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January 4, 2004
Holidays, Musings, and 36 weeks minus 2 days
Well, I’m currently at 36 weeks, minus two days. I prefer to still think of it as about a month, because I’ll probably go late, and I still have so much to do. A few months ago, we were doing all these house projects, and I kept thinking, I can’t wait until December and January when we’ll be done and we can just relax and wait for the baby. Right.
Well, I decided I didn’t really want any presents for Christmas from Jason. I’m not a very materialistic person, and I had already given out ideas for other things I wanted. So when I told him I didn’t know what I wanted, because all the things I wanted were for the house, he offered to paint the bathroom for me. I gladly took him up on the offer! We have a small bathroom upstairs that had the ugliest wallpaper from the 60s or 70s, red and yellow and green striped. I hung posters in the bathroom (not normally a place I’d hang them) just to cover up the wallpaper. Of course the first step to painting was removing the wallpaper, so now there’s a somewhat pleasant peach color with lots of pock marks. Next weekend he’ll finish painting, and it will be a nice soothing lavendar with white trim. So there’s one more project left to do.
Not to mention putting away all the Christmas decorations, cleaning the house, keeping up with the laundry, organizing all the baby stuff and all the other new stuff we got for Christmas from our relatives. I want everything perfectly organized before I go into labor, so at least we’re starting from a good point when everything gets chaotic and unorganized after the baby is here. But I may have to lower my goals a bit.
Christmas Holidays
We got to see all the immediate family on my side over Christmas. We went to my mom’s on Christmas Eve and celebrated with her. We went to my aunt’s, and luckily avoided her dinner party by just having hors devours and not staying all night. (It’s nice of her to invite us, but we got added to my aunt’s tradition late, after my mom moved nearby. And it just doesn’t fit with our traditions of a quiet family Christmas dinner, opening presents, and going to church.) On Christmas Day, we didn’t have much to do because the rest of my family was celebrating with their significant others’ family. Yes, my brother, sister, and mom are all dating wonderful people, who all happen to be centered around the Twin Cities. We are the only ones who are married. So Jason and I went to see Lord of Rings: The King Returns, and were surprised that the theater was actually really busy. It was a good movie, but I enjoyed The Two Towers more. The new one didn’t need to be nearly as long as it was, it could have ended a half hour earlier and been just as good.
On Dec 26, I had my first “iparenting” get together. I met up with Amy F., who has a pregnancy diary 3 above mine. It was great comparing notes to someone whose due date was only 3 weeks later than mine. And my husband was just relieved that Amy turned out to be a real pregnant woman and not a serial killer or someone who wanted to steal my baby. (Stories like the Laci Peterson case scare him.) I was never worried.
We had a great time shopping at some niche stores in St. Paul. One was so opulent it was laughable (with a $2000 pram and a $1500 crib, and even a $200 baptismal gown). They also had more reasonably priced stuff, but by that I only mean it was an imaginable level of expensive ($400-600 for more modest cribs.) And they didn’t even have anything unique that you couldn’t get cheaper somewhere else.
Peapods was much more interesting. We spent a lot of time looking at their cloth diaper supplies and natural wooden toys. I even tried to talk a fellow customer into using cloth diapers, which both Amy and I are planning to do. We also tried on baby slings (with model baby dolls to see how they felt.)
On the 27th, we went to my sister’s house. She lives in a northern suburb of the Twin Cities, and she hosted my dad, stepmom, us, and my brother and his girlfriend for a delicious dinner. I somewhat guiltily let her do all the work (her boyfriend helped a lot, as did my stepmom), since I was a tired, 8-month along pregnant lady. I don’t think I’m taking too much advantage of this, but I am accepting offers for help graciously instead of protesting that I can do it. We opened presents again with my dad, he and my stepmom bought a ton of stuff as usual.
Gifts
As I said, I’m not very materialistic. But I do appreciate thoughtful gifts, and I’m adding this section mainly for others who might read it and wonder what to get a pregnant couple for Christmas, because we got some nice things. We got a few gifts for the baby—my sister gave us some books and baby clothes. My mom got us a super soft fleece bunting/snowsuit from Gap, which was great because we didn’t have one.
My husband’s family surprised us the most. They actually got us stuff we liked, for the most part. Jason’s brother got us a Baby Blues Treasury, which goes back to the beginning of the comic strip when Zoe was just a baby. It was a great gift because we love the comics and we can now relate more to Baby Blues. We read it together a chapter at a time, and laughed at many of the scenarios, which we could see ourselves in soon. I highly recommend this as a gift for any pregnant couple.
My mother-in-law got me these carvings by Willow Tree. They have a pregnant woman one which I had wanted but didn’t even ask for that she got for my birthday. And she got me one called “New Life,” with a mom and dad holding a baby for Christmas. Now, I don’t collect these Willow Tree carvings. But I have accumulated several, and I do like them, because each of the ones I have has a special meaning.
(It’s one of my life’s goals not to become a “collector”. I know too many people who decide to collect snowmen figures, cat figures, cow figures, teapots, or whatever. Then they end up going ga-ga over anything with that object (cat snowman, cow, teapot) on it, even if it’s the ugliest thing in the world! And if you let people know what you collect, you will soon have way to many of one thing. So everything in my house specifically matches a room, has a functional purpose, or has some meaning tied to how I got it or why. (except the clutter of course. :)
Birthday Musings
My birthday was on Christmas Eve, and I’m now 28. Since this is only 2 years from 30, it makes me feel old. But I don’t feel as old as last year, when I turned 27 but still didn’t have any kids. At least now I will be 28 and a mother in about a month.
I was also musing today that when I first started working at my company, one of my coworkers was shocked to learn that I was only 22. Based on how I acted and composed myself, he thought I was 28. I wonder now if he would think I act 35, or if I’ve just finally grown into the age. (He no longer works there, so I don’t see him often.) Of course, now he knows how old I am, so he probably wouldn’t think anything.
Well, this entry has gotten longer than I expected, so I think I’ll wait until later this week to update more about pregnancy symptoms and developments. I have an OB appt. tomorrow, and we go tour the hospital and pre-register on Tuesday, so I’ll have more to say then.
Happy New Year to you all!
Becky
(37 weeks and 5 days to go.)
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