It's been an age!

Yes, yes, I know.  It's been an age since I've written - get over it!  LOL

Let's see - well, I guess the most exciting news for me: I'm currently 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced (this is as of Tuesday, which was three weeks from my EDD), so that's definitely good news.  The doctor said I could go at any time, but more realistically that I won't make it to my due date.  She also said that they would consider inducing me at 39 weeks if I was interested and my cervix continues to cooperate.  HOWEVER - I do not plan to be induced.  I have not heard many pleasant experiences from people who have been induced, so I'm more inclined to let nature take its course.  Don't get me wrong - I am SUPER uncomfortable and would like to no longer have a time-share situation occurring with my body.  BUT - I would like to let Munchkin come on his own.  (Hahahaha - are you all getting sick of hearing Munchkin?  Want to know the name?  Well, soon, my friends, very soon!!  Hahahahahaha)

Meanwhile, it's been great having Chad home again this week.  I hate it when he has to go away - thank God we're now looking at closer to February for the next time he will be gone (6 mos.).  Other than that, there are 11 days in December when he'll have some kind of training to go for, but it's looking like my mother-in-law will be here during that time, so I'm not too worried about wrangling the baby all by my lonesome then.  Speaking of my mother-in-law - she went to the outlet malls by her house last week and bought a bunch of baby clothes.  Now, let me clarify here - by bunch, I mean that the box that arrived in the mail yesterday weighed 15 lbs.  FIFTEEN POUNDS!!!  It took me almost 20 minutes to cut off the tags and remove the size stickers.  But we needed the clothes, so I'm VERY VERY grateful!  She also bought us a 7-pack of pooh bibs (super cute!) and some socks and hats.  Speaking of hats, anyone have a simple (and I want to emphasize simple) but cute knitting pattern for baby hats?  I think I'd like to buy some baby yarn just knit up a few hats for him to wear - so many of the hats we have now are part of an ensemble - it'd be nice just to have some general-looking ones, you know?  Like maybe a taupe-colored one, a light blue one, a white one, etc.  She also bought us a CD of AC/DC tunes reconfigured as lullabies.  I have yet to listen to it, but I almost died when I saw it.  I showed it to Chad and he cracked up as well.  I guess our son isn't going to be stuck listening to "The Wheels On the Bus", lol.

My mom also bought us a ton more stuff (God bless Grandmas!!), most notably one of those Bundle Mes to keep the little man warm on his way home from the hospital.  She also bought us more of the breast pump supplies, so I'm hoping that we get the breastpump!  LOL

I'm really looking forward to my parents coming out here to visit.  Chad just finished painting the spare bedroom this week, so the guest room is completely finished now!  Although, I think I'm going to need to find a new lamp to put in there as the one that is in there now kind of hums.  I'm not sure why, but it would get annoying, so that's something I'll need to look into doing and soon.  And after my parents, Chad's mom will be coming out for a week before his dad comes out and joins us.  It's going to be nice to see everyone and to have help with the baby as well.

Mostly, at this point, I just keep thinking about the baby.  I can see him in parts of our lives, but I know that I have NO IDEA how much our lives are really going to change.  It's weird - I have the pack-n-play set up next to the bed (it's currently loaded full of my craft bag and pillows to keep Hobbes from laying in it - I felt bad for that because she looked so cute, but I didn't want her thinking that she could lay in there - it's for the baby, afterall), we have the swing all set up, though it's currently in the formal living room because we don't really know where else to put it.  But it's hard to imagine him actually being here.  I wonder all the time how the cats are going to react.  I wonder how sleep deprived we'll actually be.  I wonder how long it's going to take Chad to get used to changing a diaper (he's never changed one before!).  I wonder if our little man is going to be a quiet little guy or if he's going to be a world-class screamer.  So many things to think about!  And (hopefully) only 3 weeks or less left!!

Oh, and in case you're wondering, we're probably not going to call anyone while I'm in labor.  It's not like anyone is coming up to the hospital to visit while I'm there, so you'll all probably just wait to hear until after our son is here.  And frankly, we'll call my parents and Chad's parents - they will be responsible for disseminating the information from there.  Okay, I think that's a pretty fair recap for the last week (or so).  Mostly, it's jumbled and garbled just like my mind lately.  Enjoy!