We’re now in the last month of our pregnancy. Due on June 1, there is a good chance that the baby will be born in May. Grad school is over for me and the nursery is complete. We’re ready.
This week I finished up my last final and paper of business school, while Katie wrapped up her last class in the School of Ed., as well as completed the written portion of her proposal defense (a big part of her dissertation). In a symbolic change, my desk in the kitchen, where I spent lots of early mornings studying accounting and finance, has been sold and replaced with two huge un-opened boxes containing the pack 'n play and car seat. Instead of sacrificing sleep for school, I now look forward to seeing the clock at 4 a.m. to get the Bean out of bed so Katie can feed. It’s nice to have evenings and weekends free from class and homework to play a bigger role in getting the house ready. Saying that Katie has been nesting during the last few weeks is an understatement.
She goes through about one long ‘to do list’ per week. Everything from registering at St. David’s hospital to washing all the baby clothes to writing thank you notes for baby gifts. In between working, teaching, taking classes, and dissertating, she’s managed to get the entire nursery ready. Thanks in great part to the dollars and sweat of my in-laws, Bob and Nancy, who have helped with everything from cleaning out shelves to constructing the crib, the nursery looks and feels just right. After all the baby showers, it’s full of everything any infant could need—a changing table, Longhorn socks, books, lots of burp cloths, a rocker, a rug, and diapers that seem too small for a living human. Because we don’t know the baby’s gender, other than the UT baby clothes, everything else comes in green and yellow. The Bean’s favorite animal should definitely be a frog. She/He has at least 50 frogs of different shapes and sizes in his/her room.
Apparently, when you nest, you do things around the house that don’t necessarily have anything to do with the baby. Katie was joking with my mom over email this week about how she’s had a strange urge to organize her purses, which she’s unlikely to use anytime soon. My mom reassured her that before I was born, we had the cleanest linen closet on the block. I suppose I’ve felt the urge to be at home too, however, I can’t help take advantage of the last happy hour or the last party before the baby gets here.
Katie has not been sleeping well, a normal occurrence for pregnant women. I can see Mother Nature chuckling at her and saying, “yeah, get used to it.” I’m continually impressed with Katie’s attitude at 3:30 in the morning when I notice she’s not in bed, but rather wide-awake reading in the nursery or watching TV on the coach. You’d expect someone who is only able to sleep a couple hours to be cranky or resentful. Katie, however, is happy to report that she just finished watching a documentary about the Galapagos Island or is caught up on Sportscenter. She’s embracing the insomnia with a sense of ease and spirit that gives me comfort that we will be ready to handle this parenting thing.
Here are some pictures from the latest shower in Austin and of the nursery:
