Well?

When will baby girl arrive? Who the heck knows... I won't go past the 18th but hopefully she gets a move on before then. Most likely it will be tomorrow - this is the forecast. :P

Ready For Baby

The nursery is... I'm not so sure if I am! :]

More chalkboard prints... Coldplay and Wizard of Oz song lyrics.

I love how it turned out... Like I said, it's more for me than the baby. I'm happy it's done!

Oh Baby

Today is my last day in the office... I'll be working from home until March 5th and then I'm on vacation/maternity leave until baby comes. I'm happy to live in Canada where the maternity leave is a full year. It's an absolute gift. Everyone comments on how after the baby arrives I won't miss work. This may be true, but I will definitely miss the team that I work with. This wonderful group of people threw me a surprise baby shower in January. Complete with Baby Girl Rubber Duckies! 

They put together a video full of skits* by the Medical Communications and Medical Information teams. It's incredibly dorky and cute and I LOVE it. The most surprising part was that my family made cameos. You'll see my mom, sister, nephews and "pregnant" brother in law. :]

I was completely spoiled with gifts and cupcakes... it was amazing! 

A huge thank you to everyone who helped put this together. I will miss you all during the year but I will definitely be back in 2015 and hope to stop by the office with baby girl in tow.

*There were some inaccurate facts in the video. Erin is usually pretty good about closing her ProjecTrack jobs. It is true that Mirjana tends to break things, but in this case I'm pretty sure that overspend is not reasonable. I'm not the only person they listen to on the team... I'm just good at nagging!

Almost Done

We are putting the finishing touches on the nursery. I'm finishing up some little crafts and we are waiting on the bookcase to put everything together. I had planned on filling a frame with the birth announcement but I found something better I think. It let me experiment with the Silhouette that I got for Christmas. I absolutely love that machine! 

I'll post pictures of the completed nursery as soon as possible. It's turning out to be better than I had imagined. I know some people have opinions about putting work into a nursery... but for me it's a chance to decorate and experiment.. maybe even nest a bit. The baby won't care (she'll judge.. but she won't care.. :P) and it gets my mind off of things. So thanks for your patience while the nursery is under construction!

EDIT: Yes, those are fortune cookie fortunes. Drew is our witness... Ian opened the first one Saturday and the second one on Monday. It is awesome and super creepy. But yes, Ian is really excited. 

Painting Update

Everyone has been asking me if the nursery is done. They usually add "...knowing you it is completely finished, stocked and ready!" I've had to hang my head in shame and say that no, it's not even close to being done. That changed this week! We planned to lump the nursery painting with a few other rooms and get it all done at once. It's now complete!

Mud Room - Before (bad lighting)

 

Mud Room - After

 

 

Powder Room - Before

 

 

Powder Room - After

 

 

Hallways including Stairway and Loft - Before

 

 

Hallways - After

 

 

And the best of all... Nursery - Before

 

 

Nursery - After

 

 

Pictures are bad and don't do the colors or paint job justice.. But it looks really good in person and we are very happy. One step closer! :)

 

Baby Crafts

What have I gotten into? On my last vacation day I decided to start some baby crafts. This one is a little bunting to go above the crib. Lots of yarn stitching!

 

 

Comfy Chair + Ottoman

I haven't posted in about 40 days. Where have I been? Growing a baby. Dealing with car issues. Setting up Christmas. Helping hire my replacement. Going to How To Not Accidentally Kill Your Baby classes. Being crazy busy but also crazy tired. 

Work SHOULD slow down as the holidays get closer. Baby growing has entered the 3rd trimester and has been getting more and more "real". I should have more updates around the holidays. For now, here is a picture of the nursery chair. We received the chair a couple weeks ago and the ottoman just came in. I love it. It's a swivel glider and the ottoman also glides. Super comfy. 

Registry Update

I've started updating the registries with PINK things... :) 

Babies R' Us

Amazon.ca

Dress Up The Nursery - This is just the nursery bedding and decor. 

I've ordered the nursery furniture, stroller and car seat. Just a few more big purchases and we will be set. I've added these links to the side. 

Who Likes Pink?

We had another appointment at McMaster today. The ultrasound took a really long time since they had requested a higher level of detail. The good news is that my amniotic fluid looked good. The bad news is that they still didn't get everything they wanted to see. Like I said in the last McMaster post, they check for the known potential issue but they also check for anything else. They have a long checklist of items they want to see... For example, the last visit they couldn't see the feet completely. This time the baby was on its side and the feet could be seen. But they couldn't check off some facial features, brain and heart sections. When they can't see something it's almost always due to positioning. The genetic counselor is very good at letting us know she is in no way concerned. Unfortunately, this does mean I have to go back in a couple weeks. Boo.

This visit was different though... because the tech could see the gender! We're having a GIRL! I was convinced it was a boy. Ian had no idea but is really happy with a girl. I'm still a little in shock. :) We came home and ordered the nursery furniture. We had been waiting because the color depended on what we were having.

 

Here it is. Double dresser, 4n1 crib and a night stand.

 

 

The colors of the nursery will be pink, gray and white. Here is the crib set I've picked.

 

I'm in love with the mobile... elephants!

 

 

And Ian can't have a baby without bunnies. :)

 

 

Here is Baby Girl Matheson's latest glamor shot. Head to the right. Most likely sucking her thumb. :D

 

 

 

Babymoon 2013: Last Day

Friday was our last low key day before we traveled home. We went from Maine to Vermont in about 6 hours or so. We didn't do much but eat really good food! Breakfast was at a place that Ian went to on his childhood New England trip. Governor's Restaurant (sadly the train wasn't running...)

 

 

It was a long day of twisty roads through a couple state parks. We passed what I think was the back side of Mount Washington which was covered in snow. We stopped in Gorham, New Hampshire at Mountain Fire Pizza. It was another great random food find... fresh wood fired pizza and spicy butternut squash and maple soup. We got to Vermont just as the sun was setting. We headed down to the shore of Lake Champlain to the Church Street Marketplace. It's a closed street with a few blocks of stores and restaurants. We found a place called Sweetwaters and we got a table in the enclosed patio area.

 

 

 

To celebrate the end of our Babymoon, we ordered dessert. Ian had a Maple Creme Brûlée and I had the most delicious dessert... Salted Caramel Vanilla Cake. :> Thankfully, we walked it off by exploring the marketplace.

 

 

The Babymoon - still an odd word - was a success. It was exactly what I wanted from a pre-baby trip. We traveled EXACTLY 3600 kilometers or 2237 miles. Now we get back to the new normal. Tomorrow we find out if baby is still healthy and possibly the gender. If we find out the gender, then it's game on! We will order the nursery furniture and start picking out names and colors. :) Good times~

 

 

Babymoon 2013: Trip to Maine

Sadly, Thursday was check out day from Mount Washington. I snapped a picture of the giant chess set we didn't get a chance to check out. Next time! :P

 

 

We drove to Maine to hit up an outlet that had a Motherhood Maternity store. I was able to snag a pair of jeans with a stretchy belly cover. We had lunch at Robert's Maine Grill... we MUST go back... It was sooooo good.

 

 

 

Ian ordered fish and chips - shocking! He got to have his two favorite things... ketchup and malt vinegar. :)

 

 

Also not shocking, we found some Don Howard's in Maine.

 

 

Fantastic bridge on the way to Bar Harbor, Maine.

 

 

We ended our night at Stewman's Lobster Pound. It's a shame that we got there so late because I think the view would have been amazing in the daytime. It was right on the water near the docks. But the lobster rolls were super tasty.

 

 

Babymoon 2013: Relaxy Day

On Wednesday, we decided it was a day for relaxing. We went to the dining room for breakfast and got a really good table by the window that had a great view of Mount Washington. Here is a terrible picture that was the best I could take with the sun shining.

 

 

Breakfast was fantastic... it was a buffet that had anything you could possibly want. I had a bowl of berries that was probably the best ever. The oddest part was that the waitress brought us a palate cleanser. I couldn't place the flavor but Ian thought it tasted good. Turns out it is hibiscus!

 

 

After breakfast, Ian booked another tee time for the day and I decided to join him. I had a ton of fun being his caddy. Next time I would bring a blanket though... after the 5th hole the sun went away and the temperature dropped to the mid to high 30s. Brrrrrrrrr.

 

 

 

Life is rough. :)

 

 

We were joined in the course by some very friendly people.

 

 

After golf, lunch at the clubhouse and some naps, we headed down to The Cave to watch the Red Sox game. The Cave was originally a Speakeasy and it was so awesome. It feels like you're under the imminent threat of the place collapsing with the crumbling brick ceiling and floor. Ian had a beer and bourbon while the Red Sox beat up the Cardinals in the first 5 innings. I had water. Woo getting sloshed! :P This was the sign on the walk down to The Cave.

 

 

 

Babymoon 2013: Scenter of the Universe

On Tuesday, we headed down to South Deerfield, Massachusetts. What is there you ask? Why, the SCENTER OF THE UNIVERSE! At least that's what's on the front of the building. :P

We took a scenic route down through New Hampshire, across to Vermont and then down into Massachusetts. A lot of "wows" were said... I only got a couple good pictures on my phone. I left the good camera behind. :(

 

 

So what is the scenter of the universe? Yankee Candle Company Village. :)

 

 

 

Mums everywhere. Pumpkins everywhere. I was in heaven. The place is huge and sells not just candles... lots of home decor and.... Department 56 collections. Imagine my surprise when we turn a corner and see exactly what we saw on Monday! A vast dark space that looks like Christmas threw up everywhere... Carols playing... fake snow falling from the sky and a huge display of Department 56 collectibles. We looked over the selection and I really had no intention of buying anything...... until I saw that Yankee Candle Company had its own limited edition version of their store that fit with the New England Village set. Yup, I'm a sucker. I'll post pictures of that and the other cool thing we bought when we are back in Canada.

 

 

After the village visit and lunch at the restaurant there, we headed to Merrimack, New Hampshire. We drove there because it was sort of on our way back from Massachusetts and... it had a Premium Outlet that had a Lane Bryant store in it. I'm saving most of my dollars for the Motherhood Maternity outlet in Maine. But sadly, while on this trip, I have outgrown my jeans and I only have one pair of comfy pants to wear. I picked up a second set for $20 and then we headed back to the hotel.