Thirty-Four Weeks

Another week bites the dust! It's amazing how time can simultaneously pass in the blink of an eye and seem to crawl by agonizingly slowly. I feel so torn between wanting to rush through the rest of this pregnancy to just have our baby here with us in the world, and wanting to savor and cherish every second of this experience - every kick and wiggle, every thoughtful gesture from a friend or stranger, and every daydream about what it will be like to meet our daughter. Alas, time passes as it will and there's nothing to be done about it but wait and be in the moment.

Here are some of the moments that happened this week:

• Dance, Dance Revolution: On Friday, R and I attended our friend PK's dance performance at the Cowles Center. It was a collaboration of Katha Dance Theatre and Robert Robinson & Co. The baby is apparently a huge gospel music fan, as every time Robert sang, she started squirming and kicking like crazy. R and I were cracking up as my belly leaped around to the sounds of the music. We agreed afterward that we need to buy some of Robert's albums to cheer/soothe her after she's born. Adorable!
• Color My World: R and I took on a few decorating projects in the nursery this weekend. First we hung the adorable, handmade mobile that arrived this week. It's an orb-shaped butterfly mobile that flutters and spins in even the slightest breeze, and it's just darling above the crib.

The other project was creating and hanging some wall decorations. R and I picked out some fun, colorful fabrics in nursery and coordinating colors and a variety of embroidery hoops. I stretched the fabric in the hoops, trimmed off the excess, created a plan for how to organize them, and then we hung them on the wall. I cannot believe how darling the whole effect is - we are just in love with the baby's room (a good thing, since we'll be spending so much time in there).

• The Baby Formerly Known as "Baby": R and I finally committed to a name for the baby this week when we ordered letters to spell out her name on the wall. It's very exciting to know the name we've loved from the beginning (and really, even before) will be the name we'll call our daughter forever. We look forward to sharing the surprise with family and friends in a few weeks, but for now it's a fun secret to have!
• Feather Our Nest: I'm not completely sure, but I think I might be starting to nest a bit! I just had an overwhelming need to clean up the house this weekend, and the insane baking bug seems to have returned. I cleaned every room in the house, including truly mundane tasks like dusting blinds and scrubbing the bathroom floors. I washed and put away mountains of laundry and must have run the vacuum cleaner a dozen times. I made several dozen chocolate chip cookies, but because they didn't quite hit the spot (I need to stop straying from my tried-and-true recipe), I also made a giant pan of chocolate chip, peanut butter and oatmeal bars (delectable). We have a fair amount of produce to use up from our farm share, so I planned to make potato leek soup for dinner tonight. I couldn't shake the idea of making bread bowls, so I whipped some up and served the soup in them (which felt like quite a treat). Even after all of that, I still have a fair amount of energy. It's either the sleeping in we did Saturday and Sunday, or I'm getting the much-anticipated late-pregnancy burst of energy. Either way, I need to ride the wave!

For now though, I need to ride the wave to bed. I have to go to work tomorrow! Here's the tracker:

Week: 34

Weight: +26 pounds (as of Week 33) 

Baby is the Size of a(n): honeydew melon (4 3/4 pounds)

Symptoms: still pretty hungry, round ligament and general "growing" pains, really achy pelvis (SPD), extreme shortness of breath, outrageously swollen feet (oh, this is so bad), mental lapses, wacky dreams (even R had a dream that the baby was born fast - in the triage room at the hospital before I had time to get to a real L&D room!), trouble sleeping comfortably through the night (because I can't get comfortable, I have to use the bathroom, or I'm hungry!), the beginnings of nesting, and general moodiness

Current Obsession: granola, red meat, all the vegetables from our farm share (especially squash and potatoes), apples, grapes, cinnamon applesauce, peanut butter, MILK (still!), vanilla almond milk, and the Signature Latte from our local coffee shop

Current Aversion: not much!

Thinking About: who our little girl will take after; seeing the actual little elbows, knees, hands and feet she's using to poke and jab at me; finishing up the nursery and layette; securing a pediatrician; taking maternity photos and getting newborn photos scheduled; having our car seat installation checked for safety; pre-registering at the hospital; and starting to try the baby's name on for size...

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