I have three pictures this week – I’m just loving the skirt weather! Also this pink shirt from the consignment store. I want to record every moment. 🙂 My hair is looking awfully shaggy, though, and I still have three weeks until my next appointment – it’s been growing so fast!

Jan took this one with her point-and-shoot, in front of someone’s nice front yard vegetable garden on our walk back from happy hour:

A.’s aunt Bev made us these wonderful blankets. They’re really soft, and each has a different type of stitching that she crocheted along the border and a coordinating fabric on the reverse side. They’re so sweet!

We also got another crib sheet and a changing pad cover from A.’s mom. I had totally forgotten about a changing pad cover.

It’s been a beautiful week here. Yesterday was quite warm, and Jan and I walked the dogs down to the juice bar by the food co-op, then stopped by the maternity/baby consignment store on our way back. The dogs are such good buddies – they’re so cute together. Here a picture Jan took with her point-and-shoot camera in our yard before our walk:

Here they are lying down outside the juice bar, with Andrew just sort of cuddling Baker’s hind end:

Here are Andrew and me waiting for my healthy green juice – it was about 80 degrees!

We tied the dogs apart from each other so they wouldn’t get tangled in their leashes, and Jan took these cute pictures:

And again at the consignment store:

At the consignment store, I got a good deal on this nursing cover, and I picked up a cute onesie/hat combo for the summer (if it fits!):

Then we went to happy hour, where I probably should not have had pizza, spaghetti, mussels, OR lemonade… We’ve decided we should do more cooking and eating at our houses. 🙂 But it sure was nice to sit outside and enjoy the weather! I look drunk, but it was really just lemonade.

This weekend our friend “Em” is visiting – hooray! – and after he mowed our lawn today, we dragged him to the dog beach park. On the way we stopped by Baker’s house and got them to come with us, and when we got there our other friends and their dog KiKi were there, so it was quite the party! I still can’t get Andrew to go in the water, but once he was chasing Baker and the two of them ran straight into the water by accident, it seemed – and then they ran straight back out! All three dogs ran wild and wrestled and had a great time, and they’ll be nice and tired tonight. I took the pictures with my cell phone so they’re not very high quality.

The baby probably weighs about four pounds now. He’s still moving a lot. I keep pushing on body parts that are poking out to try to smooth out my belly. Work is very tiring – seven more weeks to go! I saw a neighborhood couple out walking with their dog – a few weeks ago when I saw them, the woman was looking very pregnant, and this time they were pushing a stroller. It was a nice reminder that babies do come out eventually!

A. and I haven’t been able to find a childbirth class that fits our schedules and both of our mothers were encouraging us to take a class, so I ordered a DVD online. It’s called Small Wonders. So far it’s working really well for us. We can watch a little at a time when it’s convenient for us, and it’s only 3 hours total. A. doesn’t have to get bored listening to other people’s questions and discussions either. 🙂 I think it will help us both have a sense of how things will progress in labor, when to go to the hospital, etc.

I’m really excited about the whole process! When I was young, for some reason I always looked forward to growing up and having babies. Pregnancy and childbirth seemed like amazing, transformative experiences. I was also interested in child development and couldn’t wait to start babysitting and then have my own young children eventually. I went through a period after college when I didn’t feel like I could even take care of myself, so I thought maybe I would never have kids, but I’m so happy to be having one now.

We go to group prenatal appointments, and a lot of the focus is on people’s fears about pain in childbirth. I’ve known women who say they would like to have kids but they don’t want to actually HAVE them because it seems too hard. I don’t know why I’ve never been afraid of it. I just can’t wait to experience it for myself and to have my baby at the end of it! If I decide I want pain medication, fine, but I hope I can keep my sense of excitement about the process and even enjoy it.

I have several visions of how I would like things to go, and some things I know I want to avoid based on what I saw as a nursing student. Maybe I’ll write about those in the future… Maybe a birth plan post.

Tomorrow my aunt Lynn and a friend of hers will be visiting, so we’ll have a fun day, and then I’ll take a nap and go to work.