(Final?) Nursery Update

Today marks two auspicious occasions. First, it is exactly two weeks from our baby's projected due date (though between you and me, I'm still hoping she's early). It also marks my triumphant return to the baby blog. I've been busy... perhaps busier than I have been at any other point in my left, except maybe college. Wait... especially college. There's no way to BS one's way through preparing to have a baby.

Let's turn back the clock several weeks (queue the "LOST" flashback noise). I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of our crib, hoping and praying that it wouldn't be broken or defaced in transit like EVERY OTHER MAJOR ONLINE PURCHASE I MAKE EVER!

Sadly, the crib was no exception.


If I were ordering something where a flaw like the one above couldn't potentially kill my only child, I could overlook it. However, in this case, logic dictated that we order a replacement. Kathy got on the phone with the manufacturer, and eight to ten business days later, we had our replacement. Thankfully, this one was undamaged.

I set to work at once putting the crib together. By this point, we'd made most of our other baby gear purchases, so we set to work decorating it at once. Here's a fairly detailed shot of our bedding (decorative only... we know that we need to take the crib bumper and blanket out of the crib when she's born... it's only there for show right now). Ignore the crib's position in the room... it's moved a few times since then.


We also bought and installed new rods, tiebacks and curtains, which you can see on the right hand side of the next picture. The rods have little pink glass spheres on the ends, and the curtains are an iridescent brown fabric, in case the pictures don't convey that.

Also visible in the picture below are the ubiquitous Diaper Genie II Elite and one of two refinished (by yours truly) and re-hardwared dressers. This one has been re-purposed into a changing table, complete with soft pink cover. Our goal here was to keep the actual pink to a minimum. Hopefully we've succeeded.


With the help of my Father-in-law, I hauled one of our purple living room armchairs up the stairs in lieu of a glider or rocker. It's comfortable and goes with the decor, so why buy something new, right? The lamp in the background was an unexpected $19 find at Target. If you can't tell, the bulb covers are several shades of pink, mulberry, brown and white. Finally, a small shelf for nick knacks (not quite completely filled up) can be seen here.



The other dresser, the first one's longer, shorter doppelganger, resides against the front wall of the room. You can see a lamp here which matches the bedding on the crib, as well as a mirror I'm not completely happy with yet. The one thing you can't see on this wall is an old IKEA table that's been painted pink with brown legs. Once a brown stripe has been painted around it, this will be our in-room internet access... something to do when we're up at all hours taking care of the baby.


This past weekend, my awesome brother-in-law Aaron came over and helped us wire the nursery for overhead lighting (90% of the rooms in this house don't have any, an issue we're out to remedy, one room at a time) and install a ceiling fan to help protect our little bundle of joy from the oft-worried-about (by me) SIDS.


So that's basically it. Aside from hanging a few photos, the nursery is complete! It only took several months of backbreaking work, but I'm sure our daughter will one day appreciate that her parents took the time to create for her a space that she could enjoy and continue to grow into. She'd just better not let her mom catch her hanging posters on that circle wall!

More updates soon, I promise!

Nada

(I'm liking the title of this post for its multiple-language meanings...)

Went to the doctor yesterday, and he checked my cervix. No dilation, no effacement! Rats. The doctor gave us "homework" to do if we want to start moving things along though. I'm also going to start using evening primrose oil to try to help. It would be a little early for my mom and dad if she came before next Sunday, but it would be okay anyway. I think we're ready!

He also said she grew when he measured my abdomen! I gained something crazy like 8 lbs in the last week! That can't all be her, but my ankles and calves are so freakishly swollen that I know I'm also retaining a bunch of water. The doctor was nice though, and said that my ankles weren't even the worst he'd seen that day (no matter how bad I feel about them.) :P

She's still moving around frequently but her movements are much less "kicky." She's making a large lump on my upper right side which I'm thinking is her back or her butt. Every once in a while she PUSHES it out slowly but hard, and I end up with a giant, weirdly lopsided tum! When she does it, it's fairly painful (I've got a whole new set of stretchmarks from it!) and we say she's "cubbing out."

In other news, our friend from the VA Board (where Craig and I met) drew this lovely pic for Craig's birthday on Wednesday:


Thanks, mb!! :)

Baby Pool

Not the kind you swim in, and we're not having a water birth or anything...

It's the guessing game kind, where you can enter a guess for the newborn's date of birth, time, weight, length, and a few other features. I found a simple-yet-nice site created by a guy who was having his own kid and wanted to get his family involved... He's created it for free, and kept it free, which is pretty cool in this day and age.

The link is here, but also in the title of this post, and in the link section on the right.

So the person who guesses the closest wins! What do you win? I have no idea yet, other than bragging rights, of course, but it could be fun! Craig and I will make our own guesses offline, since we are the keepers of inside information...

Enjoy!

Terms of Endearment

Ah, 37 weeks. I've carried this baby to term! Yay me! She is welcome to come out any time she likes now, except we're hoping she'll wait until after at least next weekend. We have many unfinished tasks...

My car is currently in the shop having its AC repaired. If the baby comes before that's done, we don't have a vehicle to bring her home in, as the seat belts in the back of Craig's car don't work (and even if they did, I don't think we could fit a car seat back there.) Contingency plans: we took the car seat base out of my car before taking it to the shop. Plan A is Mom & Dad's vehicle. Plan B is some other visitor's car. Plan C is rent a car.

Wednesday is Craig's birthday. It would be more convenient if we didn't have 2 people in this house sharing a birthday week. (June is going to be one hell of a month. Anniversary, Craig's birthday, Baby Girl's birthday, Desmond's birthday...)

We have a "preview" appointment at a pediatrician on Wednesday. It would be nice if we met one we like before she comes.

I have another prenatal appointment Thursday morning. (If she comes before then, obviously it won't be necessary!)

I'm supposed to get my hair cut Thursday. I would like to have "good hair" for all the pictures that will be taken post-birth.

And lastly on Sunday, I am going to the church for a pre-baptism class that they require of first-time parents. They only have them a couple of times a month, so if I didn't go this time, it would be a pain to reschedule.

Not to mention that the house is a mess, and I feel like we have so much to sort out still.

And I haven't even packed my hospital bag yet. That's a daunting task. I made lists for it though, and they are looong. You'd swear I'm going on a month's vacation. However, I just compiled it with every conceivable thing from every suggestion list I could find out there, so it will definitely require paring.

Nonevents

At week 36, it seems like it's all over but the waiting, now.

From the pages of "Duh" magazine:

Babies are expensive!!!

Craig and I spent the last couple of weeks shopping for things we didn't have yet, and WOW -- have we spent a lot of money! Thank God for our nice tax return this year. I don't know how other people do it.

I tried to rationalize it this way:
Imagine if you took in a refugee who had nothing. Imagine what it would take to outfit this person with everything they needed: clothing, food, toiletries, etc. Then consider that they are a special-needs person and also require lots of specialized equipment to get around and just for day-to-day living. What would that cost? Probably more, actually, than what it costs to outfit a baby. (Baby clothes are cheap in comparison to adult clothes!)

We went to the doctor yesterday for a checkup. Baby Girl was kicking around just fine. Nice strong heartbeat, still measuring on track. They had me get in the stirrups to do a Group B Strep culture. Yes, they already found GBS in my urine at that 10 week or so exam, but he said it doesn't hurt to do it again at 36 weeks. He didn't want to check my cervix this time because he said it's too early. But after feeling my abdomen he said he thinks she's already facing downward, so that's a good sign!

My pelvis feels like it's coming apart, and my lower back is killing me most of the time. I feel positively geriatric. What was I thinking having my first baby at 37 years old?? I'm so jealous of the under-30 crowd at this point. I'm sure I would have had a much easier time if I had started earlier.

Physically, anyway. Because then the logic-brain kicks in and reminds me I was in absolutely no place financially or emotionally to handle taking care of a tiny human when I was younger. I really needed the time to figure things out about who I am and what I wanted to do with my life before I decided to have a kid. Not to mention the fact that my traditional sensibilities wouldn't have allowed me to have a baby without a decent father in the picture for her. I kept to the plan:
1. Financial independence
2. Career stability
3. Marriage
4. House
5. Baby

It just took a really long time to get there. But I'm glad I did it this way. Would I do it this way again? Probably. But I would like to have known then what I know now. I would have gotten here much sooner.

And speaking along those lines, and of nonevents...

Today is our third wedding anniversary. Craig and I have neglected to get each other anything. I think we both just sort of forgot with all the baby excitement, and it's fallen by the wayside. We'll probably just go out to dinner and have a nice relaxing evening at home. I told him his present is that I'm making this baby for him. And he says that HE made the baby. So I guess it was a team effort, and that makes for a nice anniversary gift, indeed.

Baby Shower!

Ooops -- the news of this is two weeks old! LOL

My sisters threw our baby shower for us. We knew that it was going to happen, because I had to provide a list of people we would like to invite, but they didn't tell us where or when it was going to be...

My parents came into town for Mother's Day, so my younger sister, Christina, proposed that we all get together at Dave & Busters, where her husband takes her every year for (step)Mother's Day. I wasn't suspecting anything really, except that we don't usually do anything for Mother's Day, so that seemed odd. But since my parents were around, I left the mental work on it at that.

We took the drive up there, and Christina met us at the door, and led us to a back room...

(Holy crap! Am I smuggling Thanksgiving turkeys in that shirt, or what??)

We couldn't believe all the people that came -- from as close as the street where we live, to as far as 3 hours away! (*not counting my parents who came from Jersey.)



The mom-to-be and grandmom-to-be were made to feel like guests of honor:


Being that I'm part Italian (thanks Mom!) my parents decided to show off their sense of humor:


There was good food, (Mexican buffet! yum!) and Christina made this AMAZING panda cake!


Of course there were gifts:








After food and conversation, everyone got to go play games in the arcade (which, imho, is way better than the typical stupid degrading shower games!) So a good time was had by all.

We really enjoyed seeing everyone (what may be) one last time before the baby is born, because who knows how long it's going to be before we see everyone again!!? We were stressing that we would like visitors after she's here because we will probably be welcoming of adult human conversation and activities once we get the hang of newborn care...

(All pics were courtesy of my dear brother-in-law, Aaron:)

(as Craig brought our camera, but then with all the excitement, we neglected to actually take any pictures!)

Nursery Update #3

This weekend (and every weeknight last week) was spent doing nothing but painting the nursery. By Kathy, that is. As you'll recall from last week's installment, I'd taken myself out of the running due to the precision required at this point. In the meantime, I tried to take care of the housework, yard work, bringing water and supplies to Kathy, keeping the AC at a tolerable level for an 8-month-pregnant lady (hint: lower) and sanding and painting one of two pieces of furniture for the baby's room.

Sound like a lot? It was nothing compared to the work Kathy put in on the nursery.

As you'll recall, last week found her filling in the various circles she'd plotted out on the wall. This week, she continued to do that:




And continued to do that, adding three coats of paint to each circle...




Once all of that was completed, she began to hand paint a dark brown outline around each circle, starting in the bottom right-hand corner:



And continuing leftward...



I can't even begin to describe to you how tedious and painstaking this process was. She literally free handed each circle with a small paintbrush. From morning until bedtime on Saturday and most of today, she continued to work, until everything was outlined.




She's now in the process of painting the baseboard to cover the over painting. I told her that after this, she's not allowed to exert herself for the next two months.

Stay tuned for our next harrowing installment, wherein our hero (me) attempts to haul various pieces of furniture up a flight of stairs by himself.