The Nursery - Part 1

Ok, so you have been very patient. You may have been wondering, "How will they do the nursery if they don't know the gender of the baby?" Well, it was tough to decide, but we (Courtney) came up with a plan. Here it is from start to finish...

We started with a blank canvas of purple?! Ha ha. This room used to be our office/ catch-all room.

Courtney started by picking a R&H Baby No-VOC, Eco-friendly paint. The color she chose was a cool "Cloud Blue." After some cutting-in and taping, we set out on our first coat. The purple turned out to be stubborn (like me) and we needed to do a second coat to make it disappear.

Courtney didn't want to be photographed, but I did manage to get the back of her head in this one ;-)

However, with me...there is no shame in my game. Inside-out pants and sleeveless shirt! Working hard for the baby!

The finished product of the base-color looked something like this. Here is the crib also, courtesy of Courtney's brother, Todd.

This was done in early November. But we weren't finished yet! See Part 2.

Making Progress!

Courtney's POV: Big update today! In just one short week, I went from being only 40% effaced to 80% effaced and two centimeters dilated! Dr. Erdman said this means I could go into labor anywhere from 48 hours to three weeks. So of course, I am freaking out a little bit. Must do laundry! I feel an overwhelming urge to go grocery shopping to stock up on non-perishable items like it's Armageddon.

Brian's POV: I called it. Before we went in for the appointment, I said, "80% effaced, I bet." Courtney scoffed at me. Sure enough! But to add in the "2 cm dilated", that was a real eye opener for me. It took on a different level of realness for me. Suddenly I thought, "I have to make sure my loose ends at work are buttoned up and my cameras are charged!" Ha Ha!

The excitement of how spontaneous this is going to be was what I took away from today's appointment. It could literally happen at any minute. So cool!

The Calm Before the Storm

Today we are officially 8 months pregnant. That means the countdown is on. (Actually you can't countdown unless you have a definite end point, but you know what I mean). As I look around our house these days, it looks a little different. For instance, where our kitchen table used to be...it now looks like this...

Thanks to the generosity of Courtney's brother Todd, we have all of these baby toys that used to be Ryleigh and Emily's. Also pictured are a couple of new arrivals thanks to Gigi. They are the infant/toddler car seat and that snazzy stroller you see back there. Let's get a closer look at the stroller...

This thing is cool! I can't wait to walk Baby Stamp around town in this thing...malls, airports, the park...you name it. Best of all, it is a truly one-handed operation to open up and is super light. Thanks Gigi!

Even our nursery is taking shape. We have a crib filled with baby gadgets and a changing table loaded with a wipes warmer and lotions and potions.

P.S. I promised Courtney I wouldn't share pictures of the nursery until the faux painting is done so you'll have to wait for the wide shots.

The point of this post is to:

A) Commemorate the 8 month mark;
B) Show a little bit about how our house is changing; and
C) Just marvel at all that it takes just get prepared for an arrival.

We are no where close to finished yet. Courtney has a hometown shower coming up (date TBD) so this will likely double or triple after that! Next thing you know, my Man Cave will be compromised! ...I hope Mommy doesn't read that.