Dear Baby, Please Get Out.

Of all of the various due dates I have been given along the way, today is the last one. It was as early as Feb 6th, and as late as Feb 18th. And she's still not here. I had a revelation the other day: babies don't know what the heck a due date is. They have no clue. A due date means absolutely nothing to a baby.

So here I wait. My favorite doc, the one I was hoping to deliver with, is out of the office this week. Jake is off school all week. My chiropractor was away as well. Ugh. I thought it would all fall into place and I would deliver this week, but it's nearly friday and nothing has happened. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. And that's fine. I'm getting a lot of stuff done around the house - laundry, putting the finishing touches on the playroom, shopping for a few needed last-minute things (damn you Babies R Us and your bazillion things I never knew I needed!). It's a very odd sensation I've been experiencing lately: boredom.

Physically, I'm feeling okay overall, I really can't complain. I've been having minor contractions for days, but nothing very strong or consistent. Yesterday I was having some cramps, thinking that might mean progress in dialating, I guess I will find out at my docs appointment tomorrow. Without a doubt though, I am READY for her to vacate. I hate waiting, and even more, I hate NOT knowing. Such is the life of a control freak, in a situation that cannot possibly be controlled. Ugh.

I'll keep you all posted as soon as I know anything....

Jake playing in the snow

I don't always use my fancy camera. Sometimes there isn't enough time, or I just don't feel like lugging it around. So these were taken by me, in my fashionable green rubber rain boots and maternity coat (see pic in previous post), from our front porch, using only my little "point-and-shoot" camera. I will admit to using a tiny bit of Photoshop afterwards (to lighten a few pics that were under-exposed because all that white snow has a tendency to fool the camera's metering; I also sharpened the pics just a bit). Jake also ate more snow than he shoveled, and was ready to come back in after about 10 minutes of eating and playing in the snow.

Snowy Self-Portrait at 9 Months Pregnant

Snow Boop

Jake-a-boops, about to go out and play in the snow with his daddy. More pics to come soon.

Notice my newly painted grey office walls, and newly stained ebony wood floors? Woo-hoo - the home renovation projects are almost done!! :)

39 Weeks, and a Mental To-Do List

Well, we are definitely in the home stretch. I am 39 weeks pregnant this week and baby is, at most, 2 weeks away (I hope). At the last ultrasound, a week and a half ago, baby weighed 7lbs, 7oz. For comparison, Jake was 8 lbs, 9oz when he was born - they induced me three days after his due date (this doctor has no plans to induce). The thought of 2 more weeks carrying this baby is a scary thought actually. I keep saying: "I'm done, I'm ready!", but then I remember when Jake was a newborn and it seemed so much easier when he was still tucked safely inside my belly.

But I am so tired of the constant exhaustion, not being able to breath, the heartburn, the intense sciatic nerve pain in my lower back, the laborious and painful hourly episodes of turning over in bed, and running to the ladies room 15 times a day. Now that baby is moving lower, that seems to be even more frequent. I had two or three contractions over the weekend, but not much progress. I'm not nearly as swollen as I was with Jake at this point. I have stopped wearing my wedding rings, but my feet are hardly swollen at all - they were massive and disgusting with Jake at this point. I weigh at least 10-15 pounds less now than I did when I was 39 weeks pregnant with Jake, but I think that may have been 10 extra pounds of fluid last time.


We are slowly but surely working our way through the extensive mental to-do list that comes with preparing for the baby. The co-sleeper (basinette) is put together and ready to go next to my side of the bed. The FLOR tiles are all installed in the new attic playroom and the toys are put in their storage bins. Tiny diapers and hundreds of baby wipes are in stock. We found the carseat and both bases in storage, and I cursed my former self for putting the carseat into storage without thoroughly washing it first. Dried milk and baby spit-up from three years ago is pretty nasty, but luckily it came out fresh and new after a trip through the laundry. I did two loads of laundry for her, so now all of her clothes are clean and ready to go. It made me laugh because before Jake was born, I had to do at least five loads of laundry for him. Poor neglected recession-born second child :(

I still need to install both car seat bases into our cars. I'm relatively skilled at that normally, but the bowling ball in my abdomen may make it a little more difficult than I remember. I also need to pack my hospital bag. This time I will be smart enough not to pack pre-pregnancy jeans as my coming home pants. Learned that lesson the hard way the first time around - ha! I have two possible coming-home outfits ready for her. We still need to wash out her (blue) bathtub and bring it down from the attic. I need to find the bottles and the sterilizer. I am prepared for Plan A (breast feeding) and Plan B (formula feeding), with supplies at the ready for both scenarios, or a mixture of the two. I need to find a pediatrician to check her out at the hospital before we leave, since Jake's pediatrician doesn't have hospital privileges where we are delivering (ugh). What else? So much to remember...and my memory is shot at this point. No blood flow going to my brain it seems.

I was sick late last week, but luckily no one else in the house caught it. It was not fun, but the worst of it was over in 24 hours. Jake did have his first ear infection and is just now finishing up his twice daily dose of the "pink medicine." We had to practically force him to drink it the first two days, but by day 8 or 9, he slurped it down and asked for more - ha!

I will keep you all posted on the latest news, and the laptop will accompany me to the hospital... once I get that bag packed of course.

Sneak Peek at the attic playroom!

Ralph and I worked hard all weekend while Jake was away at Geedah & Peepah's house. We were able to get a really good start on the attic playroom! It isn't finished, but here is a before and after sneak peek at one corner of the playroom. :)


UPDATE: Our playroom was featured on FLOR.com's blog!

Nesting Chaos

I've frequently noticed that when trying to clean up, you sometimes have to make a mess of things first. I am experiencing that first-hand these days. We've got a number of home improvement projects in various stages of completion these days, and it is driving me a tiny bit totally honking insane.

We finally cleared all of the clutter out of our attic and gave it a good scrub. Now it's being painted a vibrant yellow and will have various FLOR tiles in bright colors installed over the old linoleum. Carpet is being installed on the attic staircase on friday.



I can't wait for all of the toys to go up there, into the various storage cubbies we bought from Peepa's company, who makes furnishings for pre-schools. (Bonus points if you can spot Jake on the homepage!) I've been busily planning and mentally decorating the playroom for months now, in anticipation of having a kid zone where I don't have to worry about the adult spaces getting cluttered with toys and baby swings and the like.



The hardwood floor in my office is being stained ebony, and it stinks to no end. I know the results will be beautiful, but right now I am in Starbucks escaping the smell rather than lounging in my living room. I came downstairs yesterday morning to see the reveal of the color on the floor, only to find the ceiling leaking in my office onto the newly stained floor. Yes, my heart sank. Luckily, we caught it early, it didn't ruin the floors, and the next coat of stain was able to be applied the same day. The roofer should be coming this week to repair the roof. My office is located on a small former sunporch, the roof over this section of the house is very small (my office is 8x15) and according to the roofer, it shouldn't be a huge job to fix - thank God!

The office is also being repainted a soft gray, as are three walls in Jake's room, the last wall being a deep tomato-y red. His red accent wall in his bedroom is about to get outfitted with four life-size vinyl wall stickers of guitars. He picked the theme (guitars/rock star), I went to town on designing it - not an easy task, but a fun one. The new big boy room will be pretty darn cool if I do say so myself.

His sheet set:


At least the mess/chaos isn't as bad as it was back in our last round of changes in 2007:


Jake will be moving out of his "baby room", and little sis will be moving in. I'm switching out a few blue gingham accessories for new red gingham accessories in the baby's room, but for the most part, the decor was unisex to begin with (by design).

Pics from the old nursery in Delaware, but it is virtually the same here now:



So there is dust and clutter and paint fumes and displaced furniture on each and every level of our house (except the basement, but that's a whole 'nother post). I *KNOW* these projects will totally be worthwhile once they are completed, but for now the chaos, coupled with my nesting instincts, are driving me insane. Just ask Ralph ;)