Light at the end..

It's been awhile!

We are officially at 36 weeks and 4 days in our pregnancy and SO looking forward to the light at the end of the tunnel. The full press of exhaustion and discomfort have set in and its safe to say mama dearest is ready for this lil' bun to kick the oven and make her grand appearance. Woooee!

Our doctor visits are now weekly, and we are starting to figure out a game plan for Peanut's delivery. We are SO blessed to be delivering with a doc we both trust implicitly. He has an awesome perspective and shares a lot of the same values that Dana and I do. We both feel incredibly comfortable with him being the referee/catcher for the biggest day in the life of our little growing family. In the past, I have been grossly disappointed with the care of the physicians I have been under the charge of, so to say that I am at peace with this choice is huge.

It really is so funny to look back now and realize how quickly these last nine months have gone. I feel a little like I'm looking at life from the outside..like this is a freaky out of body experience. Five and a half months of throwing up, followed by two months of baby kicks and pokes and LOTS of strangers rubbing my belly, and here we are...so close to the end! We are packing hospital bags for baby and me, we are getting diapers and wipes set out where they need to be, we are testing/installing car seats. This is all too real, and so TOTALLY unreal at the same time! WHOA!
Dana and I were at Babies R' Us picking up the last minute necessities (or so we're told), and stood in front of the WALL (I'm not even kidding..WALL) of thermometers for at LEAST 15 minutes. We had a good half dozen BRU employees ask us if we needed assistance in that short amount of time. Needless to say, we learned A LOT about the different temperature taking doodads. Who knew there is quite literally one of those things for just about every crevice on a little body?! We went with the armpit option by the way. Aside from the ear - the only other option seemed like far too much of a violation. **Yipes!**

SO that brings us here. I have settled into the Ninth Month Slump that is made up of multiple late night potty runs, very little sleep (thought THAT was meant to come after she's here?!), shortness of breath (she rocks Dance Dance Revolution on my lungs apparently), total discomfort (walking with a bowling ball between my knees) and topped off with the oh so glorious senioritis-like impatience. :) A great friend once told me that she believed this is why God gives us a 10 month gestation period. We start out with all of those fears of parenthood and labor, etc. But all of that trepidation simply fades into the background when you come to the home stretch. No fear. Game on. Let's get this thing moving. 'NUFF SAID!

We are definitely looking forward to seeing this little face. I can't wait to count her little fingers and toes. The questions of hair/eye color run through my mind a million times a day. Will she have Dana's smiley eyes? Will she have my curls?
I am SO ready!
Just so ready to kiss those little cheeks and feel her hand wrapped around my finger. Here's to light at the end of the tunnel...HAL-LE-LU-JAH!

Dana and I had our rockstar wedding photographer take some great maternity/family shots. We will post soon!!