[Fun] New (to us) car!

We started doing some research on where to put a car seat in our car, and made the icky discovery that our car was one of the worst for child seat friendliness! Solutions included moving the driver and/or passenger seats up all the way (not an option for long legged folks!), or using towels or other items to get the car seat in the right place. To us, also not an option (especially since it negates the warranty on the car seat if you do something like that!).

So we did some research and started looking online at cars for the past few weeks. Thankfully there was a nearby dealership that had several cars we were interested in, and they're owned by a family at my school! We reached out to them and went down yesterday... and left with a new (to us) car!

It's a 2008 Buick Enclave, and it's rated in the top three for family-friendly and child-safe cars. It has a third row seat that folds flat, and gives lots of space for carrying baby gear and bringing Latte & Jager along, too. I've never been a fan of "colored" cars, but this red color is very pretty, and unique. And it matches our front door, so it looks nice parked in front of our house. :) 

An interesting fun fact about the color is that it was manufactured in a facility that was completely destroyed by the tsunami in Japan earlier this year... so they don't make cars in this color anymore! They have enough supply for touch ups, but no new cars will be made in exactly this color ever again. Interesting!

[Nursery] Mural

Our dear friend Stephanie and her mom Diana gave us the incredible gift of their time and talent... and painted a mural in Whit's nursery! We fell in love with the idea of having a tree on one wall, and found some really fun ideas to work from thanks to Pinterest. We'll eventually have shelves on three of the tree branches that are more flat and long. We'll use the shelves to put little trinkets and photos.

Diana will also be painting a Disney quote on canvas for us to hang over the crib. We love that the nursery is coming together, and can't wait to have Whitney here to enjoy it! <3

The tree as it came together:

  

  

[Pups] Wordless Wednesday

[Pregnancy] Graduation... from childbirth class!

Last night marked our final childbirth class in a series of 12. We've spent every Monday night since the end of September with a group of other pregnant couples, and our fantastic instructor, Danielle, learning everything we could possibly ever want/need to know! Several friends recommended these classes to us, and we couldn't be more thankful that we went to them. We find ourselves not only feeling confident and excited about labor, but definitely more in touch with what's happening during my pregnancy, and with long lists of questions for our doctor every time we see him.

The classes focused on husband-coached childbirth, and it's called the Bradley Method. We wanted to be armed with as much information as possible to make decisions regarding how we'll deliver. We know the questions to ask regarding side effects of medications, possible complications during delivery, etc. Of course we have every confidence in the doctors and nursing staff, but it's nice to be more aware of what might happen. Our classes also focused a lot on relaxation techniques during labor, and Wes got to practice lots of massages each week - I didn't complain. :)

We're so thankful to our Bradley instructor, Danielle, for her patience, knowledge and resources. And we're so excited for our reunion with our other classmates after we all have our babies! One couple is missing from the photo, because her due date was last Monday and she's still waiting to deliver... so they didn't make it to our last class. We're thinking good thoughts for them as they wait to meet their baby! Another couple is due at the end of January, and then the other two couples are due in February. 

[Pregnancy] Wordless Wednesday

[Pregnancy] Showered with love

Yesterday was incredibly meaningful to have some of the women in my mom's and my life with us to celebrate Whitney's impending arrival. My mom and her friend Jill hosted a lovely baby shower for our side of the family, and some life-long friends. It was surreal to be sitting there at my own baby shower! It was a lovely day, and proof that Baby Whitney is loved by SO many people already. She's one lucky baby!

 

Our first letter for the alphabet wall!

 

  

 

 

With Whitney's awesome Grandmas!

[Random Thoughts] Yes, I can!

A few weeks ago we had a guest speaker at school, Akbar Gbaja-Biamila. Akbar is one of our assistant football coaches at Sage, and this summer he appeared on ABC's Expedition Impossible with some of his football buddies (he played at San Diego State and in the NFL for several years). He is a Pac-12 football sideline commentator, and aspiring motivational speaker.

He spoke during the assembly at school about the power of positive thinking. He showed several video clips of well-known athletes who'd experienced failures and setbacks in their lives, but yet they became heroes and role models, and found incredible success.

He asked us to think of a time we were told we couldn't do something... and call it the pregnancy hormones, but I was taken to the time when one of the many doctors we encountered in our quest to get pregnant told me, "Oh, you'll never get pregnant." 

As I listened to Akbar speak, I quietly rubbed my belly and started to tear up. If I'd listened to that doctor -- or anyone who ever told me I couldn't do something in my life -- who knows where I'd be today? If I can teach anything to Whitney in her life, I hope it's that a positive attitude and tenacity will take her far.

Akbar wrapped up his time with us by sharing a poem that was his life motto. My several tears turned into full on bawling as I listened to him recite this from memory:

You Can If You Think You Can!

If you think you are beaten, you are,

If you think you dare not, you don't.

If you like to win, but you think you can't,

It is almost certain you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you're lost,

For out in the world we find,

Success begins with a fellow's will.

It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are,

You've got to think high to rise,

You've got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win a prize.

Life's battles don't always go

To the stronger or faster man.

But soon or late the man who wins,

Is the man who thinks he can.

~ C. W. Longenecker ~

I know that Wes and I were meant to be parents, and we stopped at nothing to make this dream come true. Whether we got pregnant or adopted a child (or children!), positive thinking helped us get there. 

A while ago we decided to have a quote stenciled on to the wall of our child's nursery, and the one we picked goes along with this post. I can't wait for Whitney to wake up every day and read this as a reminder to dream, think positively, and believe "Yes, I can!"

[Pups] Wordless Wednesday

[Nursery] Bedding

After going back and forth 1,712,345 times, I *think* we've finalized the fabric choices for the bedding, curtains, etc.! We're going to see the "Baby Guy" this weekend who will be making the bedding (his prices are more reasonable than buying pre-made stuff in a store, and his quality is fantastic!). The photo above shows the fabrics we're going with (the pink is slightly off, but it will coordinate with the bright pink in the print).

I can't wait to see it come together!

[Nursery] Alphabet Wall

 

Thanks to my new favorite website (it's totally addicting, so click carefully!), Pinterest, we've gotten a lot of wonderful ideas for baby stuff and nursery decor. One of the ideas we like the most is having an alphabet wall in Whitney's nursery. We've mentioned this concept to a few family members and friends, and we love that people are now "letter shopping!" If you happen to find any fun, colorful or creative letters out there, let us know! We'll have everyone sign the back of the letter they give us, and it will be a wonderful addition to Whit's nursery.

A few questions people have asked...

• How big should the letters be? No more than 12" high.
• What color should the letters be? Anything! If they happen to be raw wood, then we can paint them with colors based on what will look best. But if they're already finished wood, a color, metallic, etc., leave it that way!
• Does it have to be an actual letter? Not at all! Some of the pictures we've seen as inspiration show the "O" as a life preserver, a big button, or a round mirror; or the "U" as a horseshoe. We love that!
• Some other inspiration photos for ideas:

 

Just keep us posted if you find a specific letter so we don't get duplicates! Thanks for helping to make this fun wall for the nursery!

Letters we still need:
D
I
T
U
X
Y

Letters done/people are working on:

A

B

C
E

F

G
H
J
K
L
M
N
O
P

Q
R
S
V
W
Z

[Nursery] Furniture!

First "Daddy Duty," building the crib!

We went shopping on Saturday to check out nursery furniture... we had no idea we'd hit the jackpot over the weekend, and take nursery preparation from zero to a hundred this week! We went and looked at a few stores and found the perfect set at Bergstrom's, a local baby & children's store in Orange County. We absolutely love the set we selected! The dresser and changing table came already assembled, and Wes was excited to put together the crib. It came together perfectly!

We also met with the "Baby Guy" to discuss custom bedding for the nursery, and narrowed down our choices for fabrics and color combinations. We ordered a few fabric swatches to make sure we like what we picked, and should be ready to place the order next week! It will take six weeks to complete everything, so it's perfect timing!

On Sunday we spent a fun day together up in Oak Glen apple country, and on the way home we looked for a loveseat for the nursery - we wanted one that folds out into a twin or full size bed. The first place we went had the perfect option, but we looked a few more places just to be sure... we ended up calling and ordering the one we saw first, and it will be delivered before Thanksgiving! It is a grey color similar to the walls.

Then Sunday night we were browsing online for a rocker/glider, and couldn't find anything in the colors we wanted... then it struck me that the "Baby Guy" could probably do a custom cover for us to match the bedding in the room. But why buy a new glider just to cover it? I went onto Craigslist and found a Dutalier glider in great condition being sold for only $50! The couple lived in Lake Forest so we went to check it out, and it was perfect for what we need! We'll have it recovered to match the room, and the original price on it was around $400... score!

We realized that all we need now is a mattress for the crib, bedding, a stroller and a carseat, and Whitney can come anytime! :) It feels great to have accomplished so much this week, and I get giddy every time I walk by the nursery and realize I'm not dreaming - it really is all coming together!

[Pregnancy] It's (still) a girl!

I started having some totally insane dreams over the past few weeks that perhaps Baby W was in fact a boy... and I think it stems from the fact that we didn't get to see the gender during our ultrasound. Several friends recommended a local place that does 3D and 4D ultrasounds, so we decided to give it a shot on Friday! Our Moms and Alicia joined us, and it was really neat! They have a "baby viewing room" we were in and projected the ultrasound up onto the wall. The tech was very thorough and sweet, and Whitney was moving around and kicking like crazy! We confirmed it truly is a girl, so that was a relief (I'd hate to have to give up all of the cute clothes people have already given us - girl stuff is so much cuter than boy stuff! Haha!).

And we've decided Whitney has a future career in anything using flexibility and/or kicking - she had her legs pulled up around her head the entire time during the ultrasound! She's one flexible little baby! And she's been kicking like crazy lately, and it was no different during the ultrasound! 

Unfortunately her feet and legs were in the way of her face most of the time, so they've invited us to come back another time to see if we can get better face shots. We got a DVD of the entire ultrasound, so that will be fun to show her future dates to embarrass her. :)

[Nursery] Paint!

We kicked off Whitney's nursery decorating today! It was so exciting to come home to the walls painted. We dabbled with doing the paint ourselves, but then decided to put a call into our buddy Paul, who did all of our house painting when we bought the house. He came by yesterday, and gave us a price we couldn't refuse. He asked when we wanted it done, and I told him by the end of November... his response was, "How's tomorrow morning? I'll be done by noon." Love it! Thanks, Paul - you're amazing!

Boring before... 

Dazzling after!

  

Of course the pictures are much more telling when they have subjects in them... look how sad the pups look in the boring white room. And don't they look pretty in the gray room? Hee.

 

Next up: furniture! We're going shopping for the crib, dresser and changing table this weekend - we can't wait! We're on the lookout for a loveseat w/ twin or full sleeper sofa, too. I've found a few I like, but not necessarily in the right color or price range.

[Whitney] Dear Whitney...

This ad caught Wes' and my eye a few weeks ago, and it's well worth a watch:

It's prompted us to do this, so now that we know Baby W is a girl, we've created her email address: 

whitneypbfaust@gmail.com

We'll use the account to send her notes of milestones, photo albums, and to share memories. We'd love for our family and friends to send her things, too! Occasionally we'll organize things into folders based on the year, but won't read anything until she's old enough to read it with us. Isn't technology amazing?

[Pregnancy] It's a GIRL!

I've been hearing of "gender reveal parties" for some time now, and Wes and I thought it would be neat to share the experience of finding out what we're having with our families. We had the ultrasound on Thursday, and had them seal the results of the gender in an envelope... we then drove it directly to a bakery and had them make a cake that was either pink or blue inside.

My Great Aunt Whit hosted a family party so everyone could find out the news... it was so fun!

It still seems totally surreal to me that we're having a baby girl! Wes said it's now "real" to him that we're having a baby, but for me, I still feel like I'm floating above watching this happen, but it's not real life! I don't know when it will sink in, but I am over the top excited, that's for sure! :) Wes brought a blue shirt to change into -- just in case -- but it ended up being totally appropriate that we were both wearing pink for the news.

The highlight in all of this was that my Great Aunt Whit hosted the party, and we're naming Whitney in honor of her. I teared up when I saw the pink cake, and I started to really cry when I glanced over at Aunt Whit and it hit me. She's one of the most incredible women I know, and I am so glad we can honor her in this small way. She's going to be 93 this month, but still walks regularly and swims several miles a week. Up until recently she's modeled in several charity fashion shows, and remains active with a number of charitable organizations. I've never once heard her say a bad thing about another person, and she's the epitome of a classy lady.

She's quilted all her life, and several of her quilts have won major awards. We were so honored to be able to pick out a few quilts for Whitney to take home. They're just beautiful!

Thank you to everyone who joined us today - it was such a fun day, and it means so much to us to have you all with us!

[Pregnancy] Baby W on video!

We had our final appointment with Dr. Lee, our fertility specialist, this afternoon, and it was kind of bittersweet to say goodbye! Our first appointment with our OB is this Thursday. To celebrate our "graduation" from Dr. Lee, we had an ultrasound and as a special surprise, we got to take home a DVD of it!

You can't see much in the beginning, so it doesn't really start for about 40 seconds. At about 40 seconds and continuing for a while you see the heart beating in the middle... then at 1:20 he's showing the head, belly, arms & legs of the baby and you can see the pointer moving in that order... then he's measuring the baby, but says the length isn't perfect because Baby W was curled up a bit... then at about 2:15 - or right when he's done with the measuring - you can see Baby W dancing!!!!!!!! Ah!!! It was so cool!!! I totally started bawling... no surprise, I'm sure. :) 

Dr. Lee is such an amazing man, and we are so thankful to have had him guide us through this journey. 

[Pregnancy] Telling our parents the news!

Once I convinced Wes that four home pregnancy tests couldn't be wrong (three of them different brands), we allowed ourselves to start thinking of ways to tell our folks the good news. We'd broached the subject in the past, but always caught ourselves and said, "Let's not put the cart before the horse." Or "Cart. Horse." as we started referring to it if one of us (usually me, let's be honest), would go down that path.

After the digital test read "pregnant" Thursday morning, we started brainstorming. For my parents, this would be Grandchild #14. My mom has often commented that she needs to get away from "unlucky #13" (not the actual grandchild, mind you, just the total number of grandkids). We decided to get a onesie and I made an iron-on saying "Grandchild #14" for it.

I had lunch with my friend Bridgett on Thursday and there was a Carter's store in the shopping center, so I tiptoed in to get a onesie. I still feel like an imposter in the Pregnant World, so I'm not sure if/when I'll feel like I belong in a baby store of any kind. I was tempted by the adorable outfits and snarky onesies, but knew I couldn't torture myself by looking too closely. I made my way to the plain white onesies and they were only sold in packs of six. I took it to the register, and the salesgirl asked if I wanted to be added to their mailing list for coupons and sales... uh, yeah, I do! My first official membership in Club Pregnant. She rang me up, and the onesies were on sale! Only $8 for 6, so now I'm a bargain mommy-to-be!

I called Wes as I left the store to tell him I'd made my first baby-related purchase. At first he freaked out a bit, "It's too early!" And I reminded him I had to buy *something* to do the iron on for my parents. "Oh, yeah, but that's it!" I think he knows me all too well... :)  I have to say, it gives me warm fuzzies having these little cuties hanging in the closet... and if officially makes the "white room" in our house the "baby room!"

So my parents were leaving on Saturday to drive to Nevada to see Roy's grandson's high school graduation. I knew I wanted to tell them in person, so our only shot was Friday. When I first called my mom to see if they could get together, she hesitated because they had a lot to do to get ready for their trip. I persisted and said we'd be in San Clemente anyway, so we'd just stop by to say hi and wish Roy a happy Father's Day in person. She obliged to having a quick bite since we'd be in town anyway - success!

Roy opened his card, and then Wes instructed my mom to help him with the gift... they both looked at it and said, "Oh, how fun!" but didn't really get what the onesie meant. My mom looked over at me and I said, "We're pregnant!" She jumped up and gave me a hug, with tears in her eyes. It was a very sweet moment.

 

They both had to have a picture 'wearing' the onesie. :)

I am so glad we were able to tell them in person! They were overjoyed for us, and the onesie was the perfect thing.We went out and had a very nice dinner at a new-ish restaurant in San Clemente, Cafe Mimosa. It was great!

We decided to tell Wes' family when we saw them on Father's Day, and we had a few ideas for what to do... we settled on putting a "bun in the oven," and having them find it.

Wes' dad was out of town, unfortunately, so it was just his mom and grandma who came over. When they arrived we pretended to be busy, and Wes asked his grandma to check on what was in the oven, and then said, "Mom, she might need help getting it out." Meanwhile I got the camera ready and we sat behind them and waited...

Martha got it almost immediately and turned to us with this adorable look of shock and excitement, and we confirmed what she was thinking. She cried, and ran over to give us a hug, all the while grandma is saying "Why is there a hamburger bun in the oven? Why is Wendy taking pictures?" It was really funny. So as I hugged Martha, I whispered over my shoulder to Wes, "Your grandma doesn't get it! Explain it to her!" We then headed to Wes' annual Father's Day barbecue/picnic, and all had BIG smiles on our faces. :)