31 weeks!

31 weeks = only 9 weeks to go (as per plan) until our baby makes his grand appearance. 9 weeks!! That is starting to sound like a really small number. Adam & I have been reminiscing about how it wasn't that long ago that we were marveling about being 20 weeks along. This whole experience has flown by and sometimes I feel like we've been so busy with moving and getting ready that I haven't stopped to take it in more. I wish I had kept a journal, or taken more pictures of the journey. Truth be told though, I'm living the journey and doing the best I can, and sometimes that means I'm not going to do every little thing. Anyway, lately I've been getting a sense of urgency about being ready. I don't think the baby is coming anytime super soon, but I feel like I have a lot of projects and things to accomplish before the big day. The following is just a sampling:

• I'm working on packing my hospital bag. As a reward for birthing our baby, I decided to treat myself to a nice set of nursing pajamas that are due to arrive in the mail any day. In addition to my new pjs, the "hospital bag" will really just include a few essentials for Adam & I (toiletries, snacks, maybe an extra pillow, clothes, going home outfit for the baby) and will be sitting by our front door until the big day arrives.
  
• Our infant carseat is in a box in the living room, awaiting some serious attention to the matter of correctly installing it into the backseat of our car.
  
• We have a stroller! It is red, it folds nicely, does neat tricks and turns on a dime. I spent way too much time researching/overthinking the stroller choice but I love the one we got and I think it will work perfectly for us. Right now, we have the baby's stuffed robot strapped into it so we could get in some practice time around the house. Next up, we need to get a handle on using the carseat with the stroller so we'll know what we're doing when the time comes.
  
• Childbirth classes. We actually went to one last month, but decided it wasn't the right class for us so we're starting new classes at the hospital tomorrow night. I'm excited.
• Designing a closet storage system for the baby's room. The baby's room is pretty small, and the closet has one long shelf across the top which unfortunately is pretty useless to store baby stuff. So, this task will involve measuring/sketching the shelving we want, going to Lowe's/Home Depot and buying said sytem, and then coming home and actually installing it. Neither Adam nor I really enjoy home improvement projects that much and have been pretty busy, so this has taken a back seat on our list. But it's there.
• I sorted and washed all the baby clothes we have so far. Then I sat down on the couch to fold each tiny little thing. I can hardly find the words to describe how much I loved doing that. We'll see if I feel the same way about baby laundry a few months from now.
  
• Other, misc. baby-related to do's: Minor car repairs on the Jetta. Possibly getting a nicer camera if finances allow. Buying life insurance. Scheduling newborn photography if we decide to do it. Planning one last weekend getaway for the two of us to the Oregon coast. Picking out a pediatrician. Picking up a small pack of newborn diapers. The list goes on, and on, and on. Most of these items involve the expenditure of money, which we don't have an endless supply of. So we'll see what we can get done, and the rest will work itself out.

In the midst of all this preparing for the baby, we're just living life. Adam is working from home, and working long hours. I'm also working temp jobs, which is a big change from my professional career job but has afforded us some extra money and a lot of flexibility since I can turn down jobs and work whenever I want. It's not something I plan to do for very long but before I get back into a full-time, serious social work job, it's working out just fine. We're enjoying the rain, seeing a lot of our loved ones up here and enjoying our last few weeks of freedom. For example, tonight I came home from work, took a quick nap with Adam, spent a leisurely amount of time making pork chops, homemade applesauce & swiss chard for dinner, talked on the phone with my cousin, swept the floor and watched Dancing with the Stars. I'm fairly certain our nights like this are going to be few and far between come December.