7 quick takes about nothing in particular but that all seem to end up being about New Baby anyway

1. I am only working for three days this week. Starting on Thursday I'll be on maternity leave. This fills me with a great deal of joy (WOOOOOO NO WORKING FOR A LONG TIME) and a great deal of panic (OMG THE BABY IS GOING TO BE HERE SOON MUST SLEEP WHILE WE CAN).

2. Claire is only going to school for three days this week as well and the reason we're not going to send her while I am on leave is complicated and involves me getting angry at someone and perhaps I'll tell the story to you later, but for now the simple reality is that I'll be a 9-months-pregnant and on maternity leave SAHM in about 72 hours.

3. Holy crap, what in the hell are we going to do all day? Especially if New Baby is late and I end up pregnant for 4 more weeks? (AUGHHHH PLEASE NO, NOT AGAIN.) I mean, normally I would be so excited about not working and playing around all day long but I am trying to keep my activity to a minimum and Claire is, um, not really on board with that idea. We have a lot of lunch dates planned and the neighborhood pool opens this week but I have to wonder, does anyone care to see a 38-weeks pregnant woman at the pool?  Probably no.

4. Did you know that once you get to be 37-38 weeks pregnant that your maternity shirts that used to fit?  Haaa, they don't fit any more. Is very insulting.

5. Today my parents were in town and I was showing them New Baby's room and my dad asked Claire who was going to be sleeping in this room.  Claire, ever the show-off, obliged him with "Baby (Her Actual Name) will sleep here!" My parents got kind of wide-eyed and I laughed and didn't say anything to confirm or deny the name she spouted off (but it was her actual, real, going-on-the-birth-certificate name).  We just sort of laughed about it and acted like it never happened.  Later on, my Mom said something about baby Michelle. Nope, her name's not Michelle. Not even close. Thank goodness for the garbled English of a two-year-old.

6. Things I still need to do, that will probably not get done: See optometrist and dentist. Get haircut.

7. The other day an Annoying Daycare Mom that I haaaaaate for a lot of reasons (primary one being that she parks her car in the handicapped spot EVERY DAY even though there are TONS of empty places elsewhere) saw me walking in and said, "Oh! You're going to be delivering soon, aren't you!?" First of all, who says "delivering"?? It's a little too exact on the events that will eventually transpire, don't you think? Particularly for casual conversation? And second of all, if you don't know a pregnant lady it's just not wise to comment on her obvious pregnant-ness. You just DON'T. I told her, "Nope. Not really very soon at all actually." She just said "Oh."  I don't think she felt badly or anything, because she's really just that disconnected from reality which drove me up the wall even more.

Comments

[Holly]

Question: Are you keeping Claire at home with you once new baby arrives as well? If you are, I am *very* interested to see how that all works out. Just because she's used to school, and then there's a new baby, and.... yah. Just morbidly curious for my own future decisions I guess :)

[Vanessa Napolitano]

I remember when my big shirts suddenly didn't fit anymore and the stretchy belly part of the pants would hang out the bottom. Fun! :)

[HereWeGoAJen]

When I was in those last weeks (actually months, but they could have ended up being weeks) of pregnancy with Elizabeth, I walked around holding my shirt down and cursing the makers of maternity shirts.

Also, go to the pool. If anyone complains, you can always sit on them. ;)

[Jessica]

The shorts you just bought?? That sucks. I hope it doesn't happen to me - I just bought two pairs this past weekend and the last month of my pregnancy will be summer...

I'm worried Margaret is going to give away the name of our baby. We always refer to him as "little brother," but we did teach her to say the name (she doesn't know its her little brother's name, though). I suppose if she starts saying it a lot we can look mystified and say maybe she picked it up from TV.

[BigP's Heather]

I think the pool is a great idea. And unless school is out there, or it is the weekend, it will probably just be old people and moms there - and I would hope they would much more kind about body shapes/sizes...

Also, the park. I sit on the bench and Katherine runs amuck.

[Life of a Doctor's Wife]

Sounds like some nice one-on-one time with Claire before the baby comes.

And I am constantly amazed by what people say to pregnant women. Just shut up, people.

[meghan]

Maybe all the activity with Claire will help baby sister make her appearance??

And all I can say for when you're home with her...art projects! does she like those foamy stickers with the adhesive on the back? They sell them at dollar tree 300 to a pack. Sophie LOVES them (all she does is put them on construction paper) and it takes her forever to pull the paper off the back and do them. Set Claire up with it and you can put your feet up and rest. Or when the baby comes, it's perfect project for when you're nursing, changing the baby, or whatever else you've got to do

Good luck!!

[Mel]

Having a child all day can be draining. Really. I know you are surprised.

We spend a lot of time outside right now. I post my big pregnant self up in a lounge chair on the driveway while she runs around with sidewalk chalk, her wagon, toys, bubbles, etc, and this is a great source of energy drainage for her and being lazy and not doing too terribly much for me. In the mornings, we watch cartoons. I'm mother of the year, I realize, but it just it what it is. I get up and walk/jog by myself for about 45 minutes before she wakes up and then I am just too drained to do much else after that. She eats breakfast and we watch about an hour of TV with puzzles thrown in for good measure. We then have a routine of making beds, various chores, brushing teeth, etc. She loves helping me clean, surprisingly. I make sure we do something house-cleaning related every day in the morning routine. I also try to plan events away from home OFTEN. You'll be thankful for all those lunch date plans, they are the best.

Really, you'll just get used to it and get a rhythym out of it all soon enough. Just like anything else, some days are better than others. I feel for you. Big time. I'll be there in July, am dreading.