36 Week Update!

Today I'm officially 36 weeks along in the pregnancy. I have 4 weeks left baby, 4 weeks!! (Friends reference, anyone?) I started my morning off by checking my email where I had received my weekly email from the American Pregnancy Association that stated "You have reached 36 weeks and your baby could arrive at any time. We hope you enjoy these last several weeks of pregnancy." OMG!! How exciting and nerve racking! J and I are beyond words excited to meet our little girl, but there is still so much to do to get ready for her arrival. I mean, if she came today, we could make it, but I would much rather have things a bit more organized before she graces us with her presence. (P.S. I gave the computer screen a quick evil look when I read the "enjoy these last several weeks" part. Don't get me wrong, I love being pregnant and all, but having a full size baby crawl around inside your stretching stomach isn't my idea of a relaxing day at the beach.)

For the past couple weeks J and I have definitely been in a state of oh-my-gosh-I-can't-wait-to-meet-our-daughter. We talk about her all the time. At times it feels like there is something missing from my arms because I'm so ready to hold her. J and I also are 95-99.9% sure on a name, so we are testing it out and using it to refer to her when it's just the two of us (sorry we aren't sharing the name until she's officially here to claim it). The two of us have already developed our baby girl into a tiny little person in our minds that we've known for months, but just haven't met yet. We've picked up on little patterns, too, that make her personality that much more real. For example, I'm pretty sure she loves strawberries, just like her mother. Anytime I have strawberries she moves around like crazy. I picture her doing a little strawberry-happy-dance in my belly. We've also really started trying to picture what she will look like. Who will she look like more, will she have blond hair (J) or brown hair (me), blue eyes (J) or brown eyes (me), will she have my nose, J's fingers, etc? Judging by the 20 wk ultrasound, J thinks she has my nose and chin...we'll see! The anticipation is killing us. We want to meet our little girl so bad!!

As far as what still needs to be done before she gets here....well, we have most of the big essentials bought, however, they all sit in a heap either in the downstairs or in her room. I have boxes and boxes of hand-me-down clothes that I need to sort through, and I'm still waiting on the second dresser to arrive before I can start putting stuff away. We also have her car seat purchased, but it is still in the box. I will feel a lot better once we get it installed "just in case." This long list of preparation gets overwhelming, especially since I've been so tired (and last week sick). Hopefully with a few evenings and a weekend of hard work, we can get everything in order before bringing our little girl home.

As I've mentioned a couple times already, I was feeling pretty yucky last week. I went to work on Monday and could feel a sore throat coming on, then it hit me Tuesday, and I spent the rest of the week either working from home or taking time off. I was wondering if people around the office were wondering if I went into labor due to my absence, and today when I see people in the hall, I want to say, "Yep, still no baby!" (Then I realized that most of these people don't know my name and probably didn't even notice I was gone. Eh, I don't know their name and wouldn't notice their absence either.) I asked my mom last week, "do you think I'm at the stage of my pregnancy where strangers look at me and say to the person next to them 'wow, look at that pregnant lady, she looks like she is going to pop!' (just like my mom and I say to each other [in the sweetest way possible] when we see a very pregnancy woman.)" We decided that the answer was probably yes. Then the usher at a hockey game on Saturday sealed the deal when I passed him on the way to my seat, and he said, "I don't want to deliver no babies tonight!" haha ..ha ...ha ....ha ...not funny. I could still have 4 more weeks! I would include a picture of my belly right now, but in my mind my belly is just "big." It has reached the stage of being so big that I can't tell a difference from week to week. My belly just goes from being really big to still being really big, so an updated picture doesn't seem like it would mean much. It would also require that there be a flattering picture of me because let's be honest, this is my blog, and I'm only going to post flattering pictures...it's a blog owner's right. I will however post pictures of my adorable kitties sleeping in the crib. I know, I know, I should have immediately scolded them and shewed them out right away...but there were two of them, and they were laying together all snug-as-a-bug-in-a-rug in the crib. So, after I took a few pictures, I pulled each one out, kissed them on the head, and quietly told them they are not allowed in the crib. I'm sure they got the hint. I finally realized that if I fill the crib with baby stuff (clothes, diapers, etc.) there is no room for them to lay, and they won't get in it. After shooing Emo out of the crib this is where I found him 2 minutes later...I think he was seeking revenge on not being allowed to lay in the crib...

Is that cute or what? It would be a lot cuter if those weren't our clean bath towels...specifically the hand towels that I dry my face off with. Oh well.

I have lots of stuff floating around in my head to blog about, but I just need to be better about updating more often! Sorry!