Coming Together

I have to give serious credit to my wife. This has NOT been an easy pregnancy. A lot of the concerns and fears we had with a second baby have not been a reality for us, thankfully. Other things that we didn't think about have been overwhelming. Jenny had migraines throughout the majority of the second trimester. That followed SERIOUS nausea during the first trimester. Zofran and Phenergan-requiring nausea.

Now that we're in the final days, it's backaches, heartburn and pressure from the growing baby that are keeping her in misery.

During this pregnancy we've changed jobs, changed cities, lived in three different houses, and chased around an incredibly active two year-old.

To add to it, my wife was determined to learn how to make Luke's bedding. When we were preparing for Ben, we shopped all sorts of bedding companies and made-to-order vendors, and wound up ordering fabric and having a seamstress in Little Rock make it. She did an absolutely perfect job...it was just what we wanted.

Over the past 18 months, Jenny has purchased a new sewing machine and begun to embroider, monogram and sew like a pro. Ben has something on every week (some weeks every day of the week) that Jenny has made.

This past month she has been making his bedding. She was able to pull apart Ben's bedding and use that for a pattern. Add to it that we could reuse all of the foam inserts and we ordered fabric online (as opposed to purchasing it from the most expensive place in LR as we did with Ben) and it's been a really economical project for her.

This morning the office opened late because of (yet another round of) snow, so I was able to get the crib partially assembled. While he was teething Ben chewed on the ends of the crib, so I have some sanding and painting to do before it's ready for Luke, but we were able to put the mattress on and prop up the bumpers.

This is the skirt. It's designed in sections and you are able to use velcro to attach so that it can easily be adjusted to fit as you change the height of the mattress, and it always lays just right on the ground. It still needs to be adjusted and it needs to be ironed.

The short end in this photo is flipped backwards to show the outside of the fabric. The inside is yellow chenille. We used polyester this time and we hope it will be easier to clean than the cotton we used with Ben.

Another pic of the inside.

Ben brought his baby pillow and some books, and climbed up to "Read to Babby Luuuuke." It's amazing how well he is doing with all of his old things being in Luke's room (we are using the same crib, chair, dresser, changing table, and armoire that were Ben's). He doesn't refer to anything in the baby's room as his...he's calling it all baby Luke's. I hope he is still so eager to share when Luke arrives in a few weeks.

Yesterday on the phone I was telling my mom how bad Jenny is feeling and not knowing if we would last four more weeks. Then Jenny and I were laying in bed this morning and were talking about how we couldn't believe that her shower is already this coming Sunday. I hope the time continues to fly by.

Somewhere in the madness of the final four weeks of this pregnancy we have to squeeze in a birthday party for a certain soon-to-be three year-old.

It's going to be busy...stay tuned!