Finally getting around to preparing for Second Baby

Yep, we're kinda slow to get the ball rolling over here when it comes to baby prep. With Sam, we moved right before we had him, but we still had his little room all set up and *perfect* weeks before his birth. Of course, he slept in it a grand total of about two weeks before we moved again, so that was obviously well worth the time and effort we spent getting everything "just so."

In our apartment in VA, weeks before Sam's birth

This time around, we have opted to re-gift Second Baby with all of Sam's gender-neutral baby things (complete with bite marks and stained sheets!) and give Sam a new room (since we are well aware of his gender by now and can decorate accordingly). So I ordered a crib, but did not want to spend a ton of money on a changing table or dresser. My thoughts all along were to find a low dresser that I could put a changing pad on top of, thus eliminating the need for yet another piece of furniture. So off to craigslist I went! You know what they say about craigslist... "If you search it, you will find."
While it is not the most quality piece of furniture (read, not solid wood like I would have LOVED to find), it does match the color of the new crib perfectly. It's clean and not fussy or detailed, and it works perfectly for diaper changes.

Obviously there is still a lot of decorating to do in Sam's new room, but I will get to that eventually. My main focus right now is to figure out what to put on the walls. Besides paint. Because I refuse to paint our walls. Painting them once means I will have to paint them twice (again when we move out), and as much as I hate painting, I just don't feel it's worth it to put that effort in. I would much rather put giant, gaping holes in the walls.

AUsome Aubie mobile that my mom scored for me. It plays the fight song. How. PERFECT.

Help me with this please? This sweet little table and chair cost me all of five fingers as it was lying by the side of the road on trash day, so I scooped it up with grand plans on how I could paint it and make it cute. It was clearly well-loved by its previous owner (a green marker enthusiast), but I am trying to figure out the best way to refinish it so that it works for us. The OBVIOUS choice would be to paint it some sort of orange and blue combination, but I don't want to get too crazy with the Auburn in this room (try to stifle your laughter if you think I've already gone overboard with the rug and mobile- that is NOTHING). The other idea screaming in my head is to do the top of the table in chalkboard paint. Which brings this recently pinned image to mind.

via Pinterest

Okay, so it looks like I've got one vote for the chalkboard paint. Let me know what you think should be done to this little set!

In other news, I fished out all of Sam's newborn clothes and swaddling blankets yesterday. Most of the clothes are usable since we received gender-neutral things before Sam was born. But there are a couple of definite "boy" outfits in the mix, and I thought, what the heck, I may as well wash these too and use them. Because IF I DON'T, surely I will have a day where the child pukes or poops through every other outfit I have available and I will be left with no clothes to put on him/her. That is obviously the worst-case scenario, but I can see it happening, so I'll go ahead and wash the baseball onesie that says "Cute Little Guy" on it just in case. I will just have to keep reminding myself that it's a girl.

IF it's a girl. I'm not trying to send out subliminal messages that I know the gender already or anything. Because I don't. No one does. At my appointment last week, the doctor guessed it was a girl. But that was based on the heart rate, not on an ultrasound image. So take that "news" with a grain of salt.

Everyone tells me it's a girl. I don't know why they say that, unless they figure that since I already have a boy, it is only logical to have a girl next. I will (obviously) be happy either way. But my secret wish (fueled by my thriftiness and fear of sassy teenagers) is for a boy. I have everything it takes to raise a boy! Trucks! Legos! Trains! I know what comes with the boy territory as far as taking care of their privates after birth and I have the CLOTHES for a little boy. That feels very familiar and safe and (in my head) I am well-equipped to deal with it all.

Girls, however, are a bit of an unknown. I really hate princess-y stuff and pink pink PINK, and I really don't want to EVER deal with a teenage version of myself. And definitely not a teenage version of myself AND Steve. Makes me a little sweaty just thinking about it.

Of course I will love a little girl just as much as I will love a little boy, don't get me wrong. I know there are qualities about a girl that I would never experience with a boy, and they say the cutest things, and they like to dress up, and blah blah blah. You don't need to try and sell me on a girl. I PROMISE you that I will love her like a son. Heh.

On the pregnancy front, I am 31 weeks into this game and am now required to visit my doctor every two weeks and that just feels like such a waste of everyone's time. My numbers are ALWAYS perfect. The baby's heart rate is ALWAYS good. And the drive from my house to the hospital is ALWAYS longer than my actual appointment. I wish I could just weigh myself, take my own blood pressure, pee in a cup, and call in my results to her every two weeks. Sounds lazy, I know. But this office does not allow children, so every time I have to go in for an appointment, I have to find a babysitter, write out schedules for different scenarios that Sam might throw at the babysitter, put on REAL clothes (ugh!), and waste time going over things that feel pointless.

Of course, during my most recent appointment, I left Sam with a good friend and was so relaxed leaving him with her, that I secretly hoped that the doctor was running behind. Free time to just SIT in PEACE. Ahh.

But no. I got there fifteen minutes before my appointment time and got called back ten minutes early! Whaa?? I barely read the table of contents in this magazine! I need to read this article about five ways to banish belly flab! Seriously! Look at me! There's going to be a lot of leftover belly flab! But the nurse isn't taking no for an answer, so I go get weighed (total downer), pee in my cup (I am getting SO good at this), and get my blood pressure taken. The doc comes in, tells me how great my numbers look, and sends me on my way! I briefly consider going back to my original seat in the waiting room and reading that article, but then I realize that I'm probably missing the only nap of the day, so I'd better get home and take advantage of that. Sure enough, he was sleeping. Probably only slept for about 30 minutes after I got home and was up until bedtime. <groan> These days are L-O-N-G when there is only one nap involved.