Hip Pain and Art

So I am about to enter week 29 and am officially on summer vacation/maternity leave. I must say it is really strange to think that I will be out of work until January. I am very happy since I had been feeling pretty crappy the last few weeks of school. My feet were really swollen and I also developed some serious hip pain. I am pretty sure it is the the S.I. joint. I have been limping around in some serious pain for the last few days. I went to yoga today and got some stretches which I really hope help with the pain. I am also taking Ty.lenol and icing the area. Argh I am not happy about this. Oh well as long as Baby G is doing ok I can deal with this little set back. Any advice and help you can offer me is more than welcome.

On to some more happy news...

Shazam and I have put some things up on the walls of the nursery. My mil gave us the cutest animal prints that fit perfectly between the two windows. The are jungle animals and complement the elephant bedding perfectly. I don't want to go over the top with the elephants so I am happy she found them.

We also received the fabric that we ordered from and etsy artist umbrellaprints and picked up some frames at the craft store to make some instant art. I think it turned out really nicely. Sorry about the glare the blinds have not come in yet so there is a ton of light coming in the room from the opposite wall.

Our birth classes are really going well and I am enjoying learning about all our options. I am not sure what I want to do about the epidural so we are currently on a wait and see status. If I feel like I want one when the time comes then so be it. I am trying to be open to the process and try to enjoy the whole process and not get too bogged down in very structured plan. Next week is the hospital tour which I am really looking forward to. I have heard great things about the hospital and its amenities. The rooms have Jacuzzi tubs and I have a feeling that I will be spending some of my labor in the tub. I love me some tubby time!

On Friday we will be going to NH for the 4th. It will be our first time up at the lake this year and I am so excited. I really hope the weather is nice. If you don't live here in N.E. you may not know that we have had measurable rain 15 of the last 18 days. It has really pushed both Shazam and I over the edge. A little fun in the sun and perhaps some floating in the lake will be just what the Dr ordered I think. I am also looking forward to going to Grammy and Grampy P's for the parade and bbq on Sat.

Dresser Part 2

The decals for the dresser came this week so yesterday Shazam and I tackled that project. We went with a green that is a little darker than the walls and I really like how it turned out. Overall the decals are pretty easy to use, although we had some trouble with a couple towards the end. The toes kept not sticking. We got them up and it really spunks up the dresser.

Shazam putting the first decal and literally having to lay on the ground to get the bottom decal on...looks pretty cool huh!

One side done and a close up!

Finished product...we think it looks cute!

I had dinner with my friend Miche on Friday night and she brought a huge box of baby clothes for me. The first installment of many ( and if I have a girl the beginning of a ton of clothes as she has 2 girls). I love my friends who are done with having kids and want to get rid of all their gear. Since it is all washed I put the very teeny clothes away. I am sure that I will rearrange all this a million more times but here is round one.

I am pretty sure we are all set on newborn and 0-3 sleepers/stretch suits!

Finally school is drawing to an end. Just 1.5 days with kids (a Boston Harbor cruise and graduation) and one teacher day and I am done until after my maternity leave! I am so ready. I really loved my students this year. A good crop as I like to say. Unlike other years where I am sad about saying goodbye, this year feels different I think I am ready to have my own child that saying goodbye to "my kids" just feels different this year. Of course it could also be my really large swollen feet that are pushing the kids out the door too! I have had a few students this year that I absolutely love and some that I love to hate. One in particular drove me crazy. He could not stay in his seat and focus at all but he was a great kid all the same. If I could just hang out with him and chat all would have been great. Trying to teach him science last period after lunch was not a pretty however! I think that I mentioned him when I posted about telling the kids I was pregnant. He of course wanted me to name the baby after him. Ironically his last name is the baby's name if we have a boy (Jackson) so I guess he gets his wish. Anyway on Friday when I had a free Mr. Jackson showed up in my room to tell me he had made me something for the baby. I was thinking it was a card or some small token. But no he had made me a wooden rocking horse in wood working elective when he had finished his own project. It was a group effort as several students helped cut the wood. But my nudgey friend was the ring leader and was so proud of his work. I am pretty amazed and I love it. It could be the best gift I have ever gotten from a student. Of course I cried and of course he laughed at me (typical 8th grade boy!) So here is Ella or Jackson's rocking horse. I love it but the baby is still not getting your first name!

Being Able To Touch Your Toes is So Overrated

This past Saturday SSG and I decided to tackle the Ikea 8-drawer dresser for the nursery. We just wanted it done and wanted two more big boxes removed from the room. After opening the boxes and seeing the insane amount of pieces we soon realized there was going to be a change of plans. We originally were going to rip off an idea from someone online where the backed the semi-transparent drawer fronts with white contact paper so the dresser would really match the crib. What we discovered was the guy had to actually take apart 8 drawer fronts to do this...as in rip apart the joints somehow and re-glue.  Ummm....hell no. We are still going to put on the elephant decals however (which are en-route). 

Overall it wasn't that is was difficult it was just tedious and as I said, 8 drawers. This means there was like 10 steps that needed to be done 8 times!  SSG was the direction reader and I was the builder. Instead of sitting and standing a million times I basically spend like 3 hours bent over as I build things on the floor. Hello aching back and I can't even explain how tight my hamstrings were. The next morning I went to "stretch" and this entailed barely touching my knees. I thought my hamstrings were going to snap. Luckily my hamstrings recovered after 2 days and a few leg massages and the result is this!  

We love it and think it's a great size and matching the room and crib perfectly. The chocolate lamp shade also from Ikea looks great too.  It's coming together, slowly but surely!

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The Good

SSG is officially in Week 27 today so she has about 3 months to go. Time seems to suddenly be flying by and September feels like it's going to be here before we know it. We had an OB appointment last week and as usual it was uneventful, which means that's a good thing. The doctor said everything looks great and everything is on track. Heart sounds "perfect" which is great. We also started our Prepared Childbirth class last week. It's a 6 week class on Thursdays from 7-9. I was a little anxious going into class for a couple of reasons, one being that I tend to get nervous meeting new people and being in a room of people I don't know. The other reason is obviously chances are we were going to be the only gay couple and of course that is how it ended up. I just tend to be a cautious person with new people in general and you just don't know how people will react. It's not that someone would say anything but people's body languages can be very obvious. Needless to say everything was fine and we really like the instructor who clearly was making an effort to not just say "dads" or "husbands" constantly. 

I was also pleased to discover this guy sitting next to us is a bit of the extrovert class-clown. Nice guy and funny. The instructor at one point said some groups like to bring in food and coordinate something and his response was, "We should do like a taco bar". It was funny but maybe you had to be there.

The Bad

No news on the job-front. Heck not even a bite though I guess I wasn't really expecting one. It's bleak out there though I keep hearing the economy is picking up. Really? Where? Just trying to keep busy and trying not to get too discouraged.

The Ugly

So with my job(less) situation and a baby on the way it was becoming obvious that I needed to try to sell my motorcycle that I LOVE. Plus god forbid anything happen to me. I have people that need me. I'm having a bit of a hard time with this one but know it's the right, responsible thing to do. I've only had it like 2 years and it is really the one thing in my adult life that I bought for me. It was a treat for me. I don't buy a lot of things for myself, hardly ever. I would much rather give and get much more satisfaction in giving gifts than receiving (got this trait from my mom who is incredibly selfless and very generous). So I will post it probably in about a week and see if I can sell it. In this economy, who knows. 

Crib is Up!

SSG and I seem to be on a bit of a roll with the nursery and last week we decided to build the crib. My brother teased us that it's a good thing because it was just "in the nick of time", the jokester he is. The main reason we built it is because we had this gigantic box in the hallway of our apartment and it was just in the way. The other thing he failed to recognize is that hello, you're dealing with two women with their first kid! Heck compared to other people we're most likely behind. Anyway, so we were pleased to discover it wasn't that hard and it took a total of 2 hours which really isn't that bad. The tough one is going to be the 8 drawer dresser from Ikea. We may tackle that this weekend but we'll see. So here are some pics from the assembling and the finished crib (minus the mattress):

      

We're really happy with the crib! We think it looks great!

I want me a beco butterfly 2

So now that we own our stroller and crib I have had to move on to a new baby gear obsession. I am currently trying to find my perfect baby carrier. I think I have found it. The beco butterfly 2. The reviews I have read say that it is great. It can be both a front and a back carrier and holds up to 45 pounds. It is very similar to the ergo, but it seems it may be a bit better with smaller babies. It also I must say is much cuter. There are are numerous cute patterns to pick from. This is my fav. Any thoughts my blog readers?

Painted Walls At Last

I'm pretty embarrassed to say I am downright exhausted today and it appears to be from painting the nursery yesterday. Despite currently being unemployed I've been busting my ass around the apartment and completing endless "To Do" lists. I rarely sleep in because well when there are things to do that is when I go into action. It's in my nature I suppose. My father is the master putterer around the house and I clearly have inherited that. The other reason is I don't want to sit around feeling sorry for myself. I'm not alone in my joblessness and there are lots of people who have it worse off than we do. Sure the first week I felt like a disappointment and had to adjust to this sort of non-schedule. Now I'm in the swing of things, have been very productive, and even started getting back to running. I might as well take advantage of the time I have. 

Ok, so the painting. Honestly I just wanted to get it done and I know SSG was dying to see it all painted. We chose Wales Green (from Ben.jamin Moore) and it's a fresh, light green color. Honestly even if we knew the sex of Baby G I would have voted for green. We're really not the cover the baby in pink or blue kind of people. So I went to my fav hardware store to get what I needed which luckily wasn't much. As someone who dabbles in painting for some side money I had pretty much everything but the paint and a plastic drop cloth to cover the bookshelves. We decided to go with this new line from Benja.min Moore called Natura which is low-VOC and just supposed to more earth friendly. Just a warning to anyone who may want to use this...fantastic paint in terms of coverage and low-odor but I nearly fell over when they rung it up and it was $50 a gallon! Excuse me?! Luckily we only needed one gallon! It's pricey to love the earth! Anyway, here are a few early photos before I started rolling.

                              

So I began working, got through 1 coat, went for a run while it dried, rinsed off because boy did I stink, and then finished the second coat.  I instantly loved the color. It was just really happy and soothing.  Poor SSG had to wait until she was done her second job at 6:00 to see it. I think the suspense was awful. Anyway without further ado here are the results!

              

Needless to say we are thrilled with the results and it means we are one step closer to finishing the nursery!  Next step, assembling the crib!

The Nursery

Shazam and I are getting closer to getting this nursery together every day. I would say that 95% of the crap that needed either to be thrown out or relocated has been dealt with. We still have some pictures and picture frames that we need to find a place for and Shazam has to finish organizing the remaining baseball cards and put them in their new storage area. This my friends is some real progress. Last time I blogged the crib was missing in action. I am pleased to report that a quick call to Alb.ee Baby and the crib was sent out to us and arrived the next day. I can't say enough about them, they rock.

My mom picked up the baskets we found at Tar.get. So we now have 8 baskets on one section of the built ins all ready to organize our baby items as they begin to arrive. Drew the cat really likes them and I have a feeling she will be very disappointed when the get filled.

We also got some great toys and other items from my friend Pam a few weeks ago and have filled the toy basket that my mom bought us (matches the shelf baskets) It is so great to see actual baby toys in the room. Very cool!

Shazam and our awesome friend Chort will be going to I.kea to pick up the dresser (and I am sure a few things we didn't think we needed but can't leave without) tomorrow. Shazam also picked up some paint samples just to make sure of the color. We are thinking of doing an accent wall with a darker shade of the green we picked out. I think we will probably end up painting the room the lighter color and then seeing if we need a pop of color to jazz the place up. I find it so hard to visualize with only small sq ares on the wall.

In that vein I played around with a free room design software online tonight (this of course is instead of working on tomorrows lesson, sorry kids!) to get an idea of how every thing will fit in the room. http://tinyurl.com/l67wjn

I must say I am very excited how it seems to be coming along! It is pretty cool and easy to use. You pick the furniture from drop down menus and then can change the size, pivot and move it around your room very easily! I think it took me about 45 min to make the whole room. The room and furniture is to scale (the room's dimensions are 12'9" x 11'5" with the built in book case taking up 10 inches of that 2nd dimension). Here is how it came out. Just so you know the crib graphic shows the rainbow bedding! How did they know I was making a gay nursery!