Preparing for the New Housemate

They say not to move just before you have a baby. The thing is, how do you get away without moving? That is to say, significant rearranging.

We painted the office and moved our bedroom furniture into it. Dad helped us figure out how to screw in the headboard.


Mom painted both the new bedroom and the new baby's room. We used the lighter blue color from three of the walls in the baby's room and ended up liking it so much that both rooms are the same color. The dark blue shown here functioned as a visual headboard for our bed when this was our room. It was a little overpowering as an accent in the baby's room.
In order to match the color, which had been discontinued in the four years since I had painted the room, Jonathan cut off a piece of the paint from one corner to take in for matching. We learned an important lesson (and hopefully someone else did too) in checking both the paint color and name when picking up custom-mixed paint from the home improvement store paint counter. We turned in our piece of paint to be matched and mixed and returned an appropriate amount of time later to find no paint can, no paint chip and no sign of the employee who had helped us. We were able to determine that our can had likely been picked up by someone else, the chip had either been taped to the can or tossed and the employee in question had left for the day. Fortunately, we were able to look back through the computer records and make a reasonable guess on the order based on the time and approximate color.

I was most emphatically not in favor of having the computer station remain in our bedroom. We found a desk that would just fit into the cubby under the attic stairs in the dining area.

It was not specifically designed as a computer station so Jonathan drilled holes in the back for the various cords.

We tripped around this hodge-podge of office stuff (there is really no other word for it than that) and baby furniture for several weeks as we reorganized or chucked things up into the attic space.

Until, on March 28th, we considered ourselves ready to bring the baby home.


Which was good, because....

*We were unsure of the ultimate purpose of the misquito netting but it doubled nicely as cat hair protection.

Full Term

Last minute baking with the bun in the oven!

Palm Sunday:
Thump me, I'm ready!

Final Couple Adventures

Our plans for a weekend away for a babymoon were foiled by six weeks of illness during the critical time. We did manage a few special outings, however, including a trip to the symphony on my last day of work, March 26th and a visit to my brother's church in Olympia.

In a grand gesture before our Sunday drives went on hiatus, we drove up to Bellingham to both see mountains and walk by the beach. The day could not have been nicer.



As a bonus, we ran into Christine's husband, son and in-laws on the boardwalk. I had a few moments of double takes before deciding that I was sure enough of their identity to greet them. Who wants to be that person who approaches perfect strangers convinced of their acquaintance?


I recognized this local ice cream shop from trips to visit friends at Western and convinced Jonathan that the baby really wanted dessert. Lots of exotic flavors to taste, culminating in two fabulous scoops of mocha and mint oreo. This may be a required stop from now on.
Any suggestions for more local ice cream stops?

34 Weeks=

Sick mama and lots of baby hiccups. How did I manage to get both a nasty cold and the stomach flu in the same week? However, I can now confirm that pregnancy sickness and gastroenteritis do not quite feel identical.

We've decided that the small, rhythmic movements that have been happening lately aren't a sign of percussion practice but rather baby hiccups. She also seems to be more active overall--although that could be simply the contrast created by almost a week in bed. I foresee lots of bouncing and rocking to soothe her in our future since anytime I am busy on my feet, she tends to be quiet and vice versa.

We hit another milestone last weekend with the switching of the bedrooms. With lots of parental help, the office has been largely transformed into our bedroom and the baby furniture is now ensconced in the back bedroom. There are plenty of odds and ends to put into place, including curtains and crib assembly, but it is a huge relief to have this accomplished. It looks like we'll be missing our planned babymoon this weekend (see above re: sick mama) so maybe it's time to pull out the sewing machine!

Turning 30

This was hiding in the drafts folder.

Jonathan surprised me by inviting everyone to our house for a delicious Italian dinner prepared by Camille. I was expecting a dinner out as usual and asked for an early night since I was already feeling sick and tired (happy birthday--welcome to pregnancy sickness). We headed home after work to "pick up something Jonathan had forgotten" only to discover everyone there. A special bonus was Jonathan's brother who was in town for work that week.

We already had a plan for sharing our news with the family but it was so hard not to spoil it with everyone there. Camille did a great job with the thirty candles on the cake.

We joined my family to watch the Blue Angels performance from a hilltop in Renton the following Saturday. It was a little hazy but the high altitude elements showed up well.


The show was followed by a round of truly mini golf. No windmills or Eiffel Towers here--just a tiny course complete with sand traps and water features.

Very serious business.
Or maybe not.

Holidays

Thanksgiving with the family.


Day after Thanksgiving with the other family. Camille's roommate was visiting and wanted to see a typical holiday and also to play pictionary. Jonathan and I missed the dinner and argument but obliged with games at our house the day after. Unfortunately the camera wasn't out during charades.

Camille's birthday, being cozy on the couch with the boys.

Friends!

And something to keep warm in while watching it!

Our new nativity set made it through this year with only a chipped sheep ear (courtesy of the boys). We'll see how it holds up with kids.

Jonathan was the one to get down on the floor and tighten the screws on the tree stand this year. It's a bit of a tight fit, not to mention uncomfortable, for me at the moment.

We managed to put lights on the tree at least! I tried putting on a few non-breakable ornaments to see what the boys would do. They knocked most off most of the ones in reach but they didn't climb the tree to get at the ones higher up. Partial success?

Christmas morning:

We spent some time discussing the fact that this will be our last adults-only holiday (God willing) for quite a number of years. There have definitely been some sweet things about being just the two of us but by all accounts holidays have an interest and freshness with kids that is even more special. Our daughter will be old enough by next Christmas to pull ornaments off the tree and be enthralled with wrapping paper. My standards for decorating dropped quite a bit this year due to the cats and pregnancy sickness so hopefully I'll be ready to be flexible next year.

We're already being helped to prepare:


Silly daddy!

30 Weeks

Things are moving along!


We've started birth class, house rearranging and girth expansion in earnest. I can feel distinguishable baby bits when she is moving around rather than just the thumping of kicks and wiggles. I thought that I was also no longer mistakable as chubby. After all, people have started giving up their seats on the bus for me. However, when we went out for Jonathan's birthday last Friday, I must have been leaning over because the bartender asked if I would be having a margarita as well. He figured out the true situation after he came back with my milkshake.

There has been plenty of excitement associated with simply being pregnant but now we are getting excited to actually meet our daughter. She can stay in for a while longer though--we're not that eager.