Sleeeeep

It's official, my fatigue is back. Apparently this is the one thing I can consistently count on when my hormones get wacky. Sleep has been good and bad. There are nights when I only get up once and manage to get a few longer stretches of sleep. Then there are nights when I am up several times and my spans of sleep are much shorter due to constant attempts at finding comfort. I think my favorite though is falling asleep on Jake on the couch in the evenings. He makes a very comfy pillow.

I would love to fill you in on all the other exciting things going on but most things these days are baby-related. We did get out both evenings this weekend to visit with friends which was really great. On Saturday my girlfriends threw a little baby shower for me and our little guy. I'll be honest, I tend to feel just mildly uncomfortable about the prospect of events where the sole purpose is pretty much gifts which is why I kept my bridal shower and this shower on the small side. It was the perfect shower though with just enough people, great food and wonderful conversation. I wouldn't have done it any differently if I had been organizing it myself. I guess that's a sign that my friends know me pretty well. We got some really great outfits for baby boy and some necessities too. A couple of my very crafty friends made a blanket (thanks Allison!) and adorable hat and tiny mittens (thanks Katie!) for our little guy. I can't thank everyone enough for their generosity. This coming weekend my family has organized another small shower for me which is awesome. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone.

We've done a good job of continuing to prepare. We set up the pack-and-play in our bedroom over the weekend to get used to having it in there. Our tentative plan is to have baby boy sleep in it at first before he moves to his own room. We have most of the essentials of what we'll need when we first bring him home but still need to get some things for the weeks following the birth. We also toured our labor and delivery facility and pre-registered. It's so funny, thanks to the doctors we've been so fixated on the idea that baby boy will come early that I keep having to remind myself there's always the chance he could come late. The next ultrasound is in 2 weeks so we'll see what they say. My OB's office went ahead and scheduled the rest of my appointments through the end of October since starting next week they will see me every week, yikes!

We still have a few important things on the to-do list including flu shots for both of us, pertussus vaccination for Jake and a trip to the vet for Dubs for her annual check-up. I have some paperwork I need to prep at work as well to take me off of alternative work schedule and to put me on telework later in the month. Suddenly everything is feeling very real. And speaking of feeling, he moves around a lot these days and since he's steadily losing real estate in there it looks more and more like I'm carrying an alien, ha ha! I cannot, cannot wait to meet this little guy though. It's been both a short and long journey and with just over 4 weeks left until the due date I'm getting pretty anxious!

Final notes: First, no strangers have tried to touch my belly yet. This is a good thing. I was concerned mildly this might happen to me on the Metro. Second, the top two questions are if we know the sex of the baby yet and do we have a name picked out. It's funny with that second one because most of the time I can't tell whether they ask it that way because they want to know what it is or if they're just curious as to whether we've decided on something. I'll be honest, if it is a stranger or someone I really don't know well I lie and say that we're still deciding. It's easier than explaning to someone I'll never see again that I'm not willing to tell. I don't want to seem like a smug pregnant lady but we want to reserve the right to change our minds at the last minute. For anyone that likes trivia I will give you a very vague hint. The name we've chosen does hold some significance on the date of my birthday (month and day, not year).  Note: It has nothing to do with the arrival of the Mormons in Salt Lake which is likely one of the first things that will come up on Google. Also nothing to do with Machu Picchu.