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3.25.2009

**Some Assembly Required

Well friends, Ava has now taken over our house with more baby gear than you would believe! We have been officially "baby-fied."  And we have looked into buying stock in batteries.  We're going to need lots of them!!

Last night Travis and I had a massive "installation" party :) We opened boxes and put together her pack n' play, infant seat, stroller, and swing.  We still have her high chair to do, but we ran out of steam and it will be months before she actually uses it, so it got moved to the low priority list!  We have been very blessed to receive what we needed from our showers and from the sale of our guest bed.  It brings me great peace to have these things in place and put together.  I was losing sleep over Travis having to go to Babies R Us while I was in labor and having to put together her infant seat and stroller in the hospital parking lot.  For any of you who know the two of us, that would have been stressful on a number of levels!!  Anyway, I slept well last night knowing it was ready to go in our living room :)  Would you like to see everything??

Here are the massive boxes that have been sitting in our living room for a couple of days :) We had our work cut out for us.
Here's Travy putting the pack n' play together on Sunday night.  It was pretty easy, but we ran into a few issues...
I'm apparently concentrating  very hard here.  Didn't know Trav was taking a picture, I would have smiled :) 
We seem to have some extra poles that we cannot figure out.  We have scoured the instructional booklet and have no idea what they are for!  Everything seems to be very secure and locked in place, so we're just letting it go.  I really think they have something to do with the travel bag that was included.  ***Note to all the grandparents, nothing to worry about, I could sleep in this thing.  It's very sturdy and it won't collapse!
As soon as we set it up, I went to work getting it ready for her to sleep in.  I'm imagining she'll spend her first few weeks in here while she's so little.  
It's set up right next to my side of the bed.  I love waking up in the morning and seeing it :) Don't worry, that bear won't be in there while she sleeps and neither will the fluffy blanket.  They just make me feel better until she's here!  
Here is her little infant seat, which Ryley could not stay away from!  He kept sniffing it and wanting to lick it...gross.  We didn't let him.  He has no idea what will soon be in that seat!! 
Here I am putting the stroller together.  I love our stroller.  Yep, I said it.  I LOVE it.  After years of using other people's strollers, I'm kind of excited to have my own :)  Makes me want to "pimp her ride!"  Something about that sentence doesn't sound right. 
If there is one thing I can do in my sleep, it's fold and unfold a stroller!  Nannying for 5 years has done that for me.  I swear I've used every brand of single, double, jogging, and sit n' stand strollers on the market.  I can figure those things out without the instructions :) 
One of us wasn't so sure of my knowledge however....
But, here it is, the finished product!  Now imagine my cute diaper bag, an adorable baby, and some pink dangling toys on there :) And maybe a latte in my hand too.  You will be able to find me at a variety of malls in the metro, looking like that (minus the preggo stomach I hope!)
And here is Travis, posing quite naturally.  I asked him if this was really the shot he wanted on the blog?  He said probably not, but surprise!  I put it on here anyway :) 
Here's the more respectable shot (minus the pjs perhaps).  I'll just let you in on a little secret, the first picture really captures his personality perfectly.  Ava is going to be the little girl with the daddy who makes all her friends laugh!
Poor Ryley had no idea what was going on in our living room.  There were boxes, parts, tools and big items everywhere!  He kept getting very nervous :) 
Finally he just surrendered and watched us.  
Last up on the to-do-list was the "little lamb swing."  It was ten times harder to put together than the stroller.  But, Travis did a great job :) 
I think it's so cute!  I kind of want to climb in it myself, but let's face it, the only thing I could put in there without breaking it, would be my arm.  Hope you enjoy it Ava!!  Your Daddy and I are praying for hours of cooing and sleeping while you're in it :) We may have to sedate Ryley however, he seemed terrified when it started moving and playing music.  We've got some more work to do before a noisy, crying baby gets here....

6 comments:

Rebecca Jo said...

wow... is that a reality or what seeing all that stuff????

My grandbaby has that same stroller & car seat - it is VERY nice!!!

And your poor fur-baby - so confused... I'm sure he'll remind you who the first baby was!

Love the stroller picture too with your husband! Wait till his little girl is in there - he'll REALLY be making that face! Especially when she's 16 & guys are knocking at the door :-)

Kaycee said...

I have never left you a comment before but I have been reading your blog for awhile. I just have to say that we had the same Chicco carseat for my now almost one year old, and we LOVED it. We still use and love the stroller but she's too big for the carseat now. I loved how the stroller/carset combo could be totally closed up in case of rain. We used that a couple times in unexpected rainstorms to protect her!

Headed into summer though watch out because it does get a bit warm in the carseat. My daughter didn't seem to mind it as long as we were not outside on a super hot day for a long time (we live in Michigan) but sometimes when we would take her out of it the back of her head was a little sweaty. Just something to watch for. :)

I love your blog! Thanks for writing!

suzzanna said...

How exciting?! Seeing all Ava's things put together and soon your little bundle will be sleeping in her baby bed,pushed in her stroller, and snuggled in her car seat on the way to granny's house. I can't wait till its time for me and my husband to do all those things! :)

petrii said...

Stephanie,
How cute are all these baby goodies!!! And these pictures make me smile on a day where a smile is much needed.

That pic of Travis is so stinkin' cute. There will be more of those to come I'm sure.

Rest up and have a Blessed day,
Dawn

Meredith said...

That picture of Travis is awesome! That one picture flooded my mind with memories of goofing off at the Tea Room. Thanks for including it! Miss you guys! Can't wait to see the Little Miss.

Kim said...

Thought I would come out from lurking and make my first post. I actually found your blog when I goggled Beth Moore's Loving Well study. I read your post about it and stuck around to read more one night. I have been following for a little over 2 months now.

I finally had to comment on the cute things for little Ava. I also read your letter to her last night. I so agree with everyone you should have warned us of the need for tissues. Ava is going to be blessed with two great parents. I guess it really is sinking in now with the stroller and seat together. Not much longer before little Miss Ava's arrival.