Boy Baby or Girl Baby?!?!

Hopefully, today is the day we find out whether it's a little boy baby or a little girl baby! Oh, I am so excited and nervous I could just burst! I am afraid that Little LeeBlank will not want to show us, and I will have to wait two more long weeks. I just don't think I can take it!

I had a wonderful time back in North Carolina with the family this weekend. Of course, there is never enough time to see everyone as much as I'd like, but I am so blessed to have such a big, wonderful family to love and be loved by.

The fetal doppler worked, and mom and dad got to hear baby's heartbeat. I even felt baby move for the first time while mom was listening. We both cried. I am in awe of this little person growing inside of me, as big as a sweet potato now.

I got to see Cory's house, and I got to spend time with Ashley yard sale-ing and tracking down treasures. We had so much fun. Congratulations to Cory on being a homeowner! He and Ashley are working so hard to get everything painted and updated, and it looks so wonderful. I can't wait to see the progress when I go back in May.

In addition to figuring out if our baby will have a wee wee or a ta ta, I am anxiously awaiting the stack of maternity clothes Nana bought me to arrive in the mail. Finally, I will have more than three things that fit! We didn't do a whole lot of baby shopping, but I did get baby his or her first Carolina outfit, a tie-dyed hippie onesie and a little shirt with skulls on it.

I am occupying my waiting time perusing the internet for baby gear... like this Baby Bjorn carrier I want want want. This is the "Air" carrier, meaning it breathes better, which will be a must in Texas. Plus, the yellow just speaks to me. ;)


I was never a big fan of the slings and wraps, since they seem like an awful lot of trouble and keep baby all couped up. In light of recent recalls and news about babies suffocating, I'm glad we didn't have our hearts set on one of those.

I have also set up a registry at Babies R Us. Right now, it contains mostly diapers since we aren't really registering for a whole lot. We are hoping that second-hand stores will be the primary shopping location for friends and family, actually. The clothes are already laundered and any chemicals have been washed away. All the clothes we've seen are in great shape and, of course, more affordable, and since baby won't be in them for very long, it seems like the cheaper the better.

Well, my brain is all scrambled and I can't keep it on track enough to write any more... not that this wasn't random enough. Back to waiting, I guess.

<3

'Cause That's the Beat of a Heart

Brian heard baby's heartbeat for the first time last night... it was amazing. My eyes are welling up just thinking about that little life that's growing inside of me... a palm-sized Laci/Brian hybrid. Little eyes, little nose, little mouth. Soon, we will be able to hold this little person we've created. We'll be charged with taking care of him or her an making sure that life is as beautiful and safe and sweet as it can be.

I can't wait, and I want to put it off as long as I can.

Strollin' Down the Street

After much perusing and finally some hardcore comparison shopping the past two days, I think we've found "the one." Introducing Baby LeBlanc's pimpin' ride... the Graco Alano Flip-It Travel System in Pagoda.



Graco is tried and true and recommended by friends and family. (A special thanks to all my Facebook helpers.) The Flip-It design allows baby to face either way, and it's a slightly more compact approach than most travel systems. It also stands upright when you fold it, making storage and set up that much easier. The price point has left me in disbelief, since I was expecting to spend way more. AND I love that the colors are what we are thinking about for the nursery: teal, yellow, gray. Bottom line, it has great reviews and just seems to fit.

Phew! That was tough. At least I know the diapers will be easier, thanks to that Treehugger blog post so many years ago. ;)

<3

Time to Get Busy

Planning, that is. I had a nice chat with mom the other day, in which we talked a little about mine and Brian's desires to raise baby in true "LeeBlank style." Brian and I are many things, separately and individually. And naturally, our loves, our beliefs and our views on this crazy world we live in will be presented to our child, whom we will do our best to raise with an open mind and heart. But as we plan for baby and are bombarded with pack 'n' plays and diaper genies and wipe warmers and plastic-y toys with lights and sirens, one LeeBlank lifestyle choice stands out more than the others: we are "do-ers," not "have-ers."

There is a reason we blissfully fork over our hard-earned money for rent every month, we only own one TV and we can fit all our seldom-used belongings in a couple of plastic bins. Our American dream is different than most people's. It involves a vintage travel trailer and pit stops across the country. We love to adventure and explore and experience and make memories. And most of our belongings reflect that, from my old records and Granny's homemade foot stool to Brian's fossils and coffee table books on space to bags of worthless, but beautiful, self-mined gemstones and mounds of photographs documenting the first two and a half decades of our lives. We want to surround our baby with the same types of things. Things that will make little LeBlanc happy. Things that are nature-friendly and fit our adventurous lifestyle. Things that will facilitate learning and creativity and exploring.

So, wish us luck as we venture on to diapers and car seats and strollers and the like... and if you have any ideas... please don't hesitate to send them our way!

<3 The Three of Us

15 Down, Only [gulp] 25 to Go...

I have astonished myself with my own blog post title today. While neither catchy nor cute, I can't change it now. It's the source of an epiphany of sorts. 15 weeks in, and only 25 weeks to go... and we are nowhere closer to prepared to be parental units than we were a year ago. Or at least it feels that way.

I feel like a lazy bum, to be honest. And an unfashionable one at that. I have basically nothing to wear, and maternity style is not exactly what I had hoped it would be. I pictured cute dresses and cardigans and leggings and jeans and fitted t-shirts to show off a cute belly (which must still be hiding under this flabby excuse for a baby bump!) So far no clothes look as good as I thought they might. I keep saying to myself, "Once summer gets here, and I can get out and play and swim, I'll look and feel better." And perhaps that's true... but the 85 degree heat and sun of last February that blessed us with its presence on arrive-in-houston-and-move-in-to-a-third-floor-apartment-without-the-help-of-the-broken-elevator day is nowhere to be found. So I teeter between nausea and headache and constipation on the couch, doing laundry, rearranging closets and looking online... instead of out in the open where I should be exercising, fishing and just enjoying God's green earth. Stir crazy much?

So, I have decided that this weekend, I am going to leave the apartment for more than just grocery shopping, no matter what. It's supposed to be gorgeous and 70ish all weekend, so I am hoping to walk over to the park, feed the ducks and take a nice, long walk. Saturday, I am going to go down to the Heights and make a day of getting to know this as-of-yet unresearched section of our city. It will probably be my favorite place in Houston thus far (as the fishing all takes place in Galveston, technically.) I am ashamed I haven't checked it out yet. Then Sunday, I am going to get serious about the state of our future mini roomie's digs. Task numero uno is to find a place for everything else that is currently in the room. This means organizing the garage. Luckily, we don't have any real storage in there yet, so it's just a matter of convincing husband to help me move some heavy stuff downstairs and arranging it in a way that is conducive to my OCD organizing demons.

I can do this. I know I can. It's time for energy to return and the outdoors and I to reconnect. Before I go freaking insane.