Tomorrow is the first day of June. Today is my mom’s 45th birthday (Happy Birthday Mom). And the last two days we’ve had eighty degree weather!  Here’s a handful of pictures, just because:

This is where we’ve been spending a lot of time.

Bird Feeder #1

Bird Feeder #2

The flower bed that has some action (one doesn’t).

The fountain Tony’s been creating from terracotta pots.

Drawer liner #3 (sorry for the bad quality, there were some lighting issues).

Drawer liner #4.

Last night I started putting together my "drawer liners." I couldn’t find any I really liked and I’ve been wanting to collage something for the room, so I decided to cut posterboard the size of the drawers, collage upongst it, and then fit it in like so. So far I’ve finished two of four. The first is a more babyish one, the second I told Tony we’d call the "daddy drawer." I know, the pictures are huge and still hard to make out, I apologize:

Today we (well, Tony) moved our bedroom around to make room for the baby stuff. It looked so cute, but I thought to myself how much we needed something on the wall. Even if we aren’t having a real nursery right now, in this house, we could still put something up to mark her little space. As I was sitting down, working on the second drawer liner this afternoon the mail comes with a package from Auntie Karlin. Words cannot describe how surprised/delighted/joyous we were. It’s contents were so perfect, so cute, so special and so timely. Here is Karlin’s little masterpiece that absolutely made my day:

And our still-in-progress "nursery:"

We then started sorting through our stuff, taking our the littlest clothes to wash, blankets to fold and the like in hopes some general organization might soon ensue. Then Shpang, Tony’s friend, came over and now we’re having a little BBQ from which I’ve snuck away to do this post. Lastly, this is a struggly shot but tomorrow marks thirty-six weeks!

I’m going to make this short. I’m been feeling very blah the last two days…plagued with headaches, nausea, braxton hicks, overly tired, even insomnia. Add to that an inability to get comfortable and, yeah, I’m a little less than a happy camper. What I am happy about is coming down to the end of this. Also very glad I did some serious nesting a couple months ago, because now I have niether the energy nor the mobility. Luckily both are not necessities for doing annoyingly large amounts of homework.

Here are a few photos of the weekend in Friday Harbor. We had a great time with Billie, saw some whales, ate some good food, did some soduko and crosswords, and generally attemtped to relex. The weather was rather nasty, cold and often rainy, but we enjoyed ourselves nonethless.

Billie and Tony collecting animals under the docks in Roche Harbor.

….check out this sea anemone.

Dark and dreary with a spotty internet connection. But beautiful architecture.

Tony’s new favorite is Coke Plus and my new favorite is when we drive right onto the ferry without so much as a minute’s wait. It will probably never happen again…

Tony has today through Monday off because his boss is on vacation. This morning we went to the Seattle Aquarium. In the pictures following; I don’t know why my tongue is out, the river otters were doing something strange together, and I’m almost 35 weeks!

Tomorrow I have class until three or so, then we’re going to head north to San Juan Island, where we will spend Saturday night through Monday morning (thanks to Billie and the Friday Harbor Marine Lab).

On the pregnancy front, I’ve definitely dropped in the past week and, this afternoon and evening, have been having mad Braxton Hicks. Usually I just get them at night and this new development is less then pleasant. The dropping makes breating easier and heartburn less frequent, but bathroom breaks even more constant (is that possible?!?!?) and sleeping more difficult. It’s also increased my backaches both in frequency and intensity. But, that means we’re that much closer to delivery! For the record, I’m more excited for labor than anything. No point in fear or worrying, plus I’m just so ready to see this little girl!

Within the last couple days we finshed painting the crib and changing table. It only took numerous trips to our two neighborhood wal-marts, one stop in Oregon and one trip north to Tukwila. Tell us what you think!

Greetings friends and foes alike. It’s been a bit since I’ve graced these digital pages with my presence but rest assured I am sharp as a tack. I’ve been busy as a mug tending the financial side of our domestic situation, getting done a number of super-cool projects, and spending quality time with my special lady friend and our little one. She moves more and more (Ali, not Ashley) which is nice for me to be able to take in some of the rumblings. I was getting jealous for awhile there with Ashley feeling all the action and me being left in the lurch. Anyways, I think the fiancee has done a stellar job of keeping ye loyal readers updated. The next couple days should bring a couple projects to completion — pending a major national discount retailer getting our little cans of bougainvillea (supposedly its a color) paint in stock — and the commencement of a few more. I’m not holding my breath.

We got back tonight from Mother’s Day weekend in Oregon. It was (as it always is) a quick trip down but we had a great time, got to see a bunch of family and a couple friends, and actually got quite a bit done. Highlights include Ashley and I finally getting our Guitar Hero on, Jordan ordering his Wii (I am one jealous mug), taking some gold pictures of Alyss for her myspace, drilling a hole in a fishbowl for the fountain, Ashley tearing up some Quiddler, and getting our diaper changing pad upholstered (thanks Kathy!). Or, as we say in pictures…

On Saturday we met up with Cynthia and her lovely daughter Shayla. First there was some delicious Burgerville (mmm bacon cheddar whatever burger) and Shayla’s skepticism regarding my character. Then we picked Cynthia’s brain for awhile regarding the whole end-of-pregnancy/labor/first couple years stage of the game. With all due respect to everyone who’s given us much-needed advice, it is quite nice to receive some from a friend of similar age and disposition. There was also much talk of Cynthia’s upcoming wedding and doting over the cute-as-a-button youngster. After a few peace offerings in the form of french fries, Shayla warmed up to me and we had a good time perusing Goodnight Moon and dipping fries in some sort of tasty sauce.

Saturday also involved a trip down to OMSI, the local science and industry museum. A green lifestyle expo was going on which provided a bunch of free stuff (kudos to Chipotle for the guac and Clif Bars for the, uh, Clif Bars) as well as some insights into wicked new technologies. The museum has an excellent display of preserved feti (Ashley’s term for more than one fetus) at all stages of development. It really was pretty neat to see how far we’ve come in the past eight and half months and how close we are. There was a little girl around us at the exhibit who spent more time staring at Alizabeth than at the preserved fetuses — sorry, feti — which I found pretty cute to watch. We took the below picture of Ashley at the birthing exhibit for Emily, birthing class leader extraordinaire. Also took a picture of ourselves in infrared(?), I forecasted the weather via green screen, and we bought some astronaut ice cream which was delicious. OMSI was a ton of fun and I should mention much love to Ashley for sticking with me through the whole place. I know she was getting tired by the end of it, but I get a bit into those kind of things.

On Sunday there was a little get together for the Megrath side of Ashley’s family in which about everything within a six month period was celebrated. The weather turned out nicely and there was plenty of grilled meat to go around. Kathy couldn’t make it as she was still under the weather, but we had a chance to give thanks to Don and Yvonne for the crib and changing table and wish Uncle David a speedy recovery. We had to jet around five to get back up here, but not without first bogarting the leftover veggie tray and skewered chicken. Also it should be noted that I beat Ashley in a rousing game of table tennis.

Oh yea, and Alyssa had some trouble with the candles.

Things are picking up and getting ever-closer baby-wise, which means we’re trying to make the most of the time between now and active labor. This week, that means the usual routines — prenatal fitness, school, etc for Ash; work for me; birthing class together — plus our regular weekly doctor visits begin this Thursday and last through crowning. We hope to finish the fountain and crib and changing table in the early part of the week. As usual, check back here for updates on those fronts. Wednesday after class we have a tour of the birthing center scheduled. Friday is a long overdue trip to the aquarium (our first as a couple!) and possible lunch with my ma before leaving Saturday for Friday Harbor. Apparently there is a new baby Orca swimming around in those waters so I’ll use all of my whale-viewing prowess to share another part of my life with Ashley and hopefully get a great picture of Ali and J42.

And on a techy note, we’re making changes to some things about the site, so downtime may come to pass in small increments. Thanks for your patience as we make our upgrades and improvements, and hopefully you’ll notice and use some of the new site features. More details to come…

Last night we went to Billie’s house for dinner and to see Tony’s cousin, Josh, who was in town from Iowa. Here’s some pictures.

Thirty-three and a half weeks!

Tony’s Brother Dave and his girlfriend Rachel.

Josh and Rachel looking over photos.

Both Little Cat and I look evil, but see how tan I’ve gotten?

Apparently I’m "glowing." This pic was taken Sunday (33 weeks!) on our way to Pike Place Market before meeting Billie and Dave for an early Mother’s Day Brunch. I’ve been feeling much better since last Thursday and back to normal. Back to normal = Homework, grocery shopping, birthing class, making awesome dinners, packing lunches for Tony at work, a Saturday class (Love & Power), multiple trips to Wal-mart to see if they’ve gotten more pink spray paint in (No and it’s been almost a week and a half), Taco Del Mar for Cinco de Mayo, a post-carseat class meeting to get our $10 car seat, seeing Emily my dietician, taking my first Prenatal Fitness class (I am so sore!), getting a free pregnancy massage at Ashmead College, acing tests, and reading textbooks in the sun. It’s been nice here for the last three days! Today I have to do the dishes that have somehow managed to build up again. We have birthing class at four and after that are going to Tony’s Mom’s house in Seattle to have dinner with his cousin, Josh, who’s in town. First, I am going outside to get some reading done. Friday we’re going down to Oregon for Mother’s Day weekend and I need to finish the work for my online class before than.

Also this week we started a guessing pool at expectnet.com. We’re not exactly decided on how we’re gonig to go about it, we’re thinking about taking bets and splitting the pool with the winner. Anyway, check it out if you’d like. Our game is titled AliShirlieCarroll.

So I’m eight months pregnant now. Maybe it’s just today/this week but I’m not looking forward to the next two months. I’ve been feeling kind of sick since Sunday night. Monday I did some painting, left the house once to get more paint (we greatly underestimated the amount needed) and haven’t since. Monday afternoon and evening I spent with my feet up…my poor ankles needed it. Yesterday the problem worsened with some, ehem, toilet trouble. I missed my class…first one this quarter! This morning I feel nauseous and just generally beaten. I’ve been able to, more or less, go go go for the last month. Maybe this is the downfall from that, maybe I have some weird bug, maybe I’m just getting to that stage of the game. I don’t know, but I feel like such a slug. Yesterday I spent the whole day on the couch, watching TV and working on youjustgetme. Today I cancelled a dermatology appointment I had at the UW in Seattle. Now I have to wait until mid-june to get my scar re-injected.

Stuff is piling up around the house again and the worst part is, I WANT to do it. And everything. I’ve been super diligent about working out and was feeling good but now haven’t done anything since Sunday and I know it’s going to be that much harder (if possible) to get back to where I was. I think some of this is due to some weird sense of this being "as good as it gets," at least for while. I’m only going to get bigger, more uncomfortable and more tired. Getting up and around will only get harder. And then there’ll be a newborn in the house and this will all seem like a cakewalk.

Not that I’m not still very excited and anxious for Ali to just get here already. I am. Maybe it’s just the waiting that’s grating my nerves. Also, perhaps coincidentally, I started taking my iron supplement on Sunday. Though getting my iron up is suppose to make me feel better, I’m wondering if it’s actually had the opposite effect. I’m gonna go lay down for awhile. Hopefully I’ll be feeling better in time for birthing class today at four.