January 18, 2013

yes, we are still alive.

:)

I realize that it's been a while since I posted. That whole new-job-while-almost-in-labor thing is just a tad more stressful than I expected. I am really enjoying the new gig, though, and it is definitely making the time fly by while waiting for Alden to make his appearance. I'm not completely sure how I feel about that, but that's what's happening in any case...

Hopefully we'll have a 37 week photo and update tonight or sometime this weekend (since I'm a slacker and didn't get a 36 week photo like I was supposed to) and we're going to force ourselves to finally finish the last touches in the nursery so the final reveal post should be coming in the next week.

For now, just a few quick updates on life...

We have been touring daycares and making our pro/con lists to help us decide where/who will be taking care of the little man when I go back to work. This is a much harder process than I expected. Mostly because the things we would base our decision on (the feel-good, mushy stuff) if cost wasn't a factor are pushed farther down the list because we HAVE to take cost into account. For example, we absolutely L.O.V.E. one of the daycares in town- they have an amazing facility, great policies on cloth diapering, illness, curriculum, etc., are nationally certified and gave us a sweet, warm-and-cuddly feeling when we visited. BUT, they are also the most expensive daycare in town and they have the most restrictive policies concerning a waiting list and application fees. This means that what would probably be our number one choice if we were Donald Trump (actually, that's not true- we'd definitely hire a full-time nanny if we were the Trumps, so maybe more like not-on-a-budget-young-professionals-slash-grad-students), ends up being towards the bottom of our list because the cost is so prohibitive. (Also- to all of you experienced parents out there- I'm sure this is a common challenge in the daycare world and something you have all experienced before, but we were still in a little bit of sticker-shock during our search) So now we're in the middle of the process where we're weighing our options and finding the place that fits best with what we need and that makes us the most comfortable. There are a couple of non-daycare options in the pipeline (home-based daycare, friends, etc.) so maybe we'll go that way in the end...still a lot of decisions to make on this issue.

We officially chose a pediatrician! Before getting pregnant, we had no idea that this would even be a "thing" but, apparently, picking a pediatrician is quite the process. We had to set up service introductions with a number of pediatricians before being allowed to designate them as Alden's official doctor and many of the pediatricians we contacted had very specific policies regarding what type of patients they were accepting (things like, "We are only accepting new patients if you are currently pregnant, have private insurance and this is your first child"). It ended up working out wonderfully, though, since we decided to go with a pediatrician that is also board-certified in Internal Medicine and sees adults as well. She was actually my primary care physician when I was working at UGA before grad school and I loved her, so she was my first choice when pediatricians became a concern. We met with her and Nick really loved her too so we decided to just go with our gut. A perk is that since she is double board certified in both Pediatrics and Internal Medicine and because of her policies, she will be happy to be the primary care physician for the whole family. This means we can all see the same doctor, at the same time, if we want to and save ourselves a lot of time, driving and money. We are so glad to have this major to-do crossed off the list!

I have lists made for all of the hospital bags (me, Alden and Nick) and after one more load of laundry, I'll be able to pack up everything we're going to need for our hospital stay and get it loaded in the car. For some reason, getting this done has really been bugging me so I'm looking forward to it being handled. I got some great pajamas from my mom for Christmas that I'm going to take to the hospital for after-baby comfort but I had to exchange them for different sizes and they finally got to the house yesterday, plus there were some toiletry items and baby things that were still on the list of things to buy and we finally went and bought them this week-so, now I'm ready to pack the bags!

That's enough blabber for now- more updates to come!

much love, L&N

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