My (un)vacation day...

Yesterday I used a day of vacation and stayed home from work. But, let me just clarify one thing....I was most certainly not on vacation.

My day started with a trip to the grocery store. Here's a side note, the grocery store is a strange place to be on a Wednesday morning- nothing like the store I've come to expect on weekends. Shelves were full, workers were actually, gasp, smiling, and not a line could be found anywhere. Odd. Almost eerie.

So, I shopped and spent up a storm, loaded my groceries (while parked in the spot reserved for new and expecting mothers, of course), and directed my checkbook onward to Target.

Oops...couldn't quite make it past Starbucks. Stopped there....AND then on to Target.

I really wasn't planning on being in Target for that long but, holy cow, I was in there forever. There is a small chance that I might possibly, just maybe, have gotten a tiny bit carried away in the baby section.

Okay, I'll be honest....

I couldn't hold back tears in the blanket aisle so, just to make sure that I really was buying the right one, I got three.

Once home I unloaded the car, which also took forEVer.

Then, it was time to unpack everything. By now it was becoming quite obvious that I wouldn't have time to both sort baby stuff and make meals for my freezer so I trashed the rest of my game plan, tried not to feel guilty for trashing my game plan (still working on that one), and started making freezer meals.

Here's a picture of some of the baby stuff. Fun, huh?

And here is just a portion of the ingredients that went into my freezer meals.

One thing I really must keep in mind for next time...don't forget to account for the amount of time that it takes to fry up 12 pounds of meat and 2 packages of chicken. If you're wondering....it takes FOREVER.

When it was all said and done I had 10 casseroles, 4 meatloaves, and about 8 quarts of chili.

And my feet hurt. And my back hurt. And my hands hurt. And my wallet hurt.

And now, we wait for baby to come so I can justify using this food.

I would have to say that the highlight of my day came at the very end (no, I didn't have time to drink my celebratory bottle of sparkling white grape juice). When Rachel got home and saw all of the stuff on the table she wanted to look at everything (of course). I was a little nervous that she would want to play with some of the stuff or, worse yet, feel compelled to cry because none of it was for her. Instead, she pointed out each and every item, confirmed that her baby brother would love it, and finished with, "Oh mommy, I'm so happy for my baby brother!"

Pause for heart to melt....

P.S. For those of you who have been asking to see a "baby bump" picture....you're in luck.

But, I feel compelled to warn you that it really isn't a bump. It's really more like a baby gut. I envy those women who have cute little baby bumps (Julie, I'm looking at you here). I am not a cute pregnant woman with a cute basketball-shaped roll under my shirt.

And so, with no more procrastination left in me.

I give you...

The 29-week picture. Enjoy!