34 Weeks (and 3 days...yes I'm counting)

Wwell, we're getting down to the final month of this business...hopefully! This week will mark 35 and 35 - 35 weeks down and 35 days to go.  I think I've reached the point that whenever the end comes it will be welcomed.  Of course I want to make sure she's developed enough and don't want her to have any complications with growth or lung development...but if I could deliver in 3 weeks I'd be most pleased to be honest with you!  I know my body can and will accommodate more growth, but geez it feels like I'm close to max capacity now! And, discouragingly, I noticed two small purple-y stretch marks forming on the underside of the belly today...which means I'm sure there are more to come :( I was hoping to make it through without any, but doesn't look like that is going to happen. I know 50% of pregnant women get at least some, and it's a badge of motherhood and all that, but I could have done without them nonetheless. At least our professional maternity photos are this Thursday at 35 weeks on the dot, and hopefully I won't get any more before then, so the belly will still look good in pics! (Oh vanity, how I love thee).   Here she is covered up for the week: 

34 weeks + 3 days

I think we are more or less getting down to the last vital things we need to have and do before she arrives.  The nursery is coming together, and I'll give it its very own post for the big reveal once all the components are in place soon.  Our chair should be scheduled to arrive in the next 2 weeks or so, and the wall projects are just about complete.  The crib skirt is the last big sewing project, and I just didn't have the gusto to do it by myself this weekend.  I did work on these, though:

The collage of frames will go on the wall above the crib.  So springy and bright, and yet sophisticated, charming and still clean lines! 

I also finished the DIY altered lampshade project using the Cricut: 

I made the ruffle trim using 1 1/4" grosgrain ribbon and pleating it by hand, fixing each pleat with hot glue in between.  Then just hot glued it around the top and bottom of the shade, overlapping the seam at the back.   For the inside, I used the Cricut cartridges "A Child's Year" and "Give a Hoot" and cut out silhouettes of children at play and a whimsical butterfly border.  Then, using spray adhesive on one side of each cut-out, I fixed them to the inside of the shade! You see them mostly when the lamp is on, and when it's off you just pretty much see the ribbon ruffle :) So cute, if I do say so myself! 

And, apparently the animals approve of this space...as long as it is all for them! It is just for them, right?

Winnie has since been banished from claiming the co-sleeper, because that's really a habit I do not want to encourage.  In fact, it kind of freaks me out and I'm not sure what to do to keep her out of the baby's sleeping spaces.  Cat owners, any suggestions?  Right now I just have it loaded with some bags of hand-me-downs, but that's obviously a temporary solution.  The co-sleeper will be moved into our room beside the bed, but the bedroom needs major cleaning and reorganizing first...see below. 

I think the "Nesting" is kicking up a notch from just nursery prep and taking up 100% brain space occupied to thinking/list making about what needs to get purchased/done to actual housekeeping tasks that have been put off too long.  This is not news, but I'm a pretty terrible housekeeper.  I love clean, fresh spaces, but honestly I just prefer if someone else does it for me, and if not, then I don't mind living in various states of squalor that much (evidently). Gross. Well, those little things that I usually put off for months (the grody dust built up on the cold air return vent over our bed? yeah...all I had to do was wipe that with a damp cloth. 6 months ago) are finally irritating me enough to get themselves done.  Today I scrubbed the shower and tub (like even got the orange rust stains off), cleaned the grout around the base of the toilet, and washed the shower curtain liner.  Tasks which a normal person might do once a week, or perhaps twice a month, sure...but these are typically Mt. Everest proportion tasks that I feel quite accomplished about today, especially seeing as how they had me work up a sweat and become short of breath! (Let's be honest, getting out of a chair does about the same, but we'll just skim over that part).  Anyway, hopefully this house will still be spring clean by the time little girl arrives - particularly if she listens to the first paragraph and comes in 3 weeks - the shower might still be clean in 3 weeks, right?