36w4d

Or, the babymoon post (in which I don't really have too many pictures to share because a) they are too dark or b) they are on Peter's phone!)

First off, a shout out to B, who reads this blog.  B is the beau of my fake little sister, Brig, who is actually Sarah's youngest sister.  He knew the babymoon was last weekend and, when I went to L&D, was a bit concerned we might have to cancel our trip.  Very sweet.  :)

So, babymoon.... Friday morning, Peter dropped the kids at my in-laws (who had them not just for their Wednesday visit but also for Thursday morning while I went to a funeral... talk about troopers last week!)  Peter came home and we left.  We'd initially planned to go to the Jewish deli in NJ where Peter's grandfather always took him but, sadly, they had closed, so we ended up at another place where we all fondly remember his paternal grandparents going.  From there, we drove into Midtown NYC.  The Herald Square Hotel was only a couple of blocks from the Empire State Building and less than a mile from Pure, where we were going for dinner.  We checked in before 2pm and opted to just snuggle and watch some TV, something we don't really get to do at home.  It was nice to just relax and hang out.

Our room was small but clean and the bathroom was a decent size.  We weren't looking for luxury, just a nice, clean spot to hang out.  (There's more on this later...)

The bed was very comfy and big enough for us to have room but small enough for good snuggles!

It was a decent size for 2 people.  The tub and shower were behind the wall on the left.

After our initial rest, we walked the City for a while.  We grabbed a fresh smoothie (yum!) and some Turkish baklava, which was awesome.  We just enjoyed hanging out with each other and taking in the town.  We visited Bryant Park, and saw some interpretive dance, then went to the carousel.

The Carousel

Clearly, not on a horse... sitting on one of the benches

Afterwards, we stopped by the New York Public Library, then we came back to the room for another rest and a shower before dinner.  And this was where it got interesting.

I'd just taken my shower and was in the bedroom while Peter was getting ready for his shower.  He grabbed his towel and.... suddenly, I see something run across the bathroom floor.  I screamed like a 3 year old and jumped on the bed with a speed that I no longer thought I had.  This began the afternoon of trying to catch and kill (sorry, little guy) the biggest roach I have ever seen!  Now, I get it, this is NYC, roaches are EVERYWHERE even when you don't see them and, as Peter said, changing rooms to a room that had been cleaned but hadn't had people in it for a day or two could still have the same issue (so we just opted for clean towels rather than a room change).  But, oh my goodness.   I've seen mice smaller than that! (And, on that note, my NYC born and bread MIL had told me stories like 'we didn't have mice, we had rats', so every time I got up to pee at night, I just knew I was going to see a rat... I never did, of course.)  My knight in shining armor eventually caught the monster that had me sitting on the bed, refusing to get dressed, and took him out... normally, I'm a 'relocate' kind of person, but roaches? Even I have my limits...  I'd much rather have seen a tarantula!

So, showers done, we got dressed (and, funny enough, I wore the same prepregnancy dress I wore to our whiskey tasting, back in October.  The belly made it a bit shorter, but the dress was still comfy!).  We walked through Madison Square Park, which was really beautiful, and had a few "kisses from heaven" as the rain started lightly.

Madison Square Park

As always, Pure was wonderful.  That place never disappoints.  (The pics we have from dinner are on Peter's phone...)

The bartender made my favorite drink, the White Light Tini, nonalcoholic, and dinner was phenomenal.  Peter was definitely the food winner.  I'm still tasting the tamales (raw and vegan- EVERYTHING!) that he had... so yummy!

White Light Tini

We walked back, and opted to visit the live Jazz music on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. 

This was the proof of the pic they take of everyone.



Me, on top of the world!

Peter, atop the ESB

My cell phone pics are very dark, but if Peter is able to lighten them, I'll update them.  Even growing up a stone's throw away, Peter said he'd never visited the ESB.  He'd been to the World Trade Center observation area and restaurant several times (as had I... we used to go the restaurant there for special events), so this was a first for both of us.  The views at night were gorgeous.  We went around 10:30pm, so there weren't a lot of people and the weather was perfect.  The jazz was great; I wish I'd gotten the name of the sax player.  I was really getting tired (I'm usually in bed by 8pm these days!) so we hit the gift shop to grab momentos for the kids, and then walked the few blocks to our hotel, where we watched a movie then went to bed.

The next morning (Saturday), we walked to a small Korean restaurant for breakfast, then checked out of the hotel and picked up our car before driving to Rockland Bakery. 

Rockland Bakery

This is the spot that Peter told me had the BEST bagels known to man and where he assured me I could get them hot from the conveyer belt.  Let me tell you: the man doesn't disappoint.  These were the most awesome bagels EVER.  And yes, I got them from the conveyer.

I ate 2 bagels before we left New York State... It's not that far to New Jersey... Just saying...

We also picked up some rye bread and some cookies (the kids love the rainbow cookies/cakes, and the ones from RB were so good we are trying to figure out how to justify a 2 hour trip north just for baked goods...)

We had no real plans, but we were missing the kids, so we opted to head home and see how the day worked out.  We ended up at It's a Grind, a coffee shop found courtesy of the GPS, where we had a cup and just chatted, before calling it a weekend earlier than we anticipated and deciding to go home.  We arrived while the kids were napping, so we went downstairs to our guest room and took an hour siesta, before coming upstairs and seeing the monkeys.

It's actually a good thing we came home early.  Peter was able to take the kids to a playground while I rested.  I had a couple of intense contractions (it was SO humid) and resting was nice.  I was actually pretty worthless until noon on Sunday (we didn't finish up the babymoon with minigolf, pizza, and ice cream because I wasn't feeling great), and then Peter was feeling very tired and unwell from around then until this morning.  But, we did manage to take the kids mini-golfing yesterday and then we did an inside picnic in the living room and had pizza at home.  They were happy and we were wiped out. Maybe we had too much fun in NYC!

Today has been good.  We met up with friends to play.  Lately, in addition to contractions throughout the day (nothing to call the OB for), I've been having these "20 minute contractions".  No pain, just my belly hardening (high) for about 20 minutes at a time.  No pulsing or anything, just the whole "Hey! I'm preparing for birth here" of my uterus.  Michael still seems to have plenty of room; he is quite the dancer and has gone between transverse and breech and back to transverse a few times. 

We have less than 3 full days until "full term".  I'm so happy it's July I could burst!  Peter has my mother's ring to have the ruby added and his watch to have Michael's name added, so those are getting dropped at the local jewelry store.  My bag remains in the car and, before we left for NYC, we added Michael's carseat, just in case.  My MIL made a beautiful carseat blanket for Michael; I cant wait to see him with it!  So, we are good to go.  Once Thursday comes, it is really an "any day now" kind of thing.  I'm okay with that.  We are as ready as we can be.

So, place your bets!  I'm betting I go between the 15th and 17th (I have had dreams of the 17th).  Peter is still hedging his bets on the 22nd... For some reason, I just think I'm going to go into my appointment on the 17th and be told "Go to the hospital."  We have a birthday party on the 7th, so my girlfriend says we can't go before then! (I also have a last lunch with some girlfriends on the 3rd, so I've been told we cant go before then either!) :)  Michael clearly has his plans destined, so we'll see... But hedge your bets!  And guess his weight.  I'm thinking 5-6lbs at this point (using the assumption that Peter was a 7lb full term baby and not knowing how big I would have been at full term and having no full termers to compare it to).  Dr. B. is planning to guestimate on Wednesday if this guy cooperates! :)