my due date is 16 days away!

See, I told you I was a terrible blogger! I was like "I will post again later today or tomorrow morning with pictures of some the baby preparations that have been going on my latest belly picture!" ...now 5 DAYS LATER I am finally posting. Sheesh!

Ok, so here we go. We will start with baby stuff!

My mom finished Xander's rag quilt! I helped pick out the fabric. I think it turned out fabulous! I can't wait to take pictures of him with it. If you can't tell from the picture, it's a red, white, and blue nautical theme! So cute!

I was worried that I was going to go into labor and the car seat wouldn't be unpacked and put together, but thankfully my sister came over and helped get the travel system all set up. I love it even more out of the box! I think it's adorable AND I don't think I could have found a stroller that folds up more easily than this one does. This is obviously our first stroller, but I remember fighting with other strollers in my baby sitting days. Ours has one, easy to grab lever and it just folds right up! Perfect!

AND Now I can rest easy, knowing that if I go into labor we have a car seat to bring the baby home in.

While Jessica was over, she also helped to assemble the bouncy seat. We don't have batteries for it yet- but other than that, it's all ready to put a baby in! Cuteness!

A couple weeks ago I got bored on a Sunday and decided to put the swing together. I did all by myself! I am so proud! (I don't feel like I can do much with my giant belly these days.)  Just like the travel system, I am even more in love with the swing out of the box! I love the swaying motion, I love the sounds it makes, I love that I can plug it into the wall so we don't go through a gzillion batteries, I love that it has a timer on it...It's just perfect! I was so tempted to call people I know and ask them to bring their babies over to try out my awesome new swing.

Around the same time I put the swing together, I also put all the bedding on the crib- FINALLY! I have been waiting 3 YEARS to use this bedding. It's been killing me having to wait- but we didn't have the waterproof crib liners yet, so I couldn't do anything until we got them! I went on a giant Target shopping spree to get all my nursing bras and other postpartum stuff and picked up the crib liners while I was there. The very next day I set up the crib.

I did encounter a small problem while I was trying to get the bedding all situated. The crib is kinda close to the dresser, and I kept needing to squeeze between the two- and for some reason my pregnant brain kept forgetting that turning to the side no longer makes me skinnier. I was continually squishing and scraping my belly on the crib. 

We don't have a toy box or anything yet, so for now we are keeping all the stuffed animals on this adorable little safari themed bench that Nathan found on craigslist. 

So, the nursery is pretty much done- we are just waiting on a rocking chair! Once we have that I will post pictures of the nursery as a whole.

I found some pics on my phone that I never posted on here.

This is me in my maternity swimsuit:

And this is a picture of puffy preggo hippo feet/legs- and believe it or not, this is not even the worst my swelling has been!

And this is my view when I look down these days:

One thing that has been getting me down is everyone's comments on how huge I am.

 I think it's because I don't feel abnormally large for a pregnant person- maybe I just see something different when I look in the mirror than what the people around me see; maybe it's just because I am used to it.... I don't know. I am measuring bigger than normal for as far along as I am- it's just weird to me that so many people- most of which I don't even know- comment so freely on my size. I've even had people ask if I am having twins or triplets- I do my best to laugh it off, but in my head I'm like "Screw you."' I know that's not nice, I just don't think they are being very considerate making comments like that- in fact, I think it's pretty rude.

Anyway, here are so brand spanking new pictures of pregnant me. Please excuse my hair and my complete disregard for my appearance in general. I had only been awake for about an hour when I took these, and obviously hadn't gotten ready for the day yet. Also, try not to stare too much at swollen feet and cankles.

THIS is what I look like straight on:

 Then I turn to the side and it's like BAM! Preggo.

And here is a view from the other side! 

I did my best to look happy in the pictures, because in general I really am pretty happy most of the time, and I don't know if that really comes across in my blog and facebook posts. 

I am definitely feeling "ready" for this baby to come out though. They aren't lying when they say the last few weeks are the toughest. 

My doctor's appointment yesterday was pretty routine. My blood pressure looked good, the baby's heart rate was good, and I found out that I'm about a fingertip dilated but that the baby's head isn't really anywhere near where he needs to be for delivery. I have another appointment scheduled for next Tuesday, but my doctor is going to be out of town this weekend, so the way this pregnancy has been so far I am pretty sure that is when I am going to go into labor. HA!

Well, if I do, I'm ready. We are pre-registered at the hospital, the car seat is ready to go, and my hospital bag is all packed and sitting next to the door.