Sara at 40 weeks

Or really, this is me at 40 weeks, one day, but since I was basically in PJ's all day yesterday, Sunday seemed like a better day to take the picture. After two weeks of my body not doing much of anything to prepare for delivery, I was excited to hear at my 40-week appointment that I am now dilating and baby is moving into position like he should. But even better news, they are inducing me on Tuesday. I guess there are risks for pregnancies helped along by IVF with ICSI (basically injecting the sperm into the egg, instead of letting them find each other on their own), and they now don't like women to go much past their due date. Fine by me. I don't really like the idea of being induced, but I definitely don't want to endanger my child, and I really don't like the idea of being pregnant for another week or two, so the pros completely outweigh the cons. Plus it's kind of fun knowing I only have a finite number of days and hours before he arrives. It makes waiting around my apartment being kind of bored a lot easier.

In the meantime, I was writing in my journal, trying to catch up for three and a half months of inactivity (thankfully I keep a blog) and I thought I should write some thoughts for this little one, the first live being that is both a Booren and a Marler, about to join our family. This is what I came up with for him:

I hope and pray that I appreciate him as much as I should, especially after so many years of going without. I hope I don't take this little miracle for granted and that I will continue to marvel at his divinity and special place in our family. He is after all our Zachary (meaning "The Lord hath remembered"). I hope that even if he is the perfect storm of Matthew (stubborn) and me (emotional) that the years of refining will have made some impact on how I parent. Hopefully I will be a little more patient, understanding and wise now that I'm a little older and have experienced and learned what I have. I know I won't be perfect or a saintly mother, but I can at least hope that the last few years will have meant some improvement for me versus the type of mother I would have been at 22 or even 27. Those are my hopes and dreams for myself concerning this little one. As for my hopes and dreams for him, Be whoever you are destined to become and who the Lord needs you to be. I love you sweet Wee Babe. Welcome Welcome in just a few more days.

I Want My Baby

I have a few more days until my official due date but with each passing day I am getting more and more and more antsy. I am eager to be done with heaving myself out of bed and off my sofa. I'm more than ready to see the scale start making its descent. And I am so excited to put to use all of the fun baby items I've made purchased or gratefully received. But more than anything else, I just want my baby. I want to meet him, hold him, kiss his toes and face and fingers and tummy. And while I'm sure there will be times I will wish I didn't wish him out quite so quickly; for now I just want my baby.

Matthew is Graduated (Here's the proof)

My sweet husband has completed his MBA degree and we couldn't be more thrilled to move onto a new chapter in our lives. We both agree that we will miss State College and all that it has meant to us over the last two years, but it will be fun to enter into the world of real adults, complete with children, a mortgage, a steady paycheck and a 401(k) account. Here at Penn State, they have a university-wide graduation on Sunday for the THOUSANDS of undergraduate and graduate students. We opted out of that one. But they also have a precommencement ceremony for the MBA students the day before. That sounded a lot more intimate and meaningful so I made Matthew attend that one. It would be good closure, I decided. So here we are pre-precommencement ceremony.

 Nate has been Matthew's favorite MBA friend. They have definitely helped each other get through the last couple of years with either's sanity in check.

Meanwhile, these lovely ladies were my saving grace. We didn't necessarily hang out everyday, but it was so nice to have other women who knew what I was going through. Last year, while our husbands were crazy at school, we had weekly MBA Widows Wives dinners so that we wouldn't have to spend every night by ourselves.

Okay, this is where the ceremony gets sad. As each graduate walked across the stage to receive their certificate a member of their family dutifully took a picture to commemorate the occasion. Since I was Matthew's lone representative, I pulled out my camera - eagerly awaiting his turn. And then of course I only took awful, blurry pictures. Blegh. So instead of having someone to rejoice in his accomplishment, clapping and cheering him across, he gets these lame pictures instead. Sad

Can you tell which blur is his?