The Weeks After Thirty

A few weeks ago, I woke up one Thursday morning & realized I was 30 weeks pregnant.  When your pregnancy rolls over into the 30 week range, it dawns on you that soon, you're going to have an actual baby.  Ironically, while it may seem like an ideal time to hoard sleep, sleep becomes elusive as your belly swells, your back aches, & every night in bed you think of one more item to add to the list of things to do before you hit that magic number, 37 weeks, at which point you're officially carrying a full term baby & the show might begin at any moment.  Don't let a due date fool you!  Don't assume you have another week to buy a few more Christmas presents, as I did when Reagan, who was due December 28, arrived on December 13.    






It's been my experience that there is nothing quite like knowing a tiny, helpless infant will soon be yours to care for to motivate you to get your ever expanding tush off the couch & get busy.  The day after I hit 30 weeks, Reagan & I hit the town.  I took her to get ice cream at The Creamery . . .

This is what she did when I told her to 'smile':

We also went to Hobby Lobby, because everyone knows it's essential that infants have coordinating picture frames in their rooms.  Reagan took this photo of our Hobby Lobby trip . . . 

I immediately put the frames Reagan & I bought to good use:

This links to the Etsy shop where I ordered the above personalized alphabet prints of their names (you didn't think I made these myself, right?).

On Saturday, Week 30, Reagan's grandparents took her downtown to the RiverWalk.

After the RiverWalk came the park . . . 

. . . and then Reagan's 2nd trip to The Creamery in as many days:

Visor fun:

While Reagan was enjoying her Saturday on the town, I was home.  Alone.  Trey was . . . somewhere.  It had something to do with guns.  I began by walking from room to room & putting toys away.  Then, I walked back through the house, looking at everything in the exact order in which I'd left it.  I may have twirled.  The real triumph of the afternoon was this:      

This plate has been AWOL since mid-December.  It's part of Reagan's Little Mermaid tea set.  Her $7.99, Ross Dress for Less tea set.  I quit actively looking for the plate months ago, assuming it had accidentally gone out with the trash or something, & then, while not even searching for it, it found me.  While on my solitary jaunt through the house, I was reaching under my bed for a box of pictures, & a shadow in the corner caught my eye.  I don't know how I missed it all this time; I blame my pregnant brain.  I know you're thinking, "Who cares?"  Unless of course you're anal like me & can understand the joy of the now complete tea set.  All in all, a fabulous afternoon.  

Last weekend, Week 31, thanks to Trey & my dad, my great-great grandfather's oak cabinet made it to its new home, Henry's room:

Henry's dirty diapers will be remedied atop this solid oak piece of furniture that was constructed circa 1900 by a man named Erich William Meyer, father to Alma Louise Meyer, who married Jesse A. James, Sr. & bore him two sons, the eldest of whom was my paternal grandfather, Jesse A. James, Jr.  I always like to pair $7 khaki bins from Target with solid oak furniture constructed when Teddy Roosevelt was alive.  I think that's what they call 'eclectic.'     

It was joined by this oak bachelor's chest & mirror that my mom was happy to shove out her door since . . . f.y.i - my parents are looking to sell their house because it's too big & has too many sets of stairs & too much yard for people their age to deal with, if you're interested:

With all Henry's furniture now in his room, I've started washing & organizing clothes & hope to soon get a few things on the walls . . . but I'm constantly distracted by incredibly important tasks like organizing the tupperware cabinet:

And stocking the bathrooms with tons of toilet paper.  You know because infants use a lot of tupperware & toilet paper.  I understand the concept of 'nesting,' however the ways it's manifesting itself right now aren't that logical.    

I may or may not return soon with pictures of Henry's completely pulled together room.  It's close to being finished, but you know, my socks are disorganized & my college textbooks are sitting on a shelf un-alphabetized, so we'll see.  

AZ