Bold and True: The Island of Misfit Toys is a Horror Story

(My friend Anne has put out a call for bloggers to be bold and true with their posts every Monday. I don't stick to it religiously, but I do sometimes get inspired.)



I cannot abide the thought of discarded toys—not board games and action figures, but dolls and stuffed animals. I have to hurry past bins of them at thrift stores and garage sales. I get a little misty thinking about my own lost friends of childhood.

And I get positively weepy at the thought of Bean outgrowing her inanimate friends—in fact, I need to stop that line of thinking right now—and she hasn't even met them yet.

I cannot even begin to explain why I have such an emotional attachment to these things, but I do. The less commercial the item, the harder it is for me to imagine someone wanting to part with it.

And I will tell you, unequivocally, that when I discovered that Brandon still had a stuffed bear and stuffed Gizmo from his childhood, it was just one more indication that I had found my soul mate.

Daydreaming...

Things I can't WAIT to do again after I'm done being pregnant:

• eat raw cookie dough
• have a glass of Champagne
• eat a salad with blue cheese
• in fact, eat anything with blue cheese
• eat a sandwich with deli meat that hasn't been microwaved
  
• go clothes shopping
• look in a mirror without flinching (hey, a girl can dream)

Oh, and one more thing:

• cuddle my baby daughter
  

34 weeks and Behind the Curve

I wrote a pregnancy checklist for the new baby magazine at work, but I've got to admit, those things stress me out.

My email from "What to Expect When You're Expecting" last week told us that we should be packed and ready to go to the hospital at any time.

Uh... Not so much.

We haven't even been to our childbirth class yet (happens the first weekend in April).

In fact, the checklist *I* wrote says that by week 34, I should have already written a birth plan, installed my car seat, bought nursing bras, and picked out birth announcements.

Excuse me. I don't have time to blog any more. I have to go catch up.

Sartorialist Barbie

Should Baby Bean decide, one day, that she wants to play with Barbie dolls, I think we should buy her interesting vintage ones off eBay and then get all their clothes from tinyfrockshop.com — how cool is some of that stuff??

Bonus: none of the other little girls will have those pieces, so no chance of Bean's Barbie showing up to a play date dressed in the same outfit. (HOW EMBARRASSING!)

33 weeks and Limbo

I feel like I'm in limbo.

Thirty-three weeks into this game and I'm just not sure what's going on. Even my doctor doesn't seem that excited at this point. Just takes my vitals, listens to baby's heartbeat and says, "See you next month!"

I realize I should be getting excited, but it's gone back to where I was in the beginning, feeling like it really isn't that real or immediate. Despite the fact that I'm sort of ridiculously huge and full of baby. Even that seems pretty routine at this point. The good news is that I'm not terribly uncomfortable or anything like that. The bad news is that it's making it all seem pretty normal, and not like we're leading up to a life-changing event.

I mean, getting up to use the bathroom three times a night is just what I do now. It's not a big deal any more.

I also can't figure out what I'm supposed to be doing, exactly. Part of me feels like I should be compulsively cleaning and organizing things. Part of me feels like I should be resting with my feet up and watching old episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Hulu.

I don't actually do either of those things, so I'm not sure which one is winning.

Part of me really wants to go shopping for new spring clothes every time I open a magazine or see an ad online, while the saner, more rational part of me says, "Are you out of your 33-inch-belly mind?"

My mind keeps turning to plans that I really can't make. I've been daydreaming about raking compost into our lawn and tilling up ground for a vegetable garden. I know. I know. That's how weird my mind is right now that I'm daydreaming about those sorts of things.

That and cheeseburgers.

I've been writing a business plan for my new life as a freelancer. It seems to completely gloss over the fact that I'll have an entirely different full-time job as a mom.

I'm not sure if this is a defense mechanism or what. I'm not really daydreaming about what it will be like to have a baby. That's probably for the best though, because I figure whatever my mind can conjure up—no matter how good or how horrifying—it's not actually going to be anything like that.

I'm trying to get into the habit of doing one load of laundry per day.

I'm trying to stay out of the habit of being in my pajamas all day.

One part of me feels like I should have kept working full time all the way up to the end of pregnancy, for the moolah, if nothing else. And maybe the adult company, of which I will be bereft pretty quickly. Another part of me goes to the office once or twice a week, comes home wiped, and is intensely grateful that I don't have to work full time.

One part of me has been compulsively clipping coupons and buying groceries in bulk and on sale to save money. The other part of me just wants to go SHOPPING and EAT OUT all the time. (See the spring wardrobe and cheeseburger daydreams.)

I am one part domestic goddess, one part lazy freeloader. One part anxious and excited to be a mom, one part queen of denial.

Mix well. Go stir crazy.

And continue jonesing for cheeseburgers.

32 Weeks: Nursery Progress

We spent part of our day Saturday putting some of the decorative finishing touches on the nursery. Above you can see the vinyl wall decal we got (click the photo to see it larger) that is the basis for the "theme" of the room. I didn't want to go all-out circus theme, but I just loved this so much.

(You can also see the doomed dresser—now much repaired—the crib bumper I got on consignment, and the ottoman of the consignment glider, complete with ugly denim cushion that needs to be recovered.)

It took some time, but it really wasn't hard to put up. Just have to be patient with all those little fiddly bits.

We also painted the other closet door with the chalkboard paint. Just need to do a few touch ups—and buy some chalk!—and then I will post photos of those.

BOOKS!

It was recently brought to my attention that I MAY be having a books baby shower in a few weeks...

...so I MAY have gone on Amazon and added about a zillion awesome books to our baby registry.

I love books.

Local Consignment Sales

I've been going to a lot of these kids' consignment sales lately, and I've done pretty well:

• A wood rocker-style glider and ottoman for $40
• Like-new crib bumper for $4.50
• A warm car seat jacket thing from Pottery Barn in original package for $4
• A couple of cute onesies that I just couldn't pass up, usually for about $1–$3 each
  
• And several maternity tops, three nursing tank tops and a three-piece nursing pajama set, all for less than $10 each

I've checked out the Just Between Friends Longmont sale, a MOPS sale and the Just 4 Kids sale in Firestone last weekend. Be aware: there's usually nowhere to try on clothes if you're looking for maternity things or things for older kids. You just have to guess. No returns or exchanges, so be sure of what you're buying (or be sure you don't care for the price!). I've seen some furniture (probably best to go early if you want big-ticket items), and most are banning the sale of drop-sided cribs in accordance with the recall. I've also seen lots of car seats, strollers, high chairs and pack and plays, but those should all be buyer beware: if you buy one, be sure to google for any recalls as soon as you can.

Denver Bargains has done a roundup of upcoming sales all up and down the Front Range. Definitely check one out if you're interested.