38 & 39 weeks

The holidays have been very busy! We had a wonderful Christmas with my entire family, including Jenn & Mike's kiddos!

28 Weeks

And now we have a house full of lovelies from Brooklyn, Oklahoma & Louisiana. I am sure the neighbors are wondering why we have to import our friends from out-of-state! :)

29 weeks

My next doctor's appointment is January 2, and my sister is predicting a January 3 birth... we'll see!

37 Weeks, Full Term & Counting

Little Baby Boris is finally full term. After today he can make his debut as a fully-developed bouncing baby boy! (At least he better be a boy; or I will hunt down that ultrasound tech!)

The cookie monster (I am sure he is the reason all my Christmas cookies are now only remembered as the "month before Christmas cookies"...) is about 21 inches long and weighs about 7 pounds this week. I have no idea how I didn't gain any weight this week... seriously, stuffing my face is my favorite activity lately! I think I've eaten a pint of peanut butter in 3 days! Speaking of peanut butter... time for more peanut butter cookies!

(Last Christmas D's babushka gave us Russian letter blocks... so this is how you spell Alexander in Russian. Aleksandr.)


About 2 weeks ago I started weekly appointments with my OB, who is just the nicest woman! Today I was still only 1cm dilated and contrary to the physician assistant's evaluation last week, I am very "thick" & "high"; so I guess I'm still on track for an early January birth. (Don't forget to bring your catchers mitt for New Years, Blake. And Jenny, you might as well start boiling the water now, cause if you're in town, I'm insisting on a home delivery... :)

The doctor asked me about my feelings on induction again today... and that's a big negatory! She is traveling to the Philippines for the holidays, so I won't see her again until January 2... which, luckily, won't give her too much opportunity to induce me anyway! As I was leaving the office, she called down the hallway "wait for me!" No problem doc, there's no room at the inn until after January 2 anyway!

The Nursery is ready for move-in day! Last weekend Daddy D modified an old dresser into the best changing table ever and the new ceiling fan is ready to cool little Baby Alexander off on those hot summer evening!


D also put our lovely hand-me-down crib together, and I made the best crib skirt ever!


Yesterday I made cushions for the wooden rocker, and I'm hoping my mama can finish hand sewing the cushion back directly to the rocker when she comes to visit next week!

And much to Daddy D's dismay, I found these great green "dots" on super-clearance at Lowes earlier this week to decorate the nursery's pale blue walls. I love them, actually, they are exactly what I was picturing when I decided to accent with green; D isn't sold... yet.


This picture doesn't give the dots justice. There are green and white alternating dots; that look awesome! I might also add a lighter green dot.

Time for more Peanut Butter!

9 Months & Slacking

It's been a while... A long while.

I'm 9 months pregnant. That is something no one tells little girls when they're growing up & day dreaming about marrying Price Charming & having charming little babies... That it doesn't take 9 months to have a baby, it takes 10. And that extra 4 weeks... hoy vey!

34 Weeks

This is a horrible picture, BUT that is what I actually look like when I move... I have to make that face & the accompanying grunt, or the other pregnant women would ostracize me!

35 weeks pregnant

36 Weeks

At my 36 week appointment I was 1cm dilated & 30% effaced; and way too close to 200 pounds! Only 6 of which is Baby Boris! I've finished the Halloween Candy, but the Christmas cookies are kicking my butt! The babe is about 20.7 inches long from curly little head to wrinkled little toe.

He's finally flopped head-down & is ready for delivery... well, mostly. He hasn't dropped yet, but I am hoping that happens this week.

The doctor said at my 35 week appointment, and the physician's assistant repeated last week, that if we want to have this baby sometime in December, D & I need to "get busy"... Not busy fixing up the nursery, or busy sewing curtains, or even busy buying diapers. The other kind of "busy"... Again with the hoy vey! I told her "but I'm not due until January!?!!" And she said, "Well, not every day, but a lot."

Doesn't she know that Daddy D doesn't have any vacation until after the new year and I have 2 weeks of house guests on their way for Christmas & New Years; I can't fit another body in this chilly little house until at least January 3...

But then I changed my mind... A doctor should NEVER tell a fat pregnant lady that she could deliver early & get a tax deduction (she actually mentioned the deduction). Cause now, I want to. I was fine waiting until January 7, I was actually prepared for January 15... but now, now I'm all about a December 31 baby. Kinda like a bloody ball drop (SO, inappropriate, but too amusing not to actually post). I don't even know what a tax deduction is; I'm not sure TurboTax EZ can even do those... hoy vey.

Alright, I am done for now. I'm back to the doctor tomorrow morning and I'm hoping for 2cm dilated & at least 35% effaced. I want to get as much of this done on my own so the good doctor doesn't have the chance to induce me...

Week 34

Six weeks to go; unless, of course, little baby Alexander decides he'd like to come a little early and meet our New Years' house guests... Jenny Brown & Stretch are visiting from Oklahoma, Blake & Will will be driving up from Baton Rouge and D's parents will be in from Brooklyn to ring in the New Year with us. I'm not sure who we'll have to kick out to make room for Baby Boris if he comes early!

(I am actually 33 weeks prego in this picture, but it is all we have for now...)

D & I spent this short week putting the finishing touches on the nursery... don't I say that every week? But this time I actually mean it... I think!

The painting is officially finished, as well as my cell phone... long story... but let's just say that you should ALWAYS hammer gallon paint can lids in place before setting them down on the kitchen table & accidentally knocking them over onto your cell phone & charger. And Emily, I hope you really DIDN'T want that Longenberger Basket back, cause I'm positive you don't want it now...

Despite my renewed hate for painting, I did manage to paint the new closet door & quarter round that D installed earlier this week. As well as the yard sale rocker we bought last summer.


Daddy D did a wonderful, drunken job hanging the best shelving unit ever in the nursery closet. They are just so awesome, the shelves that is, that I couldn't sleep! So I woke up early Monday morning to wash all 200 pounds of 0-6 month hand-me-down clothes, bibs and blankets, just so I could hang them all in the baby's closet! The simple pleasures in life...


But my excitement didn't stop there. After I moved all of Alexander's hand-me-downs & shower gifts out of our bedroom, I figured "why stop there?" So D moved our spring cleanup dresser, which is actually a great looking antique that my parents' neighbors put out a few years ago, into the nursery. He is going to screw the changing pad that Jenn gave us to the top & viola, we saved ourselves $69 bucks on a changing table! Only problem now is that our TV had to find a new home on the floor now, which doesn't make for easy bedtime viewing.


I am pretty sure that the only task left to complete the nursery is a new ceiling fan. We bought a fan last weekend, BUT the deliciously smart couple who lived here before us never installed an ever-important & code-required "box" in the ceiling to support a light fixture, let alone a ceiling fan... Blake, don't forget to bring your work gloves when you visit next month! :)

Baby Boris is also getting "his house in order" for delivery. This week he should have rotated to the head-down position, and he will be dropping lower each week now, preparing for his New Years vacation. The little guy still weighs about 5 pounds & is almost 20 inches long. Although he is moving less, Baby Boris seems to be making the most of his kicks these days... I am definitely getting more bang for my buck!

Your Tunes. My Tunes?

I stopped by the library earlier this week & picked up a couple Simon & Garfunkel CDs and the best of The Smith's, but they just aren't cutting it...

So, if any of you feel like flashing back to 11th grade & want to burn a "mix tape" for Baby Boris & I to jam out to, or for Baby B to snooze to, we sure would like it!

New music. Old music. Anything but new country; we'll get enough of that blaring out of truck window here in the Mountain State! Although the old "Country Gold Saturday Night" classic, folky country-type Country is pretty good stuff!

I have such giggly memories of walking down the stairs and finding my mama dancing around the living room with the Woodstock soundtrack cranking out; and of dancing with Molly and the trees as we hiked through the woods of Somerset County with an old tape player strapped to our backpack; and of Dylan & Audrey twirling around the living room to the rhythms of a Phish instrumental; and Ethan & Sarah dancing circles around the family room with intricately choreographed moves to Mary Poppin's "Step In Time."

And dancing with my dad's whole family to Sister Sledge's "We are Family," at every family wedding since I was six, and everyone belting out "I got all my sisters with me"; And driving up 219 to Rochester with Jenny Brown making up new lyrics to every song on the radio... mostly about the Russian... while Moyni, Stretch & D trailed us in a gas guzzling crew cab filled with bottles & cans that we planned to return for the deposit, as soon as we crossed the NY state border. I could go on, and on, but then you might stop reading and decide not to share...

OK, one more... sitting on Daddy D's lap in our Baton Rouge apartment, rolling through every song on our computer trying to find the perfect "first dance" song, before Blake suggested Louis Armstrong's "Putting all my Eggs in One Basket," ... Perfect! And boy could D dance to that song! He was twirling me, and swirling me... where did he learn all that?

So, if anyone has any suggestions for a soundtrack for Baby Boris' youth, I'm all ears!

(And if you're not technologically inclined, if you want to just suggest a play list, I can ask Daddy D to download the songs & burn a CD for us!)

xoxo
e