Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Preparations

Hubby and I have been busy preparing our house for the new baby, with copious help from my Mom (who has been here since Thursday). We are far more prepared than I expected we would be. The office has mostly been merged into the guest room. The stuff that was stored in our old desk has either been stored in the new, smaller desk, stored elsewhere, or tossed. The baby's dresser has been organized and a plan made for the other furniture that is needed in the baby's room. A new system for storing Pumpkin's diapers has been found, and the changing table moved into the baby's room. A lot of this is due to my Mom, who enjoys crossing things off of to do lists even more than I do (and I really love crossing things off to do lists- just ask my coworkers). Hubby has put in a huge amount of work building the new desk and moving things around, too.

Really, we're almost ready. Of course, there is a rather large desk in the baby's room instead of a crib. But we're planning on having the baby in a cosleeper in our room for the first six months, so that is not as big of a problem as it might seem.

I continue to try to finish the work I did not finish before I went out on leave. Things are in OK shape- if I were to have the baby tonight (which would be fine with me- hint, hint, baby) everything would be OK. I'd have to come back and do a little work after a few weeks, but nothing bad would happen in the interim.

I'm also making progress on the perhaps more important mental preparations. I'm definitely ready to have the baby- I have been for a couple of weeks, ever since the contractions/cramping/mind games started. (Hint, hint, baby.) However, I've also been a bit wistful about the changes I know are coming in my relationship with Pumpkin, though. She is so smart and funny right now. She can be frustrating, as any 2 year old can be, but she is also a lot of fun to play with and talk to. She gets so excited about every new thing, and I want to be there to see everything. I've needed to rest, though, so she has gone on more outings without me. She comes back full of stories, which I love to hear. But I always wish I had been there! I know I need to start letting go a bit. Pumpkin is ready to go on more adventures without me, and I need to let that happen- both for Pumpkin and for my own sanity once the new baby arrives.

So on Saturday night, Pumpkin went on a sleepover at my sister's place, with my Mom. They watched a movie and ate ice cream. They got up the next morning and made trail mix and went to the zoo. She had a great time. Hubby and I went out to dinner, for perhaps the last time in, oh, maybe 6 months. (Who knows how long it will be before we have the bedtime routines down to the point where one person, not one of us, could be expected to handle them?) We had a great time, too. The next morning, Hubby and I worked in our new consolidated guest room/office. We made far more progress than we would have if Pumpkin was around. I was a little sad thinking of Pumpkin at the zoo without me- I have yet to see her actually touch an animal at the petting zoo (a recent advance for Pumpkin)!- but I'm getting better at this. Pumpkin came back and needed a little snuggle to settle into her nap. When she woke up from her nap, she told me all about her adventure with her Mimi and her aunt. And maybe hearing those stories was just as good as being there.

3 comments:

  1. I'm so excited for you guys! The baby will be here soon. You've been able to get alot done to get ready for the babe, and you seem to be coming to terms with doing less with your Pumpkin! Wow!

    I'm also impressed that you said your hubby made the desk for the guest bedroom/office. Did you guys design it yourself? What did he use for the top of the desk? You see, that has been my plan, too--to combine my office with the guest room and build a desk that will fit the room and my needs. I just haven't been able to get to it yet, so my stuff is in boxes and bags on the side of the guest room. Sigh...

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  2. @Caramama- when I said "build the new desk", I meant "put it together from the bits it came in from the store." Hubby is handy, and has made furniture before (his most prized possession may be his CD shelves made from Rimu, a NZ hardwood), but we bought the desk!

    The desk we're replacing was built custom for us for use in our old, small apartment. It was cheaper than we thought it would be to do that. We found a store that would customize based on a basic model. The current desk is modular, so it was easy enough to "build" what we needed. Check out the higher end Scandinavian stores for that sort of thing. It actually cost about the same as the old desk.

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  3. Thanks for the advice! I'll look into those.

    Hasn't that baby come yet?!

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