Babies, babies everywhere

Congratulations to Michelle and Carsten and to Marcela and Pancho, who are expecting! We wish you healthy pregnancies, healthy babies and tons of happiness.

Well, three days left of work now. It seems so unreal that I will be officially away for the office for so long. I have to say that the team I belong to now, which I joined in January 2006 is one of the best I've ever worked with -- professionally and socially.

So I'm into planning our extended summer vacation. My thoughts so far? Well, here are my hopes (in addition to really being "there" for the boys and enjoying our time together):

1. To spend tons of time with mom and dad
2. To spend tons of time with grandpa
3. To spend tons of time with Tim and Kathi
4. To take the boys (and whoever else would like to go.... grandpa? mom? dad? Tim? Kathi?) to the Museum of Science and Industry, Brookfield Zoo, the Shedd Aquarium, the Children's Museum, and Six Flags Great America
5. To meet Marissa and Jorge's little boy, who will be nearly brand new when we appear on their doorstep
6. To see some of western Canada
7. To get my husband to sit still and actually relax for more than five minutes at a time
8. To spend lots of time at my parents' summer home, fishing, relaxing and making s'mores
9. To eat at Taco Bell, The Outback, Pappadeux's, and Red Robin (mom, my list could go on and on, but I have to watch the pre-baby weight... :-) )
10. For the boys to learn to swim -- properly (yes, I've already registered them for swim lessons)

I'll try to update the list on a regular basis with the hundreds of ideas that fly into my head. Any other ideas are welcome (just leave a comment).

Went to the midwife on Friday. All seems well. The baby should be around 22 cm now and approximately one pound. Amazing! The heartrate was 138, for those of you who follow such things. I'll see her again just before we leave for our vacation.

Many of you have mentioned that you are sure it's a girl. Maybe! I'm not quite sure myself -- the pregnancy seems different, but that may just be a figment of my own forgetfulness. Either way, I now know that I'm totally fine with it. When I look at my two boys, I am so proud to be their mother, and so amazed at the intelligent, bright and loving people they are. Another boy would be fine with me, but a girl would too. By the way, one of the analysts I work with has statistics that say the chance of a girl is only 25% once you already have two boys.

Lucas is in love with my tummy... he kisses it constantly and has long conversations with the baby.