learn somethin new every day

I've been getting emails everyday of my pregnancy from Whattoexpect.com . Often there are little tidbits about fetal development that catch me by surprise... like, yesterday i got this email that said that newborn babies can't really produce tears! Their tear ducts are too tiny!! I never knew that!! The true waterworks don't start till they're about a month old... not that there will be any mistaking his cries... but... why? It's so interesting to me. Like, maybe God just wanted to spare their little cheeks from the extra exposure to salt or something...

Not only does it boggle my mind, but it reminds me anew how much remains a mystery-- how much we have yet to learn about life, and our baby's in particular!

Sleeping a lot the past couple of days-- and apparently really needing to. I am continually exhausted... and i'm not even doing anything. All that energy I had the past few weeks is totally wiped out of my system. I am trying to relax and enjoy it all. Especially the uninterruptedness of it!! And I either sleep so soundly that i don't feel Bruno's kicks, or he is sleeping right along with me. It's like he knows as soon as i'm awake; he starts moving around. I'm hoping that's a courtesy he'll continue till he's 18. What? A mother can dream...

We already know who will have cried the most tears by the end of the May--

Oh Deer...

With all newness of life there is a downside of living in a fallen world. Freshly fallen snow is soon polluted by cars' exhaust. Flowers bloom and quickly fade away. Leaves turn brown. Even little babies are tainted by the realities of sin. And sadly, every year around this time, plants like our Hostas are barely sprung up before they're viciously eaten by the greedy, ravenous creatures that roam our property. The other night, however, we caught them on film. The only problem? There's no way to have them arrested for destruction of new life... or property damage. Ahh, the woes of the western world!
Here they are, in broad daylight, getting away with murder! As you will hear, I have very little compassion for them...

One cm at a time...

ONE cm dilated as of this morning-- make that barely ONE. . . and 80% effaced! I sent a text msg. to dave to let him know, and his response was classic: "um, what exactly does that mean again?" (it's hard for a guy to keep track of all these gynecological terms!)
Basically-- it's a start! A start that could result in a baby by tomorrow-- or 2 weeks from now-- So let the games begin (the waiting game, mostly).
I went to Mom's for lunch (she makes the best grilled cheese!) and ended up staying there all afternoon, rather uncomfortable. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say those organs and intestines are all in places they didn't used to be.
The best remedy? Lots of pillows and back-to-back episodes of Little House on the Prairie. We never had cable tv growing up, and my parents finally got it this year when they signed up for some Verizon internet deal. Great for uncomfortable pregnant women! Not having a tv at all, it was extra nice to just sit and relax and zone out with Mom and the Ingalls. Gotta love the good, clean hour long fun!
Last night dave and i rented Close Encounters of the Third Kind on the laptop, and spent the whole 2 1/2 hours being entertained simultaneously by the aliens on-screen, and the alien in my belly, who apparently liked the combination of ice cream and brownies I'd just eaten, and the Steven Spielberg music piping out of the speakers! Very amusing, and again, increasingly uncomfortable, as he is quickly growing and running out of room.
I don't know that I'm "ready" to have him tomorrow, per se, but I have a feeling by the time the week comes to an end, I'll be on my way to ready!
Not that I have a choice in the matter, but all in all I'm not in a huge hurry. . . yet. :)

Date Night at...Walmart?

Yes. It's come to this. The highlight of my week!

We headed to Walmart at 8:00 last night after dinner with my parents (they came by our place so my dad could advise us on what kind of tree to plant in honor of Bruno's new life!) ...

My one request for the birth of this child was that we get a Glider and Ottoman for the nursery. I have to give props to Walmart for their Site-to-Store shipping option. Instead of paying for shipping, you order the product online and they ship it to the Walmart of your choosing for free. All you have to do is pick it up. They say it will take 7-10 days-- ours was here in 2! Nice service, Wal!

I'd been up and on my feet a lot of yesterday and was not in the best shape to be walking all over Walmart... so my compassionate husband suggested strongly that I use one of those electric old people carts... I was hesitant for several reasons. One, I'm not old. What if an old person came in and really needed it? But mostly, I was just embarassed. But once I walked in the store and saw 4 of them lined up and ready to go, my feet insisted. The associate standing nearby asked if I was ok-- I guess I looked pretty tired. She asked when I was due, and when I told her a week and a half, she practically sat me down in the first available cart! She said something to the effect of, "Oh Honey! You'd better take one of these-- or you'll end up with a Walmart Baby!" Ha ha. Scenes from "Where the Heart Is" popped into my mind and I chuckled.

We covered some pretty good ground (ie, the entire store) and got not only our main purchase but one of those fold up and carry on your shoulder camp chairs, so bruno and I can sit outside our bedroom in the morning sun... only $8.88! :) YES! The only thing missing from the evening was a video camera-- 9 month pregnant woman zooms around Walmart in old people cart; husband films the whole thing!

As we were leaving, a yound woman who looked about 10 months pregnant walked out looking very uncomfortable. For a second I felt guilty for having used the cart. But then I realized that it was indeed the most fun I could have had at Walmart-- and it made me thankful for my wise and insistant husband. :)

We set up the glider this morning and put it in the nursery-- it looks great! I am so excited to finally have everything -- now just a few pictures on the walls and it will be Bruno-Ready.

Ace is the Place!

Ok, so I learned this morning that I'm NOT the only one who loves a bargain!
The new ACE Hardware of West Chester sent out a "Grand Opening" flyer to everyone in West Chester, letting us know that the first 200 customers this morning would receive a free...... GARDEN HOSE!! (woo hoo!) ... not sure why we really need one, seeing as we have no garden, but it seems like something everyone should have on hand... just in ... case? And when it's FREE, come on-- it'd almost be wrong to pass it up! Cuz then you know the day will inevitably come when you'll be like, "man if we only had a hose..."
SO.... I just happened to be up and sleepless by 6am, so getting there by 7 when the doors opened was not a problem (pre-pregnancy, 7am would've been out of the question). I threw on some sweats (which is just about all that still fits me) and pulled into the parking lot by 7:01. There were about 20 people already there and in line for their free hoses! No way! I guess a lot of people are early risers or have to be at work by 8 or something-- but gee wiz-- at ACE by 7 sharp, all for a garden hose?? Then I realized that I was one of them, and even as I tried to act nonchalant when they gave it to me, as if I had only stopped by casually at 7:01 to buy the steel rake my husband requested as I left the house, I had this sneaking suspicion that the cashier was like, "you are all totally cheapskates!" Which I guess is obviously true when everyone is there for the same reason, trying to act like they're not.
So home by 7:16 with rake and hose in hand, I am just about ready for a nap :)
The reason I was up so early? I had a restless night, dreaming (again) that I went to nurse my baby and he turned into Patches, my parents' cat... with sharp teeth and claws, and stinky cat breath. How's that for a nightmare? (No more reading about Breastfeeding before bed!)
Hopefully Bruno won't be born with teeth.
So that's the beginning of my eventful day... I'm planning to get my next bargain later this afternoon-- a cute little bouncy seat for Gramsy's house I found on, yes, Craigslist, for $5. Then home for a tutorial on how to use my breast pump from my sister-in-law. THAT should be fun. No telling what kind of dreams that will spur! I wouldn't be surprised if I wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat from having fed my child through a garden hose, connected to the breast pump!

Like Mommy, Like Baby

This baby is READY to come out! I think he knows that his new room will be much more spacious than his current one!
His movements are suddenly... well... Bigger than ever. More pronounced, forceful, and distinctively feet, elbows, and fists. Jabs to the ribcage are suddenly painful, and that headbutt to the bladder is growing increasingly unbearable. And yet there are still moments when he's so quiet I actually forget that he's in there. . . though those moments are obviously few and far between, due to the hugeness of the belly.
For the first time ever we have a mirror bigger than the bathroom medicine cabinet (we pulled it out of storage and added it to our new bedroom 'look')-- just in time for me to see how big i really am. i love it! I stood in front of my dresser this morning and marvelled at the amazing ability for my body to stretch to such a large capacity! As alien as it looks, it really is beautiful. Veins, stretch marks and all!
I am really starting to slow down. Not just literally (ie, the sudden inability to walk without waddling!)... but like, I barely did anything today and was so exhausted by 2pm I had to take a nap. It's funny to me how the closer you get to HAVING a baby the more you act like one! As I think about it, there really are numerous similarities.
Here are my top ten:

1. You cry a lot
2. You're not always sure why you're crying
3. You need to eat every 2-3 hours due to your miniscule stomach capacity (talk about demand feeding!)
4. You need a nap to make it through the day
5. You pee all the time!
6. You don't have very much control over any of your bodily functions
7. You're pretty reliant on other people to help you do simple things; carry stuff, tie your shoes, etc...
8. You don't have much brain capacity or memory skills
9. Sometimes what you really need is just a good burp!
10. You're just plain soft and pudgey!

Here's to 2 more weeks!

Making Room

I am such a bargain hunter, I can't help it! The awesome, relatively new Pack 'n' Play I found on Craigslist for $15 didn't come with a bassinet feature, as I had thought, so I jumped back online to see if I could find a bassinet for cheap. It took a couple of days, but the blessing of what we got far outweighs the search time. A girl just a mile or two from our house was trying to get rid of a ton of her baby stuff, as they prepare to move. I got this adorable bassinet, a baby tub (which I had originally registered for, but changed my mind at the last minute and ended up with a "foldable" one that doesn't fold -- so i have to return it), a bunch of baby books, a snowsuit, some bedding, and a few other miscellaneous items, all for $20! Kate came over after work and helped me rearrange our bedroom furniture (and vacuum the hard-to-reach places!), and then Dave and I spent the evening hanging pictures and getting our room ready for Bruno to spend the first month or so "rooming in". :) You have no idea how exciting it is to have pictures FINALLY hung on our walls... after 10 months of living here! Our room looks so much bigger, even with the bassinet-- which btw, takes up a lot less space than a Pack 'n' Play would, and is so much more maneuverable! I am sooooo thankful!! For God's provision, and for the beauty of Craigslist-- and whoever Craig is, I'm thankful for him too!

Here are the pics of our room ... soon I'll have the pics of the finished nursery, but there are still some things to be done in there before I post the final shots ...

Our window is strangely off-center, and the picture

is the perfect size to accommodate the awkward wall space!

It vibrates AND plays music :)

We can finally open our doors (our bed had been blocking them all year)

--Just in time for Spring!! Yay!

The painting is the one Dave did for the Amnion Auction, of our

Wedding Night Flowers... that Kristina bought and gave to me

last Christmas :) :) :) LOVE it!!!

I am so blessed!!!!!