Thirty-One Weeks

Well, I have not been successful in finding life's brakes yet.  Time seems to pass so quickly, that even the work week is speeding by in a blur.  I can't believe that it'll be October at the end of the week, and I'll be able to tell people that I'm due "next month."  We are getting so excited.  Jeff's latest game is to "play with the baby" - meaning he puts his hand on my belly and tries to make the baby move.  Or, in the alternative, try to make me sprint for the bathroom.  The other night, we were laying in bed and he suddenly exclaimed, "I want our baby to be here NOW!"  I couldn't agree more, although I'd like to get through October before I can really say I'm ready to hit the start button on this whole business of parenthood. 

Over the weekend, my mom and I went out and ordered our rocking chair and ottoman for the nursery and the nightstand I ordered should get delivered sometime this week.  I'm now on a desperate hunt for curtains, a rug for the nursery floor, and wall decorations.  I've got four showers in October, and so I'm hesitant to buy anything else until November.  Which is cutting it close, I know.  That being said, we've started getting packages from our New Jersey relatives and I am now the proud owner of a Pack 'n Play, thanks to Grandma Terry and a bouncy chair, courtesy of Great-Aunt Shirley.  It's so fun to come home after work and find all these packages, left at my doorstep - I should probably keep a UPS man on retainer since he's been at our house literally every day since we moved in. 

I've still got a tiny baby bump, even at thirty-one weeks.  Most people guess that I'm about four or five months pregnant, instead of almost seven and a half months along:

Still, I'll take what I can get.  Baby Jack is happy, healthy, and growing, so that's all that matters to me.  We have another appointment with Duckie this afternoon for a check-up.  I had a bad flu that started on Thursday and went through the weekend, so Duckie had to give me some antibiotics, but I feel a lot better now.  However, I did spend most of Friday and Saturday napping and sleeping.  The baby, of course, had no idea what was going on - it's only his mama who was getting her butt kicked. 

This week, Jack's digestive system has fully developed and he's as big as a head of lettuce.  He's also about nineteen inches long, and probably won't get much taller.  He keeps getting fatter, of course, and is sleeping more in preparation for delivery.  Although I can't tell.  He has his active periods, to be certain, and boy, are they active!  I also think he flipped and is now lying sideways.  At my last visit with Duckie, he was in the head down position, and now, I'm feeling pops and kicks at the tops and sides of my stomach.  But who knows?  Every once and a while, I think I'll feel a knee or a foot, but I'm probably just making all of that up. 

Jeff and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary on Saturday night with a trip to Gianni's.  I ate more food than a linebacker getting ready for game day.  Which is a good thing.  Also, according to custom, leather is the appropriate gift for a third wedding anniversary.  Neither Jeff or I are "surprise" people - we usually like to know what's going on and what to expect.  But, I had to laugh when we both discovered that we had planned on buying each other leather whips to commemorate the occasion.  Does it mean we're still perfect for each other or do we have some unresolved issues of control?  You decide.   

We also closed on our townhouse this morning, and I can now say that our moving process is officially over.  It's a relief, frankly, although I did walk out of the closing with bittersweet feelings this morning.  But, like I've said before, we have so many great things ahead of us, that there's really no reason to feel anything but nostalgic over it all.