Getting Ready - 34 Weeks 6 Days

Now that Mr. Mustard isn't working, we have a little time to breathe, plan, and relax. I realized yesterday that I have bought only frivilous, non-essential, or fun items for the new baby, but nothing really that the baby needs.

So, even though I know I said I wasn't going to buy a carseat til after the baby came home, yesterday I did! Actually, I bought two! I bought an extra one for Paprika, since Paprika will be starting preschool in July and Mr. Mustard will (hopefully) be driving her to school in his car, and I will pick her up (so she will need two carseats). Yup, Paprika will be in morning pre-school this summer for three hours/day. I think she's gonna love it- at least I hope so!

Paprika has all of a sudden had a tremendous emotional growth spurt. She is a little kid now! It's breaking my heart! She wakes up early, gets out of bed, and reads books before I can go into her room to get her. Yesterday, I woke up and she was downstairs playing with her blocks. I put the babygate up last night so she can't go downstairs without coming to get me first. I'm guessing it will be about three more days before she learns how to unlatch the baby gate. ;-)

Back to the baby. We are still stuck on a middle name. So hard! But the first name is pretty much locked. The baby is very strong, and many times I feel like someone is going to bust out of my stomach. I have never felt such strong kicks and movement...not even with Paprika! This baby is something else!

I am continually nauseous...just like I was in the first trimester! I am throwing up often, and that's something I never expected to continue this far along! I am getting so anxious for the birth- ready for it- but also know that the baby needs to stay in awhile longer to get a little bigger and for lung development. I'm at the point now where I can feel and distinguish the baby's feet, hands, head, etc. from the outside of my stomach. I can put a hand in one spot and know it's a foot...or in another spot and know it's the head. Pretty cool!

In other news, we've decided to put house-hunting on the back-burner. We're fairly convinced that housing prices will continue to fall, or at the very least aren't going to go up in the next year. So...we are going to try to make it work in our townhouse for now. We're still casually house shopping, so if something comes along that is perfect, we'll go for it. We just don't want to buy a so-so house now when we could possibly get an even better house this winter for the same price.

I am not too excited about staying in our townhouse- we are bursting at the seams! And the lack of a backyard and play space really bothers me. But, we are taking this weekend to do some massive cleaning and de-cluttering, so that we can make room for the baby to come home, and our house can feel more zen-like! Maybe then the lack of space/yard won't be so bothersome!