Almost there...

Yes, I’ve been bad. Over a month with no update. But it has been a productive month – just take a look at my latest belly shots! Hmm, let’s see, what have we done the past few weeks…

** We finished the nursery, at long last. Last night Melanie helped me decide where to put our artwork, which looks adorable. I also finished sewing the cover for my Boppy, and we got our Planetwise wetbags and washable pail liner for the diaper bin to go with our cloth diapers, which are pre-washed and ready to go. Now all that is missing is the baby!

** Jeremy installed the car seat – quite an adventure! Jeremy’s father Randy bought us the awesome Graco Snugride 32, which is a fabulously safe, and also large, car seat. You would have thought Jeremy and I were trying to figure out how to launch a space shuttle watching us try to figure out how to put it in the car. But it is adorable, and again, all that is missing now is our Little One.

**My parents gave us the beautiful bassinet that April and I slept in. Amazingly it is in wonderful shape, and with a good cleaning and a new mattress it is set up and ready in our bedroom. Our dog Maggie is scared of it for some reason, which is probably a good thing. I was a bit worried she might try to jump in with the baby, but no worries there.

** All the baby’s clothes are washed and ready – so many tiny little items! My favorite part was watching Jeremy trying to fold little teensy socks and onesies. Adorable!

** Our hospital bag is packed – this we procrastinated on that until yesterday, but now it is one more item off our to-do list. It felt a little weird to be packing clothes into the suitcase and thinking that the next time we wore them we’d be bringing home our Little One. It’s going to be real any day now!

Other updates – I’ve finally hit a “speed bump” on this fast, easy pregnancy. About 2 weeks ago I started having terrible lower back (SI) pain, to the point where I could barely walk. My OB referred me to Dr. Loehr at Meek Chiropractic, who I’ve been seeing ever since. Appears I’ve had a longstanding issue with my SI joints in my hips (I had trouble with these back in college) and the baby has aggravated the issue. With Dr. Loehr’s help I’m marginally better, but it probably won’t be “fixed” until baby comes. So for now I’m hobbled and can’t really walk much, do my water aerobics or yoga, or really be active. That stinks, but Jeremy had been patient and is taking wonderful care of me. And I’ve thankfully found a creative way to “use” my nesting instincts that doesn’t aggravate my back – sewing!

For last year’s birthday my parents and Jeremy bought me an awesome sewing machine (my first), and I’ve been going to town sewing projects for the baby. It’s honestly probably less that I’m sewing things that I “need,” but it at least keeps me busy (and sitting” while I’m incapacitated by my back. A short list of the projects I’ve completed so far: 12 burp cloths, 2 bibs, 2 flannel swaddling blankets, 2 embroidered muslin swaddling blankets, a breastfeeding cover, a breast pad purse (matches breastfeeding cover), a Scottie dog plushie, a duck-billed platypus plushie, a Boppie pillow cover, and a rocking-chair seat pad.

I’m still hoping to make a diaper bag and wall hanging before baby arrives – I’ve been told the best way to encourage baby to come is to start a big project, so we’ll see how that works out.

More to come soon! I'm hoping to post pics of the nursery and some of my sewing projects for baby this week. I start my maternity leave on Wednesday, so I should have plenty of time - unless of course baby decides to make his/her big appearance.

A Wonderful Baby Shower

We had a wonderful baby shower this past Sunday, hosted by our fabulous Aunt Debbie! Tons of friends and family attended, and Baby Blades received lots of wonderful gifts! We also all did a wonderfully fun activity - Debbie had birthday cards numbered 1-21, one for Baby Blades' birthdays up until the 21st. Guests drew cards at random and wrote messages to Baby Blades in their card, to be opened on the appropriate birthday. I know I heard a few sniffles around the room as folks imagined our little one growing up! Now every year we get to remember the shower as Baby Blades opens up a new birthday card each year!

It was so amazing to see everyone and Jeremy and I both felt so supported and loved. We've been putting together baby gear ever since and the baby's room is looking more and more like it is ready its new occupant :-)

Speaking of Baby Blades, our little one is growing fast! He/she is almost 4 lbs now as we enter week 33. I suspected baby was already head-down based on where I felt the stinker's hiccups, and our doc confirmed that! I'm still studying my Hypnobabies materials to prepare for Baby Blades big arrival, and Jeremy and I are planning out maternity/paternity leave as well as childcare. Just 50 days left now to our doctor's "guess date" for the big day!

Getting Ready for Baby Blades

We've had a wonderful couple of weeks. Jeremy's family helped Jeremy a TON to take down the wallpaper in our living room (4 layers!) and repaint, and they also painted the nursery. Thanks to all their hard work we have a beautiful new paint job in both rooms, and now the house looks amazing!

Jeremy and I cleaned for ages to get all the junk out of the baby's room so we could set up the crib and other baby necessities, and my father helped us haul everything away. During all this our dryer also died, and so we got a new front loading washer (which I had been lusting after) and a new dryer, and my parents got a new stove and gave us their nice old one, so all-in-all it is like we have a whole new house! Now I'm having fun with the little stuff, making art for the nursery, etc., and we got the crib put together this weekend. Whenever we look at it we just imagine the little person who'll be sleeping there in just a couple short months (or sooner!).

Baby Blades has been super active lately! Whenever I am using the laptop or reading a book our little one seems dead-set and determined to knock it off my belly :-)

We've also noticed that Baby B seems calm in loud situations (for example, she/he was peaceful at the 311 concert we attended and also at the new Star Trek and Terminator movies) but gets to jumping around when things are quiet. It is interesting - we may have to play rock music constantly to get our little one to sleep once he/she arrives!

This week I'll be 31 weeks - just 9 weeks to go! The pregnancy is still going well - I'm feeling good although even I have to admit that I'm starting to feel pretty big (shocking, I know). However, I started water aerobics this month - which I just LOVE - and I'm still doing power yoga at Body of Work studio, so all-in-all I can't complain. With the end in sight Jeremy and I are both getting excited - this baby is really going to be here before we know it!

Suprise Baby Book Shower!

Last night I had the joy of attending a surprise baby "book" shower, thrown by my amazing boss and friend Char Berquist. Jeremy and I had planned (or so I thought) a date night downtown. It just so happens my office is also downtown. On our way to dinner Jeremy begged to stop at my office building so he could run in to use the restroom - but when we got us there Char had everything decorated and set up for the shower - it was a huge surprise! There were beautiful decorations, lots of yummy treats and drinks, and a huge teddy bear! Tons of my work colleagues and friends came, as did Jeremy's, and the whole night was just incredibly fun. Char had asked people to bring books for the new parents and baby, and people were incredibly generous. Altogether we received over 60 books! And, the best part was that most of these were people's favorite or beloved children's books, or they were books they had read to their children. So everyone was telling us stories about why they chose the books they did, and it made the gifts that much more personal and beautiful. Jeremy and I offer a huge "thank you" to everyone who attended and helped organize the event, and especially to Char!

Photo Catch-up

I've been lax about posting belly shots lately, so I just wanted to catch up on the progression of the bump! Baby B has been super active lately and seems to be growing by leaps and bounds!

Third Trimester

Well, we've finally reached the third trimester! Time is flying by :-) This week Baby B is over 2 lbs and is 9.5 inches from crown to rump. Baby B has hair, is sucking his/her thumb, and is regularly waking, sleeping, and even dreaming! Jeremy and I have been reading baby stories at night, and she/he just goes crazy moving around and just loves it! Baby especially likes the silly voices Jeremy does reading Dr. Seuss.

My parents also gave us the gift of our crib for baby, which should be here any day. Somehow having the bed on its way makes the baby feel even more real than my belly does! And, Jeremy surprised me last weekend by pulling up our smelly gross old carpet in our living room to reveal beautiful hardwood floors underneath. Isn't he just the best! And, Karen (his mom) has volunteered to help me do repairs to the floor to make it perfectly smooth for Baby B to crawl on one day.

We are hoping to get the nursery painted in the next couple weeks (thank you everyone who has offered to help paint)! And we are going to take down the wallpaper in our living room and paint those walls. Of course, I saw "we" - I can't actually do the painting because of the fumes. I'm sure I can find another way to keep myself busy though :-) I am so incredibly grateful for all the help that has been offered to prepare our house for Baby B!

Finally, I just received my first shipment of cloth diapers for our newborn. They are Kissaluvs and are just too cute! They are sized to fit a newborn, and once baby outgrows them we'll switch to BumGenius one-size diapers that will fit until the baby is out of diapers.

This feels like such a busy time and we are now counting down the weeks until our little one arrives. There is still so much to do - hopefully we can fit it all in!