worky work

My coworkers are awesome – they threw me a surprise baby shower yesterday afternoon… lots of good food, fun baby shower games, cute outfits and an outrageously generous $250 gift card to Babies R Us. Steve and I were blown away – it was so unbelievably nice of them! I’m going to miss some of these people (some… not all) when I go out on leave in a couple of weeks. It’s bittersweet because I know that a lot of people will be leaving our contract while I’m out and we may not be able to stay in touch! Speaking of our contract, the company that won our contract over us has been slowly contacting employees and trying to snag us – why they’re doing it this early, I’m not sure… considering we have a few more months left… but regardless, they offered me a position this morning. It was more money than I’m currently making, plus a signing bonus, but I have no desire to be working for them while they’re in transition. Perhaps once they have completely taken over the contract (and seem to have some semblance of what the roles they’re offering may entail), I would consider making the move… but not anytime soon. Plus, it’s a farther commute! Yuck.

My friend Jen found out today that she’s having a GIRL! :) So excited for our little Ryan to have a playmate… and they’ll only be four months apart! There must be something in the water – I know six pregnant people right now… wow.

dates

December 1, 1979 - my parents got married
September 8, 1982 - my birthdate
December 30, 1982 - my love was born :)
April 1, 1985 - my little brother was born
July 12, 1993 - my little sister was born
June 12, 1998 - our first kiss!
January 5, 2005 - engaged in Central Park
February 22, 2005 - Lila was born
May 7, 2005 - Graduated from college
May 27, 2006 - MARRIED to my love :)
August 12, 2006 - Luke was born
March 16, 2007 - became homeowners
January 20, 2008 - found out I was pregnant
…September 29, 2008? October 1, 2008? October 5, 2008? ...sometime soon, our daughter will be born and it will be the most important date yet.

last fruit update EVER!

This is it! The last time I'll ever give a fruit update! "Practice makes perfect! Refining the blink, suck, inhale and exhale … She’s the size of a watermelon!… At week 37, your pregnancy is considered full term, meaning baby is likely to thrive after birth. Baby spends these last weeks in preparation for the outside world… meaning careful refinement of the blink, suck, inhale and exhale. Meconium, which you’ll probably find in the first diaper, is accumulating in the intestines. If (okay, as) you worry about giving birth, consider what it’s like for the little one. During the journey out of your womb, baby will produce more stress hormones than any other time in life."

Crazy! I don't think I look like I have a watermelon in there, but I am definitely large and ready to go... and it's pretty strange that she's fully grown in there with the exception of an additional pound or two that she'll gain in the next couple of weeks. She's ready - we're ready - I just want her to hold out until she's due so that my dad can make it back for her birthday!

I am about to fall asleep, but I also thought I would throw in a funny picture of Luke that I took today... we took him to 'dog days' at Bull Run Park and he got to swim and run around as much as his little heart desired... and they had free Frosty Paws - he was stoked.

my newer obsession

Happy birthday to me...

It's been a good week on the technology front.

my newest obsession

Coolest phone ever.

september!

My favorite month is here! Not only is my birthday next week (on a Monday… how crappy) but my due date is at the end of the month! Fall starts this month! I’m so ready for the weather to start cooling off (although it seems like that happens more in October now rather than September), the leaves to start changing, the pumpkin patches to open… I’m ready for jeans and sweaters (even if I have to buy some new jeans temporarily). I don't even care what size I have to buy as long as I get to wear jeans and my Chucks and any non-maternity shirt/hoodie/etc.

We had the most relaxing long weekend ever – we literally did nothing except lounge around the house and go out to eat. We went out with our friend Jen and her husband which was great because Jen’s five months pregnant and she wanted me to fill her in… there’s a lot of information that isn’t in any of those pregnancy books. Hopefully I didn't scare her when I talked about labor and delivery, but that's where my mind's at! Our nephew turned one so we of course went to his birthday party… we packed our hospital bag (!) and learned how to install the car seat (!!)… and we took the dogs on an adventure in the woods yesterday afternoon. We’re trying to spoil them rotten before the baby is born because there won’t be many day trips (if any) revolving around keeping the dogs entertained (the dog beach, for example) once Ryan joins us. Luke saw his first real life deer (up close and personal) and I don’t even think he could comprehend that it was an animal – it was too much for his little head. He’s still acting super clingy and thinks it’s his duty to escort me wherever I go… really cute.

I ordered the new titanium Voyager – so excited. It was time for an upgrade so I’m treating myself to a cool new cell phone as an early birthday present to myself. Steve is also really awesome and is treating me to the digital SLR I’ve been wanting to get for months… and just in time for baby photos. :) Yay, birthdays!

Political news is overwhelming. Although I truly believe that children (and other family issues, for the most part) shouldn't be a part of the election discussion, the news of Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter is everywhere... and it is really making a mockery of the abstinence-only approach to sex education that her mother is so supportive of. Honestly, I don't care that her daughter is a pregnant teen... but when you preach abstinence-only and can't even implement it in your own home, how can you expect to implement it in the U.S.? How would teaching abstinence-only in public schools do anything except raise a generation of kids who are ignorant of birth control (and in the same boat as her daughter)? All politics aside, I think it's kind of a shame that she took the nomination at all - she knowingly allowed her daughter to be subjected to such press and scrutiny. Clearly she (and McCain) knew this would become such a hot issue... assuming he did his research on her at all.

post #100

I am officially in countdown mode. As much as I do enjoy being pregnant and having this baby all to myself… and as much as labor and delivery still scare the crap out of me… I am at the point where I am counting down the days (32!) until my due date. My back hurts all day every day. I wake up several times during the night either out of discomfort or the constant need to pee. My maternity clothes, which were literally tents when I purchased some of them in March, are starting to feel too small. I was in so much pain on Tuesday that I actually considered that I might have been going into labor – which freaked me out. Due to this minor freak out (oh, and nothing was even wrong!) we decided we need to pack our hospital bag this weekend just in case. We’re also going to the police station so they can install our car seat base and explain the gibberish instructions to us… we’re not stupid, we just prefer to have it done right, the first time, by a professional… and the hospital recommends it.

Speaking of the hospital, we went on our tour of the maternity ward last night after work. First of all, the labor and delivery rooms are much larger than the rooms in the family care center (post-partum)… which was weird because you would think the post-partum rooms would be more accommodating to visitors. On the plus side, the labor and delivery rooms are really nice and large and have windows and are all private. Can you imagine going through labor with another patient sharing your room? Not happening. One of the nurses in the maternity ward ended up being a girl we went to high school (and me, to college) with. Not sure how I feel about that. Steve is comfortable with it and said he actually prefers having a nurse that we know… but he did acknowledge the fact that he isn't the one pushing a watermelon out of his body so he probably doesn’t understand where I’m coming from. Other than that, we learned a good amount of information about what our stay will be like and how to order food and where our family will wait for the news… now baby Ryan just needs to keep cooking a little while longer.

Earlier in my pregnancy I had read about how dogs can sense that you're pregnant and their behavior towards you may start to change (ie. being overprotective, etc)... we laughed that off because there was no way our dogs were sensing anything. Until now. Luke is literally attached to me at the hip (more like my knee or thigh, I guess) and follows me around from room to room every waking moment. He lays his head across my belly when we're on the couch and he snuggles up to me with these eyes that can only read: "please don't forget about me"... it's so sad. I've tried to give him extra cuddles lately because he seems a little distraught.

My dad is coming back October 3rd – I’m hoping she can hold on that long! I think she can do it. I predict an October 6th birthday (one week past my due date).

Watch me be WAY off.