36 Weeks...its already February?

So yeah, 36 weeks already. We are approaching on being full term, once you reach 37 weeks. Barca could decide any day now that she wants to take a short trip and see the faces which accompany the voices she has been hearing.

We are ready. We have all the necessities we will need for the first couple weeks at least. We spent most of this past Saturday picking up stuff for Barca. Really the only two major to dos left are to install the smoke alarm in her room and get the car seats inspected. One of these days we'll tidy up her room and post some pictures. It is coming together really nicely.

We also have everything washed and put away for Barca. While doing some Barca laundry on Sunday we lost a sock (these things are tiny!). Well, we went to a friend's house to watch the Superbowl and when we returned we found a pleasant surprise. Mallie had apparently found the sock and left it in the middle of the floor for us to find (no doubt after she played with it a little!). Good to know Mallie is great at finding lost baby socks!

And to commerate the events of 1-20-09, Nick purchased the following toy for Barca...

Yes, it is a Barack in a Box! Cute huh?

Well, until next week when we will be full term! We are really starting to get excited!!

My shower in Boston

Last weekend my sister, Susie, hosted a shower for me. It was a small gathering of friends and family for brunch at a restaurant in Cambridge. The restaurant's decor was very Alice in Wonderland which was really fun. The food was really good too!


It was a good time and Susie and I were able to get reaquainted with our cousin Lori. The last time we saw Lori was at her UCSB graduation party and the day I took the ACTs, almost 10 years ago! The picture below is of Susie (left) and Lori (right).

We played a game where everyone brought a baby picture of themselves and we had to guess who went with which photo. Congrats to my friend Enza who got every single one correct! Susie and I brought photos of us at about the same age in the same outfit. Our parents have a hard time telling the photos apart! Below are the two pictures, can you tell which one is Susie and which one is me??

Below are some of my friends in attendance, Stephanie, Enza, Paige, and Timmy. Timmy is just about to celebrate his 6 month birthday soon. Victoria, Timmy's mom, isn't pictured.

Susie made an adorable cake (which was also delicious!). She decorated it with ladybugs and yellow flowers! It was really sweet. It was a great afternoon.

Even the guys got into it. Some of the husbands of my friends met Nick at a pub across the street for an "alternative" shower!

Thanks everyone for a great afternoon!!

(By the way, Susie was the top picture and I'm the bottom picture!)

I won a giveaway!

So I read this blog, BostonMamas, on a semi-regular basis. Occasionally they have giveaways, and some pretty awesome ones. So I entered a giveaway and I was randomly selected as a winner!

I won a handmade baby book for Barca from Baby Butterfly Books. I selected the green scroll cover. I just received the book in the mail and it is georgous. I cannot wait till Barca arrives and I can start to fill in the book with all of her firsts and precious moments.

35 Weeks...and Barca is a honeydew melon?

Well, the internet tells us that Barca is now the weight of a honeydew melon. She is definitely a strong kicker and wiggler. Her hiccups even move my belly and Nick has felt them. She has a tendency to wiggle her bottom and push it out so I'll end up with a little buldge at the top of my belly. She really likes to do this during project and construction meetings and I'm really self-conscious about the fact that my belly is wiggling and moving.

As Nick previously reported, I'm feeling great. I don't think anyone really believes me when I tell them that though. Although putting on my boots is an ordeal in the morning, but I can still do it. We'll see how much longer that lasts!

I'm still hard at work (see the photo), yes it is Fenway, although its hard to recognize now. I do have to take precautions, including a respirator due to all the dust and really watching where I'm walking, its amazing the number of tripping hazards. I'm pretty much on the construction site everyday and have become quite the novelty. At least Barca will have a story to tell that her mom was in steel-toed boots and a hardhat everyday during her last trimester as the project/field engineer at Fenway Park! Hey, my mom was doing underground nuclear testing while she was pregnant with me! The apple really doesn't fall far from the tree.

Barca's room is coming along. The crib is put together. My parents shipped out some artwork that they purchased for me when I was younger and we'll put it up in the room, eventually. Its some animation cells from the best show ever made, Animaniacs and a nice piece of artwork of the Disney princesses.

We have started having doctor appointments every week now. And our due date is rapidly approaching. Guess I better go to laundry, huh?

Thank you Circuit City

Our new 46" TV, Nick couldn't pass up the opportunity. Note the plug for 7 News.

33 Weeks... and counting.

...and we don't have TOO much further to count. It's pretty cool to be able to flip through my calendar and only have to turn one page before seeing the date marked "Barca's Due Date."

Everything is falling into place pretty nicely, I think. Annie is still feeling really good (and looking great) and getting by without any major problems. The biggest issue seems to be how she feels really hungry some days and then not hungry at all other days. I'm kind of bummed, honestly, that she hasn't been having any weird cravings. I was actually looking forward to trying a peanut butter and pickles sandwich. Oh well...

Barca's room is coming along. We found the ideal places for all the furniture in there this weekend, only having to move one big piece, and we unpacked and set up the glider (and gliding ottoman) we bought. All we're waiting on, really, is the crib (which should arrive in a couple of weeks) and for us to decide what we'd like to decorate the walls with. We still need a few other items and some more clothes, of course, but Ann's grandma helped us immensely in that regard -- basically cleaning out the children's section of the Macy's in Santa Barbara and giving us more than we could have asked for for Christmas. We're also all set in the stroller and car seat department, finding the ones we wanted in some cool colors.

Today we just finished up our Natural Childbirth class, which turned out to be quite interesting and helpful. We learned a lot more about the whole process (from nesting to labor to post-partum) than just how to do Lamaze breathing and time contractions. I even filled a proverbial "Toolbox" (our instructor's word for it) of information and wisdom (the proverbial "tools") I hope to be able to use to keep Ann comfortable and calm from now until Barca arrives. I also have no doubt she'll be able to make it through without needing any medication in the hospital -- or having to see any needles. That would make everybody happier.

One more thing we learned in the class: Our instructor said, in trying to illustrate how babies are used to noisy environments, the blood rushing through a woman's vena cava vein registers in the baby's ears at 80 decibels, while a vacuum cleaner clocks in at 60 decibels. We were struck with the question, though, that if the baby is supposed to be able to hear his or her parents' voices coming from the outside of the womb, which can't even come close to 80 decibels, how is it that a person's blood flow is that loud, but inaudible to the outside world? Or, for that matter, does it mean that if one were to shrink a vacuum cleaner and stick it inside themself (without reducing the intensity of the sound, of course), would we NOT be able to hear it from the outside? Something to ponder... but I digress...

Lastly, Ann and I have come up with a fun way to create Barca's birth announcement, which you can all look forward to seeing in about seven weeks.

Until the next time.

-Nick

...and after 10-12 weeks of waiting...

I passed the PE exam! I am so excited. It is a huge weight off my shoulders. I am so happy that I passed the exam prior to Barca being born, I can't imagine studying while having a newborn or infant around!

So after I send in my registration fee I will be a registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts!