Maternity Pictures, The word Immense, and a Blessingway

Well, we are down to the final countdown until this little bugger arrives.  I have pretty much 0 pictures of me in later pregnancy with either of my other two, and as much as it's not a time that I really want pictures taken, I know that I wish I had some to look back on.  So this time I decided to bite the bullet and have Chris take some maternity pictures of me.  I actually do like the shirt that I am wearing in the pictures (as much as you can ever like maternity clothes...), but have decided that in the future, horizontal stripes really aren't the way to go when taking pictures of an already immense* belly! Oh well, it's all for posterity right? I also realized when scrolling through that I have the exact same expression in every one of these pictures.  HA!

A few weeks ago Isaac wanted to give the baby a kiss and then started saying "come out baby, come out!" They now both tell the baby to "come out" all the time.

Gotta love that we all have CRAZY eyes in this one!

A week or so ago I was helping clean the kitchen when my dad walked in, looked at me and said something to the effect of "you look so big and uncomfortable." I laughed and replied something about how the particular shirt I was wearing (which was a maternity shirt that ceased to fit me about 4 months ago) probably greatly contributed to the fact that I looked that way.  He then told me that I didn't look big anywhere else it was just my "immense" belly that looked so uncomfortable.

*Note to men: the word immense should NEVER EVER be used when talking about a woman's body (even if it's an accurate description) unless perhaps you are referring to her "immense beauty" or something like that. Luckily for my dad I have a pretty good sense of humor... :).  

Aaaaaaand I CAN recognize that the word immense really does describe my belly pretty well.  This little (?) guy sure likes to hang straight out the front.  It's so easy to tell exactly how he is positioned because his bum, shoulders and feet are constantly trying to push their way out the front of me.  I tried to sit on the swing with Isaac on my lap the other day and it was hilarious because he just kept sliding off.  He had absolutely nowhere to sit.

I'm feeling pretty prepared for this birth.  I have completely rearranged our living quarters and like it quite a lot.  I've cleaned and organized most everything and although I have some projects that I would still like to complete I'm not too worried about them not getting done before the baby comes.  By the way, I made a roman blind.  And I'm pretty proud of myself about it.  I was daunted by the project but knew it was what I really wanted and finally just dug in my heels, stayed up way too late two nights in a row and got her done.  See...

Closed Blind

Open blind.  Please pretend that when I said I had cleaned that it included the outside of this window. And yes, I did tie the blind to the window opener.  I have yet to get a thing to wrap the cord around.

 There are few things I would do differently next time, but not too bad for just going it with a tutorial from the internet.

Back to being ready for this birth. I have all of the birth supplies I need ready, we've tested out the birth pool so we know Chris knows how to set it up. I've washed and stain removed all the baby clothes and blankets and they are folded and ready to go. I've been keeping up on laundry and making sure the house is clean every night.  We have also sorted through a whole ton of PA schools and pretty much narrowed down the ones that we are going to apply for in the next couple of months and figured out what we (and by we I mean Chris) still need to do in regards to that. 

 The problem is, that now I'm feeling antsy.  When I was this pregnant with Isaac we were in the middle of moving and I just kept hoping that I wouldn't go into labor.  As soon as we got a little bit settled in, and I relaxed about the whole thing, he was born the next day.  This time I kind of feel like I'm just waiting for a bomb to go off and I have absolutely no idea how much time has been set. It doesn't help that everyone else I know that's been due before me (quite a few) had their babies early and I'm starting to feel left out of the cool club!  I just have to keep reminding myself that there are definite perks to having the baby on the inside.  And, as Chris told me the other day when I was whining, "All in good time! We like our babies cooked just right.  A cup of awesome with a dash of handsome just takes a bit longer to bake." Plus, it really would just be much more convenient for everyone involved if I didn't have this baby till Friday at the earliest. And it really isn't very likely that I'll have him until at least the middle of next week. I guess I'm just a little afraid that July is going to creep up on me before this baby comes.

ANYWAY...that was really really long. But seriously, I've never had much empathy for girls who just can't wait to be induced the first moment their doctor will let them (it's just another couple of weeks...buck up little camper) but I understand it a little this time.  I have also never had any desire to be checked before going into labor (and was never checked at all with Isaac) but I have to admit that this time I am kind of curious about seeing if there is "anything happening".  Not that I'm planning to be checked (way too uncomfortable for the absolutely nothing it will tell me) but I do have some empathy for the desire.

There.  I'm really done now. Moving on.

My awesome sister-in-law Katherine threw me a "Blessingway" last week and it was really fun.  A blessingway is kind of like a baby shower, but it's about celebrating motherhood and sharing well wishes for the expectant mother instead of bringing gifts for the baby.  It's kind of a hippie thing and I was a little nervous because I don't really have any hippie friends, but it turned out to be a lot of fun!  Sadly I didn't get any pictures during the event, but I really appreciated all of the support and love I felt from everyone.  We had delicious ice cream sundaes and everyone brought a piece of fabric that is going to be made into a quilt, and then they all shared a wish or blessing for me which was quite special.  :) Here is a picture of the fabric all together.  I love all the diversity and am so excited to see it come together into an awesome quilt.  I dreamed about it that night.

 

Thanks so much to everyone who came and thanks to Katherine for convincing me to let her do it. I really do feel blessed to have such great friends and so much support!