High Hopes

I had such high hopes of having a baby this weekend. Granted, I knew it was a little early, but I did everything I could to induce labor. I went for a massage on Saturday morning, I ate Mexican food for lunch, I've faithfully been taking evening primrose oil supplements, I've been walking. I even spent a little time behind closed doors with the husband...nothing!

So what do you do when labor seems like a distant pipe dream, you can't sleep and everything hurts? I don't know...if you have any suggestions, please send them my way.

I did have a slight epiphany last night as Aaron and I were on our hundredth walk of the weekend; this could be one of the last walks he and I would take just the two of us for a really long time. These are the final days as a 'couple.' And as much as I want to savor these final days, the giant belly with it's protruding alien elbows and achy pelvis are keeping me slightly distracted.

I think what I'm trying to say is that I'm attempting to be patient, but I would really like to have this baby. I am so done being pregnant and so ready to meet this little man.

T-Minus 14 Days

I feel like a whale. After making it through the sweltering summer months with no swelling to speak of, my feet decided they were done and swelled up about three sizes, two nights ago. No big deal, I said to myself, I'll just drink lots of water and put them up for the day...it's a good excuse to hang out on the couch, but none of my efforts helped.

This baby seems to be nice and comfy in my uterus. He rolls and kicks all day long letting me know he very much likes his tight little quarters. I keep telling him he would have so much more fun outside of the womb, but he's not buying my sales pitch. I'm going for a massage tomorrow and I continue to walk everyday, so hopefully we can get things going this week. I might even risk it and eat some spicy tacos tonight...I'll pay for it, but it might just be worth it.
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In other blabbering, I would really like to hear what people thought about last night's VP debate. I thought it was more compelling than the presidential debate and I thought both candidates did surprisingly well. To be completely honest, I am still undecided. I lean republican but I have some reservations about the McCain Palin ticket. At the same time, I don't know that Obama and Biden are our answer. Aaron and I have been having some good debates (its hard to debate about the bailout plan with a commercial banker...not something I would recommend, unless you want a 10 year history on banking and mortgage products...)

Interestingly, for the first time in my life, I actually care about the campaign. I read the news everyday, hungry for more information about our candidates policies and plans. I want answers. It just seems like there's too much at stake not to be listening, learning and asking questions.

So tell me, if you feel comfortable, who are you voting for and why?

October Means Baby Month

With the arrival of October 1st, the excitement and anticipation for the arrival of our baby is hanging thickly in the air. Back in February, May and even July, I wasn't totally convinced October would ever arrive. But, here it is with 85 degree weather, sunshine, red and gold leaves on a few trees and a mama with a gleam in her eye, waiting hopefully.

When my mom was visiting a few weeks ago, she was telling stories about raising me and one of her 'famous phrases' was telling me to wait hopefully. Basically, she was nicely telling me to be patient and probably be quiet. But, that term, waiting hopefully, has resonated with me and I keep mulling it over, rolling the words off my tongue as I try and digest why those two little words mean so much to me.

What does it mean to wait hopefully?

I feel like the final way I can honor this pregnancy and this incredible journey I've been on in the last nine months, is to wait hopefully. Not with fear and anxiety, but with confidence and hope.

I'm not by nature much of a risk taker. I frighten easily and worry often. But, I am slowly shedding those behaviors as I've found more and more confidence in my ability to care for this little life inside of me. And, I feel honored by the courage God has filled me up with. It has been an answer to prayer, and I know friends and family have been praying specifically for bravery and courage.

So, for the next 17 days I am waiting hopefully, shedding any last seeds of fear and trying to enjoy the rolls and kicks inside of me, because in such a short period of time, a new journey begins.

37 Weeks and a Finished Nursery

The nursery, minus the rocker which has been ordered, is finished! Yes, that is his name above his crib on a ledge that could fall off and kill him, but I watched Aaron install it and feel confidant it will not fall until he's at least old enough to remember and hold it against us forever. If you don't like his name or have a super weird cousin named Jackson, please don't tell me. It took forever to commit to a name, so let's not rock the boat!

Two things I'm noticing about the photos, because of the angles they were taken at, neither the prints nor his name look like they are centered on the walls or above his crib, but I assure you they are! There are only a small handful of things I am type-A about, and straight hanging art/photos is one of them. I found the prints below on etsy.com and I absolutely love them. There is so much good stuff on etsy and if you haven't checked the site out...do it!
Aaron hung the blinds over the weekend and they do a pretty good job of blocking out the light. This room gets morning sun, so I suspect we will either have a very early riser or we will be blacking out his windows in aluminum foil before too long. The rug is from IKEA and it is so cute. The characters are a dog in a truck with a palm tree and a frog taking a bath.
And behold...the girth. It's no wonder the doctor is predicting an eight pound baby. Wow. Also, disregard the pensive expression, I'm not sure what's going on with my face in this photo. Only two and a half weeks to go. I'm getting alternately anxious about labor and overwhelmingly excited to welcome this boy into our life. Also...to not be pregnant anymore.

The Office

T-minus an hour and fifteen minutes until the season premiere of The Office. It is my one 'program' I watch religiously and I can't wait for a full and uninterrupted season of goofy quirkiness!

Also, I've committed to walking every day until I deliver this baby. Three days down...what feels like an infinite number of days ahead. It's not so much that I don't want to go for a walk, it just doesn't feel like its helping and I am so ready to have this baby.

A real post coming soon and pictures of the finished nursery!

Leaking pipes and too much cake

In one weekend, we hosted two sets of family, went out to eat at least four times, opened lots of amazing gifts, made a few returns, bought more stuff (that we probably don't need), cleaned out flower beds (I mostly watched/supervised), made an apple pie, shopped for a glider (still haven't found one...help!) and administered antibiotics to my dog, who once again has an ear infection.

But, the most notable events of the weekend was noticing a wet patch of ceiling in our basement and watching in horror as my husband cut a hole into our drywall to investigate. This wouldn't be the hugest deal, if it wasn't the third time in a year that we were dealing with leaking pipes/flooding/water saturated drywall. Thankfully, the water wasn't coming from any of the plumbing that was installed for the new bathroom. Instead, it was one of the old pipes that decided to start leaking. It saturated about two feet of our ceiling and once again we have gaping holes in our basement. This is one of the many reasons our house is always 'for sale.' People ask us how we could ever move now that our house is 'done,' and it's because as hard as we've worked on this house, something is always needing tweaking or fixing and it gets so frustrating.

I don't know why I'm complaining since it's Aaron who has to do the bulk of the work. But, I figure I can complain because I have to look at the hole and spend the money to fix it! Two steps forward and one giant step backward seems to be the story of our lives when it comes to this house. Oh well. I'm sure we'll get the hole patched up sometime in 2009!

Lucky for us, we had amazing chocolate cake from my baby shower to soothe our sorrows. Aaron and I cannot be left alone with chocolate, so after nearly devouring the entire cake in about two days, we had to give the rest to the neighbors.

One final thought for this already very disjointed post. I went to the doctor yesterday and was told they expect the baby to be at least 8 pounds and at this point, labor is a distant pipe dream. My body had no signs of labor and even my own doctor has started commenting on the size of my belly. I think that's more than enough reason to start going for a few more walks and to lay off the cake for the remainder of this pregnancy.

Braxton What?

So, I've had a few "practice contractions" the last few days...I was just complaining to my equally as pregnant friend Nicole that I was concerned I wasn't having any braxton hicks contractions, which obviously means I will never have this baby and it will be Thanksgiving before he's born, when what do you know, the next morning, they started up.

(I'm getting a little dramatic in the late stages of pregnancy, oh wait, I've always been a little dramatic).

I threw an absolute fit that there was a fly in the living room last night. I couldn't stand the buzzing noise and loudly complained about it for several hours. Never mind the fact that I could have just gotten off the couch and killed it myself, but apparently that very rational thought didn't resonate in my brain until just now.

As excited as I am that I only have 29! days! left! The reality of having a baby, a real live human baby, who is not just ours but our responsibility...for the rest of our lives...seems to be hitting us off and on like a bag of bricks. Aaron is using his nervous energy to his advantage. In the last several weeks he has taken up jogging (or is it yogging?) and indoor soccer. He has dutifully gone down the list of ridiculous and tedious house projects I've requested and nearly completed his entire list without that much complaining. I, on the other hand, have used my nervous energy to frantically shop online for gliders (which by the way, why are they all so ugly and expensive?), wash baby clothes in non-Dreft detergent and complain loudly about my various discomforts. I'm a peach, truly.

So, that's what's been going on in my world, we're real exciting around here. Coming up this weekend, my mother comes to town for a baby shower...