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Our Home, June 2014

Apologies for the wonky lighting; I used my phone, and I don't think it was happy about filming. I was hoping for sunshine, but it's a really rainy day here.

Feel free to ask questions about anything. I can elaborate or add pictures.

Paint colors (all from Sherwin Williams): almost every wall is Kilim Beige, which is nowhere near as yellow as it looks. It's a nice, neutral, soft beige. I think of it as milk with a little bit of coffee. The bathroom is appropriately Bath Blue, and the kitchen is Lime Granita. The back of the built-ins is Lagoon.

39 weeks pictures

We hit 39 weeks of gestation this past Sunday, and I had a friend take some pictures of us for posterity. We hadn't done any nice posed photos since our wedding, so it was about time.

I'll be 40 weeks this Sunday, and the little one is still hanging in there. Not a lot to report at this time; I've been using my days to nest, rest, and sometimes work on school stuff. My parents fly in Saturday night, and I can't wait to see them.

Here's a few of my favorite pics from the shoot:

A video dance party

Video evidence from 37.5 weeks that my baby moves a lot. Strangely, this has been hard to catch. The rhythmic movements are me breathing (hard to hold my breath these days). The light is from my computer, so my apologies for when the light goes out and I have to shift my phone.

Carpal Tunnel

Feels like everything recently has been baby, but I think that's just the stage where I am at. We're not doing a whole lot of other interesting things. I'll have to change that so I can have some different posts.

This is another for-the-record post. Two weeks ago, I mentioned to my doctor that I'd been having weird pains in my hands. They were especially bad when sleeping; I'd wake up in the middle of the night with my hands complete numb, and it wasn't a circulation issue. Sometimes, it was so bad that I couldn't go back to sleep, even at four in the morning. She quickly diagnosed carpal tunnel, and I received some lovely braces.

I wear the braces more often than not, but wearing them 24/7 leads to pain in other ways. I also don't want my wrists to end up weak. This carpal tunnel is likely caused by swelling from pregnancy, and I anticipate I shouldn't have too many problems post-pregnancy.

And, as always, a picture for you. This is me at 35.5 weeks, sporting my fancy braces.

Diaper Thoughts

I ordered a bunch of earth-friendly disposables from diapers.com the other night. This suddenly feels much more real. Our daycare place doesn't do cloth, so we're going to do a mix of options. I have a couple different kinds of cloth that various people have gifted us, and I might order a touch more, depending on sizing. I've heard I should have the diapers pre-baby, so I ordered diapers in the 8 to 14 pound range. If our baby is smaller, we have some newborn diapers that were gifted, and then we'll have to run out for more.

I have done a lot of reading, including trying to go to the primary literature, to learn about diapers and what is best for the kid and the environment. Strangely, the best researched stuff I've found included this thing from yahoo voices and baby gear lab. Turns out the earth-friendly ones might not be the cheapest, but they were the best performers in many metrics, including health and environment.

I have also learned that the diaper that works best for one baby will not work the best for another. With that in mind, I ordered normal packs (40ish diapers) of Earth's Best, Nature Babycare (recommended by a friend), and Bambo Nature. I also have a few different brands of wipes, even though we intend to do cloth wipes at home. Disposable wipes will be nice for when we are out and about.

As a side note, mothers (or soon-to-bes) that I know out there, diapers.com is having an excellent sale right now on little-one sized diapers (newborn, stage 1, and stage 2). They seem to regularly have good sales, and I've seen the site recommended by more than one mom. I saved 20% on my order and also received free shipping, and I think that will add up over time if I can keep working various deals. Bargain-hunting moms I've read about usually like to pay in the 15 cents per diaper range. I did pick slightly more expensive diapers, but the discount brought the cost to 21 cents per diaper for the cheapest and 32 cents per diaper for the most expensive, and I didn't even buy the bulk cases of diapers.

Even the Sierra Club does not take a straight stance on diapers, though they do point out that cloth diapers are the most cost-effective choice. Since daycare has made some choice for us, we're just going to see what works. I am sensing that will be a theme throughout child-rearing.

38 weeks

I'm inching ever closer to the arrival of our baby. I'm now 38 weeks pregnant, so it's one of those "maybe tomorrow; maybe in two weeks" sort of waiting games. I'm pretty sure I have at least a week to go; I haven't felt many contractions or any sort of indication that baby is ready to come out. The baby is getting crowded, but that just means I can regularly feel a little baby bum pushing out of my belly.

Here's a photo of Matt and I together (outside that midwestern staple, Perkins) on Sunday. That's a darn comfy maternity hoody I'm wearing.

Something cool for this week is that I did some really pregnant sewing. I sewed a crib sheet! We have an extra thick mattress, and the crib sheets a friend handed on just didn't fit correctly. Rather than waste time trying to order sheets to see if they'd fit, I decided to take matters into my own hand. I followed this tutorial from Imperfect Homemaking. One lesson learned: I needed to stretch the elastic tighter at the start. I figured that out pretty quickly, so my sheets turned out fine, but I'll make tighter elastic on the next sets. Also, wonderful bonus: I don't have to struggle to get these sheets on, since they're perfectly fitted to the mattress thanks to her method for creating a "pattern."

I love the fabric pattern. I couldn't find it online, but it's a nursery pattern from JoAnn Fabrics.

A little out of place, but I want to share one last picture. This is from an end-of-the-year party at our local bowling alley. I was 35.5 weeks pregnant here. It's one of a few pictures I have with Matt, and it shows better than the picture above.

Counterbalance

From the book Maisie Dobbs, by Jacqueline Winspear:

"Later, when Celia Davenham reflected upon her day, she was surprised. For though she still felt sadness, the memory she reflected upon most was that of huge bolts of fabric being moved around at her behest by willing assistants who could sense in her the interest that led to a purchase. With an enthusiastic flourish, yards of vibrant purples, yellows, pinks, and reds of Indian silk were pulled out, to be rubbed between finger and thumb, and held against her face in front of the mirror. And she thought of the person she knew as Maisie Blanche, who suddenly but quietly had to take her leave, allowing her to indulge her love of texture and color for far longer than she had intended. Thus, a day that had seen so many tears ended in the midst of a rainbow.'

Snuggle

One interesting and fun thing about being pregnant: kitty snuggles. Lucy seems to love my bump.

Also, I really like the maternity shirt I'm wearing in this picture. It's one of my faves!

Twins

As in, our local baseball team ;-)

We've only been to one Twins game so far this season. Matt is a HUGE fan, but we have had other items on our plate, like finishing up the school year and prepping for the baby. We did go to Spring Training this year, which I think was the highlight of our March spring break trip to Florida for Matt.

I was 23 weeks pregnant in this photo and just starting to show a bit. I wasn't wearing any maternity clothes yet; I still fit into my "fat" shorts.

Even though the Twins lost that game to the Orioles, we still had a great time. We were in the "cheap" seats and still close to the field and right behind home plate.

And, finally, for an extra measure, here's me on Monday. At 37 weeks pregnant, I definitely show a lot. This is the only Twins shirt I can wear right now:

I'm not quite as swollen anymore as I look in the pic. This was taken right before we went swimming, and the water really helped me be less puffy. Of course, I do have a huge belly. Moment of pride for me: I still have an innie belly button. Here's to hoping it stays that way and doesn't get messed up; I rather like my belly button.

Love

"Love does not just sit there, like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new." ~ Ursula K. LeGuin

It's been awhile, but our spring break in early March was a wonderful way for Matt and I to reconnect and continue to remake our love. I feel blessed every single day that I have found such a wonderful partner. He takes care of me in so many ways, and he has been even more wonderful during the pregnancy. I imagine he'll be a great dad.

One of our favorite things about our trip to Florida was spending time on the beach. I just have a few pics from the iphone; I never got around to uploading our other pics (maybe one of these days!). The water was warm to me, even though the Florida locals thought it was still too cold for swimming.