9 weeks left

It's amazing how fast the weeks are flying by! We are now 9 weeks away from meeting Baby Schmitz. Yep. Single digit weeks from here on out.

I'm starting to feel the effects of being so big. I can tell the baby is getting bigger because its punches and kicks are starting to hurt a little bit. I think on average it would be about 3 pounds right now. I took 7 months to get to 3 pounds... and now it will pack on another 3 to 5 - ish pounds in just 2 months.
This commercial made me laugh during the doomed Vikings - Saints game.

I was asked ages ago what colors we are doing in the nursery. We have a pastelish, mintyish green color for the walls and brown/khaki/blue for accents. It's pretty gender neutral.

Now we're in a time crunch working on the basement. Jason is having the electricty to the house turned off for part of the day on Thursday so he can replace the breaker box. Apparently ours is so old the company that made it doesn't exist anymore and when you want to add one more breaker, you have to replace the whole darn thing.

Once the inspections for that are done, then he will begin sheetrock and other work. Plus finishing the bathroom, putting in the wood laminate floor and carpet...it's going to be a very very busy 9 weeks. And all that doesn't include the spackling, sanding and painting that needs to be done in the nursery.

Last week I took a day off from work (as much for my sanity as anything else) and spent the day calling child care providers in the areas near where we work. It's something I was putting off doing because it's such a daunting task, but it feels good to have the calling part behind me. We found 4 home daycare providers who were very nice on the phone, are close to Jason's work (2 of them are a couple of miles or closer to his office), and don't cost an arm and a leg. I think I was very lucky to be able to find that many providers who had infant openings, which are pretty hard to come by, and who were really knowledgeable, friendly, and family-oriented. We will be interviewing the 4 this week and next and we will choose from there. I do have a favorite 2 that I think we will lean towards, but you never know who you will click with once you meet them.

We're also in the midst of childbirth classes through the hospital. Last week we took a tour of the labor, delivery and maternity wards. It was SO quiet. They hardly had anyone in last week. I can only hope it's that quiet when we are there! It was great to see the rooms, and find out where we will go. It's nice for an older-ish hospital. They seem to take a very patient-oriented stance on childbirth and unless there are complications or other circumstances, they are pretty open to letting things progress the way you want them to, instead of forcing things on you.

I have a photographer friend who shot my friend Mel's wedding who is trying to expand his maternity portfolio, so he's going to take some photos of us in a few weeks. I'm looking forward to this. I trust him to make me not look like a whale. I will post those when we get them.