36 weeks = PANIC.

36 weeks. This means Lucy will be here in anywhere from 1-4 weeks. I'd say more like 2-3, based on when I went into labor with Theo and supposedly, second ones come a bit sooner. I have an appt. on Friday and have to have the GBS test, so I am going to have them check me out and see if I am dilated at all. I'm sure you all wanted to know that. Anywho, this meant that this morning I freaked out over how much is left to be done to prepare for her arrival. Which led to this:

Pulling everything out of the closet that needed to be washed and spiffied up for Lucy. Susan volunteered to clean out the cars (well, she didn't volunteer to do mine, but she didn't say no when I asked) so we could install the infant seat. Which led to this:

At 22 months old, our boy is a forward facing rider for the first time. Susan is excited, I am terrified. As you probably know about me, I am a HUGE stickler for carseat safety. Huge. Rear facing is safer and not by a little, by a lot. It is 500% safer to have your child rear facing to the limits of the seat. The limit on Theo's seat is 35 pounds, which he is nowhere near. So, why did we turn him? Well, in the van, there was no issue. In my Corolla, there was no good way to have both seats rear facing and me be able to drive, unless I was willing to part with a few inches of my legs. I'm pretty short as it is, so that was no good. Both carseats are huge and to have them rear facing, I would have been jammed in the dashboard. So, we had to turn him in my car (he'd been in the middle, so it hasn't been an issue until now) to fit both seats in and I knew he wouldn't want to stay rear facing in the van when he got to ride turned around in mine. I know he has stayed rear facing much longer than most kids, but I wished we could have left him that way longer. I will hold my breath and hope he stays safe and take comfort in the fact that his seat is installed correctly and his harness is always on right (chest clip at armpit level, folks!!). And, Britax does testing above and beyond what is required by the feds, so he is in an extremely safe seat.

We took him on his first ride to the park. We thought he'd be really into it, but he was kind of nonplussed about the whole thing. The kid just rolls with the punches and takes change with a grain of salt. It's amazing (and not like me at all, so thank you, Hank). He looks like an even bigger boy now, with his little feet hanging down in the seat.

So, two carseats, all freshly installed in two clean cars. Crib bedding washed and put back on. Little tiny diapers washed and folded. Little by little, we are getting there.