At this point in the pregnancy, I have been enjoying the normal symptoms of nosebleeds, heart burn, sciatic pain and low energy levels. I have gained 20 pounds exactly as of this morning and Joshua is kicking like crazy. Kevin felt the kicking for the first time last week but it was off and on. Now, if Joshua is kicking towards my front, my stomach moves noticeably. It has become very distracting because now when I feel him kicking, I automatically want to look and see if I can see it. Mostly he seems to like kicking me in the back, stomach and bladder.
We've already put the crib together and got the bedding and wall decorations. We are waiting until we pick his dedication verse and then we will stencil it on his way and put the decals around it. I am currently studying the book of Joshua during my daily readings for inspiration. We have a few possibilities already, but our intention with the verse we choose is to help define the character we want our children to have.
We have also been doing a fair amount of reading and have made a few "decisions" about life when Joshua comes and how we want to raise him. I put "decisions" in quotes because these are mostly just the things we intend to try first. For instance, we have just started talking about doing a birth plan and my current preference is to attempt a natural birth. However, I am not opposed to getting anesthetic if that's how I feel once contractions start. Similiarly, we have decided that once Joshua gets here, we intend to do the 90 Minute Baby Sleep Program. Additionally, Kevin and I have decided that our child care choice is to use a nanny. We will be waiting until his arrival is much closer to hire someone, but we will be using Sittercity to make our selection. The last thing we have decided is that we are dropping most every commitment that we have outside of our jobs. Since most of Joshua's time is going to be spent with the nanny, we both feel that it is really important to spend our time off with Joshua. Not to mention the fact that unlike in most American sitcoms, we are expecting our life to change and revolve around fulfilling Joshua's needs. Now, that's not to say we won't add things back to our social calendar as we feel able, but it will only be after we are sure that those things fit in the parameters of the type of parents we want to be.
I think that's about it. Just three short months left until Joshua is here and I think it will go fast and then slow. Mostly because Kevin and I are taking a trip to Florida with my family at the end of the month and we are taking a trip back to Illinois in August (for a friend's bridal shower!) and a trip in early September for my baby shower. And after all that traveling in the period of about a month, we will be coming home just to wait until Joshua arrives in mid-October.
