The nursery! Doctor visit!

Little Sister's nursery was supposed to look almost exactly like Big Sister's nursery, except with a white crib instead of brown (since we were buying a new one anyway, we figured we might as well switch it up).

As you may remember from a previous blog post, however, Mommy is never satisfied with status quo (for better or worse), and so there's very little in this room that's reminiscent of Kalina, save for the changing table, which you can only see the very corner of since it's not too exciting. However, thanks to sales and especially to some kind gifts, I managed not to go any more overboard than is fitting for a mommy who's just really excited about her second-born.

This nursery is girlier than Kalina's was--I discovered with her that I really like girly stuff, and especially pink. Perhaps as a result of all the pink I pulled over her head from ages 3 months to 23 months, Kalina's favorite color is now very firmly blue, so Little Sister will have to give me my pink fix for now, at least before she's old enough to complain about it in words I can't pretend not to understand.

On the shelves, you can see some of the lovely hand-made gifts Little Sister has received, as well as the newborn-to-toddler diaper bag I made for the girls to share (Kalina's "leakproof" sippy cups having leaked milk all over my giant purse one too many times).

Kalina is intensely proud of the room, by the way, having had a hand in almost all of it. She helped Daddy set up the crib and the nightstand (we might owe Daddy more kudos than Kalina for that feat, but don't tell the girl that!), and she helped me sort clothes and diapers, find a place for everything and generally tidy up. She's overjoyed to show "the baby's room" to anyone who demonstrates the least bit of interest. I find her interest in where the baby will "sleep" quite ironic.

The room is slightly bigger than Kalina's (but don't tell Kalina that), and the room-darkening curtain really works. We plan to get Kalina one to replace the awful blanket we've had draped over her curtain ever since we started to get smart about her early sleep issues.

Of course, Kalina's room has been slightly redone, too, with the addition of a toy cabinet my grandpa made decades ago, in hopes that maybe someday Kalina would actually play in her room, and a bean-bag chair that Kalina loves diving into and has readily adopted for storytime.

Matt and I find it ironic that you'd never know each of these rooms had once housed his creepiest hobbies (I'm sure he won't mind my using that word). We're completely and thoroughly out of space in our house, but chances are our next one will have room for Daddy's critters once again. Fortunately, as Kalina is always willing to go fishing, look for lizards and spiders, and even hang empty cicada shells from her shirt (much to Mommy's horror), he's more than content with his trade.

Until then, he's seconds away from bringing home a nice, fluffy bunny for his girls if one of them so much as points a particularly cute one out in a pet store. It would only take the tiniest nudge. The only question is, whose room would the bunny live in?

Doctor visit:

Wednesday's doctor appointment was quite routine, including the long wait for a five-minute chat. The baby's heartrate was about 120 (which seemed low to me, but fine to the doctor), and I'm measuring at 35 weeks, same as last week. I think at this point I was measuring at 33 weeks with Kalina, so I'm certainly not worried; however, the doctor mentioned that I also measured at 35 weeks last week, which could either mean the baby has dropped a bit (a good sign that labor may actually happen sometime!) or that her growth has slowed quite a bit. We'll check next week and if the measurement is the same, I'll get another ultrasound to make sure everything's okay.

I asked the doctor if I'm likely to deliver earlier than I did with Kalina, and she agreed with the doctor I'd asked previously in saying that that's just an old wives' tale. However, she did mention that usually they're around the same time.

To give you some perspective, with Kalina I went into labor at 39 weeks, 0 days, and Kalina was born at 39 weeks, 1 day. Tomorrow I'll be 39 weeks. You do the math...

As long as we're talking about delivery timing, if the baby is born on her due date, the 25th, our whole family will have been born on Saturdays in successive months in the 20s. Cool, huh? And yet still, I'm hoping not to have to wait that long.