Elle's new home

The nursery is finally done! And at 38 weeks, not a moment too soon!

They say the "nesting" phase sets in towards the end of pregnancy... I've read all about women in their 8-9th month breaking out the power tools and putting together the crib, stripping wallpaper, painting 10 foot ceilings, etc in preparation for the baby. Well, although no power tools were involved, I am rather pleased with my assembly skills of the morning (this from someone who has trouble connecting her own cell phone to its charger)... check out our gorgeous Pack-N-Play (half price, of course)-- with particular attention to all its PARTS! Yep, I successfully (I think) assembled each and every one and even had to use TOOLS! It even has a console that vibrates, plays music or nature sounds, and a nightlight and timer! Granted, I'm sure Jay, who is quite possibly the handiest bear in the forest, could have done it in half the time, but nevertheless I am very pleased with myself. Makes me feel a wee (albeit VERY wee) bit better about not having the nursery ready (furniture "promised" to arrive next week)... 

I also managed to assemble and install the carseat, which was much less intuitive than it might seem (or maybe I used my lifetime allotment of handiness on the Pack-n-Play). Don't worry, I'll have someone doublecheck my work! Can't believe little Elle will be here in 4 weeks! 

Shower at the Bolick's May 17th

Slightly out-of-order pics from shower hosted by Jay's mom and sisters-- how cute is my bootie corsage?! Also check out Sandy's gorgeous new kitchen! Hmmm-- I thought I was pretty rotund then! Little did I know...

The King (Queen) of Strollers

We never thought it would be us. Those people who go crazy with all the extravagant baby items, falling prey to the clever marketing and peer pressure and desire to get the absolute BEST for OUR baby... Then it happened. Here we are, innocently perusing Rolly's (first mistake... avoid baby boutiques at all costs-- baby warehouse (think Costco) style is much safer) when we saw IT. I'd heard of the infamous Bugaboo, and may have mentioned its extravagance to Jay at some point in the past, without second thought from either of us. But one-and-a-half steps into the store, and our ability to remain practical and economical faded faster than one of those Baby On Board window stickers. There, staring us in the face, was the limited edition, 007 Bugaboo. Mind you, Jay is perhaps the world's biggest James Bond fan. Add that to the world's coolest stroller, and we really didn't have a chance. Weeks passed while we valiantly tried to convince ourselves we certainly didn't NEED this stroller, which worked for 30-45 second periods of time. Then we realized we could use the Bugaboo's bassinet as an actual bassinet for the first few weeks we have her in our room and suddenly it seemed much more fiscally wise. At last, in typical Jay and Lauren fashion, we found the coveted limited edition 007 Bugaboo stroller, complete with an extra set of red fleece fabric, the adorable parasol attachment, breezy sunshade, and much-sought-after cupholder on Ebay for quite the steal... and conveniently in nearby Lake Norman. Clearly little Elle was meant to be strolled about in this, the Queen of all Strollers.

Expanding exponentially...

She's got HAIR!

31 weeks and 4 days... We may be a LITTLE biased, but we think she's the most beautiful baby in the world... just look at that cute button nose! And those gorgeous lips in the side pic with her little  hand by her face! And yes, in the 2D black-and-white shot, that white stuff sprouting from her scalp is HAIR! Since I was bald for the first 3 years of life, this is a pretty big deal! Maybe she won't need those velcro bows to stick to her hairless head, and even in pink frilly dresses people won't say what a cute little boy! Hmmm, guess I was more traumatized by the lack of hair thing than I thought... 

She weighs in at  3lbs 11 oz, just perfect. Everything looked fantastic-- we saw her spinal cord (not just the bones but the actual cord!), all the tiny parts of her heart, brain, gallbladder, kidneys-- every little thing! She was even "practice" breathing, which apparently is the most sensitive sign of fetal well-being! We have a video too if anyone isn't too bored by our bursting-with-pride parent brag session :-) Amazing how 2 little cells can turn into this perfect human being with all these complicated, perfectly working parts!  It's easy to take for granted the incredible blessing of having a healthy baby, and we are so very thankful for that!

Day of the Bumbo

Shower at Cameron's June 7-- she really should do this for a living! Check out the beautiful cake! Can you spot the other gestating ones in the group photo? Thanks to a registry snafu at Babies-R-Us, we got 3 baby bumbos, amazingly in all different colors!  I don't mind one bit, they're apparently ALL the rave with new moms these days :-)  What great friends I have!

Surprise!

Authentic Indian surprise baby shower with all the wonderful Cone residents! Neither Jay or I have ever been successfully surprised in our lives... until now! Unfortunately for the partygoers, we were an hour and a half late! We thought it was a drop in sort of thing, and were running late after meeting Jay's fam in Winston-Salem for lunch... I'm quite sure Sejal nearly had a heart attack! But everything turned out perfectly, what an absolutely perfect surprise! Check out the authentic Indian apparel! Apparently my forehead is a bit crooked, as I couldn't get my jewels to stay in place! Oh well, maybe Elle will get her dad's forehead :-)

28 and 1/2 weeks!

Snails with tiaras

Elle's nursery decor. Note the snails with tiaras... not your typical froo-froo bears or fairies or carnation pink lace... but take an unorthodox snail and add a sparkly tiara and voila! Bedding fit for a princess! And mushrooms too... to encourage her to eat her vegetables at an early age-- Hmmm, come to think of it, are mushrooms even vegetables?

As the bump grows...

22.5 weeks now, and the littlest Golding continues to grow... and now she's wiggling about all the time. An odd feeling, someone dancing on your cervix and bladder-- I think we may have a little ballerina on our hands (note the pointed toe in the ultrasound picture!) I was singing to her the other day and she started kicking like crazy... Jay gently suggested that she can probably already discern pitch (or lack thereof) and maybe I shouldn't do that anymore. Ballerina maybe, but if my genes have any say in the matter, a singer she will not be! 

Next task is working on the nursery, we'll get pictures when we've made some progress. Only 17 more weeks! 

20 weeks

Baby Elle's first photo shoot

We've had many requests for pictures of growing bellies (not just an overzealous ice cream splurge this time!) and updates on the baby (what size fruit is it this week?), so we decided to take advantage of modern day technology and start a blog... after figuring out exactly what that is, of course. So we'll try to keep up with regular updates and pictures as much as possible. Thanks to all for your excitement-- we appreciate everyone's love, support, and prayers more than you'll ever know!

Having a baby during residency may have its downsides, but having a baby during radiology residency certainly has the benefit of temptingly constant access to ultrasound equipment... so we have managed to sneak a few peeks along the way... within reason of course, just in case that guy at yale who says 48 hours of continuous ultrasound exposure alters neuronal migration in fetal mice brains isn't as crazy as the rest of the academic world seems to think. Anyway, the littlest Golding is 16 weeks now, which means we're due sometime around August 8-10. Everything looks just perfect, from the lens of the eye to 10 little fingers to a perfectly beating 4-chamber heart... ultrasound technology is absolutely unbelievable! It's amazing (and a bit freaky at times) that there's this whole little person growing inside me... 

So, for those of you who are tired of bragging about your "grandperson" or calling the kiddo "it"... we may have an answer to the eternal gender question... IT'S A GIRL! Jay's already planning her outfits complete with matching shoes (she'll need a shoe rack of course), hair bows (a whole wall of bows he says), and purses, lots of purses. She's going to start playing golf with him by age 2, and he's starting to think about her first car... The phrase daddy's little girl  really just isn't adequate... 

As for me, I've actually been feeling great the last few weeks-- there were a few unpleasantries in the beginning, but they say it gets better in the second trimester and sure enough... no more obligatory triscuits before getting out of bed to settle the stomach! I still have quite the penchant for mac & cheese, pasta, nachos, and similar comfort foods... alas, vegetables of any variety or preparation make me shudder. Hope she doesn't end up with scurvy...

Enough rambling for now, this will definitely be the longest post, and we'll get pictures up soon-- we have the full anatomy scan March 13 so hopefully will get some baby-floating-in-womb pics then-- until then you'll just have to use your imagination (combine various lauren parts with jay parts and see what happens!). To answer the fruit question, we've graduate from navel orange to avocado! http://community.thenestbaby.com/cs/ks/blogs/nb_checklists/pages/how-big-is-baby.aspx