I really am enjoying the waiting...

I continue to be pregnant. :) But I'm at the point that I'm enjoying the waiting... really. I love that it could really be ANY MINUTE, or any day or I suppose any week. My most recent prediction that she would be born in the wee hours of Thursday morning did not come true so now I'm done making predictions. I'm just waiting...patiently(ish). I'm to the point where the belly is quite large and very low that I have about 3 shirts I'm rotating through. My very favorite thing to wear is one of Matt's XL t-shirts and PJ bottoms. I don't leave the house in these, although it is tempting. Most of my shirts just don't quite reach my pants. I hate tugging them down all the time. I have a few that are super-long, so if you feel like everytime you've seen me recently, I've been wearing the same shirt, you are probably right. :)

So today instead of laying around in my pajamas, Joanna and I headed out on an adventure. Well maybe not so much adventure as Mall. We needed some out-of-the-house time, as well as Mommy/daughter bonding. I know, everything Joanna and I do is bonding, but this was a special treat day. I had Barnes and Noble gift cards burning a hole in my pocket. I LOVE buying books. LOVE LOVE LOVE buying books. I can't help it; I'm addicted. You can blame my father if you'd like. :) I bought a couple of books for me, a Christmas book for Joanna for next year (check with me to see if I manage to find it again...), a couple of things for her birthday, and some soft block books for Baby Sister to have later this year. I also picked up a couple of January magazines. I think that's a fun way to hold on to a little of what was happening when the babies are born. I have several magazines from May 1982 and Joanna has some from February 2007. I tried to buy a couple today that are different from the ones I subscribe to. She'll have a bunch of parenting and home magazines. Joanna was fantastic in the stroller as we browsed through the bookstore. We headed to the food court next to refuel. We had some yummy Chic-fil-a. I love that the kid's meal toys there are books. I let Joanna drink her milk right out of the milk bottle with a straw. That is a real treat for her. Usually I dump it in the sippy cup. Then we headed down to the play area, and I set her free. Oh she had fun! She loved just running around and watching other kiddos play. She had fun climbing in this car and sliding down slides. She was very happy to play, play, play. We didn't have much time, though. (We're on a nap schedule.) She was really good about leaving and getting back into the stroller, which I was worried about (okay, not really worried so much as just not looking forward to). It could be this bribe that helped: "Wanna go get a cookie?"
We've never done that before. I don't think I've ever just handed her a whole cookie either. I'm always breaking them up and distracting her from eating the whole thing. This was our treat day, though. FYI, Joanna thinks chocolate chip cookies are great. She even gave me her trash and asked for a napkin when she was done. SHE IS SO BIG!!

We made it home; I didn't go into labor; and she's asleep now in her bed! I'm going to quickly lay down myself as I'm pretty sure the Play-with-my-child-while-Mommy-naps-Fairy isn't going to be around this afternoon. I may only have a few minutes left to sleep!