Almost ready

I have lots of updates! I finished nursing school in August, and passed my boards 2 weeks ago. Since then, I've been finalizing preparations for baby boy. I'm due in 2 weeks! One surprising thing I discovered about myself is that I'm not a huge nester - I think it's the part of me that is not detail oriented. Or maybe I was busy with school during the nesting instinct period. At any rate, I'm glad I've been able to muster up the willpower to get things ready. Here are some shots of the baby room:

crib: IKEA
mattress: Naturepedic Organic Cotton (brand new from Craigslist)
dresser: local antique store
kilim rug: gifted by my friend Allison, from Turkey
humidifier: crane drop humidifier
blue blanket: knit by cousin
rocking chair: local yard sale
sheepskin: IKEA
fleece blanket: made by friend

I also just ordered everything I need for cloth diapering. Big thanks to Charissa for sending me the diaper covers! That gave me a head start. Here's what I ordered to complete the cloth diapering system:

1 dozen prefolds - size 1
1 dozen prefolds - size 2
4 dozen wipes
2 pail liners
1 wet bag
1 pack snappis - size 1
1 wipes solution
2 spray bottles

W and I went to a class on cloth diapering on Sunday and were pretty overwhelmed, but I finally bit the bullet and got everything. For those with experience, let me know if I'm missing anything. We'll see how this goes!

As for prepping for baby, here are the books/resources we used:

The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems
Brain Rules for Baby
Bringing Up Bebe
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
Birthing from Within
The Happiest Baby on the Block DVD

Again, I thought I'd be a big reader/researcher, but it turns out I wasn't. Most of the above books are anecdotal/stories as opposed to how-to's.

I'm due in 2 weeks! It's weird not knowing when I'll go into labor and thinking that all of a sudden we will be parents. I guess you can never be fully prepared for this kind of change.

End of summer

Summer has come to an end here in Denver and the weather is cooling down. This summer I very much enjoyed cold drinks of all varieties. I'm normally a hot drink person, even in the summer, but the pregnancy tipped my preferences towards cold drinks. I wanted to share a quick recipe for iced coffee that I found and loved this summer. I've never been an iced coffee person (more of a hot black coffee with nothing added type), but this one hit the spot for me.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup fresh ground coffee
2 cups cold water

How to:
Put the coffee grounds and water into a french press. Do not push down on the press. Put the french press into the refrigerator and let sit for 12 hours (I let it sit overnight), then press down. When you are ready to drink, mix one part coffee concentrate with one part milk (I use soymilk). Add ice, and enjoy!

I found that doing it this way takes longer than using hot water and adding ice, but prevents the acidity, giving way to a smooth taste.

Gardening

We've expanded our gardening slightly as we have a small side yard, front yard and sidewalk lawn at our new home. It's been a learning curve - this spring we learned how to de-winterize the sprinklers (thanks to W's coworker), set them on a timer and fertilize the lawn. W also learned how to prune rose bushes by watching videos online. Big steps for us! We also didn't want to get a lawn mower just to mow our little patch of grass, so we cut a deal with our neighbors where they will mow in the summer and we will shovel in the winter.

We don't have a lot of maintenance to do because the spaces are smaller, and I think it's been just enough for us to manage. The previous owners did a great job with the landscaping so it's been nice for us to step into something set up so well.

Here are some of the roses in the front. We had fun watching and waiting to see what color roses the various bushes produced:

These are my favorite

These blossomed first

I cut some roses over the weekend from the different bushes...

We also discovered lilac bushes and lavender in the front. I didn't get any photos of the lilac (they bloom in the spring), but was very happy to find that those bushes belong to us.

Next time I will post some photos of the side yard. We have a little veggie garden growing there.

Preparing for the baby

I've slowly started to get ready for the baby. I bought a few things on Craigslist and my goal is to keep things to a minimum. My cousin in LA has been giving me some tips, and I'm pretty impressed with how simple they have kept things. He lives in a small 2 bedroom in downtown LA and so space is limited.

In terms of diapering, ideally I'd like to do a combo of going diaper free and cloth diapers. But I feel pretty overwhelmed about it. I read Diaper Free Baby last year and it changed my paradigm about diapers. I really like the idea of it, but it seems like a lot of work. Does anyone have experience with this?

Another book I read last year that shaped my view of parenting is Bringing Up Bebe. It's an American journalist's thoughts about parenting in America as compared to France. It's very interesting and paradigm-shifting. I've been thinking a lot about how parenting has developed in the U.S., especially in our generation, compared with prior generations and other countries as I think about how I want to parent.

In terms of the birth plan...I'm going to a midwife practice at a hospital. I'd like to go natural, but I'm not opposed to getting an epidural if I can't bear the pain. But since that's the plan we'll need to take a class and also think about getting a doula to help me manage the pain.

I've been getting lots of questions about whether I will work. As a new grad, it will be nearly impossible for me to find a part-time job, so I will have to work full time. Also, nursing is such a hands-on profession and it takes about a year of full-time work to become proficient at your job. The nice thing is that it will be shift work so I'll work 3x/week. I may work nights and weekends too, so that helps as well. The job market for nurses is pretty tight in Denver, but I feel less stressed about it now that the baby is coming. If it takes me longer to find a job, that will give me more time at home with the baby.

I'm doing my senior practicum rotations at Childrens Hospital in the emergency department, so I think I'll get lots of preparation for the baby there. 7 weeks of school left. I'm ecstatic.

20 weeks

I guess it's time to break the news on the blog: I'm pregnant! I'm currently 20 weeks pregnant, and my belly is really starting to show:

20 weeks

I finally broke down and got maternity clothes this week. I'd looked around at Gap, Target, Old Navy and Pea in a Pod but maternity clothes are expensive. For the last few weeks I trolled Craigslist and most people were selling L and XL. This week someone was getting rid of XS, so I jumped on it. Luckily, her style was similar to mine so I got 15 pieces of maternity clothes for a great deal - mostly shirts, a few pants and dresses as well. I must say maternity clothes are much more comfortable!

I had started another blog for the baby so I could have a place to jot down thoughts, but now that I'm public with it I'm debating whether to keep it going or just update here. At any rate, there are a few posts up there if you'd like to take a look:

www.team-oh.blogspot.com

I'm grateful for the timing as I'll be just done with school when the baby comes.

Cousins came

My cousins came to visit at the end of January. It was fun to see them, show them Denver and go skiing together. We usually do a cousins trip every December, but with lots of babies in the family 2012 was the first year we didn't do one. So this was kind of a mini cousins trip.

Hiking at Chautauqua

Skiing at Copper Mountain

I'm so grateful to have people in my life who've known me my entire life. They've seen me through all seasons of life.

Janice got married!

W's sister Janice got married in February! She asked me to be the day-of coordinator so I nervously said yes. My cousin Tim came to back me up since he had experience coordinating and I had none. Everything went well and I really enjoyed coordinating.

At the salon: getting ready

With the beautiful bride

At the reception