Busy Gestating.

Hello Dear Readers!

The entire month of August escaped me with no blog entry. Not that I didn't have anything to say, mind you (that pretty much doesn't happen, you will no doubt be shocked to hear). But I have been so busy preparing for the arrival of Blessing #2 that the month came and went and all the blog entries just rattled around in my head making me just that much more scattered and confused. Plus hubby is shooting a documentary, and my mom came to visit, and we all went to the beach (I think I'm supposed to call it "the coast" now that I'm an Oregonian but it hasn't sunk in yet) and oh, yeah, there's that job thing, with the 40 hours per week and the paychecks. Kind of important. All of which is going on while I am all big and pregnant and tired. But all this sort of pales in comparison to the todo list for this baby.

Here is the stuff I'm doing, or supposed to be doing, just to prepare to have ProtoPerson exit my uterus:

Yoga
Walking
Hypnobirthing practice - solo hypnosis with audio files, practice with husband, listening to affirmations, birth breathing practice
Make birth music mix (Hubby is on point on this one, being as he is the King of iTunes)
Perineal massage (massage is not always relaxing, I must say)
Kegels
Practice belly dancing
Pack birth bag

And then we still have prep for the actual baby:
Boil diapers (bought a massive pile of used Fuzzibunz off Craig's List - yay - but want to sterilize)
Bring new dresser in from balcony where it is outgassing (mmmm, pressboard) and load mass quantities of washed, folded hand me downs into it (currently they are in piles on my dresser, the new changing table, etc...)
Finish washing new baby clothing received
Set up loaner arms-reach cosleeper (thanks Mama G!)
Make dinners for freezer to help with crazy first weeks of life
Review stuff needed list and obtain (I think all we have left is a pad for the new changing table, and frankly I'm tempted to use old towels this time around...) (and yes, we needed a new changing table, to have one in our bedroom given that Robert is still in diapers. But I got it used from Craig's List, too.)

And things I'm doing to try to get the apartment in order before baby arrives:
Finish purging boxes of paper brought down from storage unit
Organize "desk" (now a vertical shelf unit, since all I ever do is pile it with stuff and then use my laptop at the dining table anyway)
Update mint.com, sort out budget
Shampoo carpets (okay, to be fair, I'm making Matt do this one, but I gotta get all my stuff out of the way before he can get it done).

In comparison, here is Mother Nature's todo list for birthing and motherhood:
Have sex
Wait nine months, eat a lot
Breastfeed, cuddle, eat more

Sometimes I wonder if I'm missing the elegant simplicity of this process.

Meanwhile I have my first live phone service session for the Nursing Mother's Counsel tomorrow. Woohoo! I did message checking for a week in August, and got zero messages. None. Which apparently happens sometimes, but I was disappointed. So now I have to be brave and start with live phone calls. But I'm pretty excited.

And lastly, check out this radio program from last year's Big Latch On PDX. You can hear me right near the beginning, and around 15:30 too. The whole thing is terrific though, give it a listen.

I hope you are all enjoying the last hurrah of summer before school, fall, etc.

Much love,
Suzi