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Friday, May 29, 2009

Another Baby Shower!

My coworkers threw me a baby shower last Friday! My "cube mate" collected money from whoever wanted to contribute and went shopping. We received a lot of great gifts....a swing, activity mat, a package of diapers, onesies, sleepers, receiving blankets, crib sheets, bottles, bottle drying rack & brush, window shade for the car, teething toys, diaper rash cream, and even some nursing pads! My boss also knitted her the cutest little button-down sweater and matching hat. I love it and can't wait till she can wear it.

In addition to the package of diapers, one of my coworkers made me three "diaper cakes" out of rolled up diapers! Stuck in between the diapers were mini bottles of Johnson & Johnson baby wash, shampoo, lotion, powder, and three teething toys. The top layer on the big cake was made out of onesies, and top of those was a baby rattle. I'd seen them in pictures before, but they are even cuter in person.

I'm writing this from home and for some reason, I can't get pictures to load into Blogger. My computer locks up and blows out my internet connection completely. I am able to upload to my Picasa site though, so here's a link to some pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/Luhmans/BabyShowers#slideshow/

Last night we went to Target and bought an activity 'gym' and a CD player for her room. We had a 10% off coupon for stuff left on our registry, so we went ahead and bought the gym thing even though she won't use it till she's 4 months old or so. Just trying to save money where we can!

We now have pretty much everything we registered for so I guess we're as ready as we can be. Thirty-six days and counting...

Monday, May 18, 2009

Baby Shower!

My two sister-in-laws hosted a friends & family baby shower for me this past weekend and I received some really nice gits. The highlights include a pack 'n play lite, convertible car seat (for when she outgrows the infant car seat), space saver high chair, bath tub & lots of bathing supplies, and a boppy pillow. We also received a decorative pillow, a comforter that I'll use for tummy time, a photo album, four super cute outfits, an adorable polka-dot rain coat that should fit her perfect next spring, and one of the softest blankets I've ever felt! I wish it came in adult-size! =)

We also received two very special gifts from our mothers. My mom gave me the dress I wore home from the hospital 35 years ago! The dress was given to me by my Great Grandma Lenhart, who was my mom's grandmother. It's in perfect condition other than a very small formula stain on a bit of lace on the collar. I had no idea she had been saving it for this long! lol... We will take it to the hospital and plan on it being Brianna's "coming home" outfit as well. I've attached a picture of me in the dress when I was one week old, which she included in the card. (Check out my head of hair! lol...)

The other gift was a book my husband had as a child called "Bruce's Loose Tooth," which is a story about a duck who is trying to help a moose with a loose tooth. He received it as a birthday gift when he was two and his mom still had it. (As a side note, the hostesses asked the guests to bring their favorite book to start a 'library' for Brianna.) The book is in very good condition considering it's 32 years old! It's a hardback book and the spine is a bit loose, but that's it. We'll be sure to tell her when she's older that the book belonged to her daddy.

I must tell you about one of the cakes that was at the shower. My nieces (ages 21, 19, and 15) made me a "belly cake" on their own. They used FOUR cake mixes to make it...two chocolate and two white...and 'marbleized' it since I love marble cakes. It was baked in a glass dish and I swear the thing weighs 10 pounds! lol.... It is seriously HEAVY! We didn't cut into it at the shower since there was a "real" cake, too, but we had friends over last night and we ate the boobs! lol.... Mmmm....DELICIOUS! Here's a picture of the belly cake, as well as one of the "real" cake and the table. You can't quite see it, but they put baby feeding spoons and pacifiers on the table for decorations.
All of the guests received goody bags with chocolate and suckers in them, as well as water bottles with personalized labels that had my name, due date, shower date, location and "Celebration Facts." I tried taking a picture but it didn't turn out so here's what they said:

Celebration Facts:
Serving Size:

1 Baby-on-the-Way
(due to arrive: 07/05/09)
Amount/Serving %DV
Excitement 100%
Anticipation 100%
Preparation & Planning LOTS!
Shopping TONS!

We went to Target yesterday and bought some metal cube things to put in her closet for storage. I'll be able to put things like blankets, towels, burp cloths, etc. in them and free up space in the dresser. I think it will work out very well.

We now have all of the 'big' items except for the swing, which we will likely buy in the coming weeks. Otherwise it's just small stuff like additional onesies, sleepers, crib sheets, and of course diapers! We're supposed to receive a coupon for 10% off an entire purchase from Target for doing a registry there, but the associate wasn't sure when we would get it, other than before the registry expires, which is my due date. I'd like to hold off on buying everything till we get it because that could save a chunk of change!

33 weeks down, 7 to go! ; )

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Nursery Pics...Finally!

The nursery has been officially complete for about a week now. We really like how it turned out. The picture that shows the way the green paint color looks like in person is the one with the curtains closed. It looks off in the others. Plus, I think I forgot the flash in some of them. ; )












You will see we have chosen her name so it's no surprise now! Her full name will be Brianna Marie Luhman. =) (fyi...it'll be pronounced "bree-ah-na".)

I have to tell you about a couple of things on the shelf. The picture frame on the far right side was painted by yours truly! One night after dinner, my husband asked if I wanted to go to a place called Paint Yourself Silly and paint pottery. We'd never done something like that before but it was so much fun! It took me two hours to paint it but I love how well it matches her room. I'll put a picture in once she arrives. =)

The other item on the shelf that has a bit of history is the Pooh bear. He belonged to my husband when he was a baby and he carried him around with him as he got older. He passed it down to one of his nieces when she was born and when we told his sister we were expecting, she gave it back to him for our little one. He's in really good shape considering he's about 34 years old!



Friday, May 8, 2009

Our First Baby-Related Doctor Bill

I never got around to blogging about the little ordeal that caused the $464.00 doctor bill so I'll tell you about it now. We made a trip to labor & delivery Saturday, April 25, because of 'decreased fetal movement.' Usually she's very active most hours of the day, especially in the evenings. The Friday night before, we went for Mexican food and got home around 7:30 and watched tv till it was time for bed. I hadn't felt her move at all prior to going to bed but didn't worry too much. I figured she was just taking a ciesta! During the night I was awake from about 1 - 2:30 a.m. and again, I felt nothing that whole time. Usually when I'm awake like that, she is, too. It's like she keeps me company when I have my bouts of insomnia. I fell back asleep and woke up at 6 a.m. I laid there till 7:00 and still no movement. I began poking my belly, shaking it, everything....trying to get her to move. I got up and had 2 glasses of orange juice and some twizzlers thinking the sugar rush might arouse her. We were both poking my belly by this time, to no avail. I finally called my doctor's office around 8:00 and they paged the on-call doctor. She told me to go to the hospital and have them hook her up to a fetal monitor to check things out. By that time it had been about 10-12 hours since I'd felt any movement.

We got to the hospital, headed up to the 4th floor where L&D is, told them I hadn't felt her move since the evening before, and I was in "triage" in less than a minute. The nurse had me lay down on a bed while she was getting the monitors ready (the cords were tangled a bit). A few minutes later, right before she was ready to put them on me...guess what? SHE KICKED! TWO VERY HARD ONES! It was if she were saying, "I'M FINE! LEAVE ME ALONE AND QUIT POKING ME!" lol.... The nurse went ahead and hooked everything up and monitored her for 30 minutes. I had to push a button every time she kicked, which was often. She was back to her active little self. Her heartrate was anywhere from 158-168 and the nurse said everything looked great. Apparently she was just in a deep sleep or something.

Even though it turned out to be nothing, I'm glad we went in and had things checked out. It's better to be safe and paranoid than sorry later. We both felt a huge sense of relief.

The bill we received yesterday said the charges had been submitted to our insurance but they haven't processed it yet, so the balance due on the statement was $0. It'll be interesting to see what portion of the $464 we'll be responsible for. I guess we'll find out in the coming weeks.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Babymoon Recap

We had a really fun time on our trip to Kansas City. It rained off and on the whole way down there and was raining pretty good when we got to the stadium for the game. I wore one of my husband's jackets that has a hood so I stayed nice and dry. The game started about 40 minutes late but then the rain stopped, sun came out, and it got HOT! I ended up with a sunburn on my chest and forearms (complete with lines from where my watch was!). It's turned into a decent tan though, so it's all good. ; ) The Royals won and it was a really great time! (The vanilla yogurt sundae with crushed oreos wasn't bad either....mmmm!)

Later that evening we went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner. We'd never been to one before, but it was a lot like the Bubba Gump's we ate at in Chicago last May. Bill ordered crab legs for the first time and although they were good, he said he'd never order them again...too much trouble! It was quite entertaining to watch though! ; ) I ordered fried shrimp (nice and safe) but it was the most bizarre looking shrimp I'd ever seen! Instead of it being just one big piece of meat coming off of the tail, it was like they cut it in half and then fried it. So when you picked it up by the tail, there were two pieces of meat hanging from it and you could dangle them! It reminded me of testicles! lol.... They tasted good but I had a hard time getting over how they looked. I prefer traditional looking shrimp!

The following day we went on a tour of Kaufman Stadium (the ballpark we were at the day before), went shopping at the biggest mall I think I've ever been to, took a tour of Boulevard Brewing Company, and had dinner at another local brewery. I was pretty exhausted by the end of the day. (Not too exhausted to walk across the parking lot to the Rib Crib at 9:00 and share a gigantic brownie sundae with the husband though! haha...)

Our final day there we went to the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum. I'm not much into history, but it was actually quite interesting. They were celebrating his birthday a week early and the promotion was "the buck stops here." Admission was only $1! The town (Independence, MO) was having a celebration, too, so we went to the town square and each had a free piece of birthday cake. Yummmy! We walked around the area and found a local cafe with great food and nice prices. I had a BLT (with lots and lots of bacon) with a side of mac-n-cheese. Not many places offer that a side! lol.... It was like my mom used to make it...and not the orange crap from a box. hahaha....

After lunch we headed back to Lincoln. It was just enough time to be gone and just what we needed. =)

I've uploaded pics to my picasa site. I've posted a link to the slideshows, but you may have to click the "play" button to get them to start.

Baseball Game & Ballpark Tour:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Luhmans/KCRoyalsGameTour#slideshow

Boulevard Brewing Company:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Luhmans/KCBoulevardBrewingCoTour#slideshow

Truman Presidential Library & Museum:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Luhmans/KCHarrySTrumanPresidentialLibraryMuseum#slideshow