Many times I feel like this pregnancy has felt much longer than the first two, but I suppose that is easier to say since I am going through it currently! Though now that our baby will be here in just over two weeks, panic mode is setting in some as time has started to pass too quickly. I am in a wicked nesting phase, scrambling to get life as organized as it can be in time for baby. Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned!
We decided to start remodeling our lower level bathroom and to put in a new bar floor in the beginning of April, thinking a couple of months would be enough time to get things back into shape before the end of May. Well, as is often the case when it comes to home projects, a few bumps in the road has delayed the processes and having everything completed before the bundle comes is not in our future. Obviously the conditions downstairs are not ideal...
...but things are (slowly, but surely) coming along. This bathroom photo below was taken while it was first being torn up...
...and thankfully now it looks like this! Progress makes us happy.
The shower is coming along really nicely too.
And one day this summer, it will all be worth it! The bathroom remodel taking place directly across from Vivi's bedrom (and of course, the baby's upcoming arrival) helped push us a little harder to get Viviana upstairs - and finally out of her crib - for bedtimes. At the end of March, the girls' bunk beds were up and running!
They were so excited when that top bunk was in place and ready to go.
First we got Mirabella used to sleeping on the top bunk without the distraction of her sister, so Tuesday, April 2nd she spent her first night up there. She did fabulously.
A handful of days later (Sunday, April 7th) and it was Viviana's turn to move in. Here they are that day getting themselves pumped up for the big night.
Bedtime brought smiles...
...and sadly, way too many giggles and failed attempts at sleep.
So with both girls getting over colds and the anticipation of a trip to Florida for Jeff and me (which would require Grandma and Papa to have to deal with stressful bedtimes), we decided to wait on the transition. We would try again on Thursday, April 18th and naps went wonderfully!
Sixlet treats were given when they woke up...
...and Viviana earned another - she picked a chocolate sucker - the next morning after a successful night's sleep in her new bed.
I would like to say that bedtimes since have been smooth sailing, but that would be a lie. Some bedtimes are perfect and some are straight out of a toddler horror flick. It has been stressful. Is it payback for having been spoiled with exceptional sleepers up until this point? I don't know, but it's something, and it is nearly insanity provoking at times.
Thinking moving one, Mirabella, downstairs (in the bed, not the crib) for a night would be punishment failed miserably when she asked to sleep there again the next night. We had threatened the crib first and to our dismay, she thought that sounded like fun! We could not win. This was not what this transition looked like as we imagined it! We're trying to keep this going so we don't have to start all over again when the baby needs to move down to the crib, but we will see how it goes. Nights like tonight where they went to bed peacefully without a fight or a peep to be heard keep us feeling hopeful.
One of the first things we knew we needed when we found out I was pregnant with baby # 3 was a larger vehicle - one that would fit three car seats with room to spare - to transport the five of us. In mid-March (Saturday, March 16th) we said hello to a big rig and brought home a Suburban!
Jeff has been its primary driver and will reluctantly give it up to me once our little precious arrives.
We have had a few hurdles to jump over, but we are making strides as we prepare to welcome the fifth in our fivesome. I have a few meals made and in the freezer to help us through the nights we are convinced we've bitten off more than we can chew, I have had fun filling some of the days and nights on my calendar this month with playdates and dinners with my girlfriends, Jeff has been able to work on his golf game, we have gotten in some quality time together just the two of us, as a couple with some friends, as a family of four and as a family of four with our two families.
My "To Do Checklist Before Baby Comes" is lengthy, but deep down I know all will be managable if the loose ends that are driving me crazy right now are not fully addressed in these upcoming weeks. If the clothing bins that contain newborn clothes aren't all sorted through, it will be all right. If Mirabella's and Viviana's closets and drawers include some clothes and shoes that are now too small for them, I'll get over it. (I am still planning on being anal enough to lay out clothes and shoes for them while I'm gone anyway! But hey, if I don't get to that either, tough.) If my house isn't fully stocked with every little thing I think is necessary while I'm in the hospital, my family will survive and Jeff is fully capable of entering a store on his own. If things around here aren't as clean or as organized as I want, oh well. (But thanks to Tricia for the early warning of a future gift: a person to clean our house three times after the baby comes! How fantastic is that? Thank you, thank you, thank you! And thanks to my hubby for all of his efforts with and coordination of the current, pending and upcoming projects downstairs and otherwise, both inside and outside our house. I appreciate it so very much.) I am working to let some of these things go, but am still anxious to check a few more things off of my list before the 31st.
