Expecting the Unexpected

This week was full of unexpected things, mostly of the negative variety. Instead of complaining about them all, as was my initial inclination, I will instead focus on all of the positive things that happened. First of all, we bought a car seat! We've been putting off buying anything for the baby, but we finally broke down and made a list of things that we will minimally need. We went with the Graco SnugRide in the On the Run pattern. It has cute little safari animals all over it and is gender neutral enough for our surprise baby. Shopping for car seats is an odd thing. There are the super cheap ones you can get for around $50, and then there are the super-duper ones that must include an emergency power ejection system complete with parachute for more than $400. How on earth are you supposed to know what is actually safe AND reasonably priced as opposed to just a death trap or a scam? Thankfully, Joe's mom sent us a copy of a Consumer Reports book of baby stuff, and it had some good info. The Graco meets all of our needs, and it was even on sale at Burlington. 

We have been keeping the car seat in the back bedroom, covered with a blanket because we didn't want it to get dusty with all of the packing and moving. Of course, Duncan immediately thought we had given him his own personal throne/hammock. He now spends most of his days there and gives us a death stare if we disturb his slumber. 

Finally, I am 34 weeks along today. This picture was taken a few days ago, but I feel like I've gotten at least a couple of inches bigger since then. The baby is still moving around like crazy. I also experienced my first Braxton-Hicks contractions this week, confirmed by a fetal monitor and everything (that was part of the unexpected badness this week, but everything is fine). I certainly hope the next 6 weeks or so pass quickly as I continue to pack and clean and sell things.