So far....

Here we are at 21 days away from the birth of Noah Maxx, not really knowing when exactly he'll choose to make his debut. We're excited to finally be able to see him soon though! He has been really active in my belly, sometimes to the point that I'm wondering if he ever really slept!

Do I know what job I'll be working on after Noah Maxx is here? I still don't have any idea. This is one of the evils of working a federal contracting job, the government can take its sweet time at deciding which firm has won the work bid, but it's something that we're learning to accept. To tell you the truth, this is not the first thing on my mind at this point. The biggest thing on my mind right now is hoping that Noah Maxx's delivery will be safe, smooth, and hopefully quick.

Some of our friends have started to give births, with the latest one born yesterday evening (Hi Justin and Jen!), and this truly makes the "summer of babies"!

We are really excited, and almost cannot wait until we see our little man!

Sunday Question

How did becoming a parent change your view of/relationship with your parents?

At my age, I've come to keep the good and let go of the bad. I picked up many wonderful traits and habits from both my parents, and also got a good dose of a few bad ones. I'm sure most people would say the same. But I really do hope that I can give Noah Maxx a lot of the fun I had growing up.

Playing With His Toy

Nerdstar was lounging on the sofa with a blanket over her belly and I got one of Noah Maxx's little toys out and cut the tags and stuff off and then handed it to her. He's been moving around a lot, so she put the toy on her belly. It's a 3 minute video, but it's so cool.

Sedation Dentistry

I'm still a little loopy writing this, but oh well.

I hate going to the dentist. When I was in third grade they spent an afternoon pulling out six baby teeth and four permanent teeth out of the bone. They said I had Volkswagen mouth and a Cadillac teeth - just no room. Shortly after that healed, they put braces on me for two years, and then tortured me every month adjusting them. Not fun at all. Then, just as I was getting my braces off, all the cool kids were getting theirs put on.

That all lead to me pretty much only going to the dentist if/when absolutely necessary.

Now, thank God I don't get cavities. Unfortunately I have terrible gums that I tend to neglect. And it at every dentist I've been to since moving out of Austin has kinda sucked. It always feels like they're trying to punish you by being as rough as possible during cleanings.

This year I am able to be on Nerdstar's work's dental insurance and decided it was time to suck it up. I've heard the sedation dentistry commercials for years and decided to find a local one that offers it. I found a very nice lady dentist who assured me it would all be fine.

The way it works is you take a pill to help you sleep the night before, then take 3 more pills an hour before your apt. in the morning. You're pretty darn loopy, but not totally knocked out. They kept saying I just wouldn't remember what happened. Now, I've never even been drunk enough to not remember something - so that seemed weird to me.

Nerdstar has to be with me all day to keep an eye on me. And while I can remember bits and pieces of being at the dentist for almost 3 hours, I honestly don't remember much. This is really great.

I did come home and sleep soundly for another 3 hours, and walking takes a lots of concentration. I'm sure I'll be all fine tomorrow morning.

I'll have a follow up apt. next week to see if they found anything else that needs work. I know they're going to want to take out my one errant wisdom tooth. Today went well enough I just might let them.

Glamour shot time!

Of the incredible stretched marked belly! Yes, after having been able to avoid it for much of the pregnancy, not even I can hold them at bay any longer! In fact, it took me a while before I could see them since they were on the underside of the belly that was hard to see.

Wall Decor

We got a couple of little things to put up on Noah's walls recently.


These are actually some cheap little handkerchiefs from Taiwan that I finally found some frames for. They're just so cute!


And these are just stickers we got from this website. It could have been a little bigger, but it's cute.

34 Days and Counting

Which means that Monday we'll be at 30 days - or 1 month.

I've been predicting for several months that he'll be born on his due date, and he'll weigh between 7 lbs and 7 1/2 lbs.

My favorite pastime is still having my hand on her belly feeling him wiggle around. Poor little fella is squished, but trying to stretch. I think he's most comfy when she's sleeping on her side and he can sorta lie on the bed, too. That's when I can sometimes feel his little hand move along her side as opposed to usually feeling his leg/foot moving just above her belly button. He's been head down for a few weeks now, and the doc said he still is at the apt. today. I told him he better stay that way.

We're 90% sure her insurance and short term disability and maternity leave and such will all be just fine. Her current job ends June 30th. We have no idea if they'll find a different job for her to work on for a couple of weeks before Noah gets here or not. I'm kinda hoping not so we can chill and spend our time trying to find a couple of really good meals. Then we know even less about where she'll end up working after maternity leave - but one thing at a time.

My head is clear from the previous insanity. I'll never understand how hormones/PMS can actually affect thoughts. Thank God I usually know that's the cause and can try to ignore it, and it doesn't last more than a couple of days.