Week 35

First of all, let me wish a very happy Father's Day to Patrick. Even though Ethan isn't officially here yet, he is already a fantastic father-to-be and he worries so much about both of us. Ethan is a very lucky little boy to have a daddy who already loves him so very much. Not having much of a relationship with my own dad, it is truly a beautiful thing to watch Patrick get so excited about all of the little things that go along with being a parent. I cannot wait to watch the relationship that he and Ethan are going to have develop over time.

I went to Raleigh this past weekend for a quick trip for one last visit with my mom and sister and to visit my good friend Lindsay and her absolutely adorable baby, Graham. It was really nice to be "home" and now that I'm back in Charlotte I'm kind of sad to think that I won't be going anywhere again for awhile. (I'm not supposed to travel past the 36 week mark, which I am now rapidly approaching.) I'm really glad that I was able to make the trip and meet Graham, who will surely be one of Ethan's first friends. He's super tiny and Lindsay is estimating he might have reached 7 pounds by now. He is such a well behaved little guy and slept during most of my visit. Ethan kicked him as well (he kicked Mary Grace when he met her!) and I'm not sure if it was a coincidence of if Graham actually felt it, but at that exact moment his face got all red and scrunched up for a second. I sure hope Ethan doesn't turn out to be a bully!

Our "bump pic" has changed just a bit :)

In pregnancy symptoms, I've noticed that my feet are starting to swell a bit. I can still wear all of my shoes (and yes, that includes the heels!) but it is a change from how I've been feeling up until this point. I also have some pains in my legs (that kind of feel like I've been doing splits or high kicks or something but I haven't been doing any exercise that would cause this so I figure my body is getting itself ready to be ripped open.) Sleep is still elusive in the middle of the night, and I've been going since around 4:30 this morning. Hopefully I'll be able to nap later this afternoon!

The shelves that we ordered for Ethan's room arrived this week and I thought that I was going to be very handy and put them together while he was at work. Ha! First I had to call him and ask where I could find a screwdriver. He nervously answered my question and asked why in the world I needed to know that. Wanting to surprise him with the completed shelves I just told him I was working on a project. He was scared, I could tell :) I did okay through the first couple of steps, but then got stuck as the pictures got slightly more complicated. I was only midway through when Patrick got home from work, but he was very complimentary of my work and picked up where I had left off. Everything was going fine until he went to put the final piece together and realized that the middle piece (upon which everything was fastened) was in backwards. And yes, I had put that piece in backwards. So we had to take everything apart, switch around the middle piece, and then complete the shelf assembly. What a project!

I'm continuing to work on my never ending to do list this week, and we are making some progress. We finally have a camcorder so now we'll be able to take some videos when Ethan arrives (but no birth videos, promise!) I'm planning to run out and pick up some essentials tomorrow so that I can cross a few more items off of the list. Every time we're making progress on the list though, I think of 10 more things to add. Hopefully this will be the last week of my frantic efforts to complete everything and next week I can start relaxing and preparing for baby. We'll have another doctor's appointment on Friday, and then I'll start seeing the doctor every week from here until the end. I cannot believe that it's almost time...it seems surreal!

Here's the official word on week 35: "Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete - he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight."