T minus 18 days

So! June is here, and by the end of the month, we will be a family of four. This baby is currently taking up the same percentage of mental space as she is abdominal space, which is to say it's pretty much all I can think about these days - the nursery, how Micah's going to react, what else we need to do to get ready, did I wash all the newborn clothes, what about the blankets, oh shit this baby has to come out somehow, OMGWHEREISTHEBOPPYPILLOW.

The nursery is more or less done, and as soon as the light hits the backside of the house, I plan to take pictures. (Duh.) Todd is currently out purchasing the last few items on the baby list, namely a new monitor and a CD player/clock for the room. Arrangements have been made for Micah, complete with not one but two wildly successful test overnight stays at his aunt and uncle's house. This coming Friday is my last day of work before starting maternity leave, and most of the paperwork is complete. A new, roomier car has been purchased, and the infant carseat has been installed. My hospital bag is packed, repacked, and repacked again. There's a short list of things that will need to be tossed in at the last minute, but we're pretty much.....ready. For someone whose first pregnancy went kaplooey at just a little over 33 weeks, this whole preparedness thing is significantly luxurious. I'm left with nothing to obsess over but the blue/pink balance between the left and right sides of the baby's room, instead of, you know, bedrest and possible NICU stays and premature deliveries and please tell me my baby going to be all right. I like this way much better.

I've even got my Birth Plan all prepared. It consists of, "Please get me and my baby home, together and healthy, within a reasonable time frame." I think it's pretty solid, and covers all the bases.

Oh, and we finally picked a name. But I'm not telling.

I was thrilled, back at the beginning of all this, that I wouldn't have to once again experience pregnancy in August in Northern Alabama, which was something like being stuck in an oven while wearing a heating pad strapped to your middle under two layers of ACE bandages and one layer of small angry badger. Mother Nature, though, thought that was hilarious, and decided to send August along a full two months early. It's approximately 160 degrees outside right now, and yesterday I went to an outdoor wedding. All I can say is, if I show up at your outdoor wedding during a record Alabama heat wave while 37 weeks pregnant, you ought to be pretty secure in where you rate on my friend scale.

And now it's time for me to go vacuum before Micah wakes up. LOOK, a completely unrelated picture!

The Nursery

Maybe it's because I'm having a girl. Maybe it's because this time around I'm not on bedrest and have nothing better to fuss over. Maybe it's because I don't expect to be doing this again. Whatever the reason, I've actually put some time and thought into this one's bedroom. It's nothing fancy, but I think it'll do.

Last weekend in Chattanooga

My last trip out of town before the new baby arrives was a quick jaunt to Chattanooga, TN to meet up with Todd's family. While we were in town, we stopped by the Creative Discovery Museum, splashed in front of the Aquarium, and found an alternative form of transportation to the hotel.

It's hard to tell in the last picture, but poor Micah was wearing only the change of pants I had in the diaper bag.  I didn't have a shirt for him, and thought he'd be fine in just his shorts on the ride back.  But he was totally freaked out the whole time.  Poor guy.

Living the dream

(Or, "How to Blow a Truck-Obsessed Toddler's Mind")

Yesterday, Mr. Warren let Micah ride in his track loader while he filled a dump truck with debris from the lots next door.

I'm pretty sure it will be a long, long time before ANYTHING tops that.

33 Weeks

We haven't done the belly shot thing with this pregnancy. I'm not really sure why, except that I was afraid it would somehow jinx it. But today, I figured I ought to document the routundness.

It's hard to tell in that shirt, but let me assure you, it is VERY round and VERY squirmy.

(And seeing as how it was around this time with Micah that I went into pre-term labor, I'm really REALLY glad this kid is still in there.)