senor elefante

Time for an update ;)

Our motto for the semester so far is "There's joy in the work." It's been a busy semester so far -- especially for Michael. He works at least two five hour days with tutoring (W/F) and is in class until 2:30 on Tuesday/Thursdays. He books Mondays pretty well, too, between meeting with his internship mentor Dillard, extra tutoring sessions and meeting for a group project. I'm so proud of him because he generally studies hard on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and all day Saturday. Throw in a CARES event sometime during the week. I work hard on Saturday taking care of the house and getting things ready for Lukas. And then, together we take Sunday "off." The last two Sundays have been blissful :) I love not doing anything together with Michael.

I've remembered these last several weeks that "quality time" is definitely my primary love language. Though we feel busier this semester than ever before, I feel more consistently loved by Michael than I remember feeling the previous four semesters. He has been very diligent to set aside specific time for me each week (Saturday date night and Sunday, for example). And I know that for the next couple weeks, no matter how busy he is or how much studying he has, those specific times are mine. That will probably change when Lukas arrives, but . . . that's to be expected, I guess ;)

Lukas (aka Special K) and I are doing well. I had my 37 week appointment Tuesday. My blood pressure is good (it had started to creep up). My weight is good. Lukas's heartrate is good. Wouldn't you know that I'm not "growing" the way I should?! Ha! After all those weeks of measuring bigger than I should have, I've been exactly the same the last three appointments, which was right on two weeks ago ;) So, Thursday it was off to an ultrasounds we went to make sure Lukas is still growing appropriately (he is). Midwife Carol wasn't concerned as we are still within "normal" range, but since I haven't grown at all, they just wanted to check him out. It was fun to see him on the screen again. But this wasn't high-tech or anything special. Just a normal ole sonogram.

I'm feeling quite ready for Lukas to make his grand entrance into the world. We still have things to do -- among which is to "interview" our top pediatrician choice -- but I'm ready to meet this little guy and to hold him. Last night, I was washing my hands and looked up to see his teeny little robe hanging from the hook on the back of the bathroom door. Oh, I am ready for him to be here . . . just not sure I'm ready to actually birth him! :)

As much as we'd really like him to come close to his due date, now that we're "officially" full-term, the waiting is much harder than I thought it would be. I keep watching for signs of impending labor (none so far). Michael has a major paper due Oct. 16, so we really don't want him to come early, and I really don't think he will . . . I'm just ready to meet him and hold him. And cuddle him.

Oh, the waiting. It's like knowing Christmas is coming, but not knowing exactly when . . .