things not to tell a pregnant woman.

Two people in the past week or so have told me that they can't believe I still have "so long to go" before the baby is due. Seriously?! Pretty sure I look a long ways from "ready to pop" stage (one of my colleagues used that specific phrase -- umm, have you ever seen a pregnant person before?). Besides, what's the point of saying something like this? I have to bite my tongue to keep from saying anything too cutting about their weight, which is still significantly more than mine.

There's me, at 27 weeks and 6 days (today). Definitely not ready to give birth to this tiny little life yet!

This gallery of "things not to tell a pregnant woman" made me laugh -- I think I've heard almost all of these already!

when it rains, it pours.

For a very rainy Friday, it's been a pretty spectacular day. Received a teaching award during my first hour class, got a surprise delivery of flowers from a grateful parent, and came home to find a darling invitation to my baby shower in my mailbox.

Looking forward to more rainy days this spring! And once baby is here, these (my first baby clothing purchase -- frivolous, I know) will help to keep her toes warm on days like today (not to mention brighten everyone's spirits!):

glucola.

(Picture that word being said to the tune of the "Ricola" commercials -- that's how it is in my head, at least.)

Took my gestational diabetes test this morning, which consisted of waking up at 7:15 and immediately drinking a glass of flat, extra-sweet orange soda. Gross. I felt nauseated, but otherwise made it through the hour-long wait to have my blood drawn -- and then we got to go out to breakfast at a favorite place in Sycamore, so it all worked out. Now I'm just waiting to hear the good news that the tests are negative!

We went to Beth Shalom for services last night and several strangers came up to congratulate me/us on our pregnancy. I guess it must be obvious enough now that people aren't worried about offending me if I'm just heavy rather than with child. There aren't many children at the synagogue (I think they have 8 attending their Hebrew/Sunday School currently), so it's probably exciting for everyone to have a new baby in the congregation.

It's crazy to think that I'm almost in the third trimester -- rounding the bases and heading for home! If our baby were born this week, she would have a 70% chance of surviving, and more than that with every passing day. That's at least somewhat comforting to think about. I can tell she's getting bigger every day, too, because her kicks and jabs are much harder and more visible (something that Jason finds pretty amusing to watch). And only two more months until my maternity leave begins...time is starting to fly by!

babymoon.

Scenes from our getaway to Wisconsin (Kohler and Appleton) -- and no, we didn't have any runaway state senator sightings!

on the balcony of our hotel room (glimpse of Wood Lake in the background)

outside the American Club after eating creme brulee french toast -- yum!


the gate to the American Club

the display wall at the Kohler Design Center -- this picture doesn't show how crazy it looked in person (and colorful)!

in Sheboygan on the shore of Lake Michigan -- soooo cold.

dinner at Cucina

our swanky hotel room at the Inn on Woodlake

looking up at the public art in the new Warch Campus Center at L.U.

waiting for The Bartered Bride to start

Peak to Peakers + Lawrentians, past and present

Copper Rock -- just as good as we remembered

survived the foot of snow that Appleton decided to present us with during our stay

If you decide to visit any of the places we went, here are our restaurant recommendations:

The Horse and Plow (especially if you like cheese curds!)

Field to Fork (wish the website showed how cute this place is)

Harmony Cafe (all the ambience of the old Pilgrim's Cafe but with a much more progressive attitude -- and great vegetarian food too!)

be mine.

Valentine's Day is just around the corner -- and future baby Hanna's heart is thump-thump-thumping along at 150 beats per minute, according to our prenatal appointment today. Everything looked great; I'm measuring just where I should be, and she's active and feisty just as she should be at this stage, too. (Even though I don't need to start for weeks, I did a practice "kick count" today. You're supposed to feel 10 movements in 2 hours; she reached 10 in 3 minutes!)

Jason and I won't be doing much to celebrate this weekend because we're taking a trip in a week -- heading up to the Inn on Woodlake, part of the American Club resort in Kohler, WI. We'll also be spending a day and night in Appleton to see the Lawrence Opera perform The Bartered Bride; the overture to that opera was the first piece I ever played with the MYS Symphony Orchestra. Ah, memories! It'll be lovely to have a getaway together while we still can...

super bowl xlv.

Dear future daughter,

We thought you would want to know what happened in the year of your birth, so we documented tonight's events in pictures for you.

with love from your future parents

snow baby.

At home today due to the massive blizzard that hit northern Illinois yesterday. Jason shoveled for about 45 minutes and managed to clear the stairs and sidewalk leading from our front door to the driveway -- that was it. Luckily, a nice neighbor took pity on us and snowblowed the rest so we're not totally stuck inside. DeKalb County is in a state of emergency and all roads are declared closed at this point, though, so we won't be going very far.

Not much to do today besides housework and daydreaming about baby. This week, she's somewhere between 1.1-1.3 pounds and more than 11 inches in length from crown to foot -- "papaya" size, I guess. I don't know if she'll have a chance to do any dancing to the choir music tonight, because it might not be possible to drive to rehearsal! So we'll have to have a little dance party here at home instead.