Lots to say

So much has been going on around our house lately, definitely not a shortage of things to update everyone on. I’m sure this post won’t capture everything but it’s a start!

Home Improvements:
- new roof (see separate post previous to this one)
- we replaced almost all the windows in the house. This was done last week Wednesday when I was 39 1/2 weeks preggo. We were really hoping baby would wait and he/she did! The house feels quieter, cosy-er, and cleaner. This is one of the many projects that our house has undergone as a result of an energy audit/grant.
- our finished second bathroom – yeah! After about 20 months of construction, this project is finally (almost) done! And we think it looks awesome. It’s been great for me being pregnant as this shower is manageable for me to step into without any pelvic pain. And we haven’t replaced the showerhead with a low-flow one (because this shower will primarily be used by guests on an infrequent basis) so that just feels fantastic – it’s one of the many environmental sacrifices we’re made at the end of this pregnancy (along with using a dryer as it’s nearly impossible for me to move heavy wet laundry outside right now). Reuben has 2 more things to do in this bathroom tonight so I’ll let him post pics of this project and talk a little more about how it all went.
- I’ve been nesting like absolutely crazy – way more than I remember nesting with Eden. This has resulted in clean and organized cupboards and desks and drawers and a long to-do list for Reuben for the things I want to do but can’t! Reuben has been able to organize the basement which has helped organize our whole house and we feel more and more at home here. I’ve cleaned baseboards and light switch plates and every bizarre thing you can think of. There’s always more to go and every day Reuben comes home to a newly cleaned something.
- Eden’s new room is almost done. There are few more sewing and art projects for us to complete. She has adjusted to sleeping in her new bed really well. We’ve been trying to tell her that when she wakes up, she can get out of the bed by herself but she hasn’t attempted that yet. The nursery is almost the same as it was when we finished it 2 years ago with all the drawers filled with baby clothes and diapers and blankets and toys. The baby will stay in our room for awhile but the room is ready to be moved into at any time. The drawers are overflowing with so many clothes and there’s a box of boys and a box of girls clothes just ready to be put in the drawers as soon as we know! We’ve been blessed with so many nieces and nephews that we have 0-3 month girls and boys and gender neutral clothes – probably too many things for this little one to wear in the first 3 months!

Here are just a few pics of some of the projects in Eden’s new room:
– I made these pleated lined curtains from the matching fabric to the wallpaper in the room – i love them:

- we got this chest from a friend of mine. I painted it and made a seat cushion for it. It houses all of Eden’s toys:


- Eden got this table and chair set from Nana and Papa for her 1 year birthday. After taking the whole set apart and painting in 5 different colours (probably 20-30 hours of work) here is her new set with a magnet board mounted to the wall behind it:

- and here’s the wallpaper with her dresser:

Pregnancy:
- today is my due date! We finally feel mentally ready for this baby to arrive. There’s been such a long to-do list to accomplish and we feel we’ve taken so many things off the list so far that having a baby now would be manageable. So sometime in the next 2 weeks, we’ll have a new little boy or girl to add to the family.
- we plan on having a home birth and our birthing room is all set up. Our midwive’s office has a tub that we are borrowing, primarily for pain relief but perhaps there will be a water birth. Labour cannot be predicted so we welcomed any and all means of pain management while at home, never knowing what will actually be used. When I go into labour, my mom will be the first to get the call. She’ll arrive at our house to take care of Eden. We haven’t decided whether Eden will be present for the birth or not – it all depends on what time of day it is, how the labour is going, and how she’ll deal with it. We’ve been reading a book to her called “Hello Baby” (which she wants to read over and over again) which talks about home birth and labour. She sometimes says to me, “When baby comes out, mommy might scream and yell and that’s OK because that will help the baby come out.” We don’t want the birth to be traumatic for her so we’ll gauge whether she’ll be present when the time comes.
- this pregnancy, I’ve had several false starts. Eden’s labour started with rhythmic Braxton-Hicks that transitioned into contractions. I’ve had several hours of non-painful Braxton-Hicks on several occasions but they dissipate. It’s good to know my body is getting ready for the real thing. We don’t want to rush into labour – we want this baby to arrive in his/her own time. However, we really want our primary midwife to be at the birth and we know she goes off call this Thursday to Saturday so we’re hoping baby arrives before or after that. Even if baby arrives during that time, our other midwives are awesome too. Our primary was the one at Eden’s birth and we know we really liked that experience so we’re just hoping she can be there again.
- my pelvis/hip/back problems have been manageable since I’ve been home. I have been attending physiotherapy at least 2x a week and that has helped strengthen my lower back and relieve a little of the pain. Being active has helped the most and being home has allowed me to do that. It’s been a good transition for both Eden and I for me to be home. I think adjusting to the baby will be so much easier for both of us when the baby arrives.
- one of my nesting projects for pregnancy has been to prepare freezer meals. I know when the baby arrives, I won’t want to cook but I also won’t want frozen store-bought lasagna or pizza every day. So I had mentioned this to my sister-in-law. My brother called me shortly after and he and his wife offered to come over and help watch Eden and help cook. So my sister-in-law watched Eden all day while my brother and I cooked up probably 100 servings of food for our freezer. Then the 2 nights after that I cooked 6x as much supper and froze 5 of each one. Our freezer is now 3/4 full of good and healthy home cooked food!!! There’s still a few more recipes to go and I plan to make a lot of applesauce for the freezer this week as well.

Reuben took a picture of me last week at 39 1/2 weeks:

Eden:
- she is just a non-stop talker. She often fills in voids of space with umm. umm. um.. while she waits to say something else. She loves singing and still loves reading books. She is a great helper around the house and she plays so well independently. She’s ready to be a big sister and keeps saying, “when Genevieve and Kristin (our midwives) come, baby will come out and I get to hold baby and help change diapers and rock baby and…” on and on…
- she has become a rather picky eater as of late. She used to eat whatever we fed her and now she likes just plain bland choices with nothing mixed up. Her favourite is noodles and peas and she loves peanut butter and honey tortillas – her daddy’s favourite. When my brother and his wife were over last week, I was trying to get her to eat some apple pieces. She was refusing. Aunt Rachel figured out that if her raccoon and fox puppets pretended to eat her apple, then she happily ate her apple with a smile on her face. Lately raccoon has been eating meals with us because she listens so well to any puppet and we aren’t sitting around the table attempting to get her to eat for over an hour.