I have to admit that it is kind of hard being the last one - and with this pregnancy thing, I'm coming in last.  Not that nobody else is having babies, but just that of all of our child-bearing friends in Bellingham, I'm the last one right now.  Who knows, there could be others hiding a secret until their first 3 months is up, but right now, I feel like I'm closing down the race.  Our friends Katie and Christina both had fabulous birthing stories to tell, and little healthy babies to hold while telling them.  Miguel and I are still in the completely unkown stage, with more than a 20 day window between due dates.  We both suspect that we've got 3 weeks to go before the big event, but only time will tell. In fact, we're entering into what may be our very last non-baby, non-booked weekend of our lives.  It's like we're on the log ride at Knott's Berry farm - it's dark, smells like excitement, but we can't really see what is around the next corner.  We're planning to go for a hike, relax, and bask in the quietness.  Perhaps the calm before the storm.  Man, that's intimidating!

In the meantime, we've almost completed the entire baby's room.  It was a long process of getting our attic partially finished, painting, demolishing a closet and rebuilding, but now that it is mostly behind us, we're happy with the results.   The room is fun to hang out in, and comfortable for lounging.  I'm feeling pretty good and just hoping with all fingers crossed that i don't come down with this sickness that seems to be targeting people in the office.  I only have a few weeks to hang in there - so hopefully I'll stay healthy.

My co-workers surprised me with a baby shower at work this week, and we played a few "shower" games.  My belly measured in at exactly 40" around - which Janae guessed with precision (she won some lotion).  I don't appear to be putting any more weight on, but the baby feels like s/he's getting bigger every day.  We're working on not calling the baby an "it", so in lieu of that, we're switching gender references from "he" to "she" every other day.  Today is a "he" day.  We have a few names picked out for each gender, but much to my mother's dismay, we probably won't pick a name for a few days after the birth.  Miguel and I are pretty excited for the big event, and it's been really fun watching Miguel with our friends' babies.  He's going to be a great father.  He's got the shushing and cooing and happy smiles down.  I'm going to need a little work, but I think I'll be ok.  The anticipation is rather challenging for me - in that there is an element of an unknown, and so I try to protect myself like many people do, by not getting really excited.  The baby's size is small, but what does that mean?  Will he be healthy?  Will he be normal?  Will the birth go ok?  Will I be ok?  There are many worries to go along with the final weeks of many people's pregnancies, I'm sure.  Being in the midst of it, I have to continually remind myself that positive thinking is the best thing I can do right now - and there isn't much else I can do about it anyway.  Good diet, lots of water and exercise and positive thoughts - that's what I'm working on.  

I've got a few animal paintings I've been working on, and I have 3 more to go - but these have been a good relaxing project for me.  Now, however, I'm finding it more and more difficult to bend over to paint - so it's a little slower going than I anticipated. So, we're off on our big weekend of nothingness - I'll tell you about it later.