Since it appears we’re now planning for a September baby we’re kicking preparations into high gear.  Her room is one of the biggest projects on the to do list and it definitely needs some love.  We’re still desperately searching for a dresser and bookshelf for Noah, or a changing table and dresser for Kate.  Either way we have just enough bedroom furniture for one child but no one seems to sell anything as nice as what we originally purchased, which of course has been discontinued.  The other big obstacle is painting the room.  It’s best for me not to participate in the painting, given my “condition” and all (and the fact that if I have to lug this kid around it just seems fair that someone else can get ready for her), so it’s all on Walter.  To help I decided to tape off the trim work in the room.  Noah couldn’t resist helping though and we got several laughs out of his techniques.  I don’t think my son will become a master painter anytime soon!  Here is the taping process through Noah’s eyes -

First, you supervise while catching up on important phone calls -

Then you work very hard to properly tape your friends -

Next you take camera phone photos of everyone involved -

And then you assist in the taping process (apparently Kate is going to have random polka dots on her walls, ummm, and carpet) -

And once you’re done you give all of your employees a big hug for a job well done -

Seems Noah (and mom) are going to have some stiff competition in the stubbornness and drama departments.  Walter and I went for a routine ultrasound today at the perinatologist’s office to be sure she was head down (which I didn’t need an ultrasound to tell me) and that all was well in the womb.  Apparently Kate has been enjoying a little too much second hand ice cream and is destined to be a big baby.  At 32 weeks she weighs 5 pounds, 10 ounces (approximately, based on ultrasound) which puts her as an average 35 week baby.  While it’s great she is big and healthy the doctor felt that if she kept up all this growing we may need to consider coaxing her out a bit early.  Early in like 5 weeks.  FIVE WEEKS!?  Might as well be tomorrow for as much as we still need to do to be ready.  While we scramble paint and buy all the things left on our registry I leave you with a few closeups of our little girl.  By the way, she was very annoyed through the whole thing.  The tech would push on her to get her to move and she would punch right back.  She gave tons of attitude and really challenged the tech for these shots.

Here is her profile done with standard ultrasound technology.  For those that think these look like Rorschach inkblot tests, she’s facing the left side of your screen, you can see her nose and lips pretty well, her hand is over her head and her gut is the bubble all the way on the left.

The rest were done with 3D ultrasound technology.  We’ll have to dig out Noah’s and compare.  Here you can see an eye, her nose and her open mouth pretty well.  They tell us that the back of her head is covered in hair but she seems to have a receding hairline ‘do at the moment.  She may really look like a little old man!

And this is when she’d had enough.  Her hand is cupping her forehead, that’s her pinky closest to her eye.  It seems as if we were giving her a headache!  Diva!

It’s birthday time once again in our house.  I turn 30 today.  As a child I remember thinking how old someone who is 30 was, they were on the verge of retirement in my eyes.  Now it still seems like a big number but not nearly as scary or old.  I certainly don’t feel 30, or what I thought it would be like to be 30.  I feel relatively young, life for me (us) is starting to settle, our family is nearly complete and life is just getting started (as cliche as that sounds).  I feel like I have everything I’ve ever wanted, I feel so incredibly blessed for having what I do and I feel like I made it through my rebel years pretty unscathed.  I’m done making stupid choices for the sake of making them and now I’m onto struggling with the right decisions for my family.  Oh wow, I’m a grown up!  Seriously, it’s been a great ride so far and I’m sure it will just keep getting better.

For my birthday today we’re having brunch with my family (my parents, Nikki, Julia, and my boys) and dinner with Walter’s family.  We’re trying to sneak in a child free trip to Ikea in between the fabulous meals to finish picking up stuff we need in preparation for Kate.  Next weekend we’re having a small party with close friends, the celebration I’ve always wanted.  Originally we planned to have Kate here by now so I could make one more series of stupid but seriously fun choices while toasting to the future but Mother Nature had other plans and we’ll have to celebrate with Shirley Temples instead.

Thank you all for your love, support and birthday wishes.  I’m looking forward to my next thirty years and how different they will be from the first.  In case you’re wondering, this is what thirty looks like at 9am – me and my kids -

Notice my fabulous new earrings by the way?  They were a birthday gift from my girlfriend, Raven.  She knows how well Tiffany and I get along! 

Today is Walter’s birthday.  I don’t know if anyone is as excited about it as Noah though!  He woke up this morning yelling “IT’S BIRTHDAY TIME!” and couldn’t stop reminding us.  He ran in and woke up Walter telling him to get to the kitchen for birthday time.  When I didn’t whip out a cake at 6:30am with the respective 39 candles Noah was very disappointed.  We lit and let him blow out our kitchen candle – twice – just to get him to relax a bit.  I made Walter the traditional lucky boiled egg breakfast, he opened gifts and then left for work.  All the way to school Noah kept on about fire and cake and Daddy’s birthday (anyone who knows Noah knows his love for fire).  I gave his teacher a head’s up in case she thought we were raising a pyromaniac (on purpose).  Tonight our good friends Rachel, Robby and Ayla are hanging out with Noah so we can go see the new Batman movie.  We’ve tried to go a few times now, maybe tonight it will actually happen.  And did you hear, the whole world is celebrating Walter’s birthday too?!  They’re having some huge party in China for him at 8pm, it’s such a shame our frequent flyer miles couldn’t get us there.

Happy birthday, hon!

So we’re trying to pick a color for Kate’s room.  It’s not as easy as I expected (and hoped) it would be.  We’ve tried every green and moved on.  We’re now onto pinks.  Anyone who knows me knows that a pink girl’s room isn’t something I automatically gravitate towards (run screaming from would be more like it).  And no matter how pink her room is I’m not getting a chandelier (sorry Mom!).  But we’re stuck between two colors.  The first one is really pink.  Almost bubble gum.  It’s a nice color but it’s a small room and we worry it may be overwhelming once it’s on all of the walls.  The second one is a very pale pink.  I worry that it’s not pink enough.  I want it to be contrasting with the white trim but just enough.  These two colors are right on top of each other in the color swatch palate from Sherwin-Williams so without making a custom color there is no in between.  The color I was looking to emulate was the one by Restoration Hardware, which is horribly over priced.  What are your thoughts?  I promise this won’t be like the kitchen faucet poll.  Promise.

Here is the pink at Restoration Hardware -

And here are the two colors we have.  I realize they look slightly different in every photo and to every person because of lighting and color calibration on your monitor.  One thing I can tell you to help judge is that the brown that’s currently in the room is a really dark tan with a bit of a green tint.

And the fabric between the these two painted areas is what the bedding is being made with.  The green fabric will be the bumper and the crib skirt is white with the pink ribbon trim.

Here is the lighter of the two pinks against our trim since that’s my biggest concern with the light color.  Does it look pink enough or just a different shade of white?  The darker pink definitely contrasts with the trim, I just worry Kate will think she lives in Barbie’s room.  The two colors below are the same color.