Our Name!!!

So from now on I'll refer to our little girl as Sadie!
Middle names are in honour of our deceased Maternal Grandmothers.

I feel like I may be jumping the gun a bit announcing the name already but we're positive we're having a girl. On October 6th we'll confirm at our 3d/4d ultrasound (28 weeks).

Our family already knows but we're keeping it a secret from our friends. At first we weren't going to tell anyone but my cousin didn't find out the sex of her baby so we wanted to announce early and call dibs!!

Blogroll

I've finally added a Blogroll!! This seems like "no big deal" but I'd been putting off for so long and have been relying on S. (An Offering of Love) and her awesome blogroll (thank-you) to catch up on all of my favourite blogs!!
Now I'll have no excuse but to "come out" and post more often and let people know I'm reading their blogs on a regular basis.

Any lurkers want to post and share their blogs?

I hope I haven't missed anyone!

The Crib!

Our goal for our vacation week was to have the baby’s room completed and although that didn’t happen we DID buy the crib. At least that is a step in the right direction!?!
I’m very happy with our purchase but I have to admit I’m a bit disappointed that we did not stick to our original intention to “keep things simple and inexpensive”. We tried, honestly we did. We looked at several options such as not buying a full size crib and getting a mini-crib, buying a cradle, using my co-workers crib (free), or buying the Gulliver crib from Ikea ($159). In the end none of the above seemed to work due to the size of the two rooms we’re working with so we folded and bought the Stokke Sleepi System. We’d been eyeing it for a long time but thought it was excessive. After really thinking about those options we decided that although it was pricey, which it was, it did meet our needs perfectly as an urban family in a small living space.
We’ll start out with the Mini in our room (0-6 months) and then move it into her own room as the full size crib. It also converts to a Toddler and junior bed. The full size crib is MUCH smaller than your average crib. It will give us more space in the room and I can’t say enough how much we desperately need space! In fact, it is small enough to fit through our door frame and it has wheels. That means that when we have guests we could move the crib into our room for the night and they could use the baby’s room (we’re going to buy an inflatable bed). That is a nice touch. I wasn’t looking forward to having guests sleep on our living room floor and now that we do not have Frank (RIP), with his razor sharp nails, an inflatable bed could actually work.
All we have to do now is clear out the room! That will include returning our crib set and sheets we’ve already purchased since the Sleepi is round/oval. We’ll use that money to buy a few Sleepi sheets.
I hope having the crib will be our incentive to get moving because I can’t wait to see the room completed.

Pictures (we bought the crib in white without the canopy):

Reaction....

We've been away on vacation over the last few days (more on that later - too tired now). I need to catch up on reading and commenting!!
Thank you to everyone for your congratulations.... we're so excited to be having a little girl!! It's taken a few days to register after waiting so long and I'm still in a bit of a daze wondering "what's next"? We've made it through some significant pregnancy milestones but this seems like the biggest one. That said, I had a big OMG moment on Tuesday! It feels like all that's left is having the baby!!
We've decided we're going to book the 3D/4D ultrasound package that comes with 2 sessions. I'm aiming to book the first at 24 weeks and the second at 28 weeks. We're hoping this gives us smaller goals to work towards since our 20 week ultrasound may have been our last with our OB (I hope that is the case and everything is smooth sailing).
As for the reaction from our parents and family....
My mom sounded disappointed which surprised me! She said she was hoping for a boy because we only have girls in our family (which is true, I guess). Oh well, tough luck. My dad and my step-mom were both thrilled but it did take my brother a groan and a long pause before saying "cooooool". I guess he was hoping for a nephew! Overall I think my step-mom is the most excited. I bet she wanted a girl when they had my brother lol.... she's been with my dad since I was 3 years old but it's been a long time since she's been able to spoil a little one other than my brother!
D's mom is also very excited but I can honestly say that she's the most accepting person I've ever met. Boy/Girl she wouldn't care. Although this does balance out the grandchildren to 2 girls and 3 boys!
It's been an exciting week and to top it off we're finally enjoying what could be described as "summer". So far August has been very good to us!!

Drum roll Please....

Intelligender was right!! It's a Girl!! Or at least they are 80% positive (we'll get it re-confirmed at our 3D/4D).
Everything looked great and surprisingly we did not go shopping on the way home!

Time to call my parents to tell them!

anxious

The fun of finding out the sex has run its course. Yes, I want to and NEED to know now (I'm going crazy) but I'm now focusing on seeing a healthy baby. Our 12 week ultrasound was stress inducing because the baby wasn't moving and I didn't know this was normal (sleeping) until I came home and sought the advice of Dr. Google. This will also be the first time our OB will see our baby since our 12 week results went MIA.
So, I have my fingers crossed...
I'm excited...
I'm nervous...
Hopefully I'll be able to get some sleep tonight!

Yes, I like to plan things...

My parents are taking my 10 year old brother to Disney World for the first time in September and I offered to help them because we’ve been several times and know how things work with reservations, etc. Taking into consideration my brother’s age and interests I spent 2 hours yesterday making a schedule for them. Since they’ve booked during the free dining plan promotion I also suggested restaurants…. and that is where I’m done helping… I’ve told them numerous times in the past 2 months that during the Free Dining promotion restaurants are hard to book (obviously because it’s FREE) and that reservations are taken 90 days in advance. They refuse to listen because they do not want to be tied down to a specific park or time in case my brother wants to be somewhere else. Sorry, but our kids are not going to have that much control!!!! In my opinion the best things about Disney are the dining experiences, the parades, fireworks and shows. Those are all scheduled at certain times and days and if you do not plan ahead you will not be in the right place at the right time.
Oh well, it’s their loss because they are going to have 7 table service meals where they are going to have little to no choice (time or restaurant) and may not be able to use. They’re not going to be happy when they are stuck with counter service because (sorry Disney) it sucks! What’s so hard with understanding that the food is FREE therefore people are ravenous to book the BEST timeslots at the BEST restaurants?
Sigh. I don’t need to get my blood pressure up about this so I’m not helping anymore. If anyone needs a detailed “first timers” itinerary for an adult only vacation or adult with older child/teen let me know because I have a great one!! Disney vacation planning is a passionate hobby of mine!