Baby Fever!

Well, it's official! John and I have caught the baby fever. Now, I know what you're thinking...Shouldn't this have happened 9 months ago? I think it's safe to say that we've both been in a sweet state of denial for the past several months. But, some recent occurrences have led to the realization that we will have an outside baby within weeks....eeeek!

1) Let the nesting begin! While previously nesting for me has entailed organizing ticky tacky things like what the best way to fold baby washcloths is (yes...I can't believe I have time to think about these things either), I now have real things to figure out...like where is this crib going to go and what is the best way to get bright blue paint out of my hair? John and I went kind of crazy on the baby's room this weekend. I painted and he put in the new wood floor and baseboards. We also got the crib set up (after it took us 45 minutes to realize that part of the instructions were written incorrectly...oy!) Now that the baby actually has it's own room in the house, it's becoming more and more clear that the kid is bound to make an appearance and demand to see it's new digs sometime soon. Luckily, I hear newborns aren't too picky when it comes to interior designing.

2) Our good friends Brian and Brittany just had their baby yesterday morning: Morgan Alexandria...and she is the CUTEST little girl I have ever seen. John kind of went into a state of shock after seeing the pictures of her. I think it was a combination of too much cuteness in one sitting and the realization that pregnancy really does most often lead to an infant.

3) I can now properly identify almost any body part the babe choses to poke out of my belly. This is a real kick! (pun...intended!) Last night after dinner, a casual chat in the living room with the family turned into some real entertainment, courtesy of the baby: Belly watching. The baby is so big and so active that my stomach tends to lurch about like someone jumping on a waterbed. Let me tell you, this is highly amusing...until I can't talk through it anymore. One of the babe's new favorite activities is to push out with it's feet on my side, squish it's back all the way to the other side of my belly and use my bladder as a punching bag simultaneously. This is cute for the first 5 minutes. Unfortunately, I ate oreos after dinner last night and that meant it was party time for at least half an hour. Anyway, what this all means is that this baby had better cool it's jets for the next 3 or 4 weeks (unlikely) or the time it takes for me to be screaming about getting the kid out of me is coming quite soon. I could just stop eating oreos, I suppose, but that's not something I'm willing to sacrifice at the moment.

4) Last, but not least, I will be officially full term on Friday. Not that I think this baby is coming early, (I've been way too comfortable for someone as far along as I am) but just the fact that no one's going to try to stop me IF I go into labor...that's realism for you! So, start placing your bets on when Baby Schweighardt will make it's appearance...and if you want any insider tips, I can be bribed with oreos.

A Good Time Was Had By All

We had a crazy weekend at the Schweighardt house! The main highlights were a trek to Badger Mountain (which John and Jeff both climbed this time) and an awesome Baby Shower/Barbecue. (I'm happy to report that there were no s'more-related injuries)

Here's the link to some pictures of the festivities:


http://picasaweb.google.com/GGamelin/BabyShowerBBQ

...Because I have purchased a new camera!

I'm uploading a new belly picture in honor of my new digital camera. John and I had a discussion this weekend about things to get done before the baby arrives and it turns out having an operating camera took priority over most things. I figured my mother wouldn't care if the baby had no place to sleep, no clothes and no diapers...if she doesn't get to see a non-pixelated picture of her grandbaby within the first hours of its' birth...things will get ugly. I'm seeing images of the local authorities and Child Protective Services showing up at the hospital to arrest me on the grounds of being a bad mother. Of course, the lesson in all this is: Always listen to your mother.

Baby Thor is now a little over 34 weeks old. We've been going back and forth in a little argument about who has rights to the space under my ribs for the past few days. Let's just say: this battle ain't over. Although, I'll admit that it is difficult to drive and push a little wiggling butt out of your ribs at the same time. Luckily, the babe and I have set our differences aside and decided the only thing that will make both of us happy today is a delicious pulled pork sandwich for dinner. (It should be the Gamelin motto: Food makes everything better) I've never been much of a crock pot cook, but we'll see how this one works out. If anything goes wrong, luckily I can just blame it on the crock pot, since it's doing most of the actual work anyway.

I honestly can't say I've achieved much since my last post. John and I have been keeping to the Tri-Cities for the most part. The family has been steadily working on our pool room/ kitchenette project to get ready for the big BBQ this Saturday. I, personally, tend not to make a lot of quick progress on anything lately, as my brain seems to be on hiatus pretty frequently. Needless to say, I've toned down my long-term goals for before the baby gets here. My main priority now is to nap as much as possible. After that, I spend most of my time trying to remember to a) write things down on a list so I remember to do them and then b) remember to look at the list that I have made of things to do. In between these two grueling tasks, I tend to get side tracked by shiny objects or obsessively organize silly things like our Q tips. And since no one wants to hear about how my dry erase markers are now organized by color, I appear to have accomplished very little. But let me tell you, this pea-sized brain is racing!

Since I have nothing to brag about (Aside from incubating the coolest person you will ever know), I'll brag on my husband who climbed a MOUNTAIN yesterday. And surprisingly, today at work, his legs feel like he just climbed a mountain! His new vendetta is to get in shape before the baby gets here, hoping this will translate into having more energy for the little sumo wrestler to suck out of him. Also, apparently, getting into shape in 6 weeks involves climbing mountains multiple times a week, and I remain a supportive wife because he lets me sit at the bottom of the mountain, eating snacks, waiting for him to come back down.

I wish I had a picture of the afore mentioned mountain and more importantly, how John's head cleverly appears to be the same size, but this all brings us back to the fact that I didn't have a working camera until yesterday afternoon. Instead, I'll show you proof that John's head is at least as big as Haystack Rock...and that was the face he made while climbing up his mountain.