Not making this up

I completed the online maternity pre-registration at the hospital where we'll be having the baby. After asking me to enter my due date the next question was, "Is this work comp related?" Uh, NO. It's pretty disturbing to imagine any scenario in which pregnancy could be work comp related.

Before and After

The baby's room preparations are coming together. This is the before and after of the chair I got off Craigslist and had re-upholstered.

Before:
After:
The best part about re-upholstering the chair is that it's no longer covered in cat hair. I actually kind of liked the original orange color but the cat hair situation was extreme.

Belly Shot

This was taken on our Valentine's Day outing to the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Phoenix Museum of Art.

The weather was particularly glorious and it really put our Valentine's Day celebration over the top. Speaking of over the top--my husband presented this masterpiece to me on Sunday morning.
That's right; the multi-grain pancakes, bananas and walnuts are all heart-shaped. The orange juice is freshly squeezed. I hope you'll excuse the shameless bragging but I can't hold back. He specifically told me NOT to tell anyone about this. Actually, I'm sure that he knew that I'd for sure tell my sister and sisters-in-law about it and that it would only be a matter of time before my brothers and his were giving him guff. He also brought me roses and an ice cream cake and scrubbed down the shower. So, I compromised by not posting the picture on Facebook. It's not my problem if he makes other husbands look bad. ;) The really funny part about all this that I tried to make little berry hand pies for him and they were an embarrassing disaster. There is no photographic evidence of that crumbly, berry-juice leaking fiasco.

Sunshine

People have told me how wonderful motherhood is--I think I'm starting to get a glimpse. Call me goofy but it was off-the-charts exciting and satisfying to buy these adorable prints for the nursery. Can I also mention that they were 50% off? Oh the thrill! I got the above in 18x18 and a set of three smaller 8x10 prints:

Snips and snails and puppy dog tails

It may not be crystal clear from the image but we found out on Wednesday that we're having a little boy. We are super thrilled. My appointment was in the early afternoon and Paul couldn't get away from work so we agreed that I would ask the technician to write down the gender and seal it in an envelope and we'd open it together once he was home. I turned away from the screen while she got a glimpse of the goods and resisted the urge to peek. I watched while she did the rest of the ultrasound and really loved being able to see him wiggle as she measured and checked everything from the brain to the feet. I could see every vertebra in the spine, all four chambers of the heart, the stomach, bladder, kidneys, and all the fingers and toes. It was pretty amazing. I had myself all mentally prepared to be disappointed if they weren't able to get a good enough look to determine the gender but he cooperated like an angel and showed all his little parts. I was a proud mama!

I ran across this article on msnbc.com: Busy and baffled, new moms hire baby planners.

Once I get past my bewilderment that such a service even exists, I can see how this would really appeal to some people. I guess we each handle our anxiety about the blessed, life-changing event differently. The advice I'm taking? A point of view offered by Kelly Breslin, featured in an LA Times article about living with her husband and 9 month-old in 384 sq. feet. Breslin tells writer David A. Keeps that she's found that babies don't need much -- just diapers, a place to change them, and boobs.

Even before we found out we were expecting I had this feeling I'd have a boy. Of course this feeling is totally unreliable and completely unconfirmed. I ran across this blog post (linked below), written by a friend of a my friend Tiffany, that gave me something to think about.

Beautiful Things, by Carina

As I read it, I squirmed and thought, "This woman speaks the cold, hard truth." I remembered my mom grieving for her beautiful things ruined by my four brothers and felt a twinge of sadness for my beautiful things. Then I remembered something that gave me hope. Tiffany has two boys and I've never heard her talk about anything they've destroyed! Stubbornly, I thought, "Not all boys are like that." Well, then I scrolled down and read the comments below the blog post and the first was from Tiffany:

Likely said...

ditto. just this morning oliver colored all over my grandmother's antique drop leaf table. The one she had painted herself in the 40's. Awesome.

and then he giggled as I made him try to clean it with a sponge. I think he liked the trying to clean it part too much. Makes me think he will try it again so he can try to clean it.

I love my boys.

November 9, 2009 5:37 AM

Yikes.