Nesting is Real

The instinct to feather the nest while pregnant, also known as nesting, is strange. It doesn’t seem to make sense, at least from the outside, and I know I scoffed at it before becoming pregnant with my first kiddo. But, now? I’m living it big time. Something happens and all those little projects around the house – some of which have nothing to do with baby – must be completed. There’s now a deadline. Because, especially after our first, we know nothing will get done for a long while after the baby is born.

Maybe that’s why I’ve catapulted into nesting phase even earlier this time around. Over the past month I’ve been excited and eager to complete previously forgotten projects. And my zeal has brought Husby along for the ride. There’s still more to do, but in the past few weeks we have done quite a bit. Take a look.

Home Office Complete!

The work-at-home office space is now complete. Admittedly, this was mostly done, but my desire to complete projects got this looking more aesthetically pleasing and more functional in record time. Husby hung another shelf, boxes were laboriously painted the perfect color to add pop and more has been brought over from other, random corners of the house.

Big Boy Bedroom

Lil’ O will soon be transitioning from his current room, the nursery, to a new, big-boy room. It’ll be a transition in many ways, but it makes the most sense to keep the nursery as is and let him “upgrade” rooms. In prep, we’ve been purging and moving what was previously in this catchall room to other areas of the house. And, as things move out, there’s room for fun new things, like transportation-themed décor and a map decal of the world. Woohoo!

Storage Upgrade

This one is all thanks to Husby. It’s been on his list to put plywood down on the attic beams to better use the space. Doing that means also putting down insulation in between those beams and the new plywood flooring. It might seem small, but our attic is now so much more usable! Husby even took some of the leftover plywood and added it to the rafter beams in our garage. More kid stuff, more storage. Check!

There’s certainly still more to do, but our list is getting shorter and I still have another 15 weeks to go before this baby girl is estimated to arrive! So, next time you see a pregnant woman in overdrive, especially if it’s related to a home improvement project, just blame the nesting urge. It’s real. ;)

Gender Reveal Party & News!

As I’ve settled into the new job, pregnancy is feeling more and more real. And, since we didn’t find out the sex of Lil’ O until we met him face to face, we decided to go the other route with this little one and find out if it’s a boy or girl early. This is probably our last baby, so we wanted to get both experiences. And, since we enjoy a good party, we hosted a gender reveal party to share the big news. Not even our parents were in on the surprise. 

Yup, it's a baby!

First, we had the almighty sonogram. Regardless of the fateful picture showing a boy or girl, the ultrasound is such a cool experience. It really made it sink in that I am indeed very pregnant and in another few months we’ll have another precious little one to love and cuddle and nurture. After nearly 20 minutes of official sonogram pictures and measurements, it came time. Husby and I decided to learn the news together there with the technician, so we could keep it more intimate and also to each adjust to the news either way. Just as I was extolling the virtues of one, the technician announced it was clearly the other. Wow! Good thing we found out there, because we both needed proof. We hadn’t done this part with Lil’ O and we had no idea what we were looking at in most of the pictures.

We had a couple weeks to sit with the news and plan out the party, in part because I had a week away for work. We planned and prepped, but mostly kept it low-key, opting for BBQ and a few simple sides to accompany the “Get the Scoop” ice cream social theme and gender reveal cake. I collected “votes” from both our families to learn what they each thought the baby would be and pulled together a flyer using a template from blogger  Confetti Sunshine. We shared our version of the completed flyer with family just before the party – it was a fun way to keep the out-of-town family part of the experience. We wish everyone could come out, but living on the other side of the country makes that difficult and we know it. The day of the party, we took votes from friends and kept mum through lunch. Then, we got Aunt La on the phone, began taping for those who couldn’t be reached and served up dessert. It was such a fun experience!

Eagerly awaiting the news

And, ultimately, we got to share that we’re having a GIRL!!! We are so thrilled! We would have of course been happy regardless, but it will be really special to have both a boy and girl. Plus, it’s about time I got a female in this house. ;)

Let the little girl shopping begin!