"only" 205 days...

the day the squirrel went berserk

Yesterday, I had a few hours off work.

Of course it wasn't due to weather.

It was due to one little - now dead - squirrel. (photo complimentary of www.cantonrep.com)

This one:

(It's fried in the picture already - looks like it's been to a taxidermist or something!)

Anyway, this critter had chewed through wires, shutting down the power to the entire campus and even two sets of traffic lights near the post office!

It happened at about 8 a.m. I had an off-campus meeting at 8:30, and when I came back at 9:30, it still wasn't on. So our VP said that we could go home & come back at 1, when power was expected to return to our building. Power actually came back on at 11, but no one had called me, so I didn't get back until 1.

RIP little squirrel!

12:31 a.m.

This is, I believe, the latest I've stayed up in weeks and weeks now. I have been so exhausted lately!

I hear that's pretty normal.

Nothing much new to report - just another week of nausea and exciting stuff like that - oh, and getting a new nickname from Mike's cop buddies - what was it exactly - the Projectile Queen? Very flattering, eh? What IS he telling these people :)

Oh, and here's an exciting update (especially for all you guys out there...sorry!) I think I found a nursery set that I like. If I can talk Mike into it... he was stuck with Raggedy Andy until he was 12 and had long since begun peeling off the paper himself, so he is COMPLETELY anti-character of any kind. I keep explaining that these are generic - they are not branded characters... .

And I'll paint the walls the green that is in the giraffe square.

That's all, folks.

Bedtime.

processing

The other day, my co-worker & I (we do a bit of team-freelancing) were in a meeting with a client. He was asking us how soon he would need to give us info for a new project he wanted us to do, and I gave him a timeline - it's a lengthy project - and told him why I would need it to be turned in by then. My business partner is also pregnant - actually several months further along than I am.

So our client - after congratulating us of course, shared with us that a woman in his office had recently announced her pregnancy, and, as the grandfather of more than a dozen kids, said that the running family joke is that the baby eats the mom's brain - it's all that the mom can talk about from the moment she sees the dark purple line to, well, at least the next, well, 18 years. It's all-consuming.

I can see how that can happen. I mean, it's on my mind pretty much every second. Partly because I feel evidence of being pregnant pretty much every second. And of course, Mike & I love this kid already.

The fact is, that I'm pretty sure a kid will change everything about my life. And in so many ways I welcome that. I've wanted this for at least a few years.

But in other ways, there are still ways I want to change the world myself. Of course that means instilling godly values into my child. But I believe God has work left for me to do... in fact, am I not just beginning?

So how do I balance all of this? How do I still grow into me while I'm someone's mom? This adjustment feels sooooo big. And again - of course - I welcome it and couldn't be happier. It just feels pretty overwhelming right now. Am I totally overanalyzing this? Is it possible to overanalyze this?

Anyway...

today was my first "official" prenatal visit. Everything is perfectly "normal" and I am officially 7 weeks and 4 days pregnant. They count the weeks by Sundays, and my original due date is November 18.

We saw two nurse practitioners today, and they were very nice to us and excited for us. Mike's coworker had one of our NPs all through her pregnancy and said she was fabulous.

So the journey begins. Or continues.

a new life

My blogger account hasn't been letting me post, though I've been trying for the past few weeks. Sorry if you've been checking my blog lately and seeing only the crazy "light" photo.

On the bright side, here's another photo for you... what my baby looks like this week. Those words are still so foreign... "my baby." I still feel like I'm talking about someone else!

Um, that's right. I'm 8 weeks along at the moment - our baby will be here this fall - probably in November. I go to my first official doctor's appointment tomorrow. I've been once, of course - to confirm the pregnancy.

And here's the little "pod" - as its Daddy calls it - now.