Belly Contest

Three months ago, Hillary and I started a competition to see who could grow the biggest belly. I've been sitting in an office chair for two months and eating nothing but lard on my bread to try to catch up to my wife. But I still think I'm losing. Tell us who you think has the best belly by leaving a comment.

Editor's note: Logan's picture may be a hoax.

Up to our ears in soap

Speaking of a clean baby, Logan and I ventured to Bath and Body Works last week and found the best deal on antibacterial soap. I thought it would be good to have enough of these around the house for us and those visiting the baby. They were selling their foam and moisturizing soaps at five for $15. We like to stock up on them for future use so we couldn't pass this up (we found out later that we already had three others at home).

The best part came when the worker at the store asked if I would be interested in participating in a survey. For my participation, I would recieve a $20 gift card. The only thing we were buying was the soap. And if you work out the math, that means we got the soap for free with about three dollars left after tax. How's that for bargain shopping! If we were only that lucky when it comes to gasoline.

4 baby showers = really clean baby

I'm not complaining that Hillary's friends and relatives have thrown her four baby showers -- two in Utah (family shower and friends shower), one in Texas and one here in Illinois. Thanks go to Mom, Jenna, Kelcy, Haley, Natalie, Angie, Tamsin, Lizzie, Vicki, Annelle, Lindsay, Sarah and Carrie for putting them all together. We have more than enough stuff to get us off to a good start as parents. As you can see here, I'm so excited about the Baby Bjorn we got that I had to try it on and figure it out.

But seriously, Leah already has more clothes than I do and she's not even born yet! Hillary has organized them according to size and they fill most of the closet in the second bedroom. We haven't paid for a stitch of it, so I really can't complain, but where will it lead? If our daughter is a clothes horse at day one, I can only imagine what she'll be like as a teenager.

Baby, hold on

The due date is getting closer, and Hillary sends me stuff like this to help me get ready. I haven't decided if that helps or just makes me nervous. A buddy from Orem told me he's a lot more nervous about each subsequent pregnancy because he's more aware of all the things that could go wrong. For now, ignorance is bliss. But you better believe I'm going to be asking the doctor what he's doing every step of the delivery because I don't want him doing anything he doesn't have to.

So I want the baby to hold on for just a bit longer. I've got some meetings left for school and I'd like to attend the SPJ Conference this weekend. It's conveniently in Chicago this year and I had a great time and learned a lot last year. Besides, Mama Wallace doesn't fly in until the 29th, and it would be nice to have her around. Although if she is here for the delivery, I bet it's a toss-up for which of us will freak out the most.

The Big Purchase

We finally did it! After several weeks of shopping around and researching, we finally bought a car seat and stroller combo. This was a big purchase and a big item to check off the preparation list before the baby comes. We've made several trips to Target, Walmart, and Babies 'R Us to find one within our price range (don't worry, we found it on sale) and that would suit our needs. And now we can take our little one home with us safe and sound.

When we brought the box back home, we both read and studied the entire booklet of instructions of using the car seat. We then walked out to the car and installed the base in our back seat. We were impressed that the car seat fit nicely in the middle seat without even adjusting the front driver and passenger seats. That means Logan can sit in either spot and not have his knees up against the dashboard.

I decided last night that I wanted to put together the stroller since we had them for two days already and it was still in the box. I took out all the parts, read through the manual and slowly put each piece on the stroller. I was so proud of myself. Logan's the one who usually puts things together around our house. But this time it was mom's turn, and she did a pretty good job. See for yourself.

Bubble Blowing Contest

We bought this Hubba-Bubba gum recently that we used to have bubble-blowing contests. If you have ever tried this gum, you would know that one can blow amazing bubbles with it but the flavor unfortunately doesn't last very long. We tried to take pictures of the bubbles before they popped, so here is what we captured. I don't know who eventually won the contest, but we had a lot of fun showing each other our biggest bubbles.

Great with child

Here is a picture of me at 36 weeks. I thought I better capture the moment before this baby comes. So far, I haven't had too many complaints about the nine months. From talking to other women, I have had it pretty easy. I just hope the delivery goes as well as the pregnancy.