38 weeks

It is blowing my mind that Nora is (developmentally, at least) ready to be born. I don’t find it hard to believe that she’s 7 pounds and 20 inches long, though–things are getting a bit crowded in there.
This week’s newsletter also helpfully includes early preeclampsia symptoms, which of course I am now convinced that I have:
1. swelling of your hands and face (Yes, but I might just be getting fatter.)
2. sudden weight gain (Well, I’d gained 3 pounds at my last appointment, but my doctor didn’t seem alarmed.)
3. visual changes (I’ve noticed that I see flickers in my peripheral vision.)
4. upper abdominal tenderness (A resounding YES, but it’s the same tenderness I’ve been feeling for months. If it’s worse, I just assume it’s because my tummy is bigger and the problem is naturally exacerbated.)
5. nausea (If today counts, then yes.)
Anyway, probably I’m just being paranoid and it’s nothing or will just go away on its own like my nerve pain. I hope so. Preeclampsia is scary.

In which I try to bore you to death with completely insignificant details.

For better or worse, the nursery is pretty much put together! It feels good to have that task done. The polka-dotted fabric bin on the lower shelf of the white table holds board books and tub books. You can see the Boppy pillow hanging out on the seat of Blake’s grandpa’s rocker.

The dresser is full of baby clothes and linens that have been washed with Dreft, folded and sorted by size, and put into labeled drawers. The IKEA frog is sitting in a Bumbo baby seat next to George and Martha and a sweet little baby sock sorting thingie I found at HomeGoods. I made the print over the dresser in my letterpress class–it features my favorite quote from Peter Pan.
The top two shelves of the bookcase are full of baby supplies, and the bottom shelf is picture books. The art is two pages from an advance copy of You Were Loved Before You Were Born, written by Eve Bunting and illustrated by Karen Barbour. The book is due out in January.

Under the window you can see the gift Marci got us–the first baby item Blake and I picked out together. Above the crib are the letter hooks I talked about here. Since I took these pictures, I got some big clear totes at Target to go under the crib: one for extra diapers, one for blankets, and one for stuffed animals. We’re still waiting for our Sophie bumper and crib skirt to arrive from Pottery Barn.

The light must have been a bit different for this photo, because the wall color here looks closer to how it looks in real life. Anyway, you can see we’ve been messing around with the toys on top of the bookcase and on the shelf above it. We swapped out the fancy (and arguably creepy-looking) dolls I had when I was younger for the Cabbage Patch Garden Fairies I adopted in college. And of course we had to dig out my Boo doll and press her belly a bunch of times. The soccer-playing Build-a-Bear was a gift to Blake from the girls he coached one year, and the other one is Olivia, who Blake gave me for our anniversary three years ago.

TA-DA! She’d better friggin’ love it.

Amelia and Eleanor Go For a Ride

Our friends gave us this picture book when they found out we were naming our baby Eleanor Amelia:

It’s about Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart sneaking away from a dinner at the White House for a plane ride, and it’s by Pam Munoz Ryan and illustrated by Brian Selznick. The story is so cute, and the black and white colored-pencil drawings are gorgeous.
Our Eleanor Amelia won’t strictly be named after that Eleanor and that Amelia, but I’m hard pressed to think of two better women for her to look up to.

hooked on phonics

Back in June I mentioned that I bought some letter hooks for the baby’s room. I got them hung on the wall over the crib soon after that post, but it’s taken me a month and a half to download the pictures from my camera. AT LONG LAST, here are the hooks in their natural habitat:

Here’s a closeup of the hooks. I want to get some prettier hangers, but these work for now.

And this is why everyone keeps asking me if I’m having twins:

Blake: One small step for man, a giant leap for Blakekind

Those who know me would not believe that I am actually blogging. But I think it is good for two reasons:
First- If I am going to stay on top of technology and progression I should probably get over my internet phobia.
Until now I have relied on Lisa for what’s what in the computer world because I prefer the safety of books, like Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I like the old musty smell of books compared to the sterality or ionization of electron smell of computers.
Second- Nora is just that important.

state of the nation

I kind of can’t believe how much bigger my belly has gotten in the last three months. (for comparison purposes)

  • Baby – 14 1/2 inches long and kicking like crazy. She hates my other organs for some reason–maybe she feels they threaten her precious uterus.
  • Body – I embody womanhood. Right?? RIGHT????? I have to keep telling myself that.
  • Hair – I got a hideous haircut before we went to California. If only I had read this part of my new favorite book: “A very pregnant woman who wants to cut her hair is not really looking for a new hairdo, she is looking for a new, nonpregnant, look, and I’m afraid that’s too tall an order for a haircut.” Live and learn, I guess.
  • Puke – Only sometimes when I brush my teeth.
  • Heels/Lust for Life – Check. It’s become a point of pride now. I MIGHT have gone to a movie last week wearing scrubs, sneakers and a hoodie, but those reports are unconfirmed.