Nesting?

For some reason when I first heard this word in reference to something I would soon be doing, I pictured me in a nearly completed baby room, humming to myself and adding the finishing touches with wall hangings or curtains, and perhaps organizing cute pink outfits and tiny pairs of socks into the dresser drawers.
So far, that's not how it's been happening.
Last weekend Derek and I spent most of Saturday dirty and sweating in the garage, desperately trying to make sense of the clutter that seems to multiply in there on its own. I'm not actually sure if my instincts to organize each and every room in the house actually constitutes nesting, but I think the fact that it MIGHT qualify has been helpful in enlisting Derek in several of these crazy projects of late.
But don't get me wrong, I don't like doing it either. I can think of around 197 other things I'd rather do than clean out the garage -- but you do what has to be done. You see, last year when we bought our home -- wait, nearly two years ago... my how time has quickly passed! -- we considered ourselves quite fortunate to purchase the house fully furnished. We still count this as a great blessing since there are SO many things we now own that we never would have justified
purchasing at the time. A china hutch, two bedroom sets, a lawn mower, treadmill, two full-size ladders, garden hoses, a couch, etc. The list goes on and on. So yes, we're grateful. But with this bounty comes the daunting task of eliminating those items we don't actually want and it is here we've fallen short time after time.
We've cleaned the garage several times since moving in, but we've always stopped just short of the workshop area. We either ran out of time or determined we were too tired and cranky to go on. After Saturday, I can see our instincts to avoid this corner were right.
As we dove into the quagmire we discovered even more evidence that the man who owned this home was the father of all pack rats. The hodge-podge of old bottles of wood glue, rubber bands, screws and nails of EVERY size, three tool chests filled with items I cannot even fathom using, a hard hat, air compressor, two shop vacs... You would just die. Were I really in charge out there, I probably would have thrown it all away but Derek unwittingly tipped his hand as a bit of a pack rat himself when he suggested going through the rubble to see if anything was worth saving.
Really?
This resulted in enlisting the help of his tool-savvy father since neither Derek nor I could actually identify many of the tools by name, let alone take a guess at their ultimate purpose. (See why I think they'll go unused?)
But in the end, we found some success. Tool boxes organized. Phone calls placed to people who might actually have a use for a giant air compressor.
Boxes of garbage and donatable items set aside. Ah. I imagined finding more storage room once we finished our task, but alas, it's never enough. Still, the space is much more organized and that helps me to breathe, which is something Derek reminds me to do quite often these days.
Next step -- transforming the office into a blissful baby haven.

Derek in one of the "treasures" we found. What will we ever do with a hard hat?

The array of tools we found.

Go Team!

No, this isn't my attempt to fulfill some high school dream or to look more youthful during my pregnancy. Derek and I were invited to a Murder Mystery Dinner at our friends, the Merrills. These dinners involve assigned characters and costumes and an evening of playing a game to determine which of us committed the murder. It's really fun!
This particular game was set in 1959 at the five year reunion of students from Roley High. As you can see, I was the cheerleader. I have to say, I'm actually impressed with myself that I was able to fashion a cheerleading costume that was maternity-friendly.

Derek's character was the "bad boy" type. I think he pulled if off pretty well.

Evelyn C. ("E.C.") Leigh (my character's name)

Brett and Collette Merrill

Bevan and Dantzel Butler

Clare and Tracy Jenkins

9 more weeks!

Excuse me while I have a minor heart attack at the title of this post.
Yes, I am in my 31st week and thus I have only 9 more weeks (give or take) until we officially enter parenthood.
Anyone who has spoken to me lately knows I vacillate between excitement and panic -- erring a tad more on the overwhelmed/nervous side at times. However, I am making efforts to remember that this is such an exciting time and the only time that I'll ever have the experience of expecting our first child, so I don't want my nerves to get in the way of enjoying the little things this phase of life is bringing. For example, I am careful to notice how sweet my husband is as he is constantly doing nice things for me to make life a little easier. Right now he's putting together the dresser/changing table (I'll post pictures and info on that fiasco later) and it is so cute to look over and see him working so hard to make things nice for me and for our baby. He's amazing! I'm very lucky.

In keeping with tradition I will post pictures here of me at 31 weeks. I was just looking back at the pictures of me in the earlier weeks and man -- I'm a lot bigger now! But I know that's how its supposed to be and really I'm enjoying seeing how things have progressed (as long as they go back to normal eventually, right?).

31 weeks

New couch!

Although we were grateful for the second-hand couch and love seat that we purchased when we first got married (the fact that they matched was plenty for me) we decided after four years it was time for something new.
After plenty of exhausting shopping (getting up and down from couches all day doesn't seem like it should be tiring until you're packing all this extra weight in your mid-section), both here and in Las Vegas, and some final tense negotiations with the salesman to discount the price we have a new, infinitely more comfortable, place to sit in our family room. :)

Out with the old...

...in with the new!

The “no baby talk date”

Last weekend (May 29-30) was a little rough. After spending the whole evening Friday looking for baby furniture and talking endlessly about our options — or seemingly lack of — for cribs, changing tables and gliders (me mostly talking, Derek mostly listening) I moved on to worrying about the problem of where to pump when I go back to work after maternity leave.

I haven’t even had the baby and I’m already mentally back to work. This is sick!

We spent Saturday again shopping for furniture, baby and otherwise (we’ve been seeking a new couch which we finally bought — yeah!) after which I was hit with an absolute exhaustion from talking about the baby all the time. At one point I even turned to Derek as we drove home and said, “What did we talk about before we were pregnant?” And then it hit me — things were out of control. It was then and there we decided to implement the “no baby talk date.” No, this is not a reference to refraining from the annoying fake words people seem to find appropriate to use around a baby that can in actuality be detrimental to their verbal development. Avoiding that kind of baby talk should be an EVERY day thing in my opinion. (I feel a post on that subject coming on in the future). Rather, this would be a date set aside where we get to just be Lisa and Derek again, rather than Mommy- and Daddy-to-be.

Don’t get me wrong — I am thrilled at the imminent onset of parenthood and Derek is too, but I know it is absolutely vital we pay close attention to our current relationship even when we have so many other things to worry about.

We actually employed something similar when we were engaged. What a stressful time, right? It got to where all our interactions became wedding planning sessions or a chance to relay information from my mom to pass along to his. During this time we implemented the “no wedding talk date” and it was an absolute lifesaver, reminding us of why we were getting married in the first place. It was fantastic. I’m hoping this new version will have a similar effect.

So far it seems to be going well. We have gone on two such dates so far and it is amazing how much more relaxed and human I feel during and afterward and I can tell Derek is far more interested in discussing my endless baby-related concerns after he's had a break from dealing with it for a little while. It's definitely something I'd recommend.