Welcome Norway and France!

I use a new tool called Google Analytics which helps me track the visitors to my site. Don't worry, I don't get your personal information. I do, however, get to see where my visitors are coming from.

And today, I noticed that I've had two new vistors. One from Paris, France, and another from Oslo, Norway!

And I just wanted to say Welcome to all of you! and feel free to post comments if you'd like.

Wow! Isn't the internet amazing?

Have a wonderful Monday!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today's my mother's birthday! I was hoping to give her another grandson for a birthday present...but...he hasn't arrived yet. Posted above are two of my favorite pics of Mom and me.

Friday, however, I had certain symptoms (which I won't go into detail about) that indicate that I could go into labor any time between now and this upcoming Friday.

The ball is definitely rolling....and speaking of a ball....here is the latest belly pic.

We're playing the guessing game

Every day I wake up and wonder if today will be the day. This is the biggest guessing game that I have ever played.

I wish that if he knew when he was going to come out he'd let his mommy know a little bit ahead of time so that I could prepare better.

I'm not the type that likes to do things spontaneously. I'd prefer a plan.

I believe that I am as prepared as I can be at this point. Here's what I've done to get prepared:

• Set up Crib in room
• Washed all of his clothes, blankets, and bibs in Dreft
• Packed my bags for the hospital
• Purchased maternity bras
• Purchased cloth diapers
• Read all about breast feeding
• Read through the binder that the hospital gave me when I went in for my 10 week checkup
• Read numerous other pregnancy books

I'm just ready for him to enter our wonderful world.

Darn near 39 weeks

Update from the doctor:

2 cm dilated, and pretty darn thin (which means that I'm more than 90% effaced)

He wasn't even sure we'd need to schedule another appointment for next week...which means that he thinks I could go into labor any time now.

Here's another picture for those of you who like to see me in this state. Personally, I'm ready to be done with it. I just want to meet my son :)

A typical day for me...

In the middle of the night: Wake up every hour to visit the bathroom
4 AM: Wake up to let Winnie outside (She's in heat right now)
5:30 AM: Wake up to get ready for work
6:15 AM: Leave house to drop my youngest brother Corey off at work
6:30 AM: Arrive at work
11:30 AM: Eat Lunch
5:30 PM: Leave work to pick up Corey
6:15 PM: Make and Eat dinner
9:30 PM: Play a game of Sodoku before going to bed
10:15 PM: Go to bed

Surprisingly, I'm not all that tired during the day.

I've got bangs!

I treated myself to a professional haircut today! And I decided that I wanted bangs.

No new progress :(

At our doc appointment yesterday, I learned that I am still dilated only 1 cm, and still 90% effaced.

His heartbeat is still around 150 bpm.

In other news...Josh and I purchased a car seat yesterday...finally. It is definitely starting to feel more real to us that we'll have a new addition to the family soon.

We opted for a convertible car seat, so we'll have to take the little guy out of the car seat each time we leave the car, but Josh and I don't go very many places so I don't see this as being a problem.

Things are winding down at work for me, as I am trying to prepare my collegues as best I can for my departure. At my wonderful place of employment, I get 2 months of physical dissability leave and 1 month of maternity leave, all paid. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful job.

My mom and dad will be driving out to stay with us the Friday after Thanksgiving, so we are really excited about that. We always love it when they visit.

I'll post another belly pic tonight. I keep hoping to find that my belly has dropped slightly.

Here's me at 37.5 weeks

I'll post a belly pic tonight...

...I promise!

I've been busy lately. My littlest bro is staying with us while he works with his fiber optic cable crew here in Fargo. I drive him to the hotel that his coworkers stay at by 6:30 am every morning and then I go to work. Yesterday I worked from 6:30-5:30. It ends up being a long day, but it is totally worth it. I enjoy having my bro around and so does Josh. They both have their x-box 360s set up in our office and they can play the new Gears of War game together.

Lately, I have a pain around my belly button that gets worse when I bend at the waist, twist in my chair, walk, put my seat belt on, raise my hands above my head, and some times it gets worse when I just sit here. So far the only thing that makes it go away is lying down.

The little guy is moving quite a bit lately, which seems odd because everyone says that towards the end babies stop moving as much because of lack of room. This little guy loves to move after I am done eating, when I am sitting in my chair at work, and when I happen to be in a meeting with my boss.

Yesterday, I just hoped that my boss didn't notice my belly moving all around, how distracting! :)

Anyway, enjoy the beautiful weather, and feel free to stay inside and watch comfy movies if the weather is icky where you are at.

I found a stretch mark...

...Now I get to see how many stretch marks can appear in three weeks time :)

I'm actually surprised that I haven't had any until now. I didn't use any cocoa butter or any special lotions on my body because I didn't want to go to all that trouble and still end up with stretch marks. From what I've heard other women say, it seems that you either get them or you don't and nothing you do to try to prevent them works.

I'll post a belly pic some time this weekend, and I'll post a picture of our Christmas Tree. Yes, we've already put it up. We've already celebrated Thanksgiving with my in-laws, so we figured it was ok to put the tree up.

In other unrelated news...I've started ready Ulysses by James Joyce. So far, it is hard to get acquainted with his style of writing. No quotes for dialogs and he seems to be very wordy in explaining things. I am not giving up though, I have two weeks to finish it and I plan to actually finish it...It IS listed as the #1 book to read from the 20th Century by Random House. I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Dilated 1 cm and 90% efaced

What does that mean, you ask? It means that there is progress!! He will not be stuck in there forever.

My doctor said that he feels I could deliver as early as 1 week before my due date or as late as 1 week after my due date.

Just under 4 weeks left!!

I thought I'd share a front view this time.



And my typical side view.

Early Thanksgiving with the In-laws

Our family picture, including the dogs.

Josh, Winnie, and myself.

While I was at Ikea with my sister-in-law, Josh and his dad had fun with my camera.

We visited an apple orchard near my in-laws house, and fun ensued.

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend. We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, and it was so nice to have all of Josh's family there. There was a lot of talk about pregnancy, and how this is our last thanksgiving without kiddies running around.

My sister-in-law took me to GiGi's cafe in Minneapolis and it was just a wonderful experience. I ordered a sesame chicken pasta salad, which was perfect in every way it could be, and my sister-in-law ordered a tart of some sort that she said was also delicious.

I also made a visit to Ikea, spent more than I had intended, but enjoyed every minute of it.

The visit to the Apple Orchard wasn't a planned visit, but was a ton of fun. Sometimes it is good to be spontaneous...it just pays off.

I caught a bit of a head cold this weekend, but it already seems to be loosing it's fervor. So much for me not getting sick the entire pregnancy.

Oh how my body has changed...