October.

I'm so disappointed in myself. I had very good intentions on updating this blog with every crazy thing that happened in October. I kept telling myself, "I'll do it tomorrow," and now its November. I'll give a brief rundown on what happened in October 0f 2009.

October 4. My dad's birthday.

October 11. My brother Chase's birthday and also the first year anniversary of he and his bride.

October 15 & 29. Doctors appointments. Clark is healthy and happy, staying busy practicing his ninja moves, making faces, taking naps, sucking his thumb, etc. He weighs in at almost 4 pounds and about 18 inches from head to toe. My due date of January 1 is still right on. Doc doesn't think I'll be a day early or a day late.

Letter to Clark:

Son,

I'm going to try really hard to make you the first baby of the year. If you are, you'll enjoy luxuries such as free diapers for a year, free college education, lots of gifts, etc. If you are at all interested, try to help me out a little bit. See you soon.

Love,

Mom

October 15. Aaron and I attended our first childbirth class. And yes, we had to watch a live birth. Every single detail of it. And by we, I mean everybody in the room EXCEPT Aaron Rice. Out of the 30 or so people in the room, I was with the only one who refused to accept reality. Yes, Aaron, I'm going to have a baby, and you're going to be there. If you would have watched the video like all of the other respectful and attentive dads in the room, you would be well prepared for this historical event in our lives. But no, you are going to pass out and hit your head on the way down to the floor, and the doctors will have to focus their attention on you instead of me and Clark. So thanks for that. We love you.

October 17. Hannah and Daniel's PERFECT and BREATHTAKING wedding. Wow, I could never begin to adequately describe the absolute perfection that was their wedding. I think about it all the time and smile. The love that these two people have for each other is the sweetest, most refreshing, and contagious love that I've ever seen.

The wedding ceremony took place in a tiny historical chapel in Raymond, MS. Watching beautiful Hannah walk down that aisle with an impeccable smile from ear to ear was priceless. Watching handsome Daniel watch beautiful Hannah walk down the aisle was priceless. They chose a wonderful hymn for the congregation to sing, Let Us Love And Sing And Wonder, and Pastor Mike Howell, as usual, gave a great sermon that I am still thinking about today. The best way to describe all of the wedding festivities is that it was very Hannah and Daniel. Their creativity was splashed all over the weekend.

I'm so mad at myself for not getting pictures of the fabulous decor, the bridesmaids dresses/groomsmen's suspenders, and the beautiful bed and breakfast where the reception was held. The food was incredible (cheese grits!) and the music selection for dancing was superb. We got to spend some great times with family and friends that we rarely get to see anymore and I was hoping all night that we would never have to say goodbye. Cheesy, I know. But when you only get to see the people you love a couple of times a year, if even that much, you understand. I can honestly say that their wedding was the best I have ever attended. We are so unbelievably happy for the new Meigs family. I can't wait to see them again.

October 20. Another childbirth class. Aaron and I learned how to swaddle a baby and change diapers. Our swaddling baby happened to be of African American descent, which made for some great pictures.

As it turns out, swaddling a doll is not that difficult. I have a feeling that a moving, squirming little newborn might be a different scenario, but I'm convinced that we'll figure it out. Changing a diaper is also not rocket science. More than anything, I enjoyed watching Aaron try his hand at it. I was amazed at how intensely focused Aaron was as he carefully and gently swaddled this baby doll. I didn't want to make fun of him because he was trying his best and looking so cute while doing it, but trust me when I say this: if Aaron takes as long trying to swaddle Clark as he did trying to swaddle our black baby doll, we're going to have to have a chat. Anyway, it was fun, and now we can check swaddling and diapers off of our "we can do this" checklist.

October 28. Pumpkin carving party!! Our good friends, Liz and Madison, had some people over to carve pumpkins and hang out. We had a great time seeing these folks. It seems like lately, life is getting in the way of times like these. This is certainly not going to get any easier once Clark gets here, so we're trying to take advantage of carefree nights like these. As for the pumpkins, well, you decide:

Aaron is convinced that his was better. I'd have to disagree. Mine has cool glasses, and his looks kind of gooby. Be honest in your assessment of who's pumpkin would win a contest.

This picture above really makes me laugh. Out of the six girls in this picture, two of them are 30 weeks pregnant. I'll give you a hint as to which two. They are in baggy sweatpants, baggy t-shirts and baggy sweatshirts. They don't have a lot of make up on and have pretty much given up on cute outfits. They come home from work everyday and throw on their husbands clothes and could not care less what other people think. Yes, that would be Amy and I. Amy is also the wife of a second year law student and will have her baby one week after me. This is great for us, because we have already agreed that we will take turns watching each others babies so we can have date nights. God is so good.

October 29. Another childbirth class. This one focused on yoga, breathing, and concentration. Another way to describe this class would be "drag your husband along and we will teach him how to give you a good massage." Naturally, that is what I did. Me and 15 other hugely pregnant women plopped all over our yoga mats and let our husbands just massage away. It was very nice. Aaron quickly picked up on the irony of the situation and started cracking jokes, which made me laugh, which made my abs hurt, so I probably didn't enjoy the "me" time as much as I should have, but it was memorable.

October 30. I drove to Jackson and got to shack up with Nikki. I just can't get enough of that woman.

October 31. Baby shower! Clark totally racked up. So much so that I got kicked and jabbed the entire time I was opening presents. One kick was so hard that I had to gasp for air, but I don't think anybody noticed. More about the shower....it was so much fun. I got to spend time with my best friends in the whole world, family, and even extended family who I never ever see anymore. My cousins, Kristy and Rachel, and my sister-in-law, Adrea, hosted the shower and they did a fabulous job. For example, there were petit fours that were not only the most luscious things my taste buds have ever experienced, but they donned Clark's initials. How cute!

I'm not going to disclose how many of these things I ate, mainly because I quit counting after about 4 or 5. They were delicious, as was all of the food. Take a look at all of Clark's presents!

Clark is going to be one stylin' and profilin' little dude. He got clothes, diapers, toys, blankets, pacifiers, a good swing, stroller, car seat, a bathtub, hooded towels, and other totally awesome baby gear. More than anything, I enjoyed having my closest friends and family in one room for a couple of hours. That never happens anymore.

Mississippi State girls.

Jackson Academy girls.

Me with the fabulous hostesses.

Clark's mother, grandmothers, and great grandmother.

Mother/Daughter picture.

Apparently, the next step after receiving all of these incredible gifts is to transport them into the room we have designated as Clark's and try to make sense of it all. We couldn't move anything into the room until the carpet was cleaned, and that was not an option. To put it nicely, Jake completely ruined the carpet in that room. We borrowed a steam vacuum cleaner from a friend (the same friend who bought our office furniture from us), and Aaron went to work.

He's so cute. And sweet. He cleaned the entire room out. As you might be able to see from the picture above, the deer heads sticking out of the wall are apparently staying. "Clark needs to learn who the enemy is," is Aaron's defense. Whatever. The carpet is clean and we are one step closer to having the room ready. That is, until we unloaded the car and moved everything into the room.

All of a sudden, the room is much smaller. The room is going to look exactly like this until about December 16, which is when Aaron takes his last exam and can devote all of his attention to this room. I would say I would do it myself, but clearly that won't happen as long as I have a baby the size of planet earth in my belly.

That's about it for October. November will also be eventful, but I won't wait until its over to write about it. I'd like to end this post by saying thank you to the woman at Walmart who checked me out. And when I say "check me out," I mean it in two ways. She walked all the way around the baggies to check my belly out, and then went back to the cash register to continue checking my items. Thank you, Rhonda, for letting me leave Walmart after having the following conversation:

Rhonda: Girl, you big! How much longer you got?

Me: Two more months.

Rhonda: Girl, you big. When I was seven months, I was nowhere near that big. I was tiny!

Me: Well, that's nice.

Rhonda: Girl, you need to watch yourself. Your baby gone be too big.

Me: Thank you. Have a nice evening.

Less than stellar updates.

1. Aaron has reached the halfway point of the semester, which means in about 2 months, he will be halfway through law school, which means in almost one and a half years, he will graduate law school and never have to be a student again. I repeat - never have to be a student again. After 23 years of on and off studenthood, we can put to rest the old backpack. Hallelujah.

2. I have finally made the big crossover into my third trimester, which means we could welcome Clark in as little as 10 weeks (or as long as 14 weeks). One would think we would be ready, seeing as how time flies, right? Wrong. Yes, we have a crib that is great and beautiful. But the crib is sitting in our bedroom because we have yet to establish a room that will belong to Clark. I kind of, sort of, in a very unproductive way started to clean out the closet in the room that we have chosen to be his, but somehow everything that was in the closet just ended up on the floor in the hallway. Now our hallway hosts items such as Aaron's hunting gear, our snowboarding clothes, a couple of bike helmets, a rifle or two, several "memory boxes" that date back to fourth grade, and last year's halloween costumes. Like I said, unproductive.

Sooner or later, we are going to have to take the plunge and get serious about cleaning out that room. I think in our minds, we are convinced that if we are patient enough, we will come home one day and we will have an empty room that didn't include heavy lifting, breaking down heavy furniture, unloading gigantic law books from the bookshelf, taking huge deer heads off the wall (yes, Aaron, we are going to take them down), or cleaning the carpet that Jake treats as if his personal fire hydrant. All of a sudden, we will blink and the crib, a changing table, rocking chair, and cute baby things will fill the room and we didn't have to anything. Well, that's not going to happen. Unless of course some dear family and friends want to make this a reality. We will totally act surprised and let you babysit Clark or Jake anytime you want.

On that note, we are in a serious bind about what to do with our office furniture. We found a beautiful matching desk and bookshelf a little over a year ago and we hate to get rid of it, but our options are limited. Aaron wins the Husband Of The Year Award (for the 500th time this year) for making the sacrifice and letting us keep our guest bedroom, which I foresee being used much more often than it is right now because Clark's fan club will need somewhere to set up shop for a little while. We either want to find a loving family who will store it for us for two years or so until we move into a house with an extra room, or a loving family who wants to buy it from us at a very reasonable price. What is not an option at this point is us paying to store it ourselves, because Oxford and surrounding towns charge the same rent for a 5 feet wide storage shed as a 3 bedroom condo on the Square. Below is the desk and bookshelf:

There is also a huge, plush leather chair that goes behind the desk, but we didn't have it at the time this picture was taken. If anyone out there is interested in either buying or temporarily borrowing a huge L-shaped office desk and bookshelf, send me an email or give me a ring.

Anyway, whether we are ready or not, Clark will be our roommate in the very near future, and it would be a good idea for Aaron and I to quit being lazy turds. Well, I'm not lazy, I'm just so ding dang huge that I can't pick something up off the floor without moaning and groaning and bellyaching about backaches. That leaves Aaron doing the physical labor and I'll point fingers and laugh at him and take pictures so I can write about it later. I'm never going to win the Wife Of The Year Award. On second thought, I am birthing a child for the man, so maybe he'll surprise me with a special award.

3. MSU Homecoming. Raining. 65 degrees. That's where we will be and the weather we will be in all day tomorrow. If I get the swine flu, I'm taking Aaron's award back because somehow he talked me into it. I'm sure he wants me to go so bad because I am a guaranteed designated driver, but I'd like to think I'm more valuable than that. I'll let you know.

4. Next week Aaron and I begin our childbirthing classes at the hospital. Question: do they really make you watch a video of a woman giving birth? Because Aaron will surely pass out and we will have to leave the class and go down to the emergency room to bring him back to life. And that would be a total waste of $75.00. Please advise so we know whether or not to bring a paper bag for him to breathe into if needed.

5. Next weekend, we will head down to Jackson to attend the wedding festivities for Hannah and Daniel. I am beyond excited for them and can't wait to see their creative and unique touch in the wedding details. Another benefit is that the entire Rice family will be together again and it might be the last time Clark gets to see some of them as a fetus. That sounds strange, but it's true.

6. Belly is getting huge. See pictures below for proof.

25 weeks

26 weeks

27 weeks

Aaron is 26 years old now.

On Thursday, September 17, 2009, we celebrated Aaron's 26th birthday like rock stars. Well, maybe not rock stars, but definitely larger than usual. Of course Aaron had to spend the half of his birthday in class, but when I got off of work and he finished his school stuff, we started the birthday bash events. 

Aaron is a pretty low maintenance guy in that he wanted one thing for his birthday. I'll get to that later and leave you in intense suspicion, but it was yet another indicator that we are getting OLD. We started out the evening by getting semi-dressed up (which never happens anymore unless we are going to church) and going to a restaurant in Oxford called 208 where we splurged on a great, delicious, expensive, and fabulous meal. 

The good news about this great, delicious, expensive and fabulous meals is that it was one that was FREE. Ahh, free food. It tastes so much finer when you know that your checking account will not shake its finger at you at the end of the month. No guilt, remorse, or shame for choosing $35 veal smothered in some kind of sauce that was absolutely superb. The reason the meal was free was because I'm awesome. At my job. I guess. A few months ago, the attorney I work for gave me a gift certificate as a "thank you" and a "you are the best paralegal on the planet" and a "I'd be lost without your excellent organization and people skills." Well, that may be pushing it, but it was a very nice gesture, and it was even nicer that we waited to use it for Aaron's birthday. This is Aaron holding up his birthday card that for some reason seemed beyond hilarious when I was picking it out:

Just in case you can't read it, it says "Happiness is like peeing in your pants. Everyone can see it but only you can feel its warmth." Of course I wrote a heartfelt note inside, but also inside there was a printout of this, which Aaron is very, very, very excited about. The reason I chose to get Aaron a pistol is because he has been wanting one and talking about getting one for at least five years or so, but never has because there are always more pressing needs, such as food, shelter, insurance, etc. In the meantime, this is what has been keeping us safe: 

Your eyes are not deceiving you. There is a shotgun hanging off our bed, locked and loaded at all times. Aaron saw this gun holder contraption on a redneck television infomercial and picked up the phone and went to dialing away to order this genius invention. How great is it that if an intruder comes into our home, we don't even have to get out of bed! Aaron can just reach over to the side of the bed, grab his shotgun, and pull the trigger. Poor intruder guy will have no idea that there is an Aaron Rice on the other side of the door just smiling and waiting. Well, maybe not smiling, but definitely waiting. 

I guess I had ulterior motives for getting the pistol. Knowing that this time next year there will be a very mobile toddler boy scurrying around the house and there is also a loaded shotgun two feet off the floor does not sit well with me. So now we will retire the shotgun-on-the-bed holder and keep a well concealed pistol in the bedside table. Actually, I didn't actually buy the pistol yet because I knew Aaron would want to spend hours upon hours researching every detail of every pistol on the market, but sooner or later, he will add a pistol to his gun collection. 

Enough about guns. That was quite the rabbit trail wasn't it? Back to the birthday festivities. After enjoying our free meal, we walked over to the other side of the Oxford Square so we could get Aaron his only birthday request. This is the only thing he asked for:

Glenlivet 21. This is what Aaron wanted for his 26th birthday. We walked to Downtown Grill, the only restaurant/bar in Oxford that sells this drink. Just in case you aren't familiar with scotch drinks, Glenlivet 21 means that it is 21 years old, which means that is VERY expensive. As much as I would like to say I bought Aaron a $400 bottle of Glenlivet 21, that was obviously not an option. So he opted to enjoy a $32.00 glass of Scotch, and to say he enjoyed it would be the understatement of the year. 

After every single sip, he explained its greatness and why that sip was better than the last. He savored it, swirled it around in his mouth, smelled it, studied the bottle, closed his eyes and tried to make the moment last forever. He got goosebumps as he sipped it. He smiled the entire time. I listened to him explain the history of the Scotch drink, the study of the Scotch drink, the art of Scotch, and much much more. He enjoyed that $32.00 drink so much that after he took that last sip, his legs involuntarily took him back to the bar to order another $32.00 drink. That's right, $64.00 for two drinks, but it was worth seeing the satisfaction and joy in his eyes. He could have gone back for 10 more and I wouldn't have said a word because it was so fun seeing my sweet husband so happy. For the first time in a very long time, we sat at a small bar table, just the two of us, and talked for a couple of hours about whatever we wanted to. Aaron drank his 21 year old Scotch drank and I sipped on some sparkling water, and it was nice. We were in no rush whatsoever. Well, toward the end of the night I started getting a little ancy to get home because my lower back felt like somebody took a sledgehammer to it, but other than that tiny little setback, it was a much needed and great evening. 

We left Downtown Grill and came home and immediately began to devour the Baskin Robbins ice cream cake that Aaron requested. It wasn't until we had eaten half of it that I realized that I should take a picture of it because it was Aaron's first "Happy Birthday Daddy" cake. 

It was much better than my Kroger ice cream cake on my 25th birthday. It was delicious, and the perfect ending to a perfect birthday celebration. 

On Friday night, the day after the birthday festivities, we joined our friends, Liz and Madison, for a concert at The Lyric on the Square. Has anybody ever heard of Bobby Rush? Well, here is a very small taste of what we watched for a couple of hours:

Having never heard of Bobby Rush before, I certainly didn't know what to expect. My eyes were opened. Wide. It was actually a blast and I enjoyed every second of it, until the sledgehammer-like pain overcame my lower back and we left. 

Last night (Saturday), reality set it in as we put Clark's crib together. It was a very surreal moment that we didn't really know what to do with. Even though we did it together, of course Aaron did 95% of the work while I took pictures. 

When we were finished, and the crib was built in its entirety, and I put some of the gifts that Clark has already been given in it, all we could really do is just stare at it. What an odd thing to have in our house. 

First of all, isn't this crib beautiful? Probably ten minutes after I told my mom I was pregnant, she made it clear that she wanted to buy his crib. We don't have bedding for it yet, but my grandmother, Yaya, who is turning 89 years old this October, has already hand-made Clark about 10 little blankets and a couple of pretty big blankets. They are so sweet and perfect for swaddling a little baby in, and I can't wait to use them. Thanks so much, Mom, for buying this for us! It's perfect! I can't even imagine how weird it is going to be to actually see a baby in it, but at least we have about 3 months to get ready for it. 

I suppose that is everything exciting that has happened lately. The next exciting thing on our agenda is my doctors appointment on Thursday where they are going to test me for gestational diabetes. They are going to prick my finger, test my blood sugar, and then make me drink a gigantic glass of sugar water. An hour or two later, they will prick my finger again and see what my reaction was to the sugar. I'm thinking about asking the doc if I can just go to Big Bad Breakfast and fill up on syrupy pancakes to get my sugar overload instead of having to ingest a nasty orange flavored sugar water. I'll let you know how that goes. I'm actually kind of anxious about this appointment, because the word diabetes scares the bejeezus out of me. If you happen to think about me on Thursday, please send up a prayer for me. 

This blog has been way too long. I guess that's what happens when I only blog once a month or so. Well, I'd like to end by saying Happy 26th Birthday, Arnie. I knew you when you were 16,  and it has been so much fun watching you grow into the man you are today, nearly ten years later. I can't wait to see what's in store for you and our family. 

25 weeks and 26 years

This isn't Clark, but it's is a good visual for how big he is at almost 25 weeks. He is weighing in at about 1.5 pounds and almost 11 inches. From here on out, I suppose he'll be gaining weight at a pretty steady rate, which means so will big momma. And big daddy. 

On the same day that Clark officially turns 25 weeks old, Aaron officially enters into his 26th year of life. I'll be thinking about him all day and I would like for you to as well. I'll blog tomorrow with a lovely post dedicated to the best husband on earth and his birthday celebration. 

Labor Day To Do List

This Labor Day will consist of a few naps, free Chick-Fil-A sandwiches, probably some yard work, a few laps around the block with Jake, catching up on laundry, reading the final chapters in my book and figuring out which one to start next, thinking about Clark, listening to the "classical music medley" station on Pandora Radio because that really makes him bump around, trying to keep Aaron from getting distracted so he can work on his moot court case, a little bit of pilates/yoga, maybe cleaning up a little bit (that's a big fat maybe), taking a picture of Aaron at my 23 weeks pregnant point, working on my address list for Adrea (almost done), making some homemade chocolate chip cookies for Aaron to snack on while he works on his project, maybe giving Jake a bath (doubt that's going to happen), and that's really all I can think of on the spot. 

Let me explain a few of the items on that list. We are going to get free Chick-Fil-A sandwiches because they are giving them away to those wearing their favorite sports team logo. So we will bust up in there sporting our maroon and white in the land of the red and blue and enjoy our yummy fried chicken sandwiches. Also, I'm thinking about getting a chocolate milkshake. 

I'm going to take a picture of Aaron's belly at 23 weeks pregnant because he is gaining sympathy weight at the exact same rate I am gaining baby weight, and I want to start documenting his belly growth as well as mine. At my last doctors appointment, after they weighed me, Aaron stepped on the scale just for kicks and giggles and my jaw dropped to the floor after I saw the number that the scale landed on. I won't give specific numbers, but lets just say I understand why we had to buy him bigger britches. Maybe we shouldn't take advantage of the free Chick-Fil-A sandwiches after all. And maybe I should fix him a bowl of fruit to snack on while he works on his project instead of chocolate chip cookies. 

I recently discovered that listening to "classical music medley" station on Pandora Radio gets Clark moving around a good bit. I don't know how I stumbled upon this particular station, but it is amazing. I think I am hooked. Normally, I am not a classical music kind of gal, but this station is different. It plays my favorite hymns and makes me unbelievably calm and happy. As an added bonus, for some reason Clark gets a kick out of it (no pun intended). I'm thinking he likes it as much as I do. Or, its possible that he hates it and he is trying to tell me to turn that jibberish off. But for the next few months, I am in control, and I'm going to keep listening to it. 

Since it is gorgeous outside, I think I'm going to end this rambling post and get started on my activities for the day. Feel free to call at the end of the day and find out how much I actually end up accomplishing. I hope everybody enjoys their day off. 

Dear Clark.

Dear Clark,

I feel bad. I fed you absolutely junk today. For lunch, I didn't have to go to Chick-Fil-A and get a chicken sandwich and fries. As a mid-day snack, I didn't have to eat about 7 Dove chocolates. And for dinner, I most certainly could have avoided that marathon sized slice of pizza with sausage, pepperoni and extra cheese with two breadsticks on the side. I don't know what got into me. You are probably about to throw up right now, as I am. The good news is that you got a wide assortment of fruits for breakfast and I drank at least 10 gallons of water throughout the day. But that doesn't make up for the fact that the 4,000 calories I consumed in 2 meals today were nothing but saturated fat, grease, sugar, and bad calories. You and I both probably just gained about 3 pounds apiece. If it makes you feel any better, while I ate my gigantic slice of pizza, your dad ate TWO Chick-Fil-A sandwiches. And fries. You have no reason to be proud of us, but we have very good intentions of eating very healthy from now on. 

If you couldn't tell, we haven't had a milkshake in a while now. At least three weeks. But don't start jumping for joy yet. The milkshakes have been replaced with ice cream sandwiches. And not just any ice cream sandwich. It has to be Yarnell's brand with vanilla on the outside. I think this is a step in the right direction as far as calories are concerned, but now that I have ice cream sandwiches on my mind, I'm going to have to make my way over to the freezer and get me one, increasing my calorie intake for the day up to a whoppin 4,300. Yikes. 

I promise I'll do better tomorrow. Don't judge me. See ya soon. 

Love,

Mom

Why am I awake right now?

Good morning. And by morning, I mean 3:24 a.m. in the morning. For some reason, the entire Rice family is awake at this ungodly hour. I fell asleep at about 10:00 as usual, watching a re-run of Bill O'Reilly and staying up just long enough to see if maybe he would read one of the 25 e-mails I've written him this year. He didn't read anything from Kelly from Oxford or Anne from Taylor, MS, but I won't give up. I just need to try extra hard to write a super witty email that either criticizes him (I would never do that) or compliments his new book, but I haven't read it yet so that won't work either. Apparently those are the only kinds of emails that Bill reads on his show. So we all need to be patient, because the day will come when he not only reads an email on the air from Kelly from Oxford or Anne from Taylor, MS, but takes a few seconds to even comment about it. It's going to be great, and I can say I have accomplished one of the top 25 things to do before I die. 

Back to why the Rice's are awake at now 3:34 a.m. I'm not sure what woke me up. It could be the fact that I get up minimum of 20 times during the night to use the restroom. I'm told this is normal for pregnant women, but how inconvenient. Maybe I should quit guzzling 200 ounces of water a day at work. But I'm so talented...I've learned how to get up, out of bed, use the bathroom, get back into bed all without completely waking up, and resume sleep like nothing ever happened. But for some reason this night that didn't happen. I woke up at 2:30ish and here I am. What better to do in the wee hours of the morning than blog? 

Why is Jake awake at this hour? Who knows. When I came in to the living room to get my computer he was just chillin' under the coffee table munching away on a bone. I asked him why he was awake and he hardly acknowledged me. Now that I have positioned myself nice and comfy on the couch, he ditched the bone and joined me and now he's sleeping peacefully right here next to me. How lovely, Jake. Rub in it that you get 20 hours a sleep a day and can fall asleep whenever the heck you want to. Aaron and I have always speculated that Jake gets really gassy at night, but secretly I always just thought it was Aaron being gassy and he was just blaming Jake for it, but now I know. It really is Jake. There is something about the onset of night that just allows him to cut loose. So for your visual image pleasure right now, picture me and Jake on the couch at 3;44 a.m. in a cloud of Jake's gas, but neither of us budging to avoid the smell. It's ok, Jake. In just a few short months there will be another guy in this house who adds to the terrible smell and we can pass the blame from you, to Aaron, and then to Clark if nobody claims it. By the way, why are growling in your sleep right now? You're such a peculiar pup. 

Speaking of Clark, he's awake too. Well, he was about 20 minutes ago because I felt something equivalent to a kickboxing jab in my gut. So I'm assuming he was awake and now he's snuggled up in my belly, but I can't be certain and say he's asleep quite yet. Or, I suppose he could be asleep and just be a jitterbug while he sleeps, similar to the way Jake growls in his sleep. Some website articles out there claim that Clark is sleeping for about 14-16 hours a day and he's awake and just chillin' the rest of the time. What does he do in there for those remaining 8-10 hours? His eyes are fused shut so it's not like he can look around and admire my inner belly. I feel bad that I can't entertain him or let him play with Jake to save him from such a boring routine. 

This weekend will mark the 22 week point in my pregnancy. That is 22 out of 40, which means I am over halfway there. I have an appointment tomorrow, or today rather, where I get to listen to his heartbeat and the doctor will weigh me and measure my belly and spend about 3 minutes in the room asking me if I'm ok. I'll say "yep" and he'll say "great" and then walk out the door smiling because he just made a boatload of money for 10 minutes of work. We are reaching the point where we actually have to start planning things, as in childbirth classes, hospital tours (because neither of us have actually ever been to this hospital and wouldn't have a clue where to go once we walked through the door), nursery details, health insurance for Clark, budgeting for baby, and the list doesn't end there. And when I say "we" are reaching the point where "we" have to start planning things, I think its pretty clear that means me. I will tell Aaron when we have to go to class, when we are touring the hospital, how we are going to arrange the nursery, etc. And he will just smile and say "Ok, mate." This makes for a happy pregnant woman which makes for a happy Arnie. I'm pretty sure post-baby, he won't be as willing to let me do or say whatever I want, so I'm taking advantage of it now. 

Now it is 4:13 and I'm sure everybody wants to know why Aaron is awake. Unfortunately I can't offer any reasons for him, because like Jake, he hardly acknowledged me when I asked him why he was awake. Our internet has been out for about 2.5 weeks so Aaron hasn't been able to keep up with the New York Post, Washington Times, Real Clear Politics, and the 500 other online journals that he reads everyday. It started working yesterday so he has been reading his online articles furiously trying to play catch up. His only news source as of lately has been Bill O'Reilly, Hannity, Greta, Shep, and Huckabee. In case you couldn't tell, we watch a lot of Fox News, and they pretty much just repeat each other everyday, so Aaron has been salivating at the mouth for some nice juicy online political jargon. But that may not be why he is awake right now. It could be because law school started up again this week and he has to split his online time between political news journals and law journals. On any given day, I can promise you that the political news journals are going to win the majority of his time, but he's already had to read quite a bit on topics such as evidence, corporate law, civil procedure, and I can't remember the rest. As a second year law student, he was able to choose his own classes, and so far Aaron is one happy little boy. Unlike his first year, he is enjoying his classes and has a great schedule that includes only one class on Friday mornings, which means he pretty much has three day weekends this entire semester. Lucky duck. Just to throw out a small cliche real quick, I'd like to point out how fast time has flown since we've lived in Oxford. We've already been in our house for over a year and in under two years, there will probably be a For Sale sign in our front yard with Clark's toys spread out all over the neighborhood. That is a strange thought to me. 

Back to Aaron. He's doing great. He is quite possibly the cutest dad-to-be in the history of dads-to-be. He's so excited to meet Clark and he talks to him all the time. He calls him "Buddy" and always has his hand on my belly waiting for Clark to give him a high-five. Clark actually responded a couple of times, and the way Aaron's face lit up after he felt that little kick/punch/whatever it was could have lit up the whole world. I can't wait for the two of them to meet. They are really going to be smitten over each other - I can already tell. 

I'm going to try to get at least an hour or so of sleep before I have to wake up and be semi-productive at work. On my phone at the office, I have a DND button that stands for Do Not Disturb. How great is that? I'm really only supposed to use it if I'm away from my desk or I'm so swamped that if I took another phone call I would burst, but tomorrow, I think I'm going to enjoy my DND button and take advantage of it for exactly what it is. I may even bring a little pillow and just catch up on my sleep right there on my keyboard. It's going to be great. I don't know about the rest of the Rice family, but I'm going to bed. Good night.