Sue me, I'm a slacker

Once again, I have no excuse for not blogging lately. I usually have down time at work but just never bother with my blog. I haven't even been writing anything in my pregnancy book since 15 weeks. I have been taking belly pictures to put in there but they are all just sitting on my computer, waiting to be printed. I have been keeping myself busy with a daunting to-do list that seems impossible to complete before the baby comes. I'm still trying to get used to the fact that I will have a baby sometime in the next 5 weeks.

We started birthing classes at the end of February. We are taking a "new and improved" version of the Bradley Method. It's called Brio Birth. It's a 10 week class versus the normal 12 week class that you would do with the Bradley Method. We have our last class next week and then the instructor comes to our house to walk us through laboring at home and how we can use what we have at home to help with that.

Our house is a work in progress right now. We used most of our tax refund to get a few pieces of furniture. We got a new vanity for the bathroom. This one is bigger (to hold more stuff) plus the sink is big enough to bathe the baby in now. We also got a new medicine cabinet thingy to put above it. Again, it's bigger and able to hold more stuff. Now if we could just get a new tub and get rid of the ugly tile in there.... We bought a rolling island for the kitchen and I can't begin to say how much I love it. We have about 2.5 feet of usable counter space for cooking/food prep and to have this island is absolute heaven! Plus it has storage in it so that came in handy. We got a new buffet type cabinet thingy to put near the front door. It has cabinet space in it to store stuff and a shelf to hold mail and paperwork. Finally we bought an armoire for the nursery. Storage is limited in that room so that is holding all the sheets, blankets, pads, bibs, hats, burp cloths and some toys. Plus the record player and records are able to go on top since it's not very high. All of the furniture was stuff we had to put together and it's not high-end by any means but it looks nice for now and we will get our money's worth out of it. I'll have to get some pictures.

My husband had two projects to tackle before the baby comes and he's finished one. We live in a small, two bedroom house and the closets are a decent size but the doors limit the access to them. I'd guess the closets would be about 6 feet long but with a regular door right in the middle. You can't see any of the clothes hanging on either side of the doorway. He's finished widening the doorway (he put in bi-fold doors) in the nursery and has begun the one in our bedroom. Our bedroom is also getting a bigger closet. Our room is adjacent to the kitchen and the kitchen has a nook for the fridge which happens to butt up next to the closet. So, we took the fridge and put it on the opposite wall and will be closing off the nook and expanding the closet into that space. Then I can take all my clothes, which have been in the nursery closet, and put them in there. I'm so anxious for him to finish this. Right now we have an empty closet in our bedroom with the door and framed removed and a big, ugly opening in the kitchen where the fridge used to be. I'm taking a breastfeeding class at the hospital tonight and Courtney said he would be working on the closet tonight. He better.

I've been working my butt off to tackle the to-do list and while I haven't been able to cross off too many things, I have been working on a few things. Slowly but surely wins the race, right? I primed the crib this weekend and have managed to get a few coats on a few pieces. If I can do at least one coat of paint on one piece (it's taking about 3 coats) per night then I think I can get it done in a reasonable time. I just don't seem to have enough free time. Monday nights we have our birthing class. I have a breastfeeding class tonight. This Saturday I have an all day conference for work and a baby shower to go to on Sunday. There is simply not enough time in the day. I also wanted to have some down time to relax before the baby comes but I honestly don't see that happening. We'll see.

People keep asking me if I'm ready to be done being pregnant and I can honestly say that I'm not. And not just because I have too much to do before I'm ready but I'm really enjoying being pregnant. Overall it has been a smooth and easy pregnancy. I had no morning sickness, unless I waited too long to eat, then I would get a little queasy. Or if I ate too much too fast then I would get queasy again. I threw up 4 times total and felt fine afterwards. I was tired during the first trimester and have had heartburn but really nothing to complain about. I'm almost 35 weeks and still fairly comfortable. I can sleep through the night and get up once, maybe twice to pee but there have been nights where I've slept all night long. The baby moves a lot but I haven't had any painful kicks to the ribs or head butts to the bladder. I honestly have no reason to complain. I am ready for another 5 weeks. I need another 5 weeks!

No excuses

I really have no excuse for not blogging lately. Just laziness. I have been taking belly pictures for the past month or so, so I'll have to post them once I actually upload them to my computer from my camera....for which I need to charge the battery. Also on that camera are pictures of the nursery in progress. Over the Christmas break I started working on the furniture. I have a crib, dresser and a bookshelf but they are mismatched. I've gotten them sanded (yes, I wore a mask) and the dresser and bookshelf have been primed and painted but the bookshelf needs another coat or two. The crib I am hoping to tackle this weekend. It's a three day weekend for me so we'll see how much motivation and energy I have. I'll post pictures soon.

I started a pre-natal yoga class this past weekend with a friend from work. She is having twins and is due at the end of July. It was a nice class and I think I can do some of the poses/stretches at home as well.

I'm pretty sure I felt the baby move Sunday night. I was laying on the couch, using the computer and felt a little flutter. I kind of felt like a bubble was popping or that a goldfish was swimming around in there. I felt it again yesterday at work. I was watching Lost on my computer at work (thank you Netflix!) and felt it. The baby has good taste.

I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday morning and will be getting an ultrasound as well. I can't believe I've made it to 20 weeks. It still hasn't quite hit me that we are having a baby. This time next year I will have a 7 or 8 month old. Wow. Really?

Someone let their child wear this??

While browsing through my favorite Goodwill (the SUPER Goodwill, if you will) on Super Saturday (all clothes are 50% off) I stumbled upon this shirt and my jaw nearly hit the floor.

Yes, this is a CHILD’S t-shirt.  What are we bringing up our children to believe???  That money is the end all be all?  That it’s ok to be with a man (or woman) only for their money?  I guess it’s a good thing it was donated to Goodwill but I think it would have been better off burned.

I did happen to find a bunch of baby clothes, a few t-shirts for me, a funky duvet cover for our bed and a bunch of yarn.  Not sure what I’ll make yet but they were nice colors and only $.50 a ball so I’m sure it will be put to good use.

In other shopping news, while I was working (at the baby superstore) I was putting away some blankets and noticed that the ENTIRE collection designed by Amy Coe was 75% off!  If you haven’t seen her stuff, it’s kind of modern with lots of bright colors.  I don’t know why it was being clearanced, probably because they are discontinuing the bedding line maybe?  Anyway, I scooped up this bedding set:

You can’t really see the bedding but it’s white with brown circles on one side and brown with white circles on the other side.  The bumper is brown with white circles.  Up close it looks like this:

 

I also got 4 brown fabric covered storage bins.  All for $57!  I really wanted to make my own stuff but I couldn’t have made it for that cheap!  On the plus side, the set came with a comforter with a duvet cover so I could always make another cover if I wanted a little change.

My new plan for the nursery (you can read about my old plan here) will be yellow walls….something like this shade:

I want to paint the crib either a shade of red like this:

 

Or a shade of turquoise like this:

I just love that shade of turquoise.  I found these pictures through a google image search and the last one was on a blog whose owner sold stuff on Etsy.  If they hadn’t already been sold, I might have scooped them up myself!

Even though I LOVE red, I’m thinking the turquoise will look better with the yellow and brown (from the bedding set).  It will be gender neutral and definitely NOT babyish but still cute (in my opinion anyway, which isn’t worth much).  I’m not big in to the whole pastel colors for babies.  Just not a huge fan.  Unfortunately, there isn’t much of a choice for colors outside of pastels when it comes to baby clothes.  I do have a couple of patterns for baby clothes but haven’t made anything yet.  When I do, you can be sure that it won’t be pastel.

Things to do

Hello, My Love,

I find writing to you to be very therapeutic. It makes the idea of you seem more real to me. Like it could actually happen. I hope against all odds that it does. It doesn't matter to me how we meet, whether it be where I have you myself or someone blesses us with you. It doesn't matter to me what you look like or whose eyes or nose you have as long as we have you. I've started preparations for your arrival even though it could be a ways away. A few weekends ago I started cleaning and organizing the basement. I plan on getting rid of some stuff, getting some stuff ready for a yard sale and then organizing what is left in storage tubs. The bedroom that will be yours currently holds all my clothes, my desk and all my craft stuff. I'll be moving most of that to the basement. Your father and I want to do some improvements to the house before your arrival but money is tight so until then we'll make do with what we have. I have an idea of what I want your room to look like. My mom (your Nana) gave me the idea awhile ago for a western themed room. A kind of nostalgic cowboy/cowgirl kind of thing. Annie Oakley and Roy Rogers era. I've researched crib bedding but haven't found anything I truly love or that is affordable ($400 for crib sheets!!!!! You've lost your mind!). So, I am going to attempt (with your Nana's help - she's the sewing genius) to make them myself. Once we know if you are a girl or a boy (and it doesn't matter to us because we will love you no matter what) we would throw in the cowgirl or cowboy accents. It seems silly to be thinking of all this now but I've been thinking about this for years now. With a little luck and a little help from mother nature and science I hope we won't have to wait much longer.