36 weeks/The Home Stretch!

36 weeks!! 1 week till D-day!

Folks! We've reached the home stretch and we are soooooooo excited. Last night EH and I made some more progress on Ms. W's nook but we still have a ways to go. First, an update on the nook..

This was our inspiration..

We've got a few of the things in the pic but I had to trade my laundry basket for a cheap 99c store version because I just don't know how I'm gonna get to the city in my condition...I'm just too tired for all that. We'll probably replace the one we have down the line. We have yet to hang the maternity pics and the child of God poster but those are easy fixes. The polka dot wall is scheduled for this weekend..FINALLY!

Here's where we are now...(remind me to stop taking pictures in the evening! It looks sadder than it really is) The polka dots are all cut out and I even put a large dot and a small dot on the wall to see how I like the sizes...I think we're going with the smaller dots so that it makes more of an impact on the wall. I'm thinking of changing out the art on the wall for some new art I recently made for the living room. The initial letters have been painted and need to be hung. The co-sleeper is up! and my bootleg laundry hamper is present.

Meanwhile, over on the other side of the room, the changing area is complete. I added a little convenient basket that holds diapers, coconut oil, diaper cream and wipes. All the clothes in her little drawers have been washed and folded and we have extra diapers people....we're totally on the ball!
I bought a night light for my side of the bed to help with nighttime breastfeeding but EH says it's not bright enough so we'll see how that turns out.

This weekend is our big trip to IKEA and Target to pick up all those last minute house and personal things that we still need. My suitcase for the hospital is almost completely packed, with the exception of some small snacks, a robe and some slippers.

Remaining TO DO's
[ ] Get below 40 watt bulb for changing table. The one we have now is way too bright for 3am changings and feedings. Home Depot

[ ] Extension cords. Home Depot
 
[ ] Artificial plants for living room window. I saw some really cute artificial plants at Ikea for like $3. I love plants but my black thumb is no joke. I've avoided artificial plants in the past but I know I'll be paying even less attention to real plants when W comes along and our view of a brick wall needs some serious help. Also, I don't want Josh's curiosity to ,literally, kill him. A lot of house plants are toxic to kitties.

[ ] Aloe Vera plants for windowsills in bedroom. I do want at least some real plants in the house so I'm gonna start with a couple of small aloe vera plants..also at Ikea. The window needs to be prettied up since we face out onto the garbage area in our building. Aahhhhh...nyc living...

[X] Summer curtains for bedroom. Because it's time!! I've already put up my summer curtains in the living room. I'm probably gonna pair these with some mini blinds because EH hates too much light in the morning.

[ ] Carpet runner 3 x  ? for entryway. Our entryway is pretty long so the longer the length the better. I'm only sure that I need the width to be 3'.  I'm really excited about going back to the carpet outlet for this one. We scored so incredibly with our living room rug that we can't not go back and see if lightning strikes twice. 

[X] Clock for bedroom wall. I've been wanting this one for a long time. The only "clocks" in our bedroom right now are our cell phones. It'll be nice to see how insanely late it is without blinding myself with the phone light when I wake up for feedings and changings. Also, I love the soothing sound of a ticking clock.

[X] Gold/white spray paint for frames. This one is overdue. I may do this tomorrow just to get it over with. I've wanted to update my dark frames in the living room and now is the perfect time to do it.
 
[X] Blue/gold/cream throw for poang chair. The green throw that's currently on Poang doesn't go with my color scheme at all. This is a pretty easy and inexpensive fix and requires a trip to TJ Maxx/Home Goods, which is always nice.

[ ] Rugs for bedroom. I'd love to get two matching, washable, his/her throw rugs for our bedroom. This also requires a trip to TJ Maxx/Home Goods/IKEA. Yay!

[ ] New garbage cans for kitchen. Our current ones don't have covers. 99c store
 
[X] Clean the refrigerator.This is embarrassing but I've only cleaned my fridge once since we moved in. I know that folks will be bringing food by after W's arrival and I need the fridge to look somewhat presentable.
 
[X] Make canvas art for the living room. Also long overdue and requires a trip to Michaels for some paint and canvases. 

[ ] Get 8 x 10 frames for wedding pictures that will hang in bedroom. IKEA


[ ] Get mirror to hang above bed in bedroom. IKEA

[ ] Get and install new toilet seat. Home Depot


[ ] Get coat rack for entryway. IKEA


[ ] Get 16 x 20 frame for maternity picture collage. Michaels


[ ] Get 13 gallon bags for diaper pail. 99c store

I'm excited because after this weekend, we should be able to totally relax and enjoy our last few days of being a twosome!

35 weeks/Lists, Lists and more Lists!

35 weeks; 1 week and change till D-day!

I'm swimming in lists, ya'll! I'm in nesting mode hard but I feel like I'm in quicksand...having all these lists and not really making a dent in them. Most of this comes from just sheer exhaustion....what happened to this burst of nesting energy that's supposed to happen?? I can only do at most two things on my lists a day...and I have at least four lists! I've basically got this weekend and all of next week to get my mess together.

I realize that I've got some neurosis going on here. Most of the things I want to do have nothing to do with the baby. They are purely things that will make me feel better. I know she won't care if the nook is perfect, or if we have plants in the house, or a clean fridge but I can't help myself. I want to be as laid back as possible when I come back from the hospital and the only way to ensure that is to get everything done before I leave.

So far I've got a Hospital Packing List, Things Still Needed for the Baby List and a Getting the Apt Ready List. We're making a trip to Carter's, Target and Babies R Us tomorrow to get some last minute baby things, which were on our registry but were ignored by baby shower guests. This is pretty irritating to me. I ordered some of the things on Amazon, which helps with some of the running around. I didn't get the baby hamper I wanted and I have to keep telling myself that it doesn't matter what we put her dirty clothes in!

Speaking of D-day...we finally have one! July 3rd is the BIG DAY! We're having our amnio on July 1st and then two days later we're going to finally meet our daughter, God willing. We've got the bassinet up but no sheets, we've got lots of clothes but haven't washed them. So, everything is half done and I'm going to have to rely on EH more than I thought I would to get it all done. EH is so laid back that I fear he won't take all of this as seriously as I am. Maybe that's a good thing.

I'm basically crazy and exhausted.

34 weeks/ Final Baby Shower/Ocean City Birthday Fun!

34 weeks! EH and I are looking sharp and I'm wearing some wedges that didn't last the day.

I'm totally behind in my posts, ya'll! But to be fair, we were pretty busy this week. Warning: this will be a photo heavy post because of the sheer number of things that were done this past week.

Baby Shower

EH and I rode up to Westchester for our final baby shower. It really was a great time. The best part was being able to see a good amount of my family members and laughing at their Jamaican antics, which EH and I love to do :-)

My family was determined to stuff me full of food during this event. I indulged in as much as I could, roast breadfruit, Ackee and Saltfish (the Jamaican national dish), Ox-tail, rice and peas, potato salad, escoveitch fish (seasoned fried fish with peppers and onions) and some slamming ginger lemonade that my mother's boyfriend made.

I sat for so many pictures for my dad and my mother's boyfriend(who have the same name by the way...) I felt like a model. I got all of these pics from my mother's boyfriend because though my dad takes a billion pictures at every event....no one ever sees them because he doesn't know how to upload them to the computer and send them out.

EH is quite happy in this pic! This is the perfect example of his "gleeful" face.

My lil bro Chris made me this cool photo collage of my childhood that now hangs in our entryway. I love it!! The little baby pic in the middle looks just like Miss W.

Here's my mom cutting the cake and taking it very seriously...she gave me some parenting books as part of my shower gifts, which I thought was ironic but que sera sera, forgiveness is on the agenda these days.

This cake was absolutely delicious and gorgeous!!

This is about 1/4 of the whole family and it's a bunch of folks. This is the first time all my brothers have been in the same place at the same time. I love these people!!

Ocean City

A few days later, EH and I hopped in the car and drove to Ocean City, MD for some much needed rest and relaxation! We were also celebrating my 33rd birthday. It made me all kinds of reflective considering what a low place we were in just a year ago. Oh, and we finally bought a camera so we could take decent pictures!!

We went to an awesome local restaurant where I stuffed my face with grilled scallops and cheese grits...yeah buddy! This restaurant had the best water I've ever tasted or maybe it was the jar I was drinking it out of. I'm convinced that we have to own a few of these jars.

Blowing out the candles on my "surprise" birthday slice of cookie dough cheesecake. I was so stuffed I couldn't really finish it.

Our room had a great view of the beach and the boardwalk from our balcony. I rarely went out on it because I'm not a big fan of heights. That is a beach cover up I'm wearing, not a moo-moo as it appears to be. LOL! I've started to wear my rings around my neck since my fingers and feet have been swelling lately. It feels very strange not having them on my fingers to the point where I have a mini-freakout at least once a week thinking I've lost them.

Another goal of the trip was to take some halfway decent maternity photos! We never got around to getting professional pictures taken and decided that we would save that cash to have professional pics taken of Miss W after she's born. EH played photographer and boy did he do an excellent job. We were both a little iffy about how they would turn out but there were so many beautiful shots and I can't wait to hang them up in the nook.

We spent most of the mini-vacation eating, drinking fruity non-alcoholic beverages and lazing around on the beach...which is basically bliss to me.

We took a little time to visit Assateague Island national park /nature preserve where we were told we could see some wild horses but we didn't see them until we were driving home so , whomp-whomp, no pics of the wild horses.

We walked by this touch and see exhibit inside the visitor's center and I dared EH to pick up this wild crab. He totally took me up on it but then promptly dropped it. Good times!!

The preserve was really just amazingly beautiful...

How cute is this little cabin??

Ocean City has like a gazillion mini-golf courses and we knew we couldn't leave without playing through at least one. EH has mini-golfed before but this was my first time doing it and we have never had so much fun.

We totally spanked this course!

We had an awesome time this past week..so much in fact that we've decided to go back every summer! It's relatively inexpensive and there are so many things to do for adults and kids..two thumbs way up!

33 Weeks/ Love in Toronto

33 weeks!! 4 weeks till D-day!!

EH and I made it back safely from Toronto on Sunday night and we are so happy to be home. This was one of those trips that was too short to do any sightseeing or really take in the city. We were there solely to celebrate the love of these two special people:

Looking sharp and in looooveeeee!

It amazes me that, given the small amount of time I spent at Spelman College, I could make such a lasting friendship (10 years and counting!!) that has transcended distance and time. My girl walked down the aisle wearing a beautiful Mermaid dress that showed off all the, ahem, assets and her husband was cool and calm during the whole day.

I'll say this: I Love Weddings! especially when they are not mine.

EH and I left home at around 5:30 in the morning and had a fun road trip all the way up to and across Canada. Along the way we stopped to visit some friends from our old church who moved up to Canandaigua, NY. It was a great little breather and we got soooooo many clothes and toys for Ms. W because our friends had just had twins about nine months ago. We even got a present from our friend's mom, which was so thoughtful and unexpected. And of course I forgot to take pics of the visit. I'm still kicking myself for that one but I'm sure it won't be the last time we visit them.

The hotel was nice and comfortable, food was great. The ceremony took place in a historic church in Downtown Toronto that was right down the street from our hotel, which made it super convenient for us. The wedding was so beautiful and the reception was awesome, even though we didn't get to stay until the very end because of our early departure time the next day.

See how she's bending down for the pic?? Yep, I'm that short! And I was wearing short heels. Ha!

My dress for the wedding was actually a little too big for me and ended up looking very blousy on top but it was super comfortable. I ended up changing into sandals for the reception because my feet were already swelling.

EH was looking sharp too!

EH and I stuffed ourselves silly at the reception. I was determined to eat at least a little of everything even though my stomach capacity isn't what it used to be because I hate when folks waste food at a wedding. EH and I rolled ourselves back to the hotel, packed and promptly passed out. We toyed with the idea of visiting Niagara Falls on the way back home but nixed it because we didn't leave Canada as early as we needed to.

Now that we're back home, we can't believe that in four weeks, God willing, we're going to be holding a little mamasita in our arms. It's kind of mind blowing. Tonight, EH and I are going to a breastfeeding class at the hospital where we'll be delivering. I feel like I need a million distractions just to make the time go by faster. This weekend we have our third and FINAL baby shower and then ,the weekend after that, we're off to Ocean City, Maryland for my birthday/Mommymoon.

Soooooooo excited to lay on the beach!!