36 Weeks

Today I am 36 weeks. In honor of making it to my final month for the first time, I thought I'd post a picture of my large and in charge belly. On nice days like today, when I venture out into my mom's very private back yard in my bikini, I feel very much like a beached whale. Particularly when I attempt to heave myself out of the lawn chair to dig dirt out of Lawson's mouth. It is not gracefull and not pretty. Did I mention her back yard is very private? You wouldn't see this whale beached just anywhere, believe me! I have to say, as large as my belly has become (okay... and my butt... and my thighs... and my upper arms, too....) and as uncomfortable as it is at times, I do kind of love having a built in arm rest and place to set my bowl of ice cream. I am also beginning to enjoy the look of fear that it invokes on some peoples faces that seem to think that the baby is going to just plop out of me in the produce section as I gather my groceries. I also enjoy informing the kind stranger who feels it is their duty to warn me that I could pop at any second that I do, in fact, have a month to go, according to my due date. Recently my favorite reaction has been from a little girl who was probably 8 or 9. She struck up a conversation with me, apparently not noticing my massive girth. After a minute, I turned to the side and looked back to see her jaw literally drop open as she squealed, "Oh, my gosh! You've got a baby in there!!! I LOVE babies!!! Is it going to be a Sarah?" I later figured out her name was Sarah and that was her unique way of asking if it was a girl. Pretty amusing.


Lawson also seems to love the belly and talks about his little sister "Num Num Ni" a lot. He has kisses and hugs for her round the clock and occasionally finds it incredibly funny to lift up both of our shirts and press our bellies together. Guess he wants to get as close to his sister as he can! Another tactic he's been trying for getting closer to her is testing out her clothes. This bath robe was a gift from my baby shower that was on top of her box of clothes and he was all about it! This photo could come in handy someday.


One complaint I do have at this point is that my body seems to be preparing me for being up all night. If I'm not up peeing, I'm up because I'm hungry or Lawson needs help falling back to sleep. Then there are nights like tonight when none of the above seems to be an issue and I'm up for absolutely no reason despite being exhausted and having technically gone to bed at 9pm. Well, it's 11:30pm and I'm still trying to tire my brain out enough to fall asleep.

Three are definitely aches and pains, but it's all seeming like less of a big deal now that we know that Dustin will be back in a week. Somehow, that makes everything a whole lot better! Cheeseball as I know that sounds, it's really true. I think a lot of my worries about him not making it back again or something going wrong have been calmed ten fold just knowing I won't have to go it alone this time around. And the anticipation of what an amazing experience it will be puts me on cloud nine every time I think about it! And as I am putting myself on cloud nine, I think I will also put myself to bed and hope for sleep to visit sooner than later. Well, I'll pee first, then I'll go to bed.... maybe after just a little snack.... and then another quick stop in the bathroom.....