36 Weeks!

Well, here we are back to reality. And what a harsh reality it is after this wonderful long babymoon weekend. The babymoon was absolutely perfect though, exactly what we needed. I'll go into more details in a bit, along with some pictures. Today I'm also 36 weeks. Only one more week until B is considered full term. It's crazy... only 28 days left until the due date. And with the way the renovations are going (or not... more on that below too) mango needs to stay in as long as possible.

Mango is now around 6-6 1/2 lbs, which makes sense with what the Dr said last Thursday (mango measured 5 lbs 13 oz but Dr said by looking at me the baby looked smaller... but then, who knows with that guy). My fluid levels are still really good, and so far nothing to indicate Mango making his/her debut early. I'll get some Braxton Hicks occasionally, but drinking water and re-positioning usually takes care of that right away. And since I can still walk fairly normally I'm assuming B hasn't dropped yet, but is still head down. Liver, kidneys, circulation and immune system are all good to go at this point and really all mango is doing now is just gaining weight. I was an 8 lb baby (though also 2 weeks late), so I'm curious how much B will end up being. Length wise s/he should be around 17-19 inches- just packing on the pounds now. Also, I'm having some crazy cravings here- mainly lemon. Lemon anything... I'm even eating slices of whole lemon. It's so weird, and definitely doesn't help with the heartburn. Even right now, I'm drooling just thinking about eating a lemon slice.

As far as renovations go, not much has changed, but we've been assured that the cabinets will be put in by the end of the week. Next week we order the appliances, then after that is just ordering the counters and painting. Fingers are crossed that this all gets done on time, but with 28 days left, and 16 days until I officially start working from home, I'm not feeling too optimistic. Last night, after getting back from our wonderful vacation I had a minor freak out after seeing basically nothing was done while we were gone, but Bill's been great at staying on top of our contractor and making sure everyone is aware that we're operating under a tight deadline.

And now, finally, the best part. The only part I want to think about... the Babymoon! Since I need to use my PTO days for maternity leave (totally lame, but welcome to US maternity leave) and besides a long weekend visiting my sister and Chris for Easter then Bill and I going to see my parents in April, I've taken 0 time off. We get summer days that don't factor into my maternity leave, so we were able to take this extra long weekend to get away. Anyways, I digress.

Awesome parents-to-be

We headed out early on Friday, made it to Boston and spent some time with Bill's sister Chrissie and his adorable nephew Charlie just to wait out the traffic, then made it into the Cape. The Inn we stayed at was perfect. Located right next the beach, the room was perfect, not too quaint, more like a personable hotel room. The balcony overlooking the ocean was the best part though, well worth the additional cost. The breakfast was excellent. There was a cold spread every morning with fresh fruit, fresh squeezed orange juice, yogurt, granola, croissants and a different pastry- lemon cake, fruit coffee cake, snickerdoodle scones. There was also a different daily hot dish, we had a yummy Spanish tortilla the first day, a baked french toast made with croissants and then a deconstructed egg sandwich- over easy egg, melted cheese and a slice of tomato over a cheddar and bacon scone.

The first morning I was up super early so helped myself to some
banana bread, tea and enjoyed on the balcony

The cold spread- and our view

The deconstructed egg sandwich

The Inn also had access to a private beach right across the street but there was public beach not too far beyond where the beach was a little less rocky. The first day we spent it just hanging out on the private beach and then the second headed over to the public one so we could access the water easier. Let me tell you, getting in that water was the best thing ever. My belly felt weightless... it was just wonderful.

How perfect does that look?

Every afternoon after the beach we'd sit out on the balcony and just chill out. Chat over random things, Bill played some Sinatra and we had a couple glasses of wine (well, I had about 1 glass a day, mango's basically done cooking but we're not going crazy by any means).

Bill setting up

We thought this picture looked like something out of a wine ad-
so picture-esque

The crazy stage at the Bon Jovi concert Saturday night

The town was so cute too. Basically just a main drag, but exactly what I expected from a summer beach town. The first night we had some Mexican food, the 2nd was spent rocking out at the Bon Jovi concert with Bill's sister and brother-in-law and the last night we had some pretty tasty seafood. It was hard coming back from all that, but now all that's left is looking forward to the most exciting arrival, our little mango.

Upcoming:

• Bill travels just for a day and night out to Chicago, and hopefully we'll be getting our new a/c before he goes! If we're going to be stuck living in a 1 room apartment for the foreseeable future at least we'll do it in cool comfort.
• Back to prenatal yoga and then my friend Melissa's baby shower is this weekend!
• I've packed my hospital bag! Now just need to wash the baby's clothes, and get all the gear set up, but holding off on that until renovations are done (and if Mango comes early we may have to have him/her sleep in a drawer Mom).
• Guster concert in Prospect Park next Tuesday that Bill and I will try to picnic at- weather depending.
• Next baby appointment is next Wednesday, when my regular Dr is back (thank goodness). After that, it's appointments once a week!

On a sad note my Dad's Godmother, Negra, passed away this past weekend. She was one of my Grandmother's best friends, a last connection to our Mamam. I love this one picture of my Grandmother at her wedding talking to Negra, and I remember conversing with her just a few years ago about how much I missed my Grandmother. It's so amazing to have a friendship like that, that spans decades and continents, something to really admire in this day and age.

My Dad and Negra last Christmas