Watermelon Waiting

You are now 37 weeks along! And that means you've reached the final stage of your fruit continuum.

That's right, buddy, you are now the size of a watermelon!

And, as a watermelon, that means two things:

1) Watch out for Gallagher.

2) You are "Ready" for birth.

Now, ready is sure a loaded term. But, basically, it means you could be born today with no complications. All you're doing for the next 3 weeks (or for how ever long you decide to remain in utero) is adding on baby fat, refining your blinking, and sucking, inhaling and exhaling (yup, you're still breathing in liquid!).

But, all that's really just practice! You're ready for the big show any day now.

And with that in mind, your Mom and I are trying to get "ready" too.

"Ready or not, here you come." Definitely, we know that's true.

But we still had a few more things to check off our lists to make us feel a little bit more ready.

So this weekend, we put together your stroller and unwrapped your car seat/infant carrier and installed it in the car! Seeing as how they won't let us take you home without the car seat, we thought it was a good thing to get done.

We also got down our big red duffle bag from the attic and started packing for our trip to the hospital. I got my change of socks and boxers and t-shirts all packed up. The toiletries are all ready to go: toothbrushes, toothpaste and (very important) deods. Your Mom is packing all her clothes and other necessities today, including some pretty cool long socks (which may be the first thing you see) and nursing tops.

This bag, of course, is a complete luxury. You can be born with or without it; but since this whole deal is about keeping your Mom as comfortable as possible, so you can be born as comfortably as possible, it's probably a good idea to get this Emergency Bag all packed and ready to go.

So, the bag is ready to go, as are you. And now we're just playing the waiting (until March) game.

And, surprisingly, an odd calm-before-the-storm mentality has settled over our household...as long as that creep with the moustache and the sledgehammer isn't lurking about (Gallagher, not Pops!)

Heads and Nails

Week 34 is a big week in your development. It kind of seems like a bunch of grand openings were just announced. Check out all that you're able to do right now, according to the bump and some other sources:

• When light peeks in through your Mom's belly (whose thin is stretched thin), your tiny eyelids and irises can blink and dilate. So maybe I won't shine the flashlight in your eyes!
• You are now smart enough to recognize and react to simple songs… That means you may already recognize your lullabye that I've been singing!
• Your finger and toe nails are growing fast and long...and they're sharp too. Good thing we got the baby finger nail clippers we'd been eyeballin'!

For all this development, though, it still seems like you're miles away from coming out to meet us. Although we only have 38 official days to go, it seems like an eternity. Not that we're anxious, but time is definitely dragging, especially when I read about how much of a working, functioning little person you are in there.

But, you do need more time in the oven until you're ready to come out.

For now, you stay in that oven and we'll just have to wait, and appreciate you from the outside. Yesterday you gave us a great opportunity to do so. While your Mom was sprawled out on the couch she grabbed my hand and placed it to her belly.

"What is that?" I asked.

"I don't know," she said.

"It's too big to be a hand or a foot. Is it a head?"

"Maybe..." she smiled in awe.

(Don't ask me how she can smile in awe, she just can).

But, there I was, with my hand palming something the size of a large orange. It could have been your butt, but I prefer to think it was your head. And that means you must have been sleeping the way I sometimes do on planes: head first.

It was almost as if you were trying to peak your head into our conversation. But, as you can tell from above, the conversation wasn't too intelligent anyway.

But, it was full of awe.

8 months in...and you're unbelievable

It's hard to believe but as of Saturday- the day of our Shower for you- we are 32 weeks along. That officially puts us in our 8th month of pregnancy! In an effort to avoid cussing, but still express to you the enormity of this number and the awe we are in at the proximity of your impending birth, I'll say the following (because I like fishing): "HOLY CARP! We're 8 months pregnant!"

It seems just like yesterday that we were in awe of being 10 weeks pregnant! But now, this is getting real.

It's hard to believe that you're now over 3 pounds and around 16.5 inches long (if averages are supposed to be trusted). It's hard to believe that your Mom is starting to have what the book is calling "Braxton Hicks" contractions, which is basically her body practicing for delivering you.

It's hard to believe that you're now using all 5 of your senses actively. It's hard to believe that you could already be sucking your thumb and (believe it or not) crying in there! But, just like crying in space, no one can hear you scream in utero.

It's hard to believe that you're blinking and dreaming and learning already.

Finally, though, here's something that I CAN readily believe: now that you're 8 months in, your skin is no longer transparent. With all the baby fat you've been accumulating over the past months, your skin is finally getting to be opaque. And that's way easier to picture than transparent skin.

Speaking of accumulating fat: the food at the shower was great! I ate a lot of it, to be honest. But I did leave some for your guests. We couldn't have done it without your Grandmas (Mimi and Nannah Joon) and your Great Aunt Chrissy who all rocked the house with their food and party planning.

And the games were a lot of fun too. A lot of people had far too much fun with the "what will you look like" game, creating monsters that are even creepier than the well-intentioned cut-and-paste babies.

I'll show you some of the "winners" later this week. But, just to prep you, we know you're not going to have two heads, or noses for ears. You're going to be far cuter than that! And that, too, isn't hard to believe at all (you'll believe me when you see these collages).