I'm Carolann! I'm a military spouse and new mom currently calling the DC area home. Finding Ithaka is all about the journey and about finding yourself.

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The past few months have been whirlwinds of moving, travel, visitors, and unpacking. I purposely didn’t schedule any traveling past Memorial Day because I think now it’s time to rest and nest.

This was me just 3 weeks ago. It’s crazy how much bigger my bump has gotten since then, but I don’t have any pictures! I will have to take some this weekend.

Nick’s family visited us last week and my family is visiting us next week. Both sides planned to visit to help get us ready for the baby which was really nice and thoughtful. There is so much to do before baby gets here. I’m thankful for our families for helping us out.

The best thing that happened in the past few months was a surprise shower that my friends threw for me. Because my family and friends are so scattered all over the place – from Hawaii to California to New York to France – I didn’t want to do a big shower that would be basically asking people to either travel or send me gifts.

But a couple of my friends decided to do something anyway. A lot of my friends from Hawaii live either in the DC area or in Virginia, and they surprised me with a shower and a girls night out. One of my friends from far away even came in as an extra surprise. A few of them stayed the night and it was an amazing weekend that I am so thankful for. One of the things they did for me deserves its own blog post so I will be writing about that next week!

Nick and I have been nesting like crazy and trying to have as many date nights as possible. We have been slowly buying everything we need for baby. There are still a few things left we need and a few that would be nice to have, but we will just get them as we need them. We even bought a car! Living car-free in DC was so nice (and saved a ton of money) but we realized that with a baby a car is just something you need.

We put the car seat in and we have the stroller out of the box and by the door. She doesn’t have her own room yet, but we have a little baby nook set up in our bedroom, complete with a glider chair. I want her to keep cooking in there as long as possible, but we’re slowly getting ready for her. I’ve washed some of her clothes and her closet is definitly looking a lot better than mine ever will.

I think that the best thing we’ve done to get ready for baby is that we bought a deep freezer and have made a ton of freezer meals. I have never made freezer meals before so I have no idea how good they will actually be, but I think I will be very grateful for them.

I really love DC in the summer (winter, I’m still not so sure). There is so much to do here and so many free concerts and movies and events and farmers markets and nice places to sit outside. It’s almost like being on vacation because there are so many new things to check out. We’ve been getting out as much as possible and enjoying the warm weather.

I have never been an audiobook or podcast person, but I am looking for audiobooks and podcasts I can listen to while nursing in the middle of the night. Please send me your recommendations!!