More sock monkeys! February 22, 2009

Today, I made curtains for the baby’s room. They have sock monkeys on them! Yay for sock monkeys!

You can’t tell very well in the picture, but the fabric background is red, and the loops that go over the curtain rod are bright blue. The sock monkeys are about the colors you’d expect.

Next on the agenda: finally deciding where to hang the rest of the pictures on the walls!

New pictures of the baby! February 1, 2009

At my appointment on Thursday, I had another ultrasound and got some really nice pictures of the baby. There’s also a video of the entire 20-minute ultrasound session, but apparently it’s impossible for me to post clips from it so everyone can see. (This is what I get for not living near Dmitri or Nicole anymore–I have no doubt that one of them could manage it, but I’m sadly incapable.)

Anyway, I do have some photos to share! I got very clear visual confirmation that she is indeed a girl, but it seems kind of inappropriate to post crotch shots of my kid on the internet, so y’all will have to take it on faith. I am, however, happy to share pictures of her non-private parts. 🙂 The kiddo kept her arm up by her face the entire time, but at least in this picture you can see almost all of her face:

We also got our first look at her “grumpy face,” which I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of in the years to come. It’s hard to tell exactly what she’s going to look like, but even the ultrasound tech said, “She sure doesn’t have your nose!” And yeah, I can’t deny that when she makes her grumpy face she looks just like her dad:

But check it out, it looks like she got my feet, complete with weirdly long toes and a second toe that’s longer than the big toe:

In other news, we’ve been working on decorating her room. I got some really cool pictures from the Etsy shop Elegant Snobbery to hang on the wall.There will be sock monkeys above the dresser to look at while we change diapers:

There are three more sock monkey pictures that will be hung on the opposite wall, but I haven’t decided exactly where yet. They’re pretty cute, though. I especially love the one where the sock monkey knight made friends with the dragon:

Next up: I need to buy some sock monkey fabric to make curtains and rocking-chair cushions.

Starting to get kind of nesty January 10, 2009

So I think I’m starting to experience the “nesting urges” that you’re supposed to get while pregnant. Organizing the baby’s room and getting all the things we still need is incredibly appealing these days–it was really hard for me to wait for Darren before starting to sort and put away all the stuff we got over Christmas. It was like the collection of objects stacked in the crib was emitting a siren song: “Put us away! Don’t you want to come in here and sort through us? It’ll be awesome! You don’t need to wait for Darren, even though you promised you would! Come on…”

Also, cooking is so much fun right now! I spent several hours in the kitchen today making a huge batch of seitan (most of which went into the freezer to be used in future meals), a potpie, and cookies. Then I wasn’t even done eating dinner before I started looking forward to what I’m going to make for dinner tomorrow. Somehow, pulling random things out of the pantry and freezer and using them to make something delicious is the awesomest thing ever. It’s much more satisfying if it’s just stuff you have lying around that would have gone to waste without your smart and inspired idea to make something with it. Apparently thrift is a good seasoning, or something.

It feels reassuring on some kind of primal biological level to see that we will be able to provide for our child. The concrete evidence is stacking up (nursery that contains actual furniture and clothing for the child, kitchen full of thrifty and nutritious food). It’s very comforting.

The baby has acquired a room, and furniture January 4, 2009

We’re starting to make a lot of the practical preparations that will need to get done before the baby is born. A couple of weeks ago, we moved bookcases around in the library/meditation room so that it could become the library/meditation room/guest room. We moved the futon in there and cleared the other furniture out of the former guest room so it could become the baby’s room. And thanks to the help and generosity of our families, the baby’s room is now getting filled with the baby’s stuff.

The baby now has a crib. (Thanks, Joel and Jen and Gillian!)

She also now has a dresser/changing table and a bookcase. Grandpa Mike and Grandma Jamie picked them up at Ikea in Michigan for us and hauled them out here in their Suburban. Then they even helped us put them together. (Thanks so much, guys!) I didn’t get any action shots of the dresser being put together, largely because I had a screwdriver in my hand at the time instead of a camera, but I did get to supervise Darren and Mike putting together the bookcase. Rook also supervised:

And for those who haven’t seen me recently, yes, I am continuing to expand:

The baby likes to wake up early in the morning and do somersaults. She is getting noticeably stronger, and the other day she was moving so vigorously that I was picturing her being like the Incredible Hulk, smashing her fist down on my insides and saying, “Hulk smash!”