how many parents-to-be does it take ...

... to put together a Graco Pack 'n' Play?

The answer is two very patient and calm individuals who never snap at each other.

And at least one full hour.

And disassembling and reassembling at least three times.

Oh, and one completely useless "instruction" booklet.

But when it's finished and there's a new place for your babe to sleep beside you at night, it's totally worth it.

drum roll ...

Years ago, before we were even married, Husband and I chatted about our hypothetical future and family-to-be. During these daydreams, one thing we agreed on was a boys' name for a future son.

When we found out that our first babe would be a boy, that name landed high on our short list, but we soon found out that it was also hovering at the top of the list for all of Canada for the past decade or so. We weren't sure about the popularity factor and went back to the drawing board.

We hmm'd and haw'd over it for weeks and months. We poured through a half dozen baby name books and many, many websites for ideas and inspiration. We even asked Baby B's opinion, asking him to kick once for one name, or twice for another name ... oddly though, he seemed indifferent.

When it came down to it, we couldn't fight our first instincts. Nothing felt as right.

Without further adieu ...

How cute is this personalized onesie from lovely friend T? So, barring any weird changes of heart, our boy will be Jacob. Jake and sometimes Jakey for short. Lovely sister-in-law C may also occasionally call him J-Bird.

Jacob Michael, to be exact — his second name in honour of Husband. We still call him "the baby" a lot, but we're slowly incorporating his real name into conversations more and more.

We've also received a couple other personalized pressies for Baby B ...

I can't wait to meet him and say his name to him for the first time!

37 weeks

It's been a month since my last pregnancy update. We're starting to really feel like we're in the home stretch. Baby B could actually arrive any day now and we are feeling very ready and excited to meet him.

How far along? 37 weeks.

How big is baby? At my doctor's appointment last week, the doctor told me that Baby B is cooking up perfectly. She said if he were born now, he'd likely be about 6 lbs. Based on the way he can simultaneously head-butt my bladder and kick me in the ribs, I'd say he's approximately two feet long.

Total weight gain: I'm inching up slowly but surely, having gained 26 lbs so far. I'm pretty happy with this number, since 25-35 lbs. weight gain is average for my body type.

Maternity Clothes? I'm starting to pack them up! Anything that's too warm to wear on these hot summer days has made its way into the box labeled "Things for the next pregnancy," along with the baby name books and some reference materials. I'm pretty pumped for my old clothes!

Stretch marks? Agh. These little pests are starting to pop up. Not big, long lines, but little dot-type marks around the lower sides of my protruding belly. Here's hoping they stay under control for these last few weeks!

Sleep: I'm restless at night. It's not horrible, but it's not awesome either. I'm peeing about 4-5 times each night lately, which is disruptive, to say the least. I have snuck in a few daytime naps here and there lately, since everyone says I should be taking advantage of this time and getting as much sleep as I can. The thing is, my mind doesn't rest long before thinking of the next project that needs to be done before the baby arrives.

Movement: He continues to impress everyone around him with his never-ending movements. He made the doctor laugh out loud at our appointment last week as he contorted my belly with his stretching while she was poking him with the doppler.

Food cravings: Nothing new. My body seems to be craving is water, which has its pros and cons. Pro: I'll be well hydrated for the birth. Con: I pee approximately 2,781 times each day. I have been enjoying a few end-of-pregnancy treats lately, like anything smothered in ketchup (read: fries), and homemade bran muffins with lots-o butter.

What I miss: My active lifestyle. Because of an old injury that has flared up due to pregnancy, I've had to put up my yoga mat and sneakers for these past few weeks. Swimming a lot over our NB vacation was a great treat. I can't wait to take Baby B out in his stroller of long walks and attend Mommy & Baby yoga!

What I am looking forward to: Meeting our little man, of course! And everything that entails, including shelving maternity clothes, bidding adieu to fierce heartburn, hopefully a lot less sweating, and sleeping on my stomach!

Milestones: I got a baby book this week and printed a few initial photos of the pregnancy. The book is actually a scrapbook with 20 pre-made pages to get me started. Then I can add to it at will (i.e., after the baby starts sleeping through the night and I have regained my energy for all things crafty).

30 things: final check-in

Maybe I need my head examined, but I'm actually looking forward to September. Fall is my absolute favourite season. I love picking up new jeans and sweaters — which will be especially fun this summer when I can start to shop in the regular stores again!

We've got a few weeks left before Baby B arrives and I'm going to try to accomplish these and many other summer projects in that short time. Here's an update.

1. Celebrate the wedding of friends J & A and stay in a cottage with brother- and sister-in-law B&C. And it was lovely!

2. Spend many early Saturdays at the Farmers' Market with Husband. I'm really sad to say that this hardly happened at all this summer. It's been such a busy summer with lots of traveling out of town, busy baby preparations, car shopping, among other things. Husband is pretty excited to give the baby carrier a go though, so we'll be toting our little bambino around the market this fall.

3. BBQ all the time. We just invested in a barbecue, since this is our first place with outdoor space, which still feels like a huge luxury. We barbecued so much this summer that we actually had to fill our propane tank up again. It's been a great way to whip up quick meals and avoid making the apartment hotter than necessary.

4. Take the time to sit out on our new porch often with a cold drink and a good book. It's a perfect spot for cooling off in the evenings.

5. Go to a drive-in movie. I've never been to one before and Husband has been wanting to take me for years. Not yet ... but we're holding out hope for one of the next couple weekends! Seems like every time we have a chance to go, we're not interested in the movies that are showing. This coming weekend — The Good Guys and Salt are playing. What do you think? Are these flicks worth the hour+ drive to the drive-in? I'm crossing my fingers that Dinner for Schmucks might be playing next weekend.

6. Have at least one more prenatal massage before Baby Boy arrives. Did you know there's a round belly insert that they take out of the table so you can lay on your front? I love it!

7. Have a short, but sweet, visit with lovely friend A for the first time since she moved away in March.

8. Continue our prenatal classes until July 6 in preparation of our upcoming arrival.

9. Have a girls night at our place with lots of yummy food and lovely company. This corresponded with lovely friend A's visit. We haven't had a gathering of all the friends since then, but I hope they'll all gather here soon after Baby B is born to change diapers visit with us!

10. Solve my design dilemmas. Upcoming posts will fill you in on these.

11. Keep playing "Name That Baby" until we finally have a winner. Done! We'll share it with you later this week!

12. Take in a Joel Plaskett concert with Husband on PEI later this month.

13. Try not to look absolutely ridiculous at an outdoor, rain-or-shine concert with a 7-month pregnant belly.

14. Make a few DIY accents for Baby Boy's room. Big nursery reveal coming later this week, too!

15. Start stocking our deep freezer with meals and snacks for our post-birth days. I'm still looking for recipe suggestions, but I've made and frozen lots of old faves.

16. Maintain the little garden I have planted on our front patio. Better wish me luck on this one — it's my first real attempt at outdoor gardening and I'm known to be a bit of a brown thumb. I may have spoken too soon on this one ... While we were away in N.B., basking in the sun, my poor hanging basket was also soaking up the rays ... with no water. I've been trying to bring it back to life, but I don't hold out much hope. Oops. The others are still thriving though, so I think partial credit was definitely earned.

17. Make many trips to the library to enjoy the wealth of books and movies that are just around the corner. I am drowning in a sea of books, as you probably already read. Current reads include Lesley Crewe's Hits and Mrs., The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler and the first two Scarpetta novels by Patricia Cornwell (highly recommended by lovely friend J).

18. Take many leisurely walks around our new neighbourhood with Husband. We took a few so far, and I'm hoping to take more to help encourage our little dude make his way into the world.

19. Take more pictures. I've let my scrapbooking habit fall by the wayside, but there's no reason why I can't do a better job chronicling all of life's fun moments, even if the photos just end up in a plain album. I may have taken a few more than normal. I'd like to take the time in the coming weeks to flip through the manual of our Nikon D60 to make the most of upcoming baby photo shoots.

20. Take videos! Husband and I recently treated ourselves (thank you, tax refund!) to an HD Flip video camera. It will be perfect to take quick shorts of the babe to send to friends and family. We didn't do much of this year, but we bought the camera to capture baby moments, so in a few weeks, the Flip will definitely become more useful.

21. Finish Baby Boy's nursery. YAY! I can't wait to share it with you!

22. Celebrate the wedding of friends R & J in the Valley. Sadly, we missed this one because of my kidney stone adventure.

23. Go to many more prenatal yoga classes. My physiotherapist decided I should take an early exit from prenatal yoga, but I can't wait to start going again after the birth.

24. Spend Canada Day on the boardwalk and enjoy the fireworks. We did catch the fireworks, but not from the boardwalk. We actually had a pretty decent view of the spectacle from our neighbourhood. We also celebrated with an early-birthday BBQ for Husband and his twin brother.

25. Celebrate the wedding of friends S & N in CB. This was a wonderful day and we were so happy to share it with them!

26. Make at least a dozen new recipes.

27. Celebrate Baby B's pending arrival with two baby showers, one in CB and one in NB.

28. Spend a week at home in NB visiting family, and lounging by the lake and pool.

29. Go to the beach as much as possible. Eeekk! We haven't done this once! We're hoping to go sometime this week though.

30. Read at least one of my lovely classic novels. I blame library books. The constant flow of borrowed books have left the books I own on the shelf. Luckily, they aren't going anywhere.

Not bad. Definitely could've been worse. If these things aren't complete yet, it's unlikely that they'll be finished before the official end of summer because a number of pre-baby assignments have landed on the list, including:

- slipcover alternations for the nursery chair

- put the finishing touches on our birth plan

- last minute cleaning and organizing

- freeze a few more post-baby meals

- burn CDs for little babe

How's your summer going? Getting lots accomplished amid the sunshine and vacay?

not me monday

— After complying with Husband's instructions to take a break, I did not lay down on the couch for only five minutes before deciding that the furniture just. had. to. be. cleaned. I did not remove all of the cushion covers, deposit them in the laundry and proceed to vacuum every square inch of our couch and love seat. Nesting has not taken over my life.

— I did not wear a $5 Value Village dress to both of my baby showers. I also wouldn't brag to family, when asked about the dress, that it was a steal-of-a-deal for $5. I am not unnaturally proud of my bargain-hunting prowess.

— At almost 37 weeks, I haven't already been browsing ways to naturally induce labour. While I really do love being pregnant, I'm not feeling completely impatient to meet this little wonder.

we've come a long way, baby

16 weeks

36 weeks

prepping the nest

I think I'm starting to experience my first real signs of nesting. I'm obsessed with the idea of labeled bins and baskets. And before lovely friend A can pipe up and say that I've always been obsessed with bins and baskets, let me defend my neurosis explain.

Baby boy has a lot of stuff. I mean, a full wardrobe to last him until he's about a year-and-a-half old. And where am I expected to put said stuff? Answer: labeled bins/baskets for the nursery. How can you argue with that logic?

It seemed a little out of control that my unborn son already had more clothes than I do. Thanks to many generous gifts and hand-me-downs, he will be one well-dressed little guy. But I quickly realized that there was no need to have clothes for a 12-month-old hanging in the closet for months to come.

So I used these blue bins to separate the six-month-to-12-month duds and the 12-month+ wardrobe.

Then, I happened upon these woven bins at Michaels for 40% off. Plus, they match the nursery decor so well. But I really liked the idea of labels, so I got out my trusty glue gun and some miscellaneous scrapbooking supplies and created these ...

Organization. So satisfying.

showered with love

Our little growing family has been spoiled rotten over the past month with two amazing baby showers — one with Husband's side of the family in Cape Breton and one with my side of the family in New Brunswick. A huge thank you goes out for all of the hard work, generosity and love!

Yes, I was the slowest at the blindfolded diapering game.

Laughing at the pee pee teepees sent from lovely friends A & J.

The delicious snacks prepared by my lovely Mum and Grammie.

Ridiculously cute favours.

As lovely cousin M pointed out, baby's first fashion faux pas! So cute!

lazy lounging

You might have noticed my hiatus. I am on vacation and between a whole lot of laying by the pool and lounging by the lake, I had every intention of writing some new and wonderful posts. But three days in, and it doesn't seem like the creative juices are really flowing, so when I return to real life in a week's time, I promise to fill you in on a few big things — specifically 1) nursery progress; 2) a couple pretty amazing baby showers; 3) a few DIY projects; and 4) a name for Baby B!