Little update.

I am doing great. It's hard to type with the laptop because The Drew hates anything on top of him, and I mean anything, up to and including waistbands.
So he kicks the entire time I'm trying to type. He's kind of a brat.

The midwives are so happy with us. They always tell me how well I'm doing, how great I look (no stretchmarks - yeah, buddy), how healthy Drew is, and they (and their nurses) are just beautiful women.

I have even learned to be comfortable in the hospital/office which I have never been before. I love driving there (it's just a short hop), I love where I park (roof of the parking garage so as to get a beautiful view of the Chicago skyline), I navigate the hallways with ease, the receptionist and all the nurses always greet me and everyone ALWAYS asks where Mary is when I don't bring her.
I have spent years and years away from doctors (using them in case of emergency only) because I thought they were all alike and I would get so nervous just thinking about going in for a yearly appointment.
Now, I can't imagine going somewhere else.

I totally trust my caregivers and there's not a doubt in my mind they have our best interest at heart. I've never had a medical professional listen to me and show actual concern for not just my health but for my wishes and hopes. They have total confidence in me and my body and The Drew, and it shows.

I'm measuring right at 37 weeks and God willing, this baby will be "average."
I don't think my family has ever had an "average-sized" baby. It would be nice to start that trend, but like one of my sisters said, "Just remember, bigger babies are better sleepers."
True that.

I have some pressure in the old abdomen a few times a day, more if I'm walking around a lot. Nothing major league.
I've had two non-stress tests now because I'm elderly, and they are really cool. For one, it's nice to hear your baby's heartbeat for 20 minutes straight. It sounds cool and it's hypnotic. For another, I'm the mother of a toddler.
Having 20 minutes to myself is wack, y'all! (In a good way.)

I am kind of still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that this baby is a boy. I'm excited, don't get me wrong, but it seems so foreign.

Mary and I talk about Drew, and we talk about where belly buttons come from and how babies grow and what they look like when they come out - tiny.

But a while back I asked her how baby Drew was going to get out. She thinks babies come out through your belly button, or at least your belly. (Some do, but she's a little young for C-Section talk, ha!)
We've talked about how babies grow in mamas bellies before they're big enough to come out.
I was kind of stunned when she said, "And I grew in your belly! And you grew in Grandma's belly."
(How in the HAYUL did she put THAT together?!)

Anyway, I told her that some babies are VERYVERYVERY special and they grow in other women's bellies and she grew in J's belly and that's why she has her beautiful blond hair and blue eyes.
And then I told her that I held her when she came out and Mama and Daddy were SO HAPPY they cried and we had our little Mary and she was the best baby ever in the universe and so precious and beautiful and good, not like those babies you hear crying in the supermarket.

She seemed to sort of understand that and I certainly didn't feel the need to go further. They say you should be very, very simple when explaining things like birds and bees and adoption and be aware of the child's age. It's like the old joke about how little Timmy asked his parents where he came from and they got very somber and sat him down and told him all about the sperm and the egg and two people loving each other and zygotes and when they were done, little Timmy said, "Huh. Because my new friend Johnny says he came from Seattle."

I am so thankful Mary is getting a sibling. Every kid she sees, she wants to play with. We were behind the prettiest little girl at Mass Sunday (turns out her name was "Mary Kathleen") and she was 16 months old and the girls were so sweet to each other.

Oh, our new friends John and Karyn are professional violinists (and Karyn is due with their first, a son, on 5/1) and John gave a recital at Northwestern the other night so we went. Mary was just captivated. I was so impressed with her behavior (well, mostly) and she sat with rapt attention while John played. (She kept asking when he was going to play Jingle Bells, though. This kid, I swear...)
Karyn said she was watching Mary the whole time and just flabbergasted by the way this toddler reacted to the music.
Mary has always loved music and she has always been exposed to big, flashy classical pieces, mostly at Mass but also at the free symphonies in Millennium Park. There is no doubt in my mind she has inherited some serious musical talent and will one day be a musician, maybe professionally. Also, she sings pretty on-key. Last night on the baby monitor, I could hear her singing the "Top Cat" cartoon theme as she fell asleep.

Speaking of music, we went to hear the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields at Symphony Center the other night, our last date night before the baby. Oh, it was spectacular. The director/first violin/first viola is 34 years old or something ridiculous like that. He looked like a high-schooler, though.
There was an audible gasp when he first came out.
He's as cute as he can be, a virtuoso, and he plays on a 1704 Stradivarius. I had never seen one in real life, much less heard one. Just wow.
What an amazing talent this guy is.

And Joe kept saying, "Maybe that will be Mary up there one day."
You have to love a daddy who dreams of his kid being a virtuoso.