We had a great week with Baby Teeny!  We had our 20 week check up and confirmed he is (still) a boy!  He's still moving around a lot, and Josh got to feel a big kick for the first time the other night. 

We watched In The Womb on the National Geographic channel this week to get an idea of what life is like for Teeny.  It's a really  neat program with lots of interesting images and facts.

We went out on an excursion to a couple of baby stores also this week - mainly to check out the furniture and also to get an idea of the other items and layout of the store in preparation for when we register.  We hit up Babies R Us and USA Baby in Charlotte.  We didn't find any furniture that we liked in the stores, but that was ok, because what we had chosen at Pottery Barn Kids was really our favorite, and we just wanted to make sure there weren't less expensive alternatives at these stores before buying (more on the furniture below).  I think we've decided to register at Babies R Us and Pottery Barn Kids, but that will probably be later in the year.  We've still got to do a bit more research on some items, and we don't want to get ahead of ourselves and do it too early.

So, the furniture we've finally decided on (unless it comes in and in a hormonal craze I decide to change my mind -- please hope for me that I won't do that and waste shipping $$!) is, after COUNTLESS hours of research <<drumroll please>>:

Crib:  Kendall Espresso Crib from Pottery Barn Kids (with toddler bed conversion kit)


Dresser:  Kendall Drawer Chest in Espresso from Pottery Barn Kids (no pic of the espresso finish online)


Changing Table:  Mission-style Changing Table in cherry from JCPenney (no picture of the cherry finish online --- hopefully it will match the PBK espresso as closely as the 2 online swatch squares matched!)


There's still a few more things to decide on for the room, but it's starting to come together! 



Here's the 20 weeks belly pic (be sure to check out the updated belly comparison pictures under the image galleries) -- Baby Teeny sure is growing!

Josh & I had planned a trip to Savannah, GA for this year for quite some time.  Once we found out we were pregnant, we timed it so it would be a nice babymoon - during early fall, in the middle of the 2nd trimester.  We went to Charleston a while back, and assumed a trip to Savannah would be quite similar.

WRONG!  Here are just a few of the reasons why this trip sucked:

• The Hotel.  We stayed at the Marriott on the river.  It wasn't as nice as I expect a Marriott to be, so even though the room was ok, I felt like we were paying for more than what we were getting.  And, to top it off, we had issues with our TV.  Since it was raining a good majority of the time we were there, we wanted to watch a movie in the room.  Not possible!  The menu button didn't work, and the night maintenance man had no clue how to fix it.  The next morning, two AV guys spent about 45 minutes working on the TV, and finally it was fixed.  The hotel did comp us our parking fees for the trouble, so that at least helped my sour mood, while I laid in the bed at 8:00 at night with nothing to watch on TV.
• The Weather.  It rained.  And rained.  Thursday night it sprinkled as we walked on River Street.  Friday morning and early afternoon were spent in the room because of thunderstorms and heavy rain.  We ventured out in the afternoon and walked around the city a bit, but rain was still threatening.  The forecast continued to call for rain the next day, but we had already made up our minds to leave early on Saturday morning, so at that point, it didn't matter any more.
• The Great Public Shuttle Debacle.  I researched many things about Savannah online before going, and one of the things I found was that the city offered a free shuttle service around downtown and stops at many hotels, including ours.  We planned to take advantage of the shuttle and use it as our means of getting around to save our feet from aching by walking too much.  We headed out after the rain cleared on Friday afternoon to the shuttle stop in front of the hotel.  There were several people waiting for the tourist shuttle (that you had to pay for), so we were the only ones getting on the public shuttle.  I imagined it would be like uptown Charlotte's shuttle service - WRONG!  Somehow, we were the only tourists that didn't get the memo that it was dirty, smelly, and heavily used by locals.  We sucked it up and rode to our stop and got off.  When it was time to head back to the hotel, we boarded at a different stop.  After about 15 minutes, it became apparent that the driver had skipped our stop (the shuttle had to turn down a side street to get to the Marriott), and we were too far to get off and walk at that point.  So we rode the trolley hoping he would go by our stop the next time, and if not, we'd get off and walk it at the next one.  He did go by the Marriott on the next run.  He probably figured...."hmmmm....why have these tourist folks ridden the shuttle for a full hour and not gotten off yet?"  It was so awkward being shuttled out to the Marriott and getting off the bus like big old stereotypical tourists as all the locals probably bitched under their breath about having to wait the extra turns for us to get off at the hotel. 
  
• Lack of Charm and Things to Do.  As I mentioned above, I thought Savannah would be like Charleston, and it was, in some small ways.  But add a bit of New York's construction & grunge, and take away a bunch of the charm of Charleston, and that was the Savannah I experienced.  Maybe the shuttle ride that drove us amidst the slum areas added to my perception, but nonetheless, there was much less to see and do than I had anticipated.  And therefore, after walking around for a couple of hours on Friday, we decided to leave Saturday morning instead of Sunday.
• Kilwin's Not Open.  Josh & I love ice cream from Kilwin's, and when I was on the Savannah's visitor website and saw there was a Kilwin's, we were ecstatic...until were trying to map our walking route and found out it wasn't scheduled to open until next month, which the visitor's site failed to mention!

• Boats on the River.  Our hotel room faced right into the river, and it was neat to watch all the various boats run up and down the riverside.  Those were probably the most exciting views of the trip!
• River Street. This street was what I had expected - charming, quaint little stores mixed in with several restaurants.  Too bad it was so short we walked the whole length of it Thursday night.
• Savannah Sweets.  Since we weren't able to visit Kilwin's, this store did as a fine runner-up.  They had some great candy selections, and the chocolate covered marshmallows and different chocolate barks also helped with our sour moods :)
• The Cotton Exchange.  We had great food and loved the atmosphere of this restaurant on Friday evening. 
  

Here's some pics from our sad little trip:


-- I got to use my Cinda b travel bag for the first time!


-- Me out on the river walk in front of our hotel


-- Josh reading some boring information at the museum

Dad-to-be Josh dropping in for a quick post...

Now that we know that Teeny has a weenie the question we're both hearing is "Do you have a name?".

After hearing this question about a dozen times in 4 days I got to thinking.  A quick check of the highly scientific
"Cost of Raising a Child and Child Care Cost Calculator" tells me it will cost us $340,552 to
raise Baby Teeny and put him through college. 

That's roughly $16,000 a year inflation notwithstanding.

In light of this somber information I'd like to announce the "Baby Teeny Naming Rights" fire sale. 



Why own the naming rights to the Charlotte Bobcats Arena when you can control the future ridicule of a child. 

For only $18,000 a year (I've got to get paid too!) you can name Baby Teeny anything you'd like including:

• Tom Collins (who doesn't like a good mixer?)
• Michelle Collins (why not introduce some gender confusion)
• Collin Collins (no I didn't st-stutter)