Our First Big Purchase!

We made our fist of many decisions and purchases involving Lillian this week and let me say, it was a little overwhelming! For those who have been through it, I am sure this comes as no surprise, but I was unprepared for how daunting the task of choosing baby bedding and furniture would be.
It started at Storkland where I decided that picking the fabrics I like and having the bedding custom made would be a good decision. I came to this conclusion based on the fact that I found the pre-made options just a little too "busy" for my taste and thought I could come up with something more simple and classic. I believe that I did FINALLY accomplish that after 4 trips to Storkland, 1 panic attack, and over 500 fabric swatches! I still don't think that Brad appreciates at all how stressful it was since he was able to just look at the fabrics I had it narrowed down to and simply point to the ones he liked best. Oh well, at least one of us still has our sanity :) I will post a picture of the end result once we get it in about 6 - 8 weeks.
On to furniture... Actually, that proved far less difficult. My friend, Brandi, with the help of the Baby Bargains book (I love it!), had done the research on all the baby furniture lines so I was able to have it narrowed down to two brands before we even started. The picture is of the brand and style that we selected. The only difference is that ours will be in white and I couldn't find a picture of it in that color. Maybe we are suckers, but we decided to get the convertible crib (it will convert from crib, to toddler bed, to full bed), dresser, chest of drawers and night stand because we figure this is the furniture Lillian can keep until she is quite a bit older. Hey, anything not to be making these decisions again in a year or two :)
All that is left for us to choose is the rocker/glider chair that will go in the nursery and I am in no rush to get that done! We will certainly post pictures as we get everything in and the nursery starts to come together!

A Baby and a Blog

Brad and I are officially joining the world of blogging! Apparently it is a necessity once you find out that you are expecting, to immediately start a blog to keep everyone up to date :) So now I find myself doing one thing that I wasn't sure I would ever do (having a baby) and another that I swore I would never do (starting a blog).
I am 19 weeks along today and we found out on Monday that we are having a little girl! Considering ALL of the old wives tales pointed to us having a boy, we were actually a little surprised when we heard the news. What is the take away from this? ... Don't get caught up in theories with absolutely no scientific basis :) That being said, we could not be more excited about having a beautiful little girl and so thankful that she seems to be developing perfectly!
We did not even have a girl's name picked out at the time of our appointment on Monday, but we immediately started thinking about it and within 24 hours, we had no doubt what our baby girl's name would be... Lillian Elise Carter!
Those who know me well know that there are a few things I felt strongly about when choosing a name. One is that I really love "old" names, second is that the name have a family connection, and finally that the name has a good meaning. I got all of these with the name we have chosen! Lillian is a great aunt on my dad's side and means delicate like a flower and Elise comes from the name, Ellis, which is my granddaddy's first name and dad's middle name. The name Elise also mean Vow of God and I just absolutely love that!
My goal is to be good at keeping the blog updated with news about us and the pregnancy and hopefully (with the help of my friend April) even include pictures to show Lillian's development and my ever expanding belly. Again, this is a goal and as I have had a severe case of writer's block before I even got started with the process, I can't guarantee that I won't need some reminders here and there!