A New Stage

Thank you everyone for the encouraging comments on my last few posts. I'm now getting to the point where most of my clothes don't fit - even the maternity ones - or are at least a little bit uncomfortable. I feel huge, even though many people around here still tell me I don't look quite huge enough to only have a month left. People are funny.

This past week was tough. Nothing is really bad or wrong. There is nothing to worry about. I'm just getting to the point where I'm tired of having a little bum sticking out my left side while two tiny feet project themselves out my right. I'm tired of not knowing whether to call this live thing inside me "GirlName" or "BoyName." My body aches, I've had quite a few headaches again lately and I'm just plain tired. Work is as boring as ever, but mixed with an element of "I really need you to do this before you leave." Those new projects are fine and I would normally be thrilled to have the work to do, but instead I find myself feeling annoyed and once I start them I have a hard time concentrating on their details. That is just totally not like me, so I find myself getting frustrated easily.

I'm not sleeping really well anymore. Maybe that will change again, I don't know. But, I do know that daily I'm sad that I'm not at home around 2:30 pm because all I want to do is take a nap!

Seth is getting a bit impatient with this pregnancy process, too. I'm really glad that he's excited to be a dad and that he seems really centered about taking these life changes as they come. It does make it hard, though, when we're both telling our kid, "We want you to be healthy, but as soon as you'd like to make yourself known, we'll be happy about it." Seth daily says to my tummy, "Kiddo. I want to meet you! Come out and play."

So, although we purposefully tried to make April a slower month than either February or March, I'm now feeling a little sad about it. I'm afraid April will be the slowest month in the history of my life (I don't ever exaggerate like a Minthorne).

I guess I'll be off to work on somemore scrapbooking and maybe I'll have a chance to take a trip to the wonderful downtown library. If anyone has any suggestions on good, gripping, mind-enthralling books, I'd love to hear them! Peace to you all and may we find a new pocket of patience stashed away somewhere. :)

Week 35

Only 36 days left to go! 

Seriously, how can it get any bigger!

Silly picture, feeling HUGE!

Okay, am I totally wacked!? I'm excited about a clean stack of diapers!

Weekend Projects

The last few weekends, I've worked here and there on several projects. I still have a HUGE list of things I'd like to have done before Baby arrives, but most of them aren't very important anymore. The last major hurdle we have is moving the computer stuff out of the baby's room, packing up a bunch of "office" stuff and then arranging the room. Then I get to make curtains! I think we'll be able to tackle this pretty well on Saturday.

Here's some of what I've worked on:

TAXES!!! How I hate them! And, how good it feels to be finished!

Cleaning, the never ending chore... strangely, my nesting instincts have kicked in and cleaning feels so satisfying... weird!

Sewing... this blouse I started way back in August and just finally finished... several baby-related things, too. I've really enjoyed sewing lately, but have a hard time squeezing it in. I'm looking forward to some time next weekend to work on curtains for Baby's room.

An ark... yes, it is made out of popsicle sticks. Thank you Aliesje, for helping me start this. A Noah's Ark themed room just wouldn't be the same without an ark! I have yet to figure out how to hang it or what to use for water around it, but I have some ideas. I'll post more pictures when Baby's room is more assembled and this is hung.

Painting. This used to be bright blue. The red was difficult and really didn't want to cover well, so it took copious amounts of coats. Thankfully, it is now finished and we have our kitchen table back. :)

Baking. Easter just wouldn't be the same without it! We ended up with yummy lemon bars and chocolate chunk cookies. Unfortunately, our small group had very small appetites last night, so we each took a bunch of goodies to work this morning. The faculty in the art department are definitely appreciative, but it also means I've eaten a few too many cookies myself this morning. :)

Happy Easter!

We had a good Easter - mostly quiet, but full, too. It was a BEAUTIFUL day here in SLC and the sunshine coming in all the windows and open doors as I cleaned was much appreciated!

We went early to church for the Easter Breakfast, hosted by the men's bible studies of the church. It was a good time to connect with a bunch of new people. Then we went to the late church service and enjoyed a good celebration time. The service included a fun thing I'd never seen before where everyone brought cut fresh flowers and used them to decorate a big cross at the front of the sanctuary. It was especially fun to watch the children (hords of them this Sunday) happily carrying their flowers down the aisles and finding special places on the cross to put them.

After church, we stopped at our traditional coffee shop, "The Legal Brew," and enjoyed yummy lattes (mine decaf, of course) while perusing the Sunday paper and conversing about possible baby names. Sunday afternoons are my favorite weekly time because we're often more relaxed than any other time during the week and we get to be pretty silly while we talk about names. I guess we're getting closer to our decisions, but we'll probably still be discussing it up until the first moments we spend with our little one. :)

Happy spring flowers that greeted us when we got home. (Sorry they're sideways, my computer at work won't rotate the photo for some reason.)

During the afternoon at home we did some housecleaning, Seth worked on job applications, I took a nap, we finished up a couple of "baby" projects and Seth went out on a motorcycle ride. At one point in the afternoon, I realized we don't have any pictures of Seth and I together while I've been pregnant. We just always forget to take pictures when there are other people around. :) So, these are what we took - not evidently pregnant, but pregnant all the same. :)

Happy Easter!

Way Back at 34 Weeks :)

Here's the prego picture from last week:

I guess there's no hiding it now! :)

Mercurial March

March seems to have flown past! I know it's not quite over, but mentally, I'm now keyed in to April - the home stretch!

Here in Utah, it seems March has brought with it the Spring. This came slowly, however, and in a confusing order. First we heard the birds, even though there was still a foot of snow on the ground. Then most of the snow melted and we noticed green growing things! Then it snowed again - several times. Now we're back to sunshine, 60 degree weather, clear skies and flowers beginning to bloom.

Excited about new signs of Spring (somewhere around the 10th of March)

Later the same afternoon. I was actually trying to get a picture of a bird feeding at the feeder, in the snow - he flew away just as I took the picture.

Along with the changing seasons, Seth and I had quite a few visitors! First, Micah came to hang out with Seth. Then, our friend Darin came out to snowboard and visit old friends. Then, just a week or so ago, my friend Aliesje came down from the Jackson, WY area to spend part of her spring break in the city. We really enjoyed our visitors - and totally welcome any of the rest of you who'd like to come and check out SLC. I was really ready for some peace, quiet and time to get projects done by the time they'd all left, however.

So, the end part of March has been spent shopping, organizing, finishing up craft projects, cleaning and doing our taxes! Sometimes I feel like we're still moving 100 miles an hour, but mostly, life feels as though it has some space in it again.

Baby Shower

Way back in February, while I was in Oregon, my family threw me a baby shower. It was great to have a chance to see so many family members and friends - although, it felt like a whirlwind of people, too. :)

Seth and I are still somewhat overwhelmed with the generosity we received. We feel very blessed to have so many supportive friends and family members! Although there is still a lot to do around the house, setting up for Baby's arrival, we feel like we now have everything we need to get started on this adventure.

Here are some pictures of the big Shower Celebration. Thank you again, everyone!