the tiniest nursery ever...

I know... attractive eh? But I finally got in the most comfortable position of my life and was so happy.

We are about halfway done with the nursery. We still need two Jim Shore figurines that are coming in the mail and then there's another picture and shelf to put up sometime this weekend. Oh and the bumper, skirt, and window panel (no pressure, Mom =) But it's getting there. Here are about a gazillion pictures if you're at all interested. It is a very very small room, but it'll do the job. It used to be Ben's study room.

Then star nightlight in action.

The crib, mini-hamper, and rocking chair.

That's a jar full of hair bows, ribbons, etc. Then next to it will be one of the figurines we're waiting for.

Teeny weenie room =)

I don't think she'll lack in children's literature. Thank heavens I've been a teacher and have gotten most of these for free.

All of the pictures are vintage nursery rhymes that I framed awhile back.

Those are the two walls that need their picture, shelf, window panel, etc.

My sister made this sign for me =)

I'm sure in the next week/week and a half it'll be finished and I'll post those pictures later.

my country 'tis of thee...

Awhile back Ben and I went with our friends Eli and Krista to Washington D.C. for a four day trip. We got to visit Arlington Cemetery, Ford's Theater where we also watched a play right next to the balcony where Lincoln was assassinated, Holocaust Museum (we spent an entire day just there and could have used a few more hours), a few different Smithsonians, the Capitol, we stared at the White House one night... sooo close..., National Archives, Lincoln/Washington/WW2/Vietnam/Korean War Monuments at night all lit up - and the best part was that everything (minus the play) was free. I love that about Washington D.C. Here are a few pictures from our visit.

this obnoxious picture is us at Ebbitt's Grill - a famous pub where all of the presidents eat when they're first put in office

Ford's Theater - the balcony where Abe Lincoln was killed - we sat in the red seats to the right of the balcony for the play

getting our National Parks passport book stamped

it just keeps getting bigger....

how is that possible..?

So I still have three weeks left... and uncomfortable doesn't quite cover it.

What I'm excited for (mostly very selfish things):

*sleeping on my stomach and back

*not waking up in the middle of the night for relief

*bending over without grunting like a beast

*not having to worry about a stretch mark appearing

*eating without getting a stomach ache... every day...

*having normal-sized ankles

*not jumping off of the treadmill to use the facilities after 10 minutes

*oh, and meeting my daughter of course

What I'll miss:

*Ben painting my toenails

*strangers getting up on the subway to give me their seat

*not being responsible for someone else's well-being yet

*yeah, that's about it

no pig flu here

So this whole swine flu thing has been spinning around in my head for awhile now. Just a few days ago another pregnant (25 year old) woman died in Chicago. So I definitely knew I wanted to get it but I hadn't really worried about it... until I heard that it takes a few weeks to work in you in order for you to be immune and for your antibodies to also help your baby out. Well I only have 4 weeks left and it takes about 2 to work. Ben received his last week because he works in the hospital now and had to get it, as did all other employees, but no one else. No other dr. office, hospital, or clinic in our area had any available. Finally I found a community college in the ghetto of the south side of Chicago and had Ben drive me there immediately. 15 minutes later I walked out vaccinated - hallelujah!

we're not obsessed.. promise..

Although our thoughts are pretty consumed with having this baby in four weeks - we're not obsessed with this belly. I just want to post something since we haven't taken a picture of anything we've been up to in so long. But we finally ordered a new camera and it should be here in the next week or so. Then normal not bump (minus head) pictures will grace this blog. Until then, this is all you're gonna get.

35 weeks, 5 days - can you tell she's starting to drop? - hallelujah!

a little more than a month left...

So all of my pictures of my belly have my head cut off because I have to use my cell phone (our camera was lost on a subway in D.C.) and Ben's never home. To actually 'see' the belly up close and personal I have to put the cell phone super close to the mirror, therefore, cutting off my head. But it's not like my head has changed =) Our nursery is almost finished. I just have to hang up the pictures and shelf, so I'll post pictures of that soon. We're slowly checking things off our list to have ready by the time she comes home. Luckily we only have two major/expensive things left to purchase: stroller, swing. Gosh, babies are expensive.

This picture is from 34 weeks, 3 days.

why we'll probably fail at this whole labor thing...

So we went to our first birthing class yesterday. Both of us weren't too excited to go because 1) there was a small list of things I wanted to be covered, and 2) Ben wasn't going to learn much that was new. BUT I signed up so I'd feel prepared and all that jazz. We were not the best students... at all... We kept quoting the movie "Baby Mama" and laughing in the back row (yes, we were those kind of students). When we first got there they gave us a worksheet to fill out our thoughts and feelings about different pregnant words. Some examples are below.

pain - "how much until I can have the drugs" (Jamie)

the pregnant body - "big belly", "sexy mama" (Ben), "praying for zero stretch marks" (Jamie)

labor - "quick please" (Jamie), "hand squeezing" (Ben)

c-section - some gross medical terms that used the words 'pull' and 'overflowing' (Ben) - gross

Then they asked us to share... I think we made up different answers out loud because everyone else definitely didn't write the same stuff as us. I really did try to take it more seriously, but it's hard to be in that kind of mood and then lay down on some mats and think serene thoughts as Ben is rubbing my back and staring at my face. We have one more class next Saturday... hopefully by then we'll mature a little. I just wish I had never seen the movie "Baby Mama" - if you haven't and you're expecting (even if you're not it's flippin' hilarious!) then I would definitely put it down on the list of 'musts' right next to 'What to Expect When You're Expecting'... =)