Thursday, February 27, 2014

Fighting the Soccer Mom Stereotype

Even before Hubby and I got married we agreed on one thing: We didn't want to own a minivan.

After our first child, we bought an SUV. A Chevy Equinox and we loved it. It suited our needs perfectly. We had a child and a dog. Both sat comfortably in the backseat. Spacious back end for all our baby stuff. (We do a lot of traveling to see family and friends.)

When our 2nd child came along we were still riding pretty in our SUV. It was a little tougher to fit everything in the back end but we made it work. Our dog had to ride on the floor which he wasn't crazy about but again, we made it work.

My father-in-law is a car dealer so we're always checking out the lot when we're visiting them. This past summer we spotted a minivan sitting on the lot. Every fiber in our body was screaming: No! It's a minivan! But we were planning another baby and knew we needed something bigger.

Sure we could have gone w/ a suburban or an SUV w/ a 3rd row seat. If only we could afford a GMC Acadia or Saturn Outlook. (Those are my dream family cars.) Unfortunately, the later 2 were too new for our budget and any suburban w/in our price range had too many miles on it.

The minivan on the lot was a Chevy Uplander, 2008. It had leather seats, great mileage, automatic doors, the back row of seats folded down and best of all it had a DVD player.

The only downside was: It was white.

It might not seem like a big deal to everyone else, but Hubby and I aren't big fans of white vehicles. Hubby drives a white pickup and having 2 white vehicles? We didn't like it. This was our biggest dilemma. Not the fact that we were breaking our #1 rule of not owning a minivan. Not that we would be cementing our status as a family living in the suburbs and me as a soccer mom, but that the van was white.

We've owned that van for 8 months and I love it. I love the automatic doors, the DVD player, how far I can go on a tank of gas, and all the cup holders.

No matter how much I love it though, Hubby and I still talk about how much we wish it wasn't white.

Friday, February 21, 2014

1 Month to Go

Now b/c I've been MIA for the past 2 months you all that read this blog have no idea what I'm referring to in the title of my post.

I'm 1 month away from giving birth to my 3rd child. (C-section actually.)

I've read a lot of stories about how 3 children is either the perfect balance or the perfect nightmare. Hubby and I planned this pregnancy so we knew what we were getting into but that doesn't mean the doubts aren't there.

We keep joking about how much we love our sleep and are able to sleep through the night now w/ our 2 older kids. Are we really ready for that part of parenthood? The sleepless nights, reading the signs for why the baby's crying?

But then we look at all the newborn pictures of our 2 other kids and remember the smiles, coos and faces they made. Plus after what our daughter put us through (colic, constant nursing, and didn't prefer sleeping alone) I think we're ready to handle anything.

Hubby and I took a tour of the hospital b/c we will be having this baby at a new hospital than the previous 2 kids. It's a much larger hospital but the maternity ward is being updated which is a plus.

We learned during the tour that there is no nursery in the maternity ward. The baby will be in our room DAY AND NIGHT.

Hubby and I looked at each other in a panic. Our previous 2 babies spent every night in the nursery, only coming into my room when they needed to be fed. How were we going to have a pseudo-restful night w/ our baby in the same room?

Great parents, right?

There is a full size bed so we'll have the luxury of sleeping together. (Before we each had our own twin size bed.) I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not.

It will be nice to sleep w/ him, but I expect to be somewhat uncomfortable and when the baby wants to nurse Hubby will be just as inconvenienced as me. Not to mention that if I need to sleep at an inclined position, he has to sleep that way too. (That's to say the bed has that option.)

I still have a million things to do. Sure most everything is moved into the nursery, but as far as organization goes the room still needs some work. Totes need to be gone through to find clothes (we don't know the sex of this baby), the mobile, car seat, etc.

We moved our 2 older kids into the same room (more on that later) and it's going really well. Let's hope the arrival of this baby doesn't screw w/ our system.