The Countdown is ON

Today I'm 25 weeks pregnant.  I can't believe that there are only 15 (ish) weeks left.  Last week, after my 24 week appointment, I got home and it dawned on me that we only have a few months until the baby is here.  I had a momentary freak out.  You know all those things that are just un-done around your house?  Little things that you haven't bothered to update for years?  Those things freaked me out. 

When Joel and I were getting married, I took FOR-EV-ER to pack my stuff.  I was down to the last day and Joel came to "help".  His way of packing?  Throw it in a box and put it on the truck.  My way?  Sort it.  Pack it.  Realize if you had sorted it differently it would have fit perfectly in the box.  Unpack it.  Resort it.  Repack.  (Do again if necessary).  Label the box - in detail.  Put in on the truck. Clearly, Joel and I have different methods.  His method annoyed me.  But, honestly, it's two years later and some of my stuff that HE packed is still in disarray.  My teaching license (that I have no use of right now) is mixed in with my old tax forms.  Old bills (that at this point need to be shredded) are mixed in with other papers.  You get the idea.  It's been like that since we've gotten married.  But I had this "IF I DON'T DO IT NOW, IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN.  EVER!"  kind of moment.   It was not pretty. 

So I did what I always do.  I made a list.  I've decided that a much more reasonable goal is to try to knock off one extra project each week before the baby is here.  If it gets done, AWESOME!  If not, well, it hasn't been done for two years, so does it REALLY matter? 

Project number one?  My music.  Oh good gracious.  Do you know how much music a person collects when one has been playing the piano for (almost) 30 years?  (Geez- I sound freaking old!) And on top of that - this has been part of my career for over a decade.  I have a LOT of music.  Some of it is organized really well, but some of it - not nearly as much - particularly the music that I don't play so often.  Anitra's Dance is mixed in with Gershwin.  (Actually, it's a stride piano version of Anitra's Dance, so that one isn't too far off), but then I have a Mozart piece, mixed in with Brahms which is all mixed in with the more modern music.  Sheet music.  What a pain in the @$%.  So this week I've (mostly) conquered that.  I still have one pile of music to go, but you saw my method above.  This is no quick project.  It must be done with precision.  Otherwise, what's the point? 

See how beautiful!  It's ALL sorted!

But there is still this.  Small compared to what's done... but ugh.

That was week 24 - And, by the way, since you've been missing out on a couple of pictures - here's my week 24 picture.  We went to a National's ball game with some friends. That's Margaret sitting with me.  She's pretty awesome.  It may have been even more awesome if it were a random stranger who just wanted to be in the picture with me. 

 

24 Week Baby Stats (yup - last week's info):

-Baby (was) the size of a canteloupe (10.5 - 11.8 inches and 12.7 - 20.8 ozs.)

-Skin is gradually becoming more opaque and it has a new pink glow due to small capillaries that have recently formed.

As for week 23 - I won't give you stats - but I will give you a couple of pictures... The baby REALLY started kicking that week.  It was to the point where one day I just sat on the couch for at least an hour watching my belly move.  So weird.  So crazy.  And so cool. 

Belle wasn't quite ready:

Pictures and stats from week 25 to come.  With the way the last two weeks have gone, I figured I better go ahead and post this without it or you won't get anything. 

Happy Thursday to you!