30 Weeks - Growing Right Along!

I am "officially" 3/4 of the way through my pregnancy with our little one, with just 8-10 weeks to go until we get to meet this little girl face to face. My anxiety levels about being "ready" dropped quite a bit after yesterday afternoon when we went and picked up a furniture set that we'd located thanks to Craigslist. It was a great deal, and is perfect to hold all of the clothes, blankets, towels, etc. that will need a "home"! We got an armoire, a dresser with a hutch (that is also a changing table), and a convertible crib. The crib had already been converted into a full size bed, so we're not sure at this point if we're going to try to put it back into "crib form" or just leave it as a bed for later use, and get a new crib to use for now. In the mean time, we have the pack n play, and a bassinet loaned from a co-worker, so I am feeling a little better about having what is needed "immediately" for baby. I would definitely still like to get a crib in the next couple weeks if the one we bought doesn't work for our purposes so I can get everything looking pretty in the nursery and get to put the beautiful bedding set my mother-in-law bought for us to good use! :) My mother-in-law also made some sheer curtains to go with the valances from the bedding set and brought those over to the house yesterday when Kenneth's parents brought Kent back home after a long weekend at their house. I am glad he had the chance to spend a little bit of time with them, and I know it's good for him to get some one on one time with family before baby comes so he remembers we all love him just as much as ever, and hopefully we can keep any jealous feelings to a minimum! I already ordered a few items for him to wrap up and give to him when Lindsey is born that are JUST for him and are not at all baby related - a book, a CD, and some of his Halo megablock items he still loves to build with. I'm hoping it will be as smooth a transition as possible, and am thankful he's as old as he is in some ways, since he understands what's going on and is as prepared as possible for the changes coming.

There are still a few important items on our registry that we will need to get before baby comes (stroller and car seat mainly), but I still have one more family shower (my family in Washington is going to throw us a "cyber-shower" and I know my co-workers are planning to do something as well, so I have to be patient for about one more month and then can re-check to see what is still needed and finish getting everything else in place and be officially "ready"... or as ready as one can be I suppose! We have received so many sweet gifts from friends and family already, and I feel very, very blessed and lucky! Between gifts and a few purchases we've made, I feel like we have most of the important things to get us through the first few weeks at least (and some we won't need for awhile after that, but it's nice to have them now). Now that we have some furniture in the room, I can get in there and get everything washed and put away into drawers. We have a pack n play, bouncer, crib mattress, baby bath tub, diaper pail, a nursing pillow, highchair, diaper bag, a few towels and washcloths, a few blankets, some burp cloths, a few onesies in different sizes and some sleep n play outfits, a couple pacifiers, some bibs, a couple crib sheets, diapers and wipes too. I can finish removing tags off the clothes and blankets and get those washed and put away and then the nursery will start to feel like it's coming together and isn't just piles of "stuff" needing some semblance of organization - or at least that's the plan!

I took a few pictures last night when we'd first gotten the furniture in so I could have some pictures showing the transformation from stuff everywhere to hopefully an organized and decorated room maybe in another week or two! I'm working to incorporate several pieces of artwork we already had that don't necessarily match the colors and theme in the room, but are sentimental pieces from family. I have 2 paintings by my aunt - one is a bunny picture from where I lived when I was little (which matches the colors in the room and is sweet because I've been calling Lindsey "baby bunny"), the other is an angel painting; she painted herself and my mom years and years ago, and now that my mom is gone it's extra special to me and I want to find a good place for it in the nursery. I also have a cross-stitched piece that my mother-in-law made for Kent's nursery long, long ago that is a Noah's ark themed piece with a blue background, then Lindsey's name plaque in a hand painted frame by Kenneth's sister April (who is also working on another piece for the wall), along with the wreath she made for the baby shower that is pink, brown, and has an "L" for Lindsey and matches the colors in the bedding set, I also have several pieces of framed cross-stitched art that my mom made over the years, and need to pick one or two that works in the room... it's a bunch of different pieces at the moment and I have to see if I can make it all come together cohesively somehow! :)

It's a fun project to work on and I am enjoying seeing everything coming together.

 7-14-13 30 week belly

 

According to Baby Center:

How your baby's growing:

Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now and weighs almost 3 pounds (about the size of a large cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will shrink as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)