The Bump and the Little Man

    Well, I'm sure many of you are wondering what the 8th month looked like and the answer is... like I swallowed a basketball. This boy is all is front, round and large! This was the month that I wish I was out of the office more than in, purely because of the crass comments. I'm not sure when it's ever right to comment negatively on the appearance of anyone but I have made several people apologize to me and the other pregnant women in my office from hearing; "Are you sure you're not having twins?", "You're as big as a tent!", "Wow, did your Dr. get your due date correct, cuz you're HUGE!" or just the quaint, "Hey Big Mama."
    Now people, would it be ok if I commented on your obesity, baldness, or can I just plain comment on your lack of tact? I decided on using these misguided comments as my approach to teaching common sense and starting conversations with a compliment, rather than an exclamation. So, now I usually get the tail between the leg comments, "Hey little mama". The other pregnant ladies and I feel much better about going to work and not feeling trapped in our suites. A little grace goes a long way.

 As for the rest of the preparation... we feel ready and prepared. We had the most lovely family shower in mid-May. Many aunts, sisters, cousins, grandmas and great-grandma gathered at Carol's home for a lovely morning. Little Man Shaver and I were doted upon with homemade blankets, organic clothing and toys, food making supplies and even baby hiking gear! We are ready for anything, almost. I was thrilled to have the chance to chat with my favorite women, nearly all of whom are mothers, and gain some last minute stories. They in turn were privy to many funny Joseph and Aimee stories about us learning all the graphic lessons from vomit to meconium, gross.... gross... gross. The shower was absolutely lovely and this little man will be one cool kid with all the new gadgets and fashionable outfits. Thank you ladies!!   

Now for Joe, well, he enjoyed the shower in a different aspect. He was thrilled with all the fun baby boy clothes and gear, but like a true boy himself, he was more interested in the gift boxes.

Yes, while the ladies were wrapping up the day, Joe stealthily walked over to the large box in the middle of the room full of wrapping paper and decided to see if he could 'Superman' atop the open box. As you can see, the box started to crumple and 'Pumfph!' it collapsed. Brilliant.

Last week was my final week of classes at MCC and as usual, my students will always surprise me. On the last class, I was passing out evaluations and noticed there was an odd 'buzz' to class. For those that may not know or need a reminder, the professor can not be in the classroom during evaluations, but I wanted to know what the whispering was about. Low and behold my students had gifts for us. Difficult to fight back the tears, as you know I'm lacking in emotion these days ;)  They purchased us several children's books that they loved, a HUGE basket of clothing and infant sundries. I was speechless, until I told them that this would definitely not effect their grades. They laughed and I cried more. What a remarkable group of students. I looped with most of the class from the autumn semester. So they witnessed many life changes from our wedding, honeymoon, and then watched me grow into the spring semester. They have left an imprint on my heart and will be superb educators!!


What to look forward to next?
We start our child birthing classes at the hospital, I am starting to count down the weeks, our Dr. still has to give me permission to take classes in Indiana, and hopefully my boss will give me health insurance throughout the summer; nothing major. More to come in June.

The Babe's Room

I really should create the name of this post, 'don't eat the babe!'
   ... you'll see.


We are going with the non-traditional decoration of this room - no theme, just a zen feel.  Until a few weeks ago, we were planning on selling the house in a couple of years, so we didn't want to decorate or paint a mural to just paint over it again during the sale. Now, we are happily planning to stay another 5 years before expanding and heading eastward.

Many of you might not have known that this simple room was Aimee's art room and a second guest room. It was PACKED to the gills with art supplies and it took months to clear out the items and find new homes for everything. Joe was pretty pushy about cleansing the house of my junk if we were going to purchase more items. Oh, believe me, I had my fun in his music room, no worries! So in mid-April, we finally had a blank room to start decorating.

We wanted a soft sage color with wheat and dark chocolate accents. When the room was finished, it was more reminiscent of mint chocolate. Joe said every time he walked into the room he would get hungry and thought about eating mint chocolate chip ice cream. He thought about it so much that I think he got a little crafty. He finally questioned, what if he eats the babe?? There's NO eating of the babe!! Oh, his quick response then was to keep the freezer always filled with chocolate chip ice cream. Yep, I fell for it!

There's a few items that still need to arrive... like the crib, etc. And we have a few little chores left, like to install that fan and change out the brown door... but at least we can sleep now knowing that the major stuff is done! Our friend, Dianne, is making the curtains to match the daybed duvet. I'll post more when those arrive.