Ready!

Just in case you thought we weren't before, now we are really getting serious. There is a week until our due date and the baby now has places in our house where only he can sit and sleep and lie. Perhaps a lot of soon-to-be parents would have sorted these things out sooner and already experienced these moments of realisation - that there is really going to be a baby in this house soon - but anyway, here we are. Better just-in-time than never.

There is a car seat in the car, securely fastened in by the kind lady at Plunket Queenstown, and ready for a journey south to the maternity centre.

There is a baby hammock in the lounge, already made up with sheets and a mattress protector (because I couldn't help myself), ready and hanging in the living room. It came with a stand, but we also plan to add a couple of hooks around the house. Our room has been rearranged so that the hammock will be able to hang above the bed (the bed itself had to move so that it was below the structural beam) for easy 4am feeding.

Apparently these hammocks make new babies feel more settled and comfortable because they envelope the little guys in a warm, soft and ever-moving, womb-like cocoon. They also can't flip onto their stomachs (ever tried to flip onto your stomach in a hammock?) so they are safe too from asphyxiation.

Over the weekend the baby sling I bought off Trademe arrived. We haven't bought a pushchair yet so the sling is an inexpensive way to carry him and still have arms free. I am only slightly ashamed to admit that I have already tested it out using a teddy bear.

So, yes, I think I can now say we are ready to meet you, little baby, whenever you are ready to meet us.