We are so blessed to have friends and family who take an active interest in Kieran’s life – even before he was born! We were (and still are) blessed with gifts from family and friends throughout the pregnancy, not just at the shower – which was overwhelming in a very good way. The little gifts keep coming now, and are hugely appreciated as we discover new things that are required to keep Mr. Kieran happy and healthy.

A huge example of that right now: Kieran is getting slightly thickened feedings now due to his acid reflux – 1t of oat cereal per ounce of formula or EBM. The bottles we have for him (Born Free) don’t really support thickened feedings – which require a different type of nipple. Fortunately, Kelly (Gnoam in the comments) had just sent us yet another care package of hand-me-downs from her 9 month old daughter Kara – which included four 5oz Avent bottles. The Avent system has a FANTASTIC variable flow nipple for thickened feedings. So Kelly’s hand-me-downs saved us from having to go purchase other bottles for these next few months of feedings for Kieran. So HUGE thanks to Kelly (and hubby Peter and Ms. Kara) for the great hand-me-downs.

But even more than that – when I look around Kieran’s room I see what he cannot. That every minute he is surrounded with reminders of how much he was loved before he even arrived. That he is (literally) cradled with and wrapped in love from people who have never met him. Aunt Nita provided his crib; Auntie Lisa & Uncle Mikey provided the mattress and sheets he sleeps on; Donna, Lisa, Kym, Becky, Lisa & Tia, Aunt Cassie & Uncle Kurt, and Grammy Jeanne provided the stuffed friends who keep watch over him as he naps. Every time we change Kieran, we’re grateful to Great Grandma Cat and Grampa John for the wipes warmer which makes all the difference in the world to Mr. Sensitive Tushy. Bathtime is made possible by Uncle Oin & Aunt Cynthia who completely stocked our cabinets with baby necessities, and by Caroline who passed on her baby bath now that her little Hannah has outgrown it.

And that doesn’t even start with the clothes!! Admittedly, nearly everything he’s worn at this point was provided by Mama & Daddy (or Kelly again with the hand-me-downs in newborn sizes) but Paul and I look ahead with a bittersweet glance to the future when Kieran can wear outfits provided by everyone – from adorable onesies, to rompers and safari outfits and teeny tiny smoking jackets. (I don’t think any of us expected me to have such a tiny little peanut!) But the flannel blankets that we received from so many people have been put into daily use – as well as the burp cloths! (Admittedly, I wish the burp cloths weren’t so needed now – the reflux really made those a necessity.) Once he’s able to wear the outfits that fill his dresser and closet – we’ll think of the friends and family who gifted him with such cute togs every time we change his clothes!

The books we’ve been gifted with right before I gave birth are being put to use already – not that Kieran has much of an attention span… but it’s nice to have something to read to him.

So thank you, again, to everyone. The love and support that you have shown Paul and I since we announced our news last Thanksgiving to our family and to the world at Christmas; the care and concern and interest shown during the roller coaster ride of my pregnancy; the generosity shown as we transformed our house into a haven for our son; and the fact that you’re even reading this now… it means more to us that we can say. Kieran has no idea how lucky he is.

Except for one thing, that I’m really only realizing now with all the parenting and baby care stuff I’m reading. (My reading material has shifted from pregnancy-related to labor/delivery and now to ‘how the heck do we take care of this thing?’ type titles and magazines.) We have like NO BOOKS for the little guy. Apparently we’re supposed to start reading to him nearly immediately – and seriously, we have like two books! (Including Goodnight Moon.)

So, friends and family: suggestions please! We’re huge fans of Amazon, but the selection is so overwhelming when I go to look at kid’s books. I need guidance! What do you have fond memories of reading to your children? What books do your babies/toddlers/kids love? What book will you go all Van Gogh on yourself if you have to read aloud one more time? I’ll probably just build a huge wishlist to whittle down with all your suggestions, so all types of books are welcome – stuff to read to baby, stuff to let baby actually get his moist little hands on: all of it!

Thanks in advance once again for your help, everyone. I cannot believe that the little critter that is kicking me on the inside as I type this will be on the outside in a matter of a day or two.

Today’s monitoring was pretty routine. The office was INSANE busy, but they were kind enough to squeeze me in early as Paul’s cousin Mike came in for a surprise visit this morning. (My 2:30 appointment wouldn’t have worked so well today.) My fluid was up to 7.4 – which is still crappy, but better than it has been in over a week; so maybe forcing fluids is helping the teeniest bit? Baby showed off his breathing skills and happily kicked at the monitor, so he didn’t have to get buzzed today. (He was doing some serious headspins on my bladder while I was on the monitor though – I actually thought I was gonna wet my pants at one point!!) My BP was not so hot though, 147/97 and 165/103. They took more blood to run my PIH levels, but since I’m scheduled for the amniocentesis on Monday they didn’t feel the need to get uppity about the BP.

So we’re in the clear for Monday morning. No change to the usual routine for this weekend – stay off my feet as much as I can (ha!) and force fluids. The better my fluid is on Monday, the easier it is for Dr. Schwartz to do the amnio. He says he likes a challenge, but I’d prefer that my son not get poked if possible. :)

This weekend…. I dunno. Paul and I still need to pack our hospital bags (I just *hate* packing for anything…) but other than that we’re pretty good. Oh, I need to prep/boil the premie-sized prefolds that Kelly sent us. I’ll boil the hell outta them and then throw them in the wash with the other infant-sized prefolds to make a full load. (At least the half-dozen premie PFs will easily fit into my regular stock pot!) I’m hoping Paul and I can spend some “quality” time together – not that we haven’t been enjoying our time together anyway. But maybe just spend some time together where we’re not running any errands or putting something together – no agenda. Gonna be a long time before we have the opportunity again, methinks.

Paul’s cousin Mike is out for a visit, so Sunday (Father’s Day) will be spent at Paul’s parent’s place. I’m writing this from their patio on Friday evening actually. Paul is on his laptop, Jeanne’s on her iPad and Mike is doing his insane-O workout routine for our comedy enjoyment. The dogs are happily racing around our feet and the breeze is blowing. Ya know, adding a baby to this mix isn’t gonna be a problem at all. :)

This weekend is errands and more prep.

• I have a coupon for USA Baby for 20% off any one thing. I called, and that includes breast pumps – which is unheard of. Babies R Us (BRU) has a coupon right now for 15% off breast pumps, and I was crazy excited about that. But when the dang thing starts at $280, I’ll take another 5% and smile. The plan is to rent a hospital-grade pump for the first month, and then switch to the personal style if everything is working OK. If for whatever reason I can’t used the personal pump, I’ll return it since the box will be unopened. Yes, my cheapness knows no bounds.
• Gotta swing by BRU anyway to try to exchange some clothes that we bought in April. They had an incredible sale that we took advantage of, as a hedge against the shower. I assumed most of it would get returned (or at least half) because of the bounty we got at the shower, but when Paul and I sorted through it all this week, he convinced me to keep all of it. There’s a couple of heavier terrycloth sleepers and an adorable sweatsuit that are in 6mo sizes that I’d like to swap for 9mo, since I’m afraid that the little man will be a size 6 in like September or October when it would still be too warm to wear them. I am hoping to keep my resolve and not make any other purchases while I’m there. Heh. We’ll see how that goes. (The little guy’s closet is pretty full now though – so I keep reminding myself of that.)
• Groceries for dinners gotta happen today. I’m gonna make a couple of our favorite dinners in bulk this weekend (Ragu Bolognese and Creamy Italian Chicken at least) and freeze them in containers so we can have some home-cooked meals for a bit after the little guy comes home. So a bit of groceries and a grip of rubbermaid containers are on the list as well.

Other than that…. I’ve got one more load of baby laundry to do: all the receiving blankets and burp cloths and baby socks. I’ve been enjoying doing this laundry this week, folding and putting away the clothes that will be in the first pictures of my son’s life. Reveling in the fact that I have these tiny clothes at all in my house. Smiling smugly that I now have opinions on brands and know that Carter’s runs tall and skinny, Gerber runs even skinnier and smaller and Circo seems to be made for Amazons. Even with my rock-hard belly as a constant reminder, I’m still caught off guard by the knowledge that we’re having a baby.

I need to pack my hospital bag and the little bag for baby. We have a total of three Newborn sized outfits to choose from to bring the baby home in, and Paul already has veto’d one. (“My son isn’t coming home in something that looks suspiciously like a Dodgers uniform!”) That’s fine, one of remaining two outfits has stripes AND a dinosaur. I think we all know what the little guy will come home in. :)

This weekend we’ll build the bouncer and set up the Pack and Play – all the random stuff we’ve been putting off. Oh, and I’m bringing up the whole idea of actually having a name for the child several times a day. Not getting very far, but I figure Paul will get sick of me bugging him eventually and we’ll figure something out. hee!

Last week was our final “Prepared Childbirth” class. I think we both learned a lot about exactly what to expect at the hospital. I know I feel a lot more empowered about some things (like my right to refuse *any* intervention I don’t want used on the baby – like the vacuum or forceps) and more alarmed about other things (like how much of a crapshoot it will be as to whether I can prevent the hospital from giving my son a bottle of formula, or whether I’ll be able to have him and breastfeed immediately after birth.) I think Paul learned A LOT about what really goes on before, during and after labor. His comment to me after class last week (which focused on delivery and aftercare) was “There really is no way that this isn’t going to suck for you, is there?” Nice to know I have his full support and understanding. Ha!

Edited to add: The formula/BF thing is mostly a factor of whether I end up with a C-section. It’s just not possible for them to let me have the gooey baby on my chest try to BF when my lower half is still open to the world. The formula part (which honestly is what I’m most worried about) is a diabetic thing. They’ll test his blood sugar once he comes out and if they don’t like it, he’ll get a bottle. I was under the impression that maybe they’d give him a bottle of glucose water, but apparently St. Rose Hospitals doesn’t do glucose water – only formula. I’m very concerned about this because of the whole “Open Gut” thing, but there doesn’t appear to be much I can do about it. Not much I can do to control the baby’s blood sugar during the rigors of labor, but Paul and I will make sure that everyone on my delivery team knows that I want to avoid giving our son formula (or any other nipple but the ones attached to me) at ALL COSTS. We’ll just pray that I don’t end up with a C-section and hope for the best.

So tonight is our hospital tour and registration. We’ll tour the labor and delivery ward, hopefully seeing an unused room and meeting some of the nurses. (Actually, our Prepared Childbirth class was taught by 3 different nurses from our hospital, so here’s hoping that we might get one of them when the time comes!) I don’t know what the registration process entails, I’m assuming just sitting there and filling out a bunch of paperwork and letting them photocopy my entire wallet. I’m HUGELY looking forward to it though. Knowing exactly *where* to go and where I’ll be helps me visualize things better and makes it a lot easier for me to be calm about how the event will shake out – whenever it happens.

Wednesday is a big day too. I have my first weekly appointment with Dr. Schwartz for fetal monitoring. Non-Stress tests start this week – so I’ve gotta get used to longer appointments based on how cooperative the little man feels like being. Dr. Schwartz has been up front about these appointments, so while I’m concerned (as usual) about using too much paid leave to go to them – I knew they were coming, which helps in being prepared. I’m hoping we can keep these appointments down to once a week, but they might move to twice a week as I get further along. We’ll see. So that fetal monitoring appointment is as 2:30.

Then at 6:00 on Wednesday is our “Baby Basics” class, wherein we learn (refresher for me, 1st time for Paul) how to take care of our little bundle of joy. Feeding, diapering, dressing, washing… I assume this will all be covered. Honestly, I don’t know. It’s a 3 hour, one-time class. I think it will be a good place to start at least. Paul is convinced that the knowledge will just come to him when he’s presented with the baby. I’d like him to have at least a little instruction to build on. :) (Fortunately, there’s a lot of YouTube videos on how to properly apply a cloth diaper – complete with the various folds used. So that will be a help.)

In between all of these classes, there’s lots to do at home in the nursery with washing and sorting baby clothes. I need to get over to Paul’s parent’s house with the unwashed stack of diapers to borrow Jeanne’s sewing machine. I want to run a zig-zag stitch of color down the serged edges of the diapers to make the sizes easier to tell apart at a glance. And I figure this will be easier to do while they’re still very flat, before washing & drying them multiple times quilts them up nicely.

Work is busy this week too. My Executive Director is in the office this week, so that’s always exciting. But the official meeting to discuss my maternity leave duties while I’m gone will happen this week at some point. That’s a little stressful, just to have it all laid out. My boss and I have talked at length about it, and we’re both comfortable with what we’ve concluded about the work that I’ll do while I’m out. (My key duties are best continued by me so an outside person doesn’t need to be brought in, and I can not burn as much paid leave since I’ll be doing Accounts Payable and Payroll twice a month each while I’m out. Telecommuting is a beautiful thing.) I’m glad to be able to work somewhere that is as flexible as my agency is. They don’t have to be – FMLA doesn’t apply here because we’re so small. So I’m appreciative that management is willing to work with me to find an acceptable solution for both sides.

OK, lunchtime is over so I should wrap this up! I PROMISE that sorting through pictures and building a Nursery gallery is very very high on my priorities list. I’ll have it done before the end of the week, I promise – but I’ll aim for sooner than that. Your patience is appreciated. :)

Paul really really stepped up this weekend. I commended him for doing real Daddy stuff this weekend by working SUPER hard doing stuff he didn’t wanna do simply because it had to be done, and I couldn’t physically help him with it. Paul was up until 4:30 on Saturday morning clearing out the house. He was unloading bookcases, liquor cabinets and dressers and then moving the furniture outside onto the patio until the wee hours. I had to stop before midnight because I was having some pretty painful contractions that forced me to go lay down. (Whoever said that Braxton Hicks contractions don’t hurt was a LIAR.) I dozed off and on, trying to get up and come help every hour or so and collapsing back into bed within a couple of steps.

Paul came to bed at 4:30am. I got up at 6:30 and started working again, letting Paul sleep until 7:00. The installers called at 7:00 and said they’d be there at 8:00. But we still had our bedroom to finish packing (our nightstands and general daily use stuff…) Paul ended up finishing that part of packing because I had to take our dog Kishou to go get a bath at Petsmart to get her out of the house while the installers were there. I came home later with bagels for breakfast to find the couches and bedroom dressers in the backyard, the bed in the garage and pad already laid down!

Paul and I spent the next couple hours on the back patio doing maintenance and cleaning projects while the installers worked. (Paul cut a new ventilation hole in our entertainment cabinet and installed a fan to help cool our system that it trying to overheat.) I got cleaning supplies so that I could clean/dust the furniture before it came back in the house. (I wanted to clean the leather couches, but they were sitting in the hot sun.)

In just under 5 hours, the carpet was done! The installers helped Paul put the bed back together (even though they’re not supposed to) because Paul had moved so much of the furniture for them. The couches and recliners came back in and that’s about it. We tipped them (and gave them a 6-pack of beer) and Paul and I left to go get food and collect the dog from her bath. We returned and collapsed onto our bare mattress for a fantastic (in Paul’s case) nearly 4-hour nap.

Saturday night was very relaxed, as we were both still very tired after our nap. I slowly worked my way around the house cleaning stuff (OMG, ‘Magic Erasers’ are the single most appropriately named product EVER!) and Paul worked on cleaning up cables for our electronics. It was a quiet evening, and we both collapsed into bed (still unmade) around midnight.

Sunday found us starting the morning at Cracked Egg for breakfast (Peanut Butter
& Banana french toast!!) and then hitting Target to pick up what turns out to be the perfect light for the nursery! We came back home and were soon joined by Paul’s parents who were ready to help us build furniture. Jeanne spent the first hour+ wiping down everything in sight with her microfiber cloths, as there’s a heckuva lot of dust everywhere now. Paul and his dad tackled the new desk and hutch for the office – which turned into a MUCH bigger project than any of us imagined.

Jeanne and I built the 4-drawer dresser for the nursery (she and I built a couple of them a few months ago for our bedroom, so we were old hats at it) and then moved on to the crib. I picked up three battery-powered screwdrivers for the weekend and they made all the difference in the world! ($8 at Wal-mart and SO worth it!) It was pretty awesome to be sitting in my son’s room, building his crib. It went together much easier than I expected, honestly and looks just fabulous! (Thank you again, Aunt Nita!) Now all we need is a mattress for the thing! Ha!

We called it a night on Sunday and came back Monday evening to continue working. Tom and Jeanne have been great about helping us with this stuff. Jeanne and I put together the last dresser (baby’s room is getting one of our 4-drawer dressers, so we replaced it with a 6-drawer model) while Tom and Paul moved the trundle beds into the guest room/office and built the horizontal shelving unit. It’s SO great to finally have all those boxes out of the garage and have everything built! (Oh, and Tom took the slot machine and put it in his office at The Sun, so that’s even more room we have now!)

It’s been an amazingly busy weekend. Paul and I are still recovering – I accidentally took a 2-hour nap this afternoon because I sat down to have a snack. We’re plugging away at putting the house back together – there’s still a fair amount of stuff on the back patio. But we have this weekend to work on it and evenings this week and next week (altho not Thursday evenings, cuz our Childbirth classes start on Thursday) to get the house into shape before Oin & Cynthia are here for the shower, and all our other friends are invited over to see the nursery!

So for all of that – Paul and I are both astounded that we’re finally here. The point at which we’d be setting up the nursery and having the paint done, carpet in, furniture built always seemed SO FAR away. And now it’s here. It’s entirely likely that we will have our baby NEXT MONTH. Unreal.

(And no, there’s no pics yet. We’ve taken pics along the way as the nursery came together. I want to get the last things hung up on the wall and get the crib set up with linens before pics of the nursery are posted. Another week or so….)

Paul and I (truthfully, more Paul) have become a lot more eco-conscious since I got pregnant. I think it’s natural for expecting parents to start thinking more about the kind of world they’re leaving for their kid. The facts about disposable diapers are just terrifying. Bottom line, in addition to whatever goes into them during manufacturing (IE tons of chemicals in the plastics manufacturing process and the bleaching process for the filler, and the chemical compounds that absorb the wetness) they stick around in landfills for somewhere between 200-500 years. So, enter cloth diapers.

Cloth diapers have changed incredibly in the last 30 years. Gone are layer upon layer of cotton diapers secured with safety pins and crammed into a pair of rubber pants with too-tight gathers at the legs to prevent leaks. Today’s cloth diapers work similarly to disposable diapers, but with varying abilities to add (much thinner) layers for varying needs.

Cloth diapers are cheaper in the long run over disposables – even when you factor in the cost of washing them ourselves. (At least here in Las Vegas where water and power are cheap.) That said, cloth diapers main barrier to entry is the start-up cost. At an average of $15-$25 per diaper, building enough of a stash to allow for laundry days means a fairly large initial investment. (The used cloth diaper market is HUGE.)

But I found a brand of diapers that has been around for quite some time in their native Japan, and has been brought to the States in the last year or so: Kawaii Baby Diapers. They’re getting rave reviews all over the internet (on baby websites, and diaper blogs – yes… these things exist) and they’re about a quarter of the price!! No, they’re not organic cotton, and they do have velcro fasteners. I’m totally OK with all of this. Why? Because I can get a 20-diaper stockpile for $115! That makes this a MUCH more viable option for us!

We’ll still end up using disposable diapers for the first month or so, as cloth diapers tend to be a little big between the legs of a teeny newborn. But we’re really happy to be able to try out cloth diapers. We’re not concerned about the extra work of a couple of loads of laundry a week. The benefits of cloth diapering make it worth it to us. I haven’t purchased our diapers yet, but I will in the next couple of weeks. (I’ve been holding off as much as I can on buying things until after we have the nursery put together – and after the shower.)

Speaking of the shower: I’m having one at work too! I can’t believe that two weeks from Saturday is the shower at Paul’s parent’s place! I’m having such a good time seeing the RSVPs trickle in on the Evite. Especially now that more of Paul’s friends are responding that they’ll be able to attend. I know he’s really stoked that his buddies will be at the shower too. (Although I think we’re gonna have to get creative on the seating! I’m hoping it’s a lovely day outside so we can take advantage of the patio.) We’ll have two babies at the shower, because Caroline is bringing her 7-month-old little girl and Jeremiah and Jamila are coming from San Diego and bringing their 4-month-old little boy! Paul and I are SO looking forward to having friends and family gathered to celebrate our little man. It’s just going to be such a great afternoon (and weekend!)

But, I found out this week my co-workers will be throwing me a shower at work too, a couple days before the shower at Tom & Jeanne’s! We’ll connect up our three offices with the video conference system so friends in the Northern offices can share in the fun as well. I was really happy to hear that something is being planned. I tend to miss out on a lot in my office since my physical office is so far removed from everyone else – which facilitates getting stuff done, but can have an isolating effect as well. I remember Caroline’s shower late last summer – everyone had a good time. I hope mine is as enjoyable.

Other big thing right now is the house. We’re (again, mostly Paul) killing ourselves this week to clear out our belongings in preparation for the carpet install on Saturday. Dangit, there’s a lot of stuff in this house. But at the same time, I’m so stinking excited about the new carpet and then putting the house back together – because it means the nursery will be mostly put together, and we’ll be that.much.closer to having our baby here!! Paul and I both spend a moment or two in the baby’s room in the mornings when it’s bright and full of sunlight. We love the colors we painted. I can’t wait to finish the room in the next week.

We’ve got two IKEA dressers, an IKEA shelving unit, a desk and hutch, and the crib to build. Paul could use some help moving two small dressers, and the guest beds as well as possibly our bed.

If you’re local and have some time next Saturday or Sunday – we’d really appreciate the help, since there’s very little I can do to help lift or move anything. We’ve got a dolly and power screwdriver. We’ll even feed ya!

If you can help – reply to this message or email me (sarah at paulandsarah dot org) and let us know?

Thanks!!

Every evening, Paul and I will be in the office sorting, packing and moving stuff out into the garage temporarily. (Well, I won’t be moving anything, but I’ll be helping to sort and pack.) We really need to have a garage sale, but I’ll settle for another round of donations to Big Brothers, Big Sisters. (It’s just such a PITA to inventory everything before making the donation – but it’s necessary to get the tax write-off!) Well, except for tonight. I have homework and tests to finish for Accounting class tomorrow.

This weekend, we’ll paint the nursery (presumably with help from friends – depending on how the timing works out) so that it can be good and dry (with windows open) by next weekend. So I’ll be buying paint at Home Depot at some point this week during my lunch break. I wish I could find a coupon or a sale!

Then all next week, we box up the house and move IT into the garage. (Did I mention that our garage – despite Paul’s best efforts and an already HUGE pickup from SafeNest – is about 85% full already?) The carpet guys will move the furniture, but we have to unload it all first. So I’ll be culling our impressive bookcases, and attempting to sort through mountains of clothes that need to be donated. (Again with the inventorying…) Paul is threatening to send me away on the day of the carpet install, saying I’ll probably just be in the way.

Then once the carpet is in, we have a week of evenings and one weekend to put the house back together (including building all the stuff we got at IKEA yesterday and the crib) before the Baby Shower. Oh, and Baby classes start happening in the evenings there too.

THERE’S SO MUCH TO DO! But I’m looking forward to it. We’re *finally* at the point where we can be DOING stuff for the nursery. Nothing like a deadline to get one’s butt in gear! (I did a little figuring this weekend, and I’ll hit 36 weeks around June 19th… so any time after that we could have our little guy. So I’m all the more glad to be getting the house really ready for him!)

We stayed at the Pacific Edge Hotel with Paul’s parents. They’ve been going there for getaways for YEARS – Cassie (ah hem) got her start there. We were *literally* on the beach, with the high tide waves crashing against our building. We left our balcony sliding door open all night just for the novelty of hearing the waves. Paul’s parents were next door, so we enjoyed their company and passed coffee, pastries and hair dryers across balconies. We watched dolphins from our balcony on Saturday morning too!

For Paul and I, this weekend was as close to a “babymoon” as we were gonna get due to financial concerns and my inability to take time off. But honestly, this weekend was just what we needed after this last very stressful month. (Granted… a day or two longer would have been just fabulous, but we’ll take what we can get!) There were plenty of tears at Gigi’s memorial – but they were vastly outnumbered by the laughter and smiles of a Gorman get-together. And everyone is SO HAPPY for us about our little man. I’ve never been happier to have my belly blessed and patted as I was this weekend. (Although the little guy sure picked a crappy time to have a quiet weekend! He hardly kicked at all. But he’s whacking away at me as I type this now on the couch at home.)

I got to see my Dad and Grandma too, as they attended Saturday’s events as well. I am so lucky to have married into such a warm and welcoming family. Paul’s Uncle Howie and Aunt Chris especially have always welcomed my family to gatherings (like their Christmas party) which is where my grandmother spent a fair amount of time with Gigi over the years. Dad and Grandma wanted to attend the memorial to pay their respects anyway, and were gratified to be invited to attend the family picnic as well. It was just fabulous for me to have so much family together. (If only Oin and Cynthia could have been there too!)

So today on our way home (after breakfast at Tom & Jeanne’s fave spot: Snooty Fox) we hit IKEA for a couple of things for the nursery. We’ve discovered a fondness for their Malm dressers, and plan on having two of them in the baby’s room. They’re perfect height for a changing table too – just add pad! But we figured while we were there that it would be a waste if we didn’t look around for a storage option or two for the new office/guest room since we’re losing all our current storage in the office/nursery. And I had to look at the Baby section. The closest IKEA to us is nearly 5 hours away, so we had to make this trip count!

In the end, we got the two dressers we came for, a storage unit for the office, a sturdy pillow for me for breastfeeding in bed, a very-cushioned play mat for the baby, a curtain rod, and some cookies. We found curtains for the nursery, but they were out of the light blue color we want. So we’re hoping Auntie Lisa can pick those up and bring them out when she and Uncle Mikey come out for the shower next month. I was very tempted to pick up another component for the play mat – the baby gym, but I managed to show some restraint.

Paul was amazing as he tetris’d everything into the back of the SUV. After 3 hours I was completely done. My back was killing me, I was having belly pains that I think were braxton hicks contractions, and was dizzy. I’m embarrassed to say I was not a happy camper. A sit-down and a drink helped some, but I wasn’t back to my cheery (ha!) self for a little while.

This trip was a big milestone though. I remember finding out when the memorial was scheduled and thinking that we could fit in an IKEA trip to get dressers – and thinking about HOW FAR away that was, that I’d be SO pregnant by then. Heh. Well, it was very very cool to finally be here. Paul and I are freaking out a tad at everything that has to get done in the next three weeks (and weekends) but we’re excited that concrete progress will be visible by then. (And honestly, with Dr. Scarypant’s predictions at my last appointment, we’re glad to be crossing things off the “getting ready for baby” list now.)

Oh, and Paul took pics this weekend. Here’s me on Friday evening before dinner. I didn’t realize until later that my belly fit just perfectly under the balcony rail. The next morning, I nearly knocked my coffee off the railing with my boobs. I guess I’m not as aware of how big I’m getting as I think I am!