Nesting

There's nothing quite like an impending DUE date to encourage the obsession over things to DO. Things that must be done now or they will never get done. Things that will be impossible to do with a sixth child underfoot. Things that are super duper important in the grand scheme of things ;) What can I say? I know I'm not the only pregnant woman to see the absolute necessity in completing certain tasks before a new baby comes! In the last few weeks, I've done things like reorganize our laundry closet, clean out and paper the shelf for all of the cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink, buy new curtains for the living room (and beg Matt to hang them!), attempt to get this blog back up and running, purge things that absolutely cannot be in our house any longer, put laundry away while it's still toasty from the dryer...all extremely urgent tasks!  

The mothers in Megan's second grade class all threw me a little shower during this time, too. It was so thoughtful and generous of them, and I came away with lots of little blue things that needed to be organized and put away. Another item for the "to DO" list. Admittedly, I chipped away at this list in between things that truly did need to be done (feeding/looking after my kids!), but even slow nesting is satisfying. Also satisfying is having little helpers with these tasks. The girls had Columbus Day off from school, and I put them to work! I gave them each a Magic Eraser, taped off sections of dirty walls in our house, and they did an amazingly helpful job of cleaning (their own!) dirty fingerprints from every surface we could think of in our house. They were more than happy to help with this task. Genius...if I do say so myself!

Another super important item I needed to check off my list was the collection and organization of Box Tops for the girls' school in time for the fall deadline. In addition to my nesting activity, I'm guilty of a totally separate but equally ridiculous neurosis: volunteering for too many things as a school parent, especially considering my "delicate condition." One of these commitments is my official title of Box Top Coordinator. As it turns out, this job is indeed something I can do from home easily, but it is also tedious and a bit time-consuming. Once again, I'm thankful for some eager helpers who I trained in all parts of this job. Megan and Bridget could probably do it themselves from now on, which will come in handy since they want to keep this job "forever, even when we're in high school!" Cutting and trimming tiny little squares, checking dates, counting in sets, and packaging these box tops for mailing is right up their alley! Luckily, we got this job done, too, and moved on down our list :)

The final days of this pregnancy have reminded me to try to get a few pictures of myself for posterity's sake. I honestly love being pregnant, and am feeling nostalgic already about this little guy making his appearance. While he's still nestled inside, I've got him to myself and can enjoy his kicks and movements, and know that he's still itty bitty (although my OB has hinted that he'll be on the bigger side!). Once he's out, the growing begins :(.  As much as I want to meet him and see who he looks like, I want him to stay little even more!

This picture was taken the day after my due date, on October 27th. We decided to head to mass and the school's book fair. It made for a long morning with a lot of activity that I thought was sure to send me into labor. Instead, we made it home with five new books, five very happy girls, and no baby boy!

Later that afternoon, crazy nesting mommy reared her head again. I "suggested" that Matt get the lawns mown and trimmed, and do a couple odd jobs around the house. That left the girls to their own devices while I vacuumed, cleaned and shampooed the rugs in our van. The story behind the need for this would be an interesting blog post on its own. Suffice to say, the very last thing I needed in the final days before delivering this baby was another child (read: not my own child)...a seven-year-old at that...peeing on the floor of the van before Megan's soccer practice last week! If detailing a car, and then tidying up the garage didn't get labor started, I don't know what will! :)

While baby #6 is urging me to get things done, yesterday, baby #5 is intent to have me sit and relax. Mary's favorite thing to do cuddle up with me and talk to the baby. In fact, I think cuddling with me is just an avenue to what she really wants to do. To say she's infatuated with the baby is an understatement. She pulls up my shirt whenever she's given the chance, giggles hysterically and says "Hi Baby!" and doesn't quite understand that my bare belly should probably not be exposed all of the time, like in the middle of Target, for example! She says "Baby. In." and  then "Baby. Out!!" quite a bit, and loves to hug and kiss my belly. I'm grateful for the extra kisses and cuddles from her, and love that she forces me to take a break from crazy nesting! I hope she is just as loving with this baby once he's "Out!"