parents' visit and more work on nursery

My parents came to visit all this week, and we had a good time. :) Hubby and I live close to a tourist town, so we went down there for shopping and shows early in the week, then when hubby had to go back to work, Mom and I started our marathon shopping sessions here in town for baby things. I definitely have a good start in supplies now, but she will probably be sending me some burp cloths, towels, and washcloths later on.

While they were here, Dad and hubby put together all the nursery furniture. I still have a few tiny things to sew (a couple of sheets, and re-doing the tabs on the bumper b/c I ended up not liking the way they turned out once installed on the crib), but the nursery bedding is pretty much done. Then I can sew my fleece coat that will have a zip-in baby panel so I can wear the coat over me AND the baby when it comes, and also I can make some nursing clothes too. But for a few days, I need a REST from sewing. :P I've been go go go the past few weeks and am taking a break. Plus Mom was helping me organize the nursery, and piled a bunch of my sewing stuff together so I need to go through it and really see what all I have, and what fabric can be used to make something and what fabric is just scraps. And there is the big box of CD's and tapes and miscellaneous electronic wires that I need to go through too. It is all out of the way in the closet right now, but I need to go through it so it's not piled quite so high as to be blocking the hanging bars. I want to hang up some of the cute li'l baby clothes when I get them. :)

Anyway Mom of course got to feel the baby kick several times this week and is still convinced that this one "needs" to be a girl. She gets frustrated b/c we didn't find out, AND also b/c we are keeping any names a secret until the baby comes. She doesn't know if she will be able to come up right after the birth or not but since I'll be staying at home then, I'll be able to come up in January sometime. She said she wanted to wait and see what hubby's parents were going to do, since they're closer, etc.

But back to the nursery. Now that all the furniture is put together and I can go in there and sit and rock and look at everything that is just ready and waiting for the baby, it is SO real to me. This baby is COMING! I'm really starting to get excited. :) I think my cats knew something was up all week, but now that Mom and Dad have left and the house is quiet again, they probably think everything is normal again. :P They are in for a big surprise in a few months.

Our childbirth classes are still going fine. I was going to take Mom to the class with us this week but our teacher ended up being sick and had to cancel class. Mom was kindof sad too, which was surprising b/c when I first "invited" her, she wasn't interested in coming since she went to classes w/ my sister already.

Also while Mom and Dad were here, I showed them the LiveOps thing. Dad thought it was cool and wanted to do it, but changed his mind when I told him that the phone line to use had to be free of call-waiting, etc. I need to start that back up but will probably wait until tomorrow or Sunday and try to "recover" from my vacation today. Mom said that if I lived in her town then she could hook me up with some freelance transcription work so I sortof wish that I did, but maybe someday we'll be closer.

nursery bedding makes baby feel more real

I'm about 40% of the way done w/ sewing the nursery bedding as of this morning. I've completed both curtains (though eventually I may re-do the sheers b/c I'm not sure if the look of them will "grow" on me or not... I'll post a picture early next month), and just have the tiniest bit of hand sewing left on the blanket and the crib bumper. The 4 sheets and the crib skirt and the wall hanging and the diaper organizer are still not started yet, but based on how fast these other projects are coming together I think that I will be able to finish at least the sewing before my parents visit in 2 weeks. I originally wanted to have the nursery completely assembled by then, but maybe they can help me assemble everything when they come. :) I am skipping sewing maternity clothes though until the nursery bedding is finished and the random boxes in the nursery are moved out of the way.

Anyway, this past weekend I went to visit Tim's extended family (cousins, etc). This is the family that we go see every Thanksgiving, too, but I had to miss last year b/c of work, and will have to see how I feel this year since I'll be 38 weeks along. During the visit, I had brought the bumper ties with me so I could finish the hand sewing on those. While I was sewing, I was talking to the baby since he/she can hear me now. I said "I'm making this for you, baby. I hope you like it." Then it sortof "sunk in" more that yes, I am going to be a mother in about 3 months. Yesterday I kept telling the baby "I hope you like it" as I worked on its quilt. I showed Tim the quilt when he came home and he thought it was just fabulous the way it turned out so far. He looked at the rough color drawing that I had made early in the bedding planning process and was amazed that the "real thing" looked so much better. I can hardly wait for the baby to come and actually use these things I'm sewing. :) Speaking of sewing, I have a bunch of fabric to make a wrap maternity dress, but am thinking now that I will use it to make a nursing top and a matching baby outfit. The fabric is yellow and red so that is gender neutral enough. Mom has sent over a few random cute sleepers and onesies but it'll be neat to have something for the baby that I made, too.

We had our first Bradley class this week. I think the relaxation methods and other excercises will definitely come in handy. I'm looking forward to Tuesday nights. Part of the class is about nutrition, so for the duration of the class, I have to write down everything I eat and count the protein in it. Guess my days of snacking on endless bags of chips are over. :P