It's a start, at least

Well, the biggest job required to prep the baby's room was clearing out the crap that was in the room. (The traditional office/spare/junk room.) That done (and it was easier than I thought), I've painted and McPie set up the crib. The crib linens are as yet unironed, and why can't I take clear photos? (And how do you get them to resize when you click them?)



A dresser will be delivered in early March, and will fit under the window. It won't match the crib (which is a hand-me-down from Ben and Constance), but the crib is pretty temporary. I also need something on the walls (I ordered this), and a shelf of some sort for the wall at the end of the crib. And a blind for the window.



The closet pictured here is actually large inside. It extends under the eaves and now contains a large portion of the crap I cleared from the giant desk that used to be where the crib is now. It also contains a tall bookshelf that holds the household linens and the baby stuff I've accumulated so far.

The room is in fact pretty big (long and narrow), and the "nursery" is really just one end. The other end is still our spare room and office. The bookshelf holds the rest of the office crap (I am actually shocked that I was able to whittle it down to one shelf...), and the futon at the end will come in very hand for mid-night baby-tending sessions, whenever we end up moving the baby to his own room.


What you can't see, of course, is the crap that's still in the room, that I had to move from end to end as I took pictures.

Already in need of a stern talking-to

We met our second midwife yesterday, and really enjoyed the visit. Nadia is lovely and personable and we got a feeling of warm fuzzies that we found to be a bit missing from our previous appointments. (Midwives work in pairs, and take turns on-call -- a week on, a week off. Whichever one of our pair is on-call when I go into labour will be the one who ultimately attends us.)

Just about everything is well so far. Healthy weight gain (on my part), good measurements for the ute, and with a blood pressure measurement of 100/60, I'm apparently have no trouble relaxing. :-) The midwife nearly fell out of her chair when I told her how much I was squatting lately (she asked!). She was expecting fifteen pounds, not sixty. Fearing I was going to get a talking-to, I frantically assured her that this was half of what I'd normally do, that it's easy, really, I can do lots and lots of reps at that weight without straining. Secretly I was a bit proud, but do realize that in the grand scheme of things, I'm still well in the novice category of fitness. Sigh.

Anyway, one thing we discovered is that the Young Fellow has not yet turned his body head-down yet, which he should have by now. Nadia determined that he's still hanging out sideways, hammock-style, with his head on the right and bum on the left. Although there's not really anything to worry about (he can move any time, really), it's time to start coaxing him into position. She told me to talk to him, let him know there's room down there. And she told me to play music for him -- via headphones applied way low on my belly. Apparently, babies are very likely to follow the music, orient themselves toward the sound.

I'm doing this right now: I loaded Lhasa into my computer and have the headphones plugged in and tucked into my pants. I haven't felt a turn yet, but it seemed that this Young Fellow takes after his brother in the dancing department.

Weekend postpartum

Today is a stay-inside-and-be-cozy after a busy (but wonderful-as-usual) weekend. Shall we sum it up?

Bookclub on Friday (I can finally put Flaubert's Parrot behind me! Ugh.)

Ballet on Saturday (Peter Pan was okay, but a little bit boring; let's remember in the future that the Royal Winnipeg is technically superior but stylistically traditional, shall we?)

Soul-sucking Ikea yesterday afternoon (but Swedish meatballs and new kitchen cupboard handles, yay!)

A revivifying homemade supper with lovely company last night (Stuffed chicken meatloaf? I love you Lucy Waverman! I got another of her cookbooks for Christmas, and it hasn't disappointed.)

And there was a trip to the gym somewhere in there too...

Now, after returning from a too-early-in-the-morning dentist appointment, I'm pooped and ready for a nap. I'm not sure I'll go that far, but it was easy to decide that today isn't a gym or groceries day. So now, the dilemma for the day: reading or knitting? Both activities will inevitably lead to napping, so maybe it's a no-brainer...

In dreams, and out

I've been reliving, or living out, my current situation in the dreamscape of sleep. A few nights ago, I had back-to-back dreams (separated by pee breaks, naturally) about leaving work and the process of saying good-bye to coworkers. Interestingly, I have not been in touch with work since I left, and have been feeling guilty about this.

The next night, immediately following our first pre-natal course, I again had a series of dreams (again, punctuated by the nocturnal trip to the can) about childbirth. The first dream was a labour dream; the second focused on breastfeeding. (In which, when my "milk came in" my boobs took the shape of long dangly carrots that extended to almost the bottom hem of my shirt. Very disturbing.)

Finally, last night, the narrative was completed by a dream of miscarriage. Like all the pregnancy dreams so far, it was slightly but not very disturbing, a little comical, and completely surreal in its details. (E.g., My belly popped like a balloon, but there was no gore.)

I suspect that tonight's dream will focus on laundry and dishwashing.

Ultimately, I like to think that all this dreaming means I've finally found the correct configuration of pillows that allow me to sleep well, waking only the minimum number of times (say 4-5) required to depressurized my bladder and roll over to alleviate the ache in whichever shoulder/hip I'd been lying on. I'm optimistic that it won't get (much) worse. Yet.

* * *

Holiday mode seemed to last and last around here, what with post-Christmas trips to southern Ontario, and visits from my Dad and Mom respectively. Last week, I finally got down to business and it's been a whirlwind since then. In the past week or so, I've cleared out the spare room-cum-nursery, begun phase two of paid editing work, painted the nursery, did McPie's back-taxes, and knitted a woolen diaper cover. (Modeled here by Amos the bear.)



I've also maintained my usual routines of gym, laundry, and general household work. AND both kids have been sick -- of the past 8 school days, I've had one or the other here at home for 4 of them. Would have been more, but the Moms pitched in.

Phewf! It's a very good thing I don't have a real job.

The nursery and editing will be done by the end of January, making way for a very busy February. We have plans for every weekend (away for at least two of them), and McPie has been roped into back-to-back work trips to California and China. I'll be making appointments during these weeks (kinesiologist, chiropractor, dentist, anyone wanna have coffee?), since I'll have a car and will be mobile during the day.

And I'll nap, of course.

Dilemma of the day

Chocolate cake with roasted walnut chocolate cream cheese icing

or

Bread pudding made with croissants and studded with chocolate chips

Which do I eat for breakfast?

I'm kidding. I had my usual yogurt/ricotta/flax meal/pumpkinseed/blueberry mélange for breakfast. The dessert dilemma is really a lunch issue.

Ben and his mom came over for supper last night, because McPie was struck with a sudden urge to cook for company. He made pasta with his new pasta maker, and had grand plans for the bread pudding, to be crafted from a giant box of stale croissants he had procured earlier in the afternoon. However, Celine insisted on bringing over the chocolate cake that she was in the midst of making when we called with the invite. So we had the cake for dessert last night, and McPie baked up the pudding this morning... I rolled out of bed today and was bowled over by the smell of fresh baking AND fresh coffee at 8:30 AM.

My life is so hard.