Reading, research and babies

When we found out we were expecting, my sister, Megan (The Teacher), presented Turkey with a couple of books and a card that read:

"Research has shown that if a baby is repeatedly read the same story while in the womb, it will begin to recognize the story and settle down when it is read. Not only is this effect seen before birth, but reading the book to the newborn shows a similar calming and comforting response. This could be a big help for new parents who are just learning how to calm a crying baby or settle baby down for a nap."

What an interesting concept! Anything that will help settle down a baby is worth a try. Turkey is quickly becoming fond of the book "We're Going on a Bear Hunt," as well as a few others (to add a little spice to Mommy's reading list). We will see if the research holds true with our little one!

Thanks for the idea Aunt Megan (and Uncle Mike)!

A Month in Review

I am a little bit behind in the blog updates, or a lot behind in Nick's view. So here it goes: Our mid-July-current list of fun filled activities.

In mid-July, we made our annual (or usually annual) trip to East Troy, WI for the back-to-back DMB concerts with our friends Brad and LuCinda. This year we made a change and opted to get a hotel room verses camping. Oddly enough, this changed was decided prior to finding out we were expecting. When the time came the change was welcome with open arms by the 5 month pregnant woman (me!). We had a great time, and even got to break-in our newly constructed Bags game.

Up next was the First Annual Lawn Olympics. Nick and his friend/co-worker, Levi, decided to get people together and have a tournament revolving around playing yard games (and drinking of course). Those that were able to attend had a blast and “The Ringers”, Andy and Scott, dominated the games and took home the grand prize. Way to go Andy and Scott! And yes- we still want you guys to come back next year, I want a rematch in the finals of Bags!

Then August began and we quickly realized that at the rate we were going the Baby was going to be here before we were ready for her. And so, work on the Baby’s room quickly began! Nick was a trooper as I hit up Pottery Barn Kids for the bedding and room decorations, and then went to Babies R Us to begin our registering. Registering didn’t last the longest, as a busy Saturday afternoon is not a good time for a pregnant lady that doesn’t like crowds while she is shopping (at Babies R Us). The registering quickly got put on hold and we will make attempt two sometime this week/weekend. Who knew a kid needed so much stuff! We were able to pick up our stroller/car seat combo, and we love it! Testing out a Pack N Play was a different story, as there was no sales assistants around to help us (we looked) and so we decided to take one down and try to take it down and put it up by ourselves. If the store has people watching the security cameras I am sure they got a kick out of the two of us trying to figure the dang thing out. Needless to say, we will NOT be registering for that model and hope to find a more Kara/Nick friendly version when we go back. The next day was spent cleaning out the Dog’s room and converting it to the Baby’s room. Sorry Dogs, you will now be banished to the basement for your new sleeping/daytime quarters. The Baby’s room is coming together nicely, we are just waiting for the glider and ottoman to arrive for pick-up at the end of the month.

This past weekend was Beach Day at the Lakewood beach with Nick’s high school friends and their two little girls. As always, we had a great time with all of them and cannot wait to do it again! The weather was hot, but the water was great and everyone seemed to have a good time.

I believe everyone should be caught up to date at this point. Sorry for the delay on the updates. I am sure it will only get worse once the Turkey arrives in November!