Your Best Guess

At Tim's request I am posting this listing of who thinks its going to be a boy and who thinks its going to be a girl. I have also included this completely scary photo of me as that seems to really influence people's guesses and my out of town friends have been hounding me to post one. This photo was taken by one of my coworkers. I think we are all looking forward to my last day of work friday!!! Please comment with your best guess and will update it as Tim tells me what he's been hearing....

Mom and Dad Scott- 2 votes for girl ( I think mom just wants to buy frilly dresses)
Chase (Jenn's Bro)- girl
Lisa - boy
Cleaning Lady at our Church- Boy (reason- I'm getting along well with my husband, which in her book means its a boy- apparently if it were a girl we would be fighting all the time?)
GCRC at Shands/UF- 4 votes for boy, 3 votes for girl
Guy I don't know at Home Depot- Boy (carrying all out front)
Larrette- Boy (she had a dream)
Samples lady at Publix- Boy (carrying out front)
Jenn (me)- No idea, but I've had two dreams its a boy and one its a girl- I also had a dream it was dog.
Tim- one dream it was girl

So far thats 10 for boy and 8 for girl.....

Jenn

The Jogging Stroller

If you are a runner, you may see the purchase of a jogging stroller as one of your biggest baby purchases. I see the jogging stroller as a big investment in me. This is how I will get my body back (I hope) and shopping for the perfect jogger helps to remind me that I will have at least some kind of plan for getting back in shape. Of course, these jogging strollers haven't undergone the design revolution that I have seen in other strollers- the bugaboo, the Xplory, etc, but there are a few with some nice design features and I will share the ones I have seen here.

Those of you that know me well know that although I run (actually its more like jogging), I really don't love to run. I just do it bc its the fastest way to get the best workout for me. The faster I do it the better, is the way I see it. So I talked with several of my runner friends (that really do love running) about which jogging stroller (JS) they prefer. My friend Jennifer, who just had her second last October and already looks like a super model again- can't stop talking about the BOB Revolution. She just upgraded to a dualie for her new addition to the family. Here is why she loves it.

Bob Revolution- price appx. $359 (http://www.tinyride.com/BOB-Revolution-Stroller-2008-P1851.aspx) free shipping, no tax

Pros- Front wheel pivots or can lock for running or everyday use, folds fairly easily, aluminum frame (light and no rust), infant car seat adapter option (big deal if you are anxious to hit the trail ASAP after delivery)

Cons- Infant adapter piece will cost you another $50 and it doesn't come with cup holder ($20).

So on her recommendation, I pretty much looked only at jogging strollers that had the swivel front wheel option. I was also thinking that I might use the JS as my only stroller, since we don't have much extra storage and I already have my fancy pram (huge, beautiful, impractical, antique baby carriage- I love it).

I also looked at these jogging strollers

Phil and Teds SP Single Stroller- price $399 (http://www.joggingstroller.com/)

Pros- Has the option of becoming a dualie if you have another child, infant car seat adapter option

Cons- not a true jogger- apparently you can lock out the front wheel, but its not rated for jogging- weird.

Tike Tech ATX All Terrain Stroller- price $199

Pros- Infant seat adapter, aluminum frame, rated for jogging, large storage basket

Cons- No swivel front wheel (really just a jogger), I was unable to find one in person to test out, even in Atlanta

Dreamer Design Manhattan Deluxe- $325

Pros- Swivel/lockable font wheel, 20 year warranty (um, is that really necessary? My child will be in college by then and I really don't want to hang onto a stroller that long), bubble sun canopy

Cons- No infant car seat adapter

Mountain Buggy Urban Designer Single Stroller- $450

Pros- aluminum frame, 12" tires made of recycled material, pram conversion option, infant car seat adapter

Cons- more expensive than other brands

I found this website to be super helpful- http://www.joggingstroller.com/Shop-by-Activity/Jogging/index.cat

You can just click on what features you want (for me it was infant car seat adapter, swivel wheel)and it will list only the strollers that have those features. not that if you are a serious runner, they have a separate category for that- most if not all of those strollers have a fixed wheel only.

So in the end, I went with Jennifer's recommendation for the BOB revolution. We did a "test drive" in Atlanta at REI and it handled really well and was light enough for me to lift up into the car. I am also very thankful that my boss actually bought it for me as a gift and it should be here any day now. I can't wait! I ordered it in Mesa Orange.

Jenn

The Nursury

Like many moms2b, the design of the nursery has been a major part of my "nesting". I really wanted to convey a design concept through the nursery, rather than a "theme" nursery. I decided that since Tim and I live in Florida and we love citrus, that I would use the citrus grove as my inspiration. The room would reflect growth and would be composed of my favorite color set- yellow, green and orange. Fortunately, these colors also work well if you choose not to find out the gender of your child, which we decided not to.

So with the colors and inspiration set in my mind I needed to first find some textiles that would reflect growth and be expressed in my chosen color set AND that complement our modern house. That means no literal patterns- mostly abstracted organic (I hate that word) designs. by organic I don't mean pesticide-free, remember- Tim's a chemist so I'm not exactly down on chemicals. I kind of like chemicals (prescription drugs, cleaning products, baking soda) and I much prefer commercial fertilizers to "organic" fertilizers (read animal waste) that greatly increase the risk of ecoli contamination. But that's off the subject- I mean "organic" in a sense that the forms reference the carbon containing plant world. I was also looking for textiles that were not exactly mainstream. Here are some links to some cool baby textile websites that I found.

Dwell Studio http://dwellshop.com/

Love their bold graphic patterns. Great for a babies room that will be both fun and sophisticated enough to blend nicely with the other rooms in the house. Great for taking common baby "themes" such as cowboy, cowgirl, and transportation, and moving them past the level of theme room. Unfortunately for me, no organic patterns in my color set. check out their textiles for the home, too.

Ducduc

http://www.ducducnyc.com/

This company has some nice textiles, but I really like their furniture. Featured in the photo is their alphabet bedding set, and their Parker Panel Crib in the next photo. Note the Marimekko design of the side panel of the Parker crib. If you aren't familiar with Marimekko, check them out here http://www.marimekko.com/eng They design many of the fabrics you have probably seen in Crate and Barrel. I can't get enough of their fabric- I'm hoping to have a large scale Marimekko panels installed in the family room within the next few months- to dress up the white wall that the projector uses when we aren't watching a movie (http://store.txtlart.com/)

Of course the best option for finding exactly what you want is to have it custom made. Last time I was in Atlanta I was so impressed with Lewis and Sharon textiles (http://www.lsfabrics.com/) Great selection and prices and their online store isn't bad. Also, check out their incredible mod line Staceage- If I didn't live with Tim I would so do my house in this Hollywood mod, over the top. So yummy.http://www.staceage.com/ I love how they take traditional frames, put an auto luster finish on them, and apply some of the most luscious fabrics and trims you've ever seen. If you are in Atlanta, its must see. Their new ad campaign is "Live Famously, or die". This may not be the exact motif you were searching for as far as nursery design goes, but its a great shop to look at to expand your creative thinking.

As for budget options, you won't believe who is doing affordable, mod baby nursery designs. You might think Target- they have a history of contracting high quality designers and architects to produce affordable home options- but its not target. I found their selection (in furniture) to be really limited and uncreative, although their ads indicate that they will be pushing into mod nursery in the next few seasons (ie- only available online and in California). So not Target yet, but- this is crazy- Walmart.

Who would have ever dreamed that Walmart would go mod? I actually stumbled upon some pretty groovy rooms in their baby section while looking for something else on their website- and I'm sure glad I did. Their Parklane collection is really not bad- I would say it is easily better than anything I saw at that Babies R us or other stores that carry mass baby furniture and bedding. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7679721 We ordered the Parklane crib bc it was at least a thousand dollars less than my other top choices (Netto, Oeuf, or Nursuryworks http://www.modernnursery.com/items.cfm/NurseryWorksPlatinumCrib/0/pcid/1/cid/3/)

And if we had to buy a cage, I mean crib, I didn't really want to sink oodles of money into it. I don't really like the idea of cribs (look like baby cages) and I'm hoping to move our child into the toddler bed option as soon as they are able. The one we bought was a pain to assemble, but that was Tim's problem. It does come with a nice drawer underneath for storage and the toddler bed rail. here is a lovely pic of Tim and in the middle of assembly- After noticing that spelling error, we decided to have the crib lead tested. Still awaiting the results....

So i was nearly tot he point where I thought that custom bedding was my only option when I came across Bablicious (http://www.babylicious.ca/) They had just what we needed in their "Happy" collection. It is available on target (online only, naturally) and amazon. We ordered the modern bedding bundle shown here, but you can also order a great crib canopy and crib fringe. I'm holding on the crib fringe until I know if the baby is a girl or boy. Girl- we go for fringe, Boy- we hold. I am really happy with it. Be aware that the Consumer Reports baby book discourages the use of bumpers in the crib due to the risk that the baby might become wedged between the railing and the bumper. We ordered the more firm, deluxe set to avoid this problem. Pretty much everyone I know uses a crib bumper and I'm not sure that not having a bumper would avoid the problem they talk about. There doesn't seem to be any research available on the subject, but I wanted to pass the info on.

Babylicious has some other great patterns as well, especially if you know weather you are having a boy or girl- very fun and bright patterns, yet refined enough to avoid the theme room issue.

I'm at 35 weeks today and the nursery is just about done. The draperies should go up this weekend and I will do a post as soon as its ready!!!