Make Room for Baby
The weeks are flying by, and we suddenly realize it could be baby time any day now. Tomorrow I’ll be 37 weeks, and Lily was born at 37 weeks and one day. YIKES. So thank goodness that, despite my increased workload for the last few weeks (picked up a very short maternity leave gig in a school district, so I was working about 2 1/2 days a week), we’re nearing completion on the boy’s nursery. Bill and I each have a project left to complete: the crib mobile for me, and three framed prints for Bill, his original designs. After that, I’d love to whip out a few burp cloths and a throw pillow, but no big deal if those don’t get finished.
The crib bedding was custom made by an Etsy seller I found, RockyTopDesign, who would use the fabrics of my choice. I had seen these fabrics at Hobby Lobby ages ago — before I was even pregnant — and just loved them. I wanted to use them for something, so luck would have it that I found myself pregnant and needing to design a boy nursery. What was so fabulous about finding someone to make the crib bedding was that I could use my amateur sewing skills to complete a few of the easier projects myself. So I made the window valances from a pattern I found (the first pattern sewing I’ve done since middle school home ec; Mrs. Yeary would be so proud). The curtains were purchased, because frankly it’s probably cheaper than buying all that fabric and trying to make them myself — learned that when I made Lily’s curtains a few years ago. My big project was the baby quilt, and I am really happy with how it turned out. I’ve been trying to make a quilt for YEARS, but have never made it very far. I have several place mat-sized quilt tops lying around, gathering dust. But my friend Sara posted about a baby quilt that she whipped up (reportedly in a DAY, which kind of makes me want to throw up a little at her efficiency), and she posted the simple online tutorial that she used. So, over a period of WEEKS, I managed to carve out an hour here and there to work on the boy’s quilt. This was especially difficult during my eighth month of pregnancy, when intense back pain limited my sitting at the sewing machine to 20 minute sessions. (See how much Mommy loved you, son?) I look at the finished result, and I see the flaws, the things I’d do differently next time, but overall I think I did a pretty decent job…much like my parenting to date, I guess. Here are a few pictures:
(The branch and owl are a vinyl decal I found on Etsy. Love that place.)
And here are a few photos of me and the baby boy, at about 37 weeks. I promised my long-distance friend Cynthia that I would post a few pics, and I told her that, to get the full effect of my awkward proportions, I would have to post several views. You can almost discern from these the remarkable resemblance my belly bears to a torpedo homing in on its submarine target. My friend Kerri commented that she had never seen a pregnant woman carry this way. People, this is what it looks like to carry “all in front”:
Seriously, it’s a wonder I don’t fall forward on my face several times a day.
We are anxiously awaiting Christmas and our boy, hopefully not at the same time!