Almost 36 Weeks

So on Saturday I will be 36 weeks pregnant...no big deal, that gives me 4 weeks to baby right??  Then I remember that my midwife says that it is more like a "due month" rather than a due date...so really we are talking 2-6 weeks...2 weeks?!?!  Ugh, that seems completely unreasonable.  I'm kind of in denial that there will be a tiny human inhabiting our home in a month.  We're still making progress on the nursery, and I'll post pictures soon.

Tonight we are going to watch a Madison Mallard's game.  My goal will be not to melt or swell up too much in the heat...difficult goals when you are carrying around a watermelon in your belly.

Here's a pic...

I miss my waist...and wine...and running...

The Internets Like to Trick You with Swatches

I've been planning out the nursery in my head ever since we found out that we were having a girl.  We've finally gotten underway with implementing this plan.  The only thing that I just cannot picture are the window treatments.  I was originally thinking that some basic beige curtains on sale at JcPenney would be easy, cheap, and done...WRONG.  First of all when I went to the store to look at swatches, they didn't have any of the beige samples from online, but they had every floral piece of crap on the planet...ugh.  So I had to guess...I guessed wrong.  I painted 3 walls of the nursery light beige and 1 wall (behind the crib) dark purple.  The JcPenney curtains looked good on the purple wall but too mustardy on the beige wall (we have a window on each color of wall...clearly I wasn't thinking this one through).  So those curtains are going back.

Then I was looking and looking around online.  I couldn't picture anything in the room and doubted every color I was seeing online...the internets like to trick you with swatches...it is a fact.  I went to Target and looked at their selection in store.  There were a few that looked nice, but how would I know if they looked good in the room??  So I left with nothing.

A few days later, I remembered a blog post that I read about throw pillows.  She bought a crap ton of throw pillows from various stores, tried out many combinations, and returned the rest.

http://www.allthingsgd.com/2008/04/64-thow-pillows-only-1-living-room.html

This was the kind of crazy I needed to figure out what to do with the damn windows.  Back to Target I went!!  Here is the pile that I obtained (this doesn't include the curtains from JcPenney)...

That's 5 different colors/styles of panel curtains with two different rods.  Each color/style will be tried out on each window (because each window has a different color behind it).  I didn't put each color/style on each rod...because THAT would have been crazy.  So for those of you stats students out there...we have 5 curtains on 2 different walls for a total of 10 different combinations.  I also took pictures of each set closed and open...so that makes it 20 combinations.  (Bonus points if you can figure out how many combinations of curtains could be on the wall at any given time with 2 different windows, 2 different rods, and 5 different curtains allowing for mismatched curtains.)

First I would need a drill.  Luckily there were already anchors in the wall from previous window treatments that aligned perfectly with the hardware...score.  Check me out with power tools at 31 weeks 5 days...

sexy

Here are our two different rod options...

The crib has more square features, and the dresser has more round features.  The square rod felt more heavy duty, but it would bother me if it wasn't parallel to the floor (I know...I am insane).

First up for curtains, we have the purple and brown embroidered.  I liked these because they were polyester on the outside and had a cotton lining...so there weren't a lot of wrinkles.  They weren't blackout, but I could add an additional lining...though I'm not sure if it would be needed.  One thing that was nifty about these was that you could thread the curtain onto the rod in two different ways: through the individual loops to give it a clean, finished look or through the one, big opening for a messy look...guess which one I chose.

Here are the purple and brown embroidered...

(Forgot the flash on the last one...new camera...oops.)

Next up were grey curtains.  They had grommets which I thought I would like.  They were also 100% cotton and had a lot of wrinkles...that's what I want to be doing when the baby is born...ironing her curtains.

The last two are black out curtains, which would be a nice feature.  They are cream and purple with a bit of texture that the camera didn't quite pick up.  They were both the consistency of a plastic table cloth, and were very wrinkly.  The big tag that came with them said that the wrinkles would come out by putting them in the dryer on low for 20 minutes...so maybe no ironing?

So clearly I have lost my damn mind...but this shouldn't really be news to anyone.  Al and I are preferring the embroidered ones, but aren't sure about purple or brown.  There is a lot more brown furniture to add to the room...so I'm not sure if brown curtains will be too much.  What do you think??

29 weeks...Bionic Nose

I have a pretty good sense of smell to begin with, but the pregnancy has caused it to go to another level.  My coworkers say that I have a bionic nose.  As proof of this, earlier this week I was walking back to my office from the bathroom (trip #4 by 1:00) when I smelled sandwiches...mmmm.  I checked one break room...then another...then I walked over to the meeting room where they usually have big meetings (and food).  Out walked a man with a tray of sandwiches...he was my new best friend.  I being a pregnant woman with absolutely NO shame promptly said to the stranger with the sandwiches, "hey, where are you going with that tray of sandwiches??"  Luckily he wasn't going far, and I was able to snag some yummy Panera sandwiches, a cookie, and a pickle.  Free lunch = winning...even if I did have to hunt it down and mug a stranger at my work for it.  I figure the belly gives me an excuse to steal any and all food.

 

Speaking of belly, here's what it's up to these days...

 

 The pics are from Sunday's baby shower that was hosted by three of my good friends.  It was a lot of fun, I got to see a lot of great people, and they were all very generous to our little one.

Next Thing You Know, I am Filling Up the Tub

Our house came with the window treatments which we liked a lot...score!  After moving in, I noticed that the mini-blinds upstairs were very dirty...unscore (that's the opposite of score right?).  I tried spraying them with cleaner and wiping with a paper towel while hanging, but that only put a dent in the dirt.  I had read up on the internets about how one could wash mini-blinds in the bathtub.  This was clearly for crazy people...enter pregnancy crazy.

I was planning on cleaning the upstairs tonight...but got distracted by the dirt on the mini-blinds...next thing you know, I am filling up the tub.  I only added some off-brand dish soap to get the job done.  While the tub was filling, I laid out some old towels in the hallway...which Guinness promptly laid down on...

"It was so nice of you to set out these towels for me!"

Next I grabbed the first set of mini-blinds and set them in the tub to soak.  While they soaked, I washed that window.  Then I scrubbed the mini-blinds with a brush.  After a good scrubbing, I held them 90 degrees from the direction that they hang, and rinsed them with the shower.  (This both rinsed them and drained the top and bottom parts of the blinds.)

Then the mini-blinds went on the towel to dry...but first I went over them one last time with the brush to make sure that I got everything.  I repeated with each set of blinds.

1 - small towels for drying

2 - brush for scrubbing

3 - note by each set of blinds telling me which window they came from...no way pregnancy brain would allow me to remember that sort of information!

Penny has learned to just rest in bed while I am on a cleaning frenzy.  Guinness needs to track my every move.  The blind cleaning was a little traumatic for him as the hallway filled with blinds, and he was unable to follow me from room to room.

"My mommy has lost her damn mind, and I can't follow 

her...so I will rest my head on the stairs and sulk."

Finally I wiped down the blinds one last time with some small towels and hung them back up to finish drying.  They are MUCH better than they were before.  I tried to get a "before" picture of the blinds to show the dirt, but my crappy camera didn't get any good pictures.  Here is a pic of the bathtub after the cleaning to prove how bad they were...

Happy cleaning!

Going to the Bar

We went out to an Irish pub last night for an opening night party....which means I needed another non-sweatpants outfit.  Here it is...

It was raining, so clearly I needed boots.  Somehow I was able to balance on my Nine West, 3", spike heel boots...don't act like you're not impressed.

Dress/Skirt

I bought a cute clothing item yesterday.  I say "clothing item" because although technically it is a dress, I think I'm going to wear it mostly as a skirt.  Here it is as a dress...

...and here it is as a skirt...

I think it is cute either way but more practical for work as a skirt.  It will be a nice hot, summer, day-out, shopping dress as well.

In other news, the pregnancy is going well.  I am at 24 weeks, baby is kicking a lot, and things are generally boring...which is a good thing as far as pregnancies go.

23 weeks: If Only I Had These Two in College

I've been quiet lately because my husband has had the camera at school with him for 2 weeks (including weekends)...lame!  I stole it back by being super sneaky...and asking if I could have it...CIA should hire me.

We went to the opening of Eurydice last night.  Al was Technical Director for the show.  He's been working very long hours in the theater and shop this semester, and the show turned out amazing.  I'm very proud of him.  Thank goodness we were in the back row because I pretty much cried through the whole damn thing...stupid hormones. 

He wanted to wear his tux for the opening, so that meant that I needed to wear something besides sweatpants.  The maternity dresses that I have are more casual, so I squeezed myself into an empire waited non-maternity dress.  I wore this 9 weeks ago for my company party, and it fit just fine...oh the difference 9 weeks makes.  I wore the dress but will be retiring it for the duration of the pregnancy.

The belly could fit just fine...the boobs. could. not.  That cardigan used to be able to button...ha!

If only I would have had these two in college...I could have ruled the world!!...or at least gotten A LOT more free drinks.  Oh well.  Al told me that it looked like I had a butt on my chest...ummm...thanks?