back from cleveland

We're back from our weekend in Cleveland! It was a nice visit to see Aaron's grandma for Mother's Day. It's a six-hour drive there, so that kind of wore me out, but it really wasn't bad and we only had to make a couple of stops each way, so it seems we made pretty good time.

Aaron's grandma is now 90(!) but doing really great! Always an independent lady, she lives alone, takes walks everyday, and still drives. However, lately she's been a little lonelier and I was wondering if this visit would show a different side to the strong woman. Nope! She's still doing great!! She gets a little tired faster, but heck, so do I these days! She kept us super well-fed as usual and we even had a chance to walk in the park and see Lake Eerie. After being in Indiana for a while, the Great Lakes sure are impressive.

Baby has been super active these days, rolling around all the time, and I even feel and watch him move when I'm standing (used to really only be when I sat). But I guess he's getting to be a big boy, so that's to be expected! I have had a couple of belly-rubbers in the past few days, but it doesn't freak me out as much as I thought it would.

I'm still feeling pretty good, though, all in all. I wasn't able to get as much sleep this weekend as I have been lately (lately I've been needing about 9 hours a sleep a night!!) so that left me a little tired and cranky, and my back and hips hurt from sitting in the car so long. Other than that, though, the pregnancy still seems to be as smooth as ever. I have to take double-takes when I see myself in a mirror, as I continue to grow rapidly. Aaron's grandma said I look great, so that was nice, but then she followed up with the fact that when she saw me last month at the wedding in Michigan she thought I looked "advanced"! I of course let that put me into a funk for the next hour or so but I'm over it now. We all carry our babies and baby weight in different ways; my measurements and weight gain are right on track, so I should focus on that and not on outside assessments of how pregnant I look. But that sure is a hard thing to do!

So it seems we have as little as one month to go until the big day!! But more likely it will be closer to two. I'm trying to prep a happy mental space for the upcoming birth; seems to me your mind has a lot to do with your birth experience. We are pretty prepared as far as having all the necessary baby stuff (and then some!) but there are a few odds and ends we still need to gather. My office is throwing a shower for me in early June, so that may fill the gaps anyway. And on the 20th of this month we start our birth classes. Lafayette doesn't offer many options -- I think we're pretty much limited to the hospital's classes, but that's ok. We do newborn care on the 20th, breastfeeding on the 27th, and we start lamaze (only option) on the 29th. That goes through the month of June. I guess I might just go into labor before we finish the lamaze courses!! But I guess that probably won't be the case. Regardless, I guess the end is in sight -- or it seems like it should be, but it's one of those things I won't be able to picture until it happens I guess!