38 weeks and ready...

38 weeks and still growing. 

Another week has made it's way by and the desire to be done being pregnant officially trumped the anxiety about becoming a parent. We are both quite ready to meet our little lady.

Things are still moving along around here. Pictures were hung in the nursery, closet curtains were sewn, car seat was installed and baby clothes were washed. Speaking of baby clothes...how in the world are you supposed to fold something so little and make it look nice? Oh well. We even put up the Christmas tree this afternoon...just in case she comes a bit early.

People have been asking if we are ready and have everything ready and Chris' response has been "We are probably as ready as we are going to be."

I concur.

37 weeks and counting...

Well, things are sure changing around these here parts...and now we are officially at the full-term mark. 37 weeks. Crazy. It's amazing to believe that she is almost here!

Apparently, the fiesty kickboxer is now the size of a watermelon. Really, a watermelon? Are we talking a huge, full-of-seeds watermelon or the smallish, seedless variety? According to the doctor everything looks good and she is "not too small, not too big."

In other news, the nursery is finally coming along. Pictures soon!

33 weeks and counting...

It's hard to believe it's already been 33 weeks and that Baby Girl Buma is about 7 weeks away from entry to the "real" world.

We've been working on little things around the house...like trying to pick up after ourselves, getting things organized and packing away things that used to live in the future nursery. It's all a work in progress and it's moving slowly.

After taking the childbirth class last weekend, we are now fully aware that it's really a crap-shoot trying to plan when Baby Girl will actually show up. A week or so early? A week or so late? On time? Who knows. But in reality, we have most of the basics...crib, clothing, etc. and Buy Buy Baby is on the way home from the hospital if necessary. Plus, Baby Girl isn't going to care how messy the home she comes home to is. Just that it's home.

Baby meet IKEA...

All parents and parents-to-be can probably relate to how kid's stuff tends to take OVER. If not, I envy you. I feel like - actually, I'm well aware - we're losing the battle I'm not quite sure it's possible to win anyway and she's not even here yet. Since Chris started painting the nursery all the things that were stored in there plus all the baby stuff we have been acquiring are now consuming our bedroom and office...driving me a bit crazy. Not a far drive some days but that's another matter. 

Solution to our storage problem? One word. HEMNES. Don't speak IKEA? Let me translate. HEMNES is the traditional looking furniture line from the great Swedish store. A couple months ago, Chris and I got two white HEMNES 8 drawer dressers for our bedroom and love them...someday I might blog about them.  Continuing the theme, my parents bought us (really, the baby) a white HEMNES dresser for the nursery as an early baby gift along with baby's crib from IKEA.

After picking up the dresser and the crib yesterday morning with the help of Chris' family's van and muscles, I begged Chris to put the dresser together...after he was in class all day. Knowing he's still got a lot of painting to do in there, we decided the dresser could just move to the center of the room while  painting was being wrapped up. And it can hold most of the smaller baby things and clothes at the same time. 


If you didn't know, most of IKEA furniture comes "flat-pack" which means you can get it home easily but have to put it together at home. Just think of it like a "big-kid" lego project. Pretty fun. Chris seemed to enjoy himself...and I enjoyed watching and taking pictures.

Step 1. Open box, read instructions and sort pieces...all while smiling. 

Step 2. Start assembling dresser frame.

Step 3. Continue smiling while assembling frame, wonder when your wife is going to stop taking your picture.

Step 4. Frame mostly assembled, consult instructions.

Step 5. Assemble dresser top.

Step 6. Nail backing on dresser, avoid thumbs.

Step 7. Put drawers together, end is in sight.

Step 8. Finished. Assembled. Happy.

*Optional* Step 9. Add organizers to hold baby's little things.

The dresser is going to have a changing pad on top so we can skip the traditional changing table. Bonus for us tall folk? Upon putting it together, we discovered that it's higher than some of the other changing tables/dressers. Nice. 

We decided to wait to put the crib together until the painting is actually done so Chris will have room to move while working in the nursery. Guess I'll actually have to start sewing the quilt now...

A New Hobby...Quilting

After a few trips to the baby superstores, Chris and I couldn't decide on a crib set that we liked. They were all too pink or purple or foo-foo. So what did I do? Decided to make our baby girl her own special quilt...with absolutely no clue about how to quilt. 

After borrowing a few quilting "Bibles" from the library, I signed myself up for Quilting 101 at the local Joann Fabric store. I learned some of the basics and made this pattern for practice...

Trying to figure out the material and color scheme for our baby girl's quilt proved to be much more difficult that picking our 3 fat quarters for my practice piece in the class. After spending an hour or so in Joann's trying to figure out what we liked, Chris and I came home with about 6 different fabrics. Then we found some more fabrics on vacation in Wisconsin and scrapped some of the previous fabric choices. Then I continued to be indecisive until I went back to Joann's with my friend Mel who helped me finally make up my mind on patterns. 

The inspiration behind the color scheme is fun and funky...

Armed with my final choices, I cut out all the squares using my handy dandy new quilting tools and skills I learned at my class...

And after a week or so, I think I've decided on a random layout for the center of the quilt...

The plan -as of right now- is to put a 2 in. dark purple border and a 3 in. green border around this layout. The backing will also be the green pattern. 

Now it's time to get sewing...

De-shelfing the Nursery...

Since we first saw the paneled shelf in the room now known as the nursery...we hated it. Don't get me wrong. It was useful for awhile...to hold a multitude of junk. But it had outlived it's usefulness. On Monday, Chris and I got down to business.

First, remove trim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, remove all the wood plugs covering up 14 bolts.

Then remove 14 monster bolts.

Next, marvel at the size of said bolts.

Then take shelf off wall, pondering how to get it out of the room and down the stairs.

After finding hand saw, cut shelf in half.

Finally, cut it into 4 pieces so it can fit nicely in the trash can.

Prime-d Nursery Preparations...

Many people have asked us where we are going to put the nursery and look shocked when we respond with "Oh, in the closet."

Okay, let me clarify. The nursery will be the 10 x 13 room formerly known as our "closet." It is a bedroom but you have to walk through our bedroom to get to it. Future plans for our second floor include moving doors and adding a small hallway so you don't have to wander through our room but these renovations will have to wait till baby's a bit older. Renovations will also include adding a few closets since our house came with ONE. On the MAIN FLOOR. Thus, the reason we used the space as a closet. Here's some "befores"...

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After getting all the clothing and miscellaneous stuff out of the room, Chris primed the paneling (while I was gone). We are planning on painting the room the same neutral color as our bedroom so we can decorate with a lot of accent colors and patterns.

See next post for "shelf removal"...

It's a...GIRL!

The tater tot earned it's appropriate pronoun today. 

She.

 'Tis a girl in my belly. 

A very active, break-dancing (quite literally), healthy girl. 

She was being a bit stubborn...must be Dutch. While squirming around, she kept insisting on crossing her ankles and putting her umbilical cord and hands right between her legs. 

Modest. We like that. Except for today.

Bring on the tea parties, tutus and dollhouses. It's a girl.

Baby projects...Giraffe

I was perusing the 80% off section at Hobby Lobby recently and what did my wandering eyes spot...a lonely giraffe in need of some lovin'. For a mere $8. 

Ain't he a good lookin' fella? Just you wait...

A coat or two of spray primer, courtesy of Chris who is still allowed to paint...sporting his handy-dandy respirator.

Lookin' better and better...especially with those dorky little hooks removed.

Ta da. Introducing the much-improved Giraffe. 

 

Eventually, he'll hang on the wall in the nursery...which needs to be painted yet. Right now the nursery is a panel-tastic cave which is going to get a gleaming coat of Swiss coffee just like our bedroom to brighten up the place...sometime. When I am not home. The nursery also needs to have a "clean sweep" as it's currently our closet/all-purpose junk storage room. Uh oh.

Summer of Freebies...

Free? Everyone likes free, right? Not just the Dutch - which I'm darn proud to be. Well, it's been the summer of. 

Gas grill. From J.J. - who got a new one for Father's Day. 

Propane tank. On loan from Chris' brother and wife, Grant and Carolyn- who are moving to Thailand to teach and explore the other side of the world for the next year.

Weight machine. From Keri's parents, Jack and Carolyn - who wanted more room in their house. 

Lawn mower. From Chris' dad, Craig - who had two. 

Weber Charcoal grill. From J.J. - who needed more room on his deck. 

 

Patio set. From Carolyn's grandmother - who got a new set. 

Toddler high chair. From...um, someone's curb down the street. Yes, I'll admit it. Chris' sister, Kelly, and I were on a walk to get out of the house while Chris was painting the front door and spotted it. Chris had really liked this one in the store and I was never going to spend the money on it (um, Dutch...but he is too). But, I'll take free. It needs a replacement foot rest but it's already been tested and approved by a one year-old and a two year-old. We won't use it until baby's a bit older but the neighbors already agreed to loan us their highchair. Sweeeeeet.