Uterus for Rent

Okay... not really. I just can't hand him an eviction notice... so perhaps if he thinks someone else is moving in, he'll pack his backs and release his death grip on my insides.

  Here I am, in all my 38-week pregnant glory.

You know you're defying the laws of nature and people's expectations of how big you can get and SHOULD get... when:

1) Colleagues you know well, and even those you don't know all that well, and all their kin seem to peek around your office corner on the hour, asking "You're still here?" or "He hasn't come out yet?" or "My gosh, is he in college yet?" and they give you a pity face.

2) You walk into daycare, and teachers you see every day drop their jaws and exclaim "WHOA" (yes, this happened)

3) The grocery store clerk asks if I need help to the car (I get this when I'm not pregnant, too) and when I politely refused, she leaned forward very concerned and asked "Are you sure?"

4) Your husband tells you that you're going to be 3 feet wide, in THIS direction, and motions from belly to back (side view).

5) Your daughter can't fit on your lap anymore. *frowny face!*

6) You have to re-learn how to turn around in a public restroom stall that has a door opening to the inside.

7) You DO learn from your #6 experience above and hunt for and/or wait in line for the larger handicap stall, just for maneuverability.

8) You wonder if you're going to need a horse trailer to get yourself to the hospital for delivery.

 I haven't given ALL the wives' tales a go to convince him to make his appearance. I did try to scare him out with this:

 Didn't work.

(Funky hair day for daycare... and we had enough to work with this year!)

Okay, okay, enough about me. I feel fine physically, so I can't complain too much. I'm just eager for him to arrive.

The rest of the family is doing great. Zack's all excited about his new golf club irons and Mara is her usual sweet self.

Speaking of sweet... this later part of my pregnancy, I've really been craving the sweets!!! This makes a little sense, considering that ALL of Zack's teeth are sweet teeth and his little boy is already taking after him. And someone else got those genes.

 Strawberry popsicle. Just about her favorite "treat" now. I have quotes on that because when you get one every day or every couple of days, it may not be so much of a treat... but she understands to *treat* the word with reverence and awe, barely whispering it to us with huge, hoping toddler eyes and a shy grin when she asks. It *melts* our hearts every time and we give in. We're such *suckers.* HA!

 And when I ask for a smile during popsicle time, here's what I get.

 Large mouth bass-child preparing to inhale her snack.

 Seriously, Mom?

She is quite interested in the weather, whether it's raining, or sunny, or ABOUT to rain (probably because impending rain interferes with popsicle plans). She checks out the gutters and makes sure they are all clear for the rain water to come down.

 I don't think I posted any pictures from her daycare Easter Egg Hunt in April, so here are a few of those:
It started out a little traumatic and she needed Daddy-comfort.

 Then once she realized we got to hunt eggs and there were treats inside, she came around to the idea.

 Here's Mara and Ms. Ashley (her infant room teacher that is now the Assistant Director)

We find ourselves absolutely grinning at Mara, on an hourly basis, with the things she says and does. This morning, I asked if Daddy and Mara slept well. She nodded and said "Did YOU sleep okay?"

This week, she said her name with an R in it! MaRa! Most of the time, she still says "Maya" but those R's and L's are really coming out in her speech.

Mara and Zack were talking about birds on the way to daycare this week, and Mara commented that "Birds swim." Z said "Honey, bird's don't swim... birds fly! Fish swim!" and she pauses and tells him from the back seat "The baby goose swims, Daddy." So observant! We had seen the baby goose swimming about a week earlier in our neighborhood pond.

She loves holding rolly pollys (she tells her daycare teachers "I went to the park and held a rolly polly olley!" She will hold whatever bug or creature you hand her. She held a lightening bug the other night, let it crawl all over her and fly off her finger. She touched a couple of frogs, she held a turtle. Not sure there is anything she WON'T hold.

She will talk to me on the phone at daycare when I call after lunch. I had been asking yes/no answers and the teachers used to have to help her answer (instead of nod) but now she's got the hang of it and the teachers just hand the phone over and she converses with me. I asked her what she had for lunch and she answered "umm, peaches. And cheese." and she'll tell me she loves me and bye. If Daddy is on the phone, too, she yelled "BYE DADDY."

Zack went golfing last night so Mara and I hung out together, went to the craft store and the park. Before Z left, she asked for hugs and kisses. After he obliged and started to walk about, she says from the sofa "Daddy, I need more kisses." Tell me you wouldn't walk back to THAT and smother her in kisses. Then, when he was due to return... the dogs signaled a false alarm and we ended up standing at the kitchen/garage door, peering out, her in piggy back position on me, waiting for her precious Daddy, for probably 5-10 minutes. Once he got here, she could barely contain her excitement and love long enough to let him wash his hands. She's clinging to me with her legs but reaching for him with her arms, saying "I love you, Daddy." "I want you, Daddy" over and over again. And then she proceeded to snuggle and kiss and hug him until I had to look away. Hahaha.

 She is pretty good with her directions (Left, Right, Forward, Backward) and can almost tell you each turn on the way to school. She loves singing - her favorite song for the moment being "We're going to Kentucky, Kentucky ol' fair, we're gonna' see *insert name here*, jump in the air! Jump *name* jump!" So we proceed to jump if she calls our names. She was singing this in the car and I thought she said her friend Archer's name. I said, oh, you're singing about Archer? She pauses and says, "No... my dog." And I went OHHH you said Arson! She's getting very good at explaining. While I was typing a minute ago, she asked where the box was. I had to ask what box she was talking about and she tapped some of her Playmobil animals and said their box. No frustration, and I was easily able to direct her to where it was. I LOVE this language stage.

A few weeks ago, we were in the ABC store buying some liquor for Zack and the cashier looked at her standing on the ground next to me and asked "Can I see your ID, little girl?" I smiled at her, not knowing what she'd do, and she nodded up at him, held up two fingers and said "I'm two!" (no prompting from me whatsoever.). She did this again the other night when some old men at the golf range asked how she was and she responded by saying "I'm two!" and the old man laughed and said "Well I'm 64!"

One more Mara-ism before I hit POST. At the park last night, there was a 2 inch dark object beneath the slides. It looked like felt or something to me. Mara pointed and asked what it was and I said I thought it was dirt or something. She looked at me and confidently stated "It's poop." and kept going about her play. I laughed out loud for probably 15 seconds.

Love her.
Have a great weekend.