Hospital Bag Edition

Here's what I got for me and Brian-

* Travel sized toothbrush and tooth paste. 

* Trial deodorants. Brian got my favorite- the Axe Dark Temptations (smells like chocolate). Maybe he thinks I won't want to kill him in the delivery room if he smells like chocolate.

* Shampoo Conditioner because I can't read. (I picked some shampoo up the next day) 

* For me, Maxi pads. These are staying at home. Unfortunately, a huge necessity. And a pain in the ass to find. Did you know that I couldn't find these maximum absorption ones to save my life? All the brands they had on the shelf were for "light flow days" like wtf. But I found these stuffed in the back of a shelf with some dust on them. I will give them purpose.

* Heating pad. Although I'm not really sure I will need one, but it never hurts to be prepared.
* Lansinoh lanolin cream. This bad boy was $10 for less than 1.5 ounce tube... but you really do not need much at all. And it totally helps! A small pea sized amount is all I need and I only need it once a day. I went from cracked, bleeding, sore breasts to just sore in about 3 days.
* A night gown. It's a size 2x from Wal-Mart- but it fits me perfectly and with the baby bump it actually hits about mid-calf. It's perfect. Big, loose sleeves. Zipper from top to bottom. POCKETS. I'm a little bummed about a 2x but I'm not going to get hung up on it. In fact, I want another in blue. This one is pink.

Here's what I got for the baby- 

* A going home outfit, complete with matching hat. 

* A heavy receiving blanket to wrap him up in on the way home
* The baby book. I already filled out some of it- like the "How Mommy and Daddy felt when they found out" and "What Mommy and Daddy got at the baby shower"
* Baby booties from the baby shower cake. I can't wait to write his name, date, weight and length on them. I am so excited! 

I love the little extra padded knee area. Brian said its to clean our floors. Hahaha

Airplane! Vroom!

He's already a pro. 

It's not a bi plane... its a butt plane! hahaha

Aww the hat

Yes a matching blanket too! Yay!! 

Just look at how cute this baby outfit is! It makes me squeal and go AWWWWWWWWWWW every single time I see it. It's a 0-3 Months so I can't wait to put the little bugger in it! :>)

Is there anything else I need to pack? Besides clothes for me and Brian?

Ps That rocking chair is soooo comfortable. I sit in it for like an hour each day just because I can! 

Nursery Update

Here I took some pics on my fancy iPad 2 and uploaded them for you guys to see. Our nursery is completely done now. 

No, we actually can't fit anything else on that changing table.

Crib is all decked out.

The bench seat lifts up, the bench is hollow and perfect for storage.

Gliding rocker, nursing pillow all ready to go.

We have 500 diapers and lots and lots of wipes. The crib will be emptied of all the stuffed animals and blankies when the baby comes. I was even told by a few people they thought I should remove the bumpers as well because the baby might get stuck in them... so what is the point of bedding? Might as well swaddle the baby up and lay them on the floor with all of the warnings and what not.

The only thing we don't have right now is a night light. That's next on my list. Of course we also don't have a play yard but I am not worried about that... I don't think we need one just yet. We also don't have any baby monitors either... uhm.. because we live in an apartment. And the crib is up against the wall that we share with our bedroom. So I thought, again, that was unnecessary. (Plus, you all secretly know that when I start freaking out about the baby being in a different room, Brian will end up moving the crib into the bedroom anyway.)

Brian's mom was upset we weren't painting the walls/decorating. We are moving in 4 months. I don't want to have to paint the walls back when we are trying to move, with a 3 month old in tow. That sounds like WAY too much effort. Plus, as Brian pointed out, the baby isn't going to remember his room was white. Meh. I'm worn out from decorating. I was going to do Winnie the Pooh style borders on the walls and such, but we decided to wait.

I'm so glad that it's done with and we can start focusing on packing for the hospital. I have the cutest! going home outfit and receiving blanket for the baby already to go. I will make that an entirely different post, because I could gush about it for hours want to do a hospital bag post.

I'm so glad it's Monday. The last day I worked was last Tuesday, so it's nice being back to work and getting on with the week. I'm completely worn out from this holiday weekend and happy to start normal life again. Or, what is my new normal. Hard to believe in just 3-5 weeks my normal will change once again!

My Thanksgiving Weekend

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my uncle's house, which was delicious, then we had a get-together at the bowling alley/restaurant my brother in law works at. He volunteered a 12 hour shift on Thanksgiving so he could have Christmas Eve off.

We hung out and bowled. Well, they did. I hung out and drank blue slushies all night. His mom kept trying to get me to "eat something" despite the fact we had just come from a gorge fest with my family.

Tonight is their Thanksgiving and they still don't know what time they are having dinner. Sigh. We won't be able to go anyway, because Brian works 5-8:30 pm tonight, but we are still going over after he gets off work and changes.

Then Brian is headed out with his brothers for a night of drinking and general goofing around. It's his last hurrah before fatherhood. I was reassured by my brothers in law that I would indeed have my husband home again, and Brian promised me he wouldn't "get too stupid" lol. I told him to call me if he needs a ride home. I'll not be going. I'm going to be home with the dog and getting started on the next phase of nesting.

Which reminds me... Brian's nesting too. He has decided he wanted to take my "re-arrange the nursery" and raise the stakes to "re-arrange the whole apartment". I'll admit, I jumped all over the idea once it was suggested now he is stuck doing it all. Ha, because I can't help.

I've been doing the things I can help with, which is pointing and saying "No put it over here. You're right, it looked better over there!" and doing laundry/dishes/cooking. Womanly duties lol.

So far we got the bedroom done. We moved the bed against a different wall, the one that is shared with the nursery. The crib is going to be on that wall too, but on the nursery side. Then we have 2 computer desks & chairs taking up one wall and the dog's crate taking up the other one.  We also have a full walk in closet and bathroom off the last wall. There's a lot of stuff in this one room, but it doesn't feel crowded. It's easily the biggest room in the apartment.

Next up is the living room. I guess we aren't doing the nursery yet (wtf!) because his brothers are coming over later today- maybe - so he wants to make sure the living room is done. Fine by me, I wanted to put the Christmas tree up this weekend. You know why? Because it's after Thanksgiving! Duh! Now is when it is seasonally-appropriate to put up the tree. Not after Halloween. Not before Thanksgiving.

After all of that... then we finally get to do the nursery. Hey, he's the one re-arranging and moving all of our heavy, awkward furniture, so he can do it in any order he wants.

Saturday we are back over to visiting my parents. Sunday he's working. We definitely have a busy, productive holiday weekend. Two get-togethers with each family. Cleaning and re-arranging the apartment from top to bottom. I may need another vacation from my vacation.

Preparations

I've spent a lot of time today cleaning... more on that later, I have a special post about what I've been up to in the kitchen :) and I did a little bit of goofing around in Photoshop for the first time in ages, designing Christmas cards. I think this year we are going to make our own cards. If Drake is with us before Christmas, all the better, but if not, then I will have to do a Happy New Year's card too and send it out to everyone. :)

I got in a ton of exercise yesterday. I had to wash pillows for our rocking chair. They didn't fit in the washer (we have a compact model) or the dryer, so I filled up the bath tub, dumped some detergent on and agitated them... by foot. I stood on top of them in the tub, holding on to the walls, and marched up and down on them for about 20 minutes, kind of like how they used to do grape stomping for wine.

Why yes, that is I Love Lucy.

Then I rinsed them out. The pillows are actually foam blocks, so they hold a LOT of water. I spent another 20 minutes or so squishing all of the water out. I used a combination of the foot stomping method and then I used my thighs of steel (lol) squeezing out as much as I could. Then I put the fan on and let them air dry.

Hard to believe it worked so well! It was a lot of fun too. Brian stood by the tub and held on to me so I wouldn't fall. I totally had it under control though, and never even slipped once. But I was still glad he was there. He even dried off my feet for me, the dear.

Max was, once again, disappointed that he did not get a bath. "It's too cold for puppies to get baths!" I tried explaining but obviously he didn't agree. So, he got a bath today. How can I deny a dog who WANTS to get clean?? I'd be insane.

I have so much more cleaning to do. I really need to get on it. We are leaving early (early being 11 am lol) for Valpo, and I need to make sure that I have everything done and cleaned so I can come home to a nice clean house tomorrow night and enjoy my Sunday instead of cleaning.

Once Bitten...

Me thinks I am in nesting mode again... because I had this huge, overwhelming desire to tackle all the laundry in the house today (and I mean ALL the laundry!) as well as tackling the kitchen. I even made Brian drive me to the store for cleaning supplies at 1 am.

This is extremely odd. Not going to the store at 1 am; that's actually normal. The odd thing is the cleaning. And not just regular "wash dry fold" kind of laundry... I took out the filters in the washing machine (weird our machine as filters...) and scrubbed them clean. I did the same thing with the lint filter in the dryer. And I noticed that the cavity the filters sit in collect a lot of lint.... so I asked Brian to vacuum them out with the hose attachment.

Weird... I know.

Then I got a growing pain... or two. I am hoping they are growing pains, at least. I'm not quite ready to meet the little one just yet. I only had two and it's been over an hour since, and they weren't super strong... so I am praying they were just growing pains.

I'm trying not to let the thought of early labor get to me... because I keep having these weird dreams where my water breaks and I end up flooding the room... clearly I am getting anxious about the impending birth. I keep trying to keep my head on straight.

Brian said that he would rearrange the nursery for me tomorrow. Except I need to draw up a diagram of how I want it to look. What a great husband! He's also been extremely helpful with all the laundry and kitchen nonsense I've been putting him through.

The cleaning bug has bit me... and it itches like crazy.

November Goals

It's November 1st. So for the first time in a long time, I think I will set some goals for the month.

I plan on finishing that popcorn scarf for Brian Thursday.
I'm going to do a crochet-along with Lion Brand Yarn to make a purse.

I'm also going to get in the decorating spirit a little early. As my pregnancy progresses, it's getting harder and harder to do things. I want to rearrange the nursery, do a little decorating in there, and also set up for Christmas. I want everything to be done by Thanksgiving. So, yeah, I'll have my Christmas tree and lights up before Thanksgiving. Last year I waited until mid-December to do that.

I also want to start on Christmas gifts too. I have no idea what to get the majority of the people on my list, so I'm thinking... food. Hahaha! I'm going to be doing gift baskets I think this year. I don't know. I'll have to think about it some more.


I also plan on finishing the online child birth class I am taking.

There are financial goals as well- to pay off another debt this month. We have two that we could knock off the list if we really wanted to. So I am going to go for one and see if I can't find the motivation to get the other one as well.

Goals:

1. Finish the scarf by 11/3
2. Crochet and finish purse by 11/30
3. Rearrange the nursery by 11/10
4. Decorate the nursery by 11/30
5. Decorate for Christmas by 11/24

I really wanted to set some tangible goals this month because I feel like I am sort of just drifting along really... and it's making me feel a little anxious. It will feel good to be accomplishing tasks. Projects always put me in a good mood when I can finish them, so this will be about pushing my creativity as much as getting my ass into gear.

Hope everyone had a great October!

Duh

The lovely Miss S gave me such a great idea yesterday- instead of a baby shower, let's do a meet the baby party instead!

This is perfect because it gives us time to focus on what needs to be focused on (such as cleaning and painting the nursery, etc) and hopefully, it will give us enough time for the drama to settle down. It seems like his family isn't quite excited about a baby- which is okay- but it's everyone's first grandchild, so I don't know what to think.

The family I thought would be over the moon about grandchildren was his family. It's not. The family I thought was going to be like "oh God you ruined your young lives" was my family. They're actually super excited and supportive. I guess it means I don't know anyone very well at all... or maybe a baby really does change things.

The Meet The Baby party is going to be great, I am way more excited about it than I was a shower, and when I mentioned it to Brian ("Hey, baby? What do you think of this idea?") He was all excited too, he thought it was a great idea and we should definitely do it.

Miss S, you definitely took a huge load off of my mind. It seems so simple now. Thank you.

I don't know why I thought I had to be traditional in having a baby shower before the baby arrived. I hardly do anything 'traditional' in my life. I didn't get married in a church. I got married in front of the courthouse. I don't have a 'regular job', I work from home. I am not even doing baby games at the baby shower- I never wanted them. So I am going to say I am not a traditionalist, in the traditional sense. And we are having a Meet The Baby party instead.

Brian said he would design the new invitations, which of course, will have a picture of the baby on them. We are also going to send out "Save the Dates" like one would at a wedding. (Which, by the way, we also didn't do- we actually only told our families the month before lol)

This way, everyone knows that we are going to do it this way, and they have plenty of time to decide whether or not they want to come.

Remember how I said I was nesting? It's getting worse. I crocheted a baby hat. And then? Baby booties. I got one done last night, and I am going to do the other today (they take about an hour or so to make each one)

I promise to post pics. I have to. You see, whenever I look at them, something weird happens. I go "Awwwwwww!" and start to get teary-eyed. I really wish I was exaggerating, but I am not.

I'm not the only one who is feeling the impending arrival of our little one... Yesterday I caught Brian in the nursery playing with the baby swing... he had put a stuffed dog toy in it and turned it on. Yeah, I about died from cuteness overload on that one! Brian's getting really excited about having a baby now. He walks around with this huge grin on his face all the time. It's really sweet.