Feathering the Nest

Yesterday was my last day of work until February! Monday happens to be a federal holiday, so I get a free home day before we head to the hospital on Tuesday morning. My c-section is scheduled for noon (now 1:30 p.m.), so we'll drop off the kids at school together and get to L&D by 11:30 a.m. It's all so weirdly convenient. My mom flies in late Monday night, so she'll be here to stay with the kids while JP stays with me and our new baby girl. We can't wait! Claire has her big sister shirt all ready to go for its Tuesday unveiling. On the ride home from school yesterday when we did our habitual updated count down of days left until baby sister is "coming out" and only got to four, she finally acknowledged, "that's not very many days mommy!!" After weeks of annoyance that this process was taking so damn long, she finally sees the light at the end of the tunnel (as does her mama).

Last day outfit; a re-wear of Monday's dress made new with tights and a different scarf

At my final check-up on Thursday, the CNM was prodding around my belly trying to get a good signal on the heart rate monitor (baby girl is completely posterior, so she can be hard to read) and said, "Do you have big babies? ... Because this one ... this one is not going to be small." Made me laugh. Landon was 7 lbs. 7 oz. at 35 weeks and Claire was 8 lbs. 10 oz. at 39 weeks, so I think those likely qualify as "not small." It will be fun to see where baby 3 ends up, and I have a variety of hospital outfits for her, whatever her girth. (I still remember the surprise when the nurse told us we could change Claire's clothes in the hospital- we were still adjusting to the concept of having her sleep in the room with us and not having to ask permission to pick her up, it never even occurred to us we were "allowed" to change her!)

We have everything in the house as set as it can be. The nursery and its drawers of tiny clothes are ready, the swing is set up in our TV room, the high chair is waiting in the corner of the dining room, the car seat bases are in the cars (though not yet installed; I'm refusing to face the reality that all 3 car seats might not fit in the back of my car, so I'm just not trying them yet), and I've cleared out a shelf in the kitchen for bottles and the tiny plastic cups and things that will follow. It's weird going back to all the baby stuff. Claire has been potty trained for over a year and has eaten with normal cups, dishes, and utensils for even longer than that, so this feels like a throwback to a bygone era we've mostly forgotten about.

And for lack of a better place to put them, here's updated pictures of the home decor I've been working on for the last 3-4 months. With last week's addition of the side tables I found for $40/each at Target last week, I'd say we're done! When JP lost his job last fall we stopped spending any money on house stuff (or anything unnecessary), so I sat and plotted and window shopped for months until finally this summer the swim school made a little bit of purchasing possible. Marshall's, TJ Maxx, Ross, and HomeGoods all made their way back into my life and I carefully started adding finishing touches. I'm so happy with the house right now. I hope to someday knock out and redo our kitchen, but even without that, sometimes I just walk around and think about how much I love it. I love that it's 70 years old, love that it's not in the suburbs, love that it's different and not some cookie cutter McMansion on a too small lot (this is Texas after all). I adore our old neighborhood and its giant trees. I think and hope that this will be "home" for a long time.

Updated Living Room:

 

 

 

These pictures were taken before I found the side tables and the thought of getting up and taking new pictures seems so hard, so here's an iPhone shot from a weird angle instead. I love them! And I love the $40 clearance price tag!

 

The Playroom; one of my favorite parts of our house. It's so bright and cheery and a perfect blend of contained and open:

 

The room we still don't have a consistent name for (often family room, sometimes TV room, maybe a den?), but I love it. I love having the TV tucked away from the main areas (we're not big TV people, particularly during the day; it's more of an after the kids go to bed thing) and I love the separateness for JP and my hanging out in the evenings. It's a cozy space with big windows and 3 doors that can completely close it off from the rest of the house.

 

 

There's now a small side table and recliner added to the side of the love seat, but again, new pictures are hard.

 

And the biggest change- The Dining Room! We used this space as a play room for the first year in the house, but when my parents gifted us with a dining table we made the big switch. It's right next to the kitchen and has been outfitted with an outdoor rug leftover from the Target summer sale and the best of the clearance section from Garden Ridge.

 

 

 

 

I love picturing our family of five growing bigger and sitting around it every night for dinner.

Now time to pack a hospital back and plan a week of dinners I won't be here to eat because I'll be in the hospital snuggling a tiny/"not-small" baby dressed in cozy sleepers- can't wait!!