Comin' Down the Home Stretch

Just 8 weeks to go... The pregnancy is going really well. I've really, and I mean REALLY, slowed down. I think the reason I've been so into sewing and needlework lately is that it's something I can do SITTING DOWN and still feel productive! (since I'm really only good for about 2 hrs. of standing-up work each day now) I've got to schedule out carefully all my errands and tasks for the next 2 months. I've got my babysitting job down to just one day a week, which will help immensely with my energy level as well as ability to run errands and get stuff done, let alone get back to homeschooling Miriam again! I still see lots of workbooks in her immediate future though.

Thankfully I still feel pretty good -- I'm not mooing quite yet, but give me a couple more weeks. :) I've got a pillow system worked out that allows me to get a decent night's sleep. And I've been doing exercises to keep myself flexible, so I'm able to do things like stand up when I've been sitting on the floor -- although getting off the sofa in time to answer the phone is becoming an Olympic sport. :) It's funny how each pregnancy has been so different. As one of my OB's said, "You can't compare your children!" With Katie I just felt so big and uncomfortable all the time -- but with this one there's no major discomfort, just lots of little things. I love this cartoon that came in one of my recent BabyCenter emails:



Anyway, enough about me. At long last, here are the ultrasounds from MONTHS ago, back when I was still "cutely pregnant" and not yet "DEFINITELY pregnant". :)
(we don't have a scanner so I had to take digital pics & upload them -- too many steps to get done in a timely manner!)

Yeah, I know, snapshots of ultrasounds are impossible to decipher. Even Mr. Pickles, who was there, had a hard time figuring out what he was seeing. In this one, the top of the baby's head is at the bottom left. I just love seeing all the little fingers.

uh oh, looks like we've got another nail biter...

baby power!!

cootchie cootchie coo...


So who do you think he/she looks like?

Also, betting is now open for gender/birth date. For the record:

-with Miriam, we thought she was a boy. She was born over two weeks early.
-with Katie, I was convinced she was a girl, even though she was extremely active in utero. She was born two days early.
-with this baby, it has about the same activity level as Miriam's, and I've been getting girl vibes. It's due March 28.

So, any takers? A mythical bag of marshmallows goes to the closest guess.

First of February

appropriate poem for today:

The Rainy Day
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the moldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the moldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast
And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.


...unless, of course, you're a kid:

in which case this one is perfect:

Spring Rain
by Marchette Chute

The storm came up so very quick
It couldn't have been quicker.
I should have brought my hat along.
I should have brought my slicker.

My hair is wet, my feet are wet,
I couldn't be much wetter.
I fell into a river once,
But this is even better.