Our Journey to Five (#10)

Monday, February 7th

There's been some serious nesting going on in the Herman house the last week or so. And a lot of it has been in Bryce's room! Thanks to a couple of good friends who were willing to pass down their baby boy clothes, I'm pretty sure I don't need to buy anything else for Bryce until he's over a year old. We'll see if I'm able to hold to that at the yearly consignment sale in a few weeks. Mom, since you'll be here with me, please help me to stay focused on the one child in our household who doesn't have someone passing clothes down to her! Congrats, Ivie, you get my primary attention at the clothes sales. Until that day arrives when you actually start to care about what you're wearing and life gets more complicated (and expensive...).

Anyway, I've washed, folded, and hung every article of clothing, blanket, and burp cloth (because I'm confident he'll be a spitter like his sisters) that Bryce should need for his first 3 months. On a related note, who knew that little boys' socks could be so cute? It's obvious to me that I'm the mother of two girls. I've been there, done that, with pink - ready for some blue around this place!

But, while I feel good about the clothing aspect, I'm also keenly aware that it is taking me a while to get "in the mood" to purchase some of the other things that we/he'll need. For example, I need to pull out my pump and see what parts need replacing/supplementing. Bottles crack, lids get lost, "membranes" get flushed down toilets (not sure that ever actually happened to me, but it sounded good). So that's on my to-do list, and it needs to happen soon, since we're only about 10 weeks away from baby!

I also need to replace all of our bottles. I used the same ones for Iv and Mac, but they were purchased, of course, prior to the "BPA-Free" craze that's going on now. Though they both turned out just fine, I feel pressured to upgrade for Bry (which I guess will be his nickname, since I love to shorten names to 3 or fewer letters...).

Next on the list is decorating the walls in his room. I had to take down the pink-framed pictures, of course, so I'm on the lookout for Carolina-themed pictures, banners, posters, etc. Thankfully, there is no shortage of such items on the internet (or in my husband's office, for that matter). I've also ordered the wall letters for his name, and am very excited to see what the eBay artist can do with the theme/ideas I passed on to her. Sadly, we're looking at a 6-8 week turnaround for their arrival. Hopefully I can get them on the wall before Bryce is ready to sleep in his room!

We've got an appointment at Prenatal Peek on Friday morning to check Bryce out in 4D! We did this with both Ivie and Macie, too, so I felt like Bry shouldn't be left out. Hopefully he'll be in the same bouncing-around mood that I feel like he's in non-stop these days and will give us some good action shots. We (or I, at least, since I haven't brought it up to Dale) are contemplating letting Ivie come with us. I think she'd enjoy seeing him, but I'm wavering on whether or not she will be entertained enough for the full 30 minutes to not be a distraction. We'll see. But the good news is that, this weekend, I should be able to share some pictures with all of you. And maybe some video, too, depending on how motivated I am...

I've got my 28-week doctor's appointment tomorrow morning. Never mind that I'm 2 days from being 29 weeks! This is the appointment where I get my RhoGAM shot (because I'm Rh negative) and have my glucose tolerance test to make sure I'm not developing gestational diabetes. I passed this test with flying colors with both of the girls - I always say that, if anything, my body has learned how to handle its sugar in my lifetime!!! But I'm always a bit nervous going in, because I know that a failed test would mean dramatic diet changes for the remainder of my pregnancy. I'd probably have to eat things that, you know, 4 year-olds (and, thus, I) do not enjoy eating. So here's hoping for a passing grade again this time...

As usual, a post that I intended to be a small entry has turned into quite a bit of babbling. Time for me and the babe to hit the sack. Though Bryce hasn't gotten the it's-past-your-bedtime memo, apparently, since he's flopping around like crazy as I type. Get it out of your system in the next 5 minutes, bud. Momma's tired...