Playing House

When my sister and I were young (and even not-so-young), you could always find us doing one of three things 1) playing with Barbie (these are probably some of my fondest memories...I can't wait to have a girl so I can play with Barbie again), 2) playing school (I loved being in charge, imagine that!), and 3) playing house. My sister and I had very elaborate play houses and playing with dolls was high up on our list. We loved our dolls and our playhouses.

Today I saw a diaper bag and it got me thinking about how when Kara and I were little some of our most treasured toys were real baby things. I think we had a diaper bag that mom had actually used with one of us and we just thought playing with it was the coolest thing. I  know that when you're younger you just can't wait to get old. Anything that is "grown up" is cool. We spent so much of our time trying to imitate grown ups and, at the time, you can't ever imagine that you will ever be old enough to have a baby of your own. I realized when I saw that diaper bag today that I am going to finally have a real diaper bag of my own and a real baby to go with it and how excited 8 year old me would have been to play with a baby and real baby things!

Here's a shot of me in front of our first play house. It was an amazing playhouse and we were very lucky to have it. It was built to match our house (same paint colors, etc.). It had a front porch, curtains, and real glass windows. I just hope my baby-carrying skills are better than they are in this picture...I'm sure Rainbow Bright isn't thrilled about all the blood rushing to her head.

Here's one of our "Santa" gifts one Christmas. The boy doll was mine and the girl doll was Kara's. I named mine Andrew. I know that John Mark probably won't be into dolls or Barbies, but I can't wait to see what he is "into." I know that right now all he's interested in is keeping his foot wedged in my ribs, but hopefully one day he will develop other interests and talents, haha!

Baby Jones Update

Today, I am 34 weeks and 6 days. I thought it might be time for an update. I haven't been blogging nearly as much as I did in the beginning because, for now, we are pretty caught up. We finished the nursery, installed the carseat, prepared the hospital bag, and all we have to do now is...wait! While I'm glad that we did everything in advance, it sort of leaves these last few weeks feeling very slow. However, this Saturday we have our first shower and I couldn't be more excited!

Here's a shot from our maternity photo shoot...more photos to come :)

 
Even though I'm feeling a bit bored at this stage as far as baby preparation goes, it's probably a good thing that we did those things early. Physically things get more challenging every day. Work is going well and I have a good mix of standing and sitting, so except for walking a little slower, life at work is pretty much the same. It's home life that is a little different. Last week I tried doing some errands after work and by the time 4 o'clock hit I was literally worthless with an aching back and aching feet. If I come home after work and lay down I don't feel any pain; however, the thing about laying on the couch is that you eventually have to get off of the couch, which is proving to be the hard part. If I could just lay there without getting up often that wouldn't be so bad, but the stereotype about pregnant women going to the bathroom often is no joke. I would venture to say that I use the bathroom at least 2-3 times per hour. Sunday we saw Django Unchained and I only went to the restroom 4 times...it's almost 3 hours, so I'd say that's pretty good.

Other than tiring out at the end of the day and spending more time in the restroom than I'd like, the only other thing bothering me is sleep. I do feel a little insomnia at night; although it's not too bad yet. The worst part is rolling over, which I must do at least every hour to keep my hips from killing me (this is a new symptom...one I'm not fond of). One of the strange, RARE symptoms of pregnancy that seems to be plaguing me these days is catathrenia (a.k.a. moaning in my sleep). This one is probably bothering Brandon more than me. I noticed last week that as I would fall asleep I would hum or moan. Brandon informed me last night that it's not just every now and then, it's turned into an all night every night situation. I thought this was really weird, but when I typed in "pregnancy mo..." there were several popular searches that popped up "pregnancy moaning in sleep" and other related searches. After much research, I've learned that it's no big deal and the worst part about it is the social repercussions...thank goodness I don't have any plane trips or sleepovers scheduled any time soon.

I know I wrote a while back about how I didn't want to complain any more, but it's hard to deny that my body is not my own any more and there are just things that come along with the territory (including tangly hair and stuff up sinuses). That being said, I am grateful every day for the symptoms I do not have such as swelling, widening face, itching, tummy troubles, heartburn, excessive stretchmarks, varicose veins, and bleeding gums. My symptoms are minimal and I am so thankful for that. The best "symptom" is the fetal activity I can feel. It's changed from small wooshes and I can feel him stretch all the way across, which is so neat. I can also run my hand across my stomach and feel the outlines of fingers and toes...very surreal.

Last week I visited my OB for my 34 week check up. Right now he is measuring a little on the big side, so next week we will be getting an ultrasound to check his size and position. I am certain he is sideways (a.k.a. "transverse") and that he has not dropped or turned head down, but maybe by next week he will be. I always look forward to my doctor's visits because it marks a new milestone in the pregnancy, but I'm really looking forward to next week because I'll be almost 36 weeks and I hope that we find out more about him and maybe when labor might be on the horizon...I'm hoping I don't have to go all the way until 40 weeks! Of course my main priority is a safe, healthy baby, but the anticipation is killing me!

Project Nursery

In the early days of pregnancy when we were still getting over our shock, Brandon would come in the room and I'd be lost deep in thought and when he asked what was up I would explain that I was mentally rearranging our second level and attic. This happened on more than one occasion because I know that the best way to get something done (or at least start it) is to visualize. I arranged, rearranged, threw things away, and decorated over and over again mentally for hours on end. Visualization is a powerful tool. Now here we are months later with a completed nursery, organized attic, and overall a much lighter home all thanks to some serious visualization.

 Brandon, like most men, wants to make his wife happy. I had seen this crib on Pinterest several times and I just had to have it, but I didn't know what it was called or where to find it. After much investigation I finally found out that this is a "Bratt Decor Venetian Crib." I looked it up, but I kept thinking we would find a cheaper, more reasonable crib on Craigslist; however, I couldn't get this one out of my mind. One day Brandon called me and said to meet him after work at Storkland. Turns out, he'd been researching and found out that the crib of my dreams was on display only seconds from my school. When I walked in the door, it was the first thing I saw. We immediately made a down payment and began looking for the perfect furniture and bedding to match.

The bedding wasn't nearly as easy as the crib itself. If you don't have children yet then you might not know how ridiculously expensive crib bedding can be (and this is from a girl who has not leaned on the cheaper side with her own bedding). Some websites we found were charging upwards of $1,000 for bedding! What made things more difficult is that we had painted our walls before we had chosen our bedding so we already had a color palette we had to stick to, which narrowed our choices even further. All that said, we finally have bedding we love. Yes, it did take hours and hours of browsing the internet and Pinterest and 3 purchased and returned bedding sets before we made up our mind, but it was all worth it! We finally found some reasonably priced, perfect palette to match our walls, bedding.

After we found the perfect crib, it was time to find furniture to match. Actually the same day we found the crib we went over to the Antique Mall & Home Consignment store across the street and found these two gems (dresser and a "chester drawer" haha). We found these back in late September and would go visit them regularly until my work bonus came in and we were able to go back and give them a home. They are antiques that have been refinished and sanded and we love them! We realize that they are not very "boyish," but the plan is to use our old guest room furniture with John Mark when he is old enough for a big boy bed. Hopefully by then we will be thinking about #2 (which will most surely be a girl, right?) and these will be perfect for her as well.

Oh the glider! I could write pages and pages about the glider alone, but I'll try to keep it short. Boy and Girl want glider. Boy and girl buy one on Craigslist. Boy and girl realize it's a rocker, not a glider (and there's no matching ottoman) and apparently that is very important. Boy and Girl fight over what, where, and if they should get a glider. Girl caves and realizes boy is right - a glider is a must. Boy and Girl are unsuccessful at finding a non-ugly glider on Craigslist. Boy and Girl sell rocking chair on Craigslist. Boy and Girl buy glider from Buy Buy Baby (it's not Cragislist, but at least they had a coupon). After much experience I just have one piece of advice for those of you who have not put together a nursery yet: buy a neutral glider that will sell on Craigslist: You may have the most top of the line glider, but if it is denim, mustard yellow, hot pink, or polka dot, no one is going to buy it on Craigslist (no matter how many times you repost it).

 Old Glider Rocker:

 

New Glider:

As you can clearly tell, Craigslist has been an important part of my nursery journey; however I failed at finding furniture, a crib, or a glider on it. That doesn't stop me from looking though: I'm on there all the time and there's so much good stuff, but I just haven't brought myself to buy any because I am so worried that I am going to over buy and end up with all this stuff that we just won't need or will only use for a short time (I guess that's just the way it goes, but I still can't get my mind around this concept). I WILL find something on Craigslist I can buy...just not quite sure what it will be yet.

The rest of the nursery shopping was not nearly as difficult. Thanks to Homegoods, TJ Maxx, Hobby Lobby, Etsy, my own attic (combined with a little spray paint) and we are finished (for now)!

So if you really know me, you know that my closet (or trunk or silverware drawer for that matter) has never really matched the persona I present when it comes to work and my home. I guess that is going to be true for John Mark as well. I decided over Christmas break that, while Brandon left me unattended for a short time, I was going to clean out his ENTIRE closet, switch some dressers, and move an old T.V. out of the attic and into JM's closet. I also set up the Direct TV box and DVD player all by myself and I was really proud. Brandon was a little less pleased (after all, I'd disrupted his "personal" space and done some lifting that I shouldn't have, but it's all over now). I figure that this TV (nevermind that it's from the 90s), will be good for late night feedings in my new glider!

Now we will just hurry up and wait! 50 more days!