One week and counting...

..impatiently!

We are, I think, approaching a state of readiness for little girl's arrival. I was very spoiled at work last week with not one but two more baby showers, from the staff (organized by the phenomenal team I've worked with in my classroom this year) and one from the parents of my students. I left work on Friday all warm and fuzzy from the love and attention-- and the knowledge that I am DONE teaching for the year. Which is wild. And pretty wonderful, come to think of it. I was happy to have reached my last scheduled day of work, still preggo... this way I don't even have to think about whether to go back for a few days at the end of the year, or take them unpaid. Decision made, my year is over. And, now that I have reached that milestone I have to say that I am ready for this pregnancy to be over, too. After a delightfully easy and uncomplicated pregnancy so far, I have now developed one very mild complication-- an itchy rash on my once adorable baby belly. Not only is it perhaps the most horrifying thing to look at in the world, but it does a pretty nice job of keeping me up at night (which would explain why I am sitting here updating the blog at 4 in the morning, Good times.). It has also caused this remarkably fast shift in my thinking, going from hoping little girl would stay put for a long, long time (because we're not ready!!) to hoping labor starts sometime very soon. Like now.

Late pregnancy: perfectly designed to make labor, delivery, and a crying newborn seem like the preferable alternative.

Enough of the ranting from the hormonal woman. Time for some updates on the boy and life in general around here. Both of these things, thankfully continue to be uncomplicated. Nat has been working down to the wire on his thesis proposal, which means mommy gets extra time with Jack. He is, it turns out, a delightful child with an impressive emerging ability to reason and negotiate! Because I can resist neither his adorable face nor his perfectly logical arguments, he seems to get his way with me most of the time. We have been spending plenty of quality time in my car recently, letting him "Drive" (it makes him oh so happy) and practice his newfound skill of popping the trunk open using the lever inside the car. A helpful skill when we need his assistance but a stressful game when he decides he needs to pop the trunk, hop out of the car, go open and then close the trunk, and get back in...over and over.. and I need to follow him to make sure he doesn't slam his fingers. Yes, it IS a good thing he is so cute.