close

That is how my doctor described my current state yesterday.

You’re getting close.

Not as close as my friend who is due in about 2 short weeks.  Not as close as having to be admitted for having contractions or being dilated.  Not close like I’m about to leave the hospital with my newborn and be a mom.  For the rest of my life. 

But close.

Today, I have hit the 8th month mark.  32 weeks.  And although there are 8 weeks left to go, there could be less.  And that is whoa-worthy.

These kicks are the best; they come regularly and I can see them just by looking at my belly.  I’m reminded that there is a little nose and mouth in there and the fingernails have grown all they will until birth.

I’m still convinced baby is a boy.  Last weekend at my shower there were a plethora of predictions.  We’re just going to have to wait and see.  Either way I just pray for a healthy little bug.  Everything is really out of our hands.  That’s why the pregnancy has been an emotional one.  I like control.

This week went by relatively quickly.  There’s much work to do in the office, yet I procrastinate here. 

I hope I don’t turn into a procrastinating mama.  That’s not a very good blog title anyway.

 

solstice

It’s the day school children long for all year round, the day almost as important as Christmas and Santa Clause and if their parents did get them that new shiny something they wanted.  It’s the taste of freedom from assignments and chalkboards and daily routines. 

Families unite to go away to exotic places where water is abundant and sunshine, too.  Women who were reluctant to wear their whites, don those shorts, and wonder if it was too soon to hit the beach now can.

Seven years ago I met my husband, in a bar, on a night I thought would be just any other night consisting of banter and beer.  A night where I remember thinking this sucks.  No job for the last summer before college and yet a mile-long list of wishes for what it may bring.  A man across the room whose eyes I see clearly into now, whose heart I love most, suddenly makes history.

A summer baby I keep saying, a summer baby. 

Now summer is here.

thoughts

-I love cherry tomatoes.  I love their sweetness and I only appreciate them that much more if they are sliced in half (at least) and sprinkled throughout my salad AND in order for me to make/want to eat a salad? I must have the cherry tomatoes.  Can you guess what I’m eating now?

-Birth class was an eye-opening experience.  I’ve been enjoying the belly and trying not to stress lately (lately is key), but the class made me realize that this little bug has to come out.  And the diagrams I keep seeing still show a growing baby, but a very small opening for this little bug to travel.

-My boss is on Facebook and she knows I have an account.  I haven’t asked her to be my friend and vice versa.  I think I’m OK with that, but have I broken some etiquette rule?

-We saw a daycare we think we liked yesterday.  Except I keep thinking the same thing when I go see these places: I don’t want to have to use one! I fell in love with a baby there and wanted to scoop him up as his dad dropped him off for his first day.  If those parents can do it, so can I, except the place (so far) is the most pricey out of the ones I’ve checked out. 

-My other food obsession (not-pregnancy related) is avocados.  I love them.  Love.  Them.  LOVE.  They now appear in salads I prepare all the time.  I think Bub finds it odd since it’s not a usual salad staple, but I MUST have them.  Must have.  MUST.

-I plan to make avocado baby food.

-Someone at the office (and sorry if I offend anyone who does this) leaves the microwave door open.  They do their business of heating, cooking, whatever and then instead of shutting the door after retrieving their food, they just leave it open.  It appears to be something intentional as it’s not just left swinging open or slightly ajar, it’s at a perfect 90-degree angle and therefore the light is on and it’s just so…weird.  Shut the door!

-I am procrastinating at work because I have about two book fairs I still have follow up from to finish, documentation of my job responsibilities to give my boss so that whomever (her) will cover for me knows what I do and how to do it (she already knows).  All I want to do instead is get organized at home.

-We had a maid service come clean our house today.  I’m not sure how I like the way that sounds since I am capable of cleaning and so is Bub, but let me tell you, the belly gets in the way and Bub? Well he’s on nursery painting and home projects duty and if you had seen our bathroom and the dust? Well, you would have shelled out some cash for a maid, too.  They did a good job, not perfect (I’m very particular about the way the bed is made), but they were thorough.  Now if only we can keep it up.

-I went to this coffee place during lunch for an iced decaf mocha.  It’s a drivethrough and not a Starbucks.  I get to the window and say my order starting out with “Tall” and think “Crap, this is not Starbucks” so I retract my order and start again with normal words like “Small”.  I get to the pickup window and the woman repeats my order to me before handing off the coffee.  She works there all the time and has never done this before.  I half expected her to ask for my name so she could appropriately identify me for the pickup.

That’s all I got for Tuesday, kids. 

Love,

itsy bitsy mama

june’s thanksgiving

A woman I’ve worked closely with for the past three years stops by my office this morning.  She is not empty handed.

Three delicious peonies are blossoming from a disposable vase and they’re for me from her garden.  It made me realize the random acts of kindness, things of which I’m thankful for in my life that brighten it so.

Here’s my June list:

Co-workers who constantly tell me how nice I look even if I may feel particularly large at times.

The kicks.  They never get old.

Waking up next to my husband.

Walking outside and breathing in summer deeply, now that the humidity has subsided.

Pulling out of the driveway to see our new hanging plant.  Now we have a place to hang one! (We won’t speak of the one I just killed, though.)

Iced decaf coffee.  So much better than the hot stuff.

Ice cream; it always tastes better in the summer.

When a co-worker openly praises you on an email that your boss is copied on.

Dreams of our new grill which we hope to get as early as Thursday.  Again, now we have a place to barbecue!

Steaming wallpaper off the nursery walls.  Feeling like I’m able to participate in this process is satisfying even though the painting will be done by Bub.

Birthing class on Saturday.

Seeing the tiny ones in the hospital nursery last weekend at our maternity ward tour.

Reminiscing about our wedding and how our 2nd year anniversary is right around the corner!

Receiving baby gifts; we just got our first two yesterday!

Living in the moment.

friday

I’m back from our babymoon and glad to be back.  Traveling to London was easy compared to the two flights I took to and from CA, the larger belly, and the fact that I now have no grace when trying to pull on socks and shoes. 

The work event went well.  I saw Pessimistic Redhead for a brief moment.  I felt bad that we couldn’t socialize for longer.  She works at a place I once did and it’s always interesting to see the characters I had daily interaction with, let alone the woman I had to share a hotel room with at one of these events a few years ago.  To think she saw me in my PJ’s and brushing my teeth… Weird! But anyway, it was a good show.  I had lots of energy the first day and felt like roadkill the next, just in time for the relaxation part of the trip–the babymoon!

Bub met me late on Saturday night.  His flights always seem to get delayed which I feel bad about since he’s coming to see me when it happens.  We embarked in our rental car Sunday morning to a yummy brunch place in LA before driving the coast to Santa Barbara.  For anyone planning a wedding and not sure where to have it, I suggest Santa Barbara.  The weather was always a guaranteed A+.  We did have some rain the morning we left, but the consistent sunshine and warm temps were easy to enjoy for the duration of the trip.

We walked around a lot, ate well (ate really, really well one night at the Four Seasons with a complete view of the ocean and saw dolphins!), tried to shop (but I wasn’t feeling it–maybe because I’m wearing a beach ball), and swam.  We swam the most in the heated hotel pool since the breeze kept the beaches cool.

The only downside to Santa Barbara that we noticed? The homelessness.  Bub had read how it’s prevelant in that area but I wondered how different it could be from any other city? From Boston? But it was everywhere.  People who looked like you and me just sitting on benches, on urine-stained streets with signs that they were hungry.  Could they have our dinner leftovers, etc., etc.?

It was a turnoff.  I know homelessness exists.  I know it’s not a perfect world.  I know.  It’s just that it’s something I don’t see most days on my way to work or near where I live, so it’s almost as if I had forgotten that there are people out there who aren’t fortunate.  And it’s sad.

Changing gears to baby jibber jabber, I’m beginning my 29th week of pregnancy today.  I remember when I started my 20’s.  The halfway point.  I remember thinking wow, 30 weeks is far away.  And looky here, looky at what’s happening!

So yeah.  This time thing? Is flying by.  We are in JUNE, people.  I was watching LOST last night (the season finale since I missed it last week) thinking how the peace and quiet I’ll have is soon to be limited.  And how my nightly routine of unwinding, making dinner, catching up with Bub, exercising (ha!), will all change.

And to think that we may be very close to having a first name picked out for at least one sex…

Have lovely weekends! And stay cool if this 90-degree weather is coming to a neighborhood near you!