Oh, So Cozy, No Solo Mio.

The realtor will be waltzing through our apartment on both Friday and Saturday to show it to the house's potential buyers.

Here is a snippet of our brief and awkward (at least on my end) phone conversation.

Realtor Man: So would it be feasible for us to stop by at those times?

Bellygal: Sure, no problem. The only thing is that I'm pregnant and was due last Saturday. Depending on when the baby decides to come out, the apartment may be completely empty or overflowing with people.

Realtor Man: You're pregnant?!? This is your third child, right? (At this point, he was furiously figuring how we could fit another child into our bedroom.)

Bellygal: Yes'ir.

Realtor Man: God bless you! (Stated in that peculiar way people have when they're not really referring to God or blessings...)

Bellygal: Um. He is. That's why we have three...

Fairly long, awkward silence ensues.

Bellygal, cheerily: Sure! Friday and Saturday would be great! Come on by!

The End.

A Few More Feathers Line the Nest

While I'm at it, I should stick a few more in my cap...

I am 2 days overdue, ho hum, ho hoo.
Ho Who, indeed. Boy or girl?

Living is pleasantly measured and slow, and, this time around, I'm not a bit edgy having a baby too curled and content, darkly inside, to want to come out into the hooplah and jazz. Last week, I did taxes, and, on Fluffy Pink Day, the girls and I made gingerbread heads (not men, just heads, because they have no legs on which to run away). On Friday, the dearest heart whisked the girls and I on an adventure abroad. A spur-of-the-moment stop at sale-deluged Jo-Ann Fabrics allowed me to stuff batting, flannel, ruffles, and ribbon (sounds girly, but it's not) into the trunk. Then we went to Puddle Duck Toys and Dolls, one of the coolest indoor-window-shopping stores ever (i.e. wooden and wonderful, wind-up and pop-up, colors a-splash, costumes and puppets, all towering high with prices to match). To top off our Belated Fluffy Pink Evening we relished chicken souvlaki and an ice cream shake at the Lake Effect Diner. I recommend their chicken souvlaki to the entire world. (I've had it twice, and I bet it's just as good every time. Same for the shake, though I've only had a single.)

John spoils me by making meals and doing dishes while I sit and stitch. The midwife said the baby could come any time, but I expected a late arrival, and Berry didn't want to disappoint. In the void of waiting, I turned the stuff from Jo-Ann's into other stuff, and now I've got to put my nose inside the baby names book.

I open the lines.
If you have a name suggestion or request, please enter it in the comments section. There's only an eensy chance that Berry becomes a name you give, but if we pick a name because you brought it to our attention, we'll reward you with...

One complimentary naming of our baby and the pride of knowing that you satisfied John's "Suitably Harsh on the Ears" Name Radar.

I told you I was nesting. Here's the quilt square I made for Rebecca's quilt. (Don't observe too closely.) It is what it is because I like birds and nests, and God has given us four wee ones, here and there.

Millie's new, top-requested style. (She likes to flail the braids about.)

Millie's been practicing for Berry by pretending that the Pixie's a newborn. The only problem, as one sees in this snapshot, is that the Pixie is overly adept at playing the part.

Cool (cozy) flannel.

When Millie was born, I was given this magical Moses basket, but it was bare as a bone. With the girls, I just stuffed a pillow from our bed into it, but I found fabric on sale at Jo-Ann's and I and my trusty, ten-ton sewing machine slapped this bedding set together over the weekend. Baby Berry will be cozier than Moses. And the bedding has special, flipping superpowers to transform into...

bedding for a Blueberry Boy.

This is not a shot of serenity. This is one bored girl. Today I scrubbed the bathroom. And the kitchen. And the windows. And the refrigerator. And Millie and Annika. After I vacuumed for the second time, John looked at me with wary eyes and told me we'd better not have the baby tonight.

Now it sparkles! And see how greatly the bored girl's expression has changed? One eyebrow is very excited.

A Vanity Belly picture taken 3 days before Berry is due. I swathed myself in black, jutted my chin, and cropped off my legs (To balance the scales, I should show the picture John took the other night of my belly poking out from potato-sack pajamas....ha! But I won't.) Visitors-in-the-flesh are the only people privy to unfiltered glories of my double chin and round form. So come visit!