Shower at work and 35 weeks

Today, my co-workers threw Corey and me the sweetest baby shower. Everyone brought in a different dish and we ate ourselves silly. I was so touched that everyone took time to help us celebrate, even though I'm leaving in a few short weeks. Charlotte received some wonderful presents, and I think Corey was tickled to have been invited as well. Looking back, I think I probably should have let him help me open some of the presents. Whoops!

One of the sweetest presents we got was a big magnet to stick on the car that says "It's a Girl!". Since I won't be driving around much in the first few weeks after Charlotte is born, I think I'm going to wait until Corey isn't looking and then slap it on the back of the Mustang. Think he will mind?

I am now 35 weeks pregnant, and even though the illustrations aren't changing much from week to week, I am really glad for each day she stays put and continues to mature. Virtually every mother I know had her baby early, so I'm trying not to put much stock into Charlotte waiting until March 13th. Of course, I am the daughter of a woman who carried TWINS until the day before her due date (this is really rare), so I might just have the same "talent".

Here's what's happening with Charlotte at this point:

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that she's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew). Because it's so snug in your womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

Yeah, Charlie isn't slowing down her kicking one bit. If anything, I think I'm feeling her moving around even more. If she comes out with a black belt in karate, I will not be surprised. My sister Erin is reporting that baby Zach (now 22 weeks along) is kicking her more and more, and higher and higher. By the time Erin and Andrew come to visit at the end of March, I bet Zach will be working on his black belt as well.