Baby Bonus!

So, its been a little while since I've updated the blog, but that's because we have been busy! The nesting instinct I think is really kicking in, as I feel as though I need to have everything ready RIGHT NOW. What if he comes early? How will we get him home? We don't even have the car seat yet!?! Oh, the thoughts that have been running through my head. Generally though, I am just trying to while away the hours until we meet baby Hollman.

Along the way to 'being prepared' I've found myself in some pretty heavy conundrums. For example, what diaper bag to buy? This may seem like an easy 'just pick something and put it on your registry' task, but its actually much harder. See, the diaper bag will be used for at least two years. That means I have to like it for that long. Additionally, the diaper bag isn't just a bag- its a statement about your style and your baby's style. Then there is the question of form vs. function, or in a more perfect world, form complimenting function. All of my industrial design background has weaseled its way to the surface of my thinking and alas, I was at a loss for the diaper bag choice. On top of all of this we wanted to be at least a bit proactive and select a bag that would work for additional kiddos, boy or girl. My list of qualifications was growing quite quickly, while my ability to evaluate diaper bags seemed to be weakening like I'd been stuck with a huge piece of 'baby brain' kryptonite. After about a month of searching the internet, deciding on how much to spend and what we really needed in a diaper bag we decided on this adorable find from Room Seven:

Now, I realize that it does scream 'boy' a little bit, but I couldn't help but fall in love with it. I love that its whimsical and fun, but still super cute all at the same time. If I were another baby, I would likely see this bag and think "that baby is cool, he really likes to have fun!"
Now, to curb my necessity to be a bit more neutral I found the perfect compromise. Awhile back I bought a Coach messenger bag that is entirely 'neutral' with the Coach tan fabric and a stripe of colored panels that are sort of like a pastel rainbow. This is going to be our 'alternate bag' that we'll use for more 'formal' occasions when the 'hey lets have fun bag isn't all that appropriate'. Overall, I'm really excited to use both bags, so toting the little guys stuff around won't actually be so tedious, since I just love the bags.

This past weekend we also had our first shower, which was fantastic! Drew's mom, aunt Jan, friend Karen, aunt Sandy and cousin Shannel threw us a shower in Milwaukee. We were very fortunate to get to visit with lots of family members and everyone was SOOOO generous. Baby Hollman is incredibly blessed to have so many great family members and friends in his life. As a result of the great shower the baby's room is filling up quickly with gear. For the time being its all in his room, but as we get closer to his arrival we'll start putting away those things that need to go in our storage room and preparing those things that are necessary for his first few weeks. To see all the great stuff we got here are some updated photos of his room, which is nearly finished.





We put up some canvases in his room, one over the crib and a growth chart on the wall that are part of the transportation theme and we've hung up his quilt on the quilt rack Drew made. We're now just waiting for the new cherry curtain rods and the wooden airplanes. The planes will hang over the book shelf in his room when they are all finished.
As you can see the room is getting quite full. During the shower we received the baby's swing, the gyminini jungle gym, lots of clothes, the monitors, a handful of beautiful handmade quilts and afghans, all of the bath attire, the boppy and the list goes on... So much stuff! We don't have any pictures of the actual shower, as we were a little too busy to take any, but hopefully we'll be able to get some from friends and family who took photos and then I'll post them here.

By the way, for those of you who are still trying to figure out his name we were careful to cover up the letters on the wall and the name on the growth chart so we don't give it away before its time.

Drew's immediate family (Aunt Susie, Uncle Chris, Uncle Chris, Aunt Amy and Grandma and Grandpa) gave us a ridiculous amount of adorable outfits and the super cool pack n' play. Here are some pictures of it all set up:


We decided to get a pack n' play rather than a bassinet because we will have the cradle, which is much like a bassinet and we'll get a ton more use out of the pack n' play as a playpen after the baby grows out of the bassinet piece. Additionally, the pack n' play will be a perfect bed for baby Hollman when we take our many travels to Milwaukee, Michigan and Nevada to see family.

We've also been busy making decisions about what to do with this little baby once he gets here, and one of the few we have actually decided on with confidence is cloth diapering. I'm excited to use the cloth diapers because they are so much better for the environment than disposable diapers. Did you know the average kid goes through 5000 diapers before he or she is potty-trained. Its also ALARMING that the estimate for how long it takes a diaper to decompose in a landfill is 550 years!!!! Yes, you read that right! 550 YEARS! While diapers haven't been around 550 years to actually prove this, here's how they come up with that prediction.
So, we entered the world of learning how to cloth diaper and decided on the most economical of sort, using Chinese prefold diapers and diaper covers. They came in the mail the other day and they are sooooo cute! We chose Thirsties covers. Here are some photos of the cute little covers. I can't wait to put them on the baby!


If you are interested in learning more about cloth diapering, go here, its a great site that offers all the different types of cloth diapers and necessary accessories.

So overall, its been a great couple of weeks. This weekend in Easter and we're planning to get caught up with lots of odd and ends as this will probably be the last Easter for many moons that we'll get to spend on our own. We wish you all a fantastic holiday and hope the Easter Bunny brings you as many treats and bonuses as we've been blessed with in the past few weeks!