Housekeeping!

I'll be 37 weeks tomorrow and nesting is now kicking in around here. Although, I think Troy is doing the bulk of it. As I sit on the couch in yoga pants typing this, he is outside mowing our (dormant) grass. He just really needed to do some yard work I think. But he has also been cleaning out the cars and hopefully shuffling/adding the carseats. Now that I work about 10 minutes from home, I've been driving the 4Runner and he has taken the Honda for gas mileage reasons. This is fine except that I always kept my car pretty clean and that 4Runner is just...gross. He rides with the windows down all the time and there is a layer of grime and dust in there that he really needed to address. So hopefully it is clean now and he'll move Lainey's car seat to the side because I don't think I can keep throwing her into the middle of the backseat. It is amusing enough watching me hoist myself into the driver's seat but seeing me try to get her into the rear-facing middle of the backseat is...interesting I'm sure.

So back to the getting ready part. We are really doing stuff now. All the baby gear is out and ready. I'm washing the newborn stuff and putting it in the drawers this weekend. I even went this morning and got a pre-hospital wax (some maintenance is just not as fun as other stuff). I think we're about all set. I told the baby that she needs to wait just one more week and then she can come any time. I have a little shower at work on Thursday and a hair appointment next Saturday and then I'll be totally ready! :) But I seriously need to make that hair appointment. Just like with Lainey, my hair seems to be much darker now and these roots are out of control. And maybe this time around I will not think that chopping my hair off into a nonsensical bob is the way to go if I have lovely golden highlights. You hear that? Don't let me get some ugly Mom cut this time around. :-P

As for Lainey, she still doesn't really get what's going on. She was super excited that we got all of the baby stuff out. I think she's used that swing more now than she did when she was an infant. She loves to run over to the swing and the pack 'n play and turn the music and vibration buttons on and dance. She was also getting a bit too obsessed with her bunny & paci so we've scaled back the paci and she seems to be doing great. We only let her have it in the crib when she's napping or sleeping and she's actually been less whiny. Troy wants to have her totally off the paci before the baby arrives but I'm not so sure how that will work out.

So not too much longer now! We actually scheduled a c-section for 4/10 but I'm still hoping to go into labor on my own before then. I just really don't want to do a repeat c-section but we'll see what this little girl's plans are for entering the world. Troy is convinced that she wants out and thinks it will be any time now but he thought that about Lainey too and she certainly has not turned out to be a speedy thing, in any regard (totally got that from me). But I will of course keep you all posted. Hopefully it will be soon!

Day-to-day

I ran out of deodorant this week. This isn't a big deal...I had the forethought to buy another one during my last shopping trip. The alarming thing about this is...all I could think when I took out the new deodorant was, "This is the deodorant I'll be using when the baby arrives." Y'all, we are getting so close!

Also, another realization I just made: I HAVE STRETCH MARKS. I did not get any with Lainey and I used cocoa butter lotion every day. But they say that stuff doesn't work so I slacked off and haven't used any this time and now I HAVE STRETCH MARKS. Ugh. They're on my belly so it really looks like I'm going to just burst wide open.

But here we are folks...I'm halfway through my 36th week. I went to the doctor today who informed me I'm "fingertips" dilated (which means less than a cm). So not much going on although she's now definitely in head-down position. When I go from a sitting to standing position, it feels like she burrows her head way down into my bladder. So then I make the uncomfortable waddle to the other end of my work building to go to the bathroom. I think I'm going to have to just move and set up shop in the big stall soon. Other uncomfortable symptoms include back pain, calf cramps, heartburn, Braxton Hicks contractions and tiny limbs jabbing me from within. Yet despite all that, I do enjoy being pregnant. :) There's something so bizarre about the fact that I'm growing a little person inside of me that it's just too fascinating not to be pretty excited about it. I can no longer tie my shoes, lean over things or see certain areas of my own body. But when I look at the weird bubble growing on the front of me when I'm about to get in the shower every morning, I do tend to marvel a bit.