She’s making me eat everything else, and she’s definitely working her way up into my lungs, so why wouldn’t she be eating my brain?

Plus, I feel like there are all these things I keep thinking I should blog about, but when I sit down at the computer, all I can remember is “wasn’t there something???”

And then I think, “That better have been a Braxton-Hicks contraction, because we are not ready.” So far, so good. Knock wood and any other ‘please don’t let me have just jinxed myself’ superstitions.

The insane purging project of 2008 has been both crazy and exciting. We’ve found cool things we forgot that we had, odd little related items scattered throughout the house (I don’t think there’s a room or closet where we have failed to find Redskins pins), and our family has to be responsible for 25% of the local Freecycle posts this month. Not to mention approximately 6 bags of clothes donated to the American Kidney Foundation.

The purge is about to get kicked to the next level, thanks to a very generous offer from Grandma.

On Thursday, a team of nice professional movers and packers are going to show up and pack up ~3/4 of our stuff, then take it away to a storage unit. This should make it easier for us to make the house look uncluttered and buyer-friendly when we get it on the market.

At approximately the same time, someone who does small outdoor repair projects for our realtor will be here doing exactly that on our house.

Then on Friday, we hope, a nice team of women who clean the home of one of our neighbors will show up and scour our place from top to bottom.

Thanks, Grandma! Cuz even though Jill is doing an awesome job with all this stuff, I am barely operating at 25%. I’m exhausted and my legs ache and I am almost out of the ability to lift even the most modest weights.

Plus did I mention that I think the baby ate my brain?

According to the incredibly awesome Mrs. Stacy Squirrel, I am a kick ass blogger, deserving of an award:

I think that’s pretty cool! Especially since today didn’t really feel like a kick ass day. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say that it felt like a day that kicked my ass.

I didn’t manage to fall asleep until about 2 am. Noah woke up at 5, but mercifully went back to sleep. Unfortunately, I didn’t.

Then one of the people at Starbucks gave me a hard time about my caffeinated beverage. Um? And your medical degree is in what exactly? And I hired you to be what kind of health care provider for my pregnancy? Is this cuppa covered by my insurance?

(Honestly, for that one I blame his manager, who gave me an even harder time once when I was about this pregnant with Noah. Jackass.)

On the elevator up to my office, someone asked me if I was having twins.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Never, EVER, EVER ask a pregnant woman if she is having twins. If she is and she cares one iota what you think, she will tell you. If she is not, and she probably is not, you have just called her a fat cow. I am pretty sure there is not a woman in the United States who appreciates that.

If you mistakenly ask, do not follow up the negative answer with any variation of “Are you sure?”

My back is killing me.

Jill is in a move panic nesting frenzy and has given away half the crap in our garage. This is +90% good, but for some reason we can’t seem to get her signed up for Freecycle, which means that my personal email has been peppered with inquiries about foam pads, guitars, vases, etc.

For some reason, though, the thing that most made today feel like it kicked my ass is that I found out my favorite pump, the one I recommend to everyone, has gotten a “POOR” rating from the Z Report on BPA in Children’s Feeding Products . And the one I don’t like, that’s twice as expensive, got a top rating.

(I was stalking web sale sites to follow prices, with the optimistic hope that I’ll be returning to work while still nursing Esmerelda Freugenspeigel when I thought to check.)

Naturally that was the day AFTER my recommendation was included as part of my Deep South Moms blog post, so I had to beg someone to edit the post to mention it.

After a day like that, it’s really nice to hear that someone thinks I’m kicking ass.

And just to add to the love, one of the rules of this Kick Ass Blogger award is that I’m supposed to award this 5 other people.

Although I have no small golden statuette to hand off, I say the awards go to:

LesbianDad, for her always thought-provoking posts on parenthood, gender, family, and community, and her amazing photography skills. And for single-handedly keeping LesbianFamily.org alive.

Looky, Daddy!, for writing more humorous posts about poop than any one parent should be able to write, and for being a witty advocate for marriage equality. Would that more married, heterosexual Dads be so sensible.

Hola, Isabel, for her compassionate and honest posts about family and faith, and for her hilarious pictures with everyone else’s eyes blacked out.

Jen and Cait at Addition Problems, for consistently sharing their knowledge, ideas, frustrations, successes, creativity, and breakdowns in the wild world of infertility, pregnancy loss, and parenthood.

Mel of Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters, the exciting new site Bridges, and innumerable other cool internet projects. Building supportive connections around emotionally charged issues seems to be a calling for her. And she has as much energy and drive as approximately any 4 other bloggers I know.

Blogger friends, all of you Kick Ass. Thank you and keep up the good work.

I wrote a long post about my top 3 recommendations for economizing on baby expenses over at the Deep South Moms blog.

I didn’t mean to disappear, I’ve just been having a tired sort of week.

Noah got sick at day care this week, and was sent home and kept home the next day. He’s fine. We think it was coxsackie virus, based on shared symptoms with another child from day care. Our pediatrician hotline said, “that sounds like a virus, give him tylenol and lots of clear liquids, and call us if it gets worse.”

I’ve well and truly hit the uncomfortable and sleepless phase of late pregnancy. Roughly half the nights this week, I’ve woken up 3 or more times and been up for more than an hour total. Noah woke up upset with bad dreams at least twice this week too.

On the work front, I’m still going in, and actually even still doing some productive work. I’m also taking home the random personal stuff that’s accumulated there over the last 3.5 years.

Ironically, we apparently had a very good quarter, so we got mid-year bonuses this week, and had a company-wide barbecue yesterday. With swag. So yesterday, after eating a hamburger, I took home a battery-operated fan, a long-sleeved t-shirt, and a nice rolling cooler. Sometimes life in corporate America is very strange.

Then I went to my weekly prenatal checkup. Everything looks good with Esmerelda and with me. I did have my biggest weight gain all pregnancy, 3 lbs in 1 week, bringing me to a grand total of 27 lbs so far, but I continue to measure exactly as I should. BP, swelling, etc are all appropriate. Hemoglobin is on the lowest end of normal, not dangerous but not where they would like to see it, probably because I hate taking my iron supplements.

I promise to suck it up and take them for the next 2 weeks.

Noah really enjoyed having his cousin Maxim visit this weekend. Maxim is 16 months younger than Noah, and at 14 months, he’s just entering full blown toddlerhood.

Maxim is a super-chatty mimic, and loves to try to do what he saw Noah doing. Maxim attempting to jump was the funniest example of that — it mostly involved flapping his arms. (Actually, the funniest thing we saw was Maxim panting like his dog at home, but he stopped that after the first day.)

Noah shared his toys really well, and kept inviting Maxim to play different games with him. Maxim wasn’t too interested in playing trains, or getting inside the big train, but he liked playing the piano, “jumping,” and running around in circles.

Unfortunately, Maxim might be allergic to Atlanta. He got sick Saturday afternoon, perked up for awhile, and then got sick again most of Saturday night.

Saturday evening, we celebrated Jill’s big 4-0!

It isn’t until Tuesday, but we got a cake and ordered in sushi with the whole gang. Noah, Maxim, and I especially enjoyed the cake, while Jill and Uncle Jason especially enjoyed the sushi. Poor Aunt Anna joined Maxim in not feeling well later; tempura may not be a good food to order to go.

As for me, I think my belly grew over the weekend. That belly shot was taken early Friday evening. More that Aunt Anna took today will go up this week. But since this evening I can only rinse dishes and get glasses of water with belly crowding discomfort, I think there’s been noticeable growth in the last 48 hours.

Actually, I think the baby started to drop this afternoon. I took a nap, and when I got up, I had horrible low round ligament pain for at least an hour. Sometime after that was when I noticed the change in my ability to reach the faucet.

Too tired to blog about Aunt Anna, Uncle Jason, & Maxim’s visit yet, but let’s say mostly lots of fun with some moments of child drama.

Here’s a belly shot instead of more words:

Esmerelda Freugenspeigel and I both have been given official clean bills of health. Yay!

And, Aunt Anna, Uncle Jason, and cousin Maxim are coming to visit this weekend, which will be a lot of fun. Maxim and Noah have never met, so this will be especially exciting. I think there will be lots of playing, swimming, and maybe trips to the children’s museum or the aquarium. Yay!

Finally, we met with the lawyer and are feeling cautiously optimistic about Esmerelda’s getting legal parents this year. Assuming that lightning doesn’t strike twice.