30 Weeks

Goodness gracious! With all of the holiday traveling, guest hosting, and business traveling we have done over the past few weeks, I have completely neglected to post any updates. First, we spent Christmas up in Michigan with Corey's family. While there, we saw a Michigan State basketball game (no, we weren't able to get a photo of Sparty rubbing my belly), had a family baby shower (so many great gifts from all of the Taylor/Stringer/Sanderson women! Thank you so much, Stephanie!!), ate TONS of food, opened a bunch of terrific presents, and saw the world's most over-decorated house (the one that caused a traffic jam of "Christmas light tourists", not the really cool one that had the lights timed to music).

Once we returned from Michigan, I spent nearly an entire day stuck in the house while the slowest carpet installers EVER put in new carpeting in the two front bedrooms, upstairs hallway, and main staircase. It looks fabulous, but that was the longest day of my life.

Then, my mom, dad, and Grandpa Chuck flew in to help us paint Charlotte's room and bathroom (photos of that in a later post!). In addition to the painting, Corey and my dad installed two ceiling fans with lights, a closet light, a moon pendant lamp, a new light switch for the attic light, and did a bunch of other little fix-it tasks. It was a busy few days! Grandpa Chuck kept us entertained while he knit, frogged, and re-knit a shawl over and over again. The most important lesson he learned after New Year's Eve was that he shouldn't knit while tipsy.

The day everyone left, I flew to New York for the Association of American Law Schools annual meeting and an breakfast for NYC Vandy Law alumni. I got to hang out with Corey's cousin, Erin, at her office and caught up with a bunch of alumni acquaintances, but by Friday night I was SO happy to be back in my own bed. After a dinner party with some of our favorite neighbors (the Marshalls), a visit with Sara Thomas and 18-month-old Annabelle, and an evening in Ronnie & Jean Ballentine's garage watching the Titans game, I think I'm finally ready to go back to work tomorrow for my last 7 weeks of work(!).

Since I missed the 29-week post, I'll just share what's going on with Charlotte at 30 weeks:

Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face.