The Wait is Over!

Sweeping panoramic view of Jack's nursery so-far that would make John Ford weep.

Back in July, we headed down to Springfield to spend the day registering for Jack. Plan was to stop in at Target and Babies R Us, then spend the evening with Suz's sister and brother-in-law since we were in town. Bryan remembered the name of a little children's furniture store near where we were going and we figured it was worth checking out. Why not? Jim wasn't about to let Suz head back to Chicago to spend a million bucks on furniture north of I-80!



Once we got to the store, Suz immediately fell in love with this crib. I guess it's similar to house buying. You can see dozens of perfectly nice houses, but only one is going to have that instant feeling of home. Maybe Jack, in his own way, picked it out. If that is the case, Jim is relieved to find out Jack has relatively modest tastes. Would love to meet the person setting down $4,000+ for some of those higher-end cribs!



So, we purchase the crib and order the matching dresser. We leave Springfield very excited under the impression everything would be in-town by August 4th and delivered shortly afterwards. We also left Springfield debating whether or not anything really happened in the movie Inception. I don't think anyone really liked it.

August 4th came and went and no phone call. After about a week, we started calling. We started getting scatterbrained answers about not knowing where it is yet and then that the store would mysteriously close down for two weeks for unexplained reasons. We later would find out they closed so the owner could park cars at the State Fair...for unexplained reasons.

This is about the time Jim borrowed a Sam's Club membership for antacids. He was starting to worry the place had closed down and she just hadn't worked up the courage to tell us our money is long gone with no furniture coming.



Finally, the other day we were called and our furniture was indeed in. There looked like there might finally be a light at the end of the tunnel! Since Jim works from home and the store mentioned the delivery guy would prefer mornings, delivery was set up from 7:30am this morning.

8:30 rolls by. 9:30 rolls by. And on and on. Nothing. The store doesn't open until sometime after 11am and every attempt to call the owner's cell phone have gone straight to voicemail. Fear of the store gone out of business were at an all time high. Shortly after 11, Jim finally gets a hold of the owner who explains she forgot to remind the delivery guy before she had to go to a medical appointment in St. Louis and he'd be on his way within an hour.

Suz was so convinced nothing was coming, she went ahead and told her sister that there wouldn't be any pictures to see today.

Long story short (too late), everything was here and finally set up by 3 o'clcok. Jack's furniture looks great! Now, obviously, we're still missing a lot and Suz will probably make Jim rearrange the furniture forty or fifty more times, but it's getting there. It's such a great feeling that we're that much closer to providing him a home when he makes his grand appearance in ten weeks.

See Jack's New Furniture?

Because we sure don't! Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come, because Jack's first furniture delivery is a few hours late.

Jim may or may not have left a few crabby voicemails.

30 Weeks on the 30th

We're just ten weeks away from Baby Jack's big debut. He's been really active lately, especially after a sizable bowl of Peanut Butter Ripple ice cream his mom snuck in last night. No "bump pictures" to share with you tonight, but we are making a little bit of progress on the nursery!

Baby Fun Fact: At 30 weeks, his brain is no longer smooth. It's beginning to form all the wrinkles you expect to see in a human brain that allow for continued development. Keep on growing, Professor Jack!


First up, Aunt Sam came over yesterday and helped Suz put together Jack's first bookcase. You can see it's a simple cubbie design, complete with some colorful baskets for extra toys -- and it's all at the perfect height for him for several years. Suz is thinking about adding a few colorful "A, B Cs" to the baskets. Jim was just excited that there was finally something he didn't have to build on his own!

You can see Grandma Kerr has already snuck in a few books. Always the teacher! You can't really see it from this angle, but one of the books comes with little animal finger puppets. We didn't have cool stuff like that!



Next we have Parachute Monkey. Isn't he the best? Well, he was a pain-and-a-half to put up on Jack's closet! The set was vinyl and boasted how "quick and easy" it was on the packaging. When will Jim learn? He worked in advertising! It's their job to lie. Took just about an hour to get the whole set put up. Jim is convinced he'll have nightmares of trying to line up all the seperate pieces of the parachute for years to come.

You can't see him yet, but Monkey has a Whale Friend to match him that will be on Jack's toybox. If you didn't know, his theme is an island/sea theme.

Gina notices something is missing, but she hasn't figured out what yet.

Finally, what nursery would be complete without baby's name up on the wall? Unfortunately, "A" and "K" seem to be very popular letters. We'll have to make a return trip to Michael's to finish this project.

Tomorrow will be a big day. After seemingly endless delays, Jack's crib and dresser will be arriving in the morning. Check back then!

Lordy Lordy Look Who's...In Her Third Trimester

Has it been 28 weeks already? Seems like just yesterday we were looking at that little test and realizing our social calendar had dramatically been affected for approximately the next 18 years.

Suz and Baby Jack are happy and healthy. What to Expect When Your Expecting says his auditory senses are developing much stronger at this point. We believe it. Sure, it may just be in his biased parents heads, but it seems like he does respond and play when he hears us talk to him. He had been a little quiet earlier today, but when Suz leaned down and said, "Jack, are you still in there?" he immediately started squirming again.

FUN BABY FACT: At this point, Jack has almost double the amount of taste buds now than he will at birth. That definitely has to be true too, because that boy goes crazy when his mom is eating some fruit.

Suz showing off Jack's current bachelor pad

This picture would be 300% more interesting if it was viewable in 3D.

Look What Was Waiting for Us When We Got Home!

Jack received his first present last night. His Baby Einstein play yard courtesy of Jim's good friend Emiel. When we opened the box, Jack immediately started dancing around in excitement. I guess he's eager to start Tummy Time already!

Suz looked ahead on our registries and discovered someone had already purchased the high chair she's salivating over. So, if you're the one who bought her that and you're reading this, you've made a very happy mama.

This is what the play yard will look like when it is all set up. Stimulated baby not included.