Last Minute "Gotta-Do-RIGHT-NOWs"

I logged into my BabyFit account today to enter in the last few things I had eaten and my exercises for the day before heading downstairs to unwind for the night. I went to my home page, where I typically watch the counter for my "due date". It read, "Only 19 more days to go!" I knew "the time" was drawing nearer and nearer, but it didn't hit me until today... and I feel like I still have SO MUCH to do.

This may seem a little obsessive, but I don't care. I am writing this blog entry to physically map-out my plan for the rest of this week so that I (hopefully) will get these things done. By Sunday, I will have somewhere around 13 days left until Keeli's arrival. Here's what I have left to do so far (and I could technically do it all in one day if I so chose, but that's highly unlikely):

• Call the remaining pediatricians on my list and .pdf directory to set up additional consultations, since I obviously had far different views from the first one I interviewed.
• Set up an appointment for proper infant seat installation inspection at BabiesRUs. (I used to work there!)
• Call the child care centers on my list around Ooltewah to set up interviews/pay retainer deposit for when I return to school in January (though I am considering staying at home with her the entire first year) Forget this part entirely, as I am going to stay home with her until next fall when she will be a year old.
• After phone calls, I need to pick up the two parcels I have waiting on me at the Post Office. This will get done first, more than likely, even if it doesn't make sense route-wise to do so; it's a big shipment of more cloth diapers!!! :)
  
• Buy the items on the list I made (complete with pictures, haha) on the blue laptop. Shop The Dollar Tree first for smaller items, then Target (with $50 gift card), then Wal-Mart if absolutely necessary.
  
• Force Dad to let me have a clothesline so that I can buy that, have it installed, and feel "ready" for diaper duty. He keeps dodging me on this.
• Fill-out, address, apply postage to and mail my Thank You cards for those who attended my baby shower/sent gifts in the mail. There are tons of them. I keep putting it off but if I don't do them before she gets here, I know I will never get them done.
• Add new items from shopping to hospital bags for when it's "time".
• Condense number of hospital bags if I can. Right now there are a total of 7 in various sizes, and I also have to take my birthing ball and pillows. The only problem I can foresee with downsizing is that everything I'm packing, I will probably need. DOWNSIZED, but still have all the essentials.
  
• Wash pocket diapers. I am trying to wait on all of them to arrive first so that I can do one big wash, but who knows when they'll all be here. I am currently waiting on twenty more, fifteen of which I believe are in the shipment mentioned above that I will be picking up tomorrow.
  
• Finish sewing newborn AIO's and a few more newborn fitteds.

Now that I'm seeing all of this in writing, I think it makes it seem a little more manageable. It at least gives me something to refer to.

Nevermind; it seems like a lot still. Jeez. I better get in bed so I can wake up before 10am tomorrow. =)

My (soon-to-arrive) Daughter's Nursery

Since I made this video, we have changed it a little... Added more little things here and there. The look we were going for was originally 40's Glamour-like, and I hope we landed somewhere in that ballpark. I think it's so pretty, and it's something she can grow into as well. I love baby stuff, don't get me wrong, but I can't stand pink, pink, pink everything. She can be a girl without being obnoxious about it! :)

Hyper-Nesting Phase 2

Today, I may have seriously overdone it. Well, not really, but if you ask my mom, I did.

Since we moved into this house when I was 16, the two-car garage here has been FULL of total JUNK. We somehow managed to get one side of it clean enough so my mom could park her car inside. Today, I cleaned out the rest... ALL of it.

This entire little project was completely involuntary. I had already swept and hosed-out the side where my mom's car is usually parked; Maggi had pee-peed in that spot and I didn't want it to start smelling. That task alone almost had me exhausted. Then, the guys from the furniture store came and dropped off the new couch for the downstairs. Upon going back into the garage, I discovered they had knocked over one of the pots full of soil, and dirt was everywhere. I was a little ticked-off, but after they just hauled off a couch and put a new one in (and moved the stuff in the garage so they could do so) all by themselves, I figured I'd just clean it up. That's where it all started. I couldn't effectively sweep because of all the crap in the way, so I decided to move it all. I picked up box after box, sorted through old pictures, old toys, old trophies, put all of my step-dad's things into two giant tubs and moved those... I did it all.

Mom and I had been saying for a couple months (at least) that we were going to clean it out together so that I could get my car into the other side. It needed to be done, not only because that's what a garage is supposed to be for, but so that Keeli and I could get inside without dealing with the outside elements during the hot summers and cold winters. Mom came home today and was absolutely surprised, and then worried. (I also hadn't eaten until around 3p.m. because I had been cleaning since around 10a.m.) "Go upstairs, sit down, let me fix you something to eat, get off your feet, your ankles are so swollen". She's so sweet.

But then she told me: During both of her pregnancies with my older brother and sister, a week before they were born, she had a major spurt of energy that came out of nowhere except the feeling that certain things HAD to be taken care of RIGHT THEN. She asked me, "Are you sure this baby isn't coming anytime soon?" And I just laughed. She better not; she still has lots of growing to do!!!

I will be 36 weeks tomorrow, due around July 24th. I would really love to carry her as long as possible, and my doctor is even going to let me go until August 7th if we both stay as healthy as we have been. I don't want to not be pregnant, despite wanting to meet her so badly.

My arms are kind of sore, and I'm waiting on eBay to tell me I won the bid on the cloth diapers I was talking about yesterday (fingers crossed!). Just thought I'd document my recent triumph over Mount Trashmore in our garage. :)

Hyper-Nesting

According to my OB, my "due" date is on July 24th. Today is June 24th, meaning I have somewhere around 30 days to try and get everything else in order for the arrival of my angel! I feel great as far as having everything I need. The only thing I am still waiting on is the travel system, and my sister is planning on buying it for me from one of our friends once she begins feeling better. If worse comes to worse (I go into "labor" before we have one), I'm sure my dad will go and pick one up.

There is, however, one thing I am concerned about... Diapers. I have this awful nagging feeling that I don't have enough. Until today, my mom had assumed we had somewhere around 50 pre-folds in our arsenal, along with 10 nappies, subtly varying in style but all OS pockets. She is super "old school" and doesn't see why I feel the need to buy the nappies. Her words to me are always the same: "I don't see what you have against the pre-folds and plastic pants". It's not that I have anything against them, they worked just fine for my siblings and I growing up, but the nappies just seem so much more convenient... not to mention CUTER!



It turns out, though, after inspecting Keeli's closet, she only has 34 pre-folds and 10 nappies. I almost started hyperventilating. That is probably only enough for 2 days, and I'm not about to be doing diaper laundry that often and increase the financial burden we are already imposing on my parents (water bill). The pre-folds we bought, although not organic and maybe not even of the best quality, came 12 to a pack for around $10. I am planning on buying probably 3 more packs of those, but that doesn't solve my nappies problem.

I have been looking around on Ebay, and currently have bids on 4 more OS pocket nappies and if no one bids against me, I can get all 4 for $1. That would be a rare occurrence; prices always rise to around $10/nappy, which is still better than buying at my local store. The bidding for these diapers ends in 2 days, and I'm just praying no one finds them!!!

I have sewn 6 of my own for less than $30. I really enjoyed the process, but my ankles and feet did NOT! They are really cute, AI2/OS, and very economical. Now, I just wish I could pay someone to sew the next batch so that I don't have to be sitting so long... and I'd have to watch them and nit-pick at them to make sure they're doing it right. :) Here is how they turned out.

I would love to be able to buy more material and make more. I can just imagine how proud I'll feel when I get to tell people "I made those myself!". I am hoping, though, to luck-out with this bargain I found on Ebay, and then use the money I saved to make 6 more of my own... That would put me at 20 diapers.

Ugh...

So, this is a summary of my current obsession: Diapers. Either way, I know she will be provided for, even if it's by the less-cute pre-folds and plastic pants. We are blessed.