Welcome to Week 34

That's right folks... it's Week 34 meaning that we only have 6 to go till our estimated due date! It's been a crazy week and it's only going to get crazier in the next few. This week Lily is approximately 4.75 lbs (or almost the weight of a 5lb bag of sugar) and about 18 inches long.

What else is she up to in there?

"The waxy protective coating, vernix, is becoming much thicker this week as the lanugo continues to shed and may be almost completely gone by now.  Inside your baby, the lungs are continuing to mature in preparation for breathing in the outside world."

Just like every week, I can tell she is getting bigger in there. I was even able to feel what I suspect was a leg yesterday. Sometimes she tries to stretch out and sticks a foot right out. I have to massage it to get her to move it back in so that it can stop poking me. It's adorable and a pain at the same time. The weirdest feeling though is when she moves her whole body and it feels like your insides have shifted. I mean imagine how weird it would feel if your liver or stomach just up and shifted 3 inches to the right. It would freak you out! This all makes sense though after reading on one of my other weekly updates that she is now resting against the uterus and no longer floating in there.

She obviously doesn't like Jay's ringtone on his phone. Monday when the weather was getting so bad his phone rang a couple of times early in the morning to let him know that he would/wouldn't need to go in to work. Well, a few second after it would ring all loud and obnoxious, she would shake or do a whole body roll. It was so cute!

So, how's Mama doing?

I've had my ups and downs this week, but I'm feeling better. I really have to focus on getting enough rest, not just sleep but rest. It's really hard for me to do especially now that the nesting seems to have set in. I don't know if it's really nesting or just that my baby shower is being hosted at my house this Saturday but I find myself tinkering around the house straightening up things, re-organizing things, and basically just trying to keep the house looking fairly presentable.

But on a bigger front, I got the nursery started this weekend!! I have no idea how or why it happens but it seems that on any given work day when my alarm goes off at 6:00 am I feel like death warmed over and wish I could sleep for another 24 hours or so, but on the weekends my body will wake me up at 6:30-ish and I won't be able to get back to sleep. So both Saturday and Sunday I was up around 7am working on the nursery decor. Saturday I was able to get the bedskirt done for the crib. I'm actually pretty excited about the way it came out.

I was originally planning to make the skirt two-tiered so that it would go all the way to the floor in the highest position (like it is right now) but when we lowered it when she's older it wouldn't have to be rehemmed. But when I put the first tier on, I realized that it hit right at the lower bar and that I actually really liked it like that and no bottom tier was necessary. So, the crib skirt is done and no additional work will need to be done when we lower it to the bottom setting when she gets big enough to pull herself up.

Then on Sunday, I worked on the window valence. I had an idea in my head of how I wanted it to look, but like the cribskirt, wasn't going by any specific pattern other than just measuring the window and another valence I have to see what the dimensions were. It came out pretty well, but of course I have to nitpick everything. Unfortunately when you don't cut exactly straight but then try to match edges and then don't sew excessively straight then the thing hangs a little caddywampus. Oh well. Jay says I'm just being weird. At least it's up and everything coordinates.

I have purchased a pattern for an adorable owl shaped pillow for the chair we are putting in there, but when I started looking at it, it looked like I needed a little more coordinating fabric so I held off on that until I could figure that out. I'm also looking to make a mobile for the crib. My plan right now is to purchase an inexpensive mobile from a consignment store or Walmart and then replace the dangly things with some owls I'll make out of coordinating fabric. That way it still has the arm and the wind up mechanism that will make it spin on its own, but will coordinate perfectly with the decor.

On Sunday, Jay also helped me arrange the room in the way that I think I want it. When you walk into the room, you see the changing table caddy-cornered in the far right corner. This is a changing table that was left at our house by the previous owner. I've been using in my crafting room for storage and as a "drink cart" for parties, but is now being used for its original purpose. Jay graciously put a new coat of white paint on it and it's don't look half bad. :-)

To the left of that in the middle of that wall is a side table that has been floating around our house. Jay will probably paint it white in the next few weeks, but once I get the chair up there, I might decide I want to keep it the dark color. The chair we are using is an Ikea bouncy chair and ottoman and the base is black. The dark table may help make it blend in with the white changing table and crib. The table will give me somewhere to put a drink or my cell phone on while I'm nursing or rocking Lily. On this table I put my old alarm clock which has a built in iPod dock. I thought it would be prefect to be able to pop in my iPod while I'm nursing or when we put her down for a nap. The face on it is also really bright which is why we switched it out for a new one in our bedroom, but will work as a night light in the nursery and be perfect!

Over the table and centered on that far wall is the beautiful owl painting our friend Shannon did for us.

To the left of the table will be the Ikea chair that I'll bring up stairs in the next little bit. I figured we will need all the seating we can get for the baby shower on Saturday but after that it's fair game to bring it up. Right now the swing is in that corner but that will be brought down and exchanged for the chair. That will give us a chair in her room and a place for her to nap downstairs.

So that's the current tour of her nursery in very badly lit pictures. I want to hang a string of bunting flags using all the coordinating fabrics I've chosen on the wall behind the crib. I'm even thinking of appliqueing her name or a phrase (maybe: Grow wise little owl) onto the flags. I'm also thinking of hanging some paper lanterns from the ceiling over the changing table and chair. I saw a picture on a craft site where they had taken the round paper lanterns and glued big googly eyes and wings onto them to make them look like owls. It was sooo adorable! But now I'm thinking that I'll have to see how they do with the ceiling fan. Don't want dangling lanterns blowing in the wind from the fan.

Oh! And I just about forgot! We bought our co-sleeper bassinet and car seat on Saturday too! Whew! No wonder I was tired! We had a very busy weekend!

Since way before we ever got pregnant, I've known that I wanted to get a co-sleeper crib. I admit, I'm an Attachment Parenting kind of mom, and believe in the positive effects of co-sleeping. (Although, I'm also flexible and know that what works in books and what works for others, may or may not work for our family and our baby.) I do however worry about rolling over on her (although that is very, very rare! and usually happens in cases where alcohol or drugs, including sleeping pills, are involved). I'm also a huge advocate for breastfeeding and am very committed to breastfeeding her as long as possible. So this co-sleeper bassinet works perfectly! It's basically a three sided bassinet that attaches to our mattress and keeps it right up next to us. That way when I feed her in the middle of the night all I have to do is bring her in bed with me and then place her back without even getting out of bed. Assuming that is that she doesn't need to be changed at that moment.  Here's an example of one of these contraptions in use, since ours isn't set up yet to take any pictures.

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I've heard great things from mothers who have used them for their children and am really looking forward to getting it set up in our room. So, even though I've spent all this time worrying about and working on her nursery, she probably won't even use it for the first few months of her life. Oops. Oh well! When she does start sleeping in her crib, it'll be ready for her. Basically she'll stay in the co-sleeper until she starts being mobile (i.e. pulling herself up, rolling over, etc.) Since these aren't used for very long, it's a great piece of gear to get used (in my opinion). A lot of people sell theirs after their babies get too big for them and they are usually in great shape. We were able to find one on Criagslist for about 1/3 of the price of new and the sellers threw in the leg extensions (which cost an additional $20) and three sheets (which run about $15 each) so I considered it a great deal!

After that purchase was made, we headed to Buy Buy Baby to pick up our car seat. We'd been the week before and looked at the different options and pretty much decided which model we wanted. We even had the opportunity to have a sells associate take it out to our car and I'm glad we did that last weekend seeing that they were down about three employees this weekend and wouldn't have had the manpower. We ended up buying the Britax Boulevard 70cs convertible car seat and are really happy with the purchase. Yes, we know most people go with an infant seat first. Yes, we know people think we are crazy for skipping it and going straight to the convertible seat. Yes, we know Britax makes some of the most expensive car seats on the market. But TRUST ME... both Jay and I have been researching this purchase for months and months and months! We really think this will be the best decision for our family and if we change our minds, Walmart and Target have simple infant car seats for $50-$80 and we can easily run out and get one. I could list all the reasons why we decided to skip the infant seat, but you can never defend the reasons why you made a decision without implying judgement on the decisions of others so since car seats are such a high priority safety issue, I would never want people to think I was judging their choices.

When I told my mom, though that we were going with this seat and that it had a weight limit of up to 70 lbs, she laughed and said that given the genes in my family, Lily might be in that seat until she's driving herself. Hehe. It is true. My mom didn't hit 100 lbs until she was pregnant with me and she was 28.

Oh, and Sunday I finally found something to wear to my baby shower! Yay! After being unable to find something in my closet regardless of how creative I got, I went to Destination Maternity and found this awesome sweater/tunic that I can pair with some leggings and ballet flats. The best part is though that I'll be able to wear the sweater to work after the shower so the $25 I spent was well worth it.

It doesn't look like much but in the picture but it looks cute on me. And it doesn't make me look like a BARN! So many of the clothes poof out over the belly and then stay out making you look, not so much like you're pregnant and more like you ate your entire family! So, I'm glad to find something that shows off the bump but still makes me feel attractive.

So, how's Daddy doing?

Well, other than almost throwing up over dropping almost $300 on a car seat, he's doing pretty good. Hehe! He's getting more and more excited for her to be here so he can hold her and he's loving being able to feel her move around in my belly. I really can't wait to see him become the father he's always been destined to be.

Well, I think that's about it. This week coming up is going to be a crazy one. We have our baby shower on Saturday, a breastfeeding class at the hospital on Sunday, a Meet 'n Greet at the pediatricians office on Tuesday evening, my midwife appointment on Wednesday afternoon, and our car seat safety class on Thursday evening. Whew! I'm exhausted just thinking about it!! We'll just have to take it one day at a time and make sure I get as much rest as possible. And if nothing else, I'll completely crash and sleep all of next weekend! Can't wait to share pictures of the shower with everyone one next week! Have a great weekend!