Mother's Day Weekend

This whole week has been pretty fantastic! On Monday we had a visitor from Rosalind Franklin University so our whole lab got to spend an hour with her chatting about science, and work life balance, and being a female in science. And even though these types of meetings can sometimes be a bit on the awkward side this one was wonderfully natural and very engaging!

Then Tuesday rolled around which was Cinco de Mayo, and during the day Devin asked if I wanted to do dinner and a movie and recreate our second date (which featured Mexican food and a movie). It was such a sweet gesture that I said "Of Course!" even though I had a 45 minute talk to give to the department the next day. Only then, during the day me and the lab ladies got to talking about how fun an after work happy hour sounded so before Devin came to get me for date night my fellow pregnant co-worker and I went to a local restaurant for happy hour. If you are curious as to what a pregnant happy hour entail it involves virgin bloody marys and food. Mostly the food because if you can't drink you have to splurge somewhere. So nachos and hot wings it was. And I know I shouldn't have indulged in such snackage before dinner but I couldn't help it! Did I mention NACHOS!? Then Devin picked me up and it was off to our Mexican dinner, only of course the place we wanted food from was packed (I know, on Cinco de Mayo...shocking) so instead we ate at Cheddar's because neither of us had ever been. After I ate about half my dinner we left for the movie: Avengers! Only, when we got to the theater Devin wanted ice cream...and I wasn't going to watch him eat ice cream. So of course after he twisted my arm and publicly berated me I conceded and ordered a cone of yummy chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. So the moral of the story is the baby and I are eating well (I promise the next day I had spinach and homemade soup for dinner).

We got home so late I felt like such a wild child! I mean it was like past 10:00. So the next day I got up early to prepare for my talk, which went really well. Lots of friendly and familiar faces came to watch it and I got some good questions afterwards which made me think people were actually paying attention and following along.

Then on Thursday my parents surprised me with these lovely flowers for Mother's Day! I have never had flowers delivered to work before so it was really special. The note instructed me to enjoy my last peaceful mother's day - which you'll find is exactly what I did.

Friday Night was our end of the semester lab BBQ and I made my mom's amazing potato salad. It was pretty close but not 100% the same, I have some ideas of where I can improve though. I am very particular about potato salad and really hers is the only one I'll eat. In preparing to become a mother I am trying to perfect as many of my mother's own recipes as I can - but we all know Devin does the real cooking in our house. It's ok, he said our kids will love his dinners and look forward to my desserts (which is where I am actually an asset in the kitchen). We are a real team like that.

Saturday started with a zumba class which I haven't done since very early on in this pregnancy, but it went so much better than I thought it would! Then the goal of the day was to find more maternity pants. We checked the outlets but even at the Motherhood Maternity outlet capris were $40. ARE YOU SERIOUS?! I am not paying $40 for pants I will wear for a few months. So instead we hit the resale shops and I got one pair for $7 and another pair for $2.40. Now those are prices I can get on board with. When I cam back from trying on my maternity pants this is what I found:

Bless his heart. Too cute! He had picked out a really adorable pink frilly dress, but it was $9 (I know I am such a cheap ass, $4 is my limit for resale baby shopping) and also we don't necessarily have somewhere fancy to go with our baby - so I didn't want to end up wasting $9. Then we decided to get dinner where disaster struck because I ordered a chicken salad wrap that was disgusting. I didn't want to say anything because it was my own fault for ordering it, but Devin did not want to pay for a meal I was not going to eat so we sent it back and I got a grilled chicken salad instead. Simple and innocuous.

Sunday brought Mother's Day! Devin took me out to a rocking breakfast and then we spent the day in bed watching movies and I sent him out 3 more times to do my bidding. Once for groceries, once because I wanted a drink and olives for the frozen pizza we planned to make, and once to return the movies. Overall on the day I had 1600 steps...which should tell you what an awesome and relaxing day it was. Also I always tell people I have the absolute best parents but seriously it's fact. On top of the surprise flowers they sent me these sweet cards and a mother's day crib sheet (It is Mother's Day themed because there is a big mama elephant and a tiny baby elephant...get it?) 

So all in all it was an excellent week. Oh and Devin got me some surprise Ben and Jerry's for Mother's Day dessert which I can't say no to. Ice cream twice in one week!? Yes Please!

Springtime Adventures

The past 2 weekends have been absolutely JAM packed (which are my favorite kinds of weekends) so let me fill you in.

Last Saturday I started the day by attending a resale baby event with my mom. Unfortunately we were one week shy of knowing whether we should be shopping in the boys or girls section but this didn’t deter us too much. We got some phenomenal deals. The whale bathtub I’ve been wanting – for the baby not for myself-some sleepers, books, toys, puzzle, a bouncy seat, a bumblebee lamp, a cute monkey zip up hoodie, baby sweatpants, a boppy, burp cloths, and some other odds and ends. We had a great time and are really starting to make a dent in the baby preparation department. Then as soon as we got home Devin and I left for Chicago where we were planning to look at a Kia Sportage we saw online. We started looking for a new (read new to us – totally used) car back in November and figured that with baby coming it was time to start seriously shopping.

Long story short – we bought the car. Buying cars is the WORST process in the entire world so I’ll save you the laborious details and tell you that we got a decent deal. Actually we had decided on a price with the salesman but then I started having second thoughts so my dad said we should go talk it out. I told Devin I just wasn’t completely pleased with the deal so my dad said we should leave and come back. Luckily, once I said I wanted to leave the sales person brought out the manager who took off an extra $500 which brought it down to a price that I felt much more comfortable about. We are double lucky because not only did we get a pretty decent deal but my dad came and met us there to help us with the entire process. He was kind of like our car buying doula (if doulas also cosigned on car loans). He wasn’t the one to pull the trigger but his support made the entire process so much more manageable.

Then we returned to my parents’, changed quickly, and met up with my childhood friend Dominic for dinner at Flat Top. At Flat Top there was a brand new baby at the table next to us so of course Devin and I both had a hard time not staring. Since I’m still not really showing yet I always worry people will think we are giving them the stink eye for being at a restaurant with their baby, but in fact we are just being creepy because we don’t get to see babies often and it’s hard to imagine one will be living with us in a few short months.

The next morning we started bright and early and went downtown with my parents to explore the Adler Planetarium. I haven’t been in so long, I hardly remembered anything that they had there but we had a fabulous time! We got to see quite a few of the shows they offer and I learned quite a few things , which for a nerd like me is the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Then we ended the afternoon by stopping at my all time favorite ice cream/candy shop called Margie’s and dinner at a family favorite called Father and Son. Their garlic and chicken pizza is probably my favorite pizza in the entire world. That or Giordano’s sausage and mushroom. The crust on Father and Son pizza is simply unbeatable. So thin and crispy I just want to eat until I pop. Then came the long drive back to Iowa. And since we now had two cars to transport back to Iowa I actually had to drive. Ugh. I should remember to thank my husband for driving us back and forth between Iowa and Illinois every few weeks. He says he always reads my blog posts so I’ll just leave a thank you here.

Thank you!

Then came a week of anticipation as we counted down the days till our Friday morning ultrasound. You can find the results and details of our appointment below. Once we arrived in Illinois though we had another jam packed weekend awaiting us. Friday night we went to Chicago for the Death Cab for Cutie concert I debated going to for months. A few weeks ago I finally decided I had to go and bought us tickets on Craigslist. I didn’t want to park near the venue (The Chicago Theater) because prices in the loop are always egregious and given that it was Draft weekend I worried things would be absolutely packed. So instead we parked in Wicker Park where we went to Artermio’s bakery to get the best tres leches cake in existence. I LOVE tres leches cake so I try to get it wherever we go and nothing compares to Artemio’s. So as soon as I secured a slice of the cake, which was the very last one, I opened it up on the sidewalk and dove in as we walked to our dinner location. 

We ate at a place called Link’s Taproom which I am pretty sure is new, because my sister used to live in that neighborhood and I do not remember it. I could totally just have missed it all these times though. Anyways they are pretty much a sausage shop, but I’m not just talking a hot dog joint, I mean delicious interesting and unique sausages. I got a pork one (ok not that exotic) that was topped with onion and pineapple and a special yummy sauce and salsa verde and cilantro. Devin got a Ruben sausage that he gushed over. And we also got these fries to share, which were stupid delicious. Topped with bacon and chorizo and cheese and green onion and giardiniera and magic. Definitely magic.

Then we hopped on the Blue Line and headed for the loop. We got to the Chicago Theater at about 8:20 because even though the show started at 8:00 I knew there would be an opening act and we had assigned seats. But then while we were in line for a drink at 8:30 I heard Death Cab start and ran up to my seat leaving Devin behind. I am glad I didn't wait any longer to get there. The show was amazing! They played for a little less than 2 hours and even played my favorite song, Passenger Seat, which Devin recorded for me so I can relive it later on. Overall a wonderful date night in the city to celebrate the joyful news that started our Friday.

On Saturday my dad and brother left for a boys trip to Minnesota so it was just me, my mom and Devin. My mom and I are refurbishing a dresser we got from a family friend, so we started the day with a little manual labor of sanding and priming. By the time we got done with that the afternoon had rolled in so we cleaned ourselves up a bit and headed out to do some shopping. I was able to find an outfit to wear for my Brown Bag talk this upcoming Wednesday and we also stopped at Once Upon a Child and found some great things for Baby Cosme. My favorite finds include a pair of purple overalls that are covered in white polka dots and a little mint green romper that has pink flamingos on it. By the time we got home we were absolutely wiped, but thankfully Devin had gone grocery shopping and made us an amazing Italian pasta salad and chicken spinach fruit salad for dinner. He’s definitely a keeper.

Sunday brought more painting, and after some finishing touches that my Dad has to do, I will be able to post some before and after photos of the new dresser (spoiler alert - it is Mickey and Minnie inspired). Then we ventured to Costco for lunch and some much needed groceries before packing up the car for a drive back to Iowa. Although our past few weekends have been filled to the brim with activities I wouldn’t have it any other way. Nothing better than a weekend filled with family, good food, and of course a little shopping.

Genitalia: Normal

I don’t know if this is true for all doctor’s offices but at our office the results of your anatomy scan ultrasound are typed up nicely for the physician and under genitalia it either reads normal or abnormal (ours was normal). They do this because eventually these results end up in your online chart, and apparently when they had the label genitalia: female, it was ruining the surprise for couples who wished to remain in the dark about the precise details for their child’s genitalia.  So when our midwife came in to meet with us she was still in the dark, and that was the first time we got to tell someone the great news:

We have a daughter on the way.

I have to admit I thought it was a boy, though I wonder if I convinced myself so surely of this because as happy as I would be to have a son, I feel directionless in how to raise one. Mostly because I have such strong opinions about how I want to raise a little girl. A leader, strong, confident, body positive, generous, opinionated and informed, and a host of other qualities I believe don’t always come easily to girls in our current society. So when the ultrasound technician told us it is a girl, I immediately found my eyes full of tears and turned to Devin to say “A Girl. We’re having a girl.” Suddenly all those movements I’ve been feeling for the past couple weeks are even more meaningful; there isn’t just a baby in there. That’s our daughter moving around. Our daughter whose head measures in the 24 percentile and big round belly measures in the 68 percentile. Our daughter whose name we decided on months ago, before we even knew if we were having a girl. Our little lady, who is already so loved by so many people.

After our appointment I stopped at work and told the ladies the good news and then it was on the road to Chicago. My parents had the day off and we knew we wanted to tell them in a fun way so before we got to their house we stopped at the party store to pick up one of those big helium balloons.

When we walked in my mom was on the phone with my sister so she put her on speaker and I got to tell the two ladies who round out our current family female roster that we are adding one to the team. In fact now there will be 4 boys and 4 girls. My dad was outside mowing the lawn so I called him in to reveal the big pink balloon – both my parents had thought it was a boy too, so it was a big surprise for everyone! Now that we know it’s a she in there, I can’t help but envision trips to the American Girl store, daddy and daughter tea parties, talks of tampons, and prom dresses. There is so much we don’t know about her, and so many things that we won’t know for years. But for now we know one thing. In September we will have a daughter and we can hardly contain our excitement.

Dear Maternity Pants

Yesterday I pulled a pair of pants out of the clean laundry basket and carefully squeezed my body into the denim that I remember being a lot more forgiving a month ago - only to look up to see my adoring husband staring at me with a look that expressed both sympathy and confusion.

“Why don’t you wear your maternity pants today? They’ll be a lot more comfortable.”

The fact that he was brave enough to give this suggestion to his pregnant wife, tells you something about the man I married and although there was a 50-50 chance my pregnancy hormones would cause me to bite his face off for implying my jeans no longer fit, I simply pulled (with all my might) at the waist line to emphasize there was still plenty of room to be had and said “Nah, they still fit.”

My futile attempts at convincing Devin of this was met with a face that expressed so clearly “Do they? Do they really fit?” In fact, he is right, there is not still plenty of room and these are a pair of the comfy pants I kept around from my weight loss journey – I am not even looking at the size 8s I bought before our honeymoon because I have a feeling they too will betray me. So as I find myself feeling more like Violet Beauregarde by the day I am accepting the fact that my time with my beloved panel-less jeans is coming to an end and the days of maternity pants, and leggings, and tights, and flowy dresses are quickly approaching. 

Thus, here is an open letter to my maternity pants.

Dear Maternity Pants,

I have always thought you looked exceptionally comfortable, and the days that I stumbled upon you because department stores make a cruel joke of putting plus sized clothes next to maternity clothes, I thought you resembled a socially acceptable form of pajama jeans. I’ll admit you have your benefits, but you also have some major drawbacks that have me attempting to stuff myself into my familiar pre-pregnancy jeans.

Adding you to my wardrobe has left me feeling like I am learning to dress myself all over again, which is tough because I never really felt like I had a handle on my style in the first place. I was a frumpy dresser in high school, a convenient dresser in college (and wearing fashions that did not always flatter my body) and in grad school after losing 125 lbs I was in the midst of figuring out what I could and could not put on my changing body when I found out baby would make 3. So here I am, confused – again – about what fabric I am supposed to wrap around myself. I currently own three pairs of you and I’d l to address you all individually.

My Target Pair: You look great when you are all pulled up into the right position, and for that I thank you. Your problem? You’re just a bit too baggy in the thighs and crotch area and subsequently slip down throughout the day which leaves me having to hike you back up. You give me the odd feeling that maybe my butt crack is showing which is nearly impossible in maternity pants because the stretchy panel comes up to my boobs. Nearly. Perhaps I will grow into you and we will be fast friends, but for now I find you an acceptable go to when I actually feel like being able to breathe while wearing pants. 

(Is this me? Let me check. Nope because I have a foot of spandex covering my underwear.)

My Old Navy Pair: Thank you for being the correct size in both my legs and mid-region, however the jean portion of you just doesn't seem to come up high enough, so without an extra-long shirt I am left with a spandex panel covered belly exposed to the world. Which I am guessing looks something like this:

Plus you are "skinny jeans" which just seems like a horrible name for anything maternity related because I am not feeling very skinny at the moment and probably won't until I am not harboring a human in my uterus. And even then I will probably feel a lot more like Baby Huey than I care to admit. However you are pretty darn comfy and despite your listed transgressions I am pleased to be wearing you as I type this affectionate letter.

My Gap Pair: To be honest I haven’t even worn you yet because when I got you home and I tried you on I realized you were in fact a pair of 1970s bell bottoms. Not flared, not even extra flared. Bell. Bottoms. My ankles are swimming in fabric. Even Devin, who is a man with little opinion on female fashion responded with a "Woah! Those are some serious bell bottoms." Come on Gap, I thought I could trust you. You seemed like such a great consignment find that I didn't even worry about trying you on (not that there was anywhere to try you on at the barn sale where we found each other). Get it together Gap, my ankles need space but not that much space.

Wait. I hear your ankles can swell during pregnancy. Should I anticipate that much swelling!?

(Not an actual photo but might as well be because these pants are not messing around)

Despite your flaws I have to say there is something very special about slipping you on and pulling your spandex panel up over my belly, which has only just begun to pop but will certainly grow larger by the week. I love that each time my pants become noticeably tighter I am met with the fact that baby is getting bigger and taking up more space than they did the day before. Plus you do have your perks; at least I don’t have to deal with a button and zipper every time I step into the bathroom, which is often, because apparently growing babies also like to punch your bladder to pass the time, or so I read.

Love,

The lady whose stomach you will be charged with fiercely trying to keep contained for the next 5 months

Becoming a Mother in Graduate School: Funding

Before I got pregnant in December, I spent a long time searching for blogs that spoke on the topic of becoming a parent in graduate school. Much to my disappointment there was very little available and many of the articles that had been written about the topic were not quite glowing. I so badly wanted there to be a magical blog or article telling me it was ok, I wasn't giving academia the middle finger by choosing to start a family - which is a whole different issue I will address in another post - but such perspectives were rare and hard to find. So I knew that when we had a baby on the way I would try my best to share an accurate representation of my experience as a grad school mommy - which I am learning is not paved in gold,because in fact it's not paved at all.

My first draft of this post was really long so I decided to break it up into various topics. The first stop - funding, because this was something I diligently researched before getting pregnant with no fruitful outcome.  In fact before I got pregnant I emailed our HR person to ask about maternity leave, because I am a planner. I generally wanted to know what policy was in place and this was her response:

I would talk directly to your department regarding what time you will need off and also see if some of it may need to be unpaid.

Ok....

Then she sent me a link for some general information for employees. Which was not helpful in the slightest because 1) I don't count as an employee 2) The information she sent back only mentioned sick time, vacation time, jury duty, and holidays. 

This is where things get tricky. Despite the fact that as a PhD  student I receive all of my income from a stipend, I am not an employee. Which is fine by me, I mean call me whatever you want as long as my paycheck shows up. But that means things like sick leave, vacation days, and holidays mean nothing in my world. I took off two weeks for my honeymoon - I didn't check to see how many days I had available to take off. I didn't have to decide if some of these would be paid, if some would be unpaid, or if the fact that it fell over Christmas would mean I was able to use a holiday. I just told my boss that I would be gone and he said "Have a great time." When the holidays roll around our boss has no idea who will be in or what their hours will be. I decide with my lab mates who wants to cover what days and what days we will decide to close the lab down all together. This also means that when I work 7 days a week for 60 hours I get no more than those two weeks I spent on my honeymoon. I guess you could say we are salary in that way, but not really, because remember I am not an employee. 

So when it comes to maternity leave there are no real answers. How much time can I take off? Will it be paid or unpaid? Will insurance still be available to me? There are currently no policies in place at the University of Iowa for maternity leave as a graduate student- which is frustrating and means my answers to these questions are murky at best. Especially when a quick google search will tell you that other Universities have policies in place to support pregnant graduate students (examples of which can be viewed here, here, and here).

Thus at my current institution we are left with a problem wherein there is no consistency from one pregnant graduate student in my department to the next - meaning it's hard to ask for advice. If one person is supported by a national fellowship they will continue to receive their funding during maternity leave and will need to work out with their advisor how much time they can take off. If you are paid by your advisor (as in your are on a research assistantship) they may say you will receive no funding at all while you are on maternity leave. If you are paid as a teaching assistant, things are even more unclear and are dealt with on a case by case basis. 

I luckily, will be supported by a graduate college fellowship in the fall and thus will still receive a pay check for the time I am gone (likely 8 weeks). While I am thankful for this, it does not sit well with me that no one has taken the time to put a policy in place for graduate students who choose to also be parents. And whether they know it or not, not having a policy sends one message to me : This is your problem and graduate school is not a time to be starting a family. Perhaps that is reading too much into things, but for now I just can't seem to draw any other conclusions when the major research institute I am employed by hasn't considered the possibility that women in their mid-late 20's may consider starting a family. 

And although it may be shocking to learn that earning a PhD does not mean your uterus ceases to function - I hope the UI gets the message sooner than later. 

Sunny Saturday

On weekends when Devin and I don't leave the state I usually end up working at least one day during the weekend, and this weekend that day was Sunday, which meant Saturday was wide open for excursions and adventures!

I started the day by watching the newest episode of Pioneer Woman, who I am deeply and unabashedly in love with. I'm not sure if it's her red hair, her sweet demeanor, or all the amazing food she cooks but I am hooked on Ree Drummond. While we watched her whip up a fabulous dessert panini Devin kept saying "That's SO much butter!" Yes sir. Yes it is. She is not afraid of butter and does not apologize for decadent things like a dessert panini filled with marshmallow fluff, strawberries, and nutella - more reasons to love her pioneer ways!

I then did one of my workout tapes which made me feel only slightly better about our first stop of the day: A Mexican lunch buffet! Devin and I both LOVE Mexican food and when we saw that a restaurant a few towns over has a lunch buffet on the weekends we knew we had to try it out. It was definitely tasty and we both concluded we would go back again. It actually reminded me a lot of our wedding meal (which if you weren't aware was a fajita bar because that is how much we love Mexican food) - they had beef and chicken to make fajitas, rice and beans, shredded chicken, guacamole, queso dip,  AND chicken nuggets...presumably for children but one might have made its way onto my plate.

Then it was off to Babies R Us. I had a few strollers I wanted to look at and thought it would be fun to peruse the baby gear to start narrowing down what we want to get for our little nugget. Nothing will make you feel more like a first time parent than walking into Babies R Us. We are champions of shopping for onesies, and my doctors appointments have been smooth sailing (Yup baby is still located in your uterus and still getting bigger). But the baby store is a whole new ballgame. Devin and I fumbled over latches, buckles, buttons, levers, snaps, and belts trying to figure out how all this stuff is supposed to work. Luckily, I had watched a few videos on the specific strollers we wanted to try out so looking at those went a little smoother...but seriously just a little. I definitely got the car seat jammed into the stroller with no hope of getting it out leaving my husband to struggle with the contraption for a few minutes before he could finally yank it free.

Yeah. We need a little practice.

Next up was highchairs which was the biggest debacle of the day. There were like a million buttons and as we pressed each one it never seemed to do what we expected. The seat was sliding up and down (it goes so low, why does it need to go so low? Are you feeding your baby while sitting cross legged on the floor??) and we couldn't figure out how to fold it up while also folding up the tray. So yeah. If you want to know what pre-parenthood looks like you can imagine 2 grown (fairly well educated) adults investigating a high chair like it was dropped from the sky from another planet. Is this even a button? No that's just a screw. High chairs: 1 Cosmes: 0.

The other problem is there are a million options for any item you want to purchase. And if you ask for advice one person will tell you that this swing is all their baby used and it was a complete life saver, while the next mommy will inform you that that same swing was a complete waste of money and never got used by baby once (the same thing happens if you venture into the review sections on any internet site selling baby items). This reminds me a lot of when I did speech and in the same round one judge would say your introduction was beautiful and moving and perfection and another judge sitting one foot away from them would say they did not understand the point of your introduction at all and would suggest a full rewrite. Aye gee. So the point is we have no idea what baby will like because baby is the size of an apple who just got the ability to hear muffled sounds this week. (Hellllloooooo baby! Can you hear my growling tummy??) Thus I am taking a deep breath and taking a guess, looking for deals, and accepting the fact that we are going to figure these things out in due time. And we will figure them out quickly, because babies come with a pretty fast learning curve. If our stroller is complete crap, we will learn, and next time around we will laugh about that shitty stroller we bought for our baby number 1 and tell baby number 2 how grateful they should be that we have (some) things figured out.

Laughing. As we try to navigate this new strange world with bottles and nipples (there are so many different nipples), and strollers, and bouncers, and swings, and swaddlers, and humidifiers, and pumps, we are going to try and laugh as much we can and remember that with a little laughter and a lot of love our baby will probably forgive us for not having their preferred swing immediately upon entering this world.

After a trip through baby gear land we needed a little pick me up and stopped for Froyo which is the perfect thing for any Saturday afternoon. Also, they had jelly beans in honor of Easter and I am a jelly bean-aholic so it was a great surprise! We spent some time just relaxing at home before deciding we needed dinner of some kind. We initially planned to do a nice pasta dinner, but on our way to the check out Devin spotted tater tots...so we abandoned everything in our arms for a bag of frozen potatoes and chicken tenders (don't worry antibiotic free!). Hey we don't need to set a good example yet. Then we came home and warmed up our frozen feast, brought the mattress out into the living room, and had a splendid evening lying on the living room floor watching Mockingjay (which was not as good as I expected - bummer).

I have to admit having a wonderful Saturday always makes coming into work on Sunday a little easier. A little.

Meet Our Fetus....aka the most expensive honeymoon souvenir of all time

Oh my goodness, I can’t believe our little secret is finally out in the open! If you know me, you are aware that I am the worst secret keeper of all time so the fact that I have been keeping this secret for 10 weeks now is insanity. I know I have been light on blog content lately but to be honest the most pressing thing on my mind is this growing little person that we can’t wait to meet, thus I have been patiently waiting to tell the world and let you in on all the details. In my limited experience so far, I have found the first thing that happens when you tell someone you are growing a human is a string of totally understandable and reasonable questions. So here are some answers to the top 10 questions we have been asked. (Also I've peppered pictures of our little nugget throughout this post because we are already over the moon with them. They have a head! And arms! AND FINGERS! All great news in our book.)

Are you excited?

So Excited! And so terrified. And somewhere in-between thinking the next 6 months can’t pass fast enough and hoping these 6 months drag on forever so we have enough time to prepare for the little life we are about to be in charge of.

When are you due?

September 14. Though I am perpetually late, so if the baby takes after me we shouldn’t see it until October. Devin is religiously on time though, so really all of September is up for grabs.

(Here is baby just chilling in the womb. The ultrasound tech needed to take a specific measurement so she kept shaking my tummy to get baby to turn over so I got to see him/her doing all kinds of flips and turns. Impressive for someone the size of a peach.)

Are you going to find out if it is a girl or a boy?

100% for sure because even though I like surprises we need some time to narrow down names and figure out what section of the consignment store to start shopping from. You can only find so many gender neutral onsies on sale for 99 cents, and I don’t think a little girl wants to wear a shirt that says “Mommy’s little guy”.

Are you going to share the name before they are born?

We plan to keep this a secret until they actually show up because we have to have something to surprise y’all with.

Was this baby a surprise?

Aren’t all babies kind of a surprise? No matter how much you plan you never know how long you will be in “trying” phase. We did in fact plan for this baby and had known for about a year we would start trying in December (post wedding but not pre-honeymoon because I wanted to have ALL the drinks on our West Coast adventure) but we had no idea  baby would be so eager to join us! I suppose our little nugget just couldn’t wait to join our family.

(See I told you it has a head and a little nose. As Devin said "Dang, that's a good looking baby.")

How did you find out?

I had read so many things where women said they “just knew”, so when I had inkling I wasn’t sure if I was being crazy or if there was in fact some serious cell division occurring in my uterus. I googled pregnancy symptoms over and over again wondering if it was possible for them to show up only 3 weeks in (it is) and kept checking my boobs to see if they were more sore than normal, less sore, the same amount of sore…should boobs ever be sore? So because I am impatient, I took a string of tests at points when there wasn’t even a chance I could get a positive because it was WAY too soon. Then the day after New Year’s when Devin left for work I took a test thinking there was a chance it could be positive but assuming it was still probably too soon (I was still 3 days away from my monthly nemesis arriving) and then there it was! A faint but distinct pink line. So I cried and stared at it, and took a picture so I could stare at it during the day and remind myself this was really happening. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a false positive before I let Devin know, so during lunchtime I went to CVS and bought two more tests and took one in the store bathroom. Another positive. I then decided to plan a fun way to let the Daddy-to-be know we were in business. However, at around 2:30 he called me to say he was on his way home. Since he normally wouldn’t have been home till 6:00 I found this odd, and he quickly told me he had been laid off. Yeepers. I revised my plan and decided I would start with cupcakes. Once we got home I handed him a bag and said “Here I got you something since you had such a bad day.” He took out the cupcakes much to his delight and then noticed there was another box in the bag. When he opened it there was a note on the lid of the box that said This is good for one pizza of your choosing, but save some for Cate…she’s eating for 2! And hidden beneath a napkin in the box were the two positive pregnancy tests I had taken that day. Needless to say he was pretty excited and then we ordered a pizza because how else do you celebrate such exciting news?

Are you planning to have a natural birth?

We are planning to avoid all medical interventions and have hired a doula to help us achieve that goal, but we are also realistic in our expectations and understand that a birth plan is just a plan and we may need to deviate from our exact expectations on game day.

(Here is a tiny arm that just kills me with how cute it is. Ahh I can't wait to cover that chubby little arms with kisses.)

Have you been terribly sick?

No vomit here! I did have some pretty intense nausea and tummy trouble but no tossing of cookies and now that I’m sliding into the second trimester things are going wonderfully. Baby and I are certainly off to a great start.

Have you already started buying adorable baby clothes?

I finally broke down this weekend, and purchased a few onesies at a local thrift shop because they were SO cheap and I figure if we pick up things little by little we won’t have to stress about it too much later. Also I say “broke down” not because it is something I don’t want to do but because once I open Pandora’s box of baby clothes I’m afraid there is no going back, if I’m not careful I will be drowning in sweet tiny sweat pants, adorable hats for tiny noggins, and itty bitty Toms for a human who doesn’t even walk.

More than clothes though, we have started buying books a plenty because I want baby’s library to be stacked! One of the things I am most looking forward to is story time with baby, so hopefully they find my selections acceptable and enjoyable.

How did you tell your parents?

We definitely had the most fun telling them – partly because it is their first time becoming grandparents and they were also the very first people we got to tell. Since my dad’s birthday and parents’ anniversary was right around the corner we told them we got them some presents. My mom’s was a little onesie that said “Grandma keeps me looking cute” and it had a note that said “I hear you love shopping! I can’t wait to see what you pick out for me to wear when I arrive in September.” My dad’s was a book called I already know I love you and it had a note that said “I hear you love reading. Would you read this to me when I arrive in September?” My mom figured it out first because she is inspector gadget but my Dad wasn’t far behind and then there were hugs and tears (from everyone involved) and SO MUCH excitement followed by a delicious dinner with no alcohol for Cate. 

(Baby gave me a little high 5 with their tiny hand. Back at you baby.)