The third trimester is rapidly approaching!

That's right, when I arrive at work Monday night, I will still be in the second trimester. When I go home Tuesday morning, I will be officially two thirds of the way done with being pregnant with this child!!!!!!!! ***SQUEEE**** I just looked up the exact day for the "swap" and it is March 24. I can't wait to tell my darling husband. This news is sure to instill heart-stopping fear in him for a moment, just like it did me. LOL. Not fear of birth, or raising a child, not even fear, really. More like a, "Holy crap, it's almost done! Soon I'll be at home on maternity leave, doing our final prep for baby! Yay!" kinda heart-stopping moment. For Michael, I have the feeling that when I tell him he's going to give me that deer-in-headlights look, like, "Oh crap, what have we done?!?" That's the look I got when I told him we were halfway there. Then again when we had four months left. Then again when... You get the picture.

I try to keep him up-to-date on how quickly this is approaching, because quite frankly, I have to stop every once in a while and think about how soon this will come to a close on the pregnancy chapters. It's amazing to me how quicky this is passing. To think, by the time Mike is here, it will have been a year since this whole thing started for us. Seems like yesterday we were calling everyone to share the good news. Then yesterday that we were seeing him for the first time, and hearing the heartbeat for the first time, then finding out the gender.... I'm ready for him to be here (on time, not this early!), but at the same time I don't want the pregnancy to be over.

I enjoy this. Right now, I am the only person on earth that knows every move he makes. He can't move without me knowing it (if I'm awake). I am the one he depends solely on for nourishment, oxygen, and so much more. I can sit at work and rub his head if I want. I feel bad that Michael can't possibly know what this feels like. I wonder if he's jealous of the fact that I get to participate so much more in this pregnancy than he can. I try hard to make sure he's as included as he can be. I have left some decisions, such as circumcision and decor of the nursery and the name, entirely up to him (or at least just as up to him as it was me), since I have no real preference and I hope it makes him feel more involved than just providing the sperm that got our child here.

For instance, he decided he wants our children circumcised. I let the decision entirely up to him. Our son will be circumcised in the hospital, before we go home. The nursery ended up blue and brown, after Michael saw how beautiful the baby stuff at BabiesRUs looked. We had decided on crimson and white, but when he saw the blue and brown and asked in the store if we could get that instead, I told him yes. (Besides, blue and brown is one of my absolute favorite combinations!) I told Michael I wanted to name our son after him, but that if he didn't want to, we would chose a different name. He insisted we name him Junior, so Junior it is.

I digress. Second trimester over. Third timester starts Tuesday. Wow. How cool is that? Somewhere between eleven and fifteen weeks from now, and our son will be here. (Hopefully no sooner than that, but within that range, the sooner the better!)

A quick update

Since my seven days off were filled with out-of-town guests and drama, I thought I'd post a quick re-cap of what little I accomplished (that was planned) while off work.

*Menu was made, and groceries bought.
*I bought a shelf to go beside my freezer. I put all my paper goods, extra laundry detergent, etc. on it.
*The boxes that were stacked where the new shelf is were brought out. I went through the THREE boxes of bathroom stuff (makeup and OTC medicines that were several years old, bath gift sets I can't use that are several years old, etc.) and threw away two boxes of stuff that wasn't any good. I still have the one box of bathroom stuff I kept, and a box of lids to my Glad bowls and such that I have to go through.
*Bought a new file box, with a lid, and new hanging and manilla file folders. I have transferred all my files from my old crate to the new box. I used up almost an entire box of hangng folders and a box of manilla folders for this. I kept my old folders that were still useable. I'll be throwing out my old ones that are falling apart, which is mainly some of the old hanging folders. I still have stuff in piles and my office cabinet that I need to file.
*Got part of my kitchen clean (mainly stuff you could see).
*Crib is up and covers are on it. Still have wall art to hang, and a recliner to clean in there.
*Cleaned some pics, docs, etc. off the old desktop for transfer to the laptop or archiving.

I'll be working night shift this weekend, so not much will get done by me. I have my 26-week checkup Tuesday at 10:30 (after working Monday night), so nothing will get done Tuesday, either. After my appointment, it will be nap time.

Maybe Wednesday, I can get something else done.

My To-Do List for the next seven days

Starting tomorrow, I have seven whole days off from work. And a lot to do around the house. It sucks that it'll be raining, but maybe I need a week of rain to keep me in the house.

I seriously need to declutter my whole house and finish unpacking all the boxes before the baby gets here.

So, in the interest of "maybe-I'll-get-more-done-if-I-hold-myself-accountable-here", here's my to-do list:

Tonight:
1.) Call Granddaddy to wish him a happy birthday.
2.) Throw a frozen pizza-or-something in the oven for dinner.

Tomorrow:
1.) Sleep until at least 8 AM. (sooooo tired from working this week)
2.) Possibly take our friend Sherry to Huntsville to the doctor for her 12PM appointment (Chopper has to go to B'ham for an appointment with one of his doctors, so he can't take her).
3.) Quick clean through the whole house (dishes, laundry, sweep, etc.)
4.) Cook something for dinner (TBD what exactly that would be)

Saturday:
1.) Robbie's birthday (need gift suggestions???? Anybody????? Email them to me please.)

The rest of the week:
1.) Clean off kitchen table.
2.) Go through the two totes and several boxes of stuff in my kitchen. Toss anything I don't need and can't give away.
3.) Clean out office supply cabinet. Organize contents.
4.) Clean desk.
5.) Clean off some of my stuff on my old desktop to try to get it to run better. Burn files to disk or transfer to laptop for access or organizing.
6.) Clean out stuff beside upright freezer. Buy a shelf for the things I'm keeping (paper towels, toilet paper, kleenex, laundry supplies, etc.).
7.) Clean fridge.
8.) Clean out kitchen cabinets. Clean on top, too.
9.) Clean oven?? (If I can stand the cleaner - Fume-Free but still, sometimes it bothers me.)
10.) Clean my poor, filthy, no-hope-for-it microwave.
11.) Scrub stove top and sink with Barkeeper's Friend.
12.) Clean windows in kitchen and dining room. Wash curtains while I'm at it. Dust blinds, too.
13.) Scrub kitchen and dining room floor. They're so nasty, even mopping leaves them dirty. Clean baseboard and cabinet kick plates while I'm there.
14.) Put together baby bed. Wash linens for bed and put them on it.
15.) Finish hanging wall art in baby's room, since what I have left has been reserved to center over crib and fill in gaps in wall.
16.) Take belly pic and pics of baby's room. Post all to blog and Photobucket.
17.) Buy some clothes I actually fit into. (Involves a trip to either Madison Square Mall - torture - or Bridge Street - torture, plus I don't know how to get there - because no one in Athens sells maternity clothes.)
18.) Clean out my dresser and closet (at least the clothes portion, preferably the boxes, too). Then have Michael clean out his closet and dresser.
19.) Clean off my bedside table.
20.) Finish blue and brown blanket (already done crocheting, just need to finish adding tassel fringe on both ends).
21.) Buy new porch lights for Michael to hang.
22.) Buy a coffee table and new end table for living room so I can give Bobby my old end table as promised, since he already has the one I didn't have room for after we bought the new couch. And since we've already bought the new rug for the floor.
23.) Clean off the entertainment center in my bedroom.
24.) Get three rolls of film developed. Have them loaded onto disks so I can archive them without having to scan each picture.
25.) Set up my new scanner and pics I'm working on on the kitchen table, which has been designated "My Future Scanning/Scrapbooking Table" by Michael.
26.) Work on scanning Granny's scrapbooks so I can give them back to her.
27.) Clean under my bed.
28.) Update calendar.
29.) Scan photos and archive on CDs after sorting.
30.) Clean recliner.
31.) Clean under bathroom sink.
32.) Clean under kitchen sink.
33.) Organize doctor's statements and BCBS EOBs for easy access and filing on HCSA (before April 2). (actual deadline is April 15th, but I procrastinate, hence the earlier date, to motivate me).
34.)Fill up donation boxes as I go through each to-do on this list.
35.) Clean pictures in the living room and bedroom. Dust furniture and knick-knacks.
36.) Pull up carpet upstairs and down the stairs (Michael to help with this one).
37.) Clean ceiling fans. Clean cobwebs from ceilings.
38.) Menu planning and grocery shopping.
39.) Pantry/fridge/freezer inventory.
40.) Thank you notes for shower gifts.
41.) Pre-register at hospital.
42.) Haircut.
43.) Transfer docs to Google Docs.
44.) Glider assembly.
45.) Order breast pump.
46.) Buy bras.

This is a general to-do list, I don't really expect that I'll be able to get it all done in 7 days, even with Michael's help. [So no having a fit over how long it is, MOM... :) ] But at least I can keep up with my list and update what's done as it goes. And add to it as I need to.