33 Weeks

Well, almost. I noticed the countdown clicker says 51 days! Crazy. 51 days till we meet Amelia the Wiggle Baby? (I'm transitioning with the name here.) 51 days till I can eat goat cheese and drink margaritas? I guess probably a bit longer than that. (During one of our "Make Way for Baby" classes the instructor was telling us to imagine how we wanted to set up the delivery room: music, company, etc. I whispered to Dean, "Can we have a margarita fountain?" Kidding, kidding. But if we COULD have one, I'd go ahead and add a buffet of soft cheeses too.)

I'm recording the events of the last few weeks to distract myself from post breakfast-one nausea. Basically, the baby is growing and we are waiting. It's not too exciting.

School starts in 2 weeks, so I am taking a week off of work to get ready. I'm teaching 2 sections of English 101, the first year writing class. I'm working with my substitute-to-be to plan, trying to synchronize our syllabi so that it is easier for her to take over when she steps in. It's a little difficult because I can't just make executive decisions like I am used to, but it's also kind of nice to discuss plans and choices with a colleague. Agnes (my sub) is a great teacher, so I think working with her will be fun and helpful.

Yesterday I tackled a chore on the "Baby To Do List:" organizing the clothes. I've been washing the clothes, and cutting out the itchy tags, as I've received them, and Dean and I sorted them by category after the first set of baby showers. But since then we've received more and the bins we're using are overflowing, so yesterday I sorted them again, paying more attention to size and season. I put everything labeled 3-6 months and above in a separate box, so all we have in the bins now are the newborn and 0-3 months stuff. And I put all the VERY tiny things in one bin, so it will all be handy right at first. Some of the stuff was hard to sort because I had cut out the tags... but baby clothes sizing seems pretty unstandardized anyway so I just used my best judgment. There was a pair of pants labeled 6 months that was exactly the same size as a pair of pants labeled newborn. They seemed rather small, so I kept them both out. We'll see what fits when the baby gets here, I guess.

I am also dealing the the baby powder smell inside the changing table/dresser we bought (used). I know a baby powder smell doesn't seem all that offensive for a piece of baby furniture, but first of all it's weird--how can a piece of wood furniture I've washed repeatedly STILL smell like baby powder? And secondly, it's a very STRONG baby powder smell, kind of sickly sweet, at least to my nose. So, at my mom's suggestion, I've sprinkled and stuffed the dresser with baking soda and newspaper. Luckily, I think I caught it in time to NOT have to rewash all the baby clothes.

We still have a lot to do, most of it involving setting up baby furniture. We'll probably wait till next weekend at least so we can enjoy a bit more time with no baby furniture to trip over.

What else? We take the hospital tour next week, and I am taking a nursing class at the DC Breastfeeding Center. We had a 32-week ultrasound last week, and everything looked great (expect, I have to admit, the pictures, in which the baby's face looks smooshed, and, frankly, strange. I guess it's because her face is all wedged above my right hip--and apparently the anterior placenta gets in the way some too. They couldn't get a good 3D picture because of it). But health and size-wise, the baby is doing fine.

Dean and I are both getting more and more excited, and a little impatient. There's still a while to go...