Letter to baby

Another letter to a future baby...

December 5, 2010

Dear Baby,

For some reason, I can't get you off my mind tonight. Perhaps it is because this time of year is all about family and traditions, and when I think of our future family and traditions I can't help but think of you. Hopefully, this time next year, I will be drinking cocoa, watching White Christmas, and decorating the tree with a big belly! If we are fortunate enough to be expecting, I am sure we will have a new stocking over the fireplace, and a few gifts under the tree with your name on them. Speaking of your name, Mama and Daddy are already talking about it, trying to decide what you will be called. The current forerunners are Avery for a girl, and Mason for a boy. Your Daddy is very happy with these choices, but I am of course, an over analyzer, and trying to decide if these are the right names. I have thought about baby names since I was little, and I want to make sure that the name we choose for you is something we will still love 30 years from now. I love trendy names now, but I know that classic names have a better shot of remaining timeless.

Obviously, we are not even pregnant yet, and I am afraid that I will jinx myself by being too excited. I am very afraid we will have problems getting pregnant, or have a difficult pregnancy. This Christmas, all I want is to get pregnant next year with a healthy baby. Can that be fit under the tree?

Dreaming of you this Christmas,

Mommy

Baby Bucket List

Ever since Husband and I put a date on when to start trying, I've been finding more and more bloggers in the same stage as us. I LOVE this. I love finding other people with just as many questions, fears, and dreams as fill my crazy head. A common theme among many of these fabulous imaginary friends is a "Baby Bucket List". I think this is pretty self explanatory for anyone that has seen The Bucket List movie, but for those that haven't, it's a list of things you'd like to accomplish before you kick the bucket, or in this case, the baby. Have a baby that is, not kick the baby.

Don't kick a baby, that's bad.

And so, without further ado, my Baby Bucket List.

1. Travel- Husband and I still plan to eventually take vacations just the two of us after kiddos, but obviously this will not be the case for quite awhile. Plus, I fully expect our travel priorities to shift once we welcome a wee one (goodbye Vegas, hello Disney). However, with Husband in school, our travel budget is not brimming over, so we're trying to arrange our priorities to fit in at least one trip before we start trying.

2. Pay off our vehicle- we have a car and an SUV and we have roughly a years worth of payments left on our SUV. We would like to have it paid off before we start trying to give ourselves a bit more padding in our budget.

3. Make body ready for baby- this includes taking prenatal vitamins (which I have been for the last month), working out, and (gasp) cutting back on sushi. I plan to completely give it up when pregnant, but I've read that mercury can actually stay in your system for up to a year, so I've been eating less tuna and really, less sushi in general.

4. Talk with my OBGYN and General Practitioner about managing Narcolepsy while TTC/Pregnant- oh yeah, by the way, I'm Narcoleptic. This is a whole other blog post on it's own, but I have already met with both of my doctors and come up with a plan we are all comfortable with.

5. Budget- this is also probably a whole other blog post too, but in general, I want to make sure we can stick to a budget before adding a whole new person to our family. There will be a lot of changes in the next year for our family outside of just the baby area, so the budget often feels like a constantly moving target. I'd like to get that sucker nailed down.

6. Meal Plan Successfully- Meal Planning is one of those I know I should but I don't things. If I get a handle on it, I know it would also help us with #5.

7. Research and purchase life insurance- this is a non negotiable once we have a kiddo on the way.

8. Purchase a video camera- I already have great cameras and lenses (did I mention I'm a photographer on the side?), but I'd like to upgrade my current Nikon d300 to a d300s so I can have video capabilities to pair with my lenses. I don't want a separate video camera, this way I'd only need one camera body to do both.

9. Fix up our house- our home is fairly new, so it's not like we have any massive projects to undertake, but since we bought it we've been gradually decorating, buying furniture, painting, and working on the lawn. There's a possibility we'll be looking to move into a larger house once we have a kiddo, so we'd like everything to be in tip top shape to make our house sell quickly if we decide to move. Plus, I think I've already started nesting.

10. Enjoy being just "us"- even when the decision to start trying was 8 months away, thoughts of the next step filled my brain. Hence this blog. But I also know that once we start trying, or even once we have a child, there will be no more just us, and I want to make sure that I appreciate and enjoy being a couple. Staying up late, sleeping in, watching movies, making quick runs to the store for ice cream, talking for hours over a glass of wine. Not only dreaming and planning for the future, but being thankful that even with work, and school, and stress, I'm still married to my very best friend.

I'm sure there are a few things I've forgotten, but right now, I'm off to check on plane tickets to a place we'd like to visit. What were some things you wanted to accomplish before kids?

Due Date Calculators

I'm addicted. Someone help. I think I look at one of these at least every other day, even though I know the info hasn't changed. I love counting off days, putting in a date, and seeing when our little one would arrive. My favorite is the Baby Center Calculator, where it not only pops out your expected due date, but also various milestones such as the all-important "Announce your pregnancy"! They recommend 14 weeks. I'm 99% sure that given my inability to keep my own secrets, there is no way on God's green earth I'd be able to keep news like that to myself for over three months. Still, it gives me a rough idea of timing. I love putting in different dates and seeing where we'd be around that time to figure out how we can tell friends and family we're expecting. Then I start dreaming of ways to tell people. Any suggestions?

First letter

The night Husband and I decided to move our baby timeline up, I wrote my very first letter to our future child. What can I say, I like to get an early start on things. Since this blog is to document our baby journey and beyond, I thought it only right that I post it here instead of hiding it on my computer.

October 12, 2010

Dear Baby,

You have always been a far away dream, but tonight you became a little more real. Your daddy and I just celebrated our three year wedding anniversary, and he is almost halfway through his third year of pharmacy school. Our plan had been to either wait until he graduates to start thinking of starting a family, or even to wait longer.

But your mama is a big dreamer, and planner! I've had baby fever for quite awhile, and so I did some investigating into what it would mean to move our timeline up. And, after talking to your daddy, we've decided we will start trying to add you in June of next year, which is just about 8 months away! We are so excited! We've started talking about names, and even planned out which room will be yours and ways to tell people our news. And we don't even have news yet! You are already so incredibly loved and wanted. Your daddy is a wonderful husband and I know he will be an amazing father. To be honest, I'm a little nervous. Excited, but nervous. Like I said, I'm a planner, and I like looking at all of my charts and plans and knowing what will happen and when it will happen, and I know that babies don't always follow the plan. Whatever happens, we will adjust. We will do our best to raise you to love the Lord, and to be a good example to you and any siblings that may follow.

I already love you,

Mommy

We're trying to have a baby...

...but not for awhile. Actually we decided to make a baby back in October, but we're not planning on actually trying to conceive until June. Or July. We're still a little indecisive. See, the original plan was to wait until the husband graduates from Pharmacy school, then work a few years to pay off student loans, and THEN try for a baby. But I'm not really known for my patience. Plus, we're not sure yet if we want two or three kids (or four?- just me?), and in the interest of spacing them out and giving my body a chance to recover (youknowthatwon'tbepretty), we figured we'd better hop on the baby train a little earlier than the original plan so we're not still having children in our 40s. Husband will be graduating in May of 2012, but will then have to take the Naplex and find a job. That pays. None of this working for pharmacies for free anymore. I don't get maternity leave at my job, but I do get quite a bit of vacation/ personal leave so I've been saving up days, and plotting planning the best time to be pregnant/ deliver/ start raising a child in our fun little timeline. Stay tuned.