Thank You Mid-West

I awoke to overcast skies and a brisk breeze. When I left for school, it was about the same. Sometime in the late morning it sprinkled. A cool spring sprinkle. It was a perfect jeans and t-shirt day. I even wore a sweater this evening. Thank you mid-west for sending your rain out here, if that's where it came from. It has been unbearably hot in usually temperate Northern California for the past two weeks. This last week was the worst...hitting the mid 90's on Mother's Day as my mom toiled, painting the soon to be master bedroom of my house.

The weather has only been made less bearable by the large furnace residing in my mid-section. All I have to say is "Thank you Lord" for allowing me to deliver in early June. I could not handle being this big and hot any later in the summer, for sure.

In other news, I took two of my three finals today. I didn't realize how stressed I have been until I finished the last final of the day, the final I considered the toughest and the one worth a good majority of my grade in the class. I have been worrying about "making it through finals" from the beginning of the semester. I have been worried about not completing this round, and wasting these past months because I didn't get to the final. For the past couple of weeks, I have added to my stress by worrying about the actual finals...you know...doing well and getting good grades.

It had become so part of my routine, I didn't notice. Any tiredness, any mood swings, and kind of not normal feeling I have been chalking up to the end stages of pregnancy. I think I was worried about school, as much as anything else. I came to this realization as I left the classroom. I felt good. I felt good about the test, I knew what I was saying, I identified the passages, I knew the vocabulary, I wrote a decent essay. Suddenly, I realized I felt lighter. Physically lighter. I smiled, and it felt so very good. There was no tiredness left in my body. I have been recently coming home and sleeping for about two hours every afternoon. I could not be motivated to do anything. Today, I took the scenic route to light rail and simply enjoyed the walk. The air was clean, the day still cool and breezy. I was happy. I am happy.

Everything looks good right about now. I hope the cool weather stays for a bit. I have one more test on Wednesday, but I'm ready for it. Then, a couple of blissful weeks waiting for baby. Suddenly, the fact that our old roommate still has a room full of stuff here doesn't seem like a big deal. We'll get resettled when we can. It doesn't seem so scary that the house needs a good cleaning...I have some time now and energy to do it. And if not, well, that's what Mom is for after the baby comes. I am now looking forward to a summer adjusting to the demands of new parenthood. It doesn't seem as daunting as task as it did a week ago, when I absolutely melted down in a store because they didn't carry the "right" brand of baby bottles. I have just about made it through the semester. I have almost completed my goal of getting one more year of school in before baby. I am a few classes away from my bachelor’s degree...and now I feel as though I have the luxury of finishing at my leisure. I have proved that I can handle university.

It's a good feeling right now; one I hope doesn't soon go away.

...

I. Am. So. *Freakin'* Hot.

It's not funny.

Lazy Girl

I always miss my train...by seconds, I might add...when I try and catch one from the downtown station. I have no idea why this is, but my guess is that the universe knows that I hate waiting the 15 minutes for the next train at this station. Why do I hate it so much? Well...there is no shade there and it's over 80 F out today. There is no place to sit and I'm tired. There are very smelly people all over the place. Really. Don't laugh. The street kids bother me, not personally bother me...but their presence bothers me. Too many folks hang out there and smoke. That just about covers it.

Fortune would have it that there was a train right after the one I missed...it just wasn't going where I needed to go. But, it does stop at the other station where I could comfortably sit in the shade away from smelly, smoking people. So I got on. And rode about a mile. And got off. And sat and waited for my train to arrive. I was very happy and comfortable eating my crackers in the shade.

Yes, I know that this qualifies for some kind of weirdness. I don't care. I got to sit.

A Collection of Small Things

I got to meet the latest baby to join our circle yesterday. He's Little D, the son of my former employer. He's adorable, with tons of black hair, just like his Momma. I was honored to be able to attend his Bris Milah, the traditional circumcision preformed on the eighth day after birth. While most people would cringe, it was a beautiful ceremony that connects the new son of the family with all of his male relatives, back to Abraham. Little D was well behaved, he cried a bit during the procedure, but after a good feeding he went to sleep and seemed just fine. Seeing it preformed, and seeing the reaction of a real baby, has cemented in me our decision to have our son circumcised, if and when we have a boy baby.

In other tradition news, I was showered on Sunday by my friends and family. It was lovely. While I missed those who could not make it, those who did were a wonderful collection of old family friends, Aunts, cousins and close friends. We spent most of the time just chatting and enjoying each others company...and of course eating the spread put out by Mom and Sister M (my Mom's best friend and like family to us), who hosted at her lovely home. Little Baby T received some thoughtful and adorable gifts and our playroom library has been well stocked. Just perfect for the English major's baby. I mentioned to John in passing how much fun I was going to have reading to the baby, and he gave me a look and said, "I'm going to enjoy reading to the kid just as much." He loved the big collection of fairytales from around the world we received. Our kid won't need TV at this rate...

My diapers arrived. A box filled with little cloth coverings and poly/nylon wraps. It doesn't look like a $450 box...but it is. The company included a FAQ all about washing and caring for our cloth investment, so now we're both thinking about buying new detergents just for diaper washing. And kidlette clothes washing. Our laundry room is going to fill up...good thing we got the pedestal stand underneath the new washing machine. At least we'll be able to keep it somewhat organized.

Speaking of organized, I have found the last two pieces of furniture to complete the nursery. And, they came as a set. I found a posting on Craigslist (online for sale ads that are community specific and free to post. I love Craigslist...we've purchased all of our baby furniture for pennies on the dollar from the site) for a glider rocker and a changing table. The rocker doesn't have an ottoman, but I'm cool with that, if I need foot support I'd like a small footstool. It has the big plush cushions and it's red in color. Perfect for the room. I love color, but was becoming resigned to either a denim blue (yuck) or beige (boring). The only catch is, they're located about an hour north of us. So, yes, we're driving out there on Saturday. But, it's a super deal, worth the gas. And we might even get to get an IKEA trip in. Oh joy!

John is in Fishkill, NY for the next couple of days...leaving me with my homework and not much else. Maybe, just maybe, I'll get some housework done. I have been slacking off big time on that! I should. I'd also like to get my padded sling sewn. That won't take too long, and I need to adjust my unpadded sling as well...cut some tail off and make pockets.

I have my 36-week appointment tomorrow. I'm on the weekly visit schedule now. All my teachers know I'm expecting at this point...I told the last two today. I only have to make it through to the 25th of this month then the kid is welcome at any time. Ideally, I'll get a week to rest and finish up home projects, but, as long as school is done...everything else can wait.

Speaking of schoolwork, it's time to get some homework done and then...load the dishwasher. Small things add up in the long run.