Enjoying it all..."while I still can"! (smirk)

Hello there, festive and faithful friends and family!

No news here, which I suppose is good news as my due date isn't officially until 12/27. I went on maternity leave last week and am loving it. For several days I went crazy, running all the last errands and buying all the remaining baby things for the nursery and layette and my hospital bag.

Since then, however, my doctor has told me to take it easy and rest, because during the final weeks it's easy for blood pressure to escalate and mine showed minor signs of doing just that at my last appointment (which was the morning after a doozie of a major errand/shopping/nesting/exertion marathon day, followed unsurprisingly by a bad night's sleep). I was relieved to hear from her, doctor's orders, that I should no longer push past my exhaustion and discomfort in my anxiety to prepare for the baby's arrival. I am now feeling much better; even my ankles and feet, which were looking like a cabbage patch kid's, look normal and unswollen after periods of rest.

So now I'm just enjoying the last gasps of free time, sleep, recreational activities, and time to myself, all of which, according to all of the Harbingers of Doom who love to give advice, is all going straight to hell in a handbasket once we have this child. Our lives as we know them, according to these gloombots, are simply going to end. As the neverending "Get your sleep while you can!"s and "Just you wait!"s continue to pour in, I am honing my Academy Award winning smile and practicing my starring line: "I'll keep that in mind, thanks" as though this is actually somehow helpful (not depressing or insulting) advice that I am thankful to have received. After 6 months of this, I figure I deserve at least 7 Oscars at this point.

Despite the initial dread and anxiety that all of this naysayer feedback aggravated, I really think I've crossed over to the other side. I'm actually really excited now, and I can laugh at all of those Eeyore types who love to tell you all the bad things but who couldn't come close to describing to you the joy of holding your own child in your arms. Of course it helps that we finally have all of the nursery furniture assembled. David did a marvelous job, and the crib and dresser/changing table look absolutely beautiful, despite the fact that the instructions appeared to have been badly translated from Sanskrit and illustrated by M.C. Escher. He has been wonderful helping around the house, carrying things and shoveling the piles of snow here in the upper midwest. He must have shoveled 3 times a day on some days this past week. We now have well over 12 inches on the ground, and the piles along our driveway are at least 3 or 4 feet tall.

Meanwhile, I have been doing loads of baby laundry, intently studying the minute differences between receiving blankets, baby blankets, cloth diapers, burp cloths, lap pads, and washcloths in an effort recognize and categorize them as I fold and organize them in the baby's closet. (Does anyone know what a lap pad is or what you use it for? I asked my brother, also a new parent, and he didn't think he had any of those and had no idea.)

In the spirit of enjoying my life as I know it "while I still can", I have been indulging my reading itch as well as my Netflix account. I finished Jodi Picoult's Salem Falls, which was quite possibly the best book of hers I've ever read. I haven't read a book that riveting in quite a while. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. I was sad when I finished it, because it was such a great escape.

My most recent read was definitely out of my usual genre rotation. It was a debauched romp through the dirty world of Hollywood fame and fortune, following the often tragic and broken life of a stunningly beautiful and brilliant woman on her rise to success. I'm not quite sure what possessed me to buy this book (and don't remember where I was or what I was thinking when I did), but I did find it moderately entertaining - sort of like my guilty pleasure of occasionally buying and reading gossip rags. I wouldn't necessarily recommend Tilly Bagshawe's Adored to anyone who didn't avidly read Cosmo and People on a regular basis, but it was okay. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

I've watched a few great movies lately too, thanks to having finally found the last Netflix movie that had come months ago but had gotten lost in a mound of paperwork. Beauty Shop was a hilarious movie with Queen Latifah as a hairstylist who quits her fancy and tedious salon job (where she is bullied by Kevin Bacon, of all people, who plays a flaming and pompous European salon owner) to open her own in a questionable part of town. I think seeing Kevin with long heavily-styled locks and speaking with a queenish Euro-affected accent was one of the biggest highlights of the movie. Not the best movie on the planet, but definitely fun. I give it 3.5 stars out of 5.

Then, upon the recommendation of my brother, who along with me is a huge Will Ferrell fan, I watched Elf. Oh my GOD. If you want to laugh so hard you cry, you need to see this movie. The plot was okay and a little bit schmaltzy in the Christmas movie genre tradition, but Ferrell completely makes the movie. His schtick is just sidesplitting. A perfect Christmas comedy to rent around this time of year. I highly recommend it! I give it 5 stars, all of them going straight to Will.

That's all for now...back to folding baby clothes!! Stay warm and safe, and have a lovely week ahead of you.