We MOVED ! And my update on books..........

So this past week has been a blur of moving, packing, unpacking, hiring movers for 4 hours that turned into 11 hours and then 2 additional days of people helping us empty our "old" house. I visited our "old" house on Monday night (yeah, we didn't do much for the 4th of July this year!), and I sobbed as I walked around the empty, echoing rooms. It held so many memories. I stood in the guest room downstairs and remembered how excited I was to pick out paint colors, frame our pictures of the sunset on Captiva Island that I took on our wedding night, and when Mooshie and Maddie stayed with us to do the egg donation. Twelve days they stayed in that guest room. I stood in the girls' nursery and sobbed as I looked at their pictures on the walls. Kyla kept asking "cows new house?", and I kept telling her, "no, cows old house". She loved her nursery, as did I.
I know we'll make memories in our new house. But, I'm allowing myself the grief to get out of my system so I can heal and move on. I already miss our new neighbor friends. *sigh*. But we'll make new friends. Keifer has already made sure of that! LOL.

In other news, while waiting for Keifer at her numerous appointments, I managed to squeeze in Bossypants by Tina Fey and found myself laughing OUT LOUD IN PUBLIC (gasp). I highly recommend the book if you like sick humor and/or Tina Fey! Check out the rest of my book list - I'm up to 36 or so and it's only July. I have high hopes for more books! And yes, I've been on a Lisa Unger kick. Loved her first 2, not the next 2 so much, and then really liked #5 by her (Fragile). I'm on hold for the follow up to Fragile.

BOOK LIST

Otherwise, bear with me. We are surrounded by boxes and the puppies are slowly adjusting to their new position in a new window (to the their world). Love to you and more soon!

Help? Corner shelving?

Do any of you have corner shelving that you really like? We've wanted to put some corner shelves up in K's nursery for awhile now and I can't seem to find any that I really like. I know, something so simple, yet so complex. LOL.

Something like this, but in a set of 2 or 3?

And this is an old picture, but the shelves would go in this corner, to the left of the window, and that chest is positioned sideways in the corner, so they would go over the chest.

We're in the home stretch: C'mon, Keifer, where are you?

Here is the nursery - almost done, except for needing a floor lamp base in the corner of this side of the room (behind the chest from my MIL). It is DONE, and ready for Keifer to come HOME, outside of my bell-ay! Yes, that is a doll on the changing pad. *blush* I was practicing using my new Miracle Blanket (swaddling).
Treble found that he REALLY liked the new Boppy! LOL.
The fur kids and mom, hanging out while mommy chats on the phone, pretending to rock-a-bye with a baby in the new chair.
My 5 year old neice, Abby, is over -the-moon excited about her new baby cousin. She has always wondered just how big Keifer is, and is storing away gifts and clothes for her when Keifer gets bigger. LOL. Abby also always sings to Keifer whenever we see her: she sings the Raffi Song: "Mr. Sun", in hopes (upon my suggestion) that Keifer will recognize her voice and song when she is "out here" in the real world with us. The past few weeks, Abby has been lucky enough to feel Keifer kicking, and has seen her going crazy rocking and rolling inside my tummy. The delight on her face is enough to melt your heart! I so can't wait to see the two girls in my life meet for the first time! *sigh*. Here's Abber the other night, cuddling Keifer as she usually does when I see her lately.
Yes, I really DO look this exhausted every night! YOU try hauling around a 40 pound bowling ball inside YOUR lower belly (LOL). I like to refer to my belly as my "Joey Pouch".

So sweet

My friend in Duluth, Taryn, makes (on the side) wonderful, fabulous invites, cards, thank you notes, etc.; you name it, she can whip it out on Photoshop and is amazing at this. I gave her a pictures of CJ and I of when we were younger, and asked her to whip something out that I can print out on one sheet of a 5 x 7 to frame for the nursery. Look what she did: isn't this just adorable?? And, the colors fit so perfect with our colors in our nursery! *sigh* I love it - and my little Cowboy CJ is just adorable, too. Now that I see this, I realize that Keifer is really going to look like daddy!

*drum roll * The Painted Nursery...and, OH, BABY!

Oh, BABY, do I feel big lately! LOL. I feel like my stomach takes up my entire abdomen, and when I sit, I can really feel Keif in my ribcage. Not an unpleasant feeling YET -but I definitely feel the stretching and tightness the past few days!
We went to the High School Hockey tournament game the other night - my brother-in-law is an Assistant Coach of the Burnsville hockey team -- and we sat next to the high school band section. Oye, did Keifer have a night! LOL. My five year old niece, Abby, got her fill of watching Keifer dance and roll and got to feel her dancing around. At one point, I think Keifer had the hiccups! LOL.
Then, Saturday afternoon, one of my friend's family friends drove up and painted our nursery. She basically looked at our (now) discontinued bedding (from Pottery Barn Kids) of the "Farmyard Friends" and went from there. We talked about ideas of where to put what animals, and then she took off and transformed Keifer's nursery into a farmyard wonderland. Her sister also came with her and helped, and they spent the night in our guest "quarters" in our basement. The painter is an art teacher, who does art on the side, and wow, she should consider doing this bedroom/nursery stuff full-time. She is amazing. Chris and I keep taking turns sitting in the nursery, just looking around in amazement. She did such an awesome job! The attention to detail was astonishing - check out Keifer's initials "carved" into the tree trunk, the doggie tag, and when leaving the room, Keifer's meaning ("cherished") is above the door. I can't wait to get the sheets and bedding on the crib, and neaten up the nursery to see it all in its final glory! WOW. WOW. WOW.

*and yes, Sassy is back in her position on her ottoman/pillow. She could barely wait to get back on that and peer out on 'her' neighborhood! LOL*

Crib positioning - where to put?

Here is a picture of our new crib - we picked it up last night from my friend Chris and his wife, and CJ put it together (with his always trusty assistant, Sassy Sager! LOL).

Anyhoo, it looks very awkward on the wall we have it - any ideas? The smaller chest behind it on the left there? Should we angle it in the corner or push the crib back into the corner (partway in front of window?). CJ doesn't like the idea of it in front of the window -(there are no strings on that side) - so I'm not sure. It is cozy (read: cramped) in there, but we have just what we need! HELP??!! (*here are pics of the whole nursery - to give you an idea of what we have in there and wall space -- disregard the clutter - it WILL be neater soon!)*

*(Treble says "thanks" - he's a very nervous guy these days- getting ready for a human sibling is tough work, especially when there are other dogs in the neighborhood to protect mommy and Sass from!)*

Our chair:

We found our chair - a swivel rocker and rocking ottoman - at a local baby store - the brand is "Best Chair" and I believe ours is part of their "storytime series."
We love it - very comfy ( believe you me, I sat on a LOT of them!), and the microfiber is great for the doggie hair! I hope we love it for years to come, rocking Keifer and (in our dreams) a sibling someday!

Tick, tock, tick, tock, I'm a little cuckoo clock

CUCKOO! CUCKOO! That's how I feel lately! Just cuckoo! My emotions have been ranging from giddiness, to excitement, to sadness, to obsessiveness about little dumb things, to bitchy, to exhausted, to overly awake. *sigh*. The last 4 weeks are upon us. CJ and I watched a DVD last night that I borrowed from a friend online - it's a Lamaze inspired early '80's birth class on video. They slipped in a live birth on us, complete with alien-looking baby, the cord, and the afterbirth. Um, ewwwwwwww. Let's just say I didn't want to watch that. Oye. It made me nervous - but surprisingly I'm not TOO nervous about all that is about to happen in the next few weeks!
We have been busy bees around this house! When things get down to the wire, my caged cougar starts barking out orders. LOL. CJ put together our swing this weekend, I cleaned the house like a madwoman (hey, I had a 3 day weekend thanks to a Snow Storm day on Friday!), we power shopped yesterday, and are making To-Do lists like there is no tomorrow.

• TO DO: Pick up crib from our friends in the next few nights
• Make appointment with fire station (literally 1 block away) to install infant car seat properly
• Hang shelves in closet and on wall (from Home Depot and IKEA, respectively)
• Mural is being painted most likely THIS WEEKEND in our "almost" finished nursery
• Pre-registration for hospital has just been sent in mail
• Pack hospital bag
• Have parents bring down yet MORE bins of clothes from God-Daughter Aubrie and see if we need any more items right away
• Pick up new toys/bones for dogs for when we get home with Keifer and present the baby to them (along with the new toys)
• Find a lamp shade post -either wall or floor - for the adorable farm lamp shade that we need to put up
• Line chest drawers from MIL with paper and put away the receiving blankets/burp clothes, etc.., that are lining the top of the dresser

Here are some pictures of our nursery - its getting there, slowly but surely! Its' hard to see the gorgeous yellow: Baby Bee Yellow by Behr's Disney collection (Home Depot). To the right when you walk in: the combo changer/dresser and we'll hang one shelf above this higher up with animals, knickknacks, pictures, etc..

Sassy on her new favorite perch, since we've taken the guest bed out - the rocking ottoman: mommy made it comfy for her with her chiropractic pillow (she lies in the curve) and a baby blanket (this was the first day, helping her adjust, the green blanket is no longer there, LOL) New rocker/ottoman and chest from MIL

To the left: crib will go in front, with mural of animals from bedding above it. We may put a few small shelves above the chest or in the corner on this side - and see that lambie on the chest? It was my FIL (Father-in-law's) when HE was a baby - 60+ years ago! Amazing, huh?

Tomorrow, my work place is having a shower for me - yet another blessed event in Keifer's unborn life. The joy and love and family surrounding this baby just amazes me and moves me to tears! And; CJ's work is having one next week - unbelievable. I say it over and over, but I just feel so amazed at the kindness of so many people. This is one loved, spoiled girl.

At work today, I told people I felt like Keifer has "dropped" a bit. A few other people commented on it with out me even saying anything to them. Tonight, changing out of my "work clothes", into my lived -in jammies, I noticed she seems bigger towards the bottom, right on top of my over-active bladder, which would make it seem as though she HAS dropped. She is getting big. Forty-four extra pounds big *eyebrows raised*. Again, the nice comments from people at work, and my dear hubby tonight, telling me that I don't even look PG from the back, are keeping my spirits up when I realize just HOW MUCH weight has been piled on my front side. Not that I mind - it's just shock to my system to see the scale going up like that.

I had my last and hopefully final appointment with my Gestational Diabetes doctor today. I've been doing very well with the diet and controlling my blood sugar through diet, with only a few mistakes here and there. *whew*. The doc said I don't have to come in for any more appointments unless something happens to come up in the next few weeks. I also am supposed to monitor my blood sugar 1-2 times a day for 6 weeks after Keifer is born, which won't be a problem - if anything, hopefully it will help me get my extra pounds off.

Sunday musings.........

CJ and I did our hospital tour yesterday AM! It was very nerve wracking for both of us, I think. I was excited, nervous, and anxious all wrapped up in one. CJ said he got nervous when we were in the laboring room. Our hospital is currently undergoing a ton of construction, so I'll be birthing in an "older" room on one floor, and my 48 hour stay will be on another floor in a brand new room - a very NICE new room! Warm colors, great bathroom, and room for CJ to stay, too. I choked up and couldn't talk after peeking into the makeshift nursery they have. It made me realize this is real and soon, our little Keifer Lynn will be here! UGGG! It also made us start a list of what to bring to the hospital and CJ has been on me to get a bag ready! LOL. Its OK, though, we're only 10 minutes from the hospital. Of course, my favorite thing to point out to CJ is that there is a Chili's nearby, and if mommy wants some Southwest Eggrolls, its as easy as calling them for pick -up service and somebody can jet to pick them up! LOL. The things I think about when we're doing other things (*ahem, food?*)

Some Sunday musings -- from the weekend:

Hanging out after dinner, resting on Keifer (my new fave position, hands on top of her)

CJ thought he was so cute - he put Sasser on Keifer's PBK doggie chair instead of her usual pillow perch - she didn't know what to think of this (and the bed is there until we get our swivel rocker, which should be here soon (*fingers crossed*). We can't completely devastate the fur kids by taking everything they love out of that room YET!
Dinner last night with my good friends from college (Me, Louise, Michelle, & Kris) --and our hubbies --we all are ECSE teachers and have been good friends since college. We enjoyed our PF Changs (my blood sugar went over what its supposed to, oh well), and then back to Michelle's house to hang with the kids and babies and hubbies. Such a fun night-- notice I look once again like Shamu - or that I'm wearing a tent. *LOL*
Our new dresser, from Target.com! CJ spent about 3 hours or so Friday night putting it together! It looks so much better in person than online! We love it and are washing clothes RIGHT NOW to put into the drawers! The right side will be for diaper supplies... as this will be our changing table, too.