a new year

Happy new year! Things are falling into place, baby-wise. Dave and I unpacked the boxes of clothes that have been given to us by friends, we ordered for the furniture, we chose the car seat, and we picked up a stroller at a thrift store last weekend. We organized the closet and are feeling good about how much baby gear we've acquired. I think we've decided to forgo the baby shower, at least the traditional gift-giving type of shower. We may still have a big party in early February, just to celebrate the impending arrival. Thanks to our generous friends, we've got clothes, diapers and covers, a swing, a Baby Bjorn, and a boppy pillow. What else could we possibly need? The only thing left on my list is a sling, and I've got one picked out from Peapods. I've just got to make some time to go over there and pick it up.

It felt good to get organized and have the baby's room a little closer to completion. Once we get the furniture (hopefully this week) we'll see how much room is left for things like chairs and tables and lamps. We have a rocking chair and I'm hoping for an end table and lamp, and maybe a bookshelf. We chose the smallest room in the house for the nursery, both because we weren't really using the room and because it's the closest to our bedroom. Hopefully we can get everything in it without feeling squeezed.

My project list has grown, and while I'm still working on the Debbie Bliss hooded blanket, I've taken some time off to do other projects in between. I've finished some flip top mittens for myself, and have begun work on my first quilt. My mother in law kindly gave me some festive Christmas fabric, and I've got the quilt top all complete and began the quilting yesterday. I hope to finish it up this week and put the binding on by Friday. I can't wait to show this one off. While it is certainly not perfect, it is by far the best sewing project I've ever done. I've got a lob cabin pattern waiting in my head, and when I finish this one up, I'm hitting the fabric store. I'm thinking I'd like to do something in baby blue and brown for our bed, but I'm having trouble with the math - figuring out how much fabric I'll need. Maybe I can find a quilt pattern calculator somewhere online.

I like the idea of a lob cabin quilt because the piecing is easy and you essentially only have to do one block over and over. Once you're finished the blocks, though, you've got tons of options on putting them together. The work is simple but it looks fancy when it's complete. I'm excited to get started on it.

I've got a few more things planned for my knitting as well. There are two sweaters sitting in my basket which just need to be sewn up, and I'd like to do another quick blanket for the baby before it's born. I should also get to work on a stuffed animal, I like making bears and elephants and they go pretty quickly. There's such a variety of stuffed toy patterns available that I could do a whole family of them.

With just under 11 weeks left of this pregnancy I feel like time is flying by. So far the third trimester has been going well. I'm certainly feeling more tired than I was just a few weeks ago, but I'm also feeling the baby move all the time, so it's nice to take that time to lay down and feel the kicking and punching. According to babycenter.com, it is now 2 and a half pounds, or the weight of a butternut squash. We'll start seeing our midwives more often than our friends in the coming weeks, and I think between our homebirth and clinic midwives, we will have a visit every other week. The clinic visits are short, with a blood pressure and weight check, and a short chat with the CNM. We hear the baby's heartbeat, she measures the height of my uterus, and go on our merry way. The homebirth visits are way more fun. They do the blood pressure and weight check as well as checking for protein in my pee. Then we sit and chat about feelings and all that ooey-gooey stuff. They do a belly massage, helping to relax the involuntary muscles and ligaments around my uterus, and then the rebozo technique that I've talked about before. They listen to the baby's heartbeat, and check the height of my uterus. We talk about the birth and other things that are on our mind. The visits usually last about an hour and a half, sometimes longer if we have more to talk about. They're totally directed by Dave and I, and we've never felt rushed or hurried. It's been so fun to get to know these two ladies, and I'm excited to see them more often over the next few months. I feel like I'm getting really comfortable with them, which to me is an extremely important part of the birth. The more comfortable I am with them, the easier the birth will be, and I'm looking forward to starting the preparations for that as well.

I'm still doing yoga and attending class every week. I only got to the gym once last week to swim laps, but I'm hoping this week I'll go at least twice. Time is slipping past, but we're keeping our days and nights full and having fun too. I know I've been fortuante to have had such an easy pregnancy so far - I hope things continue to be this much fun!