Slowing down... sort of

I know it's been a while since I posted. I think I'm slowing down in pretty much every way. Ironically I spend all day long staring a my computer screen, often looking for things to do. I have been getting caught up in various projects, though, doing a lot of research on baby, and a little bit of shopping. Since this post could get pretty boring pretty fast, here's a briefing (although, you know that I'm not exactly brief once I get going - I bolded the topics of each section) of what's been going on with us lately:

- Finally finished our registries at Target and Babies"R"Us. I think I probably removed and added several hundred things, literally, over the course of the two months or so since that frightful day we began registering in-store a couple months ago. Had to get it done because...

- Saturday our awesome church community group leaders, Tom and Angie, are going to throw us a housewarming party/baby shower! We decided to do something co-ed since we wanted to have both anyhow, so the women can hang out and ooh and ahh over any gifts that are given and the guys can sit back and have a beer or glass of wine and talk about guy stuff. Most of them are graphic designers so they'll probably talk about designy things. They're not exactly the football and car lovin' kind of guys, which I don't mind - makes life easier for me! This was also the last weekend we could have it until January, at which point baby may be in the picture. We initially thought not many people could come because they'd all be out of town, but realized that those that are in town are going to be starved for friends and family, so as of now we've got about 20 who say they're coming, with more stragglers, I'm sure.

- Aside from the one here in New York, our moms are doing some creative showering for us. Jason's mom is having their church home group over to ooh and ahh over gifts and then wrap them up and send to us to open. And after the holidays when we'll both have cameras on our computers, my mom is having a virtual shower for us. She'll be mailing us gifts ahead of time, have my friends and family over there, and we'll be able to open our gifts online with everyone watching! This Thanksgiving I'm thankful for creative, incredibly thoughtful and giving moms and friends who are making us feel surrounded by love, even from afar!

- Thanksgiving will also be a day surrounded by friends for us. We're having four people over, though I can see a few being added to that number. Thankfully we're in a place with a decent sized living room at this point, and we have a table now! I think we'll have enough food to feed at least a dozen, and though I eat a lot nowadays, I get full very quickly with my diminished (thanks to baby growing into it, and often giving it a lovely kick) stomach size. Ironically this may be our last Thanksgiving in the city for a while, and it's sad that we can't go to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, but with my also shrinking bladder (which was too small to begin with) and the fact that I can't be on my feet for more than 30 minutes or so - an hour at the most, at which point I tend to be in much pain - I think the parade would be one of the more miserable holiday options this year. However, it's a possibility I might be into seeing the balloons inflated the night before, if there's a place for me to sit and watch and perhaps a good restaurant nearby - the Upper West Side has a few good hole-in-the-walls.

- Oh, and as far as my pregnancy goes? I have no more placenta previa (yay!) and as of a November 14th when I went in for my final ultrasound, the baby was 3 lbs, 11 oz. With gaining 1/2 lb. a week until the birth, we're looking at an 8-9 lb kid! I'm a bit freaked out by that, but the doctor pointed out that I'm not a small person so my baby's not going to be too small, either. Dangit. We were also hoping for a last, really good 3D ultrasound. Unfortunately baby had it's hand up by it's face, and it's face pressed against the placenta, the stubborn little sucker. I don't think she was that good of an ultrasound tech, though, because she only got two semi-profile shots and they weren't that good - not even worth posting here, honestly, because some of the earlier ones were much better. I'm also getting much more sore and tired much more easily. Back and hips these days? Not feeling so good. Sleep? I go to bed hoping for 11-12 hours and end up getting maybe 7 or 8, since generally there's a period or two where I lie awake for an hour or 2, too tired to get up but too awake to sleep. But, now that I've told them, I can finally make public that...

- I've got less than four weeks of being in the workforce, indefinitely! I've wanted for so long to be a stay-at-home-mom, and now my dream's about to come true! I had to tell my boss a couple weeks ago when they were figuring out Christmas week vacations, because December 19th is my last day. Jason gets almost all of Christmas and New Years weeks off, other than possibly having to work Friday, January 2nd, though that may not even happen. It will probably be the last 2 weeks of our foreseeable futures that we get to spend entirely alone, or at least with no worries about how kids are doing back home or with grandma and grandpa. Dave will be moving out next Monday and so we'll probably spend some time getting baby's room ready. Which reminds me (last thing, I promise)...

- We're finally making some headway into buying baby gear. We bought our stroller on eBay for over $100 less than at Babies"R"Us - brand new and it literally came overnight. We had to go with a Maclaren because everyone says it is THE brand to own in NYC (light and thin and easier to carry than most all the other ones, and, like I've said, we live on the 3rd floor and have a good 3-story walk up to the subway at our stop), and this is the only of the brand that works from birth on up. We've bought bedding and I have purchased a few swaddlers and clothing items, just in case baby comes early. Jason's family is also graciously gifting baby with it's crib and mattress. Super thankful for that, and for little things my mom has sent along the way. Baby will be so loved!