New Photos on Flickr

To all the Benny fans out there, I posted a new set of 12 pictures named "Random Ben" to Flickr. Hope you like them!

Benny's First Days in Pictures

Here is a video of Little Benjamin's First Couple Days:



Hint: Click on the Flickr Link to go to the pictures individually and download the ones you like.

PS: This is sure to bring a tear to his Mommy's eyes.

He's Here!!!

All the deats are in the video...



Check us out on Skype or Yahoo! Messenger (same user name for each bms2208). I'll post pics to Flickr tonight.

Addendum: This hospital has limited access to my social networks of choice for some reason, but never fear. We will be home tomorrow and I will post to Flickr and YouTube then. Smell you later!

The Nursery- Part Two

Ah, the much-awaited nursery post! This weekend, Brian and I spent the majority of our time putting the final touches on the baby's room. Puggy pretended to help, but she really spent most of her time pouting in the corner. She is not excited about becoming a big sister.

First, we had to have faux painter extraordinaire, Meredith Brooks, come and apply a damask stencil over the blue walls we had painted a few months ago (see Part One).

Meredith also custom painted a secretary for us. I bought the mahogany secretary at a consignment shop (Great Finds and Designs in Timonium) for only $175! Then Meredith painted tan and white stripes on it with some beautiful bird accents. Since we don't know the baby's name yet, Meredith simply put an "S" for Stamp on the front of the piece.

After the paint had had time to dry, we were ready to start hanging art work and window treatments. No easy feat! Since we couldn't just touch up any erroneous holes we put in the wall due to the faux painting, it was important to have the placement exactly right before hammering! This gave me a lot of heartburn :) but Brian did a pretty good job. I ordered the window treatments from Restoration Hardware Baby and Child.

If you are wondering why they look a little short, that is because they are eventually going to be hung with clip rings. Apparently, I have a very bad case of Mommy Brain, because I only ordered one set of rings instead of two. So for now, they are hung on the pole. We got the idea to use rings from reading one of our favorite blogs, http://www.younghouselove.com/. That way, if the baby happens to swing from the draperies like Tarzan, they will simply come unclipped from the rings and the pole will not come crashing down on our precious little monkey's head.

The iron birdcage and bird prints are also from Restoration Hardware (as is the bedding, if you were wondering). The birdcage can be used as a memory board, where you can display pictures, notes and other items with clothespins. Brian and I loved Meredith's idea of using all three pieces together to create one big focal point.

We hung a paper bird mobile that I found on http://www.etsy.com/ in the corner between the crib and glider. If you have never heard of Etsy, you are missing out! It is a great website where you can find handmade and custom items.

The wooden sign above the changing table was a wedding shower gift from my sister-in-law's sister, Jenny. These are also custom made (I don't know the name of the woman who makes them , unfortunately) and can be found at Teresa B, a gift shop in Cockeysville.

For the finishing touch, I found this super cute Bird Bath lamp on The Land of Nod website.

And there you have it! I think the room looks girly, but Brian says it looks like a boy's room, so I guess we are set either way. Now all we need is the baby!

The Nursery - Part 1

Ok, so you have been very patient. You may have been wondering, "How will they do the nursery if they don't know the gender of the baby?" Well, it was tough to decide, but we (Courtney) came up with a plan. Here it is from start to finish...

We started with a blank canvas of purple?! Ha ha. This room used to be our office/ catch-all room.

Courtney started by picking a R&H Baby No-VOC, Eco-friendly paint. The color she chose was a cool "Cloud Blue." After some cutting-in and taping, we set out on our first coat. The purple turned out to be stubborn (like me) and we needed to do a second coat to make it disappear.

Courtney didn't want to be photographed, but I did manage to get the back of her head in this one ;-)

However, with me...there is no shame in my game. Inside-out pants and sleeveless shirt! Working hard for the baby!

The finished product of the base-color looked something like this. Here is the crib also, courtesy of Courtney's brother, Todd.

This was done in early November. But we weren't finished yet! See Part 2.

Making Progress!

Courtney's POV: Big update today! In just one short week, I went from being only 40% effaced to 80% effaced and two centimeters dilated! Dr. Erdman said this means I could go into labor anywhere from 48 hours to three weeks. So of course, I am freaking out a little bit. Must do laundry! I feel an overwhelming urge to go grocery shopping to stock up on non-perishable items like it's Armageddon.

Brian's POV: I called it. Before we went in for the appointment, I said, "80% effaced, I bet." Courtney scoffed at me. Sure enough! But to add in the "2 cm dilated", that was a real eye opener for me. It took on a different level of realness for me. Suddenly I thought, "I have to make sure my loose ends at work are buttoned up and my cameras are charged!" Ha Ha!

The excitement of how spontaneous this is going to be was what I took away from today's appointment. It could literally happen at any minute. So cool!

All Sorts of Confused

Okay, so we have been having fun with the gender predictor website "babybpm.com" during the pregnancy. Well, each of the previous 3 times we have entered the bpm on the website, they have all said "BOY" for the prediction based on the BPM and that date in your gestational period. Well, I put in the BPM (beats per minute) for Monday's sonogram appointment and guess what...

Not only that, but my lovely wife decides to tell me today that she thinks its a girl. Up until now, her feeling has been "boy". I don't know what to think anymore. We are definitely ready for either, but boy (I'm mean girl), I AM CONFUSED!

Bump Alert Re-visited

I thought this would be cool to share. Every so often, I would coerce Courtney into taking a picture profiling her expanding fetal girth. At first she was resistant because she didn't want to, but now she loves it! I tell her almost daily that she is "all baby" and that she is "so small" for being nine-months pregnant. And it is not just me...others can't believe that she is that far along.

TO THE CLOUD--A reference to the Windows 7 commercial-- Here is an assembly of the profile shots we have taken at various points in the pregnancy. Isn't she one beautiful Mom-to-be?

Nine Months!

Only four weeks left to go! On Monday, we got a third sonogram, which was an exciting surprise! Although not quite as entertaining as the first two, since the baby is pretty squished in there and it is not easy to discern the different features. But, the sonogram tech did tell us that Baby Stamp is currently weighing in at about 6 pounds and has very long legs! I was hoping he or she would inherit those Stamp genes! Here is a picture of the baby's face. I know, it is kind of hard to see.

We also met with our birth doula. A birth doula is kind of like a trained labor coach. Since I am attempting a natural delivery, I figured it would be good to have someone in the room who is very experienced (besides my mother, who had two of her three children naturally). The birth doula is there to provide guidance for the husband and help you cope with the pain by offering massage, accupressure, and suggestions about different positions. She also brings lots of toys with her, like a birthing ball and squatting bar. After delivery, the doula stays to assist you with breastfeeding. Brian and I are looking forward to having someone there to calm our fears during this exciting (yet scary) experience!

Here is a picture of me (and Puggy) at 36 weeks (otherwise known as 9 months, for those of you who do not want to do the math).

On Tuesday, I went to my OB for my first internal exam. I am not dilated at all yet, but my cervix is 40% effaced. Brian thinks this means I am about to go into labor at any minute, but I told him it really means nothing! Dr. Ottenritter also said that the sonogram looked really good. Baby Stamp is in the 65th percentile size-wise, and he estimated that the baby will weigh at least 8 lbs at birth. Oh Boy! That epidural is looking good...

Flip-elodeon

Courtney 'err Santa Claus brought me something awesome for Christmas this year. I found a Flip HD Camcorder under the tree on Christmas day.

Earlier in the year, I had commented how cool it was that there was an HD Camcorder for less than $200, but I hadn't brought it up again until a few days before Christmas when I started telling Courtney how I wanted to get one for when the baby was born. Little did I know, she had already gotten it for me for Christmas.

So what does this mean? This means that I will be able to shoot videos of our Lil' Stampino or Stampina in Full HD and be able to upload it to YouTube almost instantly (credit for that moniker goes to Kevin Quinn). Its called the Flip because it has a USB connection built in that flips up and connects to any computer or laptop built in the last 10 years. Good thing I don't have an Apple IIE.

I'll be sure to have the Flip with me as we go to the hospital next month. I won't have any video of the actual birth (that's against hospital policy...because of lawsuits or something), but I will have video excerpts from before and after. In fact, this is how I plan to widely announce the birth...via Flip video! If I don't have your email address yet, make sure I get it.