First Time Mom vs. Veteran Mom

I have noticed a lot of differences in my attitude and preparations as we ready the Parr household for our latest Baby-palooza adventure.

For example:

...I don't have 14 lists of things to buy and things to do

...I'm not obsessed with reading the baby websites, emails and newsletters for hours a day

...I'm really not concerned with having the "newest" and "best" products

...I have yet to purchase a single stitch of clothing for this new baby

Don't get me wrong, some preparations have been made - we got a hand-me-down crib (fo free!) from one of my co-workers who was moving (and it's really nice, so that was a score!), my aunt found a used $80 Jeep double jogging stroller a friend of hers was selling and picked that up for us, and Ken and Connie are passing their "Goat Watch Oh-12" barn video monitor to us after they are done using it. So there are some wheels in motion. But honestly, as long as we have 3 things when we bring the baby home, we will be all set...

1. Our Pack-and-Play (it's blue, but I don't care, it will do)
2. Some diapers (we could really pick these up on the way home from the hospital)
3. Me

You know what I have been doing a lot more of this time around, though?

Nesting.

I am an organizing fool these days. After having experienced the inexplicable chaos that ensues upon bring home a fresh shiny baby, what I want more than anything is to make sure all of our systems are in place.

I don't want the bills and mail to be piled up in any capacity.
I don't want a house full of laundry.
I don't want dog hair everywhere.
I don't want clothes that need to be put away.
I don't want dishes in the sink.

And it makes apparently perfect sense in my brain to make sure all of these things are done every single day from now until the baby arrives.

This reminds me - I should probably register so my work baby shower doesn't get me something totally random. And I need to learn how to make cute bows for baby girl to wear, because as it stands she will be wearing a LOT of blue.

The All-Sacred First Toy...Has Been Chosen

So Tommy and I were on our way to go out to dinner one night in celebration of getting through our first trimester (Ruby Tuesday, I believe) and he decided he wanted to stop in at Toys R Us first to buy the baby its first toy.

Amid declarations of "I refuse to buy my child any toy that won't make it smarter" and "Why didn't they have this when I was a kid?!" we wandered the aisles of Toys R Us and Tomas tried out nearly every single Leapfrog learning system, robot, light-up device and bicycle. After countless gentle reminders that the baby will be a newborn when it makes its first appearance and the age recommendation of 3-5 years won't apply for quite some time, Tommy finally settled on a delightfully cute pair of maracas that count to three, teach colors, play music and talk not only in english - but spanish as well!

Needless to say the trip was a huge success, and the all-sacred first toy has been chosen aaaand purchased. We'll definitely need to get some new batteries for the maracas by the time the baby can play with them, if you guessed that's because Tom plays with them constantly at home - you're right. This child will have no shortage of fun in its life, guaranteed :)

A few pictures of the momentous occasion...





Cute :)