Songs for the Belly: Week 34

Wow! Is it already week 34? Let's check the bump size:

Yup. That looks like a 34 week belly to me! And I think your mother would agree with me. Her aching feet ache, her pregnancy-arthritic hands hurt, she's suffering from dunlap disease so much that when she sits down in a chair her belly (aka, you, young lady) are resting on the chair itself! She's having difficulty breathing at night, feeling rather large and inactive and sluggish and generally very, very pregnant.

If any of that sounds negative, it's not. It's very, very positive! You're growing, baby, and with growing comes some growing pains from time to time. But right now, with 6 weeks to go, we are just happy you're thriving so well in there!

We're getting ready for you to come too. In fact, the nesting has kicked into high gear. We've reorganized yours and Aidan's closet (and re-installed all the shelves that fell out after that happened), we've organized your wardrobe, added extra storage cubes for your personal effects, gone shopping a few more times to add to your wardrobe even more (pinks and yellows and reds, oh my!). We've sold some old stuff and bought you some new stuff (double stroller, new bouncy chair, new swing!) and even assembled most of the new arsenal of baby stuff.

The boxes are making a certain someone quite happy:

Namely me! I'm building a large cardboard train! Choo choo!

But, really, we're all getting happy in expecation of your arrival. I mean today you're the size of an acorn squash, but soon you'll be the size of a newborn baby...because that's what you'll be. And we can't wait.

Developmentally, it now says that you can recognize and react to simple songs. These very songs may actually even soothe you when you come out! That's great, because we do a LOT of singing, and lately everyone's been getting in on the act.

In the quest to get Aidan back sleeping through the night, we've started over with sleep training. Which means back to the days of Lullabye medleys at night. So you'll love "Return to Pooh Corner" (which Aidan requests nightly "Pooh song please," "Somewhere over the Rainbow," "The End," "Golden Slumbers," and so much more.

In fact, your Mom says you really seem to like it when she sings "Return to Pooh Corner" to Aidan at night time.

Plus, you may also start to recognize your brother's lovely singing voice too, as he's recently learned a few new songs and gotten more comfortable belting out a tune or four:

And, whether or not you'll be a singer, we'll just have to wait and see...but, we already know that you're going to be a dancer. Check out these moves!



Soon you'll be a little baby out here in the world; until then you're a wonderful bouncy, big, rambunctious bump. If you keep dancing, we'll keep singing. Both You and Aidan are my sunshine, and you'll never know how much I love you.

What did the Papa Tomato Say to The Baby Tomato when he was lagging behind?

Ketchup!

As you get to know me, you'll find that I have tons of awesome jokes like that.

But, today, we're going to play "ketchup" and take a look at how much you've grown over the past 4 weeks!

Week 31

Week 32


Week 33



Week 34

As you can tell, the wardrobe choices are become slimmer and slimmer as your Mother becomes...pregnanter and pregnanter.

You can also see how well your nursery is coming together! We did, in fact, hang up the illustrations I told you about so long ago!

Even though I talk to you every day and write to you almost as often, I still can't wait for you to actually come out so we can talk face to face, and finally have the time to catch up, for real!

Plus, I literally have dozens of amazing jokes to tell you!

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.

Testing the Waters

It's been almost a week since I've written to you, but, don't worry, I haven't been away from you at all.

In fact, I was by your side pretty much the whole time. But that's only because your Mom was by my side.

I had surgery last Thursday in anticipation of your arrival. Seeing your due date approaching faster and faster, I finally decided to do something I've been wanting to do for a long time: have my broken sniffer repaired.

I had what they call a deviated septum, which means that I couldn't really breathe through my nose properly. I hope you get your mother's nose, if only to avoid the deviation and the surgery.

But there was no avoiding it for me. I wanted to be able to be firing on all cylinders (and all nostrils) for all of our time together, so I decided to get the surgery done.

Your Mother - at 34 weeks pregnant- has been my "patient" for a long time, as I've been "babying" her (with good reason) for a lot of the pregnancy. (It's my pleasure to do so, seriously. ) But, starting on Thursday, I was in no condition to take care of your Mom; and she was awesome enough to take care of me.

Let's just say I was testing your Mom's maternal medical instincts- and she passed with super 'A plusses.'

She did the gross (like cleaning out my nose with Q-tips and changing my bandages and not cringing when I had to spit up blood and crud).

She was patient ( like putting up with me, and even being kind to me, while I was on pain killers that made me loopy).

She was strong for me (like telling me it would all be okay, when I was definitely feeling like it wouldn't).

She lifted my spirits (and made my laugh when I didn't feel like I could, and definitely when my stiff face and nasal stitches told me that I shouldn't-- but, despite the brief pain, laughter was the best medicine).

She took my temperature, administered my medicines, taught me how to clean up my own nose and- heck- she even washed my hair.

And all this while 34 weeks pregnant with a ever-growing, kinda painful honeydew in her belly! I knew she was hurting and tired too, but she helped me get better despite that.

So, all that is to say: when your Mom has to take care of you, I know for sure that you are in good hands. That's not to say that there was any doubt before, since she's taken care of me while I was ill (or just bummed) many times over the past 12 years. But this was just a recent reaffirmation that, really, I couldn't ask for a better wife and you couldn't ask for a better mother.

(And, no, I'm not sucking up to her; I'm just calling it like I sees it!)

Your Beautiful Mother, Trying Hard not to Smile

But, I wasn't the only one testing the waters this weekend. As you passsed your 34th week-iversary, you really started testing your Mother too. With one foot - or maybe two- firmly placed against her ribs on her right hand side, you started pushing, and stretching and stretching some more.

This is your new favorite trick; and you've been doing it sporadically all weekend, especially near bedtime. As last night was my first night back in bed (after being quarantined on the couch, to avoid a thrashing Holly hitting my face during my sleep), I was able to feel your foot pressing against her ribs and then pushing even more.

I gently held on to your foot and tried to encourage you to push it down away from her ribs, kind of like scooting a under-the-blankets tennis ball down a bed from on top of the covers (haven't you ever done that before?). But your foot firmly remained in your mother's ribs, definitely testing the limits of discomfort. So, I tried again, this time talking you through it, and almost massaging your Mom's ribs to encourage you to scoot your foot elsewhere.

To be honest, I don't really remember if I was able to get you to move your foot away, because I fell asleep - all this facial healing takes a lot of energy out of you. But, rest assured, after yours and my combined weekend of testing your Mom's strength and resolve and patience, I'm now ready to resign the efforts back to you: it's your solo gig once again.

Worry not, though- I won't leave your side for too long at all. But it will be because I will be by your Mom's side; hopefully helping her, and making her laugh, and making her dinner as you continue to kick her ribs all the way to the finish line, which is now under 40 days away.