Moving and Nesting...

So, with 6 weeks to go, we finally realized that it might not make sense to try to buy a new house right now. We've decided to stay where we are at least until after the baby is born and to make better use of the space we have so that we can be comfortable here for several years if we need to be. We're actually very excited about the decisions and about our plans for renovating the porch and turning it into an office for Bev so she doesn't have to try to work from home in our living room while the baby and I hang out and have fun (or scream or cry or change poopy diapers) right in the same room for 3 months while I'm on maternity leave.

Also, in making that decision, we've officially begun the nesting process. We painted the baby's room (and by "we", I mean Bev); we did all of the little baby laundry that needed to be done before we put all the cute clothes and blankets on our little baby Pigeon (and by "we", I mean Bev, although this was coincidence and not that I couldn't wash baby clothes while pregnant); and we prepped all of the cloth diapers we have by washing them several times to get rid of the natural oils in the cotton and make them more absorbent before use (this one I actually did do myself...see, I can still do laundry). There are still a few more chores to get done, but we're on our way. This week's projects include making roman shades for the baby's room (yes, I'm actually using the sewing machine I asked for last Christmas), rearranging the furniture in the baby's room and setting up the crib, and most likely, getting the hospital bag packed and ready to go. Its totally stressing Bev out that we don't have the bag packed yet. :)

We decided on a tan/brownish color for the walls with all of our jungle themed greens and such to add some color. I'll post some finished product photos when its done. For now here's the work in progress:

Fully Showered...

We have officially been fully showered, with love and support and more gifts than we can fit into our little yellow house. In the month of June we were lucky enough to have 3 separate gatherings of friends and family to celebrate the coming of this little Pigeon. It is amazing to see how well loved this baby is before its even here on the outside, although its becoming more and more obvious that it is "here" already based on the size of me. :)

We'd like to thank everyone for such wonderful celebrations and I thought I would post a few photos of the events. Most of the photos are from the surprise shower that my family threw down in Massachusetts. The bottom photo was taken at the shower in Maine where many of our friends and Bev's family all got together to share in the celebration (including my little helper of the day Ryan). Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the third "shower" gathering that my frisbee friends arranged the following day where we got to see so many of LBP's future little friends (nearly all of them have kids under the age of 3 already).

I'd also like to give Bev a little round of applause for doing a wonderful job at helping and keeping secrets and organizing, and sitting with me to be the center of attention for all the gift opening. Thank you for that and HUGE thank you's to everyone for everything. We are very lucky and grateful to have you all in our lives and we can't wait for LBP to be able to meet everyone...soon, so soon!!

Belly update...

So, I have been told by several people recently that I need to start posting belly photos now that LBP is really taking over my body. I am definitely still small compared to most women due my week, but it sure feels big to me somedays. My most recent "realization of the belly" moments include hitting my belly on a door as I open it because I don't have the clearance I'm used to and my favorite, getting my shirt wet every time I wash dishes now because I don't realize that its overhanging the edge of the sink. So much fun.

We actually are in the most fun stage of LBP movement right now. Apparently the most activity for the baby happens between weeks 28 and 32, when the baby is strong and able to kick and punch with much more power than before, but before it gets so big that it doesn't have enough room to move around. I definitely feel like there are times when its getting a running start and launching itself into one side of my body. It makes me laugh every time though. Bev has been reading bedtime books to LBP every night now and although it has not been a properly controlled study, we do think it has a real preference for "Goodnight Moon" (thanks to Mike and Ella for that one). LBP is usually very active just before bed anyway, but it goes nuts when she reads that book. Its a noticable difference. (Bev won't let me do the real scientific experiment of trying to test our theory by using different voices or changing the words, etc...she wants to just enjoy the moment of it. I suppose she's got a point, but don't we get to experiment on our kids? Isn't that part of what they are for?). I feel like with every kick I get a little more of an idea of who this little baby is somehow. Though I can't really define what its saying, the movements feel like some sort of communication. I like to think its telling me things like "hey, we should eat more chocolate today" or "maybe we should sleep in instead of going to work" or sometimes "hey, I'm stuck in here...can I get a little help?!".

Of course, we still have 9 weeks to wait for that point, which is also a crazy realization of the week. We are down to single digits in 'weeks until my due date'. So exciting and a tiny bit scary. I'm not sure we're entirely ready yet, but we are so excited to meet this little one. I'm sure then next 2 months are going to fly by.

Side note...I haven't acknowledged the 3 wonderful showers that have been a part of our last 2 weeks because I want to get some of the photos sorted out to post when I write about them. Coming soon...

Baby's First Spring Hike

Mt. Doublehead in Jackson, NH. It was about a 3.5 mile hike round trip up to a peak with beautiful scenery. I was a little nervous about it at first, but we took it slow and managed to get up the whole mountain without raising my heartrate too much and without losing my breath. It probably doesn't hurt that at 6 months into my pregnancy, I have basically double the red blood cells that my body normally has (at least, that's what I've read...I haven't actually counted). We had a wonderful day and judging from the kicking and moving around, I think LBP liked it too. Well, I suppose this kid is always kicking and moving around these days, so perhaps it doesn't mean that, but I like to think we all enjoyed the hike this weekend. Thanks to Bev for finding me a perfect walking stick and to Imani and Kate for initiating the idea. Look at that belly!!

Practice, practice, practice...

The first weekend of May we had a bbq at our house to celebrate Bev's sister Lesley's graduation from her masters program. Yippee!!! Luckily, the family visit offered Bev the chance to do some practicing on all the fun tasks she'll get to be a part of once LBP finally joins us on the outside (makes it sound like the little one is in prison, huh?!). Meet Odin, Bev's nephew, who was very cooperative in letting Bev polish her long lost baby skills on him. We determined that the last time Bev changed a diaper was probably when her sister Kim (Odin's mom) was a baby over 20 years ago. Aside from a little struggle with getting his shirt over head, I think she did alright.