Plumb pregnant

Tom and I officially survived our first trip to Buy Buy Baby and Babies R Us today! We spent that past two days jamming at the ACL music festival, and had plans to attend today as well. But the weather and the flooding in South Austin had other plans for us. It turns out that Barton Creek and Zilker Park had so much rain overnight that there was quite a bit of flooding, and for the safety of all involved, they were forced to cancel the 3rd and final day of the festival. I was torn about the cancellation - I mean, I didn't really want to spend the day sopping wet and covered in mud, but I was bummed we would miss out on some of the bands.

So what were we to do with this unexpectedly open day? We did consider lounging on the couch all afternoon watching movies while the rain pattered outside, but since our next few weekends are busy, we decided to be productive. We FINALLY unpacked our last remaining boxes from the move, which were stacked high and taking up space in the "baby's" room. Since the boxes had been in this unused state for more than 4 months, we figured there might be some contents we didn't actually need. So we filled a huge trash bag and a box for goodwill. The rest we organized in the guest room closet. And by the end of the afternoon, the room actually looked ready to become a nursery!

Since we couldn't do much outside today, I convinced Tom we should bum around some baby stores. He was such a good sport - letting me browse the aisles, test out the glider chairs, go back down the aisles we had just visited, all the while comparing strollers, carseats, and cribs galore! Truthfully, it was a bit overwhelming. We have a lot of reading and research to do before we actually make any purchases. But it was so so fun to start picturing the nursery and dreaming about our next chapter.

As we've shared the pregnancy news with family, friends, and co-workers over the past few weeks, we have received a lot of questions about Baby Cooper. So here is a consolidated list of all the answers to our "FAQ":

How far along are you? and when is your due date? 12 weeks and 5 days, due April 22 (let the tax day jokes begin)

How have you been feeling? Surprisingly great - knock on wood! It seems I fall into the category of really lucky women who do not experience morning sickness. I’ve had some nausea, and certainly some exhaustion, but overall I really can’t complain.

Are you going to find out the gender? Absolutely, we can hardly wait! If all goes as planned, we will find out on December 6^th. I seriously cannot imagine a time when you HAD to wait until the baby was born to find out the gender. I am so happy we have the option to find out sooner. How else will I know what color to paint the nursery!?!

Are you showing yet? Maybe just a little. But if you didn’t know I was pregnant, you probably wouldn’t notice, or you might quietly think to yourself hmm, looks like someone has had a few too many beers at those A&M tailgates.

Do you have any cravings? Nothing too crazy just yet. Apples sound especially appealing to me now, and I did make Tom go on a late night run for cheese and crackers once. I’ve had more aversions than cravings, some foods just sound downright awful – like green beans, grilled chicken, and the extra-extreme-more-than-you-ever-needed-movie-theater butter popcorn that Tom makes every night. The smell alone is enough to make me gag! I blame my heightened sense of smell, we attribute that to the hormones right!? I swear, every symptom in the book can be attributed to the “rise in hormones”.

Was this baby planned? Yes. We knew that once we got settled in our new house and celebrated our first wedding anniversary, we would be ready to start growing our family.

Have you thought about names? We have starting brainstorming and have a few favorites, but nothing we’re ready to share just yet.

How are you surviving without your daily diet coke? It is pure torture, I tell you. I know that some books/doctors/people-with-opinions say that you can have small amounts of caffeine, and some sources even say you can have wine. All of which sounded wonderful to me pre-pregnancy, but now that I actually AM pregnant, I wouldn’t want to do anything that could harm the little plum-sized baby in my belly. So I’ve made the personal decision to cut caffeine out of my diet. Except for the occasional piece of chocolate of course. If I had to give up diet coke AND chocolate, I fear the earth might be jolted right off its axis!

If I missed anything, feel free to ask. I'm happy to share about our little "bucket" of joy (Tom accidentally said this once), and about our experience with our first pregnancy!

Stay tuned for more adventures in pregnancy.