One of the only redeeming qualities of Mexico's oddly distributed maternity leave (6 weeks before birth and 6 weeks after birth) is that at least it gives you a chance to tie up loose ends before the baby arrives, such as putting together a nursery. Along the way, we have been looking into cribs (like here), talking about themes (we are thinking Farmville), etc. But we haven't made any big moves yet on the nursery. Mostly because we are not sure where it will be.

I have talked a bit about our house/apartment hunt, but it's been such a discouraging process that I can't bring myself to make too many mentions of it. After falling in love with and being dumped by a couple different (coldhearted, evil) houses, we thought we found an apartment that was going to work out. Now, we're not really sure. The people who own it and owed back condo fees claim they are now paid up and all good, but they are unable to obtain the letter attesting to this because one of the people who has to sign had his grandmother die or something. I know this sounds cynical, but can this really be true? I smell a rata.

Long story short, we are taking up the search again, and staying put for the time being. Maybe this apartment will work out, but I wouldn't place any bets on it.

Now, I regret the little time I did devote to stressing over cribs. Every day that passes, our baby gets closer and closer to spending his/her first few months of life sleeping in a Pack 'n Play, in our charming but charmingly small 5th floor walkup rental apartment. I really adore our apartment, but the amount of baby stuff we have gotten so far is already starting to overflow into the dining room and kitchen. So I guess maybe that's what I can do with my maternity leave (which starts in 4.5 weeks by the way!!!!!) — clean, get rid of unnecessary clutter and try to stack boxes so that we can still live in there.

I am a tiny bit sad that we won't be using that time to decorate our adorable Farmville nursery, but I know I should be thankful we have a roof over our heads and a baby on the way. The baby will be perfectly happy with the Pack 'n Play (thanks mom, we will use it more than you ever imagined!), and someday our home/apartment will happen.