Pierce and Jeane's Wedding

This weekend was a minor Peace Corps Reunion as our friends Pierce and Jeane had their wedding here in Boston. Being 36 weeks pregnant, I am actually quite proud of how well I was able to keep up with everyone! We stayed out at the bar until close to midnight on Friday, and Saturday night I was able to cut a rug on the dance floor until the place closed down at 10:30pm! Between that, two barbeque parties, and visiting with friends.... I fell asleep at around 8pm on Monday night and didn't wake up for 10 hours.

Here's a couple of pictures from the celebration, and a link to all the pictures if you'd like to see them!

Album: Pierce and Jeane's Wedding
(click the link above to view the whole album)

The happy newleyweds

Dave Buie and his new labor and delivery dance move

35 week belly

The last week or so has become increasingly challenging. I'm realizing that my comfort level is getting exponentially worse each day, and I'm starting to get tired again like I did in the first trimester. This last month or so will be long I'm sure, but some of the fun things are feeling the ever stronger movements from the little being inside me! I've seen some movements coming from my belly that make me feel like an alien is going to come jumping out and start singing hello my baby like in that movie Spaceballs!

Each night Mike and I sit at the dinner table and count off one less day that it's just me and him... a little weird to think about, but exciting! Sometimes I go through feelings that we didn't have enough time of just each other; but when I feel the baby move inside I quickly get over it. We get excited trying to figure out what our baby is going to look like too... after it's all cleaned up of course. As Bill Cosby put it, I know the baby will come out looking like a lizard that's not done cooking yet!! But I'm sure I'll believe it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!

The Baby Blanket Story

When I served in the Peace Corps in Malawi from 1999-2002, I went over with a group of individuals that I quickly learned were amazing and brilliant people in so many different ways. Over the course of the years of sharing the crazy experiences living in Africa, we bonded like no other friends I've had since that time.

As a gift for our baby, a bunch of people from my peace corps group decided to make a blanket together, each one responsible for a different color square.... some never having done any crochet stitch or knitting ever before! Here's a picture of the blanket in our baby's room, which is pretty much done. I made Mike put up those padded baby animal pictures that he talked about with such admiration in one of his previous posts. He put them strategically in places to be able to bang his head against the wall.
Here's some pictures of everyone in action, I love these people!

Not Your Typical Baby Shower

We had our baby shower the day after I graduated (see previous post for those pictures).... yes, it's been a busy couple of weeks! My friends Naomi, Jill, and Beth-Ann put together a great shower that was held at the local brew pub that Mike likes to go to after work, the Cambridge Brewing Co. Why not be able to throw back a couple of beers while ringing in a new baby into the family. It was a fun time, and the girls even planned games such as name that baby animal! Who the heck ever heard the word for a baby eel!!? Those who knew that MUST have used their blackberry phones.. aahhemm... Nevertheless, prizes were handed out for the one who got the most baby animal names (what the heck is a signet?) and the one who could most correctly guess the number of jelly beans in the baby bottle (I got to keep the bottle of course). Believe it or not it was a three way tie! Three people guessed 269 jelly beans.... and there were 271. That's pretty close! I've never been good at estimating that sort of thing.

We got loads of cute clothes and stuff for the baby, now I'm homebound trying to figure out where to put it all.


And both grandmothers were around to help celebrate!

Nothing like having a beer tower at a baby shower!
Everyone was pretty wiped out after a long day of eating and chatting....

Graduation Day!!

After more than four long years back at school, I finally graduated last Thursday from my Nursing Masters Program. I couldn't be more relieved. Here is a picture with a few of my classmates and professors at the graduate reception held shortly after the ceremony. We received our "Hoods" for the Masters Degree, which is the orange thing wrapped around our necks. The tradition of the hood is that it represents being a part of academia. Once you have your masters degree you have joined academia and are now a part of the scholarly educators in the field of your specialty. Uhh.... I don't know if I'd say I'm an educator yet; let me just pass my Nurse Practitioner Boards and I'll be happy!

My professors Ann Hill (left) and Catherine O'Connor (right) have been amazing mentors to me, it was these two women that got me involved in Boston Health Care for the Homeless and have supported my interest in vulnerable populations.

Me and Jill!
I think the graduation robe hid my pregnant belly pretty well....

Celebrating with dinner at The Top of the Hub: Mike, my mom, and I went to the top of the Prudential Building in Boston to enjoy a nice dinner with a great view of Boston! Nice place to have dinner if you ever come to Boston!