Week 36: Honeydew House

Julia, you're now 36 weeks along on this magical journey they call the road to life, or pregnancy, or whatever. Whatever it is, you've only got about 3 weeks left of it!

You've been doing your job quite well: You're growing, rolling around, kicking and squirming.

Your Mom is as beautiful as always:

It's so interesting to compare the Julia with the Aidan belly at the same week in pregnancy. Here's your Mom about 3 years ago, very pregnant with Aidan:

I think you may be a bigger belly, Miss Julia...but just by a hair! But, there's no real sense in comparing apples to oranges, when you're really the size of a honeydew melon.

News from the womb indicates that your heaing is fully developped, that your liver and kidneys are in working order, that your circulation and immune systems are pretty much good to go and that you're finalizing those steps to be able to breathe on your own. Also, we know that your Mom's cervical lining (that glue which basically keeps the first steps of labor from starting to happen) is all-but gone. It was thinned to 80% two weeks ago, and this week the doctor didn't even bother to check.

Now since you're coming via C-section anyway, we don't really need to worry about dilation and all that, like we did last time. BUT if you decide you're ready to come earlier than October 11, 2012, then we'd better be ready.

Which makes the honeydew even more important. See, we've been scrambling to get everything ready for your arrival. Feels like we've been prepping hard since the beginning of summer, but we really kicked it into high gear recently. We made our "honey-do" lists (you know, like "honey, do this", "honey, do that", we checked them twice, and we started crossing them off our list. Everything's falling into place...

Your Yaya finshed work on your dresser, and we got that put in place of the old changing table.
I painted different walls in different rooms.
We went to Ikea to finish setting up your Mom's new office (so we could move the office stuff from the playroom, so we could get the playroom all set up).
We sold old stuff, and bought new stuff: new swing, new stroller, new bouncy chair.
I cleaned out and organized the shed (yes, that had to be done before you came!)
I scooted over Aidan's seat and installed yours.

Looks Good right? I keep asking Aidan if he knows who's going to be sitting next to him soon. His answer thus far has been, "huh?"

We're prepping Aidan for our stay at the hospital by doing a test run of spending the night at Yaya's house tonight.
We're working extra hard with Aidan on being gentle with the items you will soon frequent.
We got out all the old baby toys and put them away. Aidan keeps taking them out.

All this honey-do-ing can sure make a guy tired...

But, we're getting there baby, and there are only a few more honey-do's to do. But you know what? You have a loving brother waiting for you (occasionally he waits behind trees):

You've got a loving, beautiful Mom who is QUITE ready for you to arrive.

And you've got a devoted Dad who is so excited to meet you and finally get to hold you.

Plus two doggies who you're just going to love, 4 awesome grandparents, aunts and uncles and friends.

So, if you come tomorrow, you'll be all set. It doesn't matter if that picture doesn't get framed and hung, or the ceiling paint touched-up. Those honey-do's can all wait once our perfect honeydew arrives.

The Honeydew Period

Feel like you've been squashed for far too long? No, I'm not talking about the rapidly dwindling amount of space you have in your Mom's tummy-- though, I bet that's really squashed quarters. I'm talking about your fruit/veg comparison continuum. After spending 4 weeks on the scales as a "squash," you've now officially been upgraded:

You're now the size of a Honeydew Melon (you know, cantaloupe's amazing, green cousin)! (remind me to tell you a HILARIOUS joke when you come out about why the honeydew told the watermelon they couldn't run away to get married).

What's even more amazing, is that after a honeydew holding pattern for a few weeks, you've only got one more fruit on the list: Watermelon. Clearly these last few weeks are all melon, but that doesn't make us melancholy in any way. Granted, your Mom is struggling a bit in her landings and takeoffs from couches, beds and the floor, and her back pain is getting especially ripe, but she's just ecstatic to have a little honeydew-sized honey growing in her belly! And, in my opinion, she looks absolutely beautiful carrying you, despite the presence of 2/3 of a fruit salad in her tummy.

When we got married, someone told me that I would forever be subject to "honeydew lists;" clearly, this refers to you in this 8th month of pregnancy in some Nostradamus way. Actually, no it doesn't, but it's quite poetic, no? The honeydew list in question is, in fact, a reference to some stereotypical nagging wife forcing her bedraggled husband to do multiple chores: "Honey, Do this!" "Honey, do that!" Well, your Mother's and my relationship doesn't really work like that, as you'll soon know. Sure, we have to-do lists that we both freely populate and depopulate, but there's hardly any nagging. Unless the item on the list is something that I don't really want to do at all, in which case, some nagging or pouting may be necessary to get my butt in gear.

But, at any rate, this weekend - to celebrate your arrival as a honeydew- your Mom and I crossed another item off of our pregnancy honeydew lists. And this was one item that we've both been looking forward to, as it stretched our creative muscles!

A lot of people get professional pictures taken when they're pregnant (these are called maternity pictures). Your Mom thought that I could do a good enough job taking these pictures and -that way- we could have a really cool, personal experience taking them and save a little extra cash to get professional studio pictures taken when you are born!

So, we hung up some sheets, cleaned ourselves up and turned your nursery into a photography studio! I don't consider myself an awesome photographer at all. But, I have an awesome camera (thanks to Cousin Steve and Ruthy!), and your Mom is awesome at Photoshop, and that seemed to do the trick!

These pictures really just confirm three things for me: 1) your Mom truly makes a beautiful pregnant lady; 3) You're a good looking bump, and have been all the way from the beginning of lime to this, our honeydew period; 3) your Mom takes better photographs than she gives haircuts (note to self- pay for haircuts).

Attempting some Jedi Mind Tricks

Elegant Honeydew!

My Honey and our Honeydew

Take amazing pictures?

Honey done!

Even though you're no longer a squash, and you're definitely getting more and more squashed with each passing day, you make a peach of a honeydew!