Shower's over and we're at 37 weeks.

Congratulations to us - 37 weeks! Full term baby. No more hearing the words "pre-term." This baby's done anywhere from now til when he feels like coming out. I just finished watching disc 1 of the Lamaze DVD I bought to make up for the birthing class that we probably won't make it to. If my husband's sullen, sleepy disinterest is any indication. We'd scheduled one for 34 weeks and then my doctor banned me from going, and now it's late enough that they might not have one soon enough or might be booked up.

My baby shower was fantastic. It was a bit rough preparing. I had to get the house ready, but I wasn't really supposed to be cleaning much. It worked out fine. My two friends who were planning it, and couldn't ever meet up or talk before due to scheduling conflicts, got it together the last week and had perfectly complimentary schedules on the day of. They tag teamed it and it worked out perfectly.

I got some really thoughtful, really great gifts. Board books, about 3 blankets, a footprint kit a cradle swing, a floor gym, about 15 more outfits, a carseat head support, a boppy baby pillow, a baby food book and at least 1 or 2 more fabulous things that I can't remember without getting up and walking to the nursery.

We brought the furniture back in, painted all white. We've got 2 more wardrobe things from Ikea to put together still, but the room's getting close to done. I finally took all the clothes and gifts out and comingled them (had kept the pre-shower gifts separate) and sorted them by age. I have tons of newborn stuff and almost as much 6 month old stuff. I also have a few 12 month and older outfits. Very nice. He won't be naked.

I have so many blankets and receiving blankets and lap pads. Tonight I finally got the courage to do a load of baby laundry. No Dreft for me. I'm using All-free, which we already use. It has no dye, no perfume and gets good word of mouth ratings from people. Found out today that fabric softener isn't a good idea, especially if it's dryer sheets. I was a little terrified of washing stuff because I felt like, in addition to making the wrong choices, I might not be able to remember what all the various squares are without their little tags and boxes. Would I recognize a lap pad? Would I remember which sheets go to the bassinet vs. the crib? All sorts of silly fears. I got over it (only took me all day of procrastinating) and just washed.

I also discovered that the 9 onesies I have for newborns were apparently made from baby dolls and not real children. They call it newborn, but it's really for preemies. It's for 5 to 8 lbs. Most babies would be out of those things in like 2 weeks. My baby probably weighs 8 lbs in utero already, no exaggeration. So they are going back to wherever. Not sure, but I think they sell them at Walmart - the Gerber onesies. The Carter stuff had more reasonable size estimates for newborn stuff.

I'll post some shower pics tomorrow. I'm really sleepy. And now that my inlaws are on Facebook (yes, roll please) I don't have to rush to post stuff here for my MIL to see - she can just check Facebook.

I'm not really having many signs of labor yet. I might be having Braxton Hicks, but they are really subtle and not painful. The baby hasn't dropped yet, or not entirely. He's still living under my right ribs. I'm getting these not-so-cute side stitches and plucking of some groin nerves like Sciatica, but worse. But none of the really strong symptoms like I had before at 28 weeks. This baby may surprise us all and be a full 40 weeks.

But I sort of doubt it. It's easy to stay in when I'm on my back all day, but now that I'm up and about, I start feeling it if I stand more than about 10 minutes. I kept hopping around at the shower, but I really paid for it a couple of times. And I refuse to keep sitting down because 1) I've got to finish his room and 2) I'd like to strengthen myself for labor - I hope everything hasn't atrophied after two months sitting on my booty. I'll need a little more endurance than that.

So without me artificially keeping him in, I don't know how long he'll stay. I didn't want to ruin the baby shower, so I took it easy last week, but this week I want to go to the movies, go out for dinner, finish the baby's room, buy the last things that we need that no one else got us, return stuff, etc. We should start a little betting pool. My bet is that he'll last til about 38 weeks and then come a little bit early. I also predict that I won't feel the initial contractions until he's right upon me.

I'm so thrilled we made it this far! We'll soon see, right?

Books and toys and presents

We haven't bought much for the baby yet. Our apartment's cramped as it is, and we have plenty of time, so I've exhibited extreme self control and only bought some pacifiers (which I then found out you're not really supposed to use if you can help it) and 1 baby book, a Dr. Seuss book to read to the baby in utero.

I saw this in a cute little hippie restaurant in the Valley that also has a gift shop/bookstore. I got it when I was about 9 weeks pregnant. That was soon after my gynecologist stopped freaking out about everything and actually congratulated me on being pregnant.

Recently, Mark came home with this:


It's got a stuffed bunny on the inside, tethered to a rope and you move it into pockets on each page, putting the bunny in a new scene.

So today, I gave in and bought the baby his 3rd book. Now the baby can hear now and after Mark and I have read the same book to the baby a couple of times, I started to want at least one more book (Sleepy Bunny needs an actual child out of womb to enjoy the visuals, so I'm not counting it.) I'm sure the baby could care less, but I felt silly repeating the same story and thought, "can I make it through four more months with this same book? No way!" So, today, I was out with my friend Trish and gave in to this:

It's very readable, long enough to make a baby pass out during a reading and has a little dance bit that you do at the end that'll age well. An older kid will like to get to the dance part. Turns out, Mark is acquainted with the illustrator and actually likes her stuff.

It's hard picking out baby books for a newborn because it' all about the "why" you're buying it. The first and last book above are good books to read to a child to make them fall asleep and even to let a fetus hear your voice. But when the kid's actually out of the womb, they can't see colors, so they've made these black and white picture books. Not sure if I'd buy one - they are godawful. But if you wanted your child to look at a book, that'd be the one to buy.

And there's a whole other set of books that are very rudimentary with one word and picture per page, but those are for kids old enough to try to read along. Right now, we're going all the reading, so really the book care bore ME to death!

The baby's also gotten a few presents. My friend Kenya bought the baby his first cd, lullabies from the Baby Einstein series.

Now that he's going to have his own room, I'm more willing to start getting stuff, but I also don't want to be one of those nuts who buys all this stuff before the shower and gets dupes. So I can exercise control until after the baby shower, and give myself something to do in month 8 while I'm waiting. Lord knows I'll be able to do very little other than shop or eat!

A nice lady from church, Ginny, works at Disney and has already gotten me a diaper bag, and without knowing it was a boy (we didn't know yet either when she bought it) got me the perfect bag for a little boy with Winnie the Pooh on it.


It had a little stuffed bear with a built-in picture frame. I had to promptly hide this from Max who thinks that everything stuff that enters the house is clearly for him. I wish I had his self-esteem. He's living The Secret and he never had to read the book or watch the film! When Mark and I first started dating, he brought me stuffed animals often - helped heal my childhood that was devoid of stuffed things. He didn't know that, he just liked bringing me presents. :) But the presents would fall off the shelf and boom! Max's new toy. Didn't matter how big it was, he'd carry it off in his mouth, which was really funny when he tried to drag this bear that was about 3 times his size.

Note Max in the corner of the photo! Aha!

Mark's parents also gave us a well-timed present: a baby memory book. Originally meant as a Xmas present, Mark's mom decided it'd be better timed to give it to us now. She was right! It has sections for before the baby's birth as well as afterwards.

Mark's going to have to do the actual long-hand writing in the book. It's way too cute for my chicken-scratch. I can do the content, but the artist in the family is going to have to write it out. I always wondered why his handwriting was so much better than mine and one day, watching him hold a pencil like a paintbrush it dawned on me that an artist is an artist in all facets regarding writing and drawing instruments. He doesn't even hold his pencil like the average person.

Once we get a crib (not sure when that's going to happen - the baby will probably cosleep in a cosleeper next to our bed for the first 2 or 3 months before he moves to his own room) I would like for Mark to decorate it with one of his illustrations, like Pam did for Damone's crib when he was a baby. I was only four, but I remember the day that Pam painted a puppy on the back of Damone's crib. I was so impressed. Not only was she a big kid (about 13 at the time) but she could draw and paint too!

Looking back though, I have more questions than answers. I remember Damone's crib being in a humongous room on the 2nd floor of our house, across the hall from me and Pam's SHARED room. Why did my parents put a nursery upstairs when there were two rooms on the first floor next to them? And I called up Pam recently and asked why was a 13 year old sharing a bedroom with a four year old in a room with at least 2 extra bedrooms? She laughed and told me that would have started WWIII at the time. Whatever. Mind boggling. I liked the company - I was scared of the upstairs (but I could have slept downstairs next to my parents as well) and probably scared of the dark too. Besides, they probably needed someone to check me out when I brained myself periodically, falling from a big-girl four poster bed onto the hard wood floor of our room. Once again, why a four year old was sleeping in a bed that high, I'll never know! :)

Bill Cosby said that he thought his parents were stupid and the older he got, the smarter they seemed and the more he realized that it was he, himself, who was the not so bright one. I'm sort of the opposite: I always thought my parents were geniuses (because they are both extremely intelligent, book smart and successful) but as I get older, I get stumped by how they did things back then. My dad can never remember why anything happened a certain way, or that it happened at all, and you wouldn't want to ask my mom at all!

I think it's great that all these memories of my childhood have started to flood me as Miles' birth comes nearer. It's a great time to reflect on what I'd hope for him and to remember what the best moments were and what I'd skip in retrospect.

One of my fondest memories of early, early childhood was sitting in the rocking chair with my mom, back with those old Jenny Lind chairs with the humongous curved rails at the bottom. The impressions of early childhood aren't always clear, more like watercolor pictures. But remember the calm and the joy of being held and rocked in the rocker. So for sure, I'm getting my baby a glider for his room at some point. And the new house has a outdoor bench glider on the teeny front porch, near hummingbird feeders, so we can do the outdoors as well.

My childhood memories before the age of 6 were mostly near bliss, so I'd like to replicate a lot of that for our baby, but even better. Phew! Six years that I can just follow the template of what my parents did (minus the bizarre room arrangments) without having to think. Yippee!

I'm off to bed at 9:45 like an old lady.

Catch you later.

P.S. - Thanks for all the yummy little presents, y'all. :)