37 Weeks... Barely

I know I'm late this week. As in, today marks week 38. Opps. We've been so busy up in here that yesterday was the first time we had a chance to take a decent picture all week.

So the picture is still from week 37 (barely). People keep telling me that I look tiny, and I'm all, excuse me? I know you think that's a compliment, and I appreciate the thought. But really. You try helping me up from the couch next time.

So what are we busy with up in here?

Well, first of all, the end of the semester for Eric.

It's been stressful, folks. 

And on my end, I've been spending hours talking to these people:

And others like them. Our insurance situation exploded in our face earlier this week. Two weeks shy of your delivery date is not a great time to deal with health insurance. But we'll be okay. The more I talk to people, the more content I grow with our situation, as lousy as it is.

Remember my reading addiction? This week, it's been consumed with this book: 

All sorts of fun. It's hit me that I have to know how to do this stuff, soon. I've already read three birth-em manuals. And I've always been very manual-friendly. When I was a kid, if I got a toy with a manual, I would refuse to unpack the box (or let anyone else touch the box) until I had read the manual cover to cover. I would even try to read the Spanish and French and Finnish and whatever languages were included in the manual, complete with cheesy fake accent. But I always avoided the Chinese and Japanese and stuff. How do you even pretend to know how to pronounce those words? Are they even words?

I was a weird kid, okay?

So if I can learn how to push em out and sustain them from a book, um, bring it on.

Speaking of books, the OCD list-maker in me is thrilled by this one:

It came this week. It's got all sorts of fun graphs and lists and check-the-boxes so you record just when your baby falls asleep, eats, how much it eats, and keep track of diaper things. 

This is what I've become. Lord help us all.

I also finally finished these:

Okay, so those weren't actually my baby-shower thank you notes. But they're almost as cute as mine. We have been so blessed by all the love and gifts sent to Tiny, and it feels good to have all the notes out. It only took me two months or so.

I've also been working on these guys:

They are the last thing to go in the nursery. (besides Tiny. duh.) So that's why, even though the nursery has been otherwise DONE! for over a week, I haven't shared pictures or anything. I need to finish these boogers up. They look a little weird without their heads, but they're actually quite cute. 

I'd love to promise a prize to anyone who can guess what they are, and what they're for, but I don't have any incentives ready. So if you can come up with what they are, and then come up with a prize that I can actually accomplish at 38 weeks pregnant, all power to you.

Oh, and this is one other thing that's been taking all sorts of my attention this week:

No, I don't have a cold. But did you know that during pregnancy, the female body increases in blood volume by nearly 45%? Crazy. A whole lot of those new capillaries show up in the sinus tract, meaning that some women get crazy bloody noses, others are stuffy and congested. I've been slightly congested for the past nine months now. Awesome, right? It's gotten even more fun with the weather (finally!) dipping a bit colder -- turning on the heat at night wakes up all sorts of sinus capillaries. I've gone through like six boxes of tissue in the past two and a half weeks. 

So that's what we're up to here. Totally exciting, no? 

But today IS exciting -- today we buy our tree and decorate for Christmas! Only one of my favorite activities all year long. Pictures coming this weekend. 

I just have to clean the house first.