6 months and COUNTING

6 months from tomorrow is jelly belly's expected arrival - and of all the countdowns I've done over the past 7 years, this one seems to be the most excruciatingly slow. I started my countdown process my senior year of high school during the second semester. As excited as I was to go to college, I had a very rough time that semester with the drastic change looming ahead. So that countdown went by much faster than I would have liked. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to so many people, because I didn't have to sugar-glazed eyes that made me falsely believe that friendships wouldn't change. I wasn't ready to leave the school I was so comfortable in, the band that had become my family, or my actual family. But, the days ticked down and, well before I thought I was ready, I was graduating and moving on. Once graduation was over, the pain and anxiety subsided and I was just purely excited for college - which was an awesome 4 years! (definitely should have made it 5...only of my roommates would have been on board though) In college I counted down the last 3 months of Austin's first deployment, then quickly counted down the 1.5 months until I turned 21, and then in my last semester I began the countdown until graduation again. This time I was less anxious and more excited - I was moving to DENVER. Could life have been more of a blessing? Once in Denver, the countdown shifted to our wedding - which was the LONGEST one I'd ever had...558 days from the day I arrived in Denver. I truly thought I was about done counting down, I was turning in my ticker board and pencil, and then Austin's deployment came. 270 days from the day I dropped Austin off at DIA to the day I picked him up (I think there were more tears on the second day)

But of all those countdowns...even the whopping 558 day count to my wedding...the next 186 days will more than likely prove to be the most agonizing of all. Because in all the things I was looking forward to, you could combine all that excitement together and it still wouldn't come close to the excitement I have for the day I'll hold our baby.

Everyone keeps telling me - don't rush things, enjoy the pregnancy as much as possible because its an awesome time. As if I have any power over father time? Trust me - if I could speed up the clock I would have done it quite a few times already in life, and I would most likely skip the next month too. I'm enjoying being pregnant - I'm enjoying learning about the miracle that is a baby. I'm enjoying how much Austin adores me, as if he didn't already :), and I'm enjoying being treated like a queen. I always knew I was a queen, I just didn't know this was all it took to be TREATED that way! But you can't tell me that any of this process will rival the day that the baby is born. So if I could have begun my pregnancy at 4 months, when I already knew the baby's sex, I would have been a happy camper. At least then my visits to the baby's room wouldn't be so useless. As it is now I go in there, look at the furniture, look at the few little outfits that we have, sit in the glider, and day dream. But once we know the sex...I can paint, begin buying clothes to wash, wash sheets, make my highly anticipated trip to the Container store to get the closet in usable condition...there are so many things that will help the time go by at that point. Until then, its all in the waiting.

Let me digress back to the comment I made about enjoying the miracle that is a baby. It blows my mind that people can experience the birth of a child and still not have faith, still not believe that there is something/someone bigger than us who is in charge of it all. How else could one tiny little lifeless egg turn into a human being with organs and limbs and fingernails and hair and...everything...in 9 months? Or at all, for that matter.

Detour ended. We are doing as much as we can think to do during this time (you know, while we're painfully waiting) We've been researching baby products, looking at various products at different stores and trying to decide which will be the best for us. Candace's friend has offered a bassinet to us, so we will use that during the time that jelly belly isn't sleeping through the night. We have the crib, and we have decided on a pack-n-play that we like best...so the sleeping arrangements seem to be settled. Last weekend it was stroller time. We know we would like a jogging stroller - lots of people have said they are too bulky when they are folded down, but we compared a few to some of the regular strollers and the difference is hardly noticeable. I think its worth the extra space to have the maneuverability and durability of the 3 tires. Plus, Layla and I intend to walk/jog with the baby a lot...a LOT...so the rubber tires should be useful. Once we had nailed down that we wanted a jogging stroller, we were comparing brands. We looked at customer reviews on a few different sites, looked at misc features (its insane what they think to include in a STROLLER these days...) and then it was time to make our 100th trip to babies r us. Boy were we a sight to see?

First, you have to look at the clothes. That's the most fun part! Austin found a little boy's baseball onsie that had #36 on the front (that was his number in football) so that was his favorite outfit of the day. Funny - my favorites are usually pink, and his are usually blue. Weird. Anyway, we decided we needed a "model" baby, so we carried the onsie around the store as we looked at different products. When we found the stroller we like best, we layed the baby in there, gently so as not to wake it up, and began pushing the stroller around the store. I kept attempting to look at the pack-n-play that we like, but some other RUDE couple was hogging the aisle. Never mind that she was probably 7 months pregnant (so more in need of a pack-n-play at this point in time) We kept trying to return to the aisle, but they just wouldn't leave. So, we moved on to car seats. I wanted a matching one - why the car seat and stroller must match I'm not sure - but there isn't one that matches the stroller we picked. The worst part is...the stroller is green and brown, but the car seat that safely snaps into it is black. Black and brown? Do these people know nothing? Oh well, the baby won't ALWAYS ride in the car seat right? So, we lifted baby out of the stroller, placed it into the car seat, then snapped the car seat into the stroller. At this point Austin thought doing donuts in the aisles was the best idea - needed to test out how safe baby would be in the event of a dangerous situation. The car seat never budged, and our little mock baby never made a peep (odd huh?) so we decided it was safe. So - car seat and stroller, done.

And by "done" I mean picked out. Clearly we are not planning to purchase every item the moment we decide on it. I don't make millions, you know.

Austin usually enjoys our babies r us trips, but it is also Austin who always initiates the leaving. I think there's only so much he can take in one day. Plus, if we decide on everything now what will we do for the next 6 months? So, it was after the stroller-donuts that we decided it was time to leave.

Not without the baseball onsie though. You have 90 days to get a refund - and it was on sale for $8. What's the harm?

Our next focus: a high chair. This one is more intimidating to us both - not sure why. Stay tuned!