Nesting and stretching

Recently, I got the itch to decorate our apartment... and though it is happening in fits and starts, here are some pictures of the progress as well as some baby bump pictures thrown in there:

Me and the baby at... 6 months, I think? Making a mess while cooking. I'm terrible at cleaning up while I cook. I look so small here... and I thought I was huge :p

The Baby's room after we got all the moving boxes emptied and cleared out. It was a guestroom for a while. 

Me and Ashley making a Valance for our balcony window. Also my bump at 7 months, I think.

Joel excited about sewing the very first zig zag stitch on Ashley's new sewing machine. Anything mechanical... and he's all over it before you can say "where's the manual?"

The huge pile of batting for the pillows we made (see below)

Me sewing a pillow, I think... or the valance.

The baby's room after painting. Now we need some baby furniture... anyone have a change table they are dying to get rid of? :)

The pillows -- two finished products. 4 more to go. 

Sadly I haven't done anything this week... we've been cleaning out the office slowly and surely. It is the last room of the apartment and unfortunately where we put everything we didn't know what to do with! We did find a desk on the side of the road that fits perfectly, though... and I couldn't have asked for a better price!! Pictures to come... whenever the office is done. 

I don't have any current bump pictures :P Joel has this thing about taking pictures of yourself in the bathroom mirror. I did it once to show the bump, and he said, "oh, Rachel... don't do that. I'll take your picture..." (problem is we never think of it when he's home). So I won't run into the bathroom and get a picture of it for you. Just trust me, its huge. The doctor changed my due date to May 4th, but then told me that I won't make it that far... so I have more of a due "window" of late April. That means I've got about another 2-3 weeks to go. (Every time I say that I think "and the ___ isn't done yet..." You think 9 months is a long time to finish things, but suddenly you're at 8 and a half...)

Spider Webs

I think if a blog could collect spider webs, mine would be homey place for a spider. I am glad I do not have to dust the blog either. But I do have to dust my furniture... sigh. That needs to happen some time today!

Tidbits from the Holmes home: We have a home now, an apartment, actually; I'm still pregnant; We don't know the gender, so guess away; Joel is working full time and I dutifully pack his lunch every morning (right before we dash -- or in my case, waddle/flop/moan -- out the door to catch his 7:11am bus to downtown); I'm trying to sort out our apartment between classes (only 12 credits this term); I'm officially a housewife because Joel got a new job the same day I was laid off!

On Sunday evening, our heat went out. I noticed it first because the vent was blowing cold air at me while I slept. Hubby tried fiddling with it, but we were so tired from all the happenings over the weekend, that he gave up and we cuddled under two of our warmest blankets to sleep. I slept just fine because I have a built-in-and-29-weeks-along-and-growing-heater, but Joel didn't. We called them the next day, and since we were out all day, the maintenance men saw my cluttered and dusty apartment. :s My grandma would be appalled. She always said to keep a tidy home and a clean kitchen because if you didn't and the Lord came, people would come into your house later and think you weren't ready to go. Well, we didn't look ready to go, but I suppose it was a good trade-off because the heat was on again when we got home.

Here are some pregnancy pictures that Willow took for us. Colleen did too, but she must not have had any film in the camera because I haven't seen or heard anything about them since... ;) Oh, and this was about 26 weeks, I think, so just add two inches (and a couple pounds) to my stomach in your mind and that is about what I am now.

The bump is very obvious now... the domino's pizza guy congratulated me, so I think I officially "look pregnant".

I'm going to try and post more regularly for the sake of all my long-distance friends. And eventually, I'll want somewhere to brag about our oh-so-cute-and-intelligent baby, so this will work nicely. :)