Nesting

photos courtesy of Pinterest

With less than three weeks to go before Brynley gets here, I think it's safe to say I'm in "nesting"mode! It has been the most restful, relaxing few days I could have asked for, and I can now say that I am totally ready for Brynley to make her debut. I am so glad we got things organized,washed, folded, and put away. It's a good feeling to know her nursery is complete, and I got everything I wanted done for my days of staying at home with Ryder, and he has really enjoyed his flash cards and alphabet magnets already.

Speaking of Ryder, our weekend was a success as far as getting Ryder to eat healthier foods were concerned. He loved the natural ground peanut butter I bought, and ate a whole apple by dipping slices into it. Then asked for slices or orange, and a banana too! I was so happy that we had made the attempt to get back on the healthy track, and his good behavior was a direct result of it I think! Yesterday we had a bad storm around 4 am that woke us all up, but after Ryder came down and got in bed with us, we actually slept in until 8:30! We all woke feeling much better and well rested to start our day.

Since my plans to start on making Brynley's onesie dresses this coming weekend were approaching, I knew I needed to get them all monogrammed as soon as possible. I was planning to have a friend do them, but since I had waited last minute to get them embroidered, I decided to just take them to a place at the mall that would have them done within the hour. $40 and an hour later, I decided that maybe it was in my best interest to look into getting a sewing and embroidery machine. Especially with all of the monogramming I plan to be doing with having a little girl to dress up! I spent the latter part of Saturday searching online for everything I would need to know to get started, and am hoping to look into the idea of it more as the holidays get closer. I don't know the first thing when it comes to sewing, or even how to operate a sewing machine, so the whole idea intimidates me and after reading up on it, made me even more intimidated! But, I'm up for the challenge and would LOVE any advice you Mommies may have to offer :)

We were on a strict budget to get the onesies embroidered and then head home, but we got side tracked when we saw the signs for Borders books, Going Out of Business sale. Not one to pass up a big sale, we walked in just to check things out, and left with a truck book for Ryder, and a Baby's First Year Journal for Brynley. It was the same one I had the first year after Ryder was born, and was excited that they had it! We made one last stop at Target before heading home and then spent the rest of the day lounging and hanging out. Once Ryder was down for his nap, I decided to get busy looking online for a refresher on how to swaddle. I found just what I was looking for on YouTube and spent most of Ryder's naptime watching all videos on the best swaddling techniques. I even got Scot involved and showed him how it really worked, as the fussiest babies got soothed after just a few seconds of being swaddled, side rocked, and shhh'd. I have been reading Harvey Karp's 'Happiest Baby on the Block' and trying to soak in everything I can about baby soothing before Brynley gets here. I washed the Aiden + Anais swaddle blankets, and got to work practicing on Ryder's Elmo doll. I don't know why I'm freaking out so much, especially since this is my second time around having a baby, but I guess you can never be too prepared!

 

 After a morning at church and an afternoon of family time, playing with Ryder until our hearts content, Scot and I got busy making meals and freezing them so they will be ready to go once Brynley is here. On the menu, we made chicken pot pie, Guiness soaked beef shephard's pie, and a broccoli cheese casserole with a stuffing crust. I know broccoli probably isn't the best thing to have when breastfeeding, but I did fine eating it with Ryder, so I am hoping I do okay with Brynley too! I'm very fortunate to have my mom so close to me, and I'm sure she will be bringing over a lot of meals for us too, so I'm really not too worried about having enough to eat. It's all starting to come back to me now, how limited our time to get to eat will be, but I couldn't be more excited at the thought of having a newborn baby to snuggle again!

After church, we went to Showmars for lunch and I pretty much devoured my Greek salad! I haven't had any pregnancy cravings lately, but it sounded so good that I couldn't get the idea of a big Greek salad out of my head once I started thinking about how yummy it would be! (Don't mind this blurry phone picture Scot took on my Blackberry..) I savored as much Ryder time as I could before having to head back to work tomorrow. It will be a long two weeks, but it will be over before we know it, so I'm trying to stay positive and not dwell on how many days I have left. In some ways I will be a little sad to go, as I have worked there the past 4 years, but I am ready all the same, to start spending as much time with my family as I can. I have even started telling some patients my plans to stay home, and they have been sad to hear that I won't be there anymore, but totally understand.

I wish I could say that I ate well all weekend too, but this past weekend seemed to be the weekend for pregnancy cravings! I'm not sure if it was me being relaxed or what, but I totally had a craving when I saw these caramel apple candy corn! I only ended up eating a handful or two before deciding to throw them out, but man oh man! Still not as good as the original candy corn, but definitely did the trick as far as my sweet cravings were concerned. I also wish I could say that my sweet cravings ended there, but Scot just made a fresh batch of banana splits that has my name all over it! Looks like I will be tipping the scales this week! Hope that you and yours had a great weekend :)