Awesome Possum

So, I went to my doctor's appointment today and I am 36 weeks along! Due date is still December 22nd. I told the doctor that I thought he had dropped, and she confirmed. She said he is in position (head down), and pointed out his various body parts to me (so the big lump on the left is his back! Ah ha!). She also said (without me asking), that I was probably going to deliver before my due date! YAY! I know everyone says to enjoy the freedom and sleep while I can get it, but there really isn't much freedom and sleep I can enjoy when I am 9 months pregnant and bursting at the seams! Today Sean and I put together the dresser (the last part of the room) and put up the Christmas tree/decorations. We haven't put the ornaments on yet or decorated outside (we thought we'd save that for tomorrow), but it looks really nice. The nursery is done. I put the clothes away and everything where it belongs. Aunt Hillary sent me a walker, a playtime mat, a doorway bouncer, a side sleeper positioner and some more cute clothes! I put all that together tonight also. I have already found my toy nemesis. It is this owl that came with the play mat that goes on an arch so the baby can bat at it. If he has the misfortune to spin the ball that is inside the owl's belly, it starts making this strange loud shrill tune that has very drawn out, shrill and tremorous notes. I'm only leaving it on there because despite the horrible noise that comes out of it, it is the most interesting thing there (to him) and I want him to strive to reach for it and be coordinated. Ah--the sacrifices. :-P lol.
So now that the nursery is done, I just have to pick up some more things. Definitely need baby wipes, shampoo, lotion and oil (don't plan on using those often but I'd like to once in a while), a waterproof mattress pad, a pad and sheet for the bassinet, baby monitor, a baby medicine/first aid kit, breast pump, and a fire extinguisher. Most of these things can wait--for instance I really don't need the monitor right away because he will be right next to me at night in his bassinet and with someone (Sean or I) all day. Won't need the pump for a while either. The rest is cheap stuff. It's good to know now before I have him! I'm not too worried about the wipes and nipple cream and stuff--I know they give you a bunch of stuff at the hospital. I'm sure I need a bazillion other things but honestly, I have everything essential already--got the baby, the boobs, the bassinet and the love!
Okay, just thought I'd post a little update. Have to get to bed--work tomorrow! By the way, my last day is Sunday. Work is going great but I can't wait to leave! There's way too many things that need to get done at home!

Thanksgiving!!!

Happy thanksgiving!!! It is happy! The turkey that I can't eat is in the oven, food is being prepared, house is clean, and family and friends will be here in a few short hours!!! Matt is taking part in the preparation too--whenever I lean over something he kicks it--I prefer to think he is trying to spot clean areas in my house. What a good helper! Okay, gotta go!

the day after the day before tomorrow

I am bored. I slept in, finished doing my Thanksgiving shopping, and am now sitting here, bored, writing stupid haikus in notepad. *sigh*. The nursery is complete except for the dresser (which I ordered last night), and the house is sorta messy but not messy enough to clean quite yet. Since things get messy fast around here I am going to hold off on the cleaning until later tonight. I could and probably will do it tomorrow morning while the turkey is cooking. I made rice crispy treats on request of joey--even though I kept saying how easy they are and how he could do them himself, he wanted me to make them. Took me all of about 10 minutes. My thank you notes are done and sent out, the laundry is going, and I'm too pregnant to go hiking somewhere, even though that sounds incredibly fun. Too poor to go see a movie...not hungry...I am going to go CRAZY on maternity leave. I keep hoping Matt will arrive early so the waiting will be over and hey, I certainly won't be bored!!! Okay, I am ranting, I know. I'll post later and let everyone (because I know you're sitting on the edge of your seats) know how Thanksgiving went. Oh, and because I know you've been white-knuckled with suspense, here is one of the haikus I wrote. Don't alert the Poet Laureate society yet--I have many more exquisite masterpieces buried in the cavernous genius expanse of my mind.
Matthew is my name
Kicking is my favorite game
I love causing pain!

wonderfully written, isn't it? My personal favorite:

haikus are stupid
playing to your emotions
points mostly unclear

I know, I know, I should quit my job and forgo any idea of schooling because I have discovered my talent. Once a publisher sees these, I'll never have to work again! I just don't know if I could handle the fame. And poor Matt and Sean, always having to live in my shadow. I just don't know how they'd handle it.
(and this is why I will now slowly back away from the computer and go read a book...)

Suspicions Confirmed!

Over the past 4 days or so I had begun to notice that I wasn't out of breath anymore. Then I began to notice that I REALLY...really...wasn't out of breath. It had gotten to the point where it was so bad I couldn't move my arms much without gasping for air, because every arm movement compresses the lungs--even if not by much. If I raised them above my head, forget it. I would pass out! I went over to my mother in law's last night and the first thing she said was, "oh my god, he's dropped!" Oh! Well. All the pieces fit together. This is why my rib-bruising maniac had stopped his sadistic ways. This is why I am now getting up 5 times a night to pee when I never used to. Ah. I raised my hands above my head and nothing happened. I wasn't out of breath at all.
YAY! That gets rid of one of my worries at least. The fear that Matthew, like me, would decide that dropping really isn't what he wanted to do and he'd rather just chill out high up and wait for the C-Section. No--Matt has left the high rises and is now descending to front row seating. A strange note-looking in the mirror I can see hollow spots below my boobs and above my belly (my now belly) where he used to be! Very odd.
Anyway when I went to my doctor's appointment last Wednesday she had asked if I had packed my hospital bag and I scoffed at her and said no. She just gave me a serious look and told me that a lot of pregnancies come early and that I should pack it. I told her I would and of course, didn't pack it. To me packing the bag officially begins the awful waiting and wondering and I wanted to hold off on it.
Oh, did I mention? I am having a BUNCH of Braxton-Hicks contractions (the painless practice labor ones) . Last night they were happening like every 10 minutes!!! They slowed down and this morning I haven't felt one yet--I think they must be tied to Matt's movement because when he is inactive, I don't get many, (like one an hour), and when he is rocking out in there I'll get them very frequently.
So combined with dropping and tons of practice labor--needless to say I packed the bag last night.
The wait begins!

Grooming and Gregariousness

So...I am finally a real boy!!! Er...sorry, wrong fairy tale. So...I am finally a real groomer!!! The corporate office e-mailed the news that I passed my training and am now eligible to make commission and to get a cool certificate. Yay! So my commission starts tomorrow, and even with me just doing the bare minimum of dogs and only doing small ones (which are less), I will STILL make $100 more than normal a week. Very nice considering my maternity leave (which is mostly unpaid), is going to leave me wanting for money. Anyway, I have savings for that specific reason so no reason to worry.
Work was good today, I only groomed three dogs and they all came out well. One was this little red-haired poodle with some sad story about many different homes, owners being committed to convalescent homes, shelter visits and the like. It was going to a new home tomorrow. It was the sweetest most well-behaved poodle EVER! The sad part is the fact that his teeth were gray and yellow and porous from rot and were rotting badly into his gums. His breath smelled so bad I could barely work. THEN he sneezed AND A PART OF HIS HORRIBLE NASTY TOOTH LANDED ON MY HAND!!!! Ahh!!! It was very gross and so it bears mentioning here. Oh--sooo---gross!!! My friend Jana had some cheery words of comfort as I was trying not to puke (the breath stench had already gotten me into a nauseous state): "at least it didn't land in your mouth." Thanks Jana. Thank you so much for the image.
So on the other side of things, I am having Thanksgiving at my place this year. It is not my first time cooking a turkey by myself and preparing the meal, but it is my first time hosting it. I don't see why housewives make such a big deal about it--I'm cooking for 8 people but I think all the chaos will be fun! I function well under pressure. As long as Sean and Joey don't try to "help" cook, it'll be okay. I'm making a turkey (even though I am vegetarian I have no problem handling and cooking meat and innards), macaroni casserole, corn, green beans, cranberry sauce (ok not making that one, just buying it), stuffing (again, probably buying it), candied yams, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and some form of bread. I have a small kitchen or else I would make the bread from scratch (I love making fresh bread). However, it'll be crowded enough trying to cook three things in the oven and getting them all out piping hot without worrying about fussy bread that has to have specific rising temperatures and bake conditions and all that. I think I'll cook the turkey, throw the casserole in at about the 45 min until completion mark next to it, then take those out and cook the yams. I have it all worked out--yay. I don't feel like I need to prove that I can make stuffing, cranberry sauce, pies and bread from scratch because I know I could and that's all that matters. Plus--no one cares. :-P
Anyway, I guess I will go...my littlest dog is getting all worked up because I came home and took a nap without playing with her (mortal sin), then she was whining to get of my room so I let her, closed the door, and wrote this blog. Now she is throwing herself at my door pathetically from the outside and whining with a toy. Really--my three other very playful (but respectful and not annoying) animals aren't good enough for her? Guess not. She sure has another thing coming in about a month. Thankfully with three adults in the house and only one baby my animals won't get completely ignored. Anyway, I'll write later! Probably while the turkey is cooking Thanksgiving morning. Or tomorrow--my first commission day!!! Totally my kind of job--the harder you work the more money you make, plus you make people happy and fall in love with their animals again. It's nice work.

Okay, the last of the pics

Yes, the uneven-ness of "Matt" on the door was intentional. And no, I don't know why blogger thinks my words are a link to a website.

More pictures

And here are some other pics. I know it doesn't look like much is in the closet, because I only have seperate shirts/pants and jackets hanging up. However in the crib drawer I have probably over a hundred onsies and sleepers, folded and crammed together. Also have some hats and bibs and socks in there too, but those are more hidden in the back baskets.

Nursery

Here are some pictures of the nursery. The dresser is coming soon, then I can start really decorating. My mom has been getting me cute wooden wall decorations, and once I have the furniture in there I can put those up. Probably put some on the door too.

I KNOW--it's been forever

I'm sorry!!! I have been busy and when I haven't been busy I haven't felt up to writing a blog. I'm usually doing what pregnant women do best--lay around and obsess about the nursery. Okay well, I've done more than that. I obsess about the baby too :-P.
My life is going well. I'm feeling so good that I delayed my leave start date until December 4th instead of Thanksgiving. I have had no pain, no swelling, no bad symptoms (except bruised ribs). Okay, well, I get out of breath extremely easily, but that isn't a problem because I sit down most of the time anyway at work because I only groom small dogs. I went to the Marine Corps Ball with Sean in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, and that was fun.
I had my baby shower and it was awesome--now I have everything besides some small stuff (baby wipes, baby wash and stuff) and the nursery is all set up. I washed all his clothes, organized them and put them away. I haven't packed my hospital bag yet but that can wait. I really don't think he is coming any time soon-I know that because I am an impatient person I am going to have to wait. Trying to think of other stuff...hmm. Well my best friend Jana and her two daughters are moving in next door, and that is going to be awesome. Her and I are the same sort of people where we both value personal space and time so we won't be bugging eatch other to hang out all the time, and she has had kids and totally understands that most of my spare (ok probably all of my spare) time I am going to want to spend with Matt. Sean is thinking about quitting his job in March or April and just watching Matt and going to school full-time. He would have classes two days a week on my days off, and have his other class online. He gets the GI bill and goes to drill so he would still have an income, and my new much-increased income will easily make up for his lost job income. He doesn't make much now as it is, and there isn't much profit margin now at his job because he spends a lot of money on gas because he is a pizza delivery driver. And by him taking time out from the job world to take care of his son, it's not like it'll hurt his career. In 2008 when he finishes school he is going to be able to get a good job (and if he can't find one, ITT Tech will place him in one). From what he tells me, professionally trained cookie-cutter ITT Tech graduates are sought after. He is still going to go to school, but by then Matt will be old enough to get something out of daycare like socialization and playing and learning with kids his own age. And I won't feel as guilty about leaving him there as I would if he were an infant. Anyway the way I worked it, it would not only be cost-effective for Sean to quit working and watch Matt (no paying for daycare), it would also be very good for Matt's well-being. Hopefully :-P.
Anyway, I am done training to be a groomer. I finished a couple weeks ago and am now just waiting for my certificate. I signed up for health benefits for next year with my work so I don't have to have MediCal, and everything is going well. I'm thinking maybe when Sean starts work again maybe I could cut down my work time and go to school. I can't and don't want to be a groomer forever!!! Maybe on the side. It is a lucrative career, but not one that I really want to do for my life. I would still absolutely love to be an english teacher. We'll see. I'll go to college for something exciting. I was going to go much sooner but having a kid sort of puts things at a standstill. At least one of us is going! Actually, if Sean makes enough money him and I could trade places-he could work and I could go to college. We'll see. Anyway I am super excited about the future and can't wait until Matt can be a part of our lives!!! Sean and I are estatic. Ahh...and I'll never have to feel another nasty rib kick from him again. Hopefully.
Okay well if I think of anything else I will post more, and I promise I'll try to post more often! No worries though, I will certainly be posting a bunch after December 4th!!!