Daycares & Decor

At 31 weeks pregnant I am feeling huge, but I know there's more to come! Baby girl has decided that she likes to push on my rib cage on the right side and would like to be most active in the evenings, especially when I'm trying to sleep! If I lay on either side, she kicks up a storm! Good thing laying on my back isn't causing me problems at this point, as it's the only position I can lie in that she'll let me sleep.

It is definitely getting harder to move around as well. I can squat down easy, but standing back up is another matter. As is getting my shoes off after a long day. Or walking for more than 10 minutes. Have I mentioned how grateful I am not to have a job this year that requires me to be on my feet for extended periods of time??? Oh, and what happened to my inner ankle bones? They have vanished. Erich assures me that I have not entered cankle-ville, and Polina tells me even if I do, it will go away once the baby is born, but I am not happy about this latest develoment! Ironically, last weekend I was telling Erich how glad I was that my hands hadn't swelled much, and I could still wear my wedding ring...the next day that was no longer true! Ha! In fact, the next 2 days my hands swelled so much I got a bit nervous, but they shrank back down a bit the 3rd day. They are still a tad puffy - no wedding ring for me - but not as bad as they were!

The last two weeks we also started visiting daycare centers near our home. We visited The Goddard School near our grocery store and Scribbles Academy, which it turns out shares the same building as my OB office. Both seemed pretty nice, which I was happy about. Goddard is part of a large chain of schools and has standardized curriculum and practices, but their staff turnover is worse than Scribbles. The teaching staff at Goddard have been there on average 2 years. At Scribbles, the lead teachers are all there for 5 or more years.

Some of the other big differences are that Goddard is closer to home, and will let us choose which days we want to send the baby (since we'll only be 2-3 days a week), while Scribbles will take the kids on field trips, is less expensive, but requires a Tues/Thurs or Mon/Wed/Fri schedule, which may not work for us.

Sometime soon we hope to take a look at some centers that are on the way to work for both of us, then start investigating some of the home daycares that people in my district have recommended. Hopefully we'll find the perfect place!

On Thursday I checked out a Just Between Friends sale in Longmont. This organization puts on huge baby/kid consignment sales about once a month. I wanted to see what types of things they sold to decide if it would be worthwhile to visit one after the baby shower to pick up any items we'll still need. Wow, what amazing deals! Jogging strollers for $50 (usually $300-$600 or more when new!), high chairs, bouncers, toys, books, TONS of clothes, etc. It was all extrememly well organized, making it easy to find the things you might be looking for. Although I had planned just to take a look around, I couldn't resist picking up a little fall/winter coat for baby for when she's about 6 months old, and a few little newborn outfits. The whole lot cost me just under $14!

This weekend we decided to work on the baby room. It's a rare, volleyball-free one for Erich, so we're trying to get as much done as possible. Although I had a work event Saturday morning (Eek! It was worth going to though...), we taped off and Erich painted the rest of the nursery! I love the way it looks already! Sunday we started putting up the tree and bird decal, which took much longer than anticipated! We got the trees and branches done, then decided to do the leaves and birds another day.

Taping done, ready to paint!

 

Trees are in position!

 

Almost done and getting close to midnight. Don't be fooled, I did more than play photographer!

 

 

28 Weeks and counting!

The last few weeks have been pretty eventful and productive for us! The baby has been getting a bit more active, or at least more "determined" in her kicking. Last week at work she gave me 4 good solid kicks that actually caused my belly to visibly jump out each time and prompted me to laugh out loud in an inopportune moment during a phone conversation. Whoops! (In fact, she is kicking pretty good at this very moment...)

I also took a routine diabetes test that showed I am negative for gestational diabetes, so that's good news!

Baby has definitely been growing, as she is getting heavier and heavier, and I am finding it a bit more challenging to move around. But thankfully I have more of a desk job these days, so I don't have to be on my feet all day. It actually looks like she/I had quite the growth spurt from week 25 to 26:

Erich and I hired Bonnie Slater to be our doula; she will assist during the birth and also meet with us before and after to offer support, training, and assistance as needed. She came highly recommended from a friend who had hired her, so we were excited that she was available. She tells us that in April/May she will be assisting with her 500th birth! Maybe we'll be the lucky #500! As an added bonus, she dabbles in photography and will take photos of us and the baby after the birth for no additional charge.

We also signed up for childbirth, infant CPR, and infant care classes through the Longmont hospital. My mom plans to join us for the infant care class and both mom and dad will be attending the infant CPR class as well.

This last weekend we managed to cross off a major item off our to-do list and bought a new car to replace the Expedition Erich had for a number of years. We found a great deal on a 2010 Toyota Highlander and snatched it up, trading in the Expedition for more money than we had anticipated.

And of course, my nesting bug has continued in full force. A few weeks ago I went shopping with my mom for various baby room decorations, and we found quite a few goodies, including a lamp that will match the nursery theme perfectly, an area rug, and a storage solution for the nursery closet. 

Portfolio 72" Antique Bronze Leaves Floor Lamp from Lowes

Baxter Marigold Rug from Crate & Barrel

Alas, the rug I really wanted and fell in love with is no longer available in the size we need:

Danita Rug from Crate & Barrel - the one that got away

Erich and I assembled the closet storage system shortly thereafter, with the help of Sleuth & Maidchen. Sleuth showed no fear whatsoever as we banged away at the rails with a heavy mallet  happily weaving in and out as we worked (leaving little doubt as to why the expression "curiosity killed the cat" exists!):

We also selected the colors we want to paint the baby room and got the accent wall done yesterday (also with Sleuth's help, who sniffed at and licked the masking tape and assisted Erich in removing screws from the walls):

The rest of the walls will have to wait until we have another free weekend day!

We also started gathering estimates for black-out window coverings for both the nursery and the master bedroom and hope to have that decision finalized soon! 

Wow, it sure has been a busy few weeks!