still waiting

Here we are, 38 weeks and counting. She moves less, I move less, but oh the belly! I wish I could report on a special glow and the magic of impending motherhood, but the reality is much less romantic. Little sleep, random numbness of limbs, constant trips to the bathroom, no room for food but bottomless need of it, not to mention the ever-present aches and pains in private places. At least she's starting to move down so I can breathe a little better now. 
They tell me all of this is necessary to make labor a welcome challenge, and maybe it is, but I've always been excited about the process of dividing- all this discomfort just makes me grumpy. Travis is the greatest though. He's so excited and ready for the little one and doesn't hesitate at all to do any manner of endless, tiny things for me. He waters the chicks, does dishes without prompting, milks my goats every night, really anything I need or want. I couldn't ask for a better partner in this adventure.


Some of you may know my dad was in town recently while Travis took a much needed (but brief) trip to the Grand Canyon to recharge his batteries. I had the greatest time with my dad, mostly doing nothing and chatting it up the whole while. We did chores, weeded the garden, he even took me swimming at the local pool (heaven for a beleaguered body!), AND he brought his Nikon D40 along for me to play with. I'm sure my mom would have enjoyed more pictures of me, or us, but I pretty much held the thing captive and filled it up with portraits of my lovely animals, like this one of Lola welcoming the day.


Today, Travis and Will worked diligently on the last piece of the baby-preparedness plan. I told Trav that I absolutely wouldn't produce this kid until we had sufficient hot water to fill the birth pool, and he was on it! This is our new, on demand water heater! Until now we had one of those old tank kind that kept the hot water on hand and spent lots of energy ($$) doing it. We're excited to see the dent this new addition makes in our monthly electric bill, and I'm especially excited about not ever running out of hot water while filling a bath. Such a simple, and practical luxury.


The piggies are growing so fast! They're finally starting to warm to us a little, though I think the daily supply of extra milk helps a ton. The little squeaker doesn't squeak any more, now she just barks like a dog and runs in circles. They're funny critters: they really like being petted and scratched as long as they don't see you doing it. If they catch me out of the corner of their eyes, they run around, barking frantically, only to come back to me for more right away. I don't actually have much to say about the pigs, except how darn cute they are, and I was looking for an excuse to post the pic.