"I'd Make Such a Good Statistic...

...somebody should study me now"

Yup, that's right, baby and I are officially part of a clinical study.  The study is being done through Penn State Hershey Medical center in conjunction with LGH Women's and Babies hospital. It is ultimately backed by the National Department of Health.  From my end, I join 3,000 first time moms, ages 18-35, in South
Central Pennsylvania in a series of 8 phone surveys over the course of 3 yrs.  The surveys take about 20-30 minutes each, and for every survey, I get a $20 gift card for places like Babies R Us, or the grocery store.  The goal is to get better information about women's health and pregnancy in real time (instead of surveying after the fact and relying on memory for statistics).  I should be getting my first call shortly, so I'll have to report how that goes!

PS-The quote in the subject is from Ani Difranco "Fire Door" in case you were wondering....

Hail to the Glue Gun

This is the most recent addition to the nursery walls.  In true fashion of the nursery, it's the result of another crafty project.  This one was super easy and took maybe 15minutes to complete.  The wooden animals I got at Michael's for $1 each.  They're already painted and everything (and in some places they are fuzzy felt).  I hot glued them to the ribbon (Hot glue really is amazing), and looped and glued the ribbon around a D shaped ring.  The most expensive part of the project was the ring.  It came in a pack of 4 for $3.  Of course, I only needed one.  I'm sure I could have hunted to find something more inexpensive, but sometimes it's better to just cut my losses.  (a keychain loop would work just fine too, and often free--the ribbon does hang better on the D though!)  It hangs on an alphabet hook with Baby's first initial (although that little tidbit of information we're not giving away!).  The hook was also from Michael's, and cost one whole dollar.  Why do I keep mentioning the price?  Well, I think its interesting for one thing.  Also, there is absolutely no reason why you can't have a great looking nursery without paying the expensive price tags that are on baby items.  Some items like this even take zero skill.

Our checkup went well this week (33 weeks!).  I asked the midwife to estimate the size of the baby.  She took her best guess and estimated him to be about 4lbs.  My fundal height is starting to measure on the small size, but well inside the normal range.  Insert sigh of relief for not having a big baby here.  My blood pressure has been a bit high though, so I need to seriously work on relaxing a bit!

Back to School

Not much to report on the baby front.  Today we start 33 weeks, and despite some small naps, this kiddo is still constantly on the move!  Last wPublish Posteekend Charlie and I completed a weekend intensive childbirth class (on top of our regular classes in combination with my routine appointments).  And what's school without some tests?  Got all my test results last week as well, and everything was great (sugar and iron).  PHEW!

In other news, I think he has finally turned.  For weeks he had his head on my left hip and was seated diagonally.  Not only is that good news from a medical aspect, but I'm also much more comfortable now that my hip is no longer being pinched!

Since I have little else to report, I will post some John Lennon.  Had this song in my head today, and found it appropriate.  This is a live version of Beautiful Boy.

Monkeying Around

Some new additions to the nursery decor:

Playful monkeys are everywhere!  It took quite a bit of searching to find some appropriate wall stickers.  They were only $8 at Kmart (which is an amazing price for wall stickers if you've ever looked for them!)  Once I finally found some, they were a blast to hang on the wall, and super cute too!  I think they really help start to pull the theme together.

I also painted these blocks to match the color scheme. The blocks were $1 at Michaels, and the plastic paint can was also $1.  The lamp with the leaf pattern we already had, but it fits right in!  Also, this photo is a pretty good representaion of the wall color if you're curious.   We were pretty lucky in that we didn't need to repaint!