Getting Hopeful, weren't you?

Yeah, me too. But no, still waiting for something, *anything*, to happen. I've been a walking fool, eating spicy foods, even having *gasp* sex to try and get things started, but to no avail. Apparently this little girl is perfectly content right where she is.

But, I have a wonderful husband who stayed home today to help out, a pedicure in 20 minutes and a weekend of fall weather ahead to keep my spirits up.

And just for laughs, I'll leave you with this--how every 9 mo preggo woman should spend a Saturday afternoon...

Focus

It's all about the focus--on anything besides the fact that your still pregnant when your due date comes and goes. Thankfully, I've had some rather pleasant distractions to keep me smiling. I went to my weekly girls night last night with the intention of spending some time with my friends chatting it up and laughing. I was greeted by a surprise shower, balloons, cake and all... I was totally taken aback. Now, I'm not one who would voluntarily have a shower for a third child unless there were certain circumstances (long gap, multiples), and actually told a friend to not host a shower for me who'd asked earlier this year, but I'll admit, it was a fun and sweet surprise. I mean, how can you be upset by your friends doing something completely unnecessary and sweet for you, especially when feeling whalish and impatient. I gorged myself on this chocolate concoction that was out of this world, received many things in pink and still got to laugh and talk into the night with my friends. Definitely a wonderful distraction to the eternal pregnancy.

One of these very woman, also made dinner for our family last night, chicken and dumplings, carrots, green beans and an apple crisp. How nice is it to have a full meal that you didn't have to cook? REALLY NICE!

Then there is my ornery child, the one I tend to bitch about because he is such a stinkpot. But, despite his nature to be difficult, he has also been a great amount of fun, reminding me why I so enjoyed this age with DB. The language, wow, it has exploded out of him. GB is already using two word phrases consistently and picking things up at an amazing rate of speed. And damn he's cute about it. Recently he's taken to ducking behind the shower curtain while I'm in the bathroom and whispering "hiding" so quietly. I just want to eat him up. And when he gets hurt he quietly says "owie" points to the source of pain and says "booboo". Now this does get balanced out by his absolute refusal to eat 90% of what we put in front of him, and his maniacal streak, but I'm trying to focus on the positive.

Sigh, unfortunately even these distractions are not enough to completely remove the fetal focus, I'm totally impatient and ready to meet Gertie, heck even experience the groin splitting pain of labor, but none the less, I'm a very lucky person to have them.

40 wks

And all's well, as well is it can be with no signs of baby in the immediate future. I had my OB appt today, and other than gaining another pound or so and a slight rise in my BP, it was the same old story. I'm about 1cm dilated, and she's so high that the doc can't even reach to strip my membranes. Bratty little girl. He put me on the fetal monitor for about 10 minutes, not for any particular reason, but that's just what they do at 40 wks. The heartbeat was great, nothing to worry about there. We made an appt for next week and he told me he wants to talk induction at that point. Yeah, we'll see, despite being 110% ready to be fetus-free, I'm not a huge fan of forcing labor. And, pitocin is evil. Hopefully it won't come to that, doc picked 3am Saturday (gee thanks doc).

What's your best guess? You can throw in weight/height too if you like. (the boys were 8lbs 9ozs/21.5" and 8lbs 6ozs/20.5")

T minus 1 day

until my due date, and yeah, no. There is so nothing going on right now that would indicate I will be fetus free by tomorrow. Sigh. But, what can you do?

We had a very nice weekend, went to a friend's house for a BBQ on Saturday night and stayed much too late and the boys drank much too much. Now, this might not be abnormal for a lot of guys, but for the BWB it is. See, he drinks, but does not get drunk. In the seven years that I've known him, I've seen him drunk 3 times, Saturday being one of them. And oh how I laughed. He was so funny, so apologetic, embarrassed even, but damn, it was about time my anal, control freak husband cut loose and had a good time with two of his very best friends. And cripes, he had a built-in designated driver to chauffer him home safely. The only thing I worried about was going into labor and having to call my friend A to be my doula while the BWB snoozed in the delivery room. But, that didn't happen, and other than waking up with a teeny bit of a hangover (and probably a sore back from sleeping on the KITCHEN FLOOR), he's no worse for the wear.

In other news, my kid and A's daughter are the BEST of friends--they're getting married don't you know? And how absolutely adorable are they together?

This freakin' adorable:

Things that make you go ??!!

This didn't happen today, but I was reminded of it because I went to the grocery store. Last week when I went I was parking the van and getting GB out. I see a guy pull into the handicapped space across from me. I'm one of those people that always watches in amazement as perfectly able-bodied people walk out of those cars but somehow managed to get a hang tag. But that's not what had me flabbergasted this time around. I watched as the passenger door came open, which I thought odd since there was no passenger. Then I see a can pop the door further open, mmkay, followed by the guy in the car just pushing his trash out of the car into the parking lot. Just pushed it out and closed the door. I seriously could not understand the mentality of this guy, like it's so hard to throw something in a trash can??

I waited for a bit to see if he was going to leave the car, but he just sat there reading. What I really wanted to do was wait for him to get out and then throw the trash back into his car. I should have done it anyway, or at least confronted him, but it just didn't seem worth it being 8 mos pg and having a toddler in tow.

I know this is just a small example of the rampant disregard that people have for others, the planet, etc... But man, it just never ceases to amaze me.

Still Here

Just not a whole lot to talk about other than standard late pregnancy complaining. Can I just say I'm very very tired of nether region pain. I'll be 39wks as of tomorrow, and don't really expect to go soon. I've had very few contractions and it felt like my OB was trying to pick my nose through my cervix at my last tweeter check, but still couldn't manage to touch the baby's head. (though she is head down thankfully) I've also started swelling, which sucks. I totally skipped that when I was pregnant with GB, but not this time, I have little sausages for fingers and fat ankles. Bleh.

See, griping, I just can't help it.

We did have a nice weekend though. The BWB surprised me by coming home a couple hours early from work on Friday which was awesome. Then we took DB to a birthday party Saturday at one of those Bouncy party places--he had such a blast. Sunday I helped my friend with the calligraphy for her wedding announcements, it was nice doing something semi artistic for a change. In between we got some chores done, watched some football and just enjoyed the boys. They are so funny these days, always good for a laugh.

Now I'm just ready to meet Gertie. If she doesn't grace us with her presence soon, I'll be forced to begin all those tried and true (but not necessarily effective) methods of encouraging the onslaught of labor--walking, spicy food, sex, jumping jacks, forceps... ;-)

Happy Dance

Guess whose incredibly awesome superfabulous husband just gave her an early birthing gift because he's too darn impatient to actually wait for the birth? No, it was mine, really! Yes, I mean the BWB!


They are white gold bezel set diamond earrings to match the necklace he gave me after I had Toby.

A collective "Awwww" please. (we must always acknowledge and encourage the gift of jewelry).

Thank you honey, I really really really love them.

Weekend Fun

It seems we're filling up every available second before the baby arrives. Last Saturday we went to THREE different parties! This weekend wasn't quite as busy, but I did go to lunch with a good friend on Saturday, then Sunset in the Park that evening. Sunday we were invited to dinner to check out my SIL & BIL's new house. In between I watched a bunch of the US Open (I'm a HUGE tennis fan, with two parents that are tennis pros, it's hard not to be) and managed to finish painting the laundry room, which I must say, looks fabulous.

Here are a few pictures from Sunset in the Park and my 38wk belly shot.

Some things you might not want to know about pregnancy...

The leakage.

Yes, much leakage from all sorts of places. There is the sneezing oops I peed, the leaky boobs, the constant sinus drainage, the sweating-oh the infernal sweating, and gosh darnit if I don't freakin' drool when I sleep these days. (we won't even get into the whole mucus plug thing) ICK!

The spreadage.

There is the obvious belly girth thing and the widening of the feet and maybe your ass, but did you know that in preparation for birth that a woman's body releases a hormone that causes her ligaments to loosen? They ain't lying when they talk about birthin' hips, the pelvis actually spreads apart to allow the head to pass through--this is not a particularly comfortable process.

The boobage.

The endless fascination with boobs can end/begin here. Because in pregnancy, the boobs? Kinda not pretty. First, there is this increased blood flow thing causing many blue veins to pop up everywhere. And, to add to the roadmap, throw in a couple (hundred) stretch marks due to the ever increasing size of the bosom throughout pregnancy. Then to top that off, let's enlarge the areolas to the size of tea saucers and make them ten shades darker. After birth, go ahead and add about three cups sizes worth of engorgement when your milk comes in, then post breastfeeding go ahead and deflate them back down to flaps that hang down to your belly button. Whooo boy, sex-y.

Ah pregnancy, good times.

Nesting times 10

Why yes, that blissful part of pregnancy called nesting has struck with a vengeance. So much so in fact, that despite my nether regions feeling like a bowling is permanently implanted on my cervix, I cannot manage to sit for more than five minutes without itching to do something. And could this something be normal? No, of course not, it has to be some obscure project that has nothing to do with actually cleaning the house or getting ready for baby. For instance, yesterday I rearranged the junk drawer in the kitchen. Um, yeah, that was useful. I also vacuumed the crumbs out of the silverware drawer. Did I actually clean the rest of the kitchen? Nope, but my silverware drawer is no longer crummy!

But, the Slackers did undertake a major project this weekend and aside from a minor glitch, it went swimmingly! We assembled and installed the laundry room cabinetry--get this--ourselves! I must say it turned out very well.

In that third picture, you can see a hole in the flooring, that used to be where the wall for the closet was. The laundry room is a 6'x9' ft space that sat between the garage entry and the kitchen. On one side is the washer/dryer, the other used to be a closet. Long ago, I took off the sliding doors to make things more accessible and just hung a curtain where the doors used to be. I grew to hate that arrangement as it still never looked nice and most of our friends/family enter through the garage and it's the first part of the house they see. SO, since I wasn't redoing my kitchen any time soon, I figured hey, let's do other construction! So I had someone come and rip out the wall that created the closet space and then I painted (only half the room thus far as you can see) and bought some of the in stock cabinetry at Home Depot, along with a 4ft piece of laminate countertop--which fit exactly into the space.

Now I have a little desk space that can double as a folding area, a place to put all the floor cleaning implements and ironing board, and can store all that crap from Sam's Club out of sight (you know the 16 boxes of ziplock bags, etc...). Heck, I can even get the bread machine, crockpot and other cooking gadgets out of the pantry and put FOOD in there, what a concept.

Hopefully, I'll get the other side of the room finished this weekend, which will include some more patching, painting and the hanging of another wire shelve above the existing one (we have tall ceilings). Then perhaps I can get one of those neato counter height stools that double as a ladder for in there. Ah glorious plans! I'm just happy to have the major part finished. I might actually ENJOY doing laundry--ha, I couldn't even type that without laughing.

Do Some Good

I haven't really been able to gather my thoughts enough to blog about Katrina, but the bottom line is I'm frustrated, sad and angry with how the situation has been handled. It seems that everyone just dropped the ball on this, and US citizens are paying the price. Really, RC summed it up much better than I could, so go read his entry on the hurricane.

As for myself, I need to stop selfishly bitching about gas prices and do something productive. I wish I could take in a family or drive all that baby crap sitting in storage down to LA, but since neither of those options is particuarly practical, I'll just have to go the monetary route.

Here is a great site for a plethora of ways to help: http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/animal_environ/hurricanes/

$3.00?!

Holy crap, I've never seen gas prices at $3.00/gallon (here in MO). OK, well, there were those price gougers immediately following 9/11 that jacked prices up to $5.00/gallon, but that wasn't quite the same. Gas has literally jumped $.30 a day for the past two days, just of course as my tank falls below the quarter tank mark. Now I know speaking inflationally, this really shouldn't be a surprise, whereas everything we purchase has steadily increased, gas has fluctuated up and down over the years. Heck, just a few years ago, it was under a dollar a gallon, the same price it was when I turned 16. Then of course there were the gas shortages back in the 70s where it was quite costly, if you could even get it. Bottom line though, slow rises are much easier to stomach than these giant leaps in price. Because today, when it costs me $60+ to fill up my minivan (thank god it's not the Expedition!), I'm going to cry just a little.