Baby Fun & Freebies!

I know I would be excited about this venture of parenthood regardless of whether I was the first of my friends or not, but there is no denying that going through it for the first time with so many of my closest friends is icing on the cake. It is great to have friends with experience but there is something comforting in hearing the same concerns and questions from others going through it for the first time. It also means we are also all going through the same process of prep work!

Working partially in Louisville and staying at Nic & Michelle's house when I do means lots of baby talk for Michelle and I--which is very nice! I love sharing news and updates and ideas with Michelle because she is so excited about everything. When my belly first really started to grow--and I felt like all of my clothes just made me look fat because it was too early for it to be a clear "baby bump"--Michelle squealed with excitement over the "cuteness" of a belly. She also likes to use me as somewhat of a timer for herself. Since her due date is two weeks behind mine, when I experience something for the first time, she knows she can expect something similar in the next two weeks or so--of course that is not an exact science.

19 Weeks for me & 17 for Michelle

I have been to two baby fairs so far--both were random luck that Mingus and I were in town for them. (Casey County is way too small to host such events!) We'd already planned a trip to Lexington on a Saturday when I just so happened to catch up with Jo the Friday before. When discussing our weekend plans she mentioned going to an event being put on by the hospital, Baptist Health, called "Expect Great Things." I have to say this was a fabulous event. The only drawback for us, of course, is that we are not Lexington residents so many of the vendors were showcasing services we weren't likely to take advantage of because of the distance. (Photographers, fitness classes, pediatricians, etc) At the same time, you never know when we might need a specialist or have trouble finding someone that fits our needs closer than Lexington. 

 The event had probably 30-50 vendors, all with free information to pass out and helpful friendly faces. Most of them were offering drawings for free prizes. The event itself had TONS of door prizes including a grand prize of a full nursery set--and it was BEAUTIFUL! There was also a spread of delicious food--everything from fruit and hummus dips to mini slider burgers and tacos! I cannot find where there is a standing page on their website about this event, but I highly encourage any preggers ladies in the Lexington area to look for this event in the future.

While we did not win the grand prize, all of us had a little luck. Jo was an early door prize winner and received a super cute, neon green and yellow diaper bag--great for either sex and perfect for monogramming! Later, through one of the booth drawings, I won a Bumbo seat--something I know I would have purchased eventually or had on a shower list so I was pretty stoked. 

Mingus and I actually got extra lucky... Since seeing the table of door prizes we had both been in awe over the beautiful wooden high chair. LONG before getting pregnant we'd talked about wanting a wooden high chair. We once saw one at a Peddler's Mall that Mingus wanted to buy, but me and my tight-wad ways (and the fact we'd just gotten married and had no plans for kids anytime soon) said no. A local store in the Mennonite community sells them but, being hand crafted, they are pretty costly. We know we won't need one too soon but it is the one thing we KNOW exactly what we want. 

Well, when the event wrapped up and the four of us were talking I could not help but notice that the chair was still sitting at the door prize table and pointed the fact out to Mingus. I told him he might go let the ladies at the table know that we were very interested in the chair if it hadn't been claimed.... Mingus took me up on this and let them know that if no one claimed the chair we would even buy it. They told him that since people were still wandering about they were going to wait and see if it was claimed. Fair enough.

About five minutes later--when we still had no left--a lady came up to Jon and asked, "Do you still have your ticket?" "Yes." "Well, I think you are the luck winner of a beautiful new wooden high chair!!" !!!!! And just like that it was ours!! I felt a little bad telling the nurse who was giving it to us that we were not local and would not be delivering at Baptist Health (unless it was an emergency) but she understood. We are SO excited! And I'm so grateful Mingus put in a word to them because there is no doubt we would NOT be the owners of that chair had he not. Thank you also to Nursery Time for being the donators of the chair--we are absolutely thrilled!

While in Lexington that day I also picked up my first few items of maternity clothes. Since then my cousin Jerusha has shared all of her clothes she's had in storage the last few years since ending her baby run. So far I'm still fitting in my regular clothes but only select ones of course!

Earlier this month we lucked upon another hospital sponsored baby event. During our latest trip to Indiana to visit Mingus's family, we were able to attend a similar event. Now this one did not have the amazing food spread or numerous door prizes--and many of the vendors were even less relevant to us (being that we live four hours away) but there was still lots of free information and freebies. You can never turn that stuff down! We also happened to show up at the exact same time as Mingus's cousin Jessica who we recently found out is expecting a month after us!