If the Shoe Fits...

While making a quick stop at the grocery store this morning, I took advantage of a special parking spot:

Granted, I would much rather be the former than the latter, but I'm pretty sure I fit the "expecting" criteria without any issue (plus I had William with me, although I don't think I can consider myself a "new" mother with a 22-month old). Normally I avoid these kind of parking spots; my stubborness (which apparntly WEBS inherited) makes me disinclined to accept accommodations like this "just" because I'm pregnant. Plus these spots tend to be conveniently located near the entrance to the store, which is great, except for the fact that if you need to take a cart out to the parking lot with you the place to return the cart is halfway down the aisle anyway. So you still end up doing the walking. But I figured today, in all my 40+ week pregnant glory, was as good a day as any to utilize this spot. Of course, it was totally anti-climatic because the spot next to me was open, and I could have parked there regardless of my "condition", but whatever. Here's to hoping next time I'm at the store I have the option of utilizing this spot because I'm a "new" mother, not an expecting one. Fingers crossed!

Sigh...

So last weekend we had what I assumed was our last weekend as a family of three, and it was wonderful. I was feeling good about what we did and what we accomplished, and was as ready as ever to bring Baby #2 into our family.

Whelp, here we are at another weekend--and still as a family of three. And sadly, I already know it will pale in comparison to last weekend. Darrell has to be out of the house pretty much all day today for an event with his El Riad Shrine Unit, which leaves (40-week pregnant) me home alone with William. Again. Don't get me wrong, I very much love the time I get to spend with William and feel so lucky that I can stay at home, but I desperately look forward to breaks and the extra set of hands on the evenings and weekends when Darrell is home--pregnant or not. Plus the weather is not supposed to be nearly as nice as it was last weekend, which makes it harder for me to work up the motivation to get us out of the house (which, trust me, is quite a chore with the size of my belly and a toddler who is set on asserting his independence).

Thankfully, we have no plans tomorrow (mostly because we pretty well assumed that by this point in the month we'd be home cuddling a newborn), so Darrell can make up some hours of Daddy time and I can get a break to run to the store (alone!) or something. That discounted Valentine's Day candy isn't going to walk itself to our house, after all. And given the rate with which this labor is progressing (or rather, NOT progressing), Momma's gonna need some chocolate. Because I may or may not have polished off those brownies yesterday.

No Shame

Saturday night, in a "I'm pouty about still being pregnant" mood, I made a batch of brownies (they were zucchini brownies, so they kind of count as a vegetable, right?). Darrell and I shared a piece that night in a brownie sundae... And then being pregnant and still at home happened. Come Tuesday night, this is what the pan looked like:

I wish I could Darrell helped with some of that, but that would be a lie. Aside from the piece we split Saturday night, that damage was all me (and WEBS). I hadn't even been nice enough to share them with William (although Darrell did last night and he LOVED them). I'm not the least bit sorry, either, and I won't even care if my doctor raises an eyebrow about my weight gain at my appointment tomorrow. After all, he was the one who told me last week that it was "unlikely" that I'd still be pregnant in a week. Looks like the joke's on him--baby doesn't seem to be interested in making a move any time soon!

Maybe?!?!

Two years ago, on the ninth day of April, we were dealing with the beginning of a massive winter storm. We'd had freezing rain most of the day, and as Darrell was coming home from work the freezing rain was turning into sleet (which would eventually turn into snow). At 7:00 that night, despite being instructed by Darrell to "stay put" for at least 24 hours, William decided to start his entrance into our lives by breaking my water.

Well, it is currently the ninth day of February--the arrival of WEBS is certainly near--and look what the weatherman has on tap for tonight:

Sure, it isn't nearly as ominous of a storm as we had with William, and quite frankly, it might miss us altogether, but still... Maybe?!? Could this be the trigger WEBS needs?

Wonderful Weekend

Would I have loved for WEBS to make his/her appearance this past weekend? Absolutely. Am I super disappointed that things didn't work out that way? Not exactly. Because even though we didn't get to be in the hospital meeting our newest bundle of joy, we had a perfectly fantastic weekend. Slightly bittersweet, as the whole time it was looming in the back of my mind that this will (hopefully!) be our last weekend as a family of three, but wonderful all the same. And did I take any pictures? Of course not. Oh well.

Friday night we headed downtown for their monthly "First Friday" festivities. As a part of the events, the children's science museum is free to the public. We've never gone before because I didn't know if William would be old enough to enjoy it, plus I knew the place would be super busy since it was free (and normally costs something like $15 a person). But, we decided that this was as good an opportunity to check it out as any, so away we went. And I'm glad we did. Yes, it was packed, and yes, most of the exhibits were geared toward older children. But there were still plenty of things that William could get hands-on with, and even though he probably didn't grasp any of the "science" concepts, he still had plenty of fun pushing the buttons and manipulating the materials. It's safe to say we'll definitely be heading back--maybe even next month with a little one in tow!

Saturday we had some gorgeous weather, so we decided to take advantage of it by heading to the zoo before nap time. I'd always assumed the zoo was kind of a bust during the winter months, except for the indoor museum part, but I'd heard recently from friends that it can actually be fun to check out the live animal exhibits during the cooler months. So we decided to give it a shot. And while there were definitely plenty of animals not on exhibit, there were also some that were way more active than they typically are in the summer--notably the wolves/coyotes, brown bear, penguins, and snow monkeys. I'm certainly glad we have a zoo membership because it probably wouldn't have been worth the daily admission for the handful of animals that we enjoyed observing, but now I'll definitely consider going any time of year (as long as the weather is decent, of course).

We spent the rest of Saturday just being lazy around the house, enjoying some more time outside, and Skyping with Darrell's parents. I also did some baking--I figure I'm going to need some sweets to get me through the next few days of being pregnant, and even if I do deliver sooner than later, it'll be nice to come home to some homemade goodies.

Sunday we went to my parent's house after church for lunch with the whole fam damily, which turned into an entire afternoon of lounging around and doing pretty much nothing (gotta love having all the extra hands around to help take care of William!). And, in keeping with the theme of the weekend, Darrell and I swore off productivity Sunday night in favor of watching a few episodes of one of our guilty pleasures, House.

So, now that we got that wonderfully nice and relaxing weekend as a family of three out of the way, we're definitely ready to start this family of four business. You hear that kid? Mama can't think of any good reasons for you to keep baking in her oven, so you might as well come join us in the real world.

Every Day

I love my son. I love that my son loves books. I do not love that he thinks he has to pull EVERY book off the shelves before he can start reading one.

We seriously go through this every day. And I'd get annoyed by it, but once he has them pulled down he'll sit there in his pile of books and read them for at least ten minutes. Multiple times a day. And those are precious minutes that I enjoy having to myself. Which makes it totally worth the five minutes it takes me to put them away after he's gone to bed. (We've tried teaching him to put them away himself, but there are too many and they fit too tightly on the shelves that he has a really hard time with it. And since this Mama loves books as much as her little boy does, that's a problem that won't be going away any time soon.)

Mama's Ready!!

Sweet little babe, whenever you (finally) decide to make your appearance, Mama is all ready to bring you home from the hospital.

The fridge is stocked:

The wine rack is full:

And the liquor cabinet is ready and waiting:

Let's get this "family of four" show on the road!


Disclaimer: With the exception of the beer, pretty much all of that booze has been in our house since before we found out we were pregnant. Shockingly, we I haven't been doing much drinking in the past nine months. And since I will be breastfeeding, I still won't be able to indulge that much even once we get home with WEBS. But some is better than none, right? And this way I have my bases covered--who knows what Mama will be in the mood for after (what will likely be) crazy days wrangling two small children.