My mother has arrived! So has our new stroller! We drove to Evanston to check out Vogue Fabrics, decided to forego the Botanic Gardens and instead picked up the new Peg Perego stroller at Lazar's Furniture. It is wonderful! It is the red Si Peg Perego and so perfect. It fits perfectly into the Black Pearl. I"m not sure what the Black Psarl thinks of it, but it is here for the long haul.

I hate doing this...seriously hate it. We have registered for baby things. At Pottery Barn Kids, Uncommon Goods and Land of Nod. None of the items on these lists are made in China. We worked really hard to make sure of that. I'm posting this info if any of you are interested. If you are not interested, just ignore this.

Looking at the calendar today I realized that we could have a baby in less than 3 weeks! It's a good thing the crib and dresser arrived yesterday - made in Thailand and lovely. I think they fit the room and the decor very nicely. I'm still not sure what exactly we are going to do with a baby, but I figure that will all come to us like it has to everyone else in the world.

We bought extra toilet paper today since we know we will have more guests than usual in the coming weeks. We have cleaned out books, clothes and other things to make room for the inevitable onslaught of baby things. I am still not convinced that a baby needs all this stuff they say we need. I am reading a fantastic book on the marketing and advertising that companies shove onto pregnant women and new parents to get them to think that they need every single thing on the market. We were at Target the other day and there was a machine/tester kit that tested breast milk for alcohol. Now excuse me for being obtuse, but if you are breastfeeding shouldn't you kinda know if you've been drinking or if there might be alcohol in your system? Or, here's a thought, maybe you shouldn't be drinking at all if you are breastfeeding. The things they try to sell, really.

So as you can see, I'm taking my grain of salt with everything I'm reading. I had another ultrasound last week and the stubborn baby has moved in the right direction and already weighs 6.5 pounds. I have only gained about 10 pounds total. So I'm no more of a blimp than I was at the start of this thing! Yay!

A freind recently commented that people's addiction to facebook has cut back on blogging. I think she's right in my case! Here I am in what is supposed to be a very exciting time of my life and I am not telling anyone about it!
So here you go...

I've been going to the doctor once a week for about a month. I'm almost 36 weeks pregnant at this point. Everytime I go to the doctor they tell me I'm such and so weeks and 6 days. I'm just one day shy of 36 weeks, why can't I already be 36 weeks??? Everything is going well though. About 5 weeks ago I had an ultrasound that revealed a very clear profile of something that is definitely Martin's child. Of all things the baby looks like it has a slight overbite. The ultrasound also revealed the baby was in a breech position. Well, I worried about that for about a minute and then to my relief the doctor told me today that the baby's head is in the right place, ie head down. So maybe my childbearing hips are not for naught!

We ordered a crib about 8 weeks ago from a nice place nearby. When I called Friday to find out about the furniture's whereabouts they couldn't tell me. They did say that furniture usually takes 8-12 weeks. My mother, who was visiting, was immediately suspicious. According to her, when my father had ordered his Prius they could tell him what boat it was on from Japan down to the longitude and latitude. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but she was convinced they had lost my furniture. Yesterday they called to tell me that it was on a truck and would be at the store by the end of the week. So we'll see if they say anything else about where the furniture was, but I'm sure they won't admit it if they lost it somewhere between here and the great mysterious beyond.

My mom and her friend Patsy came up a little over a week ago. My mom drove all the way from Pensacola in a rented van and picked Patsy up outside of Birmingham. They brought my Papaw's rocking chair and guitar as well as the curtains and diaper stackers mom made. They are all adorable! It's nice to have things that are more personal than Babies R Us stuff. Mom painted the baby's room a very pale green that looks perfect. We all went downtown one day to look at ridiculously priced strollers and then saw a play at the Goodman Theatre called Rock'n'Roll by Tom Stoppard. It was about the Czech Republic and included a large amount of Pink Floyd music. It was pretty good but an odd concept.

So today I went back to work to get things in order. No one has been hired to do my job in the fall. It's interesting. I can't wait to see what is going to happen.

So my observations of society as a whole have not come to a complete halt since I've gotten pregnant. This week is the last week of classes at the CC and here are some odd behaviors that have stuck in my mind:
* low-rider pants over gym shorts over underwear on girls
*random girls dressed in shrugs dancing at the print stations
*people unwilling to walk 20 feet and/or pay $1 for headphones they get to keep
*guys wearing shirts that say "Stink no More"
*people in the library for the first time the entire semester making grossly incompetant statements like "I bet this is the only time of the year you get people in here asking questions."
*Girls on cell phones making 5 calls in a row to get someone to cover their shift at the drive-thru
*little guys who look like hobbits cringing at the thought of having to pay for copies
*8 students huddled around a computer to write one paper

On the not weird college behavior front there is a ritual at the train station that has always bothered me. When I drop Martin off there are always couples or two people in a car at the kiss and ride infront of the station. Inevitably there will be a man driving up to the station with wife or antoehr person in the passenger's seat. This man will then get out of the car and his wife will trade seats with him and then drive off, leaving the man to take the train. I do not understand why the woman or other person in the car couldn't have just driven to the station in the first place. While doing a search for traffic safety stats yeasterday it is quite obvious that men cause or are in more accidents than women. It's just a fact so accept it. So it's not that these men are safer at getting to the train station or any other destination. I don't think most people would even acknowledge this phenomena or might think that I should just ignore it as well and not let it get to me. If you know me, it is a lost cause to try and get me to stop wondering about why people do the things they do. It is my lifeblood.

What is going on here, you might ask? I am still pregnant, still working, all of that fun stuff.

We have attended a baby training class where we learned how to change a baby's diaper. Of course this reminded me of those high school classes where they taught you things like that so you wouldn't want to get pregnant. This time it is different. Martin sat through most of the class holding the fake baby and saying that they were bonding. I hope the same will be true for when the real butterbean gets here.
We've (actually I've) chosen a color for the baby's room - very pale green. Since we don't know the gender of butterbean this is a nice compromise. We have ordered a crib and a dresser. We are currently going through the basement and the computer room and donating, tossing or rearranging who knows how much stuff.

The semester at work is winding down. We are caught between wqnting to be a savvy 2.0Library and not wanting people to waste time taking quizzes on Facebook and yet the library has a Facebook account. It's all very confusing.

I have not planted a thing in the yard yet. We lost a tree in our front yard to mysteries of weather so we are mourning its loss and trying to figure out what to do now. We remain amazed at the people behind us and the continuing deterioration of their poorly built patio.

I have been having an unbelievable amount of doctor visits. I won't go into gory detail but I will say that this is getting out hand. I think it is all precautionary, so I'll let it go for now.

My mom is coming up at the end of the month to paint the baby's room. I am trying to get a few people who are creeped out by babies to visit for the butterbean arrives. I'm hoping all that works out! Note: mom is not creeped out by babies.

I have been back from Seattle for almost a week. It rained. Then it snowed. I ate seafood. There I said it. Is anyone really surprised about that though? I had some swanky scallops at this very popular, never-would-have-found-it, thanks-mom-for-the suggestion, seafood place called Ray's Boathouse. Stupendous views of the mountains in Olympic National Park, fishing boats crusing by in the twilight. Ultimate Seattle eating experience (unless you include eating fish cheeks at the Space Needle).

We checked out Archie McPhee, REI and played pinball at a creepy little dive called Shorty's (that checked our IDs since it was mainly a bar).

I did attend my conference. It was informative and gave me lots of great ideas on what to do at the library if I could get people jazzed about information literacy. First I need to get myself jazzed about it though. The big event for the conference was at the EMP/Sci Fi Museum. My personal favorite exhibit was the one of the Hatch Show Print collection. If you are unfamiliar with them, here's a link from the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville showcasing some of their work. The event also had cupcakes.
We stayed at a cool hotel call the Artic Club Hotel. Very original. Unfortunately they are in talks to join Hilton so they will probably lose some of their cool. I'll post pics of the room when I get a chance. But let me just say that any hotel that has a frieze of walruses on the outside is a good place to stay.

As for my real life, th job is going on smoothly. Next week is Spring Break. Yay. I am working out the details of this mysterious thing called maternity leave. I might get as much as a whole semester it seems, which isn't too shabby. We have not bought a thing in preparation for the little butterbean, but my mother has gotten us a few things. That's okay.

In light of preparing for the butterbean's arrival, we have started to reevaluate the space issues in our house. I have also come to the conclusion that I do not have the patience for multiple, endless craft projects. I have made a list, checked it about ten times and have set a goal of finishing all half-finished craft projects before the butterbean gets here. This is not as daunting as it sounds and also includes baby annoucements, which will probably be the only after-baby thing I have the patience for. So if you are on my good crafty side expect something interesting from me soon!

My job as glorified office supplies clerk.
I spend most of my time refilling the stapler at the Ref desk. There are two statements (not questions, mind you) that come out of students when they are stapling something. the first one is "This one is out of staples." the other statement is... nothing. They try the empty stapler, say nothing and then use the electric stapler about a foot away. It leaves me wondering which one of these situations bothers me most. The fact that I am here to supply everyone with staples (and highlighters and binder clips and index cards)or the fact that I am sitting here, waiting, hoping for a question and getting nothing. Hrmph.

I had a comment from Lulalu about people in the bathroom talking on cell phones. This happens to me on an almost daily basis. I try to flush the toilet as much as possible and make it impossible for them to carry on a conversation. Sometimes the coversations are extremely loud and juicy and gossipy and I am kind of curious, but not enough to quit flushing and such. I do think that the folks who are actually using the toilet and talking on the phone are the winners in this weird wacky contest.

Other than strange, typical library stuff, things are progressing along nicely. For those of you that do not know yet, M and I are going to have a little butterbean in early July! Butterbean is our word for baby if you couldn't figure that out. OUr parents are excited, my mother has gone crazy over the whole thing, but I think in the end it will work out well. We are not going to find out the gender so don't ask!

I am working on marketing events for the library. The best one I have come up with so far is something based on this little gem:



Just replace the word Playboy with Library and you get the idea. Unfortunately this will be wihtout an appearance by Sammy Davis jr. :( Sid Caesar is still around though...

I'm heading off to Seatlle tomorrow for ACRL. Wish you all were going to be there!