Nice Costume...

People are so strange when you are expecting! I actually had a random man come up to me today and he said 'Nice costume' and went to pat my belly, which is the exact time he realized that I wasn't in a costume and yes, I really am that hilariously pregnant. I was kind to him and just smiled and said thank you, but the next person might not be so lucky! I will post a photo later so everyone else can see my 'costume' for this very Happy Halloween! The question this year really is 'trick or treat'? When will Baby W come out? :)

Pre-baby Party!

We had a wonderful pre-baby party (aka baby shower) put on by our friends here on Oct. 18. We didn't get too many photos of people, although I know someone was walking around with a camera. My work also gave us a wonderful shower as well the week before. Our friends and coworkers gave us tons of great parenting advice and some really great gifts too. We got some of the guests at our shower to make one of a kind onesies for Baby W...some of the great pieces of work are displayed below!









We also thought now that I'm officially full term, we would do a belly cast so I could see how big my belly is! It is a great cast, and we'll be painting it to have a neat souvenir!

No Diving

Not that I would be even thinking of diving at 38 weeks prego, but there are some warnings that make you do a double take. While Dan and I were getting the house ready for our home birth, we pulled out the water birth tub and started inflating it. It is a really nice tub, super sturdy and big enough for our growing family (minus el Guapo though, his nails might puncture the sides). Dan saw the warning sticker on the bottom on the tub and immediately burst out laughing. I think maybe some people use the birthing tubs for kiddie pools later on, so that would warrant this statement, but being in Alaska the thought hadn't crossed my mind (a kiddie pool in AK???).





Our home remodeling saga continues...mainly with me being absolutely irate at the end of last week that I spent Friday afternoon fuming that no more progress had been made. I am VERY tired of having other people in my house, especially when I am so close to the end of this pregnancy. It seems that the contractors only have a little bit more work left to do, but for some reason they just can't finish the job! Dan and I have done what we can, but we don't want to be paying them for stuff that we are re-doing (i.e. wiring of the lights and painting). We shall see how it goes tomorrow - I hope I can have a proactive conversation with them, but no promises at my state of emotional fragility. Here are some photos of the 'finished-so-far' product...which we are pretty happy with for the most part.

Why didn't I think of this earlier?

Pre-natal massage...what a great concept! It was something I had been intending to do for a LONG time...but not something I actually ever thought I would do. When my midwife 'gave me permission' to get a massage, I went right out and booked it on the same day! And then yesterday I got it - absolutely brilliant. It didn't feel super great right after yesterday but I can tell a huge difference today in my muscles and less swelling...it's nice to be able to use my right hand again (aka my 'club hand' as I've been calling it, since it seems to just be good for clubbing things when swollen).

So no photos this week...again, since I have finally just now found some time to blog. Maybe I will get home tonight and have a great surprise waiting for me - a finished living room! I can dream...the contractors are supposed to be done tonight and we are supposed to get the blinds early next week, so I will just keep going with the hope that this is the case. If I get home and find otherwise, our contractors are going to have one hopping, very pregnant, mad woman on their hands at 8 am tomorrow morning. At least the sun is shining on me right now :)

What a difference a day makes...

Not the best picture, but I was so impressed by how much progress the guys made on the house today! All the drywall is up, all that is left is to put up the heat resistant sheet rock on the sides of the fireplace. They built the shelf that will go above the fireplace too, and that should be all walled in after the electrician checks out the switches and fixtures in there (maybe tomorrow?). It's coming together and I can only hope that it really will be done in 2 weeks! Last good news is that the final box of the cork flooring for the baby's room is in, so that should be totally finished this weekend!

Fireplace...check! We're ready for the snow...

And not a moment too soon! Only hours after the contractor/installer left our house the flakes came falling down. After three visits from the contractor and having a hole cut in the side of our house this morning, we now have a fully functioning gas stove. Now the framers can get on with the dry wall job beginning tomorrow. We might be out of the construction zone by the time Baby arrives...we shall see!

Before photo:


Old firebox being removed:


New fireplace coming in:


Final installation, pending Sheetrock!


Pregnancy update: Not much new here, things are moving along as good as can be expected I think (although I'm new at this!). I was still able to do flip turns at 35 weeks, and 3300 yards later I still felt pretty good in the pool. The looks I get from my teammates are hysterical, especially as my swimsuit keeps getting smaller - it's a good thing Lycra stretches so well! My coach said she was really impressed that my stroke is still pretty efficient even though my body has changed so much - it was really nice to have some positive feedback, even though I don't feel super great!