Nesting and readying

30 days left. It's coming down to the wire. I'm hoping this baby stays put as long as possible. The longer he stays in the womb, the more stuff I can get down, albeit slowly. Today I tried to cut Max's hair and just sitting on the floor gave me monstrous round ligament pain then and for the next hour AFTER I stopped. I can't get a lot accomplished. I start off with a lot of energy and I lose steam quickly. However, I got the cover to the breastfeeding pillow, the boppy pillows and the carseat cover washed. I still need to do the baby swing covers and bring them both into the house. But I need to make room for them.

The living room/dining room is sort of a wreck and the lack of division between them makes using the space sort of weird. Just a big trough of square footage, no walls, no separation. I think I'm going to rehome the dogs cages over closer to the dining room and then the baby swing can get the space next to the fireplace with an outlet nearby. Just need to move the photos on that edge of the mantle away. I'd thought about putting the swing even farther away so that he would be further from the noise of whatever Myles is doing in the den, but I'm not sure.

I got the overhead closet in Myles/Cole's room emptied somewhat of board games, so now it stores Myles' diapers (hopefully coming to an end w/in the next 5 months or so) and the big pillows (boppy's, breastfeeding pillows, etc). It's tricky because you can't put anything heavy up there or anything you'd want easy access to. But it can help buy me space in the organizer next to the changing table for Cole's stuff. I found a couple of sweater hanging organizers in the laundry room and so the Ikea armoire now has two rows of hanging cubbies for Cole. If I can get the rest of the crap out of there, maybe 3. I stole one cube for Myles' shoes, since he's got quite a collection at the moment as he outgrows his 6s and heads to size 7. I got him a bunch at the consignment sale, but I think it's the end of used clothes for us for awhile. I found out the reason stuff is so scarce in 3T at the sale and at stores is that this is the age that little boys destroy their clothes, so nobody can resell any of theirs. Busted up knees, stains, etc. So until he's older, no used clothes. And then, he starts to slow down anyhow and I'm less prone to want to put him in anything used. I don't mind right now because they grow out of stuff so quickly, it seems ridiculous to spend tons of brand new for something that's going to get worn for 2 or 3 months tops. But now he's slowing down, even though he's still in the 75th percentile for both height and weight as of his 2 year checkup last Friday. Doctor was pleased with all his stats. I like our pediatrician a lot.

Myles got a car table for his birthday. Sponsored by his grandparents. It's better than train tables because the tracks are nailed down and he can't drive me crazy taking them apart. I babysat Lanessa's kids one day at her house and the kids demolished the tracks and I was bright enough to know how to put them back together. After 10 minutes, I gave up and vowed to NOT buy those for my house, at least not now overwhelmed with a new baby. If I do, I'll glue them down as I've seen some people recommend to do. That's apparently why the kids like playing with them in the stores, but hate them once they get home: they fall apart. So when they are little, glue 'em down. Big kids like to rebuilt and change the tracks, but that's about 2 years away at least. So this table is plastic with built in bridges and ramps and he's crazy about it. It did exactly what I wanted it to do: keep him busy without any intervention from me.

He's more interested in you playing with him now. He'll grab you by the hand and say, "come on, come on," and make you go places and sometimes say, "play." Am I glad about giving him a little brother or what? This kid is built for siblings. A year from now, he can play with his brother. But I've been so tired that it's hard to play with him. And getting down on the floor's rough too, so anything that captures his attention that he can play with alone is excellent. My friend Charis got him an easel and he played with it a lot today. So two new big toys that'll keep his attention. We'll have to get some more outdoor yard stuff soon, but until it's consistently warm, we're okay. And there's always the water table which he adores.

I'm thinking ahead now about newborn photos. This is probably our last baby and I want it all documented and documented right. I probably won't get the newborn photos that the hospital hires a company for. Why pay when they won't do a better job than me. The chick who came last time had the EXACT same camera as mine, which isn't that professional, and they used our props and blankets, so they didn't really provide much of a service. I still had to tinker with the color when I got home, so I'd be better off taking them myself. We were scared to pose the baby and scared in general, so we needed it last time, but this time, nope. I've already got a blue blanket packed in my hospital bag for that purpose.

We got to chat with Mark's aunt Margaret on Skype today. Fun! I love technology. I've only met her once when we went to England when I was on tour. And all that distance gets diminished with a laptop. Myles kept saying, "hi Margaret" over and over. He can't always manage Aunt Margaret, or Aunt Pam. Multi-syllabic things plague him. Like he can't say grandad or grandaddy yet, so he calls Mark's dad, "grandma-daddy." He's getting better. There are some 3 syllable words he can say, but he just simplifies if he can't get it. And it's so cute that he's really trying and practicing words. He'll repeat them over and over to try and enunciate. He used to call "snack" "knack" and then he started saying "ssssssssssss nack." He couldn't quite get the squish, but he was trying. I think it might sound like English at this point, but he's really intent about saying it right.

That's it for now. I'm going to go to bed. I'll start over tomorrow. Maybe I'll get the breastfeeding storage bottles out of the garage tomorrow and get those cleaned, and figure out which kitchen cabinet gets turned into baby world and where to put the stuff that's getting displaced.

I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Myles Wishlist and Baby Registries

Sorry I didn't think to do this sooner. My sister complained and somebody said they didn't know how to search on Amazon, so here's the direct link to Myles' wishlist. We keep it updated all year for Xmas and birthdays.

In terms of sizes, he's a 3T now mostly - he's 31 lbs and 35" tall.

Here's the Amazon link http://amzn.com/w/1DQCYKSOC6YYZ

---Oh yeah, while I'm at it, I should post the new baby's registry links:

Amazon Baby Registry
Babies R Us - Registry #46585941
Target ID Registry # 014399701637753

They all have basically the same items, but some people don't like buying stuff online, so I duplicated my main Amazon list to Target and Babies R Us.

Myles birthday pics will also be up by the end of the day. He had a party with his friends yesterday and will have a family get together on his actual birthday tomorrow. He was in a foul mood, but he still had a fabulous time.

Family Photos and Belly Shots

Routines and the routine

The boy's routine seems to be settling down. He's getting tired earlier. The 8:30 bedtime is easier to do. He just goes off to bed quietly and happy - no more tiptoeing around. I just laughed aloud while watching 30 Rock and heard him echoing me in his room. He's not upset that we're up without him. This is great - because in a month and a half or two, he's going to have to adjust to the new baby. Or rather, the new baby's got to adjust to him. As long as we have some sort of schedule, the baby will fall into some part of it at least.

He's also going down for nap a little easier in the afternoon. We had two or three days where he skipped his naps and I got scared, but he was in some type of pain for those days.

I'm getting so bored, and boring. It's almost here, but not close enough. I'm a one-track mind right now. All I'm interested in is babies. And it's hard to talk to people who aren't interested in babies. It's actually hard to talk to anybody who doesn't have children at all because they have no idea how your life changes once you've had them. I know that they are going to grow up and one day I'll get my life back, but it looks like that's at least a year and a half away for me. When the next baby is off the boob, sleeping in his own crib and walking, I'll be able to see the light, but not yet. Also, it's frustrating to watch people who you know and love bang their heads upon the same rocks, when you're banging your head on new rocks daily. I screw up, I get lost and frustrated, but it's a least a change. It's not the same problems from my 20's dressing up as something new.

This is all new territory for me too. I hadn't realized it until my mother in law pointed it out - I've never been up and walking around at this point in a pregnancy. Last time, I'd sort of given in to the boredom because I had no choice. I was stuck on a sofa. This time, I can do stuff, but it's so limiting because I get SO tired.

My husband needs a new computer. I hate to change the subject, but I hear him throwing his mouse and slamming his computer keyboard in the other room. He's a great dstroyer of computers. Has a skill. Next computer is going to be a mac - he can't screw that up. I might have to give up on the double jogging stroller just to be able to afford the computer - it'd give me more peace than hearing him have fits with his malfunctioning computer. Next time, he's getting a mac mini, I'll max out the RAM, and make an operating system backup the first week after everything is installed. That way if it ever freaks out, he can just boot up from the backup and it'll run like new. Insta-fix. Macs aren't perfect, they are just easier to deal with in case of disaster as long as you have a good clone backup.

I'm readying things. I've done a lot of baby laundry, I've started my hospital bag, but I've yet to clear out space in the living room for the baby swings. We're getting Myles a new chair and table and we'll probably boot the picnic table outside. We might have to relocate the dog cages and put the baby swing there. I hope the new baby isn't as swing dependent as Myles was. He could only sleep in the swing or the stroller. I foresee a lot of stroller walks again. They were so great for my health and sanity. And in the first few months, I'd feel better taking Cole out for a walk than to a playdate.