Can you feel it? Summer’s almost here. The days are longer, to the point where it may still be light out when I head to bed, and the temps are rising. We finally got to bust out Ethan’s shorts and sandals within the last couple of weeks, and I could hardly stand the cute.
I had my go-to coffee this morning — hazelnut with a splash of half and half. It might be boring, but I think it’s yummy. How did you start your day today? Are you ready to catch up on what’s been happening since our last coffee date?
Me too — let’s go.
Less than four weeks until d-day
We’re less than a month out from baby #2’s due date. This pregnancy has absolutely flown by. With Ethan, I was so nervous that something would happen — that we’d lose him — that I counted each and every day, checked every day off on our goal of reaching 37+ weeks. I checked multiple pregnancy apps every morning, pulling to refresh the content. But this pregnancy, I haven’t had the time to worry and I don’t think I would if I did. I know my body can carry a healthy pregnancy now, I know what normal feels like.
Speaking of what this pregnancy feels like, a couple new things have popped up:
- Swollen feet, ankles + calves — And I mean swollen. Did I ever have bones in my feet? Does every pair of pants I own leave impressions up and down my calves? Did my feet just swell around my shoes? Yes yes and yes. I have less than four weeks to go, and I’m seriously contemplating getting a couple (cheap) dresses to wear for the sake of comfort. He could come any day now, but it could also be a month — and the prospect of stuffing my swollen, still-growing self into skinny jeans for another month is daunting.
- Pelvic + back pain — Towards the end with Ethan, when I knew he’d dropped, it felt like walking with a bowling ball between my legs (TMI? nah, coffee dates are about #reallife). But this time, I’ve been having awful aches and pains in my pelvic bones and lower back for weeks on end. My guess is my body started stretching and growing for birth a bit earlier. That paired with a sometimes-clingy toddler running the show around our house now = sore mama.
Circling back to the photo at the top: the nursery is almost finished! The crib, dresser and glider are assembled; newborn clothes are washed and folded; and the rug we picked out to go with our “outer space” theme arrived a couple weeks ago. All that’s left is to hang a couple shelves and prints.
And yep, that’s my hospital bag in the corner, ready for go-time.
Fun with our little guy, while he’s still our only little guy
We had an absolute blast this month with Ethan. Our backyard fence went up last month, and we spent evenings and weekends back there exploring the yard and making plans for a fun toddler playspace. On one particularly hot day, we busted out the supplies that would soon become his DIY water table for a little fun in the shade. Also, he’s obsessed with daddy’s rake and shovel, and insists on dragging them all over the yard.
We took advantage of the long Memorial Day weekend and headed out to our local Children’s Museum. The last time we went, Ethan wasn’t walking just yet. This time, he was all over the place! At first, it was all a bit overwhelming. He wouldn’t let go of the broom in the construction zone for the longest time, but he soon got his bearings, explored the museum, practiced sharing and made a new friend or two.
We also made it out to the zoo! The hours we spent walking around flew by, and daddy and Ethan turned a few heads in their new shoulder carrier (not an affiliate link, just wanted to share). It was maybe their third time using it — Ethan’s a huge fan because he can see everything, reach for the tree tops and snuggle up with daddy. He’s never been a fan of being “worn,” so this is a revelation and hopefully perfect for more summer adventures.
The weather couldn’t have been more perfect, and we got to soak in lots of extra Ethan time before we’re officially on baby watch.
I started weaving
Last month, I took a weaving class at a local art gallery and really enjoyed it. Weaving has an almost meditative quality — moving the yarn through the tension threads (or, weft through warp as us…ahem…experienced weavers say) is repetitive in the best of ways. It requires just enough focus to block out anything that might be weighing on my mind, but not so much that I can’t tune into a show now and then. And each pass back and forth is building towards something, working towards a finished product. What’s not to love?
The work in progress above will live in Ethan’s room once it’s finished. I’ve been having a lot of fun learning new weaving techniques and playing with the different yarns I picked up at a local fiber shop. It’s been sitting quietly for a week or so now because I’m not quite sure where to go with it next. But it’ll come to me.
Oh, and I can’t forgot to give a shout out to Kristian for building me the perfect little loom to test out this new hobby. We used this tutorial as a guide and spent maybe $10 on it all together — not bad!
Tackling more yard projects
Installing the fence officially (finally?) drew our attention to the state of our yard, front and back. She’s always been a bit of a mess — overrun with weeds, unevenly graded, a random assortment of plants scattered along one edge of the property line in the back. And oof, that brush pile in the back corner was an eyesore for the longest time.
I took a stab at fixing up the front landscaping in the summer of 2017, pulling out a few overgrown shrubs, reshaping the garden bed and planting a couple new pretties. I stopped short because I found out I was pregnant with Ethan and wasn’t feeling so hot. And now here we are, nearly two years later — pregnant again, but determined to finish this project.
We want to take full advantage of our green space starting now, to make it an inviting and fun place for our kiddos and Lycka to play — and for mommy and daddy to relax. In the last couple of weeks, Kristian has put a ton of work into regrading the yard. The grass is starting to sprout, despite Lycka’s best efforts to dig it up. This past weekend, we tackled the front garden beds, moving a few things around, adding new ground cover plants and lillies, and then covering everything in garden fabric and mulch. And Kristian is making great progress on a custom sandbox for our boys, with bench seating for us and everything.
Bring on summer!
Ps — Fun fact: Did you know that an 8’-square sandbox needs 2,000 lbs of sand to fill? I mean, what’s that now? We scaled back from the tutorial Kristian’s following and won’t need quite that much. But those play sand bags that were on sale at Lowe’s this weekend were only 50 lbs each. Cute.
This book is worth a read
This month has been a busy one, and I haven’t had as much time to read as I would have liked. Several e-books I’d put on hold at the library became available after weeks of waiting, but I didn’t even download them because I haven’t had my Kindle out recently.
I did however manage to squeeze in one short read earlier this month: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg Mckeown (affiliate link).
If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.
– Greg Mckeown
Essentially (heh) the book is a how-to guide focused on helping you regain your time and energy. I had some trouble with the format and almost woo-woo feel at first, but once I got into it and the author started offering more practical solutions, I saw its value. The idea of pairing back the things we say Yes to, the things we take on in our lives, to only those that truly add value might be a stretch. But it was worth reading in the end. Because I tend to say yes to everything, taking on more and more to the point of burn out. This book has helped me to gain a different perspective — to begin to develop a set of “criteria” to help me decide how and where to spend my time and energy.
I hope you’ve all had a fantastic May! What are you looking forward to in June?
Hello, I love reading your blog, thank you for posting about such relatable, down to earth topics. I had a miscarriage last year and I am pregnant again (whooo!) and your blog has been an incredible outlet for me especially now about the mom to be content. One question I had was what do you recommend to pack in your hospital bag? Any input is greatly appreciated. Thank you again!
Thank you! That’s so kind of you to say. And congratulations! When are you due?? I was thinking about doing a review of what’s in my hospital bag — knowing you’d find it useful is great! I found lists from other mamas helpful when packing for my first, and even tweaked my list this time around.
I am due in November so I have a while but man is it flying by faster and faster as the weeks go and I gain confidence in this pregnancy. Our latest challenge is tackling the baby registry, it is overwhelming. I am trying to stick to the minimalist concept for the beginning and getting stuff as we need them (I don’t want to buy something and then end up not using it) but the baby industry is very in your face, “you need this” and “don’t forget that”, its CRAZY!
Girl tell me about it! November will be here before you know it. And registries are tricky. With Ethan, we didn’t register for much, and waited until he was here to see what his personality was like. We were also fortunate enough to be able to borrow a few things from family, Facebook Marketplace has been really great too, especially for clothes and toys — they grow out of both so fast.