November usually means making sure that we're ready for the holidays, starting with our annual Thanksgiving Rehearsal Dinner and leading quickly to gift wrapping, holiday plan making, and New Year celebrations. This year, though, November means something else: The third and final trimester of Captain Bojangles' gestation. The Captain continues to grow and wiggle around, and January is feeling pretty good, so next up on the to-do list is to make sure that we have the house and supplies in order so we'll be ready to take care of this little lady when she makes her grand entrance in a few short months.

We love our house, but given that we're in a two bedroom and both work from home, little Wish is going to have to share a room with the office for at least a little while. A couple months ago, on our way back from shooting a wedding in Cincinnati, we took a stop off at IKEA to check out their crib offerings. When January and I first started looking into cribs we were kind of shell shocked at how expensive they could be. We were really relieved to find some very affordable --and still very safe -- options at IKEA. The one we ended up going with actually transitions from a newborn crib, to a deeper infant crib, and eventually to a toddler bed. I hope Wish enjoys it, because she's going to be sleeping in it for several years!

As you can see, the crib is starting to fill up a bit. One of the reasons we're really excited about having a little girlwish is that so many people we know have already had girls, so it makes it so much easier to solicit people for their hand-me-downs. A good chunk of the stuff we have piled into the crib are donations from some of our awesome friends. Plus, now that my sister has found out that they're having a little boy, expected to arrive shortly after The Captain is born, they've kindly offered us their boxes and boxes of girl clothes that Emma has grown out of. So while we may have to invest a bit in car seats and strollers, I think it's safe to say that we won't need to buy a stitch of clothing until Wish is at least two years old.

One of the big areas in which we definitely wanted to be sure we invested in was a comfortable chair to put in the nursery / office for those late nights / early morning feedings. What I didn't realize was how expensive these chairs can get, and once people get them, they don't seem to ever get rid of them. We watched Craigslist for months without turning up any decent options. We did finally find a not-too-insanely-expensive chair at Babies 'R Us that we added to the room. We're letting Franke use it until Wish needs it. Hopefully she's fine with that arrangement.

Next up is the cycle of baby showers, beginning with the friend version this weekend. For this shower we've decided to forgo the usual "eating chocolate out of a diaper" in favor of a more laid back "lighting a fire outside and sitting around drinking" style shower. If you're reading this blog, you're probably invited, so we hope to see you there! The details are on Facebook, but if you can't see it just show up at 466 E Thompkins sometime after 7:30 this Saturday evening. It's definitely a mixed-company kind of shindig, so bring your husbands or wives along with your beverage of choice. We are registered at Babys 'R Us, Buy Buy Baby, and Target, but certainly don't feel like you have to bring a gift to attend. We could certainly use the bibs, but we'd rather have your company.

Finally, I wanted to share a picture of Wish's first toy, handmade by our good friend Liz Napolin. We haven't come up with a good name for him yet, any suggestions?