Jazz Hands Costello

Here it is folks- the newest ultrasound photo of Baby Costello! Baby is almost at 18 weeks in this photo. We especially liked this one because baby wanted to say hi-- or maybe baby was just practicing his/her jazz hands. Either way- it's pretty darn cute in our book.

Here's a list of some fun things we learned from the ultrasound-- baby has all ten fingers and toes, a strong heart and all the right bone development. We even got a sneak peak into baby's brain, and for some reason I couldn't stop laughing when the technician said, "...and this is looking into the top of baby's head". What can I say- it just struck me as funny, and every time I laughed the picture gave a good jiggle- which made it more funny. Ah well.

Anyway-- one thing we didn't learn was the baby's gender, and we don't plan to. We're going for the old fashioned surprise. However, we are taking votes on whether people think baby is a wee lady or lad. Look at the bottom of the side bar on our blog, and you'll find the place to vote! Happy voting!

Juicy Baby Costello

Well rumor has it that it's hard to find the perfect pair of jeans.  Double that when you're preggo...  Cara has had a good look around for some maternity jeans in stores everywhere, but none have fit quite right.  So yesterday she headed down to our little local corner store.  You see, it's a thrift shop, which specializes in kids clothing.  And where there is kids stuff, there are pregnant ladies, so they also have a maternity rack.  Smart marketing, that.

Anniewho, while having a look at their very small selection of maternity stuff, Cara found TWO pairs of maternity jeans that fit just dandy!  Imagine that, a thrift store beats out the malls again - victory is ours!

And, the icing on the cake?  One pair was Juicy Couture, and looks new.  Hilarious, to be sure, and even more so when we googled them:

Cara's Juicy Jeans at Saks 5th Avenue
The same at Belly Dance Maternity

That's right folks, these jeans were meant to cost $188.  One hundred and eighty-eight damn dollars.  For jeans with an elastic waist.  True story.

Baby Belly or Beer Belly?

So Cara and the wee babe child are now at 17weeks.  The silly pregnancy websites, of which there are MANY, tell us that the wee babe child is about 5 inches long.  Near as I can guess, that's roughly the size of a can of beer.  But the kiddo only weighs about 5 ounces...   So I guess someone up and drank half of it. Or it has a large head.  The beer I mean - if it has a large head, a can of beer might only weigh 5 ounces.  Anyway, this little kid's got the right idea.  Gotta love Google image searches...

Victory! Our first baby-goods purchase...

Well well, we've gone and purchased our first real baby thing.  Courtesy of craigslist, of course, we found this fine, shining, high chair for the bargain price of $5.  It's swell, look at it glimmer in the light!

This little folder has been keeping babies fed for a good 50 years if not more, and we hope to keep it active for another 50+.   Take that Boon, Svan, Stokke, Bloom, etc.  It's not that we don't like your fancy modern lines, but we dig old (modern) things better.  We'll see how it goes, but for now we've checked "high chair" off our shopping list...

The other contemporary contenders:

deck the malls with baols of howy...

This past Friday a good friend came to town to visit, and as Cara and I headed out to the airport to pick her up, we found out that her flight had been significantly delayed.  Not wanting to run back to our house and then back out again, we pulled into Robinson Town Center - the crazy shopping land betwixt Pittsburgh and the airport.

Now I'm never much one for buying new stuff to begin with, but somehow inside the stores and mall, it was the holiday season already.  Everything was red and green and there was nonstop christmas music.  Already.  And - get this - there was a Santa at the center of the mall in a castle, with a line of countless parents waiting to deposit their children on his lap.  Already.  It was early November, and I don't know when the season had started in the mall, but it didn't even seem recent.  Then again for as often as I'm in a mall, they might well all be all christmas all the time, I wouldn't know.  As this particular mall was closing we overheard one woman complain to a security guard: "Well when are the extended holiday hours going to start?!" 

Sigh.  We did have a good laugh looking at some more maternity stuff, and have begun a search for a warm winter jacket for Cara and her baby belly.  Our previous quest had been an unsuccessful attempt to find her a raincoat.  Our criteria were somewhat simple:  Trench coat style with a belt, knee length, waterproof, with a hood, and green.  Even with the magic of the internet we've had no luck.  But now that the baby belly is on it's way and we're headed towards a expansive winter, we're putting the rain jacket on hold in the interest of something warmer.

In other news, as I type Cara's depositing said friend back at the airport, and stopping to look at a used high chair that we like.  So we may well have our first piece of baby furniture by the end of the day...