choice again. Believe it or not, I think this is the last time you'll have to read this. :) We finally bought them today...because for some odd reason, I went and looked for them at Target.com and found them and that the site was offering free shipping on two or more baby gear items. Since I also had a 10% off coupon for Target and since both the stroller and the car seat are items that can be returned to the store, we decided to jump on the deal...how could we resist when with tax the total was less than the pre-tax price of these items at Babies R Us? So, yes, we've ultimately decided on Peg Perego's Primo Viaggio infant seat and Centro stroller. And, they should be arriving in a couple of weeks - yea!

Before we bought them, we decided to go to BRU and just "kick the tires" at least one more time on the stroller. We're shelling out a pretty penny for this little puppy...and we want to be sure that it is exactly what we want. After what was probably a ton of amusement for the passers-by at BRU as they watched us try to decipher how exactly one folds and then (more importantly) reopens the stroller, we finally became pros and decided that this was indeed a stroller that we would like. Part of the impetus for us going to BRU was that we had a bunch of coupons for gear and what not from there that expired today. They were, unfortunately, out of a few things that we wanted, but we still came out pretty nicely. We are now the proud owners of a Baby Bjorn carrier...midnight blue with red edging...very cute and comfy (unlike the active model which had just waaaay too many straps and felt more like a straight jacket to me - Mark of course preferred this one, but knew since I was fighting to get it on and off that it wouldn't be used by me!). I can't wait to carry baby around in it. We got a couple of other things, too, but those were the big buys of the day. And, now, we pretty much have all the expensive stuff purchased - all that is left on the hefty price tag items is a mattress, a breast pump and in the future a convertible car seat. Coolie.

So there you have it - another issue of "How the Rock Turns" or something like that. :) The only thing left to say is that I've totally found the best treat today. If you can find coconut sorbet (Sharon's is the brand I buy at Trader Joe's), drizzle a little (don't go nuts or you'll only taste chocolate) chocolate syrup on it and enjoy...if you're a fan of Mounds candy bars, you'll be in heaven. Like Almond Joy's better, add some toasted almond pieces...yum!

I hope you all have a wonderful week...