Circle of Life

Lately I've been witnessing the ever present circle of life up close and personally. In the last three weeks or so, dear friends have been losing grandparents, getting engaged, and announcing pregnancies (and babies!). It's a constant reminder that every day- and piece of positive news-is to be celebrated. Meanwhile, Shorts is continuing to grow. We had a 7 pound growth spurt last month (you can imagine my surprise when being weighed at the doctor) and she's quite active these days. With only 6 weeks or so to go, the trusty Baby Center website tells me she's about the size of a pineapple (woah)!

A few things I've noticed about Shorts lately: 1. Even though I'm tired, I can't help but dance for long periods of time if there's a dance floor and music which leads me to believe she likes to dance. The type of music and setting don't change the outcome. 2. A few nights ago for Todd and Adams' birthday parties we went bowling. Usually, I don't score much higher than 80, but together Shorts and I scored about 115! Do we have a future bowler on our hands? Her daddy is a Big Lebowski fan after all!  3. Last weekend in the car, Todd and I were chatting to future Zayde (grandpa in Yiddish) Jason on speaker phone. Shorts began doing in-utero somersaults! Could she already be taking a liking to her grandparents' voices? I realize these are all guesses but it's been fun to dream up her interests and personality traits.

Todd definitely deserves some public recognition for cooking ridiculously good pancakes lately, telling me I'm a good sport and beautiful (and meaning it) even though I'm occasionally complaining and sharing not-so-attractive information with him, making me laugh by greeting me with his stomach out too, and being proactive with the "just say yes" campaign.  We've been living it up the last few months between road trips, going out on week nights, and generally trying to say yes to all things fun.  Come August, our lives are about to change in a big and wonderful way and I've heard from other parents out there that the "fly by the seat of your pants" mentality changes pretty drastically.

Lastly, as many of you may know, we've decided not to share Shorts' name until she's born. This is for a few reasons- the main one being that we know life is delicate and that this whole process- when it goes smoothly- is nothing short of a miracle. So, when our hopefully healthy baby girl comes into this world and we see her for the first time, then we'll introduce her and her name. Also, who knows? It could be that she comes out looking just like a "Shorts" and that'll go on the birth certificate! Just kidding. By the way, an extra special thank you to those of you who have donated to LeaderSpring by supporting my pregnancy "marathon" efforts! In the next few weeks I'll be having my week of being ice cream free and walking 13.1 miles in a week. It's not too late to give to this amazingly impactful organization: http://www.leaderspring.org/donate.htm.

Below are some pictures that show the evolution of the baby bump.