A new kind of baby movement

I meant to post this a day or two ago, but I never got around to it. Baby boy has been moving around for weeks now, but a couple of days ago he started moving in a new way. Instead of him pushing OUT, where I could see and feel the movement on my belly, I could suddenly feel him pushing IN, like towards my back and digestive parts.

He did the pushing in thing consistently for a couple of days, but now he seems to be pushing out again. Maybe he got himself flipped around in there for a little while.

In any case, pushing IN was a weird feeling.

28 week appointment with Pat

Yeah, it was kind of a waste of time, but oh well. She reviewed a bunch of handouts with me and tried her best to answer a few questions, although each answer ended with, "but you should really talk this over with Amy or a doctor at one of your upcoming appointments."

Anyway, I learned a few things:

(1) Hershey Med prohibits any photography and videography during active labor (pushing, through cord cutting). So that rules out delivery photography (not that I had pursued finding a local photog), and it means no one will ever see my struggling, screwed up, sweaty, howling face or my birthing lady parts. Camera can come right back out as soon as the cord is cut, though.

(2) Baby boy will come to me as soon as his cord is cut, and the hospital strongly encourages trying to breast feed him within his first hour in the outside world. Apparently a successful attempt right after birth increases the odds of successful breastfeeding in the following days.

(3) Baby boy will stay in my room the whole time, unless and until I ask them to take him to the nursery or if he has to leave for medical reasons (circumcision). The hospital thinks moms can bond and learn the most by being with the baby as much as possible in the hospital.

(4) Although the vinyl chair/bed in the room isn't the most comfortable thing around, Brian is welcome to stay with me as much as he wants. As my hubby, he's the only one who gets 24-hour access to me and baby. He's also welcome to shower in my room (they provide fresh linens) and he gets one free meal. Probably not all that big a deal, but I was surprised at the little perks they extend to him.

(5) For the rest of you all, visiting hours are 24-hours a day in labor & delivery, and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. once we move to a room. But whenever possible you're supposed to avoid visiting from 2 to 4 p.m. each day, as this is "quiet time," when they want new moms to rest.

(6) The hospital is open to a birth plan, but the docs don't require or request one from patients. Big relief, considering I don't feel that I know nearly enough about this process to even take a stab at a birth plan. That's what the docs and nurses get paid for, right -- to tell me the appropriate birth plan? We will take a class on anesthesia in early July, but beyond that Brian and I will rely soley on the experts.

(7) The typical hospital stay for natural birth is two days, and for c-section it's three days.

As for birth control, I have to talk it over with a doc, but I think the plan will be to go without any kind of pill for a few months, at least. News to me, but apparently breastfeeding hampers ovulation, so moms who rely solely on breast milk for baby typically don't ovulate for a long time after delivery. Pat suggests that our intent to breastfeed combined with my history of erratic cycles when not on the pill may be sufficient reasons to see how my cycles progress on their own for the first few months. Then I could consider going back on the regular pill or a breastfeeding-safe "mini-pill."

Oh, and I got the results of last week's blood test: I'm not anemic (iron levels are fine), and my blood glucose was 120 (anything under 140 is normal).

Next appointment is next Thursday morning, with Amy. Next Thursday is also our first childbirth class at the Med Center, so I'll start and end my day with baby news!

TMI at the start of the third tri: at least I’ve held out this long.

For those of my parents' generation, no, I'm not talking about Three Mile Island. Rather, I'm talking about too much information, TMI to the text-obsessed younger folks.

Since this blog has become for me a personal pregnancy journal of sorts, I feel obligated to report all significant developments truthfully and timely. And with a bit of humor, whenever possible. It’s my diary after all. It just happens to have a public audience.

So consider yourselves forewarned: if the rest of the third trimester continues anything like the first day of it did, there’s a great deal of TMI to come. Really, I won’t be offended if page views drop off in the coming days and weeks.

Rather than easing in or sugar coating things, let me just rip the band-aid right off: yesterday I discovered my mammaries have all of a sudden become more than just sexy tatas. They’ve started leaking.

Or working, I guess, is the more appropriate phrase?

Imagine my surprise, when, after getting out of the shower and drying off, a little pressure to the boob made my right nipple drip. At first I thought maybe I just missed a spot with the towel, but further examination and manipulation (I’m sooo glad I was home alone and there are no cameras in the bathroom) proved that nope, it wasn’t water. Apparently it’s colostrum (pre-milk), and it’s perfectly normal.

Normal, but disturbing and shocking, nonetheless.

For Brian as well, who seems utterly confused with what to think of this development. Confused and a little grossed out.

In other news not related to new and unique bodily fluids, baby boy is now 2.25 pounds and 15 inches long. And here’s me, at 28 weeks.

My 28-week appointment with CRNP Pat is tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully I'll have more news tomorrow.

Goodbye to my little blue shitbox

That's what Brian has affectionately called my Saturn Coupe ever since I got it in the summer of 2002. He hated driving it, riding in it and especially getting peed on in it. But more on that in a bit.

But I enjoyed my little shitbox. It got great gas mileage, it never posed any mechanical or engine problems, I loved the color and it got me from point A to point B just fine. It served me very well for nearly seven years and 92,000 miles. And while I'm glad I splurged for the sunroof upgrade on my first new car, the Saturn eventually made me realize I'm a pretty simple girl and special bells and whisltes on a car aren't really worth it, to me.

I'm not an overly sentimental person when it comes to old or new cars, but I thought it appropriate to write this post so that someday baby boy can see what mom drove the year he arrived, and the new family car he necessitated.

A few memories of my blue shitbox...

The "tanbark incident," when, the summer after I made my first big solo investment, I returned home from a bar early one Saturday morning (read: around 2 a.m.) in dense fog. The low-hanging fog on the road (not a fog in my alcohol-affected head, as family members still argue) prevented me from seeing a HUGE pile of tanbark in the middle of the road leading up the hill to my parents' house. So I hit it and got stuck. Took me about an hour to dig my front tires out of the stuff, and I sacrificed a really cute tank top to free my shitbox. The next morning the damage to my car and the size of the pile of tanbark obstructing the road became clear. Thankfully, the guy who had the stuff dumped in the road put up little resistance and anted up more than a grand to help pay for the damage to my car.

The trip home from North Carolina one summer, when, because I was determined to get home early I left on my own and without Brian, who rode home with his parents. I got so miserably lost he beat me home by an hour or so.

Of course the cat pee incident, as we began our trek to the cottage ahead of Jess and Dave and Kristen and Wolf in the summer of 2006. We had just gotten on the road and Brian was driving, when Spike jumped up on the headrest behind my passenger seat and peed on my shoulder. Brian thought it was HILARIOUS. Then not five minutes later, Spike jumped over to his headrest and unleashed an impressive stream of hot cat piss right down his back. He didn't think it was so funny anymore. So 15 minutes into our seven-hour trip we had to pull into the truckstop on Rt. 39 and try to corral two cats while we struggled to dig new t-shirts out of our carefully packed luggage. The blue shitbox smelled of cat urine for the rest of the trip and weeks afterward.

On the way home from that same trip (at least we had fun in between long drives), my tire went flat four miles away from the cottage. So we had to pull over at the end of the dirt road, unpack ALL THE CRAP in my trunk to dig out the spare tire, then replace the flat with the spare. Again, all while corraling two cats curiously jumping around the inside of the car. We drove a few miles down the road to Canadian Tire and watched in amusement as the garage put the blue shitbox up on the lift while the cats watched out the windows. How many cats get to experience a tire replacement first-hand?

And more recently, the body damage I did this past fall, pulling into our own garage. I cut it a little too close on the left, side swiped my car and broke a pretty sizable chunk of wood off the garage door frame that was just put on the house in January 2008.

Looking back, each of these memories now makes me smile, as I realize experiences with my little blue shitbox taught me valuable lessons about patience, composure and taking the little stuff in stride.

I hope my little blue shitbox can offer a new owner the same dependability and insight it gave me.

How fitting that just as I snapped a last piture of the first car I bought and paid for by myself, our new car drove into the frame, having just come from the car wash. That's our Rav4, pulling up just behind my old car.

Introducing the Baby-mobile

Four car dealerships in four days (and a particularly rough work week) nearly fried my patience and interest, but I think the time, effort and research paid off. We were looking for a small SUV that got good gas mileage, and we had it narrowed down to the Ford Escape Hybrid, the Saturn Vue Hybrid and the Rav4.

The Ford Escape Hybrid was our first choice (it's rated really, really well both as a hybrid and a small SUV), but a visit to the dealership informed us that Ford offers zero incentives, rebates, discounts or financing specials on its hybrids. And we simply didn't want to pay $32,000 for a car, no matter how great the gas mileage is.

Next up was a visit to Freedom Toyota. God bless new salesman Preston, who introduced us to the Rav4 and walked us through the different models and options for 2008 and 2009. But we allowed ourselves to get trapped in the "what kind of monthly payment are you expecting" conversation, rather than focusing on sticker price. Ultimately, we got them to knock $1,600 off the $26,000 Rav4 Limited. Long and unpleasant story short, the big-balls manager who snuck out to hard sell Brian while I went to pee drove us (me) out of the dealership and made us (again, me) decide not to return. He was arrogant, and belittling, and the jerk-off never even introduced himself to me. You know, the little lady WE'RE BUYING THE CAR FOR. I feel bad for Preston, because he was a nice guy, trying his best. At least when he called me to follow up this evening (ironically while I was sitting in Faulkner Toyota, waiting to sign paperwork to buy a Rav4) I had the opportunity to thank him for his time and let him know he lost the sale because of the other guy.

Last night we visited Saturn and test drove the regular Vue and the Vue Hybrid. Brandalyn was wonderful -- she really knew her stuff -- and I'm a big fan of the no-hassle-no-haggle approach. By the time we left we decided the hybrid wasn't worth the extra $5,000 or the worry, considering the Hybrid Vue isn't rated all that well compared to other hybrids. They offered $2,500 to trade in my SC1, a $1,000 discount through PSECU and zero percent financing for five years. We figured paying about $20Gs for the car was fair, although we both liked the body style of the Rav4 better.

Then we headed down Paxton Street to test drive the Rav4 at Faulkner. We drove a base model and determined that was good enough for us, and it got the best gas mileage. But Brian wanted the four wheel drive, so that was our one upgrade requirement. The fancy upholstry, trim and extras on the Limited and Sport versions weren't worth the extra price to us. But we decided to come back a day later to talk about price, since it was 8:30 by that time and we hadn't yet had dinner.

Fast forward to tonight, when John (salesperson) and John (manager) sat down to hash out a deal with us. Once all was said and done, they knocked $1,200 off the sticker price on top of the a $500 rebate (which put the price $400 over invoice), gave us a $1,400 extended warranty for $1,000 and offered $3,200 for my trade-in. They also gave us each a “gold card,” for handful of discounted services and free inspections for our new car and Brian’s Diamante. AND, they were pleasant and never pushy.

So the total price came to about $20,000 before tax and tags. Roughly the same price as the Saturn, for a car that’s rated much better. We can’t get zero percent financing through Toyota, but we figure the extra cost is worth the reputation and quality the Toyota name brings with it.

Our silver Rav4 will hopefully be available early next week, so I have a few more days left with my blue coupe. I'm excited for the new family car, but I'll be sad to see my first big solo investment go. And having a car payment again will kind of suck, but maneuvering babykins in and out of my "wing" of a back car door just wouldn't have worked.

So I think we're happy with the deal we've bartered. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I just hope I feel the same way tomorrow morning, once the excitement has worn off.

My last second-trimester appointment

Drank my flat orange soda between 6:35 and 6:40 a.m., had blood drawn at 7:40 a.m., dropped off pee and got weight and blood pressure checks at 8 a.m., saw Amy at 8:15 a.m. and I was out of the doc's office by 8:35 a.m.

I've gained 10-11 pounds since the end of October, and my first belly measurement came in at 28 inches, whatever that means. Amy says both the weight gain and belly measurement are perfect. She did caution me that my back will likely start hurting in the next few weeks, and that I will want to abandon the heels when it does, since they can add to the problem. I won't hear from the docs about the blood work unless there's an issue with my sugar absorbtion (sign of gestational diabetes) or if my iron count is low.

Baby boy's heartbeat measured a healthy 140 beats per minute.

As for scheduling, Amy looked over my list of upcoming appointments, and she thinks it's right on track. She'd actually prefer that I see the docs as much as possible in the last month, and as long as everything continues to go smoothly, she's comfortable doing the check-ups through the first part of June.

And I'm keeping next week's appointment with Pat. Amy apologized that the staff wasn't better educated about the purpose for the visit and explained that the new, now-standard 28-week appointment with Pat is to review a bunch of end-of-pregnancy and post-partum details. We'll talk about what to expect in the last trimester as far as appointments and hospital services go, touch on breastfeeding and discuss options for post-partum birth control, since the pill I'd been on for the past decade-plus will hamper milk production and I'll need to try something new. Pat will also make the appropriate notations in my file so that the hospital is prepared for circumcision and breast feeding support when the time comes. Amy said I may already know some of what Pat will go over, but since this is my first pregancy, it wouldn't hurt to hear everything one more time.

A couple of other items of good news from this morning's appointment: First, we have a pediatrician (yay!), and second, baby boy will definitely have a July birthday, so long as he doesn't make an early appearance.

Amy brought up the pediatrician question, but it was also on my list of items to discuss. I've heard great things about Dr. Baker at the Nyes Rd. facility, and she said he is her top pediatrician recommendation. I thought perhaps he wasn't taking new patients now, but Amy winked, smiled and let me know he only takes new patients through Hershey Med referrals. So she made a note in my file and told me there's nothing more I need to do: we have a pediatrician. The hospital will help us make our first newborn pediatrician appointment before we leave, after the baby is born. Whew, that was easy!

And I confirmed that Hershey Med doesn't let its pregant ladies go overdue past one week. So if baby boy doesn't show up on his own by July 29, they'll induce me. Although with another wink and smile Amy said she'll share in the last month some tried-and-true tips for encouraging his arrival.

FYI, schedulers have bosses, too

At the encouragement of another Hershey patient who frequents the local "bump" message board, I put a call in to Hershey's Patient Care line this morning to vent my frustrations from Friday. I was encouraged to follow up with the office and request to speak with the scheduling supervisor or office manager, and if after that call I still felt my concerns went unanswered, I was referred to the Patient Relations line, where they take complaints and look into matters further.

But the first call assuaged my dissatisfaction, so I never did make the second call.

Nyes Rd. scheduling manager Beth explained and apologized repeatedly for the cancellations and found me an appointment at 8 a.m. this Wednesday morning. The new appointment isn't with a doc as my April 21 and 27 appointments were, but I'm a big fan of OB-CRNP Amy, anyway.

As for my April 30 appointment with CRNP Pat, Beth encouraged me to talk about cancelling the appointment with Amy. Apparently the 28-week check-in is a new program the office is starting, but I probably won't miss much by cancelling, especially since we're participating in childbirth classes at the Med Center.

So I'll get my check-up and glucose screening this week, after all. And I'm looking forward to the opportunity to ask a few more questions: when/how to find a pediatrician, whether or not my belly is as big as it should be at this stage of the game and whether my schedule of upcoming appointments is OK or should be modified.

With regard to the schedule, I've had one appointment with a doc so far (at 21 weeks), and if things stay as they are, I won't have another doctor's consult until I'm 37 weeks pregnant. I'll meet with Amy a few times between now and then, but I just want to make sure it's OK to not see a doc until late in the third trimester. Granted, I have appointments scheduled with docs at 37, 38 and 40 weeks, but my four appointments in the interim are all with Amy.

Like I said, I'm a big fan of Amy, I'm thankful for an easy pregnancy and I don't mind forgoing appointments with the doctors so that other women who need them more urgently can have them. That is, so long as I'm assured that I don't need to see the docs sooner.

OK, Women's Health, now I'm getting a little pissed.

Hershey's Nyes Rd. office called me yesterday to cancel/reschedule ANOTHER appointment. So I won't be getting my glucose screening done this Tuesday, nor will I have my next check up anywhere near the five-to-six weeks they recommended between appointments.

Rather, at eight weeks from my last appointment (that's TWO MONTHS, folks) I'll go in, on Monday the 27th.

This is the second or third time the office has cancelled appointments on me at the last minute, and I'm getting pissed. I scheduled all my appointments in advance for a reason: so I can get the earliest ones in the day, and therefore NOT have to use any or much leave from work. Beyond that, what with a new employee reporting to me and my boss in Jamaica all next week, I HAVE A LOT OF SHIT ON MY PLATE THAT CAN'T BE MOVED AROUND OR ABANDONED AT THE LAST MINUTE SO I CAN GO TO THE DOCTOR. The office doesn't seem to understand or hear that, as they keep asking me to reschedule for mid-morning and mid-afternoon appointments.

But here's the best part: as I was on the phone with scheduler Rachel, who called to cancel my April 21 appointment and reschedule, scheduler Elizabeth was calling my cell phone from another room of the doctor's office to REMIND me of my April 21 appointment. What a clusterfark. Three calls later, we got things as sorted out as they can be for now, but I'm still frustrated.

First of all, because I was looking forward to my appointment next week, considering I haven't had a check-in since early March. Feels like everything is going as it should, but I'd like that reassurance. And secondly, because the schedulers are so indifferent and uninformed about when and why I need appointments.

Due to all the rescheduling, I now have appointments on April 27, April 30 and May 7. And they won't cancel any of them until the doctor tells them to. OK, so let me get this straight: it's OK that no one will have seen me for two months because of the office's appointment cancellations and lack of immediate openings, but it's really, really important for the doctor and nurses to see me THREE TIMES in TWO WEEKS? I don't think so.

I asked the scheduler to leave a message for a doctor to call me to discuss my schedule concerns, but Rachel assured me that wasn't necessary and that she'd leave Dr. D'Agata a "note" so she'd be prepared to talk about this stuff at my April 27 appointment.

Another kicker? My appointment on April 30 is with a nurse, and no one could tell me why I need this "standard 28 week appointment with Pat" other than to tell me they know I get a "kit" that includes a handout with a map of the hospital on it.

Yeah, but see I'll be TOURING the ACTUAL hospital as part of our childbirth series nex month, so WHY do I need to come in again? The scheduler's response? "Well, I don't really know, because I haven't been pregnant yet." My reaction? What the hell does that have to do with anything, since, as the medical scheduler, I'd think you would have some idea about the "standard" and apparently "mandatory" appointments for which you're signing me up. Can't Pat the CRNP get whatever info she needs during my 28th week from the DOCTOR, who I will be seeing THREE DAYS EARLIER??

I know I'm just one little patient out of hundreds this office sees and that my appointment rescheduling isn't a concern of Hershey Med, but it is a big deal to me. See folks, this is the FIRST TIME I'VE DONE THIS, and call me crazy, I thought there would be a little more interest in walking me through this and addressing my concerns.

Uggh. So I guess I have no recourse at this point. What can I do but throw my hands up in the air and wait for April 27, considering the schedulers won't listen to me and don't think my concerns are worth passing along to the doctors?

The Cost

Thanks, Kristen, for forwarding this. YIKES!! I figure once you add the cost of college (let's say $100G), that's over a quarter million dollars per kid, or about $40 bucks a day per kid, every day from birth to 18th birthday! But the return on investment is pretty impressive...

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle-income family. Talk about price shock! That doesn't include the cost of post-secondary education.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into:
* $8,896.66 a year,
* $741.38 a month,
* $171.08 a week.
* A mere $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is: don't have children if you want to be 'rich'.

Actually, it is just the opposite.

What do you get for your $160,140.00?
* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies and FROGS...
* A hand to hold usually covered with jelly or chocolate, mac n cheese, or fishy crackers.
* A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites.
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140.00, you never have to grow up.

You get to:
* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs,
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
* watch Saturday morning cartoons,
* go to Disney movies, and
* wish on stars.

You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For a mere $24.24 a day, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:
* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and
* coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat in history to witness the:
* First step,
* First word,
* First bra,
* First date,
* First time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great-grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren & great-grandchildren... It's the best investment you'll ever make!

26 Weeks

Only news is an annoying pain that has developed over the past week above my right butt cheek. It feels kind of like a pinched nerve (or a stabbing pain at the bottom of my spine, around the back of my hip), and I imagine it has something to do with sleeping on my side. Jess recommended sleeping with a pillow between my legs to improve alignment, so I've been trying that for the past couple of nights. I'll ask the doc about it next Tuesday, if the pain hasn't gone away by then.

The Final Three (for now, at least)

Despite Brian's sneaky attempts to get the name "Austin" on the list of finalists (he scribbled OUT one of my favorite names on the fridge and replaced it with the name of the down-south city), I think we've arrived at a final roster of names for baby boy:

Caelan/Calen
Braydon/Brayden
Nickolas/Nicholas

And the best part is that both families are OK with all three! That is, at least no one voiced any strong opposition over our 8-hour Easter extravaganza, yesterday.

Yes, the multiple spellings mean there is a new wrinkle in this compromise: how to spell the name upon which we agree.

Unless we change our minds (which is completely possible, as we reserve the right to do so!), these will probably be the names we take into the delivery room with us in July.

And since we've kind of decided that naming will happen after baby boy is born, that means Brian crossed off the last pre-birth nursery to-do when he hung the peg shelf on Saturday. After we come home from the hospital with our newly named little guy, we'll add his name above the crib. Until then, we'll just continue to put newly acquired baby things away in their new rightful places in the nursery.

(Note the teddy bear on top of the armoire: it's my dad's teddy bear, dressed in the outfit Brian wore home from the hospital when he was born)

One other note from the Easter dinner: multiple requests to stand up, pull up my shirt and make room for hands on my belly confirm for the families that I've definitely started to "pop." Stay tuned for a photo tomorrow (26 weeks), to judge for yourself.

25 weeks

It's been a while since I posted one of these. Apparently this is what the little guy looks like at this stage in the game.

A weekend full of good news!

First, Saturday morning Brian got a call from his accountant, who informed him that he owes about HALF of what they originally estimated he'd have to pay in federal taxes!! Yay for write-offs and deductions! What does this good news have to do with the developing baby or the pregnant mom-to-be? Well, because I will be huge and uncomfortable during one of the hottest months of the year, I anticipate running the AC a lot more this summer than we normally would. So paying less to the tax man means we can go ahead with having our heating/AC system inspected and likely completely replaced this spring. I'll be glad to not have to worry about our inefficient system wasting money or leaking gallons of water into our family room when the AC is cranked on a humid day.

Secondly, I found maternity clothes I love on Saturday, and they were WAY, WAY CHEAP! Stopped in at Ross to look for discounted bras (Janelle -- no luck there or at Marshalls :( ), and decided to explore a little for maternity clothes. They only had one rack, but on that one rack I found four pairs of pants -- three for work, one casual -- and four basic tops that can be dressed up or down for work or play. Throw in four pairs of undies and I walked out with a stash of clothes for $75!

Also at Ross they have baby clothes for ridiculously cheap. Everyone keeps telling me not to buy baby clothes because I'll end up with a ton anyway, so I stuck to basics. I got five onesies for each stage through nine months old and three Carters sleeplikely gowns. The onesies came out to $1 to $2 each, even though MSRP was about $6 each for the unbelievably cute Calvin Klein Baby onesies. Brian loves the designer frocks for his little guy. And I got the discounted sleep gowns at Jess's recommendation. The are open at the bottom for better ventilation for sleeping babies in the summer. I also splurged on a pair of cargo shorts for baby. They were $4.99, but I couldn't resist.

FYI for anyone else in the market for cheap baby clothes, Marshalls also carries them, but the discounts at Ross seemed to be a dollar or two cheaper per item. However, Marshalls has something Ross did not: Polo Ralph Lauren onesies that look like striped golf shirts and button-down dress shirts for infants. I resisted the urge to splurge for now (they're about $12 each), but I may return to find a classic dress shirt for a baptism outfit. If Brian had seen these shirts, his label-loving self couldn't have walked away.

And finally, Sunday night we got a call from our mortgage broker, letting us know the pieces are falling into place for our mortgage refinance. This good news means we'll be more comfortable searching for a new car in the next couple of months, since money that had been going toward the mortgage each month can be shifted to a car payment. I love my little Saturn coupe (Brian hates it), but it's not a practical car for a baby: the "wing" (third door) just won't cut maneuvering baby in and out, and I can't fit a standard-sized cooler in the trunk, let alone boatloads of baby crap. Here's what I'm trying to convince Brian would be a safe and responsible investment for a family car. He's not yet sold. Why? Primarily because he thinks it looks stupid with "HYBRID" across side.