Halloween!

I love Halloween.

Wilson painted a pumpkin on my tummy for Halloween. B makes a very good pumpkin but I'm so excited for next Halloween when she can have an actual costume. I've seen some pretty cute babies dressed up for this Halloween.

There are only 7 1/2 weeks until B gets here. My tummy is getting pretty big, as seen in the picture. And I'm pretty sure I've had a few Braxton-Hicks contractions. According to babycenter.com B is about 4lbs. She is almost the length she will be when she is born, but from now until then, she's going to be packin' on the pounds...about half a pound a week. Sheesh.

The Whole 9 Yards

This post is brought to you by the number 9.

**The 9 of diamonds-the playing card-is called the Curse of Scotland

**The expression "to the nines" means to the highest degree. Someone dressed to the nines is dressed up as much as they can be.

**9 judges sit on the U.S. Supreme Court

**A human pregnancy normally lasts 9 months

**Important Buddhist rituals involve 9 monks

**There used to be 9 planets in the solar system.

**In astrology, the ninth sign of the Zodiac is Sagittarius, identified by the Greeks as a Centaur. Centaurs are magical creatures known for their skills as archers, philosophers, and predictors of the future.

**In classical music the curse of the ninth refers to the superstition that a composer who writes a ninth symphony will die soon. Beethoven, who left his Tenth symphony unfinished, is regarded by the superstition as the first victim of the curse.

**There are 9 members of the Fellowship of the Ring in the Lord of the Rings saga.

**9 is the number of weeks until Baby gets here! Hopefully...

Baby Class

Baby class is a lot of fun. Wilson and I go to baby class every Thursday in October from 7pm to 9:30pm. It's very long, yes, but the instructor is a hoot and makes it very enjoyable.

One thing that I have noticed is that I am very lucky to be having such an easy pregnancy. There are six or seven other couples in the class and all of the pregnant women sit there, with their feet propped up on chairs, staring blankly at the instructor, or the videos we watch. I know they are all very excited for their babies, but they just look so...unhappy. Back pains, swollen feet, heartburn, babies kicking them in the ribs, etc. You name it, someone has got it. I feel kind of weird because I'm sitting there, smiling and laughing at all the instructor's jokes and following along in the baby book that we got and getting up and down all by myself when we sit on the floor to learn breathing techniques. All of the other women need help getting up and down. All of these women are just as far along as I am, and one woman's baby is due on December 22nd, just like mine! Basically, I'm so grateful that my little B is just cool as a cucumber and not making me feel awful. I just hope that B is as easy when she comes out of the oven as she is while she's in the oven.

Today in class, the instructor said the phrase "poopy diaper baby" and I CRACKED up. I have no idea why it was so funny, but I can't help but giggle to myself just thinking about it.

Poopy Diaper Baby!

Anyways, in response to my cracking up, the instructor said "this is the funnest Lamaze class you will ever take!" Wilson then turns to me and whispers "this is Lamaze?! I just thought it was baby class! We are in a Lamaze class?? What are we, hippies??"

teehee.

Next Thursday we are taking a tour of Labor and Delivery and also of the nursery. I am SOO excited. I can't wait to see all the little bitty babies and ooh and aww over them. I'm probably more excited about seeing those babies than I am to snack on the M&M's I bought earlier today. I'm also pretty excited about thinking of what my first words to my little B will be. Assuming that I will be able to say anything and not just sit there and sob tears of joy, I hope that B will recognize my voice and be comforted by it.

Oh, B.

Sunny days, sweepin' the clouds away...

10

This post is brought to you by the number 10.

**10 is our most important number because it is the base of our counting system.

**Lobsters and crustaceans have 10 legs

**Our counting system is based on 10 because we have 10 fingers

**The first four numbers added together make 10.

**The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights

**Thomas Edison set up his first laboratory in his father's basement when he was 10 years old.

**Human hearing reaches its peak at 10 years old

**10 pennies make a dime and 10 dimes make a dollar.

**Does the number ten start with the letter "T" or the number 1?

**10 is the number of weeks left until Baby gets here...hopefully.

The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things...

Another doctor's appointment came and went. 29 weeks, it is. Next week begins the countdown:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

*ding*

Baby!

I was told by my doctor that anyone and everyone who plans on spending time with B must get the whooping cough shot. Whooping cough shot? Yes, a whooping cough shot. Grandparents and great grandparents especially. No one who whoops shall be permitted within close range of the sweet and precious babe. Consider yourself warned.

I had to drink the most awful, disgusting drink in order to take that glucose screening test. I was given the choice of orange or fruit punch flavor. I chose fruit punch. The only way I can describe it is to compare it to drinking the syrup of a melted popsicle. Except magnified in sweetness times 10. And it's not as if you can just slowly sip it and take your time trying to stomach it. The doctor gave instructions that the whole 50 oz. should be finished within a couple of minutes. So there I was, gulping it down, trying not to gag, and of course complaining about how bad it tasted. Wilson apparently didn't believe me and asked to take a sip, because, ya know, how bad could it be? It's just fruit punch juice and he is such a manly man. So I let him have a swig.

He didn't say another word afterwards and let me complain all I wanted.

School has been hellish but I must say that I am doing quite well. I gave the most awesome presentation in class today. My curriculum partner and I presented a draft of our elementary school curriculum which required 36 lesson plan outlines. We did amazing and went above and beyond everyone else. My professor, who is known to be a harsh critique, said that we deserve an applause.

Thank you, thank you very much.

(8 more weeks of school, 8 more weeks of school, 8 more weeks of school)