37 Weeks...

Baby boy is officially full term today! Yay! He can be born any day now and his lungs and everything else should be functioning as designed.

We spent Memorial Day at Oakfest, our church's first annual M-day festival, and we had a great time. The weather was sunny and hot so I had to try to find shade whenever possible and drink as much water as I could. I didn't really do any work, but Kyle was diligent about his post as bounce house monitor. I mainly just sat by him and ate. I got tons of comments about my outie belly button and almost everyone I talked to suggested I hop in the bounce house myself to get this show on the road. As much as I love bounce houses and am dying to go in one, I just couldn't do that to the little man.

Today my coworkers decided to start a baby pool. It's a $2 buy in and all you have to guess is the date. Total winnings could be around $50 if everyone gets in.

So a baby pool is a pretty normal thing, people make their guesses based on who knows what and then somebody wins. Well, when 50 bucks is on the line I guess things get a little more serious. You wouldn't believe the questions that the GUYS had!! Has the baby turned? Is it my first? When's the full moon? Granted none of the questions were asked directly of me, but I got to hear them secretly over speakerphone or through the grapevine. The ladies of course asked no questions...

A few people at work have started to comment that they think the baby has dropped. I'm not sure, I can't really tell. Once they said that, I started thinking they were right. I can breathe a little easier, although I still can't sing as long as I could before without taking a breath. I asked the doctor what she thought and she would neither confirm nor deny. So who really knows? I can tell you that my getting out of bed problem was worse last night and all day my hips were hurting and feeling kind of stretched out. Sounds like somethings going on to me!

OMG there's a car seat in my volkswagen!!!

Well friends, I'm 36 weeks now and we're getting pretty close to ready. I guess that's as ready as we can be....I'm not sure anyone is ever really ready. We've taken baby CPR and a childbirth class, the baby's bedding and clothes are in the wash as a write this, and Sunday night Daddy K put the car seat in. Man that was weird to see when I got in the car to go to work on Monday!

I had my first weekly dr appt today and everything is right on track. The good news of the day is that I only gained one pound in the last two weeks!!! Are you as excited as I am? The dr made the comment "well, he doesn't feel like a huge baby yet". I'm not really sure what that means. Hopefully yet never comes and he stays a nice manageble size.

Reality...

First and foremost, Congrats to the Galvins!! As of Tuesday they are proud homeowners. We can't wait to go visit them after the baby is born! Check out their new place on their blog: http://samandsaragalvin.blogspot.com/

And now ladies and gents, on to the wonderful saga that is my life....

So last night was a doozie. As you all know, my husband is wonderful, and in being so he decided to set up a tv in our bedroom so I can be more comfortable as I rot my brain. Last night I got sucked into reruns of The King of Queens (possibly the funniest show ever written), reruns I had seen more than once before. Time got away from me and I ended up going to bed an hour later than usual. Not so bad when you're a normal person. But of course the last 9 months haven't been exactly "normal" for me. =)

I finally fell asleep, only to wake up at least five times in the night. And no, that is not an exaggeration. Now the best part about it is that my hips have issues in the night and refuse to work as designed. So when I try to stand, my hips rebel and I almost crumble to the ground. Luckily the door frame is close enough for me to stagger to and hold on to until I regain my balance. Unfortunately, one hip never returns to full strength and so I limp all the way to the bathroom. Sounds attractive, doesn't it?!

So I went to bed late and I got up a bunch of times, but I still woke up feeling pretty rested today. Maybe that's because I sleep so hard between pee breaks. It doesn't really feel like I'm sleeping at all, but the drool all over my pillow is proof that I am in fact sleeping, and sleeping very deeply at that. Not to be gross, but I'm shootin for a realistic blog here and those are the facts, folks. Last night I "slept so soundly" that I immediately took off my pillow case the moment I woke up. I won't be using that one tonite!

But I'm not complaining. Life is interesting as a preggers and all the craziness will be 100% worth it. I saw a great billboard today with a picture of a baby that said "God knew my soul before I was born". What an amazing thought. God knows this little guy inside me already. He knows his birthday and what he'll look like, what kind of personality he has, and what he'll grow up to be! I can't wait until he shares those details with me. Awesome!

Prenatal Advisory

I have a warning for all you out there who are pregnant or who may be hanging out with a prenant person. Please, for the sake of all involved, avoid the country music stations at all costs! Those country DJ's are quite gutsy in picking their playlists and you may be shocked by the lyrics they are playing on these stations - lyrics that will cause expectant moms to crumble in an instant. Not a good thing if that mom is the one driving! So beware cowboys and cowgirls.

On my way home from work today I heard a lethal combination of two songs: 'You're Gonna Miss This' by Trace Adkins and then 'My Front Porch Looking In' by Lonestar.

(Here are the lyrics if you're not familiar: http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/adkins-trace/youre-gonna-miss-this-23933.html ... http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/lonestar/my-front-porch-looking-in-2889.html).

Anyway, I was able to hold it together and still get home safely as long as I didn't try to sing along. For those of you Monona Oakies, Pastor played the first song in church on sunday and I'm sure I wasn't the only one there with a few tears flowing! What a great song - I had never heard it before! It points out the fact that we are always looking ahead to our next big plans, usually so focused on the excitement of the future that we forget to appreciate the excitement of today. At 35 weeks pregnant, and getting less sleep and more uncomfortable by the day, I've been thinking lately how great it would be if the baby came a little early. Not too early, maybe a week or two. But then I hear a song like that and think about it more and realize that being pregnant is amazing and exciting and something I will surely miss when it's over.

What will it be like when it's not just me and Kyle anymore? What will happen to poor Lu when she's not the center of all our attention? How strange it will be not to feel the little (or sometimes big and strong) kicks! How sad to be done with the unique excitement of expecting our first child. Will the second, third, and fourth pregnancies bring that same look to Kyle's face? A mix of sheer love, bliss, and incredulousness? This time is too precious, we must make a sincere, intentional effort to appreciate every day!

Alas, my post is getting too long and time consuming so I must be off. If you read the lyrics of the second song, you'll understand why it kept the emotions running high in the aftermath of the first song. The first reminded me to appreciate today, the second was a view of the future. And hopefully we will be living in the moment and counting our blessings now, a few years in the future, and for the rest of our lives. All we get are moments....let's make them count!

Here we go Lubee Lu

Hello friends! I've been away from the blog a bit lately for a few reasons...last week was rather busy and I've been pretty tired. Poor Lu has been in her pen most of the week so she is very happy to get some time out in the sun today! You'd think she'd be more energetic having been cooped up all day but this has been her favorite position lately.

I think she just recently realized that there's something in there! She doesn't seem any more careful around me, but she loves to snuggle up to the belly. What a pooch!

Week 33 has been a little tougher than the others. I thought I was over the heartburn but now it's back with a vengence. In the past I mostly had it when I laid down to sleep at night. Then I'd wake up once in the night, take another rolaid (both berry and tropical flavors are delish!) and then it'd be gone. But now it's there when I lay down, it's there when I get up to go to the bathroom 4 times in the night, it's there when I get up to retrieve my body pillow that has fallen on the floor, and it's even there when I wake up in the morning. I'm afraid I may have to cut out all things carbonated and chocolate if I want this to go away. I'm not sure which is worse though, life with heartburn or life without chocolate!

The Hallway Gate

Hey, this is Kyle, the husband, the man of the house, here to make my first entry to this here blog. Just the other day we ordered this sweet gate for our hallway, which is going to be great for when out little man is a toddler but also nice for keeping Lula out of the bedrooms/bathroom. Well, when my phone rang last night I ran out of our bedroom and down that hall until I reached the gate. It appeared that the gate was unlocked just from looking at the top of it, however, the connecting piece at the bottom of the gate was securely in place. When I went to gently push the door open I lost my balance because I didn't realize it was half locked and promptly laid into this innocent gate with all 185 lbs. of me and took the whole thing down. I don't know how I didn't completely scrape up the walls, but all I know is that I was upset. I thought I had ruined the gate for sure even though it is a pretty solid metal item. Jean came out of the bedroom and could see I was upset and it was all she could do to not laugh at me. I didn't know this though because I was so worked up! It didn't take long before Jean was laughing (and barely breathing) at me because she couldn't stop thinking about me laying there on the gate sprawled out into the living room. You see, my wife can't help but laugh when someone falls down....it's just the funniest thing for her to see. She tells me that if she had actually seen me take down the gate she would not have been able to keep from laughing right away. She even started laughing about it in the car again fifteen minutes later. Anyway, the gate is still functional, I've cooled off now and Jeanie got a really good laugh out of it. Laughter is good for a baby, right?