39 weeks: officially on maternity leave

Well here we are.

39 weeks and no baby yet.

I am now officially on maternity leave. It's only been about 30 minutes but it is so surreal. I think this whole "I will have a baby soon" thing is really hitting me now.

tic tock ...

tic tock ...

House talk: the ground has broken

March 23, 2010 was ground-breaking day!

Some of our new pets were there to see the action


So was this fellow.


I think I'll call him Baldy.


I this he'd make a great construction supervisor.

Thanks to my mom for taking the photos :)

Dancing baby

She's definitely making herself at home in there!

House talk: it's go time

Our house moved from "for sale" to "sale pending" in just two weeks. We had ten showings the first week alone. I feel blessed that we had so much positive interest right away – it was actually a lot of fun. We've signed a sales contract and last week our house passed inspection with flying colors ...

... so ...

We're moving ahead with plans to build in the country!

I should probably also mention that I am still pregnant – no baby yet – but it should be soon.

I hope. This is our family of three on our land exploration walk today.

Ok, back to building talk.

The past week we've been finalizing our home plans and we've started to choose thing like flooring, cupboards, and lighting. Oh my, it is so fun, and overwhelming, and exciting. I'm very glad we have the chance to start doing this shopping without dragging a newborn into all the stores. I think she's much better behaved now.

Today we went out to the land with our builder to stake where the boundary of the house will be.

Corey is standing on the corner of what will be our bedroom. The river-bottom field behind him has some spring snow melt on it right now and has become a very popular place for Canadian geese (honkers). It was so cool to see them – there must have been thousands.

My mom took this photo – our house will be up on that bluff. I would guess we're standing somewhere near the kitchen.

If all goes as planned (and we don't get a major snow storm) digging will start this week. Yikes.

Corey and I ... out exploring. We saw deer and pheasants. And lots of deer poop.

The railroad bridge and our pond (just beginning to thaw).

More of our new pet honkers. Seriously, there must be thousands out there.

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Last weekend we ventured out to the land with my cousin Parker. Somehow I forgot to show off our photos from our walk along the train tracks.

Parker collected "trees" for grandma.

Listening for trains.

I think he likes our walks.

When he got tired Aunt ReNay gave him a ride.

It was so much fun to get fresh air and spend some time outside!

37 weeks: full term

Well here we are. Full term at 37 weeks.

Hard to imagine how quickly the past 37 weeks went ... and how slowly.

I've been having a few "pains" and Corey has had more than one hunch that the baby will be here sooner than later. Since I only have profile pregnancy photos (like the one above), I held my own impromptu pregnancy photo session after work today – in our dining room – with my camera, tripod, and self-timer.

It was a good thing I was home alone because it was a bit of a circus getting the camera focussed (with the use of a chair), setting the camera timer, moving the chair, and scooting myself and belly into the frame (all within about 10 seconds).

Anyway, here we are.

Round and ready.

Childbirth and bobsledding

I watched a lot of hours of the winter olympics last month. And, surprise, surprise, I've been thinking a lot about childbirth. Childbirth and bobsledding – did you know the two have a lot in common?

The following paragraph really sums up the relationship between the two:

From Birth Day by Dr. Mark Sloan

Human childbirth is like an Olympic bobsled run. There are two participants with well-defined roles: a mother who does the pushing and a baby who steers the course.


There is a well-marked start and finish, and in between there are banked turns and the real possibility of disaster.


Down at the finish line, there's a throng of cheering supporters, some ready to assist when things get tricky, others simply milling around with cameras and champagne.

Childbirth isn't exactly like a bobsled run, of course. There are no helmets or spandex racing suits, for one thing, and it's usually not snowing on the participants.


Childbirth is also a bit slower. A bobsled in mid race regularly reaches 70 miles per hour or more. A baby at its zippiest has a top speed of roughly 0.00000025 mph.

Photos from Flickr - click on each photo for a larger view and credit information.

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At a minimum, I expect all my hospital visitors to be as spirited and excited as mister belly paint!

We'll be full term at the end of this week and I'm getting the "whenever you're ready, I'm ready" feeling.

I'll try to keep this blog updated with the inevitable "we're heading to the hospital" announcement.