40 Weeks(ish)

With our due date just around the corner, I thought now would be a good time to post one of the last pictures that will be taken while I am pregnant with Evie (I hope!). I am totally sporting the tell-tell swollen-pregnancy-face now-a-days (whoa over hyphenated sentence!). I am so ready not to be overweight anymore...I have a completely new appreciation for all of the things my body was able to do before this, like...say...reach the loofah all the way around its back...or tie its own shoelaces...or run more than three steps without getting winded.

It looks like, right out of the gate, Evie has something in common with her dad: they are both dilly dalliers. Doesn't she know that her due date is in my planner...and that means it has to happen on that VERY day, lest my head explode?! If she were any child of mine she would be PUNCTUAL, darnit!

I guess I can kiss my days of being on time "goodbye". It is hard enough getting one feet-dragger out the door. Ugh! I can feel the veins in my head bulging already!

Rude Awakening...

There are some big changes about to happen in our little family...and I think that the person who is going to be hardest hit by these changes is...well...not really a person at all: he is a dog.

Two and a half years ago I fell HEAD OVER HEELS in love with this little white fluff ball. I then proceeded to purchase him and bring him into our lives completely against my husband's wishes. Seriously. Do not judge me. You would have done the same. Just LOOK at him.Since I brought him home, Bear has become so much more than a pet to us...he is a very important part of our family. People keep telling me that he is about to "become a dog", and maybe that is true, but I cannot imagine that just because I love Evie more than I can comprehend that it will make me love this guy any less. In my perfect world, baby girl and Bearsie are going to be the best of pals for the next...oh...50 years.

Yes, my dog has the longest life expectancy IN THE WORLD. What about it?

Even though I do not plan on loving him any less, this spoiled canine is in for a RUDE awakening (especially since he thinks we made the nursery just for him). He is completely, blissfully unaware that changes are in his future. He thinks that I have just been eating too many Double Stuf Oreos...(I have).

Here is a short lovers-montage for your enjoyment. I wish that I could set it to some Rod Stewart music...but I do not know how, so use your imaginations.

Tricks to Inducing Labor

I had heard that being around ridiculously adorable people could speed up delivery, so when given the opportunity to tag along on Cory and Vickie's engagement shoot with Carla and Graham I was all "SIGN ME UP!".

These two were up for anything...and so was their trusty Cocker Spaniel, Ollie. His tush can be seen in the picture below.

Playin' in some weeds. See? Told you. Up. For. Anything.

Nothing like a piggy-back-ride on the beach...right next to an abundance of algae.

Feet love!! Even their appendages are crazy about each other. Sooooo cute!!
Thank you all for letting my rolly-polly self tag along. I had a blast and was so glad to get to meet your little family! Check out the real professionals for some more shots.

Hygiene Smygiene

I cannot say for sure why this topic has come up so many times lately...perhaps the cosmos (or the poor, poor people within smelling distance of me) are trying to tell me something. Apparently I have poor hygiene.

Last week I was on Facebook when I saw that a friend of mine was horrified to find out that her husband had inadvertently used her toothbrush. When I read this two things happened to me: First, I realized that not everyone shares toothbrushes with their significant others (which I totally do...especially when we go on trips...because I am OCD about packing light and YES IT REALLY DOES MAKE THAT MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE!). Second, I solidified my place as least-hygiene-conscious-individual-in-the-universe. Seriously. I am totally throwing myself under the bus here, I'm sure, but I did not even fully realize that these things were not completely normal.

I mean really. I wipe my boogers on my husband...and he gladly reciprocates. I am a lifelong nose-picker, but I try not to do it in public. I take 3 showers a week (that's one every 2-3 days, for you math lovers out there) and it seems to do me just fine. At times my leg hair has rivaled even the most gruesome of yeti creatures. I don't really have a problem with eating things off of "unclean" surfaces. And the number of times my dog has accidentally (read: completely on purpose because he is a MOLESTER) french kissed me would probably make some of you throw up a little.

Whew...that feels much better...do I have any fellow hygiene haters out there?

I am sort of a neat-freak, though...does that make up for all of the above nastiness? No? Oh, OK...just thought I would ask.

Without Further Ado...

...and I know that I spelled the title correctly 'cause I looked it up on Encarta. Boo Ya!

I know that I have been promising this forever, but baby girl's nursery is finally done. Now all we need is a baby!! Here are the pictures that you all have been waiting for. I've got to say, there is virtually no better feeling than knowing that she could come right now and we are r-e-a-d-y! So come on, little angel, mama is ready to see her feet again (though, because apparently he is worried that I am unaware of the swelling, my husband's sole joy in life right now is to describe said feet to me: "grub toes", "little hippopotamuses", "fat feet"...I know... I am so lucky to have him, right?).

Her butterfly chandelier is my favorite part of her room...sometimes I open the window so that I can sit and watch them dance.

We found this candle holder at an antique store in Florida and had to have it (because of the birds, of course)

The print that is framed above her changing table was the first thing we got for her room. It was a gift from our dear friends Gabe and Liz (who apparently had some premonition that Evie was a girl)...oh, and be careful before you click on the link to Gabe's name or you will surely have a new blog addiction...he is an amazingly talented writer. Don't say I didn't warn you.

So there you go! I hope you love it as much as we do. My mom says it looks like a big bowl of sherbet ice-cream...I completely agree.

Reason 3,682 Why Evie is Not Allowed to Listen to the Radio

I am just driving along a country road, on my way back home from the doctor's office, when all of the sudden I start to blush because of the things that my radio is saying to me.

"Let's have some fun, this beat is sick...I wanna take a ride on the disco stick"
- Lady Gaga

Now I can be as oblivious as the next person...but I get the impression that what this women is suggesting might result in procreation. I am sure that there are thousands of little girls who know every word to this song and as an almost-parent it scares me. I am also realizing (like... as I write this post) how incredibly overprotective I am going to be. So, while I ponder just how small of a bubble that I am going to shove Evie into when she is born, I am going to leave you with the lyrical musings of one Lady Gaga. Enjoy.

Seriously!?

I Have a Hairy Alien in My Belly

I am not going to lie. These ultrasound pictures sort of freaked me out. Partly because...like...wait...there is really something that big inside of me right now? GET IT OUT!! And partly because some of the pictures make her look like she has big black holes where eyeballs should be...and no one wants that. If you think hard enough about it, you could have a serious freak out over having an alien in your stomach. I am not thinking about it.

Evie is in the 50th percentile for her weight...right now she is about 5 pounds and 14 ounces, so if she arrives on time they are guessing that she will be between 7 and 7 1/2 pounds. I am telling you...and I may be biased...but this child is perfect in every way. I was a little relieved that there is no chance of us having a 9 pound baby (not that it would have been likely in the Munchkin Land that is our gene pool...but still).

Here is profile picture number one...and here you (and by "you" I mean the Ultrasound Tech...because I sure can't) can tell that she is going to have a full head of hair. Shocker! Both her dad and I had lots of black hair, so we figured that she might.

The little monkey kept sucking on her hand during the ultrasound. It was super cute...she also wowed us with some practice breathing. What a little prodigy!

And here is the alien face!! It is so weird how detailed it is compared to our 21 week ultrasound. Seriously...and you are not going to hurt my feelings...this picture is a little creepy, yes?

I love her so much already...creepy eye sockets or not.

Happy Mothers Day

"A Mother's love is something
that no one can explain,
It is made of deep devotion
and of sacrifice and pain,
It is endless and unselfish
and enduring come what may
For nothing can destroy it
or take that love away . . .
It is patient and forgiving
when all others are forsaking,
And it never fails or falters
even though the heart is breaking . . .
It believes beyond believing
when the world around condemns,
And it glows with all the beauty
of the rarest, brightest gems . . .
It is far beyond defining,
it defies all explanation,
And it still remains a secret
like the mysteries of creation . . .
A many splendid miracle
man cannot understand
And another wondrous evidence
of God's tender guiding hand."

- Helen Rice, "A Mother's Love"

In the Beginning...

I am convinced that there is an entire chapter missing from the Bible. It is about how God created pregnancy...and someone needs to get out their archeological tools to find it asap because it would be one interesting read.

Genesis* 51:1-7 -
On the eighth day, after God rested (because, let's face it, He totally deserved to) He created pregnancy. God created the first trimester so that women who were not planning on getting pregnant right out of undergrad could stay in denial just a little bit longer.
He then created the second trimester so that those same denial-loving-ladies would suddenly wish for nothing else but to be pregnant for the rest of their lives. Little flutters of movement and ultrasounds** made them feel like they could have at least seventeen more children...and that they would start right after this one was out.
Then He created month nine. It was filled with so much discomfort and swelling that the idea of squeezing a watermelon out of a lemon no longer terrified women...but it was something that they actually wished would come sooner...So that their feet would not remind innocent civilians of mini-hippopotamuses. So that they could run (or even walk normally, for that matter) without the enormous weight of their uterus/baby-to-be/unspeakable amounts of fluids jarring around inside of them.
On the tenth day He rested again...because even thinking about pregnancy is really, really exhausting for even the most awesome of men...which is why He decided to afford this task to women. I'm just guessing....

* I realize that God did not originally intend childbirth to be painful and therefore this chapter would probably not be in Genesis...but that is where I am putting it, so deal.

** I also realize that they did not have ultrasounds in Biblical times...this is not my passive-aggressive way of asking for your history of medical technology.