We will miss you!

My parents just left after having spent 13 days with us, and we are so sad to see them leave. There were enormously helpful with so many things.
We had made a very long ToDo list of more than 40 items to do around the house and we managed to knock off most of them in very little time. We made a few trips to Ikea, Home Depot, Bad Breath & Behind and finally feel like we are no longer living in boxes.
We also managed to have some fun, like a picnic, trips to local restaurants, a SF Giants game, the baptism at the Norwegian Seamens Church, and a little trip on Skyline in the Miata.

Carpet update II

This un-retouched picture shows the difference between clean and dirty carpet. The clean part is lighter patch closest to the door, the dirty part is closest to the hose. Keep in mind that the clean part is wet and therefor darker than normal.

We finally had our carpets cleaned this morning. What a bliss! and the apartment is once again a huge mess! A team of professional carpet cleaners spent about an hour using hot steam and the chemical called Sodium tripolyphosphate which sounds worse than it is according to Wikipedia. Since they didn't use any soap or shampoo the dirt that will fall onto the carpet in the time to come will not adhere to the soap residue and accumulate. 

Having spent a few hours walking around on the still wet carpets, our feet are clean, and that terrible "new carpet smell" that gave me a sore throat, is mostly gone also. 

The cleaner dude who ran the machine said the carpets looked quite dirty, he showed me a patch of clean carpet next to the dirty and it was quite noticeable.  I took a photo, naturally, which I will post later. (Update: see photo above) 

All we have to do now is wait until the carpets are dry before we can put our stuff back and continue packing out. That also means we cannot put Lucia down on the floor today, and have to hold her all the time. 

:(

Finally online again!

We have been siphoning off Whole Food's wireless network for a while which has been slow and intermittent. Today a repair man from AT&T hooked the building onto their network again since the cables got cut some time before we moved in. (!)
He was also very kind to fix the outlets inside for free, they had been painted over and rendered useless in several other ways.

As Heather mentioned in the previous post, the carpets have been a disaster. They are brand new so they have that VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) related new-carpet-stink, but they also give us dirty feet.

Check out this photo on the right, it shows one washed foot and one that has been walking around for two hours inside the apartment..
I worry about the fumes from the carpets the most since my throat is constantly sore and I am worried that Lucia may be harmed also, she play all day so close to the carpets, but I take comfort in the fact that the landlord has been very responsive and I believe the matter will be solved within a week or two. I am also happy we got an air cleaner today with an active coal filter and an HEPA filter. It seems to work pretty well, it took most of the VOC stink out of Lucia's room – in addition to that other stink.

The apartment is still a mess, but we keep emptying boxes so we should be done soon. We even made dinner here for the first time today!

New street

Our new apartment is the one with the red car parked out side. (Click on the picture)

The Finishing Touches

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I would have posted earlier today, but it's been super busy, and then I wasn't feeling well tonight. We thought (again) it might be early labor, but alas, we don't think it is/was. I think we're both thankful we only have 45 hours left!

My blood pressure was fine today. I also had a non-stress test for the baby, which is basically a fetal heart rate monitor hooked up to my belly, and a belt across me to look at my uterine contractions (there weren't any). LG was very quiet this morning (after a very busy night), so I was a little worried going in. But as soon as they hooked me up, I could hear her little heart beat thump thump thump thump and felt better. After 20 minutes of monitoring, the nurse said, "she's really active." I said, "No, this is a quiet day." Like I was making it up all this time -- the kid is SPAZZY, ok?

We borrowed a GORGEOUS bassinet from our friend Sara today (see above) so LG can sleep right next to me for the first few months. We hear this is critical to maximizing sleep and success at breastfeeding. Today I also bought some night lights at Ikea so we won't have to turn on the light to see LG in the middle of the night.

Tomorrow's big tasks: laundry and organizing the hospital bags: pre-delivery and post-delivery (great suggestion Kate B!). And cleaning up/organizing the baby room/guest room a bit more. Return blood pressure cuff to Wal-Mart. Make a few phone calls. Try to relax. :)

Weekend PREview

Well, the weekend preview is looking fairly blank. We don't have a lot planned, besides chores and errands and stuff. We sat down Monday or Tuesday this week and wrote out a list of everything that needs to get done before the baby arrives. Some of the items I'm hoping we can tackle this weekend; as the pregnancy wears on my energy level seems to be um, decreasing. :)

• We had our next-to-last session with our financial planner this week, and have some homework to do by Wednesday, so there's that.
• We're finishing the entertainment center stain and though it has historically taken about oh, two weeks to dry, I'm praying for a miracle to have it dry by Monday so I can take it to the Home Consignment Center to get it sold and off our porch. Speaking of our porch, we might work on that this weekend too; it's a mess.
• I've got to work on the wedding album; using the Blurb software. Oh, and the first wedding album too!
  
• We've got to order prints of photos of family and friends for the Wall of Love in the nursery -- a wall of pictures of people we love to bring happiness and to remember that we're loved while I'm nursing for the 87th time in the middle of the night. Oh and get all of the frames in order. And figure out if we want to hang them on the wall or put them on shelves (my vote: wall)
  

See, we have plenty to do! We'll post Sunday night with a review of our accomplishments (hopefully!!).

We got the crib!

The crib is here!!! I checked IKEA's stock today and whaddya know, they had one in stock. I drove over and got the last one! I had someone help me get it off the shelf, into the car and into the apartment (but not the same person, that would be weird).

Pete gets home tomorrow night from Chicago, hooray! I can't wait to see him. In the meanwhile, my favorite aunt and cousin are coming to visit tomorrow; I'm so excited to see them. I have the apartment looking relatively sane. I used the Bugaboo tonight as a laundry cart - I'm crazy like that.

This weekend we're going to get the room ready for baby girl. I'm really excited -- I've had trouble sleeping lately thinking about all the stuff I need to do before she gets here. Now I can get started!

Weekend Review!

It was a mixed weekend for us:

The good:

• My brother came to visit and arrived Friday night. Fun! He's interviewing for a job this week and we may have found him a potential apartment if things go well. The job would be a transfer with his existing company.
  
• We made awesome flank steak Friday. And I do mean awesome. It was insanely good. 
• We sold our old sofa for 25% of what I paid 10 YEARS AGO! Woo-woo!
• We had our friend Essie over for dinner Saturday night.
• Our new mattress arrived Saturday morning. 
• We cleaned the apartment and it looks really nice. 

The bad:

• The crib we want from Ikea is backordered for another 6-7 weeks (or so they say). Yikes.
  
• Ikea was also out of the bedding we agreed on and didn't have any throw pillows or rugs we liked.
• I failed my gestational diabetes test and had to go today for a three-hour additional test. I should find out the results Monday. Google gestational diabetes if you want to know what a positive result might mean or click here. Again, yikes. 
• We had to reset our Tivo. Devastating. 
• We had to say goodbye to our friend Essie, who's moving to Oslo. Bye Essie. We will truly miss you. 
• He-man the cat moved out. Nuff said. 

The ugly:

• My brother, Pete and I all felt sick after Saturday night's dinner of burgers. We suspect the meat or the grill was the culprit. I still feel sick, frankly. But it could be that horrid super sugary drink I drank for the test today. 
  
• Pete is not a fan of the new mattress; we had another one delivered last weekend, and it was horribly uncomfortable for me. After two trips and about 2 hours in the mattress store, we finally thought we had compromised and got the right one. 
  
• After saying goodbye to He-Man, I broke out in hives all over my face. Dang. 

That's the update people. 

Weekend Review!

We bought the sofa, finally! And as a bonus, we also bought the chair-and-a-half! We decided that it was better to have the set rather than random pieces of furniture. It has a 10-year warranty and is being delivered THURSDAY!! 

Wow, that means we gotta get cracking selling our old sofa and all the other stuff on Craigslist. 

We also rearranged the dining room! And our new mattress arrived yesterday morning! Lots of NEW! 

Pete loves the new mattress; I think it'll take some getting used to. It's too soft for my taste, but I suppose I'll get used to it. 

That's the update!

Weekend Success!

We have successfully switched closets. We started in the study/office/guest room/baby room, and unloaded that closet first (known herefore as Closet A). We went through everything in Closet A and got rid of maybe 20-25% of it, including maybe 15 pairs of my shoes. It feels good to throw things away. Then Pete started on Closet B, which, um, took a lot longer. He's got a lot of stuff and likes things to be just so when organizing. When he was done, we loaded Closet A with Closet B's shrunken contents, and vice versa. We already took one carload to Goodwill, and we need to take another one. We took many bags to the trash as well. :) 

Pete's back has been bothering him, and we suspect it's our mattress. It's eight years old and wasn't uh, high-end at the time of purchase. He notices the back pain especially after we've been traveling, and for the past two nights has slept on the couch cause he's so uncomfortable. :(

So we walked across the street to Mattress Discounters and bought a mattress today. We got the box spring throw in for free, and got a waterproof mattress cover (for that hopeful day when my water breaks), and we bartered for the price to what we thought was reasonable. AND we got a really comfortable mattress. The sad news is that it won't be delivered until Friday, and we're going out of town so we won't be sleeping on it, and when we get back Pete's going to Chicago for work, so he's on the couch until Friday. Ouch. 

I'm hoping to do the kitchen cabinets tonight, but I really need to get into the pool; my feet are still so very swollen and I don't think I can wear flip flops to some important meetings Wednesday and Thursday. I bought two new pairs of shoes today while we were out, and hope my feet start to depuff soon. 

Where'd the Week Go?

Seriously? I wish I could say that we're completely unpacked and organized and ready to switch the closets tomorrow, but we're not. We've got loads of laundry. I haven't felt well the past two days, so we're behind.

It's great to be back though. Monday and Wednesday we went to Whole Foods and bought loads of organic blueberries and strawberries. I'm pretty sure Pete has eaten 80% of them. He lets me have a few here and there (more so with the blueberries). Mrs. B is happy to have us at home, and is back to her usual shenanigans. Our car seat for Little Girl arrived, and while it looks comfy, it's surreal to have it sitting in our living room. In just 14 weeks we'll have someone to put in there. Wow.

On deck for the weekend: the great closet switcheroo on Saturday, and then I'm getting together with girlfriends Sunday morning, and we'll celebrate Father's Day with dinner out on Sunday night.