It's a GIRL!

and to answer some commonly asked questions, i will post in blog-form an email that i wrote to my friend jessalynn this morning, which actually covered a lot of stuff people have been asking:

the nursery is going to be in our former guest bedroom/office. it's in a transitional phase right now and there will still have to be some office stuff in there once the baby's born because there is some stuff (like J's computer) that we simply have no where else to put. last weekend we were moving some furniture around in that room and discovered that we have termites, so we also have to have that treated next week before we can do any more real work on the room. oh, well, more time for gardening, which also needs to be done.

originally, frugal me was going to use the bedding from Princess's nursery, which a discontinued Carter's pattern, based upon some John Lennon drawings.

it's very nursery-like and also gender neutral. but then i was in the room the other day and realized how BARE the walls are. i don't really want to get into painting, and i can't easily find any good matching wall hangings because this pattern has been discontinued. And THEN I saw THIS and I think it's much more me:

we borrowed a crib from J's mom, and it's old and not a beautiful dark wood like above, but it will work, and I'm just going to use an old dresser for now. we'll buy all new furniture when the baby is ready for a twin size bed, we'll get an entire bedroom suite then that will see her through childhood. i don't see any use in buying a changing table and other things that we'll only use for a year or two. as much as i'd love to have a beautiful, perfectly put together nursery, there are better things we can put that money toward right now. things like termite control.

as far as registering goes, we still have a lot of Princess's baby stuff, so when i get the nursery set up in the next few weeks i will inventory what we have, and also J's older brother and his wife have some stuff we might use, so once i figure out what i have and what i need, i will register then. probably just at Babies-R-Us.m at Pottery Barn Kids, but then again if you're not registering for furniture and nursery linens there, there's not a whole lot more left in that store to register for.

target has super-cute stuff but i've heard awful stuff about their registries. i discovered their new return policy last year when i went to exchange two outfits Princess had received for her birthday. i wanted the same outfits in one size smaller, but apparently you are allowed only $20 worth of receiptless returns or exchanges per YEAR. this is compounded by the fact that their registry has glitches and does not automatically update, so things aren't always removed from the registry when they're purchased and people keep buying them. the result is that you end up with duplicate gifts, and you can't return OR EVEN EXCHANGE them unless the gift-giver has included a gift receipt - even when the gift clearly came off your registry. you are just 100% stuck with two of the same item, which they suggest you "donate to goodwill." and i don't want to be put in the position of having to ask people for receipts - it's so rude.

also, we are not even remotely close to having a name picked out yet. we haven't even decided on the last name. we brought out the baby naming books last night and started making lists, but nothing has jumped out at me. it took me two months to name Gatsby, and this baby is due in four, so that does not bode well.

i think that's all for now. have a great weekend!