I have great love for those delectable little squares of caramel. I don’t like caramel on pretty much anything… not in chocolate bars, not on sundaes…. but a caramel square? To die for. I haven’t eaten any in over 5 years due to my teeth, but I’ve figured out a way to stuck on them without getting them stuck to my teeth (causing me great amounts of pain)…. so yay!!

I am feeling… better… today. Better is not great, though. At work this morning I didn’t feel so hot… had a cup of hot chocolate to try to settle everything (it worked). When I got home from work at 1pm I made a bowl of mushroom soup, that was good and stayed down. And for lunch we had grilled steaks. Of course mine was overdone, but what can you do! (But “a rare steak” is most definitely on my list of things I want soon as this kid comes out!) Then at 9pm I got some energy and baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies. They are good, but need some tweaking. First, they need less chocolate. Next time I might just bake them sans-chocolate. That is weird, right. And plus, next time I’m going to make smaller cookies so I can make them crispier. Currently I am REALLY liking the crispy outside edges, not so much the middles (weird).

BUT so far everything has stayed down, and that’s a grand thing!! I did nearly puke when on TV someone was gagging… just gagging. I covered my eyes and shrieked, “Okay, turn the channel!!” to Den, who quickly obliged. I had to take many deep breaths before I felt less like puking. :shock: Damn that was a strong, bad bad trigger.

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I’m feeling okay, emotion-wise… I’m a little bit shorter patience that I “normally” am (although normal fluctuates a good deal), but I’m still not feeling overly weepy or anything. Is that weird? I am actually a pretty emotional person, so it’s strange that all my friends talk about crying at random things when pregnant and I’m like… eh. Two weeks ago at “Girl’s Night” we watched Steel Magnolias. (Ummm, no, I’d never seen it before.) I didn’t cry. Women who aren’t pregnant cry at that movie! Oh well I guess? Maybe it’ll hit later… maybe it won’t. I’m okay either way.

Denis, however, seems to be PMS-ing. He freely admits this, too. He’s been on a total hairtrigger all weekend, having weird temper fits at the strangest things. At least it’s not directed at me (or even when he does get one of those fits in response to something I said, I know it’s not my fault)… but it’s getting a little frustrating! I feel like I can hardly talk to him without knowing if he’s going to be upset. He just hasn’t been feeling well… said his head is fuzzy, he’s having trouble concentrating, he’s having huge troubles focussing when I’m talking and 5 minutes later he’s forgotten everything I just said. He’s always had swiss cheese for memory, but this is really bad even for him.

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Anyone want me to share some stuff I’ve picked out? I think there was some interest.

First of all, the big stuff: the crib. Now my girlfriends all agree the crib is not for baby; it’s for mama… especially when mama is planning on co-sleeping for like 6 months. But I want this crib (Jardine Capri in Walnut). It is actually one I linked to before as a possibility, but I kind of dimissed out out-of-hand. Well I went to BRU last week, and I saw some darker wood cribs, and I liked them a lot more than the light wood cribs. Plus a darker wood crib with cream colored bedding? SO CUTE. I saw this particular crib style in BRU and I just LOVED its shape. It just felt perfect.

Which brings me to… the bedding. If it’s a boy, it’ll definitely be this (Sweet Vanilla). If it’s a girl there’s still a slight chance I’ll pick something else, but I love this one. Now I’m probably not going to get the full set… I just want the quilt, and then some accessories. I don’t really want a bumper, cute as they are, the set’s crib skirt is kind of “eh” for me, and I’m just going to get some matching ecru-colored sheets for the crib. Nothing fancy. But I think it’ll make a nice nursery. :)

I’m about 95% positive we’ll get a mini-cosleeper, I’m just concerned about the kid outgrowing it too quickly. (Like I said, we’re planning on about six months of cosleeping.) Definitely in an off-white color… neutral, inoffensive, matches the bedroom.

The Swing (Baby Papasan Swing).

The bouncer: if it’s a girl, Think Pink. If it’s a boy (and thus Den won’t allow me to get anything offensively pink, Playful Puppy.

For baby carriers: a Moby Wrap and Hotsling… and a Snugli for the husband, who thinks the other options are not manly enough.

Infant seat, Ionic, paired with Mosaic Stroller, Ionic. (I don’t want a big full-size stroller.)

I realized we don’t really have the space nor need for a playard in the living room, so I let hubby pick one out for his office downstairs: Combi Playard, Cherry. Red. Seriously. It makes me twitch just allowing it in my house.

Bath: EuroBath Tub. Great reviews and it’s exactly what I was looking for!

Highchair: Fisher Price Space-Saver, Tan. I may change my mind last-minute and go for a full-size, but I really like the look of it, so nice and simple, and it has GREAT reviews.

Breastpump: Medela Harmony. (After much internal debate between this one and the Avent Isis.)

Bottles, “just in case”: First Years Breastflow. Good reviews for breastfeeding babies. And they look nice too. Not like I base any decisions on that, oh no.

After that my lists just get down to the nitty-gritty… boppy pillows with covers, breastmilk storage bags, waterproof pads, baby monitor (if it’s even available by then), Grooming and Heathcare kits, random pacifiers and toys and sheets. All the stuff that makes you go, “Damnit, they need that too??” (Well I’m not certain about need, but you know, stuff that will come in really handy at some point.)

I’m having fun finding some books and CDs to register for. I know we want to have some infant books on hand, since Den and I are both such avid readers and we hope our kid will be too. Never too early to start reading to them! I’m having fun going through lists and finding old classes that I loved. Little Critter, anyone?! OMG OMG I loved Little Critter. I still have some of MY old books, along with the audio cassette! (Not that we have a cassette player… shit.) I know my mom kept a TON of my old books that she’ll be shipping to me. :lol:

CDs are fun to go through, as well. Amazon has a great setup for listening to them beforehand, which is great… I absolutely hate buying blind. I found a lot of infant CDs made me want to bang my head against a wall and plug my ears… not the reaction I really want. But I found some that I LOVE. Fisher Price: Tender Lullabies has a really nice sound that I enjoy listening to (unlike many others) and has a lot of the classic lullabies that I remember. Lullaby Classics is all classical music by orchestras – it has some gorgeous stuff on it, and I would so buy it for myself to fall asleep too. Just beautiful. And today I found Celtic Lullabies. It starts with Brahm’s Lullaby, which is my all-time favorite, and then has a bunch of music that I’m not familiar with… but it doesn’t matter, the Celtic lilt to the singer’s voice and the soft instruments are just so lovely. I just love good Celtic music. :) Now that I think about it, I’ll probably use my Enya CDs to lull my baby to sleep as well (they work for me!). Guess now I need to find some sort of portable CD player!

Now I think I may go “shopping” online for ideas for christmas presents. Thank the light for the internet, that’s all I have to say.