whoops!

I just realized I've made it almost through January without any blog posts!

Mid-January my mom came to visit- which we loved. just a quick weekend trip, we shopped in Georgetown, ate at Noras (finally) and generally relaxed/got excited for baby Helen.

On Sunday, we all went out to "Drag Queen Brunch" which was SO fun. Great food, mimosas, and what else - drag queens! Definitely divas, they put on quite a show and were funny and entertaining.

some of my favorite pics:

this gal started off the show with a slow song and we were not sure what to expect, but it turns out she was just warming up the crowd ;)

this queen was channeling "Gloria Estefan" - and loving mom!

Naturally, called up to the front because i'm sporting a big baby bump (I won't lie- i loved it!)

wearing the shortest dress and BREAKING it down to "shorty swing my waaaaay". hilarious!

our table turned out to be a prime spot (on the corner of their little runway so to speak) - so we got LOTS of attention.

I don't have any of Sie from the camera - but I can just tell you, the queens LOVED him. haha. they saw a cute straight guy target and went for it :)

in other news- as of today we have 34 DAYS TO GO - aaaaah!!

it's so real, so soon. and so exciting.  :) and my mother's intuition is that she'll come early. I'm sure now that I'm putting that in print she'll be a week late ;) haha. But either way - she can come when she's ready (as long as she at least stays put for another 2 weeks!)

At our last appointment, they confirmed, her head is down (in a station -3) and my cervix is starting to soften (hope that's not TMI!) which means I'm probably having some small/inconsistent contractions. I think i've felt some- mostly come in spurts with back pain accompanied.

Helen's slowed down a bit in movement - now it feels more like wiggling and adjustment, rather than the giant kicks and flips from before, because her room is starting to get a bit cramped. One thing my Dr. said last time when she went to measure my stomach: "wow you are all baby"! Not meaning that I'm tiny- my stomach is enormous (or at least feels that way!), but meaning if you touch my stomach, you can literally feel exactly where she is. Her head, her back, little buns, and what I think is either a foot or a knee on my side. She's all right there. Such a surreal thing this carrying a baby business :)

I don't have any pregnancy complaints - other than the occasional intense lower back pain and need to visit the ladies room (especially when trying to sleep!) Poor Buddy's bed is on my side, and I literally step on him like 10 times per night. He doesn't seem to mind... too much, but I have noticed he leaves middle of the night to go to the dining room now haha. I guess its good preparation for him that in a few short weeks, Helen will be in our room waking him up throughout the night I'm sure.

In other news- we took the "Childbirth Education" class, and are enrolled to take "Baby Care and Infant CPR" as well. The childbirth class was very informative, helped me know what to expect and it was great talking to other moms and dads and hearing they have the same questions you do. Most of them really recommended the 2nd class (Baby Care & Infant CPR) so we decided to sign up for it as well. We learned some great relaxation techniques for labor (I know some of my already mom friends/fam are probably laughing at me "haha, Good luck relaxing!!") but, it can't hurt right! :) My favorite was called the "slow dance" where you lean your full weight against your husband (my back to his chest) and slowly rock back and forth. It felt great for my back and really did make me feel relaxed, so I'm keeping that one in my back pocket!

We are sooo close on the room. Waiting on one more frame (my mother-in-law bought me this set of four I've had my eye on for Christmas) and they have been on back order so are trickling in slowly, and shopping for a lamp base for next to my glider chair. Once we get those last 2 items- we're all set and Sie's going to take some good pics with our new camera so we can show her some day. Her very first room in her very first home!

Just wanted to give a quick update and somehow this post turned into several paragraphs! Thanks to all our friends and family who have been texting/emailing/facebooking their shared excitement. I don't know that I realized before pregnancy just how much it would mean to us that Helen has this great group of people rooting in her corner for a safe pregnancy, a safe arrival, and a happy healthy life. She's a lucky girl.

One last comment... I can't quite picture what she'll look like. My mom has told me that before I was born, she dreamed of me and I looked exactly as I did in her dreams. She might have gotten lucky that both she & my dad had blond hair and blue eyes as well ;) When I picture Helen, though, I usually see myself holding her, and she has this little head of light brown hair, similar to my brother Grant's. I think I'll probably be right about that part.. but as far as anything else, it's going to be a total surprise! just wanted to see if anyone has any guesses/predictions!

Can't WAIT to meet her!