32 1/2 Weeks! Which means that my due date is SEVEN WEEKS from tomorrow!!

So! Pat (from church) had her baby this morning, meaning Jolene and I are now the only ones of The Pregnant Six left. And the bulletin said Jolene is due "any day now" (she might get induced tomorrow, her husband told me), prompting about 5 people to ask me "how much longer do you have to go...?" and I thought, hmmm, 40 weeks of pregnancy minus 32ish weeks now equals approximately 8 weeks...? Then I came home and looked at my calendar and realized that my due date is two days BEFORE "40 weeks," so combined with the fact that I'm actually now 32 and a HALF weeks, that puts us 7 weeks and 1 day from D-Day. Yeah!!! [And if I went 3 weeks early like my mom did with her first baby, that would mean I'm having this baby in FOUR WEEKS. Get out!]

I probably won't be three weeks early, will I?

So, yeah! Okay, as you may be able to see from the tiny weight gain chart at the right- well, here, I might as well just make it bigger for you:
I enjoyed a lot of cake and ice cream in Houston. What can I say? Weight was 164.6 when I got home. At least I'm not way ABOVE the pink line...? Anyway, sometimes I look ginormous and sometimes I don't... it must depend on the outfit I'm wearing. When we went to church in Houston everyone said "you look so tiny for 7 months!!" and the next day at the beach, a lady in one of the shops was all like "would you like to sit down? would you like some cold water"? I think she thought I was about to give birth any minute or something. Here's pictures taken today:


Notice that I cropped off my head- bad hair day, weird expression- and legs, which are looking a little swolen I think. Okay okay, you can see:



My belly button is FLAT. It has no place to go but out. And, in fact, when a tiny elbow or knee or foot moves across it, it becomes temporarily distended. At times my four-pound daughter seems overcrowded...? I can never really figure out what position she's in, but we're having another ultrasound July 27th so I guess we'll find out then. Other typical third-trimester experiences: I'm having trouble getting my rings off and on, and reaching my feet to put on my shoes, although at least my shoes all still seem to fit. Overall I'm feeling really good, though- especially when I don't try to do as much in a day as I would do in a non-pregnant state (in terms of things like housework and moving furniture and walking great distances quickly.)

Okay enough blathering about pregnancy (won't you all be relieved when the baby's here and I just blather about her all the time?!?)... in other news...

1) We have a fish now! Nate got a beta (sp?) when I was in Houston. It is as yet without a name- suggestions welcome- but highly adored by its doting owner(s?). He really wanted a guinea pig, but was kind enough to spare me that shock upon arriving home...

2) Real analysis is almost done! I have fourteen problems left, which I really should work on tonight. My mom and I had fun working on the problem I was stuck on while flying to Houston- although I'm sure the passengers in line with us for airport security thought our conversation about bounded divergent sequences was a little odd. I was impressed by how quickly she understood/remembered the terminology and everything... if I can do that much 30 years from now, I'll be doing well!! Way to go, Mom.

3) LCCC cut hours for second summer session! About 24 hours total, for me. Meaning even less money than I thought we would have. Ha ha!! Moratorium on Non-Essential Spending in place. :-(

4) Time to start packing up the apartment soon, I think...!!!??? When I can still marginally reach the ground and put things in boxes...?

5) But we don't know when/where we're moving yet! Because my husband still doesn't have a job offer! Prayers much appreciated!!

6) I read a Legitimate Work of Literature! Well, okay, it was a re-read, but still. My Antonia, by Willa Cather. And I was going to try "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad, but couldn't make it past page 6. (It seemed to be one of those books where we're on a boat and there are a lot of vocabulary words I don't know. I got seasick and got off.) Instead of continuing to read this summer I'm probably just going to blog, and take pictures, and sew. Is that okay with everybody? (Yes, I'm asking the Internets' permission.)

Time to go do something productive. In closing, here's a picture from my 27th birthday/last Thanksgiving, back when I was skinny:

Sometime this week when I have access to a computer that's not on dial-up, I think I'm going to try uploading things to Photobucket; I originally was using Snapfish, which is fantastic except for the inability to link directly to albums (the only way to share, as far as I can tell, is to email your friends, then they have to have accounts and log in... too much hassle.)

Time, as always, to go make coffee. :-)

Love, Neb