All things Baby, welcome to the sea of information

We're entering our 24th week and are diving into all things baby, or trying to at least.

First of all,  you'll notice there's been a little update to the design on our site - although I love the color blue, I figured we should support our little girl with a little bit of pink; but don't be confused she won't be constantly covered in pink :)


We made our first trip to Babies R Us last week and man was that overwhelming; thankfully they offer some free tutorials that helped soften the blow a bit.  After the marketing ploy was over (because it was sponsored by a brand), it was very helpful because they took us through the sea of car seats, bouncers, swings, highchairs and strollers siting the pros and cons of each. It was a good start atleast! We limited our purchases to the bare minimum - a baby book (that is adorable) and some stretch mark cream - sweeeet. 



After seeing all the options at Babies R Us, we've been educating ourselves on what else is out there with the help of the handy dandy book - Baby Bargains - supported by Oprah. After the authors spent the first two pages tallying up how much our little bundle of joy would cost in the first year, thankfully they went into how we can find bargains on all the must haves! 

Top five highlights from our educations so far:
- Car seats expire - We haven't figured how or why yet
- Amazon.com offers the same products and brands but at a 30% discount, with delivery!
- Baby furniture = quite expensive
- Changing pad = not so expensive
- No matter what, all clothes in small, miniature sizes are adorable!


Another big milestone we experienced this past week was deciding on a hospital where our little girl would be born. Our options were narrowed down by the hospitals our doctor will deliver at - thankfully both great options - St. Johns or Missouri Baptist in St. Louis.


Both hospitals offered extensive tours of their childbirth centers, and they were very helpful with all questions while offering additional information too. Of course, the tours also left us with a number of questions to put on our 'Remember to Learn' list, but overall it was a great experience. Although both were great, we're excited to be delivering our baby girl at Mo Bap in May!

Other than that, we've finally cleared out the baby's room of those pesky boxes and have started to put together a plan for decorations and furniture. Erin and I found a great toy chest with a couple of matching baskets at Home Goods that we're planning to be our 'pattern' - pink, green and white paisley :) 

Think Pink!

You wouldn't be able to tell from the design of the website, but turns out using all the blue proved an effective method for getting the exact opposite - a little girl!!! 

We had our first ultrasound on Wednesday, and chose to find out the baby's sex by ourselves, away from the hustle and bustle of the doctor's office. Turned out that Joe's guess was spot on - he later regretted not making an actual bet with me. Although we were ecstatic, we decided to keep it a secret for just a couple of days - and man was that difficult...not to mention the heat we received from our families! 

That said, they found out soon enough. Over the weekend, we invited everyone over to check out the new house and offered some delicious dessert (if I do say so myself) post dinner. To their surprise the proof was in the pudding (or cupcakes) - with one bite from my mom it was announced - Girl!... and then the mass texting begun!

We couldn't be happier and are so excited to start planning for our nugget! Now comes all the pink stuff :) And the joy of decorating our room, still filled with boxes (a little less this week).

Stay tuned for more! 

Love, 

Corby & Joe

Cheers to the Week of Firsts!

This week marks the firsts of many! 

For starters, its the beginning of our Young Family blog - now I will tell you this comes after many comments of peer pressure from friends and family and also after I realized that we should be documenting all of the fun things that are happening in our new life, not only with our nugget but also with the house and much more! That said, we hope you enjoy reading the updates and ask that you not be too harsh when criticizing the writing or content :) Also, as a forewarning, I feel the need to use an exclamation point at the end of pretty much every sentence.

In addition to the blog beginning, this week has been full of other new experiences that I'd probably count a little more exciting... 

1. First baby bump picture - This may be coming a little late in the game since most pregnant women have a track since 6 weeks but hey, we've been a little busy :) This picture was taken in our baby's new room, amidst the boxes that are still present from moving. 

21 weeks!

2. First pair of maternity jeans - It was a little overwhelming being in a maternity store for the first time, but after trying on those jeans with no waist band, I must admit, I might not go back to regular jeans. Coming from a person who has never found jean shopping easy, this was surprisingly pleasant and I came out of it with a pair of jeans that still look pretty hip in my opinion! 

We're excited to be parents!

3. First baby kick - It may have been the awesome taco soup that we cooked or our baby was just ready to say hello; Tuesday, 1/10 marked the first movement from our nugget! It was definitely surprising and felt a little like a heart beat in my stomach - I can't imagine how people can focus with a little one kicking around in there all the time; we're looking forward to more! 

4. First sonogram - Now this was an experience! I was a little startled when we didn't walk into one of the regular doctor/patient rooms, but instead it looked like we stepped into a computer lab. Dark and chilly, we were able to see our baby for the first time! It was amazing to actually see our child rolling around and with all of the makings of a person - 5 fingers on each hand, two kidneys, a long spine, and the list goes on. Thankfully, as the nurse checked off each box that she is required to look for we were given the verdict that our baby is perfectly healthy! The sex was confirmed (as much as they can confirm) but will not be disclosed in this post - you'll have to check back later ;)   

Our little nugget

Hand on the forehead - classic pose :) 

That's it for this week, but check back on Sunday for the big revealing! 

Love, 

Corby & Joe