Blessed

I am sitting here and physically paying the price for being “on” and on my feet for the past three days straight.  My hips hurt, my feet are swollen and my legs are so tired.  I want to sleep for a week and get several full body massages.

But I don’t care.  I am so utterly happy and I feel so incredibly blessed to have such amazing friends and loving parents.  The living room and dining room are covered in gifts and wrapping paper and bags and tissue paper and little plastic tags.  The OCD part of me wants it all cleaned and put away.  The blissfully happy part of me (which is winning right now) loves seeing it all so spread out because it is a reminder of how truly lucky Stephen and I are.

The baby shower was awesome.  There really is no other word to describe it.  We saw people we hadn’t seen in ages; family came in from out of town; the food was an outstanding, delicious group effort; and it was a gorgeous day outside.  The gifts were overwhelming.  We have everything we could possibly need for her arrival….and then some.  Then, to top it all off, mom and mom-in-law took me shopping the next day for even more stuff.

My stress about her not having everything she needs?  Gone.

Side note:  By some stroke of hilarious fate, of all the presents Stephen opened, he opened all of the breastfeeding equipment – pump, nursing pads, collection bottles.  *snicker*

Today is the 12th, which means we are exactly one month to our baby girl’s due date.  She is still going strong, letting me know she’s healthy and active all the time.  She wakes me up in the morning and rumbles around at night and, in spite of all my complaining and soreness, I love it.  I love feeling her move around.  It’s so reassuring and so wonderful and amazing.  I cannot wait to see what this little girl looks like, smells like, feels like…

We have so much going on in the next four weeks, which is good.  Busy is good.  Time goes by faster when I’m busy.  Starting this Wednesday, at the official 9 month mark, we go to the clinic every week for checkups.  Never fear, I’ll be keeping everyone updated as to our progress as we get closer and closer.

We also have some really cool classes we’re taking starting Saturday and going through next week – Birthing, Baby Sign Language, Labor Massage (woohoo!) and Breastfeeding.  Well, I am taking the Breastfeeding course…Stephen just kinda looked at me funny when I asked him if he wanted to come.  I’m really looking forward to all of them and all the great things we’ll be learning.  I just hope I can retain it all!

Our one year anniversary is in three weeks.  With all the whirlwind of activity and the pregnancy, we haven’t even thought about what we’re going to do.  I guess it will depend on me and the baby and if she’s on time or early.  In any case, we will make it special no matter what we do.  I am married to a truly wonderful man who is about to become an incredible father and I couldn’t be more content with that.

Mother’s Day is next month, too.  Do you celebrate it if you’re pregnant or do you want until you actually have the child?  I’m not sure.  Should I celebrate Mother’s Day?  I honestly don’t know what the proper etiquette is here.

In any case, we have a ton of things going on in the last four weeks leading up to D-Day and I’m so excited about all of it.  She’ll be here before we know it and the next great adventure in our lives will begin!