35 weeks

Yesterday we hit 35 weeks (35 days to go until the due date - and I'm guessing, but don't want to jinx myself! - more like 25).

I'm thinking the baby website writers are really stretching for fruits large enough to compare to babies this late in  pregnancy. I've never seen an 18.7" long coconut. In any case, baby is apparently very big in there, because I think I already look more like I swallowed a watermelon, which is not the comparison fruit for another 2 weeks.

This was taken in the middle of last week, so 34.5 weeks...

And, to compare, this link shows a picture of me at about the same time with William.

Still feeling good, just more and more sore each day. In the grand scheme of things, nothing to complain about at all. I'm just so excited to meet this little one. Bought a few neutral outfits (yellow and white striped, and a few pretty, plain white things) to take to the hospital with us. Talked to our nice neighbor today, who agreed to be our "middle of the night call" if things start happening and we need someone to watch William (who we hope would just remain asleep in bed). I'm hoping baby decides to arrive on a weekend, so Nanna won't be in school, and she and Grandpa can come down. We shall see! Baby William woke me up and  "announced" that he was ready to come around 2 a.m. on a Sunday night (well, technically Monday morning).

Speaking of WW, a couple of pictures from a Moms club activity yesterday: "pick your own bouquet" at a cute local farm.

Tonight is my LAST photo session before my self-planned maternity leave. I was supposed to have 2 more, but cancelled them. I just can't get up and down quickly, lay on the ground, chase little ones, etc. like I usually do. I have a few shoots left to edit, and then will be DONE.

Goings on

Every week just seems to go more quickly than the last. Here we are on August 22 - it was Esch's first day of the new school year - and there is a lot going on. We had a fun long weekend at Nanna and Grandpa's this weekend. Esch had some interviews and law review meetings at the main campus, and I had 2 photo sessions, so we packed up the dog and the little man. We got to spend time with both Uncle David and Uncle Andrew, and saw Nain and Taid AND Uncle Tib and Aunt Mary. William was of course in heaven with the attention. Perhaps his favorite of this trip was David's "friend" :) Marion, visiting for 2 weeks from France. William told her that he loved her, and we were very impressed by his correct pronunciation and accent while saying her name.

We went to Nanna's school to "help" her set up her room, went to the pool, and rode Grandpa's tractor. One afternoon William went on a long centipede hunt ("cemapede") - it was so cute, he was SO serious and intent.

We had a full day at home yesterday - all three of us with no major plans - and got a lot accomplished around the house. Esch is still working on painting all of the trim/molding in the house white, and he installed blinds in the guest room and nursery. He also took out the ugly old ceiling fan in the nursery and installed a new one (thanks, dear!) and the nesting instinct kicked in for me - cleaned out closets, put some finishing touches on the nursery, got out the newborn clothes from the attic and pulled out the plain/white/gender neutral ones, washed them, and put them in the baby's dresser. Of course the process of going through Willam's old (tiny) clothes made me cry.

Here's our nursery progress:

Looking in from the hallway

Will fill out those shelves once we know if it's a boy or a girl

Happy to have the ABC project complete!

Looking forward to filling these with new photos of our family of 4

My cute assistant

Skipping back a few weeks, just some William pictures that I don't think I've shared yet:

Apparently not a fan of oatmeal, which is his Dad's favorite breakfast

33 weeks!

Today is Gula's birthday - HAPPY birthday, "GuGu!"

Two days ago, we hit 33 weeks. I'm not sure why it's such a shock to me every Friday - I know how to count - but each time we tick a week off of the calendar, it seems crazy to me how soon our baby will be here. I should probably stop thinking in terms of "if this baby is born a bit early like William was..." (probably jinxing myself and will be late!), but if he or she DOES decide to arrive around 38 weeks like their older brother did, we've now got 5 weeks to go. If not, less than 7 weeks until the due date of 9/28.

(In case you're wondering, that is a Durian Fruit... whatever that is)

It's going to fly by - going to State College this coming weekend because Esch has some Law Review meetings at the main campus, and I have 2 photo sessions. Esch starts school next week. That next weekend we are home, I have  a shoot, and suddenly the next weekend is September, and the start of football season.

So far we're planning to go to the first PSU game on 9/1, but not really sure of anything past that point. I don't want to go into labor in football traffic somewhere on 322 between Harrisburg and Boalsburg!

William starts school (!) the day after Labor Day, September 4 - he is going to a Tuesday/Thursday 2.5 year old class. It's only 2 hours, but I still can't believe that twice a week I'll be getting him dressed and dropping him off at school. Our big boy!

Since I last posted, Esch and I had a fabulous 5th anniversary weekend at Bedford Springs Resort & Spa (THANK YOU, Mom and Dad, and Nain and Taid! ...and thank you, Jeff and Barb, for staying with William! We know he had fun with his GuGu and PopPop). We had amazing meals, relaxed at the pool with drink service, and I was spoiled with a pedicure at their gorgeous spa. We both felt like we'd been "away" for a full week or so of vacation, it was so relaxing and fun.

5th Anniversary

Last weekend, 32 weeks

It's August.

It's now August, and this means a few things.

-Our 5th anniversary is this weekend!  I cannot believe it's been five years. Five GREAT years.

-It was my parents' 31st anniversary yesterday - we love you!

-It's Uncle Andrew's and Gula's birthday month, too!

The real shocker, though, the wake-up-call/holy cow/sudden realization is that WE ARE HAVING A BABY NEXT MONTH.

Another baby!

I mean... I've known this since January, but still. It's really happening. Soon. William was born at 38 weeks. I will be 32 weeks tomorrow. So in 6 weeks we could feasibly be holding our new little one. We could know if it's a little sister or a brother. We could be introducing them to William, saying their name, and bringing them home.

Oh. My. Goodness.