Tales of Our Very Non-Weekend Weekend

This past weekend, Chris and I signed up for a 12 hour crash course in parenting: 6 hours Saturday and 6 hours Sunday. We were out the door by 8am both days, leaving us more than a little sleepy come Monday morning. In exchange for our little rest and relaxation, there were a lot of pluses to this taking this course, the first one being that a lovely breakfast spread - consisting of bagels, fruit, yogurt, juice, and water - was served upon arrival both days :) The second obvious plus was that we really did learn A TON just from showing up. Our instructor was really fantastic. Very knowledgeable. She shared so much valuable information about labor and delivery, caesarean sections, vaginal births, epidurals, breast feeding, bottle feeding, home safety hazards, breathing exercises, timing contractions, how to preregister for the hospital, what to pack for the hospital, when to leave for the hospital, what to expect upon being admitted at the hospital, where to direct hospital visitors, diaper changing, swaddling, bath time, and much much more. We sat on the floor and practiced common breathing exercises including deep cleansing breaths and the shorter, faster "ahh-hee, ahh-hee, ahh-hees". We were also given life-like dolls (ours was a girl :)) and actually practiced changing diapers and swaddling our newborns with receiving blankets. A tour of the labor and delivery and mother-baby floors/rooms were also included in the course, as was an hour-long lunch break (plenty of time to hike it to Portillo's across the street!) and an afternoon snack tray filled with cheese and crackers, veggies, yogurt, cookies, and more juice and water. I think we were both pretty wiped out by the end of the weekend, but Sunday ended on a high note: Our friends - Jim and Sylvia - who are also expecting this summer, met us for a late afternoon showing of the new movie, What to Expect When You're Expecting. It definitely had it's share of funny and sad moments ... super cute overall :)