T+4 and ... nothing.

We're still hanging out. The baby seems content to hang out in utero, and I'm not pulling out my hair yet for him to come out.

Drew and I are in the middle of getting the office/guest (grandparents') room back in order. Of course we decided to reorganize it and put in a new desk on Tuesday night. So that's something that's consumed our evenings and the better portion of our living room. We need to make room for grandmas and grandpas to come see the little guy, so we're content if he hangs out just a little while longer for us to get it done. It's given us a great opportunity to purge our files and streamline our "stuff." We could have arranged the timing better, but so far it's still ok. :)

Oh, and the weather has finally decided to at least pretend it's coming up on Christmas. We've gone from a high yesterday of 78 degrees to a current temp of 32degrees. Our high for the day was at midnight, around 70 deg, and it's been falling steadily since then. I think we might see sun later this afternoon, but right now it's pretty overcast and dreary. Remember I said we did yard work last weekend hoping we could slack off until after the baby arrives? Well, we've had rain and wind since then and our lawn and plant beds are covered in leaves again. Perhaps this weekend we'll be able to get it completely cleaned-up, but we don't know.

T+2 and ... nothing!

Quick update: my doctor appointment yesterday yielded only that the baby has dropped a little more but that I am not showing any physical signs of dilation or preparation for labor and delivery. The nurse practitioner said it's more than likely I'll be back in the office next Monday for my 41wk visit. My water could break between now and then, but we're not really holding our breath that labor (contractions) will start on its own. We're thinking the little guy may have to be induced out of me mid next week.

I talked to my 4-yr old niece, Linnea, this afternoon. She asked me if the baby had been born yet, and I told her he had not - that he was still inside me "kicking around." She asked me if it hurt when the baby kicked me. I hadn't thought that it might sound bad that he was kicking me. It certainly doesn't hurt, but it can be a good deal of pressure sometimes. He's getting strong.

T-minus 1 ... and nothing!

Our due date is tomorrow, but there is no sign of labor commencing anytime soon. That's ok. Our son must really like it in the womb, and we'll let him hang out as long as he wants ... up until our scheduled (back-up) induction on Dec 5th.

Thanksgiving in Texas was nice. We had a fun, full meal with our friends Sarah and Jorge Angulo. The weather was unbelievable, and it's continued through the weekend. Yesterday we did a little shopping, but nothing crazy. We didn't go near a mall or any store that might be berserk. Yesterday was also the most active day on record for the little guy. From about 2pm til 8pm he was constantly moving ... literally! He was so active (dancing on my bladder) that I didn't think I could handle sitting through a 2.5hr movie, however much I want to see Casino Royale. Drew thinks he was excited by part of a diet Pepsi and a full Barq's rootbeer I drank at lunch. Funny he didn't blame it on the Chipotle tacos ... just the Barq's.

Today we think he's worn-out, because his level of activity is dramatically less. So much so that I got worried this afternoon, drank part of a diet Pepsi and ate a KitKat left over from Halloween. I lay down on the couch and then bugged him (shook, poked and prodded my belly) until he started to move. That made me feel better, but it was a tense wait - and I'm sure I'll be monitoring his activity throughout the night.

Today we also did some yard work. It was gorgeous outside - sunny w/ a light breeze and in the high 70's. Drew did the lion's share, but I spent about 1.5hrs cleaning up the front beds and trying to improve our curb appeal. Leaves fall forever here, and I'm not sure they're done for the year. But hopefully we've made enough of a dent to slack off once the little guy arrives.

We are steadily whittling away at our pre-baby to do list. Drew is making good progress at reclaiming the garage since we've used it as a painting bay and a construction prep area for so many weeks.

This week, I'll work from home as long as I am comfortable. Drew helped me move out of my office at IBM on Wednesday night. I boxed up my stuff and left most of it there for them to put into storage while I'm on leave for the next year. But we did bring all my personal stuff home - including a mini frig that now sits in the garage and is stocked full of Gatorade. :)

That's about it for us. We're in a sit and wait mode, and we'll let you know how things turn out. You'll be sure to get a phone call or email from someone once the little guy arrives, but plan to check back here for his first photos.

I REALLY want out!

Here is a much longer video showing our son trying to bust out of Erica's belly. I don't think it will take too long to load up, but I think it is worth it. His arrival is getting closer...

Longer Movie of Erica's Belly

Happy Thanksgiving!

I want out!

I'm running an experiment to see if you can view this movie of our son trying to break out of Erica's belly. We have a longer, more impressive movie, but I'm running a test on the shorter movie. Let me know how this works for you. Click on the "Erica's moving belly" link below. Watch for the shadows to move because there is a baby in there!

Erica's moving belly.

The nursery is complete!

After some searching for furniture, sewing by Diane Jasper, and some furniture painting, the nursery is complete! The following is a 360 degree series of photos if you view them in order. I've also include a picture of the drapery tie back that Erica found. We are very excited to show our son his new room.

The countdown to his due date is 6 days now, and we are extremely excited and nervous at the same time. It is fun to watch him move inside of Erica. Speaking of Erica, she continues to amaze me with her strength. She looks beautiful, and I look forward to starting this new phase of life with her. Here is a picture of Erica at 6 days and counting.

"Bringing up the Rear"

So I do not profess to be very organized with respect to this whole baby-prep thing. I'm not going to be writing any books about how to get ready for baby on a more relaxed & organized timeline. I wouldn't know what to write since we seem to be doing everything rather last minute!

Yesterday Drew & I went to a pediatrician "Meet and Greet" mtg. We got recommendations from friends for pediatricians some weeks ago and just got around to checking them out personally. Thankfully, we like this practice. They're smaller and focus on teaching parents as they care for the children. So, finally that decision has been made. While at this mtg, the lactation consultant gave her intro and talked about breast-feeding classes she offers. Lucky me, she added another class this week to handle overflow from earlier this month, and I was able to enroll. That wasn't something I had thought about doing, so I'm chalking this up to God being gracious and letting me get a little extra help to cover what will be hard but very necessary with the baby.

Drew almost has all the painting of furniture done (for the nursery), and will finish that up tonight. We're also both trying to wrap up things at work this week (and maybe into next) so we can head into Thanksgiving and our actual due date with a little more peace. Friday afternoon I'm taking a 1/2 day vacation to enjoy the M3 Thanksgiving lunch with Drew and his coworkers (show off my BIG belly a little) and then check out IKEA in the afternoon. It opens tomorrow, but I am hoping there might be a little lull between the first day craziness and the first weekend madness so I can get in there and check out the deals. (An official line-up started yesterday to be the first in the store. crazy!)

Twelve days to go!

Sorry ... we haven't been posting much lately because things have been rather discombobulated. The nursery went from pseudo organized to completely disheveled in a matter of days. Drew and our friend Yobany hauled the dresser/changing table out to the garage so it could be painted. So ... that means everything that was put away was then strewn on the floor.

The dresser didn't make it back into the nursery until last night. In the mean time, I got started on laundry. There is plenty to wash. I have always had Dreft in my house for when I've made blankets for babies of my friends. However, it was a strangely different feeling to load up the Dreft (the first of many, many loads) to wash things for my son.

Drew installed the car seat bases into both cars and made sure the car seat fit properly into each base. He was singing the praises of the latch system and giving our friend Kathryn and me a visual demonstration of how hard it is to install it into a car without the latch system (aka, the 4Runner). However, his engineering skill prevailed, and we can legally take our son home from the hospital now - whenever her comes.

With the dresser in the nursery, we're back on track with a place to hold all his cute little clothes and a designated area to clean his bottom. We're still working on the overall decorations, and hopefully he'll decide it's too nice in utero to come out early. So far, he's moving in the right direction per my doctor, but we haven't made any major progress so far. We're still holding out to Nov 26th. :)

Tonight, after we got home from bible study (at 9:15pm), we continued to get the kitchen in order. While I polished silver, Drew started nesting in the nursery. He put our cute airplane sheets on the mattress and made sure it fit snuggly in the crib. Then he started assembling all sorts of things ... the mall crawler stroller, the bouncy seat, and the pack-n-play.

Pretty soon all the boxes will be dismantled in the nursery and we'll be ever so slightly more prepared to bring home baby. 24 days and counting!