Monday Morning, 10am

I was just "surfing" online looking for baby sweater patterns to knit. Ha. As if I could actually read them and follow them and create them to look that cute. I wish!! Martin is convinced I could and should make myself a sweater. He thinks I've mastered the hat-making technique (as evident by all the baby hats lying around the house) and thinks I should broaden my horizons. I say, maybe next year.

But as for this year, I might (emphasis on *might*) attempt a baby sweater. It would be green and yellow stripes to match the little hat I made, and I wouldn't be following a pattern because I can't read the patterns. But I think I could do it. Baby sweaters have far less shaping than adult sweaters, and I know how to increase and decrease and I understand how to do it so it looks right. The neckline would be tricky... but we'll see. That Sugar 'n' Cream cotton yarn is cheap at the yarn store, and I already have a lot left over from the hat. Anyway... we'll just see how it goes.

I had a doctor appointment this morning. The girl (who I thought might be Jennifer, whose car I hit, but as it turns out this girl's name is Brandy) who works there is SO night. She asked if I wanted to be checked today and I told her that would be fabulous. She laughed and said, "Isn't it funny how when you're not pregnant you don't want anyone going near you, and then suddenly you're pregnant and you can't wait to be checked?" She said she was always the same way, and we laughed about it. She's really nice. I hope she always works there when I'm having babies.

Anyway, that was the highlight of the visit, really. That, and finding out that my doctor is proud of me and my backwards weight gain! He said most girls don't gain at the beginning then gain a lot at the end; he says he doesn't know how I'm doing it but I gained a lot (he wasn't rude or mean about telling me this, but I KNOW how much weight I gained in those first months and it had nothing to do with the baby) back at the beginning and now I've been holding steady and am right on target. That makes me happy. I figure as long as I come out at the right number it doesn't matter how I gained it, right? He said the baby is head down in my pelvis but still floating a little bit and I'm 70% effaced, which evidently means absolutely nothing. But the other good thing he said is that his guess is that the baby will weigh about 6 1/2 pounds when he's born. I think that's a lovely size, and I hope he's right. And I'm glad the baby is still floating a little bit because maybe that means it won't have too much of a conehead.

I think that I should start focusing my wishes on having a healthy baby, rather than a timely, cute baby with a nicely shaped head. As if I'm not vain enough already, I have to project my vanity onto my children as well. That's terrible.

Okay, so back to the knitting: I also (because I'm obsessed) looked up some patterns for baby hats. And I found the best thing ever-- a SQUID HAT!! It's soooooooo cute. AND, the woman who made it had it modeled on her cat!!!!!! I think we're soulmates!!! The hat was adorable, but unfortunately, waaaaaaaaaay out of my league. I will not even pretend that I'm going to attempt something as cute and detailed as that.

Anna and the little girls are here!! I saw Angelica and Zita this morning (in the bathtub) and Angelica said, "We're going to LIVE in Indiana!!!" I think she's excited to be here! I'm sure excited to have her. Now I have all my three cutest-in-the-world neices in one town. And maybe I'll have an extra nephew as well!

This is why I like Anna: Here we are, two very pregnant sisters-in-law, and we stand around talking about our wonderful and quirky cats. :)

Speaking of Theodore and Baxter, there's an application on Facebook that I found: DOGBOOK!! Even though Baxter is only my foster dog, I couldn't resist. And while I was making Baxter's Dogbook page, I found Catbook as well!!! So now Theodore and Baxter are not only best friends in real life, but they are virtual friends as well, thanks to Facebook. Ah, technology.

Martin and I have been planning for our own dogs. We really want two. We really want a black dog and a tan dog and their names will be Karenin (Martin, is that how you spell it? I know you read my blog and just never comment) and Sebastian. Aren't those great names for two big dogs??? And they will be wonderful animals.

I know Martin reads my blogs because when I was checking the weather on his work computer the other day I saw beanieschapini in his internet history!! What a sneaky guy. Maybe now that I've exposed him he'll start commenting once in awhile.

Dinosaur's Ooma sure must love him... she came over the other day with a WHOLE JUNGLE ANIMAL CRIB SET, including mattress!! It's soooooooooooooooo cute. I love it!! And Dinosaur will love it too!!!! Now the nursery is REALLY in order.

So, since the baby isn't born yet, Martin is in St. Louis. He told me this morning though that every morning he moves entirely out of his hotel room just in case I call him during the day to come home. And this morning, he even went back up to get the lotions and shampoos for me, in case he had to leave!! What a sweetie. He made it down there last night in under 4 hours--closer to 3 1/2 I think--and his being prepared to leave makes me very happy. My mom keeps telling me not to wish to have the baby early... I don't think she understands that I'm really wishing for the opposite... I'd just be less nervous about him being gone if the baby was already here. Of course, maybe I wouldn't be. Maybe if I was here alone with a brand new baby and he was on the road I'd have even more to be freaking out about. Maybe I should just stop thinking about this and pop some popcorn and watch a movie and stop being such a spaz.