the trilobite

Born February 25 at 7:48 AM, 9 lbs 7.3 ounces and 21 inches long. Blog alias yet to be decided. I can't believe he's finally here. He's not a redhead, but I still think he's pretty stinking cute. He may be the most mellow baby I've ever met. I hope he's not faking us out, waiting to spring some unfortunate surprise on us later.

Rooms of their own

Even though Nico doesn't seem to be experiencing any angst relating to the baby preparations, we gave his room a mini big-boy-room makeover. I got him some construction equipment curtains on Craigslist and dug out an old construction light that my cousin gave me in college. I would've preferred to have my mom make him some curtains, but I couldn't find any decent construction fabric and the ones I got were pretty cheap. We set up the nice play tent he got for Christmas, too. He doesn't seem overly alarmed or excited by the changes, but maybe that's a good thing. It's so hard to know how all this is going to affect him. He's a sweet and mostly-easygoing little boy, but he also clings to his routines. I'm anticipating the "I broke my firstborn" feelings, but I hope that they pass quickly and he adjusts. I know that in the long run, having a brother will most likely be good for him...but in the short term I just hope things aren't too hard on him.









And we got the nursery done with one day to spare! Okay, almost done. We need to hang his fabulous custom art tomorrow. He probably won't sleep in his room for six months or so, but I'm happy to have it ready. Since the crib is in our room, we decided to leave a guest bed set up in the nursery for now...not that I'm interested in letting anyone sleep in there anytime soon.

Still pregnant, miscellaneous photos edition

Still pregnant, still no progress, feeling mostly okay. The Man Cold laid me low last week, but now that it's fading I'm vastly less miserable than I was, hallelujah. I should probably have deep important things to write about, but mostly I'm contemplating having some Phish Food and whether or not 9:30 is too early to go to bed. Instead of profundity, have some miscellaneous photos!



Baby room art made by a girl I used to work with...I love it so much



Bird nest necklace charm. It was surprisingly easy to make!



"I'm dressed up like Daddy!" (one of my very favorite Nico photos ever, I think)



Running wild in baby brother's room



You've got to be kidding me with this. There is NO WAY they come this small.



finally cleared out the crib and put sheets on



Baby gift from a work friend. Squee!

Airing of grievances

1. I had to call the insurance company today to ask a very simple question and I got caught in a hellish loop of voice-activated phone failure.

Phone:  If you are a customer, please say customer or use your keypad to enter --

Nico:  Mommy! What comes after C?

Phone:  I'm sorry, I did not understand. If you are a customer, please say --

Nico:  Mommy! Look! I'm doing this puzzle!

Phone:  Please say the five digit zip code or use your keypad to enter it.

Me:  *begins to type in zip code*

Nico:  *makes Ewok noises*

Phone:  I'm sorry, I did not understand. Please say the five digit zip code or --

Me:  Aargh! Nico, get off my toe!

Phone:  I'm sorry, I did not understand. Please say the five digit zip --

I finally just hit zero over and over until it patched me through to an actual person. It retrospect I can see the humor in it, but it made me so uncharacteristically cranky. And then the crankiness lingered all damn day, hence this post.


2. MB has had a cold for about a week now. He's actually been really great about it and hasn't been Man Colding around at all. He's been a big help with Nico in addition to work and his own stuff and trying to make progress on the baby's room. Nico got the cold on Friday and while he's doing better now he's been a little pitiful. And of course, OF COURSE, now my throat is sore and my sinuses are feeling iffy. Because the only thing better than being thirteen years pregnant is being thirteen years pregnant and unable to breathe through one's nose, right?


3. While it's true that I'm not terribly uncomfortable, I'm starting to get chub rub on my thighs and sometimes the thought of having to wear public-appropriate pants for eight more work days is nearly unbearable. (Waaah, waaah, waaah, I know.) With Nico I was off work for the last three weeks since I had vacation days to burn. This time I was (am) planning to work right up until the kid's born, though I'm contemplating asking MB if our budget can absorb me taking the last Friday off before my due date if I'm still pregnant by then. It would be nice to have one extra day to do something fun with Nico. While wearing yoga pants.


4. I know I'm only ("ONLY") 38 weeks, but I was hoping the OB would report some signs of progress at my checkup today. Alas, everything's still locked down. Intellectually I know it's possible to go from no news to hey it's a baby in less than a day, but I still feel like nooooothing is haaaappening.


Of course, my friend Clara says that babies are born when their mothers are cranky. If that's true, I suppose it's probably not so good that I still haven't finished packing my hospital bag. Not that I'm expecting anything soon. It's clear I'll be pregnant forever. FOREVER.


Reading:  Fifty Nests and the Birds That Built Them by Sharon Beals

Playing:  Prolonging the Magic by Cake

Checking in

Still here, still pregnant. VERY pregnant.

People keep asking me how long I have left and then giving me raised eyebrows when I say two weeks. Who knows, really. The baby is a bruiser and can kick the computer an inch or more across my lap. I've been having Braxton Hicks like whoa lately, which I think is probably a good thing. They don't hurt, they're just getting kind of aggressive. But I have no inkling of anything serious going on. I have a badly-needed haircut scheduled for Wednesday and I'm hoping we can dodge a Valentine's Day birthday, so I'm telling the little dude he needs to wait until Friday at the earliest. If he arrives before then, I reserve the right to give him a hard time about it later. For as big as I'm getting, I feel pretty good. My SPD is less painful now than it was back when it started, and my low back is starting to get cranky but so far it's usually tolerable. I am tired, though, and usually have no focus left at the end of the days. Also, shockingly, I'm finding it's harder to get ready for a baby when there's also another kid to keep track of. Not that Nico's difficult because he isn't - he's been straight-up awesome lately - but there's just the day-to-day care and feeding we didn't have to worry about when we were getting ready for him.

I do have the teeny clothes washed and the carseat installed in my car. I bought a box of size one diapers and a pair of nice curtain rods. MB canceled his weekly game night this past Wednesday and got the nursery very nearly painted. We've got edging and second coats to put on two walls and then the furniture can go back in there. We might get our sweet baby room done on time after all! Once the nursery is set up I'm hoping to do a mini makeover on Nico's room, too. I got him some curtains on craigslist with construction equipment valances, I dug out a construction light my cousin gave me in college, and he's got a nice new play tent from Christmas that he hasn't even opened yet. I'm hoping it helps him feel special and happy to be a big boy.

And he really is getting to be a big boy, seriously. I keep saying he gets to be the baby for two more weeks, but my baby is wearing 4T jeans and working puzzles and kicking butt at school and swimming lessons. I can hardly believe it, as great as it is.

He's still my sweet guy, though, always.

So it begins