36..37..38..

Wow, I'm not sure how I suddenly arrived at 38 weeks pregnant. I suppose it wasn't so sudden. It has been a long 38 weeks but now baby on the way is almost live and in person. I feel as probably most women do at this stage of pregnancy, large, not so comfortable, excited, anxious, and like a bowling ball is pressing down on my bladder here and there throughout the day.

Last weekend (october 10th) Minnesota had its first snow of the season and it has snowed again since! The weather here is truly weird but fall is still my favorite. Despite the snow the leaves are changing color and are so beautiful. It's fun having a new yard with lots of changing leaves to admire. I'm not looking forward to the raking but perhaps I'll get a pass this year... A few snapshots of our changing leaves and the first snow.







We're still settling in to our new house and working on making it "homey". We're also getting adjusted to a neighborhood practice that is new to us...neighborhood kid solicitors. There were 3-4 a year at our old house and we've had 3 in the past 4 weeks. I think this is something we have to get prepared for! I denied the first kiddo because we had JUST moved in, he was selling wreaths, and to be honest, his sales pitch wasn't that strong. The next group was just asking for dry food donations. Even after having just moved, there is always something to donate in the cabinet.

Last night we had our next door neighbor apply the full court press. He is a very polite 8th grader with braces and a high pitched voice and he was selling wreaths for his boy scout troop. How do you say no to that? And what if the neighbors were testing us to see what kind of neighbors we are? Hopefully they will still be living there in another 6 or 7 years when baby girl T has some goods to push. About a half an hour after we committed to some wreaths, the doorbell rang again. It was the same neighbor boy but now he was selling popcorn! Tom admired his tenacity to return to our house on the same night and ask us to buy an additional item to support his boy scout troop. Tom went as far as to say "Oh, Jess loves popc0rn" like it was our lucky day that he was there selling the very hard to obtain and sought after popcorn. As he was leaving he mentioned something about magazine sales...

My parents good friend, John, was kind enough to take some photos of Tom and I. Of course it happened to be the day of the first snow so it was a bit chilly outside but we acted like professionals and showed no pain until our noses turned red from sniffling. I was a little hesitant to set up photos at 37 weeks pregnant. My dad encouraged me to just do it anyway because one day I would wish I had and I'm happy with the way they turned out. What a difference a fancy camera can make! (That and the skill of John who has taken his photography hobby to another level) I had to twist Tom's arm to go along with the photo shoot but we kept it casual and did not have any wardrobe changes :) If anyone recognizes my shirt, it is one of the 3 long sleeved maternity shirts I have in rotation and yes, I wear it often.

Here are the ones that both Tom and I are smiling in, hence our favorites:





The baby's room is almost fully set up. The chair is in the trunk of my car waiting for Tom to unload it. Luckily, the crib and dresser arrived as early as possible too. A few more finishing details and I will post some photos. I'm sure once the baby is actually living in it, things will change as I figure out what is what!

Jess