Milkymilk

So This is Winter

Look at it.  The ground, all naked and mossy.  It has been there for weeks now without snow.  

 

As much as this mild East Coast winter is an unpleasant surprise for me, I know someone who could not be happier.

We went to the park yesterday for the first time in months.  It was like Christmas and her birthday times 10,000 covered in cupcakes and chocolate and sprinkles and everything that is good and happy in the world.  She ran to the slide, to the seesaw, to the swings, over and over again.  She was too excited to spend more than ten seconds with any one piece of the playground.  This bit of joy was sandwiched in between two of the top ten tantrums of her life.  So, it is not entirely a bed of roses living life with an almost two year old.  

Apparently, she does not like my jacket.  It makes her scream and cry, "NO JACKET NO JACKET NO JACKET!"  Mommy is 8 1/2 months pregnant, is not keen on buying one more article of clothing she can only wear for 6 weeks, and is slightly chilly!         

What can I say, though.  She is her mother's daughter.  

While eating some of the best tomato basil soup the world has ever known at Liquid Lunch, my 8 1/2 month pregnant boobs got in the way.  (Yes.  I went there.)  My favorite non-maternity-but-it-works-well-enough t-shirt is done.  It looked a bit like this, but rounder.  Now, it is nothing but orange boobs.

I just about cried, "NO TOMATO BASIL SOUP NO TOMATO BASIL SOUP NO TOMATO BASIL SOUP!"  It did not sound that bad, but only because my vocabulary has become a bit more colorful since I was two.  Live and learn.

Wait a minute, we are having a BABY!

Oops!  Somehow the focus of this pregnancy has gone almost entirely to transitioning Harper into her new room.  

Well, that and complaining about being pregnant, "My belly hurts.  There is no more room in my torso for food.  The baby has taken over my bladder.  All I do is pee.  If the baby is in my belly, why do I have so much gas?  Why is the ground so far away, and why is there so much stuff on it when I cannot bend at all.  Why is January in New England so HOT?  If another person says 'Wow, you must be due soon!' I am going to scream and/or cry."

Any-who, I walked into our empty nursery (except for a very inviting air mattress for company) and had a minor panic attack.  We have less than 8 weeks, give or take, to pull it together.  It should be easy, honestly.  I went through storage and pulled out all the bits and pieces form the beginning of Harper's life.  Harper 'helped' me organize it all in the new baby's room.  

I don't have a theme.  It takes a long time to get a room the way I like it.  For this baby's room, I am starting with my all time favorite children's book, Ferdinand the Bull.  I copied a few of the illustrations on cream card stock, and framed them in Ikea frames.  Harper picked out pink wrapping paper for the matt, and I 'floated' the prints on top of it with double stick tape.  

This is all sort of a tease, though, isn't it?  See, I hung them in the new baby's room.  Then I decided everything is in the wrong place, and I need an entire do-over.  So, pictures of prints in their rightful locations are coming soon.  (After I pee 5 times, curse all the objects on the floor, and take a nap.)

Bump Watch '09

Goodness, we have not looked at my belly for a long time!  Remember 18 weeks?

Looks like I swallowed a bunny.  Those were the days.  Welcome to 26 1/2 weeks:

It is a week and a half till my last trimester.  Bring it!  This pregnancy is going by so much faster than the first, which is a very good thing.  The charm of the whole situation is dwindling as my ability to like bend and stuff becomes severely limited.  It is the little things, you know.  Although, those nesting hormones are a blast.  They should bottle it up and sell it, no doubt.  And, as much as bending seems cool now, it will not seem half as cool as sleep come March.  

Harp's Faves & It's a...

Harper is almost twenty months now, so our countdown to the end of her baby days has begun.  Although we will miss her being so itty bitty, taking long naps and long snuggles, every day grows a bit more exciting as she becomes more herself.  She is starting to form sentences, a little, and we are getting to know her a bit better.  Her favorite things:

1.  Nudity.  (I would be fine with her lounging around the house naked all day, if she was like, uh, potty trained.  I was able to convince her to wear the poncho from my childhood the other day.  O.k., so the poncho might explain why she won't let me dress her.)

2.  Max and Ruby, pronounced "Axe & Ubey"

3.  Chocolate, pronounced "Chako-ate" mostly while crying into the floor because it never comes fast enough.

3.  Shoes, especially her ladybug boots       

(Stop reading now if you don't want to know the baby in my belly's gender.)

6.  Hopefully, come March, her new baby sister!  That is right, we found out the gender today, and it is a girl!!!

18 weeks: Questions About Pregnancy

 

1.  If the baby is in my belly, why is my butt getting so big?  

2.  Can I paint a room, or will that cause brain damage to the baby?

3.  How can I get my pants to stay up?

4.  Should I be offended the pharmacist changed my prenatal vitamin to one that includes a stool softener without consulting me first?

5.  Is it o.k. to bring a large coffee from Dunk'n Donuts to your prenatal check-up?  (It is not like it is an Irish coffee.)

6.  If the baby is in my belly, why do my feet stink?

7.  Did my feet always smell this bad, and I just did not know until my since of smell was heightened by hormones?

8.  Why does my living room smell like Copenhagen?  (The tobacco, not the place.)

That is all I can think of right now, but I am extremely forgetful these days.  We find out the gender next week!!  

Nesting... & cookies shaped like a mouse: flavor?

The cookies I mentioned yesterday, Chocolate Chip Cranberry Pistachio & Chocolate Dipped Spice Cookies, are up in our etsy shop.  Can you believe it?  How quick was that?  Ah, the benefit of having my mom close by is kicking in already.  Not to mention, Harper has been taking 3 1/2 hour long naps.  (And, now that I have publicly bragged about that, she will never ever nap again.  Me and my big mouth.)

Any-who, I am 16 1/2 weeks pregnant today.  Although the Baby Center e-mail seems to have omitted this point, this is the week the crazy nesting/gathering hormones must begin to kick in.  Even Harper is has been affected.  From about 3 1/2 feet down, there are no berries on our holly bush.  They are all in her toy stroller.  Poor girl, she would have been so much happier with a wagon.

Suddenly I feel an overwhelming urge to paint everything in our house.  The logic that we live in a rental, and we have no idea how long we plan on staying as we are bran spanking new to the area, has held me back from heading to the paint store, so far.  Instead, I have taken to window shopping on etsy.  Free sheer joy and little mess, how can you go wrong?  Here are a few highlights:

Wooden Flower Stacker at Imagination Kids

Set of 3 Pyrex Cinderella Mixing Bowls in Autumn Colors at T Party

Mouse 3.75 inch Cookie Cutter at Forbes Farm Destash

How could you not love a cookie shaped like a mouse?  Why is that so rad?