Nope, no baby calls over here yet. I have been busy over the weekend running around the house like a chicken with my head cut off. I guess you can also call that "nesting." :-)
It all started last week, one random weeknight when I had the urge to run through the house and gather all the items that I didn't use or hadn't used in awhile. I want simplicity, especially since a ton more items are going to come into the house, most of them tiny, and most all of them from the ever-excited grandparent-to-be ... my mother-in-law. I piled all the unwanted, unused items up in my room, snapped photos of them and then created a Fa.cebook album that I emailed to all friends and family about "free stuff." Some items left that way and some went to Goodwill this weekend. I tell you what ... it feels GREAT to purge!
On Friday night, I got home from work about 6:30 pm, then laid on the couch and promptly fell asleep. I slept all the way until 6 am the next morning. I guess I was tired! Since I had to work on Saturday, I got up at 6 and proceeded to fill nail holes & demolish the existing closet shelving, so it would be ready to paint when I got home from work that day.
Once I got home from work, I had to pick out paint colors, which is a job I detest. I never pick the right shade, I repaint and repaint ( ... and repaint ... that's the story of my Master Bedroom ... finally after 3 different colors, I got a color I like ... or they just layered to make a color I liked.) I guess I like the colors I picked now, seeing them up on the wall. I did three walls in a light grey color and one wall as an accent wall in a navy-ish blue. We have a green recliner that I'm moving out of the living room to make way for baby stuff, so it goes in the bedroom in lieu of a glider. We have yet to do anything inside the closet that is new, but will do some wire shelving for sure. Lots of little clothes/blankets/stuff to store. We purchased a new ceiling light, new window blinds (and new curtains), as the rest of the house "matches" except for this room. I moved a dresser in that we had stuffed in a closet and brought out my old baby lamp from (almost) 31 years ago to provide ambient light. We are going to be using the family bassinet, in which my father and his siblings slept, and all us kids slept in, and now the third generation of great-grandbabies are sleeping in. Having the opportunity to use the family bassinet is something I've been waiting to do for a long time. I simply cannot believe that this might actually be real and in a few short weeks, will be (God-willing) blessed with a baby. Its just so surreal.
I will post pictures of the room once its more finished than it is now ... no crib, nothing on the walls, one curtain missing (the store only had one panel and the other "might" be there in 7-10 days). Don't worry ... I haven't forgotten your requests. :) Also, I have been lax about reading all of your blog posts! I apologize! I'm trying to catch up. Hopefully tonight or tomorrow with a nice glass of wine, I'll be sitting down at the computer to catch up with your lives.
In the meantime, I have a few questions that I'm looking for input on ...
1) I would like to purchase a nice gift for our baby's birth mom. Nothing super-duper expensive, but something nice that she will have in remembrance of him. I saw this on the first season of Tee.nMo.m with Tyler and Catelynn, when the birth mom that adopted their little girl gave Catelynn a necklace (or bracelet, I can't remember which). The birth mom had a matching necklace and also the baby had a necklace.
Do you think a gift like this is a good idea? Suggestions for what to get? Do you do this for a boy? Will this cause more pain than its worth? Do I give it to her at the hospital or wait and mail it to her mom's address (where things will go until she's ready to see them)?
Also, I'm looking for advice for what to say/do in the hospital with the birth mom. I know its going to be so painful and I'll feel helpless and awkward no matter what, but any advice you can give would be most appreciated. HELP!!!
2) Cats. So ... I have some indoor kitties and I wondered what those of you that had cats did regarding sleeping around the baby. Currently, our cats have free roam of the house. We have some window perches in our bedroom where they sleep on and can see out the window. When the baby comes, I'd thought about keeping the baby in our room, shutting the door and keeping the cats out. Then I read that you shouldn't keep the door shut as there's not good enough air flow in an enclosed room. What do I do? I had a thought about home-making a screen door for the baby's room that would keep the cats out. Do you think that's crazy or would work? A friend had done that for their son, and it seemed to work.
Thanks for all the input with your answers, and also for putting up with my random updates and lack of blogging-attentiveness. I guess life just gets crazier from here on out!
