baby has a bin!

I have been so blessed by people's excitement for us, and their out pouring of gifts already. Since we don't necessarily have a 'nursery' set up yet, all of these wonderful gifts have been simply placed in the living room, until I can figure out what to do with them. And now it has grown to quite a pile:

So I finally decided I had to do something about this pile. I first grabbed my MacBook, opened up an Excel document and recorded everything I've gotten and who it is from. I don't want to forget any of these wonderful people and their generosity. I also want to make sure I get thank you notes in the mail asap so they know how much they are appreciated.

Then of course I had to take pictures of everything so I could share them with all of you!

This adorable blanket & picture frame are from hubby's cousin and his wife.

These song CDs and Winnie the Pooh board books are from my mom.

Just look how cute these are!

We still haven't solved the issue of the nursery (more on that someday) but I figured the least I could do was organize everything in a bin, even if it is still sitting in the living room. So now the baby officially has a bin of stuff!

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happy father's day!

Hubby isn't really a dad yet, but I wanted to get him something for Father's Day anyway. We're big NFL football fans, and I really wanted to get him a jersey of our favorite team for the baby. However, I was very sad to find out that 12 months is the smallest they come in! Baby won't be here until near the end of the season, so he'd definitely need a newborn are at the most 3 month size. I could go ahead and buy the 12 month size anyway, and just have it really big or save it for next year. But who knows what size baby will be then, my luck it would be too small already. So sadly I walked away.

My next thought was to just get a baby onsie with the logo on it. I found a couple, but most of them don't come in very small sizes either. And if they did, I didn't like them. So I was kind of striking out on the Father's Day gift ideas.

I was at Target on Thursday and just 'happened' to be walking by the baby section and spotted this:

I fell in love.

I've been so good about not buying anything since we don't know if we're having a boy or a girl yet. But I just had to have it. The little elephants and the colors are just so darn cute! Plus hubby's nickname when he was young was elephant feet since he had such wide feet (it wasn't a mean nickname, he embraced it) so I thought he'd get a kick out of it too.

So Father's Day to my hubby! I cannot wait to see you as a dad!

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if it's a girl we're set!

Last week our neighbors came over with a garbage bag and a box full of baby stuff! It was pretty much all blankets their baby girl, who is almost two, has grown out of. Take a look:

There were also some great afghans and a couple crib sheets in there. So IF we have a baby girl we'll have more blankets than we know what to do with! (If not they said to pass them on to someone else.)

Also in the mix were these two contraptions:

The first is for washing bottles in the dishwasher. There are slots in the top for the nipples, and the bottle goes in the bottom. The second is really cool! You put a strawberry, or other fruit, in the netting and then add water and the baby can suck on the juice. Great for teething and for a natural snack.

I had no idea either of these things existed. I have SO much to learn!

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more baby gifts!

Tuesday night we went out for pizza with hubby's grandma, a little tradition we have. There is this amazing local pizza place that we love, and they have a deal where you can get larges for the price of a small Monday-Wednesday. Well Monday is 24 night and Wednesday we typically have small group, so about once a month Tuesday's have become pizza night with Grandma - the only grandparent we have left between the two of us.

Well this week she had a little surprise for us. After sharing our baby news with her a week ago, she informed me that she now had some shopping to do! Well here are the results:

Then last night hubby's aunt came over with a little gift for us as well. And would you believe she had picked out the exact same sleeper that grandma did? The one directly above, with the zoo animals. We now have it in newborn size and 3-6 months! She also got us this adorable blanket and a daily calendar that tells us what baby is doing every day.

It is so fun that our families are as excited as we are! We are feeling very blessed to be surrounded by so much love and support!

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little reminders

Remember these? The little gift hubby's mom had stashed in her closet, just waiting for an announcement?

This one in case we have a boy.

And this one in case we have a girl.

Well they are now hanging in my closet. I originally hung them there because I didn't know where else to hang them. It is strange to have baby things in our house. Normally if there is something baby related laying around it means my niece has been there. But now that is not the case. They are our baby things. For the baby we are going to have. They just still seem so out of place.

I kind of like seeing them hanging there every morning as I get dressed. They have served as a daily reminder. A reminder that someday there will be a baby in our house. And a reminder that we are going to have to make room for him!

You know when you have a dream, and then the next morning you wake up and can't remember if it really happened or not? That's how I feel right now. But seeing those little outfits each morning, it's like, one day at a time this whole dream is sinking in and becoming more and more a reality.

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