Mission: Sewing!

My mission, should I choose to accept it (which, I have), is to turn this box of cozy fabric:


into a crib bumper, crib skirt, nursery window treatment, and maybe a small quilt... in the next 80 (or so) days. Time to get busy! I want to put a soft yellow pom pom trim on the bottom of the crib skirt (and maybe window valance), but need to find that first.

In case the colors are weird, the fabric is all dark brown, sage green, soft yellow, and lilac/purple.

Anyone want to come help?

Merry Christmas, baby!

It's a few days late, but Merry Christmas from our house to yours (ironically, neither of these pictures were taken at our house).


I am in awe that we will have a 9 month-old next Christmas. Oh, how different life will be! The nearness of this great life change is feeling very daunting to me. Not because of all that needs to be done, or because of the fear of labor, but just knowing that life will be massively different, I know I don't even know the ways in which it will be different.

My knees are shaking and my throat is a bit dry as I stare right in the face of an inevitable mysterious change, without knowing what it really is or means. Baby girl is due in 84 days. That means the delivery "window" is 70-98 days. Gulp.

This, I think, is one of the problems with waiting so long to have babies. Hubs and I are very used to us. To our marriage the way it is. To choosing what we do and when. To our house and the way we live in it. Every Sunday night, we have our church small-group over, which includes 20 people - half of which are kids. The kids ages range from 1.5 yrs to 18, and all but two of them are boys. They are loud, and very active. Their parents apologize for the chaos, but I am thankful. I think we need some chaos training in our home. We bought a home to fit a family, and I really want a big family, but that doesn't mean I'm used to the chaos it brings! Every Sunday we invite people over for chaos training.

Today, I painted my nails red to feel a bit prettier. I feel like a whale, and while I know that I have the pregnancy "glow" and am the picture of maternal beauty (or so they tell me!), I don't feel very pretty. To me, whale = fat = not pretty. Red nail polish always helps. At the same time, I finally took off my horribly chipped toe-nail polish that has been on since September. There was barely any left on anyway. I figured I'd better take it off while I can still reach my toes (barely).

Happy sick day

As much as I look forward to having our little one with us and being a mother, there are some things I know I will miss about our pre-kids life. Today is one of them.

Hubs and I are both sick. Both of us. We don't venture too far from the box of kleenex, tub of mentholatum, and chapstick. I hated to do it, but we had to skip church this morning, which was especially hard to do because I was supposed to be singing in the advent choir. Worse, we're practicing during the Sunday School hour, so I missed our choir practice as well. But, my lack of sleep last night, and the fact that I woke up feeling worse than yesterday, mandated that we stay home.

So, we're sick, both sick, but it has been lovely. We slept in, then both took long steamy showers to clear our heads. Steve went to the store for me to buy some chicken noodle soup and rent a movie. We're both snuggied on the couch, the dog is snuggied in her bed (which I brought downstairs for her), and we're spending our day watching movies...sleeping on and off.

It's quiet and calm.

I know these days are fleeting. Surely, sick days won't be like this at all when there are little ones to watch after. I don't think children are extra calm when the parents don't feel well.

I'm all stuffed up and can't breathe one bit, but today is one of my favorites. I love it, and will miss it when it's gone.

107 days

I am due in 107 days. Given that babies can easily come two weeks "early" or "late," that means that I hit the delivery "month" in 93 days. Only 93. If you don't count the days between now and Christmas (really - who isn't busy enough with just Christmas??), then that leaves 73 days. Seventy-three days!

I had a dream last night that I had our little baby (which strangely, was a boy). I had just brought him home. For some reason, I was alone...don't know where hubs was (he is on a business trip right now, so that may have snuck into my dream). Baby boy was the size of a 7 month old. He could also talk. In my dreams, the baby always talks and tells me what I'm doing wrong. Nothing was ready... there were no sheets on the crib, I had no diapers...nothing. Worse, I had forgotten to feed him. We all forgot to do any immediate breastfeeding at the hospital, and it wasn't until we were home for awhile that I realized I hadn't yet fed him anything. Ever.

And people wonder why pregnant women don't sleep well!

93 days...that is really 73 days. Oh my.

And of course, at a time when I feel like I have SO MUCH to do at home, I am trying to get through a long to-do list at work, as I prepare to leave there in about 79 days, which is really 59 days. For some reason, my boss thinks that this should be my first priority. Doesn't he know?

For my sanity, allow me to tell you things I'd like to get done.

• Paint the baby's room. It would help if I could finally decide on how. I'd been planning on doing white beadboard halfway up the wall, with the top half in a butter yellow. This morning I was thinking the room might be too small for that and maybe we should just stick with the yellow.
• Paint the crib... either white or dark brown. Again, it would help if I would decide. We got our crib for free from a friend, but this paint decision is killing me. It may have been worth $400 to just get a crib that was a color I liked. ;-) Ok, not really... but it seems like it sometimes.
• Decide what decorations or pictures to put on the walls of the room. I have no idea.
• Order fabric online. Again, decide. I might just order too much of lots of fabric so I don't have to decide until after it gets here.
• Sew the crib bumper and crib skirt, and maybe a matching blanket (of course...not for the infant to sleep under). Sew curtains.
• Buy and install a black-out curtain.
• Buy new closet doors. This may involve fabric too, not sure.
• Add shelving, rods, and baskets to the baby's closet. It's actually a big space, but not very usable for a little one right now.
• Sign up for and attend my breastfeeding class, and cloth diapering class.
• Attend our birthing class (already signed up - can cross that off the list) our birthing class, which is each week in January.
• Decide if we want a doula, and if so, interview some, and pick one.
• Pick a name for the baby, or at least narrow it down.
• That last one is really important, so I'm listing it twice. Pick a name for the baby, or at least narrow it down.
• Make food to have in the freezer for after the baby is born.

Ok, that might be it... for baby-specific items anyway. Phew. That list makes me tired, and I'd go take a nap except for two things. First, I have that work to-do list to get through. Second, when I go to sleep, I'm greeted by huge newborn baby boys who talk.

I think I need to go now and get busy. Feel free to nominate any favorite girl names if you want to help me out!