26 Weeks

The school quarter has ended and Brooke's crazy schedule finally has eased up. With our newly acquired free-time, we spent much of the weekend in the LA-area shopping for baby items. Here's Brooke, with our friends A & C, testing out the gliders at Babies 'R' Us....

Our next stop on Saturday was at Wonderland, a small baby boutique in Brentwood. The service was great and it was the first store we've seen carrying the Market Sling. It's double the cost of an average sling, but when we saw the embroidering, we both agreed we had to have it. Unfortunately, they were out of Brooke's size in the Sky Blue color. We ended up getting only one item: the Bebe au Lait nursing cover. On our way out of the store, we saw Meg Ryan pull into the parking spot two cars away. Her face, with the surgically enhanced lips, was unmistakable.

Here's C trying on a man-bra at Wonderland. (No real babies were harmed in the process)

Our next stop was the Santa Monica 3rd Street Promenade, primarily to purchase a B.O.B. jogging strollers at REI. But for the second time that day, the item we wanted was out of stock. The computer kiosk at REI showed it was available online, so we decided to wait and just purchase it through the internet. (there's more to this story which I'll discuss later in the post)

Lunch in Santa Monica...

Leaving the 3rd Street Promenade, we continued onto Kid's Land in Koreatown, The Grove Shopping Center, and finally to Pasadena for dinner. Here's Brooke at Gap Maternity in The Grove....

We had planned to have a relaxing Sunday, with our usual walk to the farmers market. But when we tried to purchase the B.O.B. stroller at REI.com in the morning, we saw the stroller, which had been available yesterday, was now out of stock. To make things worse, this was the final day of REI's offer of 20% off any single item. We immediately called the REI stores in the area and the closest one to carry our stroller was in Manhattan Beach, 110 miles away.

Here's Brooke with the smile and joy of having completed our first major baby purchase....

On our drive back home, we stopped at the Babies 'R' Us in Calabasas to add items to our baby registry. Brooke, eagerly awaiting the barcode scanner gun....

Over the past couple of weeks, I don't think Brooke's belly has extended noticeably in the forward-direction, but it's definitely bulging more on the sides. She now definitely looks pregnant when viewed from behind. Her belly has also become as hard as a rock.
Here's a belly photo taken this evening at Carpinteria State Beach...