Nesting

Now I know we are only going to be in Iowa City for 2 months or so after the baby is born, but that hasn't stopped me from going all out with our nursery (other than painting the walls, Ben put his foot down there).  We spent the weekend cleaning, painting shelves, and organizing our little guys soon-to-be home.

Harlan is still wearing the cone of shame, but his foot is healing.  He is going a little stir crazy since we can't take him on walks or let him go to daycare until the wound has closed, but lucky for us he is a very lazy dog and is mostly just sleeping.

Eventually the dresser will also serve as the changing table, but for now it's pretty bare.  We bought the dresser from Target and then replaced the silver knobs with really cute polka dotted ceramic knobs (that you can't see in the picture unfortunately).

The shelves are from IKEA, we painted them 'Jalapeno Green' to spice things up :)

Jumping foxes painting... how much do I love this...

In February Karen and I are going to sew curtains to replace the plain ones that are up now-- I'm thinking either orange or yellow-- and solid, or maybe a chevron stripe.

Custom made birdie mobile from Etsy

Brian Andreas print framed by the crib...

 All of his friends waiting in the crib (it is going to be hugely devastating to Ben and I if our son doesn't like stuffed animals... since we are obsessed with building a plush toy zoo...)

31 Weeks

31 weeks!  Only 9 to go!  This week our little guy is the size of a pineapple, and holy cow does it feel like it. Things are getting pretty cramped in my belly, with this weeks new challenges being putting on my right shoe and sitting at a desk all day (no matter how much I wiggle, I cannot get comfortable).  Other than that, things are going swimmingly.  Ben I are assembling our "go bags" -- so far we have one, Harlan has one, and there is an entire bag full of snacks, so hopefully we are prepared for labor when it starts.  Also new in our world, we purchased a vehicle the week before Christmas to accommodate our growing family.  We drove our new minivan to Minnesota for Christmas, and are both quite pleased with our decision to go for a van as opposed to an SUV.    Harlan is also very happy with it, he can now lay down comfortably and isn't hitting his head on the ceiling like he does in the corolla.  

We had a great Christmas in Minnesota, spending time with dad, Joleen, Mal and Josiah in Mankato and Ben's whole family in Roseville.  Congratulations again to Caleb and Allie on their engagement :)  It was a very merry holiday weekend.  

The only bummer was that Harlan ended up getting injured at some point (the exact cause is not known).  We brought him to the vet Wednesday afternoon when we returned to Iowa, and they ended up needing to sedate him to take a look at his paw.  The picture below is Harlan completely passed out on the vet floor (after the sedative).  He has an abscess that is now being treated with antibiotics, pain meds, and of course, a cone of shame.

Success!

Just wanted to write a quick blurb about a double victory today at the hospital.  We had back-to-back appointments with obstetrics and rheumatology and both went perfectly.  Our OB doc said everything looks perfect, and we heard his fast little heart beat through the doppler for confirmation (150 bpm).  I had labs done following my rheumatology appointment, and everything looks great, nothing requiring follow-up or further monitoring (not a common occurrence in my world!).  Cheers to a healthy baby and mommy!

"I've got bump in my trunk"

Oh Week 30...

It is hard to believe there are only 10 weeks to go!  Ben and I both let out deep sighs yesterday while walking Harlan as we realized how fast the next ten weeks are going to fly by for both of us, and how much we have to do before we meet our little guy.

Ben's dissertation is now pretty much done, he is just putting the finishing touches on before sending it to his thesis committee (and still waiting for it to be cleared by the government).  He is working in the lab when he isn't writing, and has an experiment all planned out that he is excited to start on. This will likely end with him writing another publication, so my stint as "in-house proofreader" will continue on :)  We have not heard 'officially' from Sandia, but know that all materials are now in and have been sent to HR, so we expect that Ben will get word this week or next.  His dissertation defense is set for February 6th, and if all goes as planned, he will be heading to New Mexico shortly thereafter for orientation.  I've promised to not have our baby early (due date is March 1), so we'll see how much control I have over that when the time comes.

It's been decided that I will continue to work for Iowa City Hospice remotely as a consultant at 50% FTE when we move.  Which is great!   It is going to be a busy few weeks though,  I'll have to train the person we hire to assume the other 50% of my job on-site, and come up with a work plan for maternity leave.  I will be working as an independent contractor (not an ICH employee) after having the baby, so I need to start my own company and fill out all the tax forms and business plans (and probably a bunch of other stuff I don't know about yet).  I'm still doing consulting work for Dr. Beglinger at the University of Iowa as well, and we are in our 'final hurrah' for that work now, so I feel kind of like Ben... working all day, then coming home and working in the evenings and on the weekends. 

Is it possible that both Ben and I will feel like we are getting a break when the baby is born??  From what I hear, the answer to that is no :)

Speaking of the baby-- he is an extremely active little guy, and I relish his "awake" times when he is kicking up a storm.  I haven't posted many 'bump' pictures, but right now I am so much enjoying being pregnant and my kicky, magical belly that I wanted to put one up. 

And here is a picture with my other baby-- Harlan has been very snuggly lately. 

Have a great holiday everyone!!

Baby's First Ugly Sweater Party

We just had a great weekend at the 4th annual Ugly Sweater Party, hosted by the Lowry's in Mankato.  Unfortunately, we did not bring home trophies like last year, but it was still a great evening.  

The father of my child...

We ended up getting snowed in after an unexpected storm, so we spent Sunday at dad and Jo's, putting up the tree, watching a whole lot of football, and taking some superb naps.