I can't get any bigger.... right?

One False Start

What a weekend!

Most of the day Friday through Saturday early morning I enjoyed what is often refered to as "false labor" which basically equates to most of the fun and none of the rewards....

I knew it wasn't the real deal, because although the contractions were 3-10 minutes aprart, lasting 30-60 seconds, they weren't very painful, I could still go for a gentle walk and talk with Elizabeth, and I think I made a semblance of happy conversation over a wonderful dinner and a movie ("Australia") with Levi and Sarah Friday night.

Exhausted, I slept very well late Saturday morning and even took a nap Saturday afternoon before going for a walk with Jake. Saturday night I was still having some contractions off and on and we decided to employ ol' Murphy's law and went to see the movie"Duplicity"- sitting right in the middle of the theater. (Good movie, by the way) No luck.

Sunday was a day for catching up on housework and going for yet another walk, enjoying an easy dinner and an early bedtime.

So, for all of you who voted that the baby would come this week, I think you have a good shot at being right. We are making "progress" but don't have any more certainty than we did before....

We'll keep you all updated here!

Snow Days

Erin again...In the last 24 hours we've had 12 inches of snow, but a lot of it has melted almost as fast as it could fall. What remains is heavy thick stuff, perfect for snowmen. I tried to suggest Jake let me shovel the driveway (seemed like a good way to induce labor!) but he gallantly refused. Not only did he shovel our driveway (twice yesterday, and again this morning) but did our equally pregnant neighbor's driveway as well, since her husband is out of town. What a guy!

So, time for more photos....Last weekend we had another game night and pot luck, with a small crowd this time....and it turns out that the most fun game was decorate Erin's belly! Who knew office labels could be so handy? The baby started kicking pretty hard during the decorating, but Anneka and Zoe were so intent on their artwork they didn't even notice!

And we throught I'd dropped....

Yesterday I visited the doctor, who was swamped with several women in labor (barometric pressure was dropping from the storm coming in) plus regular patients, with most the doctors in the practice out on vacation for spring break. Lucky for her, I'm still only 50% effaced and that means baby likely won't be making an appearance this week. Jake will be able to go skiing in the fresh powder we got overnight. He may even take a "snow day" on Friday. I have to admit that while I really didn't think the baby would arrive this week, which would be 2 weeks early, I was disappointed to hear the news. I'm getting less and less comfortable, baby is "engaged," and I am ready to hold him in my arms. At the same time I am certain I'll miss feeling his movements inside me, so I'm trying to treasure what time I have left. Pregnancy is a bag of contradictions.

We went out to dinner last night to celebrate David's birthday (Happy Birthday David!) and I did find out that while our son is enjoying life on the "inside", others can enjoy the benfits of having an extra chair around that is "just my size." Isn't Leah adorable? She really is a sweet little girl 95% of the time... but 10 seconds later she was crying her heart out because it was way past feeding and sleeping time. Seemed perfectly reasonable to me, and I decided she had the right idea- it was time to find my own bed, too.

A few more McParland family photos

A day at the park...

When Kate was due with McKenzie, Meg and I put her on the swing. Kate decided turn-about ws fair play. It was a lot of fun.... but I'm not sure it encouraged the baby to make his appearance any sooner.

Grandma had a way with balloons

Playing with Otto and Blitz

Receiving Our Chariot

Thank you to all of our wonderful family and friends that celebrated with us at our shower and helped us out by contributing to our uber-awesome Chariot..... Adventures await!

Photos from Jake and Erin's Baby Shower

Erin's post: Anytime anywhere has become the unofficial McParland motto, and Erin and Jake were extremely grateful and excited to have all three pregnant McParland sisters together, plus Mom, all at the same time. Of course we had to get pictures! These are now 2 weeks old. Can you tell which one of us is due to deliver first?

37 weeks down....

37 week appointment was quick and easy- baby's heartbeat at a nice 132 and Mom reporting lack of appetite, aches and pains and grumpiness, fatigue and restlessness.... and other appropriate late-term-pregnancy-not-quite there-yet normalcy. We are good for another week.

Baby's Room is ready.... are we?

3 1/2 weeks to go.... maybe. Plus or minus. We've been getting ready slowly, but we now have the baby's room all set (you know, the cute room that first-time parents spend weeks and weeks on, and insist of having ready long before Baby arrives so they can enjoy it...? We are well aware that our little boy's cute room will never look as well put together again.

In addition, we've now officially graduated "baby birthing" class, we've washed all the onsies and put them away (thanks Mom!), we have the extra memory in the digital camera ready to go, and we have had an amazing shower thrown for us by our friends (and got our Chariot!). We have the car seat purchased and installed, and at Jake's insitance, the hospital bag is packed and stowed in the car (we're going up into the mountains for the weekend and we wouldn't want to take any risks about not being prepared). Crazy as it seems, we are about as prepared as two engineering-minded DINKS can be without actually having a clue what we're getting ourselves into.

We go back and forth between being anxious to see our son and wanting him to be "fully baked" and strong before entering the world, but as of Tuesday next week we'll be considered full term at 37 weeks, which is the last big milestone before the birth.

First Blog

Well, I'm doing my first blog at T minus 4 weeks. Yes, that's 4 weeks till Erin is due with our baby. We spent today in childbirth class. It was a full day class, but I was suprised to find it really valuable. Lots of stuff that I didn't know, I feel much more prepared now. Except now I feel like there are a million things that I need to do to get ready!! Oh well, I'll test fit the car seat in the car later this evening.

I decided to start this blog to keep family and friends up to date with the impending arrival. So, as things progress I'll keep posting updates and photos and videos too. Hopefully you all enjoy.

It was supposed to snow today, but didn't here in Erie. Looks like we got snow in the mountains though, which is good. I'm headed up to Copper mtn tomorrow to go ski, it would be nice to have some new snow, it has been getting a little thin lately. Erin is planning on having a fairly mellow day tomorrow, she seems to have caught a little cold today. Hopefully she will be feeling better soon.

Jake