Surprise! It's a Boy or a Girl?

I'm all about steering my children away from gender stereotypes but this, in my opinion is taking it too far. I keep Finn's hair on the long-ish side for a boy, I have let him apply lip gloss to his lips, and when he stares lovingly at himself in the mirror I choose to call him "cute" rather than "handsome". Heck, I even let him walk our streets with a little pink stroller. But if he comes to me as a Kindergartner asking if he can wear a dress to school...the answer will be a very carefully constructed and sensitive "No".

Kids can be cruel! Pops parents are paving the way for a lifetime of teasing. We live in a society where gender roles happen to be strictly defined, perhaps a bit too much, however that is the way it is. To each there own, I guess, but this is a child and he has no voice in the matter.

Welcome Home! Love Your Outfit.

The way I see it, my poor gestating fetus has been buck naked for 9 some odd months. The least I can do is dress he/she up in some fancy clothes to come home in, after all this is my area d'expertise. So I have a couple of wardrobe options depending on sex, skin tone, shape (or build if he is a he)**, and other important personal characteristics. First and foremost, the most important feature here is comfort. I am going with 100% organic cotton. I also want to pay attention to the baby's healing belly button and make it as easy as possible to change diapers. I present you with option #1:


This is a chocolate brown infant kimono with a lighter brown coffee-ish colored piping and it is so small you would think it was made for dolls. Completely adorable. Option # 2 is a cute striped number by Zutano's Itzy Bitzy line for newborns:

This, being blue, looks more boy-ish to me and even though I would have no problem dressing it on a girl, I think I would only choose option 2 over option 1 if we have a baby boy who is pushing 9+ pounds. So with that said this is a definite contender. I also purchased a few packs of sex-specific receiving blankets made By Dwell Studio for Target (ridiculously sweet/affordable line that, style-wise, is right up my alley):

**Realizing that all newborn babies look like miniature sized, old, Asian men but STILL.....

36 1/2 Weeks

This update comes a bit late (shocker, I know) as I will actually be 37 weeks on Saturday. The late afternoon exhaustion that I encountered in my first trimester has reared its ugly head and it has become hard for me to do much more during Finn's nap than surf the interwebz reading scads of other women's birth storys or the latest news on the Gosselins (Seriously- what is up with them? Quit the damn show already. Whatever it takes for your family, right Kate??).

So there's that. And my child is the size of some Swiss Chard this week I think...and weighs about as much as a crenshaw melon (that's about 6 pounds, of course, but you knew that). Baby E is moving a lot less this week - not a whole lot of room (!) - but I am moving a whole hell of a lot more....to the bathroom.

Speaking of that, I am not sleeping well these days. I have been waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, which I know is very common and many women have to go several times in the night, but I never had to and until now and have enjoyed decent sleep to boot. Not to mention the heartburn/indigestion....I am averaging about 6 tums a day at this point. It is also become pretty hot in our bedroom due to the 90+ degree weather. So, I'd say that I am almost ready now. I'd say give me another 1-2 weeks to get all the rest of 'my ducks in a row' and I'll be searching the web for a good eggplant parmigiana recipe....

Where The Wild Things Are

We arrived home safely and happily from our quick getaway to the River this past weekend. It was the first of three important events that I did not want to miss by going into labor early, followed by my hair cut/color on the 25th and ending with the last day of Finn's swim class July 2nd. We had a lovely time, basking in the glory that was our cabin hideaway in Dora, Mo overlooking the quite majestic North Fork River. The idea for the vacation was conceived by John wanting to get away for his birthday to a river, other than the Meramac, either in MO and AK. Since this was what he wanted for his birthday, I decided to take the responsibility of finding the 'perfect' place. His one and only criterion, other than the river not being the Meramac, was that the cabin overlooked said river. Luckily, being the master of inter web searching that I am, I was able to locate The River of Life Farm. I evaluated each of there cabins and not shockingly chose the most expensive one only to be disappointed to find that it was booked the weekend of John's birthday. We decided this spot was too good to pass up and changed the weekend.

Upon arrival, we were not surprised why this cabin is booked solid through out the summer. I mean....WOW.....just wow. Reality far surpassed the elegant pictures that accompany their website. It was everything that one could hope for in cabin up in the trees overlooking the river. Some highlights of the weekend included sitting outside on the deck reading and listening to the peaceful sound of rushing water below, watching a bald eagle soar above us and then perch itself on a dead tree branch directly across the river from us, taking a float trip in a Canoe with virtually no one else on the river but us, and hiking (yes, me, I hiked) up a trail to a spot called "Inspiration Point" where we were able to take in spectacular views and spot more juvenile eagles and the bald eagle once again.

As much as this weekend was for John and a celebration of the beginning of his 31st year, it was also about taking a vacation for the last time, just the three of us. I often think about these days, days that Finn will never remember, as an only child. I wonder why I tried so hard. Why I decided to dedicate the entire month of May to doing fun things with him, just he and I, when he won't be able to remember the laughter and the smiles. Hopefully, one day when he is old enough to understand he will be able to read this and rifle through countless pictures and know that this was important to me as his mother. That I will be able to tell him about the month before his brother or sister was born and how much fun we had togther and how much I cherished these past 20 months of togetherness more than anything in the world and how special and beautiful it always is....most of the time. That I am so anxious and excited to see how great of a big brother he will be to the newest little duck.

* Our weekend ended with a lovely visit to The Nixon's home in Arkansas to visit with Jerry and Katy and enjoy a delicious lunch and engage in good conversation. Finn was smitten with Katy, and she got a few hugs from our new found cuddily little boy.

35 Weeks

A Blog? Um, what blog? Wait I have a blog? Oh, I forgot.

Yeah, that about sums up how I feel these days. That and the late afternoon extreme exhaustion/still can't nap during the day syndrome, coupled with the feeling of carrying a watermelon between my legs walking around wondering if a baby may just fall out on to the floor at any moment (how was that for a visual, huh?) Oh and wait, I forgot the ever present feeling of guilt of not being able to keep up with my very active toddler. He runs much much faster than me these days and has the energy level of emo raver strung out on coke at an all night disco. Can't. Keep. Up.

But wait! There is light at the end of the misery tunnel! In my inter web research I was able to find that being 8-9 months pregnant is actually harder than caring or a newborn + toddler. That is reassuring news!! So really I am no longer scared of the creepy floaty baby in the sidebar anymore. 30 days left? Yipppee Skipee!

We've been out having too much fun...

So what have we been up to the past couple of weeks? Well, in an extreme self-loathing moment when I was on the phone in near tears with my mom my dad offered to come pick Finn and I up for a much needed 'break' away from the monotony. We had a wonderful three days in Woodstock, one of which included a trip to the Abbey Grand Lodge, the resort I vacationed at as a child to use there indoor pool facilities(in true Woodstock fashion the weather was cold/rainy and in the 50's). My mom drove us home on Friday and babysat for us that night so I could take John out for his birthday. We had a lovely outdoor dinner followed by....wait for it....BOWLING. Yeah, what a sight, right? Aside from the fact that I felt like I could tip over at any moment and roll down the lane and I looked like I was stealing one of the balls on the way out, it was actually quite fun!

A rare pic of Finn with my mom, if even just of her back, at the park in Crystal Lake

Well, that brings me to the first week of June, aka, the start of the last month of my pregnancy. I didn't realize until today that I have a PACKED CALENDAR this month. Finn started his summer day out program at Webster Presbyterian Church this past Monday. Next week we start swim classes. Next weekend we leave for our river vacation. The 4th of July will be here in no time flat. This boy (?) needs a name ASAP!!!!

Appropriately dressed in black as if mourning the loss of my pre-babe body

*Update on the pregnancy: I went to my 35 week appointment today. Baby is doing well, measuring 5lbs/11oz. I am 1 CM dilated and the head is down.