The Nestling will need to know about their Cincinnati roots

I've been on a Charley Harper kick lately, so just wanted to share the adorableness of these:

ABC's

Coloring Book

Giant Ladybug Floor Puzzle

And, possibly best of all:

A Memory Game!

Though, let's be honest, I really want the coloring book for myself, not the Nestling, who's still several years away from coloring at this point.

It's a Baby Sea Monster!

On Tuesday we had our 20-week ultrasound. One of the pics of the Nestling's spine looked like some sort of sea monster.  So you can guess who has a new nickname.  Here are some of the other, non-sea monster images:

Some with the new-fangled 3D imaging:

And this one is my favorite- it's not the clearest image, but I love the classical, dramatic pose (and apparent thumb-sucking!):

And, more importantly, the ultrasound tech and doc said everything looked good.  So we're just over the moon over here.  It was a good day yesterday (even with the subsequent vomiting in the clinic's restroom because I didn't get my late morning snack in before the appointment).  Cheers!

This is what the cat thinks of the pregnancy...

. . . my belly makes a comfy pillow, apparently.

Also, Pinterest

PS: If you're interested, I've also started a Pinterest board for baby-related ideas & images.  I don't think you have to be a member of Pinterest to view it:

http://pinterest.com/firepurplefly/the-nestling/

How things are just now

So, yeah, I kinda forgot I had a baby blog for a while.  But, really, there hadn't been much going on, Nestling-wise.  But now!

This past Tuesday, April 17th, was our first childbirth class.  We sat in uncomfortable chairs, learned about the stages of labor, saw a video of the birth of someone who, judging by the parents' hair and glasses, is about as old as we are.  It's a 6-week class, with the second half focused on newborn care.

Friday we had another OB visit, and everything seems to be going well.  We heard the heartbeat, and a couple of kicks on the heartbeat monitor.  My thyroid has been borderline the past few visits, so it's being tested again.  Since pretty much every woman I'm related to has either hyper- or hypo-thyroidism, I knew this was coming sooner or later.

And then yesterday, we went to the Spring Half-Pint Resale and scored a tidy haul, our first baby purchases:

All for about $50!  From top left, clockwise: portable changing pad, green hooded bath towel, duck-head bath robe, 3 short-sleeved onesies, 3 long-sleeved onesies, green sleeper, 3 swaddling blankets, 5 burp cloths, baby bjorn carrier, and green fitted crib sheet (backround).  And also, on the less practical side, an awesome dragon marionette: 

Speedy photobombed the pictures, because he needs to sniff the tail of whatever creature comes along, be they other cat or green dragon.

I'll try and remember to post more regularly again, which shouldn't be too hard now that there's a bit more going on.  20 weeks on Tuesday!

Slow news week

Not much going on here on the baby-bump front. My next check-up is this Friday (14 weeks), so hopefully I'll be able to bring back a positive report from that.  And maybe one of these days my morning sickness will finally, actually go away and not come back.

Meanwhile, I feel like I'm really starting to show these days, which has me looking at more maternity clothes (it's one of the few things I can plan and shop for: until we know where we're moving in the summer, most baby-related buying or even planning doesn't make much sense).  I came across the Hatch Collection by way of one of my daily read blogs, A Cup of Jo.  Their thing seems to be fashion-forward maternity clothes that you can continue to wear afterward.  One way to look at it is that they're "investment pieces." Another way would be that several hundred dollars is too much to spend on a tank dress, maternity or otherwise.  But, despite myself, I couldn't get this oversize striped tank out of my head:

It's so cute.  It looks comfy.  It's $128.  And that's a big no for me, obviously.  But!  This story has a happy ending.  For browsing around Amazon this afternoon, lo and behold, I found this:

It's not an exact match, but I bet if I order a size or so up, the fit could be pretty close.  I could chop that scalloped hem and re-hem it straight if I wanted.  And, you know, it's a hundred dollars cheaper.

Maternity Clothes Are Happening

Over the weekend, Mom and Dad came to visit and we did some maternity clothes shopping:

Striped Roll-Tab Henley

Side Ruched Scoop Neck

Puckered Empire Top

Poplin Capris

That empire waist top is a prettier color green in person, I swear.  Also, it's going to be a stripe-y pregnancy.  You have been warned.