Soaking, Friends, and Baby Prep

Well, as you can see, I think I have finally "popped!" At 22.5 weeks it finally happened! Everyone said it would happen. I am now at 35 inches around! We feel like I literally woke up one morning with a belly. I am so happy. I still get some looks that feel like stares at my "beer gut" but at least to most I look pregnant now instead of "thick."
We went to the hardware store today and got paint for the baby's room. Joellyn is coming over on Wednesday to help me paint! My mother is recovering the Moses Basket that I slept in as a wee infant. I picked out some new fabric for it and can't wait to send that home for her to work on.
We picked out a jog stroller - my mother is insistent on getting us this useful item. We are requesting the Chariot Cougar - 2 seater (in anticipation of a sibling a few years down the road).

We signed up for our first baby class - it will be a 5 or 6 week Hypnobirthing class - deep breathing and relaxation. It will be taught here in Livingston and the great thing about a small town- ONE other couple and of course, we know them! Part of the joy of this baby is all the other friends that are due within the same 3 months as us. We already know how are kid will be friends with essentially - and we like their parents :)

A break down of the fertile town:
Leah and Russell - due yesterday - still pregnant
Madeleine and Mike - Due Jan 27
Emily and hubby - March sometime
Sally and Brian - due May 1
Us- May 4
Becca and Jeff - June

There are 4 other couples who just had babies these last few months - I think I need to invest in some sort of child service here in town.... hummmmm????? Any ideas?

My nesting is coming in waves - I just completed a 2 page "honey-do" list of things I want done before May (actually I want them done within the week, but I am trying to be reasonable and not act totally insane).

This is the fun fabric that will line my new moses basket! Much cuter in person even...

We have been very fortunate lately to get some catch up time with friends.
Saturday we spent the day with Madeleine, Mike and Logan - first coffee downtown, a little baby thrift store shopping and then a nice long evening soak at Chico Hotsprings and dinner at their yummy grill. Logan had never been in the hotsprings and until this day not really liked swimming all that much. Boy, has he changed his tune! He was a fish and hardly wanted to get out at the end of a 1.5 hour soak.

Madeleine is 8 months pregnant and due on the 27th - she and I LOVED the relaxation and felt like two rolly pollies in the water.
We also got to see my friends' Rachel and Kris from Great Falls! They were at Chico having an "adult weekend" sans kiddos and it was so great to see them after 5 years! Luckily, thanks to blogging, I (and probably you) know what goes on in their hilarious family through their blog. Can't wait to see them again soon!

Mike and Logan in the foggy hotsprings.

Logan literally LICKING up salt off the table... Sodium craving you think?

Madeleine looking cute and pregnant after our jumbo nachos and large pizza.

I also got to hang out with my friend Christina last night. Her mom is in town from South Carolina... We had yummy enchiladas and caught up on life. Christina slipped and fell on the treacherous ice in Livingston an is slowly nursing her butt back to health. While I was hanging with Christina, Pete went BACK to Chico for more soaking, this time with Mike Cox and his boys Brad and Caid. I think Pete is done soaking for a while... I however, am not. SICK of the cold and wind here in Livingston - YES I AM. Today we chased our trashcan and lawn furniture down the street before it hit a car- on ice!

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OH, and some of the biggest news . . . I am working on a Medical Transcription certification through Career Step. I will hopefully be a certified medical transcriptionist within 4-6 months and be closer to a viable career / work from home. I really want to be able to stay home with this baby, so for all you believers in speaking what you want into the Universe - that is what I want... I thought I should take a step in the right direction. So, during the days I will be doing training modules from the comfort of my own home (and bathrobe). It is a 640 hour curriculum... I am a fast learner - hopefully I will buzz right through and learn much more about anatomy, drugs and medical conditions.

For those not sure what this will mean - I will be transcribing Dr Notes / Charts. They see a patient, they take notes into a voice recorder, they are uploaded to the net, sent to me, I type them and upload them back to the patient's electronic files. I can work from home in the evenings, daytime, whenever I can. I work as much or as little as I want. There are many people who are able to do this full time and still make their kids lunches and pick them up from school - I am pumped! Think happy thoughts for my impending employment in 4-6 months :)