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.

Do you hear what I hear?

Baby monitors are an extra set of ears- that allow you to keep tabs on your sleeping baby. The most basic type of monitor is an audio monitor. It operates within a selected radio frequency band to send sound from the baby's room to a receiver. Each monitor consists of a transmitter (child unit) and one or more receivers (parents units)

The biggest challenge for a monitor is to transmit the sound over a distance with minimal interference- static, buzzing, or any other irritating noise. You need to make sure that you keep your monitor away from cell phone, computers, and cordless phones. So try to move things around to get the best reception. Overall interference is the biggest complaint that parents have about monitors.

Some monitors also have lights, like the photo show above, which show the baby noises- it's nice if you need to make a phone call, you can turn the sound off and still see if the baby is crying- the louder the baby cries the more lights light up. If you live in a large home having two receivers can be helpful- you can keep one receiver in one place and the other receiver in another place.

To minimize the possibility of interference purchase a monitor that operates on a different frequency band then other wireless products in your home. Generally cordless phones run a 2.4GHz frequency.

The most popular monitors are:
Evenflo, Graco, Fisher Price, Safety 1st, Sony, Summer Infant, and The First Years- they range in price from $15-$200. Remember the more expensive the monitor does not always equal a better monitor.

Adoption Leave, Short Term Disability, and Day Care- OH MY!

As we continue our preparations for our adoption journey today it was finally thinking about what happens when the baby comes home and what happens when we have to go back to work, how does this new baby fit into our lives?

The day started with calls to human resources at John's work- and much to our surprise John gets paternity leave, a lot of paternity leave- all paid at 100%. He gets 12 weeks of paid adoption leave starting when the child is placed with us. WOW! How great is that?! On the other hand I get NADA! Because my firm is less then 50 people they are not required to offer us FMLA, so all I get is my vacation time. So luckily John can be a stay at home dad until the baby is 6 weeks old and is old enough to go to day care. I have to admit, I think he is really excited about that!

I also took a tour of a daycare center today. I think I found a good one- its a large day care center around the corner from my office. They do not have a waiting list- which is good for us. They take children from 6 weeks up to kindergarten. The location is great, the price is reasonable and the facility is clean and taken care of. Each child has their own mini crib- and their own cubby- in which bottles, formula, wipes, and snacks are kept. They are also kept with children their own age, which is great for socialization. All in all I am very happy with my first visit- and it's defiantly the front runner right now. The fact that it's so close to my office is great- if anything happened I would be close by. It's hard to find a place that you think is good enough to leave your child all day- but its the choices that every mother must make.