Getting things done

Last night, Jonas finally put the crib together and it now sits proudly in the corner of our bedroom. Seeing the crib there, although sans baby, is starting to feel very surreal now. Since it has been there, I have walked by it and glanced at it numerous times, imagining a little person inside of it. We have already talked of having our 'movie nights' in bed, with the little one right beside us, nestled in comfortably.

We are making good progress at things now, and the long list of things we had to do are slowly being chipped away. We washed a bunch of baby clothes, washcloths, sheets, blankets etc. It gave us a dose of reality of what to expect, because when we added those things to our laundry pile, it had doubled in size! Not what we are used to at all, but seeing those teeny tiny little onesies, mixed in with our laundry was enough to make me tearful.

The last big thing we need to do before we feel ready to bring baby home, is to install our car seat. We still have some cleaning and organizing to do, but those things are not as urgent and we know we can do them anytime. Not too bad with approximately six weeks to spare! That is assuming that I give birth on the day that I am due.

I am also working out the dates of my maternity leave, and have decided to try to work up until I possibly can. So my last day of work will be on September 17th. That gives me just about four weeks left of work to tie up loose ends and do some cross training. Some people have commented to me that they found the last eight weeks of pregnancy tend to drag on, but I think I have found the opposite. It is hard to believe that in about four short weeks, give or take a day/week or two, my whole life is about to change. Jonas and I are very conscious of this, and we are not taking simple pleasures, like sleeping, for granted. We are fully aware of what is about to come, and are mentally preparing ourselves for the craziness that lies ahead. I realize that until that time comes, you don't really know how you are going to handle things. But we have already spoken of contingency plans, and how we will be 'tag teaming' duties with the baby, household chores etc. I was speaking with a co worker the other day who already has two kids, and she was very surprised, and impressed that I had a husband who would help out on these things. I do realize that I am extremely, extremely lucky that Jonas is the type of person that would never sit back and expect me to do all the work. I think Mom and Dad Ng did an amazing job, raising such a remarkable person. I only hope that I can do half as good of a job raising our baby, as they did with their kids.