33 weeks and counting

Little Kittel's due date is Dec. 9.  That still sounds far away, doesn't it?  We haven't even had Halloween or Thanksgiving yet, so Dec. 9 is forever away, right?  

Not really.  We are at week 33, which means if Little Kittel comes right on schedule we only have SEVEN weeks to go!

SEVEN.

There is a big mix of excitement and gravity in this realization.  

Certainly we are excited.  We've wondered what she will look like (we're betting on blue eyes after her mama and daddy), and how she will behave. What will she sound like?  I think about how good of a daddy Todd will be and how sweet he'll look holding her.  I imagine all the fun family things we'll do together and the girl things just she and I will do.  

Then there's a reality check where I know having a baby won't be all smiles and sweet coos.  When I think of all the responsibility and all the things we don't know I start to feel overwhelmed.  

How do we know what we're doing?  How tired will we truly be?  What is breastfeeding really like and how do you do it?  How do we know what she's crying about?  Is she too hot?  Too cold?  How do we know if something's wrong - like if she isn't feeling well?  What do we do about it? 

Now, I've got a lot of experience babysitting kids of all ages, which I think has helped me feel comfortable around children, but I'm guessing no matter how many babysitting hours I've logged I'm not truly prepared for having my own kid.  

Most upsetting to me lately is that for everything I imagine our life to soon be, I feel like that's what it is: imaginary.  

Me having a baby seems very, very surreal.  No matter how many baby clothes I wash and fold, or how many times I go through all the gear we've now got, I sometimes can not get my head around it even as I'm about to cross the finish line.  It's not that I didn't want a baby because I did - very badly, in fact.  But going from that desire to start a family to actually starting one is a big reality pill to swallow.  

I've worried that this surreal feeling is keeping me from connecting with Little Kittel like I should.  However, several girlfriends have told me the feeling is normal and I've got nothing to worry about.  They would look at their baby after it was born and wonder when its real mom was coming to pick him or her up!  

These seven weeks (if she doesn't come early) are filled with holidays and events and are going to go quickly, I know.  Before we know it she'll be here!  

I can't believe it.  

Best dressed

If there is one thing we won't have to worry about - ever - in Littel Kittel's first year it's clothing.

We have piles for every three month interval!

Here's a quick peek at the baby room and how much work is left to be done...

Another look...

Yet another...

0-3 months, 6-9 months, and 9 months...

There's 3-6 months on the chair...

There's 6 months, newborn, and 12-18 months...

Here's a whole pile not separated or folded yet...

And there's a bit more in the dryer that has yet to come upstairs!

Every stitch was given to us too.  We haven't bought a single thing!  Can you believe that?  There are so many adorable pieces too.  Todd loves the Carhart and pink "real tree" onesies and bib we received.

We've got outfits, onesies, shoes, snowsuits, University of Wyoming gear...you name it, I'm pretty sure we've got it.

Little Kittel will be the best dressed girl in town!  

Baby transportation

Our stroller and car seat...I mean travel system...arrived last night!

I have been anxiously awaiting its arrival.  I put so much thought into this choice that I couldn't wait for it to show up.  

Would we love it?  We better.  Would Todd love it?  He better!  Would it be comfortable for both of us to use?  We're both tall, Todd being very tall, would the handles be a good height for him?  Is it relatively lightweight?  I didn't want to heft a massive stroller in and out of the car.

Turns out we do both love it!  It will fit both of our heights due to the adjustable parent handle; and while I wouldn't want to pack it on my back and hike Everest...the weight is just fine.  

Personally, I love the modern, streamlined look of the neutral colors - a simple black and gray.  I like that we can get our money's worth out of it with a second baby sometime down the road.  It's not pink, it's not blue, it's neutral - and not yellow or green neutral.  I also like that it doesn't have a design on it like so many do.  No circles, dots, stripes, animals...just sleek.  

Todd pulling it out of the box last night...

And becoming a little frustrated as he put the stroller together.  It was kind of like doing the lights for our Christmas tree.  It puts him in a bad mood and kind of takes the excitement off the event at hand!

But it was relatively easy, and it got done.  And afterwards he was pretty happy with the choice.  And I am too!  Here I am with my 31 week belly giving the stroller a whirl...!

We just need a second car seat base for Todd's truck and we'll be all set to take Little Kittel everywhere we go!  

Baby room

Our baby room is painted!

I worked hard today to get the color up and, if I do say so, I think it looks awesome.  

Yes, we are having a girl, but I wanted turquoise walls.  I think her room is going to be so cute once we get all the furniture and finishing touches in there.  

The color we chose is Behr's Jamaica Bay.  We got it 50 percent lighter than the original sample.  I love, love it.  I've put a lot of work myself in this room.  I'm the one that ground the cracks out, mudded them, sanded them, mudded and sanded again...  Todd used the paint sprayer to put the primer on, but this paint job is all me!  

The only thing left to do in here is clean down the closet and paint the baseboards and trim white.  Technically, I should do the window trim too, but we didn't get around to priming it earlier and right now I just don't care.  We can touch that up later.  

At the moment I'm content to just sit with my feet up on the couch!  

The big push (on house renovations)

We're making progress.

Why the big push to get stuff done, besides the obvious "I'm tired of living in half a home"?  Because my whole family will be here at the end of the month to throw us a baby party, which means we need a functioning upstairs to manage all of us as they stay and our party guests!  The timeline is shortened a bit because Todd leaves for elk camp the week before everyone's arrival.  So, we effectively have about 1.5 weeks left to get 'er dun.  

Let's do a walk through!

Here is the front entry.  Looking pretty good!  Todd and I came up with the tile pattern and then he cut and laid all that tile himself.  I'm so proud of him!  Don't mind the dusty footprints on it though.  It's just the way things are around here until we get the drywall dust up.  Let's see what's behind that door...

That would be our back hall.  That first room there will be Little Kittel's...

Here we are looking in her room!  Very soon (hopefully) it will not look like this.  Currently, it is being used as construction storage and until this last weekend was a guest room.  That furniture has mostly been carted downstairs to one of the two pending guest rooms that will be down there...

Unfortunately, we won't have time to reno her room before she arrives.  Technically, what is happening in the master bedroom should happen in here.  But we figure we'll wait until she wants pink or rainbow painted walls and attack this room then.  Until then, we'll just grind out the cracks in the plaster, fill them, and then simply paint.  And we'll all have to live with the horrid ceiling tiles with glitter flecks...

That turquoise paint sample on the right is the color her room will be!

Ok, let's keep movin' down the hall.  That's the bathroom on the left, then the master at the end...

The bathroom.  As expected, this room is taking us the longest.  We're getting so close!  But still lots left to do.  The mudding and sanding on the drywall will be done in here tonight/tomorrow (fingers crossed).  Then it's on to texturing, priming and painting with our new fabulous paint sprayer! Todd's friend Ken scraped the thinset out of the cracks in the tile over the weekend, to prepare it for grouting and sealing.  The toilet needs moved in, Todd needs to finish his vanity project, and I need to figure out how to keep the claw foot tub project chugging along.  The wainscoting also needs painted (with that awesome sprayer) and installed.  We will likely not have a working shower in here by the time my family arrives, but toilet and sink should be a go!

This blue will be the color of the bathroom, but probably knocked down about 25-50 percent to lighten it up  just a tad...

And the master bedroom.  Not much to sand in here!  Just the seams on the walls and ceiling and the closet. Then it's texture, prime and paint and we're IN!   

Here is the tub project.  I have gotten all the paint off the inside and now am working on the outside, which is a CHORE.  There isn't just one layer of paint.  There is a layer of paint and some kind of adhesive under it which nearly refuses to budge.  I have been coating it with paint stripper, scraping and blasting it with the pressure sprayer and...nothing.  At least precious little to show for it anyway.  Ugh.    

Keep checking things off my three-mile long to do list!