Our Thumbs Feature Allen-Wrench-Shaped Dents

We had a very busy baby weekend. We got the nursery painted on Saturday after a trip to Home Depot. That also marks the first time I unconsciously rested something on top of my belly for support, as after about twenty minutes I noticed I was bracing the cup of paint partially on my gut with my left hand, while dipping into it with the brush in my right hand. Soon it will grow into the perfect place to rest Geoff's beer [note to Geoff: just kidding, don't try it].

We assembled the crib on Sunday and we really like it. Thanks go out to the Grandma and Grandpa. I think this counts as baby's first gift (ahem, other than the gift of life, of course). The assembly was a true team effort--our brains combined only make half the mistakes of our individual brains. The directions for the crib actually state that it is more easily assembled by two people, and sorry single mothers, guess you shouldn't have gone and gotten knocked up without a husband. Okay, I made up the judgmental part about single mothers, but it did feel like some kind of test that the crib takes two to assemble. I guess we passed.

We also scored a changing table and pack-n-play off of Craig's List, which I'm kind of excited about. I figured one of the advantages of living in yuppietown the North Shore would be that we surely could get some good secondhand stuff. I started patrolling Craig's List for baby items we still needed, figuring we had lots of time and I could wait for just the right deal, and sure enough, after only a couple weeks we saw some stuff in excellent condition for a fraction of the cost of new. Win-win! I think a stroller will be my next target, but I have to figure out what kind to look for, first. (I kid about the North Shore--there are actually a lot of nice things about living here and the people who sold us the stuff were extremely nice and obviously had taken good care of their stuff. But we still had to make fun of the twin matching Lexuses in the Jewel parking lot in Wilmette.)

It's a bit early to be working on the nursery, I guess, but I don't want to be doing everything in the last trimester. I was the same way when planning our wedding--start early, do a few things at a time in a burst of energy, get sick of it, have the luxury of not thinking about it for a little while, repeat. I'm hoping to do one or two things per weekend, rather than trying to cram everything in at the last minute with no breaks. I'm sure there will still be plenty to do at the last minute.

We also managed to go see Kyle and Sarah's new house and new puppy and pick up painting supplies from them, plant some tomatoes, watch a couple of movies, Geoff went to the DMV, and we both went to my parents' for my grampa's birthday celebration. I'm glad we got so much done, even though I had a momentary faltering halfway through and whined to my mom about how overwhelmed I felt. I'm sure it won't be the last time, but I managed to get over it.

We have some more painting and furniture-rearranging to do in the coming weeks. Who knew all those hours I spent playing Tetris fifteen years ago were building skills so useful to preparing for a baby?