The Small Baby Bump

38 Weeks

Today is the 38th week mark. As most people in my state would probably agree, this week felt like it would never come and now that it is here I wouldn't be a bit sad to see it disappear quickly. For all the warnings about how miserable you are supposed to feel at this point, I must say I don't actually feel that bad. I am still averaging a good night (actually day) sleep and I am not that swollen or stiff or running to the bathroom every few seconds. I keep waiting to turn the corner and become completely miserable and ready to make everyone around me miserable in retaliation. Hopefully, the corner never appears! I am however ready to welcome the pink bundle that will be handed to me after hours of pure misery. I am interested to meet this person who kicks and squirms like crazy at all hours of day and night. I am ready to stop bruising my stomach every time I try to squeeze through a small space that my mind says I can fit through even though my body disagrees. I finally took a picture of what my stomach looks like. So many people kept asking for pictures and although I feel like pregnancy pictures are slightly odd, the more I thought about it the more I wish I could see what my Mom looked like when she was pregnant with each of her kids. So now my baby will know that she really was inside my tummy and how silly she will look if she ever has a baby inside her tummy. Overall, I am thankful that God has brought us this far with few complications and I pray that he continues to protect us and especially this baby girl that He has created. Meeting her sooner than later would be great!

TO DO LIST

My sister has always loved lists. It seemed like we could never do anything unless we made a list first... summer plans, Seattle activities, house cleaning, grocery shopping. I was always a go with the flow and make up items as you do them. However, I did enjoy getting to cross things off her list once they were completed. Tonight I was called off of work and instead of sleep the hours away I thought maybe i should look at my long to do list which has gotten filled with last minute errands and chores I need to accomplish before this baby girl arrives. Yes, it only took me 30 years to realize that maybe my sisters "lists" were actually beneficial and aided in accomplishing things that would otherwise flitter into my mind and then disappear forever. Plus the satisfaction of crossing something off is to tempting. So after watching bottles and random other baby items float and bounce in boiling water, I was able to cross one more thing off. Now I just have 102 other items to tackle. It is a little bewildering to think, "if this baby is all this work now, what in the world will she be like once she is actually staring at me wondering where her food is and why her diaper is still wet". Luckily, if i continue to use my sister's to do list philosophy I will slowly be able to accomplish the essentials of everything I will have to do for the rest of this child's life.

Night Shift

Tomorrow I return to night shift. As excited as I am to escape the craziness of days, I am dreading the thought of making my body adjust to a night existence. If I was 20 I wouldn't think twice about life in the dark but now days my body rebels. Plus, in Germany there really is a limited amount of entertainment for the dark side. I can't quite see myself clubbing it up till 4am and therefore might have to start frequenting the scary 24 hour gym. The last three nights I have been trying to make the transition. Each night making myself stay up for as long as possible. My goal for tonight was 4 but it is not quite 2 and I am fading fast. On reflection I am not sure slow torture was the best option and I should probably have just taken the plunge. All the pain tomorrow night based on three dreamy night sleeps prior. I guess I will know for next time. Although by next time I will most likely be a crazy sleep deprived individual who doesn't know the difference between night or day and has forgotten what sleep really feels like. So in conclusion maybe my current torture is good preparation for what is to come and I should just embrace the experience. Either way I think now is a great time to say goodnight and scoot off to bed. So much for 4:)

3 Months:( Is really quite embarrassing. Funny how sometimes life just takes off and it's everything we can do to keep up. I think for a few weeks I was not even successful at that, but now since life has started slowing down maybe I am back on track. The other reason I avoided blogging was the big event in life. Turning 30! What do you say to 30. I thought about the unavoidable day my entire 29th year. In fact I thought that I had accepted it's coming quite well and would be prepared to embrace the status change. After all, everyone kept saying that the 30's were the new 20's. Not to mention my 20's were not always the happiest days on earth. I got to experience events in my 20's that most people put off until their 40's, so really I should have had no problem kissing them goodbye. Yet, as the day kept creeping closer, I kept getting a squirmy feeling and really did not want to face the reality that yes, the old creepy song "Time Marches On" was in fact true. Now having been 30 for almost a month, my acceptance is here. I have some great memories from my 20's, some heartbreaks that taught me a lot, and moments I wouldn't give back for all the heartbreak in the world. I am now excited to see how my 30's will unfold. Perhaps less heartbreak, but maybe more. I plan to make more amazing memories and embrace all the changes God has in store for me. I don't want my 30's to be the new 20's, I think I am ready to enjoy them just as they were meant to be, the good old 30's.

Family

In less than a week my house will double in occupancy! I am so excited. I would be thrilled to have any visitors but these happen to be my two most favorite people in the world. The best part is they are staying long enough to actually get to spend time with and not just feel like you got a sip of something delicious and then it was whisked away. Which means I can enjoy every minute I have them around and not feel sad with panic that it will all be over too soon. I should try to curve my excitement and focus on what I need to accomplish prior to their arrival. I really only have two days to get ready because then I will go into a work coma and cram 50+ hours of work into four days. I hope that the rest of you will have as much joy and excitement in the next month and a half as I will. Here's to having a Happy Holiday Season!

Woops!

It was pointed out to me that I have been neglecting my blog. I would like to blame it on loosing our internet for two weeks but really that is just an excuse. I am finding it hard to blog because I have so much to say. Odd I know! I work at a job where you can't help but have all sorts of opinions and views, all of which are better kept to oneself or at least not shared openly on the internet where anyone could stumble across. So although I have plenty to share, I am becoming one of those crazies (or maybe not so crazy) people walking down the street talking to myself. Which just means that if you want my thoughts you will have to visit and follow me down the street. I recommend a few good classes in the art of lip reading because I tend to mumble at the best of times and I am sure my mutterings on sidewalks are not the best of times:) So trust me, when life is light and fluffy, or I have funny or slightly traumatic experiences, I will share. I would not want to deprive anyone of a good laugh or the ability to appreciate that no matter how bad they thought their day, they can appreciate the fact that at least they do not live Abbie's life. Lately though, things have been calm. It's a blessing not to constantly wonder what could possibly go wrong next. In a way, I may have transferred it all to my sister or maybe it has been seven years since I broke my mirror. In any case sorry for my lack of blogging. I will hope for some happy good stories to occur so that I have something to share.