Mmm!

I washed all of Gavin's baby clothes, hats, burp clothes, bibs, hooded towels, wash clothes, and blankets this afternoon and am now convinced that there are few smells better than freshly washed baby things.  I can only imagine that a freshly washed baby will smell even sweeter.  :)

Weekly Update

- I am now officially in my third trimester!  Hooray!  Gavin is kicking up a storm, usually at night, and today Stephen and I actually saw him nearly punch through my belly...he's got some spunk!  I can't believe our little man will be here in a few short months.  My goal this week is to wash all of his cutie pie clothes and bedding.  We chose his coming-home outfits this week -- one newborn size and one 0-3 months size, just so we're prepared either way.  I LOVE both outfits, and their matching hats (of course).  We're signing up for the hospital tour and birthing classes soon, so it's all becoming very, VERY real and exciting!

- My old Macbook Pro burnt through the video card this week and will no longer turn on, so we did some research and ended up buying another Apple yesterday!  I looked at a bunch of PC laptops, Dells and Sonys mostly, but I really preferred the Mac operating system and had grown used to how everything on an Apple worked...so I'm writing this blog entry from my sparkly new computer!  I can't figure out how to download Microsoft Office yet, and I can't do the data transfer from my old computer until I get Office, so right now my computer is just good for Internet, but it's a start.  I'm looking forward to having my photos and music again.

- We took Gavin to his very first (in-utero) football game last night!  I love preseason games, in part because everyone is still really excited for the season and in part because the night games have such nice weather.  It was beautiful and breezy and, maybe more importantly, the Bengals actually played well!  We're planning to go to the final preseason game against the Colts next week, and hopefully one or two games at the beginning of the season (the Colts come back October 16) -- then I'll probably be done for the year.  Stephen will most likely catch a few games after the baby arrives, but Gavin and I will watch at home in our Bengals gear (because, trust me, G has lots of Bengals gear already).  We are already excited to take him to Paul Brown Stadium next fall.  There was a little boy sitting in front of us last night, probably four- or five-years old, and you could literally see Stephen envisioning himself in the stands with our son.  It was a great, great night.  :)

- September is shaping up to be a busy month!  We have a few fun appointments (including a 3D/4D ultrasound), I have a work shower and a couples shower towards the end of the month, Mindy has her shower, my mom celebrates her birthday, and FALL BEGINS!  We are approaching my favorite time of year and I am slowly but surely getting more emotional (in a good way) about all the changes about to take place.

Nursery, Part III

I'll post pictures later, but Stephen and I built Gavin's dresser yesterday.  It took us three tries and nearly five hours -- thank goodness Bobby helped build the way-more-complicated crib/changing table last week -- but it's built.  Not only is it built, but it looks AWESOME.  Now we just have to wait another few weeks for our glider to be delivered -- but thankfully, no assembly is required for that!

Having completed the furniture-building process, Stephen and I agreed that if your marriage can survive building a dresser together (when neither of you possess that skill), your marriage can survive anything.  There were a few tantrums and tears (I'm six months pregnant, give me a break), but at the end of the day it's nice to feel like we really worked hard to make an adorable home for Gavin (and his many, MANY clothes).  My parents came over for dinner last night and oooh'd and ahhh'd over the near-finished nursery, which of course made us forget the torture of building that dang dresser and just beam with pride over the weeks of work that have gone into the room itself.

My mom starts work on her under-the-sea themed nursery next week!  The bedding is ADORABLE (it's one of the sets I was looking at if I could've swayed Stephen from the sports theme), so the room is going to be precious.  We spent a lot of time at Lowe's looking at paint colors and carpet samples, so it'll be really neat to see how everything comes together.  The nursery is going in my old room at my parent's house, so Gavin and Quinn will hopefully have as many good memories in there as I do.

The set my parents ordered for the babies.  So cute!

Inspiration

I am so proud of my husband.  To preface, we've been together three years, and from our very first date I heard him talk about how he wanted to go back to school and get his degree.  He wasn't sure what he wanted to study, and he wasn't sure where he wanted to go -- but he knew he valued education and wanted a wider variety of professional opportunities.

So he made it happen.

This summer, he started his associate's degree in Business Information Systems Technology at Cincinnati State.  In addition to his crazy work schedule and preparing for a new baby, he has somehow found time to ROCK his class.  Seriously, he's really proven himself to be a talented and motivated student.  He volunteers for leadership roles, helps his fellow classmates, and spends hours studying on the living room floor to make sure he's prepared for each and every class.  He hasn't been a student in eight years, so this is a super triumphant return to the world of academia.

Stephen is taking three courses next term -- a math class, a computer class, and a study skills class -- and I can't wait to watch him succeed even more than he already has.  With two classes and a thesis standing between me and my graduate degree, it's been really inspirational to watch Stephen begin the process.  It's easy to forget what a privilege it is to go to school -- not everyone gets the opportunity.  While I don't think I have taken my time at Xavier for granted -- when tuition is that high, you soak up everything you can -- I don't think I realized (at the time) how fortunate I was to have the quintessential "college experience" at Indiana.  When Stephen talks about school, you can hear how passionate he is about continuing his education.  You can literally see how much it means to him.  He has worked so hard to get his ducks in a row to get back into the classroom, and it's really nice to be able to sit back and be supportive and proud of HIM as the student, rather than the other way around.

Just a Quick Note --

After a trip to the gym and Whole Foods this afternoon, it was a nice treat to come home to this:

I fully realize that posting repeated pictures of my cats makes me the Crazy Cat Lady (which is surprising considering I grew up with dogs) -- but seriously, doesn't that warm your heart?  Even during football season, Peyton and Eli Manning-Dowd still love each other.

Changing and Rearranging

Stephen and I have been busy at work rearranging our home to make room for our upcoming little addition!  The guest room became the nursery, the study became the guest room, and the guest bathroom became the baby bathroom (guests still allowed...but only ones with a fondness for Eric Carle, haha).  Furniture has been built and shifted around while the basement has become more and more crowded with discarded items from our pre-baby lives.  We still have lots of work to do, but here are some photos of our updates:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar bathroom

Still waiting on towels, soap dish, trash can, etc...but a great start!

Gavin's "stadium"

Love love love the bedding!

We thought these iron players looked great on the white wall

I told you I was slightly obsessed with shopping for baby clothes.  Look closely and you'll find the Davy Crockett outfit I was oogly-googly eyed over in a previous entry, haha.

Our new study/guest room

I hung everything all by myself!

Come visit!

Or, if you don't come visit, Peyton will be happy to keep the bed warm for you!

The bookshelf got moved from the old guest room to the main room -- now we have a little reading nook!

In other news -- we had an appointment last week and heard Gavin's strong little heartbeat again!  The doctor seemed impressed with how active and happy he seems.  :)  I told her that he'll go pretty much the whole day without kicking and then have a crazy dance party right before bed.  I have a feeling Stephen and I are going to have our hands full with this one, haha.  Other than that, we're looking forward to our 3D/4D ultrasound next month and the opportunity to actually see the baby again.  Until then, we'll keep preparing the nursery and dreaming about how fun the end of this year is going to be!  I hit third trimester next week...ahhh!

You Know You're Pregnant When...

- You drop something on the floor and spend a full minute deciding on whether it's worth trying to pick back up.

- You drop something on the floor and immediately look around for your husband to pick it up for you.  (Which, bless his heart, he always does.)

- The word "oof" comes out of your mouth at least twice an hour, most noticeably when you try to stand up or sit down.

- Conversations like this happen:
          Me: Why do my legs and back hurt so much?
          Dad: Because you don't walk, you waddle.

- Conversations like that happen...and aren't offensive so much as they are truthful.

- Drying your hair after a shower takes too much energy to do at one time, so you do it in stages (preferably during the commercial breaks of your "Toddlers and Tiaras" marathon).

- Organizing the baby's room sounds like a fun way to spend the weekend.

- You can wait five or six hours between lunch and dinner, but require two breakfasts within an hour of each other.

- You sing lullabies to yourself...and then start crying.

- You get excited when you step on the scale and realize you've gained a pound...because, thank goodness, it's only one pound (this time).

The Death of Literacy?

While I was pursuing my graduate degree at Xavier, I took several English classes taught by very traditional professors.  Professors who, more or less, spent great deals of time discussing the death of reading and writing at the hands of electronic readers (like the Kindle) and blogs (like this one).  While I never fully agreed with their analyses, I've spent some time recently thinking about the effect emergent technologies will have on literacy.

I own a Kindle.  Stephen gifted me one for my 27th birthday, and I love it.  I still prefer the feel of actual books, though I honestly can't remember the last time I bought one, but the convenience of a Kindle can't be beaten.  It fits in my purse, it's easy to read at the gym, and I can download books in a matter of seconds.  I'm reading more than I ever have and have an entire library of books at my fingertips at any given time.  So, for me, the Kindle has reawakened a love of literature.  But due to the success of e-readers like the Kindle, bookstores have been going out of business (Borders is one example).  Libraries are being shut down.  So what happens for the people who can't afford Kindles?  Not only the Kindles -- but the books that must be downloaded onto them?  Without libraries, where even the underprivileged have access to free books, what happens to literacy for all?  On a different note, it'll be interesting to see what effects the new technology will have on education.  Already, traditional text and workbooks are being replaced by IPads and Smart Boards.  By the time Gavin enters schools, will pencils and paper even be on the required school supply list?  And more importantly, what will that do to his reading and writing skills?

Now, as for blogging, my professors have argued that blogs as a whole are the death of quality writing.  Through blogging, everyone becomes a published author -- regardless of skill level, competency, perspective, etc.  I get their point -- some bloggers attempt to make careers out of their respective blogs, heavily pushing certain agendas, and can reach a huge audience with minimal effort.  There are no editors, no hoops to jump through on the way to publication.  It seems to be, more or less, a shortcut.

But here's my hang-up with the whole "evil blog" concept --
In a world where literacy as we know it is circling the drain, isn't any opportunity to write a good one?  Isn't the entire point of writing (and reading, really) to educate yourself, start conversations, and instigate further thought and reflection?  Don't blogs do exactly that?  This blog -- as are most I have come across -- is meant more for personal use than for real in-depth pondering, but I still pay attention to my grammar and word choice.  I still use an editing process and re-read my posts to check for coherence.  So I don't mind that this blog makes me a "published author"...because regardless of the newfound ease in putting my thoughts out there in the "blog"osphere, it is still your choice whether to read, think about, or respond to any of my posts.

I don't know.  I guess my thoughts are that we really have no choice but to embrace emergent technology and find ways to incorporate mediums like e-readers and blogs into our new literacy.  I'm still at a loss for how to make literature more accessible for the underprivileged should libraries disappear entirely, but I am confident that this struggle is no different than ones generations past have dealt with.  

There's no turning back now!

Now that we've received our first monogrammed gift -- thanks, Jacqueline! -- Gavin's name is set in stone!  Or, well, thread...

PS, how adorable is that tote?  I saw it at Pottery Barn Kids (online shopping of course) and immediately registered for the entire matching bathroom set.  I love the Very Hungry Caterpillar, and I love that Jacqueline (an elementary school teacher) understands my love and fond memories of Eric Carle books.   

Things to be EXCITED about:

- In the past few years I've become a girlfriend, fiancee, wife, sister-in-law, and aunt (amongst others) -- I can't wait to add MOM to the list in November!

- The painter comes tomorrow to start on the nursery, guest room, and bathroom.  Then we can get the carpet cleaned and start moving and putting together furniture!  I am definitely feeling the need to nest.

- Gavin's squirms are getting predictable -- I expect to feel him after I drink cold water, while I workout, and when I lay down for bed.  Mom says she can't wait for him to start "kicking out" so she can actually see my belly move...but for now, his little inside kicks feel like my secret (even though Stephen can officially feel him now!)

- Baby shower planning is underway!  Eee!

- While it's still 90+ degrees right now, my favorite season is just around the corner.  Pumpkin spice, football games, candy corn, jeans and hoodies...I love it all.

- I don't want to jinx it...but Peyton and Eli seem to be getting along better than they used to -- no middle of the night shenanigans recently.  It's going to be interesting to see how the cats deal with a new baby!  I half expect to come home and find Peyton swinging in the MamaRoo while Eli sleeps in the stroller.  I don't think they'll want anything to do with Gavin, but I think they'll love his stuff, haha.  

UPDATE:

If you look closely, you can see Peyton playing in our stroller's basket.  A surefire promise of what's to come.

- The second half of the year is filled with fun holidays -- Labor Day, our first wedding anniversary (it's a holiday for us), Halloween, Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas, New Years.  Babies aside, there are so many reasons to get together and celebrate in the next few months!