I gave my notice (as in, I'm not coming back) to my boss today. I was going to do it this Friday, which is exactly 4 weeks before what I anticipate will be my last day (April 29), but I decided to do it today instead because tomorrow is the baby shower the department is throwing for me. I guess I just didn't want to go to the boss the day after this nice shower and say, "Thanks for the party. I quit." Anyway, she took the news relatively well--I can't imagine she was too surprised--and we decided we/she will probably tell the rest of the department some time next week. The semi-nice thing is that, since another proposal writer quit a couple of weeks ago (which in and of itself is a bad thing, leaving the department short yet another person when I go, but overall is a good thing since he was, frankly, a poor proposal writer), my boss has already started interviewing prospective proposal writers.

I was nervous to talk to my boss, but after it was over I realized I was more nervous in general about the finality of it: I'm actually quitting! I hadn’t had to think about it too much ‘til now. I won't be working anymore...because I will have a kid! This is going to be a huge change...

Sorry about the two-week hiatus in blogging. Things have been nice and busy at work, which leaves little time for dawdling on the internet!

We've had a nice couple of weeks, doing the same old same old during the week (work, flute lessons, etc.) and having relaxing weekends. We went out to a nice dinner at Five Crowns this past Friday night with Scott and Kim--that was a special treat. We went over to Phil and Katrina's house on Saturday evening, and the guys played Settlers for hours while Katrina and I hung out (we felt like an old married couple being so tired after staying out until 1:30). For Easter yesterday, we went to Kim's parents' house in La Mirada and enjoyed a great time--and a delicious meal--with Scott, Kim, their kids, Kim's parents, her uncle and grandmother, and Dustin and Lissa.

Saturday 3/26 marked 32 weeks--that's 8 months. I've been starting to feel a bit uncomfortable in general with all this weight in one place, but I'm still feeling good overall. On Saturday night when we were at Phil and Katrina's, I swelled up like a balloon! I think it was because we stayed up so late and it was a bit hot in their place. Good thing I had taken my wedding rings off and put them on my pinky. My feet and ankles didn't even look like my own. The swelling went down a little bit by morning, but I still don't look like myself. I might be this way through the end! Even Jon noticed when he held my hand, and then I told him to look at my feet and he just about jumped. ;)

Weekend in Laguna
Our "get-away" weekend was great. The bed and breakfast was very nice, and we would definitely enjoy staying there again. It had an "old-fashioned" feel in keeping with the history of the original house, which was built in the 1920s. The breakfast both mornings was delicious, and they also serve “refreshments” each evening from 5:00 to 7:00, so we had appetizers (cheese, crackers, vegetables, dip, wine, etc.) both nights before we went out to dinner. On Friday night, Jon had made reservations for the Cedar Creek Inn. He got lamb, and I had pork--both were delicious. We enjoyed talking and just spending time with each other; we marveled about how it felt like we were on vacation and "far away" from home, when we were really only about 10 minutes from home! After our long dinner, we headed back to the B&B and lit a fire in the fireplace. After breakfast on Saturday, we walked around the gardens and grounds at the Montage Hotel (further south on PCH--it was really pretty), walked around downtown Laguna a lot, had coffee, searched for a restaurant some other guests had told us about (The Sundried Tomato--we found it and made reservations for dinner), ate some pizza, and then went back to our suite and watched a movie (“Philadelphia Story”) and read our books. Neil and Casey came down and had dinner with us at The Sundried Tomato (now one of my new favorite restaurants, because the cream of sundried tomato soup was absolutely delicious) and also came back to the B&B with us to look around. So all in all, it was a very relaxing, low-key weekend--I loved it! We went home Sunday at about 11:00 and did things around the house for the rest of the day.

Although we didn't bring our camera with us, Jon did take a couple of pictures with his phone--maybe I can post those.

Baby shower #2
Sunday, March 6 was my second baby shower, hosted by my good friend Casey. It was so lovely and so special! I arrived with Kim a few minutes before 12:30, just as Lucy and her friend Michelle were getting there (they had gone to Mission Hills church for the morning). The other guests were my college roommate Katrina (she helped Casey host), Liz, Colleen (mother-in-law), Jennifer (sister-in-law), Shiloh, Lissa, Amy, and Kristan. Casey took a picture of me with each guest, and she had each guest fill out a scrapbook page she had pre-made--she's going to put each picture with its corresponding page, and then I'll have a nice baby shower scrapbook! We had a delicious homemade lunch of pasta salad, vegetables with dip, delectable herb/parmesan-filled tomato halves (made especially with me in mind), potato salad, ham, warm crusty bread rolls, salad with mandarin oranges, and pound cake with strawberries and blueberries for dessert. We played several fun games organized by Katrina, including the one where guests break off the length of streamer they think will fit around my stomach (I think Lucy's was the longest! Kristan's length was exactly right, so she won).

Then I opened all of the wonderful gifts: this baby bathtub with a little robe, rubber ducky, and bath toys; a monitor (excellent for us since our two bedrooms are on opposite ends of the house; a health and grooming kit I'd picked out; this Snugli carrier like the one Ricci has; a bunch of cute little learning books from Colleen and Jennifer; several very cute outfits, onesies, socks, and shirts; things for help feeding the baby (milk storage kit, etc.); blankets; a sweet card and check from my aunt; and more! Then came the "surprise gifts"--things I definitely hadn't been expecting:

--a gift from Nannie! Lucy brought it with her, but I didn't know. Nannie had made several cute, fluffy blankets--I think there are six or seven of them. All of them but one are white with different stitching along the outside (one blue, one pink, two different greens, etc.). Then one blanket is of a multi-colored fabric with corresponding multi-colored stitching. Now I know what Nannie has been sewing for the past several months when she mentioned sewing over e-mail. :)
--a gift from Nell! This wasn't as much of a surprise, because I did know she sent the gift, but it was still special. She sent an adorable soft-cover book and--how perfect--a froggy dish set (baby's first cup, bowl, spoon, etc.). A little background: in high school and into college, I ended up with a sort of frog collection, and it all started with several very cute little frog figurines Nell gave me one year. Thank you Nell!!!
--a gift from my parents. I thought my mom would probably send something, but I didn't know it would be in such a huge box--that thing must have been over 3 feet tall by 3 feet wide by 5 feet long. When I first started opening it, I thought it was a joke, because I reached in to start taking out the newspaper stuffed in the box and couldn't feel anything but newspaper. But then I saw it: it was the rocking horse that was mine as a child! That my dad made for me! That our family friend painted for me! I had no idea my mom had even saved it all these years. I'm very glad to have it--it looks so cute in the baby's room.
--a gift from Casey. Now that isn't a surprise, but the gift itself was: the most adorable crocheted hat I think I've ever seen. It has a removable flower (remove if the baby is a boy). I didn't even remember that Casey could crochet, so I wasn't expecting such a sweet gift. Everyone in the room "oohed and ahhed." :)

After the gifts, this special shower was finished. Thank you Casey!

Woah! I just viewed our blog with Mozilla Firefox (we have this on our home computer now), and it looks horrible! The fonts are messed up, and a lot of it is green. Does it look this way to anyone else? I've always used Internet Explorer. Now, on to the post:

Ashley asked if we have settled on names for the baby, but we still haven't. We have kind of stalled at three girl names and two boy names (included below with their meanings):

Girl:
Emiline (nickname Emmy) (hardworking)
Claire (clear, bright)
Anne (gracious)

Boy:
Nathaniel (nickname Nate) (gift of God)
Benjamin (nickname Ben) (son of my right hand)

I've toyed around with different first-middle name combinations:
Emiline Grace. Claire Louise. Anne Elizabeth. Emiline Anne. Benjamin Ray. Nathaniel Shane. Benjamin Reagan.

I wouldn't be too upset if we went to the hospital still with no final decision made--one or two boy names and one or two girl names would be fine with me. We could decide the name after we met the baby. :) Feel free to "vote" on your favorites!

Oh, and since my comments get deleted after a couple of months, I thought I'd include the tidbits I told in some comments below:

One thing I have noticed is how I'm unaware of exactly how big I am. In the past week, I have closed a door on myself (thought I was standing far enough back from the door, but when it went to close, it hit my belly and stopped) and scraped against a dirty car (thought I could squeeze sideways in between two cars in a parking lot, but my belly was too big and got pushed up against the sideview mirror). The usual distances/measurements I subconsciously know are right for my size body just don't work anymore!

Baby is moving and shaking all over the place this afternoon--it's so cool. I'm looking humongous, and here are the pictures to prove it:




:)