Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome...

Desmond Justice Layne. Born June 17th at 4:41 pm, weighing a total of 9 pounds, 4.8 ounces. 

Toward the last days of the pregnancy I joked that I didn't care if the baby came out of my nose as long as we both lived to tell the tale; after almost 24 hours of labor I truly didn't care.

Everyone is happy and healthy and safe at home. More details will come as we get settled in and I'll be adding pictures too. My boys and I have had a long few days so we will be resting up for now, returning all your wonderful calls and messages soon. Thank you for all the love and support!

Week 40: The bun is STILL in the oven.

Blobby Layne is now officially, by the standards of my midwives, three days late.  I am an an extremely  punctual person, as is Rob, and there have already been conversations about the consequences of lateness and what sort of disciplinary action we will take once the child decides to (finally) show up.  We believe strongly in nipping this sort of rebellious behavior in the bud and will not tolerate dawdling, lollygagging or tomfoolery of this sort.

Otherwise, I feel good, though it is getting hotter outside. I am fortunate that I really just move from air-conditioned house, to climate controlled office and blast the A/C in the car in between. Its just like being retired in a place like Boca Raton or Palm Springs, complete with having trouble getting off the sofa, complaining about my sciatica and being hungry for dinner at 4:30 in the evening. 

Well, maybe next week there will be a photograph of someone other than me.  The family pool so far:

June 16th, 5pm, 9lbs, and 22" long 

June 15th, 10:45 am, 8lbs 9 oz., 22 inches long

June 19th. 6pm. 8 lbs, 3 oz. 21 inches.

June 12th, 8:30am, 7lbs. 12oz. 21inches long

Place your bets!

Week 39:

One week from the due date!

Friday morning I went in for a weekly check in with my team of midwives. While in the midst of the, um, inspection under the hood, shall we say, my practitioner told me that I am a celebrity of sorts around her office. 

Oh? I asked, which is really all I could manage considering the situation. Seems my story-time-lady days are still talked about and it turns out that Midwife Melodie is also a big fan of the pillows I make! So there we were, talking about needle crafts and in the next breath she told me that I am not at all dilated or showing signs of pending labor.  

Once I was back on my feet I let her know that I'll be part of a group show in Harrisonburg during the month of July, and won't she come out? Snapping off her gloves she said she would see me there, if not at the hospital first. 

I really, really don't want to still be pregnant in July.

Week 38: That's Two Weeks Left.

Two weeks or so left to go.
My favorite things about being pregnant:

• Ice Cream. 
• People are nice to you and let you sit down when there are not enough chairs to go around.
• Ice Cream Bars.
• You never get lonely/you always know where the kiddo is.
• Naps.
• That I will not be pregnant for very much longer.
• Ice cream bars that resemble candy bars.

Making Stuff For the Boy's Room

Blobby Layne now has somewhere to keep all his treasures.

Once upon a time this wooden chest sold fan belts at an auto parts store. We found this chest in a family member's basement- it was full of tools and covered in the dust of the ages. 

Some sanding, paint, polyurethane and some new drawer pulls later we have the coolest dresser, ever, and if Blobby grows to hate it I am totally moving it into my kitchen as a linen and china chest.

Week 37: Even the baby made it through the Rapture.

Week 37 out of 40.

This means we are three weeks from Blobby's due date, or as Rob pointed out to me this afternoon: that's EIGHTEEN DAYS away.

Commence panic. 

Freaking out aside, we are ready to meet the wee man, put a face to the name and introduce him to all the people that have waited patiently with us.  I'll bet you are tired of looking at me smuggling the baby and would rather see his face too. In the mean time, here are a few snaps of Rob and me so in a few weeks you can easily decide who the baby looks like. Enjoy!

 

Week 36: ClayWanda and Calamity

We are roughly 28 days from our due date! I have been at home more than usual resting on my left side- its good for the circulation, I am told- and also nesting: cleaning things that I normally would ignore like the areas under the sink in the bathroom and then totally reorganizing the kitchen cabinets, home library and closets.

We did venture out today, meeting friends for brunch. Somewhere between getting out of the car and finishing my hash browns the key to my car liberated itself from my keyring and became lost. We live about 40 miles from where we met with friends, looked everywhere and the key was GONE. The friends we were with came in on their motorcycle, so a ride back to our house was out of the question. 

Enter my good friend and co-worker Rosie F. who randomly appeared like a fairy godmother and upon discovering our situation offered to 1. Pay for a cab for us to get to her house where 2. instructed us to break in to her home (where her 200 pound dog also resides and is fortunately crated) and, 3. take her car keys, and then her car, all the way back to our house to get our spare keys. We took her up on numbers 2 and 3 and drove her car on the interstate through a torrential rain storm with the hazard lights flashing.

We got home, finally, to the television I broke last week, a geriatric cat that needs his meds, a skunk in the front flowerbed and then I reached up and stuck my hand in the ceiling fan blade. Oh Blobby Layne, you are in for it; your mama can be a hot mess and you are a lucky little man that there are people out there that love you THIS MUCH already.