Friends.

We had a great weekend! Here are some pics.

Leaving Mary Frog Toes' parents' cottage. We finally got to catch up and Baby Cute cooperated by kicking FT and her sister, Teresa. Mary and Eric are planning one more international jaunt to Thailand before starting their own family, but our kids will have no choice but to be friends.

I would just like to defend my flat hair by saying I did nothing but wash it on Saturday morning because I thought we would be spending the day in the lake. However, we are concerned citizens and didn't want to have a mini Exxon Mobil spill in Coldwater Lake by taking Mary's parents' boat out with its oil-leaking issues. So we enjoyed indoor fun including delicious fajitas and birthday cake.

Speaking of friends, we got word yesterday that our friends Laura and Matt are expecting their first baby on January 29, 2008!! I am so thrilled!

David's birthday was Sunday. It was a treat to see Carolyn, and she was kind enough to play with David while I was at work. We had a delicious brunch together and then David got to spend the day with his Mom, a rare and fun treat for him.

I'm sure he'll love that I'm posting these super sleepy pictures of him, but I was so excited to give him his presents from Baby Cute that he wasn't in his most picturesque state.

We like to "do" something instead of "give" something to each other for birthdays, so my gift to David is going to a Tigers game this summer. But Baby Cute wanted to give his Daddy a present in utero, so we conspired and got him a "Daddy" gift. A little teddy bear, a frame, a bib, and a few books Baby Cute would like Daddy to read to him. Then "we" made a book of all of the things Baby Cute is looking forward to doing with his Daddy, like tailgating, meeting his friends, visiting Grandma Carolyn, watching sports on TV, going for walks, etc. etc. etc. It made us both cry. That Baby Cute, he's so thoughtful!

And Dave's best friend Matt was kind enough to send along pics from Sue and Tim's wedding, so here we are.

Being pregnant isn't all bad; it was a fun realization that you don't need alcohol to have a good time. Damn, I hate admitting that parents are right! Apparently, you just need a lot of maraschino cherries to make your tongue red, and some highly entertaining friends!

The non-photographed weekend highlights are also worth mentioning... I got to see Meredith and Jerry and Meredith's best friend Carla on Friday night on their way through town. Baby Cute was being his fickle self and didn't kick Aunt Meredith, but she'll have another chance to get beat up next Saturday at Baby Cute's first shower. I promised Carolyn that I wouldn't peek at the registry... It's VERY hard.

And perhaps this will sound stupid, but here goes. I got to meet my favorite BRU co-worker Nadia's baby, Sophia Louise, at the baby store yesterday. She is SOOOOOO CUTE! I already knew she liked me because I was one of the only people she kicked at the store. She has crazy sticking-up soft black baby hair and the most perfect little face. She is just a month or so old and I got to hold her... Looking into her little face and cooing at her and feeling her snuggle into my arms... it hit me. I LOVE babies. I know, it sounds stupid, but I feel like I've been so caught up in the pregnancy, the preparations, work, family, friends, etc. that it took holding Baby Sophie Lou to remind me of how long I've wanted children and how much I am looking forward to cuddling my own little guy in just a couple of months. It's so amazing to think about cuddling my own cooing little boy soon... *sigh*

A chop, and good news.

I got my hair cut. I also didn't have my camera at home yesterday, so no pictures yet. It's short, much shorter than I had planned. But I was SO tired of looking in the mirror (which I do often because it's in front of the sink where I wash my hands 8 million times a day after I go to the bathroom) and feeling frumpy. I went to a new salon recommended by a coworker and got a great, short and sassy cut that takes significantly less time to dry/style and stopped making my face look fatter than it is. I will definitely go back to 'my' new stylist Kate. Given how crazy thick and lustrous my hair is right now thanks to my preggo hormones, it should grow out enough to pull back for my own personal "Labor Day" in October.

I also got confirmation that my duties at work will be shifting. This is GREAT news. I will no longer be a 50/50 split personality between animal and plant research, my focus will be on the plant side of things. It will be a slow transition because of my maternity leave and some interesting internal politics, but by next June at the very latest I will get promoted from a communications manager I to a comm. manager II and leave my animal peeps in someone else's capable hands. I'm thrilled.

Baby Cute and I are also in love with Starbucks Frappuccino. Yes, it's caffeinated and sweet and delicious, but it makes every morning brighter.

Tonight I have a very important top secret birthday project to complete. Tomorrow we are going to Coldwater to play with Mary Frog Toes and her family and then celebrating David's birthday on Sunday with GrandmaCarolynSoonToBe. Hooray for weekends!

29 weeks and twinkling...

I don't know about my fellow preggos, but there is something very daunting about the 30-week mark. Perhaps because 30 doesn't seem that far from 32, and 32 doesn't seem that far from 38 and it's not totally rare to deliver at 38 weeks. Really, once you hit 30 weeks you are out of 2-digit change range. Whoa.

Yesterday I got to talk to my darling sister, Meredith, who freaked me out by noting that I have less time left before Baby Cute comes than I'll have on maternity leave after he arrives. Just 11 weeks. Whoa.

I feel good today. I've had my semi-familiar and not always pregnancy-related ups and downs the last few days. It's a combination of wanting to get out of town, stay at home and do nothing, get everything done at work, plan for the future, read good books, go shopping, eat too much, weigh a lot less, run a 5K, find a new job, see my Mom and cry. Delightful feelings, really, but much more enjoyable when they don't all come at once. My David has been quite resilient and is very good at handling my need to just cry sometimes. I love him.

Speaking of my beloved, DMS turns the big tre-tre (that's 33 to you and me) this weekend. One of my greatest fears about parenthood is turning into that couple that A) Loses their individuality and personal interests, B) Call each other "mommy and daddy", and C) Forgo all once romantic and thoughtful occasions because they are too broke/tired/busy/stressed/obsessed with the responsibilities of their life. I feel very lucky to have had David all to myself for the last 7 years and think we've had a wonderful journey together. I realize our path is changing along with our priorities, but I always want him to know how special he is to me, and how much I adore him. His birthday is generally the time I try and express that, so I'm feeling a little stumped with the combination of our crazy schedules, money constraints and my desperate attempts to not turn immediately into a hypocrite.

Perhaps I will be inspired tomorrow...

Before the customary 29-week update, here is a list of small things that make me happy in recognition of my easy descent into pessimism. I apologize in advance that many of my happy thoughts are food-related. I'm a big fan these days.

--Chicken on the grill.
--The prospect of seeing my sister Meredith this weekend.
--Having three friends with baby boys by Christmas.
--Leftover lemonangelfoodcakecoolwhip dessert.
--Not paying return shipping on orders from JCPenney.com.
--40% off coupon code at JCPenney.com.
--Brainstorming about rugs and curtains with my Mom.
--David's birthday.
--Runa Kitty.
--Driving myself to work and singing loudly with my friends, Girlyman.
--Getting weepy thinking about Baby Cute liking my music because of my belting.
--Finishing my baby registry.
--Maternity leave.
--Granola-crunchy doctors who wear Birkenstocks and are against circumcision.
--Tiny blue sweaters.
--Small Halloween costumes.
--www.thepioneerwoman.com
--Lofthouse cookies.
--Nate's blog post about getting kicked by Baby Cute.
--Hugging my sister Melanie in less than a month.
--Being forced to read Harry Potter slowly.
--My MommyChair with gliding footrest of wonder.
--Waking up with David's hand on my belly.
--Getting kicked by my darling baby boy.
--Counting my blessings.

BabyCenter: Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day.

BabyGaga: If you’ve been feeling butterflies moving around in your belly, it’s not just your run-of-the-mill pre-birth performance anxiety. No, it’s your amazing baby with a case of the hiccups: a fairly common occurrence at this point resulting from practicing breathing for their big birthday. In addition, to getting a round of butterfly-like hiccups, your little swimmer has arduously managed to accumulate enough baby fat to account for nearly 3.5% of their overall body weight. Yeah, compared to we adults, it’s not a lot, but when they’re little like that—it’s certainly a healthy (and warming) accomplishment in its way. Another fantastic accomplishment: your baby's spleen is now in charge of hematopoiesis—the 10 dollar name for the process involved in building up certain important blood components. Another fantastic-accomplishment: your little monkey has been peeing into their amniotic sac for a little while now (this is why potty training takes a while) and if you didn’t know, actually swallows it along with the rest of the amniotic fluid. Although the concept is nasty, their urine is sterile and as part of the amniotic fluid base, is replaced several times throughout the day. So if you didn’t know before, now you can tell people, that yes, you drank your own urine—you were still in the womb, but nonetheless, you’ve been there.

Smile!

Well thank goodness I have friends who remember to take pictures! Here is yours truly with some very special friends and talented CMU public relations alumna at Addy's wedding shower a couple of weekends ago.

Left to right: Addy (Bride to Be and Lawyer Extraordinaire), Moi, Miesha (GM PR goddess), and Anne (healthcare media maven and your source for all information on the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital)

Baby Cute, Baby Cute, what is your name?

People keep asking us if we've chosen a name for Baby Cute yet. And while the official party line is that we are going to wait until we meet him, I can say that as of today Baby Cute does not have a name. If we had to decide today, we'd be in trouble. We have successfully read every baby boy name in our 100,000 baby names book and have a list of about 30 names that we like. Some Dave likes more than me, and vice versa.

Deck chairs and 75-degree weather makes playing the baby name game much more fun. We would switch off reading one letter from the alphabet at a time and write down any of the names that struck us. It was fun, and now our list is compiled!

The more the little guy kicks me, the more I get to know him. So I think in another couple of months we'll have our list whittled down considerably. Does anyone have suggestions? (And no, Melanie, we won't officially name him the Zucchini!) If you think you have the perfect name for Baby Cute, please comment in the blog and let me know!


We had such a fun weekend. I'm hoping Dave's friend Matt sends some of the photos we took at Sue and Tim's wedding as I forgot my camera. The day was so lovely--beautiful weather, beautiful ceremony, good food and all of the Shirley Temple's I could drink. Baby Cute finally kicked someone other than David during his after-dinner acrobatics. Our friend Chrissy was sitting next to me and got to feel our little guy. Chrissy and her husband Matt have a little guy of their own, Drew, so we got to swap lots of preggo stories.

The reception was at the Candlelite, where David and I celebrated our marriage 3 years ago. It was very nice to dance there again and see our friends. People kept commenting on how good I looked and how impressed they were that I was dancing. Dude, I'm pregnant not disabled! And pregnant or not, I LOVE to dance. So I wasn't turning down the opportunity. I just needed to wear flip flops and take frequent breaks. :)

Sunday was also a wonderful day. My Dad cajoled David into playing golf so my Mom and I got to wander the baby store and pet all of the things on our registry. My Mom also helped me make some final decisions on Baby Cute's nursery, too, which has been weighing heavily on my mind. I just couldn't decide on crib bedding (I know, what a horrible quandry)! But the blue dots and stripes from the Carter collection will really look gorgeous with our natural crib and the "you are my sunshine" yellow throughout the rest of the room will still establish our theme pretty well. I'm excited.

My Mom and I picked up rootbeer floats and my fabulous grandmas on our way home from the baby store. Seeing my family, and my Grandmas in particular, is a sure way to get excited about Baby Cute. My Grandmas have absoutely pure unadulterated joy about their great-grandson. They help me know that everything is going to be ok. They have great stories about my parents and my siblings as babies. Their excitement is downright contagious. Both of my Grandmas and my Dad got to feel Baby Cute move, but really Uncle Nate got the best kick of all. A real "thump" that Baby Cute reserves for special occassions. They're buddies already for sure.

We got home early Sunday evening, but I only had time for 5 chapters of Harry Potter. I'm just so gosh darn tired these days! Even last night when I could have spent all evening reading I had a small weepy session instead and only made it to chapter 13. Ugh, it's KILLING me! If my vacation time wasn't so valuable, I would totally be home reading today. This is a definite illustration of the change of my life. A year or so ago, I would have purchased the book at 12:01 a.m. and stayed up all night to read it. Instead, I used my amazon.com gift cards, waited until we got home on Sunday and read only until my bedtime. *sigh* The times, they are a changin'.

Being out of the office for Ag Expo last week really put me behind in my work, so I have many things to tackle this week. On to them!

Reason # 837 I love my house.

Today, God was watching out for me. Given that I've been stuck in a tent for three days with all of the free MSU dairy store ice cream I or 10,000 of my closest farmer peeps could eat, life should have been looking good around 2:30pm when the show closes at 3pm. BUT--I could already tell it was going to happen again. People weren't going to leave the ice cream until we tore it from their cold, dead hands. Ugh. We were going to be stuck doing clean up FOREVER.


And then God showed up in the form of a delightfully short but very ferocious wind and rain storm that blew things around in the tent pretty hilariously, but more importantly made everyone feel like they needed to leave IMMEDIATELY. Yes, I could not have done it better myself. Add that small act of God to my foresight in selecting the DeWitt wrestling team as my afternoon volunteer group and tear-down was smooth and downright enjoyable.


So I was home in record time--before Dave had to leave for work even! Delightful. Ag Expo 2007 is OVER. Thank God.


The ferocious windstorm also knocked down a huge tree one street over from our house and blew away quite an assortment of branches from our tree-lined neighborhood. I came home to find my favorite neighborhood girls in my front yard, but I didn't think twice about it because they often hang out on my lawn for random reasons. I don't mind. So I walk in to see Dave and he tells me the CUTEST story, and reason #837 I love my house/neighborhood/life.


When the windstorm stopped, Dave heard a knock at the door. It was the two girlies from next door and one from two doors down (ages 7-9 perhaps). They asked Dave if they could pick the branches and sticks up from our yard. Um, the answer was yes. Apparently there was debris everywhere, and the girls diligently picked up every single piece--front and back. Dave gave them each $2 and some of the leftover Ag Expo prizes he had hauled home for me that afternoon. They were thrilled, and tried to give him $1 back. He told them he thought he paid a fair price and thanked them again. Right before Dave left for work, I was sitting on the couch and heard another knock at the door. They had come to tell me they were done. They were SO cute, I invited them in and gave them a rice krispy treat each.


Yes, I am THAT NEIGHBOR LADY who gives small children rice krispy treats. We live in the best neighborhood EVER.


Despite being exhausted I got quite a second wind and played in my yard, watered my lawn and tomato plants (effectively dousing myself with the sprinkler... I'm glad I was home alone), swept up the debris on my driveway, decluttered my house and made Dave a hefty to-do list for while he is on hiatus from Pearson. I'm thinking I should eat some dinner and find my way to my "mommy chair" to put my feet up and read parenting magazines or something equally maternal.


Here are the long-awaited and super exciting 28 week updates.

BabyCenter: By this week, your baby weighs a little over 2 pounds and measures almost 15 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

BabyGaga: You know how you’ve been feeling a bit like a barn with legs? Well, that feeling won’t subside before… well, you know, when you finally give birth. For the time being, you’ve got yourself a baby in the business of collecting fat and lots of it! In spite of the dubious joys of being a human-barn, this baby fat business is very serious and you’ve got to put up with it because it’s going to keep your little porker warm and healthy after birth. Other good stuff from inside: their eyes are doing lots of blinking this week because they’re now able to respond to light and dark. Also, their industrious little bone marrow is now a major construction site for developing red blood cells, while their super-cute adrenal glands are actually producing androgen and estrogen—which will stimulate your hormones to begin milk production.

Let them eat cake! (with their sisters!)

Two extraordinarily good pieces of news!
1. My sister Melanie is going to be able to come to Saginaw for Baby Cute's shower in August! I feel like I already got the best present possible--all of my sisters together! As if I wasn't excited enough... now sister-mom-grandma-preggo belly togetherness?! Yahooey!
2. I passed my glucose tolerance test with FLYING colors. My blood sugar was 104 AFTER my sugary drink, meaning my pancreas can take a licking and keep on ticking. Take THAT stupid books/people/statistics that freak me out about being pregnant and fat. HA.

I got the invitation to Baby Cute's Saginaw shower and it made me cry. It's SO cute, and SO perfect and makes this whole baby thing SO real. *sigh* Life is good.

It's Ag Expo week, so I am very tired of being outside in the hot July weather all day long. However, my student Heidi is doing a bang-up job being my "feet" and making sure that I am taking it easy enough that I am not puffing up too badly at the end of 80+ degree days in a hot tent. Tomorrow is the last day, so thank goodness.

Our appointment otherwise went very well on Monday. I definitely gained some weight, my blood pressure remains "a little high," no protein in my pee (that's good, means my kidneys are functioning well), and we had another ultrasound to see a few things that our first ultrasound missed. Baby Cute cooperated, we had a second confirmation of BOY, and everything else looks great. My belly definitely continues to grow and move around quite a bit. He's been quiet this week with all of the heat and stress of Ag Expo, but he kicks it out at night so I know he is just a fan of quiet.

We made our next two appointments at the OB office. One in 3 weeks, and then one 2 weeks after that with the nurse practitioner to talk about our "birth plan." Whoa. Birth plan? You mean I have to give birth? And have a plan? Um, ok.

28 weeks today, but I need to get to bed, so updates later!

Well-dressed babies and sunburns.

Traveling is hard work; so is attending baby and wedding showers. I'm downright sleepy today, and other than a much-needed and super-satisfying morning of housecleaning on Saturday, we didn't do much except travel to a baby shower in Mt. Pleasant, spend some time with friends, drive home, sleep, wake up, drive to a wedding shower in Detroit, drive home, sleep, eat dinner, sleep.

Go figure.

We got my beloved Belinda the Bonneville back on Friday afternoon. She runs so very quietly now and shifts smoothly and without rumbling, grumbling or clunking. Money well spent... I guess. Dave's #1 job this week is to clean her out and wash her and make her look worthy of the $2500 we just put into her. We live much closer to where we park now, so there are no excuses for having a dirty car.

Heather's baby shower was lovely. Unfortunately, Heather and Craig were the only people at the shower we even remotely knew, so we people-watched and ate nice shower food until the gift opening where the ladies went inside to ooh and aah and the boys stayed outside under the tent to talk about the meaning of life, or sports, whatever.

Oh, the gift opening. Baby Smith received lots of really nice things, but mainly CLOTHES! Good God, the clothes! There isn't any way he will be able to wear everything before he grows out of it. I realize how hard it is to resist buying baby clothes (I am guilty of it myself, I bought the cutie outfit she registered for...) but WOW.

And another testament to why I hate the Target baby registry--their evil return policy. Many folks were kind enough to include gift receipt, but amidst all of the tissue paper, wrapping paper, bows and onesies, it would be easy to misplace the little slips of doom. And if you don't have a gift receipt at Target, you are STUCK with the items. Ugh. So Heather and her sister had to be downright obsessive about keeping the gift receipts together, which makes the gift giver feel like she is going to return their gift. She likely won't, but she may, and that shouldn't matter, but that all-important gift receipt makes all attention shift to that thought. Humph.

Addy's bridal shower on Sunday was lovely; I would rank it the most impressive bridal shower I've ever attended. The highlight of the day was getting to spend time with my friends Anne and Miesha. Anne and I got a full 3+ hours of car chat and there were no games or organized activities at the shower, so Miesha and I got to talk and talk and talk while sipping delicious lemonade and nibbling on amazing food like scallops and grilled pita bread and jacami slaw and spinach orzo salad with grilled salmon. Mmmm. I got a little sunburned as it was held outside in this luscious Clinton Township backyard, but the amazing food and conversation makes my tender shoulders more than worth it. We left before the gifts were opened, but I'm so glad we did; I'm not sure I would have been able to stay awake much longer. Anne dropped me off and I did little more than taken my sandals off my swollen feet before laying down for a snooze. I'm sure I will think fondly of Sunday afternoon naps with my beloved in a few months....

We have our 7-month appointment today, hooray! We have another ultrasound scheduled, too, so we'll get to wave hello to Baby Cute again. He has been quite active this morning and I got a nice hard kick on the left side of my belly button versus his typical right-side location, so perhaps he has been doing some moving. We shall see this afternoon.

Ag Expo starts tomorrow, so today will be a very busy day of set-up and preparation before the show kicks off tomorrow. Good times, good times. I'll update after our appointment today!

Blueberry Boy.

It's nice to know that my squirmy baby is a boy. I'll say it, I wanted a girl. I still do, but not right now. I want Baby Boy Cute Scott right now. Baby Girl Cute Scott will be an excellent little sister some day, but not in the immediate future. Dave was kind enough to let me cry (just a little) about not buying lavender blankets and not having a girl to take to my girl scout meetings last night, but it was short-lived. As my Mom said... OhBoyOhBoyOhBoy!

Everyone is so excited for Baby Cute; it's really flattering and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Lots of questions about his name, so the official answer is this--We aren't naming him until we meet him. There are lots of names that we like, and we know his middle name will be Milton, but I want to see his little face before we give him one of his most defining characteristics. When we have a good set of final names, I'll put up a poll or something fun. :)

I think yesterday was pretty tough on Baby Cute with all of the poking and prodding of his warm little womb. He's been very quiet today with only minor squirming around after I finished off some delicious, Michigan-grown blueberries.

It was really special to spend quality time with him and learn so much about his anatomy. Our local Lansing Community College trains sonographers and the two students who scanned us are still learning quite a bit. This was great for us, as the instructor pointed out lots and lots of nuances about Baby Cute. We know so much!

• Baby Cute weighs 2.3 pounds.
• The placenta is against the back part of my uterus and away from my cervix--this is good.
• Our cord insertion is perfect.
• Baby Cute doesn't have spina bifida or some other kind of spinal growth thingee.
• He has ten fingers and ten toes.
• Baby Cute likes to cross his legs at the ankle and he waves his little hands in front of his face now and again (SO cute!).
• We get lots of comments about his 'nice, four-chamber heart.'
• His little baby butt is up on the right side of my belly button and his head is down in my pelvis. Good to know he is head-butting my bladder.
• There was a little bit of urine in Baby Cute's bladder, which he will pee out and swallow again. Ewww.
• He was more than happy to show the nice ladies his femur multiple times.

I have a whole new respect for ultrasound techs. We went from a VERY inexperienced woman (she poked rather than glided the wand thingee and used too much gel) to a pretty experienced woman (much smoother gliding, but jerkier movements that lost what she was trying to see) to the instructor (confident, smooth and comfortable). Fascinating! They kept thanking us and we kept thanking them--it was a mutual admiration society evening.

Dave didn't ask me what I wanted for dinner (perhaps I was too busy texting and calling everyone in my phone book), so when we ended up at Champps, a sports bar, to watch the All-Star baseball game it struck me... Dave's little buddy is on his way.

Twenty-seven weeks today, folks. 91 days to go.

BabyCenter: This week your baby weighs almost 2 pounds and is about 14.4 inches long with his legs extended. He can now open and close his eyes, and he sleeps and wakes at regular intervals. He may suck his fingers, and although his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with assistance — if he were to be born prematurely. Chalk up any rhythmic movement you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and isn't bothersome to him, so enjoy the tickle. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. Wonder what he's thinking?

BabyGaga: Your not-so-tiny-anymore brilliant baby(about 2 pounds and 14.5 inches long!) is slowly rotating in preparation to “head out.” Obviously, this doesn’t happen overnight, but when you start to feel an unfamiliar pressure on your cervix, you’ll know you’ve got a fully flipped baby locked and loaded for the countdown to their birthday! Even now, at the beginning of the third trimester, their little lungs are already capable of breathing air while the pulmonary vascular system can provide sufficient gas exchange and the central nervous system can generally regulate rhythmic breathing as well as their basal body temperature. For what it’s worth, at this point in a healthy pregnancy a premature child (with intensive care) could easily win on the show: “Survivor: The Early Years.”

And finally, a nod to the random crying. I couldn't even sing along with my CD this morning on the way to work... All of the lyrics to my favorite "Fidgemix" from my friend Sara made me think of my impending status as a Mommy.

Team BLUE.

It's a boy!

Sorry for making so many of you wait so long... Dave thought we should celebrate by having dinner at a sports bar and watching the All-Star baseball game.

The ultrasound director was quick to squelch the two students' excitement to claim boy, telling us when you can REALLY see, the boy parts look like a turtle. A little while later, we were getting another look at the bladder and kidneys and David says "well, that looks like a turtle to me!" And there it was, plain as day.

Snips, snails and puppy dog tails in our future! Baby BOY Scott is still measuring right on for an early October arrival, somewhere between the 5th and the 11th according to the three ultrasound techs that scanned my uterus for the better part of 2.5 hours. I'm pretty confident we can order the baby blue rug from the JC Penney baby catalogue. :)

Princess Flakes.

I love cereal. Namely--kid cereal. Cocoa puffs, corn pops, cinnamon toast crunch, cookie crisp, lucky charms, golden grahams. I'm typically pretty traditional in my choices and stick with my favorites. David is not a cereal fan and doesn't understand A) Why I must have 3-5 cereal choices at any point in time and B) Why I am 26 years old and refuse to eat grown-up cereal. During a recent half-price cereal sale at Meijer, I decided to go out on a limb and try something new. No, not a grown-up cereal, but Disney Princess Cereal. It didn't look that bad, kinda like frosted flakes, but pink. So I poured myself some cereal yesterday morning only to discover the actual name of the cereal was Disney Princess Fantasy Flakes. Who at Kellogg is snickering right now that they got "Princess Flakes" all the way to grocery store shelves? They weren't that good, but they did turn my milk a delightfully nuclear shade of neon pink, which I enjoyed drinking like strawberry quik.

Today I'm having corn chex.

Baby Cute is having a very active morning. I've said it before, and I'll say it again--Pregnancy is WEIRD. Weird in a miraculous, cosmic, amazing way, but WEIRD nonetheless. Baby Cute isn't big enough for me to know for sure what body part I am feeling, but I definitely felt a shoulder, knee or some other large part this morning a couple of times. I think Baby Cute can sense how excited I am about our ultrasound this afternoon. I hope he/she is excited to show us his/her genitals. I can assure you that this will be the only time I will encourage my first-born to flash strangers.

Baby Cute is still pretty fickle and makes me sit still and put my hand on my belly for "false alarms" pretty often. As he/she gets bigger, I am feeling movement more often, but feeling it from the outside is still the most amazing thing to me. It makes me cry--happy tears, but tears nonetheless. My co-workers must think I am so weird. :)

Everyone keeps asking me how I am doing with the heat. I'm doing really well! I go from air conditioned house to air conditioned car to air conditioned office--so I am coping well. Coming back to work yesterday was actually a relief for me as I am pushing myself pretty hard on weekends and end up exhausted and ready to sit still with my feet up and a fan blowing on me for 8 hours/day. I feel really good--great, even. I feel pregnant, yes, but this is the weirdest, most amazing experience I've ever had. There's plenty of time to be whiny and complain in the next three months or so... For right now, I feel all glowy and preggo and good.

The cosmos work both ways.

So we need a new transmission. I kind of knew that, but it still wasn't easy to swallow and tell Mike the Mechanic to move forward. It's as if someone or something in the cosmos knew that I had just written a check to put into our baby savings account and Mike the Mechanic knew that amount + a rental car for a week would just about eat that up.

So I didn't deposit the check, but we will soon have a new transmission. Yippee.

David is almost more worried about it than I am, which is a delightful role reversal. Hey, I figure if the cosmos can know when I have savings and throw this kind of crap my way, the big guy upstairs will also know when we can't handle anymore financial stressors and cut us a break.

One random break was that someone came and picked up our burned out old water heater from the curbside early this week. That was $33 we didn't have to spend for a special permit for the trashmen to pick it up. Wahoo. Every little bit helps.

So we're fine. We'll be fine. It's just money, and there are many more important things to be concerned with right now. Like what you may ask?

On Tuesday, Baby Cute has another chance to flash us the goods. Yes, ladies and gents, on Tuesday the Great Gender Mystery of 2007 just may be solved! I told my co-workers at the baby store today that if Baby Cute doesn't show us the goods at this ultrasound, then we have another chance on July 16. If we STILL don't know, someone please schedule me an epidural and a C-section for October 10 because this baby has a mind of his/her OWN and labor/delivery is NOT going to go smoothly no matter just how much deep breathing, positioning, chanting or begging I do.

My first day back at the baby store in about a month was today. It was good, great even. People missed me--coworkers and guests alike--which is a nice boost. It was slow, but I saw three of my favorite couples, one of whom has a 16-month-old! They were one of the first couples I helped register, so that just shows you how fast time flies. There were also lots of very hot pregnant women coming in for tank tops and shorts and some coupon savvy folks cashing in on the one-day overlap of the Babies R Us and Toys R Us coupon book sales. Hey, if I didn't need a new transmission I may have indulged myself.

But instead of shopping we registered, adding the baby basic stuff like bottles and bathtubs and breastpumps when I got off at 4pm. David was much better at the big stuff--strollers, carseats, cribs--than he was at the little stuff. He just didn't understand why I couldn't decide between gauze or birdseye cloth diapers for in-the-house burp rags and why we had to register for cute patterned burp rags for being out-and-about. Some things are just unexplainable to my husband. He did personally select the diaper bag and found some Detroit Tigers pacifiers and "Barn Buddy" toys that he felt Baby Cute "needed," so it couldn't have been all bad for him.

Just when I thought David was going to have a meltdown if I didn't pick birdseye vs. gauze in less than 10 seconds Baby Cute got active and gave Daddy Cute's hand a nice kick. This baby is smart, all right. Chanting and deep breathing may just get us through labor after all.

So we're mostly done registering. There are still some boy vs. girl decisions to be made about blankets and a few other little things, but the bulk of stuff is done. It is pretty overwhelming, so I have much more sympathy for the befuddled-looking preggos who just stand and stare at the bottle wall. I was one of them today.

Overall, we had a nice weekend. We worked around the house Saturday morning before it got blazing hot and Dave worked a wedding from 3pm-1am. This gave me plenty of time to shop for some preggo khaki shorts, a bridal shower gift for next weekend and enough Hallmark cards to choke a large horse. I do love shopping, although I pushed it too hard and fell asleep so deeply when I got home that David's 10+ calls to my cell phone went unanswered so he had to bum a ride from the president of the Eagle's Aerie where he was working because I slept through his calls for a ride home. Ooops. At least I left the side door open...

Here is a pic of our hilarious little rental car, the Hyundai Accent. Ours is black. Giggle away--but we actually fit in it quite comfortably. It is zippy and fun to drive and good on gas. It sounds only remotely like a lawn mower. Plus, it goes down the road which is more than I can say for my Beloved Belinda the Bonneville.

Aaaaah, Snack Pack.

Still no official word on the car, but I am feeling better. There is very little in my world that can't be helped by some advice from my Dad and a jello pudding snack (or two).

Baby Cute is also having a very acrobatic afternoon, which makes me stop, put my hand on my baby belly and remember what's really important.

(Perhaps) The sun will come out tomorrow...(maybe)

My car is broken. We had to have it towed this morning and it sounds like the transmission is shot. We had to rent a car. I've had better mornings.

I got to play with my friends Mack and Cat yesterday, it was most excellent. I also got to play with Baby Ally Crankypants. She is 9 months old, and rather tempermental, but absolutely adorable. She reminded me why I love 9-month-old babies in all of their giggly, squirmy, smiley, rolley glory.

Broken car or not, the pregnancy goes on. 26 weeks yesterday. This is the last week of my second trimester.

BabyCenter: Your baby now weighs a little under 2 pounds and measures about 14 inches, from head to heel. The nerve pathways in her ears are developing, which means her response to sounds is growing more consistent. Her lungs are developing now, too, as she continues to take small breaths of amniotic fluid — good practice for when she's born and takes that first breath of air. If you're having a boy, his testicles are beginning to descend into his scrotum — a trip that will take about two to three days.

Baby Gaga: At long last, your little swimmer can see the womb! Your miracle’s little eyelids have finally separated (they were fused closed previously) and they’re probably having their first moments of sight as you read this (or maybe it already happened while you were brushing your teeth or watching Oprah or something). In addition to seeing their little studio in your belly, they’ve recently acquired the ability to say “yes” and “no” in rudimentary sign language as they can now move their head back and forth. This is also the time where your little super star’s head hair is starting to grow! A cute little cowlick or two may be springing into position right now, getting ready for years of cute-but-stubborn bed-head. Also, their toenails have grown in and you little raisin continues to slowly pile up fat beneath their still-loose skin. Most importantly, brain tissue and neurons are all developing at a rapid pace, increasing their (genius-level?) brain activity and will continue to function at accelerated levels for the first seven to eight years of childhood!

My first slideshow attempt...

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One Word at 100 Days To Go: Overwhelming.

Just 100 days until Baby Cute is scheduled to arrive and I feel amazing. David and I are truly blessed with the most generous, wonderful parents. I remember being overwhelmed with gratitude when we moved to Charlotte, when I graduated college and the bleachers came alive as I accepted my diploma, when we got married, when we hit our bumpiest of patches last summer and fall, when we were shopping for houses, when we bought our house, when we moved to Lansing and countless points in between.

This weekend was the exclamation point to a lifetime of love David and I have received from our parents.

I'll do a full update and photos later this week when I have more time to download and fiddle with the pictures, but in short--Oh My God. The nursery floors are a gleaming, vintage yellow pine spectacle of beauty, my neighbors can no longer see in my dining room thanks to classy new roman shades, ALL of my boxes have been unpacked, the man room is rearranged to perfection, the spare room is now a functional office as well as a welcoming guest room, there are TOMATO plants in my newly tilled garden, my gutters are cleaned out, my deck stairs newly functional, my laundry room modified to fit the new chest freezer, I am no longer in danger of being tangled in the climbing rosebush near my deck and I can now SIT on my deck thanks to two lovely hand-me-down chairs. There is even more, but you get the gist--Oh My God!

I feel overwhelmed. I don't know what David and I did in our present or past lives to deserve such generosity of time, talent and treasure, but we fully intend to pass on that intense love and devotion to family to our children.

In other wonderful news, Baby Cute is now a regular Daddy-Kicker! David finally got his first kick on our way home from breakfast on Saturday morning. We were sitting at a stoplight, and when I felt the first kick I grabbed David's hand and put it on my stomach just in time for Baby Cute to give a well-placed thump. Way to go Baby! He felt it again during some late evening acrobatics on Saturday night and during the movie Knocked Up last night.

Knocked Up! Oh my God, it was SO good! It was a perfect movie for David and I to see, period. After such a busy, crazy, wonderful weekend it was the ideal way to end it.

Back to work today--I feel so refreshed and excited about life in general.

Thanks Moms and Dad and Dave. You are the most amazing parents and are well on your way to becoming the most amazing grandparents, too. We love you!