First comes Baby, then comes the MINIVAN......

I'm sitting here at my computer at 11:20 on Wednesday night, and I still can't believe that David and I actually purchased a Honda Odyssey minivan tonight.  A minivan!!! 

When I think of the word "minivan," I think of the late 1980s, early 1990s, sliding doors, kids jumping out, "calling shotty" on the bucket seats in the middle, wearing soccer shin pads and cleats holding plastic zip block bags of sliced oranges for half-time, long car trips to Florida for Spring Break to visit Grandma, wearing snowsuits and getting packed in the minivan with brothers and cousins to sled down the big hill at the Milwaukee Country Club, and so much more that pops into my head when I hear the word MINIVAN. 

 David tried to see if he could "buy a Honda Odyssey" minivan on his "Gran Turismo" video game that he got from his brother, Ryan, when we came home after car-shopping tonight.  And, YES, there was a Honda Odyssey minivan option on the video game.  Offering a minivan option to RACE is logical in a video game?   A minivan always has kids in it, right?  Yes, I asked the same questions. 

We prepped Reagan for the trip to the Honda car dealership.  She was a trooper, as usual!  By the end of the night, she had two diaper changes and two bottles of milk in her stomach between our 5:30-8:30 time period with the Honda dudes.  (Why are the sales people and finance employees always MEN and the secretaries and people who refill the coffee and cookies at the car dealerships always WOMEN?)  As soon as the male employees found out that David was a golfer, that is what they talked about more than the actual features of the car.  Hey, whatever David can do to get a deal and chop off the price of the car, I'm all for him shmoozing with the sales guys and playing their game!!!

 David was also pretty awesome today because, while I was working at school, he spent his entire day off of work to drive to several car dealerships and do as much research as possible to get the best car for the best deal.

We are both fortunate to have jobs that we love, but we don't make a ton of money, so we're trying to be smart.  I really thought we would get out of our apartment and buy/rent a house before we bought a new car, but at this stage in our lives, a bigger, newer car just seemed like the right decision.  So, we turned in his black 2007 Saab to have some money to spend toward the minivan.  We still have my Jetta, which is in good shape until we decide on and when we can afford our next step.

I'm just drinking some coffee and entertaining Reagan with the pretty lights and ornaments on the Christmas tree until the financial guy comes back to talk "brass tacks" with us.

 We were just taking some "selfie" photos for our very first trip together as a family of three in our newly-purchased Honda Odyssey minivan!  #exciting

 Reagan was pretty excited about the new minivan and also about leaving the Honda care dealership after spending over three hours in this place!

 We are hungry and go to Firehouse Subs to celebrate our new milestone in life with some delicious sandwiches for dinner.  (We never dine out, so "taking out" fancy, grilled sandwiches is special for us!)

 I take some photos of our new van, while David buys the sandwiches inside the shop and Reagan naps inside the minivan.

 Reagan is exhausted after a long evening of car shopping and watching Mommy and Daddy sign many stacks of papers.

 We almost forgot that it was "Bath Night" for Reagan tonight.  Surely we could not go another night without a bath since Sunday was when Reagan took her last bath.

 Rah Rah was tired, but we needed to clean her so she wouldn't scare away her friends at Day Care!  (or make the day care workers think that her parents didn't take care of her!)

 Speaking of the day care workers, when I came to pick up Reagan this afternoon after I finished working at school, one of the two female employees said to me, "I'm just going to say this bluntly.... Reagan farts A LOT.  Does she have trouble with gas at home?"  I laughed and then just said that this was my first child, so I had NO IDEA how little or how much farting a baby did, and how much farting was normal!  David and I thought that Reagan was a pretty low-key baby, from what we've heard from other friends' experiences with their children, and obviously not with any other experience of our own with babies.  But, it was surprising and kind of amusing that the day care workers remarked that Reagan farts a lot more than any other babies with whom they have worked. I blame the gas problem on her daddy's genetics!

So, the day care workers recommended that we give Reagan some gas drops.  I drove straight to Walgreens on my way home with Reagan from the day care.  We picked up some gas drops but have not had the chance to use them tonight since we were busy at the car dealership all evening.  Reagan hasn't been super fussy, so I'm not too worried but more proud that our little baby can let out a little gas and that her body functions normally!