I do my own laundry

I never thought I'd be so happy about it, but I am actually ecstatic! Our washing machine was delivered today, and after more than two years without one - doing our laundry by either going to M's parents on the weekends, washing by hand, or having M's mother doing it for us - needless to say the first load is already running. You must be thinking I'm mad... how I can be happy about doing laundry, especially when someone else did it for me? The fact is I never especially enjoyed doing laundry before. But being able to wash what I want, when I want, the way I want it and all that at home and not by hand seems to me like a luxury right now rather than a task.

And now for the real luxury, we even got a dryer, which I'll be using as soon as the first load is done and which will be simplifying my life greatly, especially when the Little One's here! Ups, got to go. The first load is done!

Unimaginable

My little calendar shows 39 days to go today. 39 days until the birth of our baby girl. Do you believe me if I tell you that I cannot realize it? I honestly cannot. It's not that I am afraid, it's just that I cannot believe that I am soon going to give birth. I cannot conceive that a little baby - my baby - will be with me every day of my life, for the rest of my life, in about a month. Yes my belly is big and I feel her every move at this point, yes I've had more than 8 months to get used to the idea, yes I want this baby more than anything in the world. Yet, it's still unimaginable to me.

Is that normal? Or at least frequent? Do many future mothers feel that way? Do we women, ever feel ready for the big day? Or is it another of our protective reflexes, like forgetting how painful the contractions were after the birth? Please enlighten me if you can.

What an adventure indeed!

My childhood friend K has two children of her own, but as "it is the first time a good friend (of hers) is pregnant", she is excitedly living my pregnancy through pics, phone calls and emails. The other day, K said to me "what an adventure it is to be pregnant!" I didn't truly agree at the time. Didn't disagree either, but just didn't see things that way. Her words stuck with me though.

As M started complaining that I snore very loud and that he couldn't sleep, I immediately rejected the idea and thought to myself that he was exagerating. I don't snore. I never have. I probably just breathe a bit louder because of the fact that my lungs are slightly squashed by the baby. Wrong. I do snore. I suffer from pregnancy-related snoring as they put it. With 30% of other pregnant women out there. There's nothing I can do except pray that it will go away after the birth, and find my husband sleeping in the guest room some mornings in the meantime.

And now that I think about it all, how I started having nose bleeds in the second trimester, how I've become a snorer in the third, how the mere sight of any kind of cream makes me feel sick, how my blood pressure has gone down and I now need to take things slower, how I am so easily out of breath these days, how I cannot walk as fast as I used to, or when I see how big my belly is, feel startled with each baby's move, realize with a mix of fear and expectation that I only have 7 weeks left till she comes out, then I completely agree with K. What an adventure indeed!

the weekend

It was a lovely weekend.

Baltic weekend

We are leaving to the baltic sea tomorrow for the weekend. It's our last getaway romantic weekend just the two of us before she arrives. And M's present for my upcoming birthday. So we're heading up North to the baltic sea, where we've rented a cute little flat in an old farm house, and where we plan to discover beautiful spots like Wismar, Lübeck, and the coast in general. With a little help from the weather, we might even enjoy walks on the beach. With a big help from our Little One, who's decided to lay upside down already, I might be able to walk more than 10 minutes without pains. At any rate, rain or shine, pains or no pains, I plan to enjoy this weekend!

Happy Easter

It's snowing and 0 degrees. Happy Easter!

Baby corner

It took me a while, but I'm finally done with the first self-made baby projects, which fit very nicely in the little baby corner I set up in our bedroom. Yes, she will sleep in her crib in our room in the beginning, so that I don't have to cross the flat three times per night to feed her and/or change her. Regardless of other people's opinion.

So, as you can see we have the crib (which was leant to us by sus and I simply personalised a bit with some nice Ikea baby stuff,) the changing station, as well as the self-made wallpockets (to organize and store) and the hanging hearts (a ritual I plan to copy from sus: ringing its bell each time the changing of the baby is finished.)

Other than that, we also bought the baby carseat and ordered the stroller, meaning we're doing pretty darn good timewise, I know, but there are still sooooo many things I need to buy/search/make/organize/decide before she comes. And that will happen very soon: only 76 days left, or maybe even less!