Wild weekend

I had an incredible weekend. I would still be flying high, but I'm too tired :)

Friday afternoon, I went home from work a little early. It was a rough week, and I was sure that I had cleared up the only issue of the day. I found out this morning that my boss had tried to get in the middle of it after I had left and, being poorly informed due to his inability to read the emails I send him, had confused himself thoroughly. Fortunately, he was the only one who seemed to be confused, and I cleared it up easily this morning, but COME ON!! Should I really have to scold my boss for nosing around unnecessarily, at 7:20 AM? Or, be allowed to? Anyway, I spent Friday vacuuming and cleaning and making sure the house was semi-kid-proofed. My mom, my sister and her kids showed up late in the evening, and we had a fun relaxing day on Saturday together, playing in the sprinkler, making a "lion's den" out of couch cushions, and coaxing Megan as she gets the hang of taking more than 3 or 4 steps at a time. So fun!!

Saturday afternoon, several of my friends threw me a baby shower, and it was absolutely wonderful. They thought of everything - fun games, lots of really good food, and incredibly thoughtful gifts. I am actually excited about writing thank yous because I am so overwhelmed from their generosity. Travis's mom came down for the shower, as did my grandmother in Ames. It was really fun. The shower morphed into a pirate-themed birthday party for my brother, who was celebrating the 10th anniversary of his 21st birthday. Travis put together a pretty cool pirate's outfit, and the party was complete with a pinata and "buried treasure," which was shot bottles of jaeger, tequila, etc. buried in sand. The party apparently lasted much longer than I did, since a day of keeping up with little girls and the excitement from the shower had me beat.

Sunday, I had everybody over for homemade pizza for lunch, and spent the afternoon relaxing a bit. We went to our first prenatal class in the evening - the first of six! - then went to Babies R Us to spend some coupons that expired that day. We got some great deals, and now our nursery is full of not only the crib and dresser, and all the hand-me-downs from my sister, but all the wonderful gifts and our thrifty purchases from Sunday. Am I jinxing myself by being semi-ready this soon before my due date? I feel like the readier I am beforehand, the longer past my due date this baby will wait to make his/her appearance.

And to be honest, I've had a tough time facing these next few weeks. I've been feeling physically and mentally wimpy lately, and the emotional support was just what I needed this weekend. I'm still physically drained, but I feel like I've got a better handle on how to face labor and life with a newborn after this weekend. It's a whole different game, up there between my ears, and one of the things I'm dreading most is that it gets more and more twisted up there, and harder to keep control of things, the more tired I get. You can see why this concerns me! But I have a really good support network, and I'm still a little anxious but not quite so overwhelmed anymore.

To end, I have a very funny story from my niece, Sarah, who is 3 & 1/2. It requires a small amount of background: Jenny's family spent the previous week in Rockford with my parents, where my dad's cows are busy calving. The girls like to be a part of tagging calves when they're born, and I've gotta say it really is neat. They're small, soft, and docile, and it's neat to be able to pet them while Dad's got them pinned to the ground. So anyway, Sarah and I were snuggled up on the couch Saturday afternoon, unwinding in a failed attempt to get her to nap. We were talking about my baby, and whether she might get a girl cousin or boy cousin. She looked up at me with her big blue eyes and said, "If your baby is a boy baby, we'll have to tag it in the RIGHT ear!"