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.