Monday, September 01, 2008

Last Days of Summer

Summer is almost over, and this baby will be with us in 2 and a half months or so, and I realized we have basically no new pictures to share. We have been severely delinquent in our picture taking. Mostly laziness, but also the fact that there hasn't been much to take photos of. So I guess I have to fill this space up with words.

About a month ago I switched jobs at the hospital. I am still doing mostly cardiac nursing, but I am now on an outpatient floor where I take care of patients before and after their procedures in the 'cath lab'. If anyone is really interested in what that means, I would be happy to explain, but I'm guessing that sentence is enough for most. What it means for me, is a slightly lower stress, slower paced job and slightly better hours including all weekends and holidays off. Instead of working 3:00 - 11:00 PM, I now work 1:00 - 9:30 PM. Good news is that now I can see and hang out with Keith for an hour or so after I get home and before we go to bed. Bad news is that there will be no more poems like this waiting for me on the counter:

Bread
by Keith Caldera
I am smart in the head
'cus I made bread.
Now, I am in bed,
But I am full of dread
That you'll eat my bread.
"Right said Fred"
So, don't eat my bread.
It is full of lead
And you'll be dead!

A Working Man's Poem
by Keith Caldera
Soooo, I was working in the mire,
And my pants are something dire.
They are muddy
I am no liar.
I work hard
I never tire.
Sooo, check my work pants in the dryer,
If they're not dry
Hang by the fire.

Romantic in their own way, and sure to put a smile on my face after a long night. I've been hanging onto those scrap pieces of paper for a long time, and found them as we've been cleaning and rearranging furniture. Finally they are archived in the eternity of the web, never to be lost.

Keith has been job searching without a lot of luck, but in the meantime has stayed plenty busy with random projects around our house and mostly working with the contractor of a friend of ours doing some remodel work and misc house/renovation projects.

In our spare time we try to figure out a name for this child that is arriving all too soon and work on finding room in our small house for him to live. We had to dramatically downsize our office, saying good-bye to Keith's homemade (and huge) desk and my Dell monitor from 1998 that took up half the desk. We moved the 'office' out to the living room, setting up a much smaller desk and dispersed the rest of the office stuff to the attic, spare bedroom and garbage/recycle clearing out our office entirely so now it is "Bubba's" room. We had coincidentally painted it blue in anticipation of hanging a certain painting in there, but now we'll just leave it, as blue is a fine color for a baby boy's room.

Here are some really interesting photos of how our living room and baby's room look now.
Our living/dining room/office - we are actually quite pleased with the setup and enjoy having the computer in one of the main rooms.
Crowded, but comfortable

Baby's room in waiting.
Baby's Room To Be

Back in July we went up to Washington and spent some time relaxing at my parents' house after being thoroughly entertained by Eddie Izzard in Seattle - a comedian we can't recommend enough. Hilarious. The visit with the folks was nice and relaxing with a couple of very pleasant days spent at their lake cabin.

Summer Cookin

Summer Swim

And then there are the updates of my growing stomach. As of today, I am in my 30th week. It is crazy how fast this is going. I feel like in the last couple weeks in particular, my appearance has changed dramatically. I feel like I am carrying him quite high, as is noticed by my moments of breathlessness after walking down the hall and some new fun rib pain. I have a feeling it is going to get so much more interesting from here on out. At least I can still put on my own shoes. For the most part I still feel great. I am moving around fine and work is still plenty manageable. I've been walking a lot (thanks to Gracie and my job) and doing mostly swimming as my main form of exercise. The pool feels so great and it's kind of fun to float around with those old ladies at water aerobics! Actually, it is a pretty good mix of ages at those classes and is a surprisingly good workout (coming from someone with an exercise tolerance bordering on zero).

So here's a catch up of the belly photos if you haven't been over to our Flickr page:

Week 25:
Week 25

And Week 29. It's hard to get a good picture so I always have to make Keith take several. I couldn't believe the difference a change in posture and pant line could make in how big it makes me look. These next two were taken immediately after one another. My brother, Carl, apparently has a problem with the pants I chose to wear for these pictures, thinking they were too tight around the waist and artificially squeezing in my belly. Maybe he's right....although I think it's mostly my posture.
Week 29 Take 1:
Week 29

Week 29, Take 2:
Also Week 29!

And since we're not taking any photos, I made Keith pose with me while we had normal clothes on so I can have at least one or two photos of me pregnant not in purple pants and a too tight white shirt. This was taken about two weeks ago.
Summertime

I almost forgot the most exciting news. Jenn and John had their baby!! Jenn and I have been enjoying this pregnancy experience together, but now she is onto the next phase, and can now tell me all the things I have to look forward to in being a mom of a newborn as she has been doing with the pregnancy (she's been great about telling me what to expect and letting me know what I should be doing to get ready....I tend to be somewhat of a procrastinator). She delivered three weeks early on August 23, but the baby, Bealena, was ready. She came out a beautiful 7 lbs 2 oz and with a full head of hair!
What a beauty (Bea, not me - I'm on 24 hours of no sleep in this picture!).