Naughty Pup

Harlan spent a month wearing his cone.  While coned, we left his dog bed in the kitchen with him during the day because the cone made it impossible for him to destroy it.  We made the mistake of thinking maybe he had gotten used to his new routine of having his bed during the day and that he wouldn't eat it when we took off his cone.  We were wrong.  Soooo wrong.

Let the Nesting Begin!

When I first heard about 'nesting' at the beginning of my pregnancy, I thought it was a bunch of hokum.  But, after not being able to sit still all weekend because I was compulsively cleaning our house, rearranging closets, baking muffins and freezing them for after the baby is born, and sorting and resorting all of his little itty bitty clothes... well... I guess I buy into this whole 'nesting' thing after all.  We had a very cozy weekend and didn't leave the house today (we aren't going to try to be heroes during an ice storm, that's for sure!).  

Harlan likes to rest his head on my belly when we snuggle at night, he is already loving our little baby.  

 Awww, sweet puppy.  He loves the bump.

 Nerd Alert: We spent Saturday night proofreading papers together... yes, we are perhaps the most exciting couple in the whole entire world.  

 And what does a nerd couple do when they take a break from proofreading scientific journal articles?  They play chess... duh.  

34 days to go!

Today I am 35 weeks pregnant!  Baby is about as tall as he is going to get and is still just plumping up.  Today was a pretty funny day with the little guy, he spent the ENTIRE day from 8:00 a.m. until, well, it's still happening at 7:30 p.m., stretching and wiggling.  This made it impossible to stay in one position for more than 5 minutes.  I interviewed a candidate for my job and probably switched how I was sitting 30 times.  I hope it didn't make her uncomfortable :)

On Wednesday this week Iowa City Hospice hosted a baby shower for Ben and I.  It was a lot of fun, and below are some pictures.  Ben did very well holding his own in a room full of women :)

Not quite sure why I look so skeptical in this picture, I'm sure it has something to do with the story Ben is telling....

Playing shower games

Delicious cake... that I have been eating since Wednesday (Melinda sent us home with the leftovers... a dangerous move when the 8 months pregnant recipient cannot stop eating sugar)

Baby Announcement from Grandma

When Josiah was born he graced the cover of a Sports Illustrated magazine-- our little guy has made his own headlines.  Thank you for the announcement mom!

38 days to go!

34 and a half weeks into the pregnancy, and Ben and I are both home sick today.  Well, Ben is home with a combination of sickness and university holiday, and I'm just sick.  We are both bored sitting at home with nothing to do (it is too cold to go outside and neither of us feel well enough to actually do anything) so I am looking through old pictures on my computer.  I'll throw a few new ones in first, but then thought I'd reminisce over how Ben and I got to this point of being a few weeks away from welcoming our little boy into the world.

35th week of pregnancy... belly is full of baby

Harlan doesn't like the cold either...

Now onto some oldies but goodies-- 

Unfortunately for Ben, his dissertation defense is going to be a little bit more intense than my Masters thesis defense-- which involved a poster presentation/happy hour with our professors where we explained what our research was all about...oh and then we got presents.  I have a sneaking suspicion that Ben's committee is not going to hand him a beer, or a gift, while he defends.    

Next-- how Ben and I spent the first several months of our relationship (many states apart)

This picture is from the first night we met... I love it because it is very clear that I am already head over heels in love with him and I'd known him for about 2 hours.

3 weeks after we met Ben flew to Connecticut to visit me.  This was his first encounter with Britches.  As you can see from his smirky face, the love/hate relationship started right away.  And by 'his smirky face' I mean both Ben and B, they were not huge fans of each other from the get-go.  

This picture was taken in February, 2 months after we met and during my first visit to Iowa City.  Karen had requested that Ben send a picture of the two of us together, so this was our first awkward family portrait :)