Apple pie

Martijn bought the ingredients today, because he lost the bet.
He said baby would be born the 25th, I said he/she would be born today.
Not that I am in labour yet, but since my guess will definately be the closest he lost and needs to bake me an apple pie (-:

We spent this Queen's day indoors (I decided against the Vondelpark-delivery...), watching the celebrations on TV. I worked on the sailor cardigan for baby which is coming along nicely, and we played some scrabble. The exciting life of expecting parents...

Nothing yet

They say you shouldn't focus on the due date, because only 2% of them (i.e., babies) will actually stick to that date. So I had to distract myself today, and what better way to do it than with some old-fashioned craftiness?
I woke up with the urge to decorate the crib. Our family crib has been standing beside our bed for weeks and weeks. I wasn't planning on using the 'hemel' (no clue what the English word is, let's say 'crib-curtains', you know what I mean...)(do like the Dutch word though, it means 'heaven') because I think they are a little tacky.
But hey, I had this urge, I needed something to do, and I had some cheap IKEA curtains laying around that we didn't need after all, and tons of scrap yarn. Here's the result of an afternoon's work.
After making the curtains the right size, I used some chuncky Zeeman-yarn to applique clouds and stars along the top edge. Stars because Martijn is a star-gazer, and clouds because that is what 'wollekje' means, 'little cloud'... I am only halfway, but I quite like the result, if I may say so myself. If I still like doing this after the other half is finished, I may make another band with animals on the lower part of the curtains. Butterflies and snails come to mind, maybe catterpillars as well. We'll see.















And since we are looking into our bedroom now anyway, remember the purple wall?
Here it is with the new curtains next to it:











And here are some cut-and-paste pics of our purple-and-lavender-blue boudoir in its full glory:












The only thing still missing are the artworks I wrote about earlier (still need to get frames), they will be put on the purple wall itself. And of course, you need to imagine the hideous grey bed-heighteners gone from the room, and the bed a little lower... Man, I know they are needed to prevent back-problems for the midwives and care-takers, but I have troubles climbing in and out of bed with my short legs and big belly...

Waiting

Still waiting for baby to come.
My calculated due date is Thursday, the ultrasound estimate was for today.
Martijn was positive today was going to be the day. I guess we still have 8 hours...
Had another check-up yesterday. This midwife (there are 4 of them in my practice) confirmed the weight estimate of the other one, ~ 8.5 (European) pounds. The previous one laughed about it. This one looked at me rather sympathetically, and started talking about carrying all that weight and wondering about how this delivery will be... Should that worry me?

Also, even though baby has been laying in the same position for the past two months or so (head down, back to my left, feet poking my ribcage on the right) they keep thinking he/she is laying with his/her back to my right until the location of the heart-tone proofs them wrong. Again, should that worry me? Why is it so hard to feel the right position my baby is laying in? Any experts reading this who can tell me all will be fine and I am not carrying a weird creature?

This is me and my belly at almost 40 weeks:


(Martijn says my boobs look small... That is a first! I guess compared to the giant belly they are small...)

And here is proof that at least our plants are ready for Queen's day:












Don't think I will make it into town this year... Or maybe I can make a lot of money with a live delivery in the Vondelpark? (-:
Tickets will be € 5,-

Oh well.

Did not get the job.
Oh well.
They said I appeared to be less enthousiastic and more subdued than the others.
Maybe I had other things on my mind (-:
I also had less teaching experience.
Well, it was good to come this far. I know the right job is out there, and I don't mind spending a little more time with baby before I start working again.
Will start worrying about the lack of income later...

Just picked up the curtains for our bedroom. Will post a pic when they are up. Just need to buy frames for some artwork I bought at the Dogwood festival in Atlanta and the bedroom will be finished!

Ah, one of the things I miss dearly about Atlanta. If you are ever there during the Dogwood festival: don't miss it! I bought two photographs by Joachim Knill last time I went. Check out his website! (Especially you, Ms. Bugheart, they are POLAROIDS!!!)
He makes scenes of all kinds of materials he can find and then photographs them. Beautiful, I think... The two photographs I got are: 'storm' and 'village'. I also LOVED this one, but thought it was a bit depressing to put on the wall... (hmmm. I guess 'storm' is not a happy picture either...)(noticed on his resume that he won the award for 'best in photography' at the Dogwood festival the year I bought these pics, so I guess it is not just me who loved his work).

Now, it's back to my comfy chair and knitting the baby-sailor-sweater. Yay!
(or should that be: ahoy!)

'Big baby'

No, baby has not arrived yet, but this was the latest remark from my midwife on my check-up report card. 'Big baby', or 'Groot kind'. That's what she said, laughing... Well, she is not the one who has to deliver it. Not sure if I think it is so funny. She guestimated baby to be already 8.5 pond, so 4250 grams, so 9.5 american pounds... And there is no sign that baby thinks he/she is ready to come out already. My mom was with me, and she says she does not believe it. The midwife also said it is really difficult to guess the weight of babies, especially the bigger ones, so she may be off. I guess we will know soon. I'll keep you informed.

Maybe it is good that we already have the bigger toddler bed besides our little crib. (-:
It came with the rest of the furniture as a set. Here are pics of the babyroom. We don't have curtains yet, but I will get Nijntje-curtains (!) from my friend Jeena, so it is worth the wait! Baby will sleep in the little crib in our room (if he/she fits...) the first months anyway, so curtains can wait. The painting was made by my mother-in-law fro my birthday a few years ago. When we took it out of the moving box earlier this week we realized how well the colors fit with the blue wall in the babyroom. I am sure she will be delighted that her painting ended up in this room...















(no the floor is not crooked, I had to paste two pics together to get a better image...)












There was also some good news at my check-up. Last week my blood pressure seemed to be on the high side, not scaringly high, but enough to force me to rest during the Easter weekend (which I already intended to do, so no problem there) and for an earlier extra check where they also (re)tested my urine and the iron-level in my blood. At first, the blood pressure seemed to be a little high again, but when she retested it using a different, wider 'manchet' (the band they wrap around your arm) it was fine. At least well within the normal limits. Aparrantly my big arms call for the wider band now. Since my urine and iron levels were also fine, there was probably nothing wrong with me last week, they just need to use the different band for a more accurate reading. Big relief.

While resting the weekend, I finished the baby blanket made from the yarn I bought in Bergen:











Meanwhile, Martijn was working really hard making a shelving-unit in the kitchen (pics later) and putting up some small shelves in the hallway so we can show off our holiday pictures again:











Tomorrow, we can pick up the curtains for our own bedroom...

Oh, and something completely different: I already had the second interview for that job...
They called last week, saying that they also thought that the second round was really close to my due-date, so they decided to try and fit my interview in sooner, if I was ok with it. I thought that was really nice of them, and hopefully I can see it as a sign that they really are interested in me. The interview went ok. I mean, afterwards you always know better things you should have said and such, but I did not feel too desperate or stupid. Of course, the other three will have their interview as planned, so I have to wait a few more days before I know more...

So happy!

Had to show you this, even though it is not finished yet...
We painted the kitchen this weekend, and today the new floor was laid.
I am so happy that the nasty green is almost completely removed from the house now, and the new color makes me so happy!

Here's the kitchen in its old state:

And, from a slightly different angle, the new and improved shiny happy version:

Ah, the simple things in life that make you smile...

Stop doing that!

I noticed I use a lot of '...' in my posts.
I sort of knew it already, but when I saw my list of titles of my posts I was annoyed myself.
So I will try not to do it anymore.
At least in my titles.
I still like my '...'-s in posts and e-mails, call it an addiction if you wish.

Another week has passed.
I am 37 + weeks now, so baby will be officially 'on time' in the next 5 weeks.
Which also means I don't have to go to the hospital if there are no unexpected complications.
Which means we have to highten the bed and put some plastic lining on the mattress and such.
Which makes it all more and more real, and a little scary as well. I mean, you know the birth will not be the easiest and cleanest experience ever, but putting plastic on your mattress really rubs your face in it (maybe I should have picked other words here...).
The crib is already standing beside our bed. It is the family crib, I slept in it when I was a baby, which is cool I think.

And the house? Well, we have troubles finding curtains. I find most curtains too much 'curtain-like'. I cannot explain it better, but luckily some people understand what I mean.
We finally ordered some for our bedroom this morning. In about 12 days I will be able to show you this room in its finished state!
Curtains for the baby-room are even harder to find. They are all very dorky or very pink or very flowery or very boyish... And when I finally found some fabrics I liked they were much too expensive. So I will wait. Baby will sleep in our room for the first months anyway.
The latest WIP is the kitchen. It is being painted right now by Martijn and a friend of his. I ordered the floor, which will be laid this Tuesday. So I will have to grab my whip and make sure they will finish painting on time. Yay, another room almost finished!

Had a job interview earlier this week. I was dreading it, but afterwards I had this amazing 'high' because I thought it went very well. Then I called the next day and heard I made it to the second round, but just barely (this lady is brutally honest, which is nice if all is well, but hard to deal with if she has bad things to say...). And the second interview is a week before my due date. The horrible hormones kicked in and I was very down and upset for more than a day. Now, I just don't think about it for this whole week. A day or two before the second interview (if baby has not arrived yet by that time, which of course will change the whole situation) I will start preparing, mentally mainly...