5 Things To Do Before Baby Arrives

1.) Submit insurance paperwork to the birth center
2.) Tour the birth center
3.) Pack overnight bag for hospital
4.) Work on road rage issues
5.) No, seriously...work on them. Big time.

(Of course, the road rage comes from being stuck either behind idiots, or in front of them. Note: if you drive completely up my butt with your brights on when I'm already going 10 miles over the limit and then pass me on a dangerous stretch of 2-lane road that's also a no-passing zone, don't be surprised by my wrath. That is all I am saying.)

Anyhow.

Yesterday I worked a good 10.5 hours, because I was being shadowed by the person who's covering my maternity leave. This was a good thing but I didn't get any work done and so I stayed after for about two hours...can't do that any more I guess. Feel like crap today and think I might be coming down with something....would go home if it wasn't more of a hassle than it's worth. Seriously, you non-teacher people are so lucky...if you are sick, you stay home. If I am sick, I have to drag out busy work that completely throws off my lesson plans or entrust my regular plans to a teacher who may not have much math experience. I have to write out my day and all of it's instructions in excruciating detail. Then, I have to spend the next day playing catch-up. Sometimes I really just long for a cubicle. Oh well. Also, my fingers are swollen...not much but enough that I cannot get my rings on. I hate not wearing my rings, but I AM going to laugh at people out in public when they see me walking around all gigantic and knocked up and then try to subtly check out my fingers for a wedding ring.

Sorry for the bitter attitude. I'll feel better this weekend when I've slept. I hope.


Oh, and check out the ticker.....35/35! Ha!

Quick Update

Well, it appears as though the issue with the baby's kidneys has not resolved itself so we will be going to Duke on Monday to see a specialist who will be able to give us more information. Then it's back to the doctor next Thursday...I have to start going every week now. I thought maybe they'd let me hold off until we're tracked out, but no such luck...apparently when it gets down to this point, they say "come in" and you just do it.

Also, she's weighing in at slightly more than 6lbs. according to the ultrasound tech's measurements. (and no, we didn't get pictures....it was a different tech and he was all business. So no fun extra 4-D pics. But he did use me as a guinea pig to train someone else on the ultrasound machine, which means the exam was extra-long, and he was jabbing my abdomen so hard with the wand I didn't know if I should pass out, throw up, or pee in my pants, since I hadn't yet given my urine sample. Seriously...I'm so over this.) ANYHOW I cried when I heard the weight...I was only 5 1/2 lbs. at birth, and I was on time and healthy! What am I having, a baby ELEPHANT?!?! Then the doctor pointed out that 6lbs. five weeks before delivery isn't that big, she's only in the 64th percentile, so that put it into perspective and made me feel a little better.

That's all. I'm not feeling chatty. I'm showering and eating and going to bed.

The REAL nesting?

This weekend, I was hit by an uncontrollable desire to get ready for Christmas. It was less about the spirit of the season and more about going totally insane, I think. Anyhow, as a result I am done with all but a few tiny odds and ends of my Christmas shopping, and I have written out, sealed, and stamped all of our Christmas cards. All of them. Friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, you name it...done. (They won't go in the mail until we get a little closer to Christmas, though...and I am baking my usual Christmas bread for the neighbors but that can't be done until I'm ready to deliver those cards.) Today I am going to drag out the decorations: I'd like to start early because usually I take everything down on New Year's Day, but this year I want it down before then so I can have the house back in order long before our due date...I'm also not doing as much decorating this year...I don't go crazy anyhow, but I'm just going to do the tree, a few strings of lights on the porch railings outside, wreaths on the doors, and a couple of things here and there inside. Oh, and probably those candles in the windows.

In other news that's equally disturbing and a little disgusting, back in September my mother-in-law gave us a really pretty framed picture for the baby's room that says "Ways to Welcome a Baby" and then goes through twenty-six ways, A to Z. (Keep reading, that's not the disturbing or disgusting part.) Today, Jack and Toby decided to contribute their own way of welcoming the baby, to be filed under the letter "V"...for "Vomiting on the carpet in the baby's room." Thanks, guys. :-P

New Toys

My birthday was last Tuesday (officially the last one I want to acknowledge!) and it was pretty low-key...we went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner, and then just hung out at home and watched TV...Craig gave me something I've been running my mouth about for the past six months or so: a video camera! I have one that's about 10 years old or so, and it's huge and does those little VHS tapes that you need an adapter to watch, so we really didn't use it. (Plus, what were we supposed to videotape? Ourselves, sitting on the couch and eating dinner? The cats?) Now that we'll have a kid, I really wanted a good one so I can be the annoying video-camera parent. ;o) (I refuse to be Soccer Mom or Minivan Mom....I have to have something mommy-ish; besides, with so many relatives far away, it makes sense to record the things they'll miss.) Anyhow we've used it once thus far, we recorded each other acting like idiots and making hot chocolate, and the cats whining by the back door. That's just so sad. (I should also say that I got two other gifts--The Chronicles of Narnia, which I've been wanting to read for ages but never have, and the latest Die Hard movie. Yeah!!!)

ANYHOW, at the beginning of the week, Craig also broke down and bought himself--errr, I mean, "us", a fancy new TV. Flat screen something-or-other. He's wanted one for a million years and has spent about the same amount of time bugging me about whether or not he should get one. I didn't really feel like we needed one but finally have just said yes, please get it so I don't have to hear about it any more! So he bought one on Monday. And yesterday, he returned it. ARGH!!!! Hopefully it's out of his system now. Last night, we did invest in a Tassimo beverage maker:



It's a Christmas present to ourselves and would seem like an unnecessary appliance if we didn't drink an abnormal amount of tea, cappuccino, and hot chocolate...it's great because there's no mess involved whatsoever, you just put in the little packet of whatever you want to drink and press the button. It brews in a few seconds, so I can actually have a cup of tea BEFORE work if I want...nice. (I never eat or drink before work...I also shower and dry my hair at night because I have compacted my morning routine to the smallest possible amount of time because I hate getting up. We have to be at work by 7:15am which means that I like to get there no later than 7:05, and I live 15-20 minutes away, depending on whether or not I get stuck driving behind a moron.)

That's really about it...sorry I'm not more interesting, and have nothing baby related to report, other than the fact that for some reason I'm sleeping better but getting more scatterbrained by the minute. Example: instead of putting down "cottage cheese" on my grocery list, I typed "cottage twins" and I didn't even notice until this morning. I have no clue where it came from...Craig was talking to me at the time so maybe I started typing something from the conversation? I don't know.

NC baby shower pictures!

Here they are, courtesy of MJ (provider of pictures) and Jamie (taker of pictures...unfortunately she's not in any of them as a result! :-(

There were more, but really, how many shots of me opening gifts are necessary? ;o)

BubbleShare: Share photos - Print Christmas Coloring Pages.

the belly @ 33 weeks

I look so distorted and weird, and there are still seven weeks left! This past week my family was in town for Thanksgiving, and one afternoon I was lounging around in maroon velour pants and a heathered maroon fitted t-shirt. My brothers told me I looked like a cranberry. Thanks....not only do I look like a cranberry, I'm about as flexible as one too...I swear, they should have some kind of pregnancy triathalon in which women could compete. Some possible events:

--bending over to pick something up
--putting on a pair of pants
--shaving legs (my personal favorite...I'm too stubborn to stop doing this, as I cannot stand stubbly legs)
--putting on (and tying!) a pair of shoes







(*I had to resort to using PhotoBucket again for these two pics...not sure how to post just individual ones from BubbleShare)

The Nursery

Well, it's almost completely finished! Aside from needing a couple of pieces of artwork for the walls (we've got resident artiste Jamie on that... ;o) the nursery is DONE. We have all of the baby supplies we need (well...maybe a few more diapers wouldn't hurt....) and are ready for Ava to make her grand entrance. All right...physically we are ready, mentally I don't think I'll ever be prepared. (Craig says he is...I don't know if he's *really* ready, or if he's saying that because "real men" don't admit it when something scares the crap out of them...)

ANYHOW, I'm trying something new: BubbleShare. I've seen it on other blogs and it seems much better than the PhotoBucket I've been using (recent shower pics coming soon). So,without further ado, here are the nursery pictures! Please keep in mind, my camera makes all of the colors look dull and washed out. The room is very simple and delicate...there is some pink, but pale sage green is the predominant color. I have to say, I REALLY like how it turned out!

BubbleShare: Share photos - Delicious Christmas Recipes.