Baby Fever

And so this blog sidetracks into Baby Fever as we prepare for the arrival of our new family member. All the things I wish I'd done before I was pregnant are coming out of the woodwork. Like how we should have moved the furniture around before I got pregnant. Uh-huh. Part of living in NL is being able to do everything yourself. For instance, when we moved this huge display case in our living room, I did that together with Jan. Yep. Feel those upper arms. That's not fat...those are muscles with a capital M.

But now that I'm pregnant, moving stuff is out of the question.

In the meantime, there's tons of stuff to be sorted in the attic. Don't even try to guess how many bags of useless stored stuff we tossed into the gray container. Dutch people are so "zuinig" (thrifty). I had a great laugh looking through the clothes my husband had kept in storage from way long ago in his bachelor days. We had to toss out a great deal of shirts which had turned yellow over time. I did let Jan keep a couple of shirts from his Delta Flying days. Well, I could sense the nostalgia there. And I think it's good to keep a souvenir or two, but good grief...and entire bag of shirts is beyond the question.

Sorting stuff up in the attic is a bit of a nightmare job. Most of it is Jan's stuff. Thank goodness I'm nearly done with sorting out our clothing and packing them into boxes. Another sentimental moment was looking through this box where I'd stored a lot of baby things. Thankfully all still in good shape, and inspite of that box being raided a couple of times by other pregnant ladies ( I thought I'd never have a second child ) it surprised me to discover we still had a whole lot of baby clothes we could put to good use...socks and little shoes...and that lovely knitted sweater my aunt made for Joel.

ME: Was he ever this small?

Afterwards, I ended up having to box up my winter sweaters, as my belly has become too big to squeeze into them. I'll probably go through that box again once the baby arrives.

In the meantime, we feel so very blessed to be receiving all sorts of lovely goodwill blessings. For instance, we're inheriting a baby bed and a changing station for the baby. We've already got a tummy tub in the house, and a child seat for baby's earliest months. Everything is a blessing.

I keep on making long lists of things to do. I keep thinking of all these books we've got to move upstairs, as well as the computer and my workstation. And I have a long list of things I really want to buy. What's it about having a baby that arouses the shopping beast in mommies? Thank goodness I don't get to go to town as often as my hormones tell me to, otherwise we'd be forever in the red. A condition I really hate.

I keep thinking of how much I've changed since I came to NL. More than anything this pregnancy shows me how much I've grown up from being a dependent girl into a mature woman. Yeah! It's a pretty cool feeling :)