The "Nursery"

I mentioned before that Catherine will be downstairs in the office for a while, until we are comfortable moving her upstairs.  Honestly, she'll be down there with us for as long as she is in a crib.  The only downside to that is that there is no where else to move our office furniture so it stays in her room (and takes up one whole side of the room). 

But really, babies do not spend that much time in their rooms, other than sleeping, so it's not really a big deal.  It is a little cramped in there though!  Here are some pictures of the progress we made last weekend while Nina was in town.  She was a HUGE help!

Catherine gets to use the same crib as Lauren, but I did buy her new bedding.  I didn't buy one of those sets that has 10 pieces to it because I really think some of the pieces are a waste.  This one was a 3 piece set with the blanket, sheet, and bumper pad.

I would like to hang something over the crib, but I'm at a loss as to what right now... so for now it's an empty wall.  Maybe I should hang the quilt that came with the bedding?  It won't get used for a while...

There is not enough room for a dresser, so I bought one of those drawer units to put in the closet that's just outside her room.  Since that room is an office, there is no closet in the room (it's just outside the office... more like a coat closet).  I think we did a good job with organizing the closet!  It's a seriously tiny closet.

Until Catherine gets a little bigger (and I'm able to bend over again...) I'll probably change her diapers in the pack-n-play since she'll probably be sleeping in that for a little while in our room.   So, we got a little storage box to keep diapers, wipes, diaper rash cream, lotion, etc. to keep near that.

I'm excited that the office was able to hold the rocker/recliner that we used to have in the bonus room upstairs.  That way I can feed her in her room at night and hopefully not bother the rest of the house.  And it's a lot more comfortable than a regular rocking chair!

We are counting down!

All about Lauren

As of Monday, February 21st, Lauren was officially 3 and a half years old.  Where has the time gone?!  My word, she is getting too big for her britches!  In more ways that one.  Ha!

I should weigh and measure her, but I haven't done that yet so I'm not quite sure how tall she is or how much she weighs.  My best guess is that she is just over 3 feet tall and maybe weighs 35 pounds?  She still feels pretty light to me so maybe her weight is less than that.  She's just more lanky to pick up than heavy.

She is still just so sweet most all of the time.  And quite sensitive and emotional.  I have no idea where she gets that from!  *wink*  She will look at me or her Daddy and say, "I love you!"  I love that.

I asked her last night what she wanted to be when she grows up and she told me that she wanted to be a teacher, like Mrs. Jamie (her preschool teacher).  She loves Mrs. Jamie and we love her!!!  She loves school and it makes me so happy that she is happy there. 

(Standing next to Daddy's new truck... it's huge and she's tiny!)

Some of her favorite things right now are:
headbands - she especially loves the pink one with the flower on it
books - still loves to read and be read to
dresses - or "princess dresses" as she calls them
riding on the tractor with Daddy
pretending - she says "tending"
wearing dress up tutus and Mama's jewelry
singing into a microphone and dancing
watching cartoons!
shopping - of any kind!  She will tell me that "we need to go to shopping Mama!"
the color pink - and she will tell you that she likes DARK pink  :)
getting excited about becoming a Big Sister! - she asks me all the time about playing with Catherine

She is so much fun and I know it's just going to get better and better!  I love my little Lauren so much!

8 weeks to go!

Well, as of yesterday, I officially have 8 weeks until little Catherine is scheduled to arrive.  It seems like a really long time from now and very soon at the same time.  Her "room" is almost ready.  Hopefully after my mom's visit this weekend we'll have knocked it all out and everything will be finished. 

I put room in quotes because she will actually be living in the office for the first couple of years.  Her permanent room will be upstairs later on, but I'd rather have her downstairs close to us for a good while.  Plus, I don't want to be climbing up and down the stairs in the middle of the night all the time!  I'm not the most graceful person and it's a wonder I haven't fallen down the stairs yet.  Add to that carrying a baby, and I get horrible mental images of me and her rolling down the stairs due to my clumsiness.  So, in the office she goes! 

I've got a to-do list a mile long of things I want to accomplish while my mom is here.  I hope I don't wear us out completely!  The very first thing to do is go through all the newborn and 3 to 6 months size clothing I have packed away from when Lauren was that little.  I think I'm going to be a little weepy going through it all.  It's hard to believe Lauren was that little!  It seems like yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital and pretty soon we'll be bringing home her sister!

I'm excited about going shopping for Catherine!  She won't need a ton of new things, but she won't be required to wear all hand-me-downs.  Besides, Lauren was born in August so the seasons don't line up exactly.  At least that's what I'm using as my excuse to buy her a few new things.  :)

I'm almost done with Catherine's baby blanket that I started crocheting at Thanksgiving.  I'm making it around a 30 x 40 size.  It's so soft, I love it!  I've also got the yarn for Lauren ready to go for her blanket too.  She helped pick out her colors.  Of course she wanted dark pink and I convinced her to put some purple in it too.  :)  Catherine's is just the multi-color baby colors, but I still love it.  It's not perfect since it's my first attempt, but I think it looks pretty good.  And it's made with lots of love!  I'm hoping to get Catherine's done before she gets here and Lauren's finished before her birthday this year.  Then maybe I'll learn how to crochet little caps for winter time. 

In pregnancy related news... the swelling, oh the dreaded swelling, has reared it's ugly head.  Maybe I'm being ridiculous, but I honestly thought that since I would be pregnant during winter then I wouldn't swell this time.  WRONG.  I woke up this weekend to practically no ankles.  Fun times.  Everything feels swollen and tight.  Arms, legs, hands, feet, ankles, face... and even my lips!!!  Retaining fluid is for the birds, BUT it's worth it in the end.  I just hope I can lose the weight fairly quickly like I did last time (but I'm not holding my breath)!

This and that

Better late than never, but here is my 29 week picture.  I'm sure I've grown a little bit since this picture was taken, but I'm not taking a picture today since I'm still in my pajamas.  :)  I'm a few days away from being 31 weeks now.

It's snowing again today... and I'm totally OVER winter already.  I'm not a fan of cold weather to begin with, but when it gets this cold and snows on top of it, well all I want to do is hunker down and sleep.  I think the snow is beautiful, but it puts a kink in things for sure.  Not having to go to work isn't terrible, but being stuck inside gets old after awhile.  I should be more grateful for the day of rest.

As I type this Lauren is laying under the dining room table watching cartoons.  She has a pretty good view of the TV from there I guess.  I keep asking her what she is doing and she just says she likes it under there.  I guess it's like a fort!  Ha! 

Here she is just before her hibernation under the table:

We love staying in our pajamas all day.  :)

Here are some pictures from the front door view of the snow.

It's 26 degrees right now... so we are not stepping one foot outside for sure until it stops snowing.  We might venture out later after it stops to play for a little while.  I don't like to go out while it's snowing because it always feels colder to me and plus everyone gets soaked.  Hopefully it will stop soon!!!

10 weeks to go

I have a 29 week picture of myself, but I have been too lazy to get it off the camera and onto the computer.  Maybe I'll try to do that tonight.  Getting that done yesterday was out of the question because I went to bed at 8:30 and actually fell asleep on the couch around 8:15 or so.  I have been so tired lately.  I guess I'm on the downhill stretch.  Normally I'm not that exhausted, but Monday night I woke up around 1:30 am and didn't get back to sleep until around 4:00 am.  RIDICULOUS. 

I kept making mental to-do lists (items I still need to get for Catherine, stuff I need to organize Catherine's room, meals I want to cook and freeze, paperwork I need to complete for work, and of course the normal running grocery lists).  I guess I should have gotten up to write everything down and I might have been able to sleep, but it didn't occur to me at the time to do that.  I did get out of bed around 2:45 and took some ground meat out of the freezer to thaw for dinner on Tuesday night. 

I made crockpot meatloaf and it didn't turn out at all like I thought it would.  It was almost too tender, if that's possible.  I didn't care for it too much.  Oh well... lesson learned.

When I finally did get back in bed just before 4:00 am I think the sound of the rainfall helped me to fall asleep.  I can always sleep when it's raining.  Maybe I should get a sound machine that sounds like rainfall.  I'm sure Trey would just love that.  I don't know, maybe it wouldn't bother him because he can fall asleep through any noise.  I'll have to put that on another to-do list. 

I've also been having some strange dreams lately.  Normally I wake up and can't remember what I dreamed about.  I just know that the dream was weird.  Although recently I guess I've been worried about my weight gain and what my stomach is going to look like after a 2nd baby.  I can't even say that I've tried extremely hard to not gain as much weight as I did with Lauren.  I mean, I haven't been hitting up Sonic every other day like I did with Lauren, but I'm not necessarily turning down sweets left and right either.  As of right now I'm up about 25 pounds.  But I still have 10 weeks to go.  I feel like the rest of my weight gain should be strictly about Catherine gaining weight and not me, but I have a feeling it won't work out that way.

Anyway, so the dream... I haven't been able to wear my wedding ring for a few weeks now.  My hands have swelled a little bit or maybe that's just fatty deposits in my fingers.  Regardless, I can't wear my wedding ring and I can't stand that feeling.  So, I guess that's why I dreamed that after I had Catherine I wasn't able to wear it ever again.  I was so depressed in my dream.  Hopefully that does not happen and I'll be able to lose the weight I've gained this time around. 

Except this time I need to lose an extra 10 pounds because I was a little pudgy when I got pregnant this time.  Sigh.  Hopefully my metabolism won't be shot completely after this baby.  Only time will tell!

I guess I should mention that we picked our date for the c-section!  I will be Tuesday, April 12th.  Mabye I'm weird, but I think it's neat that Lauren was also born on a Tuesday.  And her birthday is the 21st.  The reverse of 12.  Ha!  Hopefully it will all work out and Catherine won't decide to come any earlier.  The c-section is planned only 4 days before my actual due date.  And I really want my doctor to deliver her and not another doctor in the clinic.  Not that I don't trust the other doctors, I'm sure they are just fine, but my doctor delivered Lauren and he was just wonderul, so I really want the same experience with Catherine.

And that's all for now.  I should probably get started on another to-do list.