Last week I was obsessed with fetal movement. While Tom nixed my flashlight experiment, telling me to "quit ticking off the baby," I think I might since then have felt something... fluttery, bubbly... but so soft and ambiguous, I wonder if I'm imagining it. I've decided to let this go until the movement is beyond question.
In the meantime, I'm thinking of the physical preparations we need to make for the baby's arrival.
"You're moving, right?"
Most everyone who knows we're expecting have asked if we'll move. It's a valid question, since our current home is a two-bedroom condo, and one of those bedrooms is our dining room. That leaves little space for crib, changing table, chest of drawers, glider, toy chest, swing, and giant stuffed teddy bear.
Here's the thing: Tom and I are content where we live, and we think our baby will survive without all those things. As far as we're concerned, that the "can't live withouts" are milk (aka, my breasts) and diapers (and if you know what elimination communication is, you'll find even diapers are a luxury item). Everything else is gravy.
So we'll have a crib in the dining room and a "nursery" in our laundry closet. The changing pad will be on the dryer. The "chest of drawers" will take the form of lined baskets filling the shelves, and the "toy chest" will be some cabinets we clean out in the living room.
While I would love to decorate the all-American nursery one day, for now I am content to paint the laundry closet walls with the English bunnies from Tom's baby china. It's just too bad we won't have room for a wipes warmer. Our child may carry long-term emotional scars over that one.
"And Your Car?"
While not as many people have asked whether I'll replace my sedan for a more child-friendly car, I've realized I'll be the first of my friends not to do so. What cracks me up is how necessary all of these friends consider their purchases.
"We just had to get something bigger. You couldn't put the infant seat in the car without pulling the passenger seat all the way forward." Or, "I was looking at the station wagon, but it's just not going to be big enough for us. I think we really need the SUV. " Or, "If you drive a sedan, you'll have to lean over to get your baby in and out of the car." What? Lean over? With a baby? How preposterous!
I'm talking here about folks who are on baby #1, not families of five, and the confusion between need and want is getting to me. I have no problem with someone telling me they want and SUV. Telling me they need an SUV is another matter.
I guess I can't speak too self-righteously. After all, I'm convinced my baby needs a set of hand-embroidered heirloom day gowns. Who in their right mind raises a baby without that?
Belly Pic Week 16:
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