Congratulations Cuz....

Well - after a slight mishap in an accidental pre-announcement by my Aunt Sandy, Stevie made it official and proposed to my cousin who of course accepted. Picture of the happy couple! Looking forward to next September 12, 2009! Nice rock Carie! Um, do you need any pearls? :)

Pregnancy at Term - the home stretch

Today as I'm watching the closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics on TV (what an interesting 2 weeks), Finn is officially "at term" and probably somewhere between 6 1/2 and 7 pounds - but lets say closer to 6 1/2 shall we? The belly has stretched out even more and my belly button is just about to pop - finally!! I still don't have stretch marks or cankles, but fear not, I still have 3 weeks to go (lets hope not 4)!

Will is off to the US for a *quick* business trip and will be back this Friday to wait out the final weeks until Finn decides he would like to make his appearance. It made me a bit nervous that Will was leaving but Finn seems rather comfortable right up against my ribcage so that I don't think he is coming any earlier than September.

Again I do have to marvel at this baby brain thing. I am in my own la la land am going with the flow (totally unlike me). Granted, I have had my moments of weakness and hormone overdrive that has lead to some whining on my part, but figure that will be short-lived once the kiddo shows up. It will ALL be worth it - isn't that what everyone says - I say I just won't have time for that as I will be in "spoiling the kid" mode and "trying to find sleep time for mama" mode.

Be kind

Okay folks - be kind. Here are a couple of my maternity pictures. I think I took these around the 30 week mark.

TeamUSA

Well as you can see Tracy had a busy Tuesday...so after the ultrasound appointment and my little mom's luncheon...Will and I were given free tickets to see the USA Basketball team against Australia (exhibition game). (Thanks Gina whose husband owns the events/promotions business that brings cool shows to SH). Will listened sweetly as I gave him a brief review of the rules, etc... but even I haven't watched basketball (pro or college) in a while to know who all the players were on the USA team... basically I knew Kobe, Jason Kidd and LeBron James .... but the one I knew best was Coach K - the legendary Duke basketball coach! So although we didn't make it through the whole game (Tracy was tired and didn't want to battle the crowd at the end), it was definitely nice to have an evening out with Will.

Couple pictures: Coach K (of course) and then a "minor altercation" after a foul call - so got Kobe and LeBron in the shot. Sorry that they are a bit blurry - still trying to figure out how to do action shots and zoom with focus on the new camera.

Finn at 34 weeks

Well - here is our big boy in 3D. His nose is big which we are definitely not surprised about, but what is up with his upper lip? Collagen injections so soon? His head is down but his feet are also curled around by his head so we figure we already have a yogi in the making.

Hostess with the most-ess

Well as I'm moving more away from work, I'm getting a chance to meet some really cool moms and moms to be. It started small of course with a few woman from one of my prenatal classes - they were nice enough to include the "teacher." Since May or so we have taken turns hosting a mom's group at our homes. As we continue to have babies and meet other people around Shanghai our group has gotten a little bigger not only with the addition of babies but since I will be the last one to deliver in the original group, I wanted to even out the score and have a few more pregnant mamas join the group. This week was my turn to host since I figured next month I'd be busy. :) We had 6 babies and 12 adults. It was a little crazy and now I'm exhausted, but thought I'd post a few pictures from our little get together. That and since there is one picture of me at yes, 34 weeks, now you all can stop bitchin' that I haven't posted any new pictures of myself.

The picture of me is at 34 weeks, Melissa (in red) is two weeks behind me at 32 weeks and Gina (in white) is 30 weeks - hello... my belly still looks rather disproportionate but .... then again, according to the ultrasound I had done this morning - Finn weighs about 5.7 lbs right now! Say what?? Dr Kong said she hopes I don't go past my due date because right now she says its looking like an 8lb-er... Where does this kid come from? Have you seen his parents?