Daddy's Present and My Website--coming soon!

Well, I may have mentioned it before, but having a girl brings out the soft side of Josh. He decided a couple of weeks ago that the crib we had inherited wasn't good enough for his little girl. Because of this we went on a spontaneous crib search, deciding to order one online. However, after a week of waiting, Babies R Us canceled our order, and we were back to square one. Then Josh found this beauty on Craigslist (our best friend) in Eugene. So we drove down to take a look. It was used by an obviously affluent family, very well taken care of, and right in our price range (new, this crib far exceeds anything we could afford). So, we loaded it up in our Fit (I love my car!), and now Daddy has is present for Iris.
It's odd, I've been noticing today that I am much less interested in taking jobs than I used to be. I am extremely picky about times, schools, and giving up my work days. For someone who always wanted to get out of the house as much as possible, this is a strange thing for me. I have a month left, and wouldn't mind staying home and working here for most of it. Is this normal? I'm hoping that it's the nesting phase, and that I'll be back to my go-see-do-be self a couple of months after the baby is born. After all, I'm planning to start classes again in January!
For those of you who check my website, the new one should be up sometime this week! As soon as Josh looks over some of my reviews, we're going live! It still isn't completely finished, and probably never will be =), but it looks great! In the future, I'm hoping to have a "favorite picture books" section (thanks to a friend's suggestion), but it isn't up quite yet. However, I have added LOTS of reviews, and, as I am now working on it full time, I average a new review every week day. So if you could spread the word, knowing people are looking definitely keeps me on my toes! I have a surprising amount of people watching right now, but we could always use more!

Good things about Pregnancy

As I am enjoying this lovely, overcast fall day (I went to my favorite coffee shop for an apple cider), I began to think that I feel like I complain a lot about pregnancy. So I've decided to list a few things that I love about it (We'll see if I make it to ten!).
1. After you get far enough along (it took me about 8 months!) people begin to notice that you are pregnant, and not just gaining weight in one location, and they begin to share your excitement (plus, I haven't dealt with strangers touching my belly yet!).
2. Presents! Even though they aren't technically for me, I'll enjoy them more than the baby will!
3. Special treatment. Though Josh says I haven't milked this one yet, I find that a lot of our friends offer it to me anyway. Things like letting me take the front seat in the car, retrieving things for me, giving me the first place in the food line, etc.
4. Probably one of the best parts is watching your husband pick out things for the baby--especially if you're having a girl. Josh decided over the weekend that the hand-me-down crib we had wasn't good enough for his little girl, so now we are buying "the" crib. Any time he gets stuck on something we see at a store or anything, I have to let him get it! I'm not discouraging him!
5. Feeling like I have an excuse to rest when I'm not feeling well. For some reason, I never feel justified normally to take it easy, but now, when I feel bad, the rest is for her as well as me.
6. The anticipation. The reality won't completely set in until we bring Iris home, so for now I have rosy thoughts about dressing her and taking her out, without the bad parts that I know will come with the good.
7. Organizing! Being the neat freak that I am, organizing her clothes and putting together her room is so much fun for me! And I love that we can take the time to really do her room up, and create a dream nursery for her.
8. Clothes shopping--for me. Though after about six months this lost its appeal (there is no way to make a pregnant belly look terribly flattering in those dressing-room mirrors), it was so much fun at first to plan and buy a whole new wardrobe in anticipation of my growing belly.
9. Books, of course! Now I have a reason to stock up on all those kids books I've always loved!
10. Imagining playing with my little one, and visualizing her around the house, playing with the dog, and bringing sunshine into our hearts. =) (Sorry, a bit sappy there, but hey, I'm hopped up on estrogen. It's allowed.)

School Days, School Days

There's something in the air today that makes it feel like fall is here. Or, rather, something on the road--school buses! School started today here in Oregon, and everything feels right. For those of you like me whose lives seem to revolve around the school year (even though it no longer affects many of us directly), it's the time of year for memories. Crunching through leaves on crisp autumn days, running cross-country practices through fields of waist-high grass, sitting inside and sipping a cup of hot apple cider while curled up reading. Somehow, though, I never seem to remember the stress and chaos of school. Funny how that works! =)
Labor Day weekend was fun as well. It's always that last kickoff before school starts, usually hot with the anticipation hanging thickly in the air. Often we go to the state fair, but this year (for some strange reason that I can't figure out!) I didn't feel like walking in the hot sun for eight hours. Hmm, wonder why that is! Having a three-day weekend after a summer void of them was a refreshing break, however. Someone needs to schedule more holidays in summer! A three month stretch with only the Fourth of July seems a bit overkill.
The images above are of Iris' room. We're going for a classic Peter Pan look (sorry, Disney fans, the closer I get to being a mom, the more I dislike Disney), and luckily we know the right people. My college roommate (a graphic designer) came and painted the clouds from stillshots of the clouds in the new live-action Peter Pan (which, if you haven't seen it, is incredible). I thought she did a fabulous job! We have a little more work to do--mermaid lagoon (the closet) is being painted right now, and we still have a chair rail and baseboards to put up, but the end is in sight. Wonderful, as this has been quite the project! It began with retexturing the ceiling (just to give you an idea of what Josh has been doing) because we had popcorn up, but now it's looking wonderful. What a lucky baby!