35 Weeks and ready to go!

I figured I'd change up the style of my bump posts for the last couple of weeks.  Yes, we all know I've gained my fair share of weight and I'm missing my alcoholic beverages.  I figured it would be way more fun to share all the progress we made in the "getting ready for baby" department and to maybe share news from doctor's appointments and when I think I'm going to pop...

Many of my posts earlier in the year were about how overwhelmed and unprepared I felt with getting ready for Evan's arrival.  I made a bunch of to-do lists and hoped that having the summer off would allow me the time and motivation to get these things done.  I have to say that while there's still more things we wanted to do around the house, with two weeks of summer vacation left, I'm really pleased with what we got done.


1.  Sean's big boy bedroom - CHECK!  We transitioned him to a toddler bed earlier this summer and with a bump in the road mid-July between him being sick and us traveling to Chicago, we're finally starting to get back in to a reasonable bedtime routine.  I bought some cute sock monkey decorations at the Art in the Park here in Plymouth, put up some Paper Lanterns, and purchased all new "big boy" furniture, including a reading chair.  Here's how they came out:

2.  Baby Evan's Room - CHECK!  We moved Sean's crib in there, re-used all his Doggy crib bedding, but bought some new decorations for the wall like the sticker quote and his name sign.  He will definitely get the shaft with the smaller of the two bedrooms, but I'm sure he won't know well enough to complain for a few years...

3.  Car seat installed - CHECK!  We also took the opportunity to thoroughly clean out my car, turn Sean's car set to forward facing (finally!), and install some nifty mirror that clips on to your sun visor so that I can see Sean without having to turn around.  Pretty exciting...

4.  Hospital bag, Sean and Bailey's bags for Nana and Papa's house - CHECK!  Obviously, some things won't be added until that day, but everything else, including snacks, are packed and ready to go!

5.  Second refrigerator/freezer - CHECK!  With a pretty decent deal from ABC Warehouse, we bought a white fridge/freezer on top combo to put in the breezeway to store all the freezer meals I've been cooking (check out my Monday Meal Plan posts the last two weeks to see what I've been cooking) and all the milk I'll be pumping.  Scott's thrilled to have a fridge to store all his beverages in for football season...

6.  Storm door in the kitchen doorway - CHECK!  This has been sitting in our garage and on our to-do list since we moved in last August!  My Dad came over last weekend and helped Scott install the door.  It only took about 3 hours, which isn't bad from what I hear!  And let me tell you - it is so nice on these cooler days we've been having this week, to get that breeze from outside while I've been cooking this much!

 7.  Carpet going upstairs - CHECK!  Considering these older wooden steps have been a safety hazard for the past year and then you add a gate at the top and bottom as obstacles, it was about time for us to get them carpeted.  Luckily, a friend from high school does carpeting, so he came and installed some awesome carpet as a runner and we were lucky enough to match it pretty closely to the carpet up at the top of the stairs.  They make less noise (a bonus with a child), are much safer, and look a heck of a lot better too!

8.  Boxing in and mulching the playstructure - CHECK!  Sort of...this is what $100 of rubber mulch will cover.  We ordered some Home Depot gift cards with our credit card points that should be here this week and then we can finish the project.  Luckily, with the rubber mulch, it claims we won't have to re-mulch for another 12 years.  We'll see about that...

9.  Sean's preparation for a big brother - CHECK!  I think he's really starting to understand the whole concept of a baby.  It could be that I expose him to random episodes of A Baby Story on TLC when we're bored at home or that he's getting old enough to understand some of it.  Either way, it's so cute when he points to my belly and says baby and insists on giving him a kiss.  He can say Evan and he even understands that Evan's room is for the baby and not for Sean.  So, here's some great moments we caught on camera of Sean excited for being a big brother:

So, with less than two weeks left to go until I'm term (not to mention that's when I had Sean so I'm being told to be ready), I just have to sterilize all the bottles and pump parts, get Sean's 2nd birthday party decorations and invitations ready, and get my classroom set up for my long-term sub.  Not too bad...

In the mean time, I'm just trying to enjoy every last minute of being a family of three.  So, today we went to the park and had a picnic dinner.  I'll leave you with this: