baby deuce update

At 33 weeks, Baby Deuce now weighs approximately five pounds and is about seventeen inches long! Everything measured great at our appointment last Friday, and he seems to be doing just fine in there! As he's getting bigger, I'm starting to be able to feel his kicks, punches, and rolls more prominently, which I love. He's especially active in the evenings, and I can usually get him moving if I eat something cold or drink ice water (something I've been craving like mad lately), which is pretty much adorable.

Starting about two weeks ago, I began having dreams every night that my water broke and I went into early labor. In my dreams, I was always very panicked about who was going to keep Jude for us and I was worried about the fact that we didn't have much ready for this baby yet. I decided to go ahead and get as prepared as we could - not so much because I genuinely think we're going to go into early labor, but more to stop the anxiety and dreams about such.

I bought hospital and postpartum supplies and my hospital bag is now packed and ready to go (along with a list of all the last minute stuff I'll need to grab). I have a Labor Call List of people we need to give a ring when I begin labor, and the baby's room is set up and ready to go. We have a few more things we need for this kiddo, but we'll wait until closer to my due date to get those. I've typed up instructions for Jude for whomever stays overnight with him while we're in the hospital, and I've also set up a spreadsheet to track those early weeks of breastfeeding, diapers, and sleep. I know myself well enough to know that I'll likely find other baby-related projects, but the only other thing I feel compelled to do in my time before labor is to start cooking and freezing meals to have on hand after our parents leave and it's just Shawn and I.

This may seem like overkill, but trust me - it's brought me no end of peace of mind. I feel like I can take a deep breath, stop worrying, and enjoy tolerate the end of my pregnancy. Because it took me several weeks to get the baby's room organized and ready, I feel the need to show off his nursery. While our parents are visiting, the baby will sleep in a bassinet in our room while the nursery will double as a guest room. Also, we're hoping to replace the current window treatment with window panels that block out light. That room is the first room of the house to get flooded with sunlight in the mornings, so we definitely need something more than a swag curtain if we expect this baby to sleep later than daybreak!


And the sweet baby's crib. This is the same bedding set that we used for Jude. We took the ruffle off of Jude's crib a long time ago, and the bumper pad came off when he was around 13 months old and started climbing on top of it. Since all we were using from the bedding set was the sheet, we just got Jude a couple of crib sheets and gave the set to his brother. Let the hand-me-downs begin!

So until I actually do go into labor I'm focusing on 1)enjoying time with Jude, 2)sewing Serwa Chic products so that I can ease slowly back into things after maternity leave, and 3)cooking and freezing meals. If you happen to have any recipes for meals that can be easily frozen, feel free to pass them along! Now that I'm spending less time worrying about my to-do list, I'm starting to get excited to meet this baby.

I can't wait to see who he looks like (Shawn and I both think he'll look a lot like Jude, and Shawn's theory is that he'll have dark hair), and what kind of personality he has. I'm looking forward to watching Jude grow as a big brother, and I can't wait for the first time our family of four is snuggled on the couch and I can say, "Yep. These are my boys."