I love it when a plan comes together

We've been thinking about this whole "have a baby" thing for a long time now. Even before we were actually considering making it happen, the topic would come up from time to time.

Back before BabyCar was a BabyCar, we were shopping for a regular car.

I remember wandering around the parking lot at Subaru, kicking tires and looking for a replacement for BabyCar's small Toyota SUV.

Even then, before Ava was any more than a thought in the back of our (her) mind, the baby wheels were turning in BabyCar's head.

You know, this next car is probably the one we'll be driving when we have a baby. We'd better step up a size.

What? At that point, there were only two of us. Our Toyota sat five. And had a cargo area. And a roof rack.

I didn't know a lot about babies, but I had seen one before. It was my understanding that they weighed between five and eight pounds and were about a foot tall if they stretched out really straight.

So why was I test driving a seven passenger vehicle to accommodate a family member to be named later that would be approximately the size of a poorly inflated football?

Babies have stuff, I was told.

Stuff? I have stuff. Doesn't mean I feel the need to lug it around with me everywhere. What the hell was the baby going to have that needed a third row seat and industrial grade cargo netting? I always pictured an eighteen inch tall Diana Ross snapping her fingers and having matching designer luggage dragged around for her wherever she went.

Put the sippy cups up front! The stroller goes in the back! Put Daddy on the roof!

Anyway, about six or eight seven-passenger car payments later, we were ready to start filling the third row seat of our five star safety rated four wheel drive with two tons of stuff for our *one* baby.

(And I know that Subarus are all- and not 4-wheel drive, but I like having all the numbers in that sentence, so don't even start with me.)

With all of that said, I am now ready to admit that it is going to be really nice to have the big stupid car. We're having an Ava James, not a Diana Ross, but the more we start planning for the big day, the more I realize that babies do come with their share of gear.

And besides – the further this pregnancy comes along, the more often I'm getting kicked out of the bed in the dark hours of the morning. It will be nice to have that third row seating when I start spending 3 – 7 a.m. sleeping in the parking lot at work.