« May 2004 | Main | July 2004 »
Just linking to this post from Dooce about traveling with infants. Chris and I are making tentative-fingers-crossed plans to go on a vacation with our little one near the end of this year or in the spring, and of course, are totally unprepared.
Finished up my final baby sewing project today - one of those nursing pillows! I can't seem to find an authentic Boppy here in Canada, and I'm not sure how the ones by Jolly Jumper compare (and they're $40!), so I made my own. Materials were less than $15, so I'm not out much if the baby decided that it's the most uncomfortable thing ever!
The fabric I used is kind of cool:
I'm tempted to make another cover in a leoppard-print velour, if I ever see something like that at Fabricland.
I had three sewing projects, didn't I? I've posted about the sleep sack, and here's what I'm calling the last project. The second project is a pouch-style baby sling, which I won't post photos of until I have a baby to stick in it and less of a tummy. It doesn't look right with one-day-short-of-40-weeks tummy :)
Yesterday my mom gave Chris and I some dear little baby sweaters that she's saved since my sister and I were infants. I wore the yellow one home from the hospital, and now it's in my possession again in case we want our own little person to wear it home from the hospital, too.
The story behind the green sweater? Well, I don't know. I was between six and seven pounds when I was born. I guess that the green one is there in case there's a baby the size of a large turkey!
Chris's mom has done a lot of new knitting for the little one - there would be one for every day of the week, except that they're in an assortment of sizes! Wow!
My husband makes me laugh. I've been a little suspicious of his motives lately - the baby is due in six days (hah!), and Chris has been making sure that we're eating plenty of spicy food and suggesting that we take frequent walks, among other reputed labour-inducing activities. He's an accountant, and I think that he doesn't want the baby to be born during month-end :)
I've gotten into the habit of posting photos of all the handmade goodies that the little person has been given by our friends and family, so here are the newest items, both from my mom:
A flannel receiving blanket backed with cotton:
Why couldn't I find flannel as nice as that here in Calgary? Firstly, I love plaid, and secondly, the colours are nice without being to gender-specific!
A large fluffy bath towel - hopefully the baby tub will be outgrown before this towel is! I love the colour - it's not pastel!!!
I took what will probably be my last excursion on public transit as a pregnant person yesterday. Since we moved to Calgary, I'd made a habit to doing the environmentally-conscious thing and rarely drove my car to work, taking the bus or train instead. I kept up the public transit until I stopped working, too. I'm curious - do other riders actually yield their seats at the front of the bus or in the train to pregnant women? I must admit that my personal experience leads me to believe that idea is a just a silly one that must have gotten into my head from watching television or something. On a good day, the bus driver would wait until I'd actually sat down before barrelling away from the curb. Never did anyone on the train ever offer to swap my place by the pole for their seat. In fact, other riders who were also standing would dash over to a newly-vacated seat ahead of me. It's not a huge deal, but I think it's kind of funny because a bunch of new "courtesy seating awareness" posters appeared in the train cars this spring.
I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Chris and I decided that we didn't want to know the gender of our baby until it's actually born. We both admit to peeking a bit during my nineteen week ultrasound, but neither us of can conclude anything from it (luckily neither of us are u/s technicians - we'd make pretty lousy ones!), but we're more than happy to have a surprise to look forward to after the whole labour/delivery ordeal. Because we made this decision, our initial stock of infant clothing has to be fairly gender-neutral. I must say that is harder to accomplish that I thought it would be. I'm amazed at how even the simplest little baby pyjamas are gendered with patterns of little rosebuds or sailboats. I was Baby Gap today, totally coveting a jumpsuit in a print of pink giraffes, and in Old Navy, admiring a little green short set with monkeys, not sure if I would mortally offend the baby fashion police if I bought either outfit and dressed a child of the opposite gender than intended in them! Bah! Even the websites for those retailers has separate "baby boy" and "baby girl" sections to browse through, instead of an inclusive one! And it's not just pink clothing that I have issues with - why can't I find orange outfits for baby boys, and green outfits for little girls that aren't pastel? No wonder my mom made most of my clothes when I was growing up ...
Did you know that operating rooms can *close* for business, just like your favourite grocery store or the gas station? I didn't, so I was more than a little surprised to receive an email from our doula yesterday reporting that the hospital the little sprog is supposed to be born at will be closed to deliveries on June 26 and 27 because the operating rooms aren't open. I guess the concern is that no emergency c-sections would be able to be performed during that period, if necessary. I can either freak out over this and worry that I'll have to have the baby at a strange hospital that I know nothing about (Chris jokingly said maybe we should have elected to use a midwife at a birthcentre afterall!), or giggle to myself that it will be easier to get a Krispy Kreme doughnut at the end of June than it will be to have a baby. At least Krispy Kreme has a 24-hour drive-thru ...
Sometimes I surprise myself and actually manage to cross something off of my lengthy to-do list! The weather was dreary enough last week that I sat down in front of my serger and put together a sleepsack like I threatened to last month.
One thing that I was a little disallusioned with at the time I decided to make one of these is that it would be cheaper to make one than buy one. I'm not sure how much sleepsacks retail for, but some fleece sells for $20/metre! But at least mine is an *original* done in lilac-coloured waffle fleece :) More about the sewing adventure will be posted at Going Domestic ...
Maybe I've just noticed this because my pregnancy wardrobe is rather small and selective, but what's with all of the low-cut necklines on mat clothing? Most of my maternity shirts feature v-necks, and I've stitched up the neckline by a couple of inches on at least two of them to make them more acceptable office-wear (back when I was working ... ). I expressed my frustration about this to Chris awhile back, and he remarked that it was a conspiracy by the clothing designers to draw attention away from melon-sized tummies ...
Made some aethestic changes to the site today and there seems to be some sort of delay before they go into effect ... hmm ...
