34 Weeks: Nesting

I know six weeks is not a long time. And, realistically, I keep telling myself--I should prepare myself to have a baby anywhere between three weeks and seven weeks from now.

When I tell people the due date, they keep saying "Wow, getting close!"

At work, we're starting to seriously discuss the preparation and transition to my maternity leave--well, as much as we can plan for it, since I plan to work right up until D-Day. Meetings are being scheduled for September, and I accept them on my calendar, not really knowing whether or not I'll actually be there.

So I know... six weeks is not a long time.

It sure feels like it is, though.

34 Weeks Pregnant

I've been "nesting" on and off throughout my entire pregnancy. I'll get something in my head and have to do it pretty much immediately; I won't be satisfied until it's done. Whether it's repainting/remodeling, cleaning, organizing, purchasing, washing, assembling--it doesn't matter. I want it done.

In terms of a lot of the baby's belongings, I've been able to hold out because I knew we had another baby shower to get through. I was hesitant to open a lot of things simply because I wasn't ready to commit to them until after the second shower. I didn't know--maybe I'd research and find a better option, or maybe we'd receive duplicates. I played it safe and kept everything in its packaging or with tags still attached.

But as soon as we got home from our shower on Saturday, I immediately started sorting. I took inventory, figuring out what we had, what we didn't have, what we had too much of, what needed to be returned/exchanged. I made piles for keeping, piles for returning, piles for simple exchanges.

Yesterday, we went on a baby shopping spree. We returned all of the things we didn't need (for instance, I had received 20 receiving blankets... we cut that down to 8) for store credit, then bought pretty much everything we hadn't yet received as gifts. We used gift cards. I placed online orders for cloth diapering supplies and things that weren't available in-store at Babies R Us, Target, and Walmart.

It didn't end there. As soon as we got home from our shopping, I did more organizing. Except this time, I opened a lot of things. I got rid of cardboard boxes. I clipped tags off of blankets and the newborn clothing. I took baby toys out of their packages. I did two big loads of baby laundry--blankets, towels, sleepers, onesies, socks, burp cloths, wash cloths.

And it felt good.

I'm pretty sure I had Braxton Hicks contractions on Saturday when we got back from the shower. They were pretty uncomfortable, but nothing too serious. I also keep getting these random, sharp pains in different areas of my belly. Not really sure what's going on, but I figure it's all par for the course at this point in pregnancy.

The baby's level of movement, and the way it can be seen from the outside, has reached alien-like proportions. I frequently find myself staring at its activity, and saying, "Oh my gosh!" because I can't believe the shapes into which my stomach is contorting at any given moment. It's crazy, y'all.

Last week, we went out and made an attempt to take some DIY maternity photos. I haven't had a chance to do much editing yet, so we'll see how they turned out--I'll likely share the results here soon. We figured, why spend the money on them when we can take some snaps of our own? It's been fun.

I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday, so we'll see how it goes. I'm sure it'll be routine, as usual (which is obviously a GOOD thing!). We're taking a breastfeeding class on Saturday. My birthday is next Monday.

Things are good. Life is good.

I just can't wait to have a baby in it. :)