We got our first call!!!

OMG!!! John and I were sitting at the kitchen table working on some things tonight at 9:15pm when our home phone rings, and the caller id says "Clark County" so John goes, who would be calling us from Clark County. I screamed "honey! they are calling about a placement, answer the phone" so what does he do? Hands me the phone!! Men!! So I answer the phone, it was a new placement call- it was for a 2 year old healthy little Hawaiian boy, no parents, they are looking for his realitves.

We had to say no, because we are not quite prepared for a two year old, we have not gotten our convertible car seat yet, so we have no way to bring him home. I am now getting on that and ordering one.

John and I serioulsy feel like we are going to have a heart attack, we are so excited that we actually got a call and we are in the system and that our lives could change in a blink of an eye.
Stay tuned for our adventures in parenthood!

Rear Facing vs. Forward Facing?

Today I was involved in a pretty heated debate with some co workers about when you turn your child front facing in their car seat. A co worker had just switched his 9 month old from her infant seat to her convertible seat- and because she is still less then 20 pounds and not a year old yet she must stay rear facing. He said it was such a pain to get her in and out of the seat rear facing and he cannot wait until he can turn her around in 3 months, when she is a year old.

I quickly said that really she should stay rear facing until she exceeds the rear facing weight limit for her convertible car seat, which is most likely 35 pounds. He said oh hell no, it's one year old and 20 pounds, that they can go forward facing.

Now yes you've probably heard the one year/20 pounds advice from many sources, including your pediatrician, the car seat company and possibly your state's car seat law. But that's the old standard, and it is a bare minimum standard. All children are safer if they remain in a rear-facing car seat beyond a year. Thanks to higher rear-facing weight limits on car seats, nearly all toddlers can remain rear-facing for quite a while.

In Europe they keep their children rear facing until the age of 4, due to it being so much safer. Again, looks like the Europeans got it right once again! They know how to design cars and they know how to keep our kids safe in those cars!

Now, another co worker whose son is 13 months old chimes in that her child is so upset rear facing- and he is not comfortable rear facing and he is so much happier facing forward and it's such a pain in the butt to get a child in and out of a rear facing car seat.

Now all I hear when someone says this to me, BLAH BLAH BLAH- I don't care about my child's safety I care more about my convenience and giving in to all my kids desires. I don't give a crap if your kid doesn't like to be rear facing, I don't care if they can't watch the TV that is in the car, I don't care if it takes you an extra 5 minutes to put your child in their car seat properly- it's safer!! According to NHTSA, a rear-facing car seat is 71 percent safer then a forward facing car seat, hello 71% that is a big difference, it's safer!!!

Many parents worry that their baby will suffer broken legs in a crash because baby's legs touch the seat back or look cramped when rear-facing. It's important to remember, though, that in a crash severe enough to break baby's legs, there would also be enough force to cause severe neck injuries if your baby or toddler was forward-facing. While it's never fun to choose between injuries, the chance of full recovery is greater for broken legs than broken necks.

Dresser is done!!

John and I put the dresser together for the baby's room- and while it was more difficult then the crib- it was not as bad as I expected it to be. I think the directions made it seem more difficult. You definitely need two people to put it together- do not attempt alone!!

It is from JC Penney's- it is the Olivia collection changing tower- that matches our Olivia crib in Espresso.To complete the dresser we added the changing pad, which I purchased from Target, covered with an organic cotton changing pad in sage, that I got on clearance at Babies R Us (gotta love a sale!).

It is very sturdy and definitely large enough to fit everything that you need for diaper changes and a great place to store blankets, socks, and other baby clothes.
It has a separate space where I will put a lamp- below that it has a door that opens up to two shelves, great for extra diapers and tall bottles that you may not need everyday.

Overall, I think it was a great purchase- it was reasonably priced and looks very nice in our nursery. I would definitely suggest JC Penney for their baby furniture. It is a little scary ordering furniture sight unseen, since there is no where to see their baby furniture- but we are very pleased with both pieces, they arrived well packaged and damage free. Definitely no regrets!

We have a crib in our house!

As of Friday we are officially approved for our adoption license. Let the waiting begin! To top off our great news weekend our crib and dresser came in and was ready to be picked up. We had ordered our nursery set from JCPenney online- and we had it shipped to the store.

We had a great friend of ours who has a truck come with us to pick it up. Two JCPenney employee's rolled out the furniture out to our car and loaded it up for us.

After we unpacked everything from the boxes- which was very nicely packed- we found no damage to anything. The directions were really easy to understand. From start to finish it took us about 30 minutes to put the crib together.

It looks so nice in the nursery, it's so exciting! We got the Olivia crib and matching changing tower in Espresso. It is really sturdy and the color is just beautiful! It definitely is a dark chocolate brown color, which matches perfectly with our house. Our crib mattress also fits just great. I LOVE it!!

Tomorrow we tackle the dresser- I will keep you posted!!

What are the hot baby names for 2010?

The tireless search for the perfect baby name isn’t always easy on any new parents -- even after scouring the web for advice, playing with naming tools, and sifting through mountains of baby-name books at the bookstore.If you’re still on a quest to name baby something cool and trendy, you might want to reconsider your strategy: Instead of hopping on the trend train this year, it’s looking like more and more parents-to-be will be opting for unique classics they love. With 2009 name fads, from Marley to Miley, safely behind us, what do we see as the hottest trends in baby names for the year ahead. Well the good news to report is that names are taking a turn for the good!

For Girls the trends are turning to romantic timless names like, Sophia, Lily, Isabella, Ava, Claire, and Olivia Why you ask? These days, parents-to-be are loving distinctly feminine-sounding monikers for girls and kicking the crossover trend (of names like Riley and Dylan) to the curb -- at least for now. And don’t expect to find any Tiffanys in this bunch -- 2010 babes will be sporting classic and simple names, not diminutive and frilly ones.

Also shooting to the top of the lists is Grace, Charlotte, and Abigail. Older relatives’ names match perfectly with the current trend, so parents naming their baby Hannah or Claire get the double bonus of honoring a loved one. (While it’s tough for us to imagine a baby Judy, Donna, or Brenda today, check back with us in 2020.)

Names to look out for: Vivienne, Stella, and Amelia. Angelina Jolie’s Vivienne is just a year-and-a-half old, and the name is already climbing the charts. Same goes for Stella, recently used by Ellen Pompeo and Tori Spelling. And Amelia? It’s just plain adorable.

What's out for girls is crossover names, that's right people gender neutral names are out like last years Manolo's. While you’ll no doubt still see some newborn Baileys and Rileys in the nursery, in general, these names are losing steam. The one exception is Addison, because it's just so stinking cute!!

Now, what's looking up for boys, biblical and celtic names. Just like with girls, parents of boys are moving away from modern, sometimes made-up names and opting for traditional, often family-inspired names for their little prince.

Look out for Ethan, Jacob, Lucas, Liam, Logan, Gavin, and Aidan. Aidan has been a clear favorite for the past few years and looks to continue its reign in 2010, much to my dismay! Serioulsy people Carrie dumped Aidan so long ago! Big is so much better- John James Preston what a classic powerful name!!

What's our for boys? Well that would be anything that rhymes with Aidan, except Aidan itself. The super-hot name (thanks to Sex and the City) sparked a rush of spin-offs (thanks to Britney Spears) from Jayden to Caeden to Greydon and far, far beyond. Sure, some of the less out-there variations will probably still pop up, but as a whole, this trend (and the entire made-up name category) is on the outs.

Twilight, the hottest thing since Harry Potter, has surprisingly sparked an even bigger following when it comes to baby names. Hot names pulled from the book include Edward, Bella, Emmet, Jacob, Jasper, Esme, Alice, Rosalie, and Carlisle. Even Cullen -- the last name of its dreamy hero, Edward -- is also expected be a hit, which is my personal favorite!! But while the Twilight craze itself has certainly given major play in the popularity of these names, they just so happen to also fit in perfectly with this year’s trend of going back to the classics.

No matter what name you pick, remember you are the parent it's your decision- do not let family and friends influence your decision. I will tell you that my favorite names are listed in the blog entry, but I will not reveal them, I'm secretavie like that!
Happy Naming!!

Bill and Guiliana's sexy time!

Bill and Guiliana Rancic had their second episode which was on The Style Network last night. The episode was a continuation of their fertility battle and all about trying to conceive Baby Rancic. It starts out with them having dinner with friends who have been trying to get pregnant for 4 years, they are on their 5th IVF cycle. Guiliana was shocked to hear that IVF is a pretty invasive procedure. My heart really went out to their friends who were going through IVF, because I have been there done that- have the T shirt!

Bill and Guiliana decided to see and obgyn- who did basic tests on both them- it seems that Bill has a slight low sperm count- which is not really that big of a deal. The doctor suggested that they have sex every other day during their fertile time, which is very common- it's called the sperm meets egg timing. He also suggested that Guiliana use ovulation predictor kits to see when she is ovulating, always a good idea- I highly suggest them if trying to conceive.

Overall it was a good episode- although I feel that it does not correctly show infertility. A little basic- but basics are good. Guiliana made a good point, it's not all that easy to get pregnant, and a lot of people have a hard time. She hit that nail right on the head!

Just adopt and you will get pregnant!

That is the new saying I hear all the time, "now that you are adopting you will get pregnant" This is now the most annoying comment you can say to someone. Yeah right, signing those adoption papers will magically fix my husbands sperm and make everything work right! We had two failed IVF's- hello people. We couldn't get pregnant in a lab, what makes you think we can get pregnant naturally!?

Yes, there are a lot of women who adopt and then get pregnant- I am sure it helps to take the stress off, because stress does effect trying to conceive.

But in actuality only 8% of all couples that are faced with infertility who go onto adopt get pregnant.

So please to your friends who are adopting just say, "we are so excited for you, you guys will be great parents" and leave it at that!

If at first you don't concieve, TRY TRY AGAIN!

That was the tagline for the new season of Bill and Guiliana, which premiered last night on the Style network. It was a great episode, these two are so cute and funny to watch- they really have a great relationship. The season opens with Guiliana taking a home pregnancy test, which turns out to be negative.

She was so disappointed- she said she felt she was really pregnant and this really makes her want to have a baby even more. I have been there, done that, have that T-shirt! While watching that scene all the memories of disappointment came flooding back to me. When you see that one line on that stick or the words "Not Pregnant" it is crushing! Gotta love the phantom symptoms, I swear I had morning sickness every month, and I would have put money on the fact that I was pregnant, but nope not that month!

Guilana makes a comment about how she never wanted kids, and how she spent tons of money preventing pregnancy and now it's all different. That was me, never wanted kids, always thought I was too selfish- and kids always hated me. I think about all the money I could have saved on birth control!!

I am really interested to see where this season goes- they obviously want a family and it's been a tougher road then they thought it would be to conceive. Everything thinks you decide to have a baby and bam next month you get pregnant. Well, okay some people have that happen, but not most!

I think we are going to see them go through the initial fertility testing- and then come to a crossroad- maybe everything is fine and they just need more time- or maybe they will find something. I love that they are being so open about this. Infertility is something that one out of ever six couples will struggle with and needs to get more media attention.