33 weeks and a bit

The baby's been more squirming than kicking of late, perhaps because he or she is finally starting to run out of room.

As a belated birthday present, my in-laws got the jogging stroller of my dreams, a BOB Revolution in the brown/blue combination. It is super maneuverable with the front wheel pivoting, and the front wheel locks for really great tracking that will be awesome to run with. My parents got us the matching carseat adapter, which we just installed today, and indeed, the stroller now works great with the carseat, which we got from Stephanie's grandmother. The purpose is so that we can use the stroller for the first couple of months (when babies are too small to sit unassisted), and thereafter, serves as a tray for stashing stuff for an older child. My parents also got the weather screen which will come in handy during the other season we experience here in Seattle (besides the blissfully clear warm sunny weather we're experiencing now). If I only exercised in nice weather I wouldn't be in very good shape in this climate. :) All in all, I am so excited to go out jogging with our little one - I think it will be great to have a running partner! :)

My parents also got us the Moby wrap, so now we are well outfitted in options for transporting our baby, and a swaddling Miracle Blanket, for wrapping the baby into a fabric burrito.

So, really, we've got everything we absolutely need for the baby, now. We even installed the carseat base in our car. I am going to take it to the safety officers to be checked next week.

I still need to make a couple of covers for the changing pad we got as a hand-me-down from Stephanie's adviser (it has a rip in it so we really need a cover). I might paint a few more onesies - I'm starting to get inspiration from country music, some of which I've been singing to the baby (poor Stephanie).

Other news: we're really looking forward to our shower, the invitations for which are going out tomorrow. It'll be at 37.5 weeks, which is definitely a bit on the later-than-usual side, but it'll be after the thesis, so Stephanie will be able to relax and enjoy it. I'm also having fun organizing a shower we're throwing for our friends the week before. I get to make onesie cookies AND fetus cookies for the same event, which is pretty awesome.

Speaking of relaxing, we took a pregnancy massage class on Friday. It was fun, although the instructor was very literal in proclaiming, "The outer arch is connected to the lower back" and other foot reflexology principles in a way that made us both giggle.

Oh, and yesterday we went to a panel discussion on gay parenting which I found really interesting and helpful. It was really nice to hear from parents of teenagers who did the whole gay parenting thing before it became as common as it is now, and who said that it was never a big deal for their kids in terms of teasing or being seen as weird. We're really lucky to live where we live, and also, that it's really become commonplace enough now that it's really likely to be a non-issue much of the time!