Shakespeare Picnic

We spent last weekend in San Diego.  We had a really relaxing time and got to spend some quality time with Grayson and the Sweeney crew and see some awesome theater.  We really have lucked out over the last few years to have the excuse to take these little mini vacations down there.  It is kind of the end of an era in that way because Gray will be leaving San Diego by October.  We sure have loved going down and visiting and seeing great professional theater for free.  We were sad but so very proud on our drive back thinking that this was probably our last little trip down there.  We will see where the wind takes Grayson next and it might just be right here in L.A. but I'm sure he will make many more great "excuses" for us to travel to see great theater in years to come.

We had a good ol fashioned picnic on Saturday afternoon...

Getting excited to join the club...

Laundry Day for Baby Gould!

We have been so grateful for all of the donations of Brand New as well as "Gently Loved" clothes for our daughter! Between gifts from our families and our purchasing binges of adorable outfits, our daughter is going to be styling from the day she arrives. We went through the motions of washing all new and donated clothes for Baby Gould and the picture below is directly following the dumping of warm clothes onto the spare bed...Can you find the Boston Terrier in it??

Since we began preparing for our daughter's arrival, Strider has assumed that all actions have been for his betterment.

Mom to be folding baby Gould's clothes...

My family (At least as it stands now!)

July 28th is approaching quickly!!

Love to all.

8 Months!

San Diego, June 25,2011

One more month!  

In a week in a half she'll be full term and we'll be in the "come anytime zone."

We went to San Diego this weekend to see "Much Ado About Nothing" at 

The Old Globe Shakespeare Festival.  Grayson is in all three of the shows at the fest.

I am so proud of him that my heart swells when I think of it.

In two weeks we'll see the other two - "Amadeus" and "The Tempest."

Car Seat Installed

After much research and planning, the car seat has been purchased and installed!  We went with a neutral color combination of bumble bee black and yellow, which we are both quite happy with.

On a side note, the most daunting part of this experience was supposed to be securing the car seat properly to the car itself.  The instruction booklet went into great detail about how we needed to reference the owner's manual of our car to ensure the proper attachments were available in the seat where we wanted to place her new carrier.  This is why I love our Volvo: They put pictures of baby car seats on the leather bottoms of the seats in the car where the seats can be safely secured!!  Provided us with the peace of mind that our little one is secured in the safest car in the world properly.  Seriously, get a Volvo for your next car, it's worth it!

Here's a visual recap of our car seat adventure:

Always read the directions...ALWAYS!

The hands of a craftsman at work...

Proud papa with finished product, can't wait to bring home our new little one in her fancy new ride!


We are a month and a half away from Meg's due date!  I think we are doing pretty well on the "Must Haves" for a new born, the car seat was the last big one to check off the list.  We are hoping to tour the hospital next weekend and turn in all of our paperwork ahead of time.

More to come soon, can't wait to share pictures of last minute preparations and then of our newest edition!

Love to all,

Chris

Waiting for Summer

I have 2 more weeks of school left before I can really feel like Summer has begun.  The weather here has been a tease really - it has looked like the perfect summer day and yet has been so cold when you step outside.    When does "Summer" start for you?  The first BBQ that keeps everyone outside all night, your first suntan/burn, last day of school, vacation, lemonade, a certain outfit...
I personally can't totally relax into summer mode until school is out, but then, when summer truly feels imminent, there is this pink sparkly nail polish that I put on - courtesy of Jane and Mom (they do it too) and then Summer is officially on.  I'll be sure to share when the sparkles come out this year.  Last year it was on our wedding day!
I can't help but think about this time last year when I was counting down the days to our wedding and Hawaii.  Here are a few wedding memories - they're helping me through the last couple weeks here.

2 Month Mark!

Our daughter is due 2 months from today!

The time is flying by and I know she will be here before we know it.  All is well on in the Gould household this beautiful Saturday morning.  Meg is getting ready and I am hanging out with our pup, just enjoying the stillness that the morning brings.

Doctor's visit on Thursday went great, Meg is growing at spot on marks and both her and our daughter have very strong heart beats.  We are down to just a few "necessities" left on our must buy list- They include a car seat, a Snap-N-Go stroller and a diaper disposal system of some kind.  My cousin Anna left some great advice about the Diaper Genie Elite or Diaper Champ (Not to be confused with the Original Diaper Genie or Diaper Genie II!!) Thanks Cuz!  The multi-billion dollar baby industry is an overwhelming adventure that Meg and I have navigated well to this point, but boy are their choices about everything!

The morning is starting to pick up with activity and we will be out and about shortly- I hope this post finds everyone enjoying some peaceful rest and relaxation. We miss our families daily, but know that we will see you all soon (Some sooner than others!). 

Here's strider soaking in the rays:

Love, 

The Goulds

North Carolina is far away!

Chris is traveling for work for the next few days in North Carolina and I can't believe how much I miss him already!  I am so glad that his job doesn't require much traveling.  So Strider and I are doing fine I just wish he was as good at helping me off the couch as Chris is!

Little Baby Gould is doing well and is growing and growing and incidently sucking away all of her Mama's energy and back strength.  I get home from work and by the time we are all set to have an evening together, I can barely keep my eyes open.  Other than that the 3rd trimester is treating us pretty well.  My aches and pains are managable and I am so looking forward to the end of school so I can get some real rest and take care of myself and my family a little better. 

Just a few pictures from the last couple years of my dear husband that I am missing so much over here in California.  May the next few days zoom by!

 

guest post....

"Shhh... I got them fooled... I sleep in their bed all day and then when they get home I sneak out and pretend that I've been sleeping on the rug all day.  Pretty sneaky I know - but don't tell, I've got a good thing going here." - Strider

Sneak Peak!

We had a doctor's appointment earlier this week and got to see our little girl swimming around.  It always takes my breath away that we can see so much and that the heartbeat sounds so clear.  We also got the treat of getting some 4D pictures of her.  We could see facial expressions and fingers and her little bony knee moving up to her chest - just unbelievable.  I know we're the parents and of course we would say this, but she is so beautiful and her little face is so expressive and cute even now!  AND, she gets to have 3 more months of beauty rest so she is only going to get prettier!  You can see that she has big eyes like both Chris and me and she seems to have a little pouty lip which you know only will allow her to get anything from her Daddy.

I can't stop looking at these pictures and thinking "well there you are..."  I just can't believe that this little being with her little furrowed brow is inside of me and I carry her around wherever I go.  This little person with her own little thoughts and feelings is growing with me. 

Chris of course says that  she looks like me,

but really....

Daddy's girl for sure...

There's really no denying it.

Babies R Us is a dangerous place...

Babies R Us has always held an unknown value in my mind...Of course, growing up a toy crazed boy, Toys R Us made complete sense.  Who wouldn't want unlimited toys and all the newest gadgets located in the same place? But Babies R Us seemed an oddity- How many baby products could you possibly fit into a single store before over saturation would occur? Well let me tell you my friend, I have seen the light, and the light feels so good....

I find myself gravitating towards all things pink- I want to meet the marketing designers of Babies R Us and hug them for their overwhelmingly amazing layout and then slap them for making me want every product so badly. Every product has 4 components required to make it "perfect",  every component comes in 4 different colors.  Once the selection has been made, you realize that this is a product good for 2 months of your child's life...Then you have to move up from newborn size to 0-3 month old size (And yes, there are weight and length differences between newborn and 0-3 month old).  But when you step back and look at how damn cute this stuff is, it doesn't matter the cost or the color or the need to upgrade soon, all you know is that your daughter will ROCK this look...

We went on a mini buying spree today- Started the day at Torrance bakery, our favorite new local cafe to get a quick bite to eat and then we were off!  Target first "Just for ideas", which as we all know is a complete lie.  Every trip to Target results in multiple purchases, 90% of which were not the initial reason for the trip, but were just too damn cute/cheap/absolutely necessary to pass up.  We stocked up on newborn diapers and some really cute sleepers.  Anyone who knows of my mathematical numbers obsession will appreciate that I have reverted to calculating cost per diaper (very Rainman-esk) to purchase in bulk.  Scored big today:

168 diapers...Should last us at least a week...We shall see!

Target also had our daughter's new tub, which fits perfectly in our kitchen sink and is as pink as can be:

From there it was on to Babies R Us and the amazement that can be found within.  We initially started the day with the intention of comparing car seats and the realm of possibilities that exist when attempting to purchase a car seat/stroller combo, but those efforts were quickly abandoned for the more immediate payoff of sleepers such as this:

A pink hamper was purchased for those times when the diaper doesn't quite catch everything- We were told a hamper with a lid was a necessity-

The next major decision: Diaper Genie vs. other brand versions of "Diaper Genie" vs. well sealing garbage cans.
We have heard great pros and cons on both sides of this debate- please feel free to put your 2 cents in! 

No matter what we dress her in or let her play with, I am comforted by the fact that she's got these genes in her makeup:

Love to all- Less than 3 months and counting!

-Chris

Songs that remind me of my parents when I was a kid...

I think everyone has these classic melodies that signify their childhood in one way or another.  I've been really in to Bruce Hornsby lately.  He's a classic from the 80's that I had completely forgotten about until about a month ago.  I bought his album on Amazon and have been just JAMMING at work today!!  Mandolin Rain? Every Little Kiss? But in all seriousness, there is really only 1 Hornsby song that is worthy of a VH1 classic flashback video post...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07QvpUE2AMs


That's just the way it is...

This reminds me of riding in the back of my parents beige Volvo with the windows down on a Saturday morning heading to Bodega Bay at any age between 3 and 12...Mom with a pillow on her lap relaxing and dad tapping the side of the car in rythm with the beat.

I can't wait to introduce my daughter to the magical sounds of Bruce Hornsby & The Range.

Thanks mom and dad, I love you guys.

-Chris

Carpenter's Son

The crib is built!  This 4 hour beauty was a joint collaboration between Meg and I on a Saturday evening after an extensive Ikea outing.  It fits perfectly next to our guest bed and includes a "Mini Crib" and a changing table.  I felt rather accomplished after emptying the 6 large Ikea boxes and sorting through the 41 wood panels and 110 screws and bolts of varying length.  Meg saved us early on with a few comments like "I think that is the LEFT side" when I was seconds away from using a power tool to forever cement it into place on the right hand side...

The view of our new Klimt photo that now dominates the nursery wall- Meg and I both love this print and it fits us well.  As you can see, Strider has made himself right at home with this whole situation.

The room is coming together nicely.  We bought newborn diapers today at the store, they are so small!  I can't wait to meet our daughter and introduce her to the world.  I know our families are just as excited.  Meg has officially entered her 3rd trimester, putting us in the "Home Stretch".  More to come soon!

Bump Progression!





3 Months - January



4 Months - February





 

5 Months - March




6 Months - April