I just saw a cat outside! Yippee!

Don't you hate when you try to cut a tomato with a credit card and it doesn't work? Well I have a solution for you! How did people live without that?

I've been starting to make a mental list of things I'm going to do once the baby is here. It includes barrel rolling across my bed, laying down flat on my back, and cutting my toenails without having to hold my breath. I have big dreams people, big dreams. Ooh, and sit-ups, I am going to do a thousand sit-ups.

A couple years ago, I was looking forward to being pregnant, but not at all wanting a child. When we decided to have a baby, I was looking forward to having a baby and didn't really consider the pregnancy part, it was just necessary to get the baby. Well, I hate being pregnant. If that surprises you, you have not been paying attention to my life. I have never felt so crappy for so long in my life and if every pregnancy were like mine I wouldn't be here because the human population would have died off long ago. We are exactly seven weeks away from the due date, and it cannot come soon enough. Don't get me wrong, I want a fully cooked baby, but if it could be December right now that would be okay. Dan and I really do want two kids, but how and if we get that second kid is up for debate. People say you forget all the crappy parts about being pregnant. I will never forget. Thinking back about how sick I have been makes me feel sick. I might reach a point where I'd be willing to do it again, but then we should do a quick survey of my mental health just to be sure I'm in my right mind.

Believe it or not, there is not much for a light-headed pregnant woman to do in Alaska in October, so there has been plenty of TV watching in my recent past. Mostly I try to watch something I can learn from, but I am not always successful. There was a really good program on National Geographic though (I think). It was called Wild Mississippi and the one I saw was the fall to winter transition in Minnesota so that was neat. It mostly covered the wildlife at the headquarters in Itasca. Nature is cool. It was especially nice to see the fall colors, because that is something that doesn't occur here in Anchorage. We got a little yellow, but that is about it. Other observations: voles are funny, I wouldn't mind having a domesticated bobcat, I had no idea that porcupines climb trees, and whenever I learn something about wolves I think of Julie and camp. Also, it is absolutely hysterical to watch a wolf try to attack a porcupine. Not at all exciting. The porcupine looked at the wolf while the wolf approached not at all stealthily, circled and sniffed a couple times, and left.

We started baby class last night. The woman running the show seems to be really good at her job and passionate about teaching the class. She is on her sixth child/pregnancy, which I don't necessarily condone, but at least we know she knows what she's talking about. The class has mostly young couples in their mid-late twenties, but there is one younger girl who is there with her mom too. Don't judge me, but at first I felt kind of bad for her not having the dad there, but then if the dad doesn't wanna be there, maybe he shouldn't be there. Her mom is wonderful though and knows all sorts of stuff whereas most of the guys, though comfortable enough to ask questions, look a bit scared. It is definitely nice to have her opinion as well as the instructor's opinion.

I think there were about ten pregnant ladies there. All but one are having boys. This follows the recent trend that I encountered with friends at church. There are boys everywhere.

Our instructor said that while having good posture is a good trait most of the time, when it comes to being in labor, having the ability to relax your core into a slouch helps a lot. WINNER. Slouching may temporarily be increasing pain in my ribs, but my slouching mastery will prevail!

Our registry is up at Target if you are one of those interested/waiting for it. We might be adding things, and we welcome gifts that aren't on there as well. Many of you know what we need better than we do.

Most of you know that I am usually the one with the absolutely insane dreams. Well, this was said to me by my dear husband when I woke up at 2:30 or so. He was not fully awake. "If we are ever stuck in the 1920s... and we are trying to get out of a mob-type situation... we shouldn't rely on reality stars... from Honey Boo Boo." After laughing, the response he got was a condescending, "Thank you Dan, that is incredibly useful information."