How many Shades of Gray

 When we decided on Gray, I never really thought about how many Shades of Gray there were.

I headed to Home Depot on a Sunday afternoon and picked out every Gray sample.

I came home and put them on the nursery wall with tape.

Over the next three weeks Joe and I gradually started moving ones down that we did not like.

Some where too dark, some too light, some to blue, etc.

Then we narrowed it down to two.  

As we have learned sometimes the paint can look different than it does on the little sample sheet.

So I headed to home depot to get a small sample size of paint.  $2.90 in each color.

  Totally love this concept!

So we are down to 2- one darker, one lighter.

Right now we are looking at them in the different color lights, during the evening, during the day with sun, etc.  

Seriously so many Shades of Gray!

Keeping Baby OH organized

I am a folder person.  

Anyone who knows me know that I have a folder for everything.

I get made fun of at work because I have a separate folder for time cards, leave slips, the schedule, etc.  But I am always organized and rarely lose anything. 

So I sat down two weekends ago and put all of bugs stuff in a binder.  

This way everything is in one location.  

It is amazing how many pieces of paper one bug can accumulate.

I chose a binder and set it up as follows:

When you open it in the front pocket is our 2nd trimester list. 

This is a list of things we need to do during the second trimester.  

This is for easy reference for both Joe and I.   

And of course things are color coded by whether I am in charge of taking care of them, Joe is in charge or we need to do something together.  

On the other side is my long long list of everything that must be done before bug arrives.  This includes 1st, 2nd, and 3rd trimester stuff.  I saved this in a word document on Gmail Docs for easy editing.  

I made a couple different sections:

1)Practice/Delivery

This has everything that relates to where I am going for my care. 

It includes the handout from the practice as well from the hospital and any of the paperwork I will need.  

I also put information regarding classes in this folder.

2)Furniture

We are ordering our crib and our dresser.  But I had all the handouts on the couple cribs we were considering in the section.

3) Registry information. 

This is where I have a sleeve for coupons, any information that I need for our registry and note from Baby Bargins.  

4)Work Stuff

This is where my FMLA paperwork is as well as any information I recieved from my place of employment

5) Daycare/Pediatrician/Baptism

Information on both- fortunately now that we have one picked out this is a thin section but when I was looking it was pretty thick. 

I feel much better knowing that everything is in one place making it either for Joe or myself!

Seriously now what?

How do you figure out what to register for?
I will tell you one thing- do not go by what the mock registries at the stores give you.
This is way to much stuff! 
I am not even a mom yet and I know that.

I refused to get sucked in so I borrowed Baby Bargains from a friend,
which to be honest was a life saver.

It helps you organize what you need verses what they try to get you to buy. 

This is a book I always recommend to my patients. 
I had read it almost 3 years ago, but found that a lot has changed in 3 years. 
Most of the things I already knew but still a lot of changes with safety regulations. 
I do always recommend trying to borrow the latest edition for just this reason. 

So as mentioned there are many many things that we do NOT have to register for:

Bath tub

We were given The First Years Sure Comfort Deluxe Newborn to Toddler Tub with Sling!

Swing

We were given Fisher Price My Little Lamb Swing.

Bouncer

We were given Fisher Price My Little Lamb bouncer

Boppy

My friend had a extra that she is giving to me!

I will just need to get a cover to place on it!

Trash Can

Simple Human Gray Trash Can with Locking system.

We had purchased this at Bed Bath and Beyond with a 20% coupon after visiting friend who had a dog and loved it because it locked.   

I wanted something that locked so Clemson would not be tempted to go in where dirty diapers were going to be placed. 

The Simple Human received great reviews. 

Again Gray =0)

Clothes Hamper

Oxo Flip in Hamper in Gray. 

This was a find at HomeGoods for like $25 bucks so I picked one up as I saw nothing else I really liked.   Plus was that it was Gray... Yes there is a theme here. 

High Chair

 Joe's parents kept his high chair which Joe has finished and stained to match our dinning room.
So excited about this! 

Books

Again, Joe parents kept all of his childhood books which is great. 

I still think we will register for a couple. 

It will be nice to have a small library. 

So you may ask...

What does that leave you left to register for...

According to me, not that much!

Which I am very greatful for.

A couple things I or Joe are excited about.

The Stroller

OMG! If I only knew Joe cared so much. 

I am told that men focus on things and his is the stroller. 

We walked in to Buy Buy baby and after playing with the strollers for about 20 minutes we learned a couple things.

1) I am short! 

Yes I know this is something I already should have known but it is true.

I was amazed how many strollers did not have a handle bar that adjusted height!

I thought I was going to love the UPPABaby because my patients raved about the ability for it to grow with the child.  WRONG.  It is way to high for me!

2) Too many buttons

I am amazed at how complex some of these strollers are.  Push this button, pull here, etc

3) Weight

This was not really something I thought alot about until one of my petite friend pointed it out.

So if I could not easily lift it, it was off the list.

OMG the BOB strolled weighs more than I do!

So after 20 minutes my husband was fixated on the Baby Jogger City Mini GT. 

Primarily because we had three women, all petite in size walk by stating that they loved this stroller and they also ran with it.  Yes we want something that could work as a running stroller since we both are athletic. 

Things I liked about the City Mini GT

1) Adjustable handle bar

2) You literally pick up a strap inside the stroller to make it to collapse. 
By far the easiest of any stroller we have seen.

3) You can run with it

4) The sunshade gives full coverage so there is no need to buy an extra sun shade

5) Large basket for holding. 

Now I really wanted to Gray and Yellow one.

This is a point of debate between my husband and I as he was the first to point out that the orange would match Clemson's collar.  Seriously, what has happened to my husband.

You might be asking- Well this stroller is great for a infant/toddler but when do you do with a newborn. 

Fortantely, I have had two people offer to let me borrow their Graco Snap and Go's Strollers, so this is what we will using while bug is still a baby.

Which bring me to our next thing

The Car Seat!

This was determined for us by the kindness of our friends letting us borrow their Graco Snap and Go.

Obviously we will be getting a Graco. 

Still figuring out which one. 

But I am leaning toward something like this just because I do not like a lot of color.

Baby Carrier

Again a recommendation from a friend and a free infant insert means we will be going with the ERGOBABY.

I loved the designs and also the look. 

 

Baby Einstein Baby Neptune Active Gym

Joe and I both were swimmers and love everything water, so I totally like this activity gym.

This is still a work in progress but the big things have been figured out.

Was there anything that you loved that you thought you did not need at first?

Cool... cool.....

Ok a break from my trip because to be honest I have not had any time to coordinate the pictures and information.  Maybe I will do this if the insomnia hits me tonight.
I am hoping this won't happen.

So last week was rough, stuff at work and things at home.
I just had a frustrating week which is continuing this week. 

This put me kind of in a funk which I have not been in a while.  

Wednesday was particularily sucky as I like to say so when I was laying in bed around 9 pm getting ready for sleep contemplating life, I was suprised when I felt bug move.  

Yes full out move- punching me or kicking me.

It was its way of saying....
"Mommy hang in there-don't take people's crap!"
At least that is what Joe said.  

Pretty cool if you ask me. 

Made me smile when I needed to.

 

Insomnia

One thing I never expected during pregnancy was insomnia. 

I love my sleep more than anything- more than food, more than pretty much anything.

I have become a good sleeper over the years and there is very little that can wake me up.

In fact if Clemson has to wake either one of us to go out, which happens very rarely, it is always Joe because I rarely hear him.  

So this insomnia has taken my by suprise as I blog at 2:30 am in the morning.  

Seriously!

It is a weird insomnia because I have no problem falling to sleep which I did last night at 9 pm and do not really wake up for any reason.  

I am not to the point where I having to use the restroom all the time, or am even uncomfortable.

If it was trouble falling alseep I could easily fix this with some Sleepytime tea, a bath, a book, and some Unisom but that fact that it is me waking up in the middle of the night makes it harder, especially when I get up at 5 am to go to work- do I stay up, do I try to go back to bed.  

I hope this does not mean that bug with be a 2 am baby but by then I should be well conditioned!

So what do you do at 2 am in the morning:
1) Work on figuring out our new health plan opinions- both of our work plans are changing so we are trying to decide which one to go with
2) Work on will.
Now with a baby on the way this needs to be updated.
3) Blog
Of course!

All in all it was a productive hour prior to trying to fall back alseep.

So much for starting the week out rested!

Day 4 in Paris

If I had to do it all over again, 3 days in Paris would have been plenty.

By day 4 I was ready to move on to Rome. 

On day 4 traveling really took a toll on me, and the morning sickness.

So Joe promised this would be my day and we could do whatever I wanted.

So I decided we would picnic outside near the Sacre le Coeur.

If only the weather had co-operated with us.  

It pored!

So we ended up heading to Sacre Le Coeur in the poring rain.
Glad I packed both umbrellas and our rain coats!

 Me with my two Euro sandwich that was both our lunch and our breakfast. 
This was so huge that Joe and I split it. 

The last thing on my list to do was eat a eclair. 

 We stopped off at our favorite pastry shop and went back to our hotel because it was raining cats and dogs at this point and we were soaked. 
Total cost 2.5 euros

 OMG so good.

That night we took it easy- packed and Joe grabbed a gyro at one of the local places by our hotel.
I actually had no appetite that night!
Total- 7.5 euros

We got to bed early because we knew we would have a busy day with going to Rome. 

Paris Day Three

 Day three was by far my favorite day!

All because of hot chocolate.

When Joe had traveled to Paris over 10 years ago, he remembered a place that when you order hot chocolate they bring you a thing of hot chocolate and a thing a milk and you make your own!

OMG!

SO good!!

The Restaurant:  Le Selecte!

We had two hot chocolates, Joe had a sandwich, and I ordered another sparkling water.

Total bill: 22 euros

 We then headed to the Musee D'Orsay for Free!

Museums are free the first Sunday of Every month!
We opted to do the Musee D'Orsay instead of the Louvre for free because i figured they were the same price and it would be less crowed. 

We then walked around Paris because it was such a nice day!

 That night we just decided to walk and try to find a place for dinner.

I saw a long ass line outside of Creperie Josselin.

I suggested we eat there!
Joe was sceptiacle at first but when he saw articles they had hug in the window about the place as well as a top Trip Advisor for 2012- he was sold.

Of note this place only accepts cash!

We waiting in line for about 30 minutes but it was totally worth it.

We both had crepes. 
Joe a very manly meaty one while me a veggie.

Then we had a nutella crepe for dessert. 

Joe had a 1/2 liter of cider while I had water.

Boring old water....

Total Bill 40 euros!

Definitely the best place we ate in Paris!!!