It's looking like a baby room

Riley's room is coming along... we've been blessed with a lot of good-quality hand-me-downs (thanks Sue, Jill and Jodi!) and I think I've gotten through just about everything so that I can see what is still needed (not much). It’s beginning to look like a child’s bedroom and not a storage area anymore.

We braved a trip to IKEA yesterday to purchase a rug and bookshelf for his room. Since we couldn’t find the rug that I had in mind, we improvised and found a cheap neutral one and added several colorful circle rugs that coordinated with the colors of the room. As we were trying out our design at the store, a couple of kids immediately wanted to play on the colored circles, which left me feeling good about our choice of design!

Here’s a couple of shots from this weekend giving an idea of how his room’s coming along. He’s got a bug themed bed set and I’ve been playing off of the red, orange and bright green that are in the pattern for his décor. I’m supposed to be doing squats in prep for labor & delivery, but with sore knees, I have improvised to using an exercise ball to accomplish the same purpose. So you can see me doing one of my daily stretches as well as the colorful rug pattern.

As is the case when you go to a place like IKEA we wound up with a few other goodies for Riley. We bought a red rocking “moose” ( instead of a horse) for when he is old enough to ride which seemed appropriate with his mama’s Alaskan roots. And I couldn’t resist buying one of the colorful wooden stacking toys as well. I’m really drawn to the classic wooden toys (alpha blocks, shape sorters, hammering pegs, puzzles, stackers etc…) that I remember growing up. We’ve picked up a few for his toy collection when he’s old enough not to try and eat the pieces.

I still remember my nephew playing with the metal top of the frozen OJ can and thinking that it doesn’t take much for a little one to be amused. I figured as long as Riley can bang on something, he can find entertainment. Good thing his mom and dad enjoy percussive instruments.

Shelby

ambivalence

Everybody asks me how I'm feeling these days. I'm hard pressed to come up with answers beyond the usual “Fine” which may not be true and certainly doesn’t reveal the fuller picture.

How am I feeling?

• like I'm 7 months pregnant

• ready to have the full use of my body back

• like I have a 12 lb bowling ball attached to the front of my lower torso

• at the moment, I have carpal tunnel, mid-back pain and my sciatic nerve is giving me grief, but other than that, just tired

It’s hard to know how to answer inquiring friends and family.

Here's the lowdown: I'm 31 weeks along and counting down the weeks until I hit #37 and I can start praying for an early delivery. There is not a single comfortable position anymore. Laying down, sitting up, walking -- all of them have their aches and pains. I'm tired all the time and yet, I don't sleep well. Bending is no picnic either; I can barely put my socks on at this point.

On the positive side, Riley’s still moving a lot and getting his exercise. My midwife told me this morning that he’s now head-down and bum-up. Let’s hope he stays that way for his upcoming trip down the canal. We play this little game of him poking me and me nudging him back in the same spot. On some corny level, it feels like we’re communicating.

I enjoy his hiccups, they make me smile.

Emotionally, I'm excited to meet my little boy and get to know him. I wonder who he will most resemble in looks and personality and what our life as a family of three will be like. I wonder if he'll be musical, athletic, artistic, outgoing, a book-lover or if he'll be as addicted to mountain biking as his father is. I dream about days at the beach with him and taking him out in the jogging stroller as I get my exercise. I can't wait to take him to Acadia for hikes in the Maine woods and hope that he'll develop our love of the outdoors.

At the same time there's this sense of homesickness that comes and goes as I see the (seemingly easy) childless life I've known slip away. Normally, my love of new and different things allows me to feel almost complete excitement as I enter a new stage of life -- this time it's tempered with some fear and trembling. I know that I'll be challenged to sacrifice myself in a way I've never have before and that this will be the most demanding (and rewarding) job that I could be given. I'm not afraid of it; I just know that I'll need God's help on a constant basis in light of my weakness.

Shelby

common sense

There are a lot of warnings out there for pregnant women. Warnings against normal behaviors that will likely harm our child if we do them. I heard them so much the first six months that I finally got fed up and ate raw fish.

I announced to J in Feb that I HAD TO HAVE SUSHI. J, being the good husband he is, supported me and my craving and took me to one of our favorite Japanese restaurants and we feasted. Now...I do have boundaries with my risk-taking. I won't eat sushi sold at the grocery store, I made sure it was from a long-established, successful restaurant. And, after checking with our waitress, found out that Japanese women continue to eat sushi when they're preggo because they prepare it properly. It's here in the States that we get scared of the possibility of food poisoning.

I find myself questioning what seems like extreme precautions, wondering if just good common sense is what's needed.

You won't see 6 inches of grey roots on the top of my head because I have yet to find a study that proves that the chemicals used in hair coloring actually get into the bloodstream and harm the baby. So I still color -- with plenty of ventilation.

Do I enjoy a few sips of J's beer from time to time? Sure I do. I'm not putting down the pints each week, just a few ounces here and there to keep me from feeling deprived.

My latest observation is that if you plan to write a book about parenting, prepare to be vilified by someone. No one escapes this as the opinions on child-rearing are very strong and passionate. And yet, it seems that a variety of philosophies seem to work for a variety of folks. I've read Ezzo (Babywise) to Dr. Sears (Attachment Parenting) among others (Baby Whisperer, Baby 411), and when I hear the way some of these folks talk about the other, I wonder if they've actually read the other person's material. I guess in the end we're going to interpret their writings through our own filter which is mightily influenced by our personality, temperament, family history, observations and experiences. And it is quite possible, because of our own issues/baggage, to apply their advice in a way that the author never intended, which isn't the author's fault or mean that their opinions are full of hooey.

So, as I read what these folks have to say and take in the advice from friends and family, J and I do a lot of talking about what we think will work for us and what won't. Which is a little humorous since we don't have a kid to practice on yet. But, we at least have the workings of a plan and are prepared to make adjustments as needed.

All this writing is making me thirsty. I think I'll crack open a Diet Dr Pepper and enjoy the caffeinated contents...

Shelby