Where, oh where, have my little feet gone??

Whew! A lot has happened since my last post....this one's gonna be a doozie, folks... :)

First of all, Jamie and Emmett tied the knot on Oct 13, 2012! So very exciting! The bride was beautiful, the groom was handsome, and even the rain couldn't ruin their happy parade. Here are Mara and me at the reception - I felt beautiful that day.

 Their wedding day was monumental in their new life, and it also marked a milestone in mine/Mara's life - it was the last day I saw my ankle bones. Yes... farewell ankles and small feet... I will miss you and hope you come back after Mara arrives.. the next few days after the wedding, I had serious cankles happening. Not only was it a physical change from the outside, but my SKIN HURT. It hurt to bend and walk because, as my doctor put it, it was like squeezing sausage into too tight a casing (no joke - he used this phrase yesterday at my appointment!). I don't have proof of the infamous day-after cankles, but here's a glimpse into my daily foot appearance these days... (don't judge on the nail polish...growing a human for 34 weeks makes it really difficult to reach the tootsies...)

Have I mentioned how great HyVee is here?? They're basically our local Jewel/Dominick's/Meijer... but look what they have, right up front for parking!! This should be EVERYWHERE!

Back in the beginning of September, I went to Nashville to celebrate Jamie's bachelorette. The music city did not disappoint!! Despite being pregnant, I felt darned good and was able to stay out [relatively] late - I had my dancin' boots on, after all! Saturday night was cowgirl-themed, and thanks to Sarah, I got to capture this lovely moment at 2:30am..yeeeeeehawwww!

While in Nashville, we went on a 1-hour tour of the city (sort of dorky for a bachelorette weekend, but SO worth it - tons of fun!). One of the stops was to this yummy sweets shop that had delicious sandwiches, baked goods, and.... marshmallows. I. LOVE. MARSHMALLOWS. They had all different kinds of flavors, coatings... oh my God, it was Heavenly. They had this on their wall:

If Mara is a chunker, I am DEFINITELY calling her my little "Mara-shmallow" (Thanks, Mom, for that nickname idea!!)

OH.... so I get emails from Babycenter and Whattoexpect.com every couple of days.. great information and usually spot-on in terms of pregnancy symptoms.

Well..

Today, I got one entitled, "What labor really feels like." Now, granted, it began with how labor is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get...it's different for everyone... yadda yadda yadda... and THEN... one woman describes labor as a serrated knife being stabbed into the top of your abdomen and slowly cutting through you to your pelvis...and then having that repeat for every contraction.

Um... ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? What a terribly graphic description.. I have come to the understanding that labor is no picnic and that it's going to likely be a pain like I've never experienced before... but, uh, I was kind-of operating under the "Women have been doing it for years, some with higher pain tolerances than me, some with lower, and if they can do it, I can do it" mantra. This allowed me to recognize that it would be painful, but kept me from obsessively freaking out about how scared I was about the pain. So I'm currently trying to erase that email from my memory.. it's not like I can NOT go through labor, it's kind-of the next step after roastin' a baby for 9 months. So if you've gone through labor and it totally sucked, keep it to yourself, please. And if you have words of wisdom that don't include descriptions of being sliced open like a "Scream" film, feel free to contact me!

.....6 weeks and counting...