nesting...

photo by my dear friend, lynette tidewell

maternity leave has been bliss...

don't get me wrong.  baby k's delayed arrival has definitely been frustrating.  especially when he or she is so cozy that it has literally dropped into my pelvis and then proceeded to move back up inside of me, causing the dr's to say, "usually they don't do that."

  apparently i'm a very comfortable host!

and, i'm not going to lie... every time i wake up in the morning, still pregnant, with no labor in sight, i get a tad bit disappointed.

but i'm having a difficult time being completely sad.

because maternity leave pre-baby has been amazing.

last week i went to work on monday morning.  baby k was low-riding back then, so i was rather uncomfortable.  but more than that... i saw my sweet little 2nd graders come traipsing through the door and my eyes glazed over.  i was done.  i just couldn't look at one more child.  my energy level was gone.  so i started my maternity leave 3 days earlier than planned.

to be honest... because baby k was so low last week and i was experiencing a lot of contractions and discomfort, i was pretty sure i was going to go early anyways.  

but as you can clearly see, here i sit,  a week overdue.  a fully cooked, estimated 9 pound baby happily thriving away in my belly.  (ummm, yes... you heard me right... apparently i'm quite talented at growing big, healthy babies.  uh-oh... after all of that unmedicated childbirth talk i'm starting to question myself!  send me some love and encouragement people!)

but i digress...

because as i was laying in bed this morning, wide awake at 3 AM, i kept coming back to how amazing this past week has been.  first of all, it doesn't matter that my aching hips and churning brain have woken me up at 3 AM each morning, because I get to go back to bed around 6:30 AM, after sending my handsome man off to work, and cat nap.  after i wake up for a second time, i make breakfast, watch the news (which i'm obsessed with, particularly the weather) and start a project or two... making sure i take a couple of walks here and there to hopefully encourage baby k's arrival.

i finished a two day project Thursday, labeling our cd collection.  it's been something i've been meaning to do for months now.  back in the fall of 2011 i had convinced my husband that we should put our cd's in these cute little boxes from IKEA so that we didn't have to stare at ugly cd spines.  but to his dismay, because we had never labeled the boxes, he couldn't figure out how to find his favorite cds, even though i had alphabetized them.  

well, never fear my love, because your wife has saved the day and labeled our entire cd collection (which is impressively massive because two music junkies fell in love and married each other)! 

something that would never have gotten done after the arrival of our munchkin.

that's right, dust your shoulders off kirkegaard!

speaking of dust... the other day i found dust... DUST... in our kitchen cabinets!

heaven forbid!

they are open air cabinets that the hubs lined with a special rubber liner so that the dishes don't slide around in them.  as i was vigorously scrubbing dishes and my counter tops, i noticed that the liners were filthy.  kjaer came upstairs to find the cupboards being emptied and the liners being pulled out and rinsed in the kitchen sink. i could feel him eyeballing me as i worked... like, "uh oh... is she doing that nesting thing?"  he'd periodically walk through the kitchen, ever so casually, his eyes burning a hole into my very pregnant backside.  but i think he was making sure my water wasn't about to burst or something.  he's heard about the fabled "burst of energy before you go into labor" routine.  a few hours into this project, he found me perched on top of the counter, washing the top of the refrigerator (because... *gasp*... there was a lot of dust up there too!).  suddenly, his hospital bag (which has been lovingly filled with snacks and a few changes of clothes for a couple of weeks) came out of the closet and his travel sized hygiene items started to get packed.  i think he thought i'd be in labor by the time i waddled my way off of the counter!  (actually, i sort of wondered if i would go into labor too.  but alas, that was a week ago!)

but that's OK, you can still call me super wife.

did i mention that each afternoon, when i get a little tired, i get to go out to our sunroom and open all of the doors up and let the breeze come pouring in?  i then proceed to lay on what we affectionately call our napping couch, listen to the pond my husband put on our patio and take a nap.

divine.

it may not be pretty, but it's a good napping couch with a view!

every day i save a few jobs for myself to do.  yesterday i had quite a few things on the docket, so i was a little bummed that i had been awake since 3 in the morning.   i drove over to the fire station and had our car seat inspected, met with a third contractor for an estimate on heating and air conditioning, brought kjaer lunch and his sacred tupperware of homemade cookies that he left at home, got a letter notarized for a family of a student in my class, and went to see the acupuncturist (for the fourth time) to hopefully induce labor.

our house is clean.  i've kept up on laundry.  and i'm rested.

the other afternoon, as i was dozing on our patio feeling quite spoiled, it occurred to me that this will be the only time in my life where i can take off work and relax like this.  i mean, just think about this!  the next time i go on maternity leave i will already have another child, so i won't be able to nap on the patio and do projects such as organizing a massive cd collection or washing all of the shelf liners in my kitchen cabinets.  i'll be in the throws of caring for another munchkin... who will probably be a toddler by then... AND pregnant.  props to mommies who already do that everyday! 

so let's just say that even though i'm itching to meet our little pumpkin'... each day he or she doesn't arrive allows for another day to complete wild haired projects that would otherwise never get done and relax.  i think i just might be the luckiest lady in the world.   

three cheers for maternity leave!