Baby-Bumper WEEKEND GALORE!

I'm not sure I've ever mentioned this before but from the start of this pregnancy Tom has been calling me, my body, baby, stomach, all of it "Baby-Bumper". Which is pretty dang cute in it's self AND since I'm not big on the over-used nick-names of: Preggo, Preggers, Pregorific, etc. They've been done. To me, its like hearing "Who let the dogs out?" still. And I think only my dad uses that phrase now and then in a cute attempt to be "cool" and in the NOW! hehe
So I just wanted to share our weekend's excursions with all of you!
I had started preparing Saturday's errand list on Thursday by making a big grocery list with exactly what we were getting from which stores and how much it would come to. I do this for a few reasons; #1.) to figure out the best prices for individual items and b/c I'm thinking of the not-so-distant-future of super BROKE-hood and trying to stock-up now on essentials! I had text Tom on Friday afternoon asking him if he wanted to go pick out the "bringing home baby from the hospital- outfits" the next day and he responded a very excited text- this coming from the man who really does NOT like shopping but has been doing it with me for the past few months as he insists he lifts everything, I can't remember the last time I carried a bad of groceries to the car and from the car to our place. :)

Okay, so we got up at 8AM and we were the first customers walking into Baby's R Us at 9AM. We looked and looked at boy clothes and then girl clothes- not really in-love with any particular outfits and then Tom came up with the idea that I pick out 3 girl outfits and he pick out 3 boy outfits and we then decide together which #1's from each category to choose. Oh as a side note I had gone to Gymboree with my mom a couple weekends earlier when Tom was in South Dakota for his sister's wedding and I stayed at my parents place. Anyway- I think THAT store had the cutiest newborn outfits by far BUT seeing we had been given a Baby's R Us gift card from my office- we went there! Okay so we did eventually choose 2 outfits, again we weren't super inlove with either one but its okay. We also looked around the store and I came to three conclusions; #1.) Baby's R Us is way more expensive than Target AND Macy's. #2.) I don't want one of those rocking chairs which I did register for at Target and that was also at B.R.U.- They looked like they would be destroyed within a few years of kids jumping all over it! No thank you. I am kinda liking the idea of looking for a good Lazy-Boy or something where when I need to feed baby and could do so in another room- I could fall asleep in the chair too....those other rocking chairs just aren't comfortable enough. Because I'm visual and some of you are too- I'm talking about this style:
It's just not comfortable to me. I think I totally would love a man-lazy-boy recliner/rocker. Me? like something masculan? Nooo... #3.) Conclusion- my husband has a lot of opinions and excitement for this coming baby!
Okay so from Baby's R Us we went to Winco, to Fred Meyer's to Haggen's to Safeway and finally home.

After we put away the groceries Tom got out the car seat and stroller his awesome sister, Charity (no pun-intended) gave us, which he brought back from S. Dakota (which caused lots of people coming up and wanting to see the baby that wasn't in the car seat, from air port to air port!) lol

Tom was a PRO! He showed me how the Chicco car seat works and adapts to all the ways it can be strapped into a car, along with the matching stroller. I can't stress enough how cute he was being SO enthusiastic about educating me about their user-friendliness, versatility, everything. It was like having a personal saleman teach me about the products without the creepiness PLUS and adorableness of having it be your husband so excited about your baby equipment and making sure its all up to code and our baby will be as safe as can be! We even went through the items even already been given, ie. the package of diapers from AMANDA- THANK YOU, and a ton of blankets and baby gear from DANELLE- THANK YOU!!!! And divided everything into 2 catrgories, a girl pile and a neutral/boys pile!

Let's see I also was on a cooking/baking binge. I made cream-cheese-banana-nut bread for Tom and a loaf for the missionaries, then a huge batch of potato salad for the ward bbq that evening while Tom put together the hospital bag! A while ago Tom read a book BY a Man for father's to be on all kinds of advice from how to live with a pregnant woman to How to help your woman in labor, etc. And Tom said that the book says he's suppose to pack the bag and even him suggesting him packing the bag earns him points! lol YES IT DOES/DID! I couldn't stop smiling, its just so dang cute! He also mentioned that the book says he's suppose to get my something BIG when I do have the baby; suggesting jewelry or flowers or something. I told him, yes, YES I would appreciate flowers and love that he's being all proactive about this stuff.

After the bbq I dipped into the apartment pool for the first time ever even thought we've been here for over a year, while Tom read, "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" -(I think all of you KNOW how much I HEART that book, thank you Bek and Billy!) I asked Tom to read it and I'm waiting to hear his reactions when he really gets into the guts of the book!

After I got cooled-off we crashed farely soon after. It had been a LONG but FUN day!

The next morning we both woke up antsy. Not sure you all know this but we are both super neat-freaks. Okay maybe not FREAKS but pretty neat, and its awesome cause where one of us lacks in some domestic analness the other makes up for....Well...wait not that great. In fact, I get the better end of the deal on this one! I THINK I've made the bed MAYBE 5X AT MOST during our marriage while Tom makes it everyday. Bed making is where I'm a slacker- anyone who's lived with me knows I'd rather sleep on time of a made bed and then straighten it in the morning than have to make it everyday. Its because I like a made bed but HATE actually doing it that stops me! Whereas, Tom is totally ALL-Military about bed making, and....I love it! Okay and now I'm gonna just brag again- last week, whatever day, before I left for work I asked if he would take out the trash, nothing more. I got home, he had done all the dishes, made the bed- including washing the sheets, vacuumed, AND took out the trash and recycling. I'm super spoiled because these kinds of acts of service happen more than not and remind me how good I have it! Anyway, we both woke up antsy and wanted to work on getting the apartment more ready- setting up the crib and stuff.

Well instead of just setting up the crib Tom took measurements of the apartment and then made an exact floor plan then did the same with every bit of furniture and then cut them out so we could play re-arranging on paper and not wear ourselves out with doing it for reals. I did this same thing before we moved into our place so I knew where to tell our movers where to put things so we wouldn't have to remove them later!

Anyway, we came to the conclusion not to use the crib yet but that our play pin works even better now and will double as a basinett which is nice! Then Tom rearranged the living room just for fun- cause its been awhile and we both like change (well this is the kind of CHANGE I can tolerate- no big life changes, simple daily change is all I can handle hehe).

Overall, the weekend was FULL and FULFILLING! Tom's enthusiasm rubbed off on me and his desire to help has only encouraged and reassured me what a great dad and companion he will be and already is! (Tear*)